Chapter 21
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Domain of Jackals and Wolves (2)
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A slight depression in the ground.
There, a fox was curled up, sleeping.
‘A fox...?’
Seo Ryang took a step back.
His hand was already on his saber, his eyes sharp as a blade. He was still maintaining the Shadow Body technique, so no killing intent emanated from him, but a razor-sharp glint flashed in his pitch-black pupils.
‘Could it be a demonic beast?’
It had to be a demonic beast. This was a place that even first-rate masters of the internal arts couldn't approach due to the overwhelming demonic energy. It couldn't possibly be an ordinary fox.
However...
‘...Hmm.’
A pleased smile spread across Seo Ryang's tense face.
‘It's cute, though.’
It was a fox, but a fox cub.
It was curled into a ball, its chin resting on its front paws as it slept, looking utterly adorable. Its small nose and snout made you want to give them a gentle bite, and its ears, large for a fox, were as fine as silk.
Its fur was a lustrous gold. The fluffy tail was even bigger than its body.
‘Whoa...’
Enchanting, truly enchanting.
The more he looked, the wider his smile grew. He felt dizzy, and his hands tingled with the urge to reach out. If not for the patience of an assassin, he might have impulsively swept it into a hug.
‘Is it even legal for a demonic beast to be this cute?’
Its very existence was a form of self-defense. No matter what heinous acts this little cub committed, no one would ever be able to bring themselves to even flick its forehead.
Why? Because it was just too cute.
Forgetting his situation, Seo Ryang, who had been busy admiring the fox, suddenly paused.
‘A fox? A demonic beast?’
What kind of fox spirits were mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas?
‘...I have no idea.’
He'd never actually read the Classic of Mountains and Seas seriously.
Still, he'd heard things.
‘It couldn't be a nine-tailed fox, could it?’
The nine-tailed fox spirit said to live on Mount Cheonggu. It was such a famous creature that it came to mind instantly, even without knowledge of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Seo Ryang glanced at the fox's tail.
‘Nope. Just one.’
Besides, it was too cute to be a nine-tailed fox. From what he'd heard, a nine-tailed fox's beauty was so celestial that it was shrouded in a demonic aura.
This little cub was different. Far from having a demonic aura, it barely gave off the spiritual energy common to demonic beasts.
Staring blankly at the cub, Seo Ryang slapped his own cheeks.
‘Damn it, this is no time for this.’
A shame, but I should get going.
As he turned away, Seo Ryang immediately looked back, stealing another glance at the cub. He wanted to leave, but he couldn't take his eyes off it. It seemed he was well and truly captivated.
‘Tch, if it's still sleeping when I get back, I'll try waking it up.’
Finally managing to push down his reluctance, Seo Ryang started walking again.
But.
“...Huh?”
Seo Ryang was bewildered.
“What is this? The end?”
Except for the path he'd entered from, every direction was blocked by bamboo. The stalks were thicker than any he had ever seen, planted densely together.
‘I reached the end of the deep region in that short time? Does that even make sense?’
He looked around.
‘It's smaller than I thought. Or did I take a wrong turn?’
After looking around for a while, he closed his eyes and awakened his senses to the flow of energy.
*Wooooong.*
His fists clenched on their own.
‘That's it! This is the energy! The spiritual energy here is the densest!’
He'd finally found it.
‘This is a bit anticlimactic.’
Unsure of what kind of monstrous demonic beast he might encounter, he had even brought *jetakcho* herbs and the leaves of *gulsongcha* tea. The herbs were for concealment, and the strongly scented tea leaves were perfect for deceiving demonic beasts with sensitive noses.
Somehow, it feels like a letdown...
Opening his eyes, Seo Ryang ran his hand over the surrounding bamboo stalks.
‘Hah!’
A look of astonishment crossed Seo Ryang's face.
‘Incredible.’
The spiritual energy was truly terrifying. All the bamboo he had harvested, purified, and consumed until now couldn't compare to a single one of these stalks.
And this place was packed with them.
‘If I could purify and absorb just three of these...’
He gulped without realizing it.
‘In terms of internal energy alone, I'd be undeniably the strongest.’
Of course, he wasn't yet at a level where he could handle such immense energy. No, even in his body as the King of Slaughter, absorbing two would have been difficult.
Gazing at the bamboo with longing eyes, Seo Ryang sighed.
‘Three? Don't be greedy. I'll be lucky if I can even manage to take one.’
They were just too thick. It wasn't just the weight; their size made it impossible to carry more than one.
