The Landrace's True Face (1)
“Thank you for your generosity.”
In the end, the only words I could offer were the best I had.
I controlled my facial muscles with exquisite precision, forcing a smile that revealed nothing of my inner turmoil.
By regulating my heartbeat, I managed to display genuine delight in my body’s reactions. Only then did Seo Hyoel’s suspicions begin to fade.
“It’s not that the doubts are gone, just that they stopped growing…”
It seemed the man had a habit of dwelling on suspicion whenever anything cropped up.
“Haha, then keep practicing diligently until we reach the Land Tribe’s territory. With your talent, you should be able to form the shape of a dragon in at least four days.”
‘Four days to form the dragon shape or he’ll suspect something.’
I remained silent, letting Seo Hyoel’s praise linger a moment longer before unfolding the _Hofung Eungryongbyeon_ manual with forced resignation.
Written in the language of the Fish Demons, it detailed the precise methods for practicing the Wind-Calling Responding Dragon Transformation.
The very manual Won Rip had boasted of stealing from Seo Hyoel—the one the former Nascent Soul Fish Demon had once claimed he could master.
But I skimmed it once and promptly forgot the technique existed.
‘There is no reason I should deign to cultivate this mad manual with my own hands.’
The four-day deadline Seo Hyoel had mentioned meant that failure would confirm his suspicions.
There was only one solution.
‘I will cultivate the _Hofung Eungryongbyeon_ instead.’
Not the Nascent Soul technique, but the far inferior one I had received in my youth. Once I mastered it, I would reclaim my old cultivation realm and sever the _Hofung Eungryongbyeon_’s influence at the Nascent Soul stage.
Of course, I would not be the one doing the cultivating.
Woo-woong!
I synced my blood essence with the primal fluid within my body, guiding the demon through the _Hofung Eungryongbyeon_.
The demon’s consciousness overlapped with mine, gradually taking on the shape of a dragon.
Since I had already mastered the technique before, its difficulty posed no real challenge.
Using the _Gimyoseongsimjeon_ to manipulate my own consciousness, I hid the dragon form deep within the primal fluid’s mental space.
To the outside world, my consciousness now appeared perfectly draconic.
The moment my form changed, Gyu-ryeon—and the Fish Demon representatives who had accompanied us—swarmed over to offer praise.
“Haha, Lord Seo Dragon King… or rather, from now on, Lord Seo. What a blessed man you are to forge such ties with our Land Tribe.”
“Your path ahead is paved with smooth stones, Lord Seo. You always take good care of your own, after all. Hahaha!”
The two Fish Demons—Lord Heo and Lord Sung-bong—slapped my shoulders with hearty laughter, their voices booming.
A few days later, we finally rode Gyu-ryeon into the territory of the Jinryong-maeng—the most powerful faction of the Land Tribe.
Whoooosh!
I flew through the sky on the wind, taking in the vast lands of the Jinryong-maeng.
Countless mountain ranges stretched endlessly.
Their peaks gleamed white as fresh snow, each belching dense spiritual energy that filled the air with an otherworldly aura.
Below them flowed the Black-and-White River, its waters weaving like a net across the entire landscape.
The white and black streams mostly ran parallel, yet at their rare convergence points, five-colored mists bloomed, lending an ethereal beauty to the scene.
The Jinryong-maeng’s territory was precisely like this—vast, boundless, and far larger than the combined area of all Human Alliance domains.
Watching that endless horizon, I felt my chest tighten with awe.
As I circled above the mountains and river, a sudden realization dawned on me.
‘Those mountain shapes… the river’s flow… It’s almost as if…’
“It resembles bones and blood vessels… Is this a natural terrain?”
“Oh? Even a human has eyes to see.”
I looked down as I spoke. Gyu-ryeon grinned and explained.
“It is not pure natural formation. These are the remains of a great ancestor dragon who once reached the Fissure Opening stage. Our Jinryong-maeng was built directly upon her corpse. As you said, the mountains are her bones, and the rivers are her blood vessels.”
“…!”
I stared at the colossal landmass, mouth agape.
