What the Hell, I'll Give It a Shot

So Cheong-ha stared straight at Yi Yeok.

"You really are the spit of that man. Playing the fool, pretending you don't know a thing. And there can't be any blood between you."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you."

So Cheong-ha flicked a hand and gave the order to everyone around them.

"All of you, withdraw. Clear Jeongong Hall as well. I have words for this boy that are not for other ears."

What the sect's Supreme Elder could possibly have to say to a green newcomer was anyone's guess, but no one dared ask. The inner elders and the crowd pressed in around them drained away in an instant, like an ebb tide. Ji Jung-ok and Jang Deok-chu, collapsed and drained of their qi, were carried off with the rest.

The two of them entered Jeongong Hall and sat facing each other.

So Cheong-ha regarded Yi Yeok with eyes as deep and still as the sea, then slowly opened his mouth.

"I will ask you once more. Why did you come to Nokhyeon Sect?"

Yi Yeok answered without hesitation.

"To use Nokhyeon Sect as a stepping stone into a middle-rank immortal sect."

"And that is truly all?"

"Why would you assume I have some other motive?"

So Cheong-ha was silent for a moment. Pressing further did not seem likely to draw a different answer.

"Very well. For now, I will take you at your word and let it pass."

Yi Yeok smiled, faint and crooked.

Why was it that people doubted you more when you told the truth than when you lied?

"If that is all you want, then our aims align. Running a lower sect is a business. You raise outstanding disciples and send them on—to the middle sects, the high sects, and the Seongdo Immortal Sect itself."

It was something Yi Yeok had understood even before he set foot in Nokhyeon Sect. He nodded.

"I thought as much. If a man means to eat and live, he does his part as best he can from the place he stands."

"Well said. There are disciples who cannot bring themselves to accept it."

Yi Yeok supposed that was only natural. Anyone fit to enter an immortal sect was a prodigy outside the ordinary run of people. Such a person would have pride to match, and would hardly relish being priced and sold off like an ox at a livestock market.

"I understand both sides. But why send everyone away just to say this to me alone?"

Even at the bluntness, So Cheong-ha took his time. The look he turned on Yi Yeok was that of a merchant of Unbo Pavilion, weighing whether the thing before his eyes was genuine or a finely made fake.

"Let us make a deal."

It was an unexpected offer.

"Will you accept?"

"How could I agree lightly when I haven't even heard what the deal is?"

"It will be a fair trade. No—it may even profit you more than it profits me."

"Forgive the presumption, but I've rolled through the gutters of the mortal world ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and made a great many deals. Nine times out of ten, the man who talks like that is a swindler."

For the first time, So Cheong-ha laughed outright—a deep, rolling laugh, as if he were genuinely amused.

"Is that so. I have been an elder so long that it has been ages since I bargained with anyone as an equal. In matters of trade, you are far better than I."

The frank, unpretentious manner loosened Yi Yeok's guard a little in spite of himself.

"Then tell me the terms. I can't promise I'll do it no matter what, but I'll try not to cost you face, Elder."

"I thank you. But I cannot proceed without a firm answer first. You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠saw that I even dismissed the elders. This must not leak beyond these walls."

"Elder. I may have lived meanly as a thief, but I have principles of my own. I can't accept a deal whose contents I don't know."

So Cheong-ha fell silent.

"If I judge it to be the fair trade you claim, though, I'll obey. If your words are true, then tell me the terms first."

Only moments ago Yi Yeok had been rampaging through the courtyard of Jeongong Hall like a madman, and yet the words were reasonable. They followed.

"You are right. For you it will not be easy, but it will not be impossible. The reward will be fitting as well. I will speak, trusting that you will accept."

So Cheong-ha stroked his beard for a moment, then went on.

"Do as you wish. Use Nokhyeon Sect as your foothold, and enter a middle-rank immortal sect."

Yi Yeok looked puzzled.

"That is my goal, yes, but..."

"Hear me to the end. Before long the Immortal Selection will open. Every year, sixty-four lower immortal sects send their disciples. Of them all, only the ten most outstanding may rise into a higher sect."

Sixty-four. In this vast heaven and earth, it was not so great a number. But if the finest disciples those sects had raised with all their care were gathered in one place, and only the ten who showed the greatest skill were chosen, then it would be as hard as forcing a rope through the eye of a needle.

"But you must do more than that. You must place among the top three."

"Why? If I only need to be in the top ten..."

"You must be in the top three. Only then may you choose which immortal sect you enter."

Yi Yeok began, dimly, to grasp what So Cheong-ha wanted. He was to slip into the sect the elder had his eye on—no, to walk in openly—and take care of something there.

So Cheong-ha drew two things from his robes. One was a black ring. Its shape was ordinary, but the material was impossible to guess. The other was a dry twig, plain as something snapped from any tree, withered and twisted and without a shred of beauty.

So Cheong-ha lifted the twig and spoke.

