The Enigmatic Faction 2
Looking forward to working with you. There won't be any noise complaints… Well, as long as you don't provoke me, I'll stay quiet, so you don't have to worry about it.
"…What did you just say?"
Oh, right—my name is Ryu-jin. Pleasure to meet you!
When he opened his eyes, he found himself sharing a body with the Gangcheori.
Fuck. Was this even real?
Shin Gi-woon had never been more confused in his life. Something completely beyond anything he could have imagined had just happened.
He carefully retraced the sequence of events.
He had encountered an Imugi and thought he had brought it down—only for it to suddenly transform into a Gangcheori. After a grueling struggle, he had managed to defeat it. Then he discovered a suspicious black orb and picked it up.
His demonic energy had reacted at once, seized control of his body, and forced him to swallow the orb. A mysterious force had tried to claim his upper dantian, clashing with both his demonic energy and his internal energy. Somewhere in the middle of that fight, Shin Gi-woon had blacked out.
When he came to, his upper dantian had opened and he had reached the Peak realm. Inside his head, the Gangcheori—Ryu-jin—had started talking to him.
And that brought him to this exact moment. Shin Gi-woon still couldn't accept reality.
Ryu-jin waited patiently until he finally did.
"Fine. I won't make a fuss about you suddenly squatting in my body."
Great. Then—
"You know this too, right? If I feel like it, I can erase your consciousness entirely."
…Tch. Fair enough. I'm nothing more than a freeloader for as long as this lasts.
A freeloader. That was all Ryu-jin was—a freeloader who had taken up residence in Shin Gi-woon's upper dantian, clinging to life by feeding on his internal energy.
In a way, you could call her a parasite. He just didn't feel like using that word.
She was a fallen being who had failed to fulfill a lifelong wish. When they had been fighting to the death, that was one thing—but now that the dust had settled, he mostly felt sorry for her.
So, about that… I have a favor to ask.
"A favor?"
There's a human faction that interfered with my ascension. Stop them for me.
"What kind of lunatics interfere with an Imugi trying to ascend?"
Shin Gi-woon scowled. An Imugi in the middle of ascension was saturated with the maximum possible amount of natural energy. One wrong move and the resulting explosion could level everything within a radius of several hundred jang.
The final stage of ascension was the complete absorption of nature's energy. If the Imugi serving as the vessel for that power was interrupted mid-process, what would happen to all that uncontrolled energy?
It would run wild, of course.
So that's why an Imugi that fails to become a dragon drops all the way down to First-Class level.
Even if humans had interfered, an Imugi was still an Imugi. She would have done everything in her power to keep the energy under control so it wouldn't harm the natural world. In the process, it was more than possible that she had lost enough strength to render a thousand years of cultivation completely meaningless.
That answered one of his lingering questions.
An Imugi whose ascension had been rejected outright would have the heavens strip her energy away, leaving her weakened. That much made sense.
Avenge me against those unknown bastards. Until then, I'll stay in your upper dantian and become your strength.
"And what do I get out of this?"
All the opportunities and treasures scattered across the natural world. Don't you want them?
Shin Gi-woon flinched. Come to think of it, Ryu-jin was an Imugi who had lived in this world for a full thousand years.
Just the ones I know of—Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, Sky-Clearing Stone Oil… tombs built by humans in ages past—
"Let's get along, Ryu-jin. I've considered you a friend from the very beginning."
Huh? Hahaha! Great!
Shin Gi-woon flipped his attitude as easily as turning over a hand. An Imugi with a thousand years of memories was offering to lead him to all kinds of spiritual elixirs.
What kind of idiot would turn that down? He could just leave her sitting in his upper dantian and call it a day.
Of course, insurance was still necessary.
"I'm putting a restriction seal on you. You agree to that, right?"
Obviously. We don't fully trust each other yet, do we?
"That's true enough."
Through a simple restriction seal, he formalized the relationship with Ryu-jin. Shin Gi-woon would carry out her revenge; Ryu-jin would pass on all manner of knowledge to him.
The moment the seal between them was complete, the infirmary door opened. A hollow-eyed nurse took one look at Shin Gi-woon and went pale with shock.
"Y-You're awake?!"
"I just woke—"
"Chief Instructor! Number 295 is awake!!"
Her voice boomed through the room. Shin Gi-woon, still unused to loud noises, furrowed his brow.
Not long after the shout, the Chief Instructor of Jamma Cave shoved the infirmary door open with a twisted expression on his face. Without a word of greeting, he grabbed Shin Gi-woon's face and turned it this way and that.
Gi-woon desperately wanted to say something, but something told him that would be a terrible idea, so he kept his mouth shut.
At last, the Chief Instructor—Lee Hyeong-seop—let out a long sigh of relief.
"Haa… I really thought something had gone wrong."
"Uh, Chief Instructor? Could I ask what's going on?"
"For someone who nearly died, you're remarkably bold."
A low rumble of pressure filled the air.
Was it just his imagination, or did the Chief Instructor seem angry? Even if he was releasing killing intent, the people behind him couldn't feel it. The direction of that killing intent was strictly one-sided.
"My apologies. I may have… overdone it a little."
"…Your upper dantian has opened. You've already reached Peak at the age of sixteen?"
"So it seems."
