WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 40
──────
The alliance elder shouted and pulled a blue Voice Transmission Talisman from their sleeve.
“Hold him off while I call for reinforcements!”
The cultivator in navy robes thrust their black iron spear.
Whoooosh!
The spiritual power around its tip gathered into a single point. As they twisted the shaft, three spear projections as thick as a human waist spread out like a fan and swept across the clearing. Two rushed mercilessly toward the Jangchun Sect disciples behind Yi Hyeon, as though to wipe them all out at once.
The gray-robed alliance elder’s six bronze flying swords scattered at the same time.
Three targeted Yi Hyeon. The other three blocked the disciples on both sides and from above. Thin bronze lines connected the swords, cutting off their escape.
The ground sank, and fallen leaves and pebbles rose into the storm.
“Ten-Direction Second-Stem Wood Formation (十方乙木陣)!”
At Sim Yeon-ju’s shout, the Qi Refining stage disciples of Danjeong Peak spread out and raised their formation tokens.
Hummmm!
Green spiritual light connected the ten disciples. A thin curtain of light bloomed into a sphere around all twelve people.
Bae Gyeong-song stood at the front of the formation and pressed both hands toward the ground.
Rrrrumble!
Three layers of earthen walls rose at an angle. Four red talismans flew from Sim Yeon-ju’s sleeve.
Whoooosh!
Four fireballs shot along crossing paths toward the spear projections and flying swords.
But the fireballs barely slowed the spear projections. At this rate, the earthen walls and light curtain would be crushed together the moment the projections struck.
In that instant, Yi Hyeon moved.
Hummmm!
An explosive pulling force burst from his left hand. His target was the blue Voice Transmission Talisman shining between the alliance elder’s fingers.
At the same time, the Mountain-Subduing Sword in his right hand cut down through the air twice, too fast to see.
Light flashed!
Two dazzling streaks of sword light shot out, cutting precisely through the middle of the two spear projections hurtling toward the disciples. The Foundation Establishment cultivator’s heavy projections split in half and exploded in midair.
At that same moment, the Voice Transmission Talisman tore free of the alliance elder’s grasp and flew into Yi Hyeon’s left hand.
“What...”
Yi Hyeon clenched his fist, and his figure blurred. As the blue talisman crumbled, the last spear projection and the three bronze flying swords aimed at him cut through empty air.
Almost simultaneously, the weakened remains of the other two spear projections and the remaining three flying swords struck the disciples’ defenses.
Boom! Boom, boom, boom!
The first earthen wall split apart, and the second collapsed.
Fortunately, the third wall finally stopped the remains of the severed spear projections.
But when the three bronze flying swords broke through the fireballs and pressed down on the green light curtain, all ten disciples coughed up blood and groaned.
Crack!
Cracks spread across the curtain.
Still, no one let go of their formation token.
When one disciple was thrown sideways, the two beside them grabbed their waist and arm. The broken line of green light immediately connected again.
The navy-robed cultivator seized that opening and pursued Yi Hyeon.
Their black iron spear pierced Yi Hyeon’s chest.
“Junior Brother Yi!”
Sim Yeon-ju screamed.
But Yi Hyeon’s body wavered and scattered.
It was Form-Shifting Transposition!
Thud!
Yi Hyeon had already closed in right in front of the navy-robed cultivator.
The cultivator twisted their spear shaft and raised it.
Clatter!
Three black iron rings fitted around the shaft scraped harshly as they slipped over the spearhead.
The rings shot out, expanding to the size of cartwheels in midair and spinning fiercely.
They swept toward Yi Hyeon along three different curves, aiming to crush his neck, waist, and legs.
Whoosh!
Yi Hyeon’s straight charge curved into a semicircle in midair. The first ring skimmed beneath the hem of his robe, and the second brushed past his back. When the third blocked his way, the Mountain-Subduing Sword swept diagonally across it.
Crunch!
The black iron ring split in two, and its halves embedded themselves in the trees on either side.
Yi Hyeon pointed his left hand at the black iron spear.
Humm!
The shaft was pulled a little more than a handspan to one side.
‘What!?’
The navy-robed cultivator forced it back on course.
But the Mountain-Subduing Sword had already slipped past it.
Yi Hyeon’s sword released a wondrous light as it traced a sweeping diagonal line.
!!
