Chapter 10 — Investments in the Monster
Swoosh—!
A boy dressed in tattered rags. His skeletal legs carved through the air, tracing the forms of Blood Wind Leg—the technique Instructor Ma Chung had spent his entire life perfecting—to absolute perfection.
'Th… this is….'
Granted, the boy knew none of the footwork's internal formula, nor did he channel any inner energy into it, so its raw power fell far short of Ma Chung's own. But the form—the form alone was perfect, as if he were staring into a mirror.
'I only showed him once. And yet… he's mimicking my Blood Wind Leg exactly?'
The shock turned his mind stark white. A gasp of disbelief burst from Ma Chung's lips.
"…A genius!"
But Yun Cheon did not stop there.
"And Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin's footwork went something like this, I believe?"
Shhh—
This time, it was the Shadowless Step. As Yun Cheon moved, his very presence melted away. It was far from perfect concealment, but it produced a bizarre state where he stood right before their eyes yet gave off no trace of his approach. Ya Jin's pupils trembled as though an earthquake had struck them.
'This is no mere imitation… the shifting of his center of gravity, even the suppression of his breath! He grasped the core principles of my art at a single glance—and stole them all!'
Anger vanished from the two drill instructors' faces as if it had never been there at all. In its place stood pure astonishment at an incomprehensible talent.
'That boy… he's a monster! So this is why Young Master Yu Ha has been keeping an eye on him!'
Desire blazed in the eyes of the two instructors, frozen like stone statues. The first to step forward was Ma Chung, whose urgency as a newly appointed instructor could not be contained.
"Ahem… go on ahead, Ya Jin, Senior Drill Instructor. It seems I have a debt to repay to that whelp."
"I can see your cheap tricks plainly! I, too, have lessons yet to deliver to the boy."
The two men glared at each other, and a battle of wills began.
But it did not last long.
"D… damn it all! Fine! Whelp, you needn't hand over a rank tag! Come learn kicking arts from me!"
Desperate, Ma Chung even gave up the rank tag he would have earned from the lesson itself.
At that, Ya Jin grew anxious as well.
'Even with Young Master Yu Ha's hint… if it's a choice between teaching him or not, either way is fine—but I cannot lose this monster to some upstart instructor!'
If Yun Cheon chose to learn from Ma Chung here, it would wound Ya Jin's standing—and worse, he would lose this monster forever.
"Wait! I… I will give you rank tags! Learn from me instead. There is nothing worth learning from the likes of Ma Chung!"
"Damn it, Ya Jin, Senior Drill Instructor! Where is your professional decency? You'd bribe a cadet with gifts?"
"Hmph. Bribe? This is an investment!"
At Ya Jin's words, Yun Cheon tilted his head and asked.
"…You'll invest rank tags in me? Are rank tags something that can be spent on things other than lessons?"
At that artless question, Ma Chung leapt up in outrage.
"You brat! Of course they can! Rank tags are the currency of the Hidden Demon Cave itself! Elixirs, secret manuals—you can buy anything with them!"
"Hmph. A low-grade instructor like Ma Chung might scramble for a handful of rank tags, but a true investment means seeing something greater. I saw the future in you. Rank tags are hardly the point."
Ya Jin cut in, his voice laced with contempt for Ma Chung.
"Oh, aren't you grand. Then let me make an investment too! Whelp, if you learn my kicking arts, I'll give you rank tags as well!"
Now the two instructors were growling at each other like they might grab each other by the collar, each demanding the right to hand rank tags to Yun Cheon.
Yun Cheon parted their squabble and spoke quietly.
"…Very well. I will accept both of your investments."
"Whelp, do you mean that?!"
"…Both of our investments? You mean to learn from the two of us at once?"
Yun Cheon nodded. Ya Jin and Ma Chung exchanged a glance, mulled it over briefly, then sighed and spoke.
"Fine. But an investment must be repaid. Going forward, I expect results—and whenever the opportunity arises, you will demonstrate the arts I taught you for all to see. That is my condition."
"And I will invest rank tags in you as well, so long as you promise to put my Blood Wind Leg on display and produce results!"
Two first-rate masters scrambling desperately for a mere boy—a complete reversal of the natural order. Yet Yun Cheon only smiled with easy confidence.
"Of course. Having received instruction from you both, how could I possibly fail to deliver results? Although…."
He flashed a grin brimming with self-assurance and extended his hand.
"……?"
"What now?"
"You'll need to pay the contract fee up front."
In the end, Yun Cheon wrung rank tags out of both drill instructors. Ten tags each—a full twenty in all. Twice the number any other cadet received at first allocation.
'…Now, what shall I spend these on?'
Only after confirming the heavy weight of the rank tags filling his pocket did a satisfied expression cross his face.
"Then, we have a contract."
Ya Jin asked, his face still unable to believe it.
"Whelp… what do you intend to do with those tags? Don't tell me you're planning to request lessons from another instructor?"
