The Wastewater Treatment Plant
While waiting for Dang Ji-sang to make contact with the Pesu of Seong-do, Han Yuhyeon took up residence in the largest and most lavish guest pavilion of the Sichuan Dang Clan.
Dang Ga-hye clearly found Yuhyeon's stay at the Dang Clan burdensome, but Dang Ji-sang, on the contrary, seemed eager for him to lodge there. The fact that Yuhyeon had killed roughly three members of the Dang Clan's Poison Soul Squad didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.
This made it clear that Dang Ga-hye knew nothing of cultivators, while Dang Ji-sang did. Forming a connection with even a single cultivator was, from a mortal's perspective, the equivalent of securing an extraordinarily powerful backer.
Even common dharma treasures used in the cultivation world—things like dusk-phase artifacts or floating spirit stones—were regarded as divine relics in this lower realm. So of course it was natural.
Of course, if Yuhyeon received help, he planned to roughly buy some cheap spiritual pills from the Mongan Hyeolseo and hand them over. Even something like thousand-year fleeceflower root or Human-shaped Snow Ginseng—treated as weeds in the cultivation world—would be magnificent gifts to these people.
"Hoooo."
Yuhyeon sat in a space so vast and opulent it felt burdensome to occupy alone, circulating the Taeheo Honwon-gyeong.
Then someone carefully knocked on the door. Yuhyeon opened his eyes and asked,
"Who is it?"
"I-it's Dang Ga-hye, Cultivator."
He'd roughly expected it from the light, soft footsteps, and sure enough, the visitor was Dang Ga-hye.
"Come in."
Yuhyeon gave permission without rising. Dang Ga-hye carefully opened the door. A golden sash cinched around her slender waist over a green light martial outfit lent her a pure, ethereal beauty.
"Is the room comfortable, Cultivator?"
Dang Ga-hye first grasped the hem of her robe and offered a demure bow. Yuhyeon nodded while trying to maintain as much gravitas as possible.
"Hmm. Not bad, for a lower realm."
"I apologize once more for the discourtesy caused by my poor judgment, Cultivator."
"Fine. You didn't know, so it can be forgiven. I also apologize for harming your martial artists."
"It was well within what a cultivator might do. I do not resent you for it."
When they'd first met with Dang Ji-sang for their three-way conversation, she'd treated Yuhyeon like some unknown entity. Now her attitude was completely submissive.
"I take it your uncle gave you a little education on what cultivators are?"
His words hit the mark—Dang Ga-hye's face flushed red.
"I heard a brief explanation. It was quite astonishing. I never dreamed there was a world beyond the martial world—a heaven beyond heaven."
"It's always like that. Even among cultivators, there are heavens beyond heavens. Beyond those lies the cosmos, and beyond the cosmos is still unknown space."
Yuhyeon lowered his voice and squeezed out what meager vocabulary he had. This was the first time in this life—or his previous one—that he'd received such treatment, and he wanted to look impressive.
If they knew he was currently scraping the bottom among cultivators, how shocked would they be? Of course, Yuhyeon had no intention of selling himself short like that.
"So, you didn't come just to apologize again. You're here about Old Man Dang, aren't you?"
"I don't know why you call my father an old man when he hasn't even reached the age of knowing heaven's mandate yet, but... yes."
Dang Ga-hye had more guts than she appeared. She wasn't mindlessly flattering him like Dang Ji-sang just because he was a cultivator, and coming here knowing the person before her looked down on her took real courage.
"Please, I beg you. I was separated from my father when I was young. My mother died giving birth to me, and he was the only family I had left..."
Dang Ga-hye formally bowed toward Yuhyeon. Even so, fear of cultivators still gripped her—her voice and small shoulders trembled violently as she bowed.
"There's nothing I can tell you."
But Yuhyeon spoke firmly. There was nothing to gain from revealing Old Man Dang's miserable life.