The navy-robed cultivator looked down at the thin line running from their shoulder to the opposite side of their waist.
Five thick old trees stood behind them.
Rustle.
Their upper halves tilted at exactly the same angle.
A moment later, the cultivator’s upper body slid down along that same line.
At the sight of their companion being cut apart in a single strike, utter terror flashed through the alliance elder’s eyes.
‘That monster!’
They had no chance in close combat. Without hesitation, the alliance elder shot into the air and formed hand seals with both hands.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!
Six bronze flying swords formed a huge sword net above the Jangchun Sect disciples and plunged down like lightning.
They intended to slaughter the disciples to hold Yi Hyeon back while they escaped high into the sky.
“Everyone, block it!”
At Sim Yeon-ju’s shout, the disciples poured out all their spiritual power and talismans.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Fireballs, earthen walls, and stone spikes struck the sword net together, but they could not withstand the savage power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
The light curtain of the Ten-Direction Second-Stem Wood Formation tore apart. Just before the six flying swords could hack the disciples’ bodies to pieces, Yi Hyeon spun after cutting down the navy-robed cultivator and performed a Shock Stomp.
Boom!
He used the force to launch himself upward, extending his left hand toward the alliance elder in the air.
Before the fragments of the falling trees could touch the ground, Yi Hyeon shot into the sky.
“Gah!?”
The rising alliance elder’s body jerked backward as though caught by a huge, invisible anchor. They were dragged down toward Yi Hyeon at a terrifying speed.
As the alliance elder cried out, the flying swords forming the sword net all wavered and scattered.
With their own life in danger, they had no thought to spare for killing the disciples.
They took a blue bead from their sleeve and crushed it.
Splash!
The water sealed inside spread out like a circular wave, wrapping them in a curtain of water.
At the same time, the six bronze flying swords abandoned the disciples and raced madly back to their master.
Swish, swish, swish, swish!
The flying swords formed a hexagon again.
All six began rotating in different directions.
The sword wheel surrounded Yi Hyeon on every side.
The alliance elder clenched their fist.
The wheel closed in.
Yi Hyeon took his opening stance.
The alliance elder remembered the streak of sword light that had pierced their side on Jeogyo Island.
‘That’s the same technique!’
They gathered the water curtain in front of their chest. Two layers of light also covered the center of the sword wheel.
Then the Mountain-Subduing Sword in Yi Hyeon’s hand trembled slightly.
In an instant too brief for the eye to follow, its tip pointed in six different directions.
The sixth form of Single-Pole Six Swords.
Six Blossoms in Wild Bloom (六花繚亂).
Six snow-white streaks of sword light bloomed from a single point.
Clang! Clang, clang, clang!
Six collisions overlapped into one long, clear ring.
The bronze sword wheel spread wide open.
Between the paths of the flying swords knocked away, the snow-white streaks of sword light curved and crossed. It was as though six petals were blooming one after another in the air.
Light filled the alliance elder’s vision.
They could not decide which streak to block first.
No, none of the six had been aimed at them in the first place.
They were petals blooming to hide a single point of the Mountain-Subduing Sword.
At the center of the wide-open sword wheel, light flashed.
A tiny hole appeared in the water curtain.
After sweeping past the alliance elder, Yi Hyeon used the Windriding Art to turn himself around. His feet stepped on the wind, then landed on the stump of a severed tree.
The alliance elder remained motionless in the air for a while.
Only then did a red dot appear in the center of their chest.
“Even... more... than back then...”
A thin stream of blood spurted from the red dot.
The alliance elder fell from the sky.
Thud.
Sim Yeon-ju stood frozen with her red flying sword raised.
Bae Gyeong-song had not even released the hand seals he had used to maintain the cracked light curtain. The ten disciples also stared at Yi Hyeon, still holding their formation tokens.
In just a few breaths, two Foundation Establishment cultivators had died.
Only then did the noise sweep over the clearing.
Rrrrrumble!
The severed trees collapsed, and the six bronze flying swords struck rocks and earth one after another. The forest shredded by the sword net came crashing down, and the green light curtain that had held on until the end scattered into motes of light.
A fierce wind swept away the leaves and dust.
Yi Hyeon stood at its center.
Swish.
He flicked the blood from his sword.
...
The forest clearing fell silent.
