Chapter 60 - Act 10. Silver Dragon Mine (1)

Yise took a deep breath outside his private cultivation cave in the cultivation district. A trace of impure energy entered his spiritual meridians with the breath.

The main mountain had less impure energy than anywhere else. That tiny amount had barely bothered him before, yet now that he was about halfway through Purging Impurity, Purifying Spirit, even the little he breathed in felt abrasive. It was like inhaling sand through his nose—a change brought about by the growing purity of his body.

The effects showed elsewhere, too. Both his complexion and the texture of his skin had improved enormously. With his skin glowing and as soft as a baby's, no one could even jokingly call him a country bumpkin who ran through fields and helped work the land anymore. Even the scars he had acquired as a small child had vanished without a trace.

Yise set off toward the residential district. He had made considerable progress over the past six months. Even for a single-attribute spiritual root bearer, breaking through the minor threshold to the eighth star generally took at least three years. And that was for someone with exceptional concentration and perseverance; slower Cultivators could take as long as ten.

His goal was to cross the eighth-star barrier within the next year. If he could then reach the ninth star, Great Attainment, and finally Foundation Establishment within the remaining six years, he would break Hall Master U Yuhee's record.

'... It really was a monstrous pace, now that I think about it.'

The higher his realm, the more time cultivation required. Even now, he wondered whether he could make it in time. Had he not experienced the dubious fortune of killing a tenth-star demonic practitioner, he could only think, 'I'd never have stood a chance of breaking Hall Master U Yuhee's record.'

'Let's not get impatient.'

He was already advancing quickly enough. At this rate, he should have no trouble reaching at least Foundation Establishment, which would secure him a lifespan of no less than three hundred years. He could afford to take life a little easier and grow accustomed to a Cultivator's sense of time.

'I need to get some elixir pills.'

He had used up all the immortal-cuisine ingredients from his last mission, and maintaining the harmony of yin and yang kept him from going out to practice the Demon-Exorcizing Arts. Though he had spent some on elixir pills and a Spirit-Gathering Formation, he still had plenty of spirit stones to spare.

He gave his quarters in Clear Repose Hall One a quick cleaning after their six months of gathering dust. Just as he was about to leave for the commercial district, something tapped at the window.

TAP. TAP TAP.

When he opened it, a message talisman flitted inside and settled on his palm.

- Mandatory Mission Assigned. Supervise spirit stone mine (Silver Dragon Mine). (Duration: 6 months)

"..."

For a moment, Yise doubted his eyes. Supervision? Six months?

Mandatory missions were assigned once a year. Were they really allowed to make one last six months? If they kept handing out year-long assignments, did that mean he could never take other missions? An endless cycle of mandatory duty...?

After a little thought, he decided to ask at the Mission Pavilion in person. Surely someone had mistakenly written "months" instead of "days."

Yise strode majestically into the Mission Pavilion and quickly scanned the interior. Then he approached the most junior Cultivator, the one with the lowest cultivation, and cautiously protested that there seemed to be an error in the notice.

"No, Senior. It is indeed a six-month mission."

"But can an annual mission really be this long? I don't mind something a bit harder. Couldn't I take a different assignment?"

"I'm sorry, but that isn't up to me. Would you like to ask the Pavilion Master over there?"

Yise followed the staff member's pointing finger. There stood an irritable-looking senior Cultivator at late-stage Foundation Establishment who was plainly very busy.

Still, perhaps he should at least ask...? If he used Hall Master Hae Il's assignment as an excuse, he had a feeling they might change it.

As he hovered inside the pavilion, dithering like a puppy desperate to poop, someone spoke.

"Senior?"

The voice was familiar. Jo Jeongjin—a fourth-star Cultivator whose progress was among the fastest in their cohort.

"It's been a while. Have you finished your secluded cultivation? It looks as though you've reached... the seventh star."

He had actually reached the seventh star before that, but Yise did not elaborate either way.

"Yes. It wasn't really secluded cultivation, just some focused practice."

"Are you heading straight out on a mission?"

Yise explained the situation in response to Jo Jeongjin's question, drawing a hearty laugh.

"Apparently, these long-term assignments usually go to disciples who have only just entered the main mountain, or Cultivators whose progress is slow. Most of our cohort, myself included, did ours over spring and summer. They probably held yours back out of consideration for what you went through. There isn't much to do there anyway, so just think of it as a change of cultivation venue."

"Really?"

Learning that they had postponed his assignment out of consideration made Yise look at the Mission Pavilion's Cultivators in a new light. One ought to be grateful for kindness. He decided to accept their decision without further fuss and back down.

Walking beside Jo Jeongjin, Yise asked, "Is there anything I should watch out for while supervising the mine?"

"Hmm. Let's see... As I said, it isn't particularly difficult. Oh, you should avoid contact with the miners as much as possible. And don't pity them."

"The miners, huh."

Yise did not quite understand, but decided to remember it. This, too, would become another experience to add to his store.

"Have you heard anything about Bu Chun or Gangseo?"

"Fellow Daoist Park probably took an assignment teaching the novices at the training compound."

"He really seems to like that job. Does he dream of being a teacher?"

"Haha. As for Bu Chun, I believe he's mostly been taking delivery missions. He should be away on one right now."

Daemudo offered such a wide variety of missions that even someone of poor talent like Bu Chun could earn a decent number of spirit stones if he worked hard. He had said he would switch to a staff position next year, so he would be diligently taking missions for the rest of this one.

"Anyway, thanks. It was good seeing you. See you around."

