The Hidden Realm of the Dark Soul (3)
Was there someone like that in the Six Family Fort?
A nameless young cultivator who had just emerged from the hidden realm.
From him, Gwak Yu sensed a prayer aura entirely unlike that of the Four Brothers of the Six Family Fort.
What kind of man is he?
Gwak Yu was about to examine the young cultivator more closely when Yuk Baek-dal spoke up in alarm.
"Th-the Dark Path Great King Ogong has appeared!"
"What did you say? The Dark Path Great King Ogong?"
The Dark Path Great King Ogong was a Core Formation centipede demon that occasionally rampaged through the Hidden Realm of the Dark Soul. Gwak Yu himself had entered the hidden realm back in his Qi Condensation days and caught sight of it once. He had only seen it from a great distance, but he still remembered the overwhelming presence of the thing, and how goosebumps had crawled over his entire body.
"Not only the Dark Path Great King Ogong, but the other demons were rampaging wildly as well... Anyone caught up in it seemed to lose their life."
"Is that truly what happened?"
"I did not witness it myself, but I did confirm traces of the demons' rampage."
"......"
Could the demons have been provoked by the Living Spirit Charm? Cultivators at Foundation Establishment were never meant to enter the Hidden Realm of the Dark Soul in the first place — to the demons, they would have seemed like exceptionally rare, delectable prey.
"Hmm......"
Gwak Yu bit his lip. This was something he had not anticipated.
He had expected the demonic cultivators to butcher the cultivators of the Six Family Fort and the Dragon-Suppression Society and then sweep the hidden realm's resources clean for themselves. Instead, the demonic cultivators had been annihilated, and the Six Family Fort alone had walked out alive.
At this rate, the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's plan — to secure the hidden realm's resources and use them as leverage to establish a foothold in Ghost Head City — had gone completely off the rails.
"Ah, it seems the gate is closing now."
"......!"
A low hum filled the air, and the gate that had opened within the fissure in the ground sealed itself shut.
In the end, only five cultivators sent in by the Six Family Fort had survived this exploration of the Hidden Realm of the Dark Soul.
"So not a single one of our people made it back......"
"Do not grieve too deeply. These things happen."
"The Six Family Fort is fortunate, isn't it? All of them came back alive......"
"Well, even so, they didn't bring out all that many resources this time."
Listening to the Six Family Fort and the Dragon-Suppression Society exchange pleasantries, Gwak Yu quietly slipped away.
His destination was the main hall of the Doyo Sect, located on the fourth layer of Ghost Head City.
The main hall was where the sect's leadership conducted their affairs — and as its location on the fourth layer suggested, it was a place where low-ranking disciples could never set foot. The Doyo Sect's most precious resources were stored there as well.
"Ahem, I am entering."
In the innermost room of the main hall, he found a man seated at a table, studying a map. The man's features were as sinister as a demon straight out of hell.
"Sect Leader Jeok, the exploration of the Hidden Realm of the Dark Soul has concluded."
"Is that so."
The man lifted his head from the map and looked at Gwak Yu. That frigid gaze made Gwak Yu swallow hard.
The terrifying man before him was none other than Jeok Ya-wol, Sect Leader of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect.
"How did it go, Hall Master Gwak?"
"They're all dead."
"All dead?"
Gwak Yu sat down in the chair opposite and let out a sigh.
"Every cultivator we sent in is dead."
"What are you talking about?"
Before Jeok Ya-wol, Gwak Yu repeated everything he had heard, word for word.
"......"
As the account went on, Jeok Ya-wol's expression grew darker and darker. Gwak Yu felt a creeping dread inside, but he concealed it and pressed on.
"In the end, not one of them emerged before the gate to the hidden realm closed. The demons killed them all."
"Impossible."
Jeok Ya-wol objected.
"Yu Ki-ryeong is no fool. Moreover, he entered fully prepared to repel or flee from any powerful demon that might appear."
"And yet he never returned from the hidden realm."
Gwak Yu spoke carefully.
"Under ordinary circumstances, you might assume he was bested by some other sect's cultivators. But cultivator Yu is a Foundation Establishment operative. The idea that he was done in by a pack of Qi Condensation rabble makes no sense — so the natural conclusion is that a demon got him."
"......"
Even after hearing Gwak Yu out, Jeok Ya-wol did not look convinced.
"The Six Family Fort, the only ones who survived — they are suspicious."
"The Six Family Fort, you say?"
"Who did the Six Family Fort send in? The Family Head's children?"
"The eldest son, Yuk Baek-dal, and his younger brothers, presumably... Ah, but there was one among them I'd never seen before."
"Hmm......"
Jeok Ya-wol folded his arms and sank into thought. Gwak Yu, chafing at the silence, spoke up again.
"Sect Leader Jeok, what will you do now? At this rate, we will be dangerously short of cultivation resources."
For a newborn faction like the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect to establish itself, it needed a wealth of cultivation resources. The plan had been to secure them from the Hidden Realm of the Dark Soul — and now that plan lay in ruins.
"I have another place in mind."
"You... you do?"
"Yes. Securing that place will grant us power far greater than exploring the hidden realm ever could."
