Are You Even Human?
A few days later.
The carriage carrying the three of them rolled to a stop before an enormous gorge. Desolation stretched in every direction; apart from tenacious weeds sprouting wherever they pleased, nothing living met the eye.
Yi Yeok stood at the lip of the cliff and peered down. Even with the Silver Soul Divine White Formation, the bottom lay beyond all reckoning.
"Impressive. It's deep."
Mo Yeong said,
"Cultivators can fly, so it's no trouble for them. But mortals can't take to the sky no matter how strong they are—which is exactly why this gorge works as a natural barrier keeping ordinary people out of the Celestial Realm of the Sky's Center."
"Didn't ask. I can see for myself."
Mo Yeong scowled for a moment, then broke into a feline smile. "Honestly, how is it that even the prickly version of you is handsome?"
Yeo Gwi spoke up. "The Immortal's Cord is the only way across. Not that it'd ever let us through... So what's your plan, thief? You said even a virgin groom figures things out on his wedding night. Well then—go on, figure it out."
Without a word, Yi Yeok hid the carriage in a patch of grass nearby and unhitched the horses. Then he returned to the cliff's edge and drew a slender spool of thread from his robe—the very same thread that had once taught a certain woman of the Guryeong Sect a humiliating lesson.
"Good heavens—isn't that Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk?"
"You know what this is?"
Mo Yeong nodded and explained. Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk was spun by rare silkworms whose bodies bore golden patterns like dragon scales—a precious marvel thinner than a spider's web yet tougher than steel.
Yi Yeok nodded along. The Old Man had given it to him once, though he'd never known its name. It made him wonder, all over again, just who the old man really was. Not that the man would ever answer properly if asked.
"What are you planning to do with it?"
"Throw it across."
Yeo Gwi frowned. "That's possible?"
"Watch."
Yi Yeok pulled out the Yo Ji-yu, lashed the Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk to it, and began whirling it around like a sling. For two slow revolutions the weapon turned lazily—and then it gathered speed.
Whooong! Whooong!
Faster and faster it spun, its rotation cutting the wind with a rising shriek, until Yi Yeok's arm moved so quickly it seemed to vanish—until it looked for all the world as if he were swinging a great disc ten feet across.
SHWAAACK!
The Yo Ji-yu flew from his hand like a streak of light. A heartbeat later, the Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk snapped taut. The weapon had buried itself in the opposite cliff face.
"Lord above. What speed."
Yi Yeok preened at that. "A technique built off the Myriad Sky Phantom Severing Shadow Hand."
"Could I learn that too?"
"Even if I taught you, you couldn't."
"A shame. A technique like that would come in handy when a man's enjoying some quality time alone."
Yi Yeok suppressed the urge to hurl Yeo Gwi into the endless gorge below.
Instead, he drew a dagger, knotted the far end of the silk around it, and drove it into the ground. "Let's go."
Yi Yeok ran up along the Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk. Mo Yeong flashed a grin and followed, and the two of them pressed ahead as fearlessly as if they were sprinting across solid ground.
Yeo Gwi, even after they'd departed, only stirred belatedly. His lightness skill was nothing to sneer at, but set against Yi Yeok and Mo Yeong it might as well have been a child's hopping. He hesitated a long while before finally setting foot on the silk—at a slow, careful walking pace. By then the other two had already reached the far side. Yeo Gwi stared at the boundless void yawning beneath his feet and swallowed hard.
He was mere yards from the opposite edge when he wobbled.
"Huh?"
The instant Yi Yeok sharpened his eyes and confirmed that the dagger anchoring the silk on the starting side had been flung loose, Yeo Gwi dropped.
Yi Yeok yanked the Yo Ji-yu free and tossed it to Mo Yeong. "Hold on tight!"
Seizing the Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk, he threw himself down the cliff face—faster than the fall itself. Soon he caught sight of Yeo Gwi, his face drained white.
Kicking off the rock wall with tremendous force, Yi Yeok rocketed upward and caught him.
"MOMMY!"
"Shut up. You don't even know your mother's face."
Yi Yeok wound the silk around his fists. Blood seeped through the gaps of his clenched hands. The Dragon-Gold Silkworm Silk lurched and shuddered, and the two men sank a dozen-odd feet before it steadied.
"Cat! Grip that thing like your life depends on it!"
From far above, Mo Yeong's cry drifted down, thin and faint.
"Hey...! Two grown men clinging to one woman! I swear I'm letting go!"
"Lady Mo Yeong! Oh merciful mother of mine! Please, please don't let go!"
Yeo Gwi wailed the plea with all the pathos he could muster, and Yi Yeok felt, once again, the powerful urge to simply drop him into the gorge.
With Mo Yeong hauling from above and Yi Yeok pulling from below, the two men finally hauled themselves up over the cliff edge.
Yeo Gwi collapsed flat on his back, gasping for air. "I genuinely thought I was going to die."
"You blasted turtle. What did you even do to be that worn out? Me and the cat did all the work."
"Cut me some slack. You didn't let me take the reins even once the whole way here."
"So? You slipped because you were sulking about driving a carriage alone for a lousy few days? What is this, petty revenge?"
"Honestly, everyone's alive and well—so who cares?"
The three of them rested a while. Mo Yeong, the first to recover her strength, rose to her feet and gazed out over the vista spread before them with an expression of pure rapture.
"So this is the Celestial Realm of the Sky's Center... It may have been centuries since the last mortal set foot here."
Yeo Gwi, rising after her, said, "And the immortal sects are all in here, with the Holy City Immortal Sect sitting right at the heart of it all, yeah?"
Yi Yeok said nothing. But when he unfurled the Silver Soul Formation, he sensed the faint aura of a demon beast—and that faint aura alone was enough to press down on him like a weight.
He held out his hand to Yeo Gwi. "The map."
Yeo Gwi handed over the leather map he'd received from Yeo Wi.
"Not that one. The map to the Yangcheon Sect."
Yeo Gwi's face went blank with bewilderment.
"...Turtle. Don't tell me you didn't bring it."
"Figured you'd have it ready."
"Hey...! So we're just supposed to wander around this whole vast place blind?"
"Can't we just use that map the old man gave you?"
"That thing only shows the Yangcheon Sect and its immediate surroundings! What good is it if we don't even know where the Yangcheon Sect is?"
"Hm..."
Yeo Gwi stroked his chin, then offered, "Then should we head back and pick up another map?"
Yi Yeok grabbed him by the collar, fully intending to pitch him into the gorge, and only Mo Yeong's frantic intervention stopped him.
"You idiots... Honestly, you're both incredible. You did come here to steal, right? How do you forget the most basic of the basics? This is hopeless."
Panting, Yi Yeok wrestled his temper back down. "Fine. Nothing for it. We search as we go until we stumble onto something."