Power That Does Not Rely on Power (3)
As Dam So-dam held her breath, silence seeped over the clearing.
A tiger larger than the ordinary predators of the wild stood before them.
It was no longer something that could simply be called a beast.
And that made perfect sense.
Every beast had its own way of hunting.
Among them, tigers usually struck in a single burst, clamping down on the nape of the neck and tearing the prey’s throat out before it could even cry out.
They moved soundlessly, slipping against the wind, and the instant their quarry’s breathing faltered, they went for the kill.
But the tiger before Baek Sang-ah had shown itself openly.
Which meant it did not even regard Baek Sang-ah as prey.
“Grrr…”
Deep in those blue eyes, fierce battle spirit flickered like an ember that would not go out.
For it to reveal itself so brazenly could only mean one thing: it had recognized Baek Sang-ah as its rival.
That, too, was strange.
Normally, beasts of the predator class did not challenge opponents of equal standing.
They hunted. They did not fight.
In other words, this tiger was behaving in a way that had little to do with a beast’s instincts.
Its eyes clearly saw Baek Sang-ah as an adversary.
An ambition no mere beast should have possessed.
A desire to defeat those stronger than itself, or those equal to itself, and prove its own might.
That was the difference between a beast and a demon beast.
Hoh. To think some mere demon beast would dare challenge you. Isn’t this all because your training is still lacking? You’ve been looked down on.
Neither Baek Sang-ah nor the tiger could move recklessly.
That was because tiger and shark had similar hunting methods.
Like the tiger, a shark killed by silence—lurking behind its prey until the instant it let its guard down, then surging forward in one decisive strike.
So the clash between them was likely to be decided in a single movement.
And the first to move was the tiger.
Very slightly.
It half-lifted a forepaw, then set it down with a soft thud.
It was nothing more than a subtle adjustment of its posture to the wind drifting through the brush.
Even that made Baek Sang-ah’s breath tremble faintly.
It’s trying not to lose ground in momentum.
Baek Sang-ah lowered herself slowly, keeping her center of gravity as low as she could.
She planted both hands on the ground and lifted her head, watching the tiger’s every movement.
Of course, the disadvantage was hers.
Even if water were nearby, she was on land now, and could only move at a fraction of her full speed.
And then there was this—
My head feels wrong.
Baek Sang-ah’s eyes widened.
Some unknown force had made her brain ring with a sudden, sharp sting.
Muyeonja explained that sensation in a grave voice.
That demon beast has an instinctive grasp of consciousness. Your consciousness has been read. Avoid it.
In that instant, the moment Baek Sang-ah’s thoughts wandered elsewhere, the tiger’s massive forepaw swung down before she could gather herself.
“Keeng…?”
Her reflexes were beastlike enough to throw up an arm and block it, but the surprise of the strike sent a shock straight through her body.
More than that, she was in a human body now.
The impact flung her into the air, sending her skidding backward.
Baek Sang-ah rolled across the ground.
Grass and dirt burst up around her, and her shoulder struck a rock with a heavy, dull crack.
If you’d managed to open your consciousness just now, you wouldn’t have been hit…
She did not even have time to steady herself.
The tiger came on with ferocity, showing no intention of giving her even the smallest opening.
Bracing herself with one hand on the ground, Baek Sang-ah twisted hard just barely in time.
The tiger’s claws raked the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The rush of air that skimmed her back seemed to slice at her skin.
My body feels heavy.
Baek Sang-ah twisted her waist and lashed out with her tail like a whip, trying to drive the tiger back, but the distance between them did not widen.
That was not because Baek Sang-ah was slow. Nor was it because the tiger was faster than her.
The difference between them lay in consciousness.
The tiger, able to instinctively read the other’s consciousness and grasp intent before it happened, and Baek Sang-ah, who had not yet awakened hers.
There was no need to wonder which one held the upper hand.
And then, in the instant her focus slipped again, the tiger’s forepaw burst through the wind and charged straight at her.
It was faster than she expected, faster even than sound.
Baek Sang-ah reflexively ducked low.
But it was already too late.
Her vision lurched.
It felt as if the whole world had been overturned.
With that single strike, even her sturdy body became meaningless as her ribs cracked.
Agony flared through her chest.
For the first time, she felt what it was like to be hunted.
I’m going to die.
For Baek Sang-ah, who had always been the one doing the hunting, the sensation of death crept in slowly and inexorably.
She forced out a ragged breath and struggled back to her feet.
The moment she tried to move her leg again, her ankle was seized by something and would not budge.
When she looked down in alarm, a black, hazy shape had coiled around her ankle.
It had red eyes, and was weeping in a sorrowful, muffled voice, as though sobbing.
Don’t tell me that demon beast can even use sorcery?
Jangwi.
The spirit of a human who had been unjustly killed after being mauled by a tiger.
That spirit had come under the tiger’s control and lured other humans to be offered up to it.
The thing gripping Baek Sang-ah’s ankle now was a Jangwi.
Her hair began to rise slowly.
While she was pinned in place by the Jangwi, the tiger finally leaped, jaws opening wide.
Death was coming.
I don’t want to die.
An emptiness approached, one that would render everything meaningless.
Death has no meaning. It’s only emptiness. So I can’t die.
Baek Sang-ah swallowed hard.
All the sensations in the world seemed to slow, and then, in a reversal, every one of them seemed to snap at once.
“Unnie!”
Baek Sang-ah closed her eyes before death.
It was not surrender.
