Cultivating Underground - Chapter 73

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

◈ Cultivating Underground ◈

Chapter 73

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Yi Hyeon leaned back in his chair.

Spread across the table were sheets of paper bearing copies of the golden core diagrams Mae So-gun had drawn.

The demonic markings had visibly faded. That was an observed fact. The estimate that removing them completely would take about a thousand years came from comparing her findings with Jewel Light Temple’s records.

It might not take exactly a thousand years, but whether it was eight hundred or twelve hundred made little difference to Yi Hyeon.

Then another thought struck him.

‘Wait. I’ll probably need to take about fifty Gold-Condensing Pills...’

Yi Hyeon looked down at the golden core drawn on the paper.

‘Surely that doesn’t mean fifty thousand years?’

For a moment, he felt dizzy.

Even Yi Hyeon felt strange at the thought of spending fifty thousand years after core formation doing nothing but rubbing away demonic markings.

‘It probably isn’t that simple. I’ll have that much more magical power to refine, too...’

For now, though, he had no way of knowing which possibility was right.

Mae So-gun was unlikely to have accounted for the Primordial Unity Body, which turned the entire body into something like a dantian.

Yi Hyeon wrote a small note on one side of the paper.

「Time required to refine away demonic markings after whole-body core formation.」

If he could resolve that issue, Jewel Light Temple’s Gold-Condensing Pills would suit him very well.

Obtaining Tier 3 demonic beast cores would not be easy, but securing fifty ordinary Gold-Condensing Pills seemed even more hopeless.

He remembered when his eldest senior brother, Do Mun-gyeom, had received a Gold-Condensing Pill.

Even the Danso Sect, famous for its alchemy, had reportedly produced only four pills in twenty-seven years at the time. He had also heard that the process had been delayed because one principal ingredient was so hard to obtain.

Even if Yi Hyeon acquired the pill formula, he would first have to find out where to obtain the ingredients and how to grow them.

If a principal ingredient needed a medicinal age of just five hundred years, he would have to grow it for roughly fifteen hundred years in his current underground spirit fields. He could cultivate during that time, of course, but he did not yet know whether he could provide all the necessary growing conditions.

Jewel Light Temple’s Gold-Condensing Pills, on the other hand, were already being produced steadily.

What remained was to learn more about their production method and the nature of the demonic markings.

‘I should look into it properly once my whole body reaches roughly the middle Foundation Establishment stage. If I can enter Jewel Light Temple then...’

Yi Hyeon thought for a moment, then touched his hair.

‘Will I have to shave my head?’

He pictured himself sitting before a pill furnace in a monk’s robe.

It felt a little awkward.

‘Well... I can find out when the time comes.’

Yi Hyeon gathered the papers, then placed Mae So-gun’s jade slip in the wooden box along with a letter.

...

Two days later.

Yi Hyeon left the Yeonha Sect.

During his stay, he had discussed alchemy with Heo Jeong-an and read some of the disciples’ records on preparing medicinal ingredients.

The Yeonha Sect had several formulas he had never seen in the Danso Sect. They had been revised over several generations to replace ingredients in existing pill formulas with plants from the Vast Verdant Forest Sea.

Yi Hyeon received a copy of one of them.

In return, he taught them how to remove poisonous miasma from toxic herbs without losing medicinal potency along with it. He also left a pouch of spirit stones as a gift.

“Thanks to your keeping them safe for so long, I’ve received some valuable records. Please accept this small token of thanks.”

Heo Jeong-an refused several times before accepting the pouch.

After accompanying Yi Hyeon beyond the sect gates, Heo Jeong-an brought both hands together.

“I’m glad to know that Senior Yi Dong-sam’s inheritance lives on. Please visit us if you pass this way again.”

“I will.”

* * *

Over the next month or so, Yi Hyeon visited several Two Heavens Society contact points in the Seo and Hyeon Kingdoms.

He attended their meetings as an elder, rather than as Badger, the society leader.

There were reports on the condition of the vein seats, goods being traded, and rumors from various regions. What caught Yi Hyeon’s interest was an auction in the northern Gon Kingdom.

“A supreme-grade magical implement?”

“Yes. Gubo Pavilion is holding an auction in Hoecheon Market. We’ve heard that the Moon-Sinking Sword will be offered this time.”

