***
"To think he swallowed that sharp flying sword with his mouth! How can such a thing happen...!"
The masked person was so terrified by the horrific sight he had just witnessed that he could not continue speaking.
As soon as the old man landed on the floor, he reached his hand out toward the masked person.
At that moment, an irresistible spiritual power surged forth and struck the masked person’s chest.
*Peok—*
"Aaargh—"
The masked person was sent flying backward out of the cave with a scream, suffering the pain of his chest bone collapsing.
As he fell, the mask was stripped away, revealing his face. Surprisingly, he was Na Un-yeon, the senior disciple (Sa-dae-je-ja) who had supervised Lee An-jeong’s water-fetching labor training a few days ago.
"Ugh—"
Na Un-yeon vomited fresh blood, feeling the collapsed area of his chest freezing coldly.
Fragments of internal organs came out along with the fresh blood.
"Kueueu— H-Help! A-An intruder has appeared!"
While crawling on the floor, he desperately shouted toward the Buyeon Sect grounds.
Then, he pulled a string wrapped around his wrist and blew a whistle.
*Piiiik—*
A high, sharp whistle sound continued for a long time.
At this, Na Un-yeon’s expression immediately became triumphant as he looked at the old man’s hideous appearance and spoke coldly.
"You wicked bastard! How dare you intrude into the grounds of this sect in such a state and commit murder! Hehe— the elites of this sect will arrive soon, so you are now a dead man!"
At that noisy sound, Lee An-jeong also opened his eyes.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, which sons of bitches are making a fuss and going crazy in someone else's house in the middle of the night... gasp?"
The moment Lee An-jeong opened his eyes, he was startled by the scene unfolding before him and quickly shut his mouth.
One person was wearing a torn mask over black clothes, and the other was a naked, muscular old man.
Even at a glance, it was clear that neither of them had come here with good intentions.
'You son of a bitch! Why leave the perfectly wide areas alone and come into someone else's narrow house to pick a fight and go crazy!'
While he was cursing like that internally, the naked old man burst into a mad laugh.
"Uwahaha— that fellow certainly has a foul mouth! It’s not your turn yet, so wait quietly. Hehehe."
Then, the old man looked at Na Un-yeon again and flashed a cold gaze.
"Elites, huh... I am not afraid even if they come, but I wonder if they can even hear your sound?"
"W-What?"
It was the moment Na Un-yeon, startled by the old man’s words, looked around.
He suddenly discovered that a transparent curtain of Spiritual Qi (*Yeong-gi-ui-jang-mak*) had been cast over everything from Lee An-jeong’s cultivation cave to the area where he had fallen.
"Uh? This is?!"
Startled, Na Un-yeon tapped the transparent curtain with his hand. At that moment, as if he had tapped solid iron, Na Un-yeon’s hand was sent bouncing back.
Then, the old man burst into a mad laugh once more and spoke.
"Uwahaha— do you understand what I mean now? This entire area has been seized by my Spiritual Qi, so neither your appearance nor your sound can leak outside at all! In short, you are no different from a fish trapped in my net, that is what I’m saying!"
"H-How can that be...!"
When Na Un-yeon heard those words, he realized that the old man before him was an incredible master.
At a glance, not even a handful of Spiritual Qi was felt from him, as if he had even hidden his stage.
Na Un-yeon, who was only at Stage 5 of the Qi Condensation Stage, could not even fathom how high a stage one would need to reach to be at that level.
'Could it be that he is at the Nascent Soul Stage (Won-yeong-gi) or higher? If so, there will be no one in our Buyeon Sect, which is at the Core Formation Stage (Gyeol-dan-gi) level, who can stop him.'
As soon as Na Un-yeon realized the situation, he hurriedly prostrated himself flat on the floor and bowed his head to the old man.
"E-Elder (Eoreushin)! I failed to recognize a Great Cultivator and committed a sin worthy of death. If you only spare my life, I will do whatever you command."
At Na Un-yeon’s servile attitude, the old man wore a fishy sneer.
"Hehe. You'll do whatever it takes... Then first, take out your storage bag (Jeo-mul-dae)!"
"A-Ah, yes, yes."
Na Un-yeon hurriedly took out his storage bag and placed it on the floor.
The old man rummaged through the storage bag and cursed roughly.
