You Must Rely Only on Yourself
Yeop Hyeon extended his hand toward the corpses of the Hwanso Sect Leader and the Harmonization Sect Leader. The storage rings on their fingers flew into his grasp. Peering inside, he jolted in surprise.
The two rings contained a staggering seventy million extreme-grade Spiritual Stones.
"Hm?"
As if discovering something, Yeop Hyeon spread both hands. Two colorful scrolls dropped onto his palms.
Yin-Yang Scripture: Upper Volume.
Yin-Yang Scripture: Lower Volume.
With a curious expression, Yeop Hyeon unrolled one. The first line blazed across the page in massive characters.
"The path of yin and yang is the will of the heavens, and when man and woman unite as one..."
As he read on, a series of suggestive(?) illustrations paraded before his eyes.
"What is it? Something good?"
Cheok Bal-eon had sidled up behind him unnoticed.
Yeop Hyeon hastily rolled up the scroll and adopted a stern expression.
"Ahem... It's nothing. Just something useful for cultivation."
He quietly tucked the scrolls into his robes.
Cheok Bal-eon glanced at him once but asked no more.
At that moment, the remaining Hwanso Sect and Harmonization Sect warriors fled in desperation.
They were terrified.
Yeop Hyeon's display of power was more than enough to shake them to their cores.
Just then, over a hundred cavalry riders appeared out of nowhere, charging toward Yeop Hyeon.
They were the Chang Lan Dao Soldiers.
One approached Yeop Hyeon and dropped to one knee, his face alight with emotion.
"Dean! We greet you!"
When word spread that Yeop Hyeon had died, everyone at Canglan Academy felt as if they'd been struck by lightning.
Until now, he had been the academy's pillar.
Could Canglan Academy function without him?
The students had been left dazed and despondent.
The emotions they felt upon hearing he was alive were indescribable.
Yeop Hyeon approached the rider and helped him to his feet.
"Go and relay my command. Don't let a single one escape!"
"Understood!"
With that, the rider vaulted onto his Black Flame Horse and charged toward the fleeing remnants of the Harmonization Sect and Hwanso Sect.
The warriors weren't weak by any means, but against over a hundred Chang Lan Dao Soldiers, they were mere candles in the wind.
Already gripped by utmost terror from Yeop Hyeon, they couldn't mount a proper defense.
In an instant, over two hundred warriors were annihilated. Had they been at full strength, the Dao Soldiers wouldn't have crushed them so easily.
Meanwhile, watching his Dao Soldiers' enhanced prowess filled Yeop Hyeon with immense pride.
The fortune he'd poured into them had not been wasted.
Confirming the battle's outcome, Yeop Hyeon sheathed his sword and strode out of the palace.
As Cheok Bal-eon moved to follow, he stopped her.
"Go inside and rest first. I'll handle the cleanup!"
"Got it. Be careful!"
After sending her back, Yeop Hyeon stood alone, sword in hand, surveying the streets.
Everywhere he looked, corpses piled high.
When the world descended into chaos, human lives became worth less than flies.
From childhood—especially after his mother's departure—one truth had always anchored his heart.
A person must rely only on themselves!
Yeop Hyeon had always been desperate, staking his life on every fight. It was the only way to defy the wretched fate that bound him and his sister.
Suddenly, the Heavenly Maiden's words from before echoed in his mind. Some grew so strong they lost their humanity, she had said.
Distinguishing only between strong and weak, with no regard for the sanctity of life.
The law of the jungle!
Humans devoured pork without a thought for the pig's suffering.
It was no easy feat for the strong to pity the weak. When a warrior devoted himself solely to cultivation, humanity often slipped away.
Yeop Hyeon ceased his musings and scanned the surroundings with his sword eyes. Corpses littered every corner. Had he not grown strong, he too would have ended up among them.
"Aaaagh!"
A sudden scream made him turn. Around a nearby corner, a man in black robes was deftly ripping out another man's heart.
"Heehee... heeheehee... Number one hundred seventy-one..."
Sensing Yeop Hyeon's gaze, the man whipped around. His eyes gleamed upon spotting him.
"Number one hundred seventy-two..."
Before the words finished, the man's head flew.
In the blink of an eye, Yeop Hyeon appeared behind him, drawing the blood-drenched Spirit Water Sword. The man's rigid torso crumpled to the ground.
Yeop Hyeon approached the victim, whose breath had already fled.
With a darkened expression, he departed.
From that moment, the Blood Sect disciples within the city began dying one by one.
None escaped decapitation.
* * *
Before the gates of Jeoguk.
The Blood Sect Leader, Hyeol Wol, emanated a sinister aura as he observed the situation.