“The Moon-Sinking Sword?”

A member wearing a white weasel mask handed him a thin booklet.

The cover read 《Nammyeong Catalogue of a Hundred Implements》.

It was a book compiled by merchant groups and appraisers from the Nammyeong Sea. They had selected a hundred renowned magical implements from the Nammyeong Twelve-Sect Alliance’s territory and recorded their histories and abilities.

It did not cover magical treasures.

Cultivators disagreed about the rankings of the implements listed, but everyone agreed on one point: anything included in the book was a masterpiece that could not be obtained easily.

How many Foundation Establishment cultivators were there in the Nammyeong Twelve-Sect Alliance now?

Its territory covered countless island chains and small continents beyond the Nammyeong Sea, and it had since taken control of the Ram Kingdom, Chang Kingdom, Geonyang Kingdom, and Gon Kingdom as well. There had to be at least tens of thousands of Foundation Establishment cultivators within its borders.

Would any of those tens of thousands lack a magical implement? Most probably owned two or more.

These were the hundred most renowned implements among all of them. Even if the rankings were merely a numbers game played by Foundation Establishment cultivators, there was no doubting their exceptional quality.

The member opened the booklet to a page.

「Rank Eight: Moon-Sinking Sword (沈月劍)」

Yi Hyeon read the description and studied the illustration below it.

The blade was long and straight. Fine lines extended to its tip, overlapping like faint ripples, but it was difficult to understand its special features from the drawing alone.

One passage caught his eye.

「It possesses a tough blade and can draw in its sword light, concealing it deep within.」

“When is the auction?”

“In the middle of next month. Though whether everything written in the book is true...”

“I can see for myself.”

* * *

Hoecheon Market, northern Gon Kingdom.

Tall stone bridges spanned the point where two rivers met.

Boats carrying goods from the south lay moored along the riverbanks, while flying boats landed one after another at a dock carved into a mountainside.

Foundation Establishment cultivators were a common sight in the streets.

An elderly cultivator wore several spirit beast pouches with their openings tied shut by red cord. A man carried a long, narrow coffin on his back. The cries of insects drifted from the sleeves of a female cultivator.

There were also independent cultivators in ordinary clothes, but many of those heading toward the large halls had covered their faces.

Yi Hyeon, too, wore a gray robe and a dark mask.

He had arrived at Hoecheon Market three days earlier, entrusted four spirit plants to Gubo Pavilion’s appraisal office, and received an explanation of the auction.

Gubo Pavilion had offered to buy the plants on the spot, but Yi Hyeon wanted them put up for auction.

He wanted to see for himself who needed his spirit plants, and how much they needed them.

...

The auction house occupied a spacious hall in the center of the cultivator market.

Eight bronze-colored pillars stood before its doors. The eyes of the beast designs coiled around them glowed red. Beneath them, Foundation Establishment cultivators checked invitation tokens and admission fees.

Yi Hyeon presented a mid-grade spirit stone and his consignment spirit token. After checking the token, a steward handed him a small numbered tag.

“Seat D-57. The proceeds from your consigned goods can be settled together with any purchases.”

A female Qi Refining cultivator in a blue skirt soon approached.

“Senior, please come this way.”

She led Yi Hyeon into a broad space.

Tiered seating surrounded a raised platform in the center. Each seat had a small table and tea, with thin curtains of restrictions hanging on either side to prevent others’ spiritual sense from casually reaching across.

On the second floor were luxurious private rooms screened by thick blinds and formation curtains. These were occupied by direct disciples of major sects or people from powerful great clans. Those without any special backing, like Yi Hyeon, naturally gathered on the first floor.

The sound of chains scraping across the floor came from outside one private room. The woman guiding him slowed briefly, then continued as though nothing had happened.

“If you send spiritual power into your number tag, a marker will appear on the platform. You may call out your bids yourself or transmit them through the tag.”

“Understood.”

Yi Hyeon sat down.

A man seated ahead and to his right straightened his sleeve. Something resembling a tiny human face briefly appeared on the inside of his wrist, then vanished.

To his left, a cultivator wearing a helmet and a white-haired elderly cultivator were staring at each other.

A cold aura flowed between them.