"It’s nothing but trash!"
From the storage bag, dozens of lower-grade Spirit Stones and about ten middle-grade Spirit Stones popped out, along with things like thick bundles of talismans.
The old man picked them up and threw them backward haphazardly.
'Uh? Those are?'
Lee An-jeong was startled when he recognized what those things were.
Not only was there a heap of the lower-grade Spirit Stones he had been searching for so much, but there were also middle-grade Spirit Stones he had never seen before, and a whole bunch of talismans needed to use the Attraction Talisman.
'What a lucky find!'
When those things fell around him, Lee An-jeong sneakily gathered them and brought them to his side.
The old man watched what Lee An-jeong was doing from the corner of his eye and smiled with a sinister expression.
"Uhehehe—"
However, pretending not to know, the old man examined Na Un-yeon’s storage bag again.
Yet, it was then. The old man discovered a red sphere about the size of a fist, and his eyes sparkled.
"This? A Red Sun Sphere (Jeok-yang-gu)! Wahaha— to think such a thing would be inside!"
The old man held that red sphere in his hand and then absorbed the Spiritual Qi directly.
*Hooo-uk— Peoseok—*
The red sphere, which was robbed of its Spiritual Qi in an instant, quickly lost its light and crumbled.
Then, a few of the ice fragments dwelling on the old man’s body fell off.
"Hmm! It’s a pity. If only I had about a hundred more of these, I would be able to heal the internal injuries I suffered from that Ice Cold Old Monster (Bing-han-no-goe) to some extent!"
The old man smacked his lips and, looking at the prostrate Na Un-yeon, lightly raised his hand.
*Seuk—*
"Uh?"
Na Un-yeon’s body floated into the air following the old man’s gesture.
Toward Na Un-yeon, who was flailing in mid-air, the old man asked with a gaze filled with killing intent.
"Where did you obtain this Red Sun Sphere?"
"Pardon? Is the name of this thing the Red Sun Sphere? Th-That is something I obtained three years ago in a Secret Realm (Bi-gyeong)."
"A Secret Realm?"
"Yes, yes. In the Secret Realm of Early Grass (Yeon-cho-bi-gyeong) in Ghost Valley (Dan-gwi-gok). It is one of the Secret Realms that only those in the Qi Condensation Stage can enter, and entry is possible from Stage 3 to Stage 11."
"A Red Sun Sphere, an Earth-grade (Hyeon-geup) treasure, was in such a mere Secret Realm? That is truly a strange thing. Does some other secret hide there? You fellow, do you have anything more?"
At the old man’s chilly question, Na Un-yeon flinched and hurriedly answered.
"Heo-heok— Th-That was an Earth-grade treasure? I-I don't have anything more, but the Secret Realm of Early Grass opens this year too, so I can bring out one more. So..."
It was at the moment Na Un-yeon was speaking so urgently. Suddenly, the old man interrupted him with an indifferent expression.
"Ah— enough. There is no need to speak further. I am not patient enough to wait for such a long time."
Then, he put his hand into his own storage bag and took something out.
Surprisingly, it was a large green furnace (Dan-ro).
Holding the large furnace in one hand, the old man wore an expression filled with killing intent and reached toward Na Un-yeon with his other hand.
"Hehe. It is enough for you to simply become a single Vitality Pill (Saeng-gi-dan)!"
Then, a blue flame suddenly bloomed from the old man’s hand and flew toward Na Un-yeon.
*Hwareureuk—*
"Aaargh—"
Na Un-yeon was burned by the blue flame and became a handful of ash along with a scream. After a moment, a heap of ash was piled on the floor.
The old man pulled the ashes of the dead Na Un-yeon with an attraction technique and put them into the furnace.
Then, he took out several spiritual herbs from his storage bag and threw them into the furnace.
Subsequently, the moment the old man bloomed the blue flame again and put it into the furnace, a *pung* sound occurred from within the furnace, and a single pill popped up into the air.
The old man snatched that pill in an instant, placed it on his palm, and showed a fishy smile.
"Hehe. Since you were the one who committed murder first, do not resent me! Of course, even if you do resent me, this Jin Wi-dong won't even blink an eye!"
Then, he turned toward the startled Lee An-jeong and showed a fishy smile.
