Chapter 305
Chapter 305
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 305
>Chapter Title: Grassland (5)
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While Jeong-hyeon took deep breaths to calm her face, which had flushed red as if it might burst,
the group who had traveled by horse or carriage arrived a step late near Il-mok.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. It’s them who are the problem.”
Il-mok turned his head to look beside him, where several nomads were approaching them.
One of the nomads, who appeared quite elderly, spoke first.
“Thank you for saving us.”
Ohal-lak translated the old man’s words, and Il-mok replied.
“We were worried we’d meddled unnecessarily, but were you perhaps the ones hunting that spirit beast?”
The old man shook his head at Il-mok’s question.
“How could we hunt such a spirit beast? It seems to be the master of Kangga Mountain we’ve heard rumors about, but it suddenly attacked us, leaving us in a bind.”
Il-mok felt that things might resolve more easily than expected.
‘No need for a messy ownership dispute.’
The moment Il-mok spotted that spirit beast, the first thing that came to mind was its horn.
With just that horn, implementing the temporary measure he had in mind for Jeong-hyeon would be much easier.
However, killing the beast and taking only the horn while handing over the inner core would be ridiculous.
He had been pondering how to negotiate, but the current atmosphere suggested no negotiation was even necessary.
“Then, we’ll take that spirit beast. Ah, and it looks like some of you were injured by it, but we have excellent physicians, so we’ll help with the treatment.”
“Hahaha. We’re already grateful for your help, but to offer treatment as well. I don’t know how to repay this kindness.”
The old man responded with a gentle smile, and Il-mok turned to look at Seo Jae-pil.
“Hahaha. Leave it to us, Incarnation.”
Seo Jae-pil, who had answered the masked Il-mok thus, gathered medicines with the physicians and headed to the village first.
Il-mok and the rest of the group also headed to the village with the old man, who seemed to be the tribal chief.
Several warriors followed behind, carrying the spirit beast’s corpse.
Once they arrived near the village, Il-mok gave instructions to those warriors.
“Check if there’s no poison, and if it’s fine, use the meat as rations later. Just process and secure the horn, tendons, and inner core.”
“We shall obey your command!”
The Divine Cult warriors, having just witnessed Il-mok’s prowess, responded with voices brimming with faith.
While giving instructions to the warriors, Seo Jae-pil was already examining the injured with the physicians.
The warriors, Jin Ha-yeon, Joo Seo-yeon, and Jeong-hyeon were helping the physicians treat the patients, and the nomads were assisting them as well.
Il-mok approached the old man, who was watching the physicians treat them from nearby.
“Forgive me, but is this the Jarchigod Tribe?”
Ohal-lak translated Il-mok’s words, and the old man looked at him with a hint of wariness.
“It is the Jarchigod Tribe, but did you come looking for us on purpose?”
“I’m sorry to startle you. Actually, we came upon hearing rumors related to corpse thieves. I might even know who the culprit is.”
“R-Really!?”
The old man’s eyes swirled with a mix of emotions at his startled reaction.
The most prominent was regret.
How had they, once rulers of the northern grasslands, been pushed to such a place?
It was partly due to the death of Kagan Batar, but the bigger issue was the disappearance of his corpse.
That had sparked enmity with the Merkhit Tribe, and most of their capable warriors had lost their lives.
‘If only the Kagan were alive, our warriors wouldn’t be suffering injuries like this today.’
With all the capable warriors dead, the old man who had no choice but to become chief lamented the tribe’s reality of nearly being massacred by a spirit beast.
Giving the old man a moment to compose himself, Il-mok asked.
“Could you perhaps draw the face of that missing Kagan? If it matches the face I know, I’ll be certain of the culprit.”
The old man looked puzzled but soon nodded, grasping at straws.
The old man called over one of the nomads—a woman from the Jarchigod Tribe with the best drawing skills.
Following his instructions, she drew the Kagan’s face from memory.
Il-mok nodded upon examining the portrait she drew.
“So that’s how it was.”
It closely resembled the face of the jiangshi he had seen during the Heavenly Demon’s Secret Cave bloodbath in Sacheon.
Facing the old man, whose expression mixed doubt, expectation, and anxiety, Il-mok spoke.
“Lately, there’s a vile group called the Blood Cult operating in the Central Plains to the south.”
Il-mok explained the Blood Cult’s atrocities in the Central Plains and the jiangshi that appeared in the Heavenly Demon’s Secret Cave.
From the moment “jiangshi” was mentioned, the old man’s face had shown disbelief, but at Il-mok’s final words, he clutched his head and staggered.
“And that jiangshi’s face closely resembles this portrait.”
“No... it can’t be....”
Il-mok quickly reached out to support the old man as he nearly collapsed.
It was hard for the old man to regain his senses upon hearing that their great chieftain, not content with his corpse vanishing, had been turned into a jiangshi by some vile group.
After suffering a brief dizzy spell, the old man finally came to and looked up at the masked man supporting him.
“W-Who are you to know so much about that Blood Cult?”
“We are the Maitreya Divine Cult, and I am the incarnation of Maitreya. We’ve tangled with those wicked Blood Cult bastards a few times in the Central Plains, so we know them well.”
“Maitreya Divine Cult....”
The old man muttered the name several times, as if committing it to memory.
To reassure him, Il-mok added.
