When he arrived at the cave on the island, Cheong-o, who had been out, had also returned and was sitting in his sparkling nest.
Hmm.
It seemed more fitting to call it a small hill rather than a nest now.
‘He’s collected quite a lot.’
Looking at Cheong-o, whose nest was almost level with his own eyes, Jaekyung clicked his tongue inwardly. Just where in the world did he pick up and gather all these things...
“Jaekyung. Where have you been?”
Jaekyung didn’t answer and went to the puddle he usually used as a bed. Then, he carefully set down the things he was holding in his mouth.
“What’s all that?”
Cheong-o approached, showing interest. His gaze was fixed on the jade bracelet lying under a long pouch.
“A strange item.”
“Strange? What’s strange about it?”
Cheong-o tilted his head. His eyes were still fixed on the jade bracelet. But when Jaekyung began to take out the items from the storage pouch one by one, not just his head, but his entire body turned that way.
“How did you do that? Is that the strange item?”
“Yes.”
Jaekyung tossed the five corpses toward Mook-soo. Before, he had to take care to let it absorb the blood and flesh directly, but now, it would absorb them on its own as long as he tossed them somewhere nearby.
“Hm?”
Jaekyung, who was about to take out the remaining items, brightened up when he saw Mook-soo stirring. Is it finally graduating from its insect-eating life and about to awaken?
“Huh?”
Cheong-o also noticed Mook-soo's strange behavior and lifted his head. Mook-soo, the fruit half-buried in the dirt that had received all their attention, shook from side to side on its own and finally popped out with a thump.
It didn’t even stop there, but continued to roll over and over, passing right by the corpses Jaekyung had thrown, and charged toward a large pile of soil. And- Plop- It buried itself so deep into the pile of soil that it was no longer visible. Only then did the fruit stop moving.
Jaekyung and Cheong-o, who had watched the bizarre spectacle from beginning to end, glanced at each other at the same time. As if to say, ‘You explain what’s going on.’
“The fruit is alive? Hmm... no, Mook-soo is alive. Hmm? That’s not it either.”
Cheong-o rubbed the back of his head with his wing as if something was strange.
“It’s strange for a fruit to move, but it’s not strange because it’s Mook-soo. Mook-soo is alive, and it could always move. Yes.”
Cheong-o, having asked and answered his own question, pointed with the wing he was rubbing his head with at the soil where Mook-soo was buried.
“But what’s that soil? Is that strange too? It... seems to have a somewhat thick feeling to it.”
“Yes. It’s good soil.”
A thick feeling? He was probably talking about the earth energy. Cheong-o certainly had sensitive spiritual awareness for a spirit beast.
Perhaps his senses in that area were developed in place of his lacking combat abilities.
‘Seeing that Mook-soo reacted to that spiritual soil... did it feel that the soil would be helpful to it?’
Jaekyung briefly wondered if Mook-soo was drawn to the earth energy in the soil or the soil itself, but soon gave up on the thought. At some point, he had begun to feel that thinking about Mook-soo was a waste of time. It was no exaggeration to call that thing a living enigma.
In the first place, how a mere fruit could think and make judgments was a mystery.
“It’s fine to absorb the spiritual energy, but don’t damage the soil.”
But giving up on thinking about it was one thing; he still had to give a warning. That spiritual soil was now his precious property, so even for Mook-soo, destruction of property was unacceptable. He had only tolerated it burying itself in the soil because he knew the spiritual soil had the ability to recover its earth energy.
Twitch!
The soil trembled at Jaekyung's low warning. No, it must have been Mook-soo, buried in the soil, that trembled. In any case, it seemed to have understood the warning, so Jaekyung paid it no more mind.
‘This is a spirit stone, and this... is it a medicinal pill?’
He piled the spirit stones to one side as a priority, and placed the items with unclear uses to another side. The medicinal pills were among the latter. This was because he knew they were medicinal pills, but he didn’t know what effects they had.
‘Well, even if they are something like refined pills... I don't know if they'd have any effect on me.’
To him, even medicinal pills were a nuisance.
‘Clothes? Why are there clothes. For mere water bandits, they were thoroughly prepared.’
After clearing away various trash and things useless to him, there wasn’t much left. The most useful and valuable things were the spirit stones. Judging by the quantity and quality of spiritual energy they contained, the majority were of the lowest grade, with a few that seemed to barely qualify as low grade.
When Jaekyung finished sorting, Cheong-o lightly tapped a spirit stone with his beak and asked.
“Is this a spirit stone?”
“Yes.”
“The slight glow is pretty. It feels good to be near it.”
“Right. So if you’re going to pick things up, pick up something like this.”
“But I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Of course, that would be the case. What cultivator would leave a spirit stone lying on the ground?
“It was a joke.”
