The Taste of Opportunity
Hearing those words, Hyeon-gu's mouth fell open. The starlight shining in his eyes seemed to burn twice as bright.
"I will surely live up to your trust, my Lord!"
"Mm. I trust you."
Having once again rallied his loyal subordinate's morale to its absolute peak with a single sentence, Jekyeong dragged his exhausted body back to Heukgyodo.
"I have waited a very long time."
Having transformed into his human form, Jekyeong stood before the massive tree. Glancing at the branches that swayed as if bowing in greeting, his eyes locked onto several plump, enticing fruits. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but their luster seemed far richer than before.
"Now, bring them to me."
At his calm demand, Muk-su shivered and lowered the fruit-laden branches toward Jekyeong.
"Mm." Jekyeong turned Muk-su's fruit over in his hand, examining it closely. Its size was similar to before. However, its glass-smooth skin and the subtle, pleasant aroma wafting from it made it look far more like a true spiritual fruit than its previous iterations.
Of course, a fancy wrapper did not guarantee quality contents, but it was safe to say that shoddy packaging rarely housed anything worthwhile.
Crunch!
One of the greatest advantages of assuming a human form was the ability to enjoy the pleasure of eating. It was true when drinking wine, and it was true now. Though not overly sweet, a crisp, refreshing sensation washed over his entire mouth, cleansing his palate. Even before he could fully savor the taste, his mind cleared, and a sensation akin to the purification of his very soul washed over him.
"Exquisite!"
The praise escaped his lips naturally. The mental fatigue and burdens that even spirit wine could not fully soothe seemed to vanish instantly. He felt as though he could cultivate his techniques with twice the efficiency if he were to begin right this moment.
Woo-woo—
Hearing Jekyeong's admiration, Muk-su let out a low, proud rumble, shaking its branches and trunk in a smug display.
Ignoring the tree's boasting, Jekyeong finished the rest of the fruit, focusing entirely on analyzing its effects.
After consuming the entire fruit, Jekyeong concluded that this was undoubtedly a genuine spiritual fruit, a true spiritual treasure. Upon consumption, it immediately cleared the mind and even possessed the effect of purifying one's spiritual nature. Although these effects felt faint to him and did not last very long, Jekyeong was not disappointed in the slightest.
Muk-su was currently nothing more than a mere wood demon. Yet, the fruit it bore had managed to affect him, a Great Yao, however minutely. How astonishing was that?
Since it was effective even for a Great Yao like himself, it would undoubtedly have an even greater impact on the lower-ranking demons of the Beast Race. No, wait. Not the Beast Race. Those penniless beggars who didn't possess a single spirit stone didn't deserve to lay their hands on such a precious commodity.
The human race.
Having tasted Muk-su's fruit and grasped its general efficacy, Jekyeong began to calculate whether he could sell this to the humans. The Beast Race was fundamentally destitute. Whenever they got their hands on something good, they instinctively devoured it on the spot, so how could they ever accumulate wealth or treasures? It might be different for powerful Great Demons or Demon Kings, but beings of that caliber would have no need for Muk-su's fruits. Thus, the only viable market was the human race.
Similarly, high-level human cultivators at the late Foundation Establishment or Golden Elixir stages wouldn't need these fruits either. However, didn't they have families and sects? In other words, there existed "silver-spoon cultivators" who possessed weak cultivation but incredibly deep pockets.
Jekyeong was confident they would show great interest in these fruits. Considering the fanatical obsession humans had with spiritual treasures, they would undoubtedly pay a handsome price.
"Excellent work." Jekyeong praised the boasting Muk-su, boosting its ego. When Muk-su demanded more food, he readily nodded in agreement.
He had been able to supply Muk-su with plenty of food even in the past, so now that he was the absolute ruler of an entire water territory, it went without saying. Furthermore, knowing that this food would return to him in the form of glittering spiritual fruits, he could easily provide as many demon beast corpses as the tree wanted—though human corpses were out of the question.
