Time Travel Once More
"Oh, Yeop Pung—you're back!"
From across the way, Lee Sujol, white beard streaming, greeted him as if nothing in the world were amiss. Then his eyes narrowed.
"Those wounds aren't light. Junior Brother Maeng, we'd better pour the boy a few extra cups of Cheering Spring tonight."
Ah, so that spiritual wine is called Cheering Spring. Wait—that's not the point!
Yeop Pung nearly let himself get derailed by the sheer absurdity of it.
Who asked you to worry about my injuries? Right now, in this situation, shouldn't you be grieving over the future of the Cheonun Sect?
Even if you aren't grieving—is this really the time to sit here drinking with Old Man Maeng?
He could not make sense of any of it.
"When you're told to come, you come. What are you standing there gawking for?"
Maeng Chang-haeng waved him over and pointed to a seat.
Still looking thoroughly bewildered, Yeop Pung sat down and stared at Lee Sujol. The Sect Master chuckled, poured him a cup, and said,
"Don't look at me like that. I needed a stretch of focused cultivation, that's all. Haha—there's no place better suited for it than Nagun Peak. I never imagined the night view here would be this beautiful. It doesn't yield an inch to Cheonun Peak!"
"Of course it doesn't!"
Maeng Chang-haeng glared, bristling.
"You think my eye for these things is ordinary?"
"But…"
Yeop Pung still hadn't gotten to the point.
"But the sect's situation right now…"
"Junior Brother Han is looking after things. Don't you worry. Heh heh, Yeop Pung. Junior Brother Maeng tells me you've had a few complaints about the sect—but looking at you now, it seems you care quite a bit about Cheonun Sect's fate. Come. Let's have a toast."
I have to drink this too? Sect Master, there really is no end to the ways you can change the subject at a drinking table!
Yeop Pung clinked cups and drank. He could hardly believe that the old man guzzling wine right in front of him was the same Lee Sujol who was ordinarily so stern and imposing.
But it was obvious the two of them were hiding something from him. No matter how he pressed, he couldn't get a straight answer. The wine had no taste, and he found himself feeling guilty for no good reason.
Guilty? For what!
Judging by Lee Sujol's demeanor, there was no way the man had shown up here unprepared.
After draining three cups, Yeop Pung stood to take his leave—then a crucial thought struck him.
"What's the matter?"
Maeng Chang-haeng, Lee Sujol, and even Bone all turned to look at him.
"Um… the Sect Master is here. Where will you be sleeping tonight?"
The two men and Bone all looked baffled. Yeop Pung really did have a peculiar streak. Even granting Lee Sujol the most generous temperament in the world, asking a question like that in a situation like this marked the boy as something else entirely.
Yeop Pung considered the question extremely important. There was no way Lee Sujol would sleep in Maeng Chang-haeng's room. That room, frankly, was a place even Bone wouldn't give a second glance.
Don't tell me he's planning to sleep in my room?
That was out of the question. Sect Master or not, everyone had come here to cultivate—first come, first served, wasn't it?
The wine really was something. Yeop Pung had only had three cups with Lee Sujol, and already the veins were standing out on his neck as he prepared to defend his nest.
"Haha, don't you worry, kid!"
Maeng Chang-haeng laughed beside him.
"You think Senior Brother would so much as glance at that shabby room of yours? Tonight he'll be sleeping over there!"
He pointed. Yeop Pung followed the finger, and his chest tightened with a jolt.
The sealed room?
In all the time he'd been at Nagun Peak, Yeop Pung had never once seen Maeng Chang-haeng go anywhere near that dilapidated chamber. Just what was hidden inside it?
Yeop Pung went into his room. The smiles on Lee Sujol and Maeng Chang-haeng's faces slowly faded.
"That boy's cultivation speed is still something else."
Lee Sujol stroked his beard, watching Yeop Pung's retreating back with genuine admiration.
"Too fast, if you ask me."
Maeng Chang-haeng took a swallow of wine.
"The time is just about upon us."
"Yes."
Lee Sujol nodded.
Back in his room, Yeop Pung sat down with a furrowed brow.
What on earth is the Sect Master thinking?
Honestly, his own station limited his imagination on this point. He simply could not understand how Lee Sujol had the leisure to drink wine on Nagun Peak at a time like this.
He decided to set aside the things he couldn't possibly know. What mattered now was the Cheonun Army. Without a doubt, it would be a tremendous trial facing every young generation of the Cheonun Sect.
He had no idea how the Cheonbong Legion would treat the Cheonun Army. But whatever the case, Yeop Pung did not want a single Cheonun Sect disciple to suffer because of his past actions.
I have to get stronger!
Not merely for himself—he had to become strong enough to protect the people around him from villains like Sa Cheonseong.
Without his quite realizing it, Yeop Pung's mindset had already changed. He could not forget how, during the Ascent Battle of the last Autumn Hunt, Wang Maeng and the others had risked their lives to hold off the Three Great Families for his sake.
