Chapter 117 - Act 17. Abyssal Labyrinth (2)

The two headed toward a cluster of halls near the Heavenly Ice Palace’s main gate called the Affairs Court. It was where outsiders and outer affiliates gathered to conduct business involving the palace.

The hall that posted wanted notices and paid out bounties was relatively quiet. Apparently, bounty hunting was something outer disciples and independent Cultivators alike preferred to avoid.

'That’s a lot.'

There were considerably more wanted criminals than he had expected. Book-sized portraits had been posted on the wall, with the charges and related information written beneath them. There were enough to pack an entire wall—seemingly a good two hundred. Judging by the scraps of paper left in a few places, they took down resolved notices and left only those for criminals still at large.

The independent Cultivators who came to browse the notices gave them a quick look and left. The Cultivators managing the hall made no particular effort to stop them or speak to them. Neither side seemed interested in the other at all.

“Looks like there’s no other procedure.”

“You just check the notices and catch them on your own. They don’t expect the independent Cultivators who stop by to bring anyone in anyway. Most wanted criminals get caught when they enter another city as wandering Cultivators.”

“Can I copy down the information?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Yise first scanned the notices as a whole, committing as much as possible to memory so he could recognize anyone he happened to run into on his travels. Qi Refining Cultivators did not need to remember the exact portraits. If they met a Cultivator who looked similar, they could use mind reading and ask, “Are you a wanted criminal?” That would be the end of the hunt.

The notices for Foundation Establishment Cultivators were grouped on one side of another wall. Yise stopped as though rooted to the spot before a clean notice that particularly caught his eye.

- Jang Yeonggeol. Middle-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

- Charges: Failing to return a map of the Abyssal Labyrinth acquired with the sect’s support, murdering fellow disciples, and fleeing.

- Bounty for information on whereabouts: 10,000 spirit stones.

- An additional 10,000 spirit stones will be paid for returning the secret map with its seal intact.

Noticing that Yise had stopped, Ryu Seonghan approached him.

“Found something that interests you? Oh, this notice...”

It was the same notice the Heavenly Ice Palace Cultivators searching the surrounding area had shown them before they entered Tiandogyeong.

“You’re not thinking of hunting a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, are you?”

“Why is the bounty so high?”

Most bounties for Foundation Establishment Cultivators started at several thousand, but the criminal before him commanded the highest price. A full ten thousand. The sum Yise had barely scraped together by hunting dozens of demonic practitioners from the Iron Sun Thunder Sect was being offered for a single Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

“What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘Foundation Establishment Cultivator’?”

“Must have plenty of good stuff in their storage pouch?”

“... No. Well, of course they would, but look. Qi Refining Cultivators can’t even dream of doing this in the first place. And even if you’re at Foundation Establishment yourself, finding a wanted criminal is hard enough. Why take the risk of fighting a Foundation Establishment Cultivator on top of that? That’s what people naturally think.”

Seonghan added, “Besides, someone in the middle stage isn’t an opponent even a late-stage Cultivator can take lightly. Nobody wants to step forward. Naturally, that drives the price up.”

That explanation raised another question. If they wanted the map back badly enough to offer twenty thousand spirit stones, wouldn’t it have been better to leave the search to people dispatched from within the sect rather than conduct it so publicly? This was practically an advertisement inviting a swarm of Hungry Ghosts to descend on it.

After thinking it over carefully, Yise reached his own conclusion.

The Abyssal Labyrinth.

It was a type of small secret realm within the continent, artificially created by ancient great Core Formation Cultivators with nothing better to do, usually to pass their cultivation methods on to future generations. He had heard that bored, perverse old monsters who wanted to pass on their methods—but not to just anyone—sometimes built them as a hobby.

'So it’s not simply about recovering it. It’s a race against time. They have to find him before he breaks the map’s seal and loots the labyrinth.'

That was why the bounty was for his whereabouts rather than his death or capture. Even if someone decided to steal the secret map, a battle between Foundation Establishment Cultivators was bound to attract attention. The Heavenly Ice Palace intended to focus on that disturbance and recover it.

'This won’t be easy.'

That was Yise’s conclusion. The man had betrayed the Heavenly Ice Palace, the continent’s dominant power, determined to seize his prize even if it killed him. He must have chosen to grasp this great fortuitous encounter after extensive preparation and meticulous calculation.

Yet somehow, Yise had a feeling he could find him. While searching for the murderer of novice disciples at the training compound, he had realized that he was surprisingly good at reading people’s minds. Then there was the Spirit-Detecting Mirror he had taken from the wandering Cultivator. It was an exceptionally useful ritual implement for locating hidden Cultivators.

'It’s not as though I have another way to earn spirit stones anyway.'

Deciding to give it a try, Yise copied the information on the wanted notice onto blank bamboo slips, then sketched the portrait.

Seonghan, who had been watching him intently, voiced his admiration.

“You’re good at drawing.”

“Fairly good.”

“Why didn’t you become a talisman artisan instead?”

“I’ve actually been wondering whether I should learn a craft to earn spirit stones.”

Immortal cuisine was an immensely appealing craft, but people knew little of its appeal or its effects. It was truly regrettable that he had to bow to the times and learn a craft just to make money.

“Let’s split up here. You earn spirit stones and cultivate toward entering the Heavenly Ice Palace. I’ll handle things my own way. Whenever I make immortal cuisine, I’ll leave it in the cold-storage chest at our lodgings. Leave a message if anything comes up.”

