Chapter 19
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 19
The official glanced back and forth between Lee Hyun’s face and waist, then clasped his hands in a respectful greeting.
“May I ask you a question?”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Do you, by any chance, possess a Retainer Token from the Bureau of Heavenly Service?”
“I do not.”
“Then please wait just a moment.”
He turned on his heel and hurried back toward the carriage.
Lee Hyun watched the official’s retreating back, his brows furrowing slightly.
What is this about?
Just then.
Tinkle—
Though there was no breeze, one of the jade bells hanging from the four corners of the carriage roof began to sway on its own.
With every clear chime, the tip of the bell tilted faintly toward Lee Hyun.
Chime. Chime.
A magical artifact?
Lee Hyun activated his Qi-Observation Technique, revealing faint threads of spiritual power woven across the surface of the jade bell.
A moment later, the carriage curtains parted.
The first to step down was an elderly cultivator clad in a blue Taoist robe.
He appeared to be around sixty, but the spiritual power emanating from his body was on an entirely different level than Jang Yu-san, the 3rd layer Qi Refining cultivator he had seen before the Old West Gate.
Late-stage Qi Refining!
A flash of light flickered in the elderly cultivator’s eyes as he looked at Lee Hyun. He scrutinized Lee Hyun’s dantian before shifting his gaze across his entire body.
His expression remained unchanged.
He couldn’t see through my Spirit-Concealment Technique? What a relief.
Behind him, a young man stepped down from the carriage.
He looked to be no older than thirty.
His black hair was bound in a golden coronet, and his deep purple long robe was embroidered with clouds and waves in silver thread. At his waist hung a jade belt and a longsword, and on his feet were pristine black leather boots without a speck of dust.
The moment the man appeared, the surrounding officials and soldiers bowed even lower.
The middle-aged official proclaimed in a loud voice, “His Highness the Crown Prince!”
The Crown Prince?
The Hoereung Yu Clan was the royal lineage that had ruled the Untaek Kingdom for centuries. People called them the Hoereung Royal House.
This meant the man standing before him was the legitimate son of the reigning king and had already been invested as the successor to the throne.
Lee Hyun had never expected such an esteemed figure to step down from his carriage in person just for him.
The Crown Prince walked straight up to Lee Hyun.
Uncertain of the proper court etiquette, Lee Hyun simply cupped his hands together in the customary greeting between cultivators.
“I am Lee Dong-il.”
Even though Lee Hyun greeted him first, the Crown Prince did not reply. Instead, he swept aside the front hem of his robe.
Thud.
The Crown Prince dropped to his knees right in the middle of the street.
Lee Hyun’s eyes widened.
The onlookers gasped in collective shock.
Clasping his hands, the Crown Prince bowed his head low.
“I, Yu Jeong-hwi, Crown Prince of Untaek, implore the Immortal. Please, become a retainer of the Bureau of Heavenly Service and protect the Untaek Kingdom.”
What on earth is happening?
I heard Qi Refining rogue cultivators were scarce, but would royalty really kneel in the dirt for a stranger on the street?
Lee Hyun instinctively glanced around. He wondered if this was some hidden trap or scheme, but saw no suspicious signs.
The Crown Prince continued, his head still bowed, “You need not draw a sword and march south. Even drawing a single talisman would be a blessing. Merely registering your name in the rosters of the Bureau of Heavenly Service would grant immense strength to the people of Untaek.”
“Excuse me, but…”
“If what we offer is lacking, please name it. Whether it be spirit stones, spiritual herbs, or a residence… Untaek will provide whatever lies within its power.”
The elderly cultivator in the blue robe finally let out a heavy sigh.
“Your Highness.”
“Retainer Jeong, do not stop me.”
“How could I not?”
The old cultivator stepped beside the prince and took him by the arm.
“Treating an immortal with courtesy is one thing, but putting a Fellow Daoist you have just met in an awkward position in the middle of the street is another entirely.”
“Yet…”
“Acting like this will scare away even those who were inclined to join.”
