The Talisman Treasure (1)
“Reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm won't be achieved simply by securing a foundation establishment treasure,” Seo Seol-ryeong said, her rigid voice betraying the composure she had barely managed to recover.
“You also need spiritual power appropriate to the Foundation Establishment level.”
“I already have that.”
Cheon Woo-jin had absorbed spiritual energy from the Golden Core of Gu Yang-gyeol, a Core Formation cultivator.
His current spiritual power had reached the very limit of Qi Condensation Great Perfection.
“You'll also need spirit stones to conduct the ritual.”
“I have those already, too.”
Gu Yang-gyeol's storage pouch had contained a massive quantity of spirit stones as well.
Adding the ones Seo Seol-ryeong had given him today, he had more than enough to attempt his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.
“So all that's left is to secure the foundation establishment treasures and craft a Foundation Establishment Pill.”
“……”
“And one more thing to add,” Cheon Woo-jin said, his voice cool and measured. “I've already secured a metal-attribute foundation establishment treasure. That leaves only five more to gather.”
“……!”
At the revelation that he already possessed one of the treasures, Seo Seol-ryeong's eyes went wide.
“How on earth did you—”
“I can't tell you that.”
There was no need to mention that he had stripped a small secret realm belonging to the Poison Sword Sect down to its bones.
“I was lucky to secure a metal-attribute foundation establishment treasure. The rest I'll have no choice but to obtain with someone's help.”
“……”
“Which is why I want your help, Seo Seol-ryeong.”
She sealed her lips and fell into silence, and Cheon Woo-jin decided to wait patiently while she gathered her thoughts.
“Come to think of it,” she suddenly said after a long stretch of quiet, “how did you know my name?”
“My name?”
“I never told you my name.”
“……”
Now that he thought about it, that was true. He had called her name without thinking.
“Did you investigate my background?”
“Hmm. I suppose I just heard it somewhere.”
“Keeping secrets even about things like this. What a bad man.”
Seo Seol-ryeong let out a sigh.
“May I say one more thing?”
“What is it?”
“I didn't know your name until today. That's the first time I've heard it.”
“……”
Yuan Bisu had asked for his name earlier, so he had given it — but he had never once volunteered his name to Seo Seol-ryeong before now.
“That's because you never asked.”
“Ah. I see.”
Arms crossed, Seo Seol-ryeong replied in a cold voice.
“I figured you'd just call it a secret anyway, so I didn't bother.”
“My name is something I can share.”
“I doubt that's your real name, though.”
“It is my real name.”
“Who would believe that?”
“……”
It really is my real name, though.
He felt a little wronged.
“Another customer will be arriving soon. Don't linger here — you should go.”
“If that's the case, then I have no choice.”
He had no intention of interfering with her business, so Cheon Woo-jin rose from his seat without protest.
“Until next time.”
“Yes.”
Just as he was about to step out of the tent, Seo Seol-ryeong's cold voice reached his back.
“See you in a week... Master Cheon.”
Cheon Woo-jin returned to the eastern quarters on the 1st layer of Guisu Castle.
The moment he laid his body down in the single room, fatigue washed over him at once — not the weariness of flesh or mind, but of the soul.
I accomplished far too much in a single night.
Danmok Ryeong, Gu Yang-gyeol, Baek Ryeong Daesa... he had felled three boss-tier opponents in one day alone.
He had gained the offensive artifact Five Thunder Heaven Subduing Sword, the defensive artifact Silver Vein Guardian Talisman, and the foundation establishment treasure White Leaf Autumn Spirit Grass as spoils — and his skill as a cultivator had grown another step besides.
It had been a night of tremendous gains, and the toll matched it.
Physical exhaustion could be eased by circulating spiritual energy or taking pills, and mental fatigue could be soothed in kind — but the weariness of the soul admitted no such remedy.
As a human being, he needed to rest.
Seo Seol-ryeong did say to meet again in a week, anyway.
Asking for a week meant she would spend that week making preparations. When he visited seven days from now, she would give him proper information.
I should rest as much as I can until then.
Cheon Woo-jin closed his eyes and drifted into sleep, fully intending to sleep the whole day through.
But less than half a day had passed before his eyes snapped open.
A voice had suddenly sounded through the quiet eastern quarters.
He was still the only occupant of the eastern quarters, yet a voice was drifting in from the entrance.
“Are you in there?”
“……”
The eastern quarters was a space sealed off from the outside world by a near-permanent formation.
Aside from Cheon Woo-jin, the tenant, only a single person could approach this place.