Even if Ga-hye knew, she couldn't save him, and Old Man Dang himself hadn't wanted his daughter to know.
"I-I don't have much I can offer..."
Ga-hye said, trembling. Yuhyeon's ears perked up.
"These are the most precious things I have—the ones I cherish most."
A sturdy-looking leather pouch emerged from her robes. Even as mortals, the Sichuan Dang Clan was a renowned martial family. If she called something precious and cherished, it clearly wouldn't be mere money—so he had some expectations.
With a fluttering heart, Yuhyeon untied the leather pouch. The moment he looked inside, he yelped in shock and flung the pouch to the floor.
"Fuck!"
From the open mouth of the leather pouch spilled centipedes, scorpions, snakes, and spiders. And not ordinary bugs either—vividly colored insects that looked vicious at a glance.
Yuhyeon's face flushed just as mottled as he shouted at Ga-hye. Suddenly receiving bugs as a "gift" shattered any pretense of dignity, and a shrill voice burst out.
"Are you insane?"
"Ah, these little ones don't bite. And we've removed all their toxins with the Dang Clan's secret arts."
"Is that the problem? These are complete trash!"
"Then what...?"
Ga-hye genuinely seemed not to understand what she'd done wrong. She even gazed lovingly at the bugs crawling out across the floor and carefully guided them back into the pouch.
Seeing that, it seemed she really did cherish them as she'd claimed—which only made it more absurd. There was a limit to having flowers for brains. No—bug garden would be more accurate.
"Pick up those bugs and get the hell out. Don't leave a single one behind! Don't actually piss me off."
"They're really delicious if you try them. I raised them myself on premium feed."
"They were even for eating?"
His departed sense of reason had crossed the uncanny valley and was heading toward a mountain of pure bewilderment.
The only reason he didn't explode at Ga-hye was that he could tell she was sincere. When a cat brings you a mouse as a gift of gratitude, getting angry about it is a little awkward.
"Just leave."
"I can't. I have to find my father."
Was it true that ignorance breeds courage? Ga-hye even showed him defiance right in front of a cultivator. If Yuhyeon had been a cultivator from birth, turning her into a spiritual pill would have been justified.
As he was genuinely weighing whether to kill her or spare her, he sensed someone approaching the room. Besides Ga-hye, there was only one person who would come to his quarters right now.
"Cultivator. It is Dang Ji-sang."
"Ah, right. Come in already."
When Dang Ji-sang entered and saw Ga-hye squatting to pick up bugs, his eyes went wide.
"What—Ga-hye. Why are you here?"
"Take this kid and get her out. Right now."
When Yuhyeon issued the expulsion order, Dang Ji-sang immediately put on a stern face.
"I warned you so many times not to be rude to the Cultivator. Did you take your uncle's words so lightly?"
"Th-that's not it, I was just looking for Father..."
"Out!"
Dang Ji-sang roughly seized Ga-hye's wrist and dragged her outside. Having driven her out, he returned to the room.
"Please forgive my niece's rudeness, Cultivator. She is still a child who doesn't fully understand what cultivators are."
"You should've trained her properly."
"I apologize."
Dang Ji-sang bowed his head in contrition. Yuhyeon cleared his throat.
"So, have you made contact with the cultivators?"
"Yes. They are in the reception hall now."
"Fast. Good."
As expected, Dang Ji-sang was sharp and efficient—unlike a total washout like Ga-hye. Yuhyeon immediately hung his dusk-phase artifact at his waist and followed Dang Ji-sang to the reception hall.
As they neared the reception hall, he could clearly sense the spiritual energy unique to cultivators. But that energy was far murkier than what one typically saw from cultivators in the cultivation world. Unlike the cultivation realm, the lower world was thick with turbid energy, so spiritual energy inevitably became polluted like this.
"I have brought the cultivator."
Dang Ji-sang knocked first and entered the reception hall with deference. Through the open door, two cultivators sat in every variety of lounging, arrogant posture. Yuhyeon naturally followed in and greeted them.
