Chapter 227: Supreme Peak
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 227: Supreme Peak
The Heavenly Demon!
Even people who don't know much about martial arts novels have probably heard the name.
The virtual god worshipped by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the strongest demon to ever stand above the heavens.
These days, it seems he’s into streaming, growing medicinal herbs, and climbing towers, which is probably a testament to just how famous the Heavenly Demon is.
So, naturally, I was startled when his name came up.
Wow, so you know the Heavenly Demon!
…There was that, but it was also because of where I was standing.
This was the 100,000 Great Mountains.
And the 100,000 Great Mountains is the home base of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
The scattered, meaningless puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place.
“Originally, Jin-ryong, Gomodo, and the Heavenly Demon were said to have been like brothers. My father and Gomodo shared the same bloodline, while the human, the Heavenly Demon, was taken in by my grandfather.”
Now a grandfather was being thrown into the mix.
As the father of a spirit beast, he must have been a spirit beast himself. To think he took in a human.
“As for my grandfather… it’s a story from such a distant past that even I have only heard it passed down. And since I heard it from my father, it’s not the most reliable tale.”
Although she spoke of Jin-ryong with formal respect, it didn’t seem like she was particularly fond of him.
If I had to guess, she seemed to be more on Gomodo’s side, so perhaps it was only natural.
The bloodline of Jin-ryong and Gomodo wasn’t the important part of the story.
They were both living creatures, so of course they had a father.
She said it was from a time long past, so there was no need to know who he was.
It was a story that didn't matter whether I knew it or not.
“Even that story only mentions that he was once called a tyrant.”
A tyrant.
I wondered what kind of spirit beast he was to be called that.
“That’s why my father couldn’t help but be even more jealous of the Heavenly Demon. A mere human, who received the tyrant’s teachings, had surpassed him.”
A little more detail was added to the story I’d heard earlier.
While I was beginning to understand, there was still so much that made no sense.
Hadn’t he, while suffering from such an inferiority complex, done something similar to his own son?
I wasn’t sympathizing with Gongbok, but a similar pattern was being passed down through the generations.
“After the war ended, the spirit beasts who sided with my father stayed in Kunlun. The humans call them sacred Divine Beasts and offer them tribute every year, but in truth, they were the ones who led the charge in slaughtering humans.”
Kunlun.
If you were to pick the most mysterious and sacred mountain in all of Murim, everyone would choose Kunlun.
It was a place where tales of gods and immortals were said to reside. Even I knew this much, so what must the people here think?
A dragon with white scales resided in Kunlun; how could they not call it a Divine Beast?
When such a dragon had stood against the being known as the Heavenly Demon and a dragon with black scales, how could they not deify him?
Naturally, Gomodo would become a ferocious beast that slaughtered humans, and the Heavenly Demon, who harbored killing intent toward Jin-ryong, would become an evil man.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would become a group that worshipped such evil, and the 100,000 Great Mountains would become the source of that evil.
He had played his hand brilliantly. It was almost breathtaking.
“It’s a ridiculous story, isn’t it? To think my father, who also originated from these 100,000 Great Mountains, would call this place the source of all evil.”
It seemed Jin-ryong was also from the 100,000 Great Mountains.
The place where Jin-ryong was born was the 100,000 Great Mountains.
The place where those who served the Heavenly Demon gathered was also the 100,000 Great Mountains, and scattered throughout this land were stone tablets said to have been inscribed by the Heavenly Demon himself.
“Originally, the 100,000 Great Mountains was a place where countless spirit beasts gathered and lived for thousands of years, no… for a length of time I dare not even measure.”
In the first place, the origin of all spirit beasts was right here in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
Jin-ryong had simply taken the spirit beasts that followed him and flocked to Mount Kunlun.
In fact, I think it was closer to Gomodo and the Heavenly Demon having driven him out.
If Jin-ryong had truly been victorious, a group like the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult wouldn't exist.
He would have just breathed fire a few times and wiped them all out.
Because he couldn't do that, he moved his base of operations and branded Gomodo and the Heavenly Demon as evil.
I could tell that Jin-ryong was hostile toward Gomodo and the Heavenly Demon.
So, what was the relationship between Gomodo and the Heavenly Demon?
Even Tang Soyeong knew I was Gomodo, yet strangely, the people of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult didn't recognize me.
Of course, that Tang girl had been insisting I was Gomodo since I was a crocodile monitor, so one could argue she just took a wild guess and happened to be right.
But hadn't even a Third-Rate martial artist, Jang Bong, called me Gomodo?
Yet neither my Master nor Baek Seol-hwa, who claimed to be a Priestess, showed any particular reaction upon seeing me.
Could it be that the story of Gomodo was never passed down?
Or perhaps Gomodo and the Heavenly Demon weren't that close.
…No, that’s not it.
Come to think of it, my Master told me to look for traces of Jin-ryong.
She said that if I kept getting stronger, I would eventually reach it.
If I take her words at face value, it means that even the current Heavenly Demon Divine Cult doesn't know the truth.
Thinking about it, it might be obvious.
Did the Heavenly Demon establish the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult himself?
The name "Heavenly Demon" was a derogatory term coined by Jin-ryong, and no matter how outstanding a person was, they wouldn't think to have others worship them as a god.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult must have been a group created by people who admired the Heavenly Demon.
Naturally, since the Heavenly Demon didn't establish it himself, they couldn't possibly know the truth of that day.
Thinking of it that way, it makes sense.
