Jaekyung made an excuse to the horned Cheong-o, claiming that he hadn't pretended not to hear him, but that he truly hadn't heard a thing. Cheong-o, who had been in a daze after eating a few of the lotus petals, readily accepted Jaekyung’s explanation.
“We’ve stayed here for too long.”
Unlike Jaekyung, who showed almost no discernible change even after his spiritual awareness had opened, Cheong-o’s transformation was obvious. For one, the blue light flowing through his body had become more brilliant, and his words were more articulate. Had he become smarter?
“I’m going to stay here for the time being.”
“Here? Why?”
Cheong-o asked, looking around. There was just a lone pond, surrounded by leaning and fallen trees, giving the area a slightly desolate feel. Naturally, there wasn't a single mouse to be found, let alone any other beast.
“I find it comfortable in the water. It’s much better than climbing trees every day.”
That was part of it, but the real reason was that the spiritual energy here was denser than in the surrounding areas. The reason he didn't tell the truth was simply that there was no need to. Cheong-o was a good partner, but Jaekyung didn't think it was necessary to tell him everything.
He believed that secrets were, in some ways, like wealth; the more you had, the better. Cheong-o just accepted Jaekyung’s excuse. After all, it didn't matter where he stayed; finding him would not be a problem.
"Alright. Are you going to hunt more today?"
“No. I’m tired. I want to rest today.”
Today, he had experienced too much and learned many things. The mystical Garden of Remembrance. An unexpected kin.
And on top of that, the scuffle with the frog. In any case, he was more exhausted than ever, both physically and mentally.
“Okay. Rest well. See you tomorrow.”
“Mhm. If you need to find me, just call out from above the pond. I should be able to hear you.”
After bidding farewell to Cheong-o, Jaekyung entered the pond.
'It's certain.'
He hadn't had a chance to truly feel it, having been invited to the Garden of Remembrance as soon as his spiritual awareness opened, but now, as he calmly used this new sense again, the world felt different than before. The guide, Yoo Jung-gyeom, had said that through spiritual awareness, one could sense the spiritual energy of the world.
He was right. Right now, Jaekyung could faintly feel a mystical energy that existed in the world. This mystical energy must be spiritual energy.
It spread throughout the world like an unbroken, continuous line, like a complex spider's web. Also, most of it was not stationary but constantly moving, like flowing water. As he focused on its flow, Jaekyung felt as if he had entered a gently flowing river.
'Could this place be considered a kind of spiritual land?' Most of the spiritual energy flowed on endlessly. But some of it remained in one place or flowed so slowly it seemed to have stopped.
This pond was one of those places. To put it simply, the concentration of spiritual energy here was twice as dense as outside the pond, and three or four times denser than where the trees were toppled. Jaekyung guessed the reason.
The cause was undoubtedly the lotus that he and Cheong-o had devoured. Although the spiritual energy of the pond was denser than elsewhere, the energy where the lotus had bloomed was even denser than the rest of the pond. 'In that case, the spiritual energy here will also fade over time.'
If he hadn't picked and eaten the lotus and had just left it, would the concentration of spiritual energy here have become even denser? Perhaps this place could have become a true spiritual land. Well, it was a meaningless what-if now.
Jaekyung decided to enjoy the spiritual energy of this place as much as possible, for as long as it lasted. 'It certainly feels refreshing and good, but what exactly is the benefit?' If he had to make an analogy, it felt like being in a hot spring.
It felt pleasant, and he knew it was somehow good for him, but he didn't know exactly what it was doing or how. 'He said I need to attune to it. But he also said it would be useless until my vital energy is strong enough.'
Jaekyung mulled over Yoo Jung-gyeom's teachings. He had told him to build up his vital energy. Only when his vital energy was sufficiently strong could his physical body attune to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, allowing him to transcend being an ordinary beast and become a spirit beast.
'Vital energy, vital energy.' The way to increase vital energy is simple. Just eat a lot, sleep a lot, and move a lot.
However, just because a clear path lay before him, Jaekyung had no intention of taking it easy and letting the years pass by. If the destination is clear, isn't it better to reach it as quickly as possible? Yoo Jung-gyeom had also said to eat many "good things."
As it happened, he had just eaten something good today. The frog that was originally the guardian of this pond. 'It felt like I had eaten some kind of restorative tonic.'
