The wolf spirit beast, which had once had a major scuffle with Jaekyung, was now suffering from a tremendous internal conflict. Instinct told it to tuck its tail and roll over, showing its belly at once.
But the memory of reigning as the master of this forest for so long, and the pride born from it, told it to maintain its current stance. To bare its fangs, to growl, and to protect its pride.
“You may not understand my words, but you should grasp their meaning. I won’t waste my breath. Follow me.”
It was just a single, calm statement, but the wolf spirit beast’s eyes became bloodshot upon hearing it, and its pitifully bent four legs trembled. The sight of the proud master of a territory trembling in fear like a mutt before its natural enemy was more pitiable than comical.
If the masters of other territories, who had once fought and shed blood with this wolf spirit beast, saw this, would they have laughed? No. They would have been the same. They too, like this wolf spirit beast, would have been terrified, not knowing what to do, their eyes darting about nervously.
Perhaps they wouldn't have stopped there; they might have even wet themselves. This was an unavoidable, natural reaction. The suppression based on the hierarchy of Cultivation was indiscriminate of race, but among them, the demon races, especially spirit beasts, felt it more intensely.
Even if a superior being held no animosity or did not intentionally suppress them, they would become mentally exhausted and wither away, just like the wolf spirit beast now. In the short span of a few seconds, the wolf spirit beast staggered over and over again. And then, it finally lowered its head powerlessly.
* Thud!
There was no time to properly consider whether to run, hide, or do something else. In the brief moment Jaekyung hesitated, a mountain-like presence had already cast a shadow over his head, and the moment Jaekyung’s eyes widened, the ground shook with a deafening roar. Jaekyung saw a large figure that had fallen before him like a meteorite.
“It’s big.”
These words were not spoken by him, but by the Great Spirit Beast that had landed before him.
That's right.
The being that had appeared before him now was a Great Spirit Beast. There was no need to inspect it closely; he could naturally tell at a single glance. Overall, it resembled a lion, but instead of a mane, something hard to distinguish between leather and carapace sat thickly, and it had two heads.
Both heads were looking up at Jaekyung, and the expressions on the two faces were different from each other.
“Looks like a snake, is it a snake?”
“An ordinary snake isn’t this big.”
“You fool. Does this look like an ordinary snake to you? It’s a spirit beast.”
“You’re the fool. You think I don’t know that? Remember, what you know, I also know, and what you can see, I can see just the same.”
The two heads of the lion began to bicker amongst themselves. The sight of them shouting at each other, eventually baring their teeth as if ready to bite, was like a comedy, but Jaekyung could not relax in the slightest.
“That crow. It’s the one that was running away just now.”
“That’s a tree demon. Interesting. Have three different demon races set up a home together?”
Cheong-o, who had been holding his breath while perched on Mook-soo’s branch, trembled as one of the two heads looked at him. Mook-soo, too, was visibly tense, unlike its usual self. Its branches and roots, which normally moved slightly according to its mood, were now frozen stiff like a real tree.
“Something’s different.”
“Yes. He’s different from the others. His eyes are cunning. It means he can definitely understand our words. That crow, too, and this snake as well.”
“Right. And this snake. He doesn’t seem very intimidated.”
“Oh, indeed. A truly unusual fellow.”
Jaekyung sighed inwardly and lowered his body. The two-headed lion was certainly enormous, but compared to him, who was over forty meters long, it was definitely smaller. If Jaekyung didn't lower himself, he would constantly be looking down on it.
At a glance, this Great Spirit Beast didn't seem to care much about such things, but Jaekyung couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
“My name is Jaekyung.”
Jaekyung’s words sounded like nothing more than a snake’s hiss. So far, the only one who had properly understood his words was Cheong-o. However, as Jaekyung had guessed, this two-headed Great Spirit Beast understood his words immediately.
“Jaekyung?”
“Must be a name.”
“A spirit beast has a name?”
“He probably gave it to himself. Or someone else might have.”
“Anyway, he’s a strange one.”
“Indeed.”
Two heads, two pairs of glaring eyes, turned towards Jaekyung.
“We are Sagye-wan.”
“Elder Sagye-wan.”
Jaekyung bowed his head in greeting. He didn't know if such etiquette existed among the demon races, but his attitude would have been conveyed.
“Elder? That’s a bit much.”
“Right. Just call us Lord Sagye-wan.”
The aura of the lion Great Spirit Beast, who had identified himself, or themselves, as Sagye-wan, was still overwhelming, but its attitude had clearly softened. It seemed that the love of being praised knew no racial boundaries.
“Lord Sagye-wan.”
“Yes, yes. That sounds much better.”
“Snake fellow. You’re quite friendly, unlike your appearance.”
Seeing that Sagye-wan didn't seem to have any intention of harming him, Jaekyung relaxed a little, but he did not let down his guard.
“Lord Sagye-wan. May I be so bold as to ask?”
“Are you asking why we came to find you?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“To gather useful ones.”
“What does that…?”
“We came from the Upper Demon Forest. Have you ever heard of the Upper Demon Forest?”
