Fragments of the Key
"To some extent. However, I was unable to obtain any definitive information. So much time has passed that it is a miracle I even found a clue."
"A clue?"
"It was a monument of merit. It recorded how a man named Sang-yo suppressed Jegu and sought merit from the Heavenly Dao."
Gwak Yeon's expression shifted slightly upon hearing those words. She seemed flustered, perhaps even a little angry.
"...I see. A monument of merit." Letting out a long sigh, Gwak Yeon averted her gaze from the iron fragment and asked, "How much do you know?"
"All I know is that this is deeply connected to two Golden Core cultivators who vanished seven thousand years ago, and that it is valuable enough for someone like Fellow Daoist Gwak to willingly brave danger and trouble."
"It is certainly valuable. Then, if I pay a suitable price, will you hand it over to me?"
"Fellow Daoist Gwak, Fellow Daoist Gwak," Myeong-ha said with a sigh. "When you showed sincerity and requested a conversation, hadn't you already made up your mind? For Foundation Establishment cultivators like us, what could be more precious than a fortuitous opportunity related to a Golden Core master? Surely you aren't planning to offer a Core Condensing Pill?"
"A Core Condensing Pill? Your jest is too excessive."
"Since you were joking, I merely responded in kind."
The Core Condensing Pill was, as its name suggested, an alchemical pill that aided in forming a Golden Core. While it belonged to a similar category as the Foundation Establishment Pill, its value was naturally incomparable. Unlike the Foundation Establishment Pill, which was costly but still obtainable if one searched hard enough, the Core Condensing Pill was a sacred pill of the human race, its very existence regarded as a legend. Perhaps even the two great Golden Core sects of Yang-seo-ho could not obtain one. Myeong-ha bringing up such an item was a warning to Gwak Yeon to cut the nonsense.
"...Very well." Gwak Yeon remained composed despite Myeong-ha's rebuff. It seemed she had thrown out the offer without much expectation to begin with. "As I mentioned, it is a key to the seal. More precisely, a fragment of the key. What was originally a single key was split into multiple pieces long ago and scattered in all directions."
"Hmm. That seal must be related to the two senior cultivators, Sang-yo and Jegu?"
"Yes. In the past, Senior Sang-yo drove the Demon King Jegu into a secret realm. However, Jegu's strength was formidable, and they ultimately perished together. Afterward, the secret realm where the two Golden Core cultivators fought their final battle turned into a barren land of death."
Even for Foundation Establishment cultivators, the residual thoughts and resentment they released upon death could have a fatal impact on Qi Condensation cultivators. How much more so for Sang-yo and Jegu, who were Golden Core cultivators?
"My ancestor sealed the secret realm to prevent the contamination leaking from that barren land. This was also an arrangement left behind by Senior Sang-yo."
"Your ancestor? Could it be..."
"My ancestor was a Dao child who followed Senior Sang-yo."
Gwak Yeon, briefly observing the reactions of Je-gyeong and Myeong-ha, continued. "My ancestor spent his entire life guarding the seal. And before he departed this world, he charged his descendants to guard the seal generation after generation until Senior Sang-yo's lingering regret was appeased."
Je-gyeong thought Gwak Yeon's ancestor was incredibly foolish. While sealing the place after recognizing the danger of the barren land could be called a responsible act, guarding the seal for an entire lifetime and then imposing such a burden on his descendants was going too far. There was a limit to foolishness.
"Truly a rare righteousness in this world," Myeong-ha praised. "In a small way, your ancestor kept his loyalty to Senior Sang-yo, and in a larger sense, he prevented a disaster that would have plagued the cultivation world for his entire life."
Je-gyeong quietly cast a sidelong glance at Myeong-ha's admiring display. Having worked together as business partners for over a decade and seen all sides of him, Je-gyeong was certain that Myeong-ha shared his exact thoughts. Yet, the man could still spout such smooth, hypocritical flattery with a straight face.
"You may speak frankly," Gwak Yeon said. "He might have believed he was making a righteous decision, but to his descendants, it was a self-righteous and foolish choice. Indeed, not a few regarded it as a curse."
Gwak Yeon had now cast aside her expressionless mask. A cold, mocking sneer appeared on her face.
"Four thousand years ago, an unsettling atmosphere loomed over the family. Although we had upheld our ancestor's dying wish for three thousand years, the contamination leaking from the seal did not fade in the slightest, and the family's situation was steadily deteriorating. Consequently, many wished to lay down the family duty that had been carried for three millennia."
