Chapter 9 - Act 3. Daemudo Entrance Examination (2)

The applicants looked bewildered as they stood before the main gate. Taken literally, the task was too simple to qualify as a test. All they had to do was walk through the gate. It offered no way to distinguish one applicant from another, and despite the rumors, the examination seemed unremarkable.

But the mood changed the moment they spotted the Demon crouching in the middle of the gateway.

'A Demon.'

Its skin was ashen gray. Its arms were long, its neck unnaturally stretched. Both eyes were closed, but the corners of its mouth seemed slightly raised. And there was no sacred rope, barrier, or chain anywhere around it.

The Demon was not restrained. It was simply sitting there. They would have to pass right by it through the rather narrow gateway. If, by any chance, it attacked... they would be forfeiting their lives.

The applicants understood the purpose of this test. Of knowledge, strength, courage, and principle, this was courage: the courage to overcome the pressure of a Demon that could hurt them at any moment and keep walking.

'But this is too easy.'

However strange and frightening Demons might be, what was so difficult about walking past one if you were certain it would not attack? Yise tilted his head.

The first applicant must have thought the same. "What? This is nothing," he muttered, his voice a mixture of nerves and bravado, before starting forward.

Three steps. That was all the distance the first applicant covered. His legs began trembling, and he sank to the ground, unable to rise.

"Failed."

Chief Examiner Kang Itae's firm voice rang out, and the examiners dragged the applicant away.

A second, a third, a fourth followed. Countless applicants stepped forward, but most collapsed after no more than three to five steps. Whenever an applicant sank down or stopped and hesitated, the Chief Examiner wasted little time before declaring them a failure.

"Hae Unchan."

A familiar name was called. Yise heard murmurs around him.

"So that's the Hae family's legitimate eldest son."

"The one they say might place first in this year's intake...?"

The Hae family? From the way they spoke of it, he must belong to a noble family. Yise knew nothing about the families of the continent, so he simply watched without giving it much thought.

Unchan strode forward boldly, then faltered at his third step. Clenching his fists, he began walking again. With every step, cold sweat poured from his body, and blood dripped from his clenched fists.

At last, the first applicant made it through the main gate, and Kang Itae's curt "Passed" rang out. Low exclamations rose among the applicants. After that, an occasional success appeared amid the many failures.

"Next, Yise."

At the sound of his name, Yise quietly steadied his breathing. As he approached the gate, he brought his bodily senses into order.

'... Strange.'

Yise narrowed his eyes at the Demon's appearance. He could not identify it. Having memorized all the hundreds of Demon species documented in Gwisu Temple's library, he found an unfamiliar one all the more striking.

'A Demon that wasn't recorded in the library.'

Gwisu Temple's library might be lacking in other areas, but its information on Demons was inexhaustible, thanks to Mongryeon's three centuries of practicing the Demon-Exorcizing Arts. Yet he still could not identify this one. Judging by the strength of its Demonic Energy, it seemed a little stronger than the Wailing Dragon Demon, somewhere in late Qi Refining.

He cleared away his thoughts and took his third step. The air changed. Thick killing intent rushed at him, seeming to slice through his entire body, as though it would slit his throat and tear apart his innards in an instant.

You will die.

Take one more step, and you will certainly die.

It was as though someone were shrieking in his ear.

'How is this Qi Refining Demonic Energy?'

The disparity between the Demonic Energy it possessed and the killing intent he felt was enormous. The pressure was like that of a being from a far higher realm bearing down on him.

His body reacted instinctively. Before he knew it, his hand had gone to his waist and gripped the handle of his hand axe, a weapon long familiar to his grasp.

"Hey."

An examiner's voice reached him.

"Attack the Demon, and you're disqualified."

"..."

Unable to bring himself to put the hand axe away, Yise took another step.

The fourth step. The pressure intensified, choking off his breath and constricting his chest.

The fifth. A biting chill ran from the back of his head to his waist, and his shoulder muscles began to stiffen and tingle.

At that moment, the Demonic Energy inside him gave a sudden twitch.

'... So I wasn't imagining it.'

The day he had exorcised the Wailing Dragon Demon. The Demonic Energy that had remained inside him, writhing painfully. That unsettling sensation had come vividly to life once again.

'Stay still.'

Muttering inwardly, Yise scraped his palm across the blade of his axe, opening a cut. Fresh blood trickled out. He closed his hand around the pooling blood and walked forward.

'This paltry fake killing intent is child's play compared with facing a Demon that's actually coming to kill me.'

Then he picked up his pace, moving at a brisk walk—a pace no other applicant had managed so far. At last, he stood beyond the gate.

"Passed."

Chief Examiner Kang Itae's voice delivered that single, curt word.

At the same time, the killing intent that had been slicing through his body like blades vanished. He spotted a boy waving at him from inside.

"Knew you'd make it."

Hae Unchan approached him, as excited as though he himself had just passed.

"What was that running at the end? Wow, I could barely manage one step at a time."

"Nothing much. I've been through it before."

"...?"

Unchan tilted his head as if to ask what he meant, but Yise merely shrugged. If he said he had hunted a low-grade Demon at ten and beheaded a mid-grade Demon only a few days ago, Unchan would only think he was boasting.

* * *

With well over a thousand applicants, the test continued until sunset. By the time the sun was sinking and the first test ended, only some two hundred or fewer remained. Compared with the original crowd, their numbers had fallen by almost ninety percent.

Kang Itae stepped before the applicants' uneven ranks and surveyed them all.

"One hundred sixty-nine. Plenty of applicants means plenty of passes. Welcome to those of you who have passed the first test."

