The Youngest Immortal Descends the Mountain

Long ago, a woodcutter discovered a large cave while gathering wood in the mountains and decided to explore it.

Inside the cave, a world of wonder unfolded, and there, an old man with white hair was playing a game of Go.

The woodcutter watched the game, and in doing so, far too much time passed.

When the woodcutter finally realized he had to return and stood up, the handle of his axe had rotted and crumbled away in an instant, leaving only the rusted blade behind.

What became of the woodcutter afterward is unknown.

Instead, years later, a father who heard this story found the cave with his child and pleaded with the immortals to let the child stay there until he returned.

Recognizing that the child had little time left to live, the immortals accepted the request, and the father departed to find a cure for the illness.

The father never returned, and the child grew up under the care of the immortals.

When a tiger demon appeared in Inyang-hyeon and killed three people, the local magistrate summoned hunters and set out on a subjugation mission with the constables.

However, the tiger of Inyang-hyeon was no ordinary beast.

After the subjugation failed and every hunter mobilized was slaughtered, the terrified residents requested aid from nearby Murim sects.

But the reaction of the martial artists was cold.

Gwan-mu-bul-ga-chim (The government and the martial world do not interfere with each other).

Ever since the Emperor settled the age-old debate over who was the greatest under heaven, this had become more than an unwritten rule—it had become law.

Yet, the world is vast, the government’s response was slow, and there were still those who lived for the sake of justice.

"I will subjugate the beast."

Shin Suran, the granddaughter of the Shin Clan, heard the news while on her way to the Hubei Murim Alliance to attend the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

A demon tiger? In the end, it was just a beast.

It was common for rural villagers to call any large animal a demon.

Even if the demon of Inyang-hyeon was not merely a large animal but a spiritual creature, it did not matter.

As a rising star of the righteous faction who had ranked at the top of the Cheonmu Academy, filled with disciples from the Nine Sects and One Clan, facing a single spiritual creature was not a difficult task.

She believed she could help those in danger without much trouble.

That was the beginning of the tragedy.

Rustle!

Startled!

Shin Suran flinched at the sound of rustling bushes, then let out a sigh as she realized it was just the wind brushing against the leaves.

Born into a martial family, she took great pride in her own martial prowess.

That was why she was so shocked when even her spear could not pierce the creature’s hide.

'A hide that repels blades and spears!'

As a martial artist, she had heard of terrifying spiritual creatures like the Human-Faced Spider or the Black-Scaled Blood Python.

But no spiritual creature had ever behaved like this.

"Help me, martial artist! Argh! Aaaargh!"

She heard a person’s scream, but Shin Suran only held her breath and crouched lower.

The voice that had been screaming for a long time, receiving no response, soon changed into a low, guttural growl.

"Is there no one here?"

The creature that revealed itself was a massive tiger.

It was a tiger of impossible size, its eyes level with a human's—a ridiculous stature for a four-legged beast—and it was mimicking a human voice as it searched for Shin Suran.

'That thing is a real demon!'

It spoke human language and lured others to their deaths by posing as a victim.

If this was not called a demon, what was?

'Above all, there is no other explanation for a mere beast to be impervious to swords and blades.'

Even in Shaolin, considered the highest authority in the Murim world, the state of being impervious to weapons is called the 'Indestructible Diamond Body' and is a pinnacle rarely reached. Since the demon before her was born with such an extreme state, her skills as a mere rising star were no match for it.

Forget avenging the innocent people captured by that thing; she was on the verge of being captured herself.

As the demon moved away, Shin Suran gritted her teeth and unleashed her light-foot technique.

'Ugh!'

Even as she suffered internal injuries from forcing out her internal energy, she did not stop her legs.

She did not stop even when her fine silk shoes became caked in mud, or when her jade-like skin was torn by thorny thickets.

There was no hope in sight.

No matter how well she performed her light-foot technique, she could not outrun a demon born as a mountain beast.

Her only hope was to reach a human village before being caught, but even that was unlikely.

Everywhere she looked, there was only darkness. Having lost her way while being chased, she was venturing deeper and deeper into the mountains.

'I must survive.'

But she could not give up.

If she died here, it would be the end not only for her but also for her father, who lay on his sickbed.

Shin Suran scooped up mud and poured it over her head.

Insects sleeping in the dirt were startled and crawled across her cheeks, but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was survival.

"I can clearly smell it from this direction."

A voice carried on the wind.

Shin Suran, who had masked her scent with mud, held her breath and silenced her presence. It was not quite the 'Turtle Breathing Technique' that could stop one's own heartbeat, but as a martial artist, she was well-versed in concealing her presence.

"I smell the scent of fear."

Shin Suran moved out of the mud pit that would leave ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠footprints and hid her body among the tree roots.

