Chapter 251
Chapter 251
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 251
Chapter Title: Return Realm (3)
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“Hmm, so you're saying there's no proper map or anything like that?”
“Y-yes! As you can see, a little mountain bandit den like ours wouldn't have something like that, and we don't really need it anyway. We do have some rough markings for nearby mountain paths and villages, but it's more like crude doodles than a real map. Y-yes...”
Gongpal, the chief of the Yellow Forest Stronghold nestled in Yanghyeong Mountain, bowed repeatedly while discreetly wiping away his cold sweat.
Though the young man before him appeared far younger—barely past his boyish years—Gongpal harbored no foolish underestimation in his heart.
In the martial world, where even unremarkable housewives or mere fifteen-year-old scholars sometimes achieved remarkable prowess, being a bandit was no easy profession.
Unlike the riffraff who squatted on some minor trail squeezing pennies from travelers, establishing even a modest stronghold required solid martial skills.
Especially now, in this age of warring states where the empire that once ruled the land had collapsed, and noble houses, regional warlords, and martial groups merged and split endlessly.
Gongpal himself was a second-rate fighter at best, barely scraping into first-rate...
‘A yokai? ...No, an immortal? Damn it, what kind of thunderbolt is this!’
Yet even he couldn't fathom the enigmatic being standing right before him.
When his underlings first dragged in this pale, wood-like scholar, he'd assumed they were after ransom from some noble heir.
The robes he wore resembled martial attire, but the fabric and stitching screamed extraordinary quality.
‘Damn it, I should've noticed from his eyes and ears. You worthless idiots! If it was a monster like that, you should've told me sooner!’
Dismissing him as a freak among the pale-skinned folk had been a fatal mistake.
He'd charged in aggressively to assert his authority as chief without even hearing his men out properly...
A chill ran down his spine—
The moment their eyes met, those star-shaped pupils brimming with utter boredom.
He tasted a terror beyond anything he'd imagined.
‘Shit, that memory from back then...’
Gongpal gently rubbed the goosebumps on his arms as he stood deferentially before Harris, lost in thought.
The heavens, the earth, all things under the sky seemed to glare at him with enmity.
He'd prided himself on living in harmony with nature amid the mountains his whole life, yet in that moment, the forest—once as cozy as his own bedroom—felt like the belly of a beast.
And the current situation was the aftermath.
“Hmm... Honam Province, you say. And the war there is still dragging on.”
Harris muttered to himself from the beast-skin chair that had been Gongpal's seat.
His voice was as smooth and melodious as rolling jade beads, but to Gongpal, it rang like the decree of the King of Hell.
Afterward, he racked his brains with his underlings for ages to provide the information Harris sought.
‘Should've relocated somewhere else ages ago!’
Until this natural disaster of a being was finally satisfied and departed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Whoosh—
A lone figure streaked across the sky like a bird in flight.
Harris had gathered the necessary info and set off once more.
‘Maybe because over ten years have passed since that last intel surfaced. The situation seems worse than my preliminary investigations suggested.’
He'd known the ruling empire had fallen and wars raged across the land, but now they'd dragged on for over a decade, hardening into a dire breakdown of public order.
Fights both great and small plagued not just provinces but counties too.
‘Honam Province is no different.’
These days, full-scale battles weren't as common as in the early chaos.
The front lines had stalemated, devolving into petty skirmishes that slowly nibbled at each other's territories.
In Honam Province, the major powers were General Won-gang's warlord faction from the military, the Dongting Eighteen Bandits operating around Dongting Lake, and the Hengshan Sect representing the orthodox schools.
‘Various minor factions cling to them based on their interests. Can't imagine how chaotic it must be for water bandits to hold a seat at the table.’
He'd find out firsthand soon enough.
...Yes, Harris was now heading to Dongting Lake, stronghold of the Dongting Eighteen Bandits.
There wasn't any grand reason for choosing it.
Simply—it was the closest.
‘No time to waste fiddling with outskirts. Hit the big one first, then strip what I need!’
Besides, as a den of thieves, he wouldn't feel a pang of conscience.
They'd extorted wealth through force for years; getting fleeced in turn left them no one to cry to.
‘Projecting the spirit's power from another dimension doesn't weaken it much. Thanks to that 5 million-point 『Dimensional Barrier Mitigation』, I suppose.’
His condition wasn't perfectly at 100%, but far better than expected.
Distanced from the World Tree, the innate laziness within him had notably subsided.
‘Oh? Another one.’
While soaring through the skies, he sensed a presence at the edge of his awareness, veered toward it, and descended.
