This Isn't Right

"……."

Personal vehicles were expensive whether you were in the cultivation world or back on Earth. New ones, especially. The Mongan Hyeolseo sold them cheap on its own, but with the cash Han Yuhyeon had on hand, there wasn't a single decent flying vessel he could afford.

So he found himself back at the capital market near Seong-do. Brand-new vessels were far too pricey, so he'd come hoping to snag a used one somehow.

The slogans felt suspiciously familiar from his past life, but he stepped inside anyway. He did his best to look like he wasn't gawking around, trying not to radiate country-bumpkin energy.

The moment he entered, a merchant flung his arms wide in exaggerated welcome.

"Aigoo, aigoo! You've come to the right place. There isn't another merchant in the So-ui-ju capital market who handles as many used flying vessels as I do. You're a lucky man, you are."

"…Ah. Is that so."

"And such a manly, dashing face! A beauty at your side, no less. Looks like you've cultivated some fine arts—budget a little flexible, is it?"

The merchant started rubbing his palms together the second he opened his mouth, laying the flattery on thick. Even when Yuhyeon tried not to get reeled in, something about it kept pulling him along.

"Mmm. Not really."

"Hahaha. Everyone says that out of modesty. Have a look around first. Or shall I make a few recommendations?"

"Ah. That would be good."

Even in his past life, Yuhyeon had never cared much about cars. Naturally, he had no idea how flying vessels were classified in the cultivation world. The merchant's eyes flashed for a moment, but Yuhyeon missed it.

The man hauled him straight over. Dang Ga-hye openly gaped at everything around them, trailing after Yuhyeon with curious little steps.

There, a dazzling array of flying vessels was on display—lavish, artistic, and spectacularly designed.

"Any young cultivator these days needs to be riding a Porampa if they want to turn heads. Take this to Hangso Province and people will fall over themselves."

"Porampa?"

Hangso Province was the famous pleasure capital among cultivators. True to its name, it sat near what would have been Hangzhou and Suzhou in the lower world. Even cultivators needed somewhere to unwind.

"Oh, come now, friend. Not much interest in vessels, I see. It's the name of a workshop—well, three of them. Puwandang, Sooram, and Cheonmapa. Together we call them Porampa. When people talk high-end flying vessels, these three workshops are the ones that come up."

"Ah. I see."

Formal speech slipped out of him before he could stop it. With jargon flying at him nonstop, Yuhyeon had no room to bluff and found himself shrinking a little. The game Yeonhwa Seonrok had never bothered to implement brands for flying vessels.

"So. What's your budget?"

"Ah, um. Forty low-grade spirit stones."

Yuhyeon hesitated as he answered, and the merchant's smiling face instantly twisted into something worthy of the King ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Hell.

"Low-grade? Not even forty mid-grade?"

"Yes."

"What kind of vessel do you think you're buying with forty low-grade stones? Tch. Buy something that cheap and you'll die young. There are cultivators who punch a hole mid-flight and plummet, or go into sudden acceleration and slam into a mountainside, you know?"

"This is all the budget I've got. What am I supposed to do?"

"Damn it. Walking around with a woman way out of your league—I figured you had some stones to spare."

Once he heard the budget, the merchant's lines stopped holding back. Even so, he didn't abandon a merchant's duty entirely.

"Well, it's not that there are no used vessels you can get for forty low-grade. But you'd better expect the model year to be at least five hundred years old."

"Five hundred's a bit much."

"That's genuinely how the market sits. Go check every other shop if you want. My recommendation is this one. A vessel named Jo."

"Nice name. Morning, huh."

The vessel the merchant showed him was shabby and small. Compared to the Porampa models from earlier, it couldn't even begin to compete in aesthetics, construction, or polish.

"How much is this?"

"Exactly forty low-grade spirit stones. Perfect, right?"

"Any chance of a discount?"

"Aigoo. You're already walking off with something that barely covers labor, and now you want a discount on top of it?"

The merchant snapped. Watching Han Yuhyeon—who'd been a terrifying cultivator back at the Sichuan Dang Clan—beg for a discount here left Dang Ga-hye with a distinctly complicated feeling.

"That said, our shop does offer discounts. We've got partnerships with a few sects and clans in So-ui-ju. Where are you affiliated?"

"Mmm. Any other discounts?"

As if the Baekun Sect of Yeongil-ju would have a partnership. Yuhyeon hunted for some other angle.

"What other discounts would there be? Just buy it and go. It's always the cheapskates who make the most trouble."

"…Fine."

