An Easy Fight
“Sa-saseolhyeolgeom Second Form, Bihyeol! When the sword scatters blood, the enemy loses the way!”
I had no intention of indulging in the soft-minded notion that I should attack with my sword and, when I found an opening, toss out a spell. I would rather have my breath cut off than let my sword stop.
That did not mean I had abandoned my abilities as a cultivator, however. What I sent flying at my opponent with Sa-saseolhyeolgeom was a blade of crimson spiritual energy, sharp as sword qi itself.
Of course, the most effective way to use spiritual energy was through immortal arts. Unlike ordinary natural qi, spiritual energy carried an attribute of its own, and its nature was far more violent; if one tried to use a standard inner energy circulation method, it was impossible to fully bring out its power.
But that only meant one could not draw out its complete strength. It did not mean it was unusable. The blade of crimson spiritual energy I created possessed power that was in no way inferior to the sword qi I released at full force.
And that was not merely my own opinion.
Crack!
My opponent was a bamboo yokai whose cultivation was at the very least in the late stage of Qi Refining.
Yet the crimson blade of spiritual energy I had sent flying did not bounce off after striking the fellow’s magical tool, the bamboo spear. Instead, it carved shallowly into the spear itself. My attack was taking proper effect.
Apparently displeased by that, the creature let out a strange rustling cry, a sound like leaves brushing in the wind—“Sasasasa~”—but unlike the fellow, who had been thrown off balance while trying to block my attack, I kept moving toward it without pause.
“Sa-saseolhyeolgeom Third Form, Yuhyeol! Blood that flows does not stop, and neither does the sword’s flow!”
The moment my sword, wrapped in crimson spiritual energy, drew a keen diagonal line through the air, the bamboo yokai took the blow with surprising ease.
Ka-chak!
But the creature thought it had blocked my sword only because it had not yet realized the truth. The instant my blade met its bamboo spear, I let go of the hilt.
As my sword rebounded from the enemy’s weapon and spun once through the air, I caught the hilt again with my left hand and, with my right, shoved the spine of the blade forward as though I were striking with a palm technique.
Kwa-kak!!
Seeing my sword carve more than halfway through the bamboo yokai’s chest in a single stroke, I knew the destructive power of spiritual energy refined through cultivation methods was truly on par with sword qi.
And this was while I still could not bring out the full strength of spiritual energy. Even so, its destructive might was certainly not something the gentle force of inner energy could compare to.
Yet even though it was a searing strike that would have ended a human’s life on the spot, the opponent kept moving as though nothing had happened. It seemed to intend to pry me loose from the sword embedded in its chest, for it had begun spinning the bamboo spear in its hands like a waterwheel.
If yesterday’s me had been standing here, I would have let go then and retreated before casting Hwatan Technique.
But today’s me was no longer yesterday’s me. So instead, smiling as though the enemy’s attack delighted me, I met it head-on.
I twisted the sword I had driven in, the one that had been piercing through its chest in a long slash, and set it upright in a vertical line. Then I gripped it again with my right hand, half drawing it free before pushing hard against the spine of the blade as if thrusting with a palm strike.
Kwa-gak!!
Judging by how my sword plunged more than halfway through the bamboo yokai’s chest in one go, the destructive force of spiritual energy refined through cultivation methods was truly comparable to sword qi.
Even without extracting all of that power, it was already at this level. Clearly, the destructive might hidden within spiritual energy was nothing like the mild force of inner energy.
And yet, despite that piercing blow that would have killed any human outright, the creature continued moving as if it had not been wounded at all. To tear me off the sword embedded in its chest, it now began swinging the bamboo spear in its hands with all its might.
If the me of yesterday had been here, I would have simply released my grip, stepped back, and tried to cast Hwatan Technique.
But I was no longer that man. Instead, I laughed as the creature attacked and chose to meet it directly.
I twisted the sword I had thrust into its chest and set it vertically, then half-drew it free with my right hand. The force carried by the spear it whirled at me struck the blade, and I used that force to cleave through its own body instead.
