The Demonic Path (1)
"Just as the Heavenly Observer said, a demonic faction is attempting to expand into Ghost Head City."
Hearing Seo Seol-ryeong's answer, Cheon Woo-jin nodded slowly.
"Which means the Blood World Mara Sect is on the move."
The Blood World Mara Sect.
It was the colossal demonic church that stood at the head of the Demonic faction.
In the Orthodox faction, the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect served as league leader over the many sects beneath it.
In the Dark Gate faction, the Moonlit Thirteen League ruled the smaller organizations through sheer force.
But the Demonic faction was built on no such structure.
Because the great demonic church, the Blood World Mara Sect, was itself the core of the Demonic faction.
There were lesser powers scattered about, sects like the Hwanhwan Sect, but when people spoke of demonic forces, they meant the Blood World Mara Sect, plain and simple.
"The Blood World Mara Sect shouldn't be able to enter Ghost Head City directly, though."
"Correct. They cannot violate the old covenant."
The Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect, the Moonlit Thirteen League, and the Blood World Mara Sect had once signed a truce agreeing to leave Ghost Head City as neutral ground.
That was why a direct incursion was impossible for any of them.
"This time, a Core Formation cultivator of the Blood World Mara Sect took his followers, severed ties, and founded a new demonic sect."
"Breaking away to establish a new sect... From the Blood World Mara Sect's perspective, that would be an act of betrayal."
"Yet the Blood World Mara Sect has taken no action whatsoever. In other words, the independence was granted deliberately."
So the Blood World Mara Sect had spun off a fresh branch for the sole purpose of infiltrating Ghost Head City.
It was a transparent scheme, obvious as daylight — but so long as this particular formality was observed, it technically did not breach the old truce.
"What is this new sect called?"
"They call it the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect."
The Mad World Yin Spirit Sect.
It was a name he had never once seen in the game.
A faction that operated in places no player could ever reach, perhaps.
"A man named Jeok Ya-wol, hailing from the Mad Spirit Pavilion of the Blood World Mara Sect, is said to be serving as its Sect Leader."
"Jeok Ya-wol, is it..."
That name, at least, he had heard before.
Though in the game, he had only appeared much later in the timeline, as a Nascent Soul cultivator of the Blood World Mara Sect.
By then, he had apparently dismantled the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect and returned to the mother church.
He's only Core Formation now, but he's the kind of monster who eventually reaches Nascent Soul. A dangerous one, no doubt about it.
Turning over his memories of the game, Cheon Woo-jin spoke at a measured pace.
"Handing me intelligence on this Mad World Yin Spirit Sect free of charge... I take it that has something to do with the task you want to commission from me."
"You're quick to read the situation."
Seo Seol-ryeong nodded.
"You're aware that there is a fairly sizable secret realm on the third layer of Ghost Head City?"
"Of course."
Cheon Woo-jin recalled what he'd heard recently at the market.
"It should be jointly administered by three sects. And the gate is said to open soon."
"Precisely."
The Venom Sword Sect had tried to claim a newly discovered secret realm for itself — but that had been a small one.
A secret realm of any real size was typically co-managed by several sects and used as a shared training ground.
The secret realm on the third layer was jointly governed by three sects, from both inside and outside Ghost Head City.
The Lu Family Manor, a cultivation clan whose main house lay beyond the city's walls.
The Palryong Society, a Dark Gate faction based in Ghost Head City itself.
And likewise a Dark Gate faction of the city, the Demon-Slaying Gate.
Those three sects held the rights to that secret realm.
"But one of them, the Demon-Slaying Gate, has announced that it converted to the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect and transferred all of its rights to them."
"That's..."
"They claim the conversion was voluntary, but in truth, they were simply devoured whole by the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect."
Demonic factions seizing control of ordinary sects and turning them into puppets was hardly a rare occurrence.
"The secret realm on the third layer is sealed under a restriction — its gate opens only once every twenty years, and only fifteen Qi Condensation cultivators may enter. Until now, the Lu Family Manor sent five, the Palryong Society sent five, and the Demon-Slaying Gate sent five, but..."
"Now five demonic cultivators of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect will enter in the Demon-Slaying Gate's place, is that it."
Entering a secret realm alongside villains who had trained in the sect's demonic arts?
Coming back alive would be next to impossible.
The Mad World Yin Spirit Sect would slaughter every disciple of the Lu Family Manor and the Palryong Society to the last man and make off with every scrap of training resources inside. Of that, there was no doubt.
"That's why the Lu Family Manor is searching for someone. They want to know whether there's a Qi Condensation Great Circle loose cultivator out there capable of standing against the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's demonic cultivators."
