Ghost Head City (1)
Three great sects held dominion over Weijin Country.
The Taiyi Easy Separation Sect, the foremost power of the Orthodox path. The Moonlit Thirteen League, the mightiest syndicate of the Dark Gate. And the Blood World Mara Sect, the greatest authority of the Demonic Dao.
Between them, these three powers had carved the cultivation world of Weijin into three pieces. Yet there existed exactly one neutral ground where none of their influence could reach.
In the distant past, a faction called the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace had succeeded in something resembling an ascension. Sect ascension was not a lone Soul Formation cultivator ascending by himself — it meant carrying an entire sect up to the higher realms, the supreme achievement every sect dreamed of.
Before leaving the mortal plane, the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace had bequeathed a colossal fortress-shaped immortal treasure: Ghost Head City. To claim it, the three great powers had waged a bloody struggle spanning hundreds of years.
Ghost Head City was valuable in its own right, but if one could secure the hidden legacies of the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace scattered throughout its depths, sect ascension itself might become possible. In the end, however, the three powers had exhausted so much manpower and resources that they were forced into armistice negotiations. Ghost Head City was left as neutral territory under no sect's rule, and cultivators of every stripe began flowing into it.
Today, Ghost Head City was a city of cultivators where all manner of characters lived jumbled together. The three great sects had ostensibly washed their hands of it, but through their subsidiary organizations they continued to meddle in its affairs, waiting for their chance.
"……"
The moment Cheon Woo-jin set foot in Ghost Head City, he felt eyes on him from among the haphazardly clustered street stalls near the entrance. It was the gaze of veterans sizing up a newcomer — trying to work out what kind of specimen this fresh face might be. One glance at his bearing told them everything: green as spring grass. They were all licking their lips, thinking of nothing but how best to pick this one's bones clean.
But there was no need to cower here. The area around the entrance was a haunt for nothing but small fry who hadn't even reached the late stage of Qi Condensation.
Cheon Woo-jin kept his expression cold and walked through the bustling street.
"I say, young brother."
A shabbily dressed man approached him then, glancing around nervously as he whispered with a grave expression.
"This seems to be your first time in Ghost Head City. Walking about so defenselessly is dangerous, you know. That fellow eating noodles at the stall over there — he's been fondling a hidden dagger in his coat this whole while. The moment he finishes his bowl, he'll follow you and strike from some dark corner."
"……"
"Walk with me for now. I'll show you the safe routes."
With that, the man took the lead. "You'll want lodging first, I should think. If you mean to stay long, I can introduce you to a trustworthy cave abode."
A cave abode, strictly speaking, referred to the caverns where cultivators conducted their training. But over time the meaning had broadened, and now any hidden refuge a cultivator made his dwelling was called one. An ordinary inn, no matter how well fortified, could not keep out the assaults of other cultivators. That was why one had to lodge in a secured cave abode.
"Come along, this way."
"……"
Cheon Woo-jin said nothing and simply studied the man. He needed to check the status window.
Qi Condensation, Early stage. To Cheon Woo-jin, who was already at the late stage, this man posed no threat whatsoever.
But the lodging this man was peddling would surely be a man-eating inn. The moment Cheon Woo-jin lay down and closed his eyes, vicious cultivators would most likely storm in and carve him to pieces. There was no reason to walk into such a trap.
"Kghk!"
Thwip!
A shadow blade erupted from the ground. Cheon Woo-jin's Black Shadow Technique, unfurled without the slightest warning, punched straight through the man's heart.
"Y-young broth… er…"
A capable cultivator could counterattack even with a pierced heart. For a Qi Condensation early-stage cultivator, it was impossible. The man called Gwak Yu died on the spot, unable to resist at all.
Cheon Woo-jin swept his gaze across the surroundings. The cultivators who had been watching with greedy eyes all looked away at once. They had understood that this was a man they dared not touch.
No more troublesome interruptions from here on.