Clang!! Kra-ga-ga-gak!!
When I had first stabbed into its chest, it had not seemed to suffer much. But the instant half its body was severed, it lurched and swayed. Naturally, the bamboo spear in its hand came to a halt as well.
At that moment, I unleashed the finishing form to sever its last breath.
“Sa-saseolhyeolgeom Eighth Form, Hyeolwol! Beneath the red moon, all things fall under the sword’s rule!”
This was a technique that sent a long, curved slash of sword qi surging forward, as though drawing a crescent moon in the sky.
The instant my sword, which had cut through half its torso and burst out the other side, formed a razor-sharp blood moon once more in the opposite direction, the staggering bamboo yokai was finally split cleanly between upper and lower body, each section slanting apart.
For a yokai with the power of the late Qi Refining stage, it was an absurdly hollow end.
And then, at that very moment, Jeong Sasuk shouted urgently at the bamboo yokai, whose severed upper body was sliding downward.
“Don’t be careless! It’s not over yet! The source of life for that dead bamboo lies in the conical hat it’s wearing!”
At her words, I tightened the tension that had slackened for only a moment, and as if it had been waiting for that exact instant, the bamboo yokai’s counterattack came. Something shot swiftly toward me from the upper half of the creature as it continued to slide down.
Whoosh—
The small bamboo ribs that formed the yokai’s conical hat had borrowed the force of the spinning hat and shot toward me in an instant.
As though the creature had miniaturized the bamboo spear it held, it was a rather dangerous volley of hidden weapons—dozens of small bamboo spears with sharply carved tips.
But I had already prepared for it and raised my sword in time, blocking the projectiles with the flat of the blade.
Da-da-da-da-dang!!
Though each one was small, the barrage slammed into my blade with enough force that the sword was slowly pushed back.
So I began to dissolve that force by taking slow steps with my movement technique. As I did, my body naturally shifted, and I could see the yokai lying helplessly on the ground, frantically spinning only its hat. In that instant, its luck ran out.
Clang, clang! Swoosh!!
After drawing a breath, I slipped between the creature’s relentless attacks and sent my sword flashing out. The unbroken stream of its assault came to an abrupt halt, and then the head wearing the conical hat was split clean in two, rolling across the dirt.
I had already exhausted the fire-attribute spiritual energy of Hongyeom Beophon Gyeong, which had only reached the first star, with just a handful of attacks. But I still had the three-star spiritual energy I had accumulated through Chaos Heaven Secret Law.
My use of inner energy had been minimal as well, so much so that all the inner energy I had expended through the fully opened upper dantian had already been replenished. I had defeated an enemy stronger than myself without even needing to devote that much strength.
This was a level of power entirely different from the old days, when I had fought by substituting hand seals with the hand holding my sword and flung clumsy Hwatan Technique attacks.
“It’s true that a yokai’s skill is not as great as that of a human cultivator at the same realm, but I never expected you to win so easily.”
As Jeong Sasuk said, the fight had indeed been too easy. There had been one slightly dangerous moment at the end, but that did not mean I had been pushed back. From beginning to end, I had completely overwhelmed the opponent.
So I nodded to show I agreed with her and answered, “I think the mistake was comparing human cultivators who use various talismans and magical tools to yokai who are merely strong.”
At that, Jeong Sasuk snorted and pointed at the bamboo yokai’s spear with her chin.
“Do you know how many cultivators were done in by that rather unimpressive-looking magical tool? Without healing talismans, even a tiny wound from that thing would be enough to kill you. If I hadn’t had healing talismans on me, I would have made sure you couldn’t rush that fellow either.”
It looked like nothing more than a bamboo spear with a faint jade sheen, but if her words were true, then it was definitely a valuable item.
So I casually picked it up and tucked it into my subspace pouch. One of the things I had learned at Hyeondo Sect was that any object imbued with spiritual energy had a use—and therefore value.
But when she saw me do that, her eyes narrowed.
“You’re only at the middle stage of Qi Refining, and yet you have both a flying magical tool and a subspace pouch?”
