The Supreme Great White Shark, Baek Sang-ah (2)
“Kraaaang!”
Baek Sang-ah let out a howl!
Lately, she had been so intoxicated by her own dignity that she’d been running wild through the sea.
Still, it was only right.
Not long ago, Baek Sang-ah had been nothing more than an ordinary great white shark, but now she was a cultivated great white shark.
[Do not get cocky.]
“Kehng?”
Muyeonja, unable to bear watching Baek Sang-ah strut around inwardly going, Heh heh!, finally spoke up.
At the sound of that voice, Baek Sang-ah’s tail twitched.
It felt strange to hear someone else’s voice inside her head.
[Even if you have succeeded in stepping onto the path of cultivation, do you not yet know that you are still but a mere creature of the wild?]
“Khnn……”
Instead of nodding, Baek Sang-ah answered by slowly swishing her tail.
She dragged it out on purpose, as a small sign of protest.
Of course, Muyeonja wasn’t wrong.
Even if Baek Sang-ah could vaguely sense the currents of the world the way a cultivator could, she still wasn’t a true cultivator yet.
[You were human once, so you must understand. Being able to read letters does not mean one has mastered every discipline, does it?]
In other words, Baek Sang-ah was still a creature far from reaching the Qi Condensation Realm.
She had all the conditions to become a cultivator, yet lacked the single most important thing. She was still, at heart, an ordinary mortal.
Baek Sang-ah stared blankly at the fish drifting past her and spoke without thinking.
“Kraehng.”
[So you think you’ve become smarter than before?]
Muyeonja fell silent for a moment, letting out a thoughtful hum, before finally answering.
[It is nothing more than an illusion.]
At Muyeonja’s firm declaration, Baek Sang-ah let her tail droop and watched the fish she had chased away.
“Kreung, kraehng.”
Still, it was definitely different from before.
As if to prove it, the fish that had once been nothing more to Baek Sang-ah than moving food now looked like creatures trying to flee.
She even found herself wondering, I’m hungry, so why are they running away?
Compared with before, it was a tremendous leap forward.
As expected, I’ve evolved into a great white shark that has awakened the Dao of this sea.
[That is precisely why I say it is an illusion. How did this beast come to be born with Malrangjiche……? Heaven truly is indifferent.]
At Baek Sang-ah’s stubbornness, Muyeonja could only sigh.
He had thought that since she had once been human, she would retain some measure of knowledge and intelligence. But all that was left was knowledge.
In truth, that was even worse than knowing nothing at all.
The less intelligent a creature was, the more its ego could swell if it happened to know a few things.
The more Baek Sang-ah thought she knew, the more pride she had, and the more stubborn she became.
That was her current state.
Then, rather unusually, Baek Sang-ah became curious.
What on earth is Malrangjiche?
[Malrangjiche is a constitution in which one is born with the talent to reach the ultimate end……]
The moment Muyeonja began to explain, Baek Sang-ah was startled and flapped around furiously.
For a human, it would have looked no different from wildly waving her hands.
There was a simple reason for it.
Baek Sang-ah knew that every time Muyeonja opened his mouth, his explanations went on forever.
Worse still, he was scholarly to a fault, which made him unbearably dull.
If she simply sat there and listened, he would often scold her for zoning out, so this was her way of preventing that disaster in advance.
Muyeonja sighed.
[It is important to you, so listen— no, never mind. Just think of it as a fine talent that others do not possess.]
“Kraaang!”
At that, Baek Sang-ah flicked her tail quickly.
That meant she understood.
But from Muyeonja’s perspective, they could not simply leave it at that.
[Even if extraordinary talent is bestowed upon one, what meaning is there in squandering it wantonly?]
In truth, Baek Sang-ah already possessed everything she needed.
She had swallowed and stored the aura of a Great Immortal, and with Malrangjiche, her constitution was secure.
Her ability to vaguely perceive the flow of the world was proof enough that she had already set foot in the world of cultivation.
[There is a reason every cultivator awakens to principle and walks the Dao.]
And yet, the crucial thing was missing.
[Even if that reason were revenge against someone, or some worldly desire for wealth and glory, or even something as trivial as a whim born of boredom, it would still suffice.]
Baek Sang-ah had no purpose for walking the Dao.
Purpose was reason. Without reason, no matter how much one trained or understood principle, it was all just a hollow facade.
What she needed now was Baek Sang-ah’s own heart.