He walked on, leaving the corpse sprawled where it had fallen. Bodies littered the street, but he paid it no mind. A moment later, a man gaunt as a skeleton darted out of an alley, grinning ear to ear as he dragged the corpse away.
This was a place overflowing with sinister cultivators and ghost cultivators who made use of corpses. And so, no matter how many people died here, bodies never accumulated by the roadside.
Still, I do need to find lodging.
Cheon Woo-jin recalled his memories of the game and headed for the district where the cave abodes clustered. A few establishments bore markers reading "room available." He didn't enter right away — only peered inside. He had to see the proprietor sitting in the shop; a single glance at the status window told him whether a person could be trusted.
"Hmm."
Cheon Woo-jin stopped at the fourth shop he checked. A stout man sat fanning himself in a chair, and over his shoulder Cheon Woo-jin could see a young girl asleep on a daybed. Whether she was a daughter or a granddaughter he couldn't tell, but she was surely family.
Qi Condensation, Peak. Stronger than Cheon Woo-jin, but quite old. And there, his Destiny — Devoted to Family. A fate born to place family above all else.
I can see it plainly enough.
The man had likely come to Ghost Head City with grand ambitions, only to give up on challenging Foundation Establishment and choose the quiet life instead — scraping by while providing for his family.
So there are cultivators who live like this, too.
Cheon Woo-jin stepped into the shop.
"I'd like to rent a third-grade cave abode."
"……"
The stout man — Jo Hyu — looked him over with a shrewd eye. "Third grade's expensive."
"That's fine."
"Thirty standard spirit stones a month. Plus a three-hundred-stone deposit, paid up front."
Cheon Woo-jin drew three hundred and thirty spirit stones from his storage pouch and handed them over on the spot. Jo Hu fingered through the heap of stones with his hand — a simple touch was enough to confirm the full count.
"Follow me."
Hoisting the sleeping girl onto his back, Jo Hyu rose from his seat and led the way into a winding back alley.
"This here's your entry pass."
Jo Hyu held up a black tablet — and a door abruptly opened in what had been a blank stretch of wall. "Come in."
Cheon Woo-jin followed him inside. A modest single room came into view — perhaps twenty-odd square meters, with no windows, though a ventilation hole had been bored into the ceiling.
"You'll have felt it coming in — this place is protected by a formation that cost quite a few spirit stones to build. Without an entry pass, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator can't get in."
"……"
If even Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't enter, that meant anyone at Core Formation or above could presumably break the formation and force their way in. But at his current stage, Cheon Woo-jin had no reason to draw a Core Formation cultivator's eye. In other words — this was just about the safest space in the world.
"If you need anything, come find me at the shop."
Jo Hyu handed over the entry pass and left with the girl on his back.
Finally alone, Cheon Woo-jin unpacked his things. Just in case, he affixed an alarm talisman over the entrance — then collapsed flat onto the floor.
At last. Now I can finally let my shoulders down.
Roughly eight months had passed since he arrived in this world. In all that time, he had not once lain down with an easy mind. Even while hiding in the stone cavern after killing Gwiyeongja, it had been the same — he'd had to stay alert for the demons of Mount Goeyu or the warriors of the Won Clan. But now he could stretch out both legs and truly rest. He couldn't call it one hundred percent perfectly safe, but at least within this space, he could fall asleep without a care in the world.
Even if it is a rented room.
He closed his eyes, at ease.
For the first time, I have a place of my own.
Cheon Woo-jin drifted into sleep. It was the first time in eight months he'd fallen asleep feeling this comfortable.
After taking adequate rest, Cheon Woo-jin took stock of his situation.
The spirit stones I took from Jin Cheong are nearly gone.
Jin Cheong's storage pouch had held roughly nine hundred stones. Of those, five hundred had gone to the teleportation formation fee, and another three hundred thirty to rent and deposit. With next month's rent of thirty stones coming due, there was no margin to speak of.
It's not quite a hand-to-mouth existence yet. But I didn't come to Ghost Head City to live quietly, either.
He had come to gain the strength to survive in this world — and for that, he needed spirit stones.
