The Landfolk Tribe (8)
What does that mean?
I stared at him, momentarily stunned.
The frail woman's voice had suddenly turned into a thick, male one.
Systematic frameworks like the Deep Contemplation Method had been forced upon us just so Heavenfolk and Landfolk could understand each other… But for us, possessing such a structured system is impossible. You must already know that too.
By the time we reached the second stage of implementation, every single being in this world would have embraced their own unique possibility.
“….”
He was right.
I furrowed my brows and thought as I stared at this stranger whose gender I could not even tell.
“Then… the Deep Contemplation Method… no, the Landfolk… what do they call this ‘realm’?
Even though the internal contemplations differ, the process of reaching the realm must be the same, right?
Is it really just that the implementation is complete?”
He switched back to a childish voice.
The words stirred my envy, I see? To master mathematics beneath the Landfolk while wearing a Heavenfolk body and even gaining our power. If the Three Talents of the Heavenly Will are all perfected, what kind of monster would be born?
Spat!
A scarlet river suddenly flowed around me.
I realized this was not real water, but the manifestation of this being.
“There is no substance…?”
But the moment I looked at this strange river, I was startled.
The Answer Heaven realm is the realm where one becomes one with the manifestation they have created.
Yet this river carried the very same momentum as the Answer Heaven realm, while its true substance — the core it was supposed to represent — was nowhere to be felt.
“What…?”
I narrowed my eyes as I delved into the being, hiding my inner thoughts.
The river voice changed again, this time into that of a frail old man.
Heavenfolk, Landfolk, even among us, such extreme manifestations are something I have never seen before…
If I could only know in which direction the Three Talents monster will move, I could decide how to treat you…
The river wrapped around me and began to speak, as if the Landfolk being was circling me with his back turned.
But while I watched, I raised my Invisible Sword.
Mountain Spirit Sword Art.
Ting!
A clear sword cry resounded and struck my spirit.
The wave from the qi stage surged into the soul stage, and my mind sharpened instantly.
“…It seems that among the Landfolk, I have encountered many who enjoy mental domination.”
The river switched back to a youthful female voice.
“No way, I was caught that quickly? Speaking of which, what was that? Did the qi turn into awareness? Did the stage shift?”
“….”
I ignored his nonsense, focused my mind, and looked around.
“…!”
The slave workers who had been setting fire to the cotton farm had all vanished.
While I had been distracted by this being, he had moved far away.
“Did I fall into an illusion? Me?”
I gritted my teeth and glared at the river.
“What are you trying to do to me? Why try to mental-dominate me?”
The river voice returned.
“Just in case you misunderstood, my power is not mental domination. It is deep sleep. The immersion into dreams I have awakened. I simply put you to rest, bound you tightly, and was going to ship you off to the Landfolk Highest Council.”
“….”
What is this guy?
I opened my mouth in disbelief while keeping my spirit at its sharpest.
“So you’re telling me not to interfere with you?”
The river voice changed to a child’s.
“Don’t be like that. We Landfolk cannot trust anyone. Heavenfolk and Landfolk have been so underhanded that they kidnapped us and turned us into slaves. To fight them, we must become underhanded as well.
But since I’m telling you everything like this, consider it forgiven. I know your strength, so I won’t try to kidnap you again.”
“….”
His inner thoughts were impossible to read.
Perhaps because we were in the same realm, this being could protect his deep manifestation from me.
“…What did you do to the Sea Dragon Clan warriors?”
I glanced at the unconscious Sea Dragon warriors and asked.
The river voice returned.
“I put them to sleep. They themselves believe the process of deep sleep is one of death, so if I do not wake them within two shichen, their souls will truly believe they have died and perish.”
Terrifying.
And yet…
I ignored that and glared at the being before me.
“You’re stalling. What are you after?”
Although the manifestation was unreadable, I could tell he was deliberately wrapping me in meaningless chatter to buy time.
He was clearly trying to stall.
The river voice changed.