A man who went soft the moment spirit stones entered the picture: Han Yuhyeon. Honestly, he was short on stones, so he didn't have much of a comeback.

Just as he resigned himself and reached into his storage pouch for the stones, the merchant spoke as if something had just occurred to him.

"Ah. There is one more thing. We do give discounts starting from Pseudo Spiritual Root holders."

"There's a discount like that?"

"If a cultivator's promising, it's worth earning their goodwill. It's not just me, either—pretty much every shop runs discounts based ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on spiritual root count. I figured you'd already know, so I didn't mention it."

A Pseudo Spiritual Root meant three roots. That put them roughly in the top thirty percent for talent. Not staggeringly promising, but worth treating well enough that you wouldn't lose out.

"So the discount gets steeper depending on how few roots you have."

"Exactly so. Are you a Pseudo Spiritual Root holder yourself? Don't tell me you're True Spiritual Root?"

If Pseudo was three roots, True Spiritual Root meant two. From True Spiritual Root upward you were looking at the real top three percent—talent worth genuine respect.

Of course, none of that applied to Yuhyeon with his mixed roots. But right now, he had a secret weapon.

"Kyaa!"

Dang Ga-hye shrieked in surprise. Yuhyeon had grabbed her by both shoulders from behind where she'd been standing blankly, and plopped her down in front of the merchant.

"What are you doing all of a sudden?"

"Sadly, I don't even have a Pseudo Spiritual Root. But this kid here has outstanding roots. The discount still applies, right?"

"Well, that doesn't matter."

"This kid is a Heavenly Spiritual Root holder."

"What?"

The merchant's eyes nearly split open. Yuhyeon looked at Dang Ga-hye and gave a proud little nod.

Scratch that earlier thought about her not being useful right away. A Heavenly Spiritual Root holder was useful just by existing.

The Heavenly Spiritual Root discount was absurd. He'd basically bought something worth one mid-grade spirit stone for forty low-grade ones. Over ninety-five percent off. Calling it free wouldn't have been much of an exaggeration.

Dang Ga-hye seemed bewildered as to why they'd cut the price so drastically, but Yuhyeon understood well enough.

If Pseudo Spiritual Roots were the top thirty percent and True Spiritual Roots the top three, Heavenly Spiritual Roots sat at the top 0.1 percent. Of course every merchant in the world wanted a connection with someone like that—no wonder the guy's eyes had spun.

Whether Dang Ga-hye would remember this merchant later was entirely up to her. For now, Yuhyeon had scored a cheap flying vessel, and that was a win.

"Shall we take it for a spin?"

"Th-this is something that flies through the sky?"

"Yep."

Yuhyeon said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. In truth, he'd only ever ridden vessels someone else was piloting; this would be his first time at the controls, and he was just as nervous.

"I can't even begin to guess how it works."

"Spiritual power."

"What's the difference between spiritual power and internal energy?"

"About the difference between the sun and a firefly."

"I don't really get it."

"Tsk. Just get in. I don't really know either. I'd have to have cultivated internal energy myself to explain it."

When Yuhyeon snapped at her, Dang Ga-hye climbed into the vessel looking sulky. Yuhyeon took the left-front seat—the driver's side.

Sitting in it made it painfully clear how luxurious Baekri-wan's vessel had been. This one was supposed to be decent enough, but the ride quality and stability were on a completely different level from hers.

"Here we go."

The moment Yuhyeon poured spiritual power into the vessel, he felt himself link with it. Flying vessels moved by a cultivator's will, so they were definitely easier to drive than a car.

"Wooooaaah! Kyaaaaa!"

As the vessel rose into the sky and began punching through the clouds, Dang Ga-hye started screaming nonstop.

"Grrr."

Her shrieking was so piercing that even Biyong—who almost never woke for anything—growled in irritation.

"Hey. Quiet down."

"I can't—I can't breathe."

"Then don't look down."

"B-but I'm curious."

"You're hopeless."

Yuhyeon sighed as he watched Dang Ga-hye nearly pass out at the sight of the ground, now dizzyingly far below.

She kept screaming, holding her breath, and gasping in awe all by herself. Yuhyeon kept repeating to himself that she was a Heavenly Spiritual Root holder. If he didn't keep repeating it, he was afraid he'd shove her out of the vessel without thinking.

After about half a shichen of chaos in midair, Dang Ga-hye finally seemed to tire herself out and started quieting down.

"You done throwing a fit?"

"…Yes."

The way she answered suggested she knew full well she'd been throwing a fit. Biyong was able to sink back into a deep sleep.