Hearing this, Gwak Yu felt relief wash over him. It was a blessing that such a place existed.
"I will issue the orders and gather every capable cultivator in the Doyo Sect."
Gwak Yu was bound to the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's fate now, whether he liked it or not. Things had come this far — he intended to see the work through properly.
"No, there is no need."
"What do you mean?"
"From this point on, I will be giving the orders myself."
A soft, wet sound.
Thwuck.
Gwak Yu looked down in dazed confusion. Jeok Ya-wol's fist... was buried in his abdomen.
"Uh...?"
Gwoooong!
Dripping gore, Jeok Ya-wol withdrew his fist from Gwak Yu's stomach — clutching a golden core the size of an egg.
Gwak Yu's Golden Core.
"S-Sect Leader, what is the meaning of—"
Gwak Yu, caught completely off guard by the ambush, opened his mouth. But Jeok Ya-wol, his face utterly indifferent, crushed the Golden Core without a moment's hesitation.
A Core Formation cultivator could survive even a hole punched through his heart, so long as his Golden Core remained intact. But once the core shattered, survival was impossible.
"Ah......"
Gwak Yu understood, too late.
The Mad World Yin Spirit Sect had already seized full control of the Doyo Sect. Which meant that Gwak Yu, the Doyo Sect Leader, was nothing more than an obstacle now. The exploration of the hidden realm was finished, too — so killing him here cost them nothing.
This had been Jeok Ya-wol's intention from the very beginning. All those promises of powerful demonic arts and precious pills as gifts for Gwak Yu had been nothing but lies.
"You filthy demonic dog......"
Gwak Yu collapsed where he stood.
But Jeok Ya-wol spared him not so much as a glance. Instead, he called in the Doyo Sect elders who had been waiting outside.
"Find out which cultivator aided the Six Family Fort during this realm exploration."
Jeok Ya-wol was issuing commands as though he were already the Hall Master — and Gwak Yu, bleeding out on the floor, had no strength left to protest. Weeping tears of blood for the demonic alliance he had come to regret, he died alone.
* * *
"Thank you for your hard work, Taoist Cheon."
The moment Cheon Woo-jin stepped into the tent, Seo Seol-ryeong produced the goods at once — his reward for the successful completion of the Dark Soul mission.
"These are the Foundation Establishment spirit materials provided by the Six Family Fort. Please confirm them."
"......"
The Crimson-Root Fire Dragon Ginseng, with its blood-red roots. The Yellow Earth Umbrella Reishi, with its vivid golden cap. Fire-element and Earth-element Foundation Establishment spirit materials, respectively.
"The Six Family Fort was somewhat displeased. They say you sealed them inside a cave until the fourth day."
"There was still nearly a full day left on their terms."
Cheon Woo-jin had imprisoned the Four Brothers of the Six Family Fort in the Spirit-Sealed Cave and released them on the afternoon of the fourth day — only after he had dispatched the final boss-class demon with his fourth Instant Killing Heavenly Eye.
"I also let them harvest the Golden Nourishing Nectar their family arts supposedly require, and told them where to find other spirit grasses in abundance."
At the time, Cheon Woo-jin had been carrying so many resources that his Storage Pouch was on the verge of running out of space. Handing the rest over to the Four Brothers cost him nothing.
"If I had let them wander freely, they would have been slaughtered by the demons, just like the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's cultivators."
"Speaking of which."
Seo Seol-ryeong asked in a cool, measured voice.
"Did the demonic cultivators truly die to the demons?"
"What do you mean?"
"I wondered whether, in reality, someone killed them all single-handedly."
"Hard to say."
Of course, Cheon Woo-jin had killed every last one of them himself. But there was no particular need to make that public — he had already coordinated the story with the Six Family Fort.
"What a frightening person you are."
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Only that I am glad to work alongside someone so capable."
Seo Seol-ryeong said it in a flat, even tone.
"That said, being too capable can be a problem in its own right."
"What do you mean?"
"The Mad World Yin Spirit Sect may start taking an interest in you, Taoist Cheon."
"......"
As a rule, whatever happened inside a hidden realm was simply buried and forgotten. The Six Family Fort, the Dragon-Suppression Society, and the Doyo Sect had surely killed one another inside the Dark Soul realm countless times over the years — yet they had gone on jointly managing the hidden realm for generations, treating it all as if nothing had happened.
But this time, a demonic faction — the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect — had been involved. And in the course of trying to determine why things had unfolded the way they did, they might well grow suspicious of Cheon Woo-jin.
"If you are worried about a clash with the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect, I could introduce you to a place where you might lie low for a while."
"No need."
"Very well."
Seo Seol-ryeong nodded.
"Understood. Then shall I begin searching for a way to obtain a Water-element Foundation Establishment spirit material?"
"That won't be necessary either."
"I beg your pardon?"
With the Dark Path Great King Ogong's Golden Core in his possession, the Water-element spirit material was already secured.
"Taoist Cheon, don't tell me you—"
"There is something else I'd like to ask of you."
Cutting off her words, Cheon Woo-jin asked:
"Could you introduce me to someone skilled at crafting dharma artifacts?"