But when a Gubo Pavilion steward walking down the aisle turned toward them, both looked away as though they had agreed to do so.

...

A little later.

The lamps above the platform brightened.

A middle-aged cultivator with a short beard stepped up and lightly saluted the audience with his fist cupped in his other hand. He was a man whose aura had reached Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.

“Thank you for traveling so far, fellow cultivators. I am the Gubo Pavilion steward conducting today’s auction.”

The noise gradually died down.

“All items have been appraised by our pavilion. Unless otherwise stated, any remaining imprints and means of tracking have also been removed. If you have questions, please ask before the sale is concluded. You cannot return an item simply because you dislike it after buying it.”

Several cultivators chuckled.

“All bids will be in mid-grade spirit stones.”

The steward gestured behind him.

“Let us begin with the first item.”

Two attendants came forward carrying a silver tray.

On it lay two long pieces of bone and six black jade bottles.

The steward picked up one bone and snapped it.

Snap.

The dry sound rang through the hall.

He placed a drop of black liquid from a jade bottle on each broken surface.

The liquid stretched into sticky threads, connecting the two ends. He fitted the bone pieces together and sent spiritual power through them. The black threads seeped inside.

A moment later, the steward took hold of both ends of the repaired bone, slowly bent it, and let go. The bone, which had curved like a bow, straightened again.

“Supple-Bone Glue (柔骨膠). It is refined from the secretions of Banjeolgolyu, which live in the deep trenches of the Nammyeong Sea. Its advantage is that it fills cracks in spirit materials without making the joints too rigid.”

Several cultivators in the front rows sat up straighter.

Yi Hyeon also examined the bone closely.

‘Could I use it to repair the Bonefuzz puppets...?’

One cultivator asked, “How much longer does it last than ordinary bone glue?”

“In tests using the same spirit materials, it withstood more than three times the force under repeated bending. Detailed test records will be included. All six bottles are being sold together. The starting price is thirty.”

“Forty.”

“Forty-eight.”

Bids came immediately.

An elderly cultivator with a long, braided beard offered sixty. A female cultivator wearing a bone ring on every finger offered seventy-two.

Yi Hyeon lost interest as the price rose. It would be far cheaper to hunt a Tier 2 demonic beast himself, put its bones through ritual refinement, and replace the broken section entirely.

“Eighty.”

“Eighty-eight.”

“Ninety-six.”

A brief silence followed.

The steward tapped his small jade gavel.

Tap.

“Sold to our fellow cultivator in Seat D-132.”

...

The next item was a round crystal case.

It was half full of red liquid, in which two eyeballs slowly moved.

“Twin-Born Blood Eyes (雙生血目). They were made by subjecting the eyes of a pair of Blood-Eyed Fish to ritual refinement while the eyes were still alive.”

The steward took one eyeball from the case. An attendant received it and carried it to the rear of the hall.

The steward placed the remaining eye on his palm. Fine blood vessels crawled between his fingers, and the pupil contracted sharply.

“The attendant in the rear garden has just turned over a plaque. It has a white crane on a blue background.”

A moment later, the attendant returned holding a blue plaque painted with a white crane.

“You can leave one eye wherever you wish and view that location through the other. We have tested them over a distance of thirty li on level ground. Rock and metallic strata between them will reduce their range.”

A voice came from behind a blind on the second floor.

“Can they be implanted in a human body?”

“Anywhere blood flows.”

The steward continued without a change in expression.

“However, if you leave one in someone else’s body for too long, you may find that its owner has changed one day. Instructions for feeding and controlling them will be included.”

The bidding moved quickly.

Two masked cultivators took turns raising the price. In the end, a bidder in a second-floor private room offered one hundred and eighty and took the item.

...

The mood changed slightly when the third item appeared.

On the silver tray lay a piece of wood less than one chi long. Its surface was blackened, but a pale yellow light shone from the cut end.

The steward placed a few wood shavings in a small incense burner. Smoke rose.

“This is the heartwood of Mind-Calming Wood that hung in the Dharma assembly hall of a Jewel Light Temple branch for three hundred and forty years. It came from a beam removed during the branch’s expansion. Only the section most deeply infused with the qi of incense offerings was selected.”

A cultivator wearing a red headscarf snorted.

“You’re selling those damned monks’ wood in a place like this?”

