The Schemes of Sunghwa Island
Six days ago.
Sunghwa Island, the central base of the Gyolyong Bandit Clan, situated on the Yujanggang River.
At the absolute center of Sunghwa Island sat the office of the master of the Gyolyong Bandit Clan, Chief Sun Tae-go.
A middle-aged man had come to visit him.
Trickle—
Bringing the amber liquor trickling into his cup to his lips, a fierce-looking middle-aged man with a bushy, rough beard playfully bantered.
“Say, Chief, didn't you push things a bit too far this time?”
“What choice do I have if I want to make a living? A man has to work hard.”
The goat-bearded old man sitting opposite him replied evasively.
The middle-aged man chuckled and spoke again.
“To think our Chief would personally mobilize such a massive fleet. Live long enough and you'll see everything. Besides, is it true you promised to pay a hefty appearance fee to the Blood Wolf Clan and the Yama Clan next door?”
“Tsk, tsk. Maeng Ryeo. You just need to show up on time and help with the blade-work. Why are you so chatty?”
“I'm just curious. Our stingy Chief Sun is personally making a move, throwing gold around left and right. What on earth is the cargo that warrants this? I'm dying of curiosity here.”
“It's nothing that grand. Just this old, sick body trying to live a bit longer. I'm just trying to secure a medicinal herb that's good for my health. Oof, my shoulders are stiff again.”
The master of the Gyolyong Bandit Clan, the Yujanggang Fisherman Sun Tae-go, suddenly groaned and massaged his shoulder.
But at that exaggerated display, the Iron Blood Sickle Maeng Ryeo snorted, leaned forward, and tilted his head up to ask again.
“Say, Chief Sun, do you still see me as some runny-nosed brat? Do I need to paint this room red for you to show me some proper respect?”
It was a completely unprovoked threat.
But Maeng Ryeo, the Iron Blood Sickle, was too big a name to simply ignore. He was one of the top three fixers in this business, after all.
“Aha~ Who would dare look down on our Iron Blood Sickle, who found the Yujanggang River too small and headed for the sea? Calm down.”
As Sun Tae-go quickly backpedaled and waved his hands, Maeng Ryeo finally relaxed his slit-like, viperous eyes and grumbled.
“Then why are you spinning such a ridiculous lie? Are you trying to get embarrassed in front of the boys?”
“Heheh. If I told you the cargo was the Demon Spirit Pill, wouldn't you get greedy?”
“Hmm? What did you just say? The Demon Spirit Pill?”
The Demon Spirit Pill.
It was a legendary elixir created by a secret organization called the Cheonsa Prison.
An elixir that could instantly boost one's internal energy by a whopping sixty years of cultivation upon consumption, there was a reason cultivators went mad with greed over it.
In the Jianghu, the Demon Spirit Pill was considered on par with the Great Return Pill of the Solim Temple.
“Is that true? The cargo is really the Demon Spirit Pill?”
“Indeed it is. Why? Want to try and take it all for yourself now?”
“If it's the Demon Spirit Pill, it's certainly worth a try.”
After all, the Demon Spirit Pill was a miraculous elixir that couldn't be bought even with a fortune. Furthermore, rumors had it that the Demon Spirit Pill didn't just boost internal energy, but also drastically extended one's lifespan.
As greed flared in Maeng Ryeo's eyes, Sun Tae-go, facing him, smiled darkly.
“Hehehe, look at you. I knew you'd react like this. But what do you think you can do alone? Are you planning to block the Jinseong Escort Bureau by yourself?”
“That's...”
“We've already laid out every single plan for the raid. But you?”
“...”
As Maeng Ryeo was struck dumb by Sun Tae-go's sharp retort, the Chief of the Gyolyong Bandit Clan, Sun Tae-go, spoke in a placating tone.
“Just help me out. I'll personally double the amount we agreed on for you. Consider it hush money.”
Maeng Ryeo fell into thought.
He had been offered a whopping one hundred gold coins for a single job. And now he was offering double that?
It was an astronomical sum that would allow him to live in absolute luxury for decades without lifting a finger.