“Step out for a moment. There's something I need to discuss with you.”
“Of course.”
When Cheon Woo-jin stepped outside, he found a portly man standing with his hands clasped behind his back — the landlord who had rented him this space, the Qi Condensation cultivator Jo Hyu.
Don't tell me he wants to raise the rent.
Back in the real world, Cheon Woo-jin had always lived in rented apartments, so whenever his landlord came around, tension rose in him of its own accord.
Of course, even if the rent doubled now, it wouldn't be a heavy burden. The third-grade eastern quarters Cheon Woo-jin was renting cost a mere thirty spirit stones a month.
“Is something the matter?”
“Hmm...”
Jo Hyu scratched the back of his head as he spoke.
“I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to vacate the eastern quarters.”
“……”
Apparently it wasn't about the rent after all.
But the news was even worse.
“May I ask why?”
Cheon Woo-jin liked the eastern quarters. The room was quite cramped, but for the man he was now, that crampedness was oddly comforting. They said cats kept climbing into boxes because they felt secure in tight, enclosed spaces — and Cheon Woo-jin, dropped into this terrifying world of immortal cultivators, had been finding the same sense of safety within these four narrow walls.
“If it's a matter of the rent being too low, then...”
“It's not that.”
A bitter expression crossed Jo Hyu's face.
“Have you heard of the Tongryu Merchant Guild?”
“I've heard the name.”
The Tongryu Merchant Guild was an association of merchants that appeared in Yeongro Suseonjeon. As a guild operating under the influence of the Taiyi Easy Separation Sect, players following the righteous path ended up trading with them often. Conversely, players pursuing the dark path or the demonic path would frequently raid the guild and plunder it for themselves.
“The Tongryu Merchant Guild plans to sweep out this entire area and redevelop it.”
“Redevelop?”
“They'll pave new roads, raise new buildings... turn it into a proper commercial district like those in ordinary cities.”
“……”
Cheon Woo-jin was at a loss for words.
He never imagined he'd be chased out of his home by urban redevelopment in the world of immortal cultivators.
“Honestly, it pains me too. I invested a great deal to start an eastern quarters business in this neighborhood.”
“……”
“I'd always thought that even when my lifespan ran out, if I could leave several eastern quarters buildings to my granddaughter, I wouldn't need to worry about what came after... but that's how it goes, I suppose.”
So the girl who had been with him on the day they first met really was his granddaughter.
Jo Hyu was eighty-nine now. Having apparently given up on advancing his cultivation any further, his remaining years were few. He could hardly help worrying about the young girl's future.
“Then what will you do, landlord?”
“I'll take the compensation the guild offers and look for another line of work. Though I wonder if there's any place left worth having on the 1st layer...”
The 2nd layer of Guisu Castle was monopolized by the great sects — ordinary folk could not set foot there. To live with a young girl, Jo Hyu would have to find a new place on the 1st layer.
“And I can't very well leave Guisu Castle at this point.”
“Is there some particular reason for that?”
“Heh heh.”
At Cheon Woo-jin's question, Jo Hyu wore an awkward smile.
“The truth is, I came from the Blood World Mara Sect. If I step outside Guisu Castle, I'll be caught in no time and executed on the spot.”
“……”
He was a fugitive from the demonic path?
Cheon Woo-jin had assumed he was nothing more than a pot-bellied landlord, but the man had lived a far more storied life than he'd imagined.
“In any case... that's how things have turned out, so I'd appreciate it if you found somewhere else.”
Jo Hyu looked at him with a gentle voice.
“I'll make sure you rent a finer eastern quarters from now on. You've been making quite a name for yourself lately, here and there — surely a man like that shouldn't be living in a cramped hole worth thirty spirit stones.”
“……”
There was sense in what Jo Hyu said.
And yet Cheon Woo-jin had grown fond of that cramped hole worth thirty spirit stones.
For now, at least.
Cheon Woo-jin passed his days attending to one task after another.
He sold the spirit herbs he had gathered in the secret realm. He sought out deserted places and practiced wielding the Five Thunder Heaven Subduing Sword and the Silver Vein Guardian Talisman. He pored over the Taiyi Mysterious Tomb Sword Manual from beginning to end once more. He sat cross-legged in his eastern quarters and spent entire days in meditation. He wandered the market, listening for rumors about the Tongryu Merchant Guild.
And so the week slipped by in no time.
“So you've come.”
“You told me to come today, didn't you?”