“I was exposed already? It’s nothing special. I am a Special Liberation Envoy dispatched from the Landfolk Highest Council. I have infiltrated Heavenfolk and Landfolk, aiding the birth of Landfolk among the weak slave races they abuse, and once Landfolk are born, I guide them into the Landfolk realm with the Landfolk race. Should I encounter Heavenfolk or Landfolk at the Four Pillars stage, I also carry the duty of killing them.”
“…!?”
I glared at his momentum and said.
“You’re waiting for the lord of the domain, Gwak-ryeon?”
The river voice changed.
“If that’s the case, it would be better, but if the lord doesn’t come, I will simply focus on escorting the races out.”
Kill a Four Pillars investigator?
That must have been the one trick this being possessed.
‘That’s why I gained the upper hand when I jabbed at him.’
It would have been a dead body if I had poked him clumsily.
Perhaps the reason this being was leaving me alone now was simply because I had stepped into the same ‘Landfolk’ category as him.
At that moment.
The goat beside us suddenly looked to one side and said.
Hidden anger burned in the goat’s eyes.
Kugugugugu!
And from far away, a boar covered in blood flew toward us.
White steam erupted from the nose of the boar carrying the Yuan Soul qi.
Crrrk…
The whip in the goat’s hand twitched as if alive.
“Go ahead and fight. If I fall behind, I’ll help.”
“Yes, senior. But who exactly is that man?”
“Hm, I don’t know either. That’s why I’m chatting with you while holding him. Still, he doesn’t seem to have any intention of deliberately opposing us. Once you finish cleanly, we’ll be fine.”
“Yes!”
The goat answered firmly, gripped the whip, stepped through the air, and flew toward the boar.
“Void Step.”
I looked at the river and asked.
“Can you explain exactly what Landfolk are?”
The river answered again in the voice of a young woman.
“What obvious thing? Isn’t it natural to refer to those who integrate their manifestations as such?”
“Integrating manifestations?”
The river laughed as if finding it amusing.
“What’s the point. It’s only possible to integrate the external and internal manifestations under unimaginable pain and pressure. Simply growing and refining the size of awareness with the Consciousness Method has no meaning.
To become Landfolk, to create a manifestation, you need a desire that transcends imagination — a **Gakgu** (Thirst for Existence). The Venerable Landfolk desperately sought overwhelming power to save their race. The newcomer here sought the ‘weight’ of the responsibility to save his race. And I sought ‘sleep’. Looking at your free form, I even glimpsed that you seek to ‘escape from something’. Is that not correct?”
“….”
“Without a strong **Gakgu**, no matter how you master the Consciousness Method, you will never achieve implementation. If someone who has mastered the Consciousness Method integrates external and internal manifestations and reaches implementation, it means that person sought something so intensely that it transcended imagination.
Yes, the **Gakgu** that transcends imagination. Endless thirst. Blind devotion to something. Only by throwing everything into it and pushing oneself into the pressure of suffering can one become ‘us’.”
Uwoong!
The being deliberately spilled its intent before me.
It was admiration.
“You are clearly Heavenfolk yet also Landfolk, yet I do not dislike you because you have constantly sought your own beliefs to the point of reaching the second stage of implementation.
To call such a transparent hell a manifestation of madness… But even if it is the madness of a madman, because you never let it go and ran with it, you reached this realm, didn’t you?”
“…Correct.”
Kwahng, kwa-kwa-kwak!
I nodded and watched the battle between the goat wielding the whip and the boar turning the surroundings into a sea of fire.
The boar was a Yuan Soul cultivator, and the goat was little more than a spirit.
Yet the goat was evenly matched with the boar.
‘The boar was at the very beginning of the Yuan Soul stage… but the goat seems to have mastered every law the boar uses.’
In contrast, the boar had not grasped even one of the goat’s whip movements.
“That chief steward’s name is Baek-nyeong. He rose to supervisor of slaves in this cotton farm to protect his race.”