"This is the Origin Wood, also called the Tree of Beginnings. It is the guardian treasure of Nokhyeon Sect. As you see, all that remains of it now is a single dry branch."

Curiosity stirred in Yi Yeok.

"How did it come to this?"

A faint crease formed between So Cheong-ha's brows.

"It was a very long time ago. Nokhyeon Sect was a middle-rank immortal sect. We might even have risen to a high sect."

So Cheong-ha's gaze grew distant, as if he were looking back into a past long gone.

Yi Yeok was a little startled. A middle-rank immortal sect? And it might have become a high one? He could not begin to imagine how a sect of that standing had fallen so far. He did not know the tale, but it must have been a catastrophe.

So Cheong-ha, however, seemed to have no intention of saying more. He drew himself out of that brief reverie and returned to a stern expression.

"Go to Hyeonrim Sect. There is a spring there through which immortal qi flows. It is the only thing that can restore the Origin Wood. Find the spring and revive it. With that, our deal is done."

There was much Yi Yeok wanted to know in detail, but that was not what came first for him.

"Then what do I get?"

So Cheong-ha showed him the black ring he had taken out together with the Origin Wood. Yi Yeok did not let disappointment show on his face. It might be something other than it appeared.

"What is this?"

"If you are a thief, and if you have any tie to that man, you will not fail to know it. This is the Qiankun Ring—the Ring of Heaven and Earth."

The Qiankun Ring!

For an instant, lightning seemed to strike behind Yi Yeok's eyes. It looked like nothing more than an unremarkable ring, and yet another space was hidden inside it—a treasure of the immortal realm, in which anything at all could be kept. With this alone, when he had cleaned out the Jin clan manor, when he had found the secret tomb in the Heaven-Center Immortal Realm, he could have swept up every last thing without stopping to weigh one against another.

"Is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this truly the Qiankun Ring?"

"It is. This is the reward for what I ask of you. I told you it would be a fair trade, did I not? It should be enough."

Yi Yeok abruptly closed his mouth and smoothed his face into calm.

"If you wish, I can give it to you this very moment."

It was slight, but the haste was unlike So Cheong-ha.

Yi Yeok pressed down the surge in his chest.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Then the task is clearly not as easy as you make it sound."

So Cheong-ha swallowed a sigh.

"Does it seem so? Ha. In trade, you are indeed better than I."

The Qiankun Ring was a treasure a thief might dream of even in his sleep. The old man had said plainly that it was no common thing, even in the immortal realm. If So Cheong-ha was ready to hand such a thing over so readily, the task was nothing like as simple as his words. It might even be a trap.

"Growing timid now, are you? Was all that spirit, enough to overturn Nokhyeon Sect, nothing but bluster?"

"My courage only works when I'm certain I won't die."

"Is that so? Then you must have been certain you would not die even when you faced this old man's Canglang Zhenjue."

"I very nearly was. But you had no intention of killing me, Elder, did you?"

So Cheong-ha laughed again, deep and rolling.

"Clever. Very clever. Do you mean to best this old man not only at trade, but at talk as well?"

The laughter faded, and So Cheong-ha went on in a heavier voice.

"If a deal does not sit well with you, then I will make it a request. Take the Qiankun Ring as a gift. Will you not hear this old man's plea? The future of this sect hangs upon it."

Yi Yeok felt his heart sway again. If the man had pressed him with force and thrown his weight around, Yi Yeok would have stood against him even if it killed him. But he could not be cruel to an elder who had the power to do exactly that, and still bowed his head.

"Why choose me, of all people? Why not go yourself?"

"A thief's work should be left to a thief."

"What about him... my master? He's far stronger than I am."

"Do not speak of that man again."

So Cheong-ha's face hardened.

Yi Yeok sensed that the rift between So Cheong-ha and the old man ran deeper than he had guessed, and he shut his mouth.

So Cheong-ha set the Qiankun Ring in Yi Yeok's palm and closed both of his own hands around it.

"This old man begs you in earnest. Please—go in for Nokhyeon Sect, and bring the Origin Wood back to life. Do you need more time to think?"

Yi Yeok's heart lurched hard once more. An old man with the power to kill him on the spot was looking at him with earnest eyes and making a request.

He should not accept. The greater the reward, the greater the danger. A thief who let a great reward blind him and took on more than he could bear would never live out his span.

And yet Yi Yeok did something the man he used to be would never have done. He nodded.

So Cheong-ha let out a deep sigh, relief plain on his face.

"Thank you. I hope you will not disappoint me."

"I'll put the gift you've given me to good use."

"Do so. You may withdraw. I am tired."

Yi Yeok tucked the branch of the Origin Wood and the Qiankun Ring into his robes and left Jeongong Hall in high spirits.

So Cheong-ha gazed into empty air for a while in silence.

"Your habits are as foul as ever, you old rat. Did you imagine that, old as I am, I would fail even to catch your presence?"

His voice was cold. A moment later, a shadow stepped out from behind a great pillar.

It was Yi Yeok's adoptive father. The Old Thief.