The Fleshy-Scaled Fish of Heukgyodo
His entire body had grown, but he had also filled out overall since the last time, looking quite plump and healthy. It seemed he had been eating well in the meantime.
"I have something to ask."
"Just say the word, Lord Dragon. I shall tell you anything and everything I know."
"I need information regarding a territory."
The size of the territory did not matter. Since he was planning to stay cooped up in one place to focus solely on his cultivation anyway, it only needed to be large enough for Cheongo to roam around safely without feeling restricted.
A place rich in fire-attribute energy would be ideal... but there's no way such a place exists in a lake.
Thus, Jekyeong had only one condition: there must be no powerful entities or factions nearby.
"Furthermore, the more isolated, the better."
"Mmm..."
The turtle diligently searched through the depths of his knowledge and memories. Jekyeong had only set a single condition, but that one condition eliminated almost every territory the turtle knew of.
The Dragon Lord wants a quiet place. But is there a territory like that? I feel like there was one...
After groaning in thought for a few minutes, the turtle finally recalled something.
"Um... Lord Dragon. There is indeed such a place, but there is a problem."
"A problem? What is it?"
"That place already has an owner."
"Isn't that only natural?"
How could a territory not have an owner? Naturally, Jekyeong planned to defeat whoever ruled the territory and claim it for himself.
"Uh... but that owner belongs to the Human Race."
"...The Human Race?"
Jekyeong's eyes narrowed. Terrified by his cold reaction, the turtle hastily added an explanation.
"T-They are humans, yes, but they do not belong to any orthodox sect. They are a group called the Heokgyobang, and they attack and torment their fellow humans. They are just like the ones Lord Dragon punished last time..."
"The water bandits?"
"Yes, yes! They are in league with those water bandits. I saw it myself. Not long after Lord Dragon punished those bandits, another group swarmed in. They seemed to be searching for the ones who had vanished. When they found nothing, they began tormenting the other humans living on the nearby islands."
"Tormenting the humans on the islands? Why?"
"I do not know that either. Perhaps... they were just venting their anger?"
After falling into thought for a moment, Jekyeong praised the turtle with a few brief words and departed. Until Jekyeong's figure completely vanished, the turtle did not dare raise his bowed head.
"Daoist Gwak."
"Daoist Jekyeong."
Jekyeong met with Gwak Jeong-sin to purchase Spirit Wine. This time, he bought three bottles at once, which significantly thinned his wallet yet again. However, since this was an investment for his cultivation, Jekyeong endured the sting to his finances.
"Haha. At this rate, won't you end up spending all the profit from the Spiritual Soil on wine?"
"I am not joking; that might actually happen."
Jekyeong felt a bit of frustration regarding the exorbitant price of the Spirit Wine, but after grumbling slightly, he got down to business.
"Daoist Gwak. Do you know of a group called the Heokgyobang?"
"The Heokgyobang? Those water bandits? Of course I do."
"Yes, those water bandits. I have a few questions I would like to ask about them."
Jekyeong's vertically slit, serpentine eyes reflected Gwak Jeong-sin's puzzled expression.
"Actually, information regarding the Heokgyobang isn't particularly rare or valuable. Anyone of note among the Human Race already knows about them."
Gwak Jeong-sin seemed to lose himself in thought for a brief moment before readily sharing what he knew about the Heokgyobang.
"To understand the Heokgyobang, you must first understand the island they occupy: Heukgyodo."
The border between the territories of the Human Race and the Beast Race. Heukgyodo was an island and a territory exquisitely situated right between them. Depending on how one slightly tilted the boundary lines when drawing a map of Yang-seo-ho, the island could be argued to belong to either the Beast Race's domain or the Human Race's.
"Originally, it was an ownerless island that no one paid any attention to."
If one viewed Yang-seo-ho as a miniature Changram Realm, Heukgyodo was the borderland between two domains. Planting a flag there recklessly risked offending the Beast Race, and since the island held no appeal other than being a bare piece of land, none of the factions in Yang-seo-ho paid it any mind.
"Everyone assumed it would remain that way forever. But about seventy years ago, things changed when a rogue cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage named Gong Byeok-un settled there."
