The Mountain Sea Pearl
Han Yujin could explain just how serious this incident was without needing to reveal anything about his awakening ability.
The enemy had done a spectacular job of digging their own grave.
They had proven beyond doubt that they were dealing with the unsettling existence known as ghosts—entities that were by no means weak and posed extreme danger. They had also shown that they were far more sinister than any ordinary drug cartel, capable of identifying the anonymous informant, tracking them down, and launching a retaliatory strike.
‘They probably picked a Korean-speaking Goryeo descendant on purpose. I doubt they expected him to scream “Beijing” as he died.’
If the mission succeeded, no information would leak. If it failed, the hitman would simply die, ensuring nothing leaked either. That seemed to be their calculation.
In the first place, since ghosts had never been exposed before, they couldn’t possibly have predicted that their hitman would be subdued in such a short time, have his core secrets pierced, and be interrogated.
Objectively, it was an impossible scenario. But the moment it was revealed that the one who had been attacked was an S-class hunter, everything suddenly made sense.
Of course, from the Eternal Goddess Cult’s perspective, the current situation might not be entirely fatal.
Even though their true nature as a special ability crime organization that handled ghosts—far beyond a simple drug syndicate—had been exposed, and their vague connection to Beijing had surfaced, they were already internationally wanted as a major drug cartel. Nothing much might change.
Still, Han Yujin focused once again on the fact that they had gone out of their way to send an assassin after him.
Was it purely for revenge? Or had their goal been to identify how they had been discovered, resolve any concerns, and prepare countermeasures?
If it was the latter, simply beginning a full-scale investigation on this side might provoke them significantly. And if they lashed out in panic, the chances of obtaining additional clues would be high.
‘And that part, the South Korean government will have to handle well.’
He was now an S-class hunter.
Setting every other reason aside, a nationally vital asset being attacked in the middle of the city was no small matter. It was more than enough justification for the government’s intelligence agencies to mobilize.
Anyway.
After wrapping up all the important statements, including several additional details.
The officer in charge suggested moving his residence to one of their safe houses. It seemed they judged that since he had already been attacked once, a second or third attempt was entirely possible.
After listening to a brief explanation of the safe house, Han Yujin accepted without much hesitation.
Contrary to the usual image that came to mind when hearing the words “safe house,” it turned out to be a luxury apartment right in the heart of Seoul’s downtown—insanely expensive, extremely difficult for outsiders to approach, and offering ironclad privacy protection.
The only thing that left him slightly uncomfortable was the fact that his identity had been uncovered. When he expressed that concern, the officer assured him that there would absolutely be no information leaks this time and asked him to trust them.
So he decided to trust them once.
There was no way the handling of information about an incident informant whose need for secrecy was unclear would be the same as information about a safe house that absolutely had to remain secret. The other side wasn’t the CIA; surely they wouldn’t be able to steal even this kind of information.
The S-class hunter verification was scheduled for tomorrow since it had gotten too late.
Unfortunately, that meant he had to cancel the planned rift practice session. The reason this was regrettable was that it would have been a perfect opportunity to closely observe, using his divine sense, the sight of ability awakeners exerting their powers multiple times.
Just what special characteristic did Earth humans’ spiritual roots possess that allowed for the existence of awakening abilities?
It was incredibly intriguing, but since this wasn’t his only chance, he could accept it with only mild disappointment. In life, variables always popped up and plans constantly changed.
It was deep into the night by the time he returned to his studio apartment.
He gave the bored and lonely Mu-yong a thorough petting, then held her in his arms, packed only his most valuable belongings, and headed out. Naturally, he was going to the provided safe house.
‘To think I’d actually get to stay in a safe house.’
Even though he was only going there because of an attack, his heart felt remarkably light. It was thanks to his confidence in his own strength.
Maximizing his stealth techniques and meticulously scanning the surroundings with his divine sense, he moved as swiftly as a ghost.
Even if a second assassin were lurking somewhere, they would never be able to track him.
The entrance to a completely desolate mountain range.
A place where dead, withered trees stood everywhere, the ground was cracked open, and a gloomy sky hung overhead, radiating an overwhelming sense of the apocalypse.
This was his third visit to the post-Dharma-ending-age Yeongwon Continent. As Han Yujin climbed the mountain path leading to the Ohaeng Sect, he thought briefly.
‘I suppose I came a little sooner than planned…’
Originally, he would have visited much later. Probably after finishing the hunter preliminary education and successfully completing his S-class evaluation. He had wanted to avoid the feeling of his momentum being cut off in reality.
But with the attack having occurred, this was no time to postpone important tasks over such trivial reasons.
He needed to choose the cultivation methods he would train in and obtain dharma artifacts that could immediately increase his combat power. The mid-to-upper-grade Ohaeng Sword alone was starting to feel a bit insufficient.
He had not brought Mu-yong on this visit.
After checking on her as she remained unconscious and deeply asleep in that empty waiting space, he had judged it better to simply let her continue sleeping there.
‘If I brought her here, she’d only suffer from the desolation.’
There was no spiritual energy here, so even though he was at the Dharma Soul stage, he still had to consume food. If he brought her along, he would have to share his spiritual wine with her, which would reduce the time he could stay.
So it was right to leave her behind. He just had to endure a bit of loneliness.
Though whether he would even have time to feel lonely was questionable. Simply reading through the jade slips in the inner sect’s library pavilion would keep him overwhelmingly busy.
‘Should I head to the area blocked off by the boulder first?’
As he passed through the outer sect area and headed straight for the inner sect, he pondered for a moment.
