Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Seal Hunting and Information on Tianzhong Village
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Unfortunately, CATTL's chairman never got to experience the effects of the escape talisman.
Geon-woo had turned Storath's lord into a Jiangshi Spirit, but CATTL's chairman still hadn't awakened.
"If only Yangiji had woken up, he could've been a big help. What a shame."
Pang didn't hide his regret.
Yangiji was CATTL's chairman's name.
"What can you do about that old man's luck?"
"Fair enough."
"So, what's the plan? Can you pinpoint the Demon Race's leaders?"
Geon-woo looked at Pang, confirming the main point once more.
"We'll have to give it a shot."
"It's tough to map out the entire Demon Race at once, but what if we narrow it down to a few tribes and dig into those?"
"And what will you be doing in the meantime?"
"What do you think? I'll handle things my way."
"Your way?"
"Starting from the bottom and working my way up. Turn a suitable one into a Jiangshi Spirit, and I can pull info on their lords."
"Oh, right. You can glimpse fragments of their memories when you make a Jiangshi Spirit."
"Exactly. That's how I'll trace my way up."
"Hmm. Focusing on one tribe might make your approach way more effective."
"Yeah, it would."
"Here's what we do. I'll look into the Demon Race leaders too, but if that's too hard, I'll target their executives instead. That should be easier."
"Ah, so if I just find the executives, you can capture them and read their memories?"
"Yep."
"Okay. Let's go with that."
"You stick around Fujian Province for now, Geon-woo. I'll head south."
"Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan?"
"And Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi too."
"Hey, that's the entire Demon Race autonomous zone."
"If we keep it to just identifying executives, we can cover the whole area without getting too detailed."
"You're not overdoing it?"
"It's not easy, sure. But if we pull this off, we could stop the Demon Race's Earth invasion almost entirely."
"Just don't cross the line. We're not the only ones on Earth. There's Neuron Age, and four hundred million Awakeners."
Geon-woo worried Pang might bite off more than he could chew.
"It's just an avatar. I'll respawn if I die. Don't worry."
Pang flashed a carefree smile, brushing it off.
"True. Avatar perks."
Geon-woo nodded.
The benefits of fusing fifty thousand souls were undeniably cheat-level.
* * *
- Kieeeeeek! Kieeee!
"Noisy."
The Demon Race spirit body from the Earth Mole Base thrashed around, letting out eerie shrieks.
It was the seal holder and lord of the Alloken tribe, found by sheer luck.
- Kiririririk! Kiririri!
= My lord, preparations to create the Jiangshi Spirit are complete.
Ilryeong appeared beside the shrieking spirit body, holding a talisman aloft.
"Do it."
Geon-woo issued the command in a voice devoid of emotion.
= Yes, my lord.
Ilryeong immediately slapped the talisman onto the spirit body's forehead and began the Jiangshi Spirit creation process.
The spirit body froze solid the instant the talisman touched it.
"Hmm. Nothing special here?"
Geon-woo skimmed through the memories flowing from the spirit body, his face falling in disappointment.
This was Earth's sixth seal holder.
After reading five lords' memories, the expedition team details were no longer anything new.
However.
"Huh? Bio armor import route?"
Amid it all, just before the Alloken lord fully became a Jiangshi Spirit, Geon-woo gleaned some crucial intel.
= My lord.
Ilryeong, having completed the Jiangshi Spirit, flew over to Geon-woo.
= What shall we do with this one? Store it?
"No, it's useless. Too much overlap with what we already have."
= Understood. Shall I dissolve it?
"Yeah. Wipe it clean."
= Yes. Thank you, my lord.
Ilryeong beamed at Geon-woo's words and darted to the Alloken lord turned Jiangshi Spirit.
She placed her hand on the talisman on its forehead and began absorbing the spirit body's power.
Ssssssssss! Sssssss!
Even as a fully subjugated Jiangshi Spirit, the spirit body trembled faintly.
Its soul quivered in agony as its core spirit energy—the essence of its being—was stolen away, leading to dissolution.
But that faint tremor was the extent of its resistance.
No further opposition came as Ilryeong drained every last bit of spirit energy and the body vanished.
= Hooo.
Ilryeong exhaled deeply after absorbing the full spirit energy from one body.
The breath carried the impurities left after purifying the energy.
"Looks like you've hit a wall too."
Geon-woo watched her, a hint of regret in his expression.
She had absorbed the energy, but no signs of growth showed in Ilryeong.
= My apologies, my lord.
"Not your fault. It's because I haven't raised my mastery of the Cheonnoe Bunsim Jeryeong Gangsi Gong high enough."
= But that's a perfected heart technique, isn't it?
"Perfected..."
= My lord?
"I combined Cheonnoe Bunsim Jeryeong Gong with Eon-gwang Gangsi Gong to create Cheonnoe Bunsim Jeryeong Gangsi Gong and pushed it to its limits, but that's not true completion."
= Pardon?