The quantity was so-so, but in terms of quality, the frog surpassed all the prey Jaekyung had ever eaten. The only thing that could compare was the blood of the monstrous bird that had captivated him.
Of course, that blood was only a few drops, so strictly speaking, it couldn't be compared to the frog he ate today, but it meant the quality was just as good. 'Rather than filling my stomach with miscellaneous things, it would be more helpful for building vital energy to hunt creatures like the frog.'
A slow, comfortable, and safe path, and a fast but potentially dangerous path were laid out before him at the same time. Previously, Jaekyung would have chosen the first path without hesitation. But now, things were different.
He had learned that a path that seems safe is not truly safe, and a path that seems dangerous is not necessarily dangerous. 'If I look for places with dense spiritual energy, and if I find a spiritual land, I should be able to find creatures like the frog.' Jaekyung used the frog as his benchmark.
If they were creatures on the level of the frog, he was confident he could handle them without much difficulty. By 'without much difficulty,' he didn't mean he could kill them easily, but that he was confident he wouldn't be in danger while fighting them. Wasn't that the case with the frog?
The creature posed no threat to him, but Jaekyung also couldn't do anything to it through normal means. That he was able to kill it was the result of several positive factors working together, not because his abilities were superior. 'Come to think of it, the frog was not a good match-up for me.
I should probably avoid creatures that are too agile for me to catch and have a means of attacking from a distance.' Jaekyung considered his strengths to be his sturdy body and great power. Therefore, if he were to choose prey, it had to be a creature he could kill with those strengths.
'I can just get Cheong-o's help.' Now that the bird seemed smarter, he would probably be better at scouting than before. Even thinking about it now, his decision to partner up with the bird was a truly wise one.
'Will I one day be able to fly through the sky myself, without needing his help?' This world was different from the world of his past life. In his past life, there was a limit to how exceptional a single creature could be.
A creature without wings could not fly, and it could not exert power beyond its weight class. But this Azure Abyss Realm was different. Superhumans existed, and transcendent creatures existed.
He couldn't even begin to guess how powerful a single individual could become. So why couldn't a snake fly? Why couldn't it soar higher than the sky?
When that time comes, will a snake still be just a snake? * “That way.” The hunting method, which had developed its own system over more than two months, had changed.
Before, Cheong-o decided everything. He would fly high, searching for prey, and when he found a suitable one, Jaekyung would move in the direction he indicated without a word. But now, Jaekyung set the direction.
Then, Cheong-o would fly in the direction Jaekyung pointed and search for prey. It was a one-sided change, but Cheong-o followed without complaint. The reason was simple.
This method was better than the previous one. It wasn't that they found prey more easily, but whenever they did find prey, it was more excellent than what they had hunted before. Cheong-o had no way to describe this excellence, but he could instinctively feel that it was better.
'Creatures living in places rich with spiritual energy are generally more nutritious.' This was a small piece of information gained from a few days of hunting. He wasn't sure if 'nutritious' was the right word, but Jaekyung decided to accept it as such.
Even when eating a similar amount, the feeling of fullness was different. For this, Jaekyung could only think of the word 'nutritious'. 'So far, it's definitely effective.'
Jaekyung set his direction toward an area with more abundant spiritual energy. Whether by coincidence or not, that direction was roughly the same as the path he and Cheong-o had been taking until now. In other words, it was the opposite direction from the river where Cheong-o had seen the humans.
'It's probably not a coincidence. The farther away from human territory, the richer the spiritual energy.' This was reminiscent of the relationship between nature and humans in the world of his past life.
Was this a coincidence?
“Let’s call it a day.”
“Okay. Good work.”
They hunted every day, but after the hunt was over, they always returned to the pond. He planned to continue using the pond as a base for hunting until its spiritual energy faded. They had to find the prey, hunt it, and then return to the pond, making the schedule tighter than before.
Fortunately, they could still find prey without going too far, but there was no guarantee it would stay that way. When a predator appears, the prey is bound to flee. Eventually, sooner or later, it would become more difficult to secure prey.
When that time came, he would have to make a choice. Either abandon the pond and go in search of better prey, or somehow just fill his stomach and hold out until the pond's spiritual energy disappeared. 'I'll probably have to compromise somewhere in the middle.'