"Yes, Senior."

What an earnest, dependable Cultivator. Yise watched Jo Jeongjin leave with approval.

His next stop was a pill-refining chamber in the research district. More precisely, it was the chamber in the red building where Hong Wonseo kept her furnace. The fairly spacious room was filled with expensive-looking pill furnaces and refining tools, but she was alone inside.

It looked for all the world like a group workshop, yet the communal refining chamber was somewhere else.

"You're alone every time I come. Don't tell me you have this whole place to yourself?"

"No. This building and refining chamber belong to the Flame Blossom Hong family."

"Oh, so that's why it's so... Where are the other pill refiners?"

"There aren't any. I'm the only Qi Refining Cultivator in the Flame Blossom Hong family. Foundation Establishment Cultivators have their own private refining chambers."

"... So you do have it to yourself."

"You came for these, didn't you?"

Hong Wonseo held out some low-grade Grain-Abstinence Pills and Healing Pills—the grade used by Qi Refining Cultivators. Yise paid her in spirit stones at the lowest going rate.

"Can't you just buy them at the permanent shops? This isn't a retail store."

"Then we'd lose money to their commission. What are friends for? Have you made any other pills?"

"I have a freshly made low-grade Spirit-Burst Pill. Want it?"

Spirit-Burst Pills temporarily caused spiritual energy to erupt, granting tremendous power. The aftereffects, however, were severe. Essentially, they borrowed strength from the future.

"Not that sort. Something that helps cultivation, like Spirit-Gathering Pills or Qi-Condensing Pills."

"Right. I don't have any."

"Come on. If you've stashed some away, bring them out. I'll pay well."

"I haven't even got enough to poison myself with."

Hong Wonseo lowered the screen she had rolled up in front of her furnace and resumed concentrating on her refining. Yise discreetly picked up the Spirit-Burst Pill from the floor and slipped it into his storage pouch.

The permanent shops wouldn't have any pills in stock anyway. Even low-grade pills sold for whatever price the seller demanded, and Cultivators descended on them like Hungry Ghosts the moment they appeared. The ones he had acquired last time had taken considerable effort to find.

He sighed.

'Maybe I should have learned pill refining instead of immortal cuisine.'

Then he shook his head. The reality of being a pill refiner was having too few ingredients to even practice the craft properly.

"Pay for that Spirit-Burst Pill before you take it."

Unless, like Hong Wonseo, you had been born with a golden ancestor in your mouth.

* * *

Silver Dragon Mine, northern Tabaro.

Standing at the foot of a mountain scarcely larger than a hill, Yise gave a disbelieving chuckle.

'A spirit stone mine.'

He had wondered how spirit stones were made. To think they were simply dug out of mines like other minerals.

According to Jo Jeongjin, spirit stone mines were where Daemudo's enemies were sent to perform forced labor after their spiritual roots were sealed. Silver Dragon Mine's administrator was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator who introduced himself as a stonecrafter, a practitioner of the spirit-stone processing art among the hundred cultivation crafts.

There really were all sorts of crafts in the world, Yise thought.

"Seventh star, is it? You're the highest-ranked Cultivator currently on mission duty at Silver Dragon Mine, so you will serve as the supervisor overseeing the others. I'll summon the previous supervisor to hand things over to you."

"Yes, Senior."

Before long, a sixth-star Qi Refining Cultivator entered.

"I'm Goe Tong. I'll show you around."

The short Cultivator with the unusual name took him on a circuit of Silver Dragon Mine, explaining the supervisor's duties.

"Silver Dragon Mine is a small mine that produces around a hundred thousand spirit stones a year."

"A hundred thousand... is small?"

"Yes, quite small. Some of Daemudo's major mines produce several million."

When Yise looked taken aback by the jaw-dropping numbers, Goe Tong smiled understandingly.

"But aren't the forces stationed here a little inadequate?"

The personnel consisted of one Foundation Establishment Cultivator and only twenty-odd Qi Refining Cultivators, all at the Middle Stage or below. It certainly seemed insufficient to guard a mine producing a hundred thousand spirit stones.

"Well, we have Senior Seok Gongju here, for one. There's also a defensive barrier. If we're attacked, the disciples nearby will all come to our aid, so there's little cause for concern."

"So you do get attacked?"

"More often than you might think. The last attack was about thirty years ago, I believe. In particular, Foundation Establishment sects from the Jeong Empire or demonic-path sects sometimes attack for one last big haul before they collapse. If they succeed and cross the empire's borders, it becomes difficult to track them."

Goe Tong added that Daemudo's weakness was its severe shortage of Core Formation and Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

"Though successful raids are exceedingly rare."

"So that's why the seniors are always saying how busy they are."

As they spoke, they passed the laborers' quarters. Former Cultivators huddled together in thatched huts worse than the spirit-beast sheds on the main mountain. Their faces were lifeless, their flesh shriveled over skeletal frames.

One young miner spotted the pair and approached with a servile bow.

"Cultivators, could you please give me something to eat? I haven't eaten in three days..."

Yise tossed him a chunk of demonic-beast jerky he had left sitting in storage because it was no longer very effective. Jo Jeongjin's warning came to mind, but he could not simply walk past. Whether it was mere pity or the memory of going hungry after losing his family as a child, he could not say.

"Ah, Senior. You really shouldn't..."

The miner stuffed the entire large chunk of jerky into his mouth and began running away as though fleeing. Other miners chased him down and beat him, then pulled the jerky from his mouth and ate it themselves.

Yise's brow furrowed at the deeply ugly sight.