A Topsy-Turvy Fortune
Seok Geum-ryong had immersed himself in medical texts and illustrated guides that recorded various rare beasts and golden pills, and he remembered the relevant passage well.
To deal with the Thousand-Year Great Mang, which had begun to lapse into corruption, one needed an expert who had reached the Peak Realm, and depending on the situation, it could even be subdued alone.
‘For the sake of minimizing the damage to Seokma-gwan, and for the sake of honor, I must eliminate it.’
Seok Geum-ryong decided that before ugly rumors about Seokma-gwan could spread any further and stain both his own reputation and that of Seokma-gwan, he would hunt down the Thousand-Year Great Mang.
Just then, the day’s work at Seokma-gwan was ending, and the managers began filing out one by one.
-Shadowless Movement Technique!
Once Seok Geum-ryong made up his mind, he moved without hesitation.
The place he headed for was the same area in North Rock Mountain where he had discovered horse blood on the treetop last time.
‘Even in my previous life, the corpse of the Thousand-Year Great Mang, long dead by then, was found in North Rock Mountain.’
He groped after that faint memory and pressed on to catch the Thousand-Year Great Mang.
There was another reason he had gone alone as well. The Thousand-Year Great Mang was extremely wary, and whenever several experts were present, it tended to flee or hide rather than fight.
Hadn’t it already chosen flight over aggression when he fought it the other day?
If the Thousand-Year Great Mang set its mind on hiding somewhere in North Rock Mountain or went into a winter dormancy, no one would be able to find it easily.
‘In other words, I have to kill it while it’s off guard.’
The moment it remained on guard and began to struggle, it would immediately choose escape.
Fwaaaat!
As time passed and the sun began to sink sluggishly beyond the horizon, the light thinning by the minute, this was in fact the sort of hour the Thousand-Year Great Mang favored most.
It was the time when light retreated and familiar darkness rolled in.
“It was definitely around here……”
North Rock Mountain was a place he knew well, not only from this life but from the last as well, for he had often come and gone there by virtue of a special connection.
So how could he not know the lay of the land?
There was one more thing. The current Thousand-Year Great Mang, the thousand-year serpent, had left traces of blood from its hunt for horses.
Most of it had supposedly been washed away by last night’s torrential rain, but it could not evade Seok Geum-ryong’s keen nose and tracking.
‘I’ve found a trace!’
In North Rock Mountain, not at the peak but in a remote outer stretch where almost no people ever went, he found a faint smear of blood visible amid the overgrown brush.
A normal person would have passed it off as nothing more than some dark-red mushroom blooming there, but Seok Geum-ryong was different.
“It’s definitely horse blood.”
Which meant the Thousand-Year Great Mang had to be somewhere nearby.
Convinced that the creature could not be far off, Seok Geum-ryong began searching the area.
Not like last time, when he had searched with no plan or preparation.
‘I heard the Thousand-Year Great Mang likes dark, damp places.’
Recalling once more the habits and traits of that enormous serpent as recorded in the medical texts and illustrated guides, he investigated efficiently.
In truth, North Rock Mountain was exactly what its name suggested: a mountain in the north, cold and damp, with many secluded places, and the spot where the horse blood had been found was on the shadowed side.
‘A damp place in the mountains naturally means……’
a stream flowing not far away.
Drawing on his seasoned experience, Seok Geum-ryong thoroughly searched the nearby streamside and eventually found a gap between massive rocks.
‘Found you!’
Seok Geum-ryong noticed that a faint but distinct smear of horse blood clung to the crack, and he became certain the Thousand-Year Great Mang was there.
Moreover, since the sun had not yet fully set, he inferred that it was hiding within that huge fissure in the rocks and resting.
‘Something the Thousand-Year Great Mang hates and avoids with all its heart.’
That was hot fire and the acrid smoke that came with it.
Crackle!
At that thought, Seok Geum-ryong pulled out a fire starter, a hwaseopja, and began to strike sparks as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
With branches and grass strewn everywhere nearby, there was no difficulty at all in starting the fire.
And that was not all.
‘The Thousand-Year Great Mang is, in the end, a giant serpent and a kind of venomous snake.’
So Seok Geum-ryong, who had never neglected his study of medicine, gathered wood and fruit that snakes disliked and focused on burning them.
He was not merely improvising; he was producing smoke based on medical knowledge, and the effect was immediate.
Kiiiiik!
The flames Seok Geum-ryong kindled, along with the smoke from burning the grasses that snakes hated, filled the rock crevice.
Then, with a cry like a beast’s death throes, he realized there was something massive and heavy in there.
Smiling broadly, Seok Geum-ryong confirmed the Thousand-Year Great Mang’s presence.
He had another reason to smile.
‘The Thousand-Year Great Mang is usually extremely aggressive, and when it senses danger, it immediately emits venomous mist from its fangs.’
And yet now, instead of venomous mist, the creature was only writhing in misery from the acrid smoke, its movements barely spreading beyond a small radius.
What did that mean?
‘It means the Thousand-Year Great Mang’s life force is ebbing, and its power is weakening!’
That meant this was the perfect time for the Golden Young Master, Seok Geum-ryong, who had stepped into the Peak Realm, to hunt it alone.
It also meant this was the final chance to take the inner core within the Thousand-Year Great Mang.
‘Feigning a sound in the east and striking in the west.’
Even after finding his target, Seok Geum-ryong did not act carelessly.
Far from it. He had come alone, yes, but he had not forgotten the subtlety of a driving hunt.
Feigning a sound in the east and striking in the west was, quite literally, a military stratagem in which one made a commotion in the east to lure the enemy, then attacked from the west.