"And so my name came up."
"Strictly speaking, it was I who recommended you."
Cheon Woo-jin was, in effect, a mercenary.
His role was to join the Lu Family Manor's five participants and crush the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's demonic cultivators.
"If you see all four of the Lu Family Manor's participants back alive, they've promised to provide one Fire-Element and one Earth-Element Foundation Establishment spirit object, each."
Two Foundation Establishment spirit objects, no less.
For Cheon Woo-jin, that was a considerable reward.
"That's a hefty price. Too steep, really, for the lives of four Qi Condensation cultivators."
"All four of them, it seems, are the family head's own children."
"Then that explains it."
The world of cultivation was bloodless and merciless, but there were those who prized the bonds of family.
The cultivation clans — families who walked the path of immortality together, bound by blood.
In such places, the family head's direct descendants were treated as precious assets.
There existed bloodline-based spell arts and rituals that could only be performed among kin.
But if a family head sheltered his own children at home to keep them safe, they would never grow — and so, in the end, they were sent to die at Qi Condensation Great Circle.
To challenge Foundation Establishment and double one's lifespan, one had to brave a secret realm, risking life and limb.
"Just one thing I'd like to confirm."
"What is it?"
Cheon Woo-jin asked in a cool, level voice.
"I'm free to assume that any training resources I uncover inside the secret realm belong to me?"
He could play the mercenary.
But he had not the slightest intention of playing the slave who gathered resources on his employer's behalf as well.
After concluding his meeting with Seo Seol-ryeong, Cheon Woo-jin made a brief visit to the third layer and returned to the first.
On his way to the eastern district, he glanced into Jo Hyu's shop and found the old man sitting alone, fanning himself.
"Where's your granddaughter off to?"
"Went to visit someone we know. There are children her age there."
Cheon Woo-jin stepped inside and sat down on the wooden bench.
"Shopkeeper. Do you know a man named Jeok Ya-wol, of the Mad Spirit Pavilion?"
"..."
At the abrupt question, Jo Hyu's expression turned grave.
"Why do you ask?"
"I heard the name today."
"Don't tell me Jeok Ya-wol has entered Ghost Head City?"
"That much, I can't yet say."
Jo Hyu's eyes narrowed and trembled faintly.
Cheon Woo-jin could tell the old man was afraid.
"Jeok Ya-wol was the cruelest, most arrogant cultivator in the entire Mad Spirit Pavilion."
"..."
"And the men under him were cut from much the same cloth."
Having said that, Jo Hyu let out a long, heavy sigh.
"There was a man named Yu Gi-ryeong who served as Jeok Ya-wol's right hand. My junior sister was brutally murdered by that fiend."
"Killed by others of the demonic path?"
"Different affiliation, so... no. Come to think of it, those men killed regardless of affiliation."
Jo Hyu looked straight at Cheon Woo-jin then.
"In any case, keep your distance from those men as much as you can. They are far too dangerous for you to face."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Cheon Woo-jin nodded and rose from his seat.
"You should be the one to lie low for a while, shopkeeper — take your granddaughter and get out of sight. The demonic cultivators will likely come sniffing around Ghost Head City for some time."
"Ah... all right, then."
Jeok Ya-wol would pay no more heed to a Qi Condensation cultivator like Jo Hyu than to dust on the road.
But there was no telling what the rabble beneath him might do, so lying low for a while was the wiser course.
"You take care of yourself, too!"
Seeing Jo Hyu off, Cheon Woo-jin headed for the eastern district.
He slipped in through the hidden entrance at the back alley, and the familiar room opened up before him.
It was no longer a single cramped room, though — there was one more now.
Cheon Woo-jin unloaded his things in the room with the furnace.
Spirit herbs, purchased earlier at the third layer's market.
I need to prepare everything in advance before entering the secret realm.
Beyond the Soft Tendon Bone Pill, there were other medicines he needed to make.
By combining herbs according to the knowledge in his head, he could produce powerful pills unknown anywhere in this world.
Not only that — he had gathered materials for crafting talismans as well.
While the refinement was underway, he would work on his talismans.
Truth be told, there's no need to prepare this extensively against mere Qi Condensation cultivators.
Demonic cultivators trained in demonic arts tended to possess exceptional combat power.
But at the end of the day, they were still Qi Condensation — hardly a threat to Cheon Woo-jin.
Even if all five Qi Condensation members of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect rushed him at once, his ability would be more than enough to handle them.
And yet... things never work out that easily.
Of the three great sects, the Blood World Mara Sect housed the vilest, most vicious of them all.
