Chapter 25 - Act 4. The Bamboo Tube Beauty (6)

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After repeatedly impressing on the Bamboo Tube Beauty that she must not waste her strength, the two returned to the Daemudo outpost. Hong Sadeuk brightened, thinking they had safely completed their mission, but scratched his cheek awkwardly once they explained the situation.

“Kim Siwon... So that was her story... What do you intend to do?”

“First, we’ll report the situation to the main mountain and ask whether we may track down this Cultivator.”

“I doubt they’ll take an interest in something so minor... Still, reporting it is a sound approach. When I send the message talisman—a talisman that conveys correspondence—I’ll enclose the likeness you showed me and ask whether there’s a Kim Siwon among our Cultivators. Soran, make copies of this portrait.”

“Yes, sir. How many shall I draw?”

“Plenty. I expect we’ll need a hundred or more. Quickly draw a few first.”

“Yes, sir.”

The maid bowed, then swiftly began copying the likeness with brush and ink. Meanwhile, Yise asked Hong Sadeuk a question.

“Would Kim Siwon be his real name?”

It was Seol Ryeong who answered.

“It should be. A Cultivator’s name carries their destiny. That’s why it’s best not to use an alias if you can help it. Especially while training.”

“Haha. Precisely.”

“Then we’ll leave it in your hands.”

Hong Sadeuk assured them it would not take long and suggested they eat and rest while they waited. Deciding that he was a very nice man indeed, Yise ate his fill before sitting cross-legged for some light training.

The third star remained just beyond his grasp. Still, perhaps because exchanging blows with the Bamboo Tube Beauty had honed his senses, his spiritual energy moved with a much sharper edge than before. He felt he might reach the third star even without finishing the Demon hunt.

Half a day after he began meditating, Hong Sadeuk brought news.

“The reply has arrived already?”

“Half a day is quite a delay. A message talisman needs only the time it takes to eat a meal to make the round trip. I imagine a novice disciples’ mission was pushed down the list.”

Yise gazed with curiosity at the talisman in Hong Sadeuk’s hand. What a convenient item it seemed to be.

Hong Sadeuk handed him the letter, still folded. Inside were just two words: “Permitted” and “None.”

Presumably, they had permission to track down the Cultivator, and no one by that name belonged to Daemudo. Yise showed the other two the words.

“If he isn’t a disciple of Daemudo or one of its secular branches, he must be an independent Cultivator. Finding an independent Qi Refining Cultivator, especially from information fifty years old, is practically impossible...”

“Could you gather information from the neighboring villages? We intend to search for just a week.”

“Of course. It’s only right that I cooperate. I would merely appreciate a generous score when you evaluate the assistance you received on your mission.”

“Certainly.”

Seol Ryeong chimed in playfully from beside him.

“He came first in this year’s class, you know. Make a good impression, and some rewards might come your way later.”

“Haha. It seems I’ve been given the chance to assist some truly remarkable people. I would be honored simply to be remembered. How could I ask anything more of inner disciples? I’ll do everything I can to help.”

“Thank you. But he is a Cultivator, so don’t push yourselves, and take care not to let him catch wind of the search.”

“Understood.”

Hong Sadeuk stepped away and beckoned. People began streaming in from somewhere. They were presumably not even Daemudo’s outer affiliates, but people in Hong Sadeuk’s personal employ. The scene brought home Daemudo’s standing once again.

Leaving the people to disperse in orderly fashion, Yise and Seol Ryeong decided to make a circuit of South Mountain Village themselves. Yet faced with the actual task of finding a Cultivator from fifty years ago, they scarcely knew where to begin.

They searched all of South Mountain Village for anything unusual, but the sun set with little to show for their efforts. Sitting at the village entrance, they lit a fire and roasted sweet potatoes. Seol Ryeong turned to Yise, who was absently stirring the embers.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Just that something seems strange.”

“Strange?”

“That Cultivator meant to take the Bamboo Tube Beauty’s spirituality for his own training, right?”

“Probably. Unless he was a Daemudo Daoist, he would have considered meeting a spiritual being a fortuitous encounter.”

“Her bamboo grove must have had ideal conditions for her growth. If he’d trained there, he could have exploited her spirituality for longer. Why go out of his way to travel so far north?”

At Yise’s question, Seol Ryeong imagined herself in the man’s position.