[What is one to do, then?]
While Muyeonja sank into thought, the plump white belly of the great white shark slowly popped up above the surface.
Baek Sang-ah had fallen asleep.
[Even after receiving such talent, you live only by instinct. Heaven truly is indifferent.]
Then, something came into Muyeonja’s line of sight as he lamented.
A thread of vermilion qi seeping little by little from Baek Sang-ah, who had rolled over in her sleep.
It was the Great Immortal’s aura that Baek Sang-ah could not yet fully absorb, because she had not properly stepped onto the path of cultivation.
The moment he saw it, Muyeonja let out a laugh.
[They say that when the head is foolish, the body suffers for it.]
The Great Immortal’s aura, still remaining within Baek Sang-ah and not yet fully gathered, was leaking out.
It was nothing more than a speck compared to what the Great Immortal truly possessed.
[But for a mortal or a low-ranking cultivator, it is no different from a fortuitous opportunity that allows one to rise to the next level.]
At last, the vermilion mist spread in all directions, centered on Baek Sang-ah.
…….
…….
…….
When Baek Sang-ah woke again, the sun was already high overhead.
“Kraang?”
Her belly had been exposed to the sunlight and grown hot, so she flipped over and slipped back beneath the water.
At that instant, she felt that something was strange.
There was nothing different about Baek Sang-ah herself, yet the scenery around her felt slightly changed.
There were more fish nearby.
The fish that usually fled the moment they saw even her shadow were now swimming around her, stealing cautious glances in her direction.
Baek Sang-ah sensed something odd in their eyes.
It felt as though the fish, who should have been terrified, were instead eyeing her hungrily.
Do I look tasty?
Sharks had no eyelids, so she couldn’t blink, but if Baek Sang-ah had still been human, she would have been blinking in confusion nonstop.
That confusion, however, was short-lived.
She had been asleep for quite a while, so she was hungry.
And so, as Baek Sang-ah opened her mouth and approached the fish, they naturally drifted into her maw.
“Kraaang?”
The moving food that would normally have fled in panic was now coming toward her as if drawn by something?
Just as Baek Sang-ah’s confusion grew even greater, Muyeonja spoke again.
[It is because of the aura you possess.]
Aura?
[Yes. Did you not swallow this body, the incarnation of a Great Immortal? And yet because you have still not become a complete cultivator, the aura is flowing backward.]
Baek Sang-ah swept her tail through the water and began swimming quickly.
Then isn’t that a good thing? I don’t have to work hard to get food.
Muyeonja let out a sigh.
[Do you think only creatures of the wild will be drawn to the Great Immortal’s radiant energy? To my knowledge, no one is more obsessed with building cultivation than the lesser cultivators of the lower realm.]
Before Muyeonja had even finished speaking, a faint tremor rippled from beyond the sea.
Before long, traces of qi began to waver beneath the surface, and unfamiliar presences started drawing near one by one.
“Khn?”
Baek Sang-ah could sense them too.
She did not understand exactly what they were, only that something was approaching.
Even so, despite her shock, she did not flee.
I’m the supreme cultivated great white shark.
She was the only shark among all sharks to have awakened the Dao, so she was confident she could fend off whatever came her way.
And on the other side of the sea, beneath the sun, there were those standing upon the land.
“I can feel it. It’s there.”
Unfamiliar presences were heading toward the sea.
Beings in human form.
“No doubt about it. That wondrous and mighty energy must be a fortuitous chance.”
“If we take it back, the sect master will be pleased and reward us with Foundation Establishment Pills.”
They were cultivators from a small sect stationed on the outskirts of the shoreline.
“Even if it is only a mere creature, we mustn’t lower our guard if it carries such energy.”
“Yes, Senior Brother.”
At the end of their gazes, they could see a single foolish-looking great white shark with its nose just barely above the surface.
One of the cultivators, after confirming the sight, curved his lips.
“There’s no need to fight. All we have to do is capture it and bring it to the sect master.”
“If we look at those stupid eyes, it really does seem easy.”
All of them had reached the Qi Condensation Realm.
“You have this one here, after all.”
In particular, the one called Senior Brother had reached the mid-stage of Qi Condensation and possessed qi on a completely different level from the other Qi Condensation cultivators.
“Come now, let us catch that foolish shark.”
In other words, a total of seven Qi Condensation cultivators began rushing toward Baek Sang-ah.