The Escape and the First Step

Pyo Rip immediately drafted a short-term plan. Regardless of his Dao Body or any other strange ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠circumstances, the fact remained that his current situation was far from normal. Even with a plan, his options were limited. "There are two things I can consider." Run or fight. Either way, the goal was escape, so there was no reason to agonize over it. However, something else was bothering him.

"Engaging in combat is the smart move. But..." Pyo Rip asked his inner self. Was it truly right to just walk away and leave behind the bastards involved in human trafficking or whatever sick business this was? Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have felt a shred of guilt, especially when his own life was on the line. But now, he possessed a trump card—a divine ability related to destiny—making it a situation where he could afford to take a risk. If he ignored them despite that, could he really live with himself?

"No, that would be fucking embarrassing." He muttered, mixing in slang like a college student. It was a low-risk, high-reward situation anyway. "Alright." Pyo Rip made his decision. But he didn't move immediately. First, he needed to prepare for his escape. "I don't know how much time I have left, but... it should be enough to make a few talismans." Pyo Rip closed his eyes and accessed the Nangseo Study.

There exists what is known as the Four Cultivation Arts. The hundred useful techniques in cultivation are called the Hundred Arts, and from those, sixteen are selected as the Sixteen Arts, and finally, four are distilled into the Four Cultivation Arts: Talisman Making, Formations, Alchemy, and Equipment Refining. These four were the very arts Pyo Rip had spent his entire previous life mastering in theory, even if his cultivation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠realm hadn't kept pace. Among them, selling talismans had been his primary source of income before he even entered the Nangseo Pavilion.

Pyo Rip activated his divine ability. Examining the items inside his Ethereal Pouch, he quickly found his brush. After taking it out, he summoned one of the stored books onto his Five-Path Table using his intent. The brush was the Blue Crane Feather Brush, a tool for talisman making he had used since his time in the Qingyu Continent, and the book was the Hundred-Year Thunder Bamboo Scroll, a low-grade treasure collected by the former Lord of Nangseo Pavilion.

The Blue Crane Feather Brush was a decent tool made from the feathers of a spirit beast called a Blue Crane, though it had nothing particularly special about it. The Hundred-Year Thunder Bamboo Scroll, however, was quite valuable. It could be produced by planting a variety of bamboo called Thunder Bamboo in high mountains near the heavens, where the dragon veins were strong and spiritual energy was dense, and then installing a formation to summon lightning. The longer it was struck by lightning, the more potent its spiritual efficacy became. The scroll was made of paper woven from bamboo that had been struck by lightning for a hundred years.

Naturally, the Nangseo Study contained thousand-year and ten-thousand-year versions as well. Beyond that, there were only three sheets of million-year Thunder Bamboo paper, which were too few to bind into a book. While this might make the hundred-year scroll seem common, the Thunder Bamboo itself was so rare and spiritually potent that even a hundred-year-old piece was a treasure. It was just relatively more common than the thousand or ten-thousand-year varieties.

The efficacy of Thunder Bamboo was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simple: when used as a material for any technique, the result would possess power exceeding the user's own realm. With the hundred-year bamboo, Pyo Rip’s talismans—currently at the early stage of Foundation Establishment—would exert the power of the late stage.

"..." Pyo Rip closed his eyes and gathered his focus. The Peace Stone established the optimal posture, and the Five-Path Table supported his concentration to its limit. As he channeled his magical power, a milky halo of light appeared behind his head, and the inscriptions on the Blue Crane Feather Brush began to glow faintly. Finally, Pyo Rip opened his eyes and lifted the brush.

He unfurled the Hundred-Year Thunder Bamboo Scroll. First, he drew the Talisman Border, which flickered like flames, and inscribed the directional characters of the four cardinal points at the corners. Then, he wrote the legal text at the top, the Talisman Head: [EDICT]. The most basic step for creating a talisman was complete. With the Five-Path Table assisting him, Pyo Rip’s concentration remained unshaken. In the space within the border, the Talisman Body, he drew the incantation in a single stroke. The Fire image represented flames, and the Bullet wish represented a projectile. The channeled power turned into cinnabar, leaving a red trail upon the bamboo paper. With the final flick of the brush, he drew the Talisman Foot, reminiscent of a rising flame. The talisman was complete. It was a Fire Bullet Talisman.

Pyo Rip admired the talisman for a moment. Drawn on the yellow bamboo paper, it was clearly the work of a skilled talisman master. Objective or not, he felt it was a well-made piece. "It would have been better if my realm were higher, too..." It was a pity, but there was nothing to be done. Pyo Rip let out a small sigh, put the regret behind him, and began the full-scale production. Not just the Fire Bullet Talisman, but various other talismans were born from the tip of his brush.

"Whew." Pyo Rip finished his work and exited the Nangseo Study. Beyond the Fire Bullet Talisman, he had crafted numerous combat-ready talismans, as well as several useful for escape rather than battle, such as Invisibility Talismans and Clone Talismans. Considering it had taken less than thirty minutes, any cultivator from the Qingyu Continent would have nodded in awe at the speed. This was largely thanks to the help of the Peace Stone and the Five-Path Table.

