Incomprehensible
Han Yuhyeon's height was not particularly impressive—right around the mid-170s. Even so, his form wrapped in scales looked so overwhelming that he seemed large to anyone who laid eyes on him.
"……Han Yuhyeon, is that you?"
Mun Il-pyeong asked carefully. Right now the man's entire body was sheathed in scales, making it impossible to tell who he was. His most distinctive feature—that disgustingly ugly face—was covered for the moment.
"That's right."
"Do you have any way to prove it?"
"Did you draw the assistant examiners yet? Last time I told you to hurry up and pick them."
Mun Il-pyeong's face twisted. He clearly remembered hearing those exact words the last time he had seen Han Yuhyeon.
"Seems like it's him. Unlucky bastard."
"Thank you for confirming."
Once his identity was verified, the spectators finally began to murmur.
"Who the hell is that guy?"
"Looks like he's cultivated some weird art."
"The way his appearance changed, it's probably a body-refinement technique."
"I think that's the outer disciple the Baekun-pa has been watching. They say he's breaking through realms at an absurd speed."
Han Yuhyeon's reputation had already spread to a fair degree throughout Yeongil-ju. It would have been stranger if news of someone breaking through one star of a realm every single month had failed to circulate in the cultivation world.
"Still, wasn't he only Qi Condensation 4-star? If they were watching him, they could've just opened the tournament next year like usual. I can't remember why they advanced it."
Even outsiders could check the bracket and see the cultivation levels of every outer disciple entering the inner-disciple selection. The information served as a reference for the gamblers, but it was also a way for the Baekun-pa to show off its rising momentum.
"Internal politics aren't our business. Ah, it's starting."
"His opponent is Qi Condensation 6-star. No matter how you look at it, the 6-star should win."
"Yeah, that tracks."
While the crowd chattered, a sharp whistle cut through the training ground. Mun Il-pyeong had blown it—the signal that the match was open. The spectators fell silent at once and focused on the arena.
Yet even after the whistle, the two men standing on the field—Han Yuhyeon and Gwan Jin-hong—did not move. To the audience it looked like they were simply feeling each other out.
"……Aren't you coming?"
Gwan Jin-hong asked quietly. In this righteous cultivation world, face still mattered. A life-and-death duel was one thing, but in a formal sparring match with spectators present, a senior attacking a junior first was considered a disgraceful act.
Gwan Jin-hong was Qi Condensation 6-star; Han Yuhyeon was Qi Condensation 4-star. Anyone could see that Han Yuhyeon was the one who should charge first. Yet Han Yuhyeon simply stood there.
At first Gwan Jin-hong thought the junior was probing or frightened. When that no longer seemed to be the case, he asked.
Han Yuhyeon stayed still a beat longer before answering.
"What?"
"I asked if you were coming or not."
"Sorry. Scales grew inside my ears too, so I can't hear well."
"Did scales grow on your tongue as well, that you're speaking so casually?"
Gwan Jin-hong frowned. Not only was there a two-star gap in cultivation, but Han Yuhyeon had barely been cultivating for half a year. Gwan Jin-hong, by contrast, had spent three years as a wandering cultivator and seven more as an outer disciple of the Baekun-pa—ten years of cultivation in total. Whether by realm or by time invested, Han Yuhyeon ought to have shown him proper respect.
"Why are you speaking casually when you don't even have scales?"
"What?"
Gwan Jin-hong let out a hollow laugh at the reply. He already knew this junior was a cultivator the sect was watching, but talent and manners were separate matters. He drew up his spiritual energy.
"Looks like you still don't know the basics because you only just entered the cultivation world. I'll have to teach you some proper etiquette."
Gwan Jin-hong's spiritual energy condensed into visible form and billowed outward. The spectators murmured in admiration at the dense, mature qi of a seasoned Qi Condensation 6-star.
"Ohh. This time Gwan Jin-hong might actually make inner disciple."
