Mongryeon slipped free of Bihyeong Rang’s hand and slowly fell. A gaping hole lay in the middle of her solar plexus. Inside it was nothing.

The golden core that held a Core Formation Cultivator’s soul and internal reserves—their entire essence—was clutched in Bihyeong Rang’s hand.

Yise’s White Luan Boat had already overtaken Gong Wol-ah’s flight technique. Though his master had lost, Bihyeong Rang was far from unscathed. Half his head had been blown away, one leg was missing, and four or five fist-sized holes pierced his body. He was ravenously devouring Yise’s master’s golden core, as though desperate to replenish his depleted strength.

Even as fury blazed in his eyes, Yise calmly used Voice Transmission to address Gong Wol-ah.

"Do we have a chance of subduing him now?"

Gong Wol-ah could not answer. Realizing that meant no, Yise urgently transmitted another message.

"Then you must recover Master’s body, Senior!"

"What?"

"You must! No matter what!"

Then he accelerated, flying straight toward Bihyeong Rang.

She had been certain he was blinded by rage and meant to inflict even a scratch on Bihyeong Rang before dying. After all, she had been flying toward him with the same intent. But the moment she saw the hope in the boy’s eyes, she could only comply, even knowing it was futile.

Gong Wol-ah veered sharply and shot toward Mongryeon’s fallen body.

Meanwhile, Yise drew close to Bihyeong Rang. The man remained wholly absorbed in devouring his master’s golden core, seemingly unconcerned by Yise’s approach. Small wonder. This demonic practitioner had taken in orphans, planted gu parasites in their heads, and dangled his bait for decades until Mongryeon finally bit. It was plain to see how ecstatic—and how careless—he would be at this moment.

His expression was utterly serene. Yet never had a tranquil face seemed so chilling.

Bihyeong Rang flicked a finger. Primordial energy shot from his fingertip straight at Yise. The flying boat flipped upside down in an instant, spinning out of the incoming energy’s path.

Bihyeong Rang’s slender eyes narrowed slightly. Curiosity briefly crossed his face. Not so much surprise as interest.

Yise knew. Approaching Bihyeong Rang like this was suicide.

But the man was wounded, off his guard, and surely burning with thirst before such sweet spoils. If he truly tried to kill Yise, there would be no escape. Yet he was clearly curious about Yise’s unusual constitution. Otherwise, he had had ample opportunity to kill him before Master Mongryeon arrived.

Even now, he merely watched with interest, primordial energy enveloping his body as though inviting Yise to try whatever he liked. There would be only one chance.

["Extremely offensive primordial energy cannot be stopped by ordinary defensive primordial energy."]

Clinging to that single sentence from Gwak Chan as his hope, Yise charged. The man did not know Yise could use primordial energy. He would never imagine Yise could so much as scratch him, however wildly he fought.

Yise used Sense-Severing to cut off Bihyeong Rang’s divine sense on the side where half his head had been blown away. The moment he sent a desperately honed drop of primordial energy through that opening, Bihyeong Rang’s forearm snapped off.

For the first time, a crack appeared in the demonic practitioner’s serene expression. Yise immediately snatched the golden core and plunged straight down. The flying boat, guided by his divine sense, caught him.

Bihyeong Rang belatedly unleashed a spell at Yise, but a single-use talisman that blocked primordial energy immediately flared with light. These were costly items: a full ten thousand spirit stones for three. Acquired at an agonizing price, they were proving worth every stone.

Having secured Mongryeon’s body, Gong Wol-ah began providing covering fire from a distance. She, too, had instinctively realized that Yise was trying to do something. Bihyeong Rang waved a hand irritably, sending primordial energy at her.

"You are becoming a nuisance."

At last, unable to contain himself, Bihyeong Rang spoke aloud.

Having expended so much strength fighting Mongryeon, he was more concerned with the cheeky human trying to steal his golden core than the Core Formation Dokkaebi pestering him from afar.

Bihyeong Rang’s gaze followed Yise. Flying low, the boy was weaving through the mountains in an acrobatic display. Bihyeong Rang descended after him and began pursuing closely with his flight technique.

His divine sense was indeed impressive, but hiding among the trees? How adorable. Exactly the sort of narrow-minded notion one would expect from a Cultivator newly advanced to Foundation Establishment.

Primordial energy burst from Bihyeong Rang’s hand and swept through the forest. Yise reacted swiftly, but his White Luan Boat shattered, and his lower body was torn to pieces.

Bihyeong Rang was about to approach and retrieve the stolen golden core when Dokkaebi warriors appeared from nowhere, charging him like moths to a flame.

CRACK! CRACK!

With each gesture, another Dokkaebi warrior was crushed. So many swarmed him that he wondered where they had all been hiding, throwing their lives away like so much straw.

His irritation mounting, Bihyeong Rang viciously swept away everything around him and located Yise with his divine sense. At that very moment, Yise crudely pieced his severed lower body together using Metal Body Art (a spell that replaces severed body parts with metal), then burrowed underground with Earth-Travel Art.

By the time Bihyeong Rang had reduced all the buzzing insects to dust and reached that spot, Yise had vanished beyond even the reach of his divine sense.

"Ha."

He had never imagined that a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator could escape his grasp.

