The Middle Tiers (1)
The demon cultivators were caught completely off guard.
Cheon Woo-jin's lightning qi was simply too fast.
It wasn't merely that the lightning qi flew at incredible speed.
Its activation itself was fast. They were struck down without ever realizing an attack had been unleashed.
'Incredible speed.'
Cheon Woo-jin marveled at it himself.
The activation rate was incomparable to anything he had managed before.
This was because he had mastered the Thunder Spirit Great Derivation Art the moment he entered the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Within his body, Heart Fire and Kidney Water now stood in perpetual readiness.
Colliding them through the principle of Water Ascending, Fire Descending to draw out lightning qi was far faster than constructing the qi from scratch each time.
This was the lightning method that the genius thunder artist Master Thunder Spirit had devised for himself back in his own Foundation Establishment days.
And now Cheon Woo-jin had tasted its superiority firsthand.
"You bastard!"
"How dare you—!"
The remaining cultivators hurriedly raised their hands, scrambling to cast their spells.
But Cheon Woo-jin, unshaken, called forth lightning qi once more—recalling the contents of the Thunder Spirit Great Derivation Art's method manual as he did.
This time, aimed at his own feet.
Crackling lightning blooms beneath his soles — and his figure vanishes from before the demon cultivators' eyes.
With a sharp electric crack, Cheon Woo-jin disappeared from the demon cultivators' sight.
He had already shifted his position. The spells they had cast pierced nothing but empty air.
Somewhere along the way, Cheon Woo-jin had scrambled up the wall and now stood above their heads.
"He's above us!"
"Gah—!"
They craned their necks upward a beat too late.
A sphere of condensed lightning qi slips from his fingers and falls — then bursts outward, lancing arcs in every direction.
A sphere of lightning qi dropped from Cheon Woo-jin's grip.
The cultivators stumbled backward, mouths agape, but the sphere detonated like an explosion, spreading lightning in every direction.
It was a veritable festival of lightning, proof that Cheon Woo-jin had reached a new height.
The demon cultivators thrashed and flailed, desperate to salvage their lives, but in the end they were skewered by the lightning and fell one after another.
'My raw offensive power has clearly improved as well.'
As a rule, the leap from Qi Condensation Great Perfection into early Foundation Establishment brought far greater growth than the jump from late Qi Condensation to Great Perfection ever had.
On top of that, Cheon Woo-jin had used the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl, a supreme-grade foundation treasure, to push his growth margin even higher.
And with his entry into the Thunder Spirit Great Derivation Art, a powerful lightning-attribute method, the potency of his spells had no choice but to rise dramatically.
He had, in fact, been employing his lightning qi in the simplest possible way.
All he had done was hurl it in straight lines, or gather it into a sphere and detonate it.
What would happen if he constructed complex formations to amplify its power? Even Cheon Woo-jin couldn't predict the result.
'It truly feels like a new world has opened up.'
From here on, he would have to explore that world little by little.
First he would need to understand his body and soul, now elevated to a loftier domain, and then attempt things that had been beyond him until now.
If he kept building strength along the way, the next realm—Core Formation—would eventually come within reach.
'For now, though, I should aim for mid-stage Foundation Establishment.'
It reminded him of the transition from early to mid-stage Qi Condensation.
One reached mid-stage Qi Condensation when spirit qi could be operated not only through the Twelve Regular Meridians but through the Conception and Governing Vessels as well.
Since the Qi Condensation Realm was, by definition, the stage of mastering and refining "the training of spirit qi," each new threshold of qi manipulation had marked a step upward.
The shift from early to mid-stage Foundation Establishment followed a similar logic.
Foundation Establishment was the stage of mastering and developing "the building of one's foundation," so growing the body one further stage would carry him into mid-stage.
'For that, I'll need to grow my spirit power first.'
With that thought, Cheon Woo-jin absorbed spirit qi from the demon cultivators sprawled around him.
He drew in the qi leaking from their corpses, exploiting the innate trait of the Body of the Dark True Abyss.
Enough flowed into him to restore what he had spent moments ago, but there was no sensation of his maximum capacity growing.
