110
110
In this world, there exist beings known as spirit creatures.
The Celestial Silk Centipede, which became the material for Sagong Hee's Jabo Sword, is a prime example. The various snakes raised by Dok-gwi Dang Sa-rim of the Sichuan Tang Clan are also a type of spirit creature.
Since inner cores undeniably exist, the existence of spirit creatures is a given. Throughout the Central Plains, unknown spirit creatures dwell, and their inner cores make for excellent spirit medicine.
'It's not just the Central Plains.'
The North Sea Ice Palace also has a spirit creature. More precisely, it has a monster.
There is a giant monster called the White-Banded Light Moth, a creature that has turned the vast lake area where the North Sea Ice Palace stands into eternal permafrost.
In terms of martial realm, it surpasses at least the Profound Realm and is at the threshold of the Life-and-Death Realm.
Unless one has absorbed the future Heavenly Demon and the Lone Sacred Maiden, even a Blood Jiangshi cannot guarantee victory against this mightiest phantom beast of the Northern Sea.
The Ice Palace began its history atop the phantom beast.
'The North Sea Ice Palace is an ancient fortress built upon the wings of the White-Banded Light Moth.'
The founder of the North Sea Ice Palace built a fortress in a place brimming with yin energy.
Erecting a fortress atop a yin-charged monster to accumulate yin energy was audacious, and continuously freezing the monster with the Ice White Divine Art to keep it from awakening was also truly remarkable.
'But they met a limit as time passed.'
Over the long ages, the White-Banded Light Moth began to slowly writhe, as if waking from hibernation, and the Ice Palace Mistress required power to freeze and suppress the monster.
The Ice Palace's power, which had expanded by absorbing the White-Banded Light Moth's yin energy, gradually weakened.
Therefore, to prevent their destruction, they had to bolster their insufficient strength.
'Just then, news arrived from the Central Plains, and the North Sea Ice Palace sought the Heavenly Demon's salvation.'
Those who wish to learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, come to the Demonic Cult!
To oppose the daily-strengthening White-Banded Light Moth, the Ice White Divine Art of the North Sea Ice Palace alone was insufficient. The Ice Palace desired the Heavenly Demon's power to slay the White-Banded Light Moth.
—Northern affairs are for the North! However, if the North Sea Ice Palace joins the Demonic Cult, I shall grant you strength.
The Heavenly Demon took the North Sea Ice Palace as a subordinate by granting the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. That legacy passed through generations down to the current Ice Demon, Yoo Seol-ra.
The Ice Palace Mistress was now forced to live as the Demonic Cult's Ice Demon in order to save all of the Ice Palace.
In the future, the White-Banded Light Moth would awaken, forcing the North Sea Ice Palace to descend to the Heavenly Mountain, where they would eventually participate in the war against the Blood Cult, but that is a story for another time.
'The White-Banded Light Moth's inner core was truly sweet.'
Still, it's a story that won't happen if the White-Banded Light Moth is killed.
If I kill the White-Banded Light Moth and take its inner core, I can accumulate overwhelming internal energy.
Isn't the White-Banded Light Moth the very source that created the Ice Palace warriors, who are like ten-thousand-year ice crystals?
Even if the loss during absorption is enormous, a monster's inner core that has lived an unknown number of Gapja underground would not be wasted even if 90% of it slips away. Even if 90% is lost from six hundred years of time, I'd still easily obtain one Gapja.
'Honestly, it is a little bit of a waste.'
Even a massive vessel like the Blood Jiangshi would find it difficult to fully contain the White-Banded Light Moth's internal energy. If it were yang energy, maybe, but for a man to contain yin energy would be even harder.
'See, increasing the number of women isn't solely because I pursue lust, right?'
In that sense, I need many women with whom I can share the yin energy.
Even if Sagong Hee, Lee Si-a, and Dokgo Yeon split a ten-Gapja inner core, each would absorb only twenty to thirty years of martial power, if that.
