Dooong—!
Encounter with the Heavenly Yin Sect
The path to saving the world is always followed by grudges.
Grudges that pile up and overlap pour down without warning like a midsummer shower.
However, a hero must make even that a part of their path.
Whether you cut it with a sword or resolve it with words, the choice is entirely yours.
· Resolve the issue with the Heavenly Yin Sect party.
├─ Progress: 0%
└─ Reward: Hero History +3, A Relationship with the Heavenly Yin Sect will be formed
As always, the system message appeared quickly.
There is usually a gap between perceiving a situation and deciding how to respond.
A normal martial artist would be surprised, wary, or at the very least, their heart rate would increase during that gap.
Dong Bongsu simply read the quest text calmly.
'Whether you cut it with a sword or resolve it with words.'
Judging by Lumina's tone, it meant that both peaceful and combative options were open.
'A Relationship will be formed.'
It was clearly written in the rewards section.
A Relationship with the Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance will be formed.
A Relationship with the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect will be formed.
A Relationship with the Heavenly Yin Sect will be formed.
This was the third time.
Not an ill fate or a good fate, but clearly a relationship.
The nuance of this word was worth remembering as a pattern.
Based on his experience so far, it didn't mean an immediate quest would appear, but he would somehow get 'entangled' with the factions with which he had formed a relationship.
'Information recording complete.'
Any further information could be developed by synthesizing the events and quests that would occur from now on.
He closed the quest window and focused on the senses of his Super True Qi Field.
There were ten auras in total.
They were approaching from the southwest of the Hero's Sect.
Outside the grounds.
They were still at a slight distance, and judging by their speed, they were closer to walking than using a lightness skill.
The level at which they concealed their Qi, suppressed their breathing, and muffled their footsteps was of the highest caliber—a stealthiness that would have been impossible to notice without a transcendent sense like the Super True Qi Field.
Nine of them had similar Qi waves.
By the previous standards of the River Capital, they would be at the very top.
Then, how would they measure up against the Patrol Sword Corps he had recently fought?
'They're around the level of the slightly weaker members of the Patrol Sword Corps.'
Calculations spun ceaselessly in Dong Bongsu's mind.
A conclusion was reached quickly.
All of them together didn't mean much.
'The problem is one of them.'
The last one.
The wall of his Super True Qi Field was still trembling.
Unlike when Myo Jinheo's field-type formation had put a load on his Super True Qi Field, it was now trembling, albeit faintly, due to a pure Qi wave.
'The Qi… is heavy.'
The very mass of the Qi belonged to a truly colossal existence.
That person was continuously distorting the Qi field around themselves.
A simple assessment placed them a cut above Sang Gwanhwi.
'Interesting.'
He immediately opened the minimap.
He knew well that the moment a quest appeared, the locations of the targets were perfectly specified.
He confirmed that ten yellow dots were moving toward the Hero's Sect, spread out at regular intervals.
Click-.
The moment he closed the map, his thoughts shifted.
Heavenly Yin Sect.
Jade Pendant.
Jeon Rahwa.
In the blink of an eye, the meanings contained in the three words connected in a straight line.
The jade pendant around Jeon Rahwa's neck.
He had known for a while that it was a tracking device.
They had followed its signal.
Their destination was the jade pendant, which meant Jeon Rahwa.
His gaze swept over the grounds outside the window.
Jeon Rahwa.
She was asleep in her quarters.
The children's breathing was also even.
Yan Bilyeong.
Still training near the training ground.
The boundary formation left faint lines in the air.
Myo Jinheo.
Quiet in the guest room.
A stillness that could be sleep or a facade.
No other anomalies.
'So what needs to be done now?'
It was simple.
Clean up the situation before it spreads in various directions.
Let's keep it simple.
Catch them outside, before they enter the grounds.
Dong Bongsu got off the bed and stopped in front of the door.
Just before his hand touched the doorknob, he paused for a beat.
Dong Bongsu put on the face of Kim Rae-won.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and the corners of his eyes drooped a little.
The tension in his shoulders eased, and his chest puffed out with confidence.
It was like putting on an outer garment after getting fully dressed in underclothes.
A momentary ritual that separated the inside from the outside.
He rewove the gentleness that had been shed in front of Jeon Rahwa.
Strand by strand.
One second, just one second later, the young Sect Leader Kim Rae-won was standing before the door.
He opened the door.
The grounds were quiet under the moonlight.
He launched himself into a lightness skill over the space.
He ran, riding the naturally occurring Super True Qi wave.
Not a speck of dust rose from his footsteps as they skimmed the ground.
