"Tsk! This has become troublesome."
Yang Yo-hyeon clicked his tongue. He glanced back and forth between the cultivator desperately approaching and the three cultivators chasing him, his expression displeased. Jaekyung felt much the same.
However, he watched the chaser and the chased with eyes holding a hint of curiosity.
"Demonic cultivators?"
"It seems so."
Demonic cultivators were, in a word, bandits. Seo Mu-so and Yang Yu-wan, who had previously invaded Black Flood Dragon Island, were also demonic cultivators, when you thought about it. So, the demonic cultivators themselves were neither unfamiliar nor strange.
But seeing this familiar-looking scene unfold right before his eyes felt somewhat strange.
"Stop! Come no closer!"
As Yang Yo-hyeon shouted with caution, the man faltered slightly.
"Who are you? And who are those chasing you? If you know we are from the Prosperous Treasure Guild, don't even think of dragging us into your little game."
"A little game! They are demonic cultivators! Do you think they'll leave you alone after they finish me off?"
"They will have no choice but to leave us alone. Because we are people of the Prosperous Treasure Guild."
This was the kind of confidence only those backed by a powerful faction could display. Yang Yo-hyeon presumed that neither the man before him nor the ones chasing from behind had any significant background. Even if that assumption was wrong, it didn't matter.
After all, not just in this vicinity but throughout the entire Western Twin Lake, there was no faction that could ignore the banner of the Prosperous Treasure Guild.
"So, if you want to live, you'd be better off running away quickly instead of wasting time pleading your useless case here."
Yang Yo-hyeon's expressionless face gave off a stubborn air, as if not a single drop of blood would emerge even if pricked by a needle.
"You... damn you!"
The pale-faced man, realizing that appealing to Yang Yo-hyeon was like shouting at a wall, glared at him with fierce eyes before immediately turning and starting to flee again. Thus, one departed, but soon, three arrived. The menacing aura emanating from their entire bodies seemed to scream, 'This is what demonic cultivators are like.'
"The Prosperous Treasure Guild?"
They glanced between the Prosperous Treasure Guild's banner and Yang Yo-hyeon, who was overtly displaying the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and rolled their eyes. They seemed to be contemplating what to do.
"Let's catch that bastard first and then see!"
Their deliberation was short. When the middle-aged man who looked the oldest of the three took the lead, the other two followed without a word.
"Hoo."
Jaekyung tilted his head as he watched Yang Yo-hyeon let out a sigh of relief.
"Can't you stop them with the Ship-Protecting Formation?"
"I don't know. We might be able to hold them off for a while, but it will be impossible to block them continuously."
"The Ship-Protecting Formation wasn't set up with a prolonged engagement in mind to begin with."
Jaekyung understood immediately. In other words, this formation was meant to prevent unexpected accidents, not for combat.
"Do you think they will return?"
Judging by the fugitive's condition, it seemed unlikely he could shake off those demonic cultivators. He would eventually be caught before long. When that happens, would those demonic cultivators come back to silence them?
"Perhaps. If they are confident, they will come. If not, they will not."
The reason Yang Yo-hyeon had just displayed all the aura he could muster was to not appear as an easy target. To induce the demonic cultivators to leave after finishing their business, without touching their ship.
"Hmm."
Jaekyung didn't have any particular thoughts. He thought it would be fine if the demonic cultivators left, and not bad if they returned. The demonic cultivators were two at the early Foundation Establishment stage and one at the mid-stage; a level he could handle without issue.
If Yang Yo-hyeon took on one, and he took the remaining two, wouldn't that be fine? Besides, weren't there sailors too? Of course, they wouldn't be much help, but they could at least draw some attention.
"... No. That's not right."
At some point, this fighting cock temperament had started to rear its head whenever there was a chance. Even in matters that could be passed over quietly with a little peace of mind, he would first bare his teeth, and his tendency to solve things with fists rather than words grew stronger.
This change was related to the improvement in his Cultivation. To be precise, his gradually strengthening bloodline was changing him. Jaekyung surmised that this was the very nature of the demon races.
Regardless of his will, the demon race body he was born with was continuously making him more ferocious. But in most cases, it was better to keep a cool head. Naturally, Jaekyung knew this as well, so he tried to be cautious in all matters.
It was the same now. However, because he had maintained his transformed state for too long, the instincts of a Great Spirit Beast were subtly trying to suppress the reason of his past life's human self.
"Then let's keep going. Whether they come back or not, we must go on our way."
Yang Yo-hyeon watched the nonchalant Jaekyung and inwardly shook his head. 'Is he confident?' There were many rumors about the Black Flood Dragon of the Black Flood Dragon water territory, but no one knew what his specific realm was.
This was because the cultivation system of the demon races was not as clearly divided as that of humans. Thus, one could only make a rough guess through his battle records, but since the combat power of the demon races often didn't correlate with their realm, even this was quite inaccurate.
Returning to the main point, the Black Flood Dragon before him boasted quite a splendid record. Because all the cultivators who loitered around Black Flood Dragon Island had either been killed by him or driven away. 'I don't know.'
He knew it in his head, but it didn't quite sink in. It was probably because of the appearance he could see right now. His appearance, from which no momentum or energy could be felt, kept making him forget that he was a ferocious Great Spirit Beast.
* Fortunately or unfortunately, the demonic cultivators did not return. Whether it was because they had not yet caught the fugitive, or because they felt hesitant about the Prosperous Treasure Guild's banner, he didn't know, but in any case, Yang Yo-hyeon let out a sigh of relief.
"That's enough. I'll go on my own from here."
When the ship had more or less entered the demon lands, Jaekyung bid farewell.