No matter how you distribute internal energy, the fewer women there are to receive it, the more will inevitably be lost.
And it's not like the inner core would be preserved. The core of a dead phantom beast, essentially its corpse, is fated to rot and decay.
'If that's the case, wouldn't sharing the yin energy through yin-yang unions with multiple women be to the benefit of the entire murim?'
Sharing overflowing internal energy with many is the true foundation for everyone's mutual growth.
"Therefore, first, both of you, assume the Full Lotus Position and receive the internal energy I grant. We will talk afterward."
Its quality is inferior to the White-Banded Light Moth's inner core, but the same principle applies to sharing the internal energy I leeched from this walking ten-thousand-year ice crystal.
"Ice Demon, you will stand by and silently observe."
I have plucked the Ice Demon, a Peak Realm expert, and accumulated a massive amount of yin energy—so how should I dispose of the remaining energy?
Rather than discard the yin energy into nature, it was far better for me to properly refine it and pass it on to my women.
"Mm!"
Ooooh.
I simultaneously operated the Taiji Divine Art and the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, splitting the surplus internal energy between the two. Sagong Hee and Lee Si-a each began slowly making the refined internal energy their own.
"My internal energy... ugh."
The Ice Demon had essentially half her internal energy stolen in an instant, but internal energy can always be built back up.
'At minimum, they'll both gain ten years of martial power.'
The amount being split between the two was twenty years, and the amount I stored in my body was another ten years of martial power, so the Ice Demon had effectively thirty years of martial power extorted from her by me in that short time.
But if I give her thirty years of pleasure in return, isn't that an equivalent exchange?
The Ice Demon has now decided to become Lee Si-a's handmaid, so I just need to fill those thirty years with pleasure and yang energy.
"Hic...."
The Ice Demon could only chew her lip and watch as her own internal energy settled into the other two.
Had she shown any sign of resistance or flight, I intended to immediately subdue her and teach her a lesson. But even after having her virginity taken and her internal energy stolen, she only watched me carefully, trembling with anxiety.
'She seems a bit slow.'
The future Ice Palace Mistress was a sharp, ice-cold woman. But seeing her in the past, she was utterly untrustworthy, or rather, she seemed to be living with her mind somewhere else entirely.
[Ice Demon, answer with your head. Are you operating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art right now?]
She shook her head. Only then could I understand the seemingly absent-minded behavior of the Ice Demon.
'When operating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, she feels like the true Ice Demon, but without it, she's just an airhead.'
Then everything made sense.
The Ice White Divine Art is an internal energy art that accumulates extreme yin energy, and by nature's principle, yin energy is fundamentally stored in the lower dantian.
In contrast, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is a divine art that operates on the premise of gathering qi through the Baihui Acupoint to touch the heavens, so it forcibly draws up even the deeply submerged yin energy to the head.
In other words, no matter how deficient or foolish a being is, upon mastering the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, they become a normal person or even considerably smart.
A side effect is that those who think they're geniuses become infatuated with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and start spouting nonsense about Black Flame Dragons and the like, but the Ice Demon was a case closer to receiving the benefits of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
[Answer while operating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Do you not resent me for violating you?]
"......."
I asked outright, and the Ice Demon's eyes calmly settled, unlike the previous perpetual unease. Only when I faced eyes as cold as perennial snow, carrying an abyssal energy, could I confront the true Ice Demon.
"...Following the strong is the way of the Martial World."
Srrk. The Ice Demon, answering with reddened eyes, closed her eyelids and bowed her body. From that carefree statement, I could roughly grasp her disposition.
'I see now why she was trying to side with the Eldest Prince.'
Common sense dictated the Ice Demon had no reason to support the Eldest Prince. But the Eldest Prince had certainly threatened her.
[Did the Eldest Prince, perhaps, tell you this? That if you did not support him, he would revoke the Heavenly Demon Divine Art granted to the Ice Palace.]
Nod.