He made a wide detour around Yan Bilyeong's boundary formation.
The ends of the lines extended to the outskirts of the training ground, but since he had already read the pattern, it wasn't difficult to pass through without touching them.
The gaps between the lines.
He darted through them as if slicing through.
The outskirts of the Hero's Sect.
Leaving the grounds, the night of the River Capital opened up.
An empty street.
A darkened night market.
The silence of the night lay heavy upon the city.
Dong Bongsu moved toward the southwest outer road, the direction from which the Heavenly Yin Sect was approaching.
An ancient tree, several hundred years old, stood there.
A giant tree with branches spreading in all directions, he leaned his back against it.
He spread his Super True Qi Field as thickly and widely as possible.
The sensation of the ten dots approaching became clearer.
It was as if the pulse of each one was touching his fingertips.
The hearts of nine were beating steadily, while one was uniquely deep.
A slow, heavy, and cold pulsation, like the bottom of an abyss.
New prey is always interesting.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the right time.
Like a lion crouching in the bush.
● ● ●
The night in the River Capital was quiet.
It was so quiet it belied its name as a lawless city.
Bing Ye was leading ten followers, having entered the River Capital.
It had been a long time since they had left the Deep Lake of Dark Abyss.
The night air of the Central Plains was dry and lukewarm, unlike that of the Deep Lake.
'…It's close.'
The response from the jade pendant was clear.
The jade pendant bestowed upon a Dharma Maiden was a Dharma Artifact inscribed with the Yin Qi of the Heavenly Yin Sect.
A practitioner from the same sect could track its lingering scent even from hundreds of li away.
The scent was like ice; the closer one got, the colder it felt, and the farther, the fainter.
It was cold now.
A single point within this city.
Almost in a straight line.
However, there was one strange thing.
The texture of the response was different.
A different energy lingered than when Cheol So-ah had held the pendant.
It was the Heavenly Yin Sect's internal energy, but the method of circulation was not that of a Dharma Maiden.
The essence of the water was the same, but the shape of the vessel was entirely different.
It felt discordant, as if water had been forcefully poured into a cracked vessel rather than a well-made jar.
'As I thought, someone other than the Dharma Maiden has the pendant.'
What that meant was simple.
Cheol So-ah had either had the pendant stolen, or she was dead.
Bing Ye's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Sect Master's order echoed in her mind again.
The Stalactite Cave of Dark Abyss.
The moment the Yin Qi flowing from behind the curtain distorted the space itself, and dozens of stalactites from the ceiling shattered and rained down.
Bing Ye could still feel the chill on her skin from when a fragment, as if guided by an unseen hand, had touched her neck.
"Go and confirm. Who dared to touch our Heavenly Yin Sect's Dharma Maiden without permission."
The Sect Master's voice was low.
As low as it was, it was heavy, and as heavy as it was, it was impossible to defy.
—You shall move personally.
Personally.
When the Sect Master used that word, failure was not an option.
"Sisters."
Bing Ye called out in a low voice.
Nine figures closed in without a single footstep.
"The response from the jade pendant is just ahead. It feels like it's stationary. Inside a building to the north."
"Leader, shall we enter immediately?"
The youngest follower asked.
The youngest on this trip.
A child with large eyes and a voice not yet sharp.
"We do not rush."
Bing Ye turned her head to look in the direction of the Hero's Sect.
"There's something we must check first."
What that something was, Bing Ye herself could not yet put into words.
It was just that her senses, honed over decades as a secret practitioner of the Heavenly Yin Sect, were being faintly scratched.
A feeling that something else lay beyond the response of the jade pendant.
She slowed her pace, surveying the streets of the River Capital.
Once a lawless city.
She had heard it was a place where night markets, gambling dens, and brothels kept their lights on all night.
But it was not like that at all now.
The streets were tidy.
The lanterns of the night market were out, and there were almost no vagrants in the alleys.
It wasn't just because of the time.
The very air of the streets was different.
Someone had changed the principle of this city.
'The Hero's Sect, was it?'
According to the information she had gathered on her way here, a new sect had been established in the River Capital.
The existing power, the Iron God Gang, had been exterminated.
The very same Iron God Gang where the Young Mistress Cheol So-ah had been.
And on its grounds, a sect called the Hero's Sect had been founded.
The response from the jade pendant pointed exactly in the direction of that Hero's Sect.
It couldn't be a coincidence.
Just as her thoughts reached that point.
Bing Ye's footsteps stopped.
'…What is this?'
It was an inexplicable sensation.
It was too faint to be called Qi.
It had no texture, so it couldn't be a formation.
