A tree demon, so massive that the word 'large' felt inadequate, was basking in the sun on the riverbank, with half of its roots in the earth and the other half in the river.
With leaves rustling in the gentle breeze, a few luscious fruits hanging from its branches, and a large bird dozing on one of them, it was a picturesque scene. If not for the fact that the surrounding land was parched and drained of life, an unknowing observer might have mistaken this tree demon for a divine tree.
But what kind of divine tree would drain the life from everything around it just so it alone could flourish? That was why the tree was not a divine tree, but a tree demon.
“Mook-soo, when is Jaekyung coming?”
Wooo- “You don’t know either? I thought so.” Wooooo- “Why did I ask?
Just because.
Not everything needs a reason. Don’t you think so?” The name Mook-soo was given to it by Jaekyung.
He and Cheong-o had names, so he thought he couldn't just keep calling this fellow by the generic name of 'tree demon'. Cheong-o had fussed excitedly that it was a great idea, but Mook-soo, the one who received the name, showed little reaction. It neither disliked nor liked it.
To it, a name seemed to hold no particular meaning. Cheong-o couldn't understand Mook-soo. In its opinion, this leisurely tree should have been overjoyed.
“Why don’t you like it? Isn’t it nice to have a name? The name is yours. Besides, no one can take it from you.”
Mook-soo was a good listener to Cheong-o’s chatter. Part of it was its tree-like leisurely nature, and part of it was because Cheong-o's endless chirping helped pass the time. Wooo- Mook-soo conveyed that, in its thoughts, a name was like a gaze.
It didn’t care how others saw it or what they called it, so there was nothing to particularly like or dislike about it. Cheong-o did not understand those words and was slightly displeased. However, it did not force its opinion on Mook-soo.
It knew such an act would be a meaningless waste of effort.
“Mook-soo. Can I have a fruit? What do you mean, didn't I just have one a few days ago? It's because I had one a few days ago that I want another. If I had one yesterday, I wouldn't even be asking.”
Whatever Mook-soo thought, Cheong-o liked the name Mook-soo. But in truth, Cheong-o had also liked the name-that-was-not-a-name, 'Tree', that it used to call it.
“Mook-soo. How is it in the water? Are there a lot of fish? Jaekyung told me there are a lot of spirit beasts too. The aquatic ones. But he said they're dumber than the ones on land. Do you think so too? You don't know? Why not? You must have seen them. By the way, how do you see? Do you have eyes? Where are they? Ah, so they were hidden there. I didn't know because they don't look like eyes. Come to think of it…”
By the time Jaekyung arrived, Mook-soo was about to be completely drained by Cheong-o’s incessant chatter. Spotting Jaekyung's head emerging from the water's surface, Cheong-o greeted him cheerfully, and Mook-soo sighed in relief.
"Huh? Jaekyung. You're hurt?"
Cheong-o’s eyes widened as it looked at the side of Jaekyung’s head.
“It just happened.”
“Was there someone that strong in the river?”
“There was.”
There was a strong one. To be precise, one that was only strong right before it died. He had been angry and dumbfounded when the side of his head was torn off, but thinking back now, he felt it was a good thing he had learned his lesson cheaply.
As long as he remembered this pain, he would never make such a foolish mistake again.
“How about you two? Nothing happened, right?”
“Nope. Nothing at all. I could sleep out in the open and nothing happened.”
“That’s probably because even if you fall asleep, Mook-soo doesn’t.” Cheong-o used one of Mook-soo’s branches as its perch.
Before, it would always fly off to sleep somewhere secluded, and it did the same after becoming a spirit beast, but things changed after the tree demon was given the name Mook-soo.
As if it had let go of even the minimal caution it once had, Cheong-o always stayed on Mook-soo’s branches, except when it flew around for one reason or another.
“How is your training with the Aura Concealment Art?”
“It’s still not going well.”
At the mention of the Aura Concealment Art, the energetic Cheong-o hung its head low. Its wings, which had been flapping excitedly, also drooped. Seeing this, Jaekyung clicked his tongue inwardly.
He had recently begun teaching Cheong-o the concept and training methods of the Aura Concealment Art. It was both a kindness to Cheong-o and a preparation for future events. But he hadn't expected this fellow, usually so clever, to be so sluggish when it came to cultivation.
Could it be that its talent for cultivation was lacking? Or was it because, despite its intelligence, it was ultimately just a spirit beast? 'Maybe I was the abnormal one, and this is normal.'
The fact that he had grasped the main point as soon as he heard the concept of the Aura Concealment Art and had seen results from his very first attempt at training now seemed, in retrospect, a bit too fast.
The ability to train so quickly in the body of a spirit beast was likely because of the human spirit dwelling within. However, Cheong-o was a pure spirit beast in both shell and substance, so perhaps it couldn't train as quickly as Jaekyung himself.
“Jaekyung. Maybe the problem isn't me, but Mook-soo being too perceptive? I bet it wouldn't be easy for you to fool this guy either, Jaekyung.”