With the vessel finally quiet, Yuhyeon looked again at the Hyeongi Yugyeong he'd set in front of his seat. There wasn't the slightest sign of it lighting up.

According to Yun Il-hae, Yong Yu-tak was currently a guest disciple of the Mogang Sect, so starting the search from Mogang territory was the right call. That was why Yuhyeon was currently flying the vessel north toward the Mogang Sect.

The one silver lining was that the Songin Sect and Mogang Sect weren't far apart. Befriend the distant, attack the near—being packed so close together was exactly why the Songin Sect and Mogang Sect hated each other like dogs and monkeys.

The problem was that guest disciples usually didn't stay cooped up inside, and Yong Yu-tak himself was the type who loved roaming around, so the odds he wasn't even at the Mogang Sect were high.

Still, as a guest disciple he might have reported his destination, so it was worth checking first.

"Hey."

"Yes, cultivator-nim."

"Catch."

Without warning, Yuhyeon tossed a book toward Dang Ga-hye. She startled and caught it with both hands.

"The Blue Flow Art?"

"That's the cultivation method you'll be learning from now on."

"Ah! Thank you."

After buying the vessel, he'd had a few spirit stones left, so he'd purchased Dang Ga-hye's method through the Mongan Hyeolseo. Honestly, compared to the nine hundred-plus low-grade stones she'd just saved him, it was a pretty cheap method—but its performance was solid.

Even the Taeheo Honwon-gyeong Yuhyeon was still using had cost only two hundred fifty bottom-grade stones and worked just fine.

Of course, the Blue Flow Art was a method that cultivated only the Water Spiritual Root, so it ran a bit more expensive—about five low-grade stones. When Yuhyeon had checked her pulse, the only root he'd sensed in Dang Ga-hye was water, so right now she needed a method that developed a single root.

"Cultivator-nim. But I already have a method I'm practicing. What do I do?"

"Once you learn cultivation arts, lower-world martial arts like that will fade on their own. Different tier. That dantian full of muddy internal energy will turn into a clean cultivator's dantian too."

"I see. Then what kind of effects does this method have?"

"Just learn it."

"Yes."

Strictly speaking, Yuhyeon was a brand-new driver. Easier than driving a car or not, the tension was the same, so most of his focus was poured into piloting the vessel. He simply didn't have the bandwidth to explain anything to Dang Ga-hye in detail.

No matter how open and unblocked the sky-roads were, the chance of vessels colliding wasn't zero—and a collision meant a major disaster. Being careful was only natural.

Dang Ga-hye immediately buried herself in the Blue Flow Art and started reading with fierce concentration. Even while slicing through the wind high in the sky, her focus was terrifying. Her behavior might have been trash-tier, but her comprehension and talent as a Heavenly Spiritual Root holder left no room for doubt.

Finally some quiet.

Maybe he should have handed her a book sooner. Cutting through the wind high above the world like this really did make him feel like an immortal.

This ease. This sense of superiority at having transcended ordinary humanity. He was starting to vaguely understand why cultivators obsessed so hard over eternal life and ascending to the heavens.

After about half a shichen of enjoying the freedom, a large banner flapping on a distant mountain peak came into view.

The banner marked the boundary of Songin Sect territory. Since they'd started inside Songin lands, crossing past that flag meant leaving Songin territory behind.

Yuhyeon was only at Qi Condensation 8-star right now, but with good arts and artifacts he could steamroll late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators without much trouble. He'd already beaten Geom Jung-gun, chief of the Socheong-chae and a Qi Condensation Circle cultivator. No reason to feel cowed.

On top of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that, he knew every place in So-ui-ju that needed extra caution cold, so as long as he didn't get careless, he was more than capable of traveling alone.

Besides, a little farther on and they'd be in the territory of another great sect—the Mogang Sect. As long as they didn't step on anyone's toes, nothing much should happen.

Disciples of great sects usually weighed their justifications before killing people. That wasn't some curated intel or official word from the game company—just hard-won wisdom from years of playtime.

"Nice and peaceful."

Even so, crossing between sect territories meant keeping an eye out. But there wasn't a single flying vessel in sight—not even a bird.

The two of them entered Mogang Sect territory without the slightest trouble. As expected of a border region between great sects, no one was looking for a fight.

Yuhyeon gradually eased off the speed and angled toward the Mogang Sect. Flying too fast near a sect's main mountain could raise alarms, so slowing down around headquarters was an unspoken rule. In the distance, the Mogang Sect's main mountain began to appear, its midsection veiled in cloud.