-Heaven-Returning Golden Needle Technique!
Seok Geum-ryong unleashed the Heaven-Returning Golden Needle Technique at full force toward the mouth of the fissure where he had lit the fire.
This was the “sound in the east,” the act of making a noise to lure it out.
Fushushushuk!
Since his purpose was to lure and drive the creature, the accuracy of the golden needles was miserable.
From the outset, hurling golden needles through such a narrow, twisting gap and striking the Thousand-Year Great Mang had a difficulty level akin to plucking stars from the sky.
Kirirrik!
Even as the acrid smoke poured out, the Thousand-Year Great Mang still felt uncertain.
It could not tell whether a true threat had arrived or whether the forest was simply burning by coincidence.
Keeheeeek!
But the moment one of the golden needles brushed its carapace by a hair’s breadth, it knew at once.
Ah. Something threatening me has appeared.
Srrrk!
Accordingly, the Thousand-Year Great Mang slid with uncanny grace through the cramped crack in the rock and moved to the other side.
There was an old saying: a cunning rabbit digs three burrows.
But the Thousand-Year Great Mang, which had spent more than a thousand years gathering merit, was beyond a rabbit’s comparison. It was far more cunning, and far more astute.
From the very moment it settled in this massive cleft in the rocks, it had checked first for an exit that would make escape easy at any time.
Swish.
There was an old expression about a snake moving as if it were gliding, and what the Thousand-Year Great Mang showed now was exactly that.
It was clearly a huge creature, far thicker than the waist or torso of a grown man, and yet it moved nimbly through that narrow rock gap. It was a sight so unbelievable that even seeing it with his own eyes hardly made it real.
At last!
Swish!
The Thousand-Year Great Mang, horrified by the golden needles, cautiously poked its head out toward the other opening.
“……!!”
For the first time in his life, Seok Geum-ryong was meeting a rare beast, and one that had lived for well over a thousand years at that. He was stunned.
Truly, seeing a serpent or giant serpent of this size was something unprecedented across both his previous life and this one.
Its color was like obsidian, like the fruit of the prickly ash tree, with carapace and scales so massive one might believe it to be a young dragon.
At the same time, the long and sinister tongue as long as a child’s arm, and the Thousand-Year Great Mang’s face as large as a grown man’s head, were astonishing beyond words.
Faced with this rare and precious spectacle, Seok Geum-ryong wanted nothing more than to admire it endlessly and store it in his eyes and mind, but he had a purpose to fulfill.
He had made the feint in the east, and now only the finish remained: the strike in the west.
-Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique: First Form, Greedy Wolf!
Seok Geum-ryong immediately drew on the Northern Dipper Cultivation Technique to raise his internal energy, then without a moment’s delay, he swung the first form of the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique.
In terms of sheer power alone, the strongest was naturally the third form, Preserving Wealth, but the reason he chose Greedy Wolf was simple.
‘Right now, I’m hunting the Thousand-Year Great Mang, and in this instant, one of us has to die.’
In the present moment, there was no form more fitting than Greedy Wolf, with its greedy teeth bared.
Kwa-gagagagang!
On the Silver-Whisper Sword in Seok Geum-ryong’s hand, that greedy, ravenous sword qi exploded into brilliance.
Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong was focusing on the hunt with more force than ever before.
From the start, he had unleashed all his power and internal energy.
‘If I lose it now, I estimate the Thousand-Year Great Mang will leave North Rock Mountain and relocate elsewhere.’
Which would mean Seok Geum-ryong lost the Thousand-Year Great Mang’s inner core and anything else it might possess.
He could not, under any circumstances, lose the inner core of the Thousand-Year Great Mang, which could grant a tremendous leap in his prowess as a martial artist.
He struck down at the serpent’s head as it peered out with the Silver-Whisper Sword imbued with sword qi, pouring all his strength into the blow, but regrettably he did not pierce it cleanly.
Tingling!
Far from piercing through, a prickling shock spread from his fingertips through his entire body, making him grimace reflexively.
“Ugh!”
How careful had Seok Geum-ryong been, and yet an involuntary groan still escaped him.
That alone proved how monstrous the Thousand-Year Great Mang’s defense was, thanks to its carapace and scales, and how the recoil had actually struck Seok Geum-ryong’s own hand deeply in return.
Of course, that did not mean the Thousand-Year Great Mang had escaped unscathed either.
Seok Geum-ryong’s strategy of feigning east and striking west had been very well chosen.
Hadn’t he completely lured that sly, crafty creature and driven in a strike while it was defenseless?
Drip, drip.
Seok Geum-ryong’s first form drew blood between the Thousand-Year Great Mang’s brows.
Shhhhiiik!
The blood that fell to the ground reacted violently the instant it touched the earth, proving it was a deadly poison.
‘As expected, it’s not a trivial foe.’
The Thousand-Year Great Mang was wounded, and having taken a direct hit between the brows, it was even feeling dizzy.
If not for that, it would have fled immediately.
“Haaah!”
Seok Geum-ryong sensed that this was the time to throw away all caution and fight for life and death.
He poured out everything he had, deploying all his internal energy and forms.
-Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique: Second Form, Great Gate!
Kwaaaang!
Seok Geum-ryong’s sword energy, sharper than ever before as he staked everything on this clash, plunged in again with ruthless force.
Kieeeeeek!
Not willing to be outdone by Seok Geum-ryong’s wave-like assault, the Thousand-Year Great Mang, now thoroughly enraged, straightened its back and charged as well.
From this point on, hunter and hunted, predator and prey, martial artist and rare beast, human and animal meant nothing anymore.
Only a primal fight to the death remained, each side killing the other for the thing it wanted most.
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