That’s Insane Talk.

The next day, Moon Ryang and Jong Dae-woon woke up.

Things were still unsettled, but Yu So-ha led the party around various parts of Lanzhou.

By evening, when Yun Heo returned, the group gathered once more.

Gyo-ha circled Yun Heo, sniffing.

“…What are you doing.”

At the incredulous look, Gyo-ha’s brow creased.

“I smell something familiar.”

It seemed like a scent he’d caught not long ago. Yun Heo stared at him for a moment, then clicked his tongue.

“Anyway, why did you leave the cave?”

All eyes turned to Gyo-ha. Everyone seemed curious; only Noh-sam, who knew the circumstances, gave a wry smile.

Gyo-ha suddenly jerked his head up as if realizing something.

“Junior! Brother Moon. Will you be my fellow junior?”

At the sudden offer, the group blinked, and Noh-sam let out a small sigh.

He wasn’t asking him to be his disciple, but a fellow junior.

Noh-sam snuck a glance at Master Yun Heo.

But Yun Heo, rather, was studying Moon Ryang with interest.

Moon Ryang brushed his hair with a low hum, then spoke.

“I do not place myself under one who’s weaker than me.”

At that, Gyo-ha’s eyes sparkled.

“Good. Let’s have a bout.”

When Gyo-ha rose, Moon Ryang sprang to his feet as well.

“W-wait, not here!”

Yu So-ha spoke urgently, the ruined Justice Gate Manor flashing through her mind.

Like the Justice Gate Master, her own father, the Yu Manor Lord, might collapse when he returned.

“Then what about the guy over there?”

Yun Heo jerked his chin at Jong Dae-woon. Just as Gyo-ha opened his mouth, Jong Dae-woon stepped forward.

“I was merely dragged into this, I have no connection to those two.”

Yun Heo looked to Gyo-ha, who nodded.

“He’s just a swindler.”

“A swindler, is it?”

Yun Heo’s gaze sharpened.

“A swindler? I merely deliver small lessons to bad men who make light of the world.”

Jong Dae-woon cried out, but the gazes around him only grew colder.

Especially in Yu So-ha’s eyes, who didn’t know the details, contempt began to gather.

“So the fellow juniors you brought are a bandit-like fellow and a swindler?”

“Huh? I’m not…”

About to deny it, Jong Dae-woon met Yun Heo’s eyes and shut his mouth.

“…It sounds like a decent proposal!”

At that, Geum Ho-pyeong looked puzzled.

“Do you not already have a sect?”

Even setting aside the ‘swindler’ trade, Jong Dae-woon’s skill was not ordinary.

And his vital aura was clear.

He had surely trained at a proper, prestigious school.

“Well, that…”

“He was expelled, no doubt.”

Yun Heo said it offhand. Jong Dae-woon didn’t deny it and gave an awkward smile.

At that, the party nodded without surprise.

“I see.”

“…I know what you’re imagining, but no.”

But their expressions did not change.

“More importantly, what did you mean back then?”

At Yun Heo’s curious look, Jong Dae-woon spoke again.

“Kunlun’s burden, I mean. You said Shaolin and Wudang would know of it.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Yun Heo nod.

“It’s not a long story. You know of Mount Kunlun, yes?”

At the sudden question, the group looked blank.

The Kunlun Sect was on Mount Kunlun. Who here wouldn’t know that?

Soon, Yu So-ha, recalling something, spoke.

“Do you mean the Mount Kunlun where the Queen Mother of the West resides?”

The Mount Kunlun of myth.

Yun Heo nodded.

“Some mistake it for the mountain where the sect is, but it’s clearly different. If it were merely different, there’d be no issue. But the Kunlun in stories exists in another world.”

“Another world?”

“The Heavenly Realm. It’s also called the Upper Heavenly Realm. Commonly known as the world of immortals.”

“Ah.”

At those words, their faces changed in various ways.

Yu So-ha breathed in awe. Moon Ryang nodded calmly, and Jong Dae-woon’s eyes showed doubt.

But Yun Heo’s gaze turned to Gyo-ha’s innocent eyes, as if to say, ‘What’s that face for.’

“I told that brat once before. Judging by that look, he’s forgotten.”

Gyo-ha smiled awkwardly.

“Names carry power. All the more with a numinous mountain like Kunlun.”

“Um, aren’t immortals good people?”

Noh-sam spoke carefully. Beings above the clouds.

Sometimes that was a title for virtuous Taoists.

But Yun Heo shook his head firmly.

“There is no absolute goodness. What’s right by their standards isn’t guaranteed right for us. But they aren’t the problem.”

“The yokai-immortals, then.”

Yu So-ha’s eyes gleamed.

The existence of immortals wasn’t limited to only humans. Yun Heo smiled at her.

“Smart. But that’s not all.”

At this unfamiliar kindness, Gyo-ha’s eyes widened.

But Yun Heo ignored Gyo-ha and went on.

“Humans are not the only ones who live in the Heavenly Realm. Yokai, known as Yosen¹ live there as well. And just as the human world connects to it, their world also connects with the Heavenly Realm.”

“Then?”

“Mount Kunlun became a gate. A door linking that world and this one. And the gatekeepers there are…”

“…The Kunlun Sect.”

Yu So-ha answered as if entranced.

“Yokai, you say.”

Jong Dae-woon looked at Yun Heo in disbelief.

But Yun Heo didn’t mind.