The Jangchun Sect disciples looked back and forth between the two fallen Foundation Establishment cultivators and Yi Hyeon.
Bae Gyeong-song spoke.
“Two Foundation Establishment cultivators...”
Sim Yeon-ju swallowed.
“Junior Brother Yi.”
“Please give me a moment. You two, look after our injured junior brothers. I’ll erase the traces first.”
Yi Hyeon approached the two bodies.
Both cultivators had identity tokens hanging at their waists.
The Mountain-Subduing Sword flashed once, splitting both tokens.
Yi Hyeon melted them beyond recognition with the Fireball Spell, then used the Soil-Turning Spell to scatter the remains deep underground.
Next, he examined the two storage pouches.
Using the knowledge of formations he had learned in the Jangchun Sect and the Qi-Observing Spell, he checked their formation inscriptions inside and out. He found no hidden restrictions or signs of spiritual power fluctuations leaking outward.
He removed everything that might be used for tracking, including unidentified talismans, jade tokens, and tools that seemed to indicate directions. He destroyed them in the same way as the identity tokens.
He kept only the spirit stones, alchemical pills, common talismans, and ordinary spirit materials.
After quickly sorting what to keep and what to discard, Yi Hyeon waved his hand. The six bronze flying swords, black iron spear, two scattered iron rings, and even the severed fragments flew to him at once.
The craftsmanship of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators’ magical implements was extraordinary.
Ripple-like patterns ran along each flying sword. When all six were laid side by side, the patterns connected into one.
The black iron spear had no visible joint between its shaft and blade. Dense formation inscriptions showed beneath its glossy black surface.
Either was something a Qi Refining stage cultivator would struggle to obtain even after saving spirit stones for a lifetime.
‘They’re definitely high-grade magical implements! They seem to contain low-grade or mid-grade Tier 2 spirit materials... It’d be a waste to throw them away.’
Yi Hyeon examined both implements repeatedly with the Qi-Observing Spell. For now, there seemed to be no suspicious restrictions or formation inscriptions.
‘The Azure Tide Merchant Alliance is closer to a merchant alliance founded by the heads of several Foundation Establishment families than a united sect. Each would have learned their own family’s inheritance. They probably didn’t have a common system for ritually refining magical implements. There’s very little chance they engraved tracking methods into every single one.’
Yi Hyeon put the flying swords, spear, iron rings, and fragments into a storage pouch.
Then he burned the bodies and spilled blood with the Fireball Spell.
Whoosh!
He buried the black ashes beneath soil turned over with the Soil-Turning Spell.
Only then did he turn around.
Sim Yeon-ju asked him a question.
“That person called you Badger. What did they mean?”
“It’s an alias I used long ago.”
“An alias...”
Bae Gyeong-song looked at Yi Hyeon as though measuring his aura again.
“Then is your cultivation at the seventh layer of the Qi Refining stage a lie too?”
“No. I really am at the seventh layer of the Qi Refining stage.”
“...”
That answer only confused them further.
One of the disciples behind them muttered without realizing it.
“A seventh-layer Qi Refining stage cultivator killed two Foundation Establishment cultivators like that...”
Sim Yeon-ju looked as though she had many questions.
For the past seventeen years, they had made pills and carried out assignments together. They had talked over tea and wine. The Yi Dong-i they knew was a quiet, cautious alchemist who had once been an independent cultivator.
Yet the junior brother before them had killed two Foundation Establishment cultivators in an instant.
Sim Yeon-ju asked carefully.
“Did you join the Jangchun Sect to deceive us?”
“That was never my intention.”
Yi Hyeon thought for a moment, then spoke honestly.
“I wanted to cultivate on a good spirit vein and learn pill refining and formations. I never once intended to harm the Jangchun Sect.”
Bae Gyeong-song helped one of the fallen disciples to their feet.
“I believe you. If you meant to harm us, you’d have had no reason to save us now.”
Sim Yeon-ju slowly nodded too.
Gratitude had come before suspicion. Without Yi Hyeon, no one standing there would have survived.
“Thank you,” she said.
Yi Hyeon bowed his head briefly.
“I learned a great deal from both of you too.”
“Are you leaving?”
“I’ll travel separately.”
Sim Yeon-ju’s expression stiffened.
“You want to split up now?”
“They recognized me from my past. With even a Golden Core cultivator from overseas attacking the Jangchun Sect, staying with you could put you in greater danger.”
