Ten days had passed since Lee Hyun left for Heiya Ridge.
He had not returned to Qinghe Valley.
The Outer Gate Affairs Hall did not pay much attention for several days after Lee Hyun's seven-day mission period had expired, but when there was still no word from him on the tenth day after his departure, it dispatched three outer disciples at the mid stage of Qi Refining to Heiya Ridge.
At the abandoned mine, they found a broken cart, Yin Sand Soil scattered across the ground, a torn Qinghe Valley outer disciple robe, and Lee Hyun's identity token.
Marks resembling beast claws remained on the rocks around the cart and the walls of the mine tunnel, and several bottomless vertical shafts lay nearby.
When the search party failed to find Lee Hyun, the Law Enforcement Hall began an investigation.
An outer disciple going missing during a mission did not necessarily mean that he had suffered an accident. He could have staged his death to leave the sect, or he might have stolen sect property and fled.
But in Lee Hyun's case, there was nothing suspicious.
The harvests of Bone-Rot Flowers, Yin Soul Grass, and Purple Poison Orchids were stored in the Withering Yin Field warehouse in exactly the quantities recorded in the ledger. There were enough seeds left for the next sowing, and the low-grade spirit stones used to maintain the Yin-Gathering Formation and Poison-Warding Formation also remained in the prescribed amount.
The Essence-Nourishing Pills, spirit stones, Qinghe Rice, and other items Lee Hyun had received as compensation were no longer in the warehouse, but those had belonged to the field caretaker in the first place. Naturally, they would be in his storage pouch.
"Almost none of his contribution points remained."
"What did he spend them on?"
"Mostly at the Scripture Pavilion. He borrowed several basic technique manuals and returned them properly. He spent the rest at the Artifact Hall purchasing magic tools."
The Law Enforcement Hall steward nodded.
The sect liked it when disciples spent their contribution points at the Scripture Pavilion. Once books and jade slips had been prepared, they could be lent out again and again, so compared with handing out physical resources such as pills or spirit stones, it cost the sect almost nothing.
In fact, considering Qinghe Valley had gotten several years of labor out of Lee Hyun, it had suffered virtually no loss at all.
"And there's no record of him quarreling with any fellow disciples..."
"Correct. Before he was transferred to the Withering Yin Field, he worked at Spirit Field No. 73. Its caretaker, Lu Baishan, also gave him a good evaluation."
The Law Enforcement Hall steward no longer saw any need to investigate Lee Hyun's disappearance further.
"Record him as missing during a mission and presumed dead. If he does not return within three months, strike his name from the outer disciple roster. Separately, check the Heiya Ridge area for signs of demon beast activity and warn any disciples taking missions nearby to be cautious."
***
At that same time, Lee Hyun was already far to the south of Heiya Ridge.
He traveled mainly along mountain ridges and through forests, taking wide detours whenever he spotted an inhabited village.
The body of a Qi Refining Stage 2 cultivator was incomparably stronger than that of a mortal. He could cover in one or two shichen (about two to four hours) a distance that would take an ordinary person an entire day to walk, and he could climb steep mountain slopes as easily as if he were running across level ground.
...
Before he knew it, a month had passed since he left Qinghe Valley.
Lee Hyun roughly calculated how far he had traveled.
'Even by a conservative estimate... I've covered six thousand li (about 2,400 km)!'
Six thousand li was an enormous distance, roughly equivalent to making three round trips between Seoul and Busan in his previous life.
Lee Hyun stood atop a small mountain peak and looked north, but Qinghe Valley was already far beyond sight.
'They won't be able to find me this far away, right?'
Lee Hyun decided it was time to leave the mountains. Continuing to travel only through the wilderness was too dangerous.
Demon beasts could appear in sparsely inhabited mountains.
Unlike ordinary wild animals, demon beasts were creatures capable of absorbing and using spiritual qi.
Even the weakest among them, early Tier 1 demon beasts, were roughly equivalent in realm to early Qi Refining cultivators, but demon beasts possessed stronger bodies than humans and innate means of attack. Even at the same realm, Lee Hyun, who had little practical combat experience, was unlikely to win.
And in truth, other cultivators were even more dangerous than demon beasts.
Cultivators paid almost no attention to mortals of the mundane world, but they were extremely wary of other cultivators.
In remote regions beyond the influence of sects or cultivation clans, it was not uncommon for someone to kill a weaker cultivator and seize his possessions.
This was partly because there were plenty of cruel people among cultivators, but more importantly, cultivation resources such as spirit stones and pills were directly tied to extending one's lifespan.
When Lee Hyun had worked in the spirit field, Senior Brother Lu had occasionally explained the mindset of cultivators who enjoyed plundering others.
"They would rather live for a hundred and fifty years while the other person dies at twenty than have both of them live for a hundred years."
"Isn't that just the mindset of a lunatic?"
"Yes. The problem is that there are far too many lunatics. That's why you have to be careful. Cultivators all have storage pouches, so they carry their entire fortunes on their bodies. Every one of them is basically a walking treasure trove."