After pondering for a moment, Maeng Ryeo smacked his lips with lingering regret and replied.
“...Fine. Since you're going this far, Chief, a man like Maeng Ryeo has no choice but to make a generous concession.”
Even though he was just fulfilling the contract they had originally agreed upon, Maeng Ryeo bragged as if he were making a grand sacrifice.
Heheh. I'm a bandit myself, but you really can't trust anyone in this business.
Sun Tae-go's stomach churned, but using his years of experience, he kept his expression neutral. After humoring Maeng Ryeo and sending him on his way, he massaged the bridge of his nose with an incredibly exhausted look.
Then, he sank back into his crocodile-skin chair.
Just then.
Knock, knock—
“Who is it?”
“It is Gong Jeol-gang, Chief.”
“Oh! Come in, Apothecary Gong.”
Sun Tae-go quickly sat up straight and warmly welcomed the clean-looking, middle-aged man who opened the door and stepped inside.
“You've worked hard, Chief.”
“Sigh. Apothecary Gong, I'm exhausted. Every single one of these damn thieves has absolutely no conscience.”
“Didn't you expect this from the start?”
“Of course I did! But it's a waste of money! I have to spend my hard-earned gold on those worthless bastards!”
Unable to cast off his inherently stingy nature, Sun Tae-go began cursing the hired experts who had squeezed more money out of him.
For this operation, excluding the hefty gold bars he had given to the Yama Clan and the Blood Wolf Clan, he had to practically tear down the pillars of the Gyolyong Bandit Clan to pay the hired peak experts.
“It is fine. Once the item is in your hands, you will look back on the money spent today as mere pocket change.”
“Well... I suppose so. Since it's the Demon Spirit Pill.”
As the withered Chief Sun chuckled softly, his face filled with anticipation at the mention of the Demon Spirit Pill, Apothecary Gong spoke.
“How is Young Master Sun doing?”
“Ah, my second son? Well, it seems he blended in without much trouble. The security of those Jinseong Escort Bureau bastards is surprisingly lax.”
“It is because the second young master is exceptionally clever.”
“Hehe, right? He really is my greatest treasure. Still, I wouldn't have even dreamed of this plan without you, Apothecary Gong. I'm truly grateful.”
“Not at all. For me, as long as I can exact my revenge on the Jinseong Escort Bureau, I would gladly walk into the fires of hell with a smile.”
“Haha! As expected of our Apothecary Gong, a true man. Biding your time like this to avenge your parents... I've learned a valuable lesson. Don't worry about the Jinseong Escort Bureau. We will completely erase them from the Jianghu this time.”
Apothecary Gong kept the exhausted Chief Sun company, boosting his spirits, before quietly clasping his hands in a respectful bow and exiting the Chief's office.
“Phew...”
With a deep sigh, Gong Jeol-gang walked for a long time back to his apothecary room.
The humble and gentle expression he had worn in the hallway vanished instantly, replaced by a sinister smirk.
“Very soon... it will be in my hands.”
The Demon Spirit Pill?
Such a precious item never existed in the first place. It was merely a story fabricated to manipulate Chief Sun.
Of course, he had to spend a significant amount of money and minor elixirs to make Chief Sun believe his words, but for Gong Jeol-gang, a spellcaster of the Cheonsa Prison, it was hardly a difficult task. It was merely tedious.
But it was entirely bearable. Because soon, 'that' cargo being transported by the Jinseong Escort Bureau would fall into his hands.
“Hehe, to think a Three-Tailed Fox still remained in this Lower Realm.”
A fox with three tails.
He had heard that back when there was no distinction between the Upper and Lower Realms, such monsters were common. But in a world where the Upper and Lower Realms were separated, a monster like a Three-Tailed Fox was a celestial treasure.
“If I consume its core, my cultivation will easily rise by at least two stages.”
Gong Jeol-gang had currently reached the 7th layer of the Qi Condensation stage. If he could raise his cultivation level by two stages from here?
It would be the 9th layer of Qi Condensation.
