Chapter 40
Translator: T_Fan
The alliance elder shouted as he pulled a blue voice-transmission talisman from his sleeve.
“Hold him off while I call for reinforcements!”
The cultivator in the dark blue robe thrust out his black iron spear.
Whoooosh―
The spiritual power coiling around the spearhead converged into a single point. The moment he twisted the shaft, three spear shadows as thick as a man’s torso fanned out and swept across the clearing. Two of them surged mercilessly toward the Changchun Sect disciples behind Lee Hyun, as though intending to slaughter them all at once.
At the same time, the gray-robed alliance elder’s six bronze flying swords scattered.
Three targeted Lee Hyun, while the other three blocked the Changchun Sect disciples from the left, right, and above. Thin strands of bronze light connected the flying swords, cutting off their escape routes.
The ground caved in, and fallen leaves and stones were swept into the air by the violent gale.
“Ten-Direction Yin Wood Formation!”
At Shen Yanzhu’s shout, the Qi Refining disciples of Pill Cauldron Peak scattered in all directions and raised their formation plaques.
Hummm―
Green spirit light connected the ten disciples. A thin, rounded barrier of light blossomed outward, enveloping all twelve of them.
Pei Jingsong stood at the front of the formation and pressed both hands toward the ground.
Rrrrumble!
Three earthen walls rose at an angle. Four red talismans flew from Shen Yanzhu’s sleeve.
Fwoooosh!
Four fireballs shot out along crossing trajectories toward the spear shadows and flying swords.
Yet even when the fireballs struck, they barely weakened the spear shadows’ momentum. At this rate, the earthen walls and light barrier would both be shattered the instant the spear shadows reached them.
At that moment, Lee Hyun moved.
Hummm―
An explosive suction force erupted from Lee Hyun’s left hand. His target was the blue voice-transmission talisman glowing between the alliance elder’s fingers.
At the same time, the Mountain-Suppressing Sword in his right hand chopped downward through the air twice at a speed too fast to see.
Flash!
Two dazzling sword lights shot forth, precisely cutting through the middle of the two spear shadows charging toward the disciples. The heavy spear shadows of a Foundation Establishment cultivator were severed in half and exploded in midair.
At the same moment, the voice-transmission talisman tore free of the alliance elder’s grip and flew into Lee Hyun’s left hand.
“What―”
Lee Hyun clenched his fist as his figure blurred and scattered. The instant the blue talisman crumbled, the final spear shadow and three bronze flying swords aimed at him sliced through empty air.
Almost simultaneously, the weakened remnants of the other two spear shadows and the remaining three flying swords crashed into the disciples’ defensive line.
Boom! KABOOM!
The first earthen wall cracked, and the second collapsed.
Fortunately, the third earthen wall finally stopped the remnants of the two severed spear shadows.
But when the three bronze flying swords punched through the fireballs and bore down on the green light barrier, all ten disciples coughed up blood and groaned at once.
Crack!
Fractures spread across the barrier.
Even so, not one of them let go of their formation plaque.
When one disciple was hurled sideways, the two beside him grabbed his waist and arm. The severed strand of green light immediately reconnected.
Taking advantage of that opening, the dark-blue-robed cultivator rushed after Lee Hyun.
The black iron spear pierced straight through Lee Hyun’s chest.
“Junior Brother Li!”
Shen Yanzhu screamed.
But Lee Hyun’s body wavered and scattered.
It was Form and Position Shift!
Boom!
Lee Hyun had already closed to within a step of the dark-blue-robed cultivator.
The cultivator twisted the spear shaft and swept it upward.
Screeeech!
Three black iron rings fitted around the shaft of the black iron spear scraped harshly against the metal as they shot off past the spearhead.
The launched rings swelled to the size of wagon wheels in midair and began spinning violently.
They curved in along three different trajectories, hurtling toward Lee Hyun’s neck, waist, and legs.
Whoosh!
