As the Upper Demon Forest led the demon race army, they had swept away anything that might be even a slight hindrance, making the path for Jaekyung and his companion back to the spiritual spring, Gold River Plains, exceptionally smooth.
But though the path was smooth, Jaekyung’s heart on the way back was as uncomfortable as if he were sitting on a cushion of thorns. With the sole thought of returning as quickly as possible, he dragged his creaking body along.
“Jaekyung. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Cheong-o, who was scouting the path ahead, asked with concern. Even to his eyes, Jaekyung's condition looked serious. Cheong-o was a companion who had shared all sorts of joys and sorrows with Jaekyung since he was an ordinary snake.
He had seen Jaekyung injured and exhausted more than once or twice. Yet, for even Cheong-o to be this worried, one could guess just how grave Jaekyung’s condition was. In truth, Jaekyung was at his limit.
His body, which had steadily grown and strengthened since becoming a spirit beast, could no longer endure. He was somehow moving on willpower alone. On top of his physical state, the fear that Sagye-wan might catch up at any moment gnawed at his mind with every passing second.
But thankfully, Sagye-wan did not appear, not even when the familiar sight of the river came into view in the distance.
‘Is he dead?’
He hoped so, but the possibility was slim. Jaekyung had not seen the Old Mountain-Picking Demon die, nor did he know for a fact that he was dead, but he did know that Sagye-wan had been alive up until the tide of battle had sharply turned in the humans’ favor.
‘I managed to escape, so there’s no way that thing couldn't have.’
In truth, everything was uncertain. With Sagye-wan’s abilities, slipping away from the battlefield would have been a simple matter, but conversely, as a high-ranking combatant of the Upper Demon Forest, it was highly likely that the human side had pursued him intensively. If so, was Sagye-wan dead?
If not, would he come after him instead of returning to the Upper Demon Forest? He couldn't be sure of anything. However, Jaekyung assumed the worst-case scenario.
This was Jaekyung's habit for survival. Sometimes his fear and preparation were excessive, leading to regret later, but Jaekyung thought that was fine too. After all, regret was something one could only feel if they were alive.
“Jaekyung! We’re here!”
“Right.”
As the spiritual spring came into view, it felt as though a little strength returned to his body. Jaekyung dragged his body, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, to the water’s edge and looked back at Cheong-o. “Cheong-o. The fruit.”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
As he carefully received the fruit of Mook-soo from Cheong-o with his tongue and held it in his mouth, he felt a familiar energy along with a faint pulsation of life.
“It won’t take long. Just wait a little.”
“Okay.”
Entering the water, his body felt much lighter and more comfortable. With his energy fully inflated, he headed for the riverbed where the elixir water was. Along the way, he could feel aquatic spirit beasts sensing his energy and fleeing.
Jaekyung felt relieved at this sight. He knew well that these were the kind of creatures that could change their attitude at any moment.
If he had not established his position before, and if he had shown weakness instead of bluffing by forcibly inflating his energy like this, those creatures would have swarmed him like piranhas that smelled blood, coveting his flesh.
‘Huu.’
Whether it was because his mental strength had reached its limit, or because his tension had eased upon returning to a familiar environment, warning lights went off in various parts of his body. To be precise, the light of the warning signals that had been on for a long time was only now beginning to catch his eye.
‘Not much farther. Just a little more.’
He focused more on maintaining his inflated energy than on swimming. He could feel the aquatic spirit beasts, which had retreated after sensing his exaggerated energy, now loitering at a moderate distance, drawn by the smell of his blood. The moment this bluff was revealed to be just that, those things would rush in as if they had been waiting.
‘Alright. I’m here.’
Taking nearly twice as long as usual to reach the riverbed, Jaekyung strenuously pushed away the rock he had placed to cover the entrance. He worried that some of them might lose their patience and attack, but fortunately, that did not happen.
‘It’s there.’
He had naturally expected it to be, but upon confirming that the elixir water was still there, a sense of relief that he had survived washed over him. At the same time, the thread of tension that he had been holding onto so precariously snapped. Jaekyung carefully set down the fruit of Mook-soo and approached the elixir water.
