This Is Insane
In Han Yuhyeon's eyes, Dang Ga-hye was still nowhere near a proper clan head. What kind of clan head was that clueless and devoid of dignity? He watched her scramble around preparing the tea and thought exactly that.
It had been Dang Sa-hui who insisted they show the cultivator proper sincerity, ordering Dang Ga-hye to serve the tea herself instead of calling a servant.
Even the sharp first impression she had given earlier had completely vanished.
"The tea is far too strong, Ga-hye. How many times must I tell you that dumping in more leaves is not how you show hospitality?"
"…I'm sorry, Grand-Aunt."
Dang Sa-hui even took a sip of the tea Ga-hye had steeped and scolded her for it. To a crude tongue like Han Yuhyeon's it just tasted nutty and fragrant, but clearly it had not met Dang Sa-hui's standards.
"My apologies, cultivator. Ga-hye is still young and has many dull points."
"It's fine."
Han Yuhyeon gave a half-hearted nod at Dang Sa-hui's apology.
Once Dang Ga-hye sat down as well, Dang Sa-hui laid out the opening remarks first.
"First of all, allow me to thank you once more for cutting out the tumor within the Dang Clan."
"Mm. Yeah. He was a piece of trash, alright."
Han Yuhyeon nodded. Dang Ga-hye still looked confused about treating the man who had killed her own uncle as a benefactor, but she kept her mouth shut and read the room.
"But if you already knew, why couldn't you cut him out yourselves? Were you in on it with him?"
"Certainly not. In truth, Ji-sang was simply riding the prestige of cultivators and lording over the Dang Clan—propping up young Ga-hye as clan head while he did so."
"Ah, so she was just a figurehead. No wonder."
"Pardon? A figurehead?"
"Never mind. Keep going."
Having let modern jargon slip out without thinking, Han Yuhyeon cleared his throat and steered the topic back. Dang Sa-hui continued.
"Ji-sang always envied Cheon-sang. Temperament, talent, height, looks, even the way he got along with people… his older brother was superior in every way. That inferiority complex never left him, and that is why he sold Cheon-sang to the cultivators."
"You knew all of that?"
Dang Ga-hye's face filled with shock at their conversation. She cut in at once.
"G-Grand-Aunt. Why did you never tell me any of this?"
"Do not interrupt when the adults are speaking."
Dang Sa-hui's tone was stern, but Han Yuhyeon shook his head.
"It's fine. I was curious too."
"The reason is simple. Even if Ga-hye had known, there was nothing she could have done right away. If she had foolishly made an enemy of her uncle in the name of avenging her father, she would have been the one purged instead. That is why we never told her. Ji-sang had no children of his own, and Ga-hye was the sole remaining direct heir."
Dang Ga-hye chewed her lip. For all that, she seemed to feel enormous guilt over the fact that she had never known any of this.
"Then why couldn't you stop him?"
"That, too, is simple. In the present Dang Clan, Ji-sang was the only one with any connection to cultivators. As you know, whether a person of the lower world forms a tie with a cultivator depends entirely on the cultivator's choice. This time the opportunity fell to Ji-sang, and there was nothing we could do."
"I see."
Well, even if ordinary mortals swarmed in droves, they could never handle a cultivator. In the end they had no choice but to watch Dang Ji-sang, the man with the close ties to cultivators.
And somehow Han Yuhyeon had wiped out that entrenched cancer—Dang Ji-sang and the cultivators behind him. That made Han Yuhyeon a true benefactor of the Dang Clan.
"Guess I can throw my weight around a little more, then."
Han Yuhyeon leaned back in his chair and said it half as a joke. Dang Sa-hui did not so much as smile; she simply nodded.
"You are more than entitled. In name and in fact, you are the present benefactor of the Dang Clan. On the contrary, we wish to do everything in our power to continue a good relationship with you."
"Really? Isn't it more inconvenient? You never know what kind of tantrum I might throw."
"There will certainly be days like today. But we know you give compensation commensurate with what you receive. The Dang Clan received payment for the people Ji-sang handed over. Cultivators possess treasures the lower world cannot even dream of seeing. Since Ji-sang began dealing with cultivators, the Dang Clan has grown far more prosperous in material terms. It is bitter to think that among those kidnapped and sold were political rivals of the clan—and even people of Sichuan, even members of our own household—and that we could not stop it even if we wanted to… but that is the truth."
From the standpoint of ordinary people in the lower world, that was probably true. A clan that was entangled with cultivators versus one that was not. Which would prosper faster was obvious.
Of course, since you could never predict which cultivator you might meet, it was still a gamble. The majority of cultivators already had their humanity scrambled; a few had gone even further past the point of no return.
"I'm not a Pesu who settled permanently in the lower world, so I won't be able to visit regularly."
"If we can form a bond with a cultivator of the upper world, it is an infinite honor for our Dang Clan."
Dang Sa-hui bowed her head. She looked at least a full sixty years older than Han Yuhyeon, yet that deference still felt alien every time he saw it.
"In that spirit, our Dang Clan wishes to offer you a gift. The treasures we received while dealing with cultivators have always been stored first and foremost in the clan vault."
"Oh?"
Just as boredom was starting to set in, his ears perked up. Dang Sa-hui clapped twice, and one of the Dang martial artists came in grunting under the weight of a heavy-looking iron chest.
"In truth, because we are not cultivators ourselves, there are many cases where we possess cultivators' items yet have no idea how to use them. This chest contains the objects we received from cultivators. Please examine them yourself, cultivator, and take whichever one you desire."
"Hmm, hmm. Then let's have a look."
They clearly regarded it as a genuine treasure; the iron chest was locked many times over. Only after turning keys a full seven times did the lid open.
