The imposing Great Spirit Beast Jaekyung glared at the giant crab, which was clearly intimidated, and twitched his body as if he were about to pounce at any moment. He didn't really intend to pounce, but wanted to show his combative attitude to the opponent. This water territory was his.
And this giant crab was an uninvited guest who had set foot in his territory without permission. Just like humans, demon races have a particularly strong sense of territory. Stepping into someone else's territory arbitrarily is no different from asking for a fight.
“I, I am called Daehae.”
“I didn't ask for your name.”
As Jaekyung growled fiercely as if he were about to fight, Daehae, who was already intimidated, shrank back completely. Although his terrified appearance seemed to accept his weakness, Jaekyung did not relax his guard. The reason this Great Spirit Beast named Daehae was showing such an attitude was likely because he mistook him for a flood dragon.
If he realized his mistake, he might act roughly, as if asking when he had ever shrunk back like now. Therefore, Jaekyung pressured him even more strongly while this stupid guy was unable to come to his senses. He was even prepared to really fight if necessary.
He didn't know how high this guy's combat power was, but since he had definitely seized the momentum, if they fought now, he would start with at least a twenty percent advantage. Besides, this guy named Daehae looked like a good matchup for him at a glance.
Judging by the large body size, exceptionally developed pincers, and shell, he seemed like a type that fought with a typical physical body... This type was the type Jaekyung welcomed the most. “This is my territory, so why has a guy I've never seen before crawled in here?
Did you come to pick a fight?" “O-Oh, it's a misunderstanding! I just... heard there was a new owner here, so I came to say hello!"
Daehae shouted, waving his pincers as if waving his hands. “You expect me to believe that?" The narrowed gaze of a snake scanned Daehae.
At that chilling gaze, Daehae trembled.
“It's true!
O-Of course, I know it's hard to believe, but..." The guy stepped back a few steps and claimed his innocence with a trembling voice. He was so terrified that one wondered if a Great Spirit Beast should be behaving like this.
At this point, Jaekyung became curious whether the existence called a flood dragon was that terrifying, or if this crab guy was just unusually cowardly. Of course, just because a different thought crossed his mind for a moment didn't mean he stopped what he was doing. He continued to glare fiercely at Daehae and bared his teeth to threaten him.
“If you babble something hard to believe and tell me to believe it, how am I supposed to believe it? Whether it's an excuse or a lie, isn't it too insincere?”
Daehae, who was mumbling, started rambling about things he hadn't even been asked, perhaps feeling he had to say something.
He poured out all sorts of stories incoherently, saying he was one of the owners of a spiritual land somewhere to the west of this water territory, or that he heard from a crayfish spirit beast that something happened in the Black Flood Dragon water territory. 'This guy... isn't smart.' If this wasn't acting, this guy seemed stupider than Hyeon-gu.
While admiring Daehae's intelligence, Jaekyung tried to pick out meaningful information from the words the guy was pouring out. And when he had secured some information, he was finally able to relax a little. 'It means he isn't a subordinate of the Shattered Waters Whale King.'
The demon races of the Western Twin Lake are divided into two categories: the subordinate demon races of the Shattered Waters Whale King and the other demon races. As the only Demon King of the Western Twin Lake, the Shattered Waters Whale King's power and authority were absolute. However, he seemed to have little interest in expanding his influence.
Although he created a force called the Whale King Palace and kept some followers as subordinates, that was it. He had never shown any movement to go further and unify the demon race cultivation world of the Western Twin Lake.
Thanks to this lukewarm attitude of the Shattered Waters Whale King, all sorts of Great Spirit Beasts were living freely in the Western Twin Lake, living with the status of mountain sect members if compared to humans. This Daehae was also one of those mountain sect members.
Living barely by relying only on the cultivation realm of a Great Spirit Beast, without any particular backing.
'Barely' was the important part.
The spiritual land this guy was currently staying in was wider than the Black Flood Dragon water territory, but because there were quite a few guys living together, he had no choice but to feel stifled even if he wasn't particularly active.
So fights over residence rights occurred occasionally, and Daehae said he had been swept up in such fights a few times. That was also why this guy came all the way to the Black Flood Dragon water territory.
He came to see what kind of guy the Great Spirit Beast who became the new owner of the Black Flood Dragon water territory was, if he could drive that guy out and become the new owner himself, or if not, if he could settle down in a corner somewhere.
“If I knew the owner of this place was someone like you, I naturally wouldn't have even come near." At Daehae's servile flattery, Jaekyung rolled his eyes.
"Hmph! Cut the empty words. If you don't want to die, get lost right now!"
“Y-Yes!"
Daehae retreated quickly as if he had been waiting for those words. Jaekyung did not take his eyes off the direction the guy disappeared until Daehae's figure vanished and his energy could no longer be felt by his divine sense. * Daehae's appearance made Jaekyung lost in thought.
'I have to be wary of demon races besides humans too. If rumors spread further in the future, the number of guys snooping around like that Daehae guy will definitely increase.' This is a part that needs special attention.
Fortunately, the stupid guy named Daehae got scared on his own and backed off, but the guys who come in the future won't all be such idiots.
'Mountain sect.
Mountain sect, huh... Demon race mountain sects.' He had never thought about it before.