Lee Hyun’s body, which had been shooting forward in a straight line, traced a semicircle through the air. The first iron ring grazed beneath the hem of his robe, while the second swept past his back. When the third blocked his path, the Mountain-Suppressing Sword slashed diagonally.
Crack!
The black iron ring split in two, its halves smashing into trees on either side.
Lee Hyun’s left hand turned toward the black iron spear.
Humm!
The spear shaft was dragged a little over a handspan to the side.
‘What!?’
The dark-blue-robed cultivator forced the spear back onto its original trajectory through sheer strength.
But the Mountain-Suppressing Sword had already slipped inside his guard.
Lee Hyun’s sword emitted an unfathomable light as it carved a bold diagonal line.
──!!
The dark-blue-robed cultivator looked down at the thin line running from one shoulder to the opposite side of his waist.
Behind him stood five thick, ancient trees.
Shhk.
The upper halves of the trees tilted at exactly the same angle.
A moment later, the cultivator’s upper body also slid down along the cut.
The instant the alliance elder witnessed his companion being severed in a single strike, extreme terror flashed through his eyes.
‘That bastard’s a monster!’
He had no chance in close combat. Without a moment’s hesitation, the alliance elder shot into the air while forming hand seals with both hands.
Fwish-fwish-fwish-fwish-fwish!
The six bronze flying swords formed an enormous sword net over the Changchun Sect disciples’ heads and plunged downward like lightning.
He intended to slaughter the disciples to keep Lee Hyun occupied while he fled high into the sky.
“Block them!”
At Shen Yanzhu’s shout, the disciples poured out all their spiritual power and talismans.
KABOOM!
Fireballs, earthen walls, and stone spikes slammed into the sword net, but they could not withstand the savage power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Just as the light barrier of the Ten-Direction Yin Wood Formation tore apart and the six flying swords were about to shred the disciples’ bodies―
Lee Hyun, having cut down the dark-blue-robed cultivator, spun around and executed a stomping step.
Boom!
Using the recoil to launch himself upward, he reached his left hand toward the alliance elder in the air.
Before the fragments of the falling ancient trees could even strike the ground, Lee Hyun’s body shot skyward.
“Guh!?”
The alliance elder’s ascending body suddenly bent backward as though it had caught on an enormous invisible anchor, then was dragged down toward Lee Hyun at terrifying speed.
As the alliance elder screamed, the flying swords forming the sword net all lurched and scattered.
With his own life now in imminent danger, the alliance elder completely forgot about killing the disciples.
He pulled a blue pearl from his sleeve and crushed it.
Splash―
The water sealed inside the pearl spread outward like a circular wave, forming a watery barrier around him.
At the same time, the six bronze flying swords abandoned the space above the disciples’ heads and hurtled frantically back toward their master.
Fwish-fwish-fwish!
The flying swords formed a hexagon once more.
All six began rotating in different directions.
The sword wheel surrounded Lee Hyun from every side.
The alliance elder clenched his fist.
The sword wheel contracted.
Lee Hyun assumed an opening stance.
The streak of sword light that had pierced the alliance elder’s side on Chiyao Island flashed through his mind.
‘It’s that technique from before!’
He concentrated the watery barrier in front of his chest. Two additional layers of light also covered the center of the sword wheel.
At that moment, the Mountain-Suppressing Sword in Lee Hyun’s hand trembled faintly.
In an instant too brief for the eye to follow, its tip pointed in six different directions.
Sixth Move of One Ultimate, Six Swords.
Six Blossoms in Riotous Bloom.
Six streaks of pure white sword light blossomed from a single point.
Clang! CLANGGG!
The six collisions overlapped into one long, crystalline ring.
The bronze sword wheel burst wide open.
Between the trajectories of the flying swords being knocked away, the white sword lights curved and crossed. They looked like six flower petals blooming one after another in midair.
The alliance elder’s entire vision was drowned in light.
He could not decide which sword light to block first.
No, from the very beginning, not one of the six sword lights had been aimed at him.