Gwak Jeong-sin had been in an exceptionally good mood lately. He was currently one hundred and twenty-one years old. Although he was still referred to as a "young" Foundation Establishment cultivator, that title wouldn't last much longer. If more time passed without significant progress, he would no longer be considered young, and his family would cease to classify him as a rising talent.
Within the Gwak clan, there was no discrimination between legitimate and illegitimate children. As long as one bore the Gwak surname and carried their bloodline, they were equal. What truly mattered was not parentage, but an individual's capability and talent.
This capability and talent were evaluated simultaneously across two fields: cultivation and commerce. In a cultivation world where raw strength was everything, this was a highly unusual tradition. Talent and ability as a merchant? Who on earth would care about that? To put it bluntly, if one needed spirit stones, they could simply find someone weaker and "receive" their storage bag as a gift!
Only a clan like the Gwaks, who effectively held the Yeongbu Merchant Alliance as a family business, maintained such a peculiar internal culture. Because they recognized the profound impact of wealth on cultivation better than anyone else, they valued the talent for earning spirit stones almost as much as the talent for cultivation itself.
Though some ignorant fools ridiculed this clan culture, the Gwak family paid them no mind. After all, such mockery never reached their ears anyway. How could it? Who was the true master of the Yeongbu Merchant Alliance, and who was the patriarch of the Gwak clan? Who would dare refuse to bow before them?
As a proud member of the Gwak clan, Gwak Jeong-sin neglected neither his cultivation nor his duties as a merchant. He had established a solid position for himself at the Yangseo Lake branch of the Yeongbu Merchant Alliance. Though he had never voiced it to anyone, he secretly had his sights set on the position of branch manager.
Once he became the branch manager, the influence he could wield within the alliance would rise to an entirely different level, and he would receive far greater support from his clan. To put it more bluntly, the sheer volume of spirit stones he could rake in would change completely. More resources meant faster cultivation. If he could secure that position, there was no reason he couldn't eventually aim for the Golden Elixir realm.
Gwak Jeong-sin was confident. He believed that the position of branch manager would eventually be his. The only problem was exactly when that "eventually" would be.
Cultivation had its golden windows. One didn't have to look far for an example; Gong Byeok-un, the leader of the Black Flood Dragon Gang who had recently lost both his life and his business to Gwak's business partner, was a prime case. Although his cultivation had reached the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, his advanced age had caused his vital energy to decline and his potential to dry up, leaving him stranded and unable to ascend to a higher realm.
Gwak Jeong-sin worried that the branch manager position would fall into his hands too late. Converting wealth into cultivation progress required a significant amount of time and effort. While he never doubted his own diligence, he could not help but worry about running out of time.
Cultivation that relied solely on diligence without the backing of massive wealth yielded pitifully slow results. At this rate, he couldn't even estimate how many years—or decades—it would take to reach the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Even if he reached it in a few decades, it wouldn't technically be too late, but for someone like Gwak Jeong-sin, who dreamed of the late Foundation Establishment stage and even the Golden Elixir realm, such a snail-paced progression was utterly unacceptable.
In the midst of this, crossing paths with a Bulmang Cultivator—and a demon one at that—was a stroke of luck born of pure coincidence. Unlike typical demons, this beast cultivator was exceptionally rational and easy to communicate with. Gwak Jeong-sin had believed that even if such a rare existence couldn't be a major client immediately, he was well worth investing in for the future.
However...
I truly... never could have anticipated this.
To think that a client he had invested in for the long term would bring him such a massive deal so quickly. In truth, the investment he had made was practically negligible. He had barely spent any material resources, offering little more than a polite show of interest.
The Yungrin-eo business had brought him a tidy profit, but far more important than the money were the connections he had forged while conducting those trades.
What cultivators cared about most during their journey was the absorption and accumulation of spiritual energy. In the Qi Condensation stage, one naturally had to focus on gathering enough spiritual power to break through to the next realm. Even upon entering the Foundation Establishment stage, though the relative priority shifted slightly, absorbing spiritual energy and accumulating dharma power remained paramount.
