Windshear Cliffs.
— It is said that in ancient times, an Ancient Dragon ascended to the heavens, but first pulled out one of its own fangs and planted it there.
Perhaps for that reason, the wind and rain were always there, licking the fang. A place where, true to its name, a cluster of peaks soared like dragon's teeth above a vast plateau.
A place where wind and rain raged through the peaks all four seasons, never ceasing for a single moment.
For that reason, human passage had all but ceased, but thanks to it, Jeogyang was able to become the most fertile land in the Central Plains.
The wind ceaselessly churned the black soil in all directions, and the rainwater flowing through the fertile land it created supplied all of Jeogyang without rest.
For over a thousand years, Windshear Cliffs had continued in such peace.
But recently, people had begun to swarm every peak, and the stormy peace of this place was being shattered.
From the southern peak, a group from the Orthodox Faction ascended, drawing their swords.
From the eastern peak, a band from the Unorthodox Faction ascended, carrying their sabers.
From the northern peak, a throng of Wandering Warriors ascended, holding bows and spears.
On one peak, a nameless Murim sect planted their flag, and on another, Formation Masters were laying down Formation Stones.
There were hundreds on each peak, numbering well over a thousand in total, and their numbers continued to swell.
All of them had entered in pursuit of a single Qilin.
Rumors gave birth to more rumors, and people brought more people.
White whirlwinds raged around every single peak.
A pile of corpses.
A pool of blood.
Torn clothes.
Broken weapons.
Such scenes unfolded at the foot of every peak.
It was the result of the clash between the suddenly appeared Qilin and the people of the Jianghu who had gathered to capture it.
● ● ●
"Ugh…"
When the Clear Water Wanderer opened his eyes again, he was in the middle of a pile of corpses.
Even as rainwater flowed down his face, he lay there for a long while.
It was because several layers of bodies were stacked on top of him.
Only after mustering every last bit of his Internal Energy was he able to finally raise his body.
"I survived, at least."
He had expected it to be strong, but to think it was this strong…
Every step the white mane took as it tore through the middle of a Sword Formation left a pile of bodies in its wake.
Every spot the massive horn gored people and passed through left blood soaking the earth.
Arrows and hidden weapons were useless.
The moment they reached the Qilin, they were sucked into its white mane and disappeared.
The flags of the Murim sects from all over were broken, and the formations laid by the Formation Masters were trampled under the Qilin's hooves.
Screams spread like wildfire from peak to peak.
And where the screams died down, corpses invariably piled up.
On top of the piled corpses, more corpses were piled.
And.
He himself was just one of them.
He was just a little lucky and had barely escaped with his life.
"Humans are truly… beyond saving."
He saw a few others who had also survived by the skin of their teeth.
Every one of them was rummaging through the corpses, grabbing anything that looked valuable or might fetch a price.
The dead tell no tales, but they also offer no defense.
Where could one find a better target for robbery?
But it seemed human greed and avarice truly surpassed imagination.
Among them were some who had been pretending to be dead.
They slit the throats of the thieves, who could have been from the Orthodox or Unorthodox Factions, who thought them dead and tried to search their robes, then fled after taking all the 'mementos' the others had gathered.
But was he any different from them?
No, he knew better than anyone.
He had lived his entire life putting on an act.
He too discarded his broken sword and took the most intact one from the hands of a corpse.
Due to rigor mortis, it was difficult to pull out, so he had to cut off three of the corpse's fingers to get it.
Kkeurururururururu—!
The cry of a beast once again echoed throughout the area, followed by various kinds of death throes.
It wasn't in his line of sight, so it seemed to be a little far from here.
But the fact that this place was a scene of utter chaos did not change.
Whether the Qilin was here or not, Windshear Cliffs was currently a hell.
"…"
The Clear Water Wanderer looked around and hesitated for a moment.
It was because he could see quite a few useful items.
All of them ownerless.
If he searched well, he might find something valuable enough to change his life.
However.
"Hah, it's a shame, but it can't be helped."
The Qilin's roar he had just heard was not that far away.
Although it had already swept through this area, there was no telling when it might return.
If this spot had been on the outskirts of Windshear Cliffs, he might have considered it, but it was quite deep inside.
He didn't even know his exact location.
And this place was crawling with jackals who would cut off fingers for a ring…
He staggered to his feet and started walking.
Windshear Cliffs was a vast region, but since he was in a valley at the base of the peaks, he figured he could get out by walking in one direction.
Before long, he heard other footsteps.
There were other survivors.
The first one he met was covered in mud.
It was a young man wearing a Blue Headscarf, who looked like a rising star of the Orthodox Faction.
Two more followed behind him.
Two men dressed as low-ranking Unorthodox members.
One of them only had a scabbard left, and the other had lost an eye and was bleeding profusely.
They walked in silence, keeping their distance.
No one asked who the others were, and no one answered.
They had just become something like companions in their struggle to survive.
