A Dog Needs Training
I didn't know anything.
Huh.... What is this?
A crimson veil had fallen across my eyes.
I couldn't think of a thing.... No—was it that I didn't want to?
Sound receded into a distant hush, as if I were sinking into the deep sea. A strange sensation crept through me, as though someone else were moving my body.
Then a bewitching voice brushed against my ear.
Who is that?
Why is it a woman?
Her voice is... really pretty. Like a gorgeous voice actress.
"Who's there?"
She seemed delighted that her voice had gotten through. Pleasure colored every word she spoke, as if she were savoring each one.
"At last. You can hear me."
"Who are you?"
"I see. This time, you're a darling little one."
"Who are you, though?"
The one person in the world I could trust.
Who would that be?
"There's a dog in front of you right now."
"A dog? Isn't that a person?"
"Look carefully. Is it not a dog?"
I looked again. It did look like a snarling dog.
"Ah.... Yeah. That's a dog."
"That's right. A dog must be trained properly. It's barking without even recognizing its own master, you see?"
"Uh.... Yeah. It does need to be trained."
"What a clever child you are."
A bashful little smile spread across my face at her praise.
Meanwhile, Baek Shin-hoo—who had briefly lost his sight to the Blinding Scripture—barely managed to collect himself. The instant he confirmed Goat-jjang's position, his jaw dropped and refused to close.
"Hhk! Th-the Reversal Blood Sword! That's impossible—"
Crimson light in her eyes. A cultivation realm that had surged upward in a single heartbeat. A face so blank it seemed emptied of all feeling.
It was exactly as the rumors described.
To think the genuine Reversal Blood Sword was here, in the lower world.
The moment the old Baek Shin-hoo understood it was real, he tried to flee at once. The situation had changed completely. As long as the opponent held that demonic blade, there was no path to victory.
And yet this energy holding him back from turning around—
Surely this idiot isn't thinking of staying to fight?
Does he have no sense at all? Does he not understand who he's facing?
Instead, Baek Shin-hoo drew a dagger and dropped into an attacking stance.
"You madman! What do you think you're doing?!"
"What do you think? Mix your flying with my close combat and we can take her."
"What kind of nonsense is that?! Can you not feel her realm? If we don't run this instant, neither of us will survive!"
"Shut the fuck up! I endured that goddamn agony for one reason—to catch that bitch!"
"You dull-witted fool!!"
Baek Shin-hoo was drunk on the sudden surge of power. He could tell she was stronger—he just had no idea by how much. Sure, she looked strong enough to raise goosebumps, but that was a familiar feeling. It was the same sensation he'd always gotten pushing into floors that were just a little too high, back in his hunter days.
And he'd always been the one who won.
All he could think about was using this mysterious new power to tear the NPC apart.
Baek Shin-hoo combined his specialty—speed—with a wind-attribute cultivator's art, and leapt as if vanishing from sight.
A burst of wind-aspected force, fused with an assassin's footwork — vanishing from sight in a single leap.
The speed was incomparable to before. In a flash faster than anything he had ever managed, he appeared right in front of Goat-jjang, then raised the dagger with total confidence to drive it into her chest.
In that instant—
— Snap!
Goat-jjang flicked a finger. Wind stirred around her and swept across Baek Shin-hoo's wrist.
— Slice.
The wrist holding the dagger spun lazily up into the empty air.
Baek Shin-hoo clutched the stump and screamed.
"GAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Kh. You dull creature. I thought you had some hidden card to play, but you can't even read a cultivation realm. A complete greenhorn."
The old Baek Shin-hoo clicked his tongue in horror, but there was no chance the other would hear it.
Only now did despair and terror settle into Baek Shin-hoo's eyes. A gap so vast he couldn't even react crushed his rage flat. Having finally grasped the difference in level, he chose to run—just as the old one had told him to.
— KWAANG!
He shot into the air in an instant and fled like a madman.
Goat-jjang watched him go, indifferent.
The whisper returned to her ear.
"Isn't that because its arm got cut off?"
"What are you saying? You only gave it a little tap, didn't you?"
"A little tap? Uh.... Ah! Right! I only gave it a little tap."