“Well, what can you do? Getting even one of these is a stroke of heavenly luck, isn't it?”
What made the spiritual bamboo here truly amazing wasn't the quantity of its energy, but its quality.
It was an energy filled with pure sanctity. While demonic energy was fundamentally opposed to pure divine energy, there could be no better raw material for demonic arts than this spiritual bamboo.
Moreover, the Shadow Demon Arts still retained a significant portion of Buddhist martial arts principles. Depending on how he guided the true energy, he could surely obtain far more of it than an ordinary demonic practitioner.
Seo Ryang grinned.
“Alright. Mission accomplished.”
Just a little... a tiny little bit...
‘Man, this is a real shame.’
The amount of internal energy doesn't determine one's skill level. But if the body is prepared to accept it, there's no harm in having more. For a supreme master with the enlightenment of one of the Ten Greats, the applications would be endless.
Furthermore, spiritual energy is immensely helpful in developing the upper dantian, the mind. One could, in a short time, gain the kind of miraculous upper dantian abilities that enlightened monks might take sixty years to cultivate.
‘Too much of a good thing is bad. I'll just take one. The Cult doesn't harvest more than necessary either, right?’
Smacking his lips in regret, Seo Ryang suddenly looked down at the ground.
‘Huh?’
A small bamboo shoot was protruding from the earth.
He glanced around.
‘This is the only shoot here?’
Hmm...
*Snap!*
He plucked the bamboo shoot, root and all, and shook off the dirt.
At the same time.
*Flash!*
The fox cub's eyes opened.
A brilliant, five-colored light shone from them. The cute fox Seo Ryang had seen was gone. In its place was a gaze that was incredibly mystical, yet eerily bizarre.
*Ssssk.*
Slowly rising to its feet, the fox cub stared at Seo Ryang.
*Flash, flash!*
The emotionless, five-colored light in its eyes flickered repeatedly.
Normally, the perceptive Seo Ryang would never have failed to notice, but he was too busy cleaning the bamboo shoot.
After examining the shoot for a moment, Seo Ryang's eyes widened.
“Whoa, what is this?!”
The spiritual energy is incredibly pure.
The quantity isn't much. At most, a little more than the shoots commonly found near his dwelling?
But the quality of the spiritual energy was higher than any of the bamboo stalks in the deep region, and it was as pure as fresh water. It was like the very core of radiant, pure spiritual energy.
‘Isn't this basically a pure essence?’
As a spiritual medicine, it's on the level of Azure Rock Milk.
I heard it takes a hundred years to form a single drop, or was it a thousand?
‘It's so pure, I won't even need to use the purification technique.’
*Crunch!*
Seo Ryang bit into the bamboo shoot.
He expected it to be tough, but it turned mushy the moment his teeth touched it. As he chewed the soft piece, it liquefied and slid down his throat.
“Ah! The aroma is unbelieva... huh?”
Seo Ryang tilted his head.
‘What? Why is there no reaction?’
The liquefied bamboo shoot went down smoothly.
But he didn't feel any overflowing energy. It just made his stomach feel a little warm, as if he'd taken some good medicine.
The only other sensation was that it seemed to digest incredibly fast, becoming part of his flesh and blood almost instantly. Other than that, there was nothing particularly special.
*Crunch! Crunch! Munch, munch.*
He chewed and swallowed several more times. But still, there was no particular sensation.
“I knew it. Essence? What a load of crap. As if a guy who used up all his luck in his past life would get another heavenly windfall.”
*Shing.*
Seo Ryang drew his saber while finishing off the bamboo shoot.
His Shadow Body technique had long since been released, and a powerful demonic energy was rising from his entire body.
Grumbling incessantly, he was clearly not his usual self.
He was completely careless. A man who was more meticulous and focused than anyone when he needed to be serious was now being incredibly reckless.
As if he had been bewitched by a demon.
And yet, the fact that he was still thinking of eating the shoot and cutting down the bamboo showed just how terrifyingly strong his sense of purpose was.
*Wooooong.*
A reddish aura gathered on the saber in his hand. The demonic energy of the Shadow Demon Arts was so concentrated it had become visible.
Seo Ryang swung the saber carelessly.
*Claaang!*
“...Huh?”
What? Why won't it cut?
Glancing back and forth between his saber and the bamboo, he tossed the rest of the shoot into his mouth and gripped the saber with both hands. Then, he swung again.
“Hah!”
*Thwack!*
“...”
Seo Ryang's eyes bulged.