It seemed that absorbing spirit qi from small fry alone would do little to advance his spirit power.
'Now that I've reached Foundation Establishment, my absorption efficiency has actually dropped.'
From Foundation Establishment onward, the purity of spirit qi became critical.
This was the stage of laying a true foundation for becoming an immortal, and the qi admitted into the body had to be correspondingly purer.
But the moment spirit qi entered a human body, its purity plummeted.
Every cultivator warped the qi according to the cultivation method they practiced.
And precisely because it was so adulterated, it did little to help a Foundation Establishment cultivator grow his spirit power.
'So from now on, pills will be what matters.'
He would need pills specifically meant to advance spirit power.
And not just any pills—pills refined from materials carrying highly pure spirit qi.
By consuming such pills and accumulating spirit qi, he would have to acquire enough power to climb into mid-stage Foundation Establishment.
'Whether I refine them myself or obtain them from others... I need quality pills.'
The pills he had swallowed back in his Qi Condensation days wouldn't so much as tickle him now.
He would have to get his hands on pills suited to the Foundation Establishment level.
After a simple meal to restore himself, Cheon Woo-jin headed for Seo Seol-ryeong's shop.
The moment he stepped inside the storefront disguised as a fortune-teller's parlor, Seo Seol-ryeong, seated at her table, gave a small start.
"Dowager Cheon, don't tell me you—"
"Impressive. You saw through me at a glance."
In truth, "at a glance" was hardly the right phrase.
Seo Seol-ryeong kept her eyes covered with a blindfold, after all.
She must have sensed it was him through her spiritual perception.
In any case, Seo Seol-ryeong was the only one who had recognized Cheon Woo-jin now that he had reached Foundation Establishment.
"So you've entered the Foundation Establishment Realm?"
"Thanks to you."
"..."
Seo Seol-ryeong fell silent for a moment.
"I thought you might be dead."
"Why would you think that, out of nowhere?"
"Because a whole month passed without a word from you."
"Ah..."
Come to think of it, he had spent that entire month inside the Great Emptiness Cave Heaven Mirror.
This was the first time he had gone so long without seeing Seo Seol-ryeong.
"I couldn't care less about the other cultivators, but when someone who used to show his face every few days suddenly stops coming by... one does worry a little."
"So you were worried about me?"
"I've invested a fair amount of effort in you, after all. If you vanished on me, I'd be the one taking the loss."
"How cold of you."
"Takes one to know one."
There was an edge to her words.
Had she not been wearing the blindfold, she might have narrowed her eyes and shot him a sidelong glare.
"My apologies. I should have told you in advance."
"No. The fault lies with me for failing to anticipate it."
Seo Seol-ryeong let out a short sigh.
"By the way—where did you obtain the foundation treasure for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill?"
"I had a place to get one."
"I hear the Blood Puppet Sect's branch was attacked by a mysterious Core Formation cultivator and burned to the ground."
Her voice was pressing him.
"Were you involved, by any chance?"
"At that point in time, I was Qi Condensation."
"A Qi Condensation body could still possess some means of producing Core Formation-level firepower."
"Then every Qi Condensation cultivator in existence is a suspect."
Truthfully, from Seo Seol-ryeong's standpoint, she couldn't help but suspect him.
She had acted as the intermediary during the negotiations with the Azure Cloud Trading Company, and she knew he had wanted the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl.
Still, exposing the truth would bring her no particular benefit.
Seo Seol-ryeong lived her life as Ahaeng the broker, and she had no desire to lose Cheon Woo-jin, a rising talent who had climbed into Foundation Establishment in the blink of an eye.
"Understood. I'll let it go, for now."
In the end, Seo Seol-ryeong pressed the matter no further.
"In any case, will you be able to take on commissions again?"
"That's right."
"Very well. Considering your advancement to Foundation Establishment, I'll look into suitable work for you."
Seo Seol-ryeong had surely been holding every request that came her way on hold.
But she couldn't simply hand those old commissions back to him now.
Cheon Woo-jin was Foundation Establishment, and Foundation Establishment work was what befitted him.
"There's something I'd like to ask of you."