“He took the lead in whipping his own kind, but since the day he picked up the whip, he has practiced it endlessly, considering how to strike his brothers without hurting them. He loaded weight onto the whip, learned to remove it, and even whipped himself while mastering the control of weight. By pushing that mastery to its absolute extreme, he reached his implementation.”
Kwa-kwa-kwak!
The boar screamed as it was struck by Baek-nyeong’s whip and crashed down.
Whoosh!
Kugugugugu!
The whip swung again, carving out whip-shaped valleys where it grazed.
“That chief steward is actually Landfolk who ordered Baek-nyeong to whip his own family. Baek-nyeong insisted on waiting to kill only him, so he was killing time waiting for the lord.”
Kwa-kwak, kwahng, kwa-aang!
Baek-nyeong swung the whip with his eyes rolled back.
The attack of the spirit, which had reached the limit of **weight**, caused the boar spewing flames to gradually lose consciousness and die.
‘A realm specialized in attack power.’
I exclaimed while looking at his spirit.
Even if the boar was at the very beginning of the Yuan Soul stage and Baek-nyeong knew every law the boar used, the difference between Yuan Soul and spirit was vast.
Yet he was driving his opponent to the brink of death. Baek-nyeong was ignoring defense entirely and focusing only on attack, as if trying to commit suicide.
How heavy could such a fragile whip become?
Kwa-aang!
“S, save…!”
The boar leaped away from Baek-nyeong’s whip.
Baek-nyeong chased after the boar with eyes rolled back, and the river’s owner cheered for him with joy.
I knew the relationship between Baek-nyeong and the boar was clear, so I did not interfere.
At that moment.
Puk, pu-quak!
“…!?”
Far away, the three sleeping Sea Dragon warriors began to stir from the river owner’s attack.
And the river owner shook as he watched.
At the same time.
Puk!
Puhwa-aak!
Blood spurted from the Sea Dragon warriors’ hearts as immense Heavenly Qi rushed toward them.
Goooooo…
The Heavenly Qi condensed into blue light in the air and took the form of a massive azure dragon.
It was Seo Hyul’s form.
The river owner shuddered.
“W-what… using his own race as a sacrifice… Baek-nyeong! Withdraw! Retreat!”
And the form of Seo Hyul that had descended into the battlefield looked around.
I felt it.
The form before me was one that had sacrificed the lives of three Sea Dragon warriors.
Because it had sacrificed the lives of three Yuan Soul warriors, even for a fleeting moment…
That form was identical to Seo Hyul’s true self.
Kugugugugu!
An overwhelming pressure crushed my entire body.
And Seo Hyul’s head turned toward me, wrapped in the river.
“Hum… I never expected a rebel army in the lord’s domain to be this dangerous. I sent those children to die for the rebels….”
‘No, wasn’t it you who killed them?’
I was momentarily speechless, but Seo Hyul looked around with interest.
His gaze landed on Baek-nyeong and the scarlet river.
“Indeed, are you the Landfolk famous throughout the Gwanghan Realm?”
The scarlet river flew into the air in irritation and buzzed.
“Damn it. The worst form, with a Four Pillars investigator involved. Even if I give up my life to kill you, the true self won’t be affected, will it?”
“That’s right. It was originally meant to descend when the worst situation arose, but thanks to you, it’s a bit disappointing.”
“Then, how will you deal with us, you esteemed Four Pillars investigator? I should tell you I received a rather tough tribulation from the Landfolk Highest Council. If you wish to live, you could at least erase even your form.”
“Pathetic threat.”
Ssssst!
Seo Hyul’s dragon form dissolved and re-solidified into human form.
The human Seo Hyul smiled kindly.
“But I have no intention of doing anything to you. It is saddening that a rebellion occurred in the lord’s farm, but… for Landfolk to exterminate all our precious Sea Dragon warriors, it was truly unavoidable.”
[…No, wasn’t it you who exterminated them?]
The scarlet river looked at Seo Hyul as if he could not understand.
