Cheongung
"Hah! Haaah!!"
A middle-aged man was pushing his light-footwork to the brink of collapse. He was fleeing from something.
His clothes were soaked through with blood. After barely surviving a brutal fight, he had found a gap and bolted at full speed.
The enemy he had faced was a monster. A monster who had annihilated dozens of fighters with nothing but a single spear.
Looking into those savage red eyes was enough to make a man's knees buckle and leave him wanting to wring his own neck.
I have to report this! If word doesn't get out...!
It had been an ambush no one saw coming. No — even if they had anticipated it, they wouldn't have taken it seriously.
The enemy had been alone. Traveling solo was common enough in the martial world, but facing a group alone put you at a crushing disadvantage.
You never knew what a group might pull. Without someone covering your back, going it alone was something to avoid.
Of course, having someone cover your back meant you weren't alone to begin with — but that wasn't the point.
The man had something he needed to deliver.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"...!"
Whoosh!
It happened in an instant. The red-eyed monster appeared before him and swung his spear. The man desperately twisted his body aside.
He thought he had dodged the attack by a paper-thin margin.
"Wha—?"
His thoughts cut off. His eye level had dropped sharply. He figured he must have ducked —
But the truth was that his body had been severed clean in half. That was the man's final thought.
The red-eyed monster who had killed him with a single spear thrust — Shin Gi-woon — picked up the scrap of paper the man had been clutching.
"Cheongung, huh... Took long enough, damn it."
The organization the man belonged to was called Cheongung. The same group that Lee Hyeong-seop, the former chief instructor of Jamma Cave, had been part of.
After a long pursuit, he had finally found a lead on the mysterious faction. It was nothing more than a name — but it was something.
Now that he knew the enemy's true face was the enigmatic force known as Cheongung, he needed a proper organization dedicated to hunting them down.
"Looks like it's time to head back."
Three years and six months since joining the Manbyeon Chuhon Corps.
Shin Gi-woon, now twenty years old, was currently operating in Shaanxi.
Shin Gi-woon headed for an inn. Not one managed by the Cult — he lodged at a secret inn the Cult had established, but from time to time he visited ordinary inns to get a read on the situation in Shaanxi.
"One bowl of noodles. No wine."
"Coming right up!"
He only meant to fill his stomach. Gathering information was the goal, but there was no reason to linger long in Orthodox territory.
After placing his order with the waiter, Shin Gi-woon focused every sense on his hearing.
An inn was a place where every kind of gossip circulated — a warehouse of information in all but name.
It was thanks to an inn that he had found Cheongung's gathering in the first place. He had overheard talk of some strange types holding meetings at night, and for months afterward he had combed Shaanxi after dark like a man hunting lice. Eventually he spotted a suspicious crowd, confirmed they were connected to Lee Hyeong-seop's organization, and struck. That was how he had learned the name Cheongung.
Having already tasted one big catch, he visited inns often, hoping for even a scrap of news.
Then —
"Boss. One more bowl of noodles over here."
"Coming right up!"
Someone sat down at the same table and ordered noodles. Still keeping his hearing trained on the room around them, Shin Gi-woon spoke quietly.
"When did you get here?"
"Yesterday. Looks like you had quite a scrap."
"Caught a tail. Once things settle a bit, I'm heading back."
"Yeah? So they finally showed themselves."
The someone sitting across from him was Bi So-hyang. Three years and six months had stripped away the last of her baby fat, and she had grown into a beauty radiating a sensual energy of her own.
Her mere appearance was enough to draw every eye in the inn. If she had been born in Shaanxi, she might well have claimed the title of the province's greatest beauty without breaking a sweat. The thought was oddly amusing.
Got it! I found the place for sure! Let's go tomorrow!
You're late as hell. How does it take five whole months to find one spot?
What am I supposed to do about the world changing? At least I found it — be grateful.
No reason to stick around Shaanxi anyway. We'll go with So-hyang tomorrow.
As those idle thoughts drifted through his mind, Ryu-jin spoke up.
Ryu-jin had fallen asleep during the Jamma Cave graduation ceremony and had only recently woken. For more than three years he had not heard her voice, and just as worry was giving way to the slow process of forgetting her, she had opened her eyes exactly five months ago.
The moment she confirmed they were in Shaanxi, she had started babbling about knowing where the Azure Sky Stone Oil was. It seemed she had finally pinned down the location.
When he had been able to talk with her again five months ago, he could not begin to describe how glad he had been. These days it felt more like dealing with a chattering little brat — but still.
"So-hyang. I've got somewhere to go tomorrow. Want to come?"
"Where?"
"Where the Azure Sky Stone Oil is."
"Pffft—! Ah, sorry."
Bi So-hyang sprayed water across the table. Shin Gi-woon, sitting directly opposite, caught it full in the face.
Flustered, she hurriedly wiped his face with a napkin — then the meaning of what he had said seemed to hit her all over again, and she stared at him in shock.
"You know where it is? For real?"
"When have I ever lied to you?"
"If you take me there, I'll be grateful! My realm's been stuck as it is, and if I take that on top of everything else—!"
"I don't know how much there is. If there's barely any, I call first dibs."