Inside the tent, Seo Seol-ryeong greeted him with her usual cold demeanor.
“So — how did it go?”
“There is one way you could secure a foundation establishment treasure right this moment.”
Hearing her answer, Cheon Woo-jin felt a flush of satisfaction.
Truthfully, if it came to nothing, he could have simply gone searching for the treasures himself. He could leave Guisu Castle and comb every corner of the continent.
But even with the full weight of his game knowledge behind him, that would take years. It was precisely to shorten that timeline that he had brought the matter to Seo Seol-ryeong — and she had risen to meet his expectations.
“I was right to ask you.”
“Save the words you don't mean.”
He had spoken in earnest, but Seo Seol-ryeong merely snorted.
“I have a client who can provide one wood-attribute foundation establishment treasure.”
“Good.”
Wood-attribute foundation establishment treasures were notoriously hard to come by. If he could obtain one here, everything to come would get easier.
“What's the job?”
“Are you familiar with the Tongryu Merchant Guild?”
“……”
The Tongryu Merchant Guild.
At the name, Cheon Woo-jin's brow furrowed.
“It's a merchant guild of the righteous sects, and they've recently been moving to establish a serious foothold in Guisu Castle. I suspect the Taiyi Easy Separation Sect is behind them.”
“……”
“For now, they seem intent on carving out a commercial district under their own control on the 1st layer... and there are those who are not pleased about that.”
Naturally. Even within Guisu Castle, numerous factions were locked in struggles over turf and profit.
“To strike a deal with the factions inside Guisu Castle, the Tongryu Merchant Guild brought a certain talisman treasure — a fubao.”
“A talisman treasure... you mean a talisman that stores the power of a law artifact?”
“That's right.”
A law artifact stood one tier above an ordinary artifact. It was so powerful that cultivators at the Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment stage couldn't properly wield one at all. The talisman treasure was made so that anyone could use a law artifact's power. A cultivator of Core Formation or higher would extract a portion of the law artifact's power and seal it within a talisman — though the talisman had one fatal flaw: once its stored power was spent, it became a worthless scrap of paper. Even so, it unleashed strength far beyond any ordinary artifact.
“Just whose law artifact's power is stored in this thing?”
“It's said to be related to flame arts. The details are unknown.”
Flame arts.
Cheon Woo-jin sifted through his memories. The Tongryu Merchant Guild was tied to the Taiyi Easy Separation Sect, so it would be one of the fire-attribute law artifacts that sect possessed. Which meant... there was a strong chance it was the Crimson Child True Fire Spear.
What a terrifying power that must be. A single strike could turn the landscape into a sea of fire.
He recalled the might of the Crimson Child True Fire Spear, a weapon only usable by Core Formation cultivators and above. A talisman treasure fell far short of the original law artifact — and yet it would still exceed the maximum firepower Cheon Woo-jin could currently muster.
“So the job is to destroy that talisman treasure?”
“Correct. Once the talisman treasure is gone, the deal collapses.”
“Something that valuable — the guild's cultivators will be guarding it heavily.”
“There will be several Foundation Establishment cultivators at least. A harder situation than the Poison Sword Sect raid.”
Setting aside Gu Yang-gyeol's sudden ambush, this job certainly did look harder than the last.
“However, you need not cut down the guild's cultivators. You need only slip in quietly and destroy the talisman treasure.”
“Just destroy it, then... meaning I'm free to carry it off myself?”
“Yes.”
Seo Seol-ryeong spoke in her cool, level voice.
“But even inside a storage pouch, the talisman treasure's aura leaks outward — so the risk of pursuit is high. It would be wise not to indulge in needless greed.”
A talisman treasure was a treasure of a far higher grade than ordinary storage pouches could handle. A common pouch could not conceal one.
“I'll manage that part myself.”
“……”
A brief silence passed between them.
“Saying that means... you intend to accept the commission.”
“I do.”
“Is that really wise?”
Seo Seol-ryeong confirmed it once more.
“I did tell you I would introduce work befitting your abilities from now on... but this job is genuinely dangerous.”
“Which is exactly why the reward is that much greater.”
A wood-attribute foundation establishment treasure would be paid out as compensation — and if things went well, he might even claim the talisman treasure of the Crimson Child True Fire Spear for himself.
It was more than worth the attempt.
“And besides... there's an extremely personal reason as well.”
“Yes?”
Thinking of the cramped single room where he could rest in peace, Cheon Woo-jin spoke in a cool, resolute voice.
“That commission — I'm taking it.”