She gripped her spear with both hands and squeezed her eyes shut.

If she were discovered, she would fight to the death. Her resolve was that even if she died, she would not become a mere meal for that thing.

A moment that felt like time had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stopped continued.

The demon's footsteps drew closer, then faded away.

Shin Suran waited without acting rashly.

A long time passed, and as the dawn began to brighten in the distance,

'Did it really leave?'

She poked her head out from between the tree roots,

And locked eyes with the demon, which had been hanging from a tree branch, waiting right in front of her.

"Hehe, this stupid girl doesn't know that even if you hide, I can see everything."

A grotesque appearance with a tiger's face and a human-like oral structure. The demon's face, twisted to speak human words, was all the more bizarre for its clumsy resemblance to a person.

"Judging by how stupid you are, your Upper Dantian won't taste very good."

Shin Suran reflexively tried to thrust her spear, but the demon was faster.

Taking advantage of her panic, it stomped on the spear shaft. With a brutal kick, the spear left her hands.

"But looking at how sturdy you are, the meat should taste decent."

Shin Suran did not retort and kept her mouth shut.

No matter what she said, this thing would just mock her. If she were to be eaten anyway, she would not suffer the indignity of being insulted beforehand.

"Tsk, if you piss yourself like this, the meat will smell."

The demon mocked her, but Shin Suran’s eyes were not on the demon.

In the blurry forest within the dawn,

In the distance, she saw a human figure walking toward them.

'Am I seeing things?'

Was he barely past the age of fifteen? Seeing a boy who looked younger than herself, Shin Suran could not find the words to speak.

If he were a person, she should tell him to run, but if she did, the demon would notice the boy, so she could not open her mouth easily.

This was a demon that even she, a top-tier rising star of the Cheonmu Academy, could not handle. She had no expectation that a boy of that age could do anything against it.

That was why her jaw dropped at the scene that followed.

"I came because of the rumors of a demon, and it’s a Tiger-Ghost. That’s a rare demon these days."

At the boy's words, the Tiger-Ghost, finally noticing his presence, turned to him and asked.

"What kind of thing are you?"

"The kind that catches things like you."

At those words, the Tiger-Ghost burst into loud laughter.

"You? What power do you have to do that?"

The Tiger-Ghost spoke.

"I am different from ordinary beasts, and different from what you call spiritual creatures. Just as you martial artists eat us to grow stronger, we have eaten humans to grow stronger. The number of Dantians I have torn apart and consumed reaches one hundred; can you imagine how many decades of internal energy that would be?"

The Tiger-Ghost gave a long speech and poked Shin Suran’s lower abdomen with its claw.

The location where a martial artist’s Lower Dantian would be. It was the very spot that had allowed the tiger, which used to eat from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the entrails according to its bestial instincts, to shed its skin and become a demon after gaining internal energy.

As the Tiger-Ghost said, if it had eaten 100 people, it would have already obtained immense internal energy. With that many, there must have been several martial artists among them, and a martial artist’s Lower Dantian would contain as much energy as a spiritual creature’s inner core.

Even without a proper internal energy cultivation method to assist in absorption, the remainder would be significant.

"Compared to that, what are you? You haven't even reached the age of thirty; how much internal energy could you have gathered?"

"So, in your eyes, I look like a child."

"Hmm?"

"Seeing as you've gathered so much internal energy but only fight with your mouth, is Sound-Energy your specialty?"

The boy, who had continued walking during the conversation and had reached right in front of the Tiger-Ghost, struck out at the same time as he spoke.

As the boy’s small hand struck its chest, the Tiger-Ghost’s head, which had been higher than any full-grown man, vomited blood.

The boy caught Shin Suran, who had fallen from the Tiger-Ghost’s hand, and stepped into a movement technique.

"You!"

The Tiger-Ghost tried to counterattack belatedly, but the boy had already left that spot.

The boy, having set Shin Suran down at a distance, appeared behind the Tiger-Ghost as if he had vanished from the spot and snapped its waist.

"Argh!"

Seeing that Seong-jin’s martial prowess was not to be trifled with, the Tiger-Ghost immediately began to flee. Even though its waist was broken and it was running only on its front paws, its speed was immense. Watching it move away in a bizarre fashion, Seong-jin spoke to Shin Suran.

"Can you walk?"

"Pardon?"

"We must chase it, but if I leave you behind, it might return and target you."

Although her internal energy was completely exhausted, her trained stamina remained.

"I can walk. I will follow you."

Thus, the two began to walk the mountain path, following the trail left by the crawling Tiger-Ghost.

"Thanks to you, I have saved my life. If it is not an imposition, I would like to know your name, benefactor."

"Joo Seong-jin. I am merely a good-for-nothing demon hunter."

