You Thought Fancy Writing Would Go Over My Head?
Several days had passed. In that time, Yi Yeok had set himself in earnest to tempering his blood spirit with celestial stones.
The power of the Heavenly Dragon Flying Sand was tremendous, no question — yet he still could not bring it fully under his control. Draw out that potential, and its destructive force would climb another whole tier.
Training through celestial stones was, without doubt, on another plane entirely. The Heavenly Dragon Flying Sand grew steadily more vivid and sharply defined, until every scale sheathing its hide stood out one by one.
In a mere handful of days, Yi Yeok's qi and blood had flourished past all recognition. The medicinal virtue of the Heavenly Origin Immortal Soul Pill still lingered in his body. Put the remaining celestial stones and pills to use, and he would soon step into the Qi-Blood Harmonization Realm.
Wearing a satisfied look, Yi Yeok stepped out of his quarters. Yeogwi was soaking up the sunlight. He, too, had thrown himself into training with the celestial stones he had gained earlier, and the level of his qi and blood had risen considerably.
From the other direction, Bang Cheon came running with an enormous banner slung over his shoulder. It was the sort of thing that ought to have grated on everyone nearby, yet the disciples in the area all cleared the path of their own accord.
In the outer sect, at least, there was no one who had not heard that Bang Cheon had become Yi Yeok's right-hand man. The hazing and the bullying that had once dogged him were gone. Behind his back they still muttered, cursing him as the finest dog in the Nokhyeon Sect — but somehow Yi Yeok had caught wind of it and beaten the gossips into bloody paste.
After that, even the ones who cursed Bang Cheon behind his back disappeared.
And yet, as if to render the whole affair pointless, Bang Cheon arrived with the banner wearing the face of a puppy waiting to be praised.
"Senior Brother! I've made something to adorn your quarters!"
Before Yi Yeok could get a word out, Bang Cheon planted the banner. It was so vast the wind could scarcely make it fly. Gold letters were written across the red cloth.
So long as the sun rises in the east, I, Yi Yeok, always win.
Yi Yeok pressed a hand to his head as though a headache had struck. Yeogwi cackled.
"Stylish. Now it finally looks like the quarters of the outer sect's number one."
Yi Yeok opened his mouth to answer, caught sight of the banner's reverse, and lost the words entirely.
Remember it well in your next life.
"Bang Cheon. Thank you. I'm grateful — truly grateful — but..."
He caught sight of that bright, innocent face and swallowed the rest.
"Right. Thank you. It looks heavy. You worked hard."
"With the spirit pills Senior Brother bestowed on me, I have been training as if to die of it. Even the hours I spend asleep feel too precious to waste."
Sure enough, he was still small and scrawny, but a faint layer of muscle had begun to take hold — and though he had run all this way beneath that gigantic banner, he had not shed a single drop of sweat.
"Well done. But sleep enough. That, too, is part of training."
"I will bear it in mind, and bear it in mind again, and carve it into my bones!"
In only a few days, the dark cast that had clung to Bang Cheon like a shadow was gone without a trace. He was so excessively sunny now that even Yi Yeok found it a little hard to take.
Still. A hundred times better than before.
Muttering it to himself, he drew out a spirit pill.
"Thanks for the fine gift. I'll give you one of my own."
"Senior Brother, I merely did what ought to be done."
"Spare me the nonsense. Kindness or malice, I, Yi Yeok, always repay exactly what I receive. And I do it as quickly as I can."
Yeogwi tilted his head with a look that asked whether that had ever been true. Bang Cheon was simply drowning in gratitude.
"Thank you, Senior Brother! I shall grind myself to the bone all the more, and serve you with the devotion of hound and steed!"
Yi Yeok looked at Yeogwi and shaped the words with nothing but his mouth.
What was that...?
No idea.
Yi Yeok cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Yes. Grinding yourself to the bone, and... that, uh, hound-and-steed devotion. Grateful you'd offer something so precious."
Yeogwi nodded with solemn gravity and put in his piece.
"We've got that at my place too. Costs a fortune."
"Well, anyway. You've got pills enough, so apply yourself to training all the harder. I'll watch your back for the time being, but you've got to learn to protect your own hide."
"I will bear it in mind, and bear it in mind again..."
"Enough carving it into your bones. Is there even any room left?"
Just then, someone approached them.
Three people. Their features were neat, their strides proud. Even Yi Yeok, honed by the Hidden Soul Divine Spirit Art, registered their approach a beat late. Bang Cheon had them already at his back and still had not sensed a thing.
"Fine airs. Spiritual energy just sloshing off you wherever you stroll."
Two men and one woman. One of the men walked in front; the other two followed half a step behind, flanking him to left and right.
"You the lunatic they say turned up in the outer sect?"
Straight out of the gate, talking down to him and picking a fight. Yi Yeok nearly ducked his head on reflex, the way he always did — but Bang Cheon was watching, the boy who believed in him without a shred of doubt, and he could not.
"You talking to me, you gnawed-over pig bone?"
"Vulgar. From the look of you, you rolled along the very bottom of the secular world before you crawled up here. The filth coming out of your mouth is nothing short of dissolute."
For an instant Yi Yeok turned a flustered look on Yeogwi. Yeogwi was just as flustered, and only shook his head.
Bang Cheon stepped in, quick to read the air.
