“You’ve only been registered for four months, yet you’re already planning to head south. Were there really that few External Retainer missions?”
“There were none.”
“...Truth be told, that is indeed the case.”
Across the desk sat a Standing Retainer responsible for administrative affairs at the Military Service Hall.
“If you convert to Military Retainer status, you must serve for at least six months at a post designated by the Military Service Hall. In return, you accrue one day of leave every seven days, and you may save those days up and use them together every few months. You can also earn a great many merit points by killing or capturing martial artists from the Qianyang Kingdom.”
...
Two days later, a new retainer badge hung from Lee Hyun’s waist.
The blue jade badge engraved with a crane soaring above the clouds had been returned to the Fengtian Bureau. In its place, he had received a black jade badge threaded with a red cord. The front was engraved with a crane holding a spear upright, while the back bore the words, ‘Military Retainer Li Dongyi’.
***
Six months later.
Southern Yunze Kingdom, Hui’an Fort.
Lushui Pass lay five thousand li (about 2,000 km) south of Yunjing, and Hui’an Fort had been built another thousand-odd li to its west.
It was far smaller than Lushui Pass, but it stood where the western waterways and the embankment roads leading into Yunze Kingdom’s interior diverged.
People often said that Lushui Pass was the most important stronghold, but in truth, there was no such thing as an unimportant stronghold.
If even one small post like this were breached, Qianyang Kingdom’s martial artists could circle around through the rivers and reed marshes and infiltrate the rear of Lushui Pass. If that happened, not only Lushui Pass but even the grain barges carrying military provisions would be threatened.
Fortunately, no large army had advanced on Hui’an Fort during the past six months.
There had only been a handful of incidents in which Qianyang scouts crossed the reed marshes or took advantage of the darkness to raid watchposts along the embankments.
...
A vast reed marsh stretched out beneath the high watchtower.
Whenever it rained, the waterways changed shape, and on days when the fog was thick, it was difficult to see even a few dozen jang (roughly 60 to 90 m) ahead.
During his stay at Hui’an Fort, Lee Hyun spent most of his time in Azure Crane Pavilion, a small residence within the fortress.
Azure Crane Pavilion was not as luxurious as Qingliang Villa, but it was far better furnished than an ordinary officer’s quarters.
The detached residence, enclosed by an inner wall of Hui’an Fort, contained not only a bedroom and study but also a small bathing room.
Two young maidservants named Xiaoyun and Meixiang had also been assigned to him. Thanks to them, Lee Hyun no longer had to prepare his own meals or deal with minor chores, leaving him plenty of time to study martial arts and techniques.
...
Military Retainers accumulated one day of leave every seven days. Lee Hyun saved his leave, then left his post for roughly seven days every couple of months to visit Tunnel No. 1.
Each time, he inspected the spirit field and automatic irrigation device, repaired the paper bags and silk nets around the Stone Honey Peach fruits, then refilled the water tank with the Spirit Rain Art.
Hui’an Fort was an astonishing eleven thousand li from Tunnel No. 1 one way, but with Lee Hyun’s abilities, making the trip during his leave presented no particular difficulty.
Whenever he returned to Hui’an Fort, he watched the soldiers train or read martial arts manuals.
He had acquired quite a few martial arts manuals during his service as well.
Whenever Qianyang scouts were captured, searching their bodies was standard procedure. Ordinary soldiers rarely carried anything useful, but experts at the Peak realm or above occasionally possessed thin booklets containing mnemonic formulas for martial arts or personal insights from their training.
Since Lee Hyun was a Military Retainer treated as Hui’an Fort’s strongest combatant, there was no problem with him examining such books first or making copies for himself.
The person who assisted him most closely was Hui’an Fort’s vice commander, Zhuo Wucheng.
Zhuo Wucheng was an expert in the Transformation Realm, a little over fifty years old.
He had served in the Southern Army since his teens and knew the waterways, reed marshes, and embankment roads around Hui’an Fort like the back of his hand.
He was always courteous toward Lee Hyun.
“Retainer, my lord, the water level at the western sluice has risen today. If you intend to go out at night, I recommend using the northern embankment road.”
“Understood.”
“If there is anything you need, please let me know.”
Vice Commander Zhuo clasped his hands in salute before withdrawing.
His courtesy contained a mixture of respect and fear.
That was because on the day Lee Hyun first arrived at Hui’an Fort, he had conjured a fireball over his palm and demonstrated how the Yang Metal Art could pierce an iron plate.
Still, Zhuo Wucheng harbored one question in his heart.