The steward smiled at the cultivator.

“Vengeful souls do not care where it came from. You may burn it or carve it into small plaques to carry. It is particularly useful for the ritual refinement of soul banners or for clearing lingering thoughts from corpse puppets. As you can see from its thickness, you could make four plaques and still have enough left to burn as incense.”

“One hundred.”

“One hundred and twenty.”

The red-scarfed cultivator who had just scoffed immediately raised a hand.

“One hundred and fifty!”

In the end, the piece of wood went to another cultivator for two hundred and sixty.

...

Several more items followed.

A black jade throwing knife that could hold and fire three different kinds of poison.

A shell that released mist carrying its owner’s breath and body heat when placed in water.

And a coffin divided into nine compartments.

When its lid opened, cold corpse qi spilled across the floor.

Models of corpse puppets lay inside. Apparently, the nature of the yin energy could be adjusted separately in each compartment.

“Have you been carrying your carefully raised corpse puppets separately because their corpse poisons are incompatible? With this, you can keep them in the same coffin. The restrictions are divided so that even if poison leaks from one compartment, it will not spread to the others.”

Three cultivators with coffins on their backs leaned forward almost at the same time.

...

A little later.

Two attendants placed a broad jade case on the platform.

Its lid opened, revealing layers of ivory petals.

The steward raised his voice slightly.

“Next is a particularly valuable specimen, even among the spirit plants we received today. A Bone-Rotting Flower mother plant with a medicinal age of approximately six hundred and ninety years!”

The atmosphere in the audience changed at once.

Even the soil around the Bone-Rotting Flower’s roots had been preserved intact. Pale, bone-white spiritual light flowed from its thick roots, and the poisonous powder gathered inside its stamens glittered like tiny crystals.

The steward loosened the restrictions around the edge of the jade case slightly.

Fwoooosh...

A thin cloud of ivory poisonous powder rose. Several cultivators in the front row immediately activated their Protective Spiritlight.

The steward closed the restrictions again.

“Its medicinal age is sufficient for use as a principal ingredient in Tier 3 Bone-Tempering Powder. The petals and stamens are rich in medicinal potency, and the growing points of its roots are intact.”

Spiritual sense descended from a second-floor private room.

Several more strands of spiritual sense examined the jade case from other directions.

“Steward!”

An elderly cultivator at the back of the audience craned their neck in disbelief and called out.

“Not a single rootlet is broken, and even the soil is intact! This doesn’t look like something harvested and stored. It looks as though it was growing in a spirit field until someone dug it up this morning!”

“An accurate observation.”

The steward smiled.

“Some of you may want it as a medicinal ingredient, but those with spirit fields should note that it is a mother plant. Opportunities to acquire a Tier 3 poisonous mother plant in such vigorous condition are rare.”

Murmurs broke out across the hall.

“They’re selling a living mother plant with a medicinal age of almost seven hundred years?”

“Was it looted from some newly discovered secret realm?”

“No, something like that must have a major sect behind it!”

Yi Hyeon swallowed a silent, incredulous laugh.

“The starting price is five hundred. Please raise your bids by at least twenty each time.”

“Five hundred and twenty.”

“Five hundred and sixty.”

The bids were cautious at first, but soon grew faster.

Once the price passed six hundred, only four bidders remained.

The woman wearing bone rings, an elderly cultivator in a silver mask, and bidders in two second-floor private rooms.

“Seven hundred.”

“Seven hundred and forty.”

“Eight hundred.”

The woman pressed her lips together.

The elderly cultivator in the silver mask examined the roots in the jade case once more, then spoke.

“Eight hundred and fifty.”

A reply came immediately from the second floor.

“Nine hundred.”

The elderly cultivator remained silent for a while.

The steward looked around the seats.

“Nine hundred. Opportunities to obtain a Tier 3 Bone-Rotting Flower mother plant that can be replanted and grown are uncommon in this region.”

But no one raised the bid.

The jade gavel came down.

Tap.

“Sold to our fellow cultivator in Seat A-3.”

...

The Purple Poison Orchid came next.

Fine silver lines covered the surface of its purple bulb like a net.

The steward slowly turned the jade tray.

