Black Status

A few hours earlier, steel wheels thundered through the driving rain.

Had the great roads within the Sword Family estate not been so meticulously maintained, the carriage would have overturned more than once at that reckless speed.

"Yah! Yah!"

Even knowing she had long since passed the limit, the maid gripping the reins cracked them again and again, urging the spirit beasts on.

The two beasts, which would normally have shown their irritation, only snorted savagely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and drove their four legs without a moment's rest.

"W-watch out!"

"Whoa!"

Servants of the Sword Family, who had been clearing the drainage ditches, flung themselves aside as the massive steel carriage suddenly loomed upon them.

"...Wongak Pavilion entrance!"

No sooner had the report been shouted to Chief Maid Jeong-a inside the carriage than the second maid, hands free of the reins, launched herself from the still-racing vehicle.

Acceleration and rainwater stole her balance; she tumbled hard across the ground. Yet as if she felt no pain, she sprang up and unfurled her movement technique straight toward the gate.

Her body shot forward like an arrow.

"Open the main gate! Open the main gate!"

At the maid's desperate cry, the Special Task Force members manning the entrance—already sensing that something was terribly wrong—hurriedly flung wide the sealed doors.

There was no time to slow.

The carriage never even attempted to reduce its speed as it passed through. Its colossal bulk, listing heavily to the right, smashed the right-hand gate of Wongak Pavilion to splinters as it scraped past.

KWA-DEUDEUK—!

The moment the Ironclad Fortress cleared the gate and entered Wongak Pavilion, chaotic sound transmissions erupted among the Special Task Force members.

When the carriage finally reached the front courtyard of Wongak Pavilion, the maid still holding the reins hauled the brake lever all the way back and screamed.

"Halt!"

The spirit beasts slammed their hooves into the earth as if rooting themselves. The Ironclad Fortress's massive body skidded sideways; its wheels shattered the paving stones. At the last instant the carriage tipped violently outward and nearly overturned—until a middle-aged man appeared like a ghost and stamped down on the opposite roof. The airborne wheels crashed back to the ground.

It was a technique approaching the realm of art: the Thousand-Jin Drop.

Yet no one present had the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leisure to admire the man's skill.

"Tal-myeong-gwi-geom!"

Jeong-a shouted the middle-aged man's moniker through the carriage window.

"At once—the Elder...!"

At her frantic cry, Tal-myeong-gwi-geom's face hardened further.

"The situation?!"

Jeong-a's answer came instantly.

"Black! Black Status!"

The instant the word "Black" left her lips, Tal-myeong-gwi-geom's form exploded with elastic force and shot toward the guest quarters of Wongak Pavilion.

But before he could reach them, he spotted an old man already racing toward him at a terrifying speed—barefoot, having burst straight out of the building.

The man he had been about to summon was none other than the greatest physician of the Central Kingdom, a living legend, the master of Yak So-yu—the Medicine Fairy once called the living embodiment of the Medicine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Buddha.

It was the Medicine King.

When the Medicine King saw the interior of the carriage, his face twisted.

"Damn it all—the demonic energy was piercing the heavens...!"

Yeon So-hyeon lay stretched across the seat, his body drained of all color until it was pure white, trembling in continuous fine convulsions. A maid stayed pressed to his side, wiping away the bloody foam that kept rising from his mouth so that his airway would not choke.

"How long has it been?!"

At the Medicine King's roar, Jeong-a—still issuing rapid orders to the other maids—answered.

"It has been nearly four gak since the Master himself declared Black Status and entered the Turtle Breathing Technique!"

Black Status.

The term that announced the moment Yeon So-hyeon could no longer contain the demonic energy of the Jeam Jincheon Scripture. The Turtle Breathing Technique he himself had refined was the emergency measure prepared precisely for this crisis: when the surging demonic energy became uncontrollable, the specially designed method drove the body's metabolism down to the absolute limit.

"You! Follow the drill! What are you doing just standing there?!"

The Medicine King kicked Tal-myeong-gwi-geom's shin hard enough to jolt the pale-faced man out of his daze as he stared at the unconscious Yeon So-hyeon.

"If you don't want to lose this boy the same way you lost your former lord, move—now!"

The words snapped Tal-myeong-gwi-geom back to himself. He hoisted Yeon So-hyeon onto his back and ran.

His destination was the shrine that housed the memorial tablet of Yeon So-hyeon's mother, Yak So-yu.

Crash! Clatter!

The maids, who had drilled the prepared protocols again and again, moved without hesitation. Channeling even their internal energy, they swept the Buddha statues that filled the shrine floor aside as if smashing them, clearing space for Tal-myeong-gwi-geom to lay Yeon So-hyeon down.

"Elder! The Master's consciousness is slipping further away!"

Jeong-a, gripping Yeon So-hyeon's hand, cried out almost in a scream, her golden Dragon Eyes blazing.

"I know! That is the proper order! Keep talking to him just as you have been! You can do it!"