First that power resembling primordial energy, which had blown off his arm. Then the astonishing aerial acrobatics, the spirit-concealing spell, concealment spell, Earth-Travel Art, and even Metal Body Art. The foundation of cultivation was to focus one’s training on a handful of spells, yet this boy wielded a multitude with perfect freedom. The orphan he had taken in had surprised him time and again.

"My century-long plan... He certainly got me there."

A land of extreme yin Demonic Energy.

The divine relic whose barrier had protected the Dokkaebi.

The golden core of a late-stage Core Formation Dokkaebi.

He had waited a full century to acquire those three treasures. The dagger he had planted to locate Gwisu Temple and discover how to break its barrier had turned around and stabbed him instead.

He had obtained Gwisu Temple’s divine relic and its land of extreme yin Demonic Energy, which would shelter his sect in safety. But one of his three objectives—the late-stage Core Formation golden core that would lead him to Nascent Soul—had been stolen from him.

"But how long can you keep it safe?"

He could pursue the boy if he wished, but securing the other two treasures came first. There was another Core Formation Dokkaebi, after all.

With a sickly smile, Bihyeong Rang flew toward his newly acquired nest.

* * *

Yise burst out of the ground with a gasp. Pushing against the earth with both arms, he hauled himself out, dragging his lower body—which hardly felt like his own—onto the surface as well.

He tipped a Healing Pill into his mouth and began walking, each step a struggle. His master’s golden core was clutched tightly in both hands. One agonizing step after another.

Then Gong Wol-ah flew in from somewhere and landed beside him. She immediately brought Mongryeon’s body close to the golden core, but nothing happened.

Gong Wol-ah buried her face in her hands, then slapped her cheeks twice and healed Yise’s lower body.

"... You did well. Give me Sister’s golden core."

"I will... keep this with me."

Gong Wol-ah’s face contorted at his words.

"What are you talking about? She is the Head of our people. I will not leave her funeral to an outsider, at least."

"I can bring her back."

Irritation welled up within Gong Wol-ah, but she barely managed to suppress her anger. She had lost someone who was like a true sister to her, but he had lost his master as well. How great must his grief be to drive him mad enough to say such things? At least she could grant this final kindness to someone who had risked his life to help recover her sister’s body and golden core.

"Is this because you heard that someone with a golden core cannot die until it is destroyed? That only applies while the body and golden core are connected. But if the core is extracted after death, that person is simply dead. At the very least, it has to return to the body while the golden core still retains consciousness..."

By the time they had seen Mongryeon, Bihyeong Rang had already been devouring her. She had been dead from that moment.

"As long as her golden core remains... I can bring her back."

"I told you, it’s impossible! Don’t tell me you’re doing this because you covet her power!"

Gong Wol-ah shouted. She, too, had reached her limit. Grieving her sister’s death, terrified of the void she had left, she was barely holding back the feelings that threatened to break her at any moment.

"They say there are advanced cultivation methods in the Upper Realm that place a golden core inside a combat puppet, a doll, or a corpse to reconnect body and soul... But no such method exists on the Eastern Continent, at least."

Even the body usurpation practiced by demonic-path sects was impossible if spirit and flesh remained separated too long. One had to pass directly from one body to another without delay. Otherwise, consciousness became trapped inside the golden core, leaving nothing but a Demon core ripe for devouring.

This human boy must have lost his mind.

"So... please stop now. I, too... have lost someone who was like my own sister. Don’t make this... any harder for me..."

"I have one. A cultivation method."

"..."

The tears she had barely been holding back abruptly receded. Gong Wol-ah stared blankly, wondering if she had misheard. Yise took the jade slip inscribed with the Soul-Returning Body-Entering Art from his storage pouch and showed it to her.

As she read its contents, her eyes gradually widened. Then the tears that had receded began rolling down her cheeks again.

"This is indeed... a cultivation method from the Upper Realm."

"I obtained it in the Dark Heaven Secret Realm. Only I can learn it, because I absorbed the Upper Realm energy that accompanied it as well. I swear I will reach the realm required to learn this method and bring Master back. Please place her body in an Eternal Snow Casket or a Meat Preservation Chest so it does not decay, Senior."

The boy before her had planned this from the very beginning. From the moment Mongryeon fell, he had decided he must at least retrieve her golden core and bring her back. He had poured everything he had into it—and succeeded.

The "coolheadedness" to remain rational even as his master died before his eyes.

The "tenacity" to find a way despite an overwhelming disparity in strength and the worst possible circumstances.

And the "ability to act" that ultimately achieved his goal.

Constitution, talent, comprehension, divine sense, diligence. This young man possessed the highest potential in every field, lacking in none. What if he reached his full potential someday? What if he surpassed Core Formation and attained Nascent Soul?

'Where did you find a child like this, Sister? He’s an outright... monster.'

Gong Wol-ah shuddered, her awe deepening into fear.

But he was an ally, not an enemy. At least this monstrous Cultivator would never turn his fangs on her or her people.

"Yise."

"Yes, Senior Gong."

"Please... take care of my sister. The Dokkaebi cannot do without her."

"Neither can I."

"The Dokkaebi will go into hiding in Halla now."

Halla. A fallen island kingdom south of Suari.

"With Sister gone, I have no choice but to serve as acting Head and protect our people. We will build our strength there to take revenge."

"What about Daemudo...?"

"The alliance is over."