Chapter 115 - Act 16. Chance, Connection, Inevitability (8)

After getting as far away from Pungryu City as possible, Yise settled in a place with plenty of things to use for concealment. He set Ryu Seonghan down and pushed a Regeneration Pill into his mouth. Normally, he would have to circulate his energy to absorb the pill's spiritual energy, but Seonghan showed no sign of waking. Still, given his realm, the spiritual meridians would not rupture from the spiritual energy of a mere Regeneration Pill. Yise washed his body with Gushing Torrent, then dried it with Flame Release.

The problem would come after he woke.

Yise could not predict how a man who had lost both his clan and family and survived alone would react. If the man he had saved demanded that he hand over his belongings or asked why he had saved him… then their connection would end there. Yise had no intention of traveling with someone who could not distinguish the gravity of matters or recognize a kindness.

As though reflecting his complicated emotions, an untimely snowstorm blew up, and heavy snow began to fall.

A little while later, Ryu Seonghan awoke.

He abruptly raised his upper body, confirmed that Yise was in front of him, and looked around. The turning speed of his head gradually slowed. Beneath the swirling snow, his face began to flush with a storm of emotion. The color flooding his face in his overwhelming emotions contrasted sharply with the snow-covered ground.

Ryu Seonghan looked up at Yise through half-lidded eyes.

"What happened to Pungryu City?"

"It fell."

Ah.

A sob escaped his lips. The muscles of his face twisted violently, and soon he howled like a beast.

Yise silently waited for him to calm down.

After sobbing for a long while, he slowly rose and bowed his head toward Yise.

"Thank you… for saving me… I owe you my life."

Fortunately, he was not the shameless sort who failed to recognize a kindness.

"There was a sentry on the wall."

Rather than boasting about his own deed, Yise told him what he had heard—the information about the Demonic Valley's involvement.

Ryu Seonghan listened to Yise's explanation all the way through, then erupted in fury as though he had known it all along.

"The Yun Clan could never have done this on its own. Those filthy demonic practitioners… They deserve to be torn apart and killed!"

Every word was perfectly apt, so Yise sympathized. Not a single character of that statement was wrong.

"They probably intend for the Yun Clan to kill every Ryu Clan Cultivator and take the resources, while the Demonic Valley takes all the people. They butchered and divided Pungryu City as though it were livestock…"

"Could the Heavenly Ice Palace be involved?"

"No. The Heavenly Ice Palace strictly forbids higher powers from interfering in the affairs of lower powers. But what can anyone do? If they attack first, obtain authorization afterward, and then declare war, the truth won't get out as long as there are no survivors."

So that was why they had even given the sentries precious talismans and stationed them on the walls.

Yise understood the situation.

"I finally understand what you meant by that sense of incongruity, Senior. How many cities have they destroyed this way… Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley has been colluding with certain clans like this, devouring one city whenever the number of cities increased."

Ryu Seonghan explained the belated unease he had felt—that the Yun Clan's growth had seemed unnaturally rapid.

"What will you do now? My offer still stands."

At Yise's question, Ryu Seonghan met his gaze. With a resolute expression, he knelt in the snow without hesitation.

"Beyond the contract binding me through Soul Binding, I will pledge my loyalty to you, Senior. Please… guide me so that I can build the strength to take revenge."

WHOOSH. A blade of wind laden with snow tore between the two of them.

Yise looked down at him impassively, then let out a faint sigh.

"Take revenge with your own strength."

"…"

"Revenge entrusted to someone else isn't revenge."

"Yes. I know. I don't want to entrust revenge for my family to someone else, either. Even if it takes decades or centuries."

If he put his mind to it, Yise could easily invade the Yun Clan and deal with a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators. But there was no reason to do so, and he must not.

"Fine. We made a promise, and I keep my promises. That's all. Even so, if you insist on pledging your loyalty of your own accord, I won't reject you."

"How could loyalty seek a reward? I will merely repay the debt of being saved as far as my strength permits. But please understand that revenge comes first."

Yise silently looked at him. Instead of the frivolity and slickness he usually sensed from Seonghan, all kinds of emotions—frustration, fury, grief—were raging through his mind like a storm. His struggle with an inner demon was plain to see.

Yise spoke aloud the advice of the great Dokkaebi Cultivator that he still kept in his heart.

"Keep your center. A Cultivator must do so in order to practice cultivation. Don't lose your center to grief over losing your clan and city or to the desire for revenge against your enemies."

"…"

"Return to everyday life. Laugh, talk, and make the same pointless jokes you always did. Do it deliberately, if you must. That's how you avoid falling into an inner-demon tribulation."

Ryu Seonghan looked at Yise. He had said he reached Foundation Establishment in seven years. Judging by his appearance and realm, he could be no older than his thirties. And yet he possessed such insight.

Ryu Seonghan felt gooseflesh rise, as though he were listening to the counsel of an elderly Cultivator.

Yise continued.

"When you inevitably reach Foundation Establishment, an inner demon will come to you showing the scene of your city and clan collapsing. Get used to it from now on. Imagine that moment every day, and fight and overcome it in your mind until you become unmoved by it."

"I-I'll remember that."

He was passing on to a junior older than himself the Dao heart that his seniors had taught him. It was consideration and mercy offered to someone who had pledged his loyalty to him and suffered the same pain.

* * *

The two continued traveling toward the Heavenly Ice Palace.

There had been a major disturbance, but their goal had not changed: infiltrate Ryu Seonghan into the Heavenly Ice Palace and find the Twin Principles Reversion Art. The only addition was Seonghan's grand, clear objective of raising his realm for revenge.

