Lee Hyun had not spent all of the past 330 years wide awake.
Roughly every fifteen days, he made the rounds of the spirit fields. The rest of the time, he cultivated the Primordial One-Qi Art while lying down in a half-asleep state.
By his own sense of time, it felt as though less than a few decades had passed. Of course, even that was an extremely long time, and Lee Hyun had already grown tired of life in the tunnel.
Now that even his realm had stopped advancing, there was no reason to remain in Tunnel No. 1.
'Maybe I should visit Yunjing for the first time in ages and look into how to break through to mid Qi Refining while I'm there?'
...
Before leaving, Lee Hyun decided to briefly inspect the spirit fields first.
His prone body began sliding across the floor.
Shhk-shhk-shhk-shhk―
His entire body crossed the cultivation chamber and slipped out into the passage.
When he reached a bend, Lee Hyun turned sideways without getting up, slid up the wall, across the ceiling, and down onto the floor on the opposite side.
By now, Lee Hyun was even capable of the bizarre feat of using the Distance-Shrinking Step while performing the Reclining Escape Art.
As though tunneling through solid bedrock underground while lying flat were not enough, he now hovered just above the passage floor and glided along like a ghost.
...
Spirit Field No. 1-1.
Dense poisonous pollen floated like a hazy mist around the overlapping layers of ivory petals. Still lying flat, Lee Hyun approached and examined the inside of the Bone-Rot Flower.
'Around 160 years.'
"Still, this isn't bad."
Using the Yang Metal Art, Lee Hyun carved their current condition into a wooden board.
"116 Bone-Rot Flowers, 294 Yin Soul Grass plants, 77 Purple Poison Orchids, 55 Earth Vein Flowers... The numbers have decreased slightly, but they're in good condition. Average medicine age, 164 years."
Lee Hyun then inspected Spirit Field No. 1-2 through Spirit Field No. 1-5 in order.
"The remaining spirit plants in the other four spirit fields... 466 Bone-Rot Flowers, 1,182 Yin Soul Grass plants, 310 Purple Poison Orchids, 224 Earth Vein Flowers. Average medicine age, 131 years...."
...
Spirit Field No. 1-6.
The surface of the reservoir was completely covered in green lotus leaves.
Several flowers bloomed among the leaves, while honeycomb-like seedpods riddled with holes had formed where other flowers had shed their petals.
Lee Hyun lifted the nearest seedpod.
A hard seed sat inside each hole.
He had tried taking the seeds out and eating them before.
Young seeds were cool and faintly sweet, and after eating them, his mind felt a little clearer while the heat inside his body subsided.
They tasted quite good as well, so Lee Hyun often cracked open lotus seedpods as snacks. Thanks to that, he had even fewer reasons to venture into the mundane world.
"I have no idea how quickly professional spirit-plant cultivators can raise these in a spirit field. Let's call the medicine age 110 years."
...
Spirit Field No. 1-7, the last place he visited, contained three Stone Honey Peach trees growing like a small forest.
Because the cavern ceiling was low, the trees could not grow straight upward and instead spread broadly to the sides. Thick trunks and branches twisted along the rock walls, while faint yellow-brown qi flowed through the veins of their thick leaves.
Fist-sized fruits hung sparsely among the branches.
When they had first begun bearing fruit, all three trees combined produced only three or four peaches a year. As the trees aged, however, their yield steadily increased. Now they bore more than twenty fruits every year.
Lee Hyun plucked a fully ripened fruit and peeled away the skin.
When he bit into the translucent, honey-colored flesh, the firm, chilled pulp crunched between his teeth. Rich sweetness and refreshing water qi spread through his mouth together.
"Ahh..."
There was no dramatic change in his body immediately after eating it. He recorded the Stone Honey Peach's medicine age as 110 years for the time being.
...
After recording the condition of all seven spirit fields, Lee Hyun returned to the cultivation chamber and sank into thought.
