The Harvester, Part 1
Unlike the territory of the Jimjo, the southern reaches of the island were a dense tropical rainforest. Here, the thick canopy of trees blocked out most of the sunlight. Most of the terrain consisted of muddy swamps, with a wide river flowing through the center.
Yet, along the border, there lay a stretch of reasonably solid ground.
This was the result of two disparate environments—temperate and tropical—clashing and merging.
Though this borderland was narrow, its diverse flora and the presence of a spiritual spring made it an exceptionally rich habitat.
Naturally, this land had a master. A bear spiritual beast, known among cultivators as the Grey Wind Monster, had established its territory here and ruled over it for ages.
However, a white deer, the likes of which had never been seen before, suddenly appeared in the Grey Wind Monster's territory.
At a glance, it exuded a mystical aura. Even the antlers rising from its head seemed to possess divine efficacy.
Unable to resist the temptation, the Grey Wind Monster gave chase.
But at some point...
The white deer vanished like a phantom.
No matter how much the monster looked around or spread its demonic qi, it could not detect even a trace of the deer's presence.
Only then did the Grey Wind Monster realize it had ventured too deep.
Just as it decided to abandon the prey and return to its own territory—
Sliiiip!
Its paws suddenly sank deep into what had seemed like solid ground. Almost immediately, bubbles began to boil up from the earth.
The Grey Wind Monster scrambled to escape, but the more it struggled, the deeper its body was dragged down.
Gurgle. Glub, glub...
The muddy swamp wrapped around its entire body, tightening its grip.
Terror seized the Grey Wind Monster.
Its feet could not find purchase.
As time passed, even moving became an agonizing chore. Now, even struggling was nearly impossible.
Before long, the sticky mire rose to its neck, forcing the Grey Wind Monster to gasp raggedly for air. At this rate, it would suffocate.
In the end, the Grey Wind Monster made a desperate, final decision.
It, too, was the undisputed master of a territory.
Rumble!
Channeling every ounce of its strength, the Grey Wind Monster unleashed its divine wind ability.
It would be troublesome if the master of the swamp noticed, but it was in no position to worry about such things now.
The gale blasting forward parted the swamp to the left and right, temporarily carving out a path.
Summoning every last drop of its strength, the Grey Wind Monster bolted. The surrounding scenery blurred past.
Finally, just as the Grey Wind Monster completely escaped the swamp and paused to catch its breath—
Crunch!
A spider, descending along a strand of silk, bit down hard on the nape of the monster's neck.
The Grey Wind Monster's body stiffened, and its eyes lost focus.
Skreeeek—
The master of this territory, the Human-Faced Spider, had revealed itself.
Wrapping the Grey Wind Monster tightly in layers of webbing, the Human-Faced Spider effortlessly dragged it up into a massive, ancient tree.
Securing the cocooned monster to the web spun between the branches, the spider drove its fangs deep and injected its acidic venom.
Skreeeek—
The face of the Human-Faced Spider spun a full circle.
The Grey Wind Monster was a cunning and powerful spiritual beast.
Had the bear not exhausted its demonic qi and physical strength, even the Human-Faced Spider could not have easily guaranteed victory.
Though not quite on par with the true rulers of the island's territories, it possessed power close to theirs. It had lived a long life and possessed ample experience to match.
The spider must have wondered what had driven such a creature to venture into the swamp.
Regardless, it was an absolute windfall for the spider. A feast of this caliber was rare even in its long lifetime.
As the Human-Faced Spider indulged in these thoughts, its gaze caught the white deer.
The white deer was prancing freely between the dense trees and the swamp, staring back at the spider.
Their eyes met in the empty air.
The Human-Faced Spider felt an intense hunger at the sight of the mystical white deer. At the same time, doubt crept in.
The swamp was a treacherous place that even the Grey Wind Monster could not escape without unleashing its divine ability.
Yet, how could that deer move so effortlessly?
The Human-Faced Spider looked back and forth between the cocooned bear and the white deer. Then, it completely averted its gaze.
Experience had taught it that such anomalies were highly dangerous, and the Grey Wind Monster alone was more than enough to satisfy its hunger.
The spider lost all interest in the deer. It tapped the cocoon. The acidic venom seemed to have already dissolved the bear's insides into a soft slurry.