‘Can he really use those techniques properly in actual combat?’
He had fought alongside other Military Retainers of the Fengtian Bureau before.
The cultivators’ techniques were strange and powerful.
But Qianyang Kingdom’s martial artists were not going to politely wait dozens of jang away for them.
They threw hidden weapons, scattered poisonous powder, and targeted the fingers forming hand seals and the eyes first.
By the time a startled cultivator was still deciding which technique to use, an expert in the Transformation Realm was already upon him.
Retainer Li Dongyi’s techniques were undoubtedly stronger than those of his predecessor. However, Zhuo Wucheng had no idea whether someone so young possessed sufficient real combat experience as well. More than a few Military Retainers had been injured or killed in battle.
‘If I ambushed this Retainer from within ten jang (about 30 m), I might have a chance myself.’
Zhuo Wucheng was confident in his martial learning. What expert who had reached the Transformation Realm would not believe in his own martial path?
But Retainer Li Dongyi was not a bad person.
He was modest, did not order the soldiers around without reason, and never complained about his food or accommodations.
That was why Zhuo Wucheng hoped Retainer Li Dongyi would not die a pointless death on the battlefield.
...
One dawn.
A denser fog than usual had settled around Hui’an Fort.
Even from the high watchtower, the reed marshes below the embankment could not be seen.
Damp wind swept across the fortress walls.
Lee Hyun lay on the bed in his quarters, reading a martial arts manual.
His finger stopped as he turned a page.
Creeeak―
A faint metallic scraping sound came from very far away.
It was so quiet that an ordinary person would never have heard it, and even if they had, they would probably have mistaken it for the sound of a door hinge. But to Lee Hyun, who had activated the Keen Hearing Art, it sounded like a taut steel string catching on a latch.
Creak. Creeeak―
‘A crossbow?’
Lee Hyun closed the martial arts manual.
At that moment, a shout erupted from a distant watchpost outside his residence.
“Attack!”
Boom!
The lattice windows of the pavilion burst apart all at once.
Dozens of black crossbow bolts poured into the room.
Their tips were coated in a dark bluish-black liquid.
Hummm―
A translucent Spirit Light Shield appeared.
Clang-clang-clang!
Several of the crossbow bolts in the barrage carried an unusual force.
‘Aura?’
Crossbow bolts infused with aura slammed repeatedly into the center of the Spirit Light Shield.
A second and third bolt struck precisely where the first had landed.
The moment the fourth bolt hit, a small crack appeared on the Spirit Light Shield’s surface.
‘They’re using aura-infused crossbows from a distance to apply the principle of One Point Pierces the Surface? Their accuracy is impressive...’
Lee Hyun stopped holding back his spiritual power as he usually did and swept his hand out in earnest.
The first Spirit Light Shield instantly blazed with dazzling light, becoming more than ten times sturdier, and the crack vanished without a trace.
At the same time, Spirit Light Shields of similar strength appeared all around him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The crossbow bolts continued hammering the same points.
Soon, dark figures surged through the shattered windows.
The first to leap into the room was a middle-aged martial artist wielding twin swords.
Behind him came an expert with a spear and two more men wielding swords.
Powerful pressure poured from all four men.
‘Four experts in the Transformation Realm? So they must have been the ones firing those aura-infused bolts.’
The moment they saw Lee Hyun, they scattered in all directions.
“Kill the Immortal!”
The twin-sword wielder kicked off the floor.
Booom!
Sword aura smashed into the left edge of a Spirit Light Shield.
At the same instant, a spearpoint drove into another Spirit Light Shield from the opposite side.
Clang!
Yet neither Spirit Light Shield broke.
The instant bewilderment appeared in the two attackers’ eyes, light erupted from Lee Hyun’s body.
A dazzling curtain spread outward from him at tremendous speed.
Booom!
The two martial artists wielding the twin swords and spear were hurled outside, smashing through the pavilion wall.
Just then.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The instant another volley of arrows from outside struck the Spirit Light Shields, black powder burst outward, and poisonous qi rapidly filled the room.
“Poison!”
Vice Commander Zhuo’s voice rang out from afar.
Lee Hyun activated the Breath-Sealing Art and Qi Sphere Barrier, then stepped outside through the collapsed wall.
Several corpses already lay scattered across Hui’an Fort’s inner courtyard, shrouded in fog.
Shouts and the clash of weapons could be heard from the distant barracks.
It seemed the four men before him were not the only intruders.
Then a low voice came from within the fog.
