Law Implements (3)
Those who had descended upon Cheon Woo-jin were demonic cultivators of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect.
All of them at the Qi Condensation Realm — five in number.
Even now, they were hurling blades of spiritual force at him, intent on killing him to the last man.
But Cheon Woo-jin simply stood in place.
Six implements had sprung forth from his sleeves — he had deployed the Cheongap Flying Spirits, autonomous combat constructs that moved of their own will.
The Cheongap Flying Spirits consisted of two offensive units and four defensive ones, but in truth all six could serve as both sword and shield.
The spirits forged from centipede mandibles, sharp as blades, were simply better suited to attack, while those shaped from centipede carapace, flat as shields, were better suited to defense — nothing more.
And so, in a moment like this one, all six of them could be pressed into service as a wall.
“......!”
The six flying spirits deflected every one of the cultivators' attacks.
He could see them flinch, startled by the uncanny defense.
As they wavered, all six spirits lunged forward at once.
Seeing the spirits streak toward them at high speed, the cultivators scrambled to respond.
But it was already too late. The spirits moved faster than they could react.
A razor-sharp centipede mandible punched clean through one cultivator's throat.
A centipede carapace falling from above crushed another's skull.
Cultivators who had spent decades training in demonic arts and assassination techniques were butchered one by one by objects that moved without a hand to guide them.
Such was the power of a supreme-grade implement, crafted from the corpse of a Core Formation demon beast.
It's working properly.
Cheon Woo-jin felt a quiet satisfaction.
He had already verified its performance back at the Hwangju Refinement Pavilion, but watching it operate in the flesh left him with a warm, settled feeling.
The Woryeogeomcheon Sword and the Silver Spirit Barrier Shield were both trophies taken from others — but the Cheongap Flying Spirits were something Cheon Woo-jin had commissioned and had built with his own hands.
Seeing it perform exactly as he'd hoped, he couldn't help but feel a sense of achievement.
Ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators could be wiped out by the Cheongap Flying Spirits alone.
Of course, if several dozen of them swarmed at once, that would be a different story.
But when a handful of small fry rushed him like this, simply leaving them to the spirits was more than enough.
That way, Cheon Woo-jin could devote himself to the real threats.
That one, I take it.
Thud!
He kicked off the ground and shot upward.
Then he hurled out a blade of sword qi, forged through the ninth form of the Tae'eunhyeomyo Sword Art.
Shwaaeeeak!
The black sword qi tore through the darkness.
A heartbeat later, sparks exploded out of empty air.
“Ugh!”
A demonic cultivator who had been concealing himself in the shadows stumbled into view.
Cheon Woo-jin had noticed some time ago that this warlock was hiding behind his underlings.
Kwak Bo
Species: Human Race
Age: 164 years
Realm: Foundation Establishment, Late Stage
Constitution: Fire-Earth-Metal Spiritual Roots
Alignment: Demonic Path
Affiliation: Mad World Yin Spirit Sect
Destiny:Slaughter
A genuine expert of the late Foundation Establishment Realm.
And yet he had thrown only his underlings into the fray.
He himself had watched from hiding, doing nothing.
Part of it was surely an attempt to get a read on Cheon Woo-jin's methods.
But Cheon Woo-jin had responded with nothing but autonomous implements, never once revealing his true weapon.
“You......!”
Understanding that his plan had failed, Kwak Bo thrust both arms forward.
A torrent of furious flame erupted from his hands.
It spread in a fan, a wide-area attack.
Fire-attribute arts had always specialized in sweeping destruction. Burning everything across a broad swathe at once so the enemy had nowhere to flee — that was the true essence of fire.
Indeed, the attack's range was so wide that Cheon Woo-jin had no avenue of escape.
Kwakwakwang!
The flames roared out amid a burst of thunder, seeking to swallow him whole.
But Cheon Woo-jin didn't so much as waver. He thrust his left hand forward.
In the same instant, a massive shield materialized, erecting a hemispherical barrier around him.
