Defiers of Heaven, Part 3
A sharp, musty scent of poison drifted on the wind, lingering at the tip of his nose.
Dang Sobaek let out a slightly hollow laugh.
"Haha..."
Just how deep was my pride and sense of belonging to the clan for it to manifest as a mental world like this?
I really am something else. But more importantly...
Two arms and two legs.
His familiar robes.
Returning to his original body after so long made his senses feel somewhat foreign.
Sobaek ran a hand down his face. There wasn't a single wrinkle. He felt only smooth skin.
Without a bronze mirror, it was difficult to examine himself closely, but this world seemed to have been manifested based on the memories of his prime.
As he strolled across the training grounds, lost in reminiscence, a sudden, ominous wind swept through.
Whoosh—
It's coming.
Dark clouds rolled over the skies of the Tang Clan, and tearing through the void, the Mask-Faced Spider revealed itself.
It was an obsession intense enough to make his head throb.
The Mask-Faced Spider stared intently at Dang Sobaek, its face spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
Skrrrrt—
It was grotesque.
Yet, he felt no fear.
He possessed absolute certainty that the creature could never reach him now.
Unleashing its raw, unbridled greed, the Mask-Faced Spider directed its power toward Dang Sobaek. A dark crimson energy coalesced, raining down upon him in a torrential downpour.
Remaining rooted to the spot, Sobaek merely gave a light wave of his hand.
With that single gesture, a terrifying surge of internal energy whipped up alongside a gale of poison, utterly obliterating the Mask-Faced Spider's assault.
Even if this was merely a world within his mind...
"Without permission."
This was the Sichuan Tang Clan.
"You dared to step foot here with your filthy, mud-stained paws."
It was not a place to be defiled by an unclean, monstrous entity that was neither human nor beast.
"Know the gravity of your sin."
Naturally, the Mask-Faced Spider could not comprehend Sobaek's words. Driven solely by naked hostility, it lunged once more.
Sobaek casually deflected the spider's attack and looked up at the sky.
Whoosh—!
Rain began to fall, washing away the musty scent of poison.
With Sobaek's current strength, he could slay a creature like the Mask-Faced Spider in a single breath. It wouldn't even require much effort.
Yet, the reason he held back was simple.
He wished to linger a little longer in this feeling, this scenery, and these memories.
He knew well enough that this was not reality.
Though he yearned for it deeply, and would continue to yearn...
"It is time to bring this to an end."
Fleeting memories and past days were beautiful precisely because they could not be held onto. One could never move forward if they remained buried in the past.
Letting the rain drench him, Dang Sobaek took a step forward.
First step. His long robes fluttered wildly. Casually batting away the Mask-Faced Spider's attacks, Sobaek reached up with his other hand, removing his hair crown and letting his hair fall free. His long, liberated locks whipped about in the fierce wind.
Second step. A terrifying surge of internal energy erupted, and a total of thirty-six flying daggers shot out from the hems of his sleeves. They spun around Sobaek like a protective barrier, all while locking onto the Mask-Faced Spider.
Third step. Heaven, Earth, and Man. Following the principles of the Three Talents, the flying daggers began to accelerate.
For the first time, a look of sheer terror crossed the Mask-Faced Spider's face.
Desperately, it spewed webs and scattered its malicious thoughts.
Then, it began to divide.
Skrk— Skrrrt—
Hundreds, no, thousands of Mask-Faced Spiders multiplied, shrouding the Tang Clan estate in a thick, muddy darkness.
Yet, Sobaek's face remained devoid of even a shred of tension.
He merely stared down the spiders with cold indifference.
At his fingertips, a martial art that had reached the absolute pinnacle of throwing dagger techniques unfolded.
The Mandok-gwigong.
The Nameless Chapter.
The realizations he had gathered while living in the body of a Jimjo condensed and infused into the flying daggers. Drawing a silver spiral in the air, they coalesced into a single form.
As the one who had led the Tang Clan through its golden age.
And as its Grand Patriarch.
Sobaek forged a unique martial art of his own, breaking free from all established laws.
Jimjo, Heaven and Earth Upended
The phantom image of a massive Jimjo, blotting out the heavens and the earth, swept over the thousands of Mask-Faced Spiders.
Slaaaaash—!!!!
The spiders' bodies were shredded into dozens of pieces, their screams drowned out by the roar of the attack.
Melting from the point of contact due to the extreme poison, their forms crumbled into nothingness.
It was, in truth, the absolute limit of Igi-eodo—controlling the daggers with pure intent.
Without leaving behind even a trace of its malice, the Mask-Faced Spider vanished into thin air.
The wind howled, scattering ashes into the night.
Through the dark clouds torn apart by Sobaek's strike, a full moon revealed itself. The soft moonlight reflected off the flying daggers in his hands, casting a reflection of his own face.
"..."
Dang Sobaek smiled bitterly and lightly adjusted his robes.
Perhaps even a mental world had its limits.
The space warped and cracked under the sheer aftershocks of his power.
Finally, after a long span of half a month, Dang Sobaek's eyelids slowly fluttered open.
A profound sense of exhaustion washed over his entire body.
It felt as though he were completely bound.
Deep blue feathers where arms should be.
Short legs.
Walking through the Tang Clan estate in his prime, even for a brief moment, now felt like a fleeting illusion.
