Horse Sect or Chicken Sect
"The moment that boy stepped through our gates, I knew he was extraordinary."
Inside Nokhyeon Sect, an outer elder lifted his face to the sky and let the words out in open wonder. Yi Yeok was flying. He had already reached the realm of a Daoist.
He drifted overhead at his ease, savoring the new realm, and the display was a shade too splendid to be anything but deliberate.
Sect Master So Cheon-jeon watched with the ghost of a smile.
"My eye for talent hasn't failed me. If it had, I would have driven him out long ago."
Vice Sect Master Baengni Hae answered with a smooth, faintly amused smile.
"And yet, in the end, he is only a guest passing through. That much has only grown more certain."
A prodigy of that order would never rest content as a member of a low-rank immortal sect like Nokhyeon. So Cheon-jeon nodded, and when he spoke again his voice was quiet.
"Who can say? The road ahead of a bond is never something a man can predict."
The Blood Spirit Sword bearing Yi Yeok broke apart into shards and curled gently around him. The blades moved as if in a dance, and before long they had shaped themselves into a chair that held him up. With elegant ease, he descended before the great hall of Nokhyeon Sect.
Just then Bang Cheon came running, a enormous banner slung across his shoulder, bellowing the boast painted down its length.
So long as the sun rises in the east, Yi Yeok will surely triumph!
Yi Yeok laughed aloud.
"Been a while, Bang Cheon. Training hard?"
"Of course, Senior Brother!"
Bang Cheon swung the banner and shouted, puffed up with pride.
So Cheong-ha, by contrast, stared up at the sky with a crease between his brows. He had no patience for the way Yi Yeok seemed drunk on spectacle alone.
"The Heavenly Origin Immortal Soul Pill, indeed. Remarkable. To break into the higher stages so quickly."
Eldest Senior Brother Ju Uk's face had gone dark. In little more than a month Yi Yeok had not only grown stronger — he had reached a realm where he could fly. Ju Uk himself still lacked the freedom to take to the air like that, and the fact struck him hard.
It must be the difference in our blood spirits...
He offered himself the excuse and tried to force his heart still. Cultivation branched according to the nature of one's blood spirit. That was simply the way of it.
Yi Yeok was still preening for all he was worth when So Cheong-ha's voice reached his ear.
"Come here."
Yi Yeok mounted the sword again, cut the wind, and went to him.
"Must you show off quite so thoroughly?"
Yi Yeok drew his blood spirit back in and grinned.
"I suffered for over a month. I ought to be allowed at least this much."
So Cheong-ha shook his head, as if there were no helping it. Further words would be wasted, and he knew it. He drew a small porcelain bottle from his robes and tossed it over.
"A pill refined from seven-colored ginseng. Three immortal pills, for healing."
Yi Yeok looked faintly disappointed.
"I thought it would be something to raise my level."
"Lean on medicine alone to climb, and it will not last. This is the Life-Bound Pill. Even at death's threshold, so long as a breath remains, it can pull a man back."
"It can do that? Then it really is precious."
The disappointment vanished as quickly as it had come. A medicine that could save a life was something to be treasured.
So Cheong-ha looked him up and down.
"Don't tell me you've already burned through all those immortal stones."
"Nearly all of them. They were worth it."
So Cheong-ha nodded. With the Heavenly Origin Immortal Soul Pill and several hundred immortal stones, breaking through realm after realm was entirely possible.
"You've advanced too quickly. For a time, you must consolidate your level. Let the foundation grow unstable, and you'll strike a bottleneck before you know it."
"I don't mind. If that day comes, that's fate too."
Carefree as ever, without a worry in him. So Cheong-ha knew the boy's temperament well enough to say no more. He never brooded anyway.
"Nokhyeon Sect will need you soon."
Yi Yeok blinked, puzzled.
"What's happening?"
"In a few days, Yangcheon Sect will bring its disciples here. A friendly sparring exchange."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"They call it friendly, but it is a chance to weigh one another's strength before the Immortal Selection. Better that we win. If our momentum breaks, the disciples' morale will break with it."
Yi Yeok shook his head.
"You all live such exhausting lives."
"Should we fall behind Yangcheon Sect, it will not end in mere shame. After that, any hope of rising to a middle-rank immortal sect will be a dream we cannot even speak aloud."
