Bloody Battle (2)
It had to happen. To kill the fiend here, Jo Mihyeon, a Core Formation initial stage cultivator, had to step up.
She shattered the corrupted wooden vines, and the fiend fired a beam of black light. I swiftly deployed a protective barrier, trusting in my Iron Skin Art and silver armor to hold. In that moment, Jo Mihyeon pulled out her prayer beads from her storage pouch.
The black beam demolished my barrier and pierced even the silver armor, but my body, tempered by the Iron Skin Art, emerged unscathed. Seeing this, the fiend sneered.
"Hoh, your flesh is tough. You'd make a fine corpse puppet."
Jo Mihyeon formed hand seals and hurled the prayer beads at him. They expanded in an instant, coiling around his body like serpents.
"Gah! These beads are infused with the power of evil-warding!"
The fiend grimaced in agony, spitting black fluid from his mouth onto the beads.
"Now! Attack!"
I unleashed my Water Foot Sword and fire orb, Jo Mihyeon launched her silver wheel, and Kang Seolhui flung her wooden staff artifact straight at the fiend, detonating it on impact. What a waste of a magic tool... but with the situation so dire, there was no choice.
BOOM! The explosion rocked the abandoned mine, causing it to collapse. Jo Mihyeon, Kang Seolhui, and I barely escaped outside.
Staring at the rubble, I asked, "Is he dead?"
"He's alive," Jo Mihyeon replied.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the fiend burst from the debris.
"You thought that would kill me?"
The prayer beads still constricted his body, and his entire form was covered in burns. At a glance, it was clear he was far from his peak.
Jo Mihyeon formed seals again, drawing out the full evil-warding power of the beads.
"Grrrrr."
The fiend chanted an incomprehensible incantation. The demonic face embedded in his chest opened its eyes and slid downward, gnawing at the beads. One by one, they began to vanish, and his thrashing intensified.
While Jo Mihyeon focused on the beads, Kang Seolhui and I attacked without a word. She threw silver darts to draw his gaze, and I darted behind him, slamming a fist into his back.
Thud!
Even bound by the evil-warding seal, he managed a barrier that blocked the darts and my punch.
"Hah!"
I roared, pounding the barrier like a madman with fists, shoulders, and elbows.
Thud-thud-BOOM! It had held firm at first, but now it trembled.
A black beam shot from the fiend's mouth toward Kang Seolhui. She raised a barrier, but it shattered through, severing her right arm cleanly and hurling her back ten zhang.
Witnessing it from the side, I hammered the barrier desperately with everything I had.
Crack! It finally shattered, and a black beam hurtled toward me.
"Die, you bastard!"
I twisted aside just in time, but it gouged deep into my side.
"Guh!"
My waist buckled, nearly toppling me. Gritting through the pain, I closed in and smashed his skull.
Splat!
Before the Iron Skin Art at the 7th star, his head exploded like a melon. For good measure, I crushed his dantian too.
His nascent soul tried to flee his body. Jo Mihyeon scoffed and finished it with her silver wheel.
"SCREEEEE!"
The fiend's soul wailed as it dissolved into nothing.
We'd finally killed him! Haha, now back to the sect, and I'd claim an upper-grade magic tool as reward!
Exhausted from the bloodbath, we sat right there to circulate our qi and heal. Kang Seolhui sprinkled flesh-regenerating powder on her severed arm, reattaching it—the green glow suggested high quality. Byeok Soseol, who had collapsed unconscious outside, recovered too. Once Jo Mihyeon and I had mended somewhat through circulation, it was time to check the fiend's storage pouch.
Jo Mihyeon took the lead, extracting spirit stones, a blood-red manual, and two unidentified pills. She pocketed the pills first and nodded to Kang Seolhui.
"I'll take the pills."
She must have sent a transmission telling Kang Seolhui to take them. Kang Seolhui did, leaving the spirit stones and blood-red manual.
I wondered what secrets that blood-red manual held.
"Senior Byeok, may I take the blood-red manual?"
Byeok Soseol replied, "I wasn't much help in the fight, so I'm happy with just the spirit stones."
I stowed the manual in my pouch, and she took the stones. Then we headed to clear the rubble and retrieve the storage pouches of our fallen Unkak Sect brothers who'd come to Yunnam Village with us.
Pooling our strength, we smashed through the rocks. Since the collapse happened near the entrance, we quickly cleared a path and recovered the pouches. We didn't find all nine, but over half—dividing the resources inside as evenly as possible. As team leader, Jo Mihyeon took the command medallion for reporting.
With shares distributed, Jo Mihyeon said, "We'll rest one more day in Yunnam Village to heal, then return to the sect."
"Yes."
"Understood."
We dispersed to our assigned training rooms at the village outpost. Back in mine, I pulled out the blood-red manual earned from slaying the fiend.
First came instructions for crafting a Mukhyul Corpse Puppet: Remove the cultivator's nascent soul, soak the corpse in yokai blood for ages, temper it with sorcery, and imprint ownership.
Surprisingly material-intensive and time-consuming, so I skipped the corpse puppet method.
The next sections detailed demonic secret arts, including how to create the chest demon. But it required mass soul harvesting from mortals and torturing cultivator nascent souls—not to mention the risk of backlash if your cultivation weakened. Pass.
The other arts clashed with my core Yin-Yang Art, leaving only one: a soul art.
I'd neglected soul studies until now, but this section explained the basics in detail: imprinting text into the mind with soul force, expanding soul sense for finer qi detection, defending against soul attacks, and more.
Master these fundamentals, and you'd qualify for the soul art itself: Illusionary Bliss Soul Seizure Technique.
Victims envision whatever you desire, lost in the technique's illusory world. Stronger soul force means higher success and longer duration. Drawbacks: heavy soul drain, useless against prepared foes or those with superior soul power.
Still, an excellent soul art. I started with the basics.
Mid-training in my room, I heard footsteps outside.
"Junior Yuseong, may I enter?"
Why was Jo Mihyeon here? Had she fallen for me after seeing me slay the fiend?
No time to overthink—I replied while my mind raced.
"Of course, Senior Jo. You're always welcome."
She entered and stood awkwardly, so I prompted her.
"What brings you here, Senior Jo?"
"Well... you were a big help against the fiend, so..."
She gave an awkward smile and handed me a storage pouch.
"Haha, no need. We're sect brothers—slaying fiends is just duty."
Words aside, I pocketed the pouch. Never refuse goodwill.
"I thought you'd run, but you took down the corpse puppet and the fiend."
"Senior Kang killed the puppet with that mysterious scroll, and your beads finished the fiend."
"Oh, and I came to apologize for the herb garden incident. I panicked, and my hand moved first."
Panicked? And you lop off someone's hand? No forgiveness here. Once my cultivation surpasses hers, I'll make her pay.
But picking a fight now risked her flipping out, so I played it cool.
"No, it was my fault. I should've focused on the herbs instead of... weird fantasies."
Her awkward expression hardened at "weird fantasies."
"I'll take that as accepted. I'm leaving."
Back to her sharp, blade-like self, she exited.
...What was wrong with a little fantasy? Everyone does it.
Still, the apology and pouch softened my mood. Inside: minor low-grade spirit stones and an alchemy formula.
Perfect timing—I needed pills for Qi Refining 8th star. Back at Unkak Sect, I could buy ingredients with stones, but first, I'd forage Gaun Mountains.
Fighting yokai would temper my Iron Skin Art anyway, and I'd need heaps of stones later for Core Formation pills.