It was the Silver Spirit Barrier Shield, a supreme-grade defensive implement.
“......!”
Kukung!
The flames scattered around him without so much as singeing a single strand of Cheon Woo-jin's hair.
Kwak Bo's eyes went wide at a defense that had swallowed a Foundation Establishment cultivator's fire art whole.
He could never have anticipated that Cheon Woo-jin possessed a defensive implement this powerful as well.
And then, right before his stunned eyes, Cheon Woo-jin drew out the Woryeogeomcheon Sword too.
Kwak Bo faltered, apparently guessing that this would be yet another formidable implement.
“You — you look like you're still at Qi Condensation, so how do you have that many implements?”
Kwak Bo demanded, his face a mask of incomprehension.
“Was it these implements you used to bring down Senior Brother Yu as well?”
“Who knows.”
“So you were no ordinary loose cultivator after all. Who's behind you?”
Certain there had to be a hidden backer, Kwak Bo pressed him.
“Were you targeting us from the very start? Is that why you refused our commission?”
“Don't misunderstand.”
Cheon Woo-jin shot back, his voice cold and level.
“I simply found your mindset distasteful — trying to settle payment with a few old books.”
“A few books?! Those were demonic arts of tremendous value!”
Kwak Bo shouted, exasperated.
“You — don't tell me you're orthodox sectborn? Is that why you turn your nose up at demonic arts......”
Cheon Woo-jin didn't bother listening to the rest.
He raised the Woryeogeomcheon Sword and began to gather sword qi — and Kwak Bo hurriedly threw up a barrier before him.
Papak!
Cheon Woo-jin's sword qi split the darkness and shot toward Kwak Bo.
But it was all turned aside by his barrier.
Kwak Bo's eyes gleamed.
He had judged that if this was the limit of his opponent's attacks, victory was well within reach.
To launch his counterattack, Kwak Bo began weaving a hand seal with both hands.
He was drawing up his vast spiritual power, determined to corner Cheon Woo-jin at last —
“Guhk......!”
Kwajak!
A sharp hook sank into the back of Kwak Bo's neck.
It was the mandible of a centipede demon beast.
While Kwak Bo's attention was locked on Cheon Woo-jin, the Cheongap Flying Spirits had crept around behind him.
Until now the spirits had moved autonomously — but Cheon Woo-jin had sent an additional command through his spiritual force, ordering them to strike at Kwak Bo's back.
“Ghh — agh......!”
Kwak Bo struggled to shake the spirit off.
But a supreme-grade implement did not release its prey so easily.
As Kwak Bo wrestled with the mandible buried in his neck, the remaining five spirits came slicing through the air.
Kwakwakjak! Kwajik!
The offensive and defensive spirits tore into Kwak Bo from every direction at once.
In the end, riddled with holes and crushed beyond recognition, Kwak Bo collapsed.
“Huk — heok......”
“Why did you attack me?”
Cheon Woo-jin looked down at the man who no longer had the strength to resist, and posed his question.
“Because I refused your commission?”
“Th — that's......”
Swoosh.
The Cheongap Flying Spirit slid up to Kwak Bo's Adam's apple.
“I — if you refused to cooperate with us...... the Sect Leader's orders were to take your life at once.”
“So it was Jeok Ya-wol's order.”
Jeok Ya-wol was the Core Formation powerhouse who led the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect.
For a figure of his stature to personally issue orders to dispose of a mere Qi Condensation cultivator was far from ordinary.
And yet Jeok Ya-wol had directly commanded that Cheon Woo-jin be killed.
It meant he had judged that Cheon Woo-jin was likely to become an obstacle to his plans in the days ahead.
“I'm flattered by the high regard.”
“Keuk......!”
The spirit that had been poised at his throat slid smoothly downward and bored into his lower abdomen.
His dantian destroyed, Kwak Bo fainted on the spot.
Cheon Woo-jin seized the back of the limp man's neck.
Then, dragging him along the ground, he set off once more down the road.
His destination was the branch hall of the Seongnyeong Ilgak Sect.