“What are you fools doing, unable to handle a single Qi Refining cultivator?”
Step.
The dense fog parted to either side.
An old man wearing a crimson robe walked out from between it.
In his right hand was a long, narrow sword. The blade had a reddish sheen, and blood trickled down its surface.
The pressure emanating from him was on an entirely different level from the Transformation Realm experts who had come before.
Vice Commander Zhuo’s face turned pale.
“Red Cloud Sword Zhao Bingyue...!”
Zhao Bingyue.
He was an expert in the Profound Realm belonging to the Qianyang Western Army.
More than ten years ago, he was said to have cut down three Transformation Realm experts from Yunze Kingdom at once, and during the battle for Baishui City, he had supposedly slaughtered a thousand soldiers by himself. He was an infamous powerhouse.
Zhao Bingyue looked at Lee Hyun.
“You’re as young as I heard.”
“You know me?”
“I heard rumors that the Fengtian Bureau had gained a young Military Retainer.”
‘Looks like information is leaking out.’
Zhao Bingyue’s gaze swept over Lee Hyun.
“Cultivators are too unpredictable. It’s safer to kill them first.”
He raised his sword.
At that moment, the four scattered Transformation Realm experts moved simultaneously.
Two spread out to either side, one retreated and raised a crossbow, while the remaining man pulled three black pouches from inside his robes.
Zhao Bingyue stepped forward from the front.
Thump!
With a single step, he covered more than twenty jang (about 60 m).
Red sword aura flashed toward Lee Hyun’s throat, while the Transformation Realm experts on either side simultaneously stabbed at him with a sword and spear cloaked in aura.
From behind came an aura-infused crossbow bolt, while the black pouches burst in midair and spewed red and blue poisonous smoke.
Every attack converged on Lee Hyun at exactly the same instant, with flawless timing.
Vice Commander Zhuo, watching from afar, froze with his sword drawn. If he had been caught in such a situation, he would have died instantly.
Just then.
Hummm! Hum! Hum!
Twelve Spirit Light Shields blossomed around Lee Hyun all at once.
The translucent shields overlapped to form a sphere with no openings at all, covering not only his front, back, left, and right, but even above his head and beneath his feet.
Booom-boom-boom!
Sword aura, spear aura, and crossbow bolts all slammed into the Spirit Light Shields, yet not a single one broke through.
Zhao Bingyue was horrified.
‘What!?’
He had seen many Qi Refining cultivators before. Yet even among cultivators at late Qi Refining, he had never seen anyone deploy such a powerful defensive technique in every direction without leaving a single opening.
Just then.
Booom!
Several Spirit Light Shields shot outward as though exploding.
The enormous translucent discs spun as they swept in every direction. The Transformation Realm experts stabbing with sword and spear from either side were struck in the chest before they could recover their stance, and flew backward vomiting blood as bones cracked inside them.
The man holding the crossbow twisted aside to dodge, but when a Spirit Light Shield grazed his thigh, his leg buckled and he rolled across the ground.
Another Spirit Light Shield flew straight toward Zhao Bingyue.
“Hmph!”
Zhao Bingyue gripped his sword in both hands and slashed diagonally downward with red sword aura.
Claaang!
Zhao Bingyue tried to split the Spirit Light Shield head-on, but his sword aura could not force the shield back at all. Instead, the Spirit Light Shield drove against his sword and forced his arms and shoulders backward.
‘Dammit!’
Zhao Bingyue immediately angled his sword sideways to redirect the shield’s force.
The Spirit Light Shield’s trajectory finally shifted, and he threw himself aside with so little room to spare that his hair brushed its surface.
Booom!
The missed Spirit Light Shield struck the base of the watchtower behind him head-on. A wooden pillar more than two armspans around shattered to pieces, causing one side of the watchtower to tilt.
Zhao Bingyue rolled across the ground several times before rising onto one knee. Blood streamed from both hands gripping his sword.
“You bastard...!”
He tried to find Lee Hyun again, only to discover that Lee Hyun had already vanished from before his eyes.
‘Above!?’
Zhao Bingyue raised his head and saw an unreal sight.
Against the dark blue light of dawn, the young cultivator’s finger traced a gentle semicircle. Dozens of streaks of silver light spread from his fingertips like an opening fan.
The silver needles targeted the wrists, ankles, shoulders, knees, and other joints and vital points of the Transformation Realm experts scattered nearby.
Pfft! P-p-pfft!
Blood sprayed from their limbs.