After walking for a while longer, thirty more joined them.
Wandering Warriors and martial artists from minor Murim sects.
Before long, the thirty had grown to nearly a hundred.
Fortunately, it seemed they were heading in the right direction to escape Windshear Cliffs, as the rain began to lighten.
Ah… I'll be able to live soon.
At that very moment.
A wind rose from behind.
It was not just any wind.
A great whirlwind enveloped the valley entrance all at once.
"Damn it!"
The first thing he saw was a snow-white belly and four hooves.
The white mane spread like a cloud in all directions, passing over his head and landing behind him.
Kyaaaaaak!
Aaargh!
Kwa-gwang—!
Screams immediately erupted from behind.
When he turned to look, he saw ten people being swept away at once.
Five or six low-ranking Unorthodox members and several Wandering Warriors were sucked into the mane.
Huuuuuuuuuuuuung—.
They vanished, buried in the white cloud.
When they reappeared, all of them were sprawled in the mud.
Naturally, there was no further movement.
"What are you standing there for? Run! Run, you bastards!"
Someone shouted.
Whoever it was, before the shout even ended, his feet were already kicking off the ground.
There was no time to look back again, of course.
Nor was there time to look to the side.
He only knew someone was beside him by the weight of a hand on his left shoulder.
A hand grasped his shoulder.
The hand didn't just grasp, it pulled him back.
As he staggered and was pushed back, the owner of the hand darted forward.
But he couldn't voice his complaint.
Because.
Gack!
"…Why me?"
Some were even deploying their Lightness Skills while slitting the throats of those running ahead of them.
He smirked.
That's right.
With such a good method available, why was I hesitating?
Quickly getting up from the mud, he did the same.
He grabbed the shoulder of the person in front, threw him back, and cleared his own path.
What's more, the man would buy him time as he died, so it was killing two birds with one stone.
If necessary, he slit throats too.
What did he care?
It wasn't his neck.
The title of Clear Water was useless here, and there was no need to be self-conscious.
Such a shell was only meaningful when hypocrisy served as a good disguise.
Among trash, wasn't it best to act just like trash?
After running like that for some time.
Koong—.
A short sound came from the cliff on his left.
He didn't mean to look, but it naturally caught his eye in his heightened state of alert.
A horn.
A single horn, as long as a man is tall, had pierced through the waist of a man who was running at full speed, straight through his back.
'Crazy! If I stop, I die!'
He started running again.
Now there were no more spare corpses to throw as bait for the Qilin.
Ahead, left, or right, there was nothing but cliffs and mud.
In a way, it was a good sign.
It meant he was in the lead.
His feet sank into the mud, and he kicked out of the mud again.
The mud rose to his ankles, then his knees, then fell away again.
He didn't even feel out of breath.
There was no time to be out of breath.
His legs no longer seemed to move of their own will.
It was the instinct to survive that simply moved his legs.
Then.
"…!"
Up ahead.
A hundred zhang?
No, two hundred zhang?
Finally, the end of the cliffs came into view.
The dark clouds were cut off as if someone had drawn a line.
Beyond them, a blue sky stretched out.
One side was a dark gray ceiling, the other a bright daytime sky.
The two worlds were divided as if cut by a knife.
Just there.
If I can just get over there.
He had watched for days.
That beast never took a single step outside Windshear Cliffs.
This place was the beast's territory, and its limits were within it.
Beyond the cliffs was the realm of a bright day.
If he could just cross that line, it would be over.
Strength returned to his legs.
The mud that had been up to his knees felt lighter.
He didn't know where such strength came from.
He just took one step after another.
That was all.
If I can just get over there, I can live.
One last time.
If I can just check the distance between me and that thing.
The Clear Water Wanderer turned his head back while still running.
But there was nothing behind him.
To be precise, there was nothing living.
Just corpses scattered on the mud.
Dismembered arms and legs.
Torsos separated from heads.
Chunks of flesh, impossible to identify.
That was all.
He couldn't see the beast's white mane or its massive horn.
Did it run away?
No, that can't be.
The Clear Water Wanderer looked forward again.
And he stopped.
It wasn't that his feet stopped.
His legs stopped on their own.
His body knew first, and his mind knew a moment later.
Straight ahead.
About thirty paces away.
The boundary between the dark clouds and the blue sky.
The place he had been heading towards to survive.
A white mane stood there.
"Ah… damn it."
The massive horn rising above its head filled the upper part of the Clear Water Wanderer's vision.
A lion's mane, long dragon whiskers trailing from within it, the body of a horse covered in shimmering, five-colored scales spanning dozens of feet, and the tail of an ox, longer than a man is tall, flicking back and forth, shaking off blood and mud.
The Qilin stood before him, revealing its full form.
How could such a massive body not sink into the mud…
Four hooves, whiter than snow, stepped through the mud and approached him.
"…"
The Clear Water Wanderer froze on the spot.
