Chapter 22 :

Chapter 22

Act 4: The Bamboo-Tube Beauty (3)

Yise tilted his head at the bizarre reaction, but did not ask about it again.

As the magical-artifact merchant had promised, he explained several items, but most of them were too expensive for Yise to purchase with the spirit stones he currently possessed.

“Could you recommend a consumable ritual implement that costs no more than ten spirit stones? I intend to use it for—”

Having accomplished his objective early, Yise met Seol Ryeong, who was waiting for him outside.

“What did you buy?”

“Just a disposable protective ritual implement. By the way, Seol Ryeong.”

“Yes?”

“What is a dual-cultivation method?”

“Dual cultivation...? It’s an immortal-cultivation method in which a man and woman cultivate together with the goal of uniting yin and yang.”

“What could a man and woman possibly do together while cultivating?”

“Who knows? Maybe they play some kind of hand-clapping game. To be honest... I don’t know either.”

“You sound like you know.”

“I said I don’t! Why are you asking me something like that?”

Yise shrugged at Seol Ryeong’s scolding.

“You said it was a cultivation method, so I was just wondering whether we should try it together.”

Seol Ryeong recoiled in horror and practically leaped into the air at his words.

Yise wondered why the suggestion that they cultivate together had left her so appalled.

The two quickly descended Azure Mountain and headed toward Namsangol.

The distance was not particularly great, and now that they had entered the Energy Refinement Realm, their speed and stamina were markedly superior to those of ordinary mortals.

Namsangol was one of the larger towns near the Training Institute, and as today happened to be the Double Third Festival, the open market made the village more crowded than ever.

The food market just outside the tavern district was particularly crowded with women preparing for flower-pancake outings.

They passed through Namsangol’s busiest marketplace district.

Cloth merchants occupied the center of the marketplace, while grain and fishmongers loudly hawked their goods around them. A blacksmith’s market had been set up a short distance away.

Whenever a savory smell drifted through the air, Seol Ryeong had to drag Yise away by the arm to stop him from following it like a starving man.

“Aren’t you hungry? It’s already past mealtime.”

“...? We ate before we left.”

“You should eat three full meals a day and have snacks at least twice. Remember that. A healthy body is a sturdy foundation, and great strength is built upon that foundation.”

Why did he have to be so serious about something like this...?

“I understand the logic, but you eat far too much for any normal person...”

“Those dumplings look delicious. Let’s go.”

“Can you not hear me?”

Yise insisted on entering the tavern and devoured four trays of dumplings before finally patting his stomach.

When he tried to pay the proprietress, Seol Ryeong stopped him.

“Ma’am, this is a misfortune-warding talisman. Would you accept it as payment for the dumplings?”

“Hey. What are you doing in this sacred establishment?”

“Just stay still.”

The proprietress initially regarded Seol Ryeong with suspicion, but after looking the two of them up and down, her face brightened.

“So you were Daoists from the Grand Martial Path! Oh my, of course! What does this talisman do?”

“If you carry it with you, it will protect you from one instance of misfortune. Once its power is exhausted, it will turn to ash and disappear.”

“Misfortune, you say...?”

“It might prevent someone from dying or being injured, or perhaps save you from the fate of falling ill.”

“Thank you!”

The proprietress immediately prostrated herself and carefully tucked the talisman into her clothes.

As if that were not enough, she wrapped up an enormous bundle of snacks and handed it to them.

After silently watching the exchange, Yise asked Seol Ryeong a question.

“We aren’t short of money, so is there any reason to waste a valuable resource?”

“It wasn’t particularly valuable. I made that talisman for practice.”

“A Daoist is swindling an ordinary mortal.”

“Swindling? Its effect is genuine! It might be useless to cultivators, but it definitely works for ordinary mortals. We get a free meal while performing a virtuous deed, and she receives a valuable talisman. Everyone benefits.”

“A virtuous deed.”

“When you travel through the secular world of ordinary mortals, you should accumulate virtuous karma whenever possible. That way, you’ll have good fortune.”

If that was her intention, could she not simply distribute the talismans for free?

Yise was curious, but he did not ask.

He thought he had roughly understood her intention.

She was not telling him to give alms.

She was telling him to accumulate goodness naturally within the cycle of cause and effect.

The moment a talisman obtained through fair compensation protected the woman from misfortune, the person who had given it to her would accumulate virtuous karma.

Among all the cultivators Yise had encountered thus far, Seol Ryeong certainly seemed less like a fraud than most.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“You look as though I should be saying, ‘How insolent!’ or something...”

“It’s nothing. More importantly, if that bundle is heavy, shall I carry it for you?”

“No, thank you. I’m going to eat it this evening.”

Seol Ryeong clutched the bundle tightly against her chest, hiding it in case he tried to snatch it.

The Grand Martial Path outpost located in a secluded corner of Namsangol looked like an ordinary nobleman’s residence from the outside.

“We can go inside without knocking.”

“Yeah. I can sense people inside.”

Although the interior was quiet, his Dokkaebi Senses detected quite a few presences.

