Chapter 23 :

Chapter 23

Act 4: The Bamboo-Tube Beauty (4)

Yise and Seol Ryeong headed toward the bamboo forest described by the inn tout.

It was located along a narrow mountain path at the end of a long hill stretching from Namsangol toward Gwangjingol.

When the demonic energy became barely perceptible, the outer-sect representative, Chong Sadeuk, stopped walking.

“My role ends here. If you require any further assistance while carrying out the mission, please visit the outpost at any time. I will be waiting.”

“Please interview the people in Namsangol who encountered the demon one more time. There may be information we overlooked.”

“Yes. I will do so.”

“Thank you.”

Leaving Chong Sadeuk behind as he bowed and departed, the two turned their gazes forward.

It was a forest from which demonic energy emanated distinctly. Despite the dry weather, damp mist rose like a sigh within the silent forest.

Yise looked around the bamboo forest.

The bamboo here looked distinctly different from the other groves he had seen when he was younger.

The deeper they walked through the bamboo, the denser the unsettling demonic energy became.

They could not hear the sound of a woman crying as the man had described, but the frigid energy sent chills through them.

“I’m starting to feel a biting chill. We must be getting close. Be careful, Yise.”

“Right. The demonic energy is rising from somewhere near the center. Let’s stop and observe the situation.”

“You can sense the demonic energy that precisely?”

“Yeah. It’s because of my constitution.”

“Can you estimate how much demonic energy there is?”

“It’s faint. Since it’s roughly equivalent to the amount possessed by a Risk Level Nine demon, the measuring instrument used for the report appears to be functioning properly.”

“Wow... So we have a walking demonic-power measuring instrument right here...”

What an utterly bizarre constitution.

Seol Ryeong swallowed that final remark and merely continued expressing her amazement.

After taking up a position at a safe distance, Yise asked Seol Ryeong a question.

“How do you hunt a malevolent spirit?”

“First, I perform an exorcism ritual to bind it and prevent it from dispersing. Then we cut it down with a specialized weapon. Here, this is a silver-iron dagger. When exterminating a malevolent spirit, you must use a weapon made from at least seventy percent silver.”

Yise gripped the small silver-iron dagger.

“While I perform the exorcism ritual, protect me if the malevolent spirit becomes violent. It will usually try to flee, but in this case, it might be a spirit bound to this location. If so, it will attack us.”

“Understood. Let’s approach once you’re ready.”

Seol Ryeong took several deep breaths before gulping nervously.

Their prey was merely a Risk Level Nine demon.

However, this was their first actual hunt.

The sixth rule of demon extermination: Hunt with all your strength, no matter how weak the demon may be.

Whenever the enemy’s demonic energy seemed insignificant, Yise reminded himself of the Ten Commandments of Demon Extermination and the appalling one-year survival rate of the Grand Martial Path’s introductory disciples.

The closer they moved to the source of the demonic energy, the fiercer the frigid wind became.

The wind’s direction was strange.

It felt as though it were spiraling outward from within the forest.

Soon, Yise opened his eyes wide.

What he had mistaken for wind possessed a strange, tangible form.

No—to be precise, it possessed color.

Before he knew it, a black wind lingered around him, weaving back and forth.

“It’s coming. Begin.”

At Yise’s command, Seol Ryeong immediately drove a weapon resembling a sacred pole deep into the ground and began reciting an incantation.

Whoooosh!

Auspicious energy pushed back the wicked energy, and the wind slowly retreated.

However, the black wind that had seemingly withdrawn surged toward him again like a violent storm.

It clearly possessed the form of a malevolent spirit—one that was almost entirely incorporeal.

It did not differ significantly from the witnesses’ descriptions.

However—

‘Something is strange.’

Most of the demonic energy within the bamboo forest was concentrated in the black mist, but a faint thread extended from the mist toward the center of the forest.

It was thin, yet densely concentrated with demonic energy.

Yise leaped over the mist rushing toward him.

He immediately swung the silver-iron dagger.

He felt nothing.

It was literally like swinging a blade through empty air.

Contrary to what Seol Ryeong had said, the silver-iron weapon had no effect on the malevolent spirit.

Yise quickly created some distance and glanced at Seol Ryeong, but she was focused on reciting her spell.

This time, he infused his hand with spiritual energy and struck the mist, but his hand merely passed through empty air once again. He felt no contact whatsoever.

The dispersed mist immediately gathered together and began floating again.

“At last, a human with powerful energy has appeared.”

A voice resembling that of a human emerged from the incorporeal monster.

“A low-ranking demon can speak?”

Just as Yise asked in confusion, Seol Ryeong’s sharp voice erupted behind him.

“Yise! The binding isn’t working!”

At that moment, the black wind transformed into the shape of a tiger.

“Give me your body!”

