Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Infiltration (2)
'Huh, this is completely different from what the world says.'
Se-Woon couldn't help but let out a genuine sigh of admiration at the sight before him.
It was the very moment he set foot inside the main palace of the Beast Palace, guided by Tasadoon.
The Beast Palace was adorned with overwhelming extravagance.
Its decorations exuded an exotic, dazzling splendor and magnificence.
Just as Se-Woon was momentarily lost in admiration—
"Sniff. Take this one to the underground prison."
"Yes!"
At Tasadoon's command, a subordinate slung the unconscious Muming over his shoulder and left.
[Damn priest! Damn bastard!]
Muming's Sound Transmission rained down on Se-Woon like a storm.
It wasn't even that painful, yet he was making such a fuss.
[Escape on your own and meet me later.]
[!?!?!?]
Though a barrage of vicious curses rang in his ears, Se-Woon lightly ignored them.
Soon after, they arrived at the grand assembly hall. Gatekeepers—massive figures with muscles rivaling Tasadoon's—stood guard at the entrance.
From inside, a clamor so loud it sounded like a brawl echoed out.
"Brother Pataewoon."
'Hm?'
Just then, Tasadoon suddenly called out to Se-Woon.
When Se-Woon turned his head, the man spoke with a slightly serious expression.
"Hmm... Inside, the king and the chieftains might treat you roughly. But that's only because they don't know you yet. I hope you understand that it doesn't represent the will of the entire Beast Palace."
"......!"
Se-Woon could sense sincerity in Tasadoon's words.
To trust someone he'd just met so easily—one might call it naive, easily exploited.
But Se-Woon judged him favorably.
'He was born with a heroic temperament. He stands firm in his convictions, not the type to waver easily.'
Se-Woon opened his mouth.
"But, Brother Tasadoon."
"Hmm?"
"Do you really trust me?"
At Se-Woon's words, the man scratched his nose awkwardly before replying.
"Sniff. There's no reason not to trust a brother who fought back-to-back with me on the battlefield."
The sight of such a massive figure acting bashful made Se-Woon chuckle despite himself.
'He's quite adorable.'
Se-Woon patted the man's shoulder and spoke.
"Thanks. As a reward, I'll make you my first sworn brother."
"Huh? I'm clearly older than—"
"Open the gates!!"
Creak!
With the gatekeeper's booming shout, the doors to the grand assembly hall finally swung wide open.
Inside the assembly hall, where seating was on the floor rather than chairs, the Beast King and the five chieftains—
Along with the core members of the Beast Palace—had all gathered.
Whoosh!
Swoosh!
Like the biting northern gales, the combined aura of countless warriors surged toward Se-Woon as he stepped through the doors.
'They're all quite impressive.'
The intensity of their gazes made Se-Woon's skin prickle.
None of them had learned Internal Qi techniques.
But as one's mastery of External Martial Arts reaches its peak, transcending the limits of the flesh, they attain a power beyond.
That power lies in the realm of the soul.
When the soul's rank rises, even without Internal Qi, one can surpass the body's limits—
Allowing them to project their fighting spirit outward, achieving effects comparable to, or in some ways surpassing, Internal Qi.
Thus, the path of martial arts was like countless streams merging into an ocean, diverging into innumerable routes toward the same destination.
Hiss...
Just then, Se-Woon's senses caught the chilling gaze of one particular chieftain.
Tiger, Bear, Wolf, Boar, Ape.
Among the five ruling tribes of the Beast Palace, it was the Wolf Tribe's chieftain.
'Maeng Yong. I knew you'd be here.'
The sight of him made killing intent bloom in Se-Woon's chest.
No one here would know now, but Se-Woon was aware of his true nature.
Memories from his past life surfaced.
When the Beast Palace fell into the Blood Cult's hands, the one who ascended as its new ruler was none other than the Savage Beast King, Maeng Yong.
A filthy traitor who sold out his brothers and tribes.
And to Se-Woon, he was the enemy who had mercilessly slaughtered someone dear to him.
Hah... Stay calm. Now's not the time.
As his killing intent threatened to stir the Reverse Heaven Energy within him, Se-Woon suppressed it with composure.
"Hmm. His muscles are lacking."
Just then, Tasadoon's father, the Bear Tribe's chieftain Tasaguk, clicked his tongue in disappointment while sizing up Se-Woon.
The other chieftains nodded in agreement.
'Do these guys have nothing else to talk about besides muscles?'
Se-Woon was dumbfounded that their first impression of him was a critique of his physique.
"Silence."
Then, from the high seat of the assembly hall—
A middle-aged man lounging atop a massive tiger pelt unleashed a domineering aura.
Whoosh.
With that single word, the noisy hall fell into immediate silence.
It was a testament to the overwhelming authority and presence the man held within the Beast Palace.
His mane-like hair and the predatory gaze of a tiger.
A sun-bronzed, muscular frame so massive it made Tasadoon seem small in comparison.
Se-Woon recognized him at a glance.
The ruler of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace—
'The Beast Heavenly King, Umun Gol!'
Whoosh!
Astonishingly, Umun Gol's entire body radiated a fighting spirit rivaling the threshold of the Mystic Realm.
The Beast Heavenly King was not counted among the Ten Great Masters.
But that was only because the Central Plains' elites and martial artists subtly favored their own.
In truth, those who had seen the Beast King in person unanimously agreed—
Umun Gol's strength and innate potential were in no way inferior to the Ten Great Masters.
