It was a relief to learn that his eye could be healed with the elixir water from a spiritual spring, but how to obtain it was still a problem.
“A spiritual spring? Elixir water?”
As expected, Cheong-o’s eyes went wide as he asked what that was and if it was something good.
‘This fellow is becoming more and more like a person.’
He was clever enough before, but now there was truly no difference between him and a human. Though, perhaps he was now a bit too naive.
“Yes. If I have that, I can heal my eye.”
“It won’t heal without it?”
“I don’t know. In any case, I need it. So, can you look for it for me?”
“But I don’t know what that is. How can I find it?”
Jaekyung repeated the words Yoo Gye-yoon had told him, relaying them to Cheong-o. “Uh… I’m not sure I get it. But I’ll try to find it.”
The way he rubbed his head with his wing and rolled his eyes suggested he hadn’t properly understood, but for now, Jaekyung had no choice but to rely on Cheong-o. The spiritual spring was said to be in a spiritual land, which meant he would have to look around the spiritual lands, but every spiritual land in this area had an owner.
If Jaekyung were to go sniffing around to check for a spiritual spring, it was obvious a fight would break out immediately. It would be one thing if there was definitely a spiritual spring in that land, but without any certainty, he couldn’t just charge in headfirst. So, Cheong-o had to go first.
“By the way, how is it? Do you feel like you’re about to molt?”
“Yes. It’s soon.”
After moving here, he had been hunting spirit beasts constantly. Though the three of them shared the meals, he had hunted so many that Jaekyung’s body was once again preparing for a change. Having practiced the Aura Concealment Art whenever he had time and observed himself, Jaekyung was aware that his molting was imminent.
His vital energy had already begun to boil, so it would probably start within two days at the latest.
‘After I molt once more, I won’t have to hold my breath like I am now.’
There were many powerful spirit beasts here. Among them were some easy targets, but there were also a fair number of dangerous ones that looked difficult to handle at a glance.
Difficult to handle here meant they would be hard to face even with the help of the tree demon and Cheong-o. ‘It was only after coming here that I realized not all spirit beasts are the same.’
Just as humans are divided into geniuses and dunces based on their talent, the aptitude and strength of spirit beasts are usually determined by the bloodline they possess.
A spirit beast that inherited the bloodline of a divine beast from legends and grew naturally could not be the same as a spirit beast that got lucky, ate a spiritual object somewhere, and changed its fate. The spirit beasts Jaekyung had seen until now were all closer to the latter.
Only after coming here did he vaguely begin to understand what a bloodline was, and how different spirit beasts with a bloodline were from those without.
‘To think I’d be dealing with the spoon theory even after being reincarnated.’
It was amusing, but that was all. He felt no desire to lament. On the contrary, Jaekyung was excited to see how much he could gain by eating these so-called bloodline spirit beasts.
* “Grrrrrrr.”
Having finished another molting, Jaekyung let out his frustration from the suppressed pain and his joy from the overflowing power. His low growl seemed to make the entire swamp vibrate.
Wooooo~!
The tree demon, rooted far away, howled as if in response to Jaekyung. Jaekyung didn't know the exact meaning, but he could tell it held a sense of congratulations. Thanks to the time they had spent together, short as it may have been, they had naturally come to be able to guess each other's intentions.
“Thank you.”
The tree demon lightly shook one of its branches, as if to say it was nothing.
“What about Cheong-o?”
Wooo- ‘Not yet, I see.’ It was later than he thought, but it was understandable.
It wasn't just a matter of glancing over the spiritual lands; he had to peer inside to see if there was a spiritual spring or not, so it was bound to take time, even for Cheong-o. Jaekyung calmly observed his body, which was still heated from the molting.
The changes to his body from this molting were not as great as before. There was no sudden growth in his body or increase in strength; instead, the parts of his body that had been injured in previous battles were healed.
Scales that had been cracked and fallen off grew back anew, and the wounds that had remained as unhealed scars became faint.
For a moment, he wondered if the vital energy that should have been used for growth was all used up for his body’s recovery, but after confirming his body's stable condition through observation, Jaekyung knew that wasn't the case. 'The stimulation from the vital energy isn't as intense as before.'
During his previous moltings, the boiling vital energy had stimulated his body so violently it felt like it would break. But this time, though it did boil, it was relatively stable, like water in a kettle. Why was it different this time?
Was the accumulated vital energy insufficient? But if that were the case, the molting shouldn't have started in the first place.
‘I’ll find out if I wait and see.’
Whether it would continue to be like this in the future, he would find out by observing. With no one to reference and no one to teach him, Jaekyung had to experience and speculate on his own in a state of uncertainty. 'Still, it's not bad.'
There was no distinct growth as he had hoped for, but instead, most of his old wounds were washed away. The wounds he had thought he might need to heal with the power of the elixir water along with his eye were mostly healed this time, so all things considered, it was a fairly satisfactory molting.
‘My eye still won’t open.’
