Return and Negotiation
Rumble—!
An endless tide of darkness poured out. From within the gloom, pale, misty shapes began to drift out one by one, looking even fainter than the illusions in the air. At first, Jekyeong assumed they were merely part of the illusions. He only narrowed his eyes slightly, not paying them much mind. However, the moment the "gazes" of those entities drifting from the Void Rift locked onto him simultaneously, as if by prior agreement, he realized they were no longer mere illusions.
"Aaaah!"
They unleashed hideous shrieks and lunged toward Jekyeong. As they flew, the pale, smoke-like masses began to take on vague, distinct shapes. Some resembled skulls, others the grotesque heads of beasts, and some were so bizarre they defied description. Jekyeong felt an extreme sense of foreignness and a significant threat from them.
So, it was them.
He realized that the threat he had sensed ever since he first set foot in this place had originated from these very entities.
Whoosh!
He had many questions—what these things were, and why they harbored such hostility toward him—but he did not hesitate to act. Flames condensed from his massive Monster Power swept forward, instantly engulfing the incoming monstrosities. Ghastly screams and the sounds of tearing and shattering echoed in rapid succession. Simultaneously, the "battlefields" that had been endlessly repeating all around began to fade one by one, and the dormant Spiritual Vein vibrated as an immense power awakened. Sensing this, Jekyeong sharply raised his eyes.
He stopped breathing fire and extended his right hand. Beneath his curved fingers and hook-like talons, a small orb materialized. It glowed with a pale red light, flickering constantly as if it had no fixed shape. This was his Core—the Fire Dragon Pearl. It was the crystallization of his spiritual nature, or rather, his spiritual nature itself.
"Roaaar!"
A dragon's roar erupted. As the Fire Dragon Pearl endlessly bolstered his strength, a thick draconic aura infused his fierce cry. Boom—! A tempest raged around the howling Black Flood Dragon. A storm of destructive flames swept through, incinerating everything in its path.
The Fire Dragon Pearl in his grasp absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth with a wild, almost rabid ferocity, granting Jekyeong the purest Monster Power. Empowered by this bottomless well of energy, Jekyeong endlessly incinerated the ghost-like entities pouring from the Void Rift. Though a few managed to evade or break through the surging flames to draw close, they were instantly erased without a trace by the Flame King Whip that wrapped around Jekyeong's body like armor.
Days, perhaps even weeks, passed in this manner. Though he had lost all track of time, Jekyeong remained brimming with energy, and the mysterious specters continued to emerge from beyond the Void Rift.
This is strange.
Jekyeong was seized by a bizarre sensation. An endless fighting spirit welled up within him, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth felt more familiar than ever before. It was as if the energy had become one with him, permeating his soul, body, and the Fire Dragon Pearl, transforming directly into his own power.
Crunch! Crackle!
A monster that seemed to belong to an entirely different species than the ones he had fought so far squeezed through the rift. Though it was similarly hazy and ghost-like, the hostility radiating from it was incomparably vivid.
Boom!
A fireball larger than the rift itself slammed into the monster before it could even fully cross over. The creature, now even fainter, thrashed about with a savage shriek, desperately trying to scramble out of the rift.
Naturally, Jekyeong had no intention of letting it escape. He closed the distance instantly, looming right before the monster's face, and bared his fangs. Slam! His other hand—the one not holding the Fire Dragon Pearl—clutched the monster's head with flame-wreathed, hook-like talons. At the same time, surging flames of highly condensed Yokai Fire enveloped the creature.
Whoosh!
The monster thrashed violently, but Jekyeong's iron grip did not budge. As the creature's body, which had been flickering between solid and translucent, finally vanished completely, Jekyeong stopped breathing fire and backed away from the rift. Inadvertently, his gaze drifted toward the rift, peering into the swirling darkness beyond.
"Ugh!"
In that single instant, Jekyeong, who had stared beyond the rift as if possessed, squeezed his eyes shut. Blood poured from his swollen eyes, which felt as though they were about to burst.
"Cough!"
The agony that began in his eyes rapidly spread throughout his entire body. He shuddered to think what would have happened had he been even a fraction of a second slower to close his eyes.
What was that?
In that fleeting moment when he peered beyond the rift, he had definitely seen something. Yet, he could not recall what it was. It was as if a thick fog had rolled over his memory of that brief instant.
No, that's not it.
Jekyeong quickly realized the truth. It wasn't that his memory was faulty. Rather, his own instincts had refused to recall it in order to protect his mind. Furthermore, there had been another source of help besides his instincts—a strangely familiar spiritual energy, something akin to a fighting spirit that bolstered his heart. An inexplicable force had shielded his eyes and shrouded his memory.
"Grrr."
Though the dizzying pain racked his body and prevented him from even opening his eyes, Jekyeong did not forget his duty. Even without his physical sight, his Divine Sense remained perfectly intact, allowing him to perceive the rifts and the mysterious monsters slipping through them without any trouble.
Boom—!