No sooner had Cheong-o said that than Jaekyung’s aura vanished. Mook-soo flinched and then waved a branch up and down. It looked like a declaration of surrender, and also like a grumble not to blame it.
In the end, Cheong-o, utterly deflated, could only say that it would try harder.
“If you’re not ready, the plan can’t even begin. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. I know. I’ll work harder.”
After defeating the catfish and obtaining the elixir water, Jaekyung gained a new perspective on his cultivation path. It would be fair to say his horizons had broadened slightly. Previously, he pursued efficiency, but with a foundation of stability and safety.
Some might have scoffed at him for being too cautious or cowardly, but to Jaekyung, it was only natural. If you die, cultivation and everything else ends, doesn't it? Therefore, to continue cultivating, one must protect one's own life above all else.
That belief had not changed. However, his idea of what constituted stability and safety had changed slightly. Shall we say he began to see things more broadly and from a longer-term perspective?
For example, the current Jaekyung did not shy away from a fight where he might get injured. This would have been unthinkable for him in the past, but things were different now that he had a reliable backup in the elixir water. Jaekyung’s philosophy on treasures remained unchanged.
If it has a useful purpose, it is a treasure. On the other hand, no matter how precious something is, if it has no use or its use is so limited that it cannot be properly utilized, it is nothing more than a burden.
Once he learned that the elixir water was not a one-time-use treasure that disappeared forever after a single use, Jaekyung abandoned the idea of treating it like a sacred idol. Of course, that didn't mean he intended to be reckless with his body, but he was now willing to take a chance if necessary. Something came to mind.
It was a thought that had been lingering in his head ever since he obtained the treasure known as elixir water from the spiritual spring, the catfish's spiritual land. Curiosity and greed about what spiritual objects might exist in other spiritual lands. What if other spiritual lands had things as good as the elixir water?
What if they even had spiritual objects for cultivation that would aid his progress? His mouth watered just thinking about it. He felt no guilt or reluctance about coveting what belonged to others who had never harmed him.
Was it because they were of the demon races, who were either friends or foes? No, it was because he was a cultivator. Jaekyung now understood that struggle and contention for opportunities were the nature and quality of a cultivator.
It is the fate of a cultivator to contend with the heavens and the earth, with people and with time. Humans called the demon races lawless, but in Jaekyung's view, the two were not fundamentally different. If the demon races were robbers, humans were merely swindlers.
With not a hint of discomfort in his heart, the plan in his mind quickly took shape. There was no guarantee that every spiritual land would have spiritual objects, but it was clear that the probability was high. If he could find just one after searching five or six places, Jaekyung would be satisfied.
'The problem is that the masters of the spiritual lands are no pushovers.' He shouldn't underestimate them based on his experience with the catfish. He had been able to defeat the catfish because he had neutralized its strength with a surprise attack from the start, and the enraged catfish had repeatedly made mistakes.
Moreover, Jaekyung himself had his own advantages in the water, which could be said to have largely offset the catfish's advantages as an aquatic spirit beast. But it would be difficult to enjoy such advantages against the masters of other spiritual lands.
Not only because they are primarily active on land, but also because the existence of Cheong-o and Mook-soo was revealed during the fight with the catfish. To be precise, it was revealed that they were in a cooperative relationship with Jaekyung.
It was unlikely that the demon races, with their low intelligence and strong individualistic tendencies, would gossip and spread rumors, but one could never know for sure when dealing with the masters of spiritual lands, who would have something special about them.
Putting everything else aside, the very fact that these formidable beings, each a power in their own right, occupied one spiritual land each without getting greedier and were maintaining the current power structure showed that these demon races had the sense to consider the balance of power and read the situation.
If he went up against such beings with Cheong-o and Mook-soo, he would immediately be met with eyes full of suspicion. Letting his guard down would be out of the question, and if things went wrong, he could be treated as a troublemaker trying to upset the balance.
Even if it was a one-in-a-million chance, Jaekyung did not want such a situation, so he had to think of another way. He never even considered the option of fighting one-on-one without the help of Cheong-o and Mook-soo. Although his cultivation had advanced after eating the catfish, he was still inferior when compared to the masters of the spiritual lands.
In human terms, it was the difference between the middle and late stages of the Qi Refining Stage. Jaekyung felt that his current cultivation level had reached the very end of the middle Qi Refining Stage. He was close to the late Qi Refining Stage, but being close was not the same as being there; it was clearly different.
It felt like he hadn't crossed a certain benchmark, or a wall. 'That's not all. Just like that catfish fellow, there's a high probability that those guys also have some kind of special ability.'
No matter how he looked at it, for the current Jaekyung to challenge the masters of the spiritual lands was a suicidal, no, a self-harming act. Self-harm, not suicide. That was the extent of Jaekyung's confidence.
Jaekyung did not want to die, nor did he want to get hurt for no reason. He thought that getting into a brawl with the masters of the spiritual lands was a loss with no potential for gain. 'Until the day I can hunt them with ease, it's just not worth it.'
