He's Higher Than Me?
A presence stirred beyond the door.
"You in there, thief?"
"Come in."
The door opened, and Yeogwi and Mo Yeong stepped inside.
"Darling, where have you been all this time? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
Mo Yeong made a great fuss of it. Yeogwi, by contrast, was blunt.
"Came back with all four limbs again, I see."
"If I'd come home a cripple, were you going to look after me in my old age, turtle?"
"Damn it, I'm saying it because I was worried."
"Ill-bred bastard. You call that a worried tone?"
Mo Yeong let out a helpless little laugh.
"Both of you, enough. Fighting the moment you lay eyes on each other."
Yeogwi snorted.
"So where in the world did you go? What took you so long?"
"I was sick of being cooped up, so I went out for some air."
"That's all?"
"That's all. You know me. The thing I hate most is being shut up in one place."
The two of them laughed, half incredulous. Maybe they had worried for nothing.
"New Year's almost here. Mo Yeong, you're going home, aren't you? I'm sure as hell not. What about you, thief?"
"I ought to look in on the old man. I'm heading back to my hometown."
Mo Yeong's face lit up.
"Then let's go together!"
"Don't make me laugh. We're not even headed the same way."
Mo Yeong scrunched her face like a cat.
"I could take the long way around, couldn't I?"
"I'm a flying-dagger thief. You want me walking into the Shinmyo Order's own headquarters, when those are the people who hunt my kind? If word gets out that the Shinmyo Order is keeping company with a thief, it'll be bad for business."
Disappointment welled up on Mo Yeong's face. Yi Yeok pressed on, unbothered.
"You've already started cultivating, so drop the useless thoughts and focus on your training. We've known each other a good long while, haven't we? If nothing's come of it until now, nothing's going to. You're not actually an idiot, so why are you acting like one?"
Mo Yeong hung her head. A flicker of guilt stirred in Yi Yeok, which was not like him at all.
"The problem isn't you. It's me. It's not that I dislike you. I dislike myself. A man like me can't be anyone's husband, and he can't be anyone's father."
Yeogwi's brow creased. When Mo Yeong lifted her head, though, there was no trace of tears or sorrow on her face.
"Oh, come on. I was joking. I've only been teasing you all this time, and you took it seriously?"
Yi Yeok nodded without a word. Yeogwi sighed.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're in one piece. I've seen your face, so I'll be off."
Mo Yeong left Yi Yeok's quarters. From outside came the faintest sound of a sniffle.
Yeogwi took him to task.
"Did you really have to go that far?"
Yi Yeok stared out the door and held his silence a long while before he spoke.
"A person ought to focus on things that matter. The most useless thing in the world is emotion."
"It's because we have emotions that life is worth living."
"And if I don't have much time left?"
"What?"
Yeogwi suddenly bellowed.
"You—what the hell are you saying? Don't tell me you went and got yourself into trouble."
Yi Yeok gave his shoulder a light pat.
"We're not friends, but the truth is, I've always thought you were a pretty decent sort. Better than a worm that crawled out in the rain and dried up dead, anyway."
Yeogwi looked utterly dumbfounded.
"Of course I'll outlive you by a hundred years. Still, if this big brother of yours happens to go first, you'll wear mourning for me, won't you?"
"Wear it? Damn right I'll wear it. Drop dead right now! I'll put the clothes on and wail for you on the spot!"
"Hahaha!"
Yi Yeok laughed, loud and unrestrained. Watching Yeogwi fidget, unable to settle, left his chest strangely clear.
"Anyway, you really need to throw yourself into training. Those bastards from the Western Buddhist orders—not a single one of them is a pushover. They even tried to sweet-talk me over to their side."
Yeogwi's eyes went wide.
"You said you went out for air. Since when are you mixed up with the Western Buddhist orders?"
"I kept quiet earlier because I didn't want the two of you worrying. If war breaks out between the Buddhist orders and the Daoist sects, you'll be the one standing on the front line. Fall short in skill, and that's no different from marching off to die."
