A Spark in the Desolate Land
"That sounds like a viable path."
"Among the realistically feasible options, yes. At any rate, that is that. As for the other method..."
U Do-baek trailed off, hesitating. Jekyeong could tell from the prolonged silence that the elder himself lacked confidence in this second option.
"Senior, why do you hesitate?" Jekyeong said. "I know that everything you say is for my benefit. Please, speak freely."
"I appreciate you saying so, but I cannot help but hesitate. Even I have no certainty regarding this method. It was a sudden spark of inspiration that struck me after hearing your story just now."
U Do-baek fell silent for a moment, then spoke as if he had made up his mind.
"The second method is to take the fire energy of the Fire Crystal and make it your source spiritual energy."
"My source spiritual energy?"
"Yes. To put it simply, treat it as your Spiritual Root."
At these unexpected words, not only Jekyeong but also Yeo Janggyeong and Choi Ju-tang—the two Foundation Establishment cultivators—were visibly startled. U Do-baek paid no mind to their reactions and continued his explanation.
"A demon beast's cultivation, as you said, relies heavily on their bloodline. They can even cross major realms simply by awakening the power of their bloodline. No matter how vast the difference between beasts and humans is, how is such a thing possible? No matter how light one's body is, one cannot fly without wings. Even if the cultivation of beasts and humans is vastly different, there are corresponding parts in the grand scheme of things. Just as a Great Demon uses monster power and a Foundation Establishment cultivator uses dharma power."
U Do-baek's voice, hesitant at first, grew more confident as he spoke.
"Thus, I speculate that a demon beast's bloodline contains the core elements of each cultivation realm. For example, for a demon beast to cross the Great Demon barrier, they need the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. But how can a demon beast, who lacks a Spiritual Root, contain and refine that energy? Through the power of their bloodline? If so, could there be some element sleeping within that bloodline that functions as a spiritual root?"
U Do-baek's words resonated with the doubts Jekyeong had harbored. To break through the Great Demon barrier, one had to manipulate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. If so, how could a demon beast, who couldn't even contain spiritual energy in their body in the first place, cross that threshold? This was the very question Jekyeong had held, the obstacle he had sought to overcome. But now, U Do-baek's words shed light on that mystery.
It was impossible from the start. How could a cultivator without a Spiritual Root cultivate? How could a demon beast without a bloodline become a Great Demon? No. No. A bloodline couldn't have existed from the very beginning either. If so, how did the first Great Demon, the being who first left behind a bloodline, reach that realm? At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck Jekyeong's mind.
Perhaps the first Great Demon was in the same situation as me. A demon beast without a spiritual root must have tried this and that to rise to a higher realm. And then, they finally found a way.
The more he listened to U Do-baek's words, the more plausible they sounded. In the first place, cultivation itself was an act of endlessly taking something from heaven and earth. If one could draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine it into one's own, why couldn't one also take the vessel itself?
Jekyeong's Spiritual Body fluctuated violently, and seeing this, U Do-baek smiled silently.
Jekyeong fell into deep thought with the Fire Crystal before him. U Do-baek's advice had given him a profound realization, illuminating a clear direction for the path ahead.
Senior U himself didn't seem confident, but to me, his advice was a lantern in the dark.
Planting a Yeong-jong—a Spirit Seed—to replace a Spiritual Root and a bloodline. That was what he had to do from now on.
If those with spiritual roots and bloodlines already possessed a fertile garden and only needed to water it, Jekyeong had to till the barren earth and sow his own seed. It was an unfair starting point, but he couldn't afford to complain. It was a blessing to even have ground to dig, and a seed to sow.
Looking at it that way, it is a stroke of luck that what I obtained was a Fire Crystal.
As U Do-baek had said, among the five elemental energies, fire was exceptionally intense. Jekyeong thought that while this intensity was a burden for someone receiving and digesting it, it could actually act as an advantage now.
