Me? I Just Need to Get Paid
"Hah... hah..."
Beneath the moonlight, Jin Haoun gasped for breath. It was the first time he had felt this winded since ascending to the realm of Harmonized Blood Qi.
His clothes hung in tatters, soaked crimson with blood. If he hadn't used his Blood Spirit to shield himself, Jin Haoun would already have been shredded to pieces.
Movements like a ghost, speed beyond reason. How many attacks had come in the span of a single breath? Dozens—and perhaps more than a hundred. He even had the creeping suspicion that this hadn't been the man's full speed.
Jin Haoun could not calm his heart at all. He looked his opponent over once more, but the man barely looked eighteen. Worse, his cultivation seemed no higher than the Five Spirit Realm. For someone so young to pin down Jin Haoun, the pinnacle of Harmonized Blood Qi, so one-sidedly—it defied all logic.
"I underestimated you, young man."
Jin Haoun opened his mouth because he had no choice but to buy time—and he was furious at how his voice trembled faintly with alarm.
Yi Yeok only gave a lopsided grin, the boyish face flashing with mischief and cunning.
Jin Haoun drew a deep breath and gathered his strength. Veins bulged beneath his skin as his Blood Spirit began to flow, and the aura that had wrapped around his body like armor coalesced and pooled into both of his hands.
"I never imagined I'd stake my life in a place like this. Come. I'll face you at full strength."
Yi Yeok answered nothing. He kicked off the ground and soared high, and Jin Haoun spread both palms and hurled his strike—the Blood Spirit gathered in his hands surging toward Yi Yeok like a gale.
Yi Yeok moved with the beauty of a butterfly adrift in a crimson storm. The crescent blade in his hand flashed, and the waves of Blood Spirit Jin Haoun desperately threw up split apart like slivers of glass.
This can't be!
Horror and disbelief twisted Jin Haoun's face. The crescent-shaped blade gleamed coldly, radiating murderous intent as Yi Yeok brought it down in a stroke meant to cleave him from crown to heel.
"Fifty thousand nyang!"
A shriek split the sky and tore through the night air.
The blade's edge brushed past Jin Haoun's chest, leaving a wound no thicker than a strand of hair. Yi Yeok twisted away, retreating dozens of paces in an instant; off balance, Jin Haoun staggered and finally collapsed to the ground.
Having likewise put distance between them, Yi Yeok touched down lightly and turned toward the voice. It was one he knew. An Eunchae stood there, face drained of all color, both arms loaded down with treasures—evidently snatched from every corner of the house on her way.
Yi Yeok's face bloomed into a full smile.
"You should have done that from the start. What were you standing there watching for, hm? It wasn't exactly a pretty sight."
"For the treasures... that has to be worth at least fifty thousand nyang..."
"I know, I know. I trust you."
Before An Eunchae could say another word, Yi Yeok swept up the treasures and vanished.
An Eunchae stared blankly at the empty air where he had disappeared, then snapped back to her senses and ran to Jin Haoun's side.
"Grandfather, are you all right?"
Jin Haoun had, thankfully, escaped serious injury—but the wound to his pride ran deeper.
"To think such talent existed in this world..."
He knew well that countless geniuses were born into the world. But most of them trained within the immortal sects and paid no mind to worldly affairs.
"I'm sorry. I'm the one who brought that man here."
Jin Haoun shook his head.
"It's not your fault. If anything, you received his help, so you have reason to be grateful. Still..."
He let out a long sigh.
"He clearly belongs to no immortal sect. And he's no ascendant cultivator either—yet he reached such a formidable realm at that age. I can scarcely believe it."
An Eunchae fell silent. The same question gnawed at her as well.
Jin Haoun led his granddaughter back into the manor. She tried to support him, but he refused her gently yet firmly.
"I'm fine. Would your old grandfather be brought so low by a mere scratch?"
The manor was quiet; most of the guards had rushed out in pursuit of the ruffians from earlier in the day.
"I'll have to order their return..."
Jin Haoun muttered to himself, mulling over who should succeed Chief Steward Im, when he suddenly spoke up.
"I'm truly glad you made it back safely, Eunchae."
"That's thanks to your concern, Grandfather."
"Forgive me—for putting you through such an ordeal. I never imagined that wretch would betray the bonds of family. He is beyond forgiveness."
"...Your son has probably lost his martial arts entirely."