Curiosity got the better of Yeogwi, and he began firing off questions about the West and the Buddhist orders.
While the two of them talked, Bang Cheon came pelting up in a fluster.
"Senior Brother! Everything's ready!"
Yi Yeok nodded and hauled Yeogwi along with him.
"Let's go. Turtle, it's been a while. Come eat with me."
Outside the quarters a great table had been laid, heaped so high with dish after dish that there wasn't room to slip a needle between them.
Yeogwi stared, bewildered.
"What's all this? A royal feast?"
"A little something to mark your big brother's return after so long. Bang Cheon, round some people up. We'll all eat together."
Bang Cheon answered with brisk enthusiasm.
"Right away! Who should I call?"
"Escort the Supreme Elder over... ah, and fetch Mo Yeong, too. You know who she is?"
"I do. Of course I do."
Yi Yeok spoke as if he had no choice.
"Even then, more than half of this will be left. Leaving food uneaten is a disgrace. Call the inner disciples Dong Pil and Mok Geom-in as well. And the rest of you—sit down. Eat before you go."
The last of it he directed at the outer disciples who had laid the table. Pleasure flushed their faces even as they hesitated, and they took their seats in that awkward clash of eagerness and nerves.
A short while later, Dong Pil and Mok Geom-in arrived and offered a courteous cupped-fist salute.
"Elder Yi, it's been some time."
"We're glad you've returned safely, Elder."
Yi Yeok cocked his head, and only after a good long moment did he remember that he had accepted the post of honorary elder of Nokhyeon Sect.
"It has been a while. I've laid all this out to mark a safe return, so eat your fill."
So Cheong-ha did not come, of course. Yi Yeok had invited him only because he was the highest elder in the sect, and the man was hardly tactless enough to appear at a gathering like this and make the disciples uncomfortable.
Mo Yeong, as if determined to save Yi Yeok's face, turned around and joined them even though she had only just left.
"Come on, everyone—eat!"
At his hearty call, every hand reached for chopsticks.
Partway through the meal, Dong Pil asked with care.
"Where did you go, if I may ask? You were away for quite some time."
"Here and there. Just wandered."
"You seem to have grown a good deal stronger in the meantime."
Yi Yeok was concealing his qi, yet the sheer density of his blood qi was enough for them to sense that something in him had changed.
"Well. More or less."
"Then next spring, you'll be entering a middle-rank immortal sect?"
Bang Cheon piled on at once.
"If Senior Brother steps forward, it'll be over before anyone can blink. You might even make it into a high-rank immortal sect."
Mok Geom-in had been working his chopsticks in silence. Now he spoke, cautious.
"From what I hear, at next year's Haeseon—the Immortal Selection—there will be three extraordinary dark horses besides the geniuses everyone already knows."
Yi Yeok looked interested.
"What sort of people?"
"They say Jibeop Sect has a genius with a bizarre gift. Most wounds close again in no time. His name is Tang Sam, and by all accounts he's a truly chilling character."
Yi Yeok dug his fingers into both temples. The mere sound of Tang Sam's name seemed to bring a headache on.
Mok Geom-in, failing to notice, went on.
"And a female disciple skilled in the ice arts has appeared from Seonghan Sect. Her name is Bing Un. She's only eighteen this year."
"How strong is she?"
"Within five zhang the ground freezes solid, and a cultivator of the same realm can hardly come within a single zhang of her."
Yi Yeok stroked his chin, thinking. Set beside the reward So Cheong-ha had spoken of, the one already chosen was very likely one of these three.
"And the last?"
"Almost nothing certain is known about him. His name is Mu Yeong, and aside from the fact that he's a man who hasn't yet turned twenty, there are no details. He's never properly shown his face."
"If he's never shown himself even once, how can anyone call him a dark horse?"
"Because his realm is extremely high. They say he is a Great Daoist Master."
Yi Yeok was stunned. A Great Daoist Master, and the man wasn't even twenty? He himself had yet to reach Dao Grandmaster, and he had already thought his own growth swift for his years—yet this one stood two full realms above him. It was absurd.