"Tch. Well, obviously."
Bi So-hyang clicked her tongue. It was hard to blame her. Shin Gi-woon had reached his current realm three years and six months ago — the extreme of Peak — and had not advanced a single step since.
Bi So-hyang herself had now reached the same realm. Both of them were aiming for Transcendent.
The difference was that Bi So-hyang had been growing, little by little, while Shin Gi-woon seemed to have stopped cold from that day on.
If not for the relentless external training he put himself through, he would have made no real progress at all since leaving Jamma Cave.
Bi So-hyang wondered: could she have endured it, in his place?
It would have gone past impatience straight into self-loathing. She might even have fallen prey to a heart demon.
The fact that Shin Gi-woon was still functioning normally was impressive in itself — he had not let a heart demon devour him.
But contrary to what Bi So-hyang thought, Shin Gi-woon had been deliberately holding himself back from Transcendent.
Because until five months ago, Ryu-jin had been gone.
If he crossed into Transcendent and his demonic energy ran wild, he would have had to handle it alone, without his most reliable ally.
It was not a lack of will. But reducing risk as much as possible before moving forward was simply the smarter play.
He had even asked the seniors in the Manbyeon Chuhon Corps what to do if demonic energy stopped obeying. They had never heard of such a case. Once you surpassed First-Class, they said, demonic energy became as obedient as your own limbs.
Shin Gi-woon was the exception. That was why he had not rushed into Transcendent — not while Ryu-jin was absent.
But the time had come.
If I take the Azure Sky Stone Oil...
He would not merely break through the wall of Transcendent — he would shoot straight to its extreme. The achievement he had been holding back for three years and six months was finally about to bloom.
"Noodles are ready~"
"Thank you."
"Looks good."
The noodles arrived. Steam rose in thick curls, and the smell alone was enough to set the mouth watering.
"Let's eat first."
"Yeah."
Shin Gi-woon and Bi So-hyang both buried their faces in their bowls. And while they were at it — there was one more reason he came to this particular inn.
The noodles were ridiculously good. If noodle-making were a martial realm, the cook here was without question a Transcendent master.
"Holy shit. This is insane. Why is this so good?"
"There's a reason I come here so often."
Bi So-hyang's first taste of the noodles left her practically vibrating with excitement. Shin Gi-woon was smiling faintly at the familiar reaction when —
"Waiter, get out here, you son of a bitch!!"
A thoroughly unpleasant voice rang through the entire inn, shattering the pleasant meal.
Shin Gi-woon and Bi So-hyang's eyes narrowed. The first order of business was gauging the speaker's realm.
A rough sense of it put the man at nothing more than Second-Class — a common thug. They understood the situation at once.
"Looks like the unorthodox path came to collect protection money."
"If it were me, I'd just take a bowl of noodles and leave."
"Judging by the mood, that's not happening."
Shin Gi-woon glanced toward the entrance. Quite a few people were outside — enough to suggest they had come looking for a fight.
He had come for a meal and some information. This kind of nonsense was enough to kill the appetite.
"W-what's the matter?"
"Hey, you. How long has it been since we told you to pay up, and you still haven't?!"
"B-but we don't have the mon— Aaagh!"
"If you don't have it, sell your organs and scrape it together! The Black Spirit Sect is offering to protect your little inn, and you can't even manage that?!"
"I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!"
The waiter kept apologizing even as the thug kicked him. The atmosphere was so vicious that no one in the inn so much as looked his way. This particular establishment sat in territory thick with unorthodox forces — there was not a single person who looked like a righteous hero.
"Put the bow away."
"...Are you just going to sit and watch?"
Shin Gi-woon stopped Bi So-hyang as she reached for her bow. Causing a scene would only make things annoying, and he hated that kind of trouble.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorryyy!!"
"You damn bastard! You worm! Hand over the money! Hand it over!"
The kicks kept coming. No one looked at the waiter. Bi So-hyang could only tremble with rage.
Because of Shin Gi-woon's order, she could not move freely. His rank in the corps was higher than hers.
Shin Gi-woon watched the waiter and thought: without power, you could do nothing.
Until he inherited the martial arts of the Battle Demon Spear Sect, he had been no different from that waiter — a street orphan drifting from place to place.
Maybe that was why his mood soured. A curse rose unbidden to his lips.
"...Shit. I wasn't going to get involved."
"Huh?"
Before Bi So-hyang could even finish asking, Shin Gi-woon stood up and stepped in front of the thug who was still kicking the waiter.
The thug scowled at him.
"Hey, kid. If you don't want to die, stay out of it."
"..."
"You deaf? Get lost!"
The thug sneered and shoved Shin Gi-woon by the shoulder. Watching from a distance, Bi So-hyang finally let out a sigh.
"Honestly. We never get a quiet day."
BOOM!
Her muttering was swallowed by a tremendous crash. The cause: the thug who had been struck went flying and smashed straight through the front door.
Silence blanketed the inn in an instant — and then:
"Hey, you bastards! Leave the waiter alone!!"
Shin Gi-woon, who had just volunteered himself for a world of trouble, bellowed at the top of his lungs.