Chapter 116 - Act 17. Abyssal Labyrinth (1)

When he infused the mirror with spiritual power, two dots appeared inside the translucent glass. In tiny writing too small for ordinary people to read, it said “Qi Refining 1” and “Qi Refining 9.” As expected, it seemed to be a ritual implement that searched for nearby people possessing spiritual energy. When he removed the spirit-concealing ring, the mirror blinked, and the words “Foundation Establishment” appeared. Yise froze. ‘It can even see through Foundation Establishment? By what principle?’ He put the ring back on and cast a spell. A dot appeared on the mirror, then vanished. ‘Even while concealing my reserves, using a spell lets it detect a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s spiritual energy, if only briefly.’ It could distinguish the spiritual energy emitted by spiritual meridians from that produced by a Dharma-Transformed Dantian. However he looked at it, this was no ordinary ritual implement. It was at least a supernatural treasure, and perhaps even something that would be classified as a higher-grade supernatural treasure. It was fairly common for wandering Cultivators who preyed on others to possess spirit-detecting implements. Hunters needed a way to locate their prey. But an implement with performance like this must have been the fortuitous encounter of a lifetime for that wandering Cultivator. It was easy to imagine how excited he had become. In the end, though, despite obtaining an opportunity beyond his station, he had lost his life through careless conduct.

“Ryu Seonghan.”

“Yes, Senior.”

“Run over there. I’ll send Emer when you need to stop.”

“You’re checking the mirror’s detection range. Understood.”

Ryu Seonghan immediately sped up. Once he had vanished from Yise’s sight, Yise checked the position shown on the mirror. It was about halfway to the edge of its radius. That meant it could detect roughly twice as far as he could see with the naked eye, despite his broadened vision after reaching Foundation Establishment. Satisfied, Yise sent Emer to tell Ryu Seonghan to return.

“How is it?”

“Useful. The range is pretty wide.”

Ryu Seonghan looked at it enviously from beside him, but Yise ignored him. You should not have missed your chance when you were given one.

When he put it into the high-grade storage pouch he had obtained in the secret realm, the implement’s name appeared. Spirit-Detecting Mirror. Thinking the name suitably straightforward, he placed it in the belt-shaped storage pouch.

“Exactly how many storage pouches do you carry, Senior…?”

“The Heaven-and-Earth Pouch, the belt-shaped one I usually wear, a large backpack-shaped one, the high-grade one that displays an implement’s name in my mind, the spiritual-herb pouch, and the spirit-beast pouch I just obtained.”

“Six.”

Ryu Seonghan’s envious gaze grew even more intense.

“Why are you surprised? Isn’t this the bare minimum for a Cultivator?”

“……”

Yise showed off to his heart’s content before putting away the storage pouches. Bragging about his storage pouches always felt good. At times like this, he felt as though he had returned to childhood.

Inside the wandering Cultivator’s pouch were the Cold-Warding Pauldrons, disposable talismans, elixir pills, and a spell staff. The staff contained a water-attribute spell. Apparently, the man had intended to compensate for his elemental weakness with it.

After sorting the spoils, Yise dismissed the Earthen Spear, turned over the ground, and buried the corpse. Ryu Seonghan, who had been watching, asked, “Senior, how do you cast spells so quickly? You do not form hand seals or recite incantations.”

“I don’t know.”

“Could it be that you perform Spiritual Energy Manifesting as Spell Power directly, in its raw form?”

“Isn’t that right? I find it more convenient.”

“That’s impossible. You perform such a complicated process that quickly?”

Yise could not answer. He did not know what process other Cultivators went through to cast spells. He had learned to do it this way from the beginning, and had always used them this way. Perhaps it was a characteristic of Daemudo’s cultivation methods, which favored practical combat. Most Daemudo Daoists cast spells in the same manner, though not quite this quickly—except for Cultivators such as Senior Irang, who favored spells with overwhelming firepower. Along with body refining, it was one of the forces that gave them power in battles against opponents of the same realm.

The two hurried on. At this rate, they would spend years merely traveling.

* * *

Emer, Yise’s spirit beast, flew above his head. It flew high overhead, and whenever it spotted a Demon below, it descended and gave him a signal. It was an extremely useful hunting hawk. Its realm was roughly fourth-star Qi Refining. Since Bu Chun was stuck at a minor threshold, if he met this fellow, he would have to address it as fellow Daoist. In terms of usefulness, Emer was even more capable than Bu Chun.

“Where is it?”