The effects of the catfish meat he had hunted with such difficulty were not as great as he had expected. It certainly wasn't because he had only eaten half of it. It was slightly better than the meat of an ordinary spirit beast, but the difference was not that significant.
It was definitely not worth risking serious injury. Therefore, the option of confronting the masters of the spiritual lands was ruled out from the start, and the next thing Jaekyung thought of was a feint attack, or to put it more bluntly, theft.
The plan was for him to lure out the masters of the spiritual lands, while Cheong-o would sneak into the spiritual land to see if there were any spiritual objects, and if there were, to snatch them and flee.
In a way, it was Jaekyung doing the same thing Mook-soo had done against the catfish, but the difference was that this time, the target was not the opponent's life, but the spiritual objects of the spiritual land.
This plan required two prerequisites: one, that there were no other spirit beasts or demons in the spiritual land besides its master, and two, that Cheong-o's Aura Concealment Art had reached a sufficient level. He wasn't particularly worried about the first condition.
A strong sense of territory was a trait shared by most of the demon races, and for a master of a spiritual land, it was even more pronounced. Of course, it was rare for one to occupy and thoroughly control an entire river like the catfish, but the masters of other spiritual lands mostly showed similar tendencies.
'Besides, if there is a spiritual object in the spiritual land and they know of its existence, they would be even more exclusive of others. So the first condition is not a problem. The problem is Cheong-o.' In fact, if he wasn't concerned about the aftermath, he wouldn't have to worry too much about Cheong-o's Aura Concealment Art.
But Jaekyung had no intention of giving up the spiritual spring and elixir water he had worked so hard to obtain, so they had to commit theft, not robbery. So, in the end, it all came back to Cheong-o. The plan could only move forward if Cheong-o put in more effort and mastered the Aura Concealment Art.
But…
'Is a bird brain just a bird brain, even if it's smart?' He knew that wasn't the problem. But as he watched Cheong-o engage in a battle of wits with Mook-soo over a freshly ripened spiritual fruit, he felt a stuffiness inside, as if something was lodged in his chest.
* Garden of Remembrance. Several spirits were seated on the now-familiar stone pillars. However, the seat of honor where Yoo Gye-yoon had always sat was empty, making the familiar gathering feel somewhat unfamiliar.
“So, you have decided to leave?”
“That is correct.”
The one who asked was Woo Do-baek, and the one who answered was Chae Yeon-ri. Just as Jaekyung had expected, Chae Yeon-ri, feeling that the Twilight Gathering was no longer appealing with Yoo Gye-yoon gone, announced that she would be leaving the group.
Not leaving without a word, but speaking of it directly like this, was likely a courtesy to wrap things up.
“Then this may be the last day we see each other.”
“It might be, but it might not. As long as the Immortal Path is not broken, we can meet again anywhere in the world, can we not?”
“Haha. Indeed. In that case, I wish for good fortune to grace your future path, Dao Friend.”
“As do I.” The atmosphere of the parting was no different from any other time.
As if they were parting today with a promise to meet again tomorrow.
“I hope that good fortune will be with you on your future path, Senior.”
“Thank you.”
All the cultivators of the Twilight Gathering, including Jaekyung, offered their blessings to the departing Chae Yeon-ri. Chae Yeon-ri returned their courtesies one by one and then departed, just as Yoo Gye-yoon had.
“With two seats empty, it feels a bit desolate.”
After a lighthearted jest, Woo Do-baek moved to the seat of honor where Yoo Gye-yoon had originally sat. The cultivators of the Twilight Gathering accepted this naturally. Well, not that there were many cultivators in the Twilight Gathering to speak of; besides Woo Do-baek, there were now only three.
“Ahem. As I mentioned to Senior Yoo before, I intend to preside over this gathering from now on. Well, even if I say I'm presiding, I don't really plan on doing anything special. I'll just be talking a bit more than before. Other than that, nothing will change. We will share what stories we have and mingle as we please.”
Like Jaekyung, Yeo Jang-gyeong and Choi Ju-tang didn't seem to have much to say. From their perspective, the person they sought guidance from had merely changed from Yoo Gye-yoon of the late Foundation Establishment stage to Woo Do-baek of the middle Foundation Establishment stage.
It would be a lie to say it wasn't a bit disappointing, but whether someone was two steps above them or one step above them, they were still in a position to look down on them, so it probably wasn't a huge disappointment.
“Well then. Shall we begin?”
The gathering began with Woo Do-baek's words. The usual talk about recent events passed quickly, and soon the discussion turned to cultivation. Yeo Jang-gyeong and Choi Ju-tang, who were still stuck at the starting line of the Foundation Establishment stage despite having reached it several years ago, were the first to seek guidance from Woo Do-baek.
Unlike before, when he would defer answers to Yoo Gye-yoon and Chae Yeon-ri, Woo Do-baek now bestowed his teachings quite diligently. Jaekyung, who could not yet understand any of it, stored those teachings in his mind. Hoping that one day, they would be of use.