Ryu Seonghan became noticeably less talkative. Yet it was clear that he was struggling desperately to control his inner demon.

The Heavenly Ice Palace was quite far away. Even after traveling for roughly half a month, they had not covered even a tenth of the distance. It truly ruled over a vast land.

"Someone's coming."

At Yise's words, Ryu Seonghan raised his head.

"A tenth-star Qi Refining Cultivator. They're coming straight toward us."

The person had known their location from the moment they had barely entered Yise's enhanced vision and was approaching them. They probably possessed a ritual implement that detected nearby Cultivators.

"Could they be from the Yun Clan?"

"We've come quite far for them to have tracked us here, so that's unlikely."

The odds were low. Still, Yise did not rule out the possibility that this person was connected to the attack on Pungryu City. When he had rescued Ryu Seonghan, he had confirmed with his divine sense that there had been no witnesses. But the sentries had possessed Spirit-Concealing Talismans that concealed even divine sense. Nothing could be certain.

'What if we've been traced?'

In the optimistic scenario, they might not care much if one or two Qi Refining Cultivators had escaped. No one would believe whatever Seonghan said; they would merely regard it as a defeated man's denunciation.

In the pessimistic scenario, they might pursue him to the end and try to kill him.

If the person who had appeared was a lackey of Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley, Yise would eliminate him and withdraw. Abandoning the mission and resuming it after raising his realm would not be a major problem. It would only waste some time, and at least he now had an idea where to begin searching.

When Yise had visited Hae Il to report the start of the mission, Hae Il had said that reusing the teleportation formation would take roughly ten years. It was an awkwardly long time.

Even so, safety came first and the mission second—even if he had to live in the wilderness nearby and cultivate while waiting for the teleportation formation to recharge before returning to the Eastern Continent.

Yise clearly set his priorities.

'This is why I tried not to get involved.'

Still, he decided to think positively. Rather than wandering around carelessly, keeping his nerves honed like this would benefit both his cultivation and the mission. Laziness was evil, while arrogance and carelessness were enemies that threatened his life.

"Should we attack first?"

Ryu Seonghan asked Yise, his fighting spirit sharpened.

Yise shook his head.

"Act naturally for now. Remember the three rules when you're with me. One: I won't harm anyone who doesn't attack first, but I won't leave attackers alive. Two: the person who cuts off the enemy's breath owns the spoils. Three: don't hunt spirit beasts."

"Yes. I'll remember."

"If we fight, can you handle them alone?"

"…A tenth-star Cultivator is at a higher realm than me, but…"

"You should be able to win a fight within the same minor threshold. Think of it as training. Pretend to be fighting, and when I run my hand through my hair, launch a surprise attack."

"Yes."

A little while later, a wandering Cultivator appeared. Smiling amiably, he approached the two men resting against a severed conifer trunk.

"I never expected to see wandering Cultivators in a place like this. Fellow Daoist, if you don't mind, may I join you for a while?"

He did not even glance at Yise, asking Ryu Seonghan directly. Yise quietly used the mind-reading art before asking, "How did you know to come here? Did you deliberately come looking for us?"

The wandering Cultivator's expression darkened.

"Junior, I'm afraid I never gave you permission to speak to me. And how could I have come straight to you in this vast snowfield? It was all coincidence, guided by the Heavenly Dao."

A lie.

He had come targeting us.

When Yise brushed his hair back, Ryu Seonghan immediately launched a Wind Blade.

"What! Attacking without warning? Have you ever seen such barbaric people!"

The wandering Cultivator hurriedly leaped aside, but the Wind Blade sliced through his backside as it passed.

A fierce spell battle between the Qi Refining Cultivators soon unfolded. Yise sat on a log and calmly watched them fight.

The wandering Cultivator had fire, wood, and earth triple spiritual roots, and his clean spell control testified to his long years of wandering. Ryu Seonghan initially seemed to be at a disadvantage, but he used his characteristic footwork and clone art at exactly the right moments and soon began driving the wandering Cultivator back.

Small wounds appeared on both men's bodies, but Ryu Seonghan fought with greater desperation.

In the end, the wandering Cultivator threw down a poison pill and a smoke bomb (煙霧彈: a bomb that produces smoke), then began fleeing for his life.

Yise ignored him as he tried to run past, seized his ankle with Ground-Shadow Snare, and pinned him down with spiritual pressure before striking all four limbs with the Black Phosphor Axe and knocking him flat.

"…"

Seeing the opponent he had fought desperately subdued in a single blow, Ryu Seonghan sank down as though all his strength had left him.

"I caught this one."

He was claiming ownership of the spoils. Ryu Seonghan thought Senior truly was consistent.

Regardless, Yise immediately used the mind-reading art on the man, who was shrieking at the top of his lungs, to confirm his identity. Fortunately, he was an ordinary Robber Cultivator unrelated to Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley.

"Why would a Qi Refining Cultivator wander around? You should settle somewhere and prepare to cross a major threshold."

"I wander because I've reached Great Attainment of Qi Refining. Foundation Establishment cities don't welcome the arrival of new Foundation Establishment Cultivators."

"That's pitiful."

Yise decided to give the man one last chance.

"You. What were you planning to do to us? Were you going to kill us?"

"N-No! Absolutely not…!"

A lie.

He had approached them to kill them and seize their resources.

Yise raised his hand axe.

"P-Please, spare…"

Blood sprayed.

After beheading the man's corpse on an Earthen Spear, Yise immediately searched his belongings. A small storage pouch slid into Yise's hand.

"This is it."

He picked up a ritual implement that looked useful at a glance. It was a flat mirror with a silver-edged handle.