Gurgle. Emer bobbed its beak and pointed in a direction.

In the place Yise headed, a rank-nine demonic beast awaited its approaching misfortune. After hunting it and placing it in the Sealing Album, Yise spoke regretfully. “When will you learn to speak? It would be more convenient if we could communicate. Another spiritual beast I met before, one at Qi Refining, knew how to talk.”

“That depends on the environment, but spirit beasts are generally said to develop language abilities once they reach Foundation Establishment.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped.” Yise smacked his lips.

“But what is that?” Ryu Seonghan asked, pointing at the Demon-Sealing Album.

“It’s a single-use storage pouch exclusively for Demon corpses, called a Demon-Sealing Album.”

“Wow. What an amazing item.”

Normally, he had to report every page each time he used one, but because a long absence was unavoidable, he had received permission to use it freely for this mission alone. Thanks to that, he could hunt as many demonic beasts as possible, store them in the album, and take them out only when needed to make immortal cuisine. It was a good substitute for the Meat Preservation Chest, at least for the time being.

The two continued traveling.

* * *

“Senior. They’re Cultivators from the Heavenly Ice Palace.”

At Ryu Seonghan’s words, Yise silently turned his gaze toward them. They had almost reached the vicinity of Tiandogyeong.

“It would be better not to use a flying ritual implement within Heavenly Ice Palace territory. It draws too much attention.”

“Fine.”

After answering, Yise stepped down from the Dream-Saving Cloud.

Two people wearing Heavenly Ice Palace robes approached in a straight line and saluted him with clasped fists. Their divine senses touched. One was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and the other a Qi Refining Cultivator.

“Fellow Daoist, forgive the intrusion. Would you cooperate with a brief inspection?”

“What is this about?”

“We are searching for a wanted person.”

When Ryu Seonghan looked at Yise, Yise gave a slight nod.

“Please present your identity token.”

Ryu Seonghan handed over the Ryu Clan’s identity token. Then he glanced at Yise and added, ‘Senior is a wandering Cultivator.’

“Fellow Daoist, could you tell me why you are using a spirit-concealing spell?”

“I’m merely using the ritual implement I possess. Is there a problem?”

“Not at all. Excuse me. This implement checks whether someone is in disguise, so please do not be alarmed.”

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator briefly extended a rod-shaped ritual implement toward Yise’s face. Nothing changed. The two exchanged glances and showed them a wanted notice. This time, the Qi Refining Cultivator asked Ryu Seonghan, while Yise sensed the Foundation Establishment Cultivator behind him reciting an incantation and casting the mind-reading art.

“Have you seen this person on your way here?”

“No. This is the first time I’ve seen him.”

“Thank you for cooperating. You may proceed.”

The two Cultivators hurried away.

A warm breeze circulated. More precisely, the climate was about as cold as winter on the Eastern Continent, so calling it a warm breeze was somewhat inaccurate. Still, compared to the temperatures in the northern part of the Northern Continent, it was practically balmy. Surprisingly, villages appeared from time to time, though they were scattered rather widely.

“People live outside the Heavenly Ice Palace’s territory?”

“What? No. We already entered Heavenly Ice Palace territory. This is Tiandogyeong, the capital of the Northern Continent and the territory of the Heavenly Ice Palace.”

“There are no walls?”

“Right? You can think of every region reached by the Heavenly Fire Cauldron’s power as Tiandogyeong. Do you know what rain is? Once you enter Tiandogyeong, water falls from the sky instead of snow. It feels wonderful when it hits you.”

Understanding that the culture was different, Yise smiled as if amused. Tiandogyeong gave him the impression that it could simply be called a nation.

“Wouldn’t managing outsiders be difficult this way? There must be wandering Cultivators everywhere.”

“There’s no reason to manage them. From the Heavenly Ice Palace’s perspective as ruler of the continent, wandering Cultivators are walking resources. Unless they are wanted, there is no need to drive them away.”

“I see,” Yise replied.

As they continued inward, enough buildings appeared to make the place worthy of being called a city, and the crowds gradually thickened. Tiandogyeong was enormous. When Yise asked Ryu Seonghan, he said it was even larger than the Dark Heaven Secret Realm. It seemed at least comparable in size to one of the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula. There were mountains and flowing rivers. Since Tiandogyeong itself formed a nation, it was understandable that the Heavenly Ice Palace had little interest in remote cities. Of course, all of this was still the power of a divine relic.

