The Search (3)
Is he saying Seo Seol-ryeong is connected to the Dharma Treasure theft?
Waiting outside the Sect Master's hall, Cheon Woo-jin turned over Wi Ju-seon's words from earlier in his mind.
The possibility of Seo Seol-ryeong being involved in the Dharma Treasure theft is slim. That's not the kind of affair she'd meddle in.
After all, Cheonryong Pavilion—the victim of the theft—was a place guarded by Hoyeon Rin, someone Seo Seol-ryeong knew personally. If she were the sort to stab an acquaintance in the back and join in on a crime, Cheon Woo-jin would never have joined hands with her in the first place.
Then... perhaps it's the opposite?
Not someone participating in the theft.
Someone moving to resolve it.
But if she'd been asked for help with that, Oh Hwi-seong or Hoyeon Rin would have mentioned it.
And he found it hard to believe Seo Seol-ryeong would have closed up her shop on the 2nd layer over such a request. In all his memories, there was only one time Seo Seol-ryeong had shut down her 2nd-layer shop: when the player character reached the Core Formation Realm in Yeongro Suseonjeon and ascended to the 6th layer, she closed the door behind them.
No—set the game aside for now.
In the game, the developers had moved Seo Seol-ryeong to the 6th layer for the player's convenience. There might be some deeper lore behind it, but either way, the situation now was different. He needed to think only about the present.
If Wi Ju-seon's guess is right, Seo Seol-ryeong came up to the 6th layer because of this Dharma Treasure theft. But that's something the usual Seo Seol-ryeong would never do.
What was different from the usual? Only one thing: Cheon Woo-jin had been kidnapped by Sama Mun, his fate unknown.
My disappearance—and the theft of a powerful Dharma Treasure like the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner. Those two factors working together must be what pushed Seo Seol-ryeong into action.
With that assumption, her uncharacteristic behavior finally had an explanation.
So then...
Waiting for Wi Ju-seon to return, Cheon Woo-jin organized his thoughts alone—and it was then that Lee Jin-gang, whom he had met earlier, came over.
"Sorry, but could you wait a bit longer? It seems the talk with the Old Ancestor is running long."
"The Old Ancestor?"
"The previous Sect Master," Lee Jin-gang explained slowly. "Though even calling him the previous Sect Master, he never reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Realizing his own talent would never carry him past Core Formation, he simply passed the seat down early to a gifted successor."
Unlike Mandokyuksamun or Geumsi Sect, this didn't seem to be a case of an old man dumping his responsibilities on the next generation so he could focus on his own cultivation. He had stepped back from the front lines so that resources could be concentrated on the talented Wi Ju-seon.
"I heard the current Sect Master runs the Corpse Ghost Extreme Jade Gate very well."
"That's true enough."
At Cheon Woo-jin's words, Lee Jin-gang puffed out his chest. "In fact, the demonic path approached us not long ago."
"You mean the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect?"
"Exactly. They tried to persuade us that if the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect and the Corpse Ghost Extreme Jade Gate joined forces, we could dominate all of Ghost Head City."
So the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect had approached Sigwigeuk-okmun too. Back in the lower layers of Ghost Head City, Cheon Woo-jin had never caught so much as a whiff of it.
Admittedly, an alliance would have produced a decent synergy. Whatever corpses the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect produced, the Corpse Ghost Extreme Jade Gate could put to use.
"But the Sect Master refused them flatly."
"She didn't want to join hands with the demonic path?"
"That was part of it, but mainly she predicted that even if those fiends advanced into Ghost Head City, they'd gain nothing worthwhile from it."
"That was... an undeniably excellent judgment, then."
In the end, the Mad World Yin Spirit Sect had collapsed when Jeok Ya-wol fell to Cheon Woo-jin. Those who had sided with it were brutally persecuted afterward, so Wi Ju-seon's refusal had been nothing short of brilliant.
"And besides that—ah, Sect Master!"
From a distance, Wi Ju-seon was approaching. She appeared to have finished her audience with the previous Sect Master.
"Follow me, Cheon Woo-jin."