At those words, Shin Suran narrowed her eyes and said,

"How can you call yourself a good-for-nothing? Thanks to you, I was able to save my life, so please do not say such things."

"Understood. Do you have any idea where that thing might be heading?"

"Perhaps its own lair?"

Shin Suran answered Seong-jin’s question by sharing her experience from when she first climbed the mountain to catch the Tiger-Ghost.

"It said it ate all the people it carried away in its cave. The reason I was able to find the Tiger-Ghost without searching this vast mountain like a needle in a haystack was because I found its cave."

"A tiger's den, then."

Once the destination was set, Seong-jin moved with the speed of a gale.

"W-wait a moment!"

Shin Suran unleashed her light-foot technique to chase after Seong-jin, who was distancing himself in an instant. Seong-jin’s movement was, quite literally, a walk, not a run. Yet, every time he took a step, as if folding space, he advanced dozens of feet.

'W-what is that movement technique?'

It was a movement technique reminiscent of the 'Shrinking Earth' method said to be used by the immortals of legend. Arriving at the tiger's den in an instant, Seong-jin entered without hesitation.

"This is..."

Shin Suran, who followed him in, could not continue her sentence after seeing the sight inside the cave.

Human remains that must have numbered at least a hundred. The Tiger-Ghost’s claim of eating a hundred people was not entirely a lie; there were truly countless remains left in the den.

"We must deal with this thing immediately...!"

Shin Suran was indignant at the sight, but Seong-jin discovered a different trace there.

"The interior is damp."

"Pardon?"

"The outside was dry. It is as if it rained only inside the cave."

Seong-jin said this and brushed the cave wall with his hand; the inner wall revealed beneath the dust had a strange, deep crimson hue.

"Also, it is strange that a demon that has eaten this many people would flee after having its waist snapped by only that much."

"Benefactor, what does that mean?"

"It seems we have walked right into the tiger's maw."

At the same time, the entrance to the cave they had entered closed shut.

"Benefactor! T-the cave entrance has collapsed!"

"It has not collapsed. The creature has closed its maw."

Dealing with a demon meant facing all sorts of sorcery that twisted common sense.

"They said that even if you are caught in a tiger's den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you!"

"No. Even a martial artist with an Indestructible Diamond Body can be killed by a child’s stone-throwing if they are transformed into a toad through sorcery. Keeping your wits about you does not change anything in the face of sorcery."

"T-then what do we do!"

To counter a power that twists common sense like this, simply keeping one's wits was not enough. The only ones who could deal with demons were those who knew them well.

"Do not worry. Catching such ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠demons is the job of a demon hunter."

In the interior, now completely covered in darkness as the entrance closed, Seong-jin moved forward without hesitation.

"Follow me."

"But that way is deeper into the cave. If this is inside the Tiger-Ghost's maw, shouldn't we be going out?"

"Of course, if we remain trapped in here, we will eventually become the creature's meal, but when fighting a demon, being inside its belly is not entirely a bad thing."

The scary thing about demons was not their hide that repelled blades, nor their ability to mimic human voices. The scary thing about them was the sorcery that twisted common sense and altered reality. Excluding the variable of sorcery, even a martial artist like Shin Suran could sufficiently respond.

"As long as we are inside its belly, it cannot attack us directly. Even if it uses sorcery, it cannot burn its own insides, so at most, it could only send illusions."

"That's right! That's what happened to me!"

The Tiger-Ghost had deceived Shin Suran by creating not just voices, but illusions. Thanks to that, she had exhausted all her internal energy by unleashing techniques into thin air, and after her energy was depleted, she ended up being chased by the Tiger-Ghost. Because she didn't know sorcery existed, she had just assumed she had struck at afterimages by moving quickly, like a displacement technique.

"Also, no matter how tough the Tiger-Ghost’s hide is, its insides cannot be the same, so this place is its weakness."

Seong-jin, moving through the darkness, stopped midway and began to feel the wall.

"Around here."

He then found a suitable position and held out his hand to Shin Suran.

"Could you lend me your spear?"

"My spear?"

"Is it perhaps expensive?"

"No, it is a well-made spear, but it is just something I have several of."

"That is a relief. It is my first time using a 'Penetration Technique' with a spear, so I was worried about breaking it."

Seong-jin said this as he drove the spear he had been handed into the cave wall.

"Then, I shall not hold back."

Crack-le!

As sparks flew from the spear shaft Seong-jin was holding, the inside of the cave began to shake as if a landslide had occurred outside.

"Hold on tight. We might roll a few times."

"Pardon? What!?"

Amidst the roar, Seong-jin answered the question as if shouting.

"The Tiger-Ghost with a thorn stuck in its throat will thrash about."