One man gritted his teeth, activated his Protective Aura, and twisted his body. Yet the Protective Aura failed to stop the silver needles and shattered. As he twisted, a needle originally aimed at his shoulder instead pierced straight through the space between his eyebrows.
“Urk....”
The martial artist fell backward with disbelief on his face.
The remaining three did not die, but their limbs had been pierced through, and they rolled on the ground unable to rise again.
“How dare you!”
Zhao Bingyue surged into the air toward Lee Hyun. Even denser sword aura than before had gathered at the tip of his sword.
The sword aura surged upward from below with the force of a crimson waterfall flowing in reverse, swallowing Lee Hyun’s body.
Lee Hyun extended one hand and layered three Spirit Light Shields diagonally over one another.
Skreeeeech―
Sparks flew from the surface of the first Spirit Light Shield. The sword aura failed to pierce the shield, but Zhao Bingyue fixed his sword tip on a single point and poured all his internal energy into it.
When even the second shield bent deeply, Lee Hyun compressed the power of the Qi Sphere Barrier into a single point behind the Spirit Light Shields.
The instant Zhao Bingyue drove his sword farther forward.
Booooom!
The compressed Qi Sphere Barrier exploded. Riding the recoil, Lee Hyun’s body shot more than ten jang (about 30 m) higher into the air, while Zhao Bingyue plunged toward the ground as though struck by an enormous iron mace.
Crack!
Both of Zhao Bingyue’s legs sank into the ground up to his knees. Unable to withstand the impact, his body folded forward and dark red blood burst from his mouth.
“Guhak!”
Zhao Bingyue gritted his teeth and forcibly dragged his legs out of the ground. His shoes and trouser cuffs tore, and blood ran down both legs, but he ignored it and raised his sword once more.
Zhao Bingyue’s sword aura began gathering at the tip of his blade.
Hummmmm―
The aura compressed without pause until it formed a fist-sized sphere, its surface spinning madly.
Vice Commander Zhuo drew in a sharp breath.
“A sword ring...!”
Zhao Bingyue thrust his sword forward.
Whoooosh!
The crimson sword ring tore through the air toward Lee Hyun. The rotating sword aura even sucked the surrounding fog and air into the red sphere.
Lee Hyun hurled a dazzling fireball, then layered a Qi Sphere Barrier and Spirit Light Shield in front of himself.
Fwoosh!
Lee Hyun’s fireball collided head-on with the sword ring.
The crimson sword ring spun madly as it bored into the center of the fireball, its sword aura shredding the flames apart.
Yet the fire split into dozens of streams that curved like snakes and wrapped around the surface of the sword ring. The faster the sword ring rotated, the faster the flames were drawn inward.
Zhao Bingyue’s face stiffened.
The moment the flames penetrated all the way to the sword ring’s core, Lee Hyun clenched his five fingers.
Flash!
The darkness of dawn was bleached pure white.
Booooooom!
The fireball erupted from within.
The compressed sword ring could not withstand the explosion and shattered into hundreds of pieces. Fragments of crimson sword aura and flame rained down in every direction.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Countless sword marks were carved into the ground and walls.
Disbelief filled Zhao Bingyue’s eyes.
“My sword ring... broken that easily....”
Flames and dust kicked up by the explosion obscured his vision.
At that moment, Zhao Bingyue felt something he had long since forgotten. It was the fear of death.
Swish!
Lee Hyun suddenly appeared and brushed past Zhao Bingyue’s side.
Zhao Bingyue reflexively turned his sword, but Lee Hyun was already behind him.
Lee Hyun’s palm slammed into Zhao Bingyue’s right shoulder.
Thud! Crunch!
The shoulder bone broke, twisting his arm.
Zhao Bingyue gritted his teeth and switched his sword to his left hand, but Lee Hyun chopped down on his left elbow with the edge of his hand.
Crack!
“Aaaargh!”
Zhao Bingyue’s left elbow shattered, and his sword dropped to the ground.
Even with both arms ruined, Zhao Bingyue lifted a leg and kicked at Lee Hyun’s side. The aura condensed around his toes was as sharp as a spearhead.
A Spirit Light Shield appeared at Lee Hyun’s flank.
Thump!
The instant Zhao Bingyue’s foot struck the shield, Lee Hyun pressed the Spirit Light Shield downward.
Crunch!
Zhao Bingyue’s knee buckled.
His body tilted to one side.
Lee Hyun kicked his remaining leg.
Crack!
“Urgh!”
Zhao Bingyue collapsed to the ground.