"You must catch it at once. It mustn't be allowed to run, must it?"
"Run? Right. It shouldn't run...."
"That's it. Shouldn't you put a collar on it, so it can't get away?"
"A collar? I don't have a collar."
"You have a sturdy red one, don't you?"
"Ah!"
I drew out the Red Cloud Silk.
Baek Shin-hoo had already fled so far he was out of sight. I didn't particularly mind. I simply stood where I was.
"Looks like it already ran all the way to the end. I can't see it."
"But you know where it is, don't you?"
"Yes. One moment."
I confirmed Baek Shin-hoo's location with my spiritual sense. The instant I poured spiritual power into the silk, it shot outward at a maddened speed.
Baek Shin-hoo, meanwhile, was too busy fleeing to think of anything else, wringing every last drop of inner force from his body. Even as he squeezed his power dry, the old Baek Shin-hoo poured out his fury.
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot! How dare you draw a blade against a Golden Core cultivator?!"
"Shut up! Who the hell knew she'd get that strong?!"
"You dull creature. When you fight someone holding the Reversal Blood Sword, do you not even know what you must be most careful of?!"
"What?"
"Never—never—be the last one left alive!"
"Why the hell not?"
"Because the last one remaining dies the most painfully— khhk!"
The old Baek Shin-hoo could not finish the sentence. Naturally, Baek Shin-hoo's own breath caught with it.
The old one stared at the endlessly lengthening crimson thread, and horror welled up in him.
The real Red Cloud Silk was here....
Then was it true that the child had received treasures from Hyeolha Nojo and Okhan Binghu?
How?
And did that mean she really was their disciple?
By what possible means?
And of all things, the Red Cloud Silk.
Once it caught you, there was no getting out. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator, if seized by the Red Cloud Silk, would have to abandon their body and escape with only their Nascent Soul.
Then what of a Qi Condensation cultivator, infinitely more wretched than that?
— Sssrrrk.
The red thread went taut and began to shorten.
Baek Shin-hoo thrashed with his remaining hand, trying to cut the line. He slashed at it with his dagger. He tried to burn it with Fireball Art. He tried to shear it with Wind Blade Art. But the Red Cloud Silk did not take so much as a scratch.
The thread kept shrinking, dragging Baek Shin-hoo in. And at the end of that thread, Goat-jjang of the crimson eyes was smiling.
Her eyes did not smile. Only the corners of her mouth had lifted, into something grotesque.
"Kh—khhk. No!"
"Kh. Y-you said we'd win!"
"Y-you— kegh! You didn't explain it properly, did you?!"
"You— khhk—you cut me off first...."
There was no way out now, so they kept fighting even as they were dragged. Before long the Red Cloud Silk, which had stretched without end, had fully reeled in—and still they did not stop.
"You imbecile! Look at this mortal throwing his weight around without even grasping the principles of cultivation!"
"What, you proud of being the only one who knows that shit?"
What on earth is he thinking?
His strength had given out; he couldn't even stay on his feet. He was on his knees, the Red Cloud Silk bound around his throat. It looked exactly like a dog's collar.
After fighting with himself for a good while, Baek Shin-hoo finally took in the situation, flattened himself to the ground, and bowed his head.
"This humble one was blind, and committed the folly of failing to recognize Mount Tai. I beg you—spare my life, if nothing else."
"I—I was wrong too! If I'd known you were this strong I never would've picked a fight! Please, just let me live!"
Something in Baek Shin-hoo's words grated against my ear.
It felt as if my fogged mind had snapped back into place. I looked around, and at some point Baek Shin-hoo had flattened himself to the dirt, trembling.
What's wrong with his hand?
But his words kept feeding the anger in my chest.
If he'd known I was strong, he wouldn't have picked a fight?
And if I'd looked weak?
If I hadn't been strong, what would he have done?
If I hadn't been strong, that meant he could have crushed me however he liked?
"The stupid creature! That nonsense just now was only because this fool is ignorant. Please, I beg you, show mercy!"
Then, once more—tempting, corrupting—the bewitching voice tickled my ear.
"Isn't that a person? Look, it's begging like that."
