"Ugh."
Murder and Plunder Thoroughly battered by the violent currents, Jaekyung emerged from the whirlpool and let out another groan as he spread his divine sense. However, even when his divine sense reached the water's surface, he couldn't feel the presence of the human cultivators.
Wondering if he had taken a wrong turn, he spread his divine sense a little wider, but still, he could not find the human cultivators. A bewildered Jaekyung spread his divine sense once more with all his might, but the result was the same.
'What?
Did they leave?' How could they leave after so little time? Hmm, on second thought, it did seem to take a while... but still, to come out to work and return this early?
Could it be that they were already preparing to leave when he first saw them? His heart uneasy, Jaekyung spat out the turtle.
"Urgh...!"
Having once again experienced the world spinning while passing through the currents, the turtle couldn't quite regain its senses even after being let out.
"Turtle, the human bastards have disappeared."
This time, Jaekyung didn't wait for the turtle to regain its senses.
"Ugh... Yes? They've disappeared?"
"Where do you think they went?"
"I..."
The turtle slapped its own cheeks a few times with its webbed feet, then opened its mouth with much clearer eyes.
"Dragon Lord. As far as I know, there is an island nearby that the human bastards often visit."
"An island?"
"Yes. I don't know what exactly goes on there, but perhaps they headed that way?"
For now, there were no other clues. There was the method of picking a direction at random and spreading his divine sense while moving, but the probability was low, and the mental fatigue was too great.
"Where is it?"
The turtle promptly pointed in one direction. * The name of the small island, home to tens of thousands, was Three Frog Island. The name came from the fact that the three peaks of the island resembled crouching frogs.
Three Frog Island had a long history. Initially, this island was uninhabited, with only birds nesting there and amphibious beasts that moved between land and water. Then, fugitives from the human race first set foot on this island.
That was about 700 years ago. The history of Three Frog Island began when those who had fled the Great Capital at that time sought refuge and settled on the island. In the 700 years since, Three Frog Island had undergone many changes.
The human population steadily grew for the same or similar reasons as those who first set foot on the island, and as the settlers cultivated the land, the population of Three Frog Island gradually increased.
As the population grew, so did the island, and the Three Frog Island of today, while not a city, had become a human settlement with the scale of a large village. However, Three Frog Island was fundamentally a place founded by fugitives. Moreover, due to its location, it could not be formally incorporated into human territory.
Therefore, Three Frog Island had no choice but to interact with groups like water bandits instead of formal human powers. It acted as a port where they could dock their ships and stay for a while, in exchange for trading various goods. But dealing with groups like water bandits, especially without the ability to protect oneself, usually meant exploitation.
Those who could not bear the exploitation fled the island, and those who lacked the courage to do so had no choice but to remain and be exploited. The boy, Han Cheong-yu, stood on a hill by the harbor, glaring at the distant water bandits who were moving away with raucous noises.
His bloodshot eyes held a resentment and killing intent difficult for a boy his age to possess.
'Damn them.
One day, I will surely...!' The boy's father had died when his heart burst while trying to stop the water bandits who were causing trouble in the village. His mother, shocked by losing her husband overnight, sickened with grief and died before a year had passed.
The boy's resentment had already reached the heavens, and the blade of his revenge had long been sharpened to its keenest edge. 'The Black Shark Gang bastards!' It was a tragedy, but the boy's parents were actually quite fortunate.
At least they had died cleanly without suffering a worse fate. On an island like Three Frog Island, with no one to rely on and no power to protect itself, such things were common. While the Black Shark Gang was a bit more vicious, the situation was similar in other places.
The boy made a vow. One day, he would wipe out not only the Black Shark Gang but all the vampire-like bastards who oppressed the weak and sucked their lifeblood.
"Huh?"
The boy's eyes, which had been shining as sharp as a blade while watching the receding ships of the water bandits, suddenly widened. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he had seen wrong, but the sight before him did not change.
The ship carrying the water bandits was suddenly struck by something enormous that shot out of the water and was instantly shattered. The water bandits, having lost their ship, shouted in panic and threw themselves into the water, but what greeted them was a large... dragon? emerging from the depths.
'A dragon? A dragon?'
The boy's jaw dropped. * "Is this all?" The human cultivator floating in the water, his face pale with fright, hastily nodded his head.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no voice came out. It was because Jaekyung had not permitted him to speak.
"I'll know once I check."
The length of his head and neck, extended above the water's surface, was enough to look down on the floating men from a great height. His massive, long body, visible beneath the surface, was coiled in a large circle as if to surround the surviving human cultivators. The hearts of the human cultivators who saw him were filled with despair.
Resistance was futile. It had been from the start. A giant tail had suddenly shot out and split their ship in half in one blow.
Their ship was no ordinary vessel. To water bandits, a ship is a lifeline. Though their ship was not a spiritual artifact, it was more than a masterpiece.
Only those in the industry would know how many spirit stones had gone into this ordinary-looking vessel. Putting aside speed and other features, in terms of sturdiness, it had once withstood the simultaneous assault of several aquatic spirit beasts and remained intact.
Yet such a ship had been snapped in one blow, so it was only natural for the water bandits to be terrified. 'A Great Spirit Beast!'
'A dragon?
A flood dragon?!' Seeing the giant serpent head, one with horns no less, they could no longer maintain their composure. Though they were cultivators, they had never harbored nor even thought of a heart seeking the Dao.
They had simply learned cultivation techniques as they came and accumulated power. They were used to instilling fear, but not to feeling it. These water bandits were such men.
