A Twisted Reunion
Jekyeong realized too late that he had failed to control his strength. Regret flickered through him, but it was fleeting. His gaze barely brushed against a towering black silhouette in the far distance, rising like a steeple. It still felt incredibly far away, but now he could see it at any time without having to wait for the darkness to lift. Compared to when he had first spotted it, he was undeniably closer.
How much further do I have to go? Ten days? A fortnight? It was impossible to gauge. He could feel his senses—his perception of time, his sense of direction—gradually growing dull. Not only that, but his emotions also fluctuated wildly at times. If not for the Spirit Wine, Jekyeong would have reverted to his true form long ago.
It isn't that far. Besides, at least the direction is clear. Soothing his anxious, impatient mind, Jekyeong leaped forward once more. His movements as he kicked off the ground grew progressively stronger and rougher, though he himself remained entirely unaware of it.
Crunch! Advancing without hesitation, Jekyeong suddenly spotted something and ground to a halt. His forward foot dug deep into the rugged, uneven rock.
"You..." What had caught Jekyeong's eye and stopped him in his tracks was a man soaking in a puddle the size of a small pond. Jekyeong remembered him. Though his memories had grown somewhat hazy since arriving here, seeing the man's face brought his name naturally to mind.
"Jo Baek." Hearing his name, the man—Jo Baek—raised his head. Until Jekyeong called out, Jo Baek had kept his back turned, his head bowed low, even though he must have clearly sensed Jekyeong's arrival.
"What are you doing here?" Jekyeong asked, his voice low and heavy. His mind, which had been somewhat sluggish for some time, instantly regained its usual sharpness. Jekyeong's gaze drifted to the puddle Jo Baek was soaking in. A foul stench wafted from it—the exact same stench as the monsters that had been relentlessly plaguing him.
"I am soothing my mind," Jo Baek replied calmly, in stark contrast to Jekyeong's tense gravity. However, his voice was grating, sounding as if it were choked with phlegm, and it dragged out in a bizarre, unnatural cadence.
"And Fellow Daoist Gwak? Have you not seen her?"
"Of course I have. She is right here. Can you not see her?" Jo Baek turned his head. Only then did Jekyeong get a clear look at his face, and his fists clenched reflexively. The sockets where his eyes should have been were hollow, and his skin was a boiling mess of deep pits and swollen, pulsating lumps.
"You..."
"She is... dead. She overexerted herself... to save me..." Jo Baek's voice trailed off in broken fragments. Just as Jekyeong frowned and opened his mouth to speak, Jo Baek began to stand. His lower half, previously concealed by the puddle, was not that of a human. As Jo Baek rose, the puddle shrank, and he towered higher and higher into the air.
Jekyeong sighed deeply as he looked up at Jo Baek, who was now looking down at him from far above. "We shouldn't have come here," Jekyeong muttered. "If we hadn't..."
If possible, Jekyeong wanted to leave Jo Baek—who had completely lost his mind and looked to be in terrible shape—behind and go on his way. But the moment he took a single step, hundreds, thousands of eyes manifested across Jo Baek's massive, elongated lower body, all staring directly at him. Jekyeong immediately abandoned any such naive hopes.
Has he fallen into deviation? The physical mutation itself wasn't surprising. While such extreme deformation was rare, the cultivation world was rife with all kinds of bizarre phenomena, so it wasn't entirely incomprehensible. However, the way he hung there, limp and utterly vacant, was a different story. Jo Baek wasn't some common cultivator; he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and a mature Middle Stage one at that. Seeing someone of his caliber stammering as if his soul had been completely shattered made Jekyeong suspect he had succumbed to Qi Deviation. Although he couldn't sense any Demon Qi... the ominous aura radiating from Jo Baek was far more intense than that of the Demon Humans he had encountered back in Jimagwon.
"You claim Gwak Yeon died trying to save you?" Jekyeong asked, taking slow, deliberate steps toward Jo Baek. Yet, a part of him found it hard to believe. Was Gwak Yeon really that naive? She certainly seemed to harbor feelings for Jo Baek, but was she truly the type to throw her life away for him? Of course, Jekyeong didn't know Gwak Yeon well. He had only exchanged a few words with her, none of which were personal. Still, it was hard to believe that a woman who had tasted both the sweetness and bitterness of the cultivation world for centuries possessed such pure, self-sacrificing devotion.
"Yes. Because of... because of me..." Jo Baek murmured, his voice thick with weeping. But Jekyeong had no interest in his self-pitying laments.
"So, do you intend to block my path? If your life was saved with such difficulty, shouldn't you cherish it?"
Pop! Pop, pop! Hundreds of eyes of various sizes covering Jo Baek's lower body burst simultaneously. A tempest of killing intent erupted, shredding the gloomy aura that swirled around him. At the same time, a spark of light returned to Jo Baek's vacant, unfocused pupils. But what that light brought was not reason, but raw, unbridled fury.