And just a short while ago, on Gangun Peak, the young heroes of Cheonun Sect had stepped forward to block Sa Cheonseong's provocations. Their warmth had moved him beyond measure.
He knew it wasn't because Wang Maeng or Hwa Cheonpung felt anything special toward him personally. It was because every one of them, when facing outsiders, carried the name of the Cheonun Sect engraved upon their hearts.
"No one lays a hand on a disciple of Cheonun Sect."
"We will not let the spirit of Cheonun Sect be stained by our own hands!"
The moment the thought crystallized, Yeop Pung ached to leave on his next journey through time that very instant. He had spent the past month making every preparation.
The moment these wounds heal, I go back!
Steeling himself, he picked up the book he had been steadily reading. The title on the cover was printed clear and sharp.
Overview of Spirit Beast Taming
In the days that followed, the Cheonun Sect appeared unchanged on the surface. But everyone inside could feel the heavy atmosphere settling over everything around them.
Soldiers of the Cheonbong Legion, clad in thick armor, swaggered across Mount Tianyun as if it were their own encampment. The influential elders who had held key posts were quietly replaced by Han Buri's confidants. Unfamiliar faces—people never seen before—began taking part in the sect's administrative affairs.
Cultivation for every inner and outer disciple was halted. The thousand young experts selected for the Cheonun Army had already assembled at Nowoon Peak and begun secret training.
The only mercy was that, thanks to the Acting Sect Master's groveling, no blood had yet been spilled inside the Cheonun Sect. Everyone swallowed their rage, but not a soul dared stake their life to stand up. Power was changing hands with unnerving smoothness.
Yeop Pung was the only one among the thousands in the Cheonun Army whose training had been postponed on account of injury. He was far from the main peak, on Nagun Peak, but he could still feel the suffocating atmosphere that hung over the whole of Mount Tianyun.
On the night of the third day, his wounds had all but healed. He released the restriction seal, slipped quietly from his room, and vanished toward the Cheonun Sect's rear mountain without so much as a word of farewell to Old Man Maeng or Lee Sujol.
This journey through time would no longer take place at Nagun Peak. Recalling the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture no longer held much meaning for him. He had an entirely different task to accomplish.
As Yeop Pung led the way out, Bone sighed and followed after him.
What's he doing up this late? Doesn't this kid ever sleep?
Yeop Pung had no idea Bone was following him. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. He moved swiftly through the dark.
Before long he arrived at the cave on the rear mountain where he had once broken through to the Profound Realm. He slipped inside and immediately activated the Golden Disc.
"Golden Disc Bro, take me to the tenth of the sixth month, Year 35 of Shinmu!"
Once again, Yeop Pung had chosen the date with care. The location wasn't Nagun Peak this time, but he had picked a moment when all the great figures of the Cheonun Sect would be away. That would make everything far easier for him.
He had arrived.
Yeop Pung's vision went dark for a moment, then brightened.
He was standing in the same cave. When he stepped outside, the cool mountain wind of Mount Tianyun from a hundred years past brushed his face beneath the clear moonlight.
No time to waste. I have to move now.
He had been given a month, but it was anything but leisurely.
As mentioned before, he had two tasks on this journey. One was to uncover the secret behind the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture's extraordinary allure. The other was to find a way to strengthen the power that would protect his comrades.
The first would come about naturally in the course of pursuing the second. And for the second, the very first thing he needed to do was grow herbs.
The space inside Yeop Pung's Myriad Realms Wrist Ring was barely large enough for a single fist—yet packed inside it were hundreds of spiritual herb seeds, precious things he had specially obtained by asking Old Man Maeng. Of those seeds, there were only two kinds.
Used to aid cultivation. In terms of Profound Qi concentration alone, it rivals a third-grade elixir. The greatest problem is the time it takes to mature—fifty years at a minimum, and a full century before its true medicinal effect can be seen.
But for Yeop Pung, that lengthy maturation was a perfect fit. He had already eaten through every last Spirit Soul Pill he'd swindled from Yeo Sogong, and second-grade pills no longer even caught his eye. Planting seeds that would yield third-grade spiritual herbs was, this time, the most urgent priority of all.
The other was a first-grade spiritual herb.
The fruit looks rather like a cherry tomato, with sweet juice. More than that, it greatly helps spirit beasts absorb Profound Qi and cultivate.
The Cheonun Sect didn't specialize in raising spirit beasts, but it did cultivate this kind of basic spirit-beast feed. That was why the Green Root Fruit had become the most critical piece of Yeop Pung's plan. The greatest goal of this return was, precisely, the raising of spirit beasts.
Besides those two kinds of seeds, Yeop Pung had mixed a few stalks of another spiritual herb into the pile.
Can be transplanted root and all. Its greatest characteristic is a strange fragrance that captivates every kind of wild beast and spirit beast. If an ordinary beast swallows the petals, it can awaken spiritual intelligence.
Yeop Pung planned to use this very Living Spirit Flower to find, within the coming month, the finest companions who would stand with him to protect the Cheonun Sect.
All right. Time to find a spot and make an herb garden!