'Yeah, he deserves that reputation.'
And now, Se-Woon acknowledged Umun Gol's might as well.
"Chieftain Tasaguk's firstborn, Tasadoon! I report to the Great King my return from battle against the Central Plains!"
Tasadoon knelt on one knee in salute.
But Umun Gol did not respond.
His blazing, flame-like eyes remained fixed solely on Se-Woon.
Se-Woon met his gaze unflinchingly before—
Thud!
"Warrior of the Beast Palace, Pataho's only son, Pataewoon! I pay my respects to the Great King!"
Mimicking Tasadoon, he saluted and bowed his head.
Instantly, the hall erupted in commotion.
"Pataho, you say?"
"What? He had a son this grown?"
"Well, it makes sense! It's been over twenty years since he fled this place!"
"Then that makes him the Ape Chieftain's grandson...!"
The hall buzzed with excited chatter about Se-Woon, but—
The man himself was preoccupied with something else entirely.
Bzzzt!
Bzzzzzt!
'This is insane.'
He was desperately trying to calm the Deadly Poison vibrating wildly inside his sleeve.
The Deadly Poison he had retrieved from Paeumbima had been acting strangely the moment he encountered Umun Gol.
There was only one reason.
'It's reacting to the poison inside Umun Gol.'
The Deadly Poison was the supreme existence among all poisons.
It could detect any poison in its vicinity.
The poison within Umun Gol was not the Male-Female Gu Poison that Qilian Demon had taken from Paeumbima.
A flash of insight crossed Se-Woon's eyes unnoticed.
'Their plan to control the king failed. So they've moved to the next stage.'
Drawing from his past life's memories, Se-Woon perfectly grasped the Blood Cult's infiltration progress within the Beast Palace.
Just as the Deadly Poison's vibrations subsided, Umun Gol spoke to the Ape Chieftain—
Pataho's father, whom Se-Woon had claimed as his grandfather.
"Well? Patahoon."
"......I see traces of my son in his face."
Patahoon's deeply wrinkled face twitched as he spoke.
The old man's eyes, fixed on Se-Woon, were filled with complex emotions.
"Hmm. A grandfather's eyes wouldn't be mistaken."
Yet Umun Gol's gaze remained as cold as ice.
"But the martial arts carved into that boy's body bear no resemblance to the Beast Palace's."
"......!!"
Thud.
Umun Gol rose from his throne.
Whoosh!
A ferocious fighting spirit, incomparable to before, surged from his body like a storm.
"If you cannot prove yourself, I'll have to beat you senseless and throw you out."
Thud. Thud.
As Umun Gol slowly approached, his eyes now held unmistakable hostility.
Tasadoon looked bewildered beside Se-Woon, but Se-Woon found this expected.
Though he had fooled Tasadoon and others with External Martial Arts hastily crafted from the Swordless Sword's enlightenment, deceiving the Beast Heavenly King—who had mastered all of the Beast Palace's martial arts—was impossible.
But this, too, was within Se-Woon's calculations.
"My father told me he fled the Beast Palace to marry my mother, a woman of the Central Plains."
"......!"
At Se-Woon's words, Umun Gol halted abruptly.
Every ear in the hall pricked up.
"He said they built a new home in the Western Regions, where I was born. That the time the three of us lived together was the happiest of his life. But... it ended there."
"......."
"My earliest memory is dragging chains around my ankles while eating pig slop."
"!!"
Patahoon's pupils trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
"When I was three, the Mad Sandstorm raiders attacked. They killed my mother and enslaved my father and me. My father resisted to the end... but for my sake, he surrendered and lived as their slave."
Ah...
Sorrowful sighs arose throughout the hall.
"We lived as slaves for over a decade. Then, three months ago, while the raiders were out pillaging, my father and I desperately escaped. He told me we'd start anew in the Beast Palace, his homeland..."
Silence fell.
But only one of them had arrived.
"Pataho has returned to the land of warriors."
Se-Woon nodded at Umun Gol's words.
"Because the Mad Sandstorm's bandits watched us closely, the only thing my father could teach me was the Ape Tribe's forging technique."
"......!"
Everyone was stunned.
Each of the Beast Palace's five tribes possessed one unique, hereditary skill.
Among them, the Ape Tribe's pride was their extraordinary forging technique.
Slowly rising, Se-Woon spread both hands before Umun Gol.
What made the Ape Tribe's forging technique special was one particular power.
Closing his eyes, Se-Woon recalled the image of a man.
-Master Smith, may I ask you something?
-Ask away, Grandmaster.
-You're from the Beast Palace, so you only learned External Martial Arts. How do you wield that power?
-Heh. This is a power unique to my homeland... no, to my tribe alone.
In his past life, while imprisoned by the Blood Cult—
There had been a blacksmith enslaved alongside him in the Blood Cult's forges, also from the Beast Palace.
A man who, despite his exceptional skills rising to the rank of Deputy Smith, was tormented by guilt for aiding the Blood Cult.
A man who lived only for his captive son.
'In this life, I'll change everything for you, Pataho.'
The man Se-Woon had falsely claimed as his father, Pataho—
Possessed a miraculous flame unique to the Ape Tribe.
Whoosh!
-...Cough. Grandmaster... I pray you succeed in your vengeance...
The moment he recalled the man's final words—
A brilliant emerald flame ignited in Se-Woon's palms.
Chapter 122: The Tyrant of Sichuan