"Yeah, yeah. I just have to step in, right?"
"Yes. Show them this sect's strength is not to be taken lightly. It will matter for the new disciples' initiation as well."
Yi Yeok laughed loud, mounted his sword, and rose into the sky.
"Who would dare face me? Elder — Yangcheon Sect, Socheon Sect, whoever's feeling brave — tell them to come and try."
"Boring. And dull. Tedious, even."
Under warm sunlight, Yi Yeok lay slanted in the chair Bang Cheon had hauled over for him, staring blankly at the sky. A few clouds soft as down drifted across the endless blue.
Bang Cheon sat beside him, chewing a piece of mung-bean cake. The great banner stood planted at his side — no longer Yi Yeok's emblem so much as Bang Cheon's own.
Yeogwi and Mo Yeong were still nowhere to be seen. According to Bang Cheon, the two were buried in training, laying down their foundations.
"Once they go into seclusion, ten days or a month is nothing. If it runs long, they might shut themselves in the mountains for over a year."
Yi Yeok's thoughts tangled. No matter how he cultivated, a hollow ache had settled in his chest, as if he had missed something.
"Bang Cheon. Why do you cultivate?"
He asked it quietly. Bang Cheon swallowed the cake and answered.
"So people will stop pushing me around."
"They already don't, do they? So why keep at it?"
"If I'm going to climb, I ought to reach a high seat and give someone orders at least once, shouldn't I?"
"So you want to bully others the way you were bullied."
"Huh? Is that how it comes out?"
"Truly dull."
Yi Yeok let out a disappointed sigh.
"I'm bored to death. I'd rather the senior brothers came charging at me again. It was a nuisance then, but now there isn't even one of them left who'll pick a fight."
He grumbled at the sky. Bang Cheon cocked his head.
"Senior Brother, why isn't cultivation fun? You can live a long time. You might even gain eternal life."
"If everyone you know, and everyone who knows you, is dead, and you're the only one left — would that still sound good to you?"
Bang Cheon could not answer easily. He hemmed and hawed, and Yi Yeok went on.
"That's what I mean. In the end, cultivation means nothing."
"But if a person is going to live, they have to do something, don't they?"
"Then maybe selling roasted rat skewers in the market would be better. At least that might be fun."
Bang Cheon turned the words over, then muttered.
"Hearing it like that... it does make a kind of sense."
"Look at those so-called cultivators. They do as they please and follow none of the world's ethics or morals. A fellow like you is only in more danger among them. Forget eternal life. You might be wiser to aim at living a few extra days."
Bang Cheon's face stiffened.
"If you used to be a lamb among sheep, now you're a lamb among wolves. Which do you think is more dangerous?"
"Why did I only understand this now?"
Bang Cheon dropped his head and spoke low. He stared blankly ahead, uneasy at the future opening in front of him.
Eyes closed, Yi Yeok muttered again.
"Boring. Dull. Tedious, even. I'd rather be swept away in a landslide. Or jump off a cliff."
Bang Cheon hesitated.
"Senior Brother, if it pains you that much... shall we really jump off a cliff?"
"What?"
Yi Yeok sat up.
"What are you talking about? You want us to die together?"
Bang Cheon lowered his voice.
"I heard they hold a wager like that near Sungwol Sect. Inner disciples from the low-rank immortal sects nearby gather and compete in lightness arts. They leap from a cliff. They stake silver, of course — even immortal stones and pills. This morning I saw someone leaving the inner sect. I think they were going to join."
Yi Yeok's eyes flashed.
"Gambling?"
"Gambling with your life."
"Obviously. If you're going to gamble, you stake at least that much."
He shot to his feet, suddenly alive.
"Good. Let's go. We'll go play too."
The heat of the reaction startled Bang Cheon into a rush of words.
"It's truly dangerous. They say nerve isn't enough — your lightness art has to be good too."
Yi Yeok drew up his blood qi, shaped it into the Blood Spirit Sword, and snatched Bang Cheon off the ground.
"Come on. I'll fly you there in style."
Bang Cheon screamed as the earth dropped away in a rush beneath them.
"Senior Brother, heights are a bit—"
"What kind of man are you?"
"S-Senior Brother. I think I'm about to piss myself."
Yi Yeok laughed.
"Hold it! We'll be there in a moment!"