Another wall separated Area 5 from Area 4.
On the wooden bridge connecting the two areas, a sentry accepted Ise’s bronze token.
After checking the name written on the token, exchanging communication talismans with the main sect, and looking Ise’s appearance up and down, the sentry spoke.
“You haven’t been here long, have you?
Killing is prohibited within this area.
Whether it’s a demonic cultivator or a slave owned by a demonic cultivator.
Don’t go killing people just because something doesn’t go your way.”
“Are those the only additional rules?”
“Yes.
Pretty much.”
In Area 5, no one had paid any attention even when demonic cultivators slaughtered one another.
Apparently, once one stepped one layer inward, human life became a little more valuable.
“I heard you need to practice a Heart-Severing Art to enter Area 3.
How do you prove that?”
“You need to possess either the original or a copy of a Heart-Severing Art manual.
Even if you actually practice one, it’s difficult to prove it without evidence.”
He needed the physical item.
After committing that fact to memory, Ise thanked the sentry and crossed the bridge.
As soon as he crossed the wooden bridge, the atmosphere was distinctly different.
If Area 5 had been a den of lawless wild beasts, this place at least resembled somewhere people actually lived.
There were shabby inns, shops, and groups gathered here and there chatting in the streets.
Perhaps even without practicing a Heart-Severing Art, the demonic cultivators here each possessed some means of suppressing their inner demons.
At least it didn’t seem to be a hell where everyone hunted and was hunted the moment they made eye contact.
However, there were still no disciples or affiliates of the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley here.
That meant he needed to enter at least Area 3 to obtain any information related to the valley.
In that case, the first problem he needed to solve was finding a Heart-Severing Art.
He mentally went through his options one by one.
One.
Find a way to join the valley or perform some work for it and obtain one as compensation.
It was the conventional approach, but it would take a long time and entangle him deeply with them.
Two.
Take one from someone who practiced a Heart-Severing Art.
If they possessed one, there was a good chance they had already entered Area 3, making this impractical as well.
Three.
Leave the city and obtain one elsewhere.
Heart-Severing Arts were secret techniques of demonic sects, so finding one that even Tiandaogyeong had been unable to provide would be like reaching for the stars.
Four.
Capture a disciple of the Ghost-Demon Valley and use the Mind-Control Talisman to extract only the Heart-Severing Art from them.
This had the highest possibility of success.
However, he only had a single Mind-Control Talisman, so he had to be extremely careful.
Wondering whether there might be a way to secretly slip over the wall, Ise followed the inner wall around the entire area.
The result wasn’t encouraging.
Sentries constantly patrolled the top of the wall, and long formation inscriptions were carved into various places.
There wasn’t any obvious blind spot.
‘Let’s not act rashly until I figure out what kind of formation is installed on the walls.’
This was the tiger’s den.
He had to place every step carefully, as though walking across thin ice.
So for the time being, he relied on legwork.
He approached a demonic cultivator he spotted and casually opened the conversation.
“I want to ask you something.”
“…I’m sorry.”
But the moment Ise approached, the demonic cultivator immediately lowered his head and fled while even using a Concealment Art.
The others were no different.
Every single one fled in panic the instant Ise tried to approach them.
Simply starting a conversation was already an ordeal.
It was strange.
When he somehow managed to speak to them, they would nervously look him up and down with eyes filled with wariness and tension.
If he stopped them, they would stammer out only the answer to whatever he asked before hurriedly fleeing.
At first, Ise thought they feared him because of the difference in cultivation realm, but apparently that wasn’t the only reason.
Even demonic cultivators who freely associated with other Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators became especially wary around Ise.
It was almost as though they were ordinary orthodox cultivators, while Ise alone was a demonic cultivator.
‘Using force right after entering would attract too much attention.’
He had intended to resolve things peacefully if possible, but being ostracized by demonic cultivators despite being a demonic cultivator himself was irritating.
The rules only said he couldn’t kill anyone.
