An Awkward Atmosphere
The night sky hung clear and cloudless, flooded with bright moonlight.
Four striking young men in the disciple robes of Cheonun Sect sat around a table in the courtyard. All of them were tall and imposing, a chill of Profound Qi rolling off their bodies. The most distinguished among them was a youth who wore a jade crown, his long hair spilling down his back.
The jade-crowned youth tended to the tea set with unhurried care. Astonishingly, he boiled the water not with ordinary firewood, but with flame Profound Qi drawn from within his own body.
It was not long before the spring water in the kettle came to a rolling boil. As he poured the tea, a delicate fragrance rose and teased at the nose.
"Un Dae, your flame Profound Qi has grown even purer since I last saw it!"
The youth seated to the jade-crowned boy's left took a sip and let out a note of genuine admiration.
"Haha, of course. Senior Brother Un Dae was the first among us to reach the Five Meridians Realm! Give it a few years and he'll be going toe-to-toe with Yi Hwawu or Un Cheoncheon."
"It's a shame Un Cheoncheon has been buried in training lately. If she'd seen Senior Brother Un Dae, she surely would have had a change of heart. Then she wouldn't even spare a thought for that Yeop Pung fellow."
The atmosphere plunged into ice. The name Yeop Pung was as good as a forbidden word.
The jade-crowned youth's hand paused over the teapot. The other three realized their blunder at once and lapsed into an awkward silence.
A moment later, the jade-crowned youth broke it with a laugh.
"Haha, that's all in the past. It's been eight years. Yeop Pung is nothing to us now. Why even bring that guy up?"
"But Senior Brother Un Dae, there's a rumor that Yeop Pung broke through to the Profound Realm and will be taking the inner sect exam tomorrow."
"So what?"
The jade-crowned youth wore a scornful little smile.
"Don't tell me you think some fellow who just barely scraped into the Profound Realm could stand on equal footing with us?"
"Hahaha, as if!"
They all burst out laughing. Not one of them truly gave Yeop Pung a second thought.
"Still..."
An amusing idea had occurred to the jade-crowned youth. He drained his cup in a single gulp, then set it down on the table with a sharp clack and spoke in a low voice.
"If that fellow is taking the inner sect exam, then as fellow disciples, we ought to repay the kindness he showed us eight years ago — don't you think?"
"Senior Brother Un Dae, from what I've heard, that Yeop Pung is still as arrogant and lawless as ever — like a madman. He even beat Gi Beonjin's lackeys to a pulp this afternoon!"
"Oh? Now that's interesting."
A gleam flashed through the jade-crowned youth's eyes. He smiled like a cunning fox.
"Then let's think of a way. We'll make sure that Gi Beonjin takes very good care of 'Big Brother Yeop Pung' on our behalf."
The curtain of night slowly drew back, and sunlight began to seep through the window.
Yeop Pung drew a bucket of water in the light of the rising sun and bathed. He changed into clean, neat clothes and stood before the bronze mirror in the dormitory.
Hmm. Looking good.
It had been a long time since Yeop Pung had taken such care with his appearance. Having broken through to the Profound Realm, even the aura he naturally carried was different. He was not handsome enough to be called a beauty, but his features were well-defined, and his eyes held a deep, lingering light.
Eight years of hard living, in particular, had given him a depth of gaze rarely found among his peers. There was something slightly rough about him, yet he overflowed with a distinctly masculine charm.
He drew a deep breath, looked into the mirror, and smiled. Then he murmured to himself.
Not a soul knew that Yeop Pung carried this hidden secret.
Longing and love for his family had been the force that kept him from giving up or falling into despair through those long eight years. He had lived by a single conviction: that one day he would grow strong enough to leave the Great Jin Empire, uncover the truth of the strange incident that night eight years ago, and find his parents.
And right now, the most important thing for Yeop Pung was to pass the inner sect exam and receive the true essence of Cheonun Sect's martial arts.
The eyes of the young man in the mirror flashed sharp. His presence was keen as a sword and swift as lightning. A fierce passion burned in his chest.
He turned, took a long stride, and walked out of the dormitory.
Inner sect exam — here I come.
The buildings of Cheonun Sect were spread across seven main peaks, linked to one another by magnificent bridges of iron chain.
The inner sect exam, held once a year, was not a particularly grand affair for a sect of such scale. The testing ground was Maun Peak, one of the seven. Three elders and a hundred inner disciples presided over it.
Yeop Pung arrived at the plaza on Maun Peak to find the place already seething with people.
Only about a thousand disciples took part in the inner sect exam each year. But every outer disciple who had not been expelled gathered on Maun Peak on this day to watch. Nearly ten thousand people packed the plaza, and the air rang with a restless roar.
They made a motley sight. Some clustered with friends and traded gossip; others sought out quiet corners and sank into training. The great majority of the outer disciples, however, had gathered before an enormous blue stele. That was the starting point of today's exam — the Cheonun Stele of Inquiring Qi.
Legend had it that in the distant past, when the Cheonun Sect Founder attained the Dao upon Mount Tianyun, he completed the world-shaking Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture upon this very slab of ancient blue stone. He dominated the land and fought countless enemies, and never once knew defeat. People believed the stele still held the Founder's boundless realm of the Dao.