Handing over a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect would make an excellent gift.
Large sects typically separated their headquarters — where the leadership gathered — from the branch halls where their rank-and-file disciples trained.
This was partly for security, but it also served to provide a proper training environment for the junior disciples.
Powerful sects would secure a hallowed spirit mountain or the like to serve as their headquarters, but such places were so saturated with dense spiritual qi that they were wholly unfit for Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Carelessness could even put one's life at risk, so it was standard practice to prepare separate grounds for the junior disciples to train.
The Seonggak Ilwon Sect, based within Ghost Head City, was no exception.
The sect's outer and inner disciples trained in a branch hall on Ghost Head City's lower tier.
Meanwhile, the core disciples and elders resided in the main hall situated higher up, and almost never descended to the branch hall below.
But this time, a single core disciple had come down to the branch hall on the second layer of Ghost Head City.
Because he had been assigned the mission of subjugating the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect.
“I've heard plenty about you from the juniors here at the branch hall. Good to finally meet you.”
A man of refined, scholarly bearing spoke as he looked at Cheon Woo-jin.
To all appearances, he was still young — a man in his prime.
But one glance at his status window made it obvious he was no ordinary young man.
Tae Sa-ryang
Species: Human Race
Age: 290 years
Realm: Core Formation, Late Stage
Constitution: Wood Spiritual Root
Alignment: Orthodox Path
Affiliation: Seonggak Ilwon Sect
Destiny:Taotie's Greed
He was a Core Formation late-stage Taoist who had lived for nearly three hundred years.
Gu Yang-gyeol of the Moonlit Thirteen League, whom Cheon Woo-jin had once encountered, had been at Core Formation middle stage — this man stood a full step above even that.
He was, moreover, more than fifty years younger than Gu Yang-gyeol.
That fact carried two meanings.
He was a man of innate, exceptional talent...... and also one upon whom the sect had lavished resources, grooming him with focused, intensive cultivation.
A rising star of the Seonggak Ilwon Sect — the largest orthodox faction in Ghost Head City.
And that was precisely who stood before Cheon Woo-jin now.
“And you even brought a gift instead of coming empty-handed...... Seems you know your manners.”
“......”
“We'll beat that treacherous demonic scum thoroughly and wring the information out of him ourselves. Leave the rest to us.”
After delivering these words with utter arrogance, Tae Sa-ryang looked Cheon Woo-jin up and down.
“You appear to still be lingering at Qi Condensation. And yet you subdued a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator with a body like that......”
Tae Sa-ryang murmured, stroking his chin.
“You must be carrying some special implements.”
“......”
He had arrived at roughly the same misconception as Kwak Bo.
It was true that Cheon Woo-jin possessed powerful implements — but his true weapon was something else entirely.
There was no particular need to explain that, however, so Cheon Woo-jin held his tongue.
“Good. Then let's start with the plan.”
Tae Sa-ryang waved his hand through the empty air.
A three-dimensional map of Ghost Head City's fourth layer unfolded before them.
“The Mad World Yin Spirit Sect's leader is currently residing in the Doyomun Sect's main hall on the fourth layer. With the Doyomun Sect Leader dead, he's been playing the lord of the manor outright.”
It was the first Cheon Woo-jin had heard of the Doyomun Sect Leader's death.
Apparently, once the search of the Dark Soul Hidden Realm had concluded and the man was no longer of use, he had simply been disposed of.
“Believe me, nothing would please me more than to storm the Doyomun main hall and cut the man down...... But a sect's main hall is, as a rule, riddled with defensive formations of every description. Attacking without exhaustive preparation could only end in failure.”
“......”
“So we intend to wait for the moment he leaves that hall.”
Tae Sa-ryang swept his hand through the air once more, and the map of the fourth layer vanished, replaced by one of the third.
“At the far northern edge of the third layer lies a place called the Black Nether Valley.”
The Black Nether Valley.
It was known as the most dangerous place on Ghost Head City's third layer.
