Should've Done That From the Start
"Good heavens!"
Mo Yeong, who had been watching, went pale as a ghost.
To think that Yeo Gwi, whom she'd always believed cold and composed, was actually a fool of the highest order.
In a flash, Yi Yeok had hurled the spirit-tracking jade, with its golden silkworm thread still attached, over the edge of the cliff. Then he simply froze in place, not moving a muscle, staring down into the depths below.
"What? What's going on? Did it land? Did you catch it?"
Yi Yeok didn't answer. Mo Yeong leaned out from her crouched position and peered over the edge herself.
For a long while, neither of them could find a single word to say.
Barely a dozen feet below, Yeo Gwi lay sprawled flat as a pancake. From up here, he looked as if he were floating in midair.
Only after sharpening her inner sight and studying the scene for some time did she realize there was a floor down there — faintly transparent, yet glinting here and there with reflected light.
Yi Yeok seemed to have grasped the situation as well. He pocketed the spirit jade and leapt lightly down.
Mo Yeong followed, dropping onto the invisible surface. Even up close, she couldn't fathom what it was made of. Glass, it was not — the three of them standing on it together didn't so much as make it tremble. And it was far clearer than ordinary glass, so transparent that the void yawned beneath their feet, making it feel as though they were hovering in empty air.
"What on earth is this? It's definitely not ordinary glass."
"Perhaps something crafted with immortal-realm techniques."
Only then did Mo Yeong turn her attention to Yeo Gwi, who had gone splat like a frog. He was unconscious, blood trickling from both nostrils, but he didn't appear to be seriously hurt.
"Idiot. A three-year-old wouldn't fall for a joke like that..."
Yi Yeok sighed.
"Who on earth tells a joke with a completely straight face like that?"
"Well, hey — thanks to him, we found something, didn't we? Sometimes the path that looks simple, stupid, and reckless turns out to be the right one after all."
Mo Yeong laid the unconscious Yeo Gwi on his side and loosened his clothing to help him breathe.
In the meantime, Yi Yeok surveyed their surroundings.
"Mountains... a river. And a field of stones..."
Something seemed to strike him all at once, and he pulled an object from his robes. It was the cowhide map Yeo Wi had given him.
He turned the map to align it with the terrain, and realized that nearly every landmark matched.
"It all lines up. The Yangcheon Sect is to the northwest."
The next moment, Mo Yeong was startled out of her skin by Yi Yeok's triumphant whoop.
"Wh-what is it?"
"Found it, found it! Turtle, whatever the world may say about you, I believed in you. I knew you could do it!"
It was the exact opposite of what he'd said not a minute ago, but Yi Yeok didn't care one bit.
All the commotion woke Yeo Gwi. With two clear trails of blood running down from his nostrils, he watched Yi Yeok hollering and dancing around like a madman, and cracked a faint smile.
"You thieving bastard... how'd it go?"
"We found it, I tell you! What did I say?"
"Right... I knew it... I always believed, damn it..."
"Feng shui and geomancy! I told you, didn't I, huh? Heavenly stems and earthly branches! Eh? Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right! Huh? Backed by mountains, facing water, you fool! What did I say? We finally found it!"
Mo Yeong looked back and forth between the two men and let out an utterly exasperated laugh.
Yeo Gwi soon recovered his strength.
"Alright. Whatever's stashed here, let's grab as much as we can carry. Then we head for the Yangcheon Sect."
Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi went grinning from ear to ear as they picked over the cliff face. At a glance it looked like solid rock, but on closer inspection there were seams — hairline gaps where stone had been cut into squares and fitted together.
"Not a door, then."
"What do you mean?"
Yeo Gwi asked.
"Someone hollowed out the inside to store something, then sealed it up just as it was."
Yi Yeok examined the rock with his Silver-White Divine Soul Insight, then spoke again.
"No doubt about it. There's a hollow space behind it. But it's thick — a good two inches, at least."
"So what do we do?"
"Well, it's not impossible."
Yi Yeok sat down and folded his arms. Yeo Gwi grew impatient.
"What? What is it?"
"Turtle, listen closely. With a little patience, this can be opened. But I never work for free."
Yeo Gwi didn't hesitate for even a moment. He dropped flat to the ground and kowtowed.
"Big Brother, please accept the bow of your unworthy little brother!"
"Oh."
"I humbly beg you to overlook, with your boundless magnanimity, the countless unforgivable indignities I have heaped upon you until this day."
"Ahh."
"Ah, Big Brother, don't be like this. Didn't I throw myself off that cliff and risk my life to find this place?"
"Mmm-hmm?"
"Oh, Big Brother! Treasure sits right before my eyes and I cannot have it — this is no different from killing me outright!"
"Hmm."
"Please, help me. In my next life I'll repay you as an ox, as a horse, whatever it takes!"
"Haah?"
Mo Yeong stared at the two of them once more with an expression of pure disbelief. When Yeo Gwi got nowhere with Yi Yeok, he turned and bowed to Mo Yeong instead.
"Kind and merciful Lady Mo Yeong, please, help me!"
"Idiot."
"Sister! Won't you put in a word with the young master for me?"
"Fool."
"S-sister-in-law! My beautiful sister-in-law! Please, talk some sense into our brother!"
"Blockhead."
Yeo Gwi turned back to Yi Yeok and spoke again.
"From now on, whenever you want someone dealt with — anyone at all — I'll handle it for you!"
"Ah-ha."
Yeo Gwi clenched his teeth and fell silent, then screamed as if coughing up blood.
"Damn it all! Whatever comes out of this thing, we split it fifty-fifty!"
Only then did Yi Yeok rise to his feet with a wide, satisfied grin.
"Should've done that from the start."