There were now more than 2,700 Bone-Rot Flowers, Yin Soul Grass plants, Purple Poison Orchids, and Earth Vein Flowers over a hundred years old in total, and he could also steadily harvest Yin Water Lotus seedpods and Stone Honey Peach spirit fruits.
'The problem is who I can sell these to, and for how much....'
Putting one or two century-old spirit herbs up for sale might have been fine. He could claim that he had happened across them in a secret spirit field deep in the mountains or in the cave abode of some ancient cultivator. But if he repeatedly sold the same species or put dozens up for sale at once, anyone would become suspicious of their origin.
"Well, there's no need to rush. It's not like I'm desperate for spirit stones right now... and they'll only get more expensive if I wait, won't they?"
...
Lee Hyun went to the storeroom and retrieved the storage pouch he had used since his days at Qinghe Valley.
He had eaten the few Essence-Nourishing Pills inside long ago simply out of boredom, leaving behind only a little of the food he had eaten in those days.
When he opened the stopper of a small bottle, four Hunger-Warding Pills rolled out. After eating them occasionally over the centuries, only these last few remained.
When he examined them with the Aura-Reading Art, more than half of the spiritual qi within had already dissipated.
Lee Hyun put one Hunger-Warding Pill into his mouth.
They had never tasted good in the past, but now that most of their spiritual qi was gone, it tasted like nothing more than chewing powdered medicinal ingredients without water.
Still, once it reached his stomach, a faint warmth spread through him.
Lee Hyun also took a small cloth pouch from the storage pouch.
There was roughly one jin (about 600 g) of Qinghe Rice left.
The once white and translucent grains had not spoiled, but much of the spiritual qi they once contained had dissipated.
Lee Hyun put the Qinghe Rice back into the pouch.
...
For several days before leaving, Lee Hyun put Tunnel No. 1 in order.
He filled the tanks in each spirit field with spirit rainwater and inspected each bronze pipe and the axles of the water barrels. He replaced worn components with new ones and thoroughly cleared away the dirt and stone dust that had accumulated in the waterways.
...
Four days later.
Lee Hyun was already walking along the western highway leading toward Yunjing.
He had occasionally visited the nearby county seat to buy nuts, hardware, paper, and books, but it had been a long time since he had come all the way to Yunjing.
Even from a distance, Yunjing looked considerably different from what Lee Hyun remembered.
The first thing that caught his eye was the city wall.
A new outer wall had been built far to the west of the old western gate, and both its height and thickness far surpassed those of the old wall. Towers fitted with enormous crossbows stood along the top at regular intervals.
Strangely enough, Yunze Kingdom was still standing.
A long line of carts and pedestrians stretched out before the city gate. The soldiers inspecting cargo wore armor unlike what Lee Hyun remembered, and a huge bronze mirror that had not existed in the past had been installed above the gate.
Each time someone passed through, a hazy light appeared on the mirror's surface before fading away.
'What's that? Could it be... a magic tool? I wouldn't expect a nation of the mundane world to possess any particularly impressive magic tools....'
Lee Hyun circulated the Spirit-Concealing Art and Aura-Concealing Art at the same time as he followed the line through the gate. The bronze mirror faced him, but no alarm sounded and no soldiers approached.
'Hm. I guess it really wasn't anything special.'
...
Inside the new outer wall, warehouses, inns, and workshops stood packed closely together.
It seemed the city had expanded into areas that once held rice paddies and ordinary homes. The main roads were wider than before, and large stone bridges had replaced the wooden bridges spanning the waterways.
Lee Hyun asked a passerby for directions and headed toward the site of the old western gate.
Only after walking for quite some time did the old city wall finally come into view. Sections of it had been demolished and were now being used like market walls, while the tower above the former western gate had been converted into a teahouse.
A place that had once stood outside the city was now the entrance to a market known as the Old West Gate.
There were still many stalls selling medicinal herbs and miscellaneous goods around the Old West Gate.
Lee Hyun slowly looked around, then abruptly stopped. Several bundles of Water Root Grass lay atop a shabby mat.
Behind them sat a thin man who looked to be a little over fifty.