Why did I come here?
That single line surfaced in his mind.
— He who tames the Qilin will command the world. He who obtains the Qilin's inner core and flesh will have the world at his feet. He who takes the Qilin's bones will stain the world with blood. Ah, the world is right there before my eyes, so why can I not grasp it? Why did I come here?
He wanted to survive.
He wanted to survive and have the world at his feet.
He wanted to tear off that mouth-watering flesh to his heart's content and cut off that shining horn to forge a sword.
If only he could do that, he wouldn't have to live a life of 'pretense' anymore.
He could throw away a lame, pretentious title like Clear Water Wanderer.
Koong—.
The Qilin took another step closer.
The Clear Water Wanderer's legs wobbled.
This is unfair.
I have lived a compassionate and benevolent life as a renowned master of the Orthodox Faction… to think I must lose my life so futilely like this.
Where are all the absolute masters, and what are they doing?
How can they just stand by and watch such a lawless monster run rampant?
If he were in their position, he would never have let this happen.
'Huh? What's that!?'
In the corner of his, the Clear Water Wanderer's vision, a dot entered from the bright world into this hellish world of dark clouds.
At first, he thought it was part of the rain.
The rain on this mountain was not only rain that fell from above but also rain that moved from side to side, and small birds sometimes cut through it, and severed leaves floated by.
The black dot looked like one of those things.
But the dot did not get smaller; it grew larger.
With a gentle wind, the dot grew in an instant, and its form materialized.
It was a person.
Hwii-ryu-ryu-ryu-ryu-ryu!
Ta-dak—.
Despite flying at such a high speed, the person landed softly on the mud.
He was a young man in a black robe.
He landed between the Clear Water Wanderer and the Qilin.
"…!"
The tension in the Clear Water Wanderer's shoulders eased.
He scanned the man from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.
A black robe.
A single character on his back.
It was blurry.
He didn't try to read it.
There was no need.
Anyone who would stand in the Qilin's path was a savior to him.
The corners of the Clear Water Wanderer's mouth trembled and rose.
"Great Hero…!"
His voice cracked once.
He quickly composed himself.
"Indeed, the heavens have not yet abandoned this Clear Water Wanderer. I will spend the rest of my life repaying this gracious fa…"
Seuk.
The Clear Water Wanderer's words were cut off.
The man in the black robe turned and took a step toward him.
The Clear Water Wanderer thought it was a sign of friendliness.
He started to lower his head slightly.
His head never went all the way down.
The man's hand was resting on the crown of the Clear Water Wanderer's head.
"…Huh? Why?"
The Clear Water Wanderer's last conscious thought was that single syllable.
A finger pressed down on the center of his crown.
That was all.
The Clear Water Wanderer's feet lifted off the ground.
Only he himself heard the sound of something collapsing inside his skull.
When the hand was removed, his body tilted to one side and collapsed, knees first.
The hem of his robe touched the muddy ground.
Then, the owner of the title Clear Water Wanderer fell face down into the mud.
The Qilin took two steps back.
Dong Bongsu flexed the tip of his finger once.
There was no mud or blood on it.
"So the trivial quests are finally done?"
A system message appeared, overlapping the Clear Water Wanderer's robe.
[Sudden] The Fate of Hypocrites
But he didn't read it to the end.
It wasn't worth it.
Doong—.
[You did not turn a blind eye to hypocrisy. A reward is given.]
[+0.05]
[Though only by a little, the world has become more beautiful.]
A light mechanical sound signaled the end of the system window.
One thousand li east of the River Capital.
How many trivial quests had he handled on the way to Windshear Cliffs?
Dong Bongsu lightly scrolled back one screen in the system window's log and skimmed through it.
[Sudden] The Wronged Merchant
[You did not turn a blind eye to the plight of the wronged. A reward is given.]
[+0.01]
[Though only by a little, the world has become more beautiful.]
[Sudden] The Salvation of a Child
[You did not turn a blind eye to the crisis of one in need. A reward is given.]
[+0.01]
[Though only by a little, the world has become more beautiful.]
[Sudden] An Innocent Village
[You did not turn a blind eye to the innocent and succeeded in their salvation. A reward is given.]
[+0.05]
[Though only by a little, the world has become more beautiful.]
...
.....
....
...
..
.
He must have handled over thirty trivial quests on the way here.
With that last one, there should be no more need for that.
Dong Bongsu's gaze fell from the system window and naturally turned forward.
"Are you the Qilin?"
The Qilin met Dong Bongsu's gaze.
Dong Bongsu's eyes scanned the Qilin from the top of its head to its four hooves.
The straight line of his lips curved for a moment.
To think that no quest had been triggered despite being this close, this beast must be far more heroic than the humans lying here.
Of course.
"You look strong."
To Dong Bongsu, that didn't matter.
The prey before him looked so strong that it had no need for the seasoning of a quest.