"If... if not for you all, we would never have come here! If we hadn't, Junior Sister Gwak would..."
"Madman," Jekyeong sneered coldly as he leaped into the air. His fist tore through the wind, aiming straight for Jo Baek's head. "Cut the nonsense and go join Gwak Yeon."
Boom! Jo Baek's fury-contorted face shattered instantly under the blow. Yet, the body beneath his ruined head did not budge an inch, nor did a single drop of blood spill.
"Ignorant, brutal Beast Race trash," Jo Baek's chest split wide open, morphing into a massive, gaping maw. "A dragon lord? A dragon? No, you are nothing. You are merely an incompetent serpent blinded by greed. You will be buried here, reduced to absolutely nothing."
The burst eyes on his lower body wriggled, burrowing back into his flesh, and Jo Baek's entire frame rippled violently. "You came seeking a miraculous opportunity, didn't you? Do you truly believe you can reach the Core Formation stage and become a real dragon? It is impossible. You know this yourself, don't you?" Jo Baek let out a sinister laugh as he lunged forward. The puddle he had been soaking in was gone. The puddle itself had been a part of him all along.
Jekyeong's fist struck Jo Baek once more. Bypassing the already destroyed head, he aimed for the chest where the new mouth had formed. Once again, his strike shattered his target with pinpoint accuracy.
Thud! Jo Baek's body burst into pieces. Not only the torso Jekyeong had targeted, but even his lower body shattered and scattered. Bloodless chunks of flesh rained down. Jekyeong watched as the flesh dissolved into the ground the instant it touched the earth.
"It seems you don't like me very much." Hideous eyes and mouths sprouted across every inch of ground Jekyeong looked at. Some eyes were closed, some were open but vacant, and others stared at Jekyeong with a chaotic mix of emotions. The mouths were no different. Some resembled those of beasts, others those of the Human Race, but they all did nothing but gape silently like fish.
"Do you find me repulsive?" Jekyeong threw a punch and lunged toward the direction of Jo Baek's voice. Every time Jo Baek uttered a word, a mouth vanished and the ground cracked, but Jo Baek paid it no mind, continuing his mockery through a different mouth each time. In response, Jekyeong mechanically threw punches at whichever mouth was babbling. Though barely enough time to drink a cup of tea had passed since their encounter, the entire area had already been reduced to utter ruin.
Boom! Jekyeong smashed another mouth with a single punch. At that exact moment, something long and slender shot up rapidly from the cracked, gouged earth toward him. Reflexively, Jekyeong swung the edge of his hand to sever it. Before his hand-blade, which could rival the sharpness of a Dharma Treasure, the object was sliced through like a sheet of paper.
Slash! The moment it was cut in half, it unfurled like a wide cloth, attempting to swallow Jekyeong whole. Frowning, Jekyeong threw a rapid succession of punches, but this time, his strikes proved useless. It felt like punching water. The entity rippled and broke apart momentarily, but in the very next second, it reformed and continued its attempt to envelop him.
Whoosh! Unable to contain himself any longer, Jekyeong's eyes burned crimson. Flames erupted from his entire body, violently repelling the mass that had nearly swallowed him. Yes—incredibly, Jekyeong's fire failed to burn it. His Yokai Fire, which could melt solid rock, had barely managed to push his opponent back this time. A layer of deep caution settled into Jekyeong's reddened eyes.
What is this? Jekyeong glared at the thing—resembling a tentacle or perhaps a tongue—as it seeped back into the earth.
"I am you, and you are me. Not yet, but soon we will be. And we will be buried here for thousands of years—no, for eternity." Jo Baek's voice grew even more sinister.
"Delude yourself all you want, but I've heard enough of your nonsense." Since the Yokai Fire he had unleashed with great resolve had yielded disappointing results, Jekyeong immediately hardened his heart. Now was a time for boldness, not caution.
Thump! Jekyeong stamped his foot with immense force. The ground caved in, and web-like fissures spiderwebbed outward from him. At that, Jo Baek—or rather, the part of him that had seeped into the earth—wriggled in response. Right at that moment, a crimson light flared from Jekyeong's eyes. Simultaneously, a red glow—no, a torrent of flames—surged from the cracks in the ground.
Roar! Pillars of fire erupted, painting a splash of crimson onto the sky that had been as black as spilled ink. Though it was merely a tiny speck of color on a vast canvas, a few cultivators who had their senses fully strained immediately detected this subtle shift. Jekyeong was well aware that this display of power might draw the attention of others, but he couldn't care less right now. His entire focus was locked onto Jo Baek.
Wherever his gaze fell, a wave of fire consumed the land. His Yokai Fire could block and repel Jo Baek's bizarre techniques. While it lacked the sheer power to incinerate them completely, it could still affect them.
"You cunning rat. All you know how to do is hide, and every word out of your mouth is nothing but nonsense born of jealousy."
"Nonsense born of jealousy?" Jo Baek, who had remained silent at the previous insult, reacted instantly to the latter.