Chapter 221: Al-Yu
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 221: Al-Yu
「The Legend of 14 vs. 1」
You have successfully survived despite being jointly attacked by 14 individuals.
When facing multiple opponents, you will be able to exert even greater strength.
Aha.
Now I get it.
This must be a title I earned when I fought those intruders.
Was I fighting fourteen of them at once?
Or maybe it was given to me because of a precedent of fighting fourteen opponents.
Becoming stronger when fighting multiple enemies… it seems like a very good title.
…Fourteen?
Tus, Pus, Nephila, the Snake Queen, Whitey, Yongyong, and Tang Whatchamacallit.
Seven in total.
And from Ilang-i to Chillang-i.
Another seven.
Put them together and…
“Geeeeeeek!”
“Rest assured. Even so, I am not so shameless as to touch a sleeping lizard.”
The Snake Queen said with a satisfied expression.
You say that, but your scales are looking a little too glossy.
It really looks like you just had an invigorating meal.
“In any case, the holy relic prevented us from crossing the line, so do not worry. If we truly intended to… who knows how many full moons would have to pass…”
The Snake Queen’s words were terrifying.
I hugged the necklace tightly.
Nothing really happened, right?
Right.
No matter how much of a tendency my followers have for that sort of thing, they wouldn’t go so far as to ravage a one-year-old lizard.
“Of course, we did have a hearty tasting.”
What exactly does she mean by “tasting”?
*
The great Gomodo commotion was brought to a close.
I had my suspicions, but without any hard evidence, there was nothing I could do.
And even if I did find proof, it would still be a problem.
I had a feeling I’d end up tied up in spiderwebs.
This is why I hate sharp-witted divine beasts.
I felt like they’d say something like that.
My Crisis Detection was blaring, too.
Most importantly, I couldn’t afford to waste any time.
I summoned all my followers.
Even those who weren’t followers but were involved gathered in one place.
For some reason, a lingering heat remained in my nest, so we had to move.
Truthfully, it was also because the horned beasts vehemently opposed another male entering the place they called the Love Palace.
But that was fine.
As if preparing for such an occasion, the horned beasts had built several other types of structures besides the bedroom.
Though calling them “structures” was a stretch—they felt more like large nests—they had everything we needed.
We arrived at a nest that could be called a conference room, for lack of a better term.
To make it look official, I even tried brewing some tea.
This place was overflowing with medicinal herbs, so you could basically make tea by just grabbing any random plant and boiling it.
If Baek Seol-hwa, who loves tea and snacks, heard that, she’d probably faint, but what did it matter?
At least here, no one cared about such things.
“Hehehe… brewing tea with thousand-year-old fo-ti… This is such an incredible luxury…”
Soyeong, her face like a sweet rice cake, seemed to melt with delight.
Thousand-year-old fo-ti.
I’d eaten it a few times, but it didn’t seem like a particularly rare herb.
Compared to Hwari and the snow ginseng, which shared a similar descriptor, it was probably nothing more than a slightly well-known plant.
The meeting began in earnest, and I shared all the information I had learned.
Everyone listened intently while sipping the tea before them.
“…That Namgung Yeon?”
As I spoke about Namgung Yeon’s identity, the Red Dragon chimed in.
“I knew he didn’t seem human. But Al-Yu? It sounds like the name of a beast, but it’s not familiar.”
“The same goes for me. …I think my master may have mentioned the name in passing, but it was so long ago that I cannot recall.”
The Red Dragon and the Snake Queen were relatively old.
Yet even they didn’t know much about this Al-Yu.
Did we have no choice but to wait for Gongbok to wake up?
“Al-Yu, you say?”
Tang Whatchamacallit.
No, my precious follower, Soyeong, spoke up as if she knew something.
“Gekgek.”
Do you know something?
“I may not look it, but I’m from the Sichuan Tang Clan… so I’ve read many old books. Other families are the same, but the Tang Clan is especially secretive and possesses many texts unknown to others.”
Right.
She might look like that, but she was once an important figure in the Tang Clan.
