After the assembly of all Daemudo disciples was dismissed, Yise stood alone before Kang Itae. Without even exchanging the usual pleasantries, Kang Itae went straight to the point.

“Do you have a flying ritual implement?”

“No. I lost mine in battle.”

The White Luan Boat had been destroyed along with both his legs when he retrieved his master's golden core. Remembering the lost implement sent his spirits plummeting once again.

He would make the Iron Sun Thunder Sect pay for its sins—with interest...

“Get on.”

Kang Itae drew a greatsword as long as a person was tall from his storage pouch. It was a flying sword. Once Yise planted both feet on it, the sword rose into the air. Kang Itae then employed his flight technique, taking to the air first, with the sword carrying Yise following behind.

The flying sword cut straight across the main mountain's southeastern ridge. Their destination was Black Tortoise Plateau: a vast cliff rising in the center of the Hangsan Peninsula, a highland enclosed on all sides by sheer rock faces, beyond which lay a dense sea of clouds.

Hae Il's private residence stood there, where he stayed when he was not at the main mountain. It was also where Yise had first met him and received his teachings.

The flying sword settled gently onto the ground at the cliff's edge. Kang Itae bowed in greeting to Hae Il, who was already outside, then spoke to Yise.

“Go on.”

“Yes, Chief Administrator. Thank you.”

As Yise bowed, Kang Itae stepped onto the flying sword, turned it around, and vanished toward the main mountain.

“You're here.”

Hae Il answered Yise's respectful greeting in a subdued voice.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not particularly well.”

Hae Il lay reclining on a broad, flat rock. As Yise approached its side, he slowly sat up.

“Gong Wol-ah contacted me. She said she was leaving Daemudo. I've never seen that gentle soul so angry.”

“Yes.”

“Do you resent me too?”

“How could I?”

Yise neither made excuses for the Dokkaebi turning their backs on Daemudo nor blamed Hae Il. Even if his decision had led to Gwisu Temple being left undefended, Hae Il had merely done his duty. He had done Yise no wrong.

Yise was not such a senseless fool that he would direct his blame at a teacher to whom he owed so much. Those sins could only be repaid with a goblet filled with the enemy's blood.

The Iron Sun Thunder Sect, the Pill Refining Sect, and the Jeong Empire's invaders. Irreconcilable enemies with whom he could not live beneath the same sky.

“I understand. After all our years together, at least she gave me a final farewell. She told me to go through you if I ever need to contact them.”

Yise listened without replying. Apparently, Hae Il had also been informed that he had left his post during the war to go to Gwisu Temple.

There was nothing to be done about it. If Hae Il meant to hold him accountable, he would accept whatever punishment came. But Hae Il's response was unexpected.

“You did well. Thanks to you, we still have one last tie to the Dokkaebi. I seem to have forgotten what I went through three hundred years ago, and how we came to forge that alliance. All for that damned ascension and Spirit Transformation.”

He gave a self-mocking laugh and brushed back his hair. The feathered crown that had all but become his trademark must have been lost in the war; his hair hung loose.

“I intend to put an end to my wandering days.”

Yise lifted his half-lowered head. That meant giving up on the Twin Principles Reversion Art. Though he fully understood Hae Il's decision, it posed a problem for him. He, too, desperately needed that cultivation method.

“That's why I called you here.”

“Yes. I'm listening.”

“The final volume. I'm entrusting you with the task of finding it.”

Hae Il held out two secret manuals as he spoke. Yise stared blankly at the words “Twin Principles Reversion Art” written on them, too taken aback to answer at once.

“Do you mean you want me to travel to another continent?”

“Yes. I've searched the Western Regions and the Archipelago, so only one place remains: the Northern Continent. Go to the Frozen Lands and bring back the final volume.”

“But I'm not sure that's possible at my current realm. I've heard you need to be at least at Core Formation to even attempt crossing the Thousand-Demon Mountains.”

“I'm not sending you that way. Never mind the Thousand-Demon Mountains—if you fly over the Jeong Empire now, those bastards who fled after their thrashing will be watching like hawks, ready to butcher you.”

“Then how...?”

“I know the location of an ancient teleportation formation leading to the Northern Continent. I saved that place for last precisely because I could send someone else there if need be.”

A teleportation formation. A formation described in ancient texts, capable of transporting people between continents. Yise had heard they were lost. He hadn't known one still remained.

“Will you do it?”

“Yes. Please tell me how to find it.”

Pleased by his ready answer, Hae Il smiled in satisfaction. But his next answer left Yise unable to smile.

“I don't know either. Just scour every inch of the Northern Continent.”

“...”

Was he joking? If so, he was a truly unfunny senior.

Yise waited silently for an explanation, but Hae Il merely regarded him with a serious expression.

He meant it. Yise felt somewhat faint.

“That's like searching for a man named Wang in the Jeong Empire...”

“Yes. It will be a long mission.”

He was right. It might take decades, perhaps close to a century. Even searching the familiar Eastern Continent would be anything but easy. Yet he had to undertake that task in a foreign land full of strangers.

“Is there any chance it might have been destroyed?”