When they opened the gate and entered the courtyard, a man smoking a long pipe noticed them and approached.

“Welcome, Cultivator Yi and Cultivator Seol. I was informed of your arrival.”

A faint trace of spiritual energy emanated from the man as he bowed deeply.

However, it was far too weak for him to be considered an Energy Refinement Realm cultivator. It seemed he had abandoned the path of immortal cultivation due to his lack of talent and chosen to live as an outer-sect representative instead.

“I am Hong Sadeuk, the outer-sect representative in charge of this outpost. You may simply call me Steward Hong.”

“Ah, yes. Could you brief us on the situation immediately?”

“Of course. Everyone, leave us.”

At Hong Sadeuk’s command, the women who had been sweeping the ground or cleaning the wooden veranda quietly disappeared.

It seemed Hong Sadeuk was the only outer-sect representative residing at the outpost, while all the others were maidservants.

Yise had heard that outer-sect representatives lived luxurious lives... and apparently, that was no exaggeration.

“You may think of Hajin Inn as an organization headquartered in Namsangol that manages several inns throughout the surrounding area. Hajin Inn’s touts primarily travel along the mountain pass up there, but lately, something strange has been happening. Whenever they take that road, they return sick. It is probably the work of a malevolent spirit.”

“Sick? What exactly are their symptoms?”

Seol Ryeong asked with shining eyes.

“Since I knew you were coming, I brought one of the afflicted touts here. Would you like to examine him yourselves?”

“Yes, please.”

They followed the outer-sect representative into a small detached building, where an old man wearing the uniform of Hajin Inn lay on the floor.

When they entered, the man sat up. His complexion was so dark that he looked practically dead.

His eyes were sunken, and traces of foam remained around his mouth.

The old man appeared so frail that he might cross the River of Death at any moment.

They were typical signs of exposure to demonic energy, but...

“He doesn’t seem to have any particular symptoms.”

Yise agreed with Seol Ryeong before addressing the old man.

“It seems your energy was already weak to begin with. When you return home, have someone prepare a dose of herbal medicine to restore your vitality. At this rate, you’ll die before long.”

“Ah... Yes, Daoist.”

“Please explain in detail what happened.”

The old man took several deep breaths to calm himself before slowly opening his mouth.

“Well... I was passing through the Namsangol mountain pass when I entered a forest. It was some kind of bamboo grove, and suddenly, I heard a woman crying. So I approached to see what was wrong.”

He paused briefly before continuing.

“But no matter how much I searched the forest, I couldn’t find anything. Just as I was about to turn back... an enormous pitch-black ghost suddenly attacked me. I don’t remember anything after that.”

The old man shuddered as though even recalling it was unbearable.

“A ghost? Do you mean a malevolent spirit? What exactly did it look like?”

“Well...”

Clutching his throbbing head, the old man tried to recall the identity of the demon that had attacked him, but his memories were strangely hazy.

“It looked like a dark cloud, or perhaps fog... I don’t think it had any distinct shape.”

Yise and Seol Ryeong asked the old man various questions in an attempt to obtain more detailed information, but the exchange yielded little.

They even carefully examined the information Hong Sadeuk had gathered in advance, including written interviews with those who had encountered the demon, but those accounts were equally vague.

“Something is strange.”

“What is?”

When Seol Ryeong asked, Yise elaborated.

“Tavaro already has cold winters, and Namsangol is located at a high elevation, making it difficult for bamboo groves to grow naturally. That is, unless someone transplanted them there.”

“Hmm... You’re right. To be honest, I’ve never seen a bamboo grove before. My hometown is much farther north.”

“The bamboo grove itself might be a phenomenon related to the demon.”

Yise quickly searched through the information stored in his mind regarding demons associated with bamboo.

“Ten-Thousand-Year Bamboo. The Three Women of the Crimson Orchid.”

Seol Ryeong also searched her memory, trying to follow Yise’s train of thought, but she was unfamiliar with those demons.

“Were they... mid-ranking demons?”

“The Ten-Thousand-Year Bamboo is low-ranking. But it isn’t a malevolent spirit; it’s a spiritual monster. The Three Women of the Crimson Orchid are malevolent spirits, but they’re high-ranking. None of the information matches.”

Yise turned to the elderly tout and asked him a question.

“When did the bamboo forest appear there?”

“Come to think of it, the area was nothing but an open field when I was a child, but at some point, bamboo began growing there. If I remember correctly, it must have been around fifty years ago...”

“How large is the forest?”

“About three or four times the size of this estate.”

“What was it like fifty years ago?”

“That... That was... probably similar to how it is now... I think?”

Yise was certain.

“It’s definitely an anomalous phenomenon caused by a demon. Given the nature of bamboo, it would be impossible for a grove of that size to form naturally in this climate. Let’s proceed under the assumption that we’re dealing with an undiscovered demon.”

“Okay.”

Yise smiled with satisfaction.

According to the Basic Handbook of the Grand Martial Path, anyone who captured a previously undiscovered demon for the first time would receive an additional reward.

Of course, that also meant they would have to proceed with even greater caution.