“There’s a forbidden library in the Tang Clan that even I, their precious child, was not allowed to enter.”
Do people normally call themselves a “precious child”?
I’ll let it slide for now.
“But who am I? I managed to get in anyway.”
Could this be the real reason the Tang Clan is after her?
“But the forbidden books inside weren’t all that special. The words were all faded and worn, so they were completely illegible.”
Still, it seemed like she definitely knew something.
A forbidden library of one of the Five Great Families must contain some incredible information.
“But in a corner, there was one book with text that was still somewhat readable. It even had a story about Hero Go.”
A forbidden book with a story about Gomodo!
…But didn’t even a third-rate martial artist like Jang Bong know about Gomodo?
“The name Al-Yu was also written in that book.”
I should stop doubting Tang Soyeong.
Soyeong is an honorable intermediate physician of the Gaegaek faith.
“I’ll recite what I remember.”
I listened closely to Soyeong’s words.
“Its form is like that of an ox. Its head resembles a dragon’s, and its feet have the hooves of a horse. Its cry is like that of a newborn baby, and it devours humans.”
…From the description alone, it sounds like a straight-up monster.
No wonder he used such wicked methods.
“I thought it was just a common ferocious beast, but there’s more to the story.”
More to the story?
“Al-Yu was originally a god of the heavens, but was killed by Yifu. Refusing death, six divine physicians revived it with an elixir of immortality, but it lost its former intelligence and was reduced to a mere beast.”
A god of the heavens?
“Six divine physicians… Divine physicians? I suddenly feel strange. Anyway, that’s all it says about Al-Yu.”
Something truly significant seemed to have just emerged.
I thought he was just a spirit beast mimicking a human, but a god of the heavens?
The weight of that title was immense.
But it wouldn’t be strange at all for a god to appear.
This was a world where mythical spirit beasts ran rampant, after all. A god or two was perfectly plausible.
Besides, I’d seen a god before.
The Evil God, Tai Sui.
It wasn’t its true form, of course, but I had been hit by it directly.
And I’d hit it once, too.
“Namgung Yeon was that powerful? No wonder I always had the urge to set him on fire whenever I saw him.”
Of course, Namgung Yeon probably didn’t possess that level of power himself.
If he did, why would he resort to schemes instead of acting directly?
The fact that he was reduced to a beast and walked around in human form meant something.
At the very least, he wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful like Tai Sui.
Still, discovering his true identity was a huge achievement.
After briefly considering handing over the Plumpness Pills to Soyeong, I continued the conversation.
The first priority was to deliver the information we’d learned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Namgung Yeon’s target was me, but it was highly likely he was targeting my Master as well.
He was trying to use my death to trigger my Master’s rampage.
So, I had to tell my Master this story to prepare her in advance.
If we were lucky, we might be able to put him to sleep with a single Yeon-yeong Punch, just like with Tai Sui.
“I shall be the one to contact your companion’s master. Disciples of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult are always loitering near my temple, so it will not be difficult to pass on the message. While I’m at it, I should also retrieve that attire from back then…”
The last part of her sentence was concerning, but the Snake Queen could handle contacting the cult.
It would be proper to tell my Master face-to-face, but unfortunately, I couldn’t communicate perfectly with just “gekgek” sounds.
The Snake Queen, who was acquainted with my Master and could speak fluently, was the perfect choice.
So, the matter of sharing information was settled.
The next step was to thwart Al-Yu’s schemes.
In other words, to further delay the formation of the Murim Alliance.
“I think I can handle that.”
The Red Dragon calmly raised her hand.
“The Mount Hua Sect’s visit here was an unofficial matter, you see. The abbot of Shaolin opposed it, so they only brought Mount Hua’s forces.”
She continued in a composed voice.
“Namgung Yeon will exploit that point. He’ll claim that the Sect Leader of Mount Hua died a dog’s death because Shaolin opposed the plan.”
Those Orthodox Faction bastards value justification above all else.
If word got out that one of the Nine Factions and One Union had been annihilated, even Shaolin wouldn’t be able to hold back for long.
