It goes without saying, but to steal a spiritual object, you first need to know where a spiritual object worth stealing is located. But unless you could peer into each territory one by one, how would you know where the spiritual objects were? And it was not as if he could just search through each territory one by one.
That would mean Jaekyung would have to pick a fight with the master of each and every territory. Jaekyung wanted to get his hands on spiritual objects, not shorten his lifespan. So, after some thought, Jaekyung came up with a plan.
“Find the ones that act sensitive.”
First, he would try to provoke them lightly. They would react in some way, and while all the masters of these territories were a sensitive bunch, there would surely be some among them who were especially sensitive. Jaekyung intended to single out those particularly sensitive ones.
Such individuals might simply have nasty tempers, but there was also a chance they were acting more aggressively because they were hiding something good inside. Looking back, the catfish might have been one such case. Could it be that the creature couldn't stand others approaching because it had the treasure known as elixir water within its spiritual spring?
If so, he could use the same method to weed out those who were hiding spiritual objects.
“Just trust me!”
Cheong-o flapped his wings, showing his confidence. “You always have to be, but this time, you must be especially careful. If you get caught, it will become truly dangerous."
“Get caught by the tail?”
As Cheong-o’s gaze fell upon his long, trailing tail, Jaekyung quickly added.
"It’s a figure of speech."
“Okay.”
“Anyway, be careful. Act like it’s not on purpose, like you were just flying by and happened to stop by."
"Okay!"
In truth, Cheong-o was an expert in this field, so Jaekyung’s advice was unnecessary. The reason he nagged despite knowing this was because of how dangerous this task was. To be precise, it was the aftermath that would follow if things went wrong.
Until now, this area had been peaceful. One might ask what nonsense he was spouting when bloodthirsty demon races were rampant, but the life-and-death battles that took place here every day were all products of a fierce struggle for survival.
There were no crazed individuals who slaughtered for no reason, so by the standards of the demon races, this could be called peaceful. And this peace was established and maintained by the masters of the territories.
Since all the strongest individuals mostly stayed within their own domains, setting the tone, those beneath them had no choice but to read the mood and conform. But the act Jaekyung was about to commit was something that would greatly disturb this atmosphere.
Naturally, the masters of the territories, especially the one he robbed, would be furious to the tips of their heads and would certainly not stand by. If it was discovered that he was the culprit, Jaekyung planned to lick up every last drop of the elixir water and immediately flee.
‘I wonder if I’m making an unnecessary mess…’
In truth, there was nothing wrong with maintaining the current situation. Enjoying the abundant spiritual energy of the spiritual spring, solidifying his position in the water, and waiting for his body to grow, becoming a Great Spirit Beast would not be a dream. Wasn’t that a stable and hopeful future?
On the other hand, the deed he was about to commit was an incredibly dangerous gamble and playing with fire by comparison. If so, was there really a need to undertake a dangerous adventure by wagering an otherwise guaranteed safe future?
Wasn’t it just a moment ago that he had told himself that it was okay to be slow, as long as he didn't stop?
‘There is.’
The reason this affair could become a dangerous game of fire was because no one had ever done such a thing before. Conversely, it was precisely because no one had done it until now that he could make such an attempt. And what if, by some chance, things went wrong?
He could just leave. He could find a territory anywhere else, so was there a need to cling to the spiritual spring? The only truly important thing was the elixir water, so if he just packed that up and left, he wouldn't have many regrets.
So, the risk he actually had to bear was not as great as he thought. On the other hand, if things went well, what he could gain would be so great that the risk he had to bear could be treated as ‘nothing’.
‘Once my body grows, I’ll be able to overcome the current bottleneck without difficulty, no, naturally. But becoming a Great Spirit Beast is another matter.’
If his assumption that the growth of his vital energy had stopped because his body's growth was not yet complete was true, then the current bottleneck was hardly a bottleneck at all. What kind of bottleneck is it if it resolves itself naturally over time?
The real bottleneck would come after that, and the frustration he would feel then would be incomparable to what he felt now. So, he had to prepare in advance.
Although he knew nothing about how a spirit beast becomes a Great Spirit Beast, he had heard quite a bit about how a Qi Refining Stage cultivator reaches the Foundation Establishment stage. Such knowledge was considered precious in the outside world, but not in the Garden of Remembrance.
Not that Jaekyung had ever dared to ask openly, but he had picked up a lot by observing the senior cultivators’ discussions on Cultivation from the side.
