"Well, let's hear your excuse, my dear brat of a disciple."

"I'm sorry, Master."

Mongryeon raised her finger again. Yise reflexively cloaked his forehead in spiritual energy.

TAP!

This time, the flick carried no force. Instead, it was laden with affection. Yise rubbed his forehead for no reason; it did not even hurt.

"Take things slowly. What's the rush that you have to turn your back on home and keep running?"

"I wanted to return after reaching Foundation Establishment, at least, when I had something worthwhile to show you."

"You call mere Foundation Establishment a worthwhile accomplishment?"

"..."

Well, by his master's standards, Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining were equally lowly realms.

Eighth-star Qi Refining. Back on the main mountain, where most were Qi Refining Cultivators, that was enough to swagger about a little. Yet one flick of her finger had sent him flying all the way to Gwisu Temple's main gate.

As a child, he had understood his master's strength only in the abstract. Now that he was a Cultivator capable of discerning energy, he could feel its reality.

His master was a being beyond anything he could imagine.

"Know that you're getting off with one hit because I know how hard you've worked, you little shit."

"... Yes, Master."

Rubbing his forehead, Yise smiled like a boy. Even her rough words and actions made him happy, for they, too, were familiar.

"Cook!"

"Yes, Head?"

"We ought to feed the boy, shouldn't we?"

"Of course."

"You followed my instructions?"

The cook smiled and assured her there was nothing to worry about.

Mongryeon and Yise followed the cook to the dining room, with the Dokkaebi trailing behind them like ducklings after their mother.

A lavish feast awaited them there. But this was not mortal food. Though it contained no spirituality, it was immortal cuisine with all its impure energy removed.

Even while he had been out of touch, Mongryeon and the Dokkaebi had followed his activities and waited for him to return, like parents awaiting a visit from a child who had left home, come the holidays.

"Feeding my brat of a disciple a single meal turned out to be quite a chore. Relax and stuff your face."

"Thank you... for the meal."

"Eat slowly. Don't give yourself indigestion."

"I've never had indigestion, though."

"Talking back now, are we?"

"I'll eat slowly."

Yise savored every dish, chewing each bite thoroughly. The dozens of eyes fixed on him were enough to give him indigestion instead, but the food could not have tasted better.

"Tell us how you've been getting along."

Yise slowed his hands and began recounting the years gone by. Mongryeon and the Dokkaebi sat quietly, listening with interest to his tales of the human world.

When he told them he had finally learned the Dokkaebi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art, they roared with laughter. "The boy's become a proper Dokkaebi!"

"Let's see it, then. Give us a demonstration."

"Here?"

"Why not? Show us Ground-Shadow Snare."

Yise immediately unleashed Ground-Shadow Snare of the Dokkaebi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art. Shadows sprang up beneath his family's feet and seized their ankles.

Exclamations of wonder rose all around.

"Clean and powerful. Better than most Dokkaebi."

"It's thanks to the cultivation manual you allowed me to have, Master."

"You're exceptionally gifted and seem to be doing well. Why the troubled face?"

"Well..."

Yise confided his present concerns: the imbalance between his spiritual energy and Demonic Energy, the difficulty of obtaining elixir pills and the spiritual herbs used to make them, and his resulting stagnation.

"The pill refiners on the main mountain have a near monopoly on spiritual herbs. Even the farms' harvests go straight to the four noble families, leaving nothing for me. Getting Qi-Condensing Pills and Spirit-Gathering Pills is like plucking stars from the sky. The market towns of the secular houses outside are much the same."

As he grumbled almost like a sulking child, Mongryeon smiled softly and prompted him to continue.

"Is that so?"

"If this is how it's going to be, I don't know why they made rules forbidding the gathering of spiritual herbs. I find myself having the disloyal thought that their principles are full of holes."

"You're right."

"..."

"It's someone's bullshit philosophy, full of holes."

A wistful look crossed Mongryeon's face, as though she were remembering someone. Then she explained in a calm voice.

"The Lord of Daemudo made that rule."

"... Ah."

"Do you know what happens when you mine every buried spirit stone, catch every spirit beast and stuff it in your belly, and uproot every spiritual herb?"

"I don't."

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth runs dry."

It was a problem he had never considered.

"The world's harmony of yin and yang collapses. Resources are exhausted, and it becomes a lawless land where Cultivators choose plunder over cooperation. Demonic Energy overflows, and Demons flourish."

Mongryeon added that this had actually happened in a lower realm in another dimension, and that immortals called it the Age of Dharma's Decline.

"That was what the Lord of Daemudo feared and sought to prevent. It was also why he ascended to the Upper Realm. The very existence of a Spirit Transformation adept burdens the world."

"... I see."

"Of course, I don't know how effective this approach will be. But Daemudo is certainly carrying on his wishes, at least as far as it can."

"I was shortsighted."

"Incidentally, since we're on the subject of the Lord of Daemudo, let me be clear: you are not my child. I'm unmarried, and I'm not cold-blooded enough to abandon my own child."

"... Yes."

"Naturally, there's no chance you're his child either. That son of a—no, that fellow had no sexual desire."

Yise was briefly taken aback by her sudden insistence on drawing that line, but he chuckled as he remembered his conversation with Hall Master Hae Il.

"And as for the spiritual herbs, we'll take care of that for you."

"What?"

Yise blurted out the question in surprise. Take care of it?

"The Ulta Mountains are vast and closed to outsiders. Spiritual herbs are so plentiful you'll trip over them."

"But Master, Daemudo's rules..."

