Yoo Jung-gyeom.
In the past, when Jaekyung received an invitation to the Garden of Remembrance, he was the guide who had welcomed him. A voice he had long forgotten now overlapped with the voice of that Golden Core cultivator.
‘Is it him? Or is it not?’
It certainly seemed similar, but he couldn't be sure. It wasn't as if he could just ask, "Are you Senior Yoo Jung-gyeom?" here.
‘And whether it's him or not, that's not what's important right now.’
Isn't this the sermon he had been waiting for so eagerly? Although he had gained nothing from the Black Capital True Lord's sermon, he had to gain something from the sermon of a Golden Core cultivator.
"It is often called the Great Dao of Core Formation. The reason it is called the Great Dao is because of how significant Core Formation is on the Immortal Path. The meaning of Core Formation lies in the creation of a Dharma Seed, which is..."
The calm voice echoed pleasantly. The sound, spoken as if in a monologue without any particular force, was transmitted clearly over dozens of kilometers. Through the sermon of the Golden Core cultivator, whom he couldn't be sure was Yoo Jung-gyeom, Jaekyung understood the basic concepts of Core Formation.
Although Jaekyung had already pioneered his own path, these concepts were important to him as well. Whether it was a Golden Core or a Demon Core, or something else entirely, a moment would eventually come when he, too, would have to challenge Core Formation.
"Well, that is all for now. I shall take my leave."
The first Golden Core cultivator who gave the sermon let out a hearty laugh and vanished in an instant. Then, another Golden Core cultivator rose high into the sky.
"From here, I shall take over."
As if they had discussed it beforehand, the Golden Core cultivators took turns continuing the sermon on the Great Dao of Core Formation. Their explanations were long but not verbose, and there were no vague parts. At least while listening, one could fully understand their words without any confusion.
A total of four Golden Core cultivators gave sermons, and the last one vanished like a mirage after finishing his. Not just Jaekyung, but none of the tens of thousands of cultivators who heard the sermon had heard the names of the four Golden Core cultivators, so they could only shout, "We thank the Seniors for their teachings."
Jaekyung and a few other cultivators found it strange. Weren't they giving sermons to accumulate good karma? Even if they didn't want to boast openly, to vanish like ghosts without even leaving their names...
"It must be because this Grand Sacred Gathering was held in the name of the Black Capital True Lord."
Woo Do-baek guessed cautiously after composing himself from his enlightenment and emotion.
"Since it was a stage prepared by the Black Capital True Lord, perhaps they did not dare to put their names forward? Besides, those Seniors must have gained quite a bit from the True Lord's sermon themselves, so they probably thought there was no need to cling to a little good karma."
Yeo Jang-gyeong and Choi Ju-tang agreed, saying that seemed to be the case. Seeing this, Jaekyung clicked his tongue inwardly. He thought that even with their high realms, perhaps because they were human, they sure considered and weighed many things.
‘A month in the blink of an eye.’
When he came to his senses, a month had already passed. They say that cultivators of high realms forget the passage of time once they enter Cultivation, and after experiencing this, he knew it was true.
‘Is it time to go back now?’
Jaekyung thought as he looked at the still faintly glowing transmission pillars. In truth, there was no real need to go back. All one did in the Garden of Remembrance was talk with people, so as long as there were people, what did it matter where one talked?
Moreover, here one existed not as a physical body but only as a spirit. But despite that, the Garden of Remembrance was excessively vast. It was even said that it was still expanding as time passed.
Why would that be? Jaekyung knew the answer.
‘It's because the Garden of Remembrance is not vast enough.’
One might wonder what he meant when there were only tens of thousands of members, but one must not forget that all of those tens of thousands were cultivators with divine sense.
Their divine sense represented the distance of their hearts, so even if they were kin or fellow Daoists, they had no choice but to keep their distance unless sufficient friendship and trust had been built.
‘When I think about it, I'm no different.’
Among the tens of thousands of cultivators gathered here, there might be someone who resides in the Western Twin Lake. But even if such a person really existed, Jaekyung had no intention of seeking them out. Because he couldn't trust them.
‘That must be why the cultivators of the Garden of Remembrance use the Prosperous Treasure Guild.’
At first, he found it a bit strange that a Nascent Soul True Lord would run a guild, but thinking about it again now, he wondered if the Prosperous Treasure Guild itself was a sort of consideration for the junior cultivators of the Garden of Remembrance.