The saber, fully imbued with demonic energy, was only embedded in the surface. A strike that could have split a large rock had merely chipped the bamboo's outer layer.
“Look at this. So it really is different, huh?”
*Shunk!*
Pulling out the saber, Seo Ryang closed his eyes.
He aimed the saber in a middle stance.
*Chiiiiik!*
A translucent red energy had gathered on the blade. It was an energy that held two contradictory feelings at once: sticky and dark like blood, yet bright and brilliant like a flame.
An ultimate ability that could only be manifested upon reaching the state of Body and Sword as One.
Mind Follows the Sword, Sword Qi Injures Man. A powerful saber energy was swirling within the blade.
A glint appeared in Seo Ryang's eyes.
‘Moon Sever.’
*Flash!*
A streak of red light cut through the air.
*Srrrrk.*
The bamboo, cut at its base, slowly began to tilt.
*Kuuuuung!!*
The ground shook.
He knew it would be heavy given its unusual thickness and length, but this was beyond imagination. He might have to drag it instead of carrying it.
Sheathing his saber, Seo Ryang squatted in front of the fallen bamboo and tapped its surface.
“You could probably use this as a weapon. Just how concentrated does spiritual energy have to be to turn a mere bamboo stalk into steel? Truly amazing...”
*Nibble, nibble. Lick, lick.*
“Huh?”
What's this? This familiar sound accompanied by a stinging pain.
Seo Ryang looked down at his left hand.
“...Huh?”
*Lick, lick. Nibble, nibble.*
The fox cub was wagging its tail, gnawing on his finger.
Not only that, it was licking the blood that trickled down his hand with a look of pure bliss.
The fine aroma of the bamboo shoot that had lingered on his hand was long gone, replaced by the metallic smell of blood.
*Flinch.*
Sensing his gaze, the fox cub looked up.
Seo Ryang's and the cub's eyes met in midair, sparks flying.
A moment later.
“Aaaahhh!!”
“Yelp!”
Tumbling backward, Seo Ryang quickly righted himself and drew his saber.
It was a bit of an overreaction, but the aura that erupted as he drew his saber was formidable. His sharpness had intensified to a terrifying degree while his killing intent had noticeably diminished—an instinctive response.
“Whimper...”
The fox cub faltered, backing away.
It looked so pathetic, lowering its head and shuffling backward, that Seo Ryang felt embarrassed for having drawn his saber so hastily.
“Huh? But you?”
...
“What? When did you wake up?”
The fox, of course, couldn't answer. It kept lowering its body as it retreated, eventually flopping down completely and resting its chin on its paws to look up at Seo Ryang.
It was an utterly pitiful pose. Seo Ryang scratched his head.
“You were sleeping so soundly in this dangerous place, so why the subservient posture now?”
*Swish, swish.*
Its large tail swayed back and forth.
Considering foxes are canids, it didn't seem to be scared. Roughly guessing, it was...
‘Hurt?’
Seo Ryang chuckled.
“Don't be ridiculous.”
*Shing.*
Sheathing his saber again, he lifted the bamboo stalk. In any case, he didn't sense any killing intent or the primal ferocity typical of a beast from the fox. His hypersenses confirmed it, so he was confident it wouldn't attack.
Then again, it's not like it would hurt even if that tiny thing did attack.
Seo Ryang shook his left hand.
“Ugh, that hurts. It's the size of a mouse dropping, but its jaw strength could put a tiger to shame.”
*Hnngh.*
He lifted the bamboo. He thought he'd have to drag it, but somehow he managed to hoist it onto his shoulder.
Seo Ryang hummed as he walked, the bamboo on his shoulder.
A moment later.
“...Why are you following me?”
When Seo Ryang stopped, the little fox that had been trotting behind him placed its front paws on his thigh and wagged its tail. Then it blinked its large, clear eyes.
‘...’
It really was ridiculously cute.
Seo Ryang waved his hand.
“Shoo, shoo. Go back to the wild.”
How long had he walked like that?
“...”
The fox cub once again placed its paws on his thigh. Blinking its bead-like eyes and twitching its nose, it looked as if it had something to say.
Seo Ryang scratched his cheek.
“Well, it doesn't seem dangerous. It'll probably wander off on its own.”
Thinking nothing of it, he headed back the way he came. The spiritual bamboo harvest had gone much more smoothly than expected, and his steps were light.
And the little fox trotted along behind him.
As it watched Seo Ryang's back, a five-colored glint flickered for a moment in the fox cub's dark eyes.