“Yes. If it looks like I can enter the sect already, I’ll join and continue cultivating there.”

“All right.”

Setting a time to meet would only restrict their movements. The two parted ways, leaving their lodgings as a point of contact.

Yise stepped out into the street alone and organized his thoughts as he walked. When searching for a target, choosing the right initial direction mattered more than anything else. One thought led to another, forming a logical chain.

'Think from the fugitive’s perspective. What does he need to do to keep himself safe and find a way to break the seal?'

The first idea that came to mind was flight. Move to another city and escape the Heavenly Ice Palace’s notice.

'Too dangerous. Rule that out.'

For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, moving to another city would attract more attention, not less. Sightings of wandering Cultivators had to be reported. Considering that most captured fugitives were caught after making this choice, the risk was far too great.

The second possibility was wandering. Roaming the snowfields limited one’s access to information, but it was relatively safe. That must have been why the Heavenly Ice Palace had dispatched Cultivators outside Tiandogyeong. They would have considered distributing wanted notices sufficient within its borders.

'Then, paradoxically, the safest place would be inside Tiandogyeong.'

The safest place precisely because it was the most dangerous. Right under their noses.

The territory was as vast as a nation. Anyone determined enough could find somewhere to hide. He could disguise himself, conceal his realm, and lie low while searching for a way to break the seal.

'He can’t have broken it already.'

Had the seal been that easy to break, the Heavenly Ice Palace would never have counted on recovering it in the first place.

One thing still puzzled him: the disparity between the map’s value and the choice the man had made. The Heavenly Ice Palace had offered a total of twenty thousand spirit stones. Taking into account the punishment due for murdering fellow disciples, they had judged the map itself to be worth less than that.

That was a rather modest sum for becoming a fugitive wanted by the sect that ruled the continent. All the more so considering the fugitive’s realm. It was certainly a great deal of money, but... Yise would never have made that choice.

'Why? Why did Jang Yeonggeol choose to kill his fellow disciples and betray his sect over a secret map worth twenty thousand spirit stones at most?'

Yise pondered the question, then reached a conclusion.

'He filed a false report.'

Before betraying the sect, he had deliberately understated the map’s value. The moment Jang Yeonggeol examined it, he must have been certain it was worth staking his entire life of Cultivation on.

So he had falsely reported a lower value, killed the fellow disciples who had accompanied him on the mission to silence them, and fled. He had exploited cultivation sects’ tendency to match their response to the value at stake, ensuring that no great Core Formation Cultivators would get involved.

'Then this is a secret map even Core Formation Cultivators would covet.'

Yise’s eyes gleamed.

'This might turn out to be quite profitable.'

He had initially intended to go after the bounty, but now he had changed his mind. He would obtain the map and enter the Abyssal Labyrinth himself.

Yise wandered through central Tiandogyeong near the Heavenly Ice Palace, buying a few talismans that could dispel disguises before obtaining a map of the territory. Some ritual implements caught his fancy along the way, but he decided to conserve his spirit stones just in case.

'If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve brought more spirit stones.'

He had thought he had brought enough, yet they kept quietly leaking away like water. After buying several different maps and cross-checking them, he filled in the gaps in each to create one complete map, then looked down at it.

'He won’t be able to ask ritual-implement merchants or artisans directly. Secrecy and safety come before everything else.'

Once again, Yise put himself in the fugitive’s position. He had betrayed his sect for a great fortuitous encounter. He needed to break the secret map’s seal without word reaching the Heavenly Ice Palace.

'He’ll seek knowledge.'

If it were Yise, he would have searched for some source of relevant knowledge, whether a person or a book.

'What about visiting a retired Cultivator?'

Those whose lives were nearing their end, or who had abandoned cultivation because breaking through a major threshold was a distant dream. Older Cultivators generally knew a great deal. They were often lonely, too, and likely to teach someone all sorts of things in exchange for companionship.

Where, then, would he find such old men? Cultivators with little hope of extending their lifespans by breaking through a major threshold usually sought to enjoy the wealth and luxury they had missed out on. They generally headed for cities of ordinary people, where there were no dangerous Cultivators.

'No. That’s not right.'

Yise reconsidered, recalling the elderly Cultivator’s greed he had encountered at the Silver Dragon Mine.

Those who had abandoned cultivation because they could not hope to break through a major threshold were precisely the ones whose aged hearts burned with immense greed for fortuitous encounters—enough to willingly endanger even their own families. If such things happened on the Eastern Continent, they would be worse here, where plunder ran more rampant and the strong devoured the weak.

He could trust no one. He would try to break the seal by his own efforts, whatever it took.

'What a bleak prospect.'

Yise shared the helplessness the fugitive must feel.

What if he first went into hiding, waited until the Heavenly Ice Palace’s vigilance waned, then calmly searched whatever places he could access? Every city had bookshops. After enough time had passed, the Heavenly Ice Palace would assume that the labyrinth had already been plundered and relax its search.

'For now, the most important thing is to avoid attention.'

'But the great fortuitous encounter in my grasp is so tempting that I’m too impatient to simply stay hidden.'

'A market town neither too large nor too small. As far from the Heavenly Ice Palace’s main mountain as possible.'

'But not on the very outskirts. They might have the same idea. Somewhere at an awkward middling distance would be safest.'

'I’ll quietly gather information somewhere safe until their vigilance wanes.'

Yise’s brush marked a total of fourteen market towns.