‘In the first place, I became a spirit beast from an ordinary animal, and with no bloodline to rely on, the only thing I can refer to is the way of the humans.’
It was said that the demon races could make use of even a part of the human legacy only after undergoing the Transformation Tribulation, but that was just the story for a typical member of the demon races.
Looking at it from the perspective of mind and body, their transformation could be seen as gaining a similarity to humans in spirit, in other words, it could be said they achieved a half-human form.
‘Then what about me?’
He had the body of a spirit beast, but his mind was no different from that of a human. If so, couldn't he be considered to have already achieved a half-human form, even though he had not gone through the Transformation Tribulation?
‘The core of Foundation Establishment in human cultivation lies in nurturing the spiritual root.’
The spiritual root, also called a spiritual embryo, is an essential quality for walking the Immortal Path, as one must possess it to commune with and draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to wield spiritual energy. Almost all humans are born with a spiritual root innately, but it does not manifest unless stimulated through Cultivation.
Therefore, the practice of the Qi Refining Stage lies in revealing that hidden spiritual root, becoming accustomed to spiritual energy, and furthermore, refining spiritual energy into spiritual energy to accumulate within the body.
All of this is a preparatory process for Foundation Establishment, and for a Qi Refining Stage cultivator to cross the threshold of Foundation Establishment, they must forge spiritual power based on the spiritual root sprouted in the Qi Refining Stage and the accumulated spiritual energy. So, what is this spiritual power?
If spiritual energy is the ‘power of others,’ borrowed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and used with just a name tag slapped on, then spiritual power is the cultivator’s very own power, forged by their own will. So, as Woo Do-baek had mentioned before, spiritual power is inevitably stained with the cultivator's own color.
‘The power of Foundation Establishment cultivators is called spiritual power, and the power of the demon races, including Great Spirit Beasts, is called demonic power, but in my view, their essence doesn't seem very different. In the end, it’s about forging the power of heaven and earth in one's own way.’
Humans refine spiritual energy based on their spiritual root. Then what about the demon races, the spirit beasts? They say they build up vital energy, but don't spirit beasts with superior bloodlines raise their realm effortlessly just by absorbing the power of their bloodline, without any particular Cultivation?
Of course, if you say that absorbing the power of a bloodline is a form of Cultivation in itself, I have nothing to say.
‘That’s something a dirt spoon like me, no, a no-spoon, can't do. So, I have no choice but to refer to the cultivation of humans.’
If the essence of Foundation Establishment lies in forging the power of heaven and earth into one's own power, then on what basis and how should he forge the power of heaven and earth?
‘My foundation is vital energy. I have nothing but vital energy. But if this is my foundation, where do I draw the power of heaven and earth to accumulate?’
Jaekyung thought for a moment before reaching a conclusion.
‘I must borrow the power of external objects.’
In the case of humans, they practice cultivation techniques to refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into spiritual energy and accumulate it in their bodies. However, this method, aside from the issue of how to obtain cultivation techniques, was impossible for Jaekyung to execute with his completely different physical structure from humans.
Therefore, for him to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, he had no choice but to use spiritual objects that contained spiritual energy.
But such spiritual objects were among the rarer kind, and above all, they were classified as spiritual objects for cultivation, which human cultivators searched for with fire in their eyes, making their value much higher than that of common spiritual objects.
‘The fact that it's not spiritual energy bothers me, but my body is much stronger than a human's, so it should be fine.’
The reason human cultivators refine spiritual energy into spiritual energy is partly because it's easier to use that way, but also because their bodies are too frail to contain raw spiritual energy as it is. But in terms of sturdiness alone, Jaekyung, who prided himself on having a top-tier body even among spirit beasts, had no need for such worries.
‘A human cultivator forges spiritual power in the single moment they challenge the Foundation Establishment gate. So I, too, can just consume the spiritual object at the moment I challenge the… Great Spirit barrier, right? But can I succeed in one go?’
Jaekyung could not be sure about this part. It would be great if he succeeded in one go, but what if he failed?
Recalling that only a handful of human cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage even attempt to knock on the door of Foundation Establishment, and that only a handful of those break through the barrier, one could guess how difficult it is to cross a great realm.
The low probability of success was a problem, but the bigger problem was that the price of failure was catastrophic. At the very least, one's life force would be greatly damaged, requiring a long period of recovery, and it was not uncommon to lose one's life.