Neutralizing the fire energy of the Fire Crystal with a cultivation spiritual object means suppressing its energy to some extent.
Speaking of cultivation spiritual objects, he did have something similar: the Medicinal Water. But just as a watermelon cannot be called mere water, the Medicinal Water was not a perfect cultivation spiritual object. Furthermore, the quantity was small, so it was uncertain if it could sufficiently neutralize the fire energy of the Fire Crystal. In truth, even if the Medicinal Water could neutralize the fire energy, Jekyeong hesitated to use it.
Senior U spoke as if planting a source spiritual energy wasn't very difficult... but there's no telling if that's true.
To use an analogy, this was like diluting medicine with water out of fear that the dosage was too strong. Would the neutralized fire energy of the Fire Crystal be enough to become a source spiritual energy, a Yeong-jong? It might, but what if it wasn't?
Jekyeong would rather risk damaging his body to ensure success. Once he succeeded in planting the Yeong-jong, it wouldn't matter if his body was left in tatters. No matter how severely injured he was, he had the Medicinal Water to recover. Therefore, unless an absolute emergency arose, Jekyeong did not want to use the Medicinal Water alongside the Fire Crystal.
After swallowing the Fire Crystal, I must prevent its fire energy from dispersing.
Jekyeong mobilized all the knowledge he possessed to run simulations in his mind over and over again. He took everything he had heard from the senior cultivators of the Mansi Assembly, added various imagined scenarios like branches, and visualized what he had to do accordingly. At some point, his imagination crossed into delusion, but Jekyeong did not stop. He pictured both the worst-case and best-case scenarios in his head, and in the process, the seeds he sowed in his mind soon numbered in the hundreds.
Could this also be considered a form of mental cultivation?
He didn't know how much time had passed. It had certainly been over ten days, perhaps even a month? He had told Cheongo and Muk-su beforehand that he would be underwater for a while, but since quite some time had passed, it would be better to go up and show his face.
Shaking his head a few times to clear his daze, Jekyeong moved to leave his nest. But just then, a strange sensation washed over him.
Hmm?
Like sensing rain from a single drop falling on one's head, a sudden flash of inspiration, fleeting as a mirage, made Jekyeong coil back up. Like a composer suddenly struck by a melody stopping everything to pull out sheet music, Jekyeong brought the Fire Crystal, which he had always kept safely coiled in his tail, to his mouth.
Ugh!
When he had kept it coiled in his tail, it had only felt warm, but the moment his tongue touched it, a scorching heat rushed in. Jekyeong tried to feel that heat as deeply as possible, and once he felt he had grown somewhat accustomed to it, he swallowed the Fire Crystal whole.
At first, it was quiet. As if the heat he felt the moment his tongue touched it was an illusion, the Fire Crystal inside his stomach showed no reaction for a moment, as if it were an ordinary stone. But Jekyeong did not let his guard down, and thanks to that, when the Fire Crystal unleashed an explosive burst of fire energy without warning, he was able to face the intense energy without panicking.
As expected, containing all of it is impossible.
Sowing the fire energy of the Fire Crystal as a Yeong-jong in the soil of his being. However, this current fire energy was so intense that even his sturdy body and vigorous vital energy could not possibly bear it all. Thus, Jekyeong guided the fire energy, which threatened to burst his body open, out of his body. Although he had resonated with spiritual energy before, directly manipulating it like this was a first and felt foreign, but thanks to the countless scenarios he had visualized in his mind, he was able to manage it somehow.
So this is what it feels like.
It felt like becoming a human cultivator taking their first step into cultivation. The feeling of manipulating the power of heaven and earth at his will was dizzyingly ecstatic. Even if he would soon realize it was an illusion, the feeling of that moment remained an indelible dream for all cultivators. Jekyeong was no exception, but he quickly snapped out of it and returned to reality. It wasn't because his will was particularly firm, but because of the fire energy that was still trying to burn his insides. Any sweet dream would shatter when a red-hot iron was pressed against one's skin.