"Close the book."

"……."

Sensing they were about to arrive, he spoke to Dang Ga-hye. But she was staring at the book so fiercely it looked ready to catch fire.

"Hey! I said close the book!"

Yuhyeon shouted, but she still didn't hear him, locked in total focus.

"Haa."

He clicked his tongue. He'd basically yelled right in her ear, and even that hadn't registered. Remarkable fact: too much concentration could turn into a trash-tier liability. As always, excess of anything was bad.

In the end, Yuhyeon set a hand on the crown of her head and pushed spiritual power into her. Probably a thrilling experience of having her Baihui point blasted open.

"Kyaaaaaa!"

With a physical jolt, even hyper-focused Dang Ga-hye had no choice but to react.

"W-what are you doing?!"

"How many times do you think I called you?"

"When?"

"Whatever. Just close the book."

"Fine. I got it. You could've just said so."

Her grumbling almost made Yuhyeon's temper flare again, but he held it in by thinking about the discounted price of the vessel.

She's a walking discount coupon. A discount coupon.

The mantra worked like some kind of Diamond Sutra, and his mood settled. With the Mongan Hyeolseo around, he couldn't help being extra sensitive about anything money-related.

As they drew closer to the Mogang Sect, a response started coming from inside. Yuhyeon slowed further, making it crystal clear he had no hostile intent.

Soon a flying vessel rose from the Mogang Sect, and a cultivator flew out to meet him. Yuhyeon brought his own vessel to a complete stop in midair.

"A visitor to our sect, are you?"

A cultivator who looked thoroughly seasoned approached, and Yuhyeon bowed his head.

Being a great sect, they probably wouldn't kill him for no reason—but he still needed to keep his posture as low as possible. To a great sect in So-ui-ju, a cultivator from Yeongil-ju was less than an ant. They could crush him whenever they felt like it.

"Yes. This junior has a question for the Mogang Sect, so I dared to pay a brief visit. Once I have my answer, I'll leave immediately."

"Hmm. Is that so?"

"This is a small token of my sincerity, senior."

Yuhyeon pulled a bundle of agarwood pills from his storage pouch. The refined medicinal scent of high-grade agarwood wafted out. Of course it wasn't a medicine that meant anything special to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a cultivator—if anything, it was the past-life equivalent of gift-set tonics.

"With sincerity like this, I take it the question won't be anything major?"

Sure enough, the cultivator looked at the gift and immediately talked it down. That past-life virtue about the thought behind a gift mattering more than the gift itself was empty pretense with zero value in the cultivation world.

"It certainly isn't a question that would trouble you, senior. What I wanted to ask is…"

"Hold on."

The Mogang cultivator raised a hand. Yuhyeon's mouth snapped shut.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first—who you are and where you're from? You don't seem to know basic courtesy."

"Ah. My apologies. Meeting such a great senior of a great sect left me a bit flustered."

"Hmph. You've got a smooth tongue. Fine. Who are you, and from where?"

In truth, Yuhyeon had deliberately avoided saying because he really didn't want to identify himself. Announce that he was from the Baekun Sect of Yeongil-ju and they'd look down on him even harder than they already were.

But after being called out like that, he had no choice but to state his affiliation.

"I'm Han Yuhyeon, an inner disciple of the Baekun Sect in Yeongil-ju."

Yuhyeon tucked his chin so his jaw wouldn't show and pressed his lips tight. Readying himself for the storm of contempt and belittlement about to crash over him.

"Han Yuhyeon, you say? Han Yuhyeon from Yeongil-ju?"

"That's right."

"So you're that famous Fishing Cultivator! Well now, you should have said so from the start! Haha!"

"Pardon?"

Yuhyeon's eyes went round. He'd been sure that prickly Mogang cultivator was asking again just so he could sneer at a Yeongil-ju cultivator daring to show up at the Mogang Sect of So-ui-ju.

Instead, the man recognized him and lit up. It made no sense. The sect gathering at the Wonhu Gate had only involved mid- and small-sized sects—great sects like Mogang hadn't even attended. So how did this man know who Han Yuhyeon was?

"A distinguished guest has arrived! Come in, come in! The altitude's high and the wind is cold! Hahaha!"

Under the Mogang cultivator's sudden warm reception, Yuhyeon—bewildered but with no real choice—began slowly lowering the vessel's altitude and entering the Mogang Sect.

This isn't right.

All he'd wanted was to ask about Yong Yu-tak's location and leave. That bright smile was making it painfully clear that declining the invitation was not an option.