“It would not be a wise choice to speak of the story I have shared with you today to outsiders. It might be different once you have fully matured, Hero Go, but if a story like this were to spread, my father might come to the 100,000 Great Mountains himself.”
Or perhaps only a very small number of people knew.
Jin-ryong had gone to great lengths to create this situation. If a faction suddenly appeared trying to expose the truth of that day, he would surely lift his heavy rear and take action.
If not, he could just send a few of his subordinate spirit beasts to lay waste to the place.
Since Jin-ryong was the king of public opinion, he could even rally the humans, claiming it was the will of the heavens.
I should probably keep my mouth shut for the time being.
Of course, she said not to tell outsiders, so telling the cultists should be fine.
The Snake Queen isn't an outsider either.
And since I'm supposed to treat my Master like a parent, she wouldn't be an outsider either.
“Public perception is one thing, but most of the spirit beasts here also perceive Gomodo as an ominous being. It might be natural for spirit beasts to feel fear. Regardless of his purpose, it is a fact that he killed thousands of spirit beasts with his glowing eyes.”
So even spirit beasts who didn't side with Jin-ryong feared Gomodo.
Honestly, without any information, anyone would think of Gomodo as just a slaughterer who went around killing thousands of spirit beasts with flashing eyes.
“And… he wasn’t exactly a kind-hearted individual, either.”
For Chodo, who could be called a Gomodo admirer, to say this much, his personality must have been quite terrible.
“He was a spirit beast they called an eccentric. So fierce in battle, yet so gentle when with humans. When he was held in the arms of women with enormous chests, he was truly like a child… Tsk, all that fuss over a mere lump of fat…”
As she spoke, Chodo glanced down at her own chest.
I wondered why she was so obsessed with the Plumpness Pill. So, the previous Gomodo liked women with large breasts.
Seriously, what kind of spirit beast acts like that?
A divine beast should maintain some dignity.
I don't get it.
I'd better not turn out like that.
Chodo looked at me with a slightly coy expression.
“…Do you know why I have told you such a story?”
The tale Chodo had shared with me was incredibly valuable.
For one, it served as a milestone for me, who had no clue what the Five Elements or the martial realms even were.
The information about Jin-ryong's true nature and the previous Gomodo was a bonus.
But the ripple effect of that story was no small matter.
As Chodo said earlier, if it got out, I would be in for a world of trouble.
From Chodo's perspective, she could have hidden such details without any issue, yet she told me almost everything.
“You have a nostalgic scent about you, Hero. Of course, since you are his descendant, that may not be so strange, but… something is different.”
The earth dragon with black scales.
If that was the previous Gomodo, it wouldn't be strange for her to be reminded of him when she saw me.
The status window called me Gomodo, after all.
“It feels as if Gomodo himself has truly returned to this place, as if I might finally hear the answer I could no longer hear.”
An answer she could no longer hear.
It seemed Chodo was superimposing the previous Gomodo onto me.
To ask the question she could never ask him, she was telling me information that might have been otherwise useless.
I wouldn't be able to grant her wish.
Because I wasn't the previous Gomodo.
But I could give her an answer.
I waited for her question.
“…How is it?”
Chodo looked down at her own chest.
How is what?
Her face was flushed, and her body trembled slightly.
As if she had done something embarrassing.
Could she possibly mean for me to look at her chest?
“My apologies. That was too vulgar a request…”
Since she asked, I decided to take a look.
…Hmm, they’re large breasts.
But that was it.
Unlike usual, I felt nothing.
Why?
Why am I not thinking anything…
It was at that moment.
Something flashed through my mind, like a blow to the head.
I knew instinctively.
I had to seize this moment.
I immediately sat cross-legged and closed my eyes.
To chase after what had just passed.
This damn body was supposed to go crazy at the sight of breasts.
I had even felt as if some force was holding me captive, something I couldn't resist on my own.
It's not like a man would hate breasts, but my case was severe.
I wasn't like this before I was reborn in this body.
So why wasn't I moved by the sight of them?
Seeing something so large, why…
They are certainly bountiful.
Yet, they are lacking.
Like the front and back of a coin, they are complete opposites.
How can they coexist?
They are undeniably large breasts.
But am I moved?
No.
I am not moved.
Then does that mean they are lacking?
No, they are not lacking.
Then why is this so?
Must a coin be divided into a front and a back?
If it remains on its back, does the front not exist?
Then what of its side?
A single bolt of lightning struck within my mind.
What are the Five Elements?
Why is it that a single tree, which I thought of as Wood, contains Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water all at once?
In the first place, all of creation cannot be defined by a single thing.
A storm raged in my mind.
The bigger, the better.
I believed it was better the bigger it was.
I was satisfied with that, thinking it an immutable truth.
That's why I never thought to look higher.
But now that I've gained a new enlightenment…
It was time to reach for what lay beyond.
Is small bad and large good?
How could I desire breasts with such a mindset?
Large and small are relative, coexisting with one another.
Reaching the summit is called the Peak.
So, if one is not satisfied with the summit and reaches for the sky…
Only then can it be called Supreme Peak.
Crackle.
In my left hand, thunder.
Whoosh.
In my right, a storm.
The power of Wood is the power that gives birth to life.
Therefore, thunder and storms must correspond to Wood.
I stretched out my hands.
To reach the heavens.
[‘Eye of the Wild’ has evolved into ‘Dragon Eye’.]
The status window blessed me as if to congratulate me on achieving a new realm.
Squish.
Moreover, I didn't just reach out my hand; I touched the sky itself. This wasn't just Supreme Peak, but something even greater…
“I-I didn't say you could touch them!”
Huh?