But a thousand years had passed, and Cheonun Sect had risen and fallen more than once. No one had cultivated the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture to the Founder's level since.
Roughly a hundred years ago, Emperor Shinmu of the Great Jin Empire had displayed his martial might and crushed Cheonun Sect by force.
Severing seven peaks with one sword, subduing Cheonun with a single palm.
In the end, Cheonun Sect had fallen under the dominion of Great Jin. A truly lamentable fate.
For hundreds of years now, the Cheonun Stele of Inquiring Qi had shown no strange phenomena at all. At present it served only to measure a disciple's Profound Qi elemental affinity — and that measurement was also the most basic stage of the inner sect exam.
A dense crowd had already pressed in at the foot of the stele. Outer disciples taking the exam were being sized up on the spot, while newly arrived juniors watched with bright, eager eyes, wondering what outstanding inner disciples this year would produce.
In the midst of that throng lay a wide pocket of empty space. Three or four young men stood there, radiating a chill that kept everyone else at bay.
One had his entire face wrapped in bandages, leaving only a pair of hate-filled eyes. Another had his right arm fixed in a plaster splint; he stood grinding his teeth, glaring at the crowd. They looked like wolves starved for blood, searching for today's prey.
And in front of them stood Gi Beonjin, his expression cold, his eyes closed, his hands clasped behind his back. A faint frost rolled off his body. His aura was as keen and icy as a freshly honed blade, and it pressed down on everything around him.
Even from a distance, anyone could feel the murderous energy coming off him. People knew, by instinct, that the chill was rage aimed at Yeop Pung.
No one in that plaza harbored any goodwill toward Yeop Pung to begin with. Combined with the blood-soaked atmosphere Gi Beonjin's group was putting off today, everyone could sense that nothing good was in store for him.
Just then, someone shouted.
"Yeop Pung is here!"
Gi Beonjin's eyes snapped open. Like a wolf catching the scent of prey, they flooded with killing intent.
The crowd parted, and a young man came walking through with a confident stride. It was Yeop Pung.
"That's Yeop Pung..."
"He's pretty handsome! Whoa, look at those eyes — totally charming~"
A few of the girls still had no idea what was going on.
"Pfft, so what if he's handsome? Handsome doesn't put food on the table. Just wait. Gi Beonjin's going to crush that guy in a minute."
The murmuring rose and fell around him like a song composed just for Yeop Pung. He paid no mind to the stares or the voices, and walked straight toward Gi Beonjin and his group.
"Yeop Pung! You bastard, you finally showed up!"
Jang Un and Jo Bihong's eyes flashed with rage.
Gi Beonjin bared a row of white teeth in a vicious grin. Killing intent poured off him in waves.
"Yeop Pung. I must have underestimated you. You dared lay a hand on my people — do you even understand what that means?"
Gi Beonjin's voice was ice. Yeop Pung did not stop. He walked right past him. His footsteps were the only sound.
A cold wind swept through, and the atmosphere turned painfully awkward. Gi Beonjin's face went ashen in an instant.
"Yeop Pung, I'm talking to you! You idiot!"
Yeop Pung walked straight to the registration desk and smiled at the disciple in charge.
"Hello. I'm Yeop Pung, here to register for the inner sect exam. This is my identity token."
He went on ignoring Gi Beonjin's group entirely. A freezing wind seemed to howl around Gi Beonjin, and the atmosphere grew even more strained.
"Ah — y-yes!"
Even the inner disciple handling registration looked thoroughly flustered.
There was not a person present who did not know Gi Beonjin's name. Yeop Pung was taking that name, grinding it into the dirt, and walking over it.
"Yeop Pung! Senior Brother Gi is speaking to you, you moron!"
Jo Bihong, his face bound in bandages, felt his brows twitch; his eyes shifted through ugly colors. He whipped his wrapped head around and came pounding forward like an enraged bull.
Yeop Pung did not so much as glance at him. Gi Beonjin was not worth his time — and neither were the man's dogs. He had already finished registering. He took back his identity token and turned toward the Cheonun Stele of Inquiring Qi.
"You bastard! Stop right there!"
Jang Un, standing to the side with his arm in a splint, could not hold back either. He rushed out and, together with Jo Bihong, blocked Yeop Pung's path.
Gi Beonjin stepped in directly in front of him, his face full of contempt.
"Yeop Pung. You dare ignore me? Today I'll show you just how terrifying I really am."
"Senior brothers... those people are disrupting the inner sect selection here, aren't they?"
Yeop Pung turned his head, blinked a few times at the inner disciples who had been watching with keen interest, and asked the question as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.
"If you senior brothers can't handle it, shall I go inform the elders?"
"What is this..."
No one could find a word.
So Yeop Pung was a far bigger coward than they'd thought. Instead of standing up to Gi Beonjin's provocation, he was trying to drag other people into it. It was no different from a child running to his teacher after being bullied. What kind of way was that to carry himself?
"Ah — no! We'll handle this."
The inner disciples collected themselves and looked at Yeop Pung with open contempt. One of them stepped forward in front of Gi Beonjin's group.
"Both of you, stop making a scene! If you're here to take the exam, do it quietly. If not, get out of the way!"