She was a poor independent Cultivator with no connections or backing. Her talent was so meager that she could not even gain admission to a cultivation sect. Then, while wandering every corner of the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula, she had stumbled upon an astonishing stroke of fortune.

What would she have done...?

The answer was relatively simple.

“He’d be overcome with fear.”

Undeserved good fortune brought terror.

“He must have been scared. The place was probably rich in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. He would have thought other Cultivators might discover it at any time.”

“He’s found a precious opportunity to advance his realm, but he’s afraid someone might rob him of it at any moment. Then the Cultivator’s next move would be...”

“To find somewhere safe.”

“Now for the next oddity. Once he was done with her, why bother taking the spiritual being somewhere else and abandoning her instead of destroying her?”

“Hmmmm.”

Seol Ryeong pondered further, her chin puckering like a walnut. This time she had several theories, but one seemed most likely.

“If you mishandle a spiritual being, it might undergo Corruption and become a Demon, like a bound spirit...”

“Meaning the place he’d taken her to was very important to him.”

Somewhere both very safe and important to a Cultivator—particularly an independent one with no backing.

“He had a secluded abode here.”

“A secluded abode.”

They spoke almost simultaneously. A secluded abode was a Cultivator’s private, secret space.

Cultivation sects established themselves in places rich in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, guaranteeing their members a safe environment for training. The world of independent Cultivators, however, was nothing short of a battlefield. Securing a safe place to train was their very first step.

Yet suitable sites for secluded abodes were rare. The flowing nature of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth made it difficult to train in one place for long. Occasionally, however, that energy would pool in a place instead of flowing away through the earth’s veins.

Such places, where abundant spiritual energy lingered, were called grotto-heavens. A Cultivator who discovered one would claim it, erect all manner of barriers, and build a secluded abode there to stay for years.

“If his secluded abode is here and he’s still alive, there’s a good chance he hasn’t left.”

Discovering a grotto-heaven, then acquiring a spiritual being. For an independent Cultivator, he had enjoyed considerable good fortune.

“Looking for places that could house a secluded abode should give our search a clearer direction.”

Somewhere ordinary people did not shed impure energy. A Cultivator’s secluded abode would lie hidden deep in the mountains. Searching for an abode rather than a person at least gave them something more tangible to pursue.

“The problem is his realm...”

Finding him seemed a distant prospect, but even success would pose a problem. They could only attempt a conversation if their realms were similar. Never mind Foundation Establishment—even a Cultivator who had passed into Middle Stage Qi Refining might take offense at their presuming to address him. Visiting his secluded abode would be tantamount to declaring war.

“I’m not sure this is right. The First Principle of the Demon-Exorcizing Arts is not to advance on an unknown enemy.”

“Why call him an unknown enemy? We have plenty of information to draw conclusions from.”

“What do you think, then? Has he reached Foundation Establishment?”

“Hardly. Most Cultivators whose talent is too ordinary to secure a sect haven’t crossed the fifth-star barrier of Qi Refining even at seventy.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Do you think Cultivation is child’s play? Forget seventy. Most independent Cultivators die without ever crossing the first minor threshold, the fifth-star barrier of Qi Refining. A Qi Refining Cultivator lives for a hundred and fifty years on average... On the path of Cultivation, even a hundred and fifty years of training might not get you past the fifth star. Of course, that doesn’t apply to extraordinary geniuses like us.”

Minor thresholds. Advancement through Cultivation was like climbing a staircase, but a threshold was more like a wall appearing abruptly in one’s path. When a Cultivator’s advancement stalled, one of those thresholds was usually what barred the way.

Minor thresholds stood between the fourth and fifth stars, between the seventh and eighth, and so on. Major thresholds separated one realm from the next, such as Qi Refining from Foundation Establishment, or Foundation Establishment from Core Formation.

“There are rare talents who manage to shine on their own... But if he had enough talent to reach Foundation Establishment as an independent Cultivator, a cultivation sect or family would have accepted him in the first place. He wouldn’t have wandered all over the peninsula at early-stage Qi Refining looking for a fortuitous encounter.”

Seol Ryeong added that their opponent was probably a dullard, and of average talent at best. Concerned by her attitude, Yise pointed out the flaw.

“Which means that if we make a mistake, those extraordinary geniuses could end up being killed by someone dull or average. I can’t think of a more pointless death.”

“... We’ll have to be careful not to let that happen.”