Chapter 46 - Act 7. Designated Mission (3)

* * *

After accepting the mission, the first thing Yise did was gather information. The victims’ names, their estimated times of death, their realms, even the kinds of ritual implements they usually carried—he extracted everything he could from mission records and his fellow disciples’ memories. Since this concerned the murderer, the novices readily shared any recollection that might offer even the slightest clue.

After spending an entire day gathering information, Yise was left with three points of interest.

Every victim had been a top-ranking disciple who frequently undertook missions. They had been reasonably well equipped with ritual implements and had amassed comparatively substantial reserves of spirit stones.

All three had also been killed while setting out on difficulty-seven missions. Their bodies had all been found a short distance beyond Daemudo’s territory, after they had descended Azure Mountain.

Finally, the dates on which the victims had set out were the first, tenth, and fifteenth days of the month.

Yise considered all three facts together. Since they frequently undertook missions, they would have had plenty of resources on hand. And difficulty-seven missions required a solid array of ritual implements. The permanent shops in Azure Mountain Capital carried only a limited selection, so they would have made use of the periodic market to acquire more.

Azure Mountain Capital’s five-day market.

Every five days, the city held a market that drew independent Cultivators and outer disciples from far and wide. The murderer must have chosen those days to strike.

The problem was how to identify the culprit. If he were selling the victims’ ritual implements, that would make things easy... but there was no chance of that. An independent Cultivator that stupid would have been caught long ago. He would have sold them in another market town or kept them carefully hidden.

If Yise could find no evidence, there was only one option: make the man attack first. Even if the attacker was not his mission target, killing anyone who attacked first was the way of the cultivation world. His best course was to force a confession in the process.

‘The next five-day market is in two days.’

He would begin the mission then.

U Jeol had said he need not act alone even if he did not hire a senior Cultivator, but Yise, who desperately needed every spirit stone he could get, had no desire to share the reward. No matter how close two people were, unpaid labor was unthinkable in the cultivation world.

Besides, the resources at stake were greater than he had expected. Quite apart from the reward for completing the mission, he could take everything the plunderer had amassed, including all the belongings of his deceased fellow disciples.

Having this mission assigned to him was a fine opportunity. Daemudo had no intention of investing more than the allotted resources in a case involving novice disciples, and Cultivators wanted only missions that paid what their work was worth. They avoided complicated cases that took too long or offered no certainty of resolution. That was how this opportunity had come his way.

‘I’ll succeed, no matter what.’

A grudge and a guaranteed reward. He had more than enough motivation.

* * *

Two days later, after finishing his dawn cultivation, Yise was heading for Azure Mountain Capital when a Cultivator approached him with a discreet cough.

It was the youngest Cultivator from Medicine Hall. His mortal enemy, who had robbed him of a hundred spirit stones for an elixir pill worth seventy.

For some reason, the man stood before him with a hesitant air before speaking.

“Well, um... I wanted to apologize for making you pay too much for that Regeneration Pill, fellow Daoist.”

“After all this time?”

Yise tilted his head. Granted, since that day he had added the man to his list of enemies, just below his family’s killer and the Iron Sun Thunder Sect demonic practitioner, but he had never expected this.

“I failed to consider how you must have felt after losing part of your body. I thought only of how many Regeneration Pills we had left. I believe I was too coldhearted... I’ll recalculate it at the lowest price and refund the difference.”

A Cultivator coughing up spirit stones he had already swallowed?

The pouch he held out contained thirty spirit stones. Yise took it and said nothing for a moment. The Cultivator watched him, his expression growing increasingly stiff, before adding another five stones.

“Resources ought to accrue interest over time, after all. Please accept this as a gesture of my sincerity.”

Only then did the corners of Yise’s mouth slowly rise.

“Such generosity truly befits a Daoist.”

He smiled at the Cultivator, who breathed a sigh of relief.

“Please take good care of the novices for the rest of their time here. And the children who come in next year, too.”

“... Y-yes, of course. Certainly.”

The Cultivator hastily bowed and disappeared. Yise watched him go for a moment before turning away.

It felt strange to be turning into more and more of a miser. But now that he belonged to the cultivation world, where resources meant both advancement and survival, the innocent heart he had possessed at Gwisu Temple was slowly fading.

A pity, really.

Of course, his newly fattened pouch of spirit stones put a spring in his step.

Azure Mountain Capital teemed with people. The market for ordinary people was being held alongside the Cultivators’ market. The entire city was busier, but the streets of the ordinary market in particular were so packed there was scarcely room to stand. Fleeing the pungent smell of impure energy, Yise headed for the outskirts.

Like the permanent shops, the Cultivators’ periodic markets occupied quiet areas away from the crowds of ordinary people. There were four market streets in all, situated in the east, west, south, and north of Azure Mountain Capital and called Magnolia Market, Plum Blossom Market, Rose of Sharon Market, and Chrysanthemum Market.

Yise visited the nearby Magnolia Market first, walking casually among the stalls. Most Cultivators were browsing at their leisure, but now and then he saw someone raising their voice or scowling.

The permanent shops were licensed by Daemudo. As such, their prices were fixed, and no one played tricks with spirit stones.

The market stalls were another matter. Most sellers and buyers were independent Cultivators who would never see one another again. It was a wilderness where inflated prices, backstabbing, and scheming were standard practice. If you didn’t know better, you deserved to be cheated—that was practically the basic rule.

Yise kept his wits about him as he examined the stalls. The mission came first, but he was willing to buy a useful ritual implement if he found one.