Knowing they wouldn't be able to trust each other, perhaps it was a device set up to allow them to interact more safely through the Prosperous Treasure Guild?
‘Come to think of it, to get the Transformation Secret Art, I'll have to use the Prosperous Treasure Guild too...’
As Jaekyung was lost in thought, the light from all the transmission pillars suddenly intensified explosively, and a familiar, low voice was heard.
"For the sake of my juniors, I leave this place and these transmission pillars, so that the vastness of the Garden of Remembrance will no longer trouble you."
The light enveloping the transmission pillars died down. Where the light had been, tall pillars that looked as if they were cast from bronze appeared. The pillars, engraved with strange patterns of unknown meaning, looked even more mysterious than when they were shrouded in light.
"We thank the Black Capital True Lord for his grace!"
It didn't matter who shouted first. Because before he could even finish the sentence, everyone else shouted the same thing in unison. After returning to the place where the senior cultivators of the Twilight Gathering usually gathered, Jaekyung left the Garden of Remembrance.
"Hmm."
It was the first time he had remained motionless for so long, but his body was perfectly fine with no discomfort. It wasn't stiff, nor did it creak. He wasn't even hungry.
He already knew, but Jaekyung once again felt that his body had greatly deviated from the category of ordinary creatures.
‘Has that fellow Cheong-o gone out?’
He recalled Cheong-o calling him or pecking him with its beak while he was in the Garden of Remembrance. Yet, when Jaekyung showed no reaction, it seemed to have gotten quite grumpy. Glancing at the fellow's 'nest,' he saw a heaping pile of shiny things.
A month ago, he thought it was quite a pile, but now it was several times larger.
‘At this rate, the cave is going to get cramped.’
There was still room, but Cheong-o's obsession with collecting shiny things was getting worse, so there was no telling what would happen if it continued. Well, by the time the cave became cramped with Cheong-o's collection, he would have already moved to a new home.
‘That Mook-soo fellow is still the same.’
Perhaps because Jaekyung had been in the Garden of Remembrance for a month, it had only eaten ordinary fish caught by Cheong-o instead of spirit beasts, so there seemed to be no discernible change.
"When are you going to wake up?"
Jaekyung suspected that Mook-soo had already recovered its senses but was being lazy, having developed a taste for free meals. The image of a 'laughing pig' he had previously seen superimposed on this plump fruit was that shocking. Of course, he knew that the image itself was a hallucination born from his own suspicion, but...
‘If I at least had this fellow's fruit, I'd feel a little more at ease.’
He missed Mook-soo, but he also missed Mook-soo's fruit. Although it had some shortcomings, it was still an item that could be called a spiritual object, so if he had its fruit, he might be able to use it advantageously when trading with Woo Do-baek.
"It's fine to enjoy yourself, but I'll make sure to collect the price for the free meals later, with interest."
Flinch!
Was it his imagination? The fruit, half-buried in the ground, seemed to have trembled ever so slightly. Jaekyung, who had narrowed his eyes, soon shook his head.
‘I must have seen wrong.’
‘Like the 'laughing pig' I saw before, it must be because of my accumulated dissatisfaction with the gluttonous fruit.’
‘To be swayed by such trivial emotions. How pathetic.’
Jaekyung closed his eyes and meditated. As his mind soon calmed, he began to think about how he could obtain resources for trade.
‘The price Senior Woo will ask for will probably be cultivation resources.’
Cultivation resources.
The first thing that came to mind was spiritual objects, but were spiritual objects something one could easily obtain just by wanting them? Moreover, if Woo Do-baek wanted a spiritual object, it would surely be a spiritual object for cultivation, which would be even more difficult to obtain.
‘I don't think Senior Woo would overcharge me, but you never know.’
The reason Jaekyung wanted to trade with him was because he trusted the friendship he had built with Woo Do-baek and the character he had shown. If the price didn't seem right, he just wouldn't make the trade. There was no need to cling only to Woo Do-baek.
If the deal with Woo Do-baek fell through, there were also Yeo Jang-gyeong and Choi Ju-tang. If things went south with them as well... then he'd have to think of something else.
‘That's all for later.’
For now, the priority is to secure some capital.
‘If there are any useful resources, they would be in places untouched by humans, and such places would likely be in deep waters or inside the territory of other races.’
The latter was not an option for now. The territory of the Horned Insect Tribe was out of the question, and even in the demon lands, wandering around recklessly trusting only his Aura Concealment Art could lead to trouble, so he didn't want to go unless it was absolutely unavoidable.