If true, the size of a single Fissure Opening dragon ancestor was enormous—larger than the entire Human Alliance combined.
‘One Human Alliance domain was already only slightly smaller than the Sumi Continent.’
The mere thought of countless such domains made the land’s sheer scale stagger the mind.
‘Each single part a continent-sized body part? That would be…’
Cosmic?
I imagined the dragon’s colossal form and instinctively parted my lips.
The other representatives looked equally stunned, mouths hanging open as they gazed at the earth below.
Seo Hyoel’s curiosity was piqued. He turned to Gyu-ryeon and asked,
“I heard that once a being reaches Fissure Opening, their lifespan becomes practically limitless. Yet even such a venerable ancestor has passed on.”
“In truth, the ancestor who was to become the first Seed was never meant to die. But in the era before the Demon Realm separated from the Blood Realm… she waged war against the Demon Realm, protected the Gwanghan Realm from it, and returned home. Her sacrifice is the reason all life in the Gwanghan Realm now enjoys this grandeur.”
“Ah, so the ancestor was killed by a Fissure Opening Demon from the Demon Realm?”
“Hmm, that may very well be. The records of how she died are incomplete, so I’m not certain.”
Seo Hyoel fell silent, staring at the vast land as Gyu-ryeon’s words sank in.
After some time, we finally reached the very heart of the Jinryong-maeng—the headquarters itself.
“That must be…”
Even the Jinryong-maeng headquarters dwarfed the Human Alliance’s headquarters—Cheonin-do—by sheer size.
It looked larger than Cheonin-do.
Kugugu-gu!
It was a colossal mountain rising like Tai Mountain itself upon the endless plains.
Far grander than any peak we had seen, it formed a perfectly square plateau—four distinct, perfectly aligned sides.
‘It’s oddly alien.’
The square shape felt completely unlike the jagged bone-like mountains of the legendary dragon ancestor.
It was as if someone had dropped an entire mountain from another realm into this spot.
‘What is this?’
Just as I began to ponder, Gyu-ryeon spoke again.
“Welcome. The Jinryong-maeng Headquarters, the _Bongmyeong-ju_.
“Bongmyeong-ju?”
One of the representatives asked. Gyu-ryeon pointed at the square mountain.
“The headquarters is located inside a square-shaped ship called the _Bongmyeong-ju_. Hahaha, don’t look so shocked. The interior is so vast that the space within is compressed to the point where it feels as large as the entire Jinryong-maeng territory combined.”
“Whoa…”
“It is said to have been one of the celestial vessels from the ancient True Immortal era, but its power has long since faded. We are merely using its outer shell.”
I marveled at the insane scale while my mind latched onto the name _Bongmyeong-ju_.
‘What does it have to do with Bongmyeong Castle?’
At that moment, Seo Hyoel smiled and asked Gyu-ryeon once more.
“By the way, senior. Which part of the ancestor’s remains is this _Bongmyeong-ju_ sitting on?”
“Ah, the _Bongmyeong-ju_ is positioned over the neck bones. If you go a little further back, you’ll reach the holy ground—the ancestor’s head.”
“The neck…”
Seo Hyoel seemed to ponder the words before smiling and returning to his seat.
After a short while, we entered the headquarters—inside the _Bongmyeong-ju_.
Kugugu-gu!
The square mountain opened, revealing a vast interior as it welcomed us.
“Since the Jinryong-maeng is the central power of the Land Tribe, many tribal delegates have gathered. Each of you will find your own kind and head to your respective territories.”
Tsetsetch!
Gyu-ryeon stepped inside the _Bongmyeong-ju_, set us down, and transformed.
Moments later, the image of a short-haired woman in a loose brown robe appeared.
Her hair reached her waist, unkempt and wild, with a single golden antler sprouting from her forehead. Yellowish scales dotted her cheeks and arms like deliberate markings.
“First, follow me, Fish Demon and Human. The Land Tribe requires you to register in the Dragon Name Department. I will guide you.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Gyu-ryeon, resembling the late Chief Judge of the Underworld from our past life, addressed me, Seo Hyoel, and the Fish Demon elders.