Legend held that in the distant past, the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace had buried human corpses in its earth and carried out a great and wicked ritual.
Ever since, the Black Nether Valley had been a land of death, choked with virulent miasma.
“In ten days, the demonic cultivators are said to gather there to perform a ritual.”
“What kind of ritual?”
“They intend to purify the valley's miasma and refine it into spiritual qi for their demonic arts. I would sooner swallow poison than absorb such foul energy, no matter how thoroughly it's cleansed — but I suppose demonic cultivators feel differently.”
If that ritual succeeded, the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect would secure itself a mine from which to extract spiritual qi at will, in vast quantities.
It would prove an immense boon to expanding their power within Ghost Head City.
“And we can hardly just stand by and let demonic cultivators perform a ritual like that.”
“So the subjugation operation will take place in this Black Nether Valley?”
“That's right.”
“How many will take part?”
“For now, we plan to mobilize a hundred of the stronger inner disciples from this branch hall.”
They could certainly have fielded more if the goal were sheer numbers.
Even this branch hall alone housed several hundred people, and counting those currently out and about, the total would exceed a thousand.
But the vast majority of them were untested in real combat.
There were doubtless plenty of cultivators who had never seen a true battle in their lives, doing nothing but tending the spirit fields and other menial chores.
Bringing such people along would do nothing but drag everyone's feet.
“Besides that?”
“You and me.”
Tae Sa-ryang said it with a perfectly composed face.
“Their leader, Jeok Ya-wol, is a Core Formation expert. I'll take him — you handle the other executives.”
“I can hardly take on several Foundation Establishment cultivators alone.”
“I'm hardly asking you to dispose of them single-handedly. We have several Foundation Establishment inner disciples of our own — fight alongside them.”
Having said his piece, Tae Sa-ryang added, with a touch of bitterness on his face:
“To speak frankly, most of our Foundation Establishment disciples are greenhorns who've never fought men as vicious as demonic cultivators.”
“......”
“That's precisely why I sought you out. You seem to know exactly how to deal with that kind.”
He wasn't merely referring to the affair in the Dark Soul Hidden Realm.
He was speaking of everything Cheon Woo-jin had built up in Ghost Head City — the decisive role he'd played in repelling the Dokgeom Sect's assault, his survival after facing down a Core Formation cultivator of the Moonlit Thirteen League.
“We've already paid you a substantial advance in spirit stones, but depending on how you perform, we intend to pay considerably beyond that.”
“......”
“I won't treat you shabbily, so give it your best.”
Cheon Woo-jin had already received one Operating Spirit Stone and five thousand ordinary spirit stones.
Payment beyond that would be undeniably extraordinary.
Yet Cheon Woo-jin felt no particular excitement.
Keeping his composure, he looked once more at Tae Sa-ryang's status window.
To be precise, he looked again at the Destiny field.
Taotie's Greed......
Tae Sa-ryang carried the Destiny of Taotie's Greed.
It meant one whose greed matched that of Taotie, the ravenous mythic beast.
Taotie was one of the Four Perils of legend — a savage, base, man-eating monstrosity.
It was infamous above all for its ravening hunger for food and riches; it was said to have plundered whatever belonged to others, and to have never once known satisfaction.
The man as grasping as that beast was none other than Tae Sa-ryang before him.
Those raised on an orthodox sect's teachings are not necessarily righteous. There are men every bit as selfish and avaricious as the Dark Gates — or worse — in droves.
Cheon Woo-jin studied the man before him once more.
Right now, this refined Taoist was asking Cheon Woo-jin for help.
But when the time came, he would try to devour Cheon Woo-jin with a beast's greed, exactly like Taotie.
Knowing all of this, Cheon Woo-jin still nodded before Tae Sa-ryang.
“Understood. I'll devote myself to the subjugation.”
“Good. My thanks.”
But if Tae Sa-ryang ever opened his jaws to swallow him, wide as Taotie's own —
Then Cheon Woo-jin would tear that greedy mouth apart.