It was not a line, a rope, a field, or a membrane.
It did not fit into any category of arts that Bing Ye knew.
The entire space felt faintly, as if under someone's control, like a film of oil on water.
She heightened the senses of a Heavenly Yin Sect secret practitioner to their utmost limit.
It couldn't be read.
It was not Yin Qi.
Nor was it Yang Qi.
It was different from Immortal Qi.
It was even further from Evil Qi.
It didn't correspond to any attribute, but was pure control of Qi itself.
As if only the shell of the concept of Qi remained, with all its attributes stripped away.
Bing Ye's brow furrowed.
Was it a type of art she did not know?
Or was it at a level she could not comprehend with her own cultivation?
Either way, it was reason enough to stop.
"All halt."
The nine stopped.
"There is someone's space ahead."
The look in the sisters' eyes changed.
Space.
They couldn't tell exactly what it meant, but they could read its implication.
That a powerful master, one that Bing Ye would describe as such, was staying or hiding there.
"I will go first. Wait in the rear."
"Leader!"
"That is an order."
Her voice dropped an octave.
An irresistible tone that resembled the Sect Master's.
The youngest fell silent.
Bing Ye took a step into the unknown person's space.
The air changed.
It wasn't cold or hot.
The density was simply different.
There was resistance in the air itself, as if she had stepped into water.
It was faint, but it was definite.
'My movements will be read within this space.'
It was intuition.
The master of this domain would have known from the moment she entered.
The weight of her steps, the interval of her breaths, even the beat of her heart.
If so, there was no reason to hide.
Bing Ye dropped her stealthy footwork and walked straight ahead.
The road opened up.
A quiet outer road where the moonlight fell evenly.
At its end, leaning against an ancient tree that looked to be several hundred years old, stood a man.
About coming-of-age?
The man with long black hair was certainly young.
And.
He was yawning.
Bing Ye's steps stopped.
'He is the master of this space.'
She could be sure.
This man was at the center of this transparent sensation.
The space was faintly warping and extending out from him.
And yet, her Qi Sense detected nothing.
It was as if he had no Qi.
She couldn't feel the flow of his internal energy or the vibration of his True Qi.
To the senses of the Heavenly Yin Sect, this man was just an ordinary young man, and yet… The Qi in this space was too uniformly distributed.
As if someone had deliberately spread it out evenly in all directions.
Within the principles of the Heavenly Yin Sect that Bing Ye had cultivated all her life, there was no logic that could explain this contradiction.
So she asked bluntly.
"The Seventh Dharma Maiden… where is Cheol So-ah?"
Without even stopping his yawn, the man, Dong Bongsu, raised his middle finger and pointed at the ground.
"Here."
Then he immediately bent his finger in the opposite direction and lifted it toward the sky.
"No, maybe up there?"
Grin.
"Could be both. Body here, soul over there."
In that moment.
The world froze over in white.
That was not a metaphor.
Frost spread across the ground.
The thickness was different from before.
It wasn't the grass blades that froze, but the soil itself.
The bark of the ancient tree turned white and cracked.
Ice spread across the bricks of the wall.
The white vapor rising from Dong Bongsu's breath grew thicker.
And ice began to cling to the boundary of his Super True Qi Field.
This was on a different dimension from before.
If the faint chill she felt earlier was a wave tapping at the boundary, this was a tsunami trying to swallow the boundary itself.
He increased the density of his Super True Qi Field.
One level.
The frost was pushed back.
But new frost filled the place where it had receded.
A load was being placed on the entire area covered by his Super True Qi Field.
'Incredible.'
The moonlight bent and converged on Bing Ye.
The Heavenly Yin Sect.
A sect that absorbs the Yin Qi of the moonlight and sublimates it into internal energy.
At this moment, the moonlight of the River Capital existed for only one person.
The Cold Qi erupting from Bing Ye's entire body was changing the midsummer night of the River Capital into deep winter.
If Cheol So-ah was an ice sculpture, this was a glacier.
Bing Ye took a step.
The ground where her foot landed froze.
A circular spread of ice.
A second step.
A third step.
With each step, an ice flower bloomed instead of a footprint.
"…Name."
Bing Ye opened her mouth.
Her voice had changed.
It was not the cold, controlled tone from before.
It was lower, deeper, and heavier.
"May I ask your name?"
When a secret practitioner of the Heavenly Yin Sect asks for an opponent's name.
It was a courtesy before killing them.
Dong Bongsu's teeth also reflected the moonlight, shining brilliantly white.
Because.
"Kim Rae-won."
He was smiling.
"I am the Sect Leader of the Hero's Sect."