As Expected of a Major Sect
As expected of a major sect. The next day, Baek Cheong followed her uncle into Bohwawon. It was the venue for the grand auction that marked the climax of the annual exchange meeting every year. Yet the moment she stepped inside, it felt less like an auction house and more like a massive open marketplace nestled right in the heart of the Biun Sect.
They had carved out an entire peak of the Biun Sect to create this spacious area, where all sorts of pavilions stood in dense clusters. Each pavilion was packed full—herbal shops selling spiritual medicines, artifact stores displaying magical tools, and talisman shops handling every kind of charm imaginable. Biun Sect disciples and visiting cultivators from outside mingled together, haggling noisily in a lively clamor.
Baek Cheong hadn’t realized such a thriving commercial district existed within the sect, so she quietly rolled her eyes around in appreciation. ‘Oh, there’s a ton of stuff here.’
Among the various shops, a Contribution Hall stood off to one side, where items could only be exchanged using contribution points instead of spirit stones. It was a place only disciples who had rendered great service to the sect could enter, and it was said to house treasures so valuable that even a mountain of spirit stones couldn’t buy them.
Nestled safely in her pocket was the jade plaque worth five hundred contribution points she had received as the top prize. Just thinking about it made the corners of her mouth twitch with anticipation. ‘Finally, I’m getting my hands on the Cloud Concealment Technique.’
Of course, she and her uncle had completely different places to visit. Her uncle would be busy inspecting the items up for auction and networking with the merchant groups that had submitted them. As for her, she planned to stop by the Contribution Hall first and pick up what she had been eyeing.
“Cheong-ah, your uncle needs to take a look around the auction area. Go handle your own business.”
“Yes, Uncle. Take care.”
Baek Cheong bowed her head politely. Her uncle added one more thing, his expression still full of doubt.
“This is still inside Bohwawon, within the Biun Sect’s boundaries, so there shouldn’t be any real danger. But try not to cause any unnecessary trouble.”
“Trouble? I’ll just quietly take care of my business and come right back.”
When she answered so obediently, her uncle still couldn’t quite shake the suspicious look from his face as he disappeared into the crowd. Only after his back had vanished into the distance did she finally let out a long breath.
She had almost been too intimidated by his sharp gaze to wander around comfortably. ‘Now I can finally breathe easy.’
Feeling like she could even hum a little tune, Baek Cheong quickened her steps straight toward the Contribution Hall.
A decent line of cultivators waiting to exchange items had formed in front of the hall. As she took her place at the end of the queue, several people near the front glanced back at her. They were the external cultivators she had faced on the stone platforms during the main tournament.
The instant their eyes met hers, every single one of them turned deathly pale.
“Hiiik…!”
“Th-that kid, why is she here…!”
The cultivators recoiled as if they had seen a ghost and began quietly slipping out of line. A few even turned tail completely and hurried away without looking back.
Baek Cheong blinked in confusion at the sudden commotion. She was sure she had gone relatively easy on them during the matches. She hadn’t summoned that many ice dragons, and she hadn’t even drawn her sword. ‘I went easy on them, so why are they acting like this?’
It was utterly baffling. Still, after thinking it over, it wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Thanks to the cultivators who had voluntarily left the line, her wait time had shortened considerably. ‘Maybe this is actually better.’
Baek Cheong put on an innocent face and took one step forward. Before long, it was her turn.
Inside the Contribution Hall, a steward sat with his back to a long display case. He was the one responsible for calculating contribution points and handing out items. When she approached, he casually looked up, then his eyes sparkled with interest.
“Oh? So you’re the top disciple from the Qi Condensation group?”
The steward recognized Baek Cheong immediately. Thanks to her overwhelming performance—displaying power that earned her evaluations on par with Foundation Establishment despite only being at Qi Condensation—her name had spread far and wide.
‘There’s literally nothing good about becoming famous.’
Though she felt rather sour inside, Baek Cheong politely clasped her hands together on the outside.
“I am Baek Cheong of the lower generation from the Baek Clan.”
The steward nodded as if impressed. Taking advantage of the formal greeting, Baek Cheong got straight to the point.
“There’s something I’d like to ask. Is there a list of items that can be exchanged for contribution points?”
The things displayed in the case were only a few jade slips and some pill bottles, so she couldn’t even begin to guess what else was available. But the steward shook his head.
“A list, you say… There are far too many things that can be exchanged with contribution points, and quite a few of them can’t even have their names revealed carelessly.”
“Then…”
“Just tell me what you want, and I’ll point you to the right one.”
Baek Cheong glanced around briefly before naming what she had been after.
“I want to obtain the Cloud Concealment Technique.”
It was a sect technique she had been drooling over ever since she entered the Biun Sect and witnessed her eldest brother using it. A movement technique that let you lay clouds beneath your feet and float anywhere you pleased. Best of all, unlike riding a flying sword or an ice dragon, the Cloud Concealment Technique didn’t even require maintaining balance. The clouds supported your body on their own, making it absolutely perfect for someone as clumsy as her.