The old cultivator helped the Crown Prince back to his feet.
The Crown Prince rose obediently, not showing the slightest hint of shame.
“Retainer Jeong, you speak constantly of saving face.”
“It is not about face, but decorum. Your Highness drops to your knees every time you seek to recruit a retainer, to the point where the rogue cultivators of Cloud Capital have even given you a nickname.”
“What nickname?”
“You are better off not knowing.”
The Crown Prince’s face stiffened slightly.
The old cultivator cupped his hands toward Lee Hyun.
“Pardon the disturbance. I am Jeong Won-baek, a Resident Retainer of the Bureau of Heavenly Service.”
“I am Lee Dong-il.”
“Judging by your reaction, it seems Fellow Daoist has just arrived in Cloud Capital. Please do not take His Highness’s actions too gravely. Ever since the fall of Baeksu City, he has acted like this toward every cultivator who has yet to join the Bureau.”
“Retainer Jeong!”
“Am I wrong?”
Jeong Won-baek brushed off the Crown Prince’s protest.
“Did the jade bell atop the carriage detect that I am a cultivator?” Lee Hyun asked.
“Indeed.” Jeong Won-baek pointed toward the roof of the carriage. “It is a low-grade magical artifact that rings when a Qi Refining cultivator is nearby. However, once it resonates with a Retainer Token from the Bureau of Heavenly Service, it falls silent.”
“I see.”
Jeong Won-baek glanced sideways at the Crown Prince.
“That doesn’t mean royalty should drop to their knees the moment one is spotted, however.”
“If it secures the people this nation needs, what does bending a knee matter?” the Crown Prince answered unabashedly.
Jeong Won-baek sighed once more.
Lee Hyun spoke up. “In truth, I was already on my way to the Bureau of Heavenly Service.”
“…Truly?”
“I was hoping to inquire about methods to break through from the 3rd to the 4th layer of Qi Refining, as well as alchemy. I was also considering registering as a retainer of the Bureau.”
The Crown Prince turned back to Jeong Won-baek. “Did you hear that?”
“I heard.”
“He says he would have come to the Bureau even if I hadn’t knelt.”
“Which is why I told you not to make such an embarrassing spectacle of yourself.”
The Crown Prince cleared his throat awkwardly and brushed the dust from the knees of his robe.
Jeong Won-baek spoke.
“However, to register as a retainer, two Resident Retainers qualified to conduct the evaluation must be present. As it happens, those authorized to oversee evaluations are all currently dispatched on external duties. Of the two slated to return earliest, one went to inspect a formation in another city, and the other departed to deal with a demonic beast in the east… You will have to wait three or four days.”
“I can wait that long.”
“We shall arrange accommodations for your stay,” the Crown Prince added immediately. “As soon as they return, I will send someone to inform you.”
“Thank you.”
“We are currently en route to the Grand Training Ground of the Martial Training Courtyard. If you do not mind, Immortal, would you care to accompany us?”
“What is taking place there?”
“Today, there is an inspection of the reinforcements departing for Nosu Pass. Prior to that, a duel is scheduled to assess the commanding general’s martial prowess.”
“In that case, I will accompany you.”
The Crown Prince gestured toward the carriage. “There is room inside.”
Lee Hyun hesitated. He did not mind the Crown Prince, but sharing a cramped carriage with a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator like Jeong Won-baek made him uneasy.
He was unaccustomed to real combat. Despite possessing abundant spiritual power, he lacked the confidence to defend against a surprise attack at close quarters.
Moreover, he worried that sitting in such tight quarters might expose the spiritual power running through his entire body, which he was currently concealing with the Spirit-Concealment Technique.
After all, his assessment of his own mastery over the Spirit-Concealment Technique was merely what he had carved onto his wooden board; there was no guarantee it would hold up under the close scrutiny of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.
“I prefer to walk.”
“That will not do. If an immortal walks while I ride in a carriage, people will say the Hoereung Royal House mistreats its guests.”