"Dharma artifacts?"
The jaw and carapace of the Dark Path Great King Ogong. The Prime Core Spirit Orb of the Primordial Demon Yaksha. Beyond those, he had gathered various other materials needed for artifact crafting within the hidden realm.
"Ideally, someone capable of producing artifacts at the Core Formation level."
"......!"
Seo Seol-ryeong's lips parted slightly. She seemed to be straining with all her might to keep herself from saying, Are you insane?
* * *
Having left Seo Seol-ryeong's shop, Cheon Woo-jin made his way to the third layer.
He passed through a district shrouded in gray haze and headed toward the market at its heart. Even calling it a market, the third layer was anything but noisy — no cultivator below the Qi Condensation stage could set foot there in the first place.
It was in that market that Cheon Woo-jin found the building bearing the signboard of the Huangju Artifact-Refining Pavilion.
As the name suggested — Huangju, the Yellow Pillar — it was a shop operated by the Hwangju Neungnyeong Sect, the very faction he had once forged a connection with.
Though the Hwangju Neungnyeong Sect leaned toward the Dark Sects, it was a sect that specialized not in combat arts but in refined crafts such as talisman arts and alchemy. And of all its establishments, this Huangju Artifact-Refining Pavilion was devoted solely to the art of artifact refining — the forging of dharma artifacts.
"Welcome."
The moment Cheon Woo-jin stepped through the door, a shop attendant hurried over.
"Are you here to purchase a dharma artifact? Or to commission one?"
"I'd like to see the Pavilion Master."
"You know the Pavilion Master, sir?"
The attendant eyed him with evident suspicion.
"May I ask your honored name...?"
"Tell them Black Cat. They'll know."
"Black Cat...?"
Tilting his head in puzzlement, the attendant withdrew into the back.
While he waited, Cheon Woo-jin looked around the shop's interior. The Hwangju Neungnyeong Sect might be more famous for its talismans and pills, but their dharma artifacts were quite respectable as well.
Still, most of what they have here is low-grade or mid-grade.
Dharma artifacts were graded into four ranks: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and supreme-grade. An ordinary Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment cultivator used one or two low-grade artifacts, and anyone who carried a mid-grade artifact was the envy of his peers.
Cheon Woo-jin, however, already possessed the Five Thunder Heaven-Piercing Sword, a high-grade artifact, and the Silver Radiance Sovereign Gauntlets, a supreme-grade one. There was no way his eye would linger on low or mid-grade wares now.
For the record, any artifact that outperformed the supreme grade was classified as a dharma treasure. But dharma treasures could only be wielded by cultivators at Core Formation or above, so for the present, supreme-grade artifacts were the ceiling of what Cheon Woo-jin could handle.
He was still browsing when hurried footsteps echoed from the back. And then a man with sun-bronzed skin appeared.
It was a face he had never seen before — and yet Cheon Woo-jin knew exactly who this man was.
This was Song Pyo — the man who had once hired him to raid the Sangdan of His Own Kind.
Back then he had been disguised as a black cat, but Cheon Woo-jin could read status windows, so he had recognized him at a glance.
"It's been a while."
"......!"
Song Pyo looked considerably startled. He had never imagined Cheon Woo-jin would visit his establishment. Truthfully, Cheon Woo-jin hadn't expected to cross paths with him again either — once a commission was completed and the payment received, the relationship was normally over.
But Seo Seol-ryeong had told him: on the third layer, the finest refiner was Song Pyo, master of the Huangju Artifact-Refining Pavilion. And so they had met again.
"Wh-what is it you want?"
Song Pyo's face tightened with tension. Last time, Song Pyo had hired Cheon Woo-jin to sabotage the trade between the Hwangju Neungnyeong Sect and the Sangdan of His Own Kind. That was an act of betrayal against his own sect — in other words, it was leverage over him.
But Cheon Woo-jin had no intention of blackmailing Song Pyo. Doing so would shatter his relationship of trust with Seo Seol-ryeong and throw his future plans into disarray. She had introduced this place precisely because she knew he was not that kind of man.
"Still — even without threats, seizing the initiative matters."
Cheon Woo-jin gave Song Pyo a small glance, and Song Pyo, looking tense, led him inside.
"So — what business brings you here?"
"You've come to a refining hall, so it should be refining."
Led into the inner room, Cheon Woo-jin said in a cool voice:
"I hear the finest artifact refiner on the third layer is you. Is that right?"
"What...?"
Song Pyo's eyes went wide.
"You're saying you came here to have a dharma artifact made?"
"That's right."
The moment Cheon Woo-jin nodded, Song Pyo swallowed hard.
"Then it can hardly be an ordinary artifact you're after......"
Song Pyo knew exactly what kind of man Cheon Woo-jin was. He had personally witnessed him storm a guesthouse swarming with Foundation Establishment cultivators — utterly alone — and burn the whole place to the ground. A man like that had summoned the Pavilion Master of the Huangju Artifact-Refining Pavilion and asked for an artifact to be made.
There was no chance in hell he wanted something ordinary. Understanding this at last, Song Pyo leaned forward.
"Exactly what kind of dharma artifact do you want made?"