"Look carefully again. Is it not a dog?"
At her words, I looked at Baek Shin-hoo....
No.... I looked at Baek Shin-hoo.... no.... I looked at the dog.
There in front of me was a dog, flattened to the ground, wagging its tail, watching my face for cues.
"I saw it wrong."
"That's right. A dog only wags its tail and pretends to obey when it's afraid. You must train it properly."
"Manners.... Training? How?"
"You train it with arts, of course."
"Arts aren't something you use to train a dog, though?"
"Arts were originally for training dogs. You were simply mistaken."
What? Did I have that wrong?
Should I think this through?
No. Somehow, that sounds right.
"You're right. You train dogs with arts."
"What a good child. Then shall we start with the Entangling Vine Art?"
I did as she said, and invoked the art.
Vines burst from the earth and wound around their target, binding it fast.
— KRK-KRK-KRK.
Vines surged up from the ground in an instant and wound around Baek Shin-hoo, cinching tight.
"GAAAAHHH!!"
As the vines constricted his body, he screamed, unable to bear the pain. But in my ear, a voice of the opposite feeling rang out—bright with delight.
"Our little one is so clever. You handle the Entangling Vine Art beautifully."
"Really?"
She praised me, so I must be doing it right.
"Then shall we try the Earthen Wall Art next?"
"Why the Earthen Wall Art?"
"Isn't the dog filthy? There's no wooden tub, so you'll have to make one with the Earthen Wall Art."
"Ah! Right! It needs a bath!"
I drew up my spiritual power as she said, and invoked the Earthen Wall Art.
Earth rose on all sides, shaping itself into a great basin.
Earth surged up around Baek Shin-hoo from every direction, and a massive tub took form.
"Then we'll need to fill it with water, won't we?"
"Water?"
"You have the Water Sphere Art, don't you? Float a water sphere above it."
"Like this?"
With a single gesture, a colossal mass of water formed over Baek Shin-hoo's head.
A vast orb of water, hanging in the air, waiting to fall.
"Hohoho. Our child is truly so clever."
"Then I just release the spiritual power like this, right?"
"That's it. Teach you one thing, and you understand ten."
The moment I let the power go, the mass of water crashed down into the tub. Baek Shin-hoo, bound fast by the vines, could not get out.
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmmph!"
Bubbles boiled up through the water-filled tub.
"Isn't it going to die like that?"
"If you leave it in too long the dog will die, won't it? Once the bath is done, you let the water out."
"Right."
I broke down the earthen walls, and the trapped water came pouring out. Baek Shin-hoo lay limp on the ground, waterlogged.
"The dog seems to have fainted. You must wake it at once."
"How do I wake it?"
"You have Palm Thunder, don't you?"
"Ah!"
I lifted my palm and invoked Palm Thunder. Sparks leapt from my hand. The moment I set that hand on Baek Shin-hoo's slack chest—
Lightning burst from the palm — a shock like a live current driven straight into the heart.
— ZZZzzzzt!
"GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
His body jerked and bounced as if he'd been hit with a stun gun. In that same instant, the old Baek Shin-hoo came to his senses and wailed.
"O Great Power—no, Venerable One! I have nothing to do with this fool! I merely entered because I saw a vessel!"
A vessel? What does that mean? Is he saying he's someone else?
I had no time to sort the thought before the voice returned.
"It's still barking so loudly."
"Barking? Isn't it talking right now?"
"A ghost has possessed the dog. Why not try the Radiant Flash Art?"
"Radiant Flash Art?"
"That's right. Ghosts hate the light."
"Ah—right! Ghosts hate the light."
I invoked the art as she said, and it burst like a flashbang.
A searing burst of light, as if a flashbang had gone off at point-blank range.
"GAAAH!! My eyes! My eyes!!"
Baek Shin-hoo thrashed with everything he had, but the vines still held him. He could not get out.
"Our little one is truly so clever."
"Really?"
"There's still more for you to learn, though. You have the Bone-Burning Art and the Blood Combat Art left, don't you?"
"Yes! I'll work hard!"
An empty valley, with no one around to hear.
The screams that rang through it went on for a long, long time.