The Tiger-Ghost rolled on the ground with the pain of its insides being turned over. The talent for mimicking human voices was gone, and it howled like a beast.

Grrrroooooo!

It was because the internal energy had burrowed into the Tiger-Ghost’s body through the spear stuck in the cave, using the mystery of the Penetration Technique. Thanks to this, the two people inside the Tiger-Ghost’s body had to maintain their balance inside the cave, which had begun to flip over as if caught in a landslide.

"Argh, what on earth is happening!"

Shin Suran groaned, but she stood quite well on her two feet; it was a movement that clearly showed she was a descendant of a prestigious family, even if she was exhausted and a mess.

"By now, the giant Tiger-Ghost outside must be rolling to its heart's content."

"What if it rolls all the way to the village at the foot of the mountain!"

"Judging by its movements so far, that is not the direction. It is about time."

"Pardon? What is?"

The Penetration Technique flowed through the spear stuck in the wall. That power was shaking up the internal energy of the people the Tiger-Ghost had devoured from the inside. In other words, it was a situation similar to being on the verge of Ju-hwa-ip-ma (deviation of internal energy) due to internal injuries.

"If what you ate disagrees with you, you must vomit it up."

At the same time, a wave of remains began to surge from the back of the cave.

"W-wait! You shouldn't step on the remains... Ah!"

Seong-jin caught Shin Suran as she lost her balance and was about to fall while trying to avoid stepping on human bones. She clamped her mouth shut and went silent as Seong-jin wrapped his arm around her waist. Holding Shin Suran, Seong-jin stepped out of the cave with the same gale-like movement technique he had used when coming to the previous cave.

Whoosh!

Seong-jin, who had leaped into the air as if shot, discovered the Tiger-Ghost rolling on the ground below. The Tiger-Ghost was rolling in a house-sized form, smashing the surrounding trees; considering its throat had been like a cave, that too must have been shrunken by pain.

"How can a creature that had its waist snapped do something like that...?"

"That is why it is sorcery."

Seong-jin, having spotted his target, dropped straight down from the air and unleashed a martial technique.

Flying Dragon in the Sky (Bi-ryong-jae-cheon).

A technique that takes the high ground like a dragon ascending to heaven, drops down, and fully unleashes that power upon the enemy. It struck the Tiger-Ghost as he descended with the momentum of having leaped out of the cave.

Seong-jin’s palm strike hit the Tiger-Ghost’s head, slamming it straight into the ground. The earth shattered from the aftermath of the impact, and dirt and boulders scattered. With that single blow, the mountain peak was carved away, creating a form like a volcanic crater.

The Tiger-Ghost vomited blood and thrashed its limbs, but it could not escape Seong-jin’s grasp. Seong-jin leaped lightly and landed on a spot where no blood had flowed, then set Shin Suran down and walked toward the thrashing Tiger-Ghost.

"Expedite this like the law (Geup-geup-yeo-yul-ryeong)."

When he held out a gourd bottle toward the fallen Tiger-Ghost, the creature was sucked into it in an instant. To anyone’s eyes, it was a clearly strange and spiritual sight. When the boy who had finished all the work turned around, Shin Suran was looking at him with wide eyes.

"You were a Taoist?"

"How could someone like me be called a Taoist? I am merely a commoner who picked up and learned a bit of Taoist arts."

At those words, Shin Suran shook her head.

"Whoever you may be, the fact that you are my benefactor who saved my life does not change. I ask that you allow me to repay you."

"Thanks to saving you, I was able to add good deed points to my Gong-gwa-gyeok, so that is enough."

"If it is Gong-gwa-gyeok..."

Gong-gwa-gyeok was a Taoist cultivation method of keeping score of one's actions through good and evil deeds, accumulating points to become an immortal.

'They say there are many reclusive masters in the world, so the benefactor must have been practicing traditional Taoist cultivation.'

It was a method not often used in modern Taoist sects, but among the reclusive masters of the world, there were many who still adhered to traditional methods.

"Since the incident has been settled with this, let us go down to the village first. I was on my way to the village, and Miss Shin needs to wash herself as well."

Seong-jin said this and looked at Shin Suran. A spear lost by throwing, caked in mud, and hair disheveled—a pathetic sight. Shin Suran belatedly realized her state, brushed off the dry dirt, and straightened her clothes.

"T-this is because I was being chased by that thing, I don't usually go around looking this sloppy...!"

She looked flustered by the very fact that a young lady of a prestigious family was in such a state in front of a stranger. However, it was too late to maintain her dignity, especially since she had even been held in his arms in this state, so Shin Suran soon resigned herself and let her arms hang limp.

"Yes, please."

Thus, the two began to accompany each other on the mountain path in the middle of the night to find the village.