“The Blood Cult is now a public enemy in the Central Plains. Not just our Maitreya Divine Cult, but the entire Central Plains is bloodthirsty to capture them, so vengeance for the Kagan will soon be had.”
In reality, the Central Plains factions were using the Blood Cult as an excuse for their own power struggles, but Il-mok put it positively for now.
“...That’s a relief. If we could, we’d join that war ourselves.”
“Worry not. Our Maitreya Divine Cult will bring heavenly punishment upon them in your stead.”
Il-mok declared confidently.
It was Il-mok and the Maitreya Divine Cult who had incited the fight between the Blood Cult and the orthodox factions.
So, if the orthodox factions defeated the Blood Cult, it would ultimately be the Maitreya Divine Cult’s achievement.
“You seem quite shocked, so it’d be best to rest inside.”
“I’m truly grateful.”
The old man bowed his head to Il-mok in thanks before entering a yurt to rest.
Afterward, led by Seo Jae-pil, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult members tended to the injured for quite some time.
After applying medicines to wounds or setting broken bones—completing various treatments—Seo Jae-pil wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Phew.”
As the nomads poured out endless gratitude for their efforts, Seo Jae-pil grinned and replied.
“Hahaha. We merely followed the teachings of the Maitreya Divine Cult in aiding you.”
That smile somehow resembled Il-mok’s more and more.
At that moment, the warriors tasked with processing the spirit goat approached Il-mok.
“Incarnation, here are the horn and tendons you mentioned, and the inner core.”
Saying so, the warriors knelt on one knee and presented the horn, tendons, and inner core on both hands.
‘It’s fucking huge.’
Gazing down at the absurdly large horn, Il-mok picked it up with his hand and called Jeong-hyeon over.
“Jeong Sojeo. Come here a moment?”
“Ah, yes, Young Master.”
As Jeong-hyeon approached with a puzzled expression, Il-mok held the horn next to her to compare lengths.
“???”
While Jeong-hyeon looked puzzled, Il-mok nodded to himself.
“It’s a relief that Jeong Sojeo is tall for a woman.”
“?????”
“Keep this horn and these tendons, Jeong Sojeo. We’ll need to process them after returning to Nanju.”
Handing the horn and tendons to the puzzled Jeong-hyeon, Il-mok then picked up the mountain goat’s inner core.
“Hmm.”
Pondering what to do with it for a moment, Il-mok soon gathered Jin Ha-yeon and Joo Seo-yeon as well.
“It’d be best to divide this inner core into three and share it.”
“The inner core from the spirit beast you slew belongs to you, Young Master.”
Jin Ha-yeon stated without hesitation, but Il-mok shook his head.
In truth, Il-mok’s internal energy was lacking compared to his realm.
Internal energy generally grows proportional to training time, but Il-mok had progressed absurdly fast relative to his training period.
It was just that the initial absorption of the Explosive Demon Pill, the bee venom infusion from the Heavenly Demon, the millennium snow fungus eaten after dealing with the Nancheon Society, and the fast-growing demonic arts he cultivated made it less noticeable.
In that sense, Il-mok consuming the mountain goat’s inner core wasn’t a bad choice.
However.
‘My internal energy increased quite a bit after the bone transformation. Plus, even without spirit medicines, I might find ways to boost it if things go well.’
Just earlier.
When he pierced the mountain goat’s head with the Ascending Heaven Sword, Il-mok had glimpsed a certain possibility.
Though he needed a bit more verification.
“I’m not short on internal energy right now, so sharing it among the three of you would be better. You three are my maidservants and protectors, so your internal energy growing benefits me too, doesn’t it?”
As the three women exchanged glances on what to do at Il-mok’s words.
“Young Master.”
Jeong-hyeon, speaking less stutteringly than usual, hurriedly turned to scan the surroundings.
Il-mok, sensing something as well, turned his head following her.
Beyond the open view, a group easily over a hundred strong formed a circular formation, approaching as if to encircle them.
While Il-mok, the maidservants, and warriors prepared for battle, the nomads also had their able-bodied adult men grabbing weapons one by one.
“Take the patients and families into the yurts and protect them.”
Ohal-lak translated Il-mok’s orders, but they hesitated, clearly conflicted.
“Do you doubt this Incarnation’s skills?”
When Il-mok asked again, the nomads recalled the masked man slaying the mountain goat just moments ago.
“Th-Thank you.”
They thanked Il-mok before gathering their families and the injured and retreating into the yurts.
Meanwhile, the nomads encircling them in a circle drew even closer, and one spurred his horse forward, bellowing with infused internal energy.
“How dare you steal the Great Manggod Tribe’s prey and think you’ll get away unscathed!!”
Il-mok looked at Ohal-lak, who translated the man’s words.
“Hunting prey?”
Il-mok, puzzled at first, soon understood and let out a hollow laugh.
‘These bastards who didn’t show their faces when the spirit beast was alive—ridiculous.’
At that moment, the man who had stepped forward spotted the inner core in Il-mok’s hand and bellowed again.
“Hand over the mountain’s essence, and we’ll spare your lives!”
At the man’s repeated threats, the smile on Il-mok’s lips twisted.
From hollow laugh to cold sneer.
Wherever one went in the world, there were always black path riffraff or Huihui cultists like these.
‘Good thing I haven’t removed the mask yet.’
To such scum, the Maitreya Divine Cult offered only heavenly punishment.