At that moment, Jeong Won-baek chimed in nonchalantly, “Then Your Highness can simply walk as well.”
“Retainer Jeong, whose side are you on?”
“The Bureau of Heavenly Service’s side.”
“Now that I think about it, that sounds fine too. It is just ahead, after all.”
In the end, neither the Crown Prince nor Jeong Won-baek boarded the carriage. Instead, they walked alongside Lee Hyun along the main thoroughfare of the inner city, the carriage and cavalry trailing slowly behind them.
As they walked the broad avenue, the Crown Prince spoke continuously about the Bureau of Heavenly Service.
According to his explanation, there were fewer than two hundred Qi Refining cultivators currently serving in the Bureau.
Among them, only about fifty were Battlefield Retainers deployed to frontline combat—far too few to guard the entire southern border.
Fifty Qi Refining cultivators might sound like a formidable force, but Cheongha Valley in the southwestern Great Yeon Kingdom, where Lee Hyun had once resided, boasted around a thousand of them.
If even that confined domain held so many cultivators, having merely fifty or so deployable Qi Refining cultivators across the vast territory of the Untaek Kingdom was pitifully small.
The southern border between Unta-ek and the Heavenly Yang Kingdom stretched over twenty thousand li from east to west.
In the end, Heavenly Yang was not the only kingdom forced to rely on martial arts masters. Untaek, too, had to entrust most areas outside its key strongholds to martial artists rather than Qi Refining retainers.
“Are there not far too few Battlefield Retainers? In that case, you must have no choice but to request that External Retainers take the field as well.”
“We can make requests, but we cannot force External Retainers onto the battlefield,” the Crown Prince said. “If the royal family breaks the promise made upon recruiting them, what immortal would ever trust Untaek and join the Bureau of Heavenly Service in the future?”
Lee Hyun looked somewhat surprised. “Even if the nation faces dire peril?”
“We might gain one or two more swords in the short term,” the Crown Prince said, shaking his head. “However, from that moment on, Untaek would cease to be a nation that reveres immortals and become one that merely exploits them. When things become even more dire, no one would come to our aid.”
They continued walking along the grand avenue.
Before long, rhythmic battle cries and the clash of weapons echoed from behind high walls.
“That is the Grand Training Ground of the Martial Training Courtyard.”
The Grand Training Ground of the Martial Training Courtyard was larger than Lee Hyun had imagined.
Enclosed by towering walls, the expanse of yellow earth was so vast that the opposite wall was barely visible.
To one side lay separate training grounds designated for archery and equestrian drills.
Martial artists brandished weapons across the field, and tens of thousands of soldiers bearing spears and shields moved in tight square formations.
“Thrust!”
“Hah—!”
Thousands of spears shot forward in unison.
The whistling of cleaved air melded into a roar like that of a colossal beast.
“Recover!”
Thump!
The ground trembled faintly as the soldiers stamped their feet in unison.
Lee Hyun climbed up to an elevated pavilion on one side of the training ground alongside the Crown Prince’s entourage.
From there, one could look down across the entire Grand Training Ground.
Most prominent of all was the colossal sparring arena set up at the center.
Its floor was paved with thick stone slabs baked with black sand, marked everywhere with deep sword gashes and gouges.
Surrounding the arena stood over a thousand martial arts masters.
Those in the front row all possessed vigorous blood qi.
From more than a dozen among them, an aura emanated so potent that even Lee Hyun found his interest piqued.
Are those masters of the Transformation Realm?
Yet now, even these masters kept their mouths shut, eyes fixed solely on the center of the arena.
Two men stood facing each other there.
One was a hulking elder whose hair was half-gray. The sleeves of his gray martial robe were rolled up, and in his hand was an unadorned longsword.
The Crown Prince gestured toward him. “That is Grand Hero Gwak Cheon-ung, Head of the Martial Training Courtyard. A master of the Profound Realm who oversees the martial training and combat sparring of military martial artists.”
