Even in a Tiger's Den, a Clear Head Keeps You Alive
"If you eat me, you'll regret it!!"
The sudden shout stopped the Changgwi mid-lunge. Its fangs had been a hair's breadth from Cho-young's hair. It had devoured so many humans and yokai in its time that droplets of blood kept welling at the tips of those sharp teeth and dripping free, over and over.
[Regret?]
"Th-that's right! Black Moon Ginseng!! I have Black Moon Ginseng!"
The yin qi of Black Moon Ginseng was a boon to yokai. Even so, the Changgwi's gaping maw showed no sign of drawing back.
[I shall devour you and take the Black Moon Ginseng besides.]
"B-but if you had it refined into a spirit pill instead of eating it raw, it would work far better. W-wouldn't it?"
[A spirit pill, you say?]
That landed. The gaping maw eased back a step, though the taut tension in the air held exactly as before.
They did say that even in a tiger's den, keeping your wits about you is what keeps you alive.
Her hands and feet trembled so hard she felt she might faint on the spot, yet at the same time her mind had never been clearer. Call it a last thrash before death. Or maybe reaching Layer 1 of Qi Refining had kicked her brain into high gear. Whatever it was, Cho-young felt that this—this—might be what saved her.
[You. You can make spirit pills?]
Interest, just as she'd hoped.
"O-of course! I'll make you as many as you'd like."
[Give me one spirit pill, and I will not eat you.]
Dragging her quaking legs, Cho-young stepped into the cave. Not that she could have run—the Changgwi stood planted squarely in the entrance, rolling its murderous eyes as it watched her.
Clutching the Black Moon Ginseng in shaking hands, she laid it on a flat stone and began grinding it down with another. Scooping the ash-gray powder into her palm, she added water drawn from the qi-steeped lakeshore and kneaded it with care.
Normally you'd blend other spirit herbs in at this point, but I don't have any... Still, Black Moon Ginseng alone doubles its potency when it's kneaded right. This much should satisfy even a Changgwi.
A round, pellet-shaped spirit pill took form. Hastily thrown together as it was, it was far from pretty, but it was packed with decent yin qi all the same.
[Oh ho. So you carry a pill-maker's craft, do you?]
"..."
[Hand it here.]
Cho-young set the Black Moon Ginseng pill on the ground and backed away. The Changgwi's tongue flicked out and swallowed it whole, and then it fixed her with its bloodthirsty eyes.
What now? Did I mess something up? Is even Black Moon Ginseng not enough to fill it up?
[...Good.]
"Huh?"
[From this day forth, you shall present me with one Black Moon Pill daily.]
With a snickering, thoroughly unsettling laugh, the Changgwi smacked its lips in satisfaction and vanished without a trace. Only then did the strength drain out of Cho-young's legs, and she crumpled where she stood.
Morning broke on Day 17.
A look outside showed lower Changgwi swarming everywhere. Damn it. I've really stepped in it this time. They were there to keep watch in case she tried to bolt.
For now, the Black Moon Pills were useful enough to keep her breathing, but the moment the Changgwi's realm climbed even a little higher and it no longer needed them—she was dead. And if she kept offering up ever more potent pills to stay alive, she'd simply rot away as a pill monkey until her lifespan ran dry. One way or the other, she died—so once again, running was the only option.
Even a lower Changgwi can only be fought once you reach Core Formation. But the Changgwi had told her yesterday that she carried a Five Spirit Root—which meant that no matter how she trained, her progress would be glacial. A spirit root that might as well not exist. If it were a Heavenly Spirit Root, at least I'd have something to aim for.
She couldn't fight her way out, so she needed another way. Cho-young walked outside, head held high, and the lower Changgwi swarmed clamoring at her ears.
"Spirit herbs...! I have to find spirit herbs!"
[...The Master commands you not to stray too far!!]
Leaving behind the creatures shrieking their grotesque laughter—kiii-eeek!—Cho-young pressed on. This time she made for the colonies of Sleep Herb and Paralysis Herb. Truth be told, she'd meant to skip these entirely, since they'd do nothing for her survival. But then she remembered her gaming days. Whenever she'd stepped outside to dig up spirit herbs, cultivator players would come swarming, and she'd always escaped by scattering smoke made from Sleep Herb and Paralysis Herb in their faces and running for it. The same trick, she thought, might just see off the crawling horde of Changgwi.
Day 18. Once again, Cho-young roamed the world outside.
