Even If Both Hands and Feet Are Bound
Three days later.
A familiar landscape filled his eyes. The Nokhyeon Sect. At last, Yi Yeok let out a sigh of relief.
"Finally made it back."
Heukmok heaved a deep sigh as well. More than once they had taken a wrong turn and come within a breath of being boiled down for tea or steeped into wine, and only just scraped clear of it.
Near the outer sect, a young man sat waiting. His face was pale, the skin beneath his eyes black with exhaustion, his body worn down to skin and bone, and across his back he carried a banner absurdly large for his frame. Only when Yi Yeok drew close did he recognize him. It was Bang Cheon.
"Bang Cheon. I'd ask if you've been well, but this doesn't look like the time for it. What happened?"
Bang Cheon stared at him with vacant eyes. Then, all at once, he burst into tears and seized Yi Yeok by the leg.
"Senior Brother, how long has it been! Have you forgotten your loyal right-hand man, Bang Cheon?"
"For crying out loud. What kind of state is this?"
Tears brimming, Bang Cheon spoke in a voice thick with grief.
"It was so hard! Seeing you again, the feelings just welled up, and I—"
Before Yi Yeok could get a word out, Bang Cheon shot to his feet, seized the banner in both hands, and bellowed.
"Senior Brother Yi Yeok has returned!"
The wilted figure of a moment before was gone without a trace. Vitality poured off him from head to toe.
The hardships Bang Cheon had endured were beyond anything Yi Yeok could have imagined. Ten days after Yi Yeok vanished, the old bullying had begun to creep back, little by little. A month on, his lot was worse than it had ever been.
Everyone had decided Yi Yeok would never return, and in his heart Bang Cheon had thought the same. The banner only earned him more abuse, yet he could not bring himself to throw it away. He could not let go of that single fraying thread of hope.
Spread wide for the first time in ages, the banner showed its lettering—the luster somewhat faded, yet still burning gold.
So long as the sun rises in the east, I, Yi Yeok, shall surely triumph!
The moment the disciples of the Nokhyeon Sect saw the banner, the color drained from their faces. Some ducked their heads and hurried out of the way. Others fled without so much as a backward glance.
"So you've come back, you wastrel."
So Cheong-ha's voice brushed his ear. Yi Yeok shot into the air and reached the elder's residence in an instant.
"Supreme Elder. It has been some time."
So Cheong-ha looked him up and down, and relief softened his face.
"Just where have you been?"
"I went to Daelim Temple."
"I see."
So Cheong-ha nodded—then started, and asked again.
"You what?"
"Daelim Temple. I learned a few of the Buddhist order's secret arts while I was there."
So Cheong-ha stared as if he could not believe his ears.
"You... you..."
He had walked, of his own accord and without a shred of fear, straight into the Buddhist sect of the Western Regions. Did he not know they might brand him a heretic and kill him?
So Cheong-ha let out a long sigh.
"It is a mercy you returned unharmed."
There was nothing else to say.
Yi Yeok grinned.
"You were worried that if I died, there'd be no one left to send to the Hyeonrim Sect. Isn't that it?"
So Cheong-ha bristled.
"Do I look like that sort of man to you?"
"That sort? What's wrong with being practical? It's a damn sight better than putting on a show of virtue."
"You went all the way to a Buddhist temple, and that nature of yours has not changed a whit."
So Cheong-ha gave a hollow laugh, at a loss.
"Let us come to the point."
His voice turned grave.
"What is the true measure of your strength?"
"Why ask something like that all of a sudden?"
"Word has it that this year's Haeseon will produce talents far beyond an ordinary crop. They say these youths will not fall short even of the geniuses of the last generation."
"And? Even so, I ought to be able to place in the top three without much trouble, shouldn't I?"
So Cheong-ha answered calmly.
"No. You must not be satisfied with that. I want you to take first. They say this year's champion will be given a mid-grade immortal pill, the Realm-Breaking Pill. For any cultivator of Heavenly Daoist rank or below, it is a rare treasure of considerable effect."
"A reward they didn't offer last year?"
"Indeed. The order came down suddenly from the Seongdo Immortal Sect."