And now Jeok Ya-wol, once infamous even within that sect, was scheming with his own handpicked underlings.
There was a restriction on the secret realm, yes. But there was no way in hell they would content themselves with sending in nothing but Qi Condensation cultivators.
Four days later.
Cheon Woo-jin made his way to the outskirts of the third layer.
There, the ground lay split open as though an earthquake had torn it apart, a deep fissure yawning across the earth.
A crowd had gathered around it, and among them stood a group of four dressed in matching yellow robes.
"Ah, you've come!"
As Cheon Woo-jin looked their way, the four of them hurried over in a cluster.
"I am Lu Baek-dal, eldest son of the Lu Family Manor."
"Second son, Lu Jung-dal."
"Third son, Lu Suk-dal."
"Youngest son, Lu Gye-dal, at your service."
As the four brothers greeted him, Cheon Woo-jin quietly examined the status window of the eldest, Lu Baek-dal.
Qi Condensation Great Circle, at eighty-nine years old.
With barely ten years of lifespan left to him, he had no choice but to enter this secret realm that opened only once every twenty years.
His younger brothers were all Qi Condensation Great Circle as well, and with so little difference in their ages, their circumstances were much the same.
"I've heard plenty about you, but is your skill really as remarkable as they say?"
Lu Baek-dal looked Cheon Woo-jin up and down with his hands clasped behind his back.
For men who had supposedly hired Cheon Woo-jin out of fear of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's demonic cultivators, their arrogance was remarkable.
"Your qi base seems passable enough... Where did you train, anyway? Any particular spell art you excel at?"
"..."
Cheon Woo-jin turned his head away without answering Lu Baek-dal's questions.
It was the Lu Family Manor that had hired him, not Lu Baek-dal.
His only obligation was to see Lu Baek-dal and his brothers back alive. There was no reason whatsoever to stroke Lu Baek-dal's ego.
"Look here, when a man asks you a question, you ought to ans—"
"Quiet."
Lu Baek-dal's face contorted at being brushed off, but Cheon Woo-jin spoke in a low voice.
"The demonic path is here."
"...!"
THOOM! TH-TH-TH-THOOM!
Figures hurtling in from the distance touched down on the far side of the fissure.
The landing was rough enough to kick up an enormous cloud of dust.
"Kaff—kaff!"
"What manner of carelessness is this?!"
Lu Baek-dal and his brothers, blanketed in dirt, shouted in fury.
Cheon Woo-jin, however, had already sealed off the approaching dust with his spiritual power, and so suffered nothing for it.
"Forgive us for arriving late."
The man who had landed first pressed his palms together and bowed from beyond the fissure.
"I am Seol Jin-hu of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect, participating in this exploration of the Dark Chaos Secret Realm in place of the Demon-Slaying Gate. We'll be together for five days. I look forward to working with you all."
The surroundings stirred.
The man carried a weight of presence that no Qi Condensation cultivator should have possessed.
"Brother, is that man really Qi Condensation Great Circle?"
"This Dark Chaos Secret Realm is sealed under a restriction permitting only Qi Condensation to enter. If he were Foundation Establishment or above, he'd be refused at the gate and ejected..."
Listening to Lu Baek-dal trade words with his brother, Cheon Woo-jin sent a single thread of spiritual power drifting across the fissure toward the man.
Just as he had done in the small secret realm not long ago, he spread the power like a spider's web to probe.
His careful examination revealed that the man's presence read as Qi Condensation.
In that case, he would pass through the restriction and enter without issue.
But.
Cheon Woo-jin stared at him, unblinking.
Or more precisely, at his status window.
The presence he could sense was unmistakably Qi Condensation.
Yet the realm displayed on his status window was Foundation Establishment Great Circle — the very highest stage of it.
A heretical art that scattered one's spiritual power to make one's cultivation appear lower than it truly was.
Using a trick occasionally seen in his past life's novels, the man was concealing his Foundation Establishment cultivation and passing himself off as Qi Condensation.
And his name wasn't Seol Jin-hu at all — it was Yu Gi-ryeong.
Jeok Ya-wol's right hand, the very man Jo Hyu had spoken of, had come in person.
He meant to slip into the secret realm hiding his Foundation Establishment power, then butcher every Qi Condensation cultivator from the other sects.
With the training resources swept clean, he would use them to build up his faction's strength here in Ghost Head City.
That had to be the plan — with a wealth of resources in hand, recruiting the loose cultivators of the city's lower layers would be easy pickings.
But...
That dream will never become reality.
Cheon Woo-jin had already anticipated their treachery, and every preparation was complete.