However, after hearing this and that from Daehae, the demon race mountain sects he hadn't paid attention to before came into his sight. 'Daehae is stupid, but he was still a guy who knew how to look out for his own interests.' Besides, he wasn't particularly fickle either.
Of course, he had to take into account that the guy was extremely terrified at the time, but even considering that, it felt a bit different from the stories he heard from the senior cultivators of the Twilight Gathering. From what he felt meeting him in person, it seemed like they could communicate enough.
'Later...
I'll need to think about it properly.'
Yes, later.
For now, he had to prepare to deal with guys like hyenas who didn't know when they would appear again.
'Ugh.'
Even if he said preparation, it wasn't anything grand. It wasn't because he lacked preparation skills, but because there wasn't really any preparation he could do.
Whoosh!
Fire energy originating from his spiritual nature covered his entire body in an instant according to his will. This was not cultivation. It was a kind of digestive exercise to calm his stomach, which had been bloated ever since swallowing the Black Shark Gang Leader.
'I never had this happen before... Is he really a Foundation Establishment cultivator?' And it wasn't the relatively common early Foundation Establishment stage, but the middle stage.
As if proving that even a rotten shad is still valuable, his stomach, which had never had trouble no matter what he ate until now, had been bloated for over fifteen days already. Although it was getting better little by little, Jaekyung wanted to resolve this abnormal symptom as much as possible.
“Kraaaah!" Jaekyung dragged his burning body and roamed around Black Shark Island. The demonic flame attached to his body did not go out even underwater, and in less than half a day, Black Shark Island was covered in thick steam. It was fortunate that Jaekyung's demonic power wasn't sufficient so he couldn't keep up the 'digestive exercise' for long; otherwise, Black Shark Island would have completely turned into a fog island. "Dragon Lord! I found it!”
Jaekyung's plan to continue the digestive exercise until his bloated stomach completely settled down was cut off by Hyeon-gu, who brought happy news.
“It was clams. There are large clams that the Meat-Scaled Fish like, and these guys try to eat those large clams no matter what, even if they don't eat anything else. Just in case, I tried moving some of those clams to a faraway place, and sure enough, I confirmed that some Meat-Scaled Fish left the school and moved toward the clams I moved.”
"Excellent."
After praising Hyeon-gu, who was excited like a scholar who made the discovery of the century, Jaekyung asked about the large clams. “Are those clams rare?"
“Yes. But judging by the memory of seeing them somewhere before, I think we can find them if we try to find them even if they are rare.”
“Good. Find those clams.”
The information Hyeon-gu brought washed away Jaekyung's somewhat anxious heart to some extent. If those large clams were really the condition for the formation of the Meat-Scaled Fish school, he would be able to raise the Meat-Scaled Fish school in the future, as well as execute the task of moving the school right away.
“Leave it to me!”
Hyeon-gu immediately took action. However, since they lacked the numbers to guard the Meat-Scaled Fish school while going around looking for clams, Jaekyung personally subdued a few aquatic spirit beasts in the Black Flood Dragon water territory.
At the same time, he showed favor to Hyeon-gu and empowered the guy by sprinkling a few drops of blood again while he was at it. It was just a simple measure to make the guy work better, but Hyeon-gu seemed touched by that again and immersed himself in the mission even more passionately.
And thanks to that passion, Hyeon-gu found the large clams he mentioned not long after. Although the quantity wasn't much, it was still an achievement. 'Would humans not know this?'
Jaekyung suddenly became curious. According to Hyeon-gu, those large clams could be found in places where the water depth was deep and hidden from light. Then it wouldn't be strange even if humans didn't know, but...
‘No. They must know.’
Humans have a pathological obsession with resources. There is no way they haven't researched useful resources like Meat-Scaled Fish. Then they naturally know what the staple food of Meat-Scaled Fish is, and what its ecology and nature are like.
'But the humans of the Western Twin Lake don't seem to know. Or maybe the supply is woefully short compared to the demand.’ Either way, it was a good thing for him.
Even if the amount of Meat-Scaled Fish he supplied increased later, there would be no problem with sales. As Gwak Jeong-shin said before, Meat-Scaled Fish were treasure fish that people couldn't eat because they didn't have any, after all. * While Hyeon-gu was faithful to his mission, Jaekyung also diligently patrolled the water territory.
In the process, he detected and chased away Great Spirit Beasts that approached while lurking a few times in advance, but there was never a clash. It was for the same reason as Daehae, who had come to test the waters first.
As soon as they saw his figure from afar, they showed reactions of being afraid or at least uncomfortable. Previously, Jaekyung thought that Great Spirit Beasts wouldn't all be idiots like Daehae. But maybe that thought was wrong.
'They say knowing a little is worse than knowing nothing at all.’ Why were guys who hadn't even seen a flood dragon in person so scared? Well, anyway, it was a good thing for him.
Because thanks to those stupid cowards, he could greatly relieve his worries. 'I'm benefiting greatly in this life thanks to the appearance I didn't have in my past life.'
Hmm.
Although it seems he is looking at 'benefit' in a slightly different meaning... isn't it good as long as it's good?
“Burp."
It was worth combining outside activities and cultivation diligently; the bloating that had tormented him for over a month finally subsided. And at the same time, a faintly ticklish feeling began to arise from deep within his body.
'Huh?'
Jaekyung couldn't help but be flustered. He knew very well what this feeling meant.