Whoosh—
A shallow natural cave in a cliff crevice came into view.
Its fractured, uneven entrance was hard to spot without close inspection.
Landing there, he naturally extended his hand—
And yanked out a plant stem.
It came free cleanly without resistance, a human-shaped root utterly free of dirt.
“This makes three. Better than the previous two combined.”
Harris nodded in satisfaction as he examined it.
This root was a spirit herb, brimming with the mystical qi flowing through this world.
‘Is this the legendary human-shaped ginseng? Amazing. The root really looks just like a person.’
Due to qi's nature—light and free-flowing yet infinitely dense when condensed—this Return Realm teemed with spirit beings where nature's energy overly coalesced.
p>Unlike Aouterica, based on heavy, sticky mana.
This human-shaped ginseng, a plant with spiritual awareness, could conceal its qi, but to Harris the high elf—who sensed the surrounding nature as his own body—finding them was child's play.
He skipped the mediocre ones, harvesting only those meeting his standards, yet he'd already bagged three.
‘Not a spirit mountain, so the infused qi isn't top-tier.’
Still, impressive for casual roadside pickings.
Diligently touring famed spirit mountains would yield a fortune...
‘Note to self—do that whenever time allows.’
They'd significantly boost his growth.
Summoning the wind spirit Pascal once more, he cloaked himself in gales, glanced at a distant ridgeline, then shot northward into the sky.
Whoooosh—!
“Gasp?! W-what is...”
Thud!
On that very ridgeline Harris had eyed, a herb gatherer who'd glimpsed him by chance fell on his rear, mouth agape.
He'd heard tales of amazing martial artists, but none mentioned someone commanding winds to roam the heavens freely.
More than that, it didn't even look like a martial artist...
“An... immortal? No, a divine spirit?”
Too fast to confirm, but the radiant golden flash of its head was etched in memory.
As if the sun itself had descended to earth.
“...Not the time!”
The herb gatherer rushed to the ascension site, scouring it desperately.
That must have been a divine blessing.
“Ah!”
He found lesser spirit herbs sprouted nearby, influenced by the ginseng's qi—ones Harris deemed subpar and left behind.
He prostrated himself in gratitude.
“Waaah! Thank you, thank you! Heavens and spirits! This'll cover our boy's medicine... I can finally save him... Sob!”
This herb gatherer had braved perilous mountains to save his child amid hardship.
With herb potency plummeting in recent years, prospects were bleak—until Harris's indifferent passage brought rare fortune.
Enough for pricey medicine and a hearty meat stew for the family.
‘Here we are. So this is Dongting Lake? Looks more like a sea.’
Unbeknownst to him, tales spread of a golden-haloed heavenly spirit soaring the skies.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ When deciding to send Harris to the Return Realm,
They'd first fretted over concealing his alien appearance.
‘Magic tools from that other world? Fine on Earth, but useless in dimensions saturated with different qi.’
This was common knowledge after rich folks' hoarded artifacts proved worthless there.
Harris lacked ways to hide beyond his innate abilities.
‘And spirit archer Harris has no such skills.’
A mask, perhaps?
But it couldn't hide those sparkling star-shaped pupils.
Thoroughly vexing.
Then a sudden realization hit.
‘Why bother hiding at all?’
Harris was a transcendent powerhouse—in Return Realm terms, a Divine Realm master.
From his research, even generously counting hidden hermits, only about ten such experts existed in the current martial world.
So why skulk and cower?
‘No need! Weird looks? What're they gonna do about it?’
Thus, his bold approach now.
He'd sourced martial-style robes from Earth, showing that much effort.
Whoosh—
Rumble—Crackle!
“Argh!”
“S-save...”
But now, he wondered if hiding might've been wiser after all.
His unique looks plus spirit arts proved...
“Uwaaa—! Yokai! A yokai's attacking!”
“B-block it! You fools! Stop screaming and... Gah!”
“Eek! How do we fight that?! Can't even get close!”
“N-namu Amida Butsu... Y-yokai! Begone!”
...a bit too stimulating.
Rooooar—
Crackle—!
A colossal storm engulfed the area around Harris.
Thick clouds drawn by its pull blanketed the sky.
Sparks of lightning crackled everywhere within.
Anyone would see him as a grand yokai summoning wind and rain.
‘Wait, not the looks—it's the powers.’
On second thought, anyone wielding such abilities to smash their base would provoke this regardless of appearance.
‘Whatever, too late now.’
Harris shrugged lightly and eyed his target anew.
This was Black Dragon Cove, one arm of the Dongting Eighteen Bandits.
The first victim of his martial world exploits.