"To be vulgar is to be low in dignity and coarse. To be dissolute is to be crude and debauched in one's conduct. He is insulting you, Senior Brother."
"Aha."
Yi Yeok nodded as if he understood.
"Figures. Learned men even curse with class."
"Absurd. Did you truly bring down Ji Jung-ok? You look young, and short on learning."
"Strong enough, though."
The man snorted.
"A frog in a well."
This time Yi Yeok skipped Yeogwi and looked straight at Bang Cheon.
"It means a frog in a well. A frog sits in a well, looks up at the sky, and believes that is the whole of the world — a saying for one ignorant of how the world works, narrow in all he has seen and heard."
"Right. As expected of Bang Cheon. Worthy of being my man."
"I shall not lose my humility, and I shall strive all the harder."
The man went on, snickering under his breath.
"I heard you had beaten Ji Jung-ok and thought you might be of some use. Look at you now — a halfwit who pulled it off by luck. I am Dong Pil, an inner disciple."
Before Yi Yeok could answer, Bang Cheon stepped forward. A glint blazed in both eyes.
"This humble one is Bang Cheon, right-hand man in service to Senior Brother Yi Yeok, number one of the outer sect. Inner disciple or not, you will keep to courtesy."
"And what does that have to do with anything? The gulf between the outer sect and the inner sect is cloud and mud. Since when does mud dare open its mouth and tell the clouds to mind their manners?"
Before he answered, Bang Cheon first murmured to Yi Yeok.
"Cloud and mud means the difference between the clouds and the mud. It speaks of a disparity so great as to be extreme."
"R-right. Right. I see."
Yi Yeok managed a nod, just barely.
Bang Cheon turned back to Dong Pil.
"If you treat this Senior Brother as an ordinary outer disciple, you will certainly come to regret it. Behold!"
Before Yi Yeok could stop him, Bang Cheon hoisted the banner so the writing showed. The brilliant gold characters caught the sunlight and blazed.
So long as the sun rises in the east, I, Yi Yeok, always win.
Dong Pil stared at it, looking like a fool. Judging that the blow had landed, Bang Cheon flipped the banner and showed the reverse as well.
Remember it well in your next life.
Scarlet to the ears, Yi Yeok covered his face. He could not bear to look.
"Damn it..."
"I'm about to die of shame over here too. Shit — what did I ever do, to suffer like this because of you..."
Yeogwi had gone just as red.
"Hey, Bang Cheon. Your senior brother needs a serious word with the inner-sect seniors who've come calling. Mind stepping aside for a moment?"
"How could I dare defy an order? This humble one will withdraw and devote himself to training!"
There was not even time to tell him to take the banner with him. Bang Cheon vanished as if on wings. Looking at it now, his lightness art seemed to have improved quite a bit in only a few days.
The moment Bang Cheon was gone, Yi Yeok bowed his head with his usual cringing smile.
"Please overlook my junior's discourtesy. I have been lacking, and I have not yet taught him proper manners."
Dong Pil nodded. He could not quite make sense of what had happened, but he had the feeling that matters had returned to their proper course.
"I see. Lowborn — nothing to be done about it. I came here today to inform you of the rules the outer sect is to observe."
"Rules, you say?"
"You don't know a thing. You laid hands on Ji Jung-ok too quickly and never received a proper handover. From today, you will offer eight-tenths of your income to the inner sect."
"Income?"
Yi Yeok cocked his head.
"This humble one has no income. I have only just been exempted from the tribute, that's all. If you mean the celestial stones we are to receive each month, those still haven't..."
"You are number one of the outer sect now. Every outer disciple will pay you a protection fee. You will deliver eight-tenths of it. Keep the rest as your share."
Yi Yeok and Yeogwi were struck dumb. Protection fees, and tribute on top of them. They might call the place an immortal sect, but it was no different from the rackets of marketplace thugs. What the outer disciples had offered a few days past, it seemed, had not been a one-time gift at all. It had been a protection fee.
"A protection fee? This lowly one is hearing of it for the very first time. Ah — for the very first time means I am hearing it only now..."
"Idiot. You think everyone is as stupid as you? No need to explain."
Dong Pil let the pause hang, then spoke.
"Looking at you now, you truly don't know a thing. First time or next time, I don't care. Collect the protection fees at once, and deliver the tribute on the fifteenth of every month."
"So... you are telling me to become the inner sect's dog?"
"Call it whatever you like. If you wish to name yourself a dog, do so to your heart's content. What matters to us is the fifteenth of each month. Eight-tenths. The tribute."
Dong Pil turned as if there were nothing more worth hearing. The man and the woman followed. They looked as though they were walking slowly, and yet they drew away dozens of times faster than Bang Cheon had.
"Damn it! Does this even make sense?"
Yeogwi burst out, his rage arriving late.
"That's just... worse than the old bastard back home!"
Yi Yeok had sunk into thought.
"What are you gonna do, thief? Don't tell me you're actually gonna do what those daylight robbers say."
Yi Yeok spat on the ground.
"Bang Cheon!"
"Yes!"
He did not seem to have gone far. Bang Cheon appeared in a flash.
"Spread the word to every outer disciple. Tomorrow morning, we hold roll call. No exceptions. Unless their father or their mother has died, not a single one of them fails to show on time. Make that perfectly clear."