"Then how am I supposed to avoid them?"
"Once you're outside the sect, be especially careful in remote places where there are no witnesses. Cultivators care about face and reputation to some extent too, so if you're not confident in your strength, you're actually better off traveling through crowded places."
Remembering Senior Brother Lu's advice, Lee Hyun decided it was about time to start traveling along the highway.
It bothered him that he had not yet properly mastered the Spirit-Concealing & Aura-Concealing Art and therefore could not hide the fact that he was a cultivator, but he could hardly stop here and cultivate until the technique reached Major Attainment.
'I should avoid places that are too bustling and stick to smaller towns. Cultivators probably don't appear often in the mundane world, where spiritual qi is thin, and there should be even fewer of them in the countryside. I hope I don't run into any cultivators...'
Lee Hyun put the Earth Shovel Sword into his storage pouch. He tied the pouch to the inside of his belt and concealed it beneath his clothes.
...
Two shichen later.
Lee Hyun emerged onto the highway and, while traveling along it, spotted a merchant caravan passing nearby.
A long line of twelve wagons and pack mules stretched down the road, with guards carrying spears and bows protecting the front and rear.
Lee Hyun walked in the same direction, keeping a little distance from them.
Unlike the mountain trails, the highway was well maintained, and stone markers engraved with the distance and direction to the next village had been set along the roadside at intervals.
...
Two days later.
The merchant caravan arrived at a small walled town.
A wooden plaque hanging above the gate bore the two characters ‘Pingling’.
It was not a particularly large town. Tiled houses and mud-walled homes crowded together behind the low city walls, while wagons and travelers queued in front of the gate.
At the gate, the gate guards counted the cargo loaded onto the wagons and assessed duties accordingly. When the caravan leader handed one of the guards something, all twelve wagons were allowed through at once. Behind them, however, an old man with grain loaded on a donkey was held up for quite some time as he argued with the guards.
Since Lee Hyun had no visible luggage, he simply walked through the gate.
Lee Hyun first decided to find out exactly how far he had come.
'Could this be Yunze Kingdom?'
Just then, he spotted a peddler sitting by the roadside and sorting through his belongings.
Lee Hyun approached and asked politely.
"Uncle, may I ask if this is Yunze Kingdom?"
"Yunze Kingdom? Tsk, tsk. Young man, you've gone badly astray. This is Pingling County, Shuoning Circuit, Anling Kingdom. We're right at the far northwestern edge of Anling Kingdom."
"The northwestern edge?"
Lee Hyun wondered whether he had misheard.
Anling Kingdom shared a border with the southern part of the Great Yan Kingdom. Yet after traveling six thousand li south from Qinghe Valley in the southwestern part of the Great Yan Kingdom, he was still only at the far northwestern edge of Anling Kingdom?
"Do you happen to know how much farther it is to Yunze Kingdom?"
"You'd have to travel at least another fifteen thousand li south from here."
"F-fifteen thousand li?"
'Ah... Is it because this is a xianxia world?'
Only then did Lee Hyun remember the novels he had read in his previous life.
Xianxia worlds were usually far larger than Earth.
There were settings where a powerful demon beast occupied an entire mountain range, or a single sect exerted influence over tens of thousands of li. If that was the case, then the geographic scale of this world was probably far greater as well.
Lee Hyun was briefly taken aback, but he had plenty of time anyway.
'Well... I've already come six thousand li. I'll reach another fifteen thousand eventually.'
Lee Hyun decided to continue to Yunze Kingdom as planned.
At that moment, his stomach growled.
It had been two days since he refined a Hunger-Warding Pill, so it was about time he started feeling hungry.
Just then, Lee Hyun's sharpened sense of smell caught the scent of something frying in oil and meat roasting over a fire.
'Maybe I should buy some mundane food and save my Hunger-Warding Pills?'
The mundane copper coins he had saved while working as a woodcutter before entering Qinghe Valley were still sitting in a corner of his storage pouch, so Lee Hyun was not short on traveling money for the moment.
He headed toward the market. But the instant he reached its entrance, he stopped.
'Ugh... What is that smell?'
A collection of shabby stalls selling fish and meat occupied one side of the market entrance.
One merchant gave the knife he had just used to gut a fish a cursory rinse in murky water, then placed it straight back on the cutting board. Beside him, a customer pressed a slab of pork several times with his bare hands before simply putting it back down.
Blood runoff from the stalls mixed with the dusty earth into a muddy sludge, while insects buzzed around the meat.
Perhaps because his five senses had grown sharper after reaching Qi Refining, and because he had grown accustomed to Qinghe Valley's clean environment, even smells he would once have ignored now seemed exceptionally revolting.
"..."
Lee Hyun backed away several steps before finally leaving that part of the market.
There were shops and restaurants farther inside that looked somewhat cleaner, but his appetite was already gone.
He decided to try mundane food again later, once he found somewhere a little more upscale.
...
Lee Hyun resumed his journey south.
He mainly followed busy highways, and whenever he found a cargo boat that carried passengers for a small fare, he would sometimes travel along the rivers instead.
