Yang Yo-hyeon, a cultivator from the Prosperous Treasure Guild and captain of a cargo vessel, visited Black Flood Dragon Island once again to load up on Meat-Scaled Fish. And he met Jaekyung and relayed Gwak Jeong-shin's words.
“A band of demonic cultivators?”
Yang Yo-hyeon nodded with a serious expression.
“That is correct. They have been active for about a year, perhaps a little longer. They are outsiders who drifted in from beyond the Western Twin Lake, and their skills and methods are not to be taken lightly.”
According to his explanation, this group of demonic cultivators was no ordinary band. Compared to typical bands of demonic cultivators, their numbers were large, and they were well-organized. He, no, Gwak Jeong-shin, seemed to believe that these people were a genuine, well-structured organization.
“These people don’t just stop at attacking others. They are masters at muddying the waters to cover their tracks.”
“For example?”
“They operated in the border regions, inciting conflict with other races. The Water Spirit Clan was enraged and a city was washed away by a flood; we suspect it was their doing.”
“They would go to such lengths just to hide their tracks?”
“There may be something more that we have yet to grasp. But it is an undeniable fact that they appeared in the territory of the Water Spirit Clan.”
Hearing Yang Yo-hyeon’s words, Jaekyung reconsidered this band of demonic cultivators. If they truly provoked the Water Spirit Clan and had a city wiped out, they were no longer mere bandits.
‘Terrorists. But is there a word for terrorist in this world?’
Unlike Yang Yo-hyeon, who was issuing another grave warning, Jaekyung was at ease. He understood that those people were dangerous, but what did that have to do with him? Since storage pouches were practically exclusive to humans, whether it was demonic cultivators or anyone else, it was just humans fighting among themselves.
Even if Yang Yo-hyeon’s ship were to be attacked by those demonic cultivators on its way back, it would have nothing to do with him. The goods were sent off, and the spirit stones had already been received.
“I will take note.”
His true thoughts were different, but in consideration of the sincerity shown by the warning, he responded in a serious tone. A short while later, the ship belonging to Yang Yo-hyeon and the Prosperous Treasure Guild departed, fully laden with goods.
* Boom!
It was a tremendous roar that only Jaekyung himself could hear. The sound of something striking hard, cracking, and shattering. That one sound held all three meanings, and the moment Jaekyung accepted the final meaning, he had already ascended a step that had been frustrating him for quite some time.
“Krrrrrr.”
‘Although it has the prefix ‘minor,’ a minor realm is still a realm.’
And on the Immortal Path, crossing a single realm means undergoing a transformation. However, Jaekyung preferred the term evolution to transformation. To leap to a higher stage as a living being.
No matter how one looked at it, wasn’t this a far more intuitive way to put it?
“Kraaaaaah!”
A tremendous roar spread beyond Black Flood Dragon Island. The beautifully arranged clouds scattered violently, and the calm surface of the water churned intensely.
“Hk……”
The human cultivators, who had already evacuated from Black Flood Dragon Island on a boat, turned pale and trembled. Even for Han Cheong-yu, who had solidified his realm at the late Qi Refining Stage, the situation was much the same. Only Cheong-o, who was preening its feathers with one foot resting on Han Cheong-yu’s head, maintained its composure.
“This is trouble. All the rice is going to die.”
“It’s fine. We have already harvested everything that was ready.”
His lips deathly pale, Han Cheong-yu frowned as he looked at the smoke-wreathed island. He was not mistaken. Smoke was truly rising from the island—no, from the water surrounding the island.
“You all are in for a hard time.”
Hearing the words from above his head, unsure if they were meant as comfort or mockery, Han Cheong-yu and the other human cultivators simply kept their mouths shut. Meanwhile, on Black Flood Dragon Island, which had turned into a hot spring, Jaekyung was savoring the afterglow of his evolution. This was his second evolution.
The growth from beast to spirit beast, and from spirit beast to the point of knocking on the Great Spirit barrier, felt insufficient to be called an evolution. When he broke through the Great Spirit barrier and became a Great Spirit Beast, Jaekyung experienced evolution in its truest sense.
However, that had been his first evolution, and the changes were too immense. Moreover, given the circumstances at the time, he had no chance to properly rejoice. But now was different.
The current Jaekyung had the leisure to comprehend all the changes that had occurred within him and to revel in his joy. First, his physical body had once again grown larger and stronger. His body, having surpassed the Physical Barrier, was already prepared.
In a manner of speaking, the vessel had already expanded, but its contents were lacking. But now, upon reaching the mid-stage of the Great Spirit stage, his demonic power had made a great leap in both quantity and quality.
The overflowing demonic power filled the vessel, which had been more than half-empty, and the moment the vessel was full, his physical body underwent a ferocious growth. Two hundred meters—no, it was clearly more than that. The immense power dwelling within that colossal body gave Jaekyung the illusion that he could shatter Black Flood Dragon Island with pure strength alone.
‘Is it really just an illusion?’
Not even Jaekyung himself knew for sure. He could find a suitable uninhabited island to test it, but he felt no particular desire to do so.
‘My demonic power has increased greatly in quantity. Double? Perhaps a bit more?’
Even more noticeable than the growth of his physical body was the change in his spiritual nature. His spiritual nature, which had seemed like a lone ember in a desolate land when he first reached the Great Spirit stage, had now grown into a great ball of fire.