Ise was just about to decide that the next time he encountered someone, he would bind them first, and if they tried to flee, cut off their hands and feet and force them to answer his questions.
Then he noticed something unusual.
Most of the demonic cultivators here had brightly colored strips of cloth draped diagonally over their shoulders.
Black, red, blue.
Each was different.
When he saw a demonic cultivator meet his eyes and immediately turn away, Ise created a Ground-Tracing Hound around the man’s ankle.
“Ah!”
When Ise immediately appeared right in front of him, the demonic cultivator’s pupils shook violently as though he had seen a grim reaper.
“P-please spare me!”
“Don’t run.
I have something to ask you.”
“…M-me?”
“Yes.
You.
Why do you run the moment you see me?
Other demonic cultivators don’t particularly avoid one another.”
“…Well…”
The demonic cultivator’s gaze shifted toward Ise’s shoulder.
Only then did Ise realize that the cloth was some kind of identifying marker.
“What is that cloth you’re wearing over your shoulder?”
“Are you perhaps a wandering cultivator?”
“Yes.
I came here recently.”
“If I tell you that… will you, will you spare me…?”
“I’ll spare you.”
“You say you’ll spare me, then cut my throat from behind when I let my guard down… You’re really going to spare me?”
“I really will.
How many times do I have to say it?”
“You’ll spare me, but not leave me barely clinging to life in a condition where living isn’t really living, and instead truly leave all four limbs intact…?”
“Say one more thing and I’ll kill you.”
Ise finally lost patience and threatened him.
Just why couldn’t people trust him even when he explicitly said he would let them live?
The demonic cultivator finally shut his mouth.
Ise nodded toward the blue cloth draped over his shoulder.
“I’m asking again.
What is that cloth?”
“Ah… you mean the Great Distinction Shoulder Sash.
The color tells others what kind of inner demon I have.”
“The color tells you your inner demon?”
“Yes.
We warn others in advance about the type of inner demon we have so they can avoid suffering misfortune.
Black means killing, red means blood-drinking, blue means plunder and assault, yellow means essence absorption, and white means other minor side effects.”
“What are the minor side effects?”
“Things like swearing or insults.
Seizures or split personalities fall under that too.
Well, even if you say you’ll kill someone’s mother and father with your mouth, what’s the big deal?
That’s pretty harmless.”
The demonic cultivator lightly touched the blue cloth on his shoulder and continued.
“Say the demonic cultivator in front of you suddenly goes crazy and attacks me.
If I think I can handle it, or even think I’d enjoy it, I can let it come near me.
A black sash means my head might get chopped off in an instant, so I stay well away from them.
It’s basically a warning sign.
Just by looking at the color, you can guess what that bastard will do when he loses control.”
In other words, even if they couldn’t control their inner demons, they could at least know beforehand what someone would do when their inner demon took over and respond accordingly.
At the very least, by avoiding those with black sashes, they wouldn’t die by being caught up in someone else’s inner demon.
It was their own set of rules for surviving in a world filled with mentally deranged and corrupted people.
Whoever had come up with it, it actually made considerable sense.
“What about someone wearing nothing?”
“That means they’re a rotten piece of shit who thinks it doesn’t matter what happens to others because of their own inner demon.”
“…”
When Ise’s expression hardened, cold sweat immediately poured down the demonic cultivator’s face like rain.
“Waaah!
I absolutely, absolutely wasn’t talking about Senior!
Newcomers don’t know about this.
It’s not like there’s some written law or anything.
It’s just a local tradition in this area…!”
At last, the mystery was neatly solved.
Since Ise wasn’t wearing anything, everyone in the area had apparently taken him for the most insane and untouchable bastard around.
A helpless breath escaped Ise.
He tore off a strip of unused white cloth from his Storage Pouch and draped it over his shoulder.
The wariness in the demonic cultivator’s eyes immediately faded somewhat.
“If I want to learn more information like this, where should I go?”
“Who knows?
Can’t you just grab some passing guy, beat him half to death, and he’ll tell you everything?
I’m only thirty years old, a newborn Qi Condensation demonic cultivator….”