Now that he had become proficient in earth-burrowing techniques, passing through that ridiculously hard boulder would be easy. Depending on what he discovered inside, the priority of tasks for this visit might change.
‘Rather than suppressing my curiosity, it’s better to resolve it cleanly so I can focus properly.’
It was the only part of the Ohaeng Sect ruins that remained completely unexplored so far.
In the end, unable to overcome his curiosity, the moment he arrived at the inner sect area he headed straight for the boulder. As soon as he reached it, he placed his hand on the rock and activated his earth-burrowing technique.
His body transformed into a hazy light and seeped into the boulder. After advancing roughly five or six meters, he emerged on the other side.
‘Easy enough.’
The boulder was ridiculously sturdy, but having lost all spiritual energy during the Dharma-ending calamity, it posed no real resistance. Thanks to that, he had passed through quite comfortably.
‘If it had contained spiritual energy proportional to its durability, I wouldn’t have even been able to attempt it.’
With that thought, he examined the interior scenery. It was pitch black with not a single ray of light, but with both his spiritual eyes and divine sense fully awakened, it posed no problem at all.
It was quite a peculiar place.
He couldn’t tell what kind of atmosphere it might have once had, but it felt as though a small residential area had been built within the inner sect specifically for particularly important individuals. At the same time, the presence of a very stark-looking building on one side made it slightly confusing.
He could simply explore them one by one.
Without rushing, Han Yujin planned to search the outer buildings first. Just before entering one of them, he spotted an unusual scene unfolding in what appeared to be a central plaza and headed in that direction instead.
Upon arriving, he saw exactly twelve investigator skeletons wearing dharma robes, sprawled across the ground. The fact that the robes, despite the long years, only looked slightly worn and retained their proper form allowed him to infer many things.
This was definitely a place where high-ranking individuals had resided. Although the entrance had been blocked, it made no sense for prisoners to be wearing such clothing.
In the center of the plaza, surrounded by the skeletons of those investigators, rested a spherical metal object the size of a watermelon atop a translucent jade pedestal.
Aside from the accumulated dust, it was a very ornate and beautiful orb blending gold and silver. It wasn’t just the colors that were beautiful—the embossed carvings elegantly depicted a scenic landscape containing both mountains and seas.
Han Yujin’s divine sense scanned every clue, including the orb and the investigator skeletons surrounding it. His enhanced intellect effortlessly produced several plausible hypotheses without even needing to focus.
It even successfully connected a minor piece of information that had been buried in the corner of his memory.
‘……Mountain Sea Pearl?’
A feeling of disbelief mixed with excitement rose within him.
The Mountain Sea Pearl—it probably wasn’t its official name, but it referred to a grotto-heaven treasure that high-ranking investigators would use. In fantasy terms, it was a spacious and highly versatile subspace artifact that people could enter and live within.
‘A grotto-heaven treasure? Really?’
There were no clear clues, yet he had a feeling. The way the surrounding investigator skeletons were sprawled out looked as if they had been flung out from this very treasure.
From what he knew, the utility of a grotto-heaven treasure was truly tremendous. Since the basic requirement was the existence of spiritual veins flowing with spiritual energy inside, it wasn’t used merely as a residence or warehouse.
One could cultivate fields within and grow all kinds of spiritual plants, or release and raise several types of spiritual beasts. It was also possible to freely install various useful but hard-to-move equipment.
For example, a pill furnace that produced special flames through complex and sophisticated formations, or a spirit smoke platform that similarly required large and delicate arrays.
If the grade of the grotto-heaven treasure was high, the density of spiritual energy inside would be thick, greatly aiding cultivation. One didn’t even need to enter; simply owning it would allow one to enjoy the benefits of that spiritual energy density.
‘I want it…!’
An irresistible possessive desire bloomed faintly but intensely. It was similar to how ordinary people felt the urge to own a nice house the moment they saw one.
Restoring it to its original state and selecting the harvest would undoubtedly require an enormous amount of karma. Nevertheless, Han Yujin first brushed the dust off the metal sphere and stored it in his storage belt.
Even though he couldn’t feel its weight once it was inside the belt, it somehow felt incredibly heavy.
In a slightly excited state, he scanned the surroundings once more. Following faint traces that he probably wouldn’t have noticed without his divine sense, he began to move.
Those traces led toward the most starkly built rectangular structure in the cave.
Hoping that something special would be inside to match its alien appearance, he stepped in—only to freeze at the completely chaotic scene before him.
The first thing that caught his attention was what appeared to be the cause of the mess: a pitch-black, antique-looking flag planted on a large platform in the center. The various metal and jade pillars driven into the ground around it in a precise pattern suggested that an extremely strict sealing formation had once been deployed here.
‘What is this?’
It should have completely lost its power during the Dharma-ending calamity, yet it still emanated an extraordinary aura.
When he tried to recall where he had felt something similar, it reminded him of the feeling he had gotten when looking at the Ohaeng Jinryeong Geoseok on the top floor of the inner sect’s spirit smoke pavilion.
‘I want it……!’
He was clearly lacking karma. Yet Han Yujin approached with his hand trembling slightly and grasped the pole of the jet-black flag.
He had thought that after entering the path of cultivation his material desires had disappeared, but he simply couldn’t hold back in front of objects like these. Unlike the Ohaeng Jinryeong Geoseok from before, this one had an incredibly cool appearance, which made it even harder to resist.
‘Karma……! I don’t have enough karma……!’
Still gripping the pole, he sighed repeatedly in his mind.