“My knowledge is shallow, so I have not.”
Upper Demon Forest. Just from the name, he could roughly guess that it was a gathering or a group of demon races or spirit beasts.
‘Don't tell me they've come to recruit members, just like how human sects recruit disciples?’
If that was the case, it might not be as bad as he had imagined. Whether it was recruitment or conscription, it meant he wouldn't die right away. However, just because it wasn't the worst-case scenario didn't mean it was a good thing.
Jaekyung was already living in an ideal environment, and he naturally wanted to avoid having his freedom restricted by serving under someone else. As Jaekyung's mind grew complicated, the head that had closed its eyes after the first few words spoke, its eyes still shut.
“I have a rough idea of what you’re thinking. But meeting us and getting the chance to follow the Upper Demon Forest is for your own good. Even if we hadn’t come, the humans would have invaded soon, and then you would have either died or been captured and become a pet for the humans.”
“Humans?”
“Yes. Have you heard of the Flame Lotus Sect? Since you haven't heard of the Upper Demon Forest, you probably don't know about them either, right? It’s a group made by humans. They call it a sect. Those bastards will be arriving here soon. They'll kill or capture any demon race they see. Our Upper Demon Forest has moved first to prevent such a tragedy.”
Jaekyung felt like he was finally starting to understand what was going on. It seemed that the human sect called the Flame Lotus Sect and the demon race faction called the Upper Demon Forest were about to clash. Perhaps they already had.
‘A shrimp's back gets broken in a whale's fight.’
Was this what they called a bolt from the blue? It was absurd, but having heard various stories from the senior cultivators of the Garden of Remembrance, Jaekyung knew that such things were surprisingly common in the cultivation world. But until now, he had thought of those common occurrences as other people's problems.
Looking at it now, that was a very naive thought. Whether in human territories or demon lands, the cultivation world was the cultivation world.
“You don’t want to die, and you don’t want to become a slave, right? So follow us.”
“I will follow.”
There was no other choice from the beginning. Jaekyung knew that although Sagye-wan was acting without much malice now, the moment he refused to join the Upper Demon Forest, it would change in an instant.
“Good. The two behind you will do the same, right?”
How could Cheong-o and Mook-soo not know what Jaekyung had realized? Unless they wanted to die, they had no choice. * Sagye-wan assigned Jaekyung, Cheong-o, and Mook-soo the mission of bringing the demon races of the Gold River Plains into the Upper Demon Forest.
‘The Gold River Plains.’
Jaekyung now knew that the name of this area was the Gold River Plains. Putting together the bits of information Sagye-wan had dropped, this Gold River Plains area seemed to be a kind of border region between the Flame Lotus Sect and the Upper Demon Forest.
It felt like a place intentionally left empty out of fear that a conflict would arise if their forces were in direct contact.
‘Should I call this lucky or unlucky?’
It was lucky in the sense that, thanks to this, he became a shrimp caught in a whale's fight. It was unlucky in that, because it was a land with no clear master, he was able to grow without much danger or difficulty.
“I will personally deal with the ones occupying territories. You gather the lesser demons. Kill any who do not follow.”
Sagye-wan gave them these instructions and then departed abruptly. It went to persuade the masters of other territories. Left behind, Jaekyung, Cheong-o, and Mook-soo remained silent for a while.
Then, a short while later, Cheong-o, who had kept his mouth shut the entire time, spoke cautiously.
“…Jaekyung. Should we run?”
As if thinking that Sagye-wan might be hiding somewhere and listening, the cautiously spoken words were so faint that one would have to strain to hear them.
“No.” Jaekyung answered firmly.
He, too, wanted to run away immediately if he could, but his spiritual awareness, trained through countless sessions of contemplation, informed him that something foreign had attached itself to his spiritual nature.
It had appeared when he made eye contact with Sagye-wan just before it left, and Jaekyung was sure that this unknown thing had also appeared on Cheong-o and Mook-soo.
“We can't escape.”
Jaekyung briefly explained what he had noticed. Cheong-o was immediately disheartened, and Mook-soo also looked gloomy. They couldn't feel the unknown thing Jaekyung spoke of, but they didn't doubt his words in the slightest.
“Let's go.”
They couldn't run, and they couldn't fight back, so for now, they had no choice but to do as they were told. However, following was one thing, but there were parts they needed to be careful about.
“Cheong-o. Hide the fact that you can speak. No, just pretend to be a dumb bird. Mook-soo, don’t bear any spiritual fruits. Pluck off all the ones that aren’t ripe yet.”
Although Sagye-wan had already noticed Cheong-o's intelligence, they still had to be as careful as possible.
‘That thing called Sagye-wan. It's much smarter and more cunning than it looks.’
At first glance, it seemed to act recklessly without much thought, but that was because it had something to fall back on. Sagye-wan’s purpose was clear, and its methods, though rough, were certainly efficient.
‘It doesn't care about other spirit beasts at all.’
