Yise did not stop until he reached the External Affairs Pavilion. Inside the five-story black wooden building, enclosed desks stood at even intervals along the walls of a spacious hall. He threaded his way through the crowd toward an empty chair.

"Take a number!"

Yise turned toward the voice, and a staff member handing out numbers offered him a small token. He accepted it with a slight bow.

His turn came before long. The staff member seated behind the desk he was directed to greeted him with a gentle smile. She was a youthful-looking female Cultivator at the first star of Qi Refining. Her hair was pinned up with a single wooden hairpin, and her attire was simple but neat.

"Welcome, Senior. This is the West Lake Guild's External Affairs Pavilion, where we serve you with kindness and dedication. How may I help you?"

Listening to the high-pitched greeting, the sort he might expect from a traveling medicine salesman, Yise inwardly marveled at the peculiar welcome.

"I'm an independent Cultivator traveling around the continent. This is my first visit to West Lake Market Town, so I'd like some information. Where the Cultivators' market district is, any rules or prohibitions I should watch out for—that sort of basic thing."

"Ah, I see. But you're an independent Cultivator? Despite reaching Great Attainment of Qi Refining?"

"I've been lucky. Travel enough, and you stumble into a fortuitous encounter now and then."

"Ah, I see! Congratulations. What level of information would you like? We offer premium, standard, and basic information for one hundred, fifty, and ten spirit stones, respectively!"

After a moment's consideration, Yise asked for the premium option. His pockets were well lined at the moment, and in enemy territory, the more information he had, the better.

"My! A generous spender. Thank you!"

Apparently pleased to have made such a large sale in one go, she flashed him a professional smile. Then she retrieved a slim book from beneath the desk and offered it to him. Its cover bore the words "Guide to West Lake Market Town [Premium Edition]" in neat standard script.

Yise skimmed through the book, then took a hundred spirit stones from inside his robes and placed them on the desk. The staff member deftly collected them.

"Could I take on missions here, too?"

"... I'm sorry, but independent Cultivators have difficulty proving their identities, so it is difficult for them to accept missions."

She sounded apologetic, then added, "Why not take this opportunity to join the West Lake Guild family? Someone of your attainment would be very welcome. Would you consider becoming a member?"

"No. Being tied to an organization doesn't suit me."

"What a shame... If you ever change your mind, please, please come and see me! My name is Hui Dan!"

She gave him her name, but Yise let it slip straight out of his mind. There was no reason to remember the name of a staff member he had spoken to once at the northern tip of the Jeong Empire. They would probably never meet again.

"Then can I buy information on demonic beasts or demonic practitioners sighted nearby?"

"Yes, of course. As long as you pay the spirit stones, we'll bring you whatever information you want—even if we have to make it up!"

"Thanks. I'll come back if I need anything."

"Enjoy your visit, Senior!"

The staff member waved cheerfully.

* * *

After leaving the External Affairs Pavilion, Yise leaned back against a corner on the market street and opened the guide. The book was not particularly thick, but its pages were densely packed with information.

The precise location of the Cultivators' market and maps down to individual alleys. Places where visiting Cultivators could rent secluded abodes for short stays, along with reasonable rates. Areas off-limits to outsiders. Basic rules to observe within the town. The procedures and qualifications for formally joining the West Lake Guild. Matters independent Cultivators should be especially wary of. At the end, there was even a roster of the guild's senior Cultivators and a summary of their likes and dislikes.

He had wondered whether spending a hundred spirit stones on mere information was excessive, but information this detailed seemed worth the price. He skimmed the guide once more, committing the layout of the eastern district to memory, then tucked it inside his robes. It was time to turn his spoils from the secret realm into spirit stones.

The Cultivators' market lay two alleys east of the External Affairs Pavilion. His first stop was an elixir shop. He chose one that looked relatively large even for West Lake Market Town and entered. A middle-aged elixir merchant seated at the reception desk looked up.

"Welcome, Senior. What are you looking for?"

"I'm here to sell elixir pills."

"Oh?"

Yise poured out all the elixir pills in his storage pouch. The merchant picked them up one by one, smelling them, examining their color, and feeling the texture of their surfaces with his fingertips. His movements were practiced.

"All low-grade. I'll offer thirty spirit stones each for the ninth-grade ones and fifty each for the eighth-grade ones."

Was demand as plentiful as supply here? The prices were higher than in the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula. Yise readily handed the pills over. Taking them would only leave him with more pill toxins, anyway. He would not have taken them even for free.

Next, he visited a ritual-implement merchant. It was the largest shop, reportedly run directly by the West Lake Guild. The clerk instinctively checked his attainment and immediately showed him inside.

"I'd like some ritual implements appraised and sold."

"Certainly. Please show us."

Yise laid the ritual implements he had acquired in the secret realm on a broad table, along with the flute he had left tucked away because he still did not know what it was. The white-haired merchant blinked at the array of nearly thirty implements.

"Ah... This many will take some time. Allow me to show you to our VIP lounge."

Yise followed the merchant farther inside. The VIP lounge was an elegant space beyond the private room, with tea and refreshments already prepared.

"Senior, may I bring you something to read while you wait?"

"No need."

Yise declined. He intended to take another thorough look at the guide he had bought from the External Affairs Pavilion.

