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Chapter 10

The Great Martial Path Entrance Exam (3)

“The latter outnumber the former and are far more dangerous. So as a rule of thumb, if you run into a Cultivator who isn’t part of the Great Martial Path, run for your life and report them to the higher-ups immediately. That’s the golden rule my family drilled into the back home.”

Yise didn’t really understand.

His only goals were to wipe out every Demon and take his revenge, and then spend the rest of his days as a Demon Slayer who wouldn’t embarrass his Master. He had been taught that Cultivators were beings who pursued the Dao and accumulated good deeds, so why were they constantly competing with each other and trying to murder each other like it’s a common thing?

Could you even call that cultivation at that point?

Seeing Yise’s complicated expression, Hae Un-chan decided to lighten the mood and change the subject. He began drawing something on the stone floor with his finger. As he does so, an auspicious energy emanates from his fingertip. It seemed he already knew how to handle Spirit Qi.

The moment his fingertip touched the solid stone, the surface yielded like sand.

“Yise, have you ever seen a world map?”

“A map? No.”

“Figured as much.”

With a confident look on his face, Hae Un-chan scrambling all kinds of shapes on the surface.

“If ya had to be completely honest, a toddler could probably draw a better map.”

Wokay, so this is the continent we live on. More precisely, it’s called the Eastern Continent.”

“It looks like a half-eaten fried egg to me.”

“Quiet. Don’t talk about food, you’re making me hungry.”

Hae Un-chan cleared his throat and tapped the drawing. “This little piece sticking out at the bottom is Tabaro, Suari, and Gamori. Put ’em together, and you’ve got the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula.”

He then drew a massive landmass above the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula.

“And this is the Jeong Empire. Compared to the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula, it’s on a completely different scale.”

“—That’s huge.”

“There are also smaller and weaker nations like Sihan and Taira, but most of them are vassals of the Jeong Empire. The Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula are the only ones that aren’t under the Jeong Empire’s thumb.”

Yise sensed something odd about that. Even if all three nations banded together, the difference in power compared to the Jeong Empire staggered staggering. And in a world where the strong devoured the weak, the weak were bound to get eaten.

“Why haven’t the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula been made into vassals?”

“Oh. Good question. The answer is because of the Cultivators.”

“The Cultivators?”

“Right more, precisely because of the Great Martial Path. The rulers of the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula and the Great Martial Path maintain a mutual non-aggression pact, but if any nation launches a large-scale war of conquest, the sect will immediately step in.”

“Why?”

“Because war breds bad karma and resentment.”

Ah.

Yise understood immediately.

When bad karma and resentment accumulate, the amount of Demonic Qi in the world grows accordingly. And Demonic Qi give rise to Demons, breaking the balance of nature.

As a sect that absolutely despises Demons, there is no way the Great Martial Path would let wars break the balance in nature.

Seeing Yise slowly nod in understanding, Hae Un-chan smiled with satisfaction and tapped his drawing again.

“While we’re at it, want to hear an interesting old story? See, the Eastern Continent is blocked off by the Great Wall of Ten-Thousand Li and the Heavenly Monster Mountains to the North. To the southeast, you’ve got nothing but ocean. And to the west, you have deserts and barren wastelands. They’re basically impossible natural barriers for regular humans. But legend has it that once a Cultivator reaches the Core Formation Realm and learns to fly without relying on magical tools, they can actually cross over them.”

“What’s on the other side?”

“Whole other continents. Places they call the Western Regions, the Frozen Tundra, and the Imperial Archipelago.” Hae Un-chan’s eyes sparkled with curiosity and anticipation as he spoke. “My dream is to travel across every continent and complete a map of the world.”

Yise thought it was a wonderful dream. Part of him was even jealous that the guy found hunting he was so passionate about.

Because of that newfound respect, Yise decided to not point out how terrible his drawing skills were for someone who wanted to make maps.

“But what I asked about was cultivation sects.”

“Woe, you’re actually a lot less fun than I thought.”

Hae Un-chan clicked his tongue and drew eight circles on the map.

