Even If Heaven Falls and the Earth Sinks
"Now there's a sight you don't see every day. The great So Cheong-ha, reduced to pleading with some green young disciple."
The Old Thief drawled, thick with mockery.
"That sneering tongue of his is clearly something he picked up from you. Master and disciple after all, I suppose."
So Cheong-ha showed no interest in playing along.
"I'd assumed you'd long since dropped dead in some ditch."
"Life's a stubborn thing, isn't it? Haha!"
The Old Thief forced the laugh, but So Cheong-ha's rigid bearing did not so much as shift.
"And this time, do you mean to let that boy die in your place?"
The smile left the Old Thief's face.
"Insult me if you must. I've earned it. But please—don't trample what I feel. He's an extraordinary child. I truly think of him as my own son..."
"Your own son? Don't try to fool these eyes, old rat. Someone tampered with the boy's Hidden Blood, and someone else forced it full again."
The Old Thief shut his mouth.
"Was both of it your doing?"
"No. By the time I took him in, someone had already stolen his Hidden Blood. I filled the void again with my own heart's blood."
"And was that truly for his sake?"
The Old Thief hung his head.
"Same as ever. You still do exactly as you please. You did something that boy's body cannot bear. If that makeshift Hidden Blood ever activates, he will die on the spot."
"I didn't want to. I had no choice. If I hadn't, he wouldn't have awakened so much as his Blood Spirit, let alone begun to cultivate."
"I cannot understand it. Who steals the Hidden Blood from a child and simply walks away? However vast his potential... is such a thing even possible to begin with?"
"That much, even I still don't know. And I can't go digging without first laying the whole truth before him."
"In any case, if he fails to recover his own Hidden Blood, he will not live another ten years."
The Old Thief said nothing. A flicker of pity crossed So Cheong-ha's face, so faint that no one could have caught it.
"Was it you who sent the boy to Nokhyeon Sect?"
"No. This caught even me off guard. I'd meant to place him in Ilun Sect, but the brat's stubborn as iron sinew—he refused to the bitter end. All I managed was to lose face."
So Cheong-ha's expression turned puzzled.
"He could have entered a middle-rank immortal sect? Then this is stranger still. Why come to this sect, of all places?"
"Who knows. Once that boy grew a mind of his own, even I stopped being able to predict him. Maybe he guessed that going to Ilun Sect wouldn't mean his skill had truly been recognized. Or maybe he changed his mind somewhere along the way and decided to join an immortal sect after all. Or maybe he simply means to pull off one enormous score."
The Old Thief seemed to brighten at once.
"Admirable little wretch, isn't he? Don't you think he's perfectly suited to my martial arts?"
"You're asking me that, you old rat? Me, of all people?"
A chill settled into So Cheong-ha's voice. The Old Thief hesitated.
"What I mean is..."
"Enough. Stop. Whatever scheme you're hatching is no concern of mine. So long as the boy grants my 'request,' that will suffice."
"My thanks."
So Cheong-ha, who had gone quiet, suddenly glared at the Old Thief as if some ancient fury had risen in him.
"Pigheaded rat. If you hadn't insisted on stealing that thing back then, our brothers and sisters would never have died so horribly!"
The Old Thief's face hardened, though a deep sorrow showed through it all the same.
"One day you too will pay the price. And if that boy dies as well, then you will finally see, clear as day, just how great a fool you were!"
"So Cheong-ha, brother. I..."
"Don't you dare call me that!"
So Cheong-ha's shout cut him off.
"I can't stand the sight of you. Get out of my sight this instant—unless you've come here to die by my hand!"
The Old Thief let out a bitter sigh.
"I can still prove I was right. I simply never had the chance. But that matter—I am truly sorry. I brought great harm upon your sect. Truly, I am sorry..."
"I told you plainly to get out, now!"
"I heard you, I heard you. If I mean to keep this stubborn life of mine, I'd best vanish about here."
The Old Thief took a single step back. In the next instant he was gone, as if he had never been there at all.
So Cheong-ha's anger ebbed. All that remained in its place was a lonely emptiness.
Back in his quarters, Yi Yeok rolled about on his bed, a grin plastered across his face that refused to leave. His fingers never stopped fiddling with the Qiankun Ring—turning it this way and that, inspecting every angle, looking for all the world as if he might pop the thing into his mouth for a taste.
He had the trick of it in no time. Pour in a thread of blood qi, and it answered at once. From then on it would respond to his blood qi alone, so even if it somehow fell into another's hands, he had nothing to fear.
The space within seemed to run about twenty feet to a side and ten feet high. A warehouse, worn on a finger. An absurdly useful thing.
Yi Yeok swept into it the Origin Wood branch and everything else he had gathered along the way—spirit medicines, immortal stones, silver taels. Body and mind both felt lighter at once.
It was a treasure beyond any price. And just like that, unease welled up in him again. For a thief, greed was poison. Nothing in this world came free. To gain a treasure whose worth could not be measured was only to say that the suffering still to come could not be measured either.
"Ah, to hell with it! If things turn sour, I pull out. Loyalty, promises—none of that's my problem!"
Just like that, his heart settled again.
Yeogwi came in, saw that Yi Yeok was in one piece, and broke into a delighted grin.
"Shame, you damn thief. I was sure you'd come back missing at least an arm."
Yi Yeok only answered with the smug smile of a man who had eaten well.
"Curse me all you like today. I'll take it. Your big brother's in a splendid mood."
Yeogwi arched a brow, caught off guard.
"Must've been something good, then. That elder who summoned you—word is he's the Sect Master's father and master both. Old enough he might as well be retired, but in truth he's the highest power in Nokhyeon Sect. Terrifying, isn't it?"
Yi Yeok nodded. He had just stood face to face with So Cheong-ha; a background like that was hardly enough to surprise him.
"So I was on my way back from ordering your coffin. Told them to build it from the finest golden-thread nanmu. But since you've come back alive, I'd better cancel the order in a hurry."
The smile never left Yi Yeok's face, but his arm moved like a ghost and hurled a pillow. Yeogwi whipped his head aside, dodged, and cackled.
"Thief, you're the Outer Sect's undisputed number one now. You've earned the right to enter the Inner Sect. Thinking about it?"
"Of course I am. More money. More treasure!"
Yeogwi stuck out his lip.
"But aren't you getting a little full of yourself lately? They say the Inner Sect is a whole different world from the Outer. Just look at those Inner Sect elders today—next to the Outer Sect elders, it was heaven and earth."