"Greetings. I am Han Yuhyeon of the Baekun-pa of Yeongil-ju."
In the brief time of that greeting, Yuhyeon could feel the seated cultivators probing him from head to toe.
This wasn't specifically because they were Pesu—it was a racial trait of cultivators. They needed to quickly determine whether the person before them was someone they should bow to or not.
"Hmm, a pleasure. I am Jin Myeong-un. My companion here is Yun Il-hae."
"So a cultivator from Yeongil-ju has come all the way to So-ui-ju."
The moment he revealed he was a cultivator from Yeongil-ju, they immediately put on airs. Even if they'd stopped cultivating, the achievements they'd already made through cultivation didn't simply vanish.
"But since when does a cultivator from Yeongil-ju come to So-ui-ju and summon other cultivators like this? Instead of coming to find us himself, no less."
Yun Il-hae immediately responded with a sideways attitude. As the power struggle between cultivators began, Dang Ji-sang, caught in the middle, went deathly pale. He looked exactly like an innkeeper who'd just received a party of martial artists. For all that the Sichuan Dang Clan was a famous name, before cultivators they were less than even an innkeeper.
"You two aren't cultivators of So-ui-ju, are you? You're cultivators of Seong-do."
Yuhyeon responded indifferently. They clearly weren't at Foundation Establishment. Late-stage Qi Condensation at best. And having lived in the lower realm, their energy would be heavily mixed with turbid qi—so Yuhyeon had nothing to feel inferior about.
At the words "cultivators of Seong-do," Jin Myeong-un and Yun Il-hae's faces changed completely. So-ui-ju and Seong-do referred to the same region in different ways, but Yuhyeon's deliberate distinction meant: aren't you just losers who fled the cultivation world?
"How dare you be so rude!"
Jin Myeong-un and Yun Il-hae shot to their feet. Yuhyeon snorted.
"You should've been grateful I didn't call you Pesu from the start."
At his words, both cultivators' faces turned beet red. "Pesu" was, of course, a derogatory term. Hearing it to their faces, they couldn't help but rage.
"This Yeongil-ju bastard doesn't know his place!"
"Unbelievable. What exactly are you counting on to be so confident?"
Dharma treasures rose above the cultivators' shoulders. He'd roughly expected things to go this way. When cultivators met and the gap wasn't large enough for one to immediately submit, this kind of clash was inevitable.
"No matter how much of a Yeongil-ju cultivator I am, you think I'd lose to some wastewater bastards like you?"
"This bastard runs his mouth like he thinks it's free."
And with Yuhyeon further degrading them from Pesu to "wastewater," the cultivators launched their dharma treasures without delay. Spiritual power erupting from the treasures smashed every piece of furniture in the reception hall as they flew. Dang Ji-sang looked ready to cry, but cultivators were never warm enough beings to care about mortals' buildings.
Just before the dharma treasures, whipping up a gale, could touch Yuhyeon's body, he drew the Blood Shadow Nine Nights Sword from his waist and cut them all down.
Thud.
The dharma treasures, cleaved cleanly in two in an instant, fell to the floor. The two cultivators' eyes went wide.
In truth, Yuhyeon was a bit surprised too. He'd just meant to knock them aside, but as expected of something worth a mid-grade spiritual stone, the sword's performance itself was absurd. Of course, he didn't show it, flicking the blade diagonally and reacting as if he'd expected exactly this.
"Hey, Dang Ji-sang."
Yuhyeon spoke to Dang Ji-sang behind him. Dang Ji-sang scrambled to answer.
"Y-yes! Cultivator."
"This place is no longer the Dang Clan's reception hall."
"Pardon?"
"It's a wastewater treatment plant."
With those words, Yuhyeon unleashed his spiritual energy. Qi naturally flowed into the Blood Shadow Nine Nights Sword, transforming into a blood-red sword aura. In that moment, the two cultivators' faces went deathly pale.