Turning the Paralysis Herb and Sleep Herb into smoke required White Snakes, Yellow Snakes, and Blue Snakes—serpents every bit as rare as spirit herbs, exceedingly hard to come by even within Biseungdo. But then, who was Cho-young? A twisted old-timer who'd shown a pathological obsession with farming content even in a PK-focused game. She had the locations of their colonies mapped out in her head, crystal clear. Easily securing a pair of Blue, White, and Yellow Snakes apiece, she returned to the cave and brewed another Black Moon Pill.
Day 22.
For nearly three days straight, she hadn't set foot outside. The reason was the Azure Stone Milk, which condensed nowhere but within this cave: milky-white droplets that beaded on stone steeped in the essence of the earth, the essence of the heavens, and a wealth of spirit qi. It was so rare that harvesting even a single drop was akin to winning the lottery.
And yet.
Drip-drip-drip—
"Ugh. I'm out of bottles."
Glass bottles of Azure Stone Milk had filled one corner of the cave to overflowing. There was so much of it she was kicking bottles aside just to walk. That was why she'd spent three days inside collecting it—because the Changgwi's realm was rising so fast that, even before the Gate of Ascension opened, it seemed to have already finished adapting to her crude Black Moon Pills. To stretch her life out even a little longer, she would have to blend Azure Stone Milk and this herb and that into the Black Moon Ginseng and offer up pills of a higher grade.
Day 28. Over the intervening days she'd roamed the area, gathering countless spirit herbs and spirit fruits. If the Changgwi's grip on the region had a single upside, it was that yin and yang had settled into balance, and more spirit herbs were springing up than ever. Thanks to that, she could find varieties that were normally hard to come by, or that she'd only ever heard rumors of. Some were needed for survival, but most were the potent herbs her escape would demand. The cave was now packed full of herbs she'd never possessed before.
Two days left. That was all the time remaining until the Gate of Ascension opened—and within it, she had to slip past every one of them and reach the Gate.
Night of Day 29. The Changgwi's movements turned busy, restless. She was craning to see what was going on when, without warning, that same colossal Changgwi from before reappeared.
"I greet the King of the Mountains."
[...The time of the Gate of Ascension's opening draws near. Thanks to you, I have amassed tremendous yokai energy.]
"It was my humble tribute."
[A storm of tremendous spirit qi is closing in. The only ones who will survive it are immortals with no ties whatsoever to this world. And so, all who do not make for the Gate of Ascension will die.]
Then the Changgwi rolled its eyes down at her.
[A body that could never pass through the Gate regardless. Properly, you should be taken here and now, your life ended on the spot.]
The Changgwi shook its head.
[But your skill at making spirit pills is exceptional, so I have decided to spare you.]
Cho-young bowed her head even lower in gratitude, while inwardly grinding her teeth. Spare me? It'll lock me away and make me churn out pills. For the rest of my life!
[Climb the Gate of Ascension with me. Keep making spirit pills for me, and I shall guarantee your life.]
Highway robbery had nothing on this. It was no different from the thing that had killed Seon-ju in front of the Gate of Ascension—a yokai with an iron plate for a face.
"Thank you so very much. Of course—that's exactly what I'll do!"
[I shall see to it that you, at least, ascend without difficulty.]
"Um... Master?"
[What is it?]
"I've gathered all manner of potent herbs and made a spirit pill even better than the Black Moon Pill. Would you care to try one?"
You fucking zombie cat bastard. This is the last spirit pill you'll ever eat.
[Mm. Good. Bring it.]
Cho-young fetched the pill she'd left sitting in one corner of the cave. Where the old pills had been about the diameter of a finger joint, the new one measured half a forearm across.
I threw in everything that was good for the body. Sleep Herb for deep slumber, Paralysis Herb to hold the body still and aid the flow of qi, Cold Ice Herb that chilled the body like midwinter even in summer and stilled all sweating, Azure Stone Milk steeped in the harmony of heaven and earth, the Myriad-Year Blood Treasure brimming with yang qi, Black Moon Ginseng, and on and on. And yet every last one of them was a herb utterly inimical to yokai. Even a house-sized Changgwi wouldn't keel over poisoned the instant it swallowed them—but it wouldn't be getting up for a long, long while, either.
[Mm, indeed. I can feel a very potent energy.]
Without a shred of suspicion, the Changgwi swallowed the pill she offered.
Day 30. The day the Gate of Ascension opened.
From the very first winds of morning, Cho-young felt the full brunt of the colossal spirit qi storm bearing down. Keep standing in it, and it would pound her into paste, bones and all. And yet the Changgwi, which had promised to come at dawn, was nowhere in sight. The lower Changgwi that had swarmed the area were silent, too.
Had it abandoned her?
No.
It's probably dead to the world asleep by now. And its body wouldn't be moving, either. Anything misused, after all, is worse than not used at all.