“All right.
Go.”
True to his word, Ise let the demonic cultivator go with all four limbs intact.
Thanks to that, moving around the area became considerably easier.
People no longer immediately fled or turned pale the moment they saw him like before.
Of course, he still gained nothing.
The kind of friendliness that would make someone spill every detail of their life to a demonic cultivator they’d never seen before was difficult to find here.
With a tired expression, Ise entered a nearby inn that caught his eye.
The door was little more than a half-broken piece of wood that could barely serve its purpose.
Inside, there was only one demonic cultivator wearing a yellow sash.
When the innkeeper failed to appear even after quite some time, Ise asked the demon cultivator sipping liquor,
“Where’s the owner?”
“The owner is upstairs.
Said his inner demon was acting up, so he went upstairs with one of the servers to dual cultivate.
He’ll come down eventually.
Just wait a little.”
Ise hurriedly withdrew the divine sense he had spread around.
Adapting to Magok City really didn’t seem like it would be easy.
“Have some water while you wait.
Everything else about this place is lousy, but the water’s good.
Especially don’t order the liquor.
You’re better off drinking horse piss.
It’s not fit for human consumption.”
The demon cultivator grimaced while repeatedly drinking the liquor he had just claimed was worse than horse piss.
“If you don’t even like the taste, why do you come here?”
“Here?
Because the owner has a yellow sash and she’s incredibly beautiful.”
The demonic cultivator grinned and lightly tapped his own yellow sash.
“…”
Ise kept his mouth shut.
Even after waiting for quite some time, the owner showed no signs of coming down.
Just as Ise was drinking only water, the inn door creaked open.
A demon cultivator dressed like a beggar entered, dragging one leg strangely.
A green cloth was wrapped around his shoulder.
The beggar nodded and extended a hand as though asking for alms, but the demon cultivator who had been quietly drinking water suddenly stood up.
Without a word, he kicked the beggar in the side.
“How unlucky.
Where the hell are you crawling out from in broad daylight?”
He then went into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of salt, and scattered it across the fallen beggar’s face.
The beggar left without making a sound, limping away.
“What kind of inner demon does a green sash represent?”
“Ah, I guess this is your first time in Magok City.”
He dusted off his hands as he spoke.
“A green sash isn’t an inner demon.
They’re the Rotting Ones.
As you saw, their bodies are rotting away.
I suspect it’s some kind of side effect from a cultivation technique… They say it isn’t contagious, but just in case, don’t get too close.”
For some reason, the demon cultivator added that every Rotting One had its tongue cut out, as though warning Ise.
“They live together in large numbers near a corner of the eastern wall of Area 4.
For your own good, don’t go anywhere near there.”
He poured his liquor onto the floor, saying the sight had ruined his appetite, and walked outside.
Rather than continue waiting for an innkeeper whose skill must have been extraordinary enough that she didn’t even feel like coming downstairs, Ise followed the green-sashed Rotting One who had just been chased out.
Partly because he had become curious about this inexplicable phenomenon, and partly because he thought he might obtain some new information.
The closer he got to the corner of the eastern wall, the more the stench of decay assaulted his nose.
Soon, a village came into view, its boundaries marked by stakes and iron spikes.
At the only entrance stood a warning sign:
“Village of the Rotting Ones.
Do not enter.”
Ise stepped inside.
There wasn’t a single intact building.
Only flimsy shacks packed tightly together, crudely covered with mats and collapsed earthen walls.
Humans whose flesh was rotting away and oozing pus like victims of leprosy crouched in every corner.
The Rotting Ones recognized Ise as a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator and immediately prostrated themselves, pressing their heads against the ground.
When Ise quietly examined them with divine sense, every one of their spiritual roots had been crushed.
Among them were even ordinary people who possessed no spiritual roots at all.
Demonic cultivators with shattered spiritual roots were one thing.
But why were ordinary people with no spiritual roots suffering from the side effects of demonic cultivation?
Nothing about the scene made any sense.