Lee Hyeong-seop narrowed his eyes and stared hard into Shin Gi-woon's. Even scouring the entire history of the Murim, there was no record of anyone reaching Peak at sixteen.
The fastest on record had been the first Heavenly Demon, who reached Peak at seventeen. After him, Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng had both done it at eighteen.
Shin Gi-woon had shattered their records.
"Number 295. Do you remember nearly dying?"
"Yes."
"Qi deviation at that age isn't easy to come by… You've passed the Second Trial. While the other candidates spend another six months in closed-door training, Number 295—you will be given free time."
It was an extraordinary announcement. Early passage of the Second Trial, widely regarded as the greatest gate of Jamma Cave.
Shin Gi-woon had done something no one else had managed, survived, and as a result seized a temporary stretch of freedom.
It was only half a freedom, but it was still better than remaining locked in closed-door cultivation. From this point on, he needed to start laying real plans for what came after graduating from Jamma Cave.
"By the way—was there any byproduct that came out of the Gangcheori?"
"Pardon?"
"I already know everything, so tell me everything that happened in there. Don't leave anything out."
Was he demanding an explanation, or trying to resolve his own doubts? It was hard to tell.
One thing was certain, though: there was nothing to gain by hiding anything.
Or so he thought—until a voice cut in.
This guy. He was definitely one of the ones who interfered with my ascension.
Ryu-jin's voice, sharpened to the edge of alarm, drove straight into his ear. He nearly let it show on his face.
The sudden revelation sent a jolt through his insides. The Chief Instructor of Jamma Cave had been involved in sabotaging an Imugi's ascension?
Are you sure? This man was actually there?
I'm sure. He's the one who stopped my ascension and dragged me off to a place called the Thunder Prison. No doubt about it.
Shin Gi-woon's gut churned. If the Heavenly Demon was connected to the sabotage of the Imugi's ascension…
Every plan he had going forward would fall apart. Because the man standing in front of him was none other than the captain of the Heavenly Net Black Death Squad—one of the five great battalions of Guangming Palace, where the Heavenly Demon resided.
His martial strength was said to be the weakest among them, but he was still a direct subordinate of the Heavenly Demon. Was it really possible that the Heavenly Demon and the Imugi had nothing to do with each other?
It was information he only knew because Se-hwa had given him a thorough lecture on the organizational structure of the Demonic Cult.
"What's the matter? Do you intend not to answer?"
"There was something. But… I don't remember it clearly."
"You don't remember?"
"Something attacked my body, and a poison-like substance entered my system. I tried everything I could to expel it, but I failed. Then I coughed up blood and blacked out."
Shin Gi-woon mixed as much truth into the lie as he could. If he framed it this way, the Chief Instructor would probably let it go. Or so he thought—he was wrong.
"You truly remember nothing? Truly?"
"Yes… It seems I was hit by the Gangcheori's final desperate attack."
His physical condition really had been abysmal. The various energies had staged a full-blown chase through his meridians, leaving them so damaged he might as well have been poisoned. Fortunately, he had recovered by now.
In the end, the Chief Instructor ended the conversation empty-handed. After telling him to take care of himself, he left with the nurse as well.
Only after the door had closed and enough time had passed did Shin Gi-woon finally release the breath he had been holding.
"This is insane… Even the captain of the Heavenly Net Black Death Squad is involved?"
His head already ached just thinking about it. Being hunted by both the Martial Alliance and the Demonic Cult at the same time really didn't seem like a great idea.
But he couldn't ignore Ryu-jin's words either—the restriction seal was already in place. One way or another, he was going to have to confront Lee Hyeong-seop.
"So was it the Demonic Cult that stopped your ascension?"
At times like this, asking directly was the best approach. Before he started drawing up any real plans, he needed to figure out exactly how much Ryu-jin knew.
Except—
Uh… I don't know what the Demonic Cult is. And what's this Martial Alliance thing?
"What?"
He must have misheard. How could anyone not know about the Demonic Cult and the Martial Alliance?
In a sense, they were the two colossal forces that split the entire Murim between them. And she didn't know?
A wave of unease washed over Shin Gi-woon.
"Hey… let me ask you just one thing."
What?
"Which region is the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng in?"
Hmm… the north? Closer than the North Sea, at least.
Please no. He hoped it wasn't true. It couldn't be true.
"And the Sky-Clearing Stone Oil?"
The south! Probably closer than the Nanman Wild Beast Palace!
"…The Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Pear?"
Somewhere around the center of the continent, I think—
"You goddamn lying little scam artist!!!"
Shin Gi-woon couldn't hold it in any longer and roared at the top of his lungs. This insane lizard had just pulled a scam contract on him?
"This is fraud! Pay up, you lizard bastard!!"
Fraud?! I said I knew the locations!
"What kind of bullshit is that?! Saying 'closer than such-and-such'—anyone could say that!!"
That's why I said I only knew the approximate locations?
"Aaaargh!! Fuck!"
He had spent his whole life scamming other people. He never expected to get the back of his own head smashed in.
"Hey! Get the hell out of my upper dantian! Get out!"
Ah-ah. We already put a restriction seal in place. I can't leave even if I want to.
"You shameless reptile… worse than a loan shark from the King of Hell's own den…"
From this day forward, he was going to become a reptile-hater.
Swallowing tears of blood over the scam of a contract, Shin Gi-woon swore it to himself.