"This is precisely the Vitality Pill of this Jin Wi-dong. This Vitality Pill is a spiritual pill that makes even a dead person jump back to life!"
"I-I see! As expected, you are truly amazing, just like your gallant physique! That... thing hanging below is also very sturdy for your age! I respect you. Hehe."
Lee An-jeong suppressed his pounding heart and smiled servilely while rubbing his hands toward the old man.
However, internally, he was at a point where it was hard to keep his mind straight due to extreme fear.
'This crazy old man! I thought he was strange from the moment I saw him walking around completely naked in his old age. How can he turn a person into medicine over a matter like this! This crazy xianxia world! Seriously!'
"That fellow, having such a silver tongue, you are a very crafty one. However, this Jin Wi-dong is not one to be fooled by such lip service!"
"Pardon? Oh my, lip service? These are truly words coming from my heart, filled with sincerity. Please believe me. Hehe— Elder (Eoreushin)!"
Lee An-jeong was startled and hurriedly spoke like that, showing a servile expression once again.
But at that moment, without even responding further, the old man blurred and abruptly appeared before Lee An-jeong’s eyes.
"Uh!?"
Startled, Lee An-jeong tried to run backward, but the old man pressed Lee An-jeong’s head firmly with Spiritual Qi.
Then, as the Spiritual Qi spread through his entire body, Lee An-jeong became unable to move an inch, as if he were tied with ropes.
*Ji-i-ing—*
At that moment, the pattern on the back of Lee An-jeong’s right hand emitted a faint light in response to the old man’s Spiritual Qi.
However, it was so weak that no one noticed. The old man now grabbed Lee An-jeong’s storage bag and began to rummage through it.
"Let’s see just what kind of spiritual treasure is here that allowed you to pull off such a trick."
The old man held the storage bag up and poured out the contents below, just as Lee An-jeong had done before.
Then, EBS CSAT Special Lecture textbooks, high-content energy drinks, and even medicine bottles fell in a heap.
The old man first picked up the EBS CSAT Special Lecture English textbook among them, opened it to read, and then wore a startled expression.
"What? Just what kind of characters are these? Even this Jin Wi-dong, who has lived for over 3,000 years, has never seen such characters before."
Lee An-jeong thought this was an opportunity and hurriedly babbled whatever plausible words came to mind.
"Those are the characters of a country called the Heavenly Nation (Cheon-jo-guk). It is the richest country in the world, where the most powerful cultivators live."
"What? The Heavenly Nation? Was there such a country? Just where is it located?"
"It is located in a place called the Amiriga (亞美里加) Continent, far away."
"The Amiriga Continent?"
Lee An-jeong recalled the term used to refer to the American continent during the Joseon Dynasty, which he had seen in a book once, and answered like that.
"Yes, yes. As for that place, after crossing and crossing the great and deep sea for tens of thousands of li..."
Lee An-jeong tried to stretch out his words grandly to buy time to think of a way to survive.
However, the old man noticed that sign, interrupted Lee An-jeong, and shouted loudly.
"You fellow! You're trying to pull another trick! If you try to pull a trick once more, I will pull out your tongue right now!"
"Ugh— Y-Yes, sir."
Lee An-jeong hurriedly shut his mouth at the old man’s terrifying words.
Since it seemed this crazy old man before his eyes was more than capable of doing exactly that, he just blinked his eyes and closed his mouth.
"The secret of the books can be solved gradually. Let's see what else there is. Uh? What is this? It’s a uniquely shaped bottle."
The old man turned the can containing Hot Six this way and that and sniffed it.
"It doesn't have any scent. Is it made by thinning out hard iron?"
He touched here and there on the can with his hand and then lightly touched the can lid.
"Is it opened by popping it? Shall I try pulling it?"
The old man immediately pulled the can lid and popped it open.
*Ttakkak—* (Click)
The sweet scent of the energy drink spread inside the cave.
"Oho! This is a tea that has a very sweet scent!"
The old man brought his nose to it and sniffed, and this time, he picked up the two medicine bottles contained in plastic bottles.
"What is this again? This also looks like some kind of bottle."
As he saw the old man touching the plastic bottles this way and that and then popping the lid to open it, Lee An-jeong’s heart began to thump as if it would burst.
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