They were merely petals that had blossomed to conceal the single point of the Mountain-Suppressing Sword.
The center of the wide-open sword wheel.
Light flashed.
A narrow hole appeared in the watery barrier.
Lee Hyun swept past the alliance elder, then used the Wind-Riding Art to flip himself in midair. His feet stepped upon the wind and landed atop the stump of a severed ancient tree.
The alliance elder remained motionless in the air for a moment.
Only then did a red dot appear in the center of his chest.
“Stronger… than before….”
A thin stream of blood spurted from the red point.
The alliance elder fell from the sky.
Thud.
Shen Yanzhu stood frozen with her red flying sword raised.
Pei Jingsong had not even released the hand seal maintaining the cracked light barrier. The ten disciples also kept hold of their formation plaques as they stared at Lee Hyun.
In the span of only a few breaths, two Foundation Establishment cultivators had died.
Only then did the sound wash over the clearing.
Rrrrumble―
The severed ancient trees crashed down, and the six deflected bronze flying swords struck rocks and earth one after another. The forest shredded by the sword net collapsed in a shower of debris, while the green light barrier that had endured until the very end dissolved into motes of light.
A fierce wind swept away the leaves and dust.
Lee Hyun stood at the center of it all.
Swish.
Lee Hyun flicked the blood from his sword.
…
The forest clearing fell silent.
The Changchun Sect disciples looked back and forth between the two fallen Foundation Establishment cultivators and Lee Hyun.
Pei Jingsong opened his mouth.
“Two Foundation Establishment cultivators….”
Shen Yanzhu swallowed hard.
“Junior Brother Li.”
“Please wait a moment. You two should tend to the injured junior brothers. I’ll erase our traces first.”
Lee Hyun first approached the corpses of the two cultivators.
Identity tokens hung at both cultivators’ waists.
The Mountain-Suppressing Sword flashed once, splitting both identity tokens apart.
Lee Hyun melted the identity tokens with the Fireball Art until they lost their shape, then used the Soil-Turning Art to scatter the remaining fragments deep underground.
Next, he examined their two storage pouches.
Using the formation knowledge he had learned while staying at the Changchun Sect and the Aura-Reading Art, he checked the formation inscriptions inside and out. There were no hidden restrictions, nor any signs of spiritual-power fluctuations being transmitted outward.
He removed every unidentified talisman, jade plaque, and anything resembling a directional instrument or otherwise likely to be used for tracking, then destroyed them in the same manner as the identity tokens.
He kept only the spirit stones, pills, general-purpose talismans, and ordinary spirit materials.
After quickly sorting what to discard and what to keep, Lee Hyun waved his hand. The six bronze flying swords scattered around the area, the black iron spear, the two remaining iron rings, and even the severed fragments were all pulled toward him in an instant.
The magic tools of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators were extraordinary even at a glance.
Ripple-like patterns flowed along the blades of the flying swords, and when all six were placed side by side, those patterns connected into one.
The black iron spear had no visible seam from shaft to spearhead, and dense formation inscriptions could be seen beneath its black, gleaming surface.
Either one was something a Qi Refining cultivator would struggle to obtain even after saving spirit stones for an entire lifetime.
‘They’re definitely high-grade magic tools! It looks like Tier-2 low-grade or mid-grade spirit materials were used… It’d be a shame to throw them away.’
Lee Hyun repeatedly examined both magic tools with the Aura-Reading Art. For the moment, there did not appear to be any suspicious restrictions or formation inscriptions.
‘The Qingchao Merchant Alliance is less a unified sect than a merchant alliance founded by the heads of several Foundation Establishment clans. Each of them would have learned the inheritance of their own clan, so they probably had no standardized system for bonding magic tools. It’s highly unlikely that every individual magic tool would have some kind of tracking method engraved into it.’
Lee Hyun put the flying swords, spear, iron rings, and even the fragments into a storage pouch.
Then he burned the corpses and spilled blood with the Fireball Art.
