Beomseo followed closely behind them, slowly regulating his breathing.
His flushed face gradually returned to normal as he tried to calm his excitement.
He pointed at Ise and asked,
“Do you know who I am?”
“Of course.
Bumseo of the Geummu Sect.”
“It’s Beomseo, you bastard!
What gives some nameless wandering cultivator the nerve to covet something belonging to a Grand Sect?”
One of Ise’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Covet it?
I bought it fair and square, even paying above the asking price.
Are you perhaps objecting to an official event hosted by the Heavenly Ice Palace?”
Beomseo immediately shut his mouth.
Calling the auctioned item something he had “coveted from a Grand Sect” after winning it through the official procedure of an auction hosted by the Heavenly Ice Palace was essentially a denial of the legitimacy of the auction itself.
If word got out that he had made such a statement in the middle of Tiandaogyeong, he would have a hard time avoiding public criticism.
“…That’s not what I meant!
Haa….
Let me put it nicely.
You don’t want to incur the enmity of the great Geummu Sect either.
I’ll pay you exactly what you paid for it, so hand it over to me.”
“What if I don’t?”
“As I said, you’ll incur the enmity of me, the one who will inherit the great Geummu Sect.
There is a saying: ‘A gentleman’s revenge may take ten years and still not be too late.’ I’ll make those words a reality for you.
You can imagine how frightening that will be.”
“I know how frightening it is.
There’s another saying, though.
Better to incur the enmity of a gentleman than become disliked by a petty man.”
“Grrrgh!”
Beomseo’s teeth ground together softly.
He had called himself a gentleman, only to be treated as a petty man instead.
He couldn’t understand what kind of nerve this wandering cultivator had to behave with such shameless audacity.
“How about this?”
Ise offered his suggestion with a barely perceptible smile.
There was an interesting custom in the Northern Continent.
Cultivators would wager something and then have a spar over it.
“We’ll have a wagered martial duel.”
“What?”
“If I win, give me the Wind-God Disc.
If you win, I’ll give you the Intrusion-Banishing Ring.”
Two emotions flashed through Beomseo’s eyes.
One was the anticipation of obtaining the Intrusion-Banishing Ring without spending a single spirit stone.
The other was anger toward the wandering cultivator who was looking down on him.
“Hah.
You want to fight me?
Me, Beomseo, heir to the Geummu Sect and one of the most renowned promising young cultivators of the Daoist sects on the continent?”
“Yeah, Beomseo.
Let’s have a go.”
“…You bastard.
Don’t regret it even if you die.”
Despite Beomseo’s provocation, delivered through gritted teeth and a low growl, Ise merely smiled.
It was a wagered martial duel Beomseo would never have accepted if he had known Ise’s true cultivation realm.
Ever since entering the auction house, Ise had deliberately reduced the range of his divine sense to roughly that of the early stage.
The feeling of divine senses constantly colliding with one another was unpleasant, almost like men pressing bare skin against one another, so he had temporarily withdrawn it.
Unintentionally, he had concealed his cultivation realm.
But in the cultivation world, the basic rule was always to doubt the cultivation realm one could see with one’s own eyes.
It wasn’t the deceiver who was foolish.
The one who was deceived was.
The three of them moved to a nearby private martial arena.
Beomseo tied up his hair and adjusted his collar while constantly grumbling.
“You’re getting awfully full of yourself just because you obtained the Intrusion-Banishing Ring.”
“Don’t worry.
I’ll take this off.
It wouldn’t do for the wagered item to get damaged.
Ryu Seonghan, hold on to it for me.”
When Ise entrusted the Intrusion-Banishing Ring to Ryu Seonghan, Beomseo was swept up by the atmosphere and handed over the Wind-God Disc as well.
Soon, a soul-binding contract was drawn up between the two.
It stated that the loser of the wagered martial duel would willingly hand over the item and would not attempt any trick or scheme afterward to take it back.
Watching Beomseo struggle to regain his composure, Ise relaxed his arm and let the hand holding his Small Axe hang loosely.
Still, he had teased and lured the junior into this trap, so he intended to at least give him the first move.
“Seniors, please begin.”
The moment Ryu Seonghan finished speaking, Beomseo hurriedly began forming hand seals.
His movements were large and flashy, almost like watching a theatrical performance. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Four golden spears materialized in the air.
“Try blocking this!”