Yi Hyeon removed his Jangchun Sect identity token, took off his green robe, and folded it neatly before handing both to Sim Yeon-ju.
“I won’t be able to use the name Yi Dong-i anymore either.”
“What’s your real name?” Bae Gyeong-song asked.
“It’s better if you don’t know.”
Bae Gyeong-song looked disappointed, but did not ask again.
Yi Hyeon cupped his hands toward the two of them and the disciples behind them.
“May you all make it through safely.”
Bae Gyeong-song cupped his hands too.
“You too, Junior Brother Yi... No, fellow cultivator. Stay safe.”
Sim Yeon-ju never changed how she addressed him.
“Goodbye, Junior Brother Yi.”
Yi Hyeon looked at them one last time, then turned away.
Shhhh!
His body sank into the ground.
Soon, only the Jangchun Sect disciples remained in the clearing.
...
A little over two shichen later.
Cheongmok Ridge, some thousand li north of the Jangchun Sect.
Yi Hyeon slowed down when he was about twenty li from Cheongmok Ridge. He circled deep underground to check the range of the Field-Guarding Formation, then carefully approached the surface.
Hummmm!
A blue curtain surrounded the whole ridge.
There were no signs of a surprise attack. The resident disciples and those who had come to harvest spirit plants were hurriedly moving supplies from the storehouses into storage pouches. Flying boats stood in rows on stone platforms, loaded with spirit stones so they could depart at any moment.
A familiar voice reached him.
“How many crates did you say?”
It was Na Gyeong-mun.
Na Gyeong-mun was gathering crates with the Qi Refining stage disciples. Though busy preparing to evacuate, they seemed uninjured.
Yi Hyeon watched from a distance for a moment.
‘Safe.’
The people of Cheongmok Ridge were already preparing to evacuate.
There were Foundation Establishment cultivators here too, so there was nothing more he needed to do.
Yi Hyeon quietly turned away.
...
After leaving Cheongmok Ridge, Yi Hyeon 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 hot, and he could feel fiery energy flowing along earth veins in many places.
At last, around twenty-five li underground, Yi Hyeon slowed down.
‘I’ll travel at this depth.’
He decided to put safety first, even if it meant some extra trouble.
Underground Hideout No. 2 lay about twenty-one thousand li south of his current position.
Yi Hyeon carefully began moving south.
...
Half a month later.
He sensed a familiar flow of earthfire ahead.
Shhhh!
A small, artificially shaped cavern appeared between the layers of solid bedrock.
On its floor stood the Nine-Fire Flame-Storing Formation, made of nine red formation stones. At its center was the bronze pill furnace he had bought from the Heaven-Serving Directorate long ago.
Everything was exactly as he had left it.
Yi Hyeon placed a hand on the furnace.
“Phew... I’m here at last!”
He put the red formation stones and pill furnace into his storage pouch, erased the traces of formation inscriptions on the floor, and went straight up another ten li.
...
Fifteen li underground.
A person’s head suddenly emerged from the ground.
「Underground Hideout No. 2」
Drip.
A drop of water fell somewhere in the silent passage.
“Good. Shall I get ready to move?”
The first thing he did was organize the space in his storage pouches.
Yi Hyeon laid his own three pouches and the two he had taken from the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance’s Foundation Establishment cultivators on the storehouse floor.
After moving all their contents into one pouch, the other four were completely empty.
He packed the storehouse supplies first.
Alchemical pills and talismans, books recording changes in the spirit fields and the results of his pill refining, samples of medicinal ingredients and soil, paper, lumber, and tools vanished into the storage pouches one after another.
Next, he noticed the popular novels filling an entire wall of the lounge.
He had bought a set or two whenever he visited a cultivator market or mortal city. Before he knew it, they had grown into thousands of volumes.
“I don’t need to take all of these.”
Yi Hyeon looked through the books and sorted them into categories.
Books he had yet to read.
Masterpieces worth reading again and again.
And books that only needed to be read once.
“Most belong to the third group...”
In the end, only about a hundred of the thousands of volumes went into a storage pouch.
The spirit fields came next.
Yi Hyeon visited Spirit Fields No. 1-1 through No. 1-7, packing the spirit plants into his storage pouches much as he had before.