Vital energy, on the other hand, was merely the icing on the cake. It was nice to have more of it, but it didn't particularly matter if one couldn't increase it. While elderly cultivators worried about the decline of their vital energy would search for it with bloodshot eyes, for anyone else, focusing on vital energy was... a luxury of sorts.
Yes, a luxury. And that was precisely why it was so important. What was luxury, after all? Was it not the exclusive privilege of the wealthy or the foolish—in other words, the very people from whom it was easiest to extract spirit stones? As a merchant, building relationships with such prime clients was absolutely essential, and one could never have too many of them. In short, the Yungrin-eo business had not only earned Gwak Jeong-sin spirit stones, but had also opened a far more valuable path for him.
A benefactor. A true benefactor. Or perhaps he should call him a noble serpent, or a noble demon? At any rate, that precious client had requested a meeting, stating that he had a business proposal to discuss.
What could it be?
It likely wasn't about the Yungrin-eo business, as the serpent had seemed perfectly satisfied when Gwak delivered the payment just a few days ago. Was it a discussion about a new venture? But what other business could possibly be started on Heukgyodo? Surely he isn't planning to capture and sell the humans living in the Heukgyo water territory, is he?
Letting his merchant's imagination run wild, Gwak Jeong-sin arrived at Heukgyodo. However, the one who greeted him was not a massive, serpentine Great Demon Beast, but a pale-faced man sipping quietly on spirit wine.
Astonishing.
Gwak Jeong-sin's eyes gleamed. Had they been in the middle of Daedo, he would never have guessed that this cold-looking man was a Great Demon. His presence was so perfectly concealed that not a single trace of demonic energy leaked out. Who would ever suspect this man of being a Great Yao?
"Your transformation art is truly marvelous. It would not be an exaggeration to say you have achieved great mastery over it."
"Great mastery? Hardly. I still have a long way to go."
After exchanging a few standard pleasantries—complimenting each other's appearance and noting how their cultivation seemed to have progressed—they quickly got down to business. Neither of them had time to waste, and since the purpose of their meeting was clear, there was no need to beat around the bush.
"Would you care to take a look at this?"
"Hm? What is this?"
Gwak Jeong-sin looked at the fruit Jekyeong pulled out with a puzzled expression, but the moment he took it into his hand, his face completely changed.
"Is this... a spiritual fruit?"
"As expected, you recognize it immediately."
Gwak Jeong-sin examined the spiritual fruit in his hand with a grave expression.
"My own knowledge is too narrow to determine if this spiritual fruit has a formal name," Jekyeong said, "but upon consuming it, I found that it clears the mind and purifies one's spiritual nature."
"Clears the mind and purifies spiritual nature?" Seeing Gwak Jeong-sin's half-believing, half-doubting expression, Jekyeong smiled and gestured toward him.
"See for yourself."
"..."
Gwak Jeong-sin hesitated for a brief moment before taking a cautious bite of the spiritual fruit. Instantly, he confirmed that Jekyeong's words were entirely true.
"Fellow Daoist Jekyeong. This is..."
"Quite remarkable, isn't it?" A faint smile played on Jekyeong's lips.
"This spiritual fruit is exceptionally beneficial to the Beast Race. As you know, most demons who build their cultivation by instinctively devouring whatever they can find possess pitiful spiritual intelligence and muddy spiritual natures. This fruit perfectly resolves those obstacles in their cultivation."
Though Jekyeong's words were slightly exaggerated, the core truth was undeniable. Knowing this, Gwak Jeong-sin nodded silently.
"A pack of demons was fighting over this spiritual fruit, so I stepped in and harvested it. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to harvest these fruits regularly in the future. I was wondering if human cultivators would be interested in them."
Jekyeong's eyes gleamed, and Gwak Jeong-sin's eyes shone in response. At this moment, they were true fellow Daoists.
Both Jekyeong and Gwak Jeong-sin were in complete agreement that Muk-su's spiritual fruit was a highly valuable treasure.