Aside from a single circle, the rest were all clustered up inside the Jeong Empire.

“In the Eastern Continent, three major cultivation sects and five prestigious cultivation clans are locked in a fierce struggle. The Great Martial Path is the only one based in the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula. All the rest are in the Jeong Empire.”

“Is there anyone who allies with the Great Martial Path?”

“None at all. The cultivation organizations within the Jeong Empire sometimes band together with each other, but when it comes to the Great Martial Path, they’re treated as a common enemy. They treat us like a literal Demonic Sect. You know what Demonic Sects are, right?”

“Fallen ones who cultivate Demonic Arts. Wanted criminals declared enemies of the continent.”

“Correct. They usually operate underground. The most famous one is the Metal Yang Thunder Sect.”

Yise had skimmed over it in the Great Martial Path Foundational Manual. He remembered seeing incredibly detailed protocols on how to handle them, likely because the Great Martial Path ended up brawling with the Metal Yang Thunder Sect on a regular basis.

With his curiosity mostly satisfied, Yise offered his thanks sincerely. “Thanks. I’ve learned a lot because of you.”

“What are friends for? Let’s keep getting along.”

Friends.

Yise tried his hardest to force a genuine smile onto his face.

For some reason, the word brought to mind the Ghostkin boys left behind at the Ghost Temple.

“Wait, you already rejected my request to be your lunch buddy that day. What kind of friend does that make me?”

“—You’re pettier than you look.”

Right on cue, a proctor announced that the sleeping quarters had finally been assigned, bringing their first exhausting day at the academy to a close.

Early the next morning, tension hung over the faces of the participants gathered in the waiting room.

The second trial was about to begin.

Chief Examiner Kang Yitae walked out slowly with a Haljo perched on his shoulder.

“The second trial will now commence.”

Like his yesterday’s style, he offered no greetings and went straight to the point.

Yise was starting to understand what kind of man the Qilin Pavilion Master was.

“The second trial is to awaken and forge your Spirit Roots.”

The nervous chatter in the room instantly died as dozens of kids sharply sucked in a breath. Anyone dreaming of a Cultivator already knew how important Spirit Roots were.

Even so, Kang Yitae kindly continued with his explanation.

“Spirit Roots are the foundation and constitution required to become a Cultivator. Just as blood flows through the veins of the body, channels called Spirit Veins form within the body through which Spirit Qi circulates. Their attributes, quality, and scale, taken all together, are what we call Spirit Roots. Under normal circumstances, Spirit Roots are strictly innate talent. If you aren’t born with one, you can never get one. And if you’re born with trash-tier roots, you can never change them.”

Kang Yitae gestured stroked the Haljo’s back, and the creature ruffled its wings contented.

“But our Great Martial Path can change the destiny that has been set. And it’s all thanks to this creature right here.”

That was why thousands of applicants came to flocking the Great Martial Path’s entrance exams every year despite their mortality rates being very high in the cultivation world.

It was all for a chance to be blessed by the pet bird of the Great Martial Path’s founder, the legendary figure from three hundred years ago who led the Great Demon War to victory and created the current cultivation system of this era.

“However, even those who receive Halo’s blessing may be rejected by the heavens. Don’t be too discouraged. Even if you fail to awaken Spirit Roots, if you perform well on the other trials, you can join the Great Martial Path as an Outer Disciple and fulfill an important role of your own.”

In other words, if you wanted to be an Inner Disciple and actually fight on the front lines, you had to awaken your Spirit Roots.

This was one area where no amount of effort could compensate.

It came down entirely to destiny.

A fate handed down by the heavens.

“Those of you who have already awakened Spirit Roots prior to this exam, step forward first.”

A surprising large chunk of the crowd stepped forward. Most of them were older teens who had been clearly a fish for all this while.

“Excluding those retaking the exam, only first-time applicants step forward.”

This time, nine individuals, including Hae Un-chan, stepped up. Most of them were dressed lavishly. They were probably from noble families or affiliated clans of the Great Martial Path.