"Will you be alright?"
"Of course."
Jaekyung leaped lightly from the bow of the ship. His body, suspended in the air, transformed in an instant into the form of a giant serpent. No, in the eyes of Yang Yo-hyeon and the others from the Prosperous Treasure Guild, the figure was not a serpent, but a flood dragon.
Two large horns. Scales as black as if doused in ink. A massive body enveloped in those scales.
Kwaaaaaang!
As the colossal body, well over 150 meters long, plunged into the water, rough waves raged in all directions. The momentum was so intense that Yang Yo-hyeon immediately ordered the Ship-Protecting Formation to be activated.
"A flood dragon..."
Someone muttered in a dazed voice. However, Yang Yo-hyeon did not laugh at that dazed someone. Because he felt much the same.
When he heard talk of flood dragons or the Black Flood Dragon, he honestly hadn't felt much of anything. He had vaguely thought of him as a special and great Great Spirit Beast. But witnessing that majesty firsthand, he realized its true meaning.
Why the guild held this person in high regard. Why he had been so composed even when facing demonic cultivators that included a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator a few days ago. 'Not all Great Spirit Beasts are the same.'
Yang Yo-hyeon recalled the few other Great Spirit Beasts he had seen before. Compared to the Black Flood Dragon now moving away, creating waves, all those other Great Spirit Beasts seemed unworthy of even carrying the title. Meanwhile, Jaekyung had no idea how chaotic Yang Yo-hyeon's thoughts were.
He was too busy reveling in a sense of liberation. Although his Transformation Secret Art had already reached a high realm, and he had grown quite accustomed to being in his transformed state... no matter how skilled or used to it he became, he could not completely eliminate or suppress the feeling of repulsion.
It was the same even when he constantly maintained his composure and drank spirit wine. He surmised that to completely overcome this repulsion, he would have to reach the Demon King realm and formally undergo the Transformation Tribulation. But that was a story for an uncertain future.
For now, and for a long time to come, Jaekyung would have to grapple with this repulsion.
'It's fine.
Once I go back this time, I won't be coming out for a while.' It wasn't just that he didn't want to come out; there was no reason to, even if he wanted to. The purse he had fattened for ten years had become thin again after this auction, so what would he do by coming out?
Kwang!
Jaekyung rammed straight into an aquatic spirit beast that was cluelessly loitering in his path. In truth, it wasn't loitering but was too slow to escape in time, but in any case, the poor aquatic spirit beast shot up above the water's surface and rose high into the sky.
After venting his frustration, even the last bit of stuffiness was relieved. Only then did the ferocity vanish from Jaekyung's eyes, replaced by clarity.
'Hm?'
Jaekyung, who had been cutting through the water coolly for a while, narrowed his eyes as he felt a faint aura captured by his divine sense. The aura was so faint that he would have normally ignored it and passed by. But Jaekyung felt a familiarity in the aura, and so he focused his mind on that faint presence.
'This is...'
Jaekyung soon realized that the faint aura belonged to the one he had encountered a few days ago. If he wasn't mistaken, this aura definitely belonged to that Foundation Establishment cultivator who was being chased by the demonic cultivators.
'What happened?'
At that time, he was already heavily injured, and his aura was already faint. But the aura he felt now... it wasn't just faint. It was so faint it seemed as if it could disappear at any moment.
For a moment, Jaekyung suspected the man was already dead, or perhaps using an Aura Concealment Art. 'Either way, it doesn't matter.' Jaekyung's interest was piqued.
He checked if the demonic cultivators were nearby, but even when he extended his divine sense to its maximum, he couldn't feel their aura. Confirming there were no threats nearby, Jaekyung immediately moved his body, following the faint aura. This aura was felt far below, at a level almost touching the riverbed.
'Is he hiding? Or is he really dead?' The water in this area was quite deep.
Even though Jaekyung moved at top speed, he had to descend for a good while. 'There he is.' Jaekyung discovered a rocky area that looked like a mountain range.
The faint aura was being felt from deep within that rocky area. Having pinpointed the target's location, Jaekyung used his Aura Concealment Art while cautiously and slowly approaching the target without making a single ripple.
'That is...'
Jaekyung soon found what he was looking for. It was the fugitive he had seen a few days ago. However, his appearance was much worse than when he had seen him a few days prior.
If he hadn't seen the man's chest slowly rising and falling, he would have thought him already dead. But what caught Jaekyung's eye was not his wretched state, but the large water droplet containing him. No, to be precise, it was a jellyfish that looked like a water droplet.
'An aquatic spirit beast? No, is it a spirit artifact?' It couldn't be a spirit beast, as he could not feel any demonic energy, or any other aura for that matter.
But to call it a spirit artifact, its form, which swelled and shrank as if breathing, was puzzling. But one thing was certain: this unknown thing, whether a spirit beast or a spirit artifact, was keeping the fugitive inside it alive.
"Interesting."
His eyes shining, Jaekyung slowly approached. Even as he came right up to it, this water droplet-like thing showed no reaction.
'It's alive.
I'm sure of it.' He couldn't be sure when he saw it from a distance, but upon closer inspection, he could tell. This water droplet-like fellow was definitely a living creature.
But he couldn't tell if it was a spirit beast or something else.
'Hmm.'
While Jaekyung circled the water droplet-like creature, the man inside, who had been barely breathing, trembled as if he sensed something. Then, the moment he laboriously opened his eyes, he saw a vertical pupil larger than his own torso.
"K-Heok!"
His barely opened eyes rolled back, and blood gushed from his mouth, agape in terror. At the same time, his barely sustained breathing snapped.