Gong Byeok-un, the current leader of the Heokgyobang. He had bestowed the name Heukgyodo upon the then-nameless island and founded the Heokgyobang.
At first, everyone assumed he was merely a weary rogue cultivator looking to retire, planting his flag on ownerless land without a care for the consequences. They viewed the creation of the Heokgyobang in a similar light—thinking that a Foundation Establishment cultivator living in solitude looked rather pathetic, so he had taken in a few homeless rogue cultivators under the pretext of teaching them.
However, within just a few months, the human cultivators of Yang-seo-ho realized that Gong Byeok-un's occupation of Heukgyodo was not driven by such simple reasons. The Heokgyobang had begun selling Fleshy-Scaled Fish in massive quantities.
"What is Fleshy-Scaled Fish?"
"It is a fish that nourishes one's vital energy and blood. Needless to say, it is highly sought after by Body Cultivators, and it is also immensely popular among elderly cultivators whose vitality has waned. Demand is so high that there is never enough to go around."
Gwak Jeong-sin added that although the Fleshy-Scaled Fish was not a true spirit fish, its unique properties and the extreme difficulty of locating its schools made it sell for a higher price than most actual spirit fish.
"Gong Byeok-un must have discovered that a school of Fleshy-Scaled Fish was located not far from Heukgyodo. That is undoubtedly why he settled there and went so far as to establish a grand sect."
Their banditry was merely a secondary activity to project authority over the waters surrounding Heukgyodo; the Heokgyobang's primary source of income was harvesting the Fleshy-Scaled Fish.
Fleshy-Scaled Fish, is it?
When Jekyeong first resolved to deal with the Heokgyobang, his primary concern had been their leader, a Foundation Establishment cultivator. But looking at it now, he realized that this Fleshy-Scaled Fish might actually be far more important than the leader himself.
"Daoist Jekyeong. Do you intend to strike the Heokgyobang?"
Though phrased as a question, Gwak Jeong-sin seemed to already know the answer.
"I do."
"It is dangerous. The Heokgyobang has held a near-monopoly on the supply of Fleshy-Scaled Fish for well over sixty years. Aside from the wealth they have amassed during that time, they have established countless connections to maintain their business. If you strike them, at least three or four powerful figures will rise up to oppose you directly."
Jekyeong gazed at Gwak Jeong-sin with calm, steady eyes. At a single glance, he perceived both the worry in Gwak Jeong-sin's eyes and the greed blooming right behind it.
Flinch!
Perhaps sensing Jekyeong's gaze, Gwak Jeong-sin shuddered slightly and corrected his posture.
"Daoist... I..."
"The supply of Fleshy-Scaled Fish will continue without interruption."
"Pardon?"
When he first heard about the Fleshy-Scaled Fish, Jekyeong's initial reaction was concern, but amusement soon bubbled up within him.
"I am a water beast."
In truth, Jekyeong had no idea whether he qualified as a water beast or not, but he bluffed anyway.
"If I wish to find the location of the fish schools, it is a simple matter."
Jekyeong had no way of knowing where the fish schools were, of course, but he did know a certain wise and highly obedient turtle.
"Even without the Heokgyobang, I can supply the Fleshy-Scaled Fish."
"Uh..."
Gwak Jeong-sin blinked in sheer bewilderment. Soon, however, his eyes gleamed with the sharp instinct of an experienced merchant, and he responded enthusiastically.
"If that is the case, we can bypass one major obstacle. Yet, it remains highly dangerous. The Heokgyobang has spent decades cultivating their network of connections."
"Do you truly believe those connections will remain loyal once the Heokgyobang is gone?"
"Of course they won't. But they will still take action—not for the sake of the Heokgyobang, but for Heukgyodo itself."
Jekyeong and Gwak Jeong-sin's gazes locked. Both had things they wanted to say, but neither wished to be the first to speak.
After a brief silence, Jekyeong spoke first. However, the words that left his mouth were entirely unrelated to what he truly wanted to say, or what Gwak Jeong-sin wished to hear.
"I do not know if you are aware, but the methods by which the Beast Race can accumulate cultivation are extremely limited."
Jekyeong continued slowly, carefully gauging Gwak Jeong-sin's reaction.