It was a natural reaction.

“Yes, people nowadays have forgotten they even exist.”

Beings told only in stories.

“But now it will be different. With the gatekeepers gone, they’ll crawl out at will. Some must already have.”

At his words, their gazes naturally turned to one place.

They recalled what Gyo-ha had said.

The woman he met in the cave.

Gyo-ha let out a breath as well.

But for a different reason than the others.

“So that was the smell.”

The scent wafting off Yun Heo.

It was like the one from the cave.

The smell of something neither human nor beast.

At that, Yun Heo gave a small laugh.

“So you’ve met one already.”

Gyo-ha thought of the woman.

Something wearing a human mask.

Yokai.

There was no better word for it. Yun Heo had clearly encountered such a being, too.

Then Geum Ho-pyeong, listening, spoke up.

“…If there’s no absolute good, doesn’t that mean there’s no absolute evil either?”

There are many tales about yokai.

Most are evil beings, but not all of them are.

Yun Heo did not deny it.

“True. Some yokai can be called good by human standards. That doesn’t make their presence beneficial.”

As their eyes turned to him, Yun Heo spoke calmly.

“Otherworldy beings attract other otherworldy beings”

Yun Heo’s gaze paused on Gyo-ha, then moved on.

It was too brief for anyone to notice.

“Good and evil are not the point. They are beings that should not be here.”

A blue light rose in Yun Heo’s eyes.

A gaze cold as frost.

“Kunlun’s burden is to seal the gates to the Otherworld and eradicate the otherworldly beings that cross to earth.”

When he finished, silence fell.

Jong Dae-woon’s eyes rolled quietly.

‘That’s insane talk.’

It was that unbelievable.

But he couldn’t say it aloud.

If anyone but Yun Heo had said it, he would have scoffed as nonsense.

But the presence Yun Heo exuded lent it credibility.

His background weighed heavily, too.

The Kunlun Sect’s Sect Leader.

Though removed from the Nine Sects, One Union now, only a few years ago he was famed across the realm.

Who would dare dismiss him.

Besides, even Wudang’s reaction was unusual.

‘So he means it’s true…’

If true, he mustn’t get involved. Even if false, same.

A surviving heir of Kunlun.

Jong Dae-woon knew the terror that name carried.

It was like a walking powder keg.

“Since ancient times, Kunlun has dealt more with monsters and spirits than with humans. Ghosts are no different.”

At the sudden words, Jong Dae-woon snapped out of his thoughts.

Unlike the puzzled others, one reacted.

It was Moon Ryang.

Moon Ryang, who had been staring at Yun Heo, turned his head to Gyo-ha.

Understanding his intent, Gyo-ha sprang to his feet.

“Good.”

“As I said, unless you’re stronger, I won’t join under you.”

“…Hmm, so the loser becomes the junior, right?”

Gyo-ha grinned slyly, to everyone else’s alarm.

Seniority between fellow disciples wasn’t decided like that.

It was no different from betraying one’s master and disgracing one’s ancestors

Moon Ryang, perhaps not meaning it that way either, blinked and looked to Yun Heo.

But Yun Heo gave no reaction.

With Yun Heo’s silent consent, Moon Ryang thought it over, then nodded as if it wasn’t a bad idea.

“Let’s go.”

As Moon Ryang stepped out, Gyo-ha followed, beaming.

Seeing the two vanish in a flash, everyone stole a glance at Yun Heo.

Was that really okay?

Even small Unorthodox sects didn’t run rules like that.

Much less the Kunlun Sect, one of the realm’s famed Taoist schools.

But Yun Heo merely sipped his tea in silence.

‘Hm?’

Their eyes widened at the tea that had suddenly appeared.

Beside them, Noh-sam was somehow pouring tea. Steaming cups sat before the party.

Yun Heo narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“Not bad.”

“Thank you.”

Watching them, the others raised their cups as well.

And they couldn’t hide their surprise.

As Yun Heo said, it wasn’t the caliber sold at a top teahouse, but it wasn’t a common taste either.

Jong Dae-woon, drinking like he was entranced, came to himself.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave…”

“Kunlun deals with nonhuman beings, but as a Taoist Sect we cannot turn from correcting evil men.”

A cold gaze turned to Jong Dae-woon. He knew what it meant.

It meant he wouldn’t be let go like this.

“…Even Kunlun shouldn’t meddle with people…”

“Perhaps a Qingcheng novice wouldn’t, but those two from Wudang, and the beggar…they’d know what your origins are.”

Jong Dae-woon’s eyes quivered.

“If you leave, I won’t stop you. They will see to your correction.”

Yun Heo said this and closed his eyes.

He savored his tea. Jong Dae-woon glared at him, then turned away.

Was he really going? As they looked at him, Jong Dae-woon declared grandly:

“This disciple will go restore discipline to my sect. Master.”

With a solemn face, he leapt off in the direction Gyo-ha and Moon Ryang had gone.

At the sight, the party couldn’t help but snicker.

Leaving the Yu Family Manor, Jong Dae-woon looked around and stopped.

“Do they take me for a fugitive.”

Then he changed direction.

As the party guessed, he hadn’t left his sect because of swindling. He had no reason to flee his old sect.

He had left through proper procedures.

“Well, yes, but…”

Jong Dae-woon looked down at his hands.

What would the juniors who followed him think, seeing him now?

“…Damn it.”

He scratched his head irritably, then turned his steps back.