The moment Cheon Woo-jin broached the subject, Seo Seol-ryeong answered in an icy voice.
"You'll be needing pills suited to the Foundation Establishment level, I take it?"
"You read me like an open book."
He felt he was being seen through far too easily.
"But if that's what you're after, asking me is the slow way. Going up to the 4th Tier would be faster."
"The 4th Tier?"
"On the 4th Tier, there's a place called Cheonryong Pavilion."
Cheonryong Pavilion.
A name he had heard often in the game.
"It's the largest restaurant-house on the 4th Tier. At the same time, it's the largest gambling den, and... the largest auction house."
"..."
Cheonryong Pavilion was a place where all manner of events unfolded in the game.
Outside of events, players mostly visited to use the auction house.
Occasionally genuinely powerful items went under the hammer, so it was worth checking in from time to time.
"However, not just anyone can enter. It operates on a membership system, and becoming a member requires a letter of introduction."
"A letter of introduction, I see."
"Shall I introduce you to someone who can write you one?"
Cheon Woo-jin studied Seo Seol-ryeong for a moment.
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"Someone with your connections could write the letter yourself, couldn't you?"
"..."
With her network, it would surely be possible.
When Cheon Woo-jin pointed this out, Seo Seol-ryeong fell briefly silent.
"I'm sorry, but even if I wrote a letter, they wouldn't let me through the entrance. My name isn't on the membership rolls, and the gatekeeper has no reason to know who I am."
"Then you could simply show the letter to someone other than the gatekeeper."
"You'd have to go through a tedious process, you know?"
"Being introduced to someone who can write the letter is more tedious."
"...Fair point."
Seo Seol-ryeong took out a sheet of paper and swiftly wrote out the letter of introduction.
"Go to the 1st floor of Cheonryong Pavilion and ask for a woman named Hoyeon Rin. She handles security on the 1st floor."
"Much obliged."
"Don't thank me with words alone."
When Cheon Woo-jin reached out his hand, Seo Seol-ryeong tucked the letter against her own chest.
"Shouldn't there be some form of repayment?"
"Isn't the brokerage fee I usually take from you enough?"
"This isn't the sort of transaction that generates a fee."
Seo Seol-ryeong's voice turned frosty.
"Besides, the Azure Cloud Trading Company affair—after all that negotiating, it fell through. I ended up working for free."
"That much I do owe you an apology for."
There seemed to be a great deal to apologize for today.
"Then I shall repay you properly."
"And what sort of repayment would that be?"
"Hmm..."
In the game, there had been a system for gifting pills, method manuals, and the like to people you were on good terms with.
But would giving such things to Seo Seol-ryeong actually mean anything to her?
Cheon Woo-jin sank into thought.
Then he remembered how, the other day, he had bought her candied walnuts as thanks for letting him mooch a sip of devil's wine off Jo Hyu's granddaughter.
"Would some sweets do?"
"Do you take me for a child?"
Seo Seol-ryeong sighed in what sounded like deep disappointment.
And yet she extended the letter forward after all, asking:
"What kind of sweets are you buying me?"
The 4th Tier of Ghost Head City had an atmosphere entirely unlike the tiers below it.
For one thing, unlike the first three tiers, the air here was clear and transparent.
But in exchange, a dryness washed over him at once, as though his whole body might wither on the spot.
Naturally, this was no natural dryness.
It existed because this region was dominated by the Dryness Evil, one of the Six Evils—Wind, Cold, Summer Heat, Dampness, Dryness, and Fire.
The Dryness Evil was no ordinary aridity; it was an energy that drained the body's vital fluids and sapped away life itself.
The 4th Tier of Ghost Head City was saturated with this energy, and any cultivator who had not been tempered from the marrow out would have the very fluids of his flesh stolen from him and die.
Which was why, from the 4th Tier upward, there were no Qi Condensation cultivators to be seen.
Every cultivator walking the streets was Foundation Establishment or above.
'Which is why this is where the Middle Tiers begin.'
Everything up through the 3rd Tier, where Qi Condensation cultivators could operate, counted as the Lower Tiers; from the 4th Tier upward, open only to Foundation Establishment and beyond, began the Middle Tiers.