Before leaving, Cho-young gave the cave one last look around. Everything she'd gathered over the past days lay heaped in piles. She felt no regret leaving it behind. Getting back to South Korea mattered far more.
Shedding every last attachment, she burst from the cave and broke into a run. Her destination: the Gate of Ascension. If she didn't run faster, the Changgwi might yet come after her.
A moment later.
Kiii-eeek!
KYEEEAK!!
The black-wraith lower Changgwi began streaming after her.
[Master!!]
[The Master has awakened!!]
[Ungrateful human!!]
"Cut the crap! I'm not dying as your pill monkey!!"
Cho-young drove her running legs even harder. As she fled, she scattered the sleep powder ground from Sleep Herb and the paralysis powder ground from Paralysis Herb that she'd packed in her bag, then flung out the sleep smoke and paralysis smoke blended with the venom of the Blue, White, and Yellow Snakes. The Changgwi that inhaled the powders and smoke began dropping helplessly out of the chase.
Moments later, a tremendous tide of yokai energy came crashing in. It was the Changgwi, blazing with fury, and it closed the distance faster than she'd imagined possible. But Cho-young refused to give up. A little farther and she'd be at the Gate of Ascension. A little farther. Faster.
The yokai energy was nearly upon her. Her feet were shredded, blood pouring free. Fuck, just a little more... just a little farther...!!
Whoosh—!
But the yokai energy was faster. Somewhere along the way, the Changgwi had planted itself in her path, baring its murderous fangs with a rumbling growl.
[You ungrateful bitch... how dare you...]
The Changgwi's maw yawned wide. A little farther, and she'd have reached the Gate's barrier. Certain it was over, Cho-young screwed her eyes shut.
Then—
THWUMP!
What she felt was not fangs sinking into the soft flesh of her throat. It was spirit qi—far, far stronger.
[On this day, as the Gate of Ascension opens, no release of spirit qi or yokai energy is permitted within the barrier.]
Cho-young slowly raised her head. There was the back of the goblin-faced gatekeeper she'd met before.
[Gatekeeper! I never set foot inside the barrier—]
[Is your tail not a part of your body?]
[What does that—]
The Changgwi's tail stretched precisely beyond the boundary of the Gate of Ascension's barrier.
[You have violated the rule. Die.]
KRAK!!
One blow was all it took. Even the Changgwi that had gorged itself on spirit pills so greedily, it seemed, could not hold a candle to the gatekeeper's realm.
Seriously... this world is insane. Cho-young felt utterly hollow. The being she had dreaded so deeply had just burst like a newborn pup.
The gatekeeper turned slowly around.
[...A worthless Five Spirit Root, I see. That body will never pass through the Gate of Ascension. Better you simply die here—]
"Spirit pills! I'll give you spirit pills!" Live or die, it was her life either way. "Just let me pass through the Gate of Ascension!"
[Spirit pills? Ahh, so you know how to handle spirit herbs? That is genuinely impressive. Then I cannot kill you.]
The gatekeeper, too, extended a hand. She handed over a Black Moon Pill she'd prepared in case something like this happened, and its eyes gleamed.
[You have given me a fine thing, so tell me—what manner of spirit root do you possess?]
Bribes really did work everywhere. Cho-young nodded.
[A Universal Resonant Dao Body. Never have I seen such a spirit root. A body of the Dao that resonates with all beings in the world, is it? I envy your heaven-blessed fortune.]
The gatekeeper waved its fingers through the air, and Cho-young's body floated up off the ground, then flew straight for the Gate of Ascension.
How much time had passed?
When Cho-young slowly opened her eyes, she found herself in some dark alley. She pushed herself up little by little. Contrary to the gatekeeper's warnings, it seemed she hadn't died passing through the Gate after all.
Where am I...? Looking down at herself, she found the body of her custom character, Cheon Cho-young, exactly as it had always been. Don't tell me I didn't make it back to Earth?
Then—
"Come on, just one more drink!"
"You're already three sheets to the wind!"
"Aish, one more!"
Unmistakably Korean drifted from the far end of the alley. I made it back!! It's Korea!
So why was her body still the same? Head cocked, Cho-young slipped out past the mouth of the alley.
And then.
"..."
The scene that unfolded before Cho-young's eyes was the kind of thing no one could easily believe. It was South Korea, no doubt about it—and yet...
Vwoooong—
Woom—
Beep-beep— Beep-beep—
"Wh-what is all this?"
Countless drones wheeled through the open air, and along the roads, ranks of megatowers climbed so high they seemed to stab the sky itself.
"...Fuck."
This was Neo Seoul, Neo-Korea, in the year 2087.
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The familiar hologram window bloomed before Cho-young's eyes, as if it had been waiting for her.