His eye would not open, as if someone had applied glue to his eyelid. At least, unlike before, he no longer felt pain from the closed eye, but it had been well over a month in this state.
At first, he believed it was recovering, but with this condition persisting for over a month, he could no longer think as optimistically as he had at the beginning.
‘I have to hope this elixir water thing is effective.’
Yoo Gye-yoon had spoken as if there would be no problem as long as he had the elixir water, and he could only hope that was true.
“I’m back!”
Just as Jaekyung finished his observation and was about to catch his breath, Cheong-o’s frantic cry came from far away.
“Did you find the elixir water?”
“I couldn’t find that. I found a few spiritual springs, but I don’t know if there’s elixir water there. I tried to get a look, but some fierce guys glared at me, so I couldn’t get close.”
“Is that so.”
Whether they were spirit beasts or demons, none of the ones occupying a spiritual land were pushovers. Not only were they strong, but they were also more vigilant than ordinary spirit beasts, so they naturally wouldn't stand by and watch a strange spirit beast try to enter their territory.
‘Do I have no choice but to check them one by one?’
He had thought it might be difficult, but now that it had come to this, it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Tell me everything about the spiritual springs you found. Where they are, and what kind of creatures are occupying them, everything.”
The place they were in was still part of a mountain range that stretched on endlessly. However, unlike the unbroken stretch of forest before, a variety of terrains unfolded here.
There were sharp peaks that looked like stalagmites turned upside down, places where bizarre rocks and stones were spread out like sand on a white beach, and places where a stream of water, whether a river or a creek, flowed fiercely. When he first arrived here, Jaekyung wondered how such a place could exist.
At the same time, he marveled at this vast mountain range. Come to think of it, after reincarnating in the Azure Abyss Realm, he had never once left this massive mountain range. Just how vast was this mountain range?
How huge and wide was it that it could embrace all this so casually? Were there many places like this in the Azure Abyss Realm? Did the Seniors at the Garden of Remembrance know about this place?
After waking up in a strange world, Jaekyung had always been busy surviving, focusing only on what was right in front of him. In truth, it couldn't be helped. It was true that he had no leeway to look elsewhere, but what different emotions could he have felt in a place filled only with trees and grass?
But this place was different. Everywhere he looked, wondrous and mysterious landscapes captivated his gaze. It felt as if the fatigue of his heart, which had unknowingly accumulated, was being purified.
This was probably a luxury he could enjoy because he still possessed a human heart.
“Are you going to do it?”
“I have to. I can’t keep living with just one eye like this.”
Cheong-o had identified a total of four spiritual springs. Two of them were too far to reach within five days, so they were excluded for now. Of the two closer ones, one was a river and the other a large cave, each ruled by a fish spirit beast and a rock demon, respectively.
Jaekyung chose the river between these two. It was a decision made entirely with their masters in mind. He judged that it would be better to face a familiar spirit beast rather than a demon whose abilities he couldn't guess.
“Jaekyung. You have to be careful. That catfish fellow is really fierce. If you even get close, he sticks his head out and starts yelling.”
“It’s because he’s weak.”
“Huh?”
“Think about it. If he was really that confident in his own strength, wouldn’t he welcome others entering the river? It’s like prey coming right to his mouth. The way I see it, he acts fiercer on purpose because he’s scared.”
“Uh… Is that really it?”
Whether that was really the case or not, one couldn't know without looking inside that catfish fellow's head. Jaekyung said this simply to boost Cheong-o's confidence, as he seemed a little too intimidated.
“Still, you have to be careful. I saw the catfish fight once before. He has the ability to control the river water.”
“Is that so?”
Jaekyung was lost in thought for a moment, but soon flicked his tongue as if it were no big deal.
Controlling water?
It would certainly be tricky, but how could it compare to the spirit artifacts and spirit arts thrown by a group of human cultivators? Even if it was an ability awakened from a bloodline, if it was manifested at the level of a spirit beast, it would at most be at the level of a simple spirit art.
Jaekyung, who had already been beaten up by spirit arts, and quite a bit at that, did not think the catfish's ability that Cheong-o spoke of was very impressive.
“And he can move incredibly fast in the water.”
“The same goes for me.”
He too was confident in a fight in the water. Of course, that didn't mean he could compare to a fish spirit beast that lived only in the water, but he couldn't just admit defeat before even facing it. Jaekyung put together the information he heard from Cheong-o and made a hunting plan.
The best course of action would be to avoid a fight if possible, but since Cheong-o had failed, he had no choice but to enter the spiritual spring and check for himself whether there was elixir water or not. In that case, a fight would be unavoidable, so he was making a hunting plan in advance.
'A fish spirit beast with an excessively strong sense of vigilance.'
A hunt.
This had to be a hunt, not a fight. Although the end result of clashing would be the same, the latter was different in that he would be thoroughly prepared to face an unprepared enemy.
“I’ll need you to do some work.”