He had already disposed of all the single-use implements rendered unnecessary by his advancement. All he had left were the Twin-Banner Spirit-Domain Sealing Standard, the Meridian-Cutting Blade, one Spirit-Sealing Talisman, one Lightning Bomb, Healing Pills, and Antidote Pills. Excluding the Spirit-Concealing Pearl and Lifesaving Armor, which he had to return, his armament was embarrassingly meager for his realm.

He walked toward the stall in the best location. The Cultivator there spotted him, quickly assessed his realm, and brightened. To the man, he would probably seem to be somewhere around the fourth or fifth star—still relatively high for this market.

“Welcome, Senior. Please, browse at your leisure.”

Yise inspected the displayed ritual implements one by one. Most were single-use items he did not need.

“Do you have any defensive ritual implements?”

“Goodness, would any Cultivator bring something that expensive to a market like this...?”

“I see.”

With that brief reply, Yise moved on to the next stall. He repeated the process several times, but everyone could only look apologetic.

He knew perfectly well that none of these independent Cultivators would have a defensive ritual implement. Even so, asking at every stall was a way of scattering bait. He wanted to look like tempting prey when he encountered the murderer—or when word reached the man.

Looking for a defensive ritual implement meant he currently lacked a means of protecting himself. It also meant he possessed the wealth to buy one. Finally, he would look like a clueless amateur who did not even know that a market of this size could not offer such a thing.

By the time he had visited most of Magnolia Market’s stalls, one merchant stopped him as he was about to walk away.

“Now, Senior, don’t go just yet. I have something rare. Would you care to take a look?”

“Something rare?”

When Yise showed interest, the independent Cultivator produced a wooden box he had kept carefully hidden. Inside lay an elixir pill glowing a soft pink.

‘An elixir pill!’

It was something rarely seen at a market like this. The independent Cultivator smiled confidently and launched into a proud explanation.

“This is a Spring-Restoring Pill. It isn’t quite as potent as a Union Pill, but it will make you feel as though you’re floating through the clouds. I went to considerable trouble to acquire it.”

“A Spring-Restoring Pill? What does it do?”

“Ah. You haven’t heard of it? Understandable.”

The merchant lowered his voice with a sly grin.

“It lets a man and woman improve their cultivation while making love, even without learning dual cultivation. And it feels very good indeed.”

Yise’s expression froze. Embarrassing words like “making love” caught his ear, but something else concerned him far more.

“Wait. What did you say dual cultivation was?”

The merchant gave him a puzzled look.

“You seem to have reached Middle Stage Qi Refining, yet you don’t know about dual cultivation? It’s when a man and a woman cultivate together by making love.”

“...”

“What do you say? The price is seventy spirit stones.”

At that moment, Yise could no longer hear the independent Cultivator’s voice.

[“Dual cultivation? ... It’s a method a man and woman practice together to achieve the union of yin and yang.”]

[“What is there in cultivation that a man and woman need to do together?”]

[“Who knows? Maybe they play clapping games. I don’t know... exactly.”]

[“You sound like you do.”]

[“I said I don’t! Why are you asking me about that?”]

[“Well, if it’s a cultivation method, I thought we could try it together. I was only asking.”]

Yise might have only just come of age, but he knew what it meant for a man and woman to make love.

“... How about sixty-eight?”

The Dokkaebi’s breeding-season festivities had taught him, whether he wanted to know or not.

“Oh, very well! I’ll give you a generous discount. Sixty-five! I absolutely cannot go any lower!”

Now that he finally understood why Seol Ryeong had been so outraged, the shame flooding over him felt positively life-threatening.

“Senior! Senior!”

Yise all but fled. He crouched in a corner and remained there for a long time, his face buried in both hands. Passing Cultivators glanced his way, but he had no attention to spare for them.

After wallowing in self-loathing for a good while, he slapped his cheeks twice.

Get a grip. What was so terrible about saying the wrong thing out of ignorance? If it kept bothering him, regrettable as it would be, he would simply have to stop being friends with Seol Ryeong.

Yise decided to get on with the mission.

An entire morning spent roaming the four markets began to pay off. By afternoon, merchants who saw his face spoke before he could even open his mouth.

“We don’t have any defensive ritual implements.”

Nodding ruefully, Yise headed for the next stall, only to stop before another display. He had never seen these items before: two small bottles tied together as a set. One contained a transparent powder so fine that its grains were almost imperceptible, while the other held a grayish-white liquid.

“What are these?”

“You have a good eye. These ritual items are Lingering Scent Powder and Scent-Tracing Water. They’re used as a pair. Sprinkle even a little of the powder and its scent will linger for a day. Drink the water, and you can smell it from anywhere within a hundred li.”

Yise looked from one bottle to the other. These could be quite useful.

“How much?”

“Thirty spirit stones for a portioned set.”

“That’s too expensive.”

“Oh, I barely make anything at that price. They may not look like much, but use them sparingly and they’ll last quite a while. Why not keep a set on hand?”

“Goodbye.”

Yise set the bottles down and turned away.

“Wait, wait! Senior, you do like them, don’t you? How about twenty-five?”

Cultivators really did try to fleece people at every opportunity. After throwing in a threat about the man daring to overcharge a Daemudo Daoist, Yise finally picked up the goods for twenty-three spirit stones.

That was the last of the open stalls. Having visited them all, Yise sat down in an out-of-the-way corner with a weary expression. Putting on a dejected face, he waited quietly for a fish to take the bait.

How much time passed like that?

At last.

“I hear you’re looking for a defensive ritual implement?”

The float bobbed.

At the sound of the voice behind him, Yise slowly turned his head.