As the Medicine King checked the instruments the maids had brought, Jeong-a clutched both of Yeon So-hyeon's hands and continued to call.

"Master! Jeong-a is here! Master!"

Having completed their instructed tasks, the remaining maids stood frozen and white-faced, not knowing what else to do. They looked like the living dead—an aftereffect of the conditioning.

"Preparations are complete. All of you, get out!"

The Medicine King's voice, strangely clear and piercing, struck their spirits. The maids and Tal-myeong-gwi-geom hurriedly vacated the shrine.

The doors closed.

"Hold on, you little bastard!"

Seated in a lotus position beside the stretched-out Yeon So-hyeon, the Medicine King flicked his hand. His pure-silver long needles rose into the air. Rainwater that had soaked him to the skin began to evaporate with terrifying force.

"I'll haul you out of there soon enough!"

Jeong-a, who had pushed her Dragon Eyes to their absolute limit in order to keep track of Yeon So-hyeon's fading consciousness, stared in astonishment at the sight.

"......!"

It was nothing like any medical art she had ever witnessed. The unknown energies rushing together before her eyes were not even medical arts to begin with.

"This old man will not lose you as well...!"

After Yak So-yu, who had been like a daughter to him, he could not endure losing Yeon So-hyeon so meaninglessly as well.

Within pitch-black darkness.

That way, is it...

Yeon So-hyeon raised the thing he held toward the empty air. The faintly trembling light in his hand was a remaining fragment of the Great Sealing Technique his mother had once cast in exchange for her own life.

Though the feeble light only barely illuminated the space around him, the beloved voice that rose from within it was warm enough to soothe his soul in this freezing place.

...The old man and Jeong-a...

Black Status. He had practiced and refined the response with them dozens—hundreds—of times, preparing for exactly this. The first signs had appeared after he cleansed the Valley of Sin in the guise of Amcheonjonza. Every preparation that could be made had already been made.

...They'll handle their parts well enough.

This was not the moment to worry about them. They would do their share. What remained was his own will.

"......"

With a composed expression, Yeon So-hyeon walked forward. The river of blood that rose to his waist surged roughly, shoving his body without mercy. Yet for every step the current forced him back, he took two. For every two steps he was driven, he took three.

In that way he advanced, little by little, without pause.

The voice appeared without warning.

It was the same voice that had spoken when he first contracted with the Jeam Jincheon Scripture.

The mere resonance of the voice threatened to tear Yeon So-hyeon's spirit to shreds.

"I prefer to keep my preparations thorough."

Yeon So-hyeon clenched his teeth and answered. If he did not answer, it felt as though his spiritual body would explode from within.

Veins bulged and writhed across his face without cease.

"As long as it takes."

His clenched teeth cracked and broke.

"Yes. I find you amusing as well."

Even as he trembled, Yeon So-hyeon forced the corners of his mouth upward into a sneer. The voice asked,

Another tooth shattered. The vessels in his eyes burst; bloody tears streamed down.

"Yes."

Still he did not stop answering. The moment resistance ceased, it would be over. Silence was complicity; silence was the admission of defeat.

"You who have lost yourselves, who have synchronized your consciousness with a mere demonic creature and run wild on the strength of its power—how could that not be amusing?"

Yeon So-hyeon finished while ignoring the blood that ran freely from his nose.

"You defeated Immortals who surrendered to a demon."

The voice's fury felt as though it were crushing every bone in his body. A gale howled. The river of blood grew even more violent. Behind the hands that covered his face, Yeon So-hyeon's lips curved in a smile.

Just as I thought.

In the past, the Fallen Immortal had told him that the voice was never that of the Jeam Jincheon Scripture itself.

The Fallen Immortal and the Flame Giant...

The two Immortals Yeon So-hyeon had met until now had been kind, even friendly. They had worried over his path.

But there was no law that said only such ones existed.

The present voice—the one that had urged the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contract with the Jeam Jincheon Scripture—was the voice of an Immortal who had completely lost even his consciousness to the scripture.

"Defeated ones."

Yeon So-hyeon was not swept away by the raging current and gale. Instead he mocked "them" once more.

What had once sounded like a single voice now rang out as hundreds, battering Yeon So-hyeon's entire being.

Yeon So-hyeon spat out the blood that surged up his throat and answered.

"Someday that may well be true."

The madness that had been lurking in the depths of his eyes erupted like an explosion.

"But not now."

Almost at the same moment, a single slender ray of light descended from the sky and swept the voices away.

It was immortal energy.

Sensing the deep fragrance of immortal energy filling every direction, Yeon So-hyeon clicked his tongue.

"...Move a little faster, old man."

Listening to the receding voices, Yeon So-hyeon snorted a laugh. Thanks to the immortal energy, his spiritual body felt considerably lighter.

"Yes, yes. See you later."

He continued the footsteps he had never once stopped.

In the deepest place of Yeon So-hyeon's consciousness— a place even the Jeam Jincheon Scripture had not yet reached—there stood a vast cliff.

