Spiritual Roots

The women here were almost certainly cultivators belonging to the Talisman Workshop. Baekri-wan cast a glance over them and issued her eviction order.

"All of you, step outside for a moment."

"Yes! Understood!"

Without so much as a murmur of protest, the women filed out of Han Yuhyeon's house. Their disciplined exit made it hard to believe they were the same people who had been sniffling and cooing over him only moments before. Now only Baekri-wan and Han Yuhyeon remained.

"I more or less know what you're thinking."

"Pardon?"

"You just don't want to get tangled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up any deeper with the Baekun Sect, right?"

Han Yuhyeon opened his mouth to make excuses, but the remark struck so dead-center that the words evaporated. Truthfully, he had flinched even when she first said she would take him in.

Yet reading her expression, Baekri-wan did not seem particularly offended. Come to think of it, she herself held no great fondness for the Baekun Sect either.

"That's correct."

At this point, a direct approach was best. Han Yuhyeon answered with open confidence and met Baekri-wan's eyes head-on.

"Right. And I feel the same way."

"I imagined as much."

"But from where I'm standing, you still need to grow bigger inside the Baekun Sect before you leave. You're trying to worm your way up precisely because you think so too, aren't you?"

"That's also correct."

"It would have been nicer if you could have stayed quiet until then, but you've already drawn quite a lot of attention from the upper ranks."

"…Have I?"

He had expected something of the sort. Jeong Cheon-o's recording spirit stone would have captured every one of his exploits. If the elders or the sect master had eyes, they could hardly have failed to take notice. Mun Il-pyeong had clearly seen that record as well—that was why he had started sniffing around.

"Even the fact that next month's Inner Disciple selection tournament was moved up is because of you. They want to bind you as tightly as possible to the Baekun Sect."

"Ahh. So that's how it went."

He had not anticipated enough attention to alter the entire sect schedule. That was… inconvenient.

"And looking at you, you do seem ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to intend to make it at least as far as Inner Disciple."

"Yes. First I need to get out of this garbage dump of a ruin."

"Mm. Sensible. Honestly, around here the only place you can live with any real safety is the Inner Disciple quarters inside the Baekun Sect."

Baekri-wan folded her arms and nodded.

"But once you're an Inner Disciple, the elders will cling to you twice as hard. And if you turn every one of them down, you'll be in twice the trouble you're in now."

"…That does sound right."

"That's why I came. I'll say this clearly. I don't care whether you leave the Baekun Sect or not. I'm leaving eventually myself. This is only a nominal adoption."

Han Yuhyeon's buttonhole eyes went wide with a soft twing. The proposal fit him like a tailored glove.

A backer standing behind him to keep the nuisances away, yet without any real entanglement. Clean. Perfect.

Then caution reasserted itself. If she was offering something this perfectly tailored to his taste, there had to be a corresponding obligation.

"And what do I have to do?"

"Nothing."

"Pardon?"

Baekri-wan's flat reply left Han Yuhyeon more flustered than before. On Earth it might have been plausible; in the world of Yeonhwa Seonrok, it was pure nonsense.

"Well, it's not a bad attitude to have. Cultivating the habit of suspecting goodwill is generally healthy."

Even so, she had read exactly what was running through his mind.

"There's only one thing I want. That you remember this favor. That's all."

"I might not remember, you know."

"Then my investment failed."

"Just remembering is enough? Not 'you have to save me once when I'm in danger' or anything like that?"

"Right."

Han Yuhyeon wore the expression of a man whose world had just collapsed. The situation truly could not exist in the Yeonhwa Seonrok he knew.

"Since you seem to have a bit of talent, I'll tell you this. Do you know what upper-realm cultivators have in common?"

"What?"

Even this for free? Han Yuhyeon asked back with open suspicion.

"They're less of bastards than you'd expect."

"What."

"There are exceptions, of course. But mostly it's true. They cooperate when cooperation is needed, and sometimes they follow a greater cause over the craving right in front of them."

"Cultivators like that can survive in this world?"

"Most of them get stabbed in the back and die. But the ones who survive to the end are usually like that."

Han Yuhyeon briefly wondered how Baekri-wan could know such things. She herself was only a mere Qi Condensation 10-star, after all. Yet in this world, ignorance was often safer than knowledge, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Think about it carefully. At the same realm, two cultivators who truly cooperate will always be stronger than one alone, right?"

"That's true."

"True cooperation needs trust. And that trust isn't one-sided—it has to be mutual. Which means, at the beginning, each side has to show the other goodwill with no strings attached."

Only now did Han Yuhyeon understand why she was telling him all this. She had taken the long way around, but in the end she was proposing an alliance.

Even so, he had never imagined he would actually receive that free goodwill, which was why he was sitting there looking poleaxed.

"Conversely, the bastards who infest this world put their own greed first, end up alone, and get killed by the cultivators who actually cooperate. Who wants to befriend someone with a reputation for stabbing people in the back?"

"…I understand."

So the cultivators who survived were the ones with ordinary, cooperative personalities? Yet every time Han Yuhyeon had played Yeonhwa Seonrok, the people around him had been dripping with pure hatred—even in the upper realms.