Therefore, those with the means would take something like Foundation Enhancement Pills before attempting the breakthrough to prepare for the possibility of failure. But of course, that was a story that had nothing to do with Jaekyung. Foundation Enhancement Pills?
Where could he get such a thing? Also, who knew if the medicinal pills of humans would even be effective for him?
‘I have to think of it as a one-time opportunity.’
So, he shouldn't consider what would happen if he failed, but rather think about how to increase the probability of success.
‘As expected, I should maximize my control over spiritual energy before the breakthrough.’
To do that, he needed to consume spiritual objects containing spiritual energy in advance to build experience. There might be other ways, but this was the only one Jaekyung could think of.
‘The problem is that to use this method, I need at least two spiritual objects.’
In truth, there were other options besides spiritual objects. After all, spiritual objects were not the only things that contained the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. For example, a human cultivator could also be a good option.
Although what they accumulated in their bodies was not pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth but spiritual energy that had undergone one round of refinement, it could still be said to be slightly modified spiritual energy. But that was a more difficult and dangerous task than obtaining spiritual objects.
Wasn't he in a situation where he had fled all the way here to avoid human cultivators? Unless there was no other way, Jaekyung did not want to get involved with humans if he could help it.
‘Spiritual objects that contain the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.’
He felt a bit helpless. Even the elixir water had made his eyes widen, but such rare spiritual objects were far more precious than the elixir water. Of course, this valuation was based on human standards, but it was a fact that such spiritual objects were rarer than most common spiritual objects.
‘Still, the situation isn't that bleak. I might be able to obtain one this time.’
This was not a vain hope, and it was the reason why Jaekyung was trying to rob the masters of the territories. It might be different elsewhere, but in this place untouched by human hands, it wouldn't be strange at all for such spiritual objects to be in the possession of the demon races.
He didn't know if this place belonged to the demon lands or what, but the environment here was completely different from the human territories that always appeared in the stories of the seniors. It was a little apologetic to the seniors of the Garden of Remembrance, but Jaekyung thought of humans as being like a swarm of locusts.
In a place they had passed through, not only spiritual objects but not even the most trivial thing would remain. But this wasn't because they were greedy. Jaekyung saw two reasons.
First.
The vast human legacy broadened their perspective. They could find meaning in trivial things that other races paid no mind to. To put it extremely, what was trash in the eyes of other races could appear as a spiritual object in the eyes of humans.
Second.
Their population was too large. A large population meant that the amount of resources each individual could enjoy on average was bound to be small. Those with full bellies might seek only delicacies, but would the hungry distinguish between mixed grains and white rice?
If necessary, they would not hesitate to peel and eat tree bark.
‘There’s a reason why the seniors lamented that the prosperity of the humans was the misfortune of the human cultivator.’
He hadn't thought deeply about it back then, but recalling those words now, there was a part that resonated deeply with him. * Cheong-o did not take Jaekyung’s warning lightly and moved with caution. He had circled the nearby territories before in search of a spiritual spring, but that was merely an attempt to take a look from a distance.
But this time, he had to approach the territories and elicit a reaction from their masters. In a way, it was half-picking a fight. Naturally, the danger was incomparably higher than during the previous patrol, so Cheong-o exercised extreme caution.
After more than a month of painstaking effort, Cheong-o finally completed his mission.
"Two demons and four spirit beasts."
The total number of targets Cheong-o had narrowed down was six. Among them, Jaekyung judged four to be worth targeting. The other two were in places that were easy to enter but difficult to exit, such as caves, so he was reluctant to make them his targets.
“Let’s start with this wolf fellow first.”
“Okay!”
The preparation period had been long enough, and Jaekyung didn't want to drag it out any longer. He let Cheong-o rest for two days and then headed straight for the wolf spirit beast's territory.
“Grrrrr!”
As soon as Jaekyung entered the territory, a wolf the size of a decent house appeared before him. From its murderous demeanor, he could feel the creature's anger and wariness.
“Calm down.
Shall we talk for a moment?" Jaekyung expressed his lack of intention to fight as gently as possible. He knew it would only sound like a snake hissing, but they say sincerity can get through, don't they?
“Krawr!”
It seemed it did not get through. Why could that be? The one thing he was sincere about was not wanting to fight.
Jaekyung looked at the wolf spirit beast, which was poised to pounce at any moment, and smacked his lips in a bind.