Grain barges formed long lines along the rivers, while private boats carrying salt and timber moved among them.
Traveling by water was not bad either. He could enjoy the scenery along the river, and while resting, he could circulate the Primordial One-Qi Art and refine his spiritual power.
...
As Lee Hyun passed through various towns in Anling Kingdom, he gradually found a few foods he could tolerate buying.
Eggs boiled in their shells, fruits that could be peeled before eating, and nuts he could shell himself were comparatively easier to stomach. As he gradually found more mundane foods he could eat, his consumption of Hunger-Warding Pills decreased.
Whenever he happened to find common medicinal herbs growing near the foothills, he gathered them and sold them to apothecaries, replenishing the silver he used in the mundane world.
...
Another three months passed.
Only after traveling roughly another fifteen thousand li from Pingling County Seat was Lee Hyun finally able to cross Anling Kingdom's southern border. Counting from Qinghe Valley, he had traveled more than twenty thousand li in total.
Yet despite that, the climate had changed astonishingly little.
Even the height of the sun at midday had shown no noticeable difference.
'This really is different from Earth.'
He had no way of knowing whether this world was simply an enormous planet far larger than Earth, or whether the structure of the universe itself was entirely different.
Lost in thought, Lee Hyun continued walking until he finally arrived in Yunze Kingdom.
...
Qingliu County Seat, located at the northwestern edge of Linjiang Circuit in Yunze Kingdom.
Lee Hyun looked around as he passed through the city gate.
A broad river flowed through the center of the city, and vessels large and small were moored in rows along its banks.
On one side of the wharf stood a long row of warehouses storing tax grain collected from Qingliu County and the surrounding districts. In front of them, clerks held brushes as they counted the sacks.
Ever since he entered Yunze Kingdom, rivers and lakes had become noticeably more common.
Having safely reached his destination, Lee Hyun felt much more at ease.
'Should I try to find a cultivator market?'
He still had around thirty low-grade spirit stones left.
Although he had brought some spirit plant seeds from Qinghe Valley, he wanted to obtain more varieties of spirit plants suitable for cultivating underground over many years.
The problem was that he had no idea where the cultivator markets were. As Lee Hyun walked through the streets while listening to the conversations around him, he overheard some merchants talking in a nearby teahouse.
"I hear there aren't any seats left on boats heading southeast these days."
"Isn't the capital examination being held in Yunjing? All the scholars selected from the various circuits are flocking to the royal capital, so of course there aren't."
'The capital examination....'
It seemed to be a system in which the court examined scholars and selected government officials.
Lee Hyun slowed his steps.
'Yunjing must be the capital of Yunze Kingdom. Wouldn't there also be a cultivator market nearby where rogue cultivators gather?'
Lee Hyun briefly considered looking for a boat to Yunjing, but then suddenly remembered his current situation.
'Right now, I'm only at Qi Refining Stage 2. I have no combat experience, almost no offensive techniques I can properly use, and my main magic tool is the Earth Shovel Sword, which is closer to a shovel than a sword...'
Back in Qinghe Valley, he had been surrounded by fellow disciples from the same sect, so nothing had happened. But the rogue cultivators gathered at a cultivator market would all be complete strangers.
'Dammit. Why was I already trying to mingle with cultivators? I nearly forgot my original goal of living peacefully...!'
'First, I'll make my own tunnel and focus on cultivation. It won't be too late to visit a cultivator market once I'm confident an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator won't be able to kill me easily.'
...
After leaving Qingliu County Seat, Lee Hyun headed south in search of sparsely populated hills and mountains.
'Now then... where should I build the historic Tunnel No. 1?'
His first thought was a mountain. But he could not simply dig a tunnel into just any mountain.
Famous mountains containing spirit veins, spirit herbs, or minerals attracted cultivators, while deep mountains might be home to demon beasts or frequented by herb gatherers. If he was particularly unlucky, he might even stumble across the cave abode of a secluded rogue cultivator.
But flat ground was not ideal either.
'If there's groundwater beneath flat land, the tunnel could flood, and it'll be harder to hide the excavated soil. Disguising the entrance and air shafts as natural features would also be more difficult than on a mountain.'
Lee Hyun had not been an expert in earth science in his previous life, and there was no guarantee that the geology of this world was the same as Earth's, so it was difficult for him to judge what conditions would be best.
'I guess I'll have to find somewhere with no people and thin spiritual qi, then try digging myself if the place looks suitable.'
Whenever Lee Hyun passed a gently sloping mountain or hill, he checked the surrounding waterways and signs of human activity. If a place seemed promising, he tested the ground with the Earth Shovel Sword.
After moving from place to place for several days, Lee Hyun finally discovered a low, gently sloping mountain roughly three hundred li southeast of Qingliu County Seat.
There was plenty of soil around the foot of the mountain, while gravel and rocks became gradually more common farther up the slope. A valley was not far away, but the mountainside stood well above the watercourse.
He still did not know whether it was the perfect location, but it looked better than anywhere else he had examined so far.
'Hmm... This place somehow seems about right.'