At that moment, a disciple stumbled up, collapsing to his knees before Hyeol Wol.
"Sect Leader! Yeop Hyeon... Yeop Hyeon is alive! The Harmonization Sect Leader and Hwanso Sect Leader have already fallen to him!"
"Is that true? He killed them both alone?"
"Y-yes! He's already reached the Sword Emperor realm. And with a Heavenly Sword in hand, not even a Law Realm expert can stand against him!"
As Hyeol Wol opened his mouth to ask more, another disciple came rushing.
"Sect Leader, the situation is dire. Yeop Hyeon is heading this way!"
"Retreat!"
As Hyeol Wol spun to flee, a Blood Sect warrior grabbed him.
"Sect Leader! There are still countless disciples inside the city..."
"No time for that! We must save who we can here!"
With those words, Hyeol Wol's figure blurred into afterimages and vanished.
He was utterly flustered.
'Didn't two True Law Realm experts kill him back then?'
They had been accompanied by over a dozen Myriad Laws Realm masters and hundreds of Jungto Sinju warriors.
Yet they had vanished, while Yeop Hyeon lived and appeared boldly.
Most crucially, he had slain Law Realm experts. That meant Hyeol Wol himself could die.
'I must escape!'
Without looking back, Hyeol Wol fled into the clouds. But the other Blood Sect warriors couldn't match his speed. Just as they passed the gates, a streak of sword light sliced mercilessly through their limbs.
It was Yeop Hyeon.
Dozens of Blood Sect warriors shuddered in terror upon seeing his face. Unlike others, they knew his ruthlessness better than anyone. He was the one who had hung thirty elite Blood Sect heads before the gates of Gangguk's Imperial City.
At that moment, a Blood Sect elder stepped forward.
"We'll withdraw and never set foot in Qingzhou again. So..."
His sword gauntlet opened, and a blade flashed.
Pffft!
The elder's head sailed limply away.
The horrified warriors scattered in all directions.
"Flee? Sorry, but it's too late!"
As the words ended, several swords shot from his gauntlet like lightning.
Shuuuush!
The fleeing Blood Sect warriors collapsed in droves.
It was a massacre. Not one dared block Yeop Hyeon's blades.
In less than a breath, dozens lay headless on the ground. The earth outside the city was dyed red with their blood.
Yeop Hyeon beckoned with a finger, and the swords returned to his gauntlet.
Right on cue, a hundred Chang Lan Dao Soldiers arrived and knelt as one.
Yeop Hyeon flicked the blood from his Spirit Water Sword and pointed its tip at the city walls.
"Hang all their heads atop the walls. Then spread the word across Qingzhou: Yeop Hyeon is thirsty for blood lately. Any sinners are welcome!"
Having swiftly looted the corpses' storage rings, Yeop Hyeon departed.
Soon after, news of the Jeoguk incident—and Yeop Hyeon's words—spread throughout Qingzhou.
Some Jungto Sinju warriors could barely contain their rage.
Yeop Hyeon's actions were an outright provocation against Jungto Sinju.
The invaders from the central continent were apoplectic.
When had they ever suffered such humiliation? The strong among them began heading to Jeoguk.
Of course, the primary lure was the bounty on Yeop Hyeon's head.
Hogye Meng's reward was irresistibly tempting.
Killing one Yeop Hyeon yielded more wealth than robbing several nations.
Wealth bred courage where none existed. Though all knew slaying him wouldn't be easy, those confident in their skills or blinded by greed pressed on undeterred.
Far more warriors, however, fled Qingzhou in fear—especially from Gangguk and Jeoguk.
Yeop Hyeon's effortless subjugation of two sect leaders and slaughter of over two hundred men had seeded terror in their hearts.
In short, no number of ordinary warriors could touch him.
Thus, only the self-proclaimed elites and the greed-stricken converged on Jeoguk.
* * *
Jeoguk's Imperial Palace.
Yeop Hyeon didn't return to Gangguk immediately. His priority was restoring the Gyeok Ok Tower.
The extreme-grade Spiritual Stones he'd acquired this time exceeded one hundred million.
Seventy million from the Harmonization Sect Leader and Hwanso Sect Leader, thirty million from the rest.
A substantial haul in a single day.
Adding other treasures—like spirit artifacts, manuals, and weapons—could fetch tens of millions more in Spiritual Stones.
Seated on the bed, Yeop Hyeon funneled the stones into the Gyeok Ok Tower. It devoured them voraciously, yet showed no change—like an endless cavern.
'Even one hundred million extreme-grade Spiritual Stones aren't enough?'
After staring blankly for a while, Yeop Hyeon collapsed limply, as if his soul had fled.
"Brother... please don't do this... You'll break my back at this rate..."