"If one is born with a powerful bloodline, there is no need to worry about cultivation. One simply has to inherit the legacy of their bloodline. But it is different for those whose bloodline inheritance has run dry, or who never possessed a noble bloodline to begin with. They must either find a spiritual beast or object that resonates with them to make a sudden leap, or find a favorable environment to slowly absorb spiritual energy."
"Mmm."
Gwak Jeong-sin nodded solemnly. Though they belonged to different races, as a fellow cultivator, he could not help but feel a sense of reverence when discussing the serious pursuit of the Dao.
"The reason I am sharing this with you, Daoist Gwak, is to let you know that my decision to target this territory is by no means a light one. I absolutely require a territory for my future path to the Dao."
"I understand."
Jekyeong shifted his body slightly. Having grown continuously since reaching the Great Yao stage, his length now exceeded ninety meters, nearly reaching a hundred. With such a colossal form, even a minor movement carried immense pressure. When combined with the natural aura of a Great Yo-beast, any Foundation Establishment cultivator in close proximity would instinctively shrink back in fear.
"I will not beat around the bush. If you aid me, I shall naturally reward you accordingly."
"...Very well."
Gwak Jeong-sin nodded heavily. He swallowed hard as he watched the serpentine eyes—each as large as his own head—gleam with satisfaction.
This entity... is by no means an ordinary Great Yo-beast. He must possess an extraordinary bloodline.
Naturally, he did not believe a single word of Jekyeong's lament about the struggles of a beast without a bloodline. If one was going to lie, it should at least be plausible; pointing at a deer and insisting it was a horse left him with no way to respond. Besides, that was not what mattered right now.
If he can supply the Fleshy-Scaled Fish just like the Heokgyobang did...
Countless calculations ran through Gwak Jeong-sin's mind. With every result that clicked into place, his resolve hardened. Finally, when the last calculation was complete, Gwak Jeong-sin spoke once more.
"Would you be willing to entrust the sole distribution of the Fleshy-Scaled Fish to me?"
"If I agree to that, what assistance will you provide in return?"
"When you sweep away the Heokgyobang, I shall ensure that not a single ripple is felt in the surrounding waters."
The chilling serpentine eyes stared intently at him, as if trying to discern the truth behind his words.
"I wish to believe you, but is such a thing truly possible?"
"It is only natural for you to worry. These are not words a mere cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage can easily throw around. However, I am a member of the Yeongbu Merchant Group, and a member of the Gwak Clan."
"The Gwak Clan?"
Caught off guard by Jekyeong's unexpected reaction, Gwak Jeong-sin blinked in surprise.
"Um... Daoist. Do you perhaps not know of the Gwak Clan?"
"...Is it a famous clan?"
"..."
Gwak Jeong-sin had never imagined he would be surprised so many times in a single day, and for such vastly different reasons. Amused by this novel experience, he smiled and spoke.
"The Ancestor of our Gwak Clan is none other than Perfected Lord Yeongbu."
This time, it was Jekyeong's turn to be surprised.
"Please do not misunderstand. Though I am a member of the clan, I belong to a very distant branch. I have barely managed to squeeze my name into a dusty corner of the family registry."
Gwak Jeong-sin gave a bitter smile, but his status was far from insignificant. Even if it was just in a corner, having one's name written in the Gwak Clan's genealogy carried immense weight to outsiders.
"To those who know the inner workings of the clan, I might be nothing more than a laughingstock, but outside the family, my name still holds considerable sway. Furthermore, my position within the merchant group is quite solid, so you need not worry about me making empty promises."
"I was not worried; I was merely curious."
The position of the Yeongbu Merchant Group in Yang-seo-ho was rather unique. Backed by a Nascent Soul cultivator, their reputation was legendary among human cultivators, yet they remained strictly focused on their business and rarely flaunted their authority. However, just because they kept a low profile did not mean anyone was foolish enough to provoke a force backed by a Nascent Soul cultivator, and the same held true in Yang-seo-ho. Although the Golden Core sects, the Geumyang Sect and the Myeongseomun Sect, represented the human cultivators of Yang-seo-ho, even they did not dare treat the Yeongbu Merchant Group lightly.