Then, just as he had done once before, he cautiously extended his tongue. The moment the tip of his tongue touched the elixir water, a refreshing coolness drenched his entire body. The pain and fatigue that had tormented him for the past few days vanished as if washed away, replaced by a sense of comfort.
He even felt as if he had been reborn. Although he had experienced it once before, Jaekyung was reminded anew of what a magnificent treasure this elixir water was.
“Hoo.”
Jaekyung confirmed that his body was fully recovered and opened his eyes. He saw the nearly depleted elixir water. The consumption was much greater than when he had used it before.
It was likely because his body’s condition had been far worse than the last time. He wasn’t too disappointed. In fact, he even thought it was for the better.
‘I don’t know if it will be effective, though.’
Jaekyung picked up the fruit of Mook-soo he had carefully placed to the side and brought it to the elixir water. The fruit, touched by the faint blue light of the elixir water, twitched minutely, and at the same time, the little remaining elixir water began to diminish. A moment later, the elixir water had completely disappeared.
The fruit that absorbed the elixir water glistened more than before and twitched intermittently. To say the fruit twitched sounded strange, but there was no other way to describe it. Jaekyung felt the familiar energy from the fruit grow stronger and let out a sigh of relief.
A storm of blood, no, a tempest of blood, raged in the once-calm river.
“Kuaaak!”
Jaekyung slammed the aquatic spirit beast he had bitten with all his might onto the ground and followed up with a tail strike. His opponent barely reacted, its eyes rolling back as it was sent flying. Finishing a single hunt didn't even take ten breaths.
Compared to before, it was an astonishing speed. Was it because the opponent was a relatively small and weak aquatic spirit beast? That was part of the reason, but it was mostly thanks to his dazzling progress over the past few days.
His mind and spiritual nature, which had been tattered from exposure to the energy of Foundation Establishment cultivators and Great Spirit Beasts, had completely recovered thanks to the elixir water. Not only that, but as if his life-and-death struggle over the past few days had paid off, Jaekyung realized that all his senses had become even sharper than before.
But these things were trivial compared to the changes brought by the spiritual seed. The spiritual seed, having freely consumed the spiritual energy of a human cultivator, had melted deeper into his spiritual nature than ever before, enriching and developing his entire spiritual nature. The development of spiritual nature did not simply mean an improvement in spiritual senses and abilities.
Cultivators walking the Immortal Path were beings who had already shed their mortal existence and were in the process of being reborn as transcendent beings. As one's realm grew higher, one moved further from the mundane and closer to transcendence.
Although Jaekyung had not yet become a Great Spirit Beast, standing at its threshold, he could be considered a somewhat transcendent being. Therefore, for Jaekyung, his spiritual nature signified his station, and the development of his spiritual nature meant an improvement in his station. Of course, Jaekyung did not know what the station of a being was.
He simply felt that as his spiritual nature developed, all parts of him had greatly improved.
Kwang!
The unremarkable aquatic spirit beasts were now no different from ordinary beasts to him. Jaekyung finished off the first aquatic spirit beast he had hunted and tore its body apart. Then he pushed the fruit of Mook-soo into the corpse with its flesh exposed.
Just as he had expected and hoped, the fruit, upon contacting the blood and flesh of the aquatic spirit beast, showed vigorous movement, just as it had when absorbing the elixir water.
Soon, after confirming that the aquatic spirit beast’s blood had dried and its flesh had shriveled, Jaekyung waited for the fruit’s movements to subside before taking it back into his mouth and rising to the surface.
“Cheong-o.” As Jaekyung poked his head out of the water, Cheong-o flew over as if he had been waiting.
“Take this.”
Jaekyung passed the fruit he was holding in his mouth to Cheong-o. “Sagye-wan might come. So it would be better for you to hide for a few days, no, at least ten days.”
“Sagye-wan? That thing is coming? Why?”
“I don’t know either. But… he’ll probably come. So hide.”
“Just me? What about you?”