Opposite Gwak Cheon-ung stood an armored, middle-aged warrior.
“That is General Gang Mu-jin of the Southern Army. He, too, is a master who has attained the Profound Realm, scheduled to march today at the head of thirty thousand reinforcements to bolster the defenses of Nosu Pass.”
Nosu Pass was a fortress where the waterways and dyke roads of southern Untaek converged. Any invasion force from Heavenly Yang had to pass through it to enter southern Untaek.
Today’s duel was intended to test Gang Mu-jin’s martial arts before his departure, serving as a final verification of his preparations against the enemy general he would face at Nosu Pass.
The two men stood roughly a hundred zhang apart.
“Do they begin so far apart?”
“If they stood close, the match might be decided before the starting drum even sounds.”
No sooner had he spoken than a massive war drum boomed.
Boom—
While the drumbeat still hung in the air, both figures vanished simultaneously.
Crash!
A bolt of thunder seemed to detonate at the center of the arena.
A gale blasted in all directions, violently flapping the banners atop the pavilion.
The first thing visible was a brilliant white sword aura surging through the air.
A crescent of sword aura several zhang wide cleaved diagonally across the arena. A hairline fracture appeared upon the black stone slabs before the rock suddenly split wide open along the seam.
Baaam!
The moment Gwak Cheon-ung and Gang Mu-jin’s swords clashed, the very air seemed to cave in, sending circular, translucent shockwaves rippling out from the point of impact.
The black stone slabs paving the arena shattered and blasted outward.
Slash!
Gang Mu-jin’s sword aura sliced Gwak Cheon-ung’s body in two. But what split was merely an afterimage.
Having materialized behind Gang Mu-jin’s back, Gwak Cheon-ung swung his blade. Three arcs of sword aura rained down toward his neck, waist, and knees.
Spinning around, Gang Mu-jin swung his weapon to meet them. Sword aura bursting from his longsword collided head-on with the three arcs.
Flash!
A blinding white light erupted.
Before the sound of the first collision could even register, the second and third impacts detonated in rapid succession.
To the eyes of ordinary soldiers, it was nothing more than flashing bursts of light.
Lee Hyun, however, could track their movements.
When a blade was parried, an elbow struck out. When the upper body ducked, a knee drove toward the abdomen. The moment one took half a step back, the other was already launching the next assault.
Boom!
In an instant, Gang Mu-jin was hurled back dozens of zhang. A long fissure cracked across his armor.
Yet even before his momentum halted, Gang Mu-jin stamped his foot into the ground.
The stone slabs burst, and his dark figure rocketed forward like an arrow.
His sword aura grazed Gwak Cheon-ung’s cheek and severed a stone pillar behind him.
Before the cleaved pillar could even hit the ground, a low thrum rose from Gwak Cheon-ung’s longsword. Dust and stone powder were blown away all at once as a brilliant white vortex of sword aura erupted into the sky.
Rumble—
The flash engulfed the entire arena.
When the glare cleared, both men had already frozen in place.
The tip of Gwak Cheon-ung’s sword rested against Gang Mu-jin’s throat.
From Gang Mu-jin’s longsword, a knuckle’s length of sword aura protruded, hovering a mere inch before Gwak Cheon-ung’s chest.
The two stood motionless for a moment.
Gwak Cheon-ung lowered his sword first. “Half a move late.”
Gang Mu-jin lowered his longsword as well. A thin red line of blood marked his neck where the blade’s tip had kissed his flesh.
“Had this been a real battle, the Head of the Courtyard would not have escaped unscathed either.”
“Perhaps, if the champions of Heavenly Yang were merely at my level.” Gwak Cheon-ung wiped the blood from his cheek with his sleeve. “However, O Cheon-ak, the Army-Breaking Sword marching on Nosu Pass, is faster than I am.”
Gang Mu-jin’s expression hardened.
“While General Gang holds off O Cheon-ak, you all must work alongside the Battlefield Retainers to eliminate the masters under his command.”