"Where are we going?"
"I'll explain later. For now, follow me."
With that, Wi Ju-seon turned her gaze to Lee Jin-gang. "I will be away for some time."
"I'm sorry—what?"
"While I'm gone, the previous Sect Master has agreed to handle the sect's affairs in my stead."
"......!"
At the unexpected announcement, Lee Jin-gang's eyes went wide. "Sect Master, I don't know what this is about, but then allow me to come with—"
"I'm taking the jiangshi with me. Don't concern yourself."
Thud. Thud.
Two jiangshi that had been guarding the entrance to the Sect Master's hall lumbered forward. With her jiangshi in tow, Wi Ju-seon turned back to Cheon Woo-jin.
"We're taking the underground waterways. Follow me."
"Understood."
And so Cheon Woo-jin headed into the underground waterways with Wi Ju-seon.
"This Jongri Un fellow, the one who stole the Dharma Treasure," Wi Ju-seon said abruptly as they walked on through the deserted tunnels. "I have my suspicions."
"Really?"
"There were reports of a strange flow of spirit energy coming from a corner of the waterways recently. That's probably where the man has set up his hiding place."
Cheon Woo-jin was glad he had come looking for her. He had considered the possibility of a hideout somewhere in the waterways, but he hadn't expected to pick up a lead this quickly.
"By the way..." Wi Ju-seon lowered her voice. "Cheon Woo-jin. Why do you think Seo Seol-ryeong came up to the 6th layer?"
"......"
Her eyes as she studied him were remarkably serious—almost as if she were testing him.
"Allow me to share my conjecture, then." Cheon Woo-jin began to lay out what he had been mulling over while he waited, speaking in a cool, detached voice, as if discussing a stranger's affairs. "Seo Seol-ryeong seems to have placed great expectations on a rookie cultivator named Cheon Woo-jin. That wasn't merely for business—it would have been tied to her true purpose as well. But when Cheon Woo-jin was abducted by a Nascent Soul Realm Old Ancestor and his fate became unknown, she apparently gave up on those expectations."
"......"
"On the other hand, a very powerful Dharma Treasure was stolen from Cheonryong Pavilion. The culprit, Jongri Un, fled to the 6th layer with it in hand. The moment Seo Seol-ryeong believed Cheon Woo-jin was dead, that news would have reached her. And if that Dharma Treasure happened to be extremely useful to her..."
Wi Ju-seon said nothing, listening.
"Seo Seol-ryeong intends to hunt down Jongri Un on the 6th layer and take the treasure for herself. Not by borrowing Cheon Woo-jin's hand, but by achieving her goal directly, with her own."
"......!"
Finishing his account, Cheon Woo-jin looked at her again. "That is my conjecture, Sect Master Wi."
"Hah..." Wi Ju-seon shook her head slowly. "You aren't mocking me, are you? Don't tell me you'd heard everything about Seo Seol-ryeong from the start."
"I thought it up while waiting earlier."
Cheon Woo-jin had never originally connected Seo Seol-ryeong to the Dharma Treasure theft at all. He had simply assumed that finding her and gaining her aid would make resolving the case easier. But after Wi Ju-seon suggested Seo Seol-ryeong's arrival on the 6th layer might be related, his thinking had changed. Linking the two threads had led him to this conclusion.
"If you truly just thought of that on the spot, then I'm impressed. Your mind works remarkably fast."
"Then..."
"Your conjecture is correct, Cheon Woo-jin." Wi Ju-seon spoke in a grave voice. "The reason Seo Seol-ryeong came to Ghost Head City in the first place was to find someone like you."
"Someone like me?"
"She was searching for a cultivator of exceptional talent. One who could make the impossible possible—one who could change a Destiny."
A cultivator who could change a Destiny. The moment those words reached his ears, Cheon Woo-jin felt his heart pound, for no reason he could name. He had the strange sensation of having heard something similar once before.
"Just what is it that she wants...?"
"I'm sorry, but that I cannot say with my own mouth. I'll tell you only this: for Seo Seol-ryeong alone, it is something close to impossible."
