Chapter 49: The Ruins
Hwang Danha furrowed her brow and said, “Yuseong, what’s with that slimy smile?”
Ah, I’d misread her. That wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for from Hwang Danha. Better change the subject quick.
“Senior Sister Hwang, back when I said I might become Lord Yeop Inyeong’s disciple, didn’t you laugh at me?”
“Yeah, I did. So what?”
I put on the most arrogant expression I could muster. “Well, now Lord Yeop Inyeong is my master.”
Hwang Danha’s eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. “N-No… no way! How the hell did you become Lord Yeop Inyeong’s disciple?”
“Heh heh, doesn’t that make me one of the Unkak Sect’s pillars now?”
Hwang Danha pouted, her face twisted in dissatisfaction. “…I can’t for the life of me figure out why Lord Yeop took you as a disciple.”
“Hahaha, well, I’ll be off then, Senior Sister.”
Seeing Hwang Danha struggle to believe I was Yeop Inyeong’s disciple felt damn good. Back then, her mental attacks had me rolling on the floor helpless, but now she wouldn’t dare mess with me carelessly.
“Wait! We’re not done talking.”
As I turned to leave Mibong Shop, Hwang Danha grabbed me. I layered up defensive barriers in my mind-space, wary of a mental assault. She threw up a sound-blocking shield.
“This is something I’d only say now that your level’s improved a bit—wanna come explore some ruins with me?”
“There’s an unknown ruin in the Gaun Mountains?”
Hwang Danha sidled closer, stroking my bronzed forearm. “It’s some old ruin from a sect that got wiped out ages ago. Kinda scary for just me and Junior Sister Jo Mihyeon, so I need a sturdy guy like you.”
Her touch sent a surge of strength through my arm, filling me with confidence. A sturdy guy? Yeah, that’s me.
“I’ll come along. When do we leave?”
Hwang Danha smiled seductively. “We need to prep before heading in, so let’s say a week from now. Obviously, don’t breathe a word about this to anyone.”
“Got it. Have you been there before?”
“Of course. I went alone once, but the protective formation was too strong, so I bailed. This time, I’m teaming up with Junior Sister Jo and you to smash it.”
A week of preparations later, I flew out of Unkak Sect on a flying artifact with Hwang Danha and Jo Mihyeon. We took turns piloting the carriage while the others rested.
Our destination was the ruin of some long-extinct sect, though no one knew which one.
“Senior Sister Hwang, how’d you get info on the ruins?”
Hwang Danha, gazing at the scenery outside, replied, “I went to an auction hosted by the Tak family and picked it up there.”
The Tak family—major clan down south in the Gaun Mountains. The memory of heading to their place for Self-Strengthening Pills at Yeop Inyeong’s request bubbled up. Wonder how Tak Hwaryeon’s doing? I recalled her holding firm against Tak Gunma’s Nascent Soul mid-stage pressure without breaking.
“Did you run into a female cultivator named Tak Hwaryeon when you were there?”
Hwang Danha turned from the window, eyes narrowing. “Nope. Why? She your lover or something?”
“Nah, just curious.”
“I went straight to the auction—no time to meet anyone.”
“If you go to the Tak family next time, watch out for a guy named Tak Gunma. He’s not right in the head, and he’s Nascent Soul mid-stage—best not to tangle with him.”
Hwang Danha gave me a look like it was obvious. “You think I’m crazy enough to mess with a Nascent Soul mid-stage from the Tak family?”
“Fair point. How does the Tak family’s auction stack up against the ones in Dancheol Fortress?”
I’d been to Dancheol Fortress auctions with Qi Refining and Core Formation folks, but never the Tak family’s—curious what they were like.
“Dancheol’s auctions are big, but tiny compared to the Tak family’s. Theirs draw cultivators from the Fancheon Kingdom and Daeyeon Kingdom too, so way bigger scale.”
Competition must be fierce, then. Snagging ruin info there? Hwang Danha must’ve gotten seriously rich running Mibong Shop. Suddenly, I remembered Nae Simryeo buying the Bingcheon Art at Dancheol Fortress’s auction and falling into the Gold Sword Manor’s trap.
“Senior Sister Hwang, after you got the ruin info at the auction, no one tailed you back to the sect?”