At the time, that skeptical sentiment had already become the dominant consensus, and it was not something the family head and a few elders could stop. Ultimately, the head of the Gwak family made a decision: those who wished to leave would leave, and those who wished to stay would stay.
But he also worried that the fractured family might not stop at merely abandoning their ancestor's legacy but might take it a step further. Even if no traitors emerged from within the family, there was no guaranteeing how long those who left would keep the secret.
"The family head of that era split the key into several pieces, keeping some within the family and hiding the rest outside."
Hearing up to this point, Je-gyeong asked in puzzlement, "Isn't that a good idea? Why didn't your previous ancestors do that?"
"Because while a key is required to undo the seal, it is not absolute. Since that seal was prepared by Senior Sang-yo, a Golden Core cultivator of a similar realm could undo it if they stepped forward."
"Would that be a problem?"
What the Gwak family feared was the resentment generated when the two Golden Core cultivators perished together, and the contamination arising from it. But would a living Golden Core cultivator fear the resentment of a dead one? If they stepped forward, the contamination would not be an issue.
"That, too, was our ancestor's dying wish. He did not want Senior Sang-yo's rest to be disturbed."
"..."
"And on the other hand, it was also a promised reward for his descendants."
That once the contamination of the seal eventually faded, the descendants of the Gwak family would receive a reward for their long devotion. That was the carrot the Gwak ancestor had promised his descendants.
At first, it was effective. With the pride of performing a righteous deed coupled with hope for the future, the cultivators of the Gwak family willingly guarded the seal for the first few generations. Of course, one also had to consider that the Gwak family's circumstances were not bad at the time.
But too much time had passed. People began to doubt the existence of a carrot they couldn't even see, and to make matters worse, the Gwak family's fortunes went down a path of steady decline. The family fractured, and even those who remained grew weary.
"Then which side do you belong to, Fellow Daoist Gwak?" Myeong-ha asked. Were they those who stayed, or those who left?
"Does that matter?"
"Does it not?"
"It might have mattered in the past, but not anymore."
"I see."
Except for her initial attempt to test them, Gwak Yeon's attitude was impeccable. Though, of course, it was impossible to know how much of the story she had shared so far was actually true.
"Then what is your stance, Fellow Daoist Gwak? I wish to hear a clear answer from your own mouth."
"I wish to take what my family rightfully deserves."
"How many in your family share your thoughts?"
Gwak Yeon stared intently at Myeong-ha. "You do not need to beat around the bush. As Fellow Daoist Myeong-ha said, I had already made up my mind before coming here. If you are willing to cooperate, I will not refuse."
"Cooperation is well and good. But what is cooperation without a balance of power other than subjugation?"
Gwak Yeon stared at Myeong-ha before turning her gaze toward Je-gyeong. "Is there anyone in the Yang-seo-ho cultivation world who does not know of your reputations? In contrast, we are merely ruined people who have failed to even leave behind a name. Your worries are entirely groundless."
"Is it not because you wished to remain nameless? And what is hidden is always far more terrifying than what is revealed. There is no need for you to act so humble, Fellow Daoist Gwak."
Je-gyeong did not utter a single word, merely sipping his Spirit Wine. It was best to leave the work to the expert. The tug-of-war with Gwak Yeon was Myeong-ha's role; his own role was to sit quietly and project an imposing presence. Titles like the Black Flood Dragon or the Dragon Lord were highly useful at times like this.
A fortuitous opportunity for Golden Core. While Myeong-ha and Gwak Yeon exchanged subtly sharp words, Je-gyeong pondered the "fortuitous opportunity" that had taken a more concrete shape thanks to Gwak Yeon's explanation.
Myeong-ha and Gwak Yeon continued their fierce tug-of-war. To Je-gyeong's eyes, it seemed like a meaningless battle of nerves, but through that long and tedious process, they eventually revealed their hands to some extent.
As expected, Gwak Yeon was a descendant of a branch family that had split from the main house early on, and she had only recently learned of the seal and the key. While it might seem strange for a descendant of the Gwak family to be ignorant of a seal guarded at the cost of the family's fate, the truth was that most descendants of the branch families were in a similar situation.
Gwak Yeon had at least maintained the surname Gwak, but there were countless others who had no connection to the Gwak family other than the blood flowing in their veins. Though the degree varied, almost every branch family had strived to sever their ties with the main house from the moment they split.