“But what if it’s revealed that Ak Bulhwi actually did something to deserve his death?”
“Gek?”
Something to deserve death.
He did deserve to die.
He dared to try and kill my follower.
But that was our perspective.
To the people of Murim, it would sound like the Sect Leader of Mount Hua was killed by a ferocious beast in the territory of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“I’m publicly known as a member of the Mount Hua Sect, right?”
Fwoosh.
The Red Dragon conjured a flame.
Unlike the scorching flames I had seen before, this was a violet flame that carried the faint scent of plum blossoms.
“In the current situation, I’m the only one who can act as the interim Sect Leader, aren’t I?”
She smiled, the corners of her lips turning up slightly.
“If I expose the misdeeds I’ve personally collected, even the Murim Alliance won’t be able to say anything. With the Sect Leader dead, they might even try to expel Mount Hua from the Nine Factions and One Union immediately.”
If the Red Dragon stepped in, we could land a solid blow against Namgung Yeon.
If the interim Sect Leader exposed the Mount Hua Sect’s evil deeds and disbanded the sect, the Murim Alliance’s justification would vanish.
“No matter how silver-tongued he is, his official identity is just the oddball of the Namgung Clan. The successor of Mount Hua who perfectly bloomed the plum blossoms. And the disfavored child of Namgung. Whose words do you think they’ll believe?”
They would obviously believe the Red Dragon.
Of course, her plan had one problem: she would have to go to the Mount Hua Sect again.
But she wouldn’t be defeated as helplessly as before.
She was now strong enough to defeat Ak Bulhwi, who had reached the Transformation Realm.
“…I also have a personal matter to take care of. I thought I moved her to a safe place, but it seems it would be better to keep her by my side.”
I remembered what she had told me before.
Was her name Irihwa?
She had a sworn sister who served her.
Namgung Yeon might try to use her as a threat again, so it would be better to accept her as one of my followers.
This task could be entrusted to the Red Dragon.
I had grown stronger after defeating Gongbok, but the Red Dragon had become formidably strong as well.
If we were to fight again, I couldn’t be certain of victory.
Everyone’s roles were decided.
The Snake Queen would contact my Master.
The Red Dragon would return to the Mount Hua Sect and carry out her sabotage.
Baek Rang would protect my territory and train the followers.
There wasn’t a single weak link.
These were the ones I trusted most, and they were spirit beasts with power to match.
All I had to do was what I needed to do.
My task was obvious.
To head to another volcano.
To find Chodo, the youngest of the Nine Sons of the Dragon.
If I had time, I could also visit the rocky mountain that Gongbok used to rule.
It had been a while since I’d undertaken a mission alone.
Woooong.
The fox marble would be with me, but it was still just an object.
If Gongbok woke up, meeting Chodo would be much easier.
As the Heart Demon said, Chodo was also a being who wielded the energy of Wood.
I could learn how to use the power of the Dragon Gate and gain the strength to stand against Al-Yu’s schemes.
“Chodo… I’ve never seen her in person, but I’ve heard stories. She probably doesn’t have a very good personality.”
Baek Rang said worriedly.
But it was fine.
Who was I?
The one acknowledged by Gongbok.
Besides, that very same Gongbok was inside the fox marble.
Since he’s the youngest of the Nine Sons of the Dragon, he might just tremble in fear if Gongbok yells “Hey!” at him.
“But my companion, that being named Chodo… is not a female, is she?”
The Snake Queen asked, worried for a different reason.
Surely not.
It’s been a while since I’ve gone on an adventure by myself. Would I really get entangled with another female?
If that happened, I must really have a peach blossom curse.
“Hehe… one husband, a hundred million wives…”
Aish, you scared me.
The horned beasts, with lecherous looks on their faces, chattered among themselves.
“Hehe… chlorophyll… hehehe…”
Chlorophyll?
You guys know words like that?
“Hehehe… vines… bondage… hehe…”
It sounded like they were talking about something terrifying, but it probably had nothing to do with me.