To Hell with the Test

What came next was simple enough. His life was in no immediate danger, so Yeop Pung remained at Nagun Peak through the following evening.

The Peak Master sent someone to fetch the Sect Master once more. By then Yeop Pung had finally used up the full day he'd been promised — and vanished without a trace.

"I'm back!"

Yeop Pung burst out of the Golden Disc.

This time, as he passed through it, he noticed that the golden light filling the second inner ring had swollen far brighter than before. The instant he crossed over, countless motes of radiant gold seemed to fly in from the void, seeping into the disc and vanishing as they were absorbed.

This is...

Astonishment still had him in its grip when he landed back in the present. He immediately turned his mind inward and looked into his dantian. Sure enough, the Golden Disc had changed. The second inner ring had originally been scored into three notches; last time, the golden light had filled only about a third of the first. Now the second notch was completely brimming with gold. One segment remained, and the entire second ring would be full.

Is the Golden Disc growing on its own?

Yeop Pung muttered, turning it over in his mind.

"Every time I jump through time, it seems the Golden Disc absorbs that golden energy... And the growth looks tied to how long I stay. The longer I remain, the more it takes in?"

This time, before Yeop Pung could even ask, Geumban spoke first. Perhaps the disc had been pleased with his performance; the usual chill in its voice had thawed a little.

"You may understand it that way."

Geumban spoke slowly.

"Thanks to you releasing the second 'shackle,' the time you can remain next will increase to three days. However, more energy must be gathered, so the next jump will only be possible after seven days. Prepare well."

"Good, good. If you tell me in advance, I can make the next jump perfect."

Yeop Pung was in high spirits. This jump had been a rich harvest. He had memorized a full fifth of the constellation diagrams of the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture. Not only that — without anyone knowing, he had buried three blue pills in the small courtyard before he left. Right now he wanted nothing more than to go back, dig them up, and start cultivating at once.

"Perfectly?"

Geumban's next words made Yeop Pung's heart lurch.

"I have some bad news."

"Brother Geumban, why so ominous?"

"Since you haven't exceeded the time limit yet, I should tell you. The time you just visited was the earliest possible day within the hundred-year window. In other words..."

Yeop Pung understood in an instant.

"In other words... the next time I go back, I won't be able to jump any further into the past — and that person will remember I exist?"

"Smarter than I expected. Yeop Pung, next time it's three days. Good luck."

Good luck?!

Geumban was teasing him.

If I meet that person next time, I'll die on the spot. What am I supposed to do?

His good mood evaporated in a heartbeat. Geumban said nothing more. Fortunately, the next journey was still a week away. First he needed to dig up those pills and open his second profound meridian — that was the priority.

Yeop Pung raced home. Under Bone's bewildered stare, he furiously dug beneath the back wall of his room, scooped something up, and went inside with his face alight.

"They were still there!"

He sat down, delighted. In his open palm lay three dirt-caked blue pills. A hundred years had passed, of course, and their potency had weakened considerably. Even so, these were spirit medicines the Peak Master of Nagun Peak himself consumed.

Moreover, Yeop Pung was well-versed in pharmacology and pill refinement. After examining them closely, he was certain these were fourth-grade spirit pills — a cut above even third-grade Spirit Cloud Fruit. Across the entire Cheonun Sect, there were fewer than a hundred such pills. They were that precious.

This time jump was truly worth it!

Flushed with joy, Yeop Pung didn't rush to swallow them. The potency of a fourth-grade spirit pill was so fierce his body might not withstand it. But the moment he tried to break one into smaller pieces, Geumban's voice rang through his mind once more.

"It's fine. Take it boldly."

Yeop Pung started, then immediately brightened. Geumban would never harm him. If Geumban said he could take the spirit pill, there was surely a reason for that confidence.

Without hesitation, he popped one into his mouth. Instantly it transformed into a massive wave of Profound Qi that surged through his body.

What powerful medicine!

He felt as though an enormous force were detonating inside him. The instant that power was about to slam into his meridians and profound vessels, gold flashed from his dantian. An even more ferocious suction poured forth, drawing every last thread of the elixir's Profound Qi into the Golden Disc. At the same time, that energy was transmuted into a faintly golden Profound Qi of a different nature and fed back to him in a continuous stream.

Incredible!

Yeop Pung finally grasped the Golden Disc's true effect on cultivation. Like this, the efficiency of taking spirit medicines and training would skyrocket. He could even swallow ten-thousand-year elixirs or rare treasures of heaven and earth on the spot and put them straight to use. What's more, the speed at which he absorbed and utilized Profound Qi would be several times faster than an ordinary person slowly refining it.

At his current level, fully refining a single fourth-grade spirit medicine would take at least several days even if his dantian didn't burst. With the Golden Disc's help, he could finish it tonight. By tomorrow, he might even break through his second profound meridian.