"He reaped what he sowed. Even so, he must face proper punishment. The moment the men return, I'll have them track down that scoundrel Ahn Ryung and drag him back. The punishment itself, of course, I shall leave to your family..."
Jin Haoun wrapped his arm around his granddaughter's shoulders and spoke again, his tone newly grave.
"The task you were given is of tremendous importance to both your father's family and mine. But your paternal grandfather and your father refused to stake everything on a single gambit. That is why they decided to send you and your sister to different sects—to prepare against the unknown. They simply never dreamed it might bring you harm."
"I know."
Jin Haoun nodded solemnly, then went on.
"On the eighth day of next month comes the eightieth birthday of the Dowager of the Yi clan of Cloudsoar City. Their grandson will be returning as well. Everything is already arranged—all you need do is depart with them."
Then, with a note of envy creeping into his voice, he added,
"The Yi family is a lucky one indeed. To raise such a genius into an immortal seedling..."
In standing and power alike, the Yi clan of Cloudsoar City had never been fit to compare with Jin Haoun's own. But the family's fortunes had reversed when they managed to raise an immortal seedling of extraordinary brilliance. There were even rumors that this seedling had already completed its training and ascended to the realm of a true 'immortal'—a height worldly men could never hope to touch.
A shadow briefly crossed An Eunchae's face. But she soon steeled herself. The future of her family—the revival and glory of her clan—rested upon her shoulders.
Noticing the change in her expression, Jin Haoun smiled warmly.
"Rest well for a few days. I'll escort you to Cloudsoar City myself. And... it should never come to pass, but from now on, never cross paths with that man again. He is far too dangerous."
An Eunchae realized that 'that man' meant Yi Yeok.
"It isn't merely that his strength far exceeds his age. He is a man brimming with an uncontainable bloodlust and madness. His words and his actions never align—a person you must never, ever trust."
An Eunchae bowed her head.
"Yes, Grandfather. Your granddaughter will remember."
Jin Haoun withdrew to his quarters.
Even so, An Eunchae stood beneath the moonlight for a long while after. Despite her grandfather's earnest warning, she found herself quietly wondering whether, someday, she might meet Yi Yeok again.
Before long, Yi Yeok left the city of Jin.
"A few days wasted on some ridiculous errand. Ah well—call it a blessing that it let me put off going home a little longer."
A shadow fell across Yi Yeok's face. He was in a foul mood. If the old man hadn't told him that his grandmother was still searching for him, he truly wouldn't have wanted to go back at all.
Yi Yeok settled into a quiet stretch of forest outside the city walls and sat cross-legged, focusing on the flow of Blood Spirit coursing through his body.
Had he not taken the Heaven-Origin Immortal Soul Pill the old man had passed along, he could never have subdued An Eunchae's uncle so easily. And had he not absorbed that uncle's Blood Spirit, his clash with Jin Haoun just now would not have been nearly so one-sided.
Yi Yeok had always been confident in his own strength, but there was no denying it—he had grown tremendously in just a few short days. Even in his duel with Jin Haoun moments ago, he had used the Hidden Soul Divine White Art to steal a measure of the man's Blood Spirit. He had taken only a sliver, so as not to be caught—but even that was more than he'd gained from An Eunchae's uncle.
What in the world is this training method the old fogey taught me? Yi Yeok thought. A technique that lets you steal another person's Blood Spirit? I've never heard of anything like it.
The old man had claimed that mastering the Hidden White Divine Soul Art to its limit would let him steal the very power of the heavens and command the workings of heaven and earth as he pleased. Yi Yeok had dismissed it as empty boasting, but now—having faced one Blood-Spirit-wielding master after another and absorbed their power—he was starting to wonder if it might actually be true.
"Well, well. So the more I fight experts who wield Blood Spirit, the stronger mine becomes. Each time, it's as if I'd trained for a year—maybe several."
The best part of the whole arrangement was that it cost nothing. To train one's Blood Spirit within an immortal sect, one had to absorb the power of precious spirit stones and grind through grueling practice day and night without rest.
Yi Yeok was different. All he had to do was steal another's Blood Spirit and make it his own.
"Hidden Soul Divine White Art. The name's a bit rustic, but either way, the old fogey didn't lie to me."
Yi Yeok snickered.
"Who knows—maybe I'll wake up one day as a peerless master the whole world can't stop talking about, without even realizing it."
