Chapter 14
"Blood Spirit Manifestation!"
An Eunchae froze in shock.
She had never learned the art herself, but raised as a member of a celestial sect, there was no one better suited to grasp exactly what Yi Yeok was unleashing before her eyes.
Blood spirits came in two kinds: innate and acquired. An innate blood spirit existed from the moment of birth, while an acquired one could only be forged by tempering one's blood vessels through training — and even then, only a precious few ever managed it. Innate blood spirits held infinite possibility; acquired ones demanded a long and treacherous road, and a lifetime might pass without ever reaching manifestation.
But if one did achieve Blood Spirit Manifestation, the blood spirit became theirs to command at will. It could shift into weapons or armor, or even take form as a powerful beast of a foreign species — a second self, split from their own flesh. It was a realm that even disciples of the celestial sects, after a decade or several of training, struggled to attain.
And yet now, that shameless thief had done it.
An Eunchae could only stare blankly at the scene before her, unable to mask her bewilderment. A celestial sect initiate had to stimulate their blood vessels with a rare training material called celestial stone before they could slowly climb toward manifestation — and even then, the practitioner depended on the stone's power for the rest of their life. So how had this man managed it?
Could it have been that pill he swallowed earlier?
Thud!
Stripped of its blood spirit, An Ryeong collapsed to the ground. His vital energy had been ravaged from within; his face was ghost-pale, and he was too drained to twitch so much as a finger.
"That hit the spot."
Yi Yeok exhaled a long breath and smiled in satisfaction. The blood spirit had seeped into his body, becoming a part of his own vigor.
Yeo Gwi let out a whistle of admiration.
"So you'd climbed all the way to that realm, huh? You sneaky bastard. Talking about living life at the bottom of the barrel, and the whole time you were secretly training your guts out back there."
Yi Yeok spat onto the ground. Tui. Even having reached such an exalted plane, not a shred of the thug had worn off him.
"It's a long story."
Eunchae approached the fallen An Ryeong.
"Uncle."
But An Ryeong was far too weakened to answer.
"I don't know what you were thinking, Uncle, but let me say one thing clearly. My father has never once tried to suppress the growth of the other branch families. Please don't misunderstand."
An Ryeong only shut his eyes and labored through ragged breaths.
Eunchae lifted her head and looked at Yi Yeok.
"Please. Spare my uncle's life."
Yi Yeok replied as if the request were absurd.
"I'm a thief, not a murderer."
Eunchae let out a breath of relief.
Yeo Gwi shook his head.
"I have no idea how someone with a heart like that has survived this long."
"Tell me about it," Yi Yeok agreed. "If my own uncle had come to kill me, I'd have shipped him straight to hell. Forgiveness? What a joke."
Yi Yeok laughed heartily and pointed off toward Jinseong in the distance.
"Looks like we've wrapped things up, more or less. Let's get moving!"
"I hear there's a stunning courtesan at the Moonhyang Court in Jinseong. Want to go check her out together?"
"Oh? But if your tastes run anything like your old man's, I might have to pass..."
"Damn it, quit talking about our elders. At the very least, not in front of me."
Yi Yeok snickered and examined the state of his blood spirit.
It had taken on a basic form — something like a dragon, something like a serpent, something like a flood dragon, and yet none of those things. A shape that defied every category.
"Should've studied harder as a kid. What in the world is this thing supposed to be?"
At Yi Yeok's groan, An Eunchae's expression turned curious. Could it be that this man didn't even know what that was?
"According to the old records, it's most likely an ancient foreign species called the Celestial Dragon Secret Serpent. A progenitor-class beast, said to be the ancestor of certain dragons and venomous serpents alike."
Yi Yeok nodded along to her explanation.
"Celestial Dragon Secret Serpent, huh? Corny name."
Treating it as hardly worth a second thought, he turned to Eunchae and Yeo Gwi.
"Right, move it, both of you. Time to collect our pay!"
The moment they set foot inside Jinseong, the splendor of a flourishing city unfolded before their eyes.
"Faster. Faster."
Yi Yeok urged them on.
"Go find your relatives and make them cough up the money already."
Without a word, An Eunchae led the group through the streets. After a quarter hour or so, the three of them stood before an imposing mansion that radiated grandeur from every stone.
Yeo Gwi narrowed his eyes and murmured under his breath.
"Serious money in there. Want to case the place first?"
Yi Yeok glanced around them and shook his head.
"Not easy. Plenty of masters around."
"Not easy isn't the same as impossible, is it? Besides, 'not easy' just means there's a lot to take."
"Fair point. Let's collect the reward first, then talk."
An Eunchae sighed. She supposed she'd had no choice, but she honestly couldn't tell whether dragging these bandits all the way here had been the right call.
"Please, don't do anything rash. The master of this residence is my maternal grandfather — the City Lord of Jinseong."
Just then, an old man came rushing out of the mansion at a flustered clip.
"It really is the young lady! Thank the heavens you've arrived safely. You hadn't come by the appointed day, so we were just about to send a party out to meet you."
"Chief Steward Im!"
"Come, come, right this way. You can tell me everything that happened at your leisure."
At the chief steward's guidance, Eunchae stepped through the main gate.
Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi moved to follow —
"You two."
Chief Steward Im barred their path, his voice like iron.
"Today is not a day for receiving outsiders."
Eunchae spoke up in a rush.
"Chief Steward Im, these are my friends... no, my hired retainers. We were ambushed on the road, and it's thanks to them that I made it here safely."
"I suspected as much. There will be an appropriate reward, so return for today and come back another time."
"But—"
Eunchae found herself torn between the fear of slighting her benefactors and the dread that Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi might kick up a scene. She didn't know what to do.
And sure enough, Yi Yeok stepped forward. He bowed his head with deep courtesy.
"Honored elder, the truth is we have no particular wish to enter. What lowly footprints would we dare leave in the noble abode of the Lord of the city? Us humble ones only wish to receive the silver the young lady promised. Forty-three thousand nyang in total, if you please."
Chief Steward Im let out a scoffing laugh, as though he'd heard the funniest thing in years.
"Forty-three thousand nyang? You lowborn filth have lost your minds. Do you have any idea what kind of money that is? One look tells me all I need to know — highwaymen wheedling their way into a naive young lady's misfortune to line your own pockets!"
"You're quite right, elder. We are bandits, we do mean to take our cut, and we did lead a naive young lady here — all true. But we also made a pact to deliver the young lady safely to Jinseong, and we honored it. Now the young lady must honor her end, don't you think? Forty-three thousand nya—"
"Silence! That killing intent you carry, those calluses ground into your palms — you're no swordsmen, you're blade-swinging bandits! Who's to guarantee you're not cut from the same cloth as the bastards who ambushed the young lady?!"
It was clear things would not be settled easily.
Yeo Gwi bared his teeth, hand drifting to the hilt of his sword. Yi Yeok, by contrast, only bowed his head deeper still.
"That may well be so. But 'may well be' is all it ever is — whereas the fact that we delivered the young lady here safe and sound is beyond dispute, is it not?"
"Are you toying with words, boy?!"
"How could lowly ones like us dare mock an honored elder? We merely wish to reason the matter through."
"Hear the young lady's account, weigh right and wrong, and if you truly deserve credit, an appropriate reward will be granted. Now, be gone for today. Return hereafter."
"We don't extend credit, elder. The young lady's circumstances were so desperate that we broke our own principles to do so — and now that we've come all this way, you'd put off our payment again..."
"Enough! Choose. Will you turn back quietly this instant, or will you be buried here by my hand?"