“This, too, has passed a medicinal age of six hundred and ninety years. If you intend to refine Purple Poison Extract, examine the bulb before the leaves. It is neither soft nor hollow inside.”

Cultivators wearing green gloves showed particular interest in the Purple Poison Orchid.

It sold for eight hundred.

Competition for the Yin Soul Grass was fiercer.

As its ink-dark leaves slowly unfolded inside the jade case, spiritual sense reached out from several parts of the audience almost simultaneously.

The steward spoke as though he had been waiting for it.

“You will have felt its medicinal potency yourselves. One of the greatest difficulties in continuing to grow Yin Soul Grass of this medicinal age is preventing the yin energy inside its leaf veins from becoming turbid. As you can see, its flow is extremely even.”

Yi Hyeon was a little surprised.

‘That can happen?’

There had been no particular problems in the tunnels.

He had simply endured the poisonous powder, watered the plants, and let the Fuzzbees eat the spirit insects.

The Yin Soul Grass sold for one thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

When the Earth Vein Flower appeared last, fewer people showed interest.

Those who did bid, however, persistently asked how much of its roots had been preserved.

“Is the main root broken anywhere?”

“No. It is coiled inside here.”

An attendant opened the lower part of the jade case, revealing fine roots wound in layer upon layer.

The steward carefully unfolded them all the way to their ends.

“An Earth Vein Flower this old can be used even in high-grade spirit fields. However, you will be transplanting an established root system, so I recommend adjusting the energy of the receiving soil in advance.”

Two cultivators in red robes competed to the end, and the Earth Vein Flower sold for two hundred.

‘Even that is worth two hundred.’

Yi Hyeon had no intention of selling Earth Vein Flowers in large quantities. He had brought one because he was curious about its value.

The four plants had sold for a total of two thousand nine hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

Even after the commission was deducted, it was an enormous sum, greater than the entire wealth of an ordinary cultivator at Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.

Four plants pulled from a corner of his spirit fields had brought in more spirit stones than an ordinary independent cultivator could ever hope to touch, even after risking their life for a lifetime.

Only then did Yi Hyeon lean comfortably back in his chair.

‘That gives me plenty of funds.’

...

A little over two shichen after the auction began, all the attendants left the platform, and the steward personally brought out a long sword case.

The quiet conversations around the audience faded.

The case was made of black wood. Instead of decorations, several layers of seals covered its surface, and its clasp had a dull silver sheen.

The steward removed the seals one by one.

Click.

The lid opened.

A longsword lay on black silk inside.

Its blade was slightly over four chi long.

It was neither too broad nor too narrow, tapering straight and sleek toward its point. Very faint patterns overlapped on its surface like ripples holding moonlight.

The sword was clearly silver-gray, yet when he shifted his gaze slightly, one side of the blade seemed to sink into darkness. When he looked again, that part appeared normal too.

Yi Hyeon narrowed his eyes.

The steward lifted the sword.

“I expect many of you have been waiting for this.”

He slowly turned the blade.

“Ranked eighth in the Nammyeong Catalogue of a Hundred Implements. The Moon-Sinking Sword.”

Quiet exclamations rose throughout the audience.

The steward paused, as though enjoying their reaction.

“This implement is famous for surviving a direct clash with an early Golden Core cultivator’s magical treasure without damage. The appraisal record from that incident will be included, along with records of two subsequent inspections of the blade.”

He held the sword sideways for them to see.

Lamplight ran along its edge.

“One of its principal materials is Greater Yin Cold Iron. It is a precious spirit material that yields barely one geun for every five thousand geun of Profound Nether Ironstone refined. The blade was then quenched ninety-nine times using finely ground Moonshadow Stone (月影石) powder.”

The faint ripple patterns on the blade brightened slightly.

“The upper limit of spiritual power it can accept is extremely high. Even a middle Golden Core cultivator can use it. Anyone who has had a blade or its restrictions fail while condensing and refining powerful sword qi will understand this sword’s value.”

The steward poured spiritual power into it.

Hummm...

Clear light filled the blade.

A moment later, he formed a different set of hand seals. The light on the blade quietly sank away, and even the outline detected by spiritual sense grew indistinct.

“Moonshadow Stone disrupts the aura perceived by spiritual sense. The Light-Concealing restrictions engraved in the blade work beautifully with it, allowing the sword to deceive both the eyes and spiritual sense.”