The current Seo Hyul was not his true self but a projection based on the life force of the Sea Dragon warriors, making it difficult to read his manifestation.
“Our Sea Dragon warriors fought fiercely against Landfolk, sacrificing their souls, and all died gloriously. I attempted to project clones from afar to help, but they had all died already, so there was nothing I could do.”
[…Insane.]
“Therefore, with a heart of reverence for them, I sought to uncover the secret of Landfolk….”
Kugugugugu!
A powerful attraction began from Seo Hyul’s hand.
It was directed at Baek-nyeong.
Baek-nyeong suddenly began to be sucked in by the attraction.
“Wait, what are you doing?!”
“To avenge the warriors of my race who died unjustly, I must capture even the enemy leader so their souls can rest in the afterlife.”
Pa-aaat!
Space warped above Seo Hyul’s hand and a space rift appeared.
Surely the other side of that rift was the Sea Dragon Palace!
“Originally I was not going to use this for such a thing. I only meant to bring you when Seo Eun-hyun, my race’s member, was in danger… but since things turned out this way, I have no choice. Still, capturing a Landfolk rumored to be famous throughout the Gwanghan Realm….”
“Remove your hand at once!”
Kugugugugu!
The scarlet river flew toward Seo Hyul with a voice of rage.
The scarlet river’s entire body turned to glowing green for a moment.
And within that green light, I found the form of a bright maple knife.
‘That is….’
That was the one strike he had been hiding!
The Venerable’s strike!
However, Seo Hyul raised his opposite hand toward the corpses of the Sea Dragon warriors whose hearts had been pierced and who had died at his feet.
Cuduk!
The Sea Dragon corpses rose with life force and blocked the scarlet river.
The scarlet river was momentarily startled by Seo Hyul’s attitude of treating his own kind as an emotionless shield rather than his comrades, but he still pushed forward.
Kwaduk!
The corpses of the Sea Dragon warriors shattered into pieces from the scarlet river’s charge.
Yet Seo Hyul paid no heed and continued to spew even stronger attraction.
Chlarararak!
And at the moment the river had hesitated.
At the moment the corpses had been smashed.
Those moments created a gap, and Seo Hyul sucked Baek-nyeong into the space rift on his hand.
“Nooo!”
Chlarak!
The scarlet river rushed toward Seo Hyul’s form, but Seo Hyul’s form simply dispersed into the air.
Seo Hyul’s bright voice echoed into the air and faded.
“Thanks for the fine gift. Thanks to you, the heroes of my race who died unjustly will finally be able to sleep peacefully.”
Sreureu…
The space rift Seo Hyul had created also vanished, and the scarlet river, unable to unleash even a single strike from the Venerable, wandered about in confusion.
[…].
I watched Seo Hyul take Baek-nyeong through the space rift and recalled his words.
The part about taking me if I was in danger.
‘Did Seo Hyul originally plan to forcibly drag me to the Sea Dragon Palace by sacrificing his warriors if things went wrong?’
Of course, it might not be true.
He could have said that just to lure me, then do something to Gwak-ryeon through the Sea Dragon warriors, or steal something from the eastern region of the domain.
But if the target he originally intended to take was really me…
‘Then he must have realized our value through Oh Hye-seo…!’
Kim Yeon with a Four Pillars stage awareness despite being a criminal, Jeon Myeong-hoon with the same physique as Yang Su-jin, Oh Hyun-seok who will have Heavenly Person stage combat power within a hundred years, Gang Min-hee who will reach the Star Shattering realm within five hundred years…
The value Seo Hyul and the three Heavenly Person investigators had discovered in us was truly immense.
‘So he was prepared to sacrifice three Yuan Soul warriors if necessary and drag me away….’
But suddenly I thought.
‘Now that he can no longer kidnap me, was Baek-nyeong more valuable to him than me?’
At that moment.
A chill ran down my spine.
I recalled a possibility and felt goosebumps.
‘Seo Hyul… openly said that he would sacrifice three Yuan Soul warriors to drag me away.’
