Uninvited Guests
"Yeah. Hello, Cheongyu." A spiritual crow, nearly as large as his house, landed in front of him.
"Cheongyu, are you going to cultivate?"
"Ah, yes." Han Cheongyu subtly avoided the gaze of the bird staring blankly at him. It wasn't the first time this elder had barged in so recklessly, but he could never quite get used to the overwhelming pressure of a spiritual beast so close to becoming a Great Demon.
"Then cultivate! Cultivate! Don't mind me. I'll stay still. I'll be quiet."
"Yes. Then..."
Han Cheongyu forced his uneasy mind to settle and began his cultivation. Overcoming the sensation of being watched to focus on his training was no easy feat, but having experienced this multiple times, he had grown somewhat accustomed to it. The beginning was the only difficult part; once he entered a state of deep concentration, he quickly lost track of time and immersed himself in his practice.
"Phew."
When his mind grew hazy from the prolonged cultivation, Han Cheongyu exhaled a turbid breath and opened his eyes. There, he saw Cheongo, still staring blankly at him.
"Finished?"
"Ah... yes."
"Yeah. You're doing well."
Doing well? What does he mean by doing well? Is he talking about my cultivation? Is there a right or wrong way to cultivate? His mind filled with questions, Han Cheongyu let out an awkward laugh. This Elder Cheongo was truly extraordinary. At first, he had assumed the bird was merely a subordinate of the Dragon Lord, but listening to his constant babbling revealed that his status was far from simple.
The bird would often chatter about what someone named 'Jekyeong' did or didn't do, and only later did Han Cheongyu realize that 'Jekyeong' was the Dragon Lord's actual name. He remembered how utterly shocked he had been when he first made that discovery.
Elder Cheongo is definitely no ordinary member of the Beast Race. Calling the Dragon Lord by his name so casually, roaming the island completely at his own whim—he was extraordinary in every sense. Then again, how could any beast associated with a Gyoryong be ordinary?
"Elder Cheongo, what do you mean by 'doing well'?"
"Huh? Doing well is doing well! Diligently, faithfully."
After tossing out a few scolding remarks as if asking how he couldn't even know that, the bird followed up with several questions. What did he think about during cultivation? Why did he cultivate? It wasn't the first time he had been asked these things. Having received the exact same questions multiple times, his answers naturally remained unchanged.
"Hmph. I see."
Yet, despite hearing the same answers to the same repeated questions, Cheongo nodded with genuine interest, as if they were exchanging these words for the very first time.
"I'm leaving. Work hard. Jekyeong praised you."
"The Dragon Lord... praised me?"
"Yeah. He said you're a hard worker and that you'll be useful."
"Ah..."
The corners of Han Cheongyu's mouth twitched upward of their own accord. The Dragon Lord is keeping an eye on me. He didn't hear a single word after that.
"Fuuu."
Jekyeong, who had just crunched down another pile of spirit stones, exhaled a long breath as he felt his spiritual flesh throb. By devouring countless spirit stones like candy, he had finally grasped exactly how spiritual energy influenced his molting process.
The cost had been dozens of spirit stones—and mid-grade ones at that. It was a heavy financial blow, but it wasn't a loss. In the end, every spirit stone he swallowed became nourishment for his molting, making their consumption another form of cultivation.
But molting doesn't help raise my cultivation realm. This was the dilemma Jekyeong currently faced. From his observations, the spiritual energy absorbed by his spiritual flesh definitely accelerated his molting. However, molting only aided physical growth; it had nothing to do with directly raising his cultivation realm. Advancing his realm depended on accumulating monster power, regardless of how large or strong his physical body became.
My cultivation realm is the priority. Therefore, I cannot neglect the accumulation of monster power. Now that he understood how spiritual energy accelerated his molting, Jekyeong could speed up the process through his cultivation techniques whenever he wished. It was simple: he just had to guide the absorbed spiritual energy to seep into his flesh instead of refining it into monster power.
But doing so would prevent him from accumulating monster power, which was not what Jekyeong wanted. Unless he hit a bottleneck in the future where he could no longer increase his monster power, he had to focus on raising his cultivation realm.
Still, it's not bad. It means I can boost my combat power as long as I have spirit stones. At this point, Jekyeong couldn't help but question his own origins. The more spirit stones I eat, the stronger my body gets? This was not an ability an ordinary demon beast could possess. Furthermore, he had originally been nothing more than a common beast. How had he acquired such a power?
Has there been a change in my bloodline? Thinking back, ever since he transcended from an ordinary serpent into a demon beast, his bloodline must have continuously changed—or rather, evolved. No one, not even Jekyeong himself, knew what traits had emerged or vanished during that process.
Intriguing.
Jekyeong took another large bite of a spirit stone. The pile of spirit stones, which had once been stacked as high as a small hill, had already shrunk by more than half.
I'm running low on spirit stones.
Objectively, his income was quite decent. The spiritual fruits of Muk-su went without saying, and the spirit stones earned from the fleshy-scaled fish trade were highly lucrative. As the schools of fish grew, his sales volume had increased significantly. Yet, Jekyeong remained starved for more. The spirit stones consumed to brew spirit wine weren't the issue. The real problem was that he had developed a taste for spirit stones.
Crunch!
The value of the spirit stones he had devoured over the past few days alone was equivalent to dozens of low-grade spirit stones. Even a wealthy cultivator would find such consumption difficult to sustain. He knew in his head that he needed to exercise self-control, but he couldn't help himself. If eating spirit stones made him stronger, who could possibly refuse?