Lee Hyun looked down at the arena.
So this is the caliber of a master in the Profound Realm.
Though it was difficult to draw an exact comparison to a cultivator, their lethal capability was beyond question.
More impressive than their destructive power was their speed of judgment.
Neither man waited for his opponent’s technique to reach fruition. The moment a sword began its swing, they were already dodging; the moment a strike was parried, the next attack was already unfolding.
In contrast, despite having mastered dozens of spells, when Lee Hyun imagined Gwak Cheon-ung charging straight at him right now, no immediate answer came to mind as to what he should cast first.
Should he repel him with a Spherical Qi Barrier? Pierce his skull with the Yang Metal Formula? Blast him head-on with a Fireball Technique to open up distance? Dive underground with the Earth Escape Technique? Or clash blades directly with the Cheonggang Sword Formula?
In the time it took to weigh those options, Gwak Cheon-ung’s blade would likely already be at his throat.
Reaching Major Accomplishment in spells is a world apart from being adept in battle.
The spells Lee Hyun had cultivated were like well-honed weapons, but no matter how many weapons one possessed, they were useless if one did not know which one to draw at any given instant.
Just then, a great drum reverberated.
Boom—
The soldiers scattered across the field sprang into motion.
Moments later, thirty thousand soldiers stood formed in ranks at the center of the Grand Training Ground.
The Crown Prince descended from the pavilion in silence.
As he stepped onto the raised dais in the center of the grounds, the murmurs of the troops died down.
He did not raise his voice right away.
He first gazed at the battered arena, then slowly swept his eyes from the front ranks to the very back of the formation.
“At dawn three days ago, refugees fleeing the invasion of Heavenly Yang entered through the South Gate. They were folk who had fled from three villages beyond Nosu Pass.”
Heralds stationed throughout the ranks relayed the Crown Prince’s words with booming shouts, passing his voice back through the formation one after another.
“There were twenty-seven carts. Most of those aboard were the elderly and children; only eleven able-bodied men could still walk on their own two feet. The rest had either died behind them or fought at the crossroads to buy their families time to escape.”
“If Nosu Pass falls, there will be far too many carts to count next time. The census rolls of the three southern counties will be wiped clean, the autumn harvest will burn to ash, and the transport barges bearing our military rations will be cut off. Before winter even sets in, the tide of refugees will break against the very gates of Cloud Capital!”
“Seven years ago, when Baeksu City fell, my elder brother held the line. As the royal court debated retreat, I was the one who insisted we defend the fortress to the bitter end. I believed then that we could not abandon the people within those walls just to save our soldiers.”
“My brother died. I, who drove that decision, survived. So today, I will not order you to offer up your lives, nor will I tell you that death is glorious. Death is merely death. It leaves nothing behind but debts for the living, and it severs a family’s bloodline forever.”
Yu Jeong-hwi swept his gaze past the front rank of soldiers, letting it settle on the distant battle standards fluttering at the rear.
“Yet if we surrender Nosu Pass, someone else must pay that debt in your stead. Your aging parents will perish along the roads, and your young children will beg for scraps in foreign lands.”
“What you march to protect are the people who, when you finally return and knock upon your doors, will call out your names from within!”
Across the vast expanse of the Grand Training Ground, absolute stillness settled over the ranks. Not even the faint rustle of armor could be heard.
Only then did the Crown Prince draw the sword at his hip.
Shing—
The cold tip of the blade leveled toward the south.
“Behind Nosu Pass, there is no second fortress to fall back on. Beyond its gates lie only your parents, your wives, your children, your ancestral graves, and the fields you have yet to harvest.”
Yu Jeong-hwi paused, his chest heaving slightly.
“Do not die. If you wish to return alive, do not surrender Nosu Pass!”
“Go, and hold the line!”
As the heralds bellowed the final command in unison, the words crashed like thunder across thirty thousand men.
Thud—
Thirty thousand weapons struck the earth in a single, earth-shaking beat.
“We obey the command!”