Next, he lifted whole slabs of soil containing the Spirit-Storing Ginseng in Spirit Fields No. 2-1 through No. 2-5 and stacked them neatly in the pouches.
The Experimental Spirit Field came last. He had planted spirit plants of different medicinal ages to measure traces of bone age. He labeled each plant separately before transferring it.
...
As he moved the spirit plants, the Fuzzbees flew frantically around him.
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.”
Yi Hyeon visited the spirit fields, hunting tunnels, and natural cracks in turn, gathering the Fuzzbees into his spirit insect pouch.
Bzz! Bzz, bzz, bzz!
It took half a day to get the very last one inside.
He also took apart the water supply system and other useful components, packing them into his storage pouches.
...
At last, Underground Hideout No. 2 was empty.
More than five hundred years had passed since he built it.
This was where he had returned after serving as the leader of the Heaven-Drawing Society. It was where he had hidden after fleeing Jeogyo Island, and where he had tended his spirit plants and Fuzzbees while traveling to and from the Jangchun Sect.
“...”
Yi Hyeon closed his eyes and listened to the silence for a while.
There was not a sound.
He made one final circuit of the hideout, checking the positions of the bedrock supporting its main stone chambers and passages.
With the Soil-Turning Spell, he filled the side passages and smaller chambers with soil first.
Then he drew the Mountain-Subduing Sword and cut through the bedrock holding up the hideout.
Rrrrrumble!
Without their supports, the ceilings and walls collapsed one after another, starting from the inside.
The spaces that had held the spirit fields, storehouse, cultivation room, and training hall all caved in.
Last of all, the wall carved with 「Underground Hideout No. 2」 tilted and disappeared beneath the rocks.
Boooom!
By the time the vibrations faded, even the Earth-Sensing Spell could no longer find any regularly shaped empty spaces.
Yi Hyeon descended more than twenty li underground, then began moving north.
...
One month later.
Yi Hyeon stopped as he traveled underground.
“Hm?”
He caught a drop of water seeping from the bedrock on a fingertip and touched it to his tongue.
It was salty.
“Am I near the coast?”
He had seen seawater seep into underground aquifers near the coast before, making the water salty.
Yi Hyeon slowly climbed.
Ten li underground.
Three li underground.
At last, as he emerged through a quiet gap between rocks, a familiar salty breeze brushed his face.
A blue sea stretched before him.
This was not the southern coast of the Ram Kingdom, which bordered the Nammyeong Sea. It was the northern coast of the Haeo Kingdom, in the northern part of the Ram Kingdom.
Some five hundred years ago, he had crossed this thirty-thousand-li strait while traveling from Haemun City to Cheongjin Port. This time, he would cross it in the opposite direction.
...
The next day.
Cheongjin Port, Haeo Kingdom.
Hundreds of years had passed, but the port’s name had not changed.
Yi Hyeon changed his appearance to that of an ordinary traveling merchant in his mid-forties.
He looked for a ship bound across the strait to Haemun City in the Haereung Kingdom.
“Does this ship go to Haemun City?”
“Yes. The Changhae leaves the morning after tomorrow and sails there directly. With favorable winds, it should arrive in around fifty days.”
...
Two days later.
Dooom!
A drum sounded through the port, announcing their departure.
The ropes were released, and the folded sails unfurled one after another.
Whump! Whump!
With its sails full of wind, the Changhae left Cheongjin Port.
...
During the voyage, Yi Hyeon occasionally strolled along the deck, watching the sailors, merchants, and children running about. In his cabin, he read the popular novels he had bought at Cheongjin Port.
...
The twentieth night.
The wind was calm.
Yi Hyeon lay on the nearly deserted stern deck and gazed at the night sky.
Countless stars shone above him.
Whenever the sea gently rolled, the reflected starlight stretched across the water, then broke apart. As the ship rode over a wave, the sky and sea seemed to tilt together.
It was a view he could never see underground.
Yi Hyeon lay quietly with his hands clasped behind his head.
The night sky looked almost the same as it had when he crossed this sea more than five hundred years earlier.
Even as cultivation sects rose and fell and mortal kingdoms changed their borders, the starlight shimmered over the sea as though it had nothing to do with any of it.
“Not bad.”
...
On the forty-seventh day after departure.
A large port city appeared along the coast.
Bwoooom!
“It’s Haemun City!”
The passengers began gathering their belongings.