"Burp!"
Jekyeong instinctively felt that another molting was not far off. If he continued to gorge himself on spirit stones like this, he would likely shed his skin within five days.
They're here.
Savoring the pleasant sensation of spiritual energy seeping into his flesh, Jekyeong sensed a presence approaching Heukgyodo and slowly raised his massive body.
"...Haha. Fellow Daoist Jekyeong. It has been a while."
Gwak Jeong-sin's eyes widened involuntarily as he looked at Jekyeong, who had come out to greet him. Although more than half of Jekyeong's body was submerged in the water, Gwak Jeong-sin could tell at a glance that the serpent had grown noticeably larger since their last meeting. He looked at least half again as big.
"Fellow Daoist Gwak. It has been a while." Greeting him in return, Jekyeong anticipated Gwak Jeong-sin's thoughts and spoke first. "I have recently made some progress in my cultivation."
"Ah, I see. Congratulations."
Gwak Jeong-sin couldn't comprehend why progress in cultivation would manifest as physical growth, but since the party in question said so, he had no choice but to accept it.
They conversed for a while in a warm, friendly atmosphere, covering everything from their personal updates to major events transpiring across Yangseo Lake. Though it was a conversation, it was mostly Gwak Jeong-sin sharing information while Jekyeong listened. Jekyeong occasionally sent out his workers to gather intelligence, but the information they could access was nothing more than low-quality rumors. Thus, he listened intently to every word Gwak Jeong-sin uttered.
"The Yudam Kingdom has fallen. It seems several Great Demons descended upon it all at once. There are said to be almost no survivors."
The Yudam Kingdom was a small island nation located near the border of the human territory in Yangseo Lake. It boasted a history of over two hundred years, but it had collapsed in an instant under the assault of the Beast Race.
"Fortunately, it doesn't seem like Gyeongwang Palace was involved." As he spoke, Gwak Jeong-sin carefully gauged Jekyeong's reaction.
"The Beast Race of Yangseo Lake is vast, and Gyeongwang Palace cannot control them all."
It was an obvious statement, but its weight differed greatly depending on who said it. Since Gwak Jeong-sin knew Jekyeong was a Guest Elder of Gyeongwang Palace, Jekyeong's words lent a degree of credibility to the information he possessed.
"The atmosphere lately is rather unusual. Aside from the incident with the Yudam Kingdom, the rampages of the Beast Race have increased significantly of late. The Geumyang Sect sent an envoy to Gyeongwang Palace to request that they control the beasts in the border regions, but Gyeongwang Palace's response seemed lukewarm at best."
"Could a war break out?"
When Jekyeong asked with a serious expression, Gwak Jeong-sin sighed and shook his head.
"I do not know. I doubt it, but one can never be too sure. At any rate, you must be exceptionally careful for the time being. In turbulent times like these, all sorts of scoundrels tend to run rampant."
Gwak Jeong-sin's words proved to be a prophecy rather than a mere warning. Less than a few days after his departure, a group of human cultivators appeared in the northern waters of the Heukgyo Water Territory. They were the exact "scoundrels" Gwak Jeong-sin had spoken of.
"Grrr."
Jekyeong, who had just finished molting, shook his body irritably and rose. A ferocious, murderous intent swirled within his wide-open eyes.
The Trap
Four people—two men and two women—were aboard a small, swift vessel. They were a family; the parents were early Foundation Establishment cultivators, while their two children were at the mid Qi Condensation stage.
"Father, we will arrive at Heukgyodo shortly."
As the young man standing at the bow raised his voice slightly, a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged inside the cabin nodded.
"Taeyeom. Your mother and I will scout the situation from above. You and Sohwa must keep an eye out for attacks from aquatic beasts as you follow."
The middle-aged man, Seo Muso, soared into the air on a flying sword alongside his wife, Yang Yuwan.
Even while staying in the cabin, he had used his divine sense to scan the surroundings, but that was still no match for looking down from the sky. However, because early Foundation Establishment cultivators did not possess abundant dharma power, they could not fly indefinitely, even with the aid of a flying dharma treasure. More precisely, they could fly if they absolutely had to, but no one did so recklessly. If a powerful enemy suddenly attacked when their dharma power was already heavily depleted, they wouldn't be able to fight back properly, let alone escape.
"So that is Heukgyodo."
Seo Muso muttered as he gazed at the island, which appeared as a tiny speck in the distance. Beside him, Yang Yuwan narrowed her eyes.
"Husband, why don't we go ahead and take a closer look? If Heukgyodo truly is Gwak Jeong-sin's vault, there will surely be guards. Wouldn't it be better if we cleared them out beforehand?"
"Are you worried the children might be in danger?"
Yang Yuwan did not answer, but her silence was an answer in itself.
Seo Muso hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Wife, we cannot protect the children forever."
"I know. But shouldn't we do as much as we can?"
Yang Yuwan was resolute. Seo Muso sighed inwardly but chose not to press further.
The higher a cultivator's realm, the more difficult it was to conceive a child. The couple were Foundation Establishment cultivators who had spent over twenty years trying to have children. Having finally obtained such hard-won fruits, Seo Muso naturally cared deeply for them as well. However, Yang Yuwan was far more extreme, rarely letting the children out of her sight.
This excursion was a prime example. Originally, Seo Muso had wanted to come with only Yang Yuwan, but she had insisted they move together, claiming she could not leave the children behind. While he understood her feelings, such overprotection could easily prove toxic to the children's growth.