Jaekyung recalled Sagye-wan’s glistening eyes. If it had just been his gaze, he could have dismissed him as a creepy fellow and moved on, but Sagye-wan had left a new mark on his spiritual nature. Without a doubt, it was a clear declaration of intent.
“I can’t run.”
So, he could not run. But Cheong-o was different. Sagye-wan’s target was him, so if he remained here, there was a high probability that Cheong-o would be fine even if he fled.
Cheong-o wasn't foolish, so he should be able to figure that much out.
“I don’t want to. I’m not leaving. Besides, that thing left a mark on me too. Running away will be useless.”
It was a foolish stubbornness that even Cheong-o himself could feel. Jaekyung looked at the creature with its eyes full of resolve and swallowed the words he was about to say.
“Do as you please. Just watch Mook-soo carefully.”
“Mook-soo? Right. This is Mook-soo, isn’t it? Right? I knew it!”
Cheong-o carefully gripped the fruit with both feet. His stubbornly hardened eyes had already softened.
“Whether you hide or not, do as you wish.”
“And you?”
“I have things to do.”
Jaekyung replied curtly and submerged back into the water. When the Upper Demon Forest was scraping together all sorts of demon races, only the aquatic spirit beasts were not mobilized. Since most aquatic spirit beasts couldn't operate outside of water, they hadn’t even considered gathering them in the first place.
Thanks to this, the number of aquatic spirit beasts in the spiritual spring had not decreased at all. In fact, perhaps because Jaekyung had been away for a few days, their numbers seemed to have slightly increased.
Crunch.
Jaekyung chewed and swallowed the aquatic spirit beast he had just hunted and scanned for his next target. Perhaps because this was already the third, no, the fourth one, all the nearby aquatic spirit beasts had fled far away. But for Jaekyung, who had mastered the Aura Concealment Art, it was just a minor inconvenience, not a big problem.
The simple aquatic spirit beasts couldn’t sense his approach until he revealed himself right in front of them, and by the time they did, it was already too late.
‘Good. But it’s still not nearly enough.’
Whatever he ate was digested, and his vital energy increased. Digestion aside, the increase in vital energy was another matter. Until a few days ago, he had barely felt his vital energy increase no matter how much he ate, but now he could clearly feel it, almost as much as when his vital energy was at its peak growth.
Was it because he had just overcome a brush with death? Or was it due to his developed spiritual nature? Jaekyung guessed it was the latter.
‘If the spiritual seed plays a role similar to a bloodline, then the expansion of my spiritual nature can be seen as an increase in the scale of my talent.’
Talent.
At any other time, he would have danced a snake dance for joy, but right now, he was in no mood, nor did he have the luxury.
Crunch!
Jaekyung swallowed the remaining aquatic spirit beast meat in one gulp and moved to find his next prey. Despite having just devoured a sizable aquatic spirit beast whole, his body didn't feel heavy at all. Such a monstrous digestive power was clearly not normal, but he didn't feel it was strange in the slightest.
‘My body is hot.’
It felt as if a great furnace was situated inside his body. His spirit and flesh commanded him to continuously throw meat into that furnace. That command felt as natural as a rumbling stomach crying out to be fed.
“Kyaaak!”
How many aquatic spirit beasts had he hunted like this? He stopped the meaningless count after it exceeded ten. No matter how much he ate, it felt insufficient, and the heat in his body did not cool.
Thump!
At some point, his heart pounded. His body grew hot, and the surrounding water was affected and began to boil. It wasn't like before, when the spiritual seed had escaped his control.
The spiritual seed was nestled peacefully within his spiritual nature as if it had become one with it. Jaekyung did not panic. There was no reason to panic.
Because this was the moment he had intended and waited for.
‘I’m counting on you.’
Jaekyung led his steaming body and coiled up in a suitable place. He wasn’t worried about anyone approaching. In this vicinity, it was already hard to see not just aquatic spirit beasts, but even ordinary fish.
Crack!
A sound like bones dislocating was heard. There was no pain at all, only a feeling like receiving a refreshing massage. It was decidedly different from his previous moltings, which had been accompanied by searing pain.