At that, Cheon Woo-jin raised an objection. "Sect Master Wi, then the Dharma Treasure alone—which exerts power at the Soul Formation level—seems somewhat insufficient for that."
"A precise observation. You're right." Wi Ju-seon nodded with an admiring expression. "That Ghost Spirit Demon Banner is not some paltry Dharma Treasure that merely wields power at the level of a Soul Formation cultivator."
And then she began to reveal the truth.
"The Ghost Spirit Demon Banner was originally discovered in the thorax of an old revenant that perished in a Heavenly Tribulation not long ago. Cheonryong Pavilion, failing to grasp its true value, intended to put it up for auction."
"Even the Pavilion Master didn't know what the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner really was?"
"The Pavilion Master of Cheonryong is a wise dragon. But he was dispatched to Ghost Head City barely fifty years ago. There is still much he doesn't know about this place."
Just as Wi Ju-seon said, Oh Hwi-seong was no native of Ghost Head City. He had spent his long life active elsewhere, entering the city only fifty years ago on orders from the Dragon Clan's power structure. His mission was to run Cheonryong Pavilion while gathering intelligence on Ghost Head City and relaying it back to the Dragon Clan. Seen from another angle, it was precisely because the Dragon Clan lacked information about the city that they had sent him at all. It was hardly strange that he hadn't known the treasure's true power.
"Then just what is the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner?"
"A Dharma Treasure capable of connecting to the Upper Realms."
The Upper Realms. Not the Lower Realm where people now lived and died, but the plane above it—the world of transcendent beings who had succeeded in ascension.
"With the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner, one can call down the power of the Upper Realms."
"Then..."
"Soul Formation-level power? That's merely what it produces at its lowest draw. In truth, it can channel strength that pales that by comparison."
Cheon Woo-jin clicked his tongue. He'd wondered why he'd never seen it in the game—but if it had appeared in the game, it would have been a Dharma Treasure with power enough to shatter the balance entirely.
"And yet you knew its true nature, Sect Master Wi. Impressive."
"The leadership of every major sect on the 6th layer knows. Long ago, a fierce struggle was waged over the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner when it first appeared on this layer."
Hearing that, Cheon Woo-jin looked at her steadily.
"Then Seo Seol-ryeong isn't the only one after the treasure this time."
"Quick-witted, aren't you."
The major sects of the 6th layer all knew the true value of the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner. They would never sit still. This was no mere case of a madman stealing a treasure. It would become a massacre—countless cultivators dying and killing in a war for the treasure of the age.
"Byeokpung Valley in the mountain region, the Ten Thousand Nights Ice Palace in the snow mountain region, the Yin Scale Spirit Needle Sect in the wetlands... the moment all three great factions learn the Ghost Spirit Demon Banner has resurfaced, they'll stop at nothing to seize it for themselves."
"......"
Cheon Woo-jin bit his lip. He remembered—Oh Hwi-seong had gone to request cooperation from the three great factions.
"Damn it." Just then, Wi Ju-seon clicked her tongue, staring ahead. "We're too late."
KWAAAKWAAANG!
With a thunderous roar, the underground waterway collapsed. A sudden tempest of azure wind was tearing the ceiling apart.
"Byeokpung Valley—!"
Sword cultivators in blue Taoist robes appeared in the underground waterway one after another. The moment they laid eyes on Cheon Woo-jin and Wi Ju-seon, they drew their swords without hesitation. As if under orders to cut down anyone who stood in their way.
KWAAAAA!
A storm of azure sword wind surged forth. Wi Ju-seon's jiangshi immediately moved to defend, but in the torrential storm of sword qi, they were shredded to pieces.
But in the next instant—
A storm of black lightning swords erupts as the technique completes.
On one side stood the distinguished sword cultivators of Byeokpung Valley, a faction that represented the very 6th layer itself. On the other, a single rogue cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Realm who had only just ascended to this layer.
The gap in strength was obvious. But which side held Destiny, neither party could know.
It didn't matter. Drawing power from every one of his spirit meridians, Cheon Woo-jin unfurled a sword wind of frigid death.