After waiting a brief moment, the Human-Faced Spider began to slowly feast on the Grey Wind Monster.
Gulp—
The spider smiled in pure ecstasy.
From an objective standpoint, the Human-Faced Spider possessed the face of a beautiful woman, and its hair was as fine as silk.
The corners of its mouth curved upward in a brilliant, radiant smile, but—
Skreeeek!
Had a human seen it, they would have found it utterly grotesque, if not terrifying.
For the face was twisted completely upside down.
Once its core was sufficiently filled with demonic qi, the spider prepared to molt.
Only by doing so could its core expand and hold even greater power.
If it successfully completed this molting, it would reach a level comparable to Mother Jimjo, the ruler of the eastern forest.
The two did not get along.
Mother Jimjo was extremely wary of the spider's reproduction and snatched away its offspring at every opportunity.
Of course, even after molting, defeating Mother Jimjo in battle would be difficult.
While the spider's bloodline was not weak, it could not compare to the Jimjo's, and their elemental compatibility was highly unfavorable.
However, taking revenge on the bird that had repeatedly stolen its children was well within its grasp. Snatching Mother Jimjo's chicks would not be difficult at all.
Just then—
Rumble!
The sky turned pitch black as thunder roared. The Human-Faced Spider's face spun around.
But deciding it was nothing out of the ordinary, it quickly lost interest.
Strange occurrences were exceptionally common on this island.
Dormant mountains frequently erupted, spewing molten lava, and unseasonal torrential rains often poured down without warning.
However...
"A Human-Faced Spider... Indeed, a disgusting and grotesque beast, just as the rumors said."
This time was different.
For a beast known as a human—sharing only the shape of its head with the spider—had appeared before its very eyes.
Rumble!
Countless bolts of lightning and thunderclaps bombarded the entire island. The atmosphere was ominous.
Mother Jimjo hurriedly emerged from her cave.
The once-blue sky was completely blanketed by dark storm clouds, yet, strangely, the very center was hollowed out.
Unfamiliar presences could be felt everywhere. To assess the situation, Mother Jimjo spread her wings and soared rapidly into the sky.
Only then did the surrounding landscape come into full view.
Tornadoes raged in every direction, and the ground shook violently as if a massive earthquake had struck.
It was as if a horrific cataclysm had descended.
It was utter pandemonium.
Amidst the chaos, flames erupted from the forest she ruled. Fanned by the fierce winds, the fire spread rapidly. Terrified beasts fled in stampedes.
Mother Jimjo lowered her altitude slightly to extinguish the flames, when—
—Screeech!
A sharp shriek erupted from the direction of the lake.
That place is...
The territory of the Black-Scaled Blood Python that her fourth chick had hunted.
It was the nesting ground of that creature's mother. Excluding herself, that python was the closest thing to a great spiritual beast in this region.
There was virtually nothing on the island that could threaten it, save for the acknowledged rulers of each territory.
She hurriedly descended and flew toward the lake, the wind whipping past her.
Upon arriving at the lake where the Black-Scaled Blood Python resided—
...
The water was bone-dry, as if it had completely evaporated, and the scars of a fierce battle were carved everywhere. Countless giant trees lay shattered and uprooted.
The sheer devastation made it obvious that a clash of immense proportions had occurred.
There isn't even a corpse.
Only splatters of blood, presumably belonging to the Black-Scaled Blood Python, were scattered across the ground.
Not a single scale remained.
It had barely been moments since she heard the python's dying scream.
Mother Jimjo felt a deep, unsettling sense of foreboding.
This was no natural disaster. Catastrophes of this scale could not erupt simultaneously across the island without any warning.
Furthermore...
This is impossible.
Even the spiritual energy of the territory rulers was rapidly fading. It meant they, too, were dying.
In particular, the master of the southern swamp, with whom she had constantly clashed over territory—
The Human-Faced Spider's spiritual energy was plummeting at an alarming rate.
How...
The Human-Faced Spider was a beast that even Mother Jimjo could not afford to underestimate. Not only was its demonic qi formidable, but its nature of hiding within its web made it exceptionally tricky to deal with.
No beast on this island, including Mother Jimjo herself, could easily defeat the Human-Faced Spider once it had established its web.
Just as Mother Jimjo was about to unleash her Divine Sense to get a clearer grasp of the situation—
"!!"