It was the best choice she could make, having instinctively realized that the difference between herself and her enemy lay in consciousness.
So Baek Sang-ah shut her eyes and began, one by one, to subdue her senses.
She put her sight to sleep and erased the world.
The world fell still in an instant.
There was no sound, no scent, no touch, no visible shape of anything at all.
And only when there was nothing left to feel did something finally emerge.
The sixth sense beyond the five senses possessed by all beings who could think.
The scriptures called it consciousness.
At the edge of Baek Sang-ah’s vision, veiled in darkness, lines began to extend outward.
From the back of her own head, consciousness spread like a net and covered everything around her.
The colorless spirit moving toward her from the tiger became visible.
Even without seeing, she could imagine the tiger ripping out her throat.
She could see the flow of the wind, the ripples traveling through the air, even the breath leaving her lungs.
“Unnie!”
At that moment, she felt the shadowlike Jangwi gripping her ankle scatter in a rush.
Dam So-dam’s spell.
Its power was small, but it was more than enough to clear away a lowly ghost subjugated by a demon beast.
Baek Sang-ah’s leg was free in an instant.
Just before the tiger’s teeth could reach the nape of her neck, the colorless consciousness that had flowed out from Baek Sang-ah completely engulfed the tiger’s own.
“Grr?”
The tiger’s body went rigid by instinct.
Any beast standing before a superior predator would have done the same.
Then, the moment Baek Sang-ah awakened every sense she had just subdued, the tiger’s body was hurled up toward the sky.
Baek Sang-ah had kicked it with a rising knee.
The tiger’s body tumbled in midair, twisting out of control.
Baek Sang-ah stood there and drew in a calm breath.
“Grrrr…”
The tiger scrambled back to its feet and moved its eyes as if to read Baek Sang-ah’s consciousness, but it could see nothing.
That uncertainty made it shrink back in confusion.
Baek Sang-ah did not waste the opening. She slipped between the gusts of wind and reached the tiger in an instant.
Then she bared her teeth, opening her mouth wide.
“K-kyeeng….”
In that instant, the tiger’s demeanor changed at once.
In a fight between predators, momentum was ninety percent of the battle.
Baek Sang-ah’s consciousness had completely swallowed its own, and the tiger’s battle spirit, unable to feel anything at all, began to wither away.
Of course, it was also proof of the tiger’s intelligence.
Realizing that its opponent was far stronger than itself, its momentum had been utterly broken.
The tiger shrank back with its massive body hunched low and slowly retreated, but Baek Sang-ah was already closing the gap faster than it could back away.
“You’re strong.”
“Kyeeeng…”
The tiger gave a low rumble in its throat.
It was not a threat, but a sign of surrender.
“Do you want to live too?”
“Nng, kyeeng.”
As Baek Sang-ah took one more step forward, the tiger killed its presence and lay itself down.
It closed its eyes and lowered its head to the ground on its own.
At that, Dam So-dam let out a small gasp of admiration.
“I-it knelt? That’s impossible.”
Baek Sang-ah steadied her breathing and looked down at the tiger.
Pain throbbed through her ribs, but she dulled it by resting that part of her sense.
Meanwhile, the enormous demon beast kept its head pressed to the ground and did not move an inch.
“So you want to live.”
In that moment, Baek Sang-ah understood.
Even without words, there was a sense beasts shared with one another.
The tiger was not pitifully begging for its life; it was showing its willingness to survive by offering submission.
Baek Sang-ah tapped the ground with her tail and held out a hand to the tiger, and it cautiously licked her palm.
“Nng, nng.”
Dam So-dam, who had nearly collapsed onto the ground, was suddenly standing beside Baek Sang-ah before she knew it.
“Unnie, are you all right?”
“Yeah.”
“A-and this demon beast… what are you going to do with it?”
“I’ll raise it so it won’t die.”
“Huh…?”
Dam So-dam fell silent for a moment.
Anyone could see this demon beast was extremely dangerous.
It had been subdued by Baek Sang-ah and was acting like a giant cat now, but there was no telling when its nature might change.
And if Baek Sang-ah meant to raise it, that meant bringing it back to Ungyu Sect.
Dam So-dam worried about how Sect Leader Moon would take that.
Still… if it was Baek Sang-ah, maybe it would be fine?
“I-if it’s something you want to raise, Sect Leader Moon will probably like it too. It’ll be a big help to Ungyu Sect. M-maybe?”
“Yeah. You. Don’t hurt people. They helped me.”
“Nng!”
Even the tiger seemed to understand, letting out a low cry.
“What should we name it?”
“I’m not very good at naming things.”
“I’m Baek Sang-ah, so I’m Sang-ah. Since it’s a tiger, how about Rangi?”
“I-I think that’s kind of cute.”
That morning, when Baek Sang-ah, Dam So-dam, and the tiger came down the mountain path and entered through the sect’s main gate, the Ungyu disciple waiting there anxiously caught sight of them and squeezed his eyes shut.
No way. Why is that demon beast that used to rule this whole area here?
And then, at Baek Sang-ah’s next words, he cried out inwardly.
“Its name is Rangi.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m keeping it here.”
“Ah…”
Ungyu Sect was nothing more than a small, minor cultivation sect on the outskirts, the kind other cultivators did not even bother to look at.
And yet now, alongside the shark beast cultivator Baek Sang-ah, the tiger demon beast Rangi had joined them too.
“Th-that’s how it turned out.”
Dam So-dam quietly added that to explain to Sect Leader Moon that this was, in fact, reality.