“None. It looks like an ordinary book, but no power in the lower realm can break or burn it. Wherever it's lying about, it won't have so much as a scratch.”

Telling him to watch, Hae Il placed the manuals Yise held on the ground and swept his hand through the air. A strand of primordial energy shot forth with a crackle, gouging a deep pit in the plateau. Yet when he retrieved the manuals with telekinesis, not a speck of dust clung to them.

Yise was convinced. Come to think of it, they had been made by a Spirit Transformation Immortal who had ascended. Naturally, they would not be easily damaged.

“How did you find the other volumes?”

“The middle volume was hanging on a noble family's wall as a decoration. I found the first in a rubbish dump in the Western Regions, so you could say this latest find was comparatively dignified.”

Hae Il clapped his hands once and added,

“Those who possessed them considered them either auspicious or sinister because they couldn't be destroyed. The remaining volume is probably no different.”

Forgetting entirely that he was in the Lord's presence, Yise grimaced. It was so obvious that the advice was no help whatsoever. But he quickly composed himself. He intended to wring as many clues as possible from this conversation.

“How did the Twin Principles Reversion Art become scattered?”

“It was scattered from the start.”

“Pardon?”

Scattered from the start? Why?

“That bastard, the previous Lord of Daemudo, did it. I asked him to leave his cultivation method for someone with the Heavenly-Demonic Dual-Meridian Constitution who might appear in a later generation. So he tossed the manuals onto three continents, said whoever could find them was welcome to them, and ascended.”

“...”

“If I'd known I'd need it myself, I would have clung to his trouser legs to get it out of him.”

That man was certainly an eccentric too.

“You great Cultivators really do love setting homework.”

Hae Il fell silent at Yise's remark. He had realized that he, too, had given his junior three assignments—and difficult ones that made the boy feel terribly pressed for time.

Instead of getting angry, he stared at Yise with a look that said, Well, look at this brat. Yise swiftly changed the subject.

“By the way, what is the Lord of Daemudo's name? Why does everyone call him the previous Lord...?”

“If a being of the lower realm carelessly utters the true name of an Upper Realm Immortal, their mind collapses.”

Yise fell silent for a moment at this revelation. But... calling him “that bastard” was allowed, while saying his name wasn't? What a strange rule.

“Anyway, since you've accepted my mission, I ought to give you a fitting reward. It's a long task, so I'll pay you in advance. I'm giving you this because I believe you will see it through.”

Hae Il took four objects from his storage pouch.

A small cylindrical porcelain vessel bearing a yin-yang symbol. A pitch-black flying cloud. A black ruler engraved with indecipherable ancient patterns. And a luxurious case made of diamond.

All four radiated considerable auspicious energy, and one of them was familiar to Yise.

“That flying cloud...”

“Yes. The Foundation Establishment supernatural treasure Mongryeon used. Gong Wol-ah sent it for you.”

“...”

“It's a wondrous object that can neither be broken nor lost. Even if it's destroyed, call its name with spell power and it will restore itself to carry its master again.”

Yise's hands trembled almost imperceptibly. Its rarity alone made it valuable, of course, but anything belonging to Mongryeon would be a treasure to Gwisu Temple as well. He could scarcely imagine what Senior Gong Wol-ah had felt when she sent it to him.

“I don't... know if I should... accept this.”

“Gong Wol-ah said you were Mongryeon's rightful successor. Then who besides you deserves it?”

“She said that...?”

Seeing the tender emotion on Yise's face, Hae Il smiled like a father, then cleared his throat.

“Put your hand on it and give it a name.”

Filled with an emotion he could not put into words, Yise slowly reached toward his master's flying cloud.

Dream-Saving Cloud.

He gave it a name that held his whole heart, murmuring it softly. The flying cloud shone, and he felt it connect to his divine sense.

“A rather unsophisticated name... but I hope it lives up to it.”

Next, Hae Il held out the porcelain vessel marked with the yin-yang symbol.

“This is a Foundation Establishment supernatural treasure called the Heaven-and-Earth Pouch. Think of it as a storage pouch advanced by one stage. Infuse it with your internal reserves.”

Yise accepted the vessel and infused it with his internal reserves as instructed. The Heaven-and-Earth Pouch seeped into his Dharma-Transformed Dantian. Soon a yin-yang mark appeared near his solar plexus. He rubbed his chest, marveling that he could feel nothing there.

“Whatever you put inside, it can preserve in its original state. Even living things. It's perfect for keeping something like a golden core. It doesn't hold much, so prioritize the truly precious things—the ones you mustn't lose. Incidentally, you can put storage pouches inside it too.”

So a storage-pouch storage pouch really did exist.

Hae Il had probably chosen this gift out of consideration for him. Yise had already been worrying about how to protect and store his master's golden core.

He placed Mongryeon's golden core, the Soul-Returning Body-Entering Art manual, his spiritual-herb pouch, and the storage pouch containing his valuables inside. The stored items linked naturally to his divine sense, appearing in his mind. Contrary to Hae Il's words, the Heaven-and-Earth Pouch had more room than he had expected.

“Until you die, no one can forcibly remove that Heaven-and-Earth Pouch. It can only be done of your own will.”