A chilling sensation ran down her spine.
Almost simultaneously, a sharp blade flew directly toward her. Instinctively, Mother Jimjo folded her wings to shield herself.
Screeech!
A grating, metallic screech echoed as the blade clashed against her iron-hard feathers.
In battle, the most critical factors were...
Surprise, and the first strike.
She had not even identified the culprit yet.
Disadvantaged in every way, she braced herself for the follow-up impact, but—
"Not bad for a mere beast."
Instead, a voice echoed.
As she slowly unfurled her wings, the perpetrator revealed himself.
「...!!」
Mother Jimjo's eyes widened.
Faded memories rushed back. The terror etched into her mind began to take physical shape.
The existence she had tried so hard to ignore, yet could never truly forget.
A human was floating in midair, looking down at her with an arrogant, condescending gaze.
Despair pooled in Mother Jimjo's eyes.
The humans who had haunted her long nightmares day after day.
As the deep-seated terror took hold of her mind, she found it difficult to move her body.
Even now, the events of that day remained vividly clear. The incomprehensible existence known as humans was nothing short of a calamity.
In the past, they had slaughtered the vast majority of the spiritual beasts inhabiting the island, committing the atrocity of harvesting their cores.
It was especially brutal for her own mother—the previous Jimjo.
They had slit her belly open while she was still alive, rummaging through her organs to rip out her core, before butchering her carcass.
She had watched with her own eyes as her mother's body was hacked to pieces. Even in those final moments, her mother had been alive. Her rolling eyes had been fixed upon her.
The sight of them severing her mother's vocal cords to stop her agonizing screams, and plucking her feathers one by one, was utterly horrific.
She could not comprehend it.
Spiritual beasts hunted and consumed other beasts to grow stronger. It was the law of nature—the survival of the fittest. Yet, no beast committed wholesale slaughter merely to gain power.
Since hunting weak beasts yielded little benefit, they were often left alone.
Humans, as another type of beast, should have behaved no differently.
But they were different.
They slaughtered beasts without a shred of hesitation, sometimes simply because they found them annoying or troublesome.
Even mindless beasts do not hunt when their bellies are full.
Why, then, were these creatures so uniquely cruel?
Mother Jimjo had pondered this question endlessly since that day, but no answer ever came.
I must resist.
Even if she was captured and killed, she refused to be butchered helplessly. She would not perish in vain like her mother.
She wanted to leave behind some proof that she had existed. And for the sake of her children, who were scattered and hiding across the island, she had to fight.
The human's pupils rippled like waves on a lake.
It was a look she knew all too well.
It was filled with 'greed,' one of the seven emotions.
It was the exact same look the humans had when they butchered her mother.
Alongside her terror, Mother Jimjo felt a tempest of rage surging within her.
Paradoxically, this allowed her to calm her mind and look the human dead in the eye.
He is not as strong as I thought.
Though he seemed stronger than her, the gap was not insurmountable. If she could find an opening, she had a chance.
This meant Mother Jimjo's cultivation was higher than expected, and that the human before her was of a lower realm compared to the ones she had encountered in the past.
Perhaps displeased by her defiant gaze, the human scowled.
"For a mere beast, your eyes are far too insolent. You lack manners."
「...」
It was an incredibly arrogant statement.
His voice dripped with utter contempt.
Mother Jimjo did not bother to reply. Instead, she swiftly infused her feathers with deadly poison and launched them.
Now, while he was exposed and off-guard, was her best chance.
Perhaps he had not expected her to attack so suddenly.
The human's face twisted in panic as he hurriedly threw a slip of paper into the air.
Instantly—
Whoosh!
A violent gust of wind erupted around him, stripping the feathers of their momentum and sending them clattering to the ground.
It was a bizarre power, entirely different from the divine abilities she knew.
"You wretched beast! You made me waste a precious protective talisman. Do not expect an easy death!"
How laughable.
Battle, by its very nature, was a wager of lives.
At least, that was the way of the spiritual beasts.
What did an 'easy death' matter in a fight to the death?
Yet, his strength was undeniable.
Mother Jimjo tried to unleash her divine ability once more, determined not to let this hard-won opportunity slip away.
「Screeech—!!!」
But he was a step faster.
With a sharp whistle, a flying sword pierced straight through her wing.