And then she got a little greedy on top of that.
“Is there also a technique that combines Cloud Concealment with another spell?”
She had once imagined combining it with the Rain Calling Technique. A scene of floating above people’s heads on a cloud while gently sprinkling rain. She had thought it was a ridiculous idea, but the steward’s reaction was completely unexpected.
“Oh! You have quite the discerning eye!”
The steward suddenly slapped his knee in excitement.
“As it happens, our sect has a technique that matches that idea perfectly. It’s a one-of-a-kind spell created by one of our Peak Lords.”
“A one-of-a-kind spell?”
“It’s called the Cloud Rain Technique.”
The steward launched into an enthusiastic explanation. Originally, the Rain Calling Technique only summoned rain using spiritual energy. But it had one small flaw: while casting it, the user had to stay fixed in one spot like a scarecrow.
“Since you could only rain on one place at a time, it was incredibly inconvenient for the spirit farmers managing vast fields.”
They had to move from spot to spot just to water everything, so the spirit farmers suffered greatly.
“But then one of our Peak Lords combined the Rain Calling Technique with Cloud Concealment.”
A technique that summoned clouds using Cloud Concealment as the base and then layered Rain Calling on top to bring down rain. Thanks to this, spirit farmers who learned the Cloud Rain Technique could now float around on clouds and sprinkle rain across entire fields.
“It’s twice as difficult to learn as Cloud Concealment, but it saved the spirit farmers from breaking their backs with all that labor.”
As she listened, Baek Cheong’s eyes began to sparkle without her realizing it. The exact image she had only pictured in her head had already been turned into a real technique by someone. And not just anyone—a great cultivator who was a Peak Lord of the sect, no less.
‘As expected, the world is wide and full of geniuses.’
She finally understood why the Biun Sect was called a major sect. It seemed that in a sect with such long history, not even the strangest ideas were ever wasted. Even though the Peak Lord had created it to ease the burden on spirit farmers, while she planned to fly around above people’s heads sprinkling rain, it didn’t matter to her either way.
‘They even made something like this? Maybe I should bow in gratitude to the Biun Sect.’
However, the price was no joke.
“The Cloud Rain Technique costs three hundred contribution points.”
Since she had heard Cloud Concealment was a hundred points, this was more than double the cost. Still, Baek Cheong didn’t even blink. With the five hundred contribution points she had received as the top prize, she had more than enough to pay.
But she carefully confirmed one more thing.
“May I ask one more question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you also ride on the clouds with the Cloud Rain Technique?”
Just sprinkling rain wasn’t enough for her. If she was going to do it, she wanted to sit firmly on top of the clouds and float around like with Cloud Concealment.
The steward’s face turned slightly awkward for a moment.
“Ride on them…?”
After all, the Cloud Rain Technique had been created to rain on vast fields. Riding the clouds hadn’t even been considered in its original design.
“Well… since its foundation is Cloud Concealment, it should be possible…”
The steward nodded with a somewhat reluctant expression. The moment she heard it was possible, a satisfied smile spread across Baek Cheong’s lips.
“Then I’ll take the Cloud Rain Technique.”
Baek Cheong happily handed over her jade plaque. When the steward retrieved a jade slip from inside the display case and gave it to her, three hundred points were deducted from the plaque.
While tucking the Cloud Rain Technique jade slip into her sleeve pocket, Baek Cheong couldn’t stop smiling. Two hundred contribution points now remained on her plaque.
She had no intention of wasting the leftover points.
“Can you also exchange contribution points for spiritual herbs?”
“Of course.”
The steward listed off various spiritual herbs that were rarely seen outside the Biun Sect. Baek Cheong carefully selected only those that would be useful as ingredients for pills. Since these were herbs that would be nearly impossible to obtain even if you piled up spirit stones in the regular markets, she didn’t feel the slightest bit stingy about spending her points.
‘As expected, things you get easily should be used wisely.’
Only after she had stored the two hundred points’ worth of spiritual herbs in her sleeve pocket did she finish her business at the Contribution Hall. Her steps as she left the hall were incredibly light.
‘Now that I think about it.’
Baek Cheong recalled something she had heard from Jinwi while wandering around the scholarly exchange. Even aside from the official auction hosted by the sect, small and large auctions and trades took place all over Bohwawon. She had also heard from her uncle that there was a separate gathering place specifically for Qi Condensation cultivators.
‘Should I head there first?’
Although it was just an exchange between Qi Condensation cultivators, she couldn’t expect any truly rare treasures. However, she had something that would drive any Qi Condensation cultivator crazy—the Danmun Chwiryungdan. This was the perfect chance to legally sweep up a bunch of spirit stones while laundering the auction goods she had obtained from Mumeongbang.