This much more powerful spiritual nature could draw out more demonic power, and from what he could feel, the amount was more than double what it had been before. Moreover, it was not just an increase in quantity; he could clearly feel that it had become stronger in quality as well.
Jaekyung was confident that, if he so chose, he could incinerate the entire Black Flood Dragon Island in a single breath. Of course, he had no intention of testing this either.
“Good. Very good. With this… I suppose I can be a little more proactive.”
Until now, Jaekyung had always acted with caution. Even when he seemed to act boldly, that too was an act based on cautious judgment. After all, to maintain his identity as the Black Flood Dragon, he had to display the unique arrogance and ferocity of a flood dragon.
But even while outwardly displaying the demeanor of the Black Flood Dragon, Jaekyung always moved with a self-imposed limit in his heart. He was meticulous in choosing his opponents. He only provoked those he knew he could handle and did not even glance at those he could not.
And now, Jaekyung thought he could expand the category of ‘opponents he could handle’ a little further. And perhaps, in the process, he could increase his public activities as well. When his thoughts reached this point, Jaekyung seriously reflected on whether he was merely drunk on the afterglow of his evolution.
And the answer he arrived at after much deliberation was ‘no’. He was not intoxicated. Everything was a conclusion reached after cold calculation.
Just as the wealthy have their ways of spending, the strong have their ways of acting. At present, it was ambiguous to call him strong, but he certainly could not be called weak.
Excluding the unfathomable seniors from the Garden of Remembrance, the strongest opponents Jaekyung had encountered so far were the Old Mountain-Picking Demon of the Upper Demon Forest and Mak-gye of the Whale King Palace.
However, in the case of the Old Mountain-Picking Demon, Jaekyung’s realm had been too low at the time to even look his opponent in the eye, so the only one he could properly compare himself to was Mak-gye.
At the time he had seen Mak-gye up close, Jaekyung had estimated his realm to be at the mid or late stage of the Great Spirit stage. But now that he had reached the mid-stage of the Great Spirit stage, recalling that memory, he was certain that the Mak-gye of that time was a stage above his current self.
Late-stage of the Great Spirit stage. Only one step away from becoming a Demon King, a Great Spirit Beast among Great Spirit Beasts. To his current self, it was a realm that felt impossibly distant.
‘But… it’s not as if I couldn’t face him at all.’
Again, this was a judgment made after cold calculation. This was a calculation based on his impression of Mak-gye when they had met. At the time, facing Mak-gye, Jaekyung could clearly tell his opponent was stronger, but he did not feel the same sense of hopeless distance he had felt when he saw the Old Mountain-Picking Demon.
He knew he could not win, but in the worst-case scenario, he had been prepared to fight. If that was the case then, what about now? He still had no confidence he could win.
But if they were to have a bout, he thought he could manage it. As a key figure in the Whale King Palace, Mak-gye could likely be considered a powerhouse in the entire Western Twin Lake. If he could preserve his life against such a being, then he could surely act with a bit more confidence.
Of course, that did not mean he should act like a reckless fool unaware of the heavens’ height, but at the very least, it was time to stop hiding in his shell like a turtle. Jaekyung visited Star Rock Island again. This time, however, he did not borrow Yang Yo-hyeon’s ship, but mobilized his own.
It was not as fine as the ship from the Prosperous Treasure Guild, but judging by appearances, it was quite a respectable vessel.
“Dao Friend Jaekyung.”
Yeon Jung-hyeok greeted him with a warm smile. Because Jaekyung had intentionally concealed his realm, the title remained Dao Friend.
“It has been a long time.”
“Indeed. It feels as if I saw you just the other day.”
After the exchange of pleasantries, they got straight to business.
“Are there any decent items available?”
“They are not bad at all. Please, have a look.”
Jaekyung scanned the list of auction items Yeon Jung-hyeok handed him. It was certainly not bad. Then again, these were choice items selected from years of collection, so it would have been stranger if the quality was lacking.
“Not bad.”
At auctions like this, the items were not the problem. The problem was always the state of a cultivator’s storage pouch, or more precisely, their spirit stone finances. It had been the same for the previous Jaekyung.
His spirit stone finances were poor, so he had been forced to adopt a cost-effective strategy. Even now, the situation was not much different.
His Cultivation had literally been built upon the ceaseless consumption of spirit stones, and though he had reached the mid-stage of the Great Spirit stage, the amount of spirit stones in his storage pouch was similar to when he had last visited Star Rock Island. Therefore, his strategy for this auction was the same as before.
To bid only on useful items, but ones that would not draw too much attention from others.
“I have already prepared your lodgings. Let us go.”
As before, Jaekyung spent several days on Star Rock Island, receiving Yeon Jung-hyeok’s utmost hospitality, and at the auction, he managed a decent haul after emptying his storage pouch. And after the auction ended, he once again left the island without delay.
‘Hm?’
On the way back. Jaekyung sensed several auras tailing him from behind and frowned. He felt a moment of deja vu, but those following were different from before.
It was not a chase, nor were they concealing their auras. They were approaching him openly.
‘Quite fast… but that’s all.’
He was confident he could shake them off if he tried. Once he entered the water, even if there was a late Foundation Establishment stage cultivator among them, they would not be able to follow him. But that would mean abandoning the ship and his human subordinates on board.
‘Perhaps I’ll see what they want.’
After momentarily weighing his options, Jaekyung decided to face them. It was a decision made with the confidence that he could escape even if the worst were to happen.