Discard, discard, discard.
It was a waste to let the fire energy escape under his guidance, but this was a wave he could not contain. Greedily coveting what one cannot have is foolishness. Jekyeong let go of his greed and imagined himself as an outlet for the fire energy to escape. He naturally let the fire energy out, and out, until the moment he judged he could handle the remaining amount, whereupon he suddenly transformed himself into a massive prison.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth has a spiritual nature. It was not intelligence, but a kind of instinct. Just as water tends to flow from high to low places, spiritual energy also tended to head toward where it originally belonged. Originally, the fire energy of the Fire Crystal was in the process of breaking out of its shell and returning to heaven and earth. But now that Jekyeong had forcibly erected a wall to imprison it, the fire energy, which was already wild, grew exponentially and charged toward the wall.
*Boom!*
It wasn't an actual sound, but Jekyeong could clearly hear it. His body and mind shook precariously, as if they would collapse at any moment. To think it was still this fierce even after letting out more than half. Indeed, U Do-baek's warning was correct. He had said that among the spiritual energies of heaven and earth, fire energy was the strongest and most ferocious, and it was truly so.
But that is precisely why it is most suitable to be a Yeong-jong.
He had to sprout a seed in a barren, cracked land with nothing. Without this level of intensity, let alone sprouting, wouldn't it be swallowed by the desolation of the land and vanish in vain? Jekyeong actually rejoiced at the unbearable pain, at the vigor of the fire energy trying to burn him. He endured and endured. From a certain point, he even forgot he was enduring pain, blankly waiting for this moment, which felt like an eternity, to pass. If he hadn't known that this pain had an end, he wouldn't have been able to bear it, but because he knew, he could.
How much time of unspeakable suffering had passed? At some point, the fierceness of the fire energy subsided, and Jekyeong pulled himself together again.
Now.
Jekyeong squeezed out all his remaining will to guide the fire energy. Although weakened, the fire energy, true to its nature, resisted fiercely, but Jekyeong suppressed that resistance with desperate resolve. And he led the fire energy, which constantly tried to escape his control, to his desolate spiritual nature. The word desolate was no exaggeration. Existing alone without any foundation or reason, it was his fate and his shackle. Now, he had to break that fate and shackle. Only then could his severed path of cultivation extend further.
Enter.
The fire energy resisted violently. Compared to its previous resistance, this could be called a desperate struggle. It seemed to desperately hate entering that dead land.
Enter!
Jekyeong's will was already hitting rock bottom. What moved him now was obsession and madness. He knew well what this spiritual sowing meant. This was defying heaven to break what was destined, and transcendence to escape the shackles. The ultimate goal of all cultivators. Even if it was a step as small as a speck of dust, he had achieved it.
Ah.
The moment he realized this, his mind, which had become as desolate as his spiritual nature, swelled fully. His mind, which had become as massive as a mountain and as clear as a mirror, pushed down the fire energy that was desperately holding out. The force didn't seem that strong, but strangely, the fire energy could not resist.
*Plop!*
A single small seed. That single seed, tinged with a reddish light, fell onto the silent wasteland. It rolled slowly over the mounds of dirt piled like ashes, then slipped into a small, groove-like hole.
And then, a change occurred.
A faint heat began to spread across the land of his spiritual nature. It was a minuscule change, like a pebble falling into a vast ocean, but to Jekyeong's spiritual nature, which had been as good as dead, it carried the weight of heaven and earth turning upside down. What was dead came to life, a meaning that originally did not exist was born, and the severed path was connected.
"Haa."
Jekyeong opened his eyes with a long sigh. His wide-open eyes captured the boiling waters around him, but his gaze was directed inward, toward his inner self that had undergone a world-shaking transformation.
So this is spiritual energy.
The speck of spiritual energy contained in his spiritual nature was similar to yet different from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that filled the surroundings. Jekyeong could feel a sense of familiarity and powerful strength from that tiny spark.