Crack!
With another sound of twisting bones as a signal, the molting began in earnest. Cheong-o buried the fruit of Mook-soo in the ground and threw animal carcasses around it. Although the tree had become a fruit, its habits seemed to remain, as the carcasses placed near the fruit were quickly drained of their nutrients and shriveled up.
Just as he had done for Jaekyung in the past, Cheong-o consistently brought food to the new Mook-soo. In truth, there was nothing else for him to do. Several days had passed since Jaekyung went into the water.
Cheong-o’s routine was to fill his belly, bring food to Mook-soo, and blankly wait for Jaekyung to emerge.
‘Will he come out today?’
Cheong-o stared blankly at the river, with its intermittent ripples. When he got tired of staying still, he would lift his wings to preen his feathers or sharpen his claws on trees and stones. After doing this for a while, Cheong-o suddenly looked up with a start and flew high into the air.
‘He’s coming. He’s really coming!’
Cheong-o, with his hawk-like eyes, recognized the dark shape approaching from afar in an instant.
Sagye-wan!
It was Sagye-wan. Just as Jaekyung had said, that two-headed monster had really come after them!
‘What do I do? What do I do?’
He had said he wouldn't leave because he didn't want to be separated from Jaekyung, but now that he was faced with a confrontation with Sagye-wan, Cheong-o was seized by anxiety.
“Ugh!”
Should he run away now? But that lion could fly faster than him even without wings, so if he ran, he’d be caught in no time. While Cheong-o hesitated, unable to do anything, Sagye-wan arrived.
Thud!
When Sagye-wan landed, the ground cracked and trees swayed from the heavy impact. Only then could Cheong-o see Sagye-wan’s full form. His appearance was quite different from Cheong-o’s memory.
Only one head had both eyes fully open, and his entire body was covered in wounds. Dark blood flowed from some wounds, and a blackish smoke-like substance seeped out thinly from others. He looked anything but normal, which made him seem all the more ominous.
“You. The crow that was with the snake.”
“A crow? Yes. A crow indeed. I smell it.”
The head with the wounded eye sniffed and moved its head. Drool mixed with blood dripped from its mouth.
“Where is the snake? I can smell him. He’s close.”
“Is he in the water?”
Terrified, Cheong-o couldn't utter a single reply and just shivered. Then, the head with the wounded eye scowled and said.
“Forget it. We know he’s nearby anyway. I’m hungry, let’s just eat it.”
As soon as Cheong-o heard those words, he shouted.
“H-he went hunting! O-over there… to that rocky mountain!”
His voice trembled, and his body shook. But this was the moment Cheong-o had summoned the greatest courage in his life. It was a miracle that he could even say a single word like this in front of the ominous Great Spirit Beast.
“Rocky mountain?”
The head with the good eye glanced in the direction Cheong-o had pointed and let out a low laugh.
“A lie.”
“I thought you were smart, but you were just a foolish crow.”
Sagye-wan took a step forward. Cheong-o was completely terrified, unable to even think of running away, his beak just clattering.
“Why did you lie? Did you try to send me that way and run?”
“What does it matter? I’m hungry. Let’s eat quickly.”
Sagye-wan growled and charged.
“Uwaaak!”
Cheong-o anticipated his impending, painful end and squeezed his eyes shut. But even after he had finished screaming, he didn't feel the expected pain. Could it be that he had died without even a moment to feel the pain?
A moment later. Cheong-o, who was trembling violently, sensed something strange and cautiously opened one eye. But what he saw with that opened eye was not Sagye-wan’s vicious face, but a hazy fog, no, steam.
‘Huh?’
Even when he opened both eyes wide, all that was in front of Cheong-o was steam. He could still feel Sagye-wan’s intimidating energy, but he couldn't see his form. Was he hidden by this thick steam?
“What kind of trick is this?”
“Come out! You snake!”
Sagye-wan’s shout, dripping with killing intent, was heard. And a moment later.
“Kuaaaaaa!”
As if in response to the call just now, a ferocious roar echoed from the depths of the river.