Hwang Danha grinned darkly. “Heh heh, there were, but they’re not of this world anymore.”
Gutsy bastards, targeting Elder Nae Cheonha’s top disciple over some ruin intel.
“The ones you killed—cultivators?”
“Judging by their techniques and artifacts, they were disguised as cultivators.”
“You cleaned up thoroughly so no one could trace it back?”
“Heh heh, don’t worry. This is my specialty—even if a Nascent Soul used divination arts to track, they’d find zilch.”
Jo Mihyeon, piloting up front, called back, “Yuseong, your turn.”
“Right.”
Lost in fun chatter with Hwang Danha, my piloting shift had snuck up. She still hadn’t revealed the ruins’ exact location, just the direction. Heading southwest nonstop, it seemed the ruins were near Tak family territory and the Black Dark Sect.
Ten straight days of flight from Unkak Sect, and we finally arrived. A beautiful waterfall cascaded off a cliff. Where were the ruins? Just sheer cliffs and falls.
Hwang Danha hopped off the flying artifact. “This is it. Hide our presence, scout for anyone around, then move.”
I activated my concealment art, spreading my divine sense as far as possible to check for other cultivators besides us. No people, not even beasts.
We fanned out to search, regrouping at the waterfall base. Jo Mihyeon glanced around. “Senior Sister Hwang, this is really the spot?”
“Junior Sister, you doubting me?”
“No.”
The usually stiff Jo Mihyeon turned meek around her senior sister. I wanted to tease her about it, but the memory of her slicing my wrist still stung—made me hesitate.
“Follow me.”
Hwang Danha scanned once more, then dove under the waterfall. Jo Mihyeon and I followed into the water.
The pool beneath was vast and deep. We descended a ways before Hwang Danha shoved aside an underwater boulder and slipped inside. Jo Mihyeon went first, then me, and I resealed the entrance with the rock.
Hwang Danha led through the new underwater passage. After half a shichen of twists and turns, we surfaced in a massive cave.
Were these the ruins? It looked artificial, not natural.
A thick wall, ten zhang high, sealed the entrance, covered in densely carved incantations—a formation, clearly.
“Senior Sister Hwang, this the place you turned back from?”
“Yep. Couldn’t crack it solo, so Master gave me these formation-breaking artifacts.”
She handed me a red disc artifact and gave a blue one to Jo Mihyeon.
Hwang Danha bailing on the formation made me itch to try. “Senior Sister, mind if I test my Iron Skin Art on it first?”
I asked first, not wanting to screw things up in her ruins.
She smirked. “Break it with Iron Skin Art, and I’ll grant one wish of yours.”
One wish? A steamy night with you! Imagining it fired me up.
I approached the massive door, channeling Iron Skin Art to full power. A faint golden glow enveloped me as I stomped and unleashed a punch.
Boom!
A black barrier sprang up, rebounding with brutal force that hurled me back ten zhang into the cave wall.
Crash!
If not for my golden body, that rebound would’ve pulped me. I spat out the blood in my mouth casually and stood. “Senior Sister, let’s smash it with your prep.”
The black barrier hadn’t budged.
Embarrassing. Hwang Danha snorted like she’d expected it. “Stand in position and channel spiritual power into the artifact I gave you.”
With her at the center-back, I took left-front, Jo Mihyeon right-front—forming an inverted triangle.
I poured power into the red disc; a crimson beam shot out, merging with Jo Mihyeon’s blue one. Hwang Danha’s purple disc added a violet beam, blending into a tri-color ray that lanced toward the formation.
Sizzle! The black barrier began crumbling before it, bit by bit. My punch hadn’t fazed it, but now it visibly trembled and weakened.
Still, the barrier’s strength and regen were insane. An hour of tri-color assault, and it held.
Hwang Danha yelled, “Spirit stones out! Absorb spiritual energy and keep channeling!”
I gripped a low-grade spirit stone from my storage ring in my left hand, absorbing. This’d take a while.
Another hour of absorbing and channeling, and the black barrier finally shuddered violently before vanishing.
“Finally!”
“Not yet.”
A grayish barrier appeared in its place. Hwang Danha said, “Just break that one. Circulate your qi and rest up first.”
“Yes, Senior Sister.”
“Understood.”
At her word, I sat cross-legged and began circulating my qi. The last barrier was probably even tougher.