Chapter 62 - Act 10. Silver Dragon Mine (3)

The night patrolman led him to none other than the spirit stone storehouse, an annex built right beside the residence of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator Seok Gongju. The place, which had been securely locked and forbidden to enter or even approach, now stood wide open.

Yise stared at the broken barrier for a long while with an odd expression. Cultivators had gathered around it, and those who had been resting were appearing one after another.

"... The spirit stones have been stolen."

Unable to make sense of the situation, Yise asked the man on duty, "The spirit stones?"

"Yes. All fifty thousand or so produced over the spring and summer are gone."

"How is that possible?"

"..."

"Who did it?"

"I believe it was... Old Shin. He was on the shift right before mine, and when I went looking for him to find out what happened, he was nowhere to be found."

Old Shin. A fourth-star Qi Refining Cultivator and the oldest of those on mission duty here. That old man, who supposedly had little time left to live and no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, had stolen fifty thousand spirit stones and fled.

Yise examined the storehouse barrier once more. A strange sense that something was wrong began to surface. Goe Tong arrived late, his face stiffening.

"What in the..."

"Goe Tong. Fix your clothes first. You're a mess."

Only then did Goe Tong cover his half-naked body and put his clothes on properly.

"They say Old Shin stole the spirit stones and ran. How could he have done that?"

Goe Tong pressed a hand to his forehead. He considered Old Shin entirely capable of such a thing.

"... Because he's the sort of man who could."

"How?"

"Old Shin has served at Silver Dragon Mine three times. The terrain, the way things work, the structure of the barrier, even Senior Seok Gongju's daily habits. That old man knows them better than anyone."

Yise immediately began taking stock of the situation. He turned back to the man on duty.

"Where is Seok Gongju?"

"He finished processing the first half of the year's output two days ago and entered secluded cultivation. Cultivator Chu has gone to fetch him."

Yise fell silent for a moment. He had heard that Seok Gongju entered secluded cultivation twice a year after completing his official duties. The thief had struck at precisely that time. This was no impulsive theft, but a thoroughly deliberate and planned crime. Perhaps even the old man's aimless wandering, as though he were above all worldly concerns, had been an act.

Yise and Goe Tong exchanged looks. Two emotions alternated across Goe Tong's face: relief that he was no longer the supervisor, and irritation that this had happened just after he finished the handover.

"What about tracking him? I understand there's a spell on our wrists that allows message talismans to locate Daemudo disciples."

"We tried sending a message talisman too. There was no response."

"Don't tell me. His wrist?"

"Yes. It seems he cut off his hand before fleeing."

Yise's gaze grew calm and still. A spell was inscribed on the back of every formal Daemudo disciple's hand, identifying their affiliation and transmitting their location to message talismans. Old Shin had cut even that away.

"Have you contacted the main mountain?"

"Well... not yet. When an incident occurs at the mine, protocol is to report to Senior Seok Gongju and the supervisor first, then await instructions."

Yise acknowledged this and looked around the storehouse, examining its security measures, its barrier, and even its interior.

"Wait a moment."

He instructed Goe Tong to guard the spot and immediately climbed to the summit. With narrowed eyes, he scoured the grounds of Silver Dragon Mine. Soon, he discovered the source of that strange feeling. His gaze fixed on a single spot.

'Could it be...?'

An ominous, irreverent thought rose in his mind. Just then, he sensed Seok Gongju's presence as the man emerged, and turned.

Seok Gongju appeared roughly half a quarter-hour after the incident broke out. The Qi Refining Cultivators bowed their heads awkwardly. As his gaze swept over them, everyone instinctively hunched their shoulders.

The wrath of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. A pressure unlike anything he ordinarily displayed bore down on the entire area. Only Yise watched him with a calm expression. Seok Gongju's gaze settled on him.

"I will not blame you for this."

His voice was level.

"But if the spirit stones are lost, you and I will bear the greatest responsibility. The other Cultivators here will share the burden of that fifty-thousand-spirit-stone debt. So..."

Seok Gongju steadied his breathing for a moment, then spoke emphatically. Unrestrained spiritual energy spilled from him, making it hard to breathe.

"Resolve this before the main mountain learns of it."

Maintaining his respectful manner, Yise asked, "Wouldn't it be faster to contact the main mountain and track his location?"

"If he cut off his hand before fleeing, even the main mountain cannot locate him. You would only make matters worse. Even if we catch the criminal, we will not escape punishment."

"What about the soul-binding contract? He has acted to harm Daemudo. Surely there is some measure we can take."

"That oath is for determining whether a disciple has died. No spell exists that could track the locations of more than ten thousand disciples through an oath."

A memory of the induction ceremony flashed through Yise's mind.

["I will not act in betrayal of Daemudo."]

That was what he had declared when he entered the soul-binding contract on the day he became a novice disciple. When he asked what would happen if he broke it, Kang Itae had answered, ["Nothing will happen immediately."]

At the time, he had felt no particular suspicion. He had been told someone would eventually come to punish him, and had considered that warning enough.

'... Is the oath nothing but an empty formality?'

Had there been a restriction that punished violations immediately, Old Shin could never even have attempted the theft. But nothing of the sort had happened.

Without letting anything show, Yise set those thoughts aside. That was not what mattered now.