'That bastard Eldest Prince, I knew it.'
He hadn't convinced the Ice Demon; he'd coerced and appeased her with power and authority. It was an action truly befitting the Demonic Cult, but a petty, narrow-minded method I had not the slightest inclination to support.
[Ice Demon. Follow me. Follow the Little Princess, who I follow. If you do so, then one day, on the day the Little Princess becomes the Heavenly Demon, the Sky-Soaring Lust Demon will personally visit the Northern Sea.]
Ooooh.
I finished the internal energy transfer. About one watch had passed. The two sat in the Full Lotus Position, diligently continuing to cultivate their own internal energy, working to fully convert the yin energy into their own.
"Now, Ice Demon. Please tell me. What mission did the Eldest Prince entrust to you?"
"...To participate in the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle and ascend to the seat of the Two Phoenixes."
The Ice Demon freely opened her mouth. Thanks to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, now with her silver hair and red eyes, she revealed everything without the slightest hesitation or hint of concealment.
"And to participate in the Six Phoenixes ranking matches."
"Right. We still have that left."
Hierarchy arrangement!
Even if the Two Phoenixes are decided, will people be satisfied with that? They will begin to debate which is stronger among the Fourth and Second Phoenixes, and they will want to determine who the closest to the Black and White Two Flowers, the World's Greatest Phoenix, truly is.
"What is the Eldest Prince's plan? After participating in the ranking matches, are you to reveal that you, Ice Demon, have become the World's Greatest Phoenix?"
"...The entity known as Yoo Seol-ra was to use the Cold Soaring Jade Woman Sword of the Emei Sect. She intended to deeply infiltrate the Murim Alliance and Emei Sect and destroy them from within. And...."
The Ice Demon bit her lip and continued.
"To strike Dokgo Yeon, the daughter of the Murim Alliance Leader, with the Ice White Palm, and accelerate the Nine Yin Severed Meridian."
"What?"
"The Eldest Prince said that once Dokgo Yeon's meridian-severance disease worsened... he would then step forward to heal her, and take her."
At the Ice Demon's revelation of the Eldest Prince's scheme, my blood boiled with rage.
"He said he would use the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill in his possession to cure Dokgo Yeon's meridian-severance disease and then capture her heart."
* * *
"That bitch, why hasn't she shown herself?"
The Eldest Prince, Ju-ji, opened the window of an inn overlooking the Sichuan Tang Clan and glared at the Tang estate. Even after several days, the Flame Demon had not shown a single hair, let alone stepped outside.
"That can't be. The extreme yang art she mastered requires her to lust for male essence to survive... without it, her woman's body should be withering to death..."
"Perhaps she has obtained yang energy through something like a Solar Fire Carp?"
At the Thunder Demon's reply, Ju-ji shook his head.
"No, no. Is a Solar Fire Carp something so easily acquired? Same goes for other extreme yang energies. There were no traces of a massive outflow of funds from the Sichuan Tang Clan recently. The Hao Sect also became estranged from the Tang Clan when the Flame Demon left. That bitch is surely replenishing her yang energy. By some method."
Based on the standard of whom to follow between the Eldest Prince and the Little Princess, the Flame Demon became one of the Earth Qilin Three Demons for the reason that 'the man is the Eldest Prince.'
Meaning, she was a lustful woman—no, a promiscuous woman—who absolutely must embrace a man at least once every three days to be satisfied. As a human, one cannot suppress desires with willpower alone. Especially if it's an instinctive, carnal desire.
"The Flame Demon, abstaining from dual cultivation? I'd sooner quit smoking."
"Could it be that her will is strong?"
"No, no. ...Hmm. Perhaps people from the Tang Clan are providing her with Yang Energy? Heh heh."
"Eldest Prince, have you lost your mind?"
The Thunder Demon couldn't hide a disgusted expression. But the Eldest Prince countered in a serious voice.
"Why? What's the matter. Are family not men and women?"