That meant he valued my worth higher than three Yuan Soul warriors.
And that also meant he had realized Oh Hye-seo’s value was comparable to mine.
And that over the past ten months he had observed my actions and examined my words and deeds, learning that I was trying to find my fellow Oh Hye-seo.
‘He predicted that since he had already realized the value of Oh Hye-seo and me, I would inevitably come looking for him again…!’
I had observed for ten months how he cherished his fellow.
And now he was telling me he had realized my value and that of his fellow.
Then I would surely return for his sake, even out of my own pride.
‘…This is a far more reliable method than directly snatching me through a space rift.’
No, if I had properly been mental-dominated by him for ten months as per his plan,
I would have already shed tears of joy for Seo Hyul and vowed to devote my heart to him.
I shivered at Seo Hyul’s cunning, and the scarlet river, disappointed, circled the place where Baek-nyeong had been taken before flying off toward the other slave races who had escaped.
[…If the situation had been a little better, I would have talked more, but since things turned out this way, let us meet again sometime later.]
Pa-aat!
The scarlet river said that and vanished into the distance.
I stood blankly in the cotton farm, watching the boar who was healing the wounds inflicted on him by Baek-nyeong.
The boar looked at the spot where Seo Hyul had disappeared as if unable to understand what had happened.
“…Hey.”
I approached the boar and said.
“Can you contact the lord of the domain, Senior Gwak-ryeon?”
“Hm? Ah, I can….”
“Please contact him. I’m sorry, senior, but the suppression of the rebellion has failed.”
“I… understand.”
The boar nodded blankly with a strange expression, staring at the place where Seo Hyul had disappeared.
“…I recognize that spell somewhere….”
“…?”
“No, no. I won’t contact the lord. Damn it….”
That.
The short yet intense meeting with the Landfolk came to an end.
* * *
“…So that’s how it is. There’s nothing we can do.”
Gwak-ryeon sighed while looking at me, the boar, and the red-robed Hong-guk.
Regarding Seo Hyul’s direct slaughter of his own race and descent, we decided to remain silent for now.
Regarding the Sea Dragon race being completely wiped out, Hong-guk said she had not properly witnessed Seo Hyul killing his own kind, and I answered that I hadn’t either.
It was because of my relationship with Seo Hyul, but Hong-guk did not know whether I truly had not seen it or if something else had happened.
Anyway, with Gwak-ryeon’s sigh, the incident came to a close.
I had decided to begin the purification of the Black Dragon True Blood in accordance with my promise to Gwak-ryeon.
Deep within the eastern region of the domain.
There, a ritual array drawn with Gwak-ryeon’s dragon blood had been established, and I entered the center and assumed the lotus position.
Before me stood a jade bottle containing a single drop of Black Dragon True Blood.
“Then, from now on, shall we begin purifying the Black Dragon True Blood?”
Due to the failed rebellion suppression and the guilt of having caused the death of Seo Hyul’s subordinates, Gwak-ryeon made the connection with me in a weak voice.
And crimson blood light rose around us.
Ggrugugug!
The jade bottle in front of me also responded to the light, shaking violently, and a single drop of Black Dragon’s blood flew toward me.
The next moment.
‘…Huh?’
I had entered pitch-black darkness.
And within the darkness, I could see a massive dragon gazing at me.
‘I see. This is the remnant of the Black Dragon that was sealed within the Black Dragon True Blood….’
I would have to overcome this remnant to purify the Black Dragon True Blood.
‘From now on, I will suppress the remnant….’
The next moment.
[Why is a mere 2,000-year history-bearing creature not greeting me properly?]
The massive dragon in the darkness spoke to me.
[How dare you try to deceive history before a xian beast? By the name of the Black Dragon that governs the Taiyin, I command you, mortal, to properly record history.]
The purification of the Black Dragon True Blood had begun.
But I had never heard from Gwak-ryeon that the Black Dragon would directly speak to me through the True Blood.