“We Land Tribe people are generally familiar with this, but we are a gathering of countless Fish Demons. While we call ourselves Land Tribe or Fish Tribe, in reality, apart from the Dragon Tribe and a few others, we are all different species.
To lead these countless outsiders, the Dragon Tribe—along with a few superior large tribes—has formed an alliance that governs the entire Land Tribe. And that alliance is none other than our Jinryong-maeng.”
She continued with pride.
“As you all have heard the name, you will have guessed that the strongest voice within the alliance belongs to the Dragon Tribe, whose power far exceeds that of the other large tribes. Hence the name ‘Jinryong-maeng’—the alliance’s headquarters is built in the very center of our territory. In short, the Dragon Tribe is the highest ruling class of the Land Tribe. Act with that pride.”
“I remember.”
Gyu-ryeon patted Seo Hyoel’s shoulder with a satisfied smile and continued forward.
Inside the _Bongmyeong-ju_, the space felt like an entirely separate world.
‘Is that… the sky?’
I stared at the ‘clouds’ drifting inside and the ‘mountains’ that were actually mountains.
This was incomparable to the floating castle we knew. It felt more like an entire world.
Following Gyu-ryeon, we discovered that her Four Pillars cultivation compressed the space, allowing us to cross countless mountains and rivers in an instant.
Even while walking, the space compressed.
‘The technique of compressing space…’
A monstrous art that could only be performed by a peak Four Pillar cultivator!
I observed the flow of the technique, trying to grasp the enlightenment it contained.
After a while, we reached a location inside the _Bongmyeong-ju_ that was almost as vast as the entire Human Alliance domain—a place dotted with the skeletal remains of dragons the size of mountain ranges.
White mountains sprawled in every direction.
“Come this way. This is the tomb of the Dragon Kings—the very heart of our Dragon Tribe, the Dragon King Mausoleum. Here you will receive your identity verification token.”
We arrived at the center of the Dragon King Mausoleum.
There, a mountain of dragon skulls had piled up.
Each skull was as large as a mountain.
Gyu-ryeon pointed at them.
“Now, inscribe your names on the heads of the successive Dragon Kings. Inscribe your names in the memory of our ancestors. This is the ritual that announces to our forefathers that we have become the Dragon Tribe of the Gwanghan Realm.”
The Fish Demons, one after another, carved their names into the skulls using the technique Seo Hyoel had provided.
The moment they finished, beams of light erupted from the skulls, flowing into the bodies of the inscribers and leaving bizarre patterns across their flesh.
“These patterns are now your identity verification tokens. Depending on your individual talent and characteristics, you will have received different ones in different locations. I cannot show you, but I have one on my hip. And if you infuse qi into the pattern…”
Woo-woong!
A faint draconic aura emanated from Gyu-ryeon, sweeping across her body like a gentle breeze.
“This is the blessing that proves you belong to the Dragon Tribe. From now on, use this method for verification. Remember it all… And you, Human.”
She looked at Seo Hyoel.
“You cannot register as a Dragon Tribe member. It is only possible for a Human to be listed if the Seed’s blood is infused into them and their own blood becomes at least seventy percent Seed blood. If you wish to accept a Human as a tribe member without that condition, you must craft an identity token using a part of the sponsor’s body.”
“That is no difficulty.”
Wooong!
Seo Hyoel extended his arm. Blue scales sprouted across his skin.
He plucked one scale from his forearm.
The scale floated upward, growing to the size of a palm.
Crack!
With a flick of his wrist, the scale transformed in midair, its surface engraved with my name—a completed identity token.
“Here. This token, forged from my scale, will protect your status within the Land Tribe.”
“Thank you.”
I thanked him, feeling a strange unease.
‘All the other Fish Demons are registering in the Dragon Name Department, and I have received my token as well. Why isn’t Oh Hye-seo here?’
I pondered Seo Hyoel’s intent.
‘Why hasn’t he given Oh Hye-seo a token yet?’
No answer presented itself.
We now possessed every method of identity verification.
Afterward, we left the _Bongmyeong-ju_ once more. Guided by Gyu-ryeon, we were introduced to the living quarters assigned to the Fish Demons.