Consequently, they naturally kept the seal a secret and did not pass it down to future generations, judging that the secret itself could pose a danger. They wished to escape the dreadful destiny that had bound them for thousands of years, and they had indeed achieved that wish.
Even Gwak Yeon was no exception. Until she heard the secret history of the Gwak family from her recently deceased father, she had never dreamed that such deep roots lay hidden in her lineage.
If she had any other hope of forming a Golden Core, she wouldn't be clinging to such a stale, ancient opportunity.
Gwak Yeon had merely maintained her youthful appearance by taking Youth-Retaining Pills early and consistently; her actual age was quite advanced, even by the standards of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. If another twenty or thirty years passed like this, her hope of forming a Golden Core would completely vanish, and she would ultimately follow her father to the grave. She could not accept such a fate.
As a cultivator, she was determined to do everything in her power. Thus, clutching at straws, she began to investigate the seven-thousand-year-old seal and managed to achieve some results.
Although the stories she had heard from her father were fragmentary, they contained several key pieces of information. For instance, the seal from seven thousand years ago, and the fact that the inheritance of the Talisman Dao, which she had believed to be unique to her branch, had actually been passed down from the main family.
Based on this information, Gwak Yeon set out to find her long-lost kin. She inquired about those with outstanding skills in the Talisman Dao within the Yang-seo-ho cultivation world, prioritizing those with the surname Gwak.
She approached them under the pretext of exchanging knowledge, and if she sensed even the slightest familiarity in their talisman techniques, she tested them without exception. If their strength and background were negligible, she subdued them on the spot and forcefully performed a Soul Search to extract information.
Normally, repeatedly handling matters in this fashion would easily get one branded as a bandit cultivator or a demonic cultivator, leading to a troublesome plight. However, Gwak Yeon was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Her methods were cautious and adept, and even if unexpected situations occasionally arose, they were of a level she could resolve with her late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation.
In this manner, the number of Talisman Masters who had vanished by her hand over the past few years reached dozens. Most of her attempts had been in vain, but she had struck gold a few times. By soul-searching those who were hiding their identities or those who did not even know they were descendants of the Gwak family, she unearthed several pieces of meaningful information. In the process, she had also gathered two key fragments.
Gathering all the key fragments is practically impossible.
While dealing with dozens of Talisman Masters, Gwak Yeon had realized that although her method was the best available, it nonetheless had clear limits. She was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and she could walk with her head held high anywhere in Yang-seo-ho. However, that did not mean she could bear the consequences of any action she took.
With dozens of skilled Talisman Masters dying over several years, people had begun to sense that something was amiss. Among them were a few whom even Gwak Yeon could not afford to underestimate. Although she had not left a trail yet, if she caused any more trouble, it wouldn't be surprising if she were exposed at any moment.
Danger aside, continuing to chase the traces of the Gwak family in this manner had clear limitations. Was she to become a full-fledged bandit cultivator and comb through the entirety of Yang-seo-ho? Setting aside whether that was even possible, what if some of the Gwak descendants had left the Yang-seo-ho cultivation world? Surely she couldn't track their traces beyond Yang-seo-ho? That was utterly absurd.
When her thoughts reached that point, Gwak Yeon had felt a tinge of despair. She wondered if she should just give up. However, when she scouted the sealed site on a whim, she discovered a new possibility. She confirmed that even with just two key fragments, she could exert a slight influence on the seal.
"Are you saying the seal can be opened even without the complete key?" Myeong-ha expressed his doubt. Je-gyeong, though silent, shared the same thought.
"It is merely a possibility. However, at that time, I clearly witnessed it."
"Hmm. Has something gone wrong with the seal?"
"Most likely. It is a seven-thousand-year-old seal. No matter how formidable a Golden Core cultivator's methods may be, the very fact that the seal is still functioning is astonishing."
Just as Gwak Yeon said, it was a seal that had been maintained for a whopping seven thousand years. Moreover, what was trapped inside was the resentment of two Golden Core cultivators. Who knew how severely the seal had been affected in the face of that powerful, contaminating force?
"Since you have personally checked the seal, let me ask: what was the situation like?"
"I felt a powerful sense of foreboding. The unfortunate yet fortunate part is that the contamination has been slowly leaking out."
If the contamination was leaking out, the situation inside would gradually improve over time, which was the fortunate part. As for the unfortunate part... as the leakage of contamination continued, others would eventually notice.
"There isn't much time left, then."
"Indeed."
"How many key fragments have you gathered?"