So, what was worth considering was the former, exploring the deep waters. After all, he was an aquatic spirit beast, so he was somewhat free from the pressure of deep water. This was a unique advantage and strength of aquatic spirit beasts, so Jaekyung planned to use his advantage to go on a treasure hunt.
"Gasp!"
The turtle spirit beast was terrified by the huge shadow that suddenly fell upon it. It reflexively hid in its shell, but then, as if remembering something, it cautiously peeked its head out.
"D-Dragon Lord. We meet again."
"Yes. What a coincidence."
"Yes. Haha. Indeed. Such an astounding, no, a pleasant coincidence..."
The turtle thought something was strange, but it didn't dare to voice its thoughts and just laughed awkwardly, scratching its head with its webbed foot. Watching this, Jaekyung smiled inwardly with satisfaction.
‘It seems it doesn't know.’
His encounter with this turtle was, of course, no coincidence. He had deliberately sought this fellow out using the divine sense mark he had left on it before.
This divine sense mark was essentially the same as the one Sagye-wan had left on him in the past, but Jaekyung's method was far more refined and sophisticated compared to Sagye-wan's, which was merely a crude smearing of energy. Thanks to this, even after quite a long time, the trace still faintly remained.
Jaekyung had thought this clever turtle might notice his divine sense mark and try to erase it, but now it seemed it hadn't even noticed its existence. This must mean that being smart and having excellent spiritual awareness were two different things.
"It's good that I ran into you. There's something I need your help with."
"It would be a great joy if this humble one could be of any help to the Dragon Lord."
Contrary to the fluent words, there was a faint tremor in its voice, as if holding back tears. Jaekyung ignored the turtle's emotional turmoil and asked if there were any particularly deep places in this area.
"A deep place in the water?"
As if it was an unexpected question, the turtle asked back, blinking its eyes. In response, Jaekyung figured a more detailed explanation was needed and spoke of his intentions roughly and indirectly. At first, the turtle, which had been staring blankly as it didn't understand, soon had its eyes light up.
"Could it be that the Dragon Lord is trying to find ownerless treasures of the water?"
"You could say that."
Hit right on the mark, Jaekyung spoke calmly, as if to say, 'What you said is not entirely wrong.'
"Umm."
The turtle, which had asked triumphantly but flinched at the rather different reaction than it expected, cautiously continued.
"Certainly, in deep waters, the hands of those humans would not have reached, so there should be quite a few decent items. However, in such deep places, there are sometimes strong currents, and there are also some of those humans who come to salvage treasures that have drifted out."
"Humans?"
The currents didn't bother him, but humans were a different matter. When Jaekyung asked with a slightly sharp voice, the turtle half-hid its head in its shell before slowly bringing it out and answering in a timid voice.
"Ahem! Yes. However, they are not affiliated with any sect; most of them are water bandits. Sometimes you can see them fighting and killing other humans and even each other. When such fellows appear, there are also demon races who quietly follow from under the water. Because if a fight breaks out, the corpses of cultivators sometimes fall into the water."
"Oh."
At the words that they were water bandits not affiliated with any sect, Jaekyung's wariness lessened. At the same time, his interest was piqued. Previously, he had thought the turtle's explanations were too long-winded and had cut it off, but to think it had hidden such interesting stories.
"Is there such a place around here?"
"There is."
"Lead the way."
"Yessir."
Jaekyung moved slowly, following the turtle, which seemed somewhat dejected. The turtle seemed to be moving as hard as it could, but to Jaekyung's eyes, it looked frustratingly slow. Thinking that at this rate, it would take five hours to cover a one-hour distance, Jaekyung gently bit onto the turtle's shell.
"Gah?! Dragon Lord! Dragon Lord! Please spare me! I'm hard and don't even taste good...!"
The turtle, its eyes nearly rolling back, thrashed desperately and shouted.
"I'm not going to eat you. It's because you're too slow, so just point the way."
"Huh? Ah, yessir!"
At the words that it wouldn't be eaten, the instantly docile turtle carefully raised a webbed foot to point the way. The webbed foot trembled frequently as if having a spasm, causing the direction to be slightly off at times, but still, they could move much faster than when the turtle was leading.
Just as they were about to reach the destination the turtle had spoken of, a group of cultivators was detected by Jaekyung's divine sense. A group of at least twenty cultivators was on a not-so-large boat.
"Human cultivators. Are they the water bandits that turtle fellow mentioned?"
Jaekyung's eyes narrowed.