It was a vast ‘lake’ near the ancestor dragon’s foreleg.
…Of course, it was called a lake, but in reality it was the size of the Sumi Continent’s ocean.
The lake was connected to the Black-and-White River, the bloodline of the ancestor dragon. Black and white waters mingled, their convergence creating five-colored mists that blanketed the surface.
Because of the mixing, the lake itself appeared transparent—neither black nor white.
‘The天地 energy here is immense.’
The Five Elements energy was so dense it filled the surroundings.
Cultivating here would allow me to swiftly recover the realm I had lost in my past life.
“Under this lake, quite a few Fish Demons of the Water attribute reside. With your Fish Demon clan, you should be able to suppress and claim it.”
“Is that possible?”
“Of course. Live well beneath the lake from now on. I will take my leave for now… If you have any questions, find me.”
“Thank you for your guidance until now. I will visit often to seek your instruction in the Gwanghan Realm.”
Seo Hyoel smiled and bowed to Gyu-ryeon. A blush appeared on her cheeks.
“Haha, I must be going.”
She coughed a few times, bid a hasty farewell, transformed into a dragon, and flew off into the distance.
The moment she vanished from sight, Seo Hyoel turned to the Fish Demon elders.
“Now… how much time will it take to occupy the Water Heart Lake? What do you think the elders’ council will require?”
An elder with the most seniority among the Fish Demons stepped forward.
“With our power, we can build a dragon palace larger than the one on Earth within three days and demand tribute from surrounding tribes. And with the Dragon King’s aid, two days would suffice.”
“I see. Very well. We must also discuss etiquette and naming conventions among the Fish Demons. The title ‘Dragon King’ cannot be used lightly here in the Gwanghan Realm.”
“If it is I, Seo Hyoel, who has reached Integration, the formal title of King will certainly be obtained once more.”
“Thank you for the encouragement. Then I will wait three days. Please work hard. I have some matters to attend to at the headquarters.”
“Leave it to us.”
The elders changed into their draconic forms and leaped into the lake.
A short while later,
Kugugu-gu!
The water of the Water Heart Lake began to boil violently.
A fierce battle must be taking place beneath the surface.
“Now, follow me.”
“What?”
“If you follow me, I will recommend you for the Seed Blood Competition. I will keep my promise.”
“If it is not an imposition… could you tell me what the Seed Blood Competition is?”
“Haha, you don’t even know what it is and you’re still following me?”
‘Oh no.’
I clenched my teeth inwardly.
Doubts once more bloomed in Seo Hyoel’s mind.
Though not many, such doubts would accumulate. Eventually, the man would strike me with certainty.
“I followed because I trusted your character, Lord Seo Hyoel, famous as he is for the Seed Blood Competition. Hahaha…”
“Ahaha, so that’s it. How embarrassing.”
We smiled brightly, yet behind our faces, both of us sharpened our blades.
“I’ll explain while we walk. Follow me.”
I boarded the neck of the Seo Hyoel I had become and flew toward the _Bongmyeong-ju_, listening to his explanation.
The Seed Blood Competition gathered young Fish Demon later-stage individuals once every hundred years to compete for the Seed’s blood.
The victors would each receive one drop of the Seed’s blood, which they would fuse into their own. Their talent would become superior as a result.
Originally, only the Fish Demons could participate, but with the recommendation of a Four Pillar chief, a Human could enter.
‘The Seed’s blood…’
Just as I thought about the mysterious Seed, Seo Hyoel had already returned to the interior of the _Bongmyeong-ju_.
Inside the ship.
Seo Hyoel, who had landed in front of a massive stone building, transformed back into human form.
He said he would handle something inside and left me behind.
It was clearly a building for administrative work. The moment he vanished, I turned around.
‘For now, erase any ridiculous thoughts about _Hofung Eungryongbyeon_ or _Hofung Jin-hyeol-byeon_ from my mind.’
At the foot of the mountain where the stone building stood lay a vast marketplace bustling with Fish Demons.
‘First, find a proper Fish Demon technique.’
Tat!
Using the _Wansuigungmurok_, I slipped into the marketplace undetected.