"Hardly. Lessons from the two of you will be more than enough. First, I intend to invest these tags in my own body."
Just as Yun Cheon said, his frame was gaunt and emaciated, barely any proper muscle on it. Only then did Ya Jin grasp the audacity of the boy's plan and let out a hollow laugh.
"…Your body, is it. Investing in medicine and food, hm? Not bad. Very well. Lessons begin tomorrow."
"Then I shall see you both tomorrow."
With a bow, Yun Cheon swept up his rank tags and set off at a light pace toward parts unknown. In his grip, the order and common sense of the Hidden Demon Cave had crumbled completely. The two remaining instructors could only stare blankly at one another.
"…I feel like I've been bewitched by a little imp."
"You're telling me, Ya Jin, Senior Drill Instructor."
"Which means you and I are bound to the same boat now, Ma Chung, New Instructor."
"…Surely in actual combat, my kicking arts would prove the more useful, wouldn't they?"
"Hmph. My Shadowless Step would exploit every hole in your kicking arts with ease."
The two of them were still bickering. Watching the entire spectacle from the darkness of the corridor, Instructor Ga Cheon-ak's brow narrowed.
'A single new cadet… has placed two drill instructors completely in the palm of his hand. Above all, his talent for stealing their martial arts outright is nothing short of miraculous.'
Ga Cheon-ak's gaze sank as cold as a sheet of ice.
"Adjutant. Investigate that boy in detail and report back to me."
The adjutant beside him swallowed involuntarily—and not merely because of the instructor's voice. It was because the corner of the instructor's mouth, always as emotionless as forged steel, was curling upward ever so faintly, tracing a strange smile.
"Include any irregularities in the results of the examination presided over by the Mad Blood Blade, Instructor Jeok Mu-gwang, as well."
"By your order!"
"His conduct before he even entered the Mad Path Pavilion, too. Bring me everything there is to know about that boy!"
Having left the two instructors behind, Yun Cheon was walking the corridor alone when he suddenly leaned against the wall and coughed violently. Cold sweat trickled down his face.
"Khough…! Whew…."
The composure with which he had orchestrated that storm of a scene was gone without a trace. The moment his tension released, the pain signals sent out by his frail body crashed over him. Merely mimicking the two instructors' arts for a few moments had left his twisted meridians screaming.
'As I thought—I have to do something about this body first.'
Yun Cheon looked down at the twenty rank tags in his hand. Their cold, hard weight lent the moment a sense of reality.
'If Elder Martial Brother Jangmun were still alive, would he have scolded me for such unbecoming scheming—improper conduct for a Daoist? Or would he have laughed heartily at putting the Demonic Path through the wringer?'
Yun Cheon swallowed the bitterness by force.
'But… Elder Martial Brother Jangmun is gone now. Kunlun is gone. There is only me.'
The lonely road of shattering the Demonic Cult from within its own ranks. Yun Cheon would have to walk it alone.
'If it means achieving vengeance with this wretched body of mine… then I will carve my dominion over this world as many times as it takes.'
His eyes hardened with resolve.
'What I need most right now, for that purpose, is survival and recovery….'
Not the training grounds. Not the library. Yun Cheon headed instead for the place within the Hidden Demon Cave that addressed its most fundamental appetites.
The Spiritual Nutrition Hall
The establishment responsible for every meal served in the Hidden Demon Cave. It had been the first use for his rank tags that he'd conceived.
Inside the Spiritual Nutrition Hall, the cadets were all lined up on one side, receiving their allotments of watery gruel.
"What is this slop? Give me more!"
"…Will you be handing over rank tags, then?"
"Ugh, never mind. Who in their right mind spends rank tags on extra gruel dregs?!"
Yun Cheon ignored the long ration line and approached the quiet counter of the special kitchen instead. Po Dae-san, the Chief Cook who ran the hall, waved him off with evident irritation.
"Kid, rations are in that line over there."
Yun Cheon shook his head and placed ten rank tags on the counter.
"That's not it. I'd like to place an order for special cuisine."
Po Dae-san's eyes went round. For a newcomer to start pouring rank tags into his meals so soon was unprecedented.
Po Dae-san sized up Yun Cheon's scrawny condition before offering some advice.
"…Listen here, boy. No matter how hungry you are, what good does it do to blow a month's worth of a new cadet's rank tags on food? You don't plan on taking lessons from an instructor either?"
Pay him no mind—Yun Cheon reeled off his requests without a hitch.
"From now on, with every meal, please add Black-Scale Serpent to replenish my blood and vital energy, and Ginseng-Astragalus Soup to stoke my foundational qi. And in the soup, I trust you won't skimp on the deer antler and goji berries."
The expression on Po Dae-san's face shifted in real time as he listened.
'I took this brat for some starving gutter rat they'd dragged in….'
What Yun Cheon had requested was no simple nourishing dish—it was a combination of medicinal cuisine of the kind most effective for a martial artist's physical recovery and growth.
"You… know your ingredients, don't you? Just who are you?"
