The Abandoned Hermitage
As the gate he had passed through vanished behind him, Han Yujin sensed Mu-yong stirring awake and surveyed his new surroundings.
He stood on an earthen mountain path that could hardly be called lush. The trail wound downward, disappearing around a bend. Higher up the slope rose a building so weathered it looked abandoned for years.
In the sky, leisurely clouds drifted across a beautiful sunset, momentarily pulling him into quiet reflection.
The spirit qi density is a little under ninety percent of Earth’s.
One factor alone could not tell the whole story, yet it allowed several educated guesses.
The martial strength of this world was probably not very high. That matched his desire for safety, and even a ten-percent drop in density could drastically alter many things—the frequency of natural Dharma formations, the growth rate of spirit plants bearing exceptional effects, or the birth of spirit beasts with comparable powers.
Instead of holing up right away to refine the Dragon Heart, I should spend a few days wandering and getting a feel for this world’s atmosphere.
With that decision made, he walked toward the nearest building.
Up close it resembled a hermitage or spirit shrine. The moment he stepped inside, his suspicion became certainty. The plaque above the entrance and the “Buddha” statue within left no room for doubt.
Reincarnation Holy Buddhism…
The script was not the Chinese characters he knew, and this world’s concept of “Buddha” differed from Earth’s. Yet the feeling was similar. No matter how distant the worlds, civilizations born from human hands inevitably shared common threads.
The same could be said of the xianxia realms and fantasy worlds he had visited before.
Or perhaps the only places my awakening can reach are worlds like these.
It might also be tied to the curious distribution of humanity across multiple realms. If he wanted to chase the oddities, that would be the first thread to pull.
After his inspection, Han Yujin moved to the largest structure in the small abandoned hermitage—the stone hall that housed the Buddha statue.
The figure looked older and more muscular than those on Earth, yet the gentle smile on its lips radiated compassion.
Do followers of this Reincarnation Holy Buddhism also call their saints Buddhas?
With that idle thought, he swept the area with divine sense in case any spiritual presence lingered. He found nothing.
Jjik—!
“You like it?”
Mu-yong seemed strangely taken with the saintly statue. He stroked her soft fur, preparing to leave, when his newly sharpened hearing—honed by reaching the Dharma Soul stage—caught the sound of hurried footsteps approaching.
Guessing what might be coming, Han Yujin hid the smile threatening to form and took up a casual position inside the hall.
The gate didn’t open here by chance. Maybe an event that suits my needs is about to unfold?
He layered stealth arts and spiritual eyes while keeping his vigilance razor-sharp.
Soon two figures staggered into the hermitage courtyard, faces tight with exhaustion and unease.
Seogwang Gahu, the Jade-Faced Sword Dragon of the Seogwang Clan.
Eun Miryeong, the Clear Stream White Phoenix of the Hyeonbaek Sect.
The two swordsmen, who could have passed for an ideal pair of hero and heroine, could not simply walk past the hermitage that had entered their line of sight.
Both had nearly exhausted their internal energy. Continuing onward meant spending the night exposed to the already chilly air, which would drain what little stamina and spirit they had left.
“Miss Miryeong, it would be wise to rest here a while,” Seogwang Gahu suggested.
Eun Miryeong nodded at once. Though they had been fleeing until recently, his senses told him they had shaken off their pursuers half a day ago.
They quickly scanned the interior of the long-abandoned hermitage and headed for the central Buddha hall—the largest and best-preserved building.
“After resting two hours and crossing into Gangseo, we’ll be inside the Taiyang Sect’s territory and safe. I’ll take the first watch…”
Seogwang Gahu froze mid-sentence, hand flying to his sword hilt. Eun Miryeong, a step behind, did the same.
A man dressed like a wandering daoist stood inside like a ghost. No matter how long they stared, their eyes refused to believe what they saw.
Jjik—!
A cute creature cried from the stranger’s arms. The sudden murderous tension eased a fraction.
“…Who are you, Daoist?”
“Just a passing traveler. And you two?”
At the counter-question, Seogwang Gahu’s gaze swept over the man. He carried no traveler’s bundle. His clothes showed not a speck of dust. Most unsettling of all, the man gave off no presence whatsoever.
“I do not know what senior you may be, but I apologize for disturbing your rest.”
Having made his judgment, Seogwang Gahu removed his hand from his hilt and offered a proper fist salute, right fist wrapped by his left hand at chest height.
“We did not realize a prior guest occupied this place. Please forgive our rudeness. We will take our leave at once.”
“There is no owner here. Why speak of prior and later guests? Come inside. The sun is already setting.”
“We cannot. We would never disturb a daoist’s seated meditation. We will simply—”
At that moment a low, sinister chuckle echoed through the hall like a ghost’s laugh.
Heh heh heh.
So this is as far as you managed to run? I heard the dragon and phoenix of this generation were supposed to be remarkable, yet it seems the rumors were empty after all.
“…Who’s there?”
Seogwang Gahu and Eun Miryeong drew their swords at once, eyes scanning every direction. They glanced at the mysterious daoist standing quietly in the corner, gritted their teeth, and stepped deeper inside the hall. It might look like they were trapping themselves, but the opponent’s voice transmission was so masterful they could not pinpoint its source. Taking cover seemed the only sensible choice.
Still, I see why the rumors spread. You truly possess the bearing of a qilin and a phoenix.
After the voice that seemed to come from every direction at once, a middle-aged man stepped through the wide-open doorway. He wore lavish black robes embroidered with gold thread. The moment the two young swordsmen saw him, their faces turned deathly serious.
“…Emma Goju.”