"Urgh... Eldest Prince, please don't make me regret my choice to follow you."
"Hahaha! A joke, just a joke. Would I truly think such a thing?"
Ju-ji raised his wine glass and made a jest. The Thunder Demon had much to say but swallowed his words and raised his glass along with him.
"So, how long will we wait? If we just stay here indefinitely—"
"I've seen the general state of things, so let's head to the Murim Alliance in a month. Around that time, Dokgo Yeon will be bedridden, actively seeking a physician. With the Ice Demon's Ice White Palm, it will certainly worsen her Nine Yin Severed Meridian. Hahaha."
Ju-ji pulled out a small spirit pill from his chest.
"It is truly marvelous. That this single pill can solve everything."
"......."
The Thunder Demon's eyes were locked onto the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill for a long while. As Ju-ji tucked it back into his chest, he sneered at the Thunder Demon.
"This is mine. Aren't Heavenly Rejuvenation Pills made by the Divine Doctor gifts bestowed by the Heavenly Demon? You're not thinking of taking it from me, are you?"
"No. Absolutely not."
"Fu fu, I'll believe you. Anyway, let's wait and see if the Ice Demon has handled her work properly. Once Dokgo Yeon's meridian-severance disease becomes severe, then comes the time to...."
Ju-ji's eyes gleamed.
"You know, that person called the disciple of the Divine Doctor is famous lately? Couldn't I also talk big with the knowledge I learned from the Divine Doctor?"
"Didn't you threaten him to cough up the secret manual, not learn it?"
"Same difference. Tch, still, staying idle like this kills my excitement. Ah, right."
Ju-ji looked toward the Sichuan Tang Clan and smirked.
"While we're here, I should buy some aphrodisiacs before I go. Ah, now that I think about it, it's more regrettable. The day I had the Flame Demon beneath me, I should have ravished her."
"......."
Please don't come out. The Thunder Demon prayed with desperate heart for the one who was once his comrade.
* * *
"Curing meridian-severance disease with the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill? What utter bullshit is this? If it were a disease curable by that pill, Dokgo Ja-yeong would have turned the Demonic Cult upside down. It can't possibly be that kind of illness."
"But the Eldest Prince said that..."
"That bastard, did he not even know what poison he was administering, even after poisoning her? He really didn't know? Thought it was something like the Nine Yin Severed Meridian? Impossible...."
There was a possibility.
In an instant, a single woman who could have given it to the Eldest Prince came to mind, making my skin crawl. If it were her—neither an ally to anyone, but standing at the Demonic Cult's side, delighting most in brewing chaos—then....
'Did she deliberately not tell him?'
It was a very slim possibility, but if the one who provided the poison to the Eldest Prince hadn't told him exactly what kind of poison it was...?
'The Eldest Prince didn't know about the Immortal Peach of the Queen Mother of the West?'
He caused the Eighteen Yin Torment Severed Meridian to take hold in Dokgo Yeon and simply fed it to her, thinking it was a poison that just caused an acquired meridian-severance disease.
'That the fruit of the Heavenly Realm, which turns a human into a Celestial Maiden?'
If the one who gave the Immortal Peach truly had not spoken to Ju-ji of its nature, and had instead maliciously distorted the symptoms that would appear upon eating it as something else....
"Tsk. That was a close call."
Dokgo Yeon had nearly ascended, or nearly been handed over to the Eldest Prince. At the same time, I felt anew just how vicious and relentless a woman the future Dokgo Yeon was.
Eighteen Yin Torment Severed Meridian.
"I almost lost a Celestial Maiden."
The affliction Dokgo Yeon suffers from is not a disease. It is the process of Celestial Maiden-transformation, turning a human who has reached a certain degree of cultivation into an 'Immortal.'
In other words.
Dokgo Yeon's 'flesh body' is now dying.
To shatter the shell of the human body and soar into the heavens as a being of the celestial realm, a Celestial Maiden.