2-Vein Profound Realm, here I come!

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

He rejoiced inwardly and sank deeper into his training. With the Golden Disc's aid, the meridian he was opening grew at a remarkable pace. The more complete mental method of the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture was assisting him, and his cultivation speed accelerated to a level he had never known.

Time passed, and at last night fell. As expected, the first blue spirit pill's potency had been completely absorbed, and his second profound meridian stood on the verge of completion.

Instead of taking another pill, Yeop Pung decided to circulate the more complete Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture himself, drawing in Profound Qi to force the final breakthrough.

This sensation, too, was intoxicating. Circulating even the mere fifth of the scripture he possessed, his absorption speed more than doubled compared to three days ago. Originally he could gather only a few dozen glittering starlights around him.

This time, as he operated the mental method, hundreds of luminous, brilliant stars instantly enveloped him, soaring up and down in a beautiful dance. His room transformed into a mysterious, fantastical little world, as if celebrating the breakthrough that was about to come.

Just then, a streak of shadow flew to the foot of Nagun Peak outside the small courtyard and landed without a sound.

"Senior Brother!"

Maeng Chang-haeng had already been waiting there a long time. The moment he saw Lee Sujol, he greeted him warmly.

"Where is Yeop Pung?"

"Cultivating in his room. Heh heh, that boy is truly fine timber. Not only is his talent outstanding — he's diligent and hardworking besides. He's bound to become someone great."

"All the more reason we must be extra careful protecting him. We identified that assassin from yesterday. He's definitely connected to the Gi Clan."

"Hmph! The likes of the Gi Clan dare send an assassin into Cheonun Sect? The world truly has gone to ruin! Senior Brother, in the old days that Gi Yeo-hae couldn't even tie your shoelaces!"

"Enough, Chang-haeng. This isn't the time for that. Let's go see Yeop Pung first. I've prepared a formation tonight, so we can test whether his Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture is truly our Cheonun's orthodox mental method."

Lee Sujol did not believe Yeop Pung's earlier story about the Founder's dream. He thought the boy had already learned the Cloud-Spirit Scripture and was lying to lure them in. He had spent days rummaging through old texts, worrying until several more strands of his hair had gone white. At last he had created a formation that could visualize the constellation diagrams of the Cloud-Spirit Scripture Yeop Pung was cultivating, allowing them to glimpse its secrets.

"Um... Senior Brother..."

Maeng Chang-haeng followed Lee Sujol toward Yeop Pung's room, hesitated a moment, then spoke his mind.

"That boy Yeop Pung has a kind heart. He doesn't seem like the type to harbor ill intent. Even if the origin of his Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture is unclear, if we talk to him properly, he'll work for our Cheonun... Don't you think so, Senior Brother? Senior Brother..."

Maeng Chang-haeng sensed something was off. Lee Sujol was pressed right up against Yeop Pung's window, completely motionless. No matter how quietly Maeng Chang-haeng called to the dazed Sect Master, there was no answer.

"Senior Brother?"

Maeng Chang-haeng had never seen his senior brother this agitated. Drawn by curiosity, he followed Lee Sujol's gaze into Yeop Pung's hut.

"Good heavens!"

"What am I looking at?!"

Yeop Pung's hut was filled with dazzling starlight. More than two hundred stars shone with brilliant light, swirling around him. A vast energy flowed like waves, pouring endlessly into his body. He had clearly found a breakthrough in his cultivation.

But that was not the important part. The two hundred-plus stars floating beside Yeop Pung meant he had completely transcended the realm of Profound Qi Condensing into Stars in his cultivation of the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture.

"Th-that's... the realm of Hundred Stars Flowing like a Stream?"

Lee Sujol felt his throat go bone-dry. Beside him, Maeng Chang-haeng's eyes were bulging as if they might pop from his head.

Wasn't that the legendary realm of Hundred Stars Flowing like a Stream, said to exist only in legend?

It was an attainment that could manifest only when one had cultivated the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture to the level of true mastery. But after the Cheonun Grand Calamity a hundred years ago, not a single person in Cheonun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sect — not even Lee Sujol himself — had reached that realm.

It was not because their talent was lacking. The constellation diagrams of the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture that Emperor Shinmu of Great Jin had left to Cheonun Sect were only a tiny fragment. Lee Sujol, Maeng Chang-haeng, and the others had thrown everything they had into completing those diagrams, but they could never match the genius wisdom of Cheonun's Founder.

And yet this Yeop Pung... no, this monstrous brat's understanding of the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture had already surpassed Lee Sujol's?

D-do we still need to verify this further? Verify what? Do we even have the qualifications to test Yeop Pung?