He bore an astonishing resemblance to Zhang Ping, whom Lee Hyun had met more than three hundred years ago.
When Lee Hyun found himself staring without realizing it, the man looked up.
"Is something the matter?"
"May I ask your name...?"
"I am Zhang Youshan."
"I see."
Lee Hyun lowered his head with an awkward expression.
"You looked so much like someone I knew that I mistook you for him."
"There are plenty of people in the world who resemble one another, are there not?"
'What are the odds of this...?'
After hesitating for a moment, Lee Hyun picked up a bundle of Water Root Grass from the mat.
"How much?"
"Four copper coins."
"That's more expensive than it used to be."
"How many things in this world are cheaper now than they used to be?"
"Fair point."
Lee Hyun handed over the coins and placed the Water Root Grass in his storage pouch.
When he still did not leave despite having made his purchase, Zhang Youshan looked him up and down.
"Is this your first time in Yunjing?"
"It's been a long time."
"You must be a fellow Daoist who has been cultivating in seclusion in the mountains."
"That's right."
"Judging by your realm, you seem to be at Qi Refining Stage 3. Did you come here hoping to join the Fengtian Bureau?"
"Does the Fengtian Bureau still exist?"
Zhang Youshan stared at him as though he had just heard something bizarre.
"What do you mean, does it still exist? If the Fengtian Bureau vanished, who would hold back the demon beasts and the martial artists of Qianyang Kingdom?"
Hearing that not only Yunze Kingdom but also the Fengtian Bureau still existed, Lee Hyun felt relieved.
"I came to Yunjing to find out how to advance from Qi Refining Stage 3 to Stage 4."
"How long have you been stuck?"
"About ten years."
Zhang Youshan gave a bitter smile.
"You're still a youngster."
"And how long has it been for you, fellow Daoist?"
"Forty-five years. I reached Qi Refining Stage 3 at thirty-four, and I'm seventy-nine this year. Exactly forty-five years. No need to do the arithmetic."
Lee Hyun felt strangely unsettled. The man was a mirror image of Zhang Ping, whom he had met long ago, not only in appearance but in circumstances as well.
"Is advancing from Qi Refining Stage 3 to Stage 4 really that difficult?"
"It is, if you have neither a good spirit vein nor pills."
"Is a spirit vein absolutely necessary?"
Zhang Youshan studied Lee Hyun's face for a moment, then gestured toward a low wooden crate beside him.
"You truly must have cultivated alone in the mountains. I have no customers anyway, so sit for a while."
Once Lee Hyun sat on the crate, Zhang Youshan began explaining as he brushed dirt from the roots of the Water Root Grass.
"Up to Qi Refining Stage 3, even if heaven-and-earth spiritual qi is thin, you can somehow advance as long as you put in enough time. But...."
Zhang Youshan curled one hand inward, then mimed pressing into it from outside with the other.
"To advance from early Qi Refining to mid Qi Refining, you must raise the quality of your spiritual power by another level while the pressure of external spiritual qi exceeds a certain threshold. People often compare the spiritual power of a Qi Refining cultivator to gas and that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator to liquid... but that is only an analogy. In reality, the quality of spiritual power varies even among cultivators within Qi Refining."
"So the pressure of the external spiritual qi is important. Then the reason a spirit vein matters is...."
"Exactly. Usually, one attempts the breakthrough somewhere with a Tier 1 high-grade spirit vein. In a place like that, the surrounding spiritual qi naturally presses into the body. But pills are actually the best option. The pressure produced when the concentrated spiritual qi inside a pill is released all at once within the body is so much stronger that it is difficult to compare with what a spirit vein can provide. When breaking through to Qi Refining Stage 4, cultivators generally take a Barrier-Breaking Pill."
"Does having a Barrier-Breaking Pill make the breakthrough easy?"
Zhang Youshan let out a dry laugh.
"If that were true, would I be sitting here selling Water Root Grass? The chance of success varies depending on one's spiritual root, cultivation art, age, and the condition of one's dantian. Plenty of people still fail even after taking a pill at a good spirit vein. Even so, it is far better than attempting a breakthrough with no preparation whatsoever."