There was even a fellow who had cultivated to the late Qi Refining Stage, but upon seeing the flood dragon-like head, he immediately lost his senses.
"Hand over your storage pouches."
Jaekyung got straight to the point. Originally, he had planned to deal with the two late-stage Qi Refining water bandits first before talking, but seeing their state, it seemed unnecessary.
"I-It spoke?"
"Storage pouch? It wants our storage pouches?"
Jaekyung didn't give the water bandits a moment to be bewildered. He brought his head close to one of the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators.
"Ugh...!"
The water bandit, whose eyes had widened at the fact that Jaekyung had just spoken, turned deathly pale from the aura of the Great Spirit Beast emanating right before his nose.
"Last chance. Storage pouch."
"Ah, ah..."
The water bandit, trembling, raised one arm. Jaekyung's eyes gleamed as he saw the jade bracelet wrapped around the man's small, thin wrist.
"Good. All of you, take them out."
Even amidst their confusion, the water bandits faithfully followed their instinct to live. There was one fellow who, perhaps out of greed, tried to feign ignorance, but the turtle, who had been watching the situation from the water, quietly approached him and shouted.
"Dragon Lord! This one is trying to deceive the Dragon Lord!"
Jaekyung, who had been carefully collecting the various storage pouches with his tongue, turned his head at those words. The hairy water bandit, filled with fear, hastily took out a pouch that had been wrapped around his thigh, but Jaekyung's eyes were already on him.
"Keep them safe."
"Yes!"
After entrusting the collected items to the turtle, Jaekyung approached the water bandit who was belatedly holding up a shabby pouch with both hands, sweating like rain.
"I, I wasn't trying to hide it..."
Crunch!
Before the water bandit could finish his excuse, Jaekyung swallowed him in one bite. There was no scream, and no blood splattered. The storage pouch and the cultivator, both vanished without a trace into his mouth.
The terrified water bandits shut their mouths, while in contrast, the turtle opened its mouth. It was obvious what it wanted as it smacked its lips, its mouth filling with saliva, but Jaekyung feigned ignorance. He then observed the changes brought about by the spirit and flesh that had entered his stomach.
'Just as I suspected.' His spiritual nature, which had become stronger and purer upon reaching the Great Spirit stage, seemed to feel no stimulation from a mere mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. He had expected this to be a high possibility, so he wasn't particularly disappointed.
"Collect them all."
"Yes!"
The turtle slid the storage bracelets onto a storage pouch's strap and wrapped the strap around its neck like a scarf. It was a ridiculous sight, but the water bandits felt nothing funny about it. The gaze of the Great Spirit Beast looking down on them had snatched away all emotions except fear.
"Take everything out without hiding anything! Anyone who dares to deceive the Dragon Lord will not be safe!"
The turtle moved among the water bandits, deftly collecting their belongings. Aside from muttering words they couldn't even understand, the turtle's work was quite satisfactory.
"Dragon Lord. Here they are."
The turtle came and showed him the collected items. Jaekyung glanced and saw there were six in total.
"Take them and step back."
"Yes."
As the turtle moved a good distance away, Jaekyung moved his loosely coiled body. Just by tensing his body slightly and moving, he created waves. The water bandits, swept up by the waves, cried out as they sensed their fate, but Jaekyung didn't bat an eye.
It was only a matter of sequence; this result had been predetermined from the beginning. What would happen if he let these guys live? Would they think they should never come back here because a Great Spirit Beast lives in the area?
Or would they gather the masters of their group to hunt the Great Spirit Beast and search the vicinity? Whatever the case, Jaekyung didn't want to leave even a speck of future trouble. If he had decided to hunt, he had to do it cleanly.
What kind of foolishness was it to half-heartedly wound the prey and let it escape? Jaekyung dispatched the water bandits in an instant. He dealt with the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators himself; for the rest, creating a current to sweep them away was sufficient.
"This is your reward."
He swallowed the two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators and left the five mid-stage ones as food for Mook-soo. The rest were all given to the turtle.
"D-Dragon Lord! This grace..."
The turtle's mouth fell open, and tears even welled up in its eyes. Regardless of what it did, Jaekyung recalled the instructions he had heard before on how to use a storage pouch and tested whether he could put the five corpses he had collected into one.
'It works.'
As they were just storage pouches from Qi Refining cultivators, they naturally had no seals on them. The problem was the capacity, but fortunately or unfortunately, more than half of these fellows' storage pouches were practically empty, so putting in about five human corpses posed no problem at all. 'An unexpected harvest.'
Not only the storage pouches themselves, but some of the items inside also seemed decent. Especially among the belongings of the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators who seemed to be the leaders, there were quite a few of those spirit stones he had only heard about, and even jade slips.
Jaekyung knew from what he had heard that jade slips were the most representative means of recording in the human cultivation world. He didn't know what was recorded on the jade slips, but if they were stored separately like this, they must surely contain useful information. 'To think the harvest is so bountiful just from robbing a few water bandits.'
He wanted to quickly return to the nest to check his haul.
"You've worked hard."
"Worked hard? If I could be of even a little help to the Dragon Lord, that alone is..."
Jaekyung promptly cut off the turtle's rambling words.
"Let's see each other again when the opportunity arises."
After bidding farewell, Jaekyung immediately entered the water. Passing through the whirlpool once more, he reached the bottom of the lake and gathered all the spiritual soil into a storage pouch. After a final check that everything was fine, he carefully and slowly returned to his nest, making sure not to damage the items he held in his mouth.