By the way, he had been living in the pond for over five days now, but he still couldn't grasp what effect the dense spiritual energy here had. He seemed to sleep better than before and felt more refreshed upon waking, but... he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.
Since Yoo Jung-gyeom had taught him about it, there must be some kind of beneficial effect... 'Am I being too hasty?' It had been five days, but perhaps it was only five days.
Had the Korean spirit of 'hurry, hurry' already seeped into his second life? One must not be lazy, but being too impatient is also not good. 'But aside from the spiritual energy, I really like it in the water.'
There was the safety, and a comfort he couldn't feel outside the water. Jaekyung hoped that even when he eventually had to leave this pond, his next home would also be a river or a pond.
'Mmm.
A moderately sized pond would be better than a wide-open river.' The ideal place was a pond like this. A river is nice because it's wide, but since it's open upstream and downstream, there's a risk of strange creatures showing up.
A pond, on the other hand, had no such worries, making it the best shelter for Jaekyung, who only rested or slept in the water. 'When I find a suitable pond, I'll have to clear out the creatures living inside.' Just like this place.
The things that used to live here had all disappeared along with the frog. Thanks to that, the pond was now perfectly quiet. No one disturbed his peace.
His body.
In a state of perfect contentment, with a comfortable mind and a pleasantly relaxed body, Jaekyung once again tried to attune his flesh to the spiritual energy. Yoo Jung-gyeom had imparted general knowledge about the path to transcendence, that is, Cultivation.
Of course, he didn't know much about the cultivation of the demon races, so most of the knowledge he shared was about the cultivation of humans. For Jaekyung, it was something he couldn't follow even if he knew it for now, but it could still serve as a reference. The first stage of human cultivation is the Qi Refining Stage.
It is the stage of taking in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to temper the vital essence within the body.
Compared to the cultivation stages of the demon races, specifically spirit beasts, this corresponded to the lowest class, the majority of spirit beasts that either had no intellect or, if they did, had not surpassed the level of an animal. Spirit beasts do not need to temper their vital essence like humans.
This is because their vital energy naturally becomes vigorous through the process of eating and growing, without the need for arduous tempering. However, no matter how powerful, vital energy is still just vital energy, so a process of converting it into a higher level of power is necessary. This was spiritual energy attunement.
Most spirit beasts go through this process naturally, just like building up their vital energy. To be more precise, a beast that cannot do so cannot become a spirit beast. Jaekyung couldn't be sure of his own potential.
Perhaps he could naturally become a spirit beast. But perhaps, like his parents, he might end up as just a beast with extremely vigorous vital energy. Of course, since he had already opened his spiritual awareness, that possibility was slim.
But just as he deliberately moved to hunt prey in places rich with spiritual energy, if there was a faster path, there was no reason not to take it. That was why he was now trying to force spiritual energy attunement. He didn't know how to attune his physical body to the spiritual energy.
That's why he was just trying indiscriminately. This reckless attempt might be a meaningless waste of time, but what if it could help even a little? So far, he hadn't gotten the hang of it at all, but it wasn't as if there were no results.
His ability to sense spiritual energy had improved. If his ability continued to develop like this, he might even be able to obtain divine sense. Of course, this was a rather overly hopeful, almost delusional, prospect.
Yoo Jung-gyeom had said that divine sense was exclusive to cultivators of the Foundation Establishment stage, the realm after the Qi Refining Stage. Foundation Establishment stage. In terms of a spirit beast's realm, it corresponded to a Great Spirit Beast.
It was a rather uninspired name, apparently because it was given by humans. The demon races in general, especially spirit beasts who are born as animals, are said to be far from such formalities or subtleties. Yoo Jung-gyeom had said that among the demon races, spirit beasts were the most unrestrained and willful bunch.
However, because of that very nature, he said they were the best partners to interact with, if you could just get on their good side. 'It didn't really sound like a compliment.' Anyway, the point was that for him, who had not even become a spirit beast yet, aiming for divine sense was out of the question.
But so what? It costs nothing to dream. As his mind grew considerably weary, Jaekyung let his consciousness drift.
A pleasant wave washed over his consciousness, and the breathing of the giant snake, coiled at the bottom of the pond, became even.