Fwoosh―
He buried the black ashes beneath soil overturned with the Soil-Turning Art.
Only then did Lee Hyun turn around.
Shen Yanzhu asked,
“That man called you Badger. What did he mean?”
“It was an alias I used a long time ago.”
“An alias….”
Pei Jingsong looked at Lee Hyun as though gauging his aura all over again.
“Then was your realm of Qi Refining Stage 7 a lie as well?”
“No. My realm really is Qi Refining Stage 7.”
“…….”
That answer only confused the two of them further.
One of the disciples behind them muttered without realizing it.
“A Qi Refining Stage 7 cultivator did that to two Foundation Establishment cultivators….”
Shen Yanzhu looked as though she had many questions she wanted to ask.
For the past seventeen years, they had refined pills together, carried out missions together, and talked over tea and wine. The Li Dong’er they knew was a quiet, cautious alchemist from a rogue cultivator background.
Yet the junior brother before them had killed two Foundation Establishment cultivators in moments.
Shen Yanzhu asked cautiously,
“Did you join the Changchun Sect to deceive us?”
“That was never my intention.”
Lee Hyun thought for a moment before answering honestly.
“I wanted to cultivate at a good spirit vein and learn alchemy and formations. I never once intended to harm the Changchun Sect.”
Pei Jingsong helped one of the fallen disciples back to his feet.
“I believe you, Junior Brother. If you meant us harm, you would have had no reason to save us just now.”
Shen Yanzhu slowly nodded as well.
Gratitude came before wariness. Without Lee Hyun, not one of those standing here would have survived.
“Thank you.”
Shen Yanzhu spoke softly.
Lee Hyun briefly lowered his head.
“I learned a great deal from both of you as well.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I’ll travel separately from here.”
Shen Yanzhu’s expression hardened.
“You mean you’re leaving us now?”
“They recognized me from my past. With even a Golden Core cultivator from overseas attacking the Changchun Sect, traveling with me could put all of you in even greater danger.”
Lee Hyun removed his Changchun Sect identity token, then took off his green robe, folded it neatly, and handed both to Shen Yanzhu.
“I suppose I can no longer use the name Li Dong’er either.”
“What is your real name?”
Pei Jingsong asked.
“It’s better if you don’t know.”
Pei Jingsong looked regretful, but did not ask again.
Lee Hyun cupped his hands toward the two of them and the disciples behind them.
“May all of you survive this safely.”
Pei Jingsong cupped his hands as well.
“Junior Brother Li… no. Fellow Daoist, may you remain safe as well.”
Shen Yanzhu never changed how she addressed him.
“Take care, Junior Brother Li.”
Lee Hyun looked at them one last time before turning away.
Shhhk―
His body sank into the earth.
A short while later, only the Changchun Sect disciples remained in the clearing.
…
A little over two shichen (about four hours) later.
Qingmu Ridge, more than a thousand li (about 392 km) north of the Changchun Sect.
Lee Hyun slowed down when he was about twenty li from Qingmu Ridge. He circled around deep underground to determine the range of the Field-Guarding Formation, then cautiously rose toward the surface.
Hummm―
A blue barrier surrounded the entirety of Qingmu Ridge.
There were no signs that it had suffered a surprise attack. The resident disciples and those who had come to harvest spirit plants were hurriedly transferring supplies from the storerooms into storage pouches, while flying boats stood lined up on stone platforms, already loaded with spirit stones so they could depart at a moment’s notice.
Amid the commotion, Lee Hyun heard a familiar voice.
“How many boxes did you say there were?”
It was Luo Jingwen.
He was packing boxes alongside the Qi Refining disciples. He looked busy preparing for evacuation, but did not seem to be injured.
Lee Hyun watched him from a distance for a moment.
‘He’s safe.’
The people of Qingmu Ridge were already preparing to evacuate.
There were Foundation Establishment cultivators here as well, so there was nothing more Lee Hyun needed to do.
He quietly turned away.
…
After leaving Qingmu Ridge, Lee Hyun continued downward.