A thought lanced through his mind. What if the whole world had simply heard that his character was trash, and only other trash had gathered around him? Goosebumps prickled his skin. Across dozens of endings, he had never once tried to build trust with other cultivators.

"Good that you understand."

Baekri-wan, as if finished with everything she had come to say, turned to leave the room.

"Ah—wait a second, Elder."

Han Yuhyeon stared blankly after her, then remembered what he had forgotten. When she looked back, he rummaged through his storage pouch and produced the recording spirit stone.

"Here's the recording spirit stone."

"Recording spirit stone?"

"I said I'd promote the talismans for you, remember?"

"Ah, right. I did."

Baekri-wan dug into her own pouch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and handed over the agreed-upon lower-grade spirit stone—worth a thousand lowest-grade stones. Completing the deal without even checking the contents… was this also the trust she had spoken of?

"Starting tomorrow, no more elders will come sniffing around, and no more thugs will try to ambush you. Tomorrow I'll announce that you belong to the Talisman Workshop."

"I'm grateful. Ah, and one more thing I'm curious about."

"What?"

"Why are there only women in the Talisman Workshop? And why let me in when I'm a man?"

"Nothing special. The disciples of the Workshop and I are all cultivating a Maiden Art."

"A M-Maiden Art?"

Han Yuhyeon was flustered. He had not expected that answer. Of course the xianxia world was full of every bizarre cultivation method imaginable, including Boy Arts and Maiden Arts. He just had not imagined that Baekri-wan and the Workshop disciples were practicing one.

"So if I bring in any ordinary man, the girls might fall for temptation. Then all the hard work goes up in smoke."

"…So then."

"Yeah. You seemed safe enough."

Han Yuhyeon's expression twisted into something complicated. Should he be happy about this or not? In the end, it was simply the price of sacrificing Charm for Luck.

"So does that mean you'll never be able to practice dual cultivation methods?"

"No. Once you reach a certain realm, you just switch to another method. Even the best Qi Condensation art can't beat a trash Foundation Establishment art, right?"

"Ah, true. Temporary Maiden Art, then."

"Something like that. Anything else?"

"…No."

"Good."

Baekri-wan gave his shoulder a light tap and left. One month remained until the Inner Disciple examination.

Just as Baekri-wan had promised, from that day forward no one harassed Han Yuhyeon. A few people even looked at him with open envy. Within the Baekun Sect he was now fully recognized as part of Baekri-wan's faction.

One solid connection, and sect life became this much easier. He was reminded once again how important connections were.

In the meantime Jeong Cheon-o and several other disciples came bearing bribes, begging him to recommend them to Elder Baek as well. Of course he simply pocketed the bribes and reported that she had refused. He felt no guilt whatsoever—Baekri-wan was going to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠refuse them anyway.

From now on he intended to ignore every other distraction and focus solely on the Inner Disciple selection. He was confident he could pass even if the tournament were held today, but reaching Qi Condensation 5-star would still feel safer.

As he poured himself into training, however, he began to feel the limits of his talent.

Which meant the day had come to burn through every last spirit stone he had saved.

What Han Yuhyeon was after in the Mongan Hyeolseo this time was the core of the xianxia stat system: spiritual roots. The items listed above were precious medicines that directly raised those roots—things he would normally never even catch a glimpse of.

Buy fifty-five Heavenly Wood Roots.

The Taeheo Honwon-gyeong was a balanced method grounded evenly across the five elemental spiritual roots, but the other pillar of his cultivation—the True Dragon Ascending Heaven-Shocking Art—was absolutely dependent on the Wood spiritual root. Heavenly Wood Root was an elixir that raised Wood spiritual root by one point each. Fifty-five was the maximum he could buy with his current funds.

After purchasing every last one, he exited the Mongan Hyeolseo. When Han Yuhyeon snapped his eyes open, the rotting roof beams of his ruined house greeted him. The Heavenly Wood Roots were elixirs shaped, true to their name, like actual roots. He dumped them all onto the floor and began crunching through them one by one. The taste was foul beyond description, yet the knowledge that his spiritual roots were rising made every bite taste like pure honey. Perhaps for that reason, fifty-five of them vanished as if into a black hole.

As far as Han Yuhyeon remembered, the total of his five elemental spiritual root values hovered around fifty. The average sum for a Qi Condensation 4-star cultivator, converted into stats, was roughly eighty—and since his own roots were split five ways, he was firmly at the bottom of the barrel.

But now he had swallowed fifty-five Heavenly Wood Roots that each raised Wood spiritual root by one. In Wood alone, he had become a cultivator of outstanding talent within the Qi Condensation realm.

"Let's give it a try."

Han Yuhyeon rolled his shoulders and stepped out into the courtyard. To test the power of his elevated Wood root, all he needed to do was use the True Dragon Ascending Heaven-Shocking Art.

Originally, only tiny fish-like scales would have prickled up across his skin.

Crack.

A sound that did not belong to ordinary flesh tore through the air as his skin began to split.

"KRAAAAAAGH!"

The agony of living skin ripping open ripped a scream from Han Yuhyeon's throat. While he stood frozen in shock, new scales thrust up between the fissures. They were so large and so beautiful that the old ones now looked almost cute by comparison.

If the previous scales had resembled those of a fish, these looked like…

Yes.

Like the scales of a dragon.