Among the applicants, they were already known as pre-selected candidates as their admission was practically guaranteed.

Kang Yitae began examining the pre-selected candidates’ Spirit Roots one by one.

“Water, Wood, Metal. Three-Elemental Spirit Root.”

“Fire, Wood, Two-Elemental Spirit Root.”

“A Five-Elemental Spirit Root.”

Meanwhile, Yise recalled knowledge he had got across in the Ghost Temple’s library.

Spirit Root attributes ranged from a minimum of to a maximum of five.

Depending on the attributes, the spells and techniques we could practice varied accordingly. More attributes meant greater versatility in combat, but slower cultivation progress.

Since advancing in cultivation was already so difficult, it was generally considered better to have fewer attributes on one’s Spirit Roots with average talent. And in practice, those with fewer attributes were considered rare and valuable.

Kang Yitae’s footsteps stopped in front of Hae Un-chan.

“Oh?”

The corners of Kang Yitae’s mouth turned up as he confirmed Hae Un-chan’s Spirit Root.

“A single-water-elemental Spirit Root. And out of all possible constitutions, yours is one by the heavens. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Heavenly Root Constitution. And look at this, your cultivation is already knocking on the door of the 3rd Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Your name was… right, Hae Un-chan.”

Kang Yitae stroked his beard and standing who, “You’re the Great-Great-Grandson of Pavilion Master Hae It’s nephew.”

“Yes. An unworthy descendant, but that is correct.”

Yise turned to an examinee standing nearby, who looked just as lost as he was.

“What’s a nephew’s Great-Great-Grandson?”

“Oh, like, the grandson of the grandson of your brother’s kid? Something crazy like that?”

“That’s basically a stranger.”

Just how old was this person called Pavilion Master Hae it?

He’d heard that Cultivators at high cultivation realm gained enhancedly extended lifespans, and apparently that really was true.

Once the pre-selected candidates with Spirit Roots had returned to their spots, it was the turn of the applicants who had yet to awaken their Spirit Roots.

“Everyone, sit down and take the lotus position.”

The awakening process was surprisingly straightforward. Once the applicants closed their eyes and entered a meditative posture, the Haljo approached each person one by one and pierced the applicant’s chest with its beak over their heart.

The entire beak would plunge deep into their chest and slide right back out, yet not a single drop of blood was shed.

The beak sank into the heart and then withdrew, and remarkably, not a single drop of blood was shed. The applicants didn’t even scream; they merely sat there with thoroughly dumbfounded expressions.

“For those of you who already have a dormant root hiding inside you, this stab will act as a catalyst to fully awaken it. And for those of you who were born without it, this gives you one final chance to forcibly forge a root. The timing depends on each person’s talent and luck. Some may awaken their Spirit Qi right today. Others may not until the very last day of the six days.”

With his eyes closed, Yise felt Kang Yitae’s voice echoing steadily closer.

“After the remaining six days you still fall to awaken your Spirit Qi, it means either the heavens have rejected you, and you are a talent the heavens have abandoned. Accept it. It is better to give up.”

At last, it was Yise’s turn, and an auspicious energy shimmered before him.

The Haljo stared directly at him.

He cracked an open eye just in time to see the towering Crane bird staring directly into his soul. Without warning, the bird’s heavy beak pierced straight into his heart.

Rather than feeling painful, a cozy and profoundly warm energy flowed down from the beak and spread through his body. His mind grew calm, and a sense of peace washed over him.

But at the same moment, the Demonic Qi that had settled within began to thrash and writhe like maggots in pain.

CAW! CAW!

The Haljo suddenly began to tremble violently. Then it beat its wings in a frenzy.

—This boy! He is harboring Demonic Qi inside his body!

A bizarre voice rang out loud and clear, entirely unlike any human voice, and a cold killing intent pressed against Yise’s neck along with the sensation of cold metal.

In the blink of an eye, Kang Yitae had drawn his sword faster than Yise could react and leveled it at his throat.

“Move and I’ll cut you down.”

He growled the words at Yise. “You. Are you a spy from a Demonic Sect?”