“A joke? It wasn’t funny.”
“There are unfunny jokes too.”
“Oh. I see.”
The reason Jaekyung deliberately said it was a joke was that he felt Cheong-o's gaze on the spirit stones was unusual. If he didn’t say this, the little fellow might try to snatch a spirit stone from a cultivator's hand somewhere.
Of course, Cheong-o was no fool, but seeing him so engrossed in gathering his collection lately made him a little uneasy. In the end, Jaekyung tossed a lowest-grade spirit stone to Cheong-o and repeatedly warned him not to do anything dangerous, only then could he appreciate his spoils in peace.
As Cheong-o had said, aside from the spirit stones that made one feel warm and pleasant just by looking at them, what caught Jaekyung's eye were two jade slips whose contents were unknown. One had come from each of the storage pouches of the late Qi Refining Stage water bandits.
Jaekyung carefully touched his tongue to one of them and infused it with his demonic power. This was another important experiment. He had already confirmed that the water bandits' storage pouches could be used with demonic power, but jade slips and storage pouches were different.
Although they were similar in that they both stored something, jade slips were generally considered more important than storage pouches. This was because what they stored inside was not an object, but knowledge and legacy. Humans valued legacy, and while cultivation techniques were important, they tended to place even greater importance on various arts like alchemy and artifact refinement.
For that reason, it was said that jade slips containing such knowledge often had various restrictions. For example, imposing specific conditions for their use… What if there was a condition on the jade slip that allowed only human cultivators to view it?
Even if Jaekyung obtained it, he would only be able to lick his lips.
‘Though it’s unlikely that a jade slip owned by mere water bandits would have such an advanced function.’
Still, just in case, Jaekyung approached the jade slip with caution. As the demonic power he slightly released seeped into the jade slip, a faint blue light emanated from it. And in an instant, a flood of knowledge poured into Jaekyung's mind.
Jaekyung slowly examined the knowledge transmitted by the jade slip. There was no need to try and memorize it. The knowledge from the jade slip was already firmly engraved in his mind, and unless he deliberately tried to forget it, it wouldn’t be easy to forget.
‘Wave-Reforming Technique. So it was a cultivation technique.’
It seemed to be the cultivation technique that the late Qi Refining Stage cultivator had been practicing. He was happy to have obtained a free cultivation technique, but unfortunately, it was a water attribute technique.
‘It’s only natural, I suppose.’
A cultivator’s Cultivation is influenced by their environment. It’s a different story if one’s cultivation resources are abundant enough to ignore the environment’s influence, but most cultivators who are not in that position either adapt themselves to the environment or adapt the environment to themselves.
The Western Twin Lake is a vast lake, so most of those who cultivate here would have learned water attribute techniques. So, it was perhaps natural that such a technique would come from a water bandit’s pocket. Jaekyung checked the other jade slip as well.
This time, too, it was a water attribute technique.
‘I can’t practice it, but I could probably sell it, right?’
However, being something practiced by late Qi Refining Stage cultivators, and water bandits at that, it didn’t seem like it would be worth much.
‘So the only real gains are the spirit stones and the spiritual soil. Oh, and the storage pouches.’
He didn’t feel disappointed at all. Looting the water bandits was an unexpected windfall, so there was nothing to be disappointed about, and the spiritual soil was clearly no ordinary spiritual object. To have gone out once and reaped such a harvest, Jaekyung was quite satisfied.
‘The spirit stones are one thing, but I should look into the spiritual soil.’
Garden of Remembrance. Jaekyung left the empty meeting place and moved to the gathering hall via a nearby transmission pillar.
‘As expected.’
Until he moved through the transmission pillar, he couldn’t feel the presence of any cultivators, but as soon as he arrived at the gathering hall, he could sense the presence of at least several hundred cultivators. They were all scattered about, forming groups of at most three.
Jaekyung deliberately unsettled his state of mind slightly to expose a little of his spirit, then moved slowly. As he moved, he maintained a moderate distance from the cultivators, but it was a distance that the divine sense of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator could easily reach.
“Greetings, Dao Friend over there!”
Before long, a powerful voice called out to him. Jaekyung looked in the direction the voice came from and saw a brightly shining spirit flying quickly toward him.
“Were you calling me?”
“Indeed. I am Jang Hu-am. And you, Dao Friend?”
“I am Jaekyung.”
“A pleasure to meet you.”
As he came closer, Jang Hu-am looked at Jaekyung as if to confirm something and expressed his ‘pleasure’ even more strongly.
“By any chance, have I stopped someone who is busy?”
“Not at all. I was just about to look around the gathering hall as I had some time to spare.”
“That’s a relief. Then, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind keeping me company for a moment? Ah, don’t think it’s strange. I just happen to enjoy making new acquaintances...”