An attendant activated a formation disk on the platform. Small flames floated into the air around the steward.

Water mist scattered between the flames, and thin rays of light traveled in several directions.

All were weak, but each produced different spiritual power fluctuations.

The steward moved the sword among them.

Yi Hyeon followed its first few paths, then raised his eyebrows slightly.

‘Interesting.’

The steward withdrew the sword qi.

“It also contains Tier 2 Thick Earth Refined Gold (厚土精金). Thanks to that, the blade is not only sturdy but also excellent at recovering from damage. Anyone with basic heat-control skills can easily repair scratches and fine cracks. After all, what use is a superb magical implement if you are too afraid of damaging it to use it properly?”

The steward left the Moon-Sinking Sword floating above its case.

“The consignor has successfully formed a golden core and is now preparing a life-bound magical treasure. Since the sale is intended to fund that, no exchanges for other items will be accepted.”

He looked around the hall.

“The starting price is six hundred mid-grade spirit stones. Please raise your bids by at least twenty each time.”

Number tags lit up before he had even finished speaking.

“Six hundred and forty.”

“Seven hundred.”

“Seven hundred and eighty.”

“Eight hundred and forty!”

Yi Hyeon did not join in immediately.

Even after the price passed eight hundred, six bidders remained.

He wondered whether so many people used swords, but some of the cultivators did not appear skilled in swordsmanship.

One did not have to be a sword cultivator to want a good magical implement.

Yi Hyeon sent spiritual power into his number tag.

“One thousand and fifty.”

A voice came from the second floor.

“One thousand one hundred and fifty.”

A cultivator carrying a sword in the front row hesitated, then lowered their hand.

No further bid came from another private room.

Yi Hyeon spoke.

“One thousand three hundred.”

A brief silence.

A second-floor blind stirred slightly.

“One thousand four hundred.”

“One thousand five hundred.”

The steward waited with the jade gavel in hand.

The Moon-Sinking Sword shone elegantly above its case.

A moment later, the blind of a second-floor private room was swept roughly aside. A man wearing an enchanted robe patterned with blue scales appeared.

With one hand on the railing, he looked down at Yi Hyeon, who sat in a corner of the first floor. His narrow chin was raised arrogantly, and displeasure filled his long, slanted eyes.

“Fellow cultivator in Seat D-57.”

Yi Hyeon looked up.

The man was at Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. He wore two blue rings.

“I am Wi Jong-ak of the Bokhae Sect. My master, Perfected Hyeonjo, has had his eye on this sword for some time.”

Sighs spread through the hall.

“The Bokhae Sect?”

“Isn’t Perfected Hyeonjo that famous Golden Core elder?”

“So that’s Wi Jong-ak, his true inheritance disciple...”

Hearing the murmurs around him, Wi Jong-ak’s lips curved into a crooked smile. He regarded Yi Hyeon, masked and tucked away in the ordinary seats, as though looking at an insignificant flying insect.

“So you dare covet something the Bokhae Sect has its eye on. Know your place and withdraw now, and I’ll overlook your rudeness in concealing your face and interfering.”

The nearby cultivators shook their heads, looking at Yi Hyeon with either pity or mockery.

Yi Hyeon looked away from the man at the railing and lightly tapped his number tag.

“One thousand six hundred.”

The hall fell silent, as though drenched in cold water.

Wi Jong-ak’s smile froze.

The Gubo Pavilion steward cleared his throat briefly, then immediately acknowledged the bid.

“Seat D-57 bids one thousand six hundred.”

A vein bulged on Wi Jong-ak’s forehead. He was in a second-floor private room and had even invoked his master’s name, yet some nameless independent cultivator on the first floor had rejected him to his face?

“If you can behave like this after hearing Perfected Hyeonjo’s name, you must not be a fellow cultivator of Nammyeong.”

Yi Hyeon did not answer.

“Could you be a spy sent by one of the northern sects to investigate us? Otherwise, how could you insult the Bokhae Sect like this on Gon Kingdom soil?”

Several people in the auction hall snorted at Wi Jong-ak’s words.

Cultivators from the Hyeon Kingdom were not uncommon in the Gon Kingdom’s cultivator markets, and Gubo Pavilion had never barred people from righteous sects.