Pyo Rip posted on the Gallery of Past Lives in his imagination.

Pyo Rip imagined his other selves from various past lives hitting the 'upvote' button and prepared for the next step. "Take out my gear before I move." Pyo Rip used his divine ability to search the items in his Ethereal Pouch. Soon, a sword-shaped magical tool was caught by his Mind-Void Void ability. The Wind-Chasing Sword. As the name suggests, it was originally a flight-type magical tool, but as a martial artist, Pyo Rip had also favored it as a weapon. He pulled out not only the sword but other equipment as well.

His attire consisted of the inner robes he had brought from the Qingyu Continent, and he wore a sturdy robe woven from Iron Silkworm silk. Since he had been shipped out of the factory naked, he would have been running around in the buff if not for the Ethereal Pouch. He didn't forget to pack throwing daggers and defensive magical tools into the inner pockets and sleeves of his robe for quick access. There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were other artifacts he had prepared as contingencies, but his current realm made them too difficult to handle. "That's it." The preparations were complete. With a throwing dagger in one hand and the Wind-Chasing Sword in the other, Pyo Rip channeled his magical power. The halo of light appeared behind his head, emitting a soft glow. "Let's go."

With a low voice, the inscriptions on the surface of the Wind-Chasing Sword glowed faintly. *Clack!* The blade sliced through the hinges and locks on both sides of the coffin. It was a subtle yet swift swordsmanship. He pushed the ceiling of the coffin slightly, finding the lid quite heavy. Pyo Rip lifted it silently, set it aside, and slipped out. The exterior of the coffin was exactly as he had seen it earlier. A dark, narrow aisle with black coffins piled high on both sides. To think all of these were people. "Damn bastards." Suppressing the urge to curse, Pyo Rip moved stealthily.

It was a natural thought, but Pyo Rip didn't rule out the possibility that they weren't human traffickers. Even if the situation seemed clear to him, he knew nothing of this world, so there could be a misunderstanding due to his ignorance. Therefore, his next move wasn't an act of violence. Pyo Rip approached the front of the cargo hold, near the driver's seat, and checked the driver. He was driving alone without a passenger. Pyo Rip sent a Heart-Speech to him.

-Do not be afraid.

Of course, he couldn't just announce that he was a suspicious person, so he intended to induce the answers he wanted. "Uh, uh?" The driver's flustered voice echoed from beyond the trailer wall. Even at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, a cultivator's hearing was more than sufficient to catch voices through walls despite the vehicle's noise. Pyo Rip didn't give the driver a chance to respond and stated his purpose.

-I came from over there. I was told to check on you.

Pyo Rip didn't know where "over there" was, but he had come from somewhere. He could sense the driver's flustered behavior as he looked around, confused by Pyo Rip's mental transmission. That was when it happened.

-*Static*. What is it, why are you like that?

A voice flowed from the in-vehicle communication device. It seemed there was a means of monitoring the driver's seat in real-time. Pyo Rip was faster than the driver's response.

-Do not answer. This is a secret inspection.

"Huck." He couldn't hear the breathing, but the driver's body reacted with a gasp. -Just play it off.

"..." The driver remained stiff without a reaction. But soon, he opened his mouth. "...It's nothing. I'm just a bit tired."

-*Static*. You have about 4 hours left, right? Just hang in there.

"...Yes."

Pyo Rip felt relieved and spoke to the driver. -Good. From now on, answer with yes or no. If yes, tap the steering wheel once. If no, twice. "..." A brief silence. *Tap.* The driver tapped the steering wheel once. "Got it." Thus, the conversation with the driver began. Pyo Rip asked questions that could elicit as much information as possible related to the driver: whether he had done illegal work recently, if the current cargo job was a normal legal contract, if he had the contract, and if there was a schedule to transport similar cargo in the future. Through this, he gained a wealth of information.

"This is legal?" Pyo Rip clicked his tongue and shook his head. He had asked questions that allowed for cross-verification, so it wasn't human trafficking; there had to be a deeper situation. And Pyo Rip, who classified the worlds he had lived in by genre, had experience that allowed him to infer this. "In punk-style worlds, human life is usually cheap. Technology is just as advanced." There were worlds that used clones as weapons. "If I was made as such a weapon, the current situation makes sense." When he opened his eyes, he wasn't a baby but a dark-skinned adult male. This situation was a first, even after scouring all his past lives. "...Let's just go." Not knowing this world well, Pyo Rip couldn't condemn it ethically. There were always situations that couldn't be helped. Pyo Rip wasn't so inflexible.

Pyo Rip sliced through the trailer ceiling with the Wind-Chasing Sword. The sword, imbued with magical power, cut through the plate smoothly without much noise. With a clattering sound, the rectangular piece of trailer steel fell. Pyo Rip stood on the Wind-Chasing Sword beneath it. Soon, with the halo of light glowing softly behind his head, Pyo Rip flew up into the night sky. Suddenly, Pyo Rip thought his halo looked like a target for a headshot. As he flew away in an instant, vehicles behind him braked sharply, and the shouts of people echoed through the air. In the eyes of the departing Pyo Rip, the night view of the city appeared in the distance.