In a world where one had no strength to protect oneself, merely possessing treasure was a crime.
But the reason I had fought so actively just now was not simply because my blood had been surging with excitement. I wanted to show Jeong Sasuk that I was no easy target, so she would not entertain foolish thoughts.
“Is that such a problem?”
At my defiant question, she replied with a serious expression, “Treasure always attracts thieves. It’s best not to show that sort of thing to others if you can help it.”
Her tone made it sound as if she were truly worried about me. But no matter how she phrased it, I could not trust her. She, too, was still a cultivator who pursued nothing but her own greed.
“A subspace pouch that even a cultivator at the Qi Refining stage can buy by accumulating contribution points isn’t enough for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to attack me over. And if the other party is also only at Qi Refining, I’m confident I won’t lose.”
She gave a faint smile and continued, “True. Compared to a flying magical tool, a subspace pouch is relatively easy to get. Though if it were something like a subspace ring used by higher-level cultivators, that would be another matter.”
A subspace ring? So such a thing existed too?
There were still clearly many cultivation-related things I did not know.
Another piece of cultivation knowledge I did not know came from her lips next.
“Since you have a subspace pouch, you should also take that hat. It’s an item whose value is no less than that bamboo spear magical tool. The most valuable parts of yokai are the areas where their life is stored, along with the magical tools they use.”
It was true that the yokai Flying Fire Precious Eagle I had encountered in the past had a heart that was a very useful material. Even apart from the inner cores or magical tools of yokai, there were body parts imbued with special power.
Having gained new knowledge, I nodded, picked up the bamboo yokai’s hat, split in half, and tucked it into my subspace pouch. Then I glanced at the snake yokai lying dead in pieces and opened my mouth again.
“The reason human cultivators are divided into early, middle, and late stages within each realm is because of bottlenecks. Once one reaches a bottleneck, advancement becomes difficult unless special measures are taken. But yokai are different. Once a yokai gains spiritual intelligence, it grows stronger simply by existing through time, and sometimes it even comes to possess a magical tool imbued with its own power. And when it becomes strong enough, it finally rejects its allotted lifespan and steps onto the path of the great yokai... which means survival is everything to them. And yet these fellows attacked us knowing from the start that they would die.”
As she had said before, this meant we were not the hunters here—we were the prey. In that case, what sort of being was hunting us?
“If a great yokai can command weaker beings as subordinates, then you’re saying the one that sent these fellows must be watching us?”
But when she heard my words, she frowned and said, “That’s what’s strange about this... You’re right that great yokai often command weaker fellows beneath them. But they only do that within the same species. A snake great yokai commands snake yokai, not bamboo deadwood.”
According to her, that meant the being targeting us was either two great yokai with power on the level of Foundation Establishment, or something even stronger.
And just as I was beginning to grow serious at her words, a loud cry rang out from a distance instead.
Bow-wow! Bow-wow! Bow-wow!
At that sound, different from a wolf’s howl, Jeong Sasuk muttered at once, “A fox this time?”
We had not yet seen a fox yokai appear before us, but Jeong Sasuk seemed certain that the fox yokai owner of that cry would be attacking us.
But if that was the case, the story became even stranger. If the snake yokai, the bamboo yokai, and now the fox yokai were all involved, then there had to be at least three great yokai targeting us.
“Are there really no great yokai who command other species as subordinates?”
Jeong Sasuk, looking grave, slowly shook her head and went on, “There aren’t. To command another species as subordinates, one would need to be at least a Yoseon for its will to be conveyed.”
A Yoseon, neither yokai nor great yokai...
“How strong is a Yoseon?”
“How strong? If a great yokai is comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, then a Yoseon is comparable to a Core Formation cultivator. But unlike great yokai, which are weaker than human cultivators of the same realm, a Yoseon is actually stronger than a human cultivator at the Core Formation realm. In plain terms, if one appears, you and I won’t even get the chance to resist before we die.”
Of course, just because some impressive fellow had targeted me did not mean I intended to die obediently.