Yi Yeok's expression turned wary.
"Nothing in this world comes free. Feels like they've got something up their sleeve."
"Why do you think so?"
"Could be they've already picked a winner."
For a moment So Cheong-ha was at a loss for words. To them, the Seongdo Immortal Sect was sacrosanct. That it might bring some less-than-honorable influence to bear on the Haeseon was beyond imagining. Only a man like Yi Yeok, who granted their authority no recognition at all, could give voice to such a doubt.
Yi Yeok asked again.
"Anything else?"
"Do you know of other realms, or of spaces beyond this one?"
"Roughly, yes."
"This year's champion will also receive three catties of Jade-Gilded Gold, a rare metal from another realm."
Yi Yeok looked puzzled.
"Is it expensive?"
"It is a thing beyond price. But the only places capable of refining immortal artifacts are the Three Great High-Rank Immortal Sects and the Seongdo Immortal Sect. Without paying an astronomical price, the metal itself is useless."
Yi Yeok asked again.
"What do you mean to do with the Realm-Breaking Pill? It won't do much for you, Elder."
"Cheon-jeon needs it. If the Nokhyeon Sect is ever to rise again as a middle-rank immortal sect, the Sect Master's strength must grow."
Yi Yeok shrugged.
"So in the end I get nothing. The goal's gone from third to first. The pay ought to grow with it, don't you think? Only fair."
"Do not fix your eyes only on the profit before your nose, young friend. You must look farther."
"I've no particular interest in looking far. For all I know, I drop dead tomorrow."
So Cheong-ha regarded him in silence. Yi Yeok did not flinch in the slightest.
"First place sticks out too much. Doesn't suit me."
"You dislike standing out? Then what of all the havoc you have stirred, inside the sect and out of it?"
Among the lower-rank immortal sects of the region, the fame of the Nokhyeon Sect's Yi Yeok—or rather, his infamy—had already grown to the point of surpassing So Cheong-ha's own.
Yi Yeok paid him no mind and made to leave. So Cheong-ha seemed to reach a decision. He clenched his teeth and called out.
Yi Yeok stopped, turned, and grinned.
"Very well."
So Cheong-ha produced a porcelain bottle and held it out.
"You truly are skilled at a bargain."
"Of course I am. How could an elder who has lived lofty and aloof among the immortals hope to match wits in a deal with someone who's scraped his way up from the gutter?"
So Cheong-ha added, in earnest.
"You must take first. You must."
"You needn't worry."
Yi Yeok answered, his voice full of confidence.
Yi Yeok left So Cheong-ha's residence beaming. True Dragon's blood. The gain outweighed dozens of ordinary pills.
The moment Bang Cheon saw him coming, he came running.
"Senior Brother! You must have suffered, living so long away from home. Is there anything you wish to eat? I shall have it ready at once!"
"I want dragon meat."
Bang Cheon's face went blank. He forced a smile.
"Ah, that would be rather..."
"Phoenix liver?"
"That, as well, would be rather..."
Yi Yeok snickered.
"Just set something out. I don't care what, so long as there's plenty. It's been a while. I ought to share a meal with my fellow disciples."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Bang Cheon bolted.
Yi Yeok returned to his own quarters and opened the porcelain bottle. A thick reek of blood stabbed at his nose. Within, a single drop of True Dragon's blood gleamed like a jewel.
True Dragon's blood was, quite literally, drawn from a dragon's heart. A treasure taken from another realm, its worth beyond reckoning.
Yi Yeok drew a deep breath, then let the dragon's blood slide into his mouth. At once the blood spirit within him sensed that power and began to drink it in.
This was not blood that would be digested and gone. Not a single drop was wasted. All of it was taken into his blood qi. The blood spirit, the Heavenly Dragon Flying Sand, revealed itself, growing ever more concrete, ever more real. It coiled around Yi Yeok's body, then seeped beneath his skin. For a moment dragon scales surfaced across him—and then he was as he had been.
Four hours later, Yi Yeok opened his eyes. He could feel, without a doubt, that his blood qi had changed.
"Excellent."
He murmured it, satisfaction written across his face.