"Ahaha! Are you about to lecture Dokkaebi on human rules?"

Mongryeon burst out laughing, as though anticipating a particularly amusing tale. When Yise shut his mouth, she tipped back her cup and added casually,

"A good portion of the spiritual herbs supplied to Daemudo passes through our hands anyway. When we spot herbs while tending the mountains, we pick them and hand them over. Those Demon-Concealing Talismans you brought are our payment."

"I see. I had no idea."

"Dokkaebi have keen eyes and sensitive noses. We're marvelous at finding what we're after. Gong-ah."

"Yes, Head!"

Gong-ah poked her head out at Mongryeon's call.

"You said you wanted to try your hand at trade, didn't you? You'll be in charge of gathering the herbs for Yise. Keep the spirit stones you receive in payment. Take this chance to start that Dokkaebi trading company you've always dreamed of."

"R-really?! Then you're giving me permission to go out?"

"Yes. I'm tired of watching you scamper around like a puppy every day, looking as though you're dying of boredom. But you must also develop the strength to protect yourself. Don't neglect your training."

"Yes! ... Hehe. Yise, tell me what herbs you need!"

The three went to the Dokkaebi storehouse. There, Yise picked out the herbs needed for Qi-Condensing Pills and Spirit-Gathering Pills. Gong-ah examined them from every angle and sniffed them before nodding.

"I've got them memorized! You'd better pay me properly, all right?"

"Of course. What kind of Daoist cheats a friend? That would make me a swindler."

Yise set down a hundred spirit stones as an advance. Gong-ah's eyes widened. Mongryeon patted her head as she bounced with delight, then gestured with her chin.

"Buy what you need while you're here. Take as much as you like."

"Really? Will that leave enough for your deliveries to Daemudo?"

"A few missing varieties won't matter. We can use the spirit stones from your purchase to buy whatever Demon-Concealing Talismans we're short of."

Yise did not stand on ceremony. He immediately began filling his basket with all the spiritual-elixir ingredients available. This was enough to make dozens of elixirs at the very least.

"You've turned into quite the miser while I wasn't looking."

Yise flinched briefly at Mongryeon's chuckle, but his busy hands never stopped. He put down every spirit stone he had and received the corresponding quantity of herbs.

He wished he had come sooner, but another thought loomed larger.

He had backing too, and a family to belong to.

Take that, you greedy, underhanded noble-family monopolists.

* * *

Yise returned to the main mountain laden with bundles of spiritual herbs. Afraid someone might rob him, he headed straight to the Flame Blossom Hong family's pill-refining chamber and showed Hong Wonseo his basket.

"What's all this?"

"Spiritual herbs. Make me some Qi-Condensing Pills and Spirit-Gathering Pills."

"Did you raid the Pill Refining Sect? Or loot the Spirit Beast Forest?"

"Of course not. Let's just say I've secured a supplier through a channel I can't disclose. I should be able to get a steady supply too."

"Hmm. How remarkable. Some people really do have everything work out for them."

Hong Wonseo carefully sifted through the contents of his basket before speaking.

"Thanks to you, I'll be able to practice pill refining to my heart's content. But could you wait a little?"

"I'm in a bit of a hurry. Why, are you busy?"

"No. I think I'm about to break through the minor threshold to the fifth star. Once I achieve Spiritual Energy Manifesting as Spell Power, my family will grant me the Hong Family Fire-Refining Art. It's a secret cultivation art, and learning it will greatly improve my pill refining. I might even be able to make mid-grade elixir pills."

"Really? How long will it take?"

"Half a year to reach the fifth star, half a year to master the cultivation method, and three months for refining, to be safe."

"That's too long."

Yise mulled it over. A year and three months. Brief by a Cultivator's standards, but he had a time limit.

As it was, the imbalance between his spiritual energy and Demonic Energy prevented him from even attempting the ninth star. His Demonic Energy reserves were somewhere between the ninth star and Great Attainment, while his spiritual energy remained at the beginning of the eighth star.

If yin and yang were out of balance when he reconstituted his body at the ninth star and Great Attainment, his body would become incapable of practicing one of his two cultivation methods afterward.

Had he simply been a demonic practitioner, he would have aimed for the tenth star long ago.

'Rather than waste time looking for pills of uncertain quality, I should invest in Hong Wonseo.'

Her talent as a pill refiner was brilliant. Her products were more effective than any elixir pills made by other refiners of her realm. They truly justified calling her a worthy descendant of Hall Master Hong Mihui.

'What if I gather enough spiritual energy and Demonic Energy for Great Attainment and take both steps at once?'

That had been Hall Master U Yuhee's approach. He had heard she had challenged and surpassed the ninth and tenth stars in succession.

Surely he could do it too.

First, he would replenish his Demonic Energy until Hong Wonseo was ready, then gather the resources needed to reach the tenth star and enter secluded cultivation.

'It's possible in theory.'

It was actually less risky than entrusting the work to another pill refiner. He was not going to stop cultivating once he reached Foundation Establishment, after all. Building sustainable conditions for his cultivation mattered more than anything.

"Let's do that, then."

"Thank you, Senior. I'll try to get it done sooner."

"Right. Sorry to rush you, but I'm aiming for Hall Master U Yuhee's record. Please hurry a little."

Upon hearing his goal, Hong Wonseo stared into space, counting the years, then tilted her head first one way and then the other.

"Why go out of your way?"

"It's an assignment."

"Do you care more about fame than you let on?"

"... I told you, it's an assignment."

Of course, Hall Master Hae Il's assignment did not end there, but Yise decided to deal with what was in front of him first.