Lee Hyun thought for a moment before asking,
"Where can I obtain a Barrier-Breaking Pill?"
"You would either have to obtain the pill recipe and try making one yourself, or buy one at a cultivator market."
"Isn't alchemy the exclusive preserve of great sects and cultivation clans?"
"Just how old is the information you're working with?"
Zhang Youshan picked up a stalk of Water Root Grass.
"Since the ancient era, spiritual qi has declined, and as the cultivation of spirit plants became more widespread, the number of alchemists naturally increased as well. Every cultivation force that operates spirit fields now has alchemists of its own. Even the Fengtian Bureau over there has pill recipes and alchemists...."
"The Fengtian Bureau does? If I joined, could I learn the Barrier-Breaking Pill recipe and the basics of alchemy as well?"
"Learning them isn't difficult in itself. These days, there's even a saying that two out of every three rogue cultivators try their hand at alchemy, and one of those two gives up after doing nothing but wasting spirit stones."
"Were you also once affiliated with the Fengtian Bureau, fellow Daoist?"
"I was."
"Then couldn't you simply make your own Barrier-Breaking Pills?"
"I thought the same thing when I was young."
Zhang Youshan smiled bitterly and lightly rubbed his side.
"I worked as an External Retainer for the Fengtian Bureau for seventeen years. I hunted demon beasts, escorted medicinal ingredients, and even tracked down martial artists from Qianyang Kingdom."
"An External Retainer? Wasn't that called a guest retainer?"
This time, Zhang Youshan looked genuinely puzzled.
"How do you know that?"
"I read it in an old book."
"That is an outdated term. The guest retainer system was abolished more than sixty years ago."
"Why was it abolished?"
"During a major war with Qianyang Kingdom, the Fengtian Bureau urgently summoned its guest retainers, but most of them disappeared. They took advantage of the Bureau's registry and benefits in ordinary times, then fled the moment things became dangerous. Guest retainers were originally free to choose their own missions, so there was hardly any basis for punishing them."
After that incident, the Yunze royal court reportedly changed the system so that every Qi Refining rogue cultivator receiving support from the Fengtian Bureau was placed on the rolls as a Retainer.
The current Retainers were divided into Standing Retainers, External Retainers, Military Retainers, and Craft Retainers.
Standing Retainers remained at government offices and received a stipend, but in return, they could not easily refuse orders. External Retainers lived freely most of the time and chose whichever missions they wanted, but they were required to meet a minimum mission quota within a set period.
Military Retainers fought the martial artists of Qianyang Kingdom along the southern frontier, while Craft Retainers contributed to the Fengtian Bureau through skills such as alchemy, talisman crafting, formations, and medicine.
"So you accumulated merit points as an External Retainer and used them to learn alchemy?"
"Indeed. But actually practicing alchemy was another matter entirely."
Zhang Youshan raised his right hand. The tips of two fingers were blackened and twisted as though badly burned.
"I learned alchemy from the Craft Retainers, but in the end, I realized I had no talent for it. So instead of buying a pill furnace and pill recipe with my remaining merit points, I bought a Barrier-Breaking Pill. I took it, and I failed."
"......."
"After that, I had neither the spirit stones to gather another set of medicinal ingredients nor the will to keep taking dangerous missions. After a Qianyang Kingdom martial artist slashed my side, I even returned my retainer badge."
"If you were an External Retainer, couldn't you choose safer missions?"
"Safe missions award too few merit points to make buying pills easy. I do not have much lifespan left now, either, so I have no intention of risking my life for a breakthrough."
Lee Hyun sank into thought as he listened to Zhang Youshan.
The man before him lacked medicinal ingredients, spirit stones, and time, but Lee Hyun was different.
Still, there was a good chance that obtaining only a few Barrier-Breaking Pills would not be enough to overcome his bottleneck.
An ordinary Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator's spiritual power was concentrated in the dantian, but Lee Hyun's Primordial True Qi filled his entire body.