Jaekyung, who was busy racking his brain to formulate a plan, stuck his tongue out long as he looked at the tree demon quietly enjoying a sunbath. * Wooo- The characteristics of the tree demon, aside from absorbing the life force of its surroundings for nourishment and bearing spiritual fruit, included its large size.
Its size, which made it stand out at a glance no matter where it was, was mostly disadvantageous in the struggle for survival, but it could be very useful for specific purposes. Like right now, for instance.
Plop!
One of the tree demon’s thick roots entered the fiercely flowing river. As if testing the water temperature before getting into a bath, the tree demon shyly dipped one root into the water, and seeming to find the temperature acceptable, it put its remaining roots into the water one by one.
Just as it had put about half of its roots in and was about to push its trunk into the water as well.
Kwa-kwa!
With a fierce sound, a large wave, no, a small tidal wave, came rushing directly towards the tree demon. Sensing that something was amiss, the tree demon planted its roots into the riverbed and withstood the strong current. But just then, the wave that he thought would crash and split, sharply changed direction and shook the tree demon once more.
It was a scene as if a small whirlpool had formed with the tree demon at its center.
Up here.
'That must be him.' Jaekyung, who was on a small hill overlooking the tree demon, took his eyes off the tree demon being swept away by the current and stared intently at the center of the river where the waves were still rising.
Doing so wouldn't let him see through the water, but his sensitive spiritual awareness detected a powerful presence residing there.
‘It seems to detect things as soon as they enter the water. It’s a similar ability to that frog fellow. Does its detection ability get maximized only in the water?’
The fact that it showed no reaction until the tree demon pushed its roots into the river was concerning, if one were to say it had sensed the tree demon's approach in advance. In that case, it would be more reasonable to assume that the creature's detection ability was only effective in the water, or right near the river.
After all, Cheong-o had said he was discovered when he approached the river to see if there was elixir water nearby.
‘That alone is impressive enough. The river is wide.’
Compared to its phenomenal detection ability, its ability to control the river water did not seem that great. Of course, the tree demon, which was being helplessly beaten by that ability right now, might think differently, but that was what Jaekyung thought.
“Are you really going to do it?”
Cheong-o, who was holding his breath next to Jaekyung, asked cautiously.
“Don’t worry. My body is sturdy.”
“I know that. I know, but…”
Cheong-o peeked his head out and looked down at the river, which was thrashing violently like a single snake.
“I’m going. You watch from here and make your own judgment to move.”
Jaekyung focused his spiritual awareness on the presence he felt below the river and gauged the distance.
‘Three. Two. One.’
A memory of bungee jumping in his past life came to mind. He had sworn he would never do it again after doing it once, but now he was about to jump without even a safety line. And yet, strangely, he didn't feel scared at all.
Was it because a spirit beast's liver was bigger than a human's, or was it because he knew he wouldn't get hurt at all by jumping into the river? It was probably the latter.
Thump!
He launched his body by flicking his tail. Feeling the cool wind brush against his entire body, Jaekyung focused on the rapidly approaching river and the intense energy he felt beneath it. The river water got closer and closer.
The moment he sensed the impending impact and his body naturally tensed up. Five or six large water droplets shot up towards Jaekyung all at once.
‘Faster than I thought.’
He couldn't avoid it, nor did he intend to. Jaekyung trusted his sturdy body and took the water droplets head-on. He felt pain, but it wasn't too severe.
At most, it was about the same impact as when he was hit by the tree demon's roots before.
Splash~!
As the massive body, well over 25 meters long, fell, a large splash of water erupted. Naturally, his vision was also obscured by the cloudy foam, but it was no problem for Jaekyung. He advanced towards the energy right below him, and his movement was faster than his opponent's reaction.
‘So it’s you.’
The moment a dark shape came into view, Jaekyung launched his body without hesitation and bared his teeth. The saw-like teeth filling his wide-open mouth bit into smooth flesh.
“Gueeeek!”
In the one eye he could see, something like a thin, long tentacle was shaking frantically. Jaekyung gritted his teeth, tightened his jaw, and while coiling around his opponent's body, he became curious about what it was.
'Ah.
He said it was a catfish.' He had only half-believed it because Cheong-o had said it, but now that he saw it, it certainly resembled a catfish.
‘Give up. I’ll never let you go.’
The catfish spirit beast's struggles grew more violent, but Jaekyung held on with all his might. He bit his opponent and coiled around it with his entire body. It was a move he had repeated countless times since his days as a beast and a finishing move that had never once disappointed him.
Once caught, even if the opponent was a spirit beast, Jaekyung was confident.
Crunch!
After a few minutes of a fierce power struggle, the catfish spirit beast, perhaps realizing this wasn't working, changed its strategy. It gave up struggling to get away and, with great difficulty, twisted its head and bit Jaekyung with its large mouth. Was it suggesting they compare their bite forces and endurance?
If so, Jaekyung welcomed it.
But.
‘As expected, it’s not that easy.’
The current, which had been flowing in one direction, changed its course. And not even a few seconds later, the whirlpool that had surrounded the tree demon now engulfed Jaekyung.