Three li underground.
Ten li underground.
Twenty li underground.
The deeper he went, the less soil there was and the more solid bedrock he encountered. The air grew hotter, and he could sense fire qi flowing along the earth veins in many places.
When he finally reached roughly twenty-five li underground, Lee Hyun slowed down.
‘I’ll travel at this depth.’
Even if it was somewhat inconvenient, Lee Hyun decided to prioritize safety.
Tunnel No. 2 was roughly twenty-one thousand li south of his current position.
Lee Hyun cautiously began moving south.
…
Fifteen days later.
He sensed the familiar flow of earth fire ahead.
Shhhk―
A small, artificially carved cavern appeared between layers of solid bedrock.
On the floor was a Nine-Fire Flame-Storing Formation formed from nine red formation stones, and at its center stood the bronze pill furnace he had purchased from the Fengtian Bureau long ago.
Everything was exactly as he had left it.
Lee Hyun placed a hand on the pill furnace.
“Whew… I made it!”
He packed the red formation stones and pill furnace into his storage pouch, erased the traces of formation inscriptions on the floor, then immediately ascended ten li.
…
Fifteen li underground.
A human head suddenly poked out of the earth.
「Tunnel No. 2」
Plip.
Somewhere in the silent passageway, a drop of water fell.
“Good. Time to get ready to move.”
The first thing he did was organize the space in his storage pouches.
Lee Hyun lined up his three storage pouches and the two he had obtained from the Qingchao Merchant Alliance’s Foundation Establishment cultivators on the storeroom floor.
After consolidating their contents into one storage pouch, the other four were completely empty.
Lee Hyun started with the items in the storeroom.
Pills and talismans, books recording changes in the spirit fields and the results of his alchemy, samples of medicinal ingredients and soil, paper and lumber, tools and equipment… one after another, everything disappeared into his storage pouches.
Next, his gaze fell on the popular novels covering an entire wall of the lounge.
He had bought a set or two every time he visited a cultivator market or mortal city, and before he knew it, his collection had grown to several thousand volumes.
“There’s no need to take all of these.”
Lee Hyun looked through the books and established a few criteria.
Books he had not yet read.
Masterpieces worth reading again and again.
And books that one reading had been enough for.
“Most of them fall into the third category….”
In the end, only a little over a hundred of the several thousand volumes went into his storage pouches.
Next came the spirit fields.
Lee Hyun went through Spirit Field No. 1-1 to Spirit Field No. 1-7 and placed the spirit plants into his storage pouches in much the same way as before.
Then he lifted the Spirit-Storing Ginseng from Spirit Field No. 2-1 through No. 2-5 together with entire slabs of soil and neatly stacked them inside the storage pouches.
The test spirit field came last. He separately marked and transferred each spirit plant he had planted at a different medicine age to measure traces of bone age.
…
As he moved the spirit plants, the fuzzbees flew frantically around Lee Hyun.
Bzz-bzz-bzz―
Squeak. Squeak squeak.
They seemed anxious at the sight of entire spirit fields disappearing.
“We’re moving again.”
Squeak?
“Let’s find somewhere better this time.”
Lee Hyun went through the spirit fields, hunting tunnel, and natural fissures one by one, gathering the fuzzbees into his spirit-insect pouch.
Bzz― Bzz-bzz-bzz―
It took half a day to get the very last fuzzbee into the spirit-insect pouch.
He also dismantled the irrigation facilities and any useful components, packing them into his storage pouches.
…
In the end, Tunnel No. 2 was empty.
More than five hundred years had passed since he first created this place.
This was where he had returned after his time as society head of the Qutian Society, where he had hidden after escaping Chiyao Island, and where he had tended his spirit plants and fuzzbees while traveling back and forth to the Changchun Sect.
“…….”
Lee Hyun closed his eyes and listened to the silence for a while.
There was no sound at all.
He made one final circuit of the entire tunnel, checking the locations of the bedrock supporting the major stone chambers and passageways.