Then the energy flowing through Zhao Bingyue’s entire body suddenly reversed.
Through the Aura-Reading Art, Lee Hyun saw the energy scattered throughout Zhao Bingyue’s meridians rush backward toward his heart and dantian.
‘Is he trying to kill himself?’
Just as Zhao Bingyue’s chest and abdomen began to swell, Lee Hyun’s hand flashed.
Pfft! Pfft!
Two silver needles from the Yang Metal Art pierced the Chest Center Acupoint at the center of his chest and the Sea of Qi Acupoint beneath his navel with perfect accuracy.
As Primordial True Qi cut through the reversed flow of internal energy, the energy lost its direction and dispersed.
“Stay still.”
“What... did you do....”
Lee Hyun’s fingers rapidly pressed Zhao Bingyue’s neck, shoulders, chest, and sides.
It was an acupoint-striking method he had learned over the past several months by comparing martial arts manuals from Yunze Kingdom and Qianyang Kingdom.
Lee Hyun pushed strands of Primordial True Qi as fine as thread into his body and gathered them around the acupoints like tiny knots.
Strength instantly drained from Zhao Bingyue’s body.
‘A cultivator... using acupoint striking?’
...
Once Lee Hyun subdued Zhao Bingyue and the Transformation Realm experts, the Qianyang Kingdom martial artists who had infiltrated deeper into the fortress also lost their route of escape. Vice Commander Zhuo and Hui’an Fort’s martial artists counterattacked, and most of the surviving intruders were captured.
By the time the fog lifted, prisoners lay in rows across the inner courtyard.
Xiaoyun and Meixiang had hidden in the rear wing of Azure Crane Pavilion and were rescued unharmed. Despite their pale faces, the two brought cloth and water to help tend the wounded soldiers.
Lee Hyun looked briefly at the corpse of a Transformation Realm expert lying before the ruined pavilion, then turned away. It was the first time he had killed someone with his own hands.
Had he hesitated, the maidservants of Azure Crane Pavilion, Vice Commander Zhuo, and many more soldiers would have died. Even as he repeated that to himself, the sight of corpses scattered everywhere made his stomach churn.
After finishing the prisoners’ restraints, Vice Commander Zhuo approached Lee Hyun carrying a bloodstained bundle of oiled cloth in both hands.
“Retainer, my lord.”
“What is that?”
“These are the possessions we found on the Transformation Realm experts. Since they were all subdued by you, my lord, it is only right that the spoils be offered to you first.”
The bundle contained martial arts secret manuals, records of personal insights, notes on mixing poisonous powders, and instructions for infusing crossbow bolts with aura. To an ordinary martial artist, every one of them was something worth risking one’s life to obtain.
Lee Hyun quickly flipped through the pages and grasped their contents, but nothing caught his interest. He tied the bundle closed again and handed it back to Vice Commander Zhuo.
“Vice Commander Zhuo, keep them or handle them as you see fit.”
“Pardon?”
“You can distribute them to whoever needs them.”
“Are you truly allowing me to handle them?”
“Yes. I’ll examine this man’s belongings.”
Lee Hyun began searching Zhao Bingyue’s robes.
Martial artists did not use storage pouches, but they often carried useful possessions on their person.
In particular, quite a few kept family martial arts, secret martial arts, and the personal insights they had accumulated throughout their lives with them rather than entrusting such things to others.
Several thin, oil-treated leather pouches had been sewn into the lining of Zhao Bingyue’s crimson robe.
The first things Lee Hyun found were thin booklets such as the Red Cloud Sword Scripture, Essentials of Sword Ring Condensation and Refinement, and Red Cloud Step. They covered swordsmanship, the training method for the sword ring, and footwork.
There were also books on a coordinated attack art for breaking cultivators’ defensive techniques, texts on the body’s acupoints, and records detailing the failures and realizations Zhao Bingyue had experienced during his training.
Among them, the one that caught Lee Hyun’s eye was the Record of Opponents, which documented the martial arts and weaknesses of powerful opponents Zhao Bingyue had fought over more than forty years.
The Record of Opponents also described his experiences fighting three cultivators at early Qi Refining. It went into considerable detail, covering methods for interrupting hand seals, records of tests conducted on the weaknesses of defensive techniques, and tricks for reading a cultivator’s habits when activating techniques.
‘This could be quite useful.’
The enemies Lee Hyun truly feared were not martial artists of the mundane world but other cultivators, so the Record of Opponents had real value to him.
Meanwhile, Vice Commander Zhuo stared down at Zhao Bingyue lying on the ground.