It roared directly before his face, but Yise passed straight through the mist and thrust the silver-iron dagger toward the bamboo container at the very center of the forest, where the thread of demonic energy was connected.

“No!”

An urgent groan sounded behind him.

As expected, the mist had been nothing more than a deception. The real body was here.

Just as the silver-iron dagger was about to shatter the bamboo container, a scream-like cry rang out.

“Wait! I’m sorry! Please don’t break it!”

It was the voice of a young girl.

Instead of smashing the bamboo container, Yise struck it with the back of the dagger.

Thud!

The bamboo container went rolling across the ground.

A moment later, a tiny woman no larger than two finger joints crawled out from inside.

The woman knelt demurely and clasped her hands politely as though begging for mercy.

Seol Ryeong, who had approached without him noticing, rubbed her eyes and let out something close to a sigh.

“...What in the world is going on?”

“It wasn’t a malevolent spirit. The mist was an illusion created by this demon. This spiritual monster appears to be its true body. Since it seems capable of communicating, let’s capture it alive and hand it over to the main sect.”

“What do you mean, it can communicate...?”

Seol Ryeong’s eyes widened when she saw the demon’s true form.

It possessed a mystical appearance reminiscent of a celestial maiden.

Its tiny face had delicate, well-defined features, and translucent silk shimmered around its small body.

Yise picked up the demon between two fingers. It twisted its body and grinned sheepishly.

Corruption.

“Hehe, I may have gotten a little carried away... If you spare me just this once, I promise I’ll live as quietly as though I were dead.”

It might have appeared endearing to some, but Yise ignored its act completely.

Seol Ryeong spoke with her eyes wide open.

“This is impossible. A demon in the Energy Refinement Realm—and a low-ranking one at that—is actually speaking?”

“You’ve never seen one either?”

“Of course not. I heard that a demon must reach at least the Foundation Establishment Realm before it can acquire the ability to speak...”

Whatever the explanation, this was likely a discovery approaching the level of a fortuitous encounter.

If the Grand Martial Path’s high-ranking cultivators saw it, they would probably cause an uproar in their eagerness to examine, dissect, and thoroughly study it.

At the very least, the reward for completing the mission would surely be adjusted.

“What are you?”

“I am a spiritual object from an immortal mountain, the guardian spirit of a bamboo forest. I am called the Bamboo-Container Maiden.”

Still dangling between his fingers, the demon grasped the sides of its skirt and bashfully greeted them like a young girl.

Seol Ryeong involuntarily let out a small laugh at its seemingly harmless appearance.

Then she suddenly recoiled and asked in surprise.

“A spiritual object? You’re not a demon?”

“Yeees...”

“W-Wait! She says she’s a spiritual object. Don’t hold her as though you were pinching a bug!”

The Grand Martial Path was a cultivation sect that revered and protected spiritual objects.

If this creature truly was a spiritual object, they could never treat it carelessly.

Seol Ryeong hurriedly accepted the Bamboo-Container Maiden into both hands and examined her from every angle.

“She really is one. It’s faint, but I can sense spiritual energy from her. In that case, it would be possible for her to acquire speech while still in the Energy Refinement Realm... But the fact that most of her power has transformed into demonic energy means—”

This demon was once a spiritual object that understood righteousness but had fallen from its path. It still retained some spirituality, but its corruption was already progressing.

Seol Ryeong sighed involuntarily out of pity.

Whether or not he understood the circumstances, Yise merely asked a question in an indifferent tone to satisfy his curiosity.

“Where is this immortal mountain?”

“It is... a mountain near the southern coast...”

If it was near the southern coast, it had to be somewhere in the Gamori region, at least one thousand li away.

How had a spiritual object from the Southern Sea been dragged all the way here, corrupted, and reduced to tormenting ordinary mortals?

“The Southern Sea is at least one thousand li from here. What brought you all the way to this place?”

“There were circumstances...”

“And if you came all this way, you should have lived quietly. Your spiritual power appears to have weakened considerably, so why were you tormenting innocent people? Didn’t the older bamboo spirits teach you to beware of corruption?”

“There were circumstances behind that as well...”

“What kind of circumstances? You certainly are a demon with an endless supply of excuses.”

“Yise, she was still originally a spiritual object. Shouldn’t you show her a little respect...?”

He knew he ought to respect her, but how could he possibly feel respect for such a ridiculous little creature?

Yise shook his head and stopped questioning her.

There were numerous unanswered questions, but their first priority was completing the mission.

Yise addressed the Bamboo-Container Maiden.

“We’re going to transport you to the Grand Martial Path. Can you travel? I’d prefer to bring you back alive if possible.”

“I... cannot leave this place. I doubt I could travel even ten li before falling ill and disappearing.”

Yise and Seol Ryeong exchanged glances.

“What are we supposed to do in this situation? Should we wait until she becomes a demon and then perform spirit purification?”