He used the Soil-Turning Art to fill the side passages and smaller stone chambers with earth first.
Then he drew the Mountain-Suppressing Sword and cut through the bedrock supporting the tunnel.
Rrrrrrumble―
Having lost their support, the ceilings and walls collapsed one after another from the inside outward.
The spaces that had held the spirit fields, the storeroom, the cultivation chamber, the training cavern, and the rest all caved in.
Finally, the wall engraved with the words 「Tunnel No. 2」 tilted and disappeared beneath the falling rocks.
BOOOOM―
Once the vibrations subsided, even the Ground-Sense Art could no longer detect any regularly shaped empty spaces.
Lee Hyun descended to a depth greater than twenty li, then began moving north.
…
One month later.
Lee Hyun stopped while traveling underground.
“Hm?”
He caught a drop of water seeping between the rocks on his fingertip and touched it to his tongue.
It was salty.
“Am I near the coast already?”
He had seen the same thing before. Whenever he approached the coast, seawater would seep into underground aquifers and mix salt into the water.
Lee Hyun slowly ascended.
Ten li underground.
Three li underground.
At last, the moment he emerged through a secluded gap between the rocks, the familiar salty sea breeze brushed against his face.
A blue sea stretched before him.
This was not the southern coast of the Lan Kingdom bordering the Nanming Sea, but the northern coast of the Haiwu Kingdom, located in the northern part of the Lan Kingdom.
The thirty-thousand-li strait he had crossed more than five hundred years ago when traveling from Haimen City to Qingjin Port lay before him. This time, he would cross the same route in the opposite direction.
…
The next day.
Qingjin Port, Haiwu Kingdom.
Several hundred years had passed, but the port’s name had not changed.
Lee Hyun altered his appearance to resemble an ordinary traveling peddler in his mid-forties.
He searched for a ship heading across the strait to Haimen City in the Hailing Kingdom.
“Does this ship go to Haimen City?”
“Yes. The Canghai, which departs the morning after tomorrow, sails there directly. If the winds are favorable, it should arrive in around fifty days.”
…
Two days later.
Boom―
The beat of a drum announcing departure echoed across the harbor.
The ropes were cast off, and the folded sails were unfurled one after another.
Whump! Whump!
Catching the wind, the Canghai departed Qingjin Port.
…
During the voyage, Lee Hyun occasionally walked along the deck, watching the sailors, merchants, and children running about. In his cabin, he read the popular novels he had bought at Qingjin Port.
…
The night of the twentieth day.
The wind was calm.
Lee Hyun lay on the sparsely occupied stern deck and gazed up at the night sky.
Countless stars hung above him.
Each time the sea slowly swelled, the starlight reflected on the surface stretched into long streaks before breaking apart. Whenever the ship rode over a wave, the sky and sea seemed to tilt together.
It was a sight he could never see underground.
Lee Hyun lay still with his hands clasped behind his head.
The night sky looked almost no different from what he had seen while crossing this same sea more than five hundred years ago.
Cultivation sects rose and fell, and the borders of mortal kingdoms shifted, yet the starlight shimmered upon the sea as though none of it had anything to do with them.
“Not bad.”
…
The forty-seventh day after departure.
A vast port city came into view along the coastline.
Bwoooom―
“It’s Haimen City!”
The passengers began gathering their belongings.
…
Haimen City, at the southern tip of the Hailing Kingdom.
Lee Hyun disembarked and passed through customs.
Haimen City had grown larger than he remembered.
He immediately headed north.
The Lan Kingdom might have been drawn into the war against forces from beyond the Nanming Sea. But the Lan Kingdom covered a vast territory, and he had already crossed the sea, so there was no need to hurry.
He began leisurely observing the world as he traveled roughly a thousand li north each day.
…
Five days later.
A small county seat in northern Hailing Kingdom.
Lee Hyun entered an inn along the main road, partly to look around and see how the world had changed.
“What would you like?”
“A pot of tea and a bottle of wine.”