After traveling several more days, they reached the vicinity of the Heavenly Ice Palace’s main mountain. Since entry to the main mountain was restricted, walls had been built around it. After viewing the main-mountain area from afar, the first thing they did was find lodging. Even though the rent was expensive, they obtained a residence with a barrier for security. Next, they began looking for a secluded abode where they could cultivate. There was a problem, however. Secluded abodes within Tiandogyeong were more expensive than expected. Since reaching Foundation Establishment, cultivating in an ordinary place instead of a secluded abode barely helped at all. Yise possessed roughly six thousand spirit stones. Even if he sold everything obtained from the wandering Cultivator, he would have less than nine thousand. There was no immediate problem, but to stay long-term, he needed a way to earn spirit stones.

“Apparently, a secret realm is about to open.”

Ryu Seonghan returned after splitting up to gather information and continued when Yise showed interest.

“It’s a Qi Refining secret realm. The type is ‘Trial.’”

“What kind of type is Trial?”

“They’re secret realms spread by beings of the Upper Realm for entertainment. They deliberately create trials and place rewards at the end. They’re famous for their high difficulty and good rewards.”

“Sounds fun. Shall we enter? At ninth star, it should be much better than last time.”

“No. The accepted wisdom is that you should not enter a Trial secret realm unless you are forcibly conscripted. I can’t go in there only to die like a dog. I’ve already had a great fortuitous encounter.”

“Is it that serious?”

Yise became interested, but if it was a Qi Refining secret realm, it had nothing to do with him. Still, he thought that if he had the chance later, he would like to experience a Trial secret realm.

“First, we need to find a way to earn spirit stones. Rather than entering immediately, why don’t you first reach Great Attainment? You can adapt in the meantime, and the Heavenly Ice Palace will probably regard you as reserve strength.”

“Yes.”

But how were they supposed to earn spirit stones? Yise fell into deep thought.

“I noticed you simply discarded things like snowfish scales. Didn’t you sell them?”

“Do they make money?”

Ryu Seonghan nodded. Back at Daemudo, Yise had sold demonic-beast parts in bundles for almost nothing because demand was nearly nonexistent. When he asked about market prices, Ryu Seonghan replied that snow-monkey fur, for example, sold for about one spirit stone per catty. Trade was more active than on the Eastern Continent, but even collecting things like that would barely make a difference.

“The fastest way would probably be plunder.”

“You really do think like a demonic practitioner.”

“Why say something so hurtful? Haven’t you heard that Cultivation is simply plunder?”

“What kind of saying is that? Has the martial world’s code really fallen apart on the Northern Continent?”

Ryu Seonghan chuckled.

Opening an immortal-cuisine restaurant would be an excellent way to earn spirit stones, but if he ran it alone, he would have no time to cultivate. Bu Chun and Park Gangseo were not here. He could not do everything by himself. He would need publicity, and operating a shop involved far more miscellaneous work than expected.

“You could work as a private teacher, but you have no identity to guarantee your status….”

The biggest problem was his identity. Ryu Seonghan planned to use his existing identity token under the story that he had become a wandering Cultivator after losing a war between cities. If he entered the Heavenly Ice Palace before word reached Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley, the danger would disappear. It was unlikely that anyone there would investigate the background of a Qi Refining wandering Cultivator, anyway.

Unlike Ryu Seonghan, whose identity remained clear despite his clan’s destruction, Yise’s ways of earning spirit stones were extremely limited. Since wandering Cultivators had no guaranteed status, there were few jobs they could do.

“How do other independent Cultivators earn spirit stones?”

“They do odd jobs for sects… or usually wander the wilderness and snowfields searching for spiritual materials.”

That was no more profitable.

Yise rubbed between his brows and muttered, “How about bringing down a Foundation Establishment city ruled by a demonic-path sect?”

“…You’re joking, right?”

He was joking, but if there had been no guarantee of trouble later, he might have tried it at least once.

“Why not become a bounty hunter instead? There are occasionally independent Cultivators or demonic Cultivators with bounties on their heads.”

“Would hunting such people really cause no trouble afterward?”

“They’re wanted, just as the name says. The bounty is fairly lucrative, and you can keep the spoils. Also, you could do the hunting, Senior, while I report it to the Heavenly Ice Palace using the results. I hear a record of hunting wanted criminals earns bonus points when entering.”

“I see. So you’re telling me to act as a demonic-practitioner butcher in your place?”

“Ah… That’s not what I meant.”

“Perfect. Let’s do it right now.”

Daemudo was originally a group of Demon butchers. Yise was exceptionally well suited to it.