As a side note, the Upper Tiers—home to the Seonggak Ilwonmun Headquarters—could only be reached by Core Formation cultivators and above.
That place had an atmosphere entirely different from the Middle and Lower Tiers.
'It's certainly dry as bone, but with proper countermeasures it's quite bearable.'
If he balanced the water qi and fire qi within his body and used his spirit power to keep his vital fluids from leaking out, there was no reason for his flesh to dry out at all.
With the dryness neutralized, this tier was actually remarkably pleasant.
Unlike the Lower Tiers, the air was crisp and clean, and the temperature refreshingly cool—it felt like a clear autumn day.
'Perhaps that's why the streets have such a fine atmosphere, too.'
The heart of the 4th Tier was a dazzling commercial district.
By the setting's lore, it was the most populous place in the Middle Tiers, and with constant traffic to and from the Lower Tiers, its commerce and entertainment trades had flourished.
Buildings rose in layer upon layer along the broad avenue, each shop blazing with lamps of every color to announce itself.
Red lanterns were the most numerous. Shop after shop hung lamps embroidered with auspicious phrases—Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Joy, or Gold and Jade Fill the Hall—and called out to passing customers.
Shops bearing hexagonal palace lanterns generally dealt in expensive goods. One establishment proudly displayed top-grade magical instruments beneath the lavish glow of golden palace lanterns.
There were pearl lanterns too, draped in strings of beads—these adorned the classier restaurant-houses and fine dining establishments. Beneath lanterns strung with beautiful pearls, men and women could often be seen slipping in and out on secret meetings.
But the most spectacular sight of all was the lights of the high-rise buildings that thrust up toward the 4th Tier's ceiling.
The building bearing the signboard "Cheonryong Pavilion" carried lamps of blue, red, yellow, white, and black—one for each of the Five Elements—hung tier by tier. They brightened and dimmed in turn, over and over, weaving an air of profound mystery.
And at the very summit was installed a lamp in the shape of a dragon, wrought from five-colored silk, so that gazing up at it, the building itself seemed like some magnificent scene out of myth.
'That must be the Heavenly Dragon of Cheonryong Pavilion.'
Why would a mere restaurant-house lay claim to so grand a name?
The answer lay with the pavilion's owner.
That a shop of such scale could operate at the very heart of the Middle Tiers was due entirely to that owner's standing.
'Sooner or later, I'll be crossing paths with that Dragon kindred, too.'
Clutching the letter Seo Seol-ryeong had penned in her own hand, Cheon Woo-jin approached Cheonryong Pavilion.
But instead of the main gate through which ordinary guests streamed, he made for the rear entrance.
A gatekeeper stood watch even there, and the moment he laid eyes on Cheon Woo-jin, he scrunched up his face and looked him over from head to toe.
"No entry tablet on you, so you're no guest. And I can smell the Lower Tiers all over you. What's your business?"
The entry tablet he mentioned was a token certifying the right of access—a kind of membership pass.
"I'm here to see Hoyeon Rin."
"What?"
The gatekeeper's face contorted.
"And who do you think you are, asking to see Senior Sister Hoyeon? You reek like someone who just crawled up from the Lower Tiers. Get lost!"
In the Middle Tiers of Ghost Head City, contempt for anyone who "smelled of the Lower Tiers" was a prevailing fashion.
The gatekeeper was one such man.
Without warning, he thrust out his palm and cast a spell.
A force field the size of his palm bloomed into being—a repulsive field that shoved its target away with crushing force.
It was a crude spell, but its raw power seemed considerable.
Taken head-on, even Cheon Woo-jin would have been flung far backward, left sprawling embarrassingly in the middle of the great avenue.
But—
Having reached Foundation Establishment and entered the Thunder Spirit Great Derivation Art, Cheon Woo-jin's reaction speed was already the equal of a lightning bolt.
BOOM!
The gatekeeper's spell was shredded to ribbons and scattered.
As crackling sparks burst and rained down around him, Cheon Woo-jin stood unmoved—and the gatekeeper's eyes flew wide open.