“Would you like anything to eat?”
“No.”
The attendant gave Lee Hyun a slightly strange look but asked no further questions.
A short while later, warm tea and a bottle of clear grain wine were placed on the table.
Lee Hyun drank a cup of tea, then poured himself a cup of wine. The sweetness of the grain wine mingled with the lingering bitterness of the tea in his mouth.
The people around him occasionally glanced at the man who had ordered no food and was alternating between tea and wine.
Just then, the inn door opened.
Creak―
Five martial artists carrying swords and sabers entered.
All five had a solid, disciplined bearing.
The middle-aged man in front had a long scar across his temple, while the four younger martial artists following him moved with measured strides and controlled breathing.
Lee Hyun paid them little attention and raised his teacup again.
At that moment, the spirit-insect pouch at his waist trembled ever so slightly.
Bzz.
The fuzzbees inside suddenly grew restless.
‘What’s gotten into them?’
Lee Hyun placed a hand on the spirit-insect pouch.
They were reacting much as they did when they discovered spirit insects or eggs inside the hunting tunnel.
It was almost as though they regarded the martial artists in front of him as prey.
‘Are they trying to eat people!? You terrifying little things… So you’ve finally revealed your true nature! I suppose bumblebees from the cultivation world really are different.’
Until now, the fuzzbees had never shown interest in anything other than spirit insects.
As he calmed them with his mental intent, the middle-aged martial artist in front suddenly stopped.
“…?”
He abruptly clutched his lower abdomen.
“Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I suddenly have chills.”
The martial artists behind him also looked around.
“I feel strange too.”
“Doesn’t it feel as though someone is watching us?”
Their gazes swept across the inn and briefly stopped at Lee Hyun’s table.
Lee Hyun was merely drinking tea.
Even so, an inexplicable unease appeared on the martial artists’ faces.
The middle-aged martial artist spoke in a low voice.
“Let’s go somewhere else.”
“But―”
“Now.”
The five men left the inn almost as soon as they had entered.
Lee Hyun looked back and forth between the closing door and his spirit-insect pouch.
‘What was that?’
…
Two days later.
Lee Hyun was following the highway north through the Hailing Kingdom when he stopped.
Beside the road stood an enormous boundary stele three times the height of a man.
Golden characters had been carved deep into the surface of the black stone.
「Qianyang Kingdom, Nanmen Pass」
Beyond it, banners emblazoned with black suns fluttered atop the city walls.
“Qianyang Kingdom?”
Lee Hyun pulled an old map from inside his robe.
According to the route he remembered, he should have had to cross two more mortal kingdoms after leaving the Hailing Kingdom before reaching the Qianyang Kingdom.
Yet the border of the Qianyang Kingdom stood directly before him.
‘Did I take a wrong turn?’
But when he compared his position against the sun, the mountain ranges, and the nearby rivers, his direction was correct.
An old man selling tea near the boundary stele glanced at Lee Hyun’s worn map and burst out laughing.
“Pwahaha! Who sold you that map? Looks like you got swindled. Just how old is that thing?”
“Did the Qianyang Kingdom always extend this far south?”
“This far? It’s been more than two hundred years since this became Qianyang territory.”
“What happened to the two kingdoms that used to lie between here and there?”
“One lost a war, and the other opened its gates willingly. They’re both provinces of Qianyang now.”
“It seems the Qianyang Kingdom has grown considerably.”
The old man gave a disbelieving chuckle.
“Just how long ago are you talking about?”
Lee Hyun looked at the broad highway stretching beyond the boundary stele. He knew the Qianyang Kingdom was a great nation of the martial path that had been pressing the Yunze Kingdom to the north, but he had never imagined it had annexed two kingdoms to the south as well.
…
An inn near Nanmen Pass.
Lee Hyun spread his newly purchased map and a book titled 《Travelogue of the Northern Kun and Cang Regions》 across the table.
Far greater changes than he had expected had taken place in this region over the past several hundred years.
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