Two of them flew toward Ise first.
Ise lightened his body with Swift Wind Step and leaped up, avoiding the spears.
As though he had anticipated that, the remaining two spears shot upward into the air.
Fire Release Art unfolded from Ise’s palm, melting the golden spears away.
Ise landed lightly.
‘I won’t use primordial qi.’
This time, he intended to overwhelm Beomseo using only Arts.
Since it had been a while since he had engaged in a spar rather than actual combat, he wanted to sharpen his ability to control his Arts.
Ise raised one hand, and several burning meteors appeared in the air.
They soon fell one after another over Beomseo’s head.
Beomseo hurriedly unleashed a defensive Art, but the consecutive waves of flame shattered the metal and crashed down upon his body.
However, perhaps he had concealed a defensive magical artifact, because a blue radiance appeared around his body and shattered the fiery meteors into pieces.
Taking advantage of the opening, Ise closed the distance and swung his Small Axe at Beomseo’s leg.
Clang!
The sound that rang out was like metal striking metal.
Even though Ise had tempered the blade with Vajra Shattering, he couldn’t sever the leg because Beomseo had managed to block it.
‘A Foundation Establishment cultivator’s body really is tough.’
Now that he was deliberately trying to fight using only Arts without primordial qi, suppressing a Foundation Establishment cultivator wasn’t easy.
Once again, he realized just how enormous an advantage it was to wield primordial qi at the Core Formation Realm.
Beomseo formed hand seals and recited incantations one after another, sequentially unleashing Metal-type Arts.
But in a battle between cultivators of similar realms, the limitations of a Five-Element Spiritual Root cultivator were obvious.
Their fighting style was inevitably too straightforward, and their tactical variety was lacking.
Perhaps it would have been different if he knew some mysterious Arts, or at least had learned some form of body technique alongside his cultivation.
Simply raining down Arts could all be melted away with a single Fire Release Art.
Judging that the matchup was unfavorable, Beomseo began using the talismans and magical artifacts he possessed.
Ise did his best to evade and deflect them, forcing him to expend as many consumables as possible.
After responding to his attacks in various ways for quite some time, the expression on Ise’s face gradually became bored.
‘I’ve humored him enough.’
He had at least heard that Beomseo was a promising young cultivator of the Daoist sects, so he had indulged him for quite a while.
Today’s experience would serve as a great foundation for him as well.
It was the lesson an honorable Senior gave to a Junior who was willing to willingly hand over a precious item to him.
Ise closed the distance in an instant, snapped his fingers, and unleashed an Art.
Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art.
Dokkaebi Flame Art.
Blue dokkaebi fire instantly engulfed Beomseo’s body.
Beomseo belatedly tried to extinguish the flames by using a talisman to spray out water, but it was useless.
The Dokkaebi Flame Art was no ordinary fire.
The flames of a dokkaebi could not be extinguished with something as mundane as water.
The blue flames burned even more fiercely.
His Daoist robes began to smolder, and the tough flesh of a Foundation Establishment cultivator began to melt.
“What kind of evil…”
Beomseo couldn’t even finish his sentence before screaming.
“Surrender.
Otherwise, you’ll die.”
The more he tried to extinguish the flames, the more fiercely the blue fire burned.
Only when his declaration of surrender, almost a cry of despair, finally rang out did Ise withdraw the flames.
Beomseo collapsed onto the ground, repeatedly gasping for breath as his body trembled.
“Why did it have to be a Fire-type One-Element Spiritual Root cultivator…”
He was still unable to accept the fact that he had lost and vented his frustration.
“You bastard.
You already knew my information, didn’t you?
That’s why you… why you lured me into a trap.”
Ise corrected his misunderstanding.
“No?
I’m a Three-Element Spiritual Root cultivator.”
Ise personally demonstrated three different elemental Arts simultaneously.
He deliberately mixed a moderate amount of falsehood into the statement because he was worried that rumors might spread.
Beomseo’s eyes widened as though they might burst, and his mouth fell wide open.
It looked big enough to fit a fist inside.
“That’s impossible.
A wandering cultivator… a Three-Element Spiritual Root cultivator reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm at that age…?”
“Anyway, I’ll put the Wind-God Disc to good use.
Thanks.”
Leaving the dumbfounded Beomseo behind, Ise took the Wind-God Disc.