The interior was divided by partitions so that the items would not mix. There had to be pieces received more than a hundred years ago, yet nothing looked it. Everything gleamed as if received only yesterday—proof of how carefully they had been maintained.
"Mm."
As expected, most of what cultivators handed out were cheap trinkets. If you were going to give something good to mortals, you might as well use it yourself. Even so, to ordinary people these were supreme treasures whose value could not be measured.
That Longevity Tablet tucked in the corner, for example: wear it and you would never catch colds or fall ill for the rest of your life, and you could easily live to a hundred and twenty.
To a cultivator who never caught lower-world diseases in the first place and gained lifespan through realm breakthroughs, it was utterly useless junk.
"Hmm?"
Then something caught Han Yuhyeon's eye—the shabbiest-looking object in the entire iron chest: a small hand mirror.
"Hyeongi Yugyeong?"
Han Yuhyeon lifted the mirror as he spoke. He stared straight into the glass attached to it, but nothing was reflected. Dang Sa-hui, watching from behind, immediately spoke up.
"Yes. That is the name we know it by. The previous generation left no instructions on its use, so to us it is a treasure whose method remains unknown."
"I see, I see."
If it was a Hyeongi Yugyeong, it was definitely the sort of thing one might hand to mortals. Hold the mirror while thinking of the existence you seek, and the closer you get to that existence, the more the artifact glows.
Of course that did not mean you could use it to find every treasure littering the cultivation world. For a Hyeongi Yugyeong to function, you had to accurately know the true form of what you were looking for.
Most cultivation-world treasures had unknown appearances, so the item was not used as a treasure detector; at best it served to find people you already knew.
He had been wondering how on earth he was supposed to find Yong Yu-tak—who had a wandering habit and was out roaming every day—within a fortnight across the vast expanse of So-ui-ju. With a Hyeongi Yugyeong, it was more than doable.
"I'll take this one."
"Are you certain that is acceptable?"
"Yeah."
Once Han Yuhyeon decided on the artifact, Dang Sa-hui gestured to a martial artist. The man soon brought over an elegant wooden case made of black sandalwood.
Dang Sa-hui lined the inside of the case with soft silk, carefully placed the Hyeongi Yugyeong within, and presented it to Han Yuhyeon.
"Here it is. I hope it will be of use to you, cultivator."
"It should be quite useful."
Han Yuhyeon nodded in satisfaction. It would probably prove even more useful going forward. Other cultivators might be one thing, but Han Yuhyeon already knew the outward forms of nearly every treasure in the cultivation world. For a veteran like him, it was a straight-up cheat item.
"Ahem. As a cultivator, I can't exactly take something from mortals and wipe my mouth clean. If there's anything you want, speak up. Most spirit medicines or treasures will be far superior to anything in the lower world."
Han Yuhyeon still had a conscience, so he intended to buy something useful for the Sichuan Dang Clan from the Mongan Hyeolseo. He still had some spirit stones left from the loot he had taken off Jin Myeong-un and Yun Il-hae.
His funds were not especially large, but they were more than enough to buy items that would play well in the lower world.
Yet Dang Sa-hui, whom he had expected to light up, simply shook her head with a calm expression.
"Forgive my presumption, but I have no intention of making any material request."
"Hm? Asking me to kill someone is a no-go. No matter how much of a mortal they are, no sect will allow a cultivator from another domain to run wild."
"It is nothing of the sort."
Dang Sa-hui said so and took the wrist of the still-dazed Dang Ga-hye, pulling her forward.
"Would you be willing to examine this child's spiritual root, cultivator?"
"What?"
It was Dang Ga-hye who blurted the question in surprise. This was a request even Han Yuhyeon had not anticipated.
But on second thought, it was a request Dang Sa-hui was more than entitled to make. What ordinary people hoped for most from a cultivator was that the cultivator would raise them—or their children—into cultivators. In other words, take them as disciples. That was why Dang Ji-sang's face had lit up the moment someone offered to check his pulse.
"That's all you want?"
"If you would only do that much, it would be a tremendous honor for our Dang Clan."
"Most mortals are born in the lower world where spiritual energy is scarce, so they have no spiritual root at all. It could just be a waste of time—maybe rethink it?"
"No. My mind is firm."
Dang Sa-hui's eyes were utterly still. From Han Yuhyeon's perspective it was a welcome request—he would not even have to spend his own spirit stones. Even early Qi Condensation was more than enough to examine a mortal's spiritual root.
"Alright. Don't regret it later. Give me your hand."
Han Yuhyeon said to Dang Ga-hye.
When she hesitated, Dang Sa-hui barked a sharp rebuke.
"Do you even realize how great an opportunity you have been given right now?! Offer your hand at once!"
Startled, Dang Ga-hye thrust her hand toward Han Yuhyeon. He took her soft wrist. How mortified she felt in this situation came through clearly in her pulse.
"…"
Han Yuhyeon closed his eyes and read her pulse. The room fell so silent that not even the sound of an ant could be heard.
"…How is it, cultivator? Does our child have a spiritual root?"
When Han Yuhyeon continued to say nothing and only hummed under his breath, Dang Sa-hui asked with clear anxiety. Only then did he finally open his eyes.
"Holy shit. This is actually insane."
"Pardon?"
At the sudden vulgarity from a cultivator's mouth, both Dang Sa-hui and Dang Ga-hye went wide-eyed.
But Han Yuhyeon had his reasons for saying it.
"This child is a Heavenly Spiritual Root."
It was the result of checking again and again because it simply should not have been possible.
Right here stood someone with a Heavenly Spiritual Root—something said to be vanishingly rare even in the cultivation world.