The Thousand-Fathom Precipice.

Beneath a cliff built of skulls, a figure identical to Yeon So-hyeon was bound. The moment he saw the Yeon So-hyeon who had forged through the river of blood, his expression turned sour.

"I told you to move faster."

"This was as fast as I could manage."

Even the arrogant tone was identical. Pierced through by massive chains of black iron, the bound one raised his hand. In it rested a fragment of light identical to the one carried by the Yeon So-hyeon who had crossed the blood river.

"I nearly arrived too late."

It was another remaining fragment of the great technique his mother had performed. The fragment resonated with the one held by the arriving Yeon So-hyeon, revealing its location.

"Yes, yes."

Yeon So-hyeon roughly brushed the blood from his spiritual body and approached "the other self."

"You've worked hard in the meantime."

The Yeon So-hyeon pierced by black-iron chains smiled.

"Yes. It was hard work."

The smile was oppressively arrogant, overflowing with confidence. Even as his body was gradually invaded and corroded by pitch-black energy, he never discarded that arrogant smile.

"Don't let this hardship go to waste. Second."

Streaming the demonic energy that was melting his entire body, the Yeon So-hyeon divided by Dual Mind Art spoke.

"Right. First."

Yeon So-hyeon approached the "first self," who was now being irreversibly eroded, and raised the seal fragment of his mother.

Thuk—.

"Leave the rest to me."

The first Yeon So-hyeon—who had been paying the price of spiritual-flesh erosion that the original should have borne—smiled faintly.

"Y-you must... escape this fate..."

Watching him scatter and vanish as he dissolved, the second Yeon So-hyeon quietly brought his palms together in a respectful salute.

That had been the method Yeon So-hyeon devised to evade the erosion that no resistance could ultimately avoid.

"......"

Once the one who had been pierced disappeared, the thick black-iron chains fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Good. Then..."

The second Yeon So-hyeon leaned his back against the skull cliff.

"It's my turn this time."

What appeared on his face was a resolve beyond imagination.

"Come."

Thuk—.

Kwachik—.

The black-iron chains moved as if alive and pierced Yeon So-hyeon's entire body.

"......"

Extreme pain racing through every inch of him, Yeon So-hyeon vomited blood and swallowed his scream. Regardless, the mental reinforcement system he had designed in the form of black-iron chains continued to pierce and fix his body without pause.

A short while later, the fixing was complete.

"...D-damn it... it hurts."

He no longer remembered how many times he had coughed blood or how many times he had screamed.

"Shit..."

The preparations to fix his consciousness at the very bottom and receive the new price were finished.

"......"

Through the black-iron chains—the reinforcement system—Yeon So-hyeon focused his mind. The system, linked to the acupoints of his physical body, transmitted his will. Feeling the Turtle Breathing Technique of the flesh begin to unravel, he started circulating Dual Mind Art.

How much time passed?

"That will do."

It was Yeon So-hyeon's own voice that stopped the circulation.

"......"

The spiritual body of the second Yeon So-hyeon, pierced by chains, lifted its head and looked at the owner of the voice.

"Y-you succeeded."

Before his eyes stood yet another intact Yeon So-hyeon—a new spiritual body replicated through Dual Mind Art refined again and again.

"Yes, I succeeded. Who do you think I am? Did you expect me to fail?"

At the words of the "third" Yeon So-hyeon, the second—now the new sacrifice—snorted a laugh.

"...Go."

At that, the third Yeon So-hyeon picked up the seal fragment of his mother that had fallen to the floor—the fragment left behind when the first Yeon So-hyeon dissolved. When the next "turn" came, the resonance of this fragment would lead him to the second.

"Yes."

The third Yeon So-hyeon watched the second, still pierced into the cliff, tightly gripping their mother's seal fragment, and bowed his head in greeting.

"Leave the next to me."

"I'll wait."

That was the entire exchange. Since all of them were himself, further conversation was unnecessary.

Listening to Jeong-a's voice that had been calling for some time, the third Yeon So-hyeon grasped the slender thread of immortal energy descending like a rope from the sky.

The immortal energy slowly drew the spiritual body upward, and his consciousness began to awaken.

"......"

Watching the third self recede, the second Yeon So-hyeon left behind on the cliff clenched his teeth.

"Khuhk—!"

Agony seemed to drive a spike through his skull. As the Turtle Breathing Technique unraveled, the rampaging demonic energy began to ravage his spirit without mercy.

Even so...

"Big Brother!"

He had met little Yeon Bi.

"So-hyeon!"

He had met his second elder sister.

"Oppa!"

He had met his adorable third and fourth twin younger sisters as well.

Yes. I can endure...

He gripped his mother's seal fragment tightly.

That beloved voice was far too warm in this cold and lonely place.

"...ster! Master!"

"You little bastard! Are you conscious?!"

Opening his eyes to the sight of Jeong-a and the Medicine King both covered in tears and snot, Yeon So-hyeon casually smiled.

"...Both of you, go wash your faces."