A roar tore from thousands of throats, rattling the very ground of the Grand Training Ground.
No hollow battle chants followed.
Gang Mu-jin wheeled his mount around, and the standard-bearers hoisted the great war banners high into the air. Splitting into disciplined columns, the army of thirty thousand began its steady advance toward the South Gate.
The clatter of cold steel and the rhythmic, heavy tread of thirty thousand marching boots echoed across the training grounds long after the banners had passed.
Lee Hyun watched the spectacle in utter silence.
To a cultivator, mortal dynasties were fleeting, ephemeral things that rose and vanished like morning mist.
Yet to these men, the Untaek Kingdom was the entirety of their world—the land of their birth, their hearths, and the earth that sustained everyone they loved.
Looking down at the empty courtyard, he felt he could finally understand why the Crown Prince had cast aside all royal dignity to kneel before an unfamiliar cultivator.
Once the military review concluded, the Crown Prince climbed back up to the pavilion.
His voice was slightly hoarse from the strain. “My apologies for keeping you waiting.”
“It is fine.”
“Was it too tedious to watch?”
“On the contrary, I learned a great deal.” Lee Hyun shifted his gaze toward the martial arena below, its stone floor scarred with jagged sword gouges. “Can cultivators also study martial arts and hand-to-hand combat at the Martial Training Courtyard?”
Yu Jeong-hwi’s eyes instantly lit up. “Of course. Among the royal retainers, quite a few regularly spar with the martial masters of the Courtyard to sharpen their practical instincts.”
Jeong Won-baek stroked his beard and offered his own thoughts.
“Merely wielding powerful spells does not make one formidable in actual combat. Rogue cultivators who spend years training alone deep in the mountains are especially prone to clumsy mistakes when pitted against real opponents.”
Lee Hyun nodded, keeping his expression neutral, though it felt as though Jeong Won-baek had pointed a finger directly at him.
“If I register as a retainer, I assume I would be permitted to learn as well?”
“An excellent idea,” Jeong Won-baek said warmly. “The moment you become a retainer, if Fellow Daoist truly desires it, I shall personally speak to Head Gwak on your behalf.”
“Will that truly be acceptable, considering I know nothing of martial combat?”
“Quite the contrary. It is precisely cultivators like Fellow Daoist who need it the most.”
Jeong Won-baek pointed toward the shattered martial arena below.
“A cultivator at the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage who lacks practical combat experience can easily be killed by an ordinary peak martial arts master. Yet a cultivator who has honed their instincts through proper training can comfortably hold their own against an expert of the Transformation Realm. If they possess sufficient talent, they won’t simply throw their life away even against a master of the Profound Realm.”
“Does practical experience truly make that vast of a difference?”
“In a real fight to the death, the disparity is often far more extreme than the example I just gave. A cultivation realm merely reflects the raw power you hold within your body. The gap between someone who truly understands how to exploit an enemy while protecting their own weaknesses and someone who does not is far wider than Fellow Daoist might imagine.”
Jeong Won-baek gave his beard another thoughtful stroke.
“Cultivators possess an immense variety of mystical means at their command. If they simply learn how to fight properly under life-and-death pressure, their combat strength will soar far faster than that of any mundane martial artist. The only issue is that most cultivators consider it a humiliation to seek instruction from mere martial artists.”
Lee Hyun did not hesitate. “If it helps me survive, I am willing to learn from anyone. And not merely how to defend against martial artists—if possible, I would like to learn the martial arts themselves.”
“Haha! Under normal circumstances, there is hardly any need to go that far, but your pragmatism is truly admirable.”
Listening to the exchange between Lee Hyun and Jeong Won-baek, the tension melted from the Crown Prince’s face, replaced by a bright smile. The likelihood that Lee Hyun would choose to enter the Bureau of Heavenly Service had clearly skyrocketed.
“Then let us not delay,” the Crown Prince said cordially. “First, allow me to arrange comfortable accommodations where you may rest over the coming days.”