"Honestly it's weird he hasn't already. He's had rotten luck."
Wandering cultivators and Baekun-pa disciples who knew Gwan Jin-hong had no doubt the victory would go to him.
It was already common knowledge that Han Yuhyeon followed Elder Baekri-wan. Some even wondered whether the other elders had deliberately matched him against a fairly strong outer disciple as a form of check. Advancing the inner-disciple selection so suddenly might also have been tied to those elders' political struggles.
"Normally a senior never attacks first in a spar, but I'll make an exception this time—for instructional purposes."
At those words Han Yuhyeon gave a short snort of laughter. The open mockery put killing intent into Gwan Jin-hong's eyes.
Accidents always happened in matches like these. The closer the two cultivators were in realm, the harder it became to hold back.
Even when an accident did occur, the sect rarely took any action. They simply called it a pity. From the sect's perspective, outer disciples were disposable. Using the selection as an excuse to throw out killing techniques was therefore a common enough occurrence.
Looked at that way, Gwan Jin-hong had no reason not to kill Han Yuhyeon. Han Yuhyeon was a resource the Baekun-pa was watching closely. Even if Gwan Jin-hong became an inner disciple, sharing that status with someone like Han Yuhyeon would push him down the priority list—that much was obvious.
You brought this on yourself.
Gwan Jin-hong made his decision: he would kill Han Yuhyeon. He had not originally intended to go that far, but the junior had trusted his talent and acted far too insufferably. In the mortal world it might have been different; in the cultivation world it was more than enough reason to die.
"Here I come."
Giving advance notice was the last scrap of a senior's mercy and face.
Behind Gwan Jin-hong's shoulders, five orbs the size of a man's fist fanned out. They were his dharma treasures.
"The Five Extremes Origin-Chasing Orbs."
"A pretty troublesome treasure."
An offensive dharma treasure that controlled five spheres. The Five Extremes Origin-Chasing Orbs were Gwan Jin-hong's pride—obtained by luck as a dungeon reward six years earlier.
Puff-puff-puff!
The orbs tore through the air with explosive cracks as they shot toward Han Yuhyeon.
Because Gwan Jin-hong had used the treasure for six years, his proficiency was exceptional. Each orb normally required its own thread of will; a beginner struggled to control even two. Freely manipulating all five like his own limbs, the way Gwan Jin-hong did now, demanded considerable skill.
The five orbs streaked at Han Yuhyeon from different angles. Everyone was certain they would hit. Their speed was high, and from the spectators' perspective Han Yuhyeon had shown no reaction right up to the moment of impact.
"Huh?"
Just as everyone thought the orbs had struck, they passed through empty air. Han Yuhyeon had simply vanished.
The crowd was startled, but the most shocked was Gwan Jin-hong. He immediately expanded his spiritual sense to track Han Yuhyeon. That was when a low voice spoke right behind him.
"You went all out. Wanted to kill me, did you?"
Before Gwan Jin-hong could even turn, a hand reached from behind and seized his head. His skull was locked in place; he could not twist around.
Thuk-thuk-thuk-thuk-thuk.
Right in front of his fixed gaze, all five of the Five Extremes Origin-Chasing Orbs split cleanly in half and dropped to the ground. Gwan Jin-hong's eyes bulged as he tried to move them again, but the five spheres did not so much as twitch. The treasures themselves had been destroyed; the spiritual energy that had inhabited them was gone. He had not even seen how the five had been bisected.
Only then did Gwan Jin-hong understand. The Han Yuhyeon gripping his head from behind was no longer his junior. In the cultivation world, seniority was decided not by time served but by absolute realm. The aura pouring from Han Yuhyeon's body right now was not something a Qi Condensation 4-star could possess.
"You tried to kill me, so I'll kill you. No complaints, right?"
"Senior Brother. I have committed a grave discourtesy. If you spare me just this once, I will repay you with grass-bound loyalty……"
Gwan Jin-hong begged for his life, but there was no real hope left in his voice. Once your killing intent had been detected, preparing to die yourself was simply the natural law of the cultivation world.