"Merely a cadet with a weak constitution."
Yun Cheon said only that, then turned to go.
"Heh… fine. First order it is. Come back in one shijin. I'll have it ready by dinner."
Po Dae-san glanced between the rank tags left on the counter and Yun Cheon's retreating back, and filed the boy away in his mind as a peculiar creature worth watching.
From there, Yun Cheon made for the establishment that managed and traded all the goods of the Hidden Demon Cave.
The Myriad Treasures Pavilion
Unlike the Nutrition Hall, the air here was calm and cool, scented with medicinal herbs and metal. The shelves were neatly organized with herbs, secret manuals, and armaments of every kind. Seated within was a wizened old man with a skeletal frame, clattering away at an abacus—Do Chan-su. Even at a glance, he looked stiff-necked and quick with numbers.
Even as Yun Cheon entered the pavilion, Do Chan-su merely glanced at his ragged appearance and returned his gaze to the abacus.
"Tch tch. A new cadet, hm. I doubt you've rank tags to spare yet. Well, browsing is free."
But Yun Cheon walked straight to the counter and set down his remaining ten rank tags.
"I wish to make a trade."
Only then did Do Chan-su show interest.
"Oh…? A new cadet, requesting a trade with me already? Well, well… what is it you want?"
"Please process Purple-Glow Heaven Root and Ice-Heart Grass into a decoction, so I may take a fixed dose daily."
Click.
Do Chan-su's hand, mid-clatter on the abacus, froze.
'…A new cadet asking for these herbs? The usual practice is to seek only herbs that build inner energy.'
The herbs Yun Cheon had named were not for cultivating inner power—they were for stabilizing twisted meridians and treating internal injuries.
"Boy. Those are not things a newcomer like you has any business using. If you had internal injuries severe enough to warrant them, you wouldn't be standing here at all."
Yun Cheon answered flatly.
"…It isn't an injury. My constitution is simply like this. That's why I need the herbs at once."
"……."
Do Chan-su cleared the abacus away entirely, studied Yun Cheon with an intrigued look for a moment, and then spoke.
"…I'm sure you know this, but herbs at this level cannot fix a constitution."
Yun Cheon knew that much as well. Clawing through every herb under the sun while dealing with Demonic Path cultivators had practically been routine work for a Kunlun disciple.
"Calming my blood and vital energy will be quite sufficient."
"Tch. Fine. Come back in one shijin."
Do Chan-su turned back to his counter without another word.
'An interesting one, this.'
Still, inwardly he committed Yun Cheon to memory as a rare oddity—a boy with a strange constitution and knowledge of herbs to boot.
That night. After Yun Cheon had passed through the Spiritual Nutrition Hall and the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, a strange rumor began to bubble up through the Hidden Demon Cave.
"A scrawny stick of a boy showed up and ordered medicinal cuisine with snake meat in it, paying in rank tags, I swear!"
"Eh? At the Nutrition Hall too? At the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, some newcomer with a bizarre constitution appeared and asked for internal injury medicine."
The rumors fed on their own tails, growing more exaggerated as they spread through the whole of the Hidden Demon Cave.
"Some lunatic of a new cadet blew every one of his rank tags on food, they say!"
"Hah? And another one spent all his starting tags ordering nothing but injury medicine?"
"What in the world are those idiots doing? Do they have brains at all?"
The protagonist of both strange rumors, naturally, was Yun Cheon. But no one imagined that the two stories might share a single protagonist. Even if he hadn't spent a single tag on martial training, the tags he'd received would never have been enough to pull off both exploits alone.
Yun Cheon returned to his stone chamber. Only after he had eaten the medicinal cuisine and taken the specially compounded calming pills did the faintest flicker of satisfaction finally cross his face.
"So that leaves me with only the ten tags I was originally allotted."
To see the effects of the cuisine and the pills, Yun Cheon ran the Life-Prolonging Breathing Technique and the Heaven and Earth Moving Art deep into the night. Only when dawn began to pale did he allow himself a brief sleep.
The next day.
"Whelp! Lesson time!"
Instructor Ma Chung was hammering on Yun Cheon's door and shouting from the early morning. Yun Cheon opened his eyes slowly and rose.
The moment he opened the stone chamber's door, he found that outside it, beyond an eager Ma Chung, a number of unexpected figures were waiting for him.
"Hey there."
A boy leaning against a corridor pillar, watching Yun Cheon with gleams of interest in his eyes. Yu Ha waved a hand.
"……."
And on the opposite side stood Yayul Hui, arms crossed, her face a tangle of contempt and curiosity.
Ma Chung asked, bewildered.
"What's with this lot, then?"
The boy was the first to speak. With a sly smile, he bowed politely at the waist.
"My name is Yu Ha, Instructor Ma Chung. Might I be permitted to observe the lesson?"
But Yayul Hui paid Ma Chung no mind whatsoever. She went straight for Yun Cheon.
"The glutton who supposedly blew every last rank tag on food—that's you, isn't it?"