...
Haemun City, at the southern tip of the Haereung Kingdom.
Yi Hyeon left the ship and passed through customs.
Haemun City had grown larger than he remembered.
He headed straight north.
The Ram Kingdom might have become caught up in a war against forces from beyond the Nammyeong Sea. But its territory was vast, and he had already crossed the sea, so there was no need to rush.
Traveling about a thousand li north each day, he began taking his time to see the world.
...
Five days later.
A small county town in the northern Haereung Kingdom.
Yi Hyeon entered an inn beside the main road, partly to see what life was like.
“What can I get you?”
“A pot of tea and a bottle of wine.”
“Would you like a meal?”
“No need.”
The clerk gave him a slightly puzzled look but asked no more questions.
Soon, warm tea and clear grain wine were placed on his table.
Yi Hyeon drank a cup of tea, then poured himself some wine. The wine’s sweetness mingled with the bitter fragrance of tea lingering in his mouth.
The people nearby glanced at him as he alternated between tea and wine without ordering any food.
Just then, the inn’s door opened.
Creak!
Five martial artists wearing swords and sabers entered.
All of them carried themselves with steady strength.
The middle-aged man leading them had a long scar on his temple. The four young martial artists following him also walked and breathed with disciplined control.
Without much interest, Yi Hyeon raised his teacup again.
At that moment, the spirit insect pouch at his waist gave a tiny tremble.
Bzz.
The Fuzzbees inside suddenly grew restless.
‘What’s gotten into them?’
Yi Hyeon placed a hand on the pouch.
They were reacting much as they did when they found spirit insects or eggs in the hunting tunnels.
It was as though they saw the martial artists before him as food.
‘Are they trying to eat people!? You terrifying little things... So you’ve finally shown your true colors! Are bumblebees in the cultivation world really that different?’
Until now, the Fuzzbees had never shown interest in anything other than spirit insects.
As he calmed them with his will, the middle-aged martial artist at the front stopped walking.
“...?”
He suddenly clutched his lower belly.
“Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I suddenly feel a chill.”
The martial artists behind him also looked around.
“I feel strange too.”
“Doesn’t it feel like someone’s watching us?”
Their eyes swept over the inn and paused briefly on Yi Hyeon’s table.
Yi Hyeon was merely drinking tea.
Even so, an unease they could not explain appeared on their faces.
The middle-aged martial artist spoke quietly.
“Let’s go somewhere else.”
“But...”
“Now.”
The five left the inn almost as soon as they had entered.
Yi Hyeon looked back and forth between the closing door and his spirit insect pouch.
‘What was that?’
...
Two days later.
Yi Hyeon stopped while following the official road north of the Haereung Kingdom.
Beside the main road stood a huge boundary marker three times a person’s height.
Golden characters were deeply carved into its black stone surface.
「Geonyang Kingdom, Nammun Pass」
Beyond it, flags bearing a black sun fluttered over the walls.
“Geonyang Kingdom?”
Yi Hyeon took an old map from inside his robe and unfolded it.
According to the route he remembered, he should have had to cross two more mortal kingdoms after leaving the Haereung Kingdom before reaching the Geonyang Kingdom.
Yet its border stood right before him.
‘Did I take the wrong road?’
He compared the sun, mountain ranges, and nearby rivers, but he was heading in the right direction.
An elderly tea seller near the boundary marker glanced at his old map and laughed.
“Hahaha! Who sold you that map? I think you were cheated. Just how old is that thing?”
“Did the Geonyang Kingdom always extend this far south?”
“This far? This place has been Geonyang territory for over two hundred years.”
“What happened to the two kingdoms that used to be in between?”
“One lost a war, and the other opened its gates willingly. Both are provinces of Geonyang now.”
“It seems the Geonyang Kingdom has grown quite a lot.”
The seller gave a disbelieving laugh.
“Just how far back are you talking about?”
Yi Hyeon gazed at the broad official road stretching beyond the boundary marker. He knew the Geonyang Kingdom was a great martial arts power that had pressured the Untaek Kingdom to its north, but he had not known it had also annexed two kingdoms to the south.
...
At an inn near Nammun Pass.
Yi Hyeon spread a newly purchased map and a book titled 《Travels in Northern Gonchang》 across the table.
Over the past several hundred years, this region had changed far more than he had expected.
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