'If everyone else attempts the breakthrough with one Barrier-Breaking Pill, how many would I need?'
Buying dozens of times as many pills as everyone else would be the same as advertising how many spirit stones he possessed. If rumors like that spread through the cultivation world, it would be extremely dangerous.
Even if he bought enough pills to overcome the bottleneck to Stage 4, there would still be the bottleneck to Stage 7, and above all, the bottleneck to Foundation Establishment.
Was he supposed to buy dozens of Foundation Establishment Pills, then once he reached Foundation Establishment Stage 3, buy Tier 2 pills in bulk again just to advance to Stage 4?
'Hm... it looks like I really do need to start learning alchemy... Even if it takes a long time, I can grow the spirit plants myself....'
After organizing his thoughts, Lee Hyun changed the subject.
"Is the war with Qianyang Kingdom still going on?"
Zhang Youshan's expression darkened slightly.
"The fighting between Yunze Kingdom and Qianyang Kingdom is nothing new, but Qianyang Kingdom has been especially formidable over the past thirty years. Yunze Kingdom managed to hold Qianyang Kingdom back for centuries thanks to its rivers and wetlands, along with the strength of the Fengtian Bureau's Retainers. Recently, though, that balance has been gradually breaking down."
"Has the border been pushed back far?"
"Qingluo Pass fell twenty years ago, Baishui City was captured seven years ago, and last year even Hei'an Mine fell into Qianyang Kingdom's hands. The country is not on the verge of collapse just yet, but unlike before, it has been unable to easily reclaim the territory it loses. That is why the Fengtian Bureau is desperate to recruit Qi Refining rogue cultivators as Retainers."
"I see. Thank you for explaining."
Lee Hyun started to rise, then looked at Zhang Youshan's face once more.
'No matter how I look at him, he looks exactly like Zhang Ping....'
"By any chance, fellow Daoist Zhang, did you have an ancestor named Zhang Ping?"
Zhang Youshan's eyes widened.
"How do you know?"
"..."
"My eighth-generation ancestor was a man named Zhang Ping. They say he never made it past Qi Refining Stage 3 either."
For a moment, Lee Hyun was at a loss for words.
"Why do you ask?"
"I once saw Zhang Ping's name in a record left by one of my ancestors."
"Your ancestor?"
"A very long time ago, one of my family's ancestors received some help from a rogue cultivator named Zhang Ping west of Yunjing. The record said he kindly explained the circumstances of the surrounding cultivation world. My ancestor was grateful and wrote that if they ever met again, he wanted to give Zhang Ping some Qinghe Rice as a gift."
"What is Qinghe Rice?"
"Spirit rice. Please accept it as my way of fulfilling my ancestor's wish."
Lee Hyun took a small cloth pouch from his storage pouch and held it out to Zhang Youshan.
"Some of the spiritual qi has dissipated, though...."
Zhang Youshan accepted the pouch, opened it, and smelled the contents. He could not hide the smile that spread across his lips.
"Thank you, truly! To think something like this could happen in my lifetime. You rarely see Qi Refining rogue cultivators growing spirit rice...."
Zhang Youshan placed a few grains of Qinghe Rice on his palm and stared at them in fascination.
"I didn't grow it myself. By the way, where is the Fengtian Bureau?"
"Head about a hundred li (about 40 km) east from here. Just look for the tall walls with blue roof tiles. It should not be difficult to find."
"Thank you."
Lee Hyun bid Zhang Youshan farewell and headed for the Fengtian Bureau.
...
The farther east he went from the Old West Gate, the more rapidly the streets changed.
Market stalls and restaurants grew fewer, replaced by orderly government offices and mansions surrounded by high walls.
Yunjing was divided into the outer city, middle city, and inner city. The new outer wall now enclosed a vast area that had contained villages and manors outside the city centuries ago, while the wall that had once formed Yunjing's outermost boundary now remained as an old wall dividing the interior of the outer city. The inner city centered on the royal palace stood much farther within.