Crack!
Of course Han Yuhyeon did not even wait for him to finish. He crushed the skull. The head vanished cleanly; only the portion below the neck remained as Gwan Jin-hong toppled limply onto the training-ground floor.
"……According to the rules of the inner-disciple sparring matches, deliberately killing an opponent is forbidden."
"Except when the opponent tries to kill you first, that is."
Mun Il-pyeong muttered blankly, but Han Yuhyeon had already memorized the regulations in anticipation of exactly those words. Since Han Yuhyeon was correct, Mun Il-pyeong had nothing more to say.
"Are you really Han Yuhyeon?"
"I already told you I am."
At Mun Il-pyeong's lingering suspicion, Han Yuhyeon drew the Hyeonwol-soin from his sleeve and held it up. It was the same Crescent Moon Small Blade that had sliced every one of Gwan Jin-hong's Five Extremes Origin-Chasing Orbs in half. Since the owner of the Hyeonwol-soin was unmistakably Han Yuhyeon, Mun Il-pyeong could find no further fault.
"Han Yuhyeon, victory."
Mun Il-pyeong reluctantly declared the result. Han Yuhyeon gave him a slight nod and left the training ground. The arena itself had fallen into a stunned, deathly silence.
"This is practically fraud. The bracket says Qi Condensation 4-star, but it turns out he's Qi Condensation 7-star. Raising three stars in a single month—is that even possible? He must have been lying from the start."
"When you gamble, the bracket clearly states that the listed realms are unofficial."
"Even so, I can't accept it."
"Didn't you see for yourself last month that this junior was Qi Condensation 4-star?"
Baekri-wan said. Back when that ruined house had made its absurd offer, the spiritual energy Han Yuhyeon had released had indeed been only at the level of Qi Condensation 4-star.
"He could be carrying a treasure that conceals his realm, or he might simply be regulating the energy he releases."
"There are many things in this world that cannot be understood. What matters is that you must not dismiss them as lies simply because you cannot comprehend them. That is how a person becomes trapped."
At Baekri-wan's words the Talisman Workshop disciple closed his mouth. Another rebuttal would have meant arguing with Elder Baek, and he had no desire to see that bone-chilling side of her again.
"Next match. The winner of this one faces that junior, right?"
"According to the bracket, yes. But they're both mediocre. Both are Qi Condensation 6-star. Whichever one advances won't be a match for the junior, I suspect."
"Who knows. As I said, incomprehensible things happen all the time in this world."
"Pardon?"
The Talisman Workshop disciple started to ask again, but the next match began at once with Mun Il-pyeong's whistle.
And at the same moment, the match ended. One side had overwhelmingly rendered the other incapable of action.
"……What is this now?"
The Talisman Workshop disciple's mouth fell open once more. The cultivator who had just won was also nowhere near Qi Condensation 6-star. At that level he was at least 9-star, possibly even late Qi Condensation. Yet the bracket had clearly listed him as 6-star.
"I told you. Incomprehensible things happen all the time in this world."
Watching the disciple's dazed expression, Baekri-wan smiled.
"Don't they?"
Baekri-wan suddenly turned around. Behind her stood Han Yuhyeon, still covered in scales. The Talisman Workshop disciple jumped; he had not even noticed the man approach.
"They do."
Han Yuhyeon answered. His entire face was hidden behind scales, so his expression was hard to read, but the way his visible eyes curved suggested he was smiling.
"You look rather relaxed. He's your next opponent."
"I know."
From what Baekri-wan could sense, Han Yuhyeon's current realm was roughly Qi Condensation 7-star. Yet even after seeing a fighter of roughly Qi Condensation 9-star strength, Han Yuhyeon showed not the slightest sign of being cowed.
"Looks manageable."
At that reply Baekri-wan's smile deepened another shade.