"Cheonnoe Bunsim Jeryeong Gangsi Gong may be complete, but the heart technique itself has room to evolve further."
= You mean that, right? You can reach even higher heights, my lord. But there's no need to rush, is what I mean.
"Yeah. Rushing leads to problems. Don't worry."
= Yes, my lord. Earlier, you mentioned the bio armor...
Ilryeong changed the subject.
"Oh, right. Bio armor."
Geon-woo's eyes lit up at the mention.
"It's turning out to be a bigger issue than I thought."
= Why is that?
"Even if I seize the seals and halt the Demon Race's Earth invasion, the bio armor won't be affected."
= What do you mean by the bio armor not being affected?
"Those who become Demons through bio armor bypass the seal pathways entirely. It's basically a new type of bug creature, if you think about it."
= Ah, so the bio armor evolves repeatedly until it produces a full Demon?
"Exactly. And the real problem? It's not some small, mindless bug creature starting point. Humans are the origin."
= Far more threatening, then. Even if fewer in number.
Compared to bug creatures, Demon bio armor users were bound to be fewer.
But the gap between insect and human origins was vast.
"At least the bio armor factors don't replicate on Earth."
= They come straight from the Demon dimension, right?
"Unlike Creature Queen's eggs, bio armor factors exist in that limbo between material and immaterial, so Demons can bring them directly to Earth. Not just anyone can do it, though."
= So you've learned the route—who's doing it and where?
"Yeah. The Alloken seal holder knew."
= Then shouldn't we block it right away?
Ilryeong's voice rose, grasping the severity.
"The location's tricky. Tianzhong Village in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Liuzhou City, Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County."
= Pardon? Where's that?
"Near where Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hunan provinces meet at the border."
= All part of the Demon Race autonomous zone. Right in the center—won't be easy to approach.
"And hardly anyone lives there originally. Super underdeveloped, harsh environment too."
= Easy to hide once inside, then? But that doesn't matter to you, my lord.
Rough terrain favored burrowing straight through over climbing ridges.
For Geon-woo, with his extreme spirit sense, Ilryeong's point held.
"The issue is my available forces are just the Jiangshi Hundredman Squad and the Royal Guard. Not sure if that's enough to take Tianzhong Village."
= Are they that strong?
"Per Alloken lord's memories: over a hundred thousand possessed bodies. Tons of Awakeners, bio armor users too."
= I see. Then...
"And that's not all. They've got Earth's firearms in spades. Right up to nukes at the top."
= Ah! That's...
No ignoring modern military mass destruction weapons.
If they went all-in for mutual destruction in a pinch, even Geon-woo of the Indestructible Divine Body couldn't guarantee survival.
"Guess I'll need to borrow some Neuron Age muscle."
= Planning to dangle bait?
"Bait? Nah. I'll hand over precise intel and let them handle the assault. If they ask for help, I might join, but they've got plenty of those 50k-soul Guardian users. They'll manage."
= Of course. But you won't just sit it out, right?
Ilryeong figured Geon-woo would exploit any gaps during Neuron Age's push.
"Contingency. If they handle it, great—no need for me. Otherwise, I pitch in."
* * *
"I've heard you've been busy with big things lately."
Bayrun praised Geon-woo with a beaming smile.
"Just blocked six. Demon sub-tribes number over seventy."
Geon-woo downplayed it modestly.
Pure pleasantries—no real substance.
"Not every tribe sent an expedition team to Earth, I know."
"You're right, Bayrun Director—not all joined. But over half did. That's more than forty tribes, forty seals on Earth."
"Out of forty, you've sealed six, Pang two, us nine—that's nearly half."
"Half... Does it matter? Seems the remaining seals are funneling the split pathways' power."
"Still, reducing the count has value. And blocking the bio armor inflow this time..."
Bayrun hyped Geon-woo's feats before cutting to the chase.
"Yeah, it'll buy some breathing room. Variables will keep popping up."
"Thanks for the Tianzhong Village intel, anyway."
"What thanks? Can't handle it solo, so passing it to Neuron Age."
"Hahaha. If you trust me with it, we'll give it our all. And if Director Kang acts independently during our attack, we won't interfere."
Bayrun anticipated Geon-woo moving separately during their operation.
No meddling meant no competing for credit.
Bayrun's stance stemmed purely from prioritizing stopping the Demon Earth invasion.
"Demon possessed and bio armor users are dangerous, but modern weapons can't be overlooked. You know that better than anyone, Bayrun Director."
Even in the good vibes, Geon-woo voiced concerns about conventional arms.
"Naturally, we've got countermeasures. No big issues. Once the attack starts, Tianzhong Village gets hit with a direct EMP strike."
Bayrun exuded confidence, signaling preparations were set.
Geon-woo lit up, getting exactly what he wanted.
And so, a week after Geon-woo and Bayrun's meeting.
The assault on Tianzhong Village in the Demon Race autonomous zone finally began.