Armored soldiers stood in formation before the gate leading into the inner city.
On either side of the gate crouched stone beasts several times taller than a person, while an enormous drum and bronze bell looked down over the capital from the tower above.
The soldiers checked the travel tokens of everyone entering through the gate one by one. When Lee Hyun's turn came, a spear-bearing soldier looked him up and down.
"Show your travel token."
"I am a cultivator heading to the Fengtian Bureau."
The soldier's expression changed slightly. He looked toward a lower-ranking military officer standing beside him. After briefly examining Lee Hyun's clothes and waist, the military officer said,
"Please reveal a little of your spiritual power."
When Lee Hyun produced a faint glimmer of spiritual power at his fingertip, the military officer took a small bronze token from his waist and held it near the light. A blue pattern appeared on the surface of the bronze token, and he nodded.
"Your status as a cultivator has been confirmed. However, since you do not have a retainer badge, please do not leave the main avenue."
"Understood."
Once he passed through the gate, the previous clamor faded away as though it had never existed.
The streets were far wider than those of the outer city, yet there were fewer pedestrians. The main avenue, paved with blue stone slabs, was broad enough for six carts to travel side by side, while deep drainage channels ran along both sides to carry away rainwater.
There were no stalls selling goods along the avenue and no clerks calling out to customers. Instead, walls more than two jang (about 6 m) high and imposing gates appeared one after another.
Some gates had signboards hanging beneath their eaves, with golden lettering written against black backgrounds, while other mansions had spear-bearing private guards and silk-clad gatekeepers standing outside.
Even the number of bronze studs embedded in a gate, the shapes of the beasts decorating the eaves, and the colors of ornamental cords hanging from carriages appeared to be dictated by the owner's official rank.
When a red carriage drawn by six white horses passed, officials along the roadside hurriedly bowed. Behind it followed a long procession of attendants wearing jade plaques at their waists and guards clad in scale armor.
On another street, officials in blue robes stepped down from sedan chairs and entered a government office behind red walls. Their black official hats and the wave patterns embroidered in silver thread across their chests caught Lee Hyun's attention. The number of waves composing each pattern appeared to indicate the official's rank.
'So this is the real inner city.'
It was nothing more than a place inhabited by mortals of the mundane world.
And yet Lee Hyun found himself unconsciously intimidated.
The authority and laws of a dynasty that had endured for centuries seemed infused into every stone road, wall, gate, and banner.
Of course, if Lee Hyun truly wanted to, knocking down the dozens of soldiers before him and vaulting over the walls would have been effortless.
But within this inner city were thousands of warriors, officials, and experts of the martial world, and behind them stood the Fengtian Bureau and the immense nation that was Yunze Kingdom.
This was not a place where someone could act recklessly merely because his individual strength was somewhat greater than others'.
Lee Hyun continued east while asking for directions to the Fengtian Bureau.
Before long, he reached a broad street lined with red walls. This was the district where the residences of the royal family and royal kin were concentrated.
Royal residences had gates noticeably larger than those of ordinary high officials. Glazed tiles covered their eaves, while rows of beast-shaped roof figurines sat along the sloping ridges at the four corners of the roofs.
At that moment, a sharp voice rang out from ahead.
"Make way― The procession of the Huiling royal house is passing through!"
At the cry ordering everyone to clear the road, the people walking along the street immediately moved to both sides.
Merchants and servants knelt at the roadside, while those in official robes brought their sleeves together and bowed at the waist.
Lee Hyun followed everyone else's movements and stepped aside to the right.
In the distance, a large carriage drawn by four black horses approached. Its body was lacquered a deep reddish-black and engraved with silver patterns of clouds and waves, while small jade bells hung from all four corners of the roof.
Sixteen spear-bearing cavalrymen escorted the carriage from the front and rear.
An official of the Huiling royal house who had been scanning the surroundings suddenly raised a hand.
"Stop!"
The horses pawed at the ground, and the carriage procession gradually came to a halt.
The middle-aged official leading the procession dismounted and approached Lee Hyun.