Still, no one bothered to intervene. Watching people fight over an expensive sword was rather entertaining.

Just as Wi Jong-ak released his killing intent, looking ready to attack at any moment, Yi Hyeon raised his right hand without leaving his relaxed position in the chair. Whitish energy rose from the back of his hand.

Hummm...

A chilling wave of spiritual power struck the surroundings.

“Ghk?!”

The cultivator sitting immediately beside him recoiled, chair and all. Even the nearby man who had been giving off cold killing intent moments earlier turned deathly pale and instinctively activated his Protective Spiritlight.

It was exceedingly pure profound yin white bone true qi, no weaker than the true qi of a cultivator at Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.

“Does that answer your question?”

Yi Hyeon’s voice was calm, but fear filled the eyes of the cultivators around him.

“Profound yin white bone true qi?”

“He’s from the Yin Bird Sect!”

“His true qi is condensed to that degree... Is he a direct disciple of Skull Island?”

The demonic cultivators of the Yin Bird Sect’s Skull Island were notorious as lunatics even within the Nammyeong Twelve-Sect Alliance.

Wi Jong-ak stared at Yi Hyeon a little longer, his mouth stiff.

The steward on the platform lightly tapped his jade gavel.

Tap.

“Our pavilion does not inquire into anyone’s origins. Will you continue bidding?”

Wi Jong-ak slowly sat down.

“One thousand six hundred and fifty.”

Yi Hyeon replied at once.

“One thousand seven hundred.”

Wi Jong-ak’s face flushed and paled with humiliation.

“One thousand seven hundred and fifty.”

“One thousand eight hundred.”

There was not a hint of disturbance in Yi Hyeon’s voice.

This time, the silence lasted longer.

The steward waited a good while before speaking.

“One thousand eight hundred.”

No one raised the price.

“Any further bids?”

Wi Jong-ak gripped his armrest as though he would crush it, then finally let go.

The jade gavel came down.

Tap.

“The Moon-Sinking Sword is sold to our fellow cultivator in Seat D-57.”

* * *

After the auction, Yi Hyeon was shown into a separate small room.

The sword case rested on the table.

Gubo Pavilion’s Foundation Establishment steward opened the settlement ledger and indicated each amount in turn.

Yi Hyeon checked the goods, then received his spirit stones.

Despite buying an expensive sword, he now had more mid-grade spirit stones than before he came to the auction.

He took the Moon-Sinking Sword in hand.

He very much liked how snugly it fit his grip.

As he gradually poured spiritual power into it, the restrictions inside the blade responded one after another. He had not even performed ritual refinement on it yet, but the flow met no resistance.

Yi Hyeon put the sword case, scabbard, and sword into his storage pouch.

...

He stayed in Hoecheon Market for several more days.

A Tier 3 grand formation covered the cultivator market, preventing him from leaving underground, and there were not yet many cultivators leaving through the main gate.

He rented a workshop and engraved his own imprint into the Moon-Sinking Sword, then studied the operating instructions that came with it.

Using the Light-Concealing restrictions skillfully would require practice, but he could already wield it for sword techniques without difficulty.

...

On the morning of the fourth day, as more cultivators began leaving the cultivator market, Yi Hyeon mingled with them and headed north.

For a while, he followed a road frequently used by merchant groups. After crossing a river, he changed direction slightly and followed a low mountain range.

Then faint presences moved behind him.

They had been following at a distance, keeping apart from one another. Once he was far enough from the cultivator market, they gradually began closing in.

Yi Hyeon surveyed his surroundings with spiritual sense.

Two people were moving on the ridge ahead as well.

He landed on a rocky slope with few trees.

A little later, a streak of blue light landed on a rock opposite him.

It was Wi Jong-ak.

Two Foundation Establishment cultivators landed behind him. Another remained farther away, blocking Yi Hyeon’s retreat.

Wi Jong-ak glanced around.

“I never expected to meet a Skull Island cultivator in a place like this.”

Yi Hyeon watched him without speaking.

“As far as I know, you have no bases in the northern Gon Kingdom. You’ve come quite a long way.”

The blue rings on Wi Jong-ak’s fingers shone.

The cultivators who had spread out to either side also drew their magical implements.