"He most likely headed for the Jeong Empire. Search every route between here and the empire. At fourth-star Qi Refining, he cannot have gone far. Cultivator Yise. You will lead them."

Yise gave a brief bow. As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Seok Gongju could have handled this far faster himself, but he was the mine's last line of defense and could not leave. The moment he did, there would be a lapse in the barrier's maintenance, leaving them open to attack. The mine itself was more important than the spirit stones. In the end, the search fell to Yise.

Yise took the map Seok Gongju handed him and spread it on the ground. The Cultivators gathered in a circle. He drew numerous straight lines from Silver Dragon Mine toward the Jeong Empire's border, then assigned each person a pursuit route. With coverage this thorough, they should be unlikely to miss him.

The problem was... would someone who had planned a crime this meticulously not have prepared his escape as well? Of all the mines, Silver Dragon Mine happened to be closest to the Jeong Empire. Even if they split up to pursue him, they were very likely already too late.

"Hurry."

At Yise's urging, the Cultivators scattered at once. Yet Yise himself did not move. As he stood holding the map, Seok Gongju stared at him and asked,

"Do you not intend to go?"

"There are a few things I would like to ask before I leave."

"Time is of the essence."

"They concern this matter. Please permit me."

Seok Gongju studied him briefly, then gave a curt answer.

"Very well."

Yise began with his first question.

"Could you tell me Old Shin's exact age? I understand he has served here several times."

"About a hundred and forty."

"Fifty thousand spirit stones must weigh a considerable amount. Could he carry them alone? However long he has lived, an early-stage Qi Refining Cultivator would be unlikely to own a storage pouch with that much capacity."

Not understanding the purpose of the question, Seok Gongju furrowed his brow, but answered readily.

"The processed stones are all mid-grade spirit stones. Each contains the spirituality of a hundred ordinary spirit stones, so the actual number is five hundred mid-grade stones. He could easily carry them inside his robes."

With an unreadable expression, Yise asked his next question.

"Were there any anti-theft spells on the place where the spirit stones were stored?"

Seok Gongju slowly met his gaze.

"There were."

"Could a fourth-star Qi Refining Cultivator break through them?"

"I do not know. But the security spells themselves are not particularly formidable. With planning and preparation, there is no reason he could not breach them."

"Why?"

Seok Gongju tilted his head as though asking what he meant, and Yise continued.

"Was there a reason you kept such a large quantity of spirit stones, fifty thousand of them, under such lax security?"

Silence fell. A seventh-star Qi Refining Cultivator was interrogating someone at Foundation Establishment. Ordinarily, such insolence would have cost him his tongue. Yet Seok Gongju remained unruffled.

"Are you blaming me? Or do you actually suspect me?"

"I am merely curious."

"Because there was no need for more."

The answer was concise.

"The barrier surrounding Silver Dragon Mine already provides ample protection, and no one expected betrayal from within Daemudo. Spirit stone mines have been attacked from outside countless times, but this is the first time in our history that a formal disciple has stolen from one."

As though satisfied by the explanation, Yise changed his question.

"What should we do if we find the culprit?"

"Recover all the spirit stones and execute the traitor on the spot."

"Understood."

Yise bowed his head and turned away. There were certainly suspicious aspects to the affair, but rather than investigate inside the mine, he headed straight down around its southern side and sent a message talisman to Daemudo's Registry Office.

* * *

One watch after the uproar at Silver Dragon Mine, after all the Qi Refining Cultivators had left to pursue the thief, the barrier that securely guarded the mine flickered out for an instant.

Only now did Old Shin walk out of Silver Dragon Mine. His empty right sleeve fluttered. A moment later, the barrier returned to normal as though it had never vanished, radiating its mystical energy.

Old Shin walked on calmly. His expression was so relaxed that no one would have believed he was fleeing with Daemudo's stolen spirit stones. He was even heading south, in the exact opposite direction from the northward pursuit launched by Daemudo's disciples.

His destination was Tiger Ridge Market Town, a market town administered by the Tiger Ridge Sect, one of Daemudo's secular branches.

Secular branches were relatively free of Daemudo's surveillance. Even the gathering of spiritual herbs, forbidden in principle, was tacitly permitted, and discovery brought no more than a small fine. As a result, the elixir pill trade was livelier in their market towns than within Daemudo itself. Pills such as the Longevity Pills he needed would be readily available.

He would cross into the Jeong Empire afterward. Once he disguised himself and changed clothes, he could take his time making a long detour, leaving his pursuers empty-handed.

He glanced around, then took something from inside his robes and stroked it. A pouch of spirit stones. More than fifty thousand spirit stones, no less. With these... he could continue his Cultivation.

First, he would take Longevity Pills at Tiger Ridge Market Town to extend his lifespan. Then he would cross into the Jeong Empire, buy elixir pills with the remaining spirit stones, and pour them down like water. Surely that would make it possible. He could go on living.

For the first time, the desire he had suppressed for so many years bloomed freely on his face. He was walking lightly toward his destination, as though out for a stroll, when a voice spoke.

"Where are you off to in such high spirits?"

At the sudden voice, Old Shin jerked his head up toward its source. A shadow dropped from a tree.

"Old Shin."

It was Yise. He landed in front of him.

The blood drained from the old man's face in an instant.

"... H-how?"