Jaekyung felt a blatant curiosity in Sagye-wan’s gaze as it looked at him. That curiosity was no different from what a human feels when looking at a talking dog. Sagye-wan clearly did not regard him as an equal, not even as one of its own kind.
If Jaekyung had refused Sagye-wan's command just now, Sagye-wan would have immediately killed him as if swatting a fly.
‘This must be normal.’
Having only associated with the kind-hearted seniors in the Garden of Remembrance, perhaps his sense of reality had dulled a bit. Even when the senior cultivators told him how harsh the state of the cultivation world was, had he not listened properly, thinking he knew enough?
A person looks down on a dog, and a dog looks down on an ant. In the cultivation world, a cultivator’s skill and Cultivation is their station. Jaekyung was now once again desperately realizing that self-evident truth that all cultivators knew.
* With Jaekyung having gained enough power to be a master of a territory, joined by Cheong-o and Mook-soo, the demon races that couldn't even claim a single territory were no match for them. First, he crushed them with force, and then bared his fangs dripping with saliva. Seven out of ten would obediently listen.
In other words, three out of ten did not listen, and Jaekyung showed no mercy to such stubborn ones.
Crunch!
Another spirit beast’s entire upper body was torn off and disappeared. The disappeared upper body went straight into Jaekyung’s stomach.
“Jaekyung. Is it really okay to do this?”
“Of course. Sagye-wan told us to gather the demon races, but it didn't say how many.”
In Jaekyung's view, seven out of ten was already an excellent ratio. If he tried his best to coax and appease the remaining three, he might be able to bring in one or two more, but he felt no need to do so. Sagye-wan had told them to gather the lesser demons.
By its standards and from its perspective, these creatures were disposable soldiers, nice to have but not essential. These guys would probably be used as arrow fodder in the fight against the humans. Rather than being used so meaninglessly, it was better to use them as food.
‘Still not enough.’
After molting and breaking through the wall, his vital energy, which had been almost at a standstill, began to increase again. Just because he binged didn't mean it all turned into vital energy, but if he could increase his vital energy even a little, Jaekyung was determined to eat as much as he could.
Fortunately, his stomach was strong, so he could handle such a taxing diet.
“You two should also eat as much as you can when you can. We don't know what will happen later.”
Cheong-o and Mook-soo were still somewhat out of sorts. They were moving along due to Sagye-wan’s terrifying presence and Jaekyung’s lead, but they hadn't yet fully grasped the situation.
“Listen carefully. We’ve been caught up in the fight between that human… Flame Lotus Sect, and the Upper Demon Forest.”
Jaekyung threw the half-eaten carcass of the spirit beast to Cheong-o and Mook-soo, and continued to speak slowly while they ate.
“I know. You must be bewildered. This… is like a sudden downpour. Unfortunately, we can’t avoid it or run away. So, rather than dwelling on what we can’t do, it’s best to cling to what we can do as much as possible.”
When Sagye-wan first appeared, it was truly like a bolt from the blue, so sudden that his mind had frozen. Even then, he had tried to rack his frozen brain somehow, but now, calmly reviewing it, various thoughts came to mind.
‘There's no need to only think of it negatively.’
Of course, this was not what he wanted at all, and objectively speaking, it was a situation that made him want to curse. But still, if he tried to find a good side to it, it wasn't impossible.
‘This is a war between cultivation factions. And during a war, opportunities arise.’
Putting other things aside, if he could luckily eat just a few late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, it would be a great help to the growth of his spiritual seed. And maybe, just maybe, he could even consider joining the Upper Demon Forest for good through this opportunity.
Of course, he didn't have the slightest intention of doing so yet, and it was a real ‘what if’ scenario.
‘All of this is under the premise that I survive.’
If the Upper Demon Forest drove him and the other demon races of the Gold River Plains to their deaths, or even if not, if he died in the fight against the Flame Lotus Sect, it would all be for naught.
“If you’re done eating, let's move again.”
Jaekyung carried out his mission diligently. As a result, in less than five days, he was able to gather over fifty demon races. It was a result achieved solely through his power and ferocity.
“You there?”
“You’ve gathered quite a few.”
Sagye-wan, who had dropped from the sky just like before, looked at the disheveled group of demon races behind Jaekyung, its eyes shining.
“You’re a smart one.”
“Quite useful.”
The two heads spoke in turn, and Jaekyung, not knowing which one to respond to, simply kept his head bowed.
“Good. With the others, this should be enough.”
“We’re going to the gathering place. Follow my aura.”
As if not allowing any questions, Sagye-wan immediately leaped into the air after finishing its words. The sight of that huge body floating in the air without wings was a mystery in itself, but soon, Sagye-wan, which had risen high, could be seen gently descending.
‘So it wasn't flying, but jumping.’
It had jumped so high that it looked like it was flying. It was a bit surprising that a Great Spirit Beast didn't have the ability to fly, but its monstrous leaping power alone was astonishing enough.
‘The gathering place.’
Jaekyung tried his best to calm his complicated mind and led the demon races, who were dazed by the Great Spirit Beast’s overwhelming presence, following Sagye-wan’s aura.