By the time he had read it through twice and familiarized himself with its contents, two ritual-implement merchants came up carrying the implements. They began explaining their uses one by one.

"This is a bracelet that enhances Firebolt. This one slightly accelerates the cultivation of water-element methods, and this one summons a wooden figure whose power—"

The explanations went on for quite some time. Many of the items were rather intriguing, but by Yise's standards, they would soon outlive their usefulness. Once he reached Foundation Establishment, Qi Refining ritual implements would no longer be of use. An item had to be at least a supernatural treasure to have any potential value at a higher realm. Selling them for spirit stones and buying even one more Foundation Establishment ritual implement was a far more sensible choice.

Lastly, the merchant picked up the flute.

"And finally, this flute... is a Spirit-Fish Breath Flute."

"Spirit fish? Not spirit beasts?"

"Well, spirit fish are generally grouped under spirit beasts for convenience. Calling fish beasts does sound rather funny, though."

"How do you use it?"

"Play this flute at a water-spirit site—a water source rich in spiritual energy suited to cultivating water-element methods—and spirit fish will gather. Simply put, think of it as chum for fishing."

After taking some time to consider, Yise sold most of the implements. In the end, he kept only the Meridian-Cutting Blade, Yellow Grand Parasol, Needle-Firing Armor, Twin-Banner Spirit-Domain Sealing Standard, Vajra, Spirit-Fish Breath Flute, and Ghoststep Boots, along with an alchemical furnace called the Nine-Refinement Elixir Furnace, which looked particularly useful among the appraised items. He intended to sell the furnace to Hong Wonseo once he returned to the main mountain.

Another heavy bag of spirit stones joined his possessions. Even though most were mid-grade stones, there were quite a number of them.

The spiritual herbs whose damaged roots made them unsuitable for elixir pills could serve as ingredients for immortal cuisine when he returned. The intact herbs he had preserved with their soil would be handed over to the main mountain for planting in the Spirit Beast Forest. He intended to take all the rocks back, too. He would commission the ritual-implement artisans there to craft implements from them—or, failing that, sell them to Seol Ryeong at a suitably inflated price.

He had not obtained a single cultivation manual. Apparently, none of the people he had encountered in the secret realm had brought one with them. Then again, no one would carry their sect's secret cultivation arts into a place where they might be killed and robbed.

His last stop was a bookshop. He was not looking for secret manuals, but blank jade slips. He selected and bought two storage slips. Both were high-capacity models secured by two layers of locking spells. The total came to eighty spirit stones.

'I feel like I've started spending rather freely.'

Before entering the secret realm, he would never have done something as insane as blowing eighty spirit stones on mere blank jade slips. Full pockets made for a generous heart, as the old saying went. It was exactly right.

Having finished his tour of West Lake Market Town, Yise took a room at a nearby inn. Now came the most important task: transferring the Soul-Returning Body-Entering Art to the jade slips. He carefully copied it in neat script, one character at a time. Even with their considerable capacity, one slip could not hold it all, so he divided the text between the two.

Finally, he counted his spirit stones. He knew he had amassed an enormous sum, but it was divided among so many bags that he could not even estimate the total. He took out every bag and poured out their contents, then sorted the jumbled mid-grade and low-grade spirit stones.

When he finished counting, the total came to a staggering nineteen thousand and more. It was close to two and a half months' output from the Silver Dragon Mine.

"... Long live secret realms."

Then he lay down right on top of the pile of spirit stones.

What a wonderfully cozy feeling.

* * *

Yise was in a good mood now. The secret realm had been exhausting and dangerous, but it had left him with rewards worthy of all that hardship.

'I'll break through to Foundation Establishment.'

It was no longer a distant goal, but a reality almost within reach.

He promptly finished his business, straightened his robes, and left the inn, heading back toward the External Affairs Pavilion. The sun was beginning to set, but his body needed neither rest nor sleep anyway. He was brimming with excitement at the imminent rise in his realm.

The order was clear. Hunt first-rank demonic beasts or tenth-star demonic practitioners and replenish his internal reserves through exorcism and devouring. Fill up on Demonic Energy first, then make up any shortfall in spiritual energy with elixir pills. It would take a few days—half a month at most.

The street of ordinary people's permanent shops bustled even in the evening. As Yise strode toward the External Affairs Pavilion, a boy running from the opposite direction bumped into him.

"Sorry!"

The boy shouted his apology and ran on past him. Yise checked his missing storage pouch and gave a disbelieving chuckle.

'Well, aren't you a cheeky little thing.'

With telekinesis, he lifted the boy off the ground and brought him around to stand before him. Another crook of his finger drew the storage pouch smoothly out of the boy's clothes and sent it flying back into his palm.

Realizing the man before him was a Cultivator, the boy began trembling like a leaf. He was a thin, filthy child dressed little better than a beggar, and Yise wondered whether he even had enough to eat.

"Eek! I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!"

"If you've done wrong, you have to be punished."

Apparently convinced that Yise would not let him off lightly, the boy's eyes began to brim with tears. As Yise reached out, he squeezed them shut.

THWACK!

A single flick struck the boy's forehead, knocking his head back. The spot promptly swelled bright red.

The child blinked, looking as though his mind had yet to catch up with what had just happened.

"Hunger doesn't justify stealing from others. It's dangerous, too. Better to beg and keep yourself safe."