“You don’t need to be so roundabout. It seems you’ve taken an interest because I am of the demon races, is that correct?”
“Haha. That’s right. I won’t lie.”
Jaekyung did not refuse Jang Hu-am’s request to accompany him. From what he could gauge through his spirit, Jang Hu-am was a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, just like Woo Do-baek. Furthermore, judging by his words and demeanor, he didn’t seem to be the type to lock himself away in a sect and focus solely on Cultivation.
In conclusion, he met Jaekyung’s requirements. Since they both wanted something from each other, their conversation proceeded smoothly. The topic of conversation, which began with daily cultivation, soon turned to lamenting their circumstances.
Jang Hu-am spoke of the weary life of a mountain sect cultivator, and Jaekyung expressed the fierce life of being one of the demon races. After briefly talking about this and that, an atmosphere was naturally created where they could bring up more serious topics.
Jaekyung, judging the time was right, casually brought up a story as if it had just occurred to him.
“By the way. I recently acquired a strange item.”
“Oh? What kind of strange item?”
When Jang Hu-am showed interest, Jaekyung explained in detail about the spiritual soil. Of course, he didn’t say how he had obtained the spiritual soil, and Jang Hu-am didn’t ask about that part at all.
“Dao Friend, you are quite lucky!”
Jang Hu-am sighed with envy.
“As far as I know, there are several spiritual objects like that spiritual soil that produce spiritual energy on their own. But they are quite rare, and their ability is so useful that mountain sect cultivators like me find it difficult to see one in a lifetime. I’ve heard that sects and prominent families use such spiritual objects to create cultivation spaces.”
“Oh. I really was lucky.”
“Indeed. I truly envy your luck, Dao Friend.”
Jang Hu-am didn’t hide his envy, but he didn’t show it to an uncomfortable degree either. Rather, he appropriately expressed his envy, making Jaekyung feel even better.
“But unfortunately, an earth-attribute spiritual object doesn’t suit me, so I don’t know what to use it for.”
“What’s the problem? If it’s useless to you, Dao Friend, can’t you just sell it?”
“You are right. But I am ignorant of worldly affairs and worry that I might not get a fair price and suffer a great loss.”
“Hmm. That’s a valid concern. With such a precious item, you have to worry not only about not getting a fair price, but also about whether you can receive the payment safely.”
“It is as you say, Dao Friend.”
Jang Hu-am seemed to ponder for a moment, then suggested a method in a subtle tone.
“Dao Friend, have you heard of the Prosperous Treasure Guild?”
“How could one who knows of the Prosperous Treasure True Lord not know of the Prosperous Treasure Guild?”
When Jaekyung even mentioned the Prosperous Treasure True Lord’s title, Jang Hu-am brightened and continued the conversation about the Prosperous Treasure Guild.
“Then this will be quick. Dao Friend. As you know, the cultivators of the Garden of Remembrance are scattered throughout the Azure Abyss Realm, making direct exchanges difficult, are they not? Therefore…”
Jang Hu-am’s explanation was lengthy, but it was easy to understand. According to his explanation, the Prosperous Treasure Guild served a role similar to a delivery company in the Garden of Remembrance. When cultivators of the Garden of Remembrance wanted to trade with each other, it acted as a middleman and a delivery service.
Issues like credit in transactions and the protection of a cultivator’s personal information were all neatly resolved under the name of the Prosperous Treasure True Lord. The Prosperous Treasure True Lord was both a cultivator and a merchant, and his reputation was actually more famous outside the Garden of Remembrance than within it.
The credit he had built as a merchant over a thousand years was as famous as his strength as a Nascent Soul True Lord, so no one who knew him ever doubted his credibility.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, Dao Friend. The item and the payment will safely reach the owner’s hands without any problems. Of course, you should keep in mind that the commission fee may vary depending on your location.”
Jang Hu-am, who delivered this long speech as if reading from a manual, seemed like a skilled salesman.
“Dao Friend Jang, are you perhaps…”
“That’s right. I may be lacking, but I am affiliated with the Prosperous Treasure Guild. Since we’ve met like this, it must be fate. I shall do you a favor, Dao Friend. If you wish to sell that spiritual soil, I will help you get the best possible price.”
Though he couldn’t see them, Jaekyung was certain that at this moment, Jang Hu-am’s eyes were sparkling just like Cheong-o’s collection.
“Hmm. I haven’t decided to sell it yet, but I was wondering what price you might have in mind…?”
“First, I’d have to see the item. As you know, Dao Friend, just because things have the same name doesn’t mean they have the same value, right? There are many things to consider, such as the quantity and the quality of the item. So, to determine a price, I must first inspect the item myself…”
The glow emanating from Jang Hu-am’s spirit grew even more intense.
“So, I was wondering, Dao Friend. Where do you live?”