As he spoke, a bird that had been circling overhead flew down to perch on his shoulder. The Demon guarding the main gate changed shape and came to stand beside him.

Yise immediately recognized the two creatures. One was a Crane Bird, an enormous bird with white feathers. The other was a Haechi, a horned beast resembling both a lion and a cloud. These were Daemudo's two symbolic Divine Beasts, the creatures that had made it what it was today. The Demon in the first test had been the Haechi in another form.

While the applicants gaped at the Divine Beasts and their imposing presence, Kang Itae continued his explanation.

"The examination will run for seven days, with one test each day. As you know, disciples are selected for knowledge, strength, courage, and principle: Knowledge, Martial Prowess, courage, and Principle."

The criteria were so well known that every applicant nodded.

"The first test established that you have the courage not to retreat before a Demon. Now prove the rest through the six remaining tests."

Kang Itae swept his gaze over the applicants, then stressed his next words in a deliberately solemn voice.

"There are a few precautions you should know."

He paced a little from side to side, tapping the rod in his hand against his palm.

"If any of you value your lives and are joining Daemudo in pursuit of eternal youth and longevity, turn back now. Piss off to some den of pill addicts, or go recite Daoist scriptures with those cowardly long-snouted bastards."

Not understanding what Kang Itae meant, Yise blinked. Hae Unchan nudged him in the side and whispered.

"He's taking a jab at the major Cultivation sects in the Jeong Empire."

"Cultivation sects? Other than Daemudo?"

"Yeah. Jeong has two enormous Cultivation sects, the Pill Refining Sect and Kunlun. The Pill Refining Sect hunts spirit beasts and gathers spiritual materials to make elixir pills, then eats them to force their way into higher realms. That's why he calls them pill addicts."

"What about Kunlun?"

"They practice swordsmanship, but they hole up in the mountains, trying to become Immortals through meditation and enlightenment alone. Hence the long-snouted Daoist bastards."

"Sounds like they don't get along."

"You can say that again! Watch your life if you ever cross over to Jeong. They call us Demon butchers. Hahaha! People become Cultivators to extend their lives and become Immortals, but they say we don't value our own lives."

"That's enough chatter."

Despite their barely audible whispers, Kang Itae had detected them with uncanny precision. His eyes flashed as he rebuked them. Hae Unchan and Yise answered, "Sorry, sir," and straightened up.

"We do not hold our lives dear. Making Demon exorcism our calling is itself Principle, and a Cultivator's heavenly mandate. Do not hunt spirit beasts recklessly. Do not wantonly damage spiritual things. All who follow a different path from ours are our enemies."

Then did Daemudo never take elixir pills at all? Would he have to throw up the pill he had already swallowed...? Remembering that he had read about elixir pills being necessary at certain realms, Yise found himself wondering.

"Answer me."

"Yes, sir!"

The reply thundered out. The examiners then began handing out training robes and books.

"That book will guide you through the fundamentals every Daemudo disciple must learn. There will be a written test on the final day, so study whenever you have time."

Some applicants grimaced at the mention of a written test, but most understood that it was meant to prove their Knowledge. The cover of the fairly thick volume read <Daemudo Basic Handbook>.

"Finally, if you fight privately or injure another applicant, you will be disqualified. If someone angers you enough to make you want to kill them, request a formal duel through me. I'll remove the loser from the examination for you. That is all. Questions."

When no one asked anything, Yise raised his hand. The most important thing had not been explained.

"When are meals served? Can we help ourselves?"

Every applicant around him immediately turned to stare.

"... Is that important?"

"Yes."

His expression asked why anyone would pose a question with such an obvious answer. Kang Itae's brow twitched. This year's intake seemed to have an unusually large number of oddballs.

"A bell will ring at every mealtime. I don't know how the food is served."

How could he not know? Did Cultivators not eat? Yise had a mountain of questions, but decided to ask only the most important.

"Will there be enough to ensure proper growth?"

"... Does this sect look too poor to spare food? Next."

Once Yise had broken the ice, the others began asking their own questions one by one. Kang Itae gave them perfunctory answers until the mealtime bell rang, then raised his hand to stop the questions.

"That's all for today. Someone here seems very serious about stuffing his face, so eat first. Afterward, wait in the waiting hall, and you'll be assigned temporary quarters."

* * *

After the meal, they returned to the waiting hall. Yise quickly skimmed the handbook, then addressed Hae Unchan, who had been clinging to him like a leech for some time.

"Hae Unchan."

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell me more about those Cultivation sects on the continent you mentioned earlier?"

"Sure, that's easy. What do you want to know?"

"Just a general idea. You said there were two more in Jeong. Aren't there any other Cultivation sects in the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula?"

Hae Unchan was briefly taken aback. This was elementary knowledge for anyone who dreamed of Cultivation. Then he remembered hearing that some applicants came to take the examination after spending their lives secluded in the mountains. Satisfied with that explanation, he continued.

"There are. Most are secular branches of Daemudo, though, or so small it's embarrassing to call them Cultivation sects."

"But there are three whole countries on the peninsula. Why?"

"The Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula are Daemudo's territory. Think about it. Cultivators value their lives more than anyone. Their greatest goal in life is to live long and stay young, by any means necessary. Most Cultivators place great importance on elixir pills and fortuitous encounters. Would they really want to set their sights on a place crawling with Demon butchers who don't care about their own lives, glaring at everyone with murder in their eyes?"

"..."

"Well, some do come over anyway. Exactly two kinds: idiots who die young, and those confident in their own abilities."