The Fire Dragon Pearl blazed, and a scorching gale swept out. It was closer to an indiscriminate release of raw power than a calculated attack. Normally, Jekyeong despised wasting his energy in such a manner, but this situation was different. Enemies surrounded him on all sides, and with the endless influx of spiritual energy, he had no need to worry about exhausting his reserves. In fact, this was a golden opportunity. It was rare to have a chance to unleash his full power to his heart's content while remaining perfectly lucid. Just like techniques, power became more familiar the more it was used. As he clashed with the endless waves of enemies, Jekyeong felt his mastery over the path of fire and his understanding of his own power—which had grown far deeper upon reaching the Core Formation stage—deepen even further.
"Huuu."
He rampaged on and on. Though his Monster Power remained abundant, his physical body gradually began to cry out in fatigue. Even his draconic body, which was sturdier than steel, was reaching its limits, leaving Jekyeong with no idea how long he had been fighting. However, judging by the fact that the pain in his eyes—which had felt ready to burst earlier—had subsided to a manageable throb, a considerable amount of time had undoubtedly passed.
Jekyeong slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his surroundings, completely transformed into a sea of fire. The mist that had previously obscured his vision was nowhere to be found; only blazing flames met his gaze. Next, he noticed that the rifts had shrunk to a mere handful of tiny fractures. Seeing how they were steadily closing, it seemed they would soon vanish entirely on their own.
The sinister wind died down. The premonition of threat and misfortune faded as well. By the time the throbbing pain in his eyes had subsided, Jekyeong resumed his journey toward the center of the Spiritual Vein. As the spiritual energy grew increasingly dense, Jekyeong began to wonder if this was truly just a first-tier spiritual vein. At this rate, it was barely inferior to the second-tier spiritual vein of the Black Cult Palace.
This is...
Swallowing his doubts, he pressed forward until a certain sight caught his eye. Spiritual energy was swirling so intensely that it was practically visible to the naked eye. At the center of this vortex lay a tiny fragment. Because the damage was so severe, Jekyeong did not recognize what it was at first. Had his Spiritual Awareness not detected the faint trace of a Dharma Image overlapping the fragment, he might never have realized its true nature.
A core?
Though the power within it had nearly vanished, the phantom of the Dharma Image revealed that it was the Golden Core of a cultivator from the Human Race.
So the rumors were true.
Jekyeong had heard rumors that a Core Formation cultivator had perished during the great battle in the Seongya Archipelago. He had been skeptical at the time, but now it seemed at least one Golden Core cultivator had indeed fallen. Otherwise, a Golden Core would not be lying around in such a wretched state.
No wonder the spiritual energy here is so dense.
The Golden Core fragment was melting. The power contained within it was dissolving into spiritual energy and dispersing into the world. The rich spiritual energy in this area was undoubtedly due to the remains of the Golden Core, which acted like fertilizer for the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Even though it has faded drastically, a Golden Core is still a Golden Core. Yet, the fact that I couldn't sense it until I saw it with my own eyes means...
Jekyeong stared at the spiritual energy swirling violently around the Golden Core fragment. The energy flow, which he had perceived as irregular and chaotic just moments ago, now appeared in a somewhat new and unfamiliar light.
Is it reclaiming it?
Just as flesh rots to become soil, the Dharma Power condensed within the core was transforming back into spiritual energy and returning to heaven and earth. Watching this process, Jekyeong felt a faint sense of order and will. When he first realized it was a Golden Core fragment, he had contemplated taking it, but he quickly decided against it. Not only was the damage too severe for it to be of any real value, but the moment that "greed" arose, an inexplicable sense of "repulsion" washed over him, bringing with it a small realization.
Is this the Heavenly Dao? The will of heaven?
It was a minuscule yet undeniable will. Looking back, the force that had supported him when he faced the rifts and the monsters emerging from them must have also been the will of the Heavenly Dao.
Offering a carrot to encourage obedience, while using punishment to bend me to its will?
Strictly speaking, there had been no punishment—only a gentle warning. For a brief moment, Jekyeong wondered what would happen if he ignored this warning and gave in to his greed, but he chose not to take the risk. If there were a compelling reason, he wouldn't hesitate, but a mere spark of curiosity was not worth the gamble.
The Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao, huh...
Previously, he had only vaguely sensed its existence through the Qi-destined Child, but now he had directly felt and witnessed its will, however faint. Was this what they meant when they said the view changes depending on where you stand? Did reaching the Core Formation stage make a cultivator worthy of the Heavenly Dao's direct reclamation?
Jekyeong's mind grew complicated. Suddenly, the word "slave," which the illusion of So-byeok-ik-wang had mockingly spat at him earlier, echoed in his thoughts.
Jekyeong finally reached the center of the Spiritual Vein. Compared to the myriad of bizarre sights and trials he had encountered on his way here, the heart of the vein was remarkably ordinary. While the spiritual energy was abundant for a first-tier vein, it fell far short of the area where the Golden Core fragment was dissolving, and it certainly could not compare to the second-tier vein of the Black Cult Palace. However, the flow of spiritual energy was much more stable here than in the outer regions, and there were no signs of any rifts.
The only notable feature was the presence of dozens of small islets. Jekyeong surmised that these islands had originally been a single landmass, shattered into their current state by the aftermath of the great battle.