Reaching the peak of Qi Condensation demands a massive quantity of them.
Spirit stones were not mere currency. Because they held enormous quantities of condensed spirit qi, formations and rituals alike consumed them by the handful. The late stage of Qi Condensation could be reached without any stones at all, but entering the peak stage required an advancement ritual fueled by their power.
Spirit stones consumed for the peak of Qi Condensation… roughly ten thousand.
That was around thirty times a year's rent. But it would be a mistake to think that was a lot — challenging Foundation Establishment would demand far more.
So in the end, I have to make money.
There were many ways to earn spirit stones, but the most typical was performing missions — completing tasks posted by sects or private parties and collecting the rewards. In other words, quests. Since Cheon Woo-jin belonged to no sect, sect missions were out of reach, but plenty of missions existed beyond the sects as well. And Ghost Head City, where cultivators of every kind converged and rival factions vied for dominance, offered a far wider variety of work than any ordinary city.
If I perform missions and establish a foothold here… then I can lay my hands on the legacy of the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace.
Cheon Woo-jin hadn't come to Ghost Head City merely to earn spirit stones. Acquiring the legacy that the three great sects and countless others coveted — that was his true objective. The Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace had wielded power greater than the three great sects combined, and it had left behind everything it achieved in the mortal plane within the city. But Ghost Head City was itself a colossal dungeon, and exploring it was no simple matter. Even now, long after the Palace's ascension, vast troves of its legacy remained untouched. If Cheon Woo-jin could claim them… then even as a mere loose cultivator, he could stand equal to the three great sects.
Ghost Head City was a tower structure of many layers. The zone where Cheon Woo-jin currently resided was the first tier — while the air was somewhat poor, one could live there ordinarily. Not only Qi Condensation cultivators but even ordinary mortals with no spiritual power could stay. Enter the second tier, however, and mortals collapsed on the spot, because the miasma of the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace spread far and wide there.
Miasma meant dank, poisonous vapor. Inhaled raw, even cultivators would quickly succumb to poisoning and had to purify it with spiritual power. For reference, the third tier held an even denser miasma.
To think my chest feels tight, and we're only on the second tier.
Cheon Woo-jin circulated his spiritual power as he breathed the tainted air. Even with a late Qi Condensation body, the second tier's miasma was a burden. If this was what the second tier felt like, he would collapse from poisoning the moment he set foot on the third.
But he couldn't stay on the second tier forever. To obtain what he wanted, he would have to climb to the third tier and beyond.
Which means I need to reach the peak of Qi Condensation, and fast.
At the peak, he could withstand even the third tier's miasma. So the priority was clear: gather ten thousand spirit stones.
"……"
Cheon Woo-jin warily made his way toward the second tier's market district, and there he found what he was looking for — a tent among the many stalls, marked with the character for divination.
Stepping inside, he saw a woman seated there, long jet-black hair spilling down over her shoulders. Her frame was slender, her skin pallid, and she wore a white wide-sleeved robe — at a glance, she might have been taken for a maiden ghost in mourning white. Her other distinguishing feature was that her eyes were covered with a cloth painted in delicate patterns. With the most expressive part of her face hidden, it was impossible to read her expression for her true intentions.
"I'm looking for work."
Cheon Woo-jin said it bluntly as he took a seat. A calm voice flowed from the woman in reply.
"If you need employment, seek the Brokerage Pavilion across the street."
A yahang was a broker — one of the five professions of the Lower Five Gates famous from the martial world, as it happened.
"You're one yourself, aren't you?"
"……"
The woman fell silent. Though blindfolded, she gave the distinct impression of staring straight at him, studying him.
"I don't entrust my work to just anyone. Only to those with the qualifications."
"Naturally."
Cheon Woo-jin's voice was cool. "But that's no reason to turn me away, is it?"
"No reason, you say?"
"An unqualified man would simply die doing the job."
"……"
She pressed a fingertip to her pale lips.
"So you're saying even work that would put your life at risk is acceptable?"
She sounded pleased. The corner of her mouth lifted.