To most martial artists in Yunze Kingdom, the name Red Cloud Sword Zhao Bingyue was synonymous with despair.
Yet this expert in the Profound Realm now lay immobilized with all four limbs broken and even his internal energy sealed.
Vice Commander Zhuo looked back at Retainer Li Dongyi.
There was only a little dust on his sleeves. He did not have a single wound, and even his breathing remained steady. Despite fighting Zhao Bingyue and four Transformation Realm experts, he showed no sign whatsoever of exhausting his spiritual power.
Vice Commander Zhuo remembered what he had once thought.
That if he ambushed the Retainer from within ten jang (about 30 m), he might have a chance.
It had been an utterly ridiculous delusion.
‘So this man was the real monster...’
Vice Commander Zhuo bowed deeply.
“If not for you, Retainer, my lord, Hui’an Fort would have fallen today.”
“We held because you and the soldiers stopped the remaining intruders as well, Vice Commander Zhuo.”
“No. The credit for today belongs entirely to you, Retainer, my lord. If there is ever anything you wish to command in the future, please give the order.”
“For now, calm yourself and see to the aftermath.”
...
Fifteen days later.
News of what had happened at Hui’an Fort traveled through Lushui Pass and the Fengtian Bureau before reaching the royal palace in Yunjing.
Military documents Zhao Bingyue had been carrying, along with testimony from the prisoners, revealed several Qianyang Kingdom infiltration routes, allowing Yunze Kingdom to intercept in advance the movements of a detached force that had been targeting the rear of Lushui Pass.
The Fengtian Bureau awarded forty merit points for capturing Zhao Bingyue alive, eighteen for capturing or killing the Transformation Realm experts, and fifteen for defending Hui’an Fort and obtaining intelligence.
Together with the merit points Lee Hyun had accumulated over the previous six months, his total exceeded eighty.
‘This should be enough to attend every alchemy lecture. I could use a change of pace anyway, so I might as well learn alchemy for a while.’
Having completed the minimum six-month term of service, Lee Hyun informed the Military Service Hall that he intended to return to External Retainer status.
A new Military Retainer was assigned to Hui’an Fort.
On the day Lee Hyun departed, Vice Commander Zhuo accompanied him all the way to Hui’an Fort’s main gate.
Soldiers on duty stood in rows atop the walls and on either side of the gate. None of them spoke, but unmistakable respect filled their gazes.
“If you ever take another military assignment, Retainer, my lord, please come to Hui’an Fort if you can.”
“If the opportunity arises, I will.”
“Every soldier at Hui’an Fort will await your return, Retainer, my lord.”
“Don’t be too tense. They lost an expert in the Profound Realm themselves, so it is unlikely they will send another powerhouse here anytime soon.”
...
After returning to Yunjing, Lee Hyun visited the Fengtian Bureau’s Alchemy Hall.
The buildings of the Alchemy Hall above ground were used to sort and dry medicinal ingredients or as residences for the alchemists and apothecary apprentices. The actual alchemy chambers that used earth fire had been built separately deep underground.
When Lee Hyun presented his retainer badge, the Alchemy Hall clerk checked the register.
“Are you applying for both the introductory and advanced alchemy lectures?”
“That’s right.”
“You must complete the introductory lectures first. My lord Wen Shenghe will be your instructor.”
The clerk handed him a black bronze token engraved with a flame-shaped pattern.
「Earth Fire Cavern, Level C, No. 7」
Under the clerk’s guidance, Lee Hyun headed toward the black stone hall at the deepest part of the Alchemy Hall.
Inside the stone hall was an enormous vertical shaft whose bottom could not be seen. An iron lift platform hung above it from four thick chains.
Red silk lanterns lined the walls of the shaft at regular intervals, while hot air continually surged upward from the depths below.
“Do I take this down?”
“Yes. The Earth Fire Cavern is five li underground.”
“Does earth fire normally occur at such a shallow depth?”
“No. The upper layers composed of ordinary soil and bedrock are called the common soil stratum, while the deeper layers where earth veins and spirit veins begin to flow in earnest are known as the earth-vein stratum. The boundary generally forms around twenty-five li underground, but occasionally branches of an earth vein rise into the common soil stratum. This is one such place, which allows us to use earth fire starting at a depth of five li.”
“I see.”
When Lee Hyun stepped onto the lift platform, the attendant pulled a lever on the wall.
The sound of massive gears engaging came from overhead, and as the chains slowly unwound, the platform began descending into the shaft.
Creeeeak―