He moved as far away as possible before Beomseo could become troublesome, then handed it to Ryu Seonghan.
Ryu Seonghan gazed down at it for a long time, his expression distant, before murmuring as though speaking to himself.
“The Ryu Clan had two heirlooms.
The other one… is in the hands of a Foundation Establishment Senior from the Heavenly Ice Palace.”
Ise silently listened.
“I thought this one had already fallen into someone else’s hands too… but it has returned to me.
I am deeply grateful.
Thank you, Senior.
What must I do to repay you?”
“It’s fine.
I don’t intend to demand payment just because an item returned to its rightful owner.”
“No.
I will repay you somehow.
Even if I have to give you my life.”
His determination was admirable, but that too was simply something fated to return to him.
Ise scolded Ryu Seonghan for saying something so ominous.
“Words have power.
Don’t say something unlucky when you’re about to attempt Foundation Establishment.
Hurry up and find a shaman and have a ritual performed to dispel the bad luck.”
“…Haha.”
“If you’ll only feel at ease after repaying the debt, I won’t stop you.
Repay it.
Someday.”
“Yes, Senior.”
***
After finding a fortune-teller in the Northern Continent who was similar to a shaman and having a full ritual performed to dispel the bad luck, Ise acted as Ryu Seonghan’s protector during his Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
“I really didn’t think you’d actually make me do it.”
“I learned it from a truly gifted shaman myself.
She said that if you say something that invites bad luck before something important, you have to dispel it properly.”
Ryu Seonghan was about to attempt his Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
He was still slightly short on spiritual qi, but the Foundation-Building Pill he had prepared for the breakthrough could make up for the deficiency.
Ise placed a Heart-Cleansing Mirror before Ryu Seonghan, who sat cross-legged.
“I’ll only protect you.
I won’t be able to help you.
If things go wrong, I may use a Heart-Cleansing Talisman and offer a word or two, but in the end, you have to accomplish this yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Check yourself one last time.
Is your center firm and unwavering?”
“I am ready.”
Ise nodded, and after Ryu Seonghan consumed the Foundation-Building Pill, he began his cultivation circulation.
Ryu Seonghan set foot upon the same path Ise had walked before him.
Ryu Seonghan’s Foundation Establishment process took longer than expected.
The way it proceeded was also considerably different from that of the Eastern Continent.
It seemed that even when breaking through the same major realm, differences existed between continents.
His cultivation circulation continued for several full days.
Worried that he might disturb him, Ise even held his breathing and quietly watched the process.
The cultivation technique he had learned apparently wasn’t as simple and crude as the Demon Hunting and Spirit-Sending Art, because he didn’t repeatedly pass out and regain consciousness.
Instead, cold sweat gradually trickled down his body, turbid qi poured out, and his entire complexion began turning bluish.
Before long, his face began twisting like that of an evil ghost.
His inner demon was coming.
Ise simply observed without intervening.
Intervention was the last resort.
It wasn’t as though the inner-demon tribulation would spread to him like the Heavenly Tribulation during a Core Formation breakthrough, but one careless intervention could cause all his efforts to come to nothing.
“Ugh, uuugh…”
The battle against the inner demon consumed another entire day.
Just when Ise began thinking that it was becoming dangerous, he tore a Heart-Cleansing Talisman and quietly said one thing.
“Protect your center.”
It was something he had emphasized repeatedly.
When falling into an inner demon, hearing something simple, familiar, and striking was effective.
Perhaps it worked, because Ryu Seonghan’s complexion gradually returned to normal.
On the fifth day of his attempt to break through Foundation Establishment, Ryu Seonghan’s divine sense began gradually spreading outward from his body.
Along with the Dharma-Transformation Dantian located at his solar plexus.
“So this is a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s field of vision.”
Ryu Seonghan experimentally swept his divine sense around before abruptly standing up.
“I’ll go to the Scripture Repository first.”
“Take it slowly.
You’ll need time to adjust.”
“No.
We need to find out the whereabouts of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art first.
Checking the list of cultivation manuals is possible as long as I have the qualifications.
I’ll check it right away.”
Ryu Seonghan took a staggering step forward.
Then he misstepped and tumbled awkwardly across the floor.
Seeing him look no different from a drunkard, Ise clicked his tongue.
“Quite undignified for a Daoist.”
“…I’ll take just one shichen (2 hours) to adjust.”