At Eun Miryeong’s murmur, the middle-aged man’s eyes—gleaming with an uncanny light—locked onto her instantly.
“You will address me as Go-gun.”
The strange resonance in his voice faded into ordinary speech, yet the sinister undertone only grew thicker.
“A senior of such high renown in the murim—what business could you possibly have with juniors like us?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Hand over the treasure map.”
A heavy silence fell. Cold sweat beaded on the young man and woman’s brows; they looked utterly lost.
The middle-aged man continued.
“And I will be taking the pair of you with me.”
“…To where, if I may ask?”
“Where else but the Dark Shadow Cult I belong to?”
As he spoke, the middle-aged man approached with leisurely confidence, clearly intending to pressure them. Then he noticed the daoist standing quietly inside and gave a visible start. He suppressed the reaction so quickly that the two youths failed to notice, but the surprise had been genuine.
“By the way, who might you be?”
He asked as though he had known of the man’s presence from the beginning, his tone carrying the minimum courtesy of someone who wished to avoid hostility.
“Just a passing traveler.”
The answer was nearly identical to the one he had given the young pair earlier.
A lengthy silence followed.
The two youths seemed to conclude that the mysterious expert who had claimed the hermitage first was not their enemy; they slowly edged closer to him. Naturally, Emma Goju’s expression soured further at the sight.
“You must have heard of me. I am called Emma Go-gun. Do you have a title of your own?”
“Not particularly.”
Another weighty silence descended.
Whether he had decided something or simply lost interest, the middle-aged man turned his gaze away from the daoist and refocused on the original targets.
By then the pair had also concluded the daoist was no righteous immortal and stopped moving toward him. Friend and foe were unclear, and approaching further might turn a potential bystander into an active enemy.
“I will give you a clear choice,” the middle-aged man said, his voice now even more sinister, as if making up for lost time.
“Will you obediently hand over the treasure map and follow me? Or will you die here for nothing?”
It was a choice between life and death.
Having presented such a grim ultimatum, he produced two small wooden boxes from his sleeve. When he opened one, a strange worm roughly the length of a finger segment lay inside, its body patterned with an eerie intertwining of black and white.
This was one reason his nickname contained the word “Gu.”
“You must have heard of the Yin-Yang Gu. If you choose life, I will implant this inside you.”
“I would rather die than let something like that—”
“Let me tell you what the world does not know about the Yin-Yang Gu. It is a spirit insect that can raise one’s internal energy by at least half a Jiazi. It also grants immunity to a hundred poisons and serves as the mandatory baptism for every core member of our Dark Shadow Cult. I myself carry one inside my body.”
The only aspect commonly known was that the owner of the Yang Gu held absolute power over the life and death of the owner of the Yin Gu. Hearing the rest, the two young martial artists could not hide their shock despite the dire situation.
Half a Jiazi of internal energy represented thirty years of grueling cultivation. Immunity to a hundred poisons needed no further explanation. And the revelation that every core member of the Dark Shadow Cult carried a Yin-Yang Gu was an astonishing secret.
“The Yin-Yang Gu… was not your personal venomous insect, Senior?”
“I merely manage them. And you two are extremely fortunate.”
His uncanny eyes swept over them in turn.
“You, Jade-Faced Sword Dragon, have been chosen by the Black Blood Witch. And you, Clear Stream White Phoenix, have caught the eye of none other than our cult’s Second Young Master. If not for that, why would someone of my stature bother to move personally against mere juniors like you?”
He closed the box and sent both containers floating toward them with a casual wave. It was the renowned art of Seizing Objects from Afar—internal energy manipulation only possible for those who had reached the Peak realm.
Caught off guard by the profound technique, the two youths reflexively caught the boxes.
“In short, when I say I will take you with me, I do not mean as prisoners. I intend to accept you as core disciples of the Dark Shadow Cult.”
Having spoken that far, the middle-aged man’s aura suddenly turned murderous.
“The explanation is finished. Now choose. You would not dare refuse the goodwill I have shown you, would you?”
He raised one hand. Dark gray energy surged forth, writhing like a mass of countless insects.
“Refuse… and I will teach you what ultimate agony feels like.”
The two young martial artists grew even paler.
Emma Goju’s cruelty and the horrific fates of his victims were infamous throughout the murim—not merely because the ends were gruesome, but because of the process itself. Some claimed his victims thrashed in pain worse than being torn limb from limb for hours before finally dying.
The longer the silence stretched, the more vicious the aura radiating from Emma Goju became.
Though he stood at the Peak realm, he was on the verge of breaking into the Transcendental stage; calling him a super-peak expert would not be an exaggeration. Seogwang Gahu and Eun Miryeong had only just stepped into the First-Class realm. They were merely outstanding members of the younger generation.
The chance that two such juniors could successfully flee from a super-peak master was infinitesimally small.
At last Seogwang Gahu spoke, voice trembling slightly.
“What… must I do?”
A thin smile spread across the middle-aged man’s face.
“Swallow the Gu. You must not chew it under any circumstances.”
“……”
“And before that.”
He paused and turned toward the daoist who had been standing quietly to one side the entire time.
“Kill that man.”
“Hmm?”
The response was immediate—and far too light for the situation.
“You want me to kill him all of a sudden?”
“What? A nameless nobody without even a title dared to hope he would survive a situation like this? Did you truly not realize that simply being here sealed your fate?”
As he spoke, dark gray energy began to coil across the middle-aged man’s entire body.
“You seem to have some skill in breath-concealing techniques, but your bluff was obvious from the start. There is no need for me to dirty my own hands.”
He turned back to the sweat-drenched Seogwang Gahu and urged him again.
“Kill that man.”