For an ordinary cultivator, that surpassed the peak stage—it was equivalent to the realm of the Transcendent Master.
“Haha, and if luck is on my side...”
The 10th layer of Qi Condensation.
In other words, the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation was not just a dream. For a cultivator at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation was a superhuman who would bow to no one, at least in the Lower Realm.
As Gong Jeol-gang indulged in these blissful dreams, six days passed.
Finally, the time for the raid had arrived.
When a wizard gains enlightenment or breaks through to a higher circle, they realize entirely new concepts regarding the spells they already know.
Among the most prominent of these concepts is the ability to adjust the density of mana and the compression of the magic circle when a spell is cast, thereby controlling the intensity and output of its power, or utilizing the same amount of energy with maximum efficiency.
To give an example, it was something like this:
Crack, crack—
Upon the violently flowing river, thick, palm-sized sheets of ice materialized.
Despite the turbulent currents, the ice sheets remained as firmly fixed in place as marble, refusing to be swept away by the rushing water.
A stepping-stone bridge of ice.
Walking quietly across it as if strolling on flat ground was a boy clad in black robes.
Ilyang had slipped off the sailing ship, diving briefly to hide his presence, before letting the current carry him as far as possible.
Then, he began to approach the massive flagship, grandly named the Nezha Dragon King, which carried the Chief of the Gyolyong Bandit Clan.
Walking casually across the water.
Crack— craaack—
With every step Ilyang took, a small sheet of ice formed beneath his feet and then vanished.
And once he had traversed a certain distance, he systematically dismantled the ice sheets behind him, converting them back into mana.
The ice magic he was currently employing was originally a 2nd-circle spell, a variation of the Freeze spell.
Normally, the Freeze spell was a cryomancy spell that consumed an immense amount of mana. However, he had reconstructed the spell on the fly, extremely limiting its area of effect to manifest it in this precise form.
Still, I can't use this indefinitely.
Though he was diligently recovering the mana, it was impossible to reclaim one hundred percent of it. There was always an inevitable loss.
Even so, it was true that the actual consumption of internal energy was remarkably low. Furthermore, since he was currently using a Wind spell to assist with his balance, he had to calculate and expend his power with absolute precision.
What a pity. If only I had a wind spirit, this would be so much easier.
Ilyang once again felt the glaring absence of a spirit. Why was the Spirit Realm out of reach? There seemed to be several gates nearby, but no matter how many times he knocked and called out, there was no response. This was definitely an issue he would have to investigate thoroughly later.
For now, let's focus on the task at hand.
Even as he moved while rapidly calculating the formulas of two different spells in his head, Ilyang's expression did not waver in the slightest. To him, multitasking of this level was child's play.
First, there are only two enemies on that ship I need to worry about.
The detection spell he had cast before falling into the river: Mana Scan.
With it, Ilyang had precisely mapped the locations of all the internal energy experts within a five-hundred-meter radius.
And...
at the enemy's deployment of forces, Ilyang chuckled inwardly.
How amusing. The water bandits' strategy and the Jinseong Escort Bureau's plan mirror each other perfectly.
The massive flagship before his eyes, the Nezha Dragon King.
Surprisingly, there were only two experts aboard.
The water bandits had split their forces, placing five peak experts on each side. In total, ten peak experts were divided between the left and right flanks. In short, their plan was to launch a pincer attack from both sides rather than a frontal assault.
Coincidentally, this aligned perfectly with the counter-strategy prepared by the Jinseong Escort Bureau.
Furthermore...
Ilyang smiled faintly as he looked up at the towering hull of the Nezha Dragon King, now right in front of him. Because one of the individuals on board possessed a peculiar energy.
The purity of the mana circulating within their body was exceptionally clear and refined. Ilyang had encountered a similar kind of energy once before—the white-haired girl of the Mansi Sect who had been reduced to charcoal.
So, there is a wizard who has reached the 4th circle?
In fact, the volume of energy stored in this person's dantian was even greater than that of the 4th-circle Mansi Sect wizard he had seen a month ago.
A natural smile played upon Ilyang's lips.