He had returned to the body of the Jimjo, which he had now grown accustomed to.
Though he still yearned for his past life with every fiber of his being...
Now is the time to focus on reality.
An opportunity will surely present itself again. They say spiritual beasts can undergo human transformation and even ascend to immortality, so that path must be open to me.
"Whew..."
Sobaek steadied his mind and slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a haggard-looking weasel.
Its pupils were completely unfocused, as if it had kept watch without a single wink of sleep.
To put it simply, it had the glazed-over eyes of a dead fish.
"...You're finally awake. I was about to kill you myself."
Though its words were harsh, its relief was palpable. At the same time, Sobaek could sense the immense exhaustion weighing on it. Its voice was thoroughly drenched in fatigue.
"You look exhausted. How much time has passed?"
"Today marks half a month, I believe. Around that long."
Once one fell into a state of selflessness, it was not uncommon to fast and circulate energy for as short as seven days and nights, or as long as half a month.
Still, Sobaek couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt toward the weasel, who had remained by his side the entire time.
"It took quite a while. Did you stay awake the entire time to guard me...? I am sorry. ...And thank you for your hard work."
"D-don't speak of such nonsense. More importantly, how is your body? I was quite startled when your physical form began to change alongside those bizarre sounds. I've never heard of such a thing happening just from absorbing a core..."
Contrary to the weasel's worries, Sobaek's body felt lighter and more refreshed than ever before. However, it was true that his line of sight was now noticeably higher than before.
Though he was still small compared to Jim-i or Jim-il, he had undoubtedly grown.
"I am not entirely sure myself. Perhaps, as you said, my spirit and body achieved harmony, prompting this growth."
Sobaek spoke calmly, but he felt a trace of concern. Just in case, he circulated his energy to quietly inspect his internal state.
Hmm?
The nature of his core had changed.
It felt as though a portion of Sobaek's consciousness had split off to form a nucleus within his core.
Even without active meditation, the core continuously drew in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, filling its empty capacity.
Is this what they call a beast core?
However, there was one question.
"Didn't you say a spiritual root is required to form a beast core?"
The weasel had previously told him that Sobaek possessed no spiritual root.
Nodding off, the weasel mumbled half-heartedly, "...I don't know."
It seemed utterly exhausted.
Well, it wasn't an urgent matter, so he could figure it out in due time. However...
"W-what?! What did you just say?"
The weasel jolted awake, finally processing Sobaek's words.
"D-don't tell me you've formed a beast core?!"
Seeing the weasel so worked up, Sobaek took a step back and stammered, "I... I believe so..."
"Stay right there."
The weasel began feeling Sobaek's body all over, channeling its spiritual energy into him.
"Heavens. It's true. How is this even possible?"
"I suspect it is because I absorbed the Mask-Faced Spider's core."
At Sobaek's words, the weasel dismissed the idea with absolute certainty.
"Don't talk nonsense. Even if you ground up a spiritual beast with a spiritual root and refined it into a pill, that would still be impossible. Did you perhaps eat some spiritual herb behind my back?"
"No."
"Then did you have some hidden spiritual elixir?"
"Of course not."
The weasel let out a long sigh.
"Right, of course you didn't. If you had, you would have just absorbed it alongside the Mask-Faced Spider's core. In any case, this is undoubtedly a miraculous encounter."
Sobaek searched his memories, wondering if he had overlooked anything. But nothing stood out.
Although Sobaek had acquired some basic knowledge regarding cultivation, it was still difficult to fully comprehend the weasel's explanation.
"I don't understand a word of that. But I assume it is a good thing?"
"Yes, it is highly beneficial for you. Though it is a pity that the spiritual root you've gained is a mere Five-Element Root, this is still practically a miracle..."
"Well, I have no great ambition for cultivation, so it matters not. I will be satisfied as long as I reach the Core Formation stage, which would allow me to take human form."
The weasel stared at Sobaek with an expression of sheer disbelief.
"What? Just Core Formation? Do you think that is as easy as it sounds? It is a realm most fail to reach even after dedicating their entire lives to it."
The weasel then spent a long time explaining the path of cultivation.
The Qi Condensation stage was divided into twelve layers, which involved transforming the twelve primary meridians within the body into spiritual meridians, or spiritual pathways. Each time a spiritual meridian was activated, a Qi Condensation cultivator would gain an additional ten years of lifespan.
Since the weasel was at the Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation, it had received a total of forty additional years of life.
Upon ascending to the Foundation Establishment stage, one would receive a fresh lifespan of two hundred years from the heavens.
And upon reaching the Core Formation stage, a cultivator would compress all the spiritual energy they had accumulated into a single point, forming a Golden Core within their body.
From the Core Formation stage onward, they would be granted a lifespan of five hundred years. Furthermore, even if their physical body was ground into dust, they could safely resurrect—given enough time—as long as their Golden Core remained intact.
Listening to the weasel's explanation, Sobaek's face grew pale. The sheer scale of time was difficult to comprehend.
A mortal's lifespan was barely fifty years. Even for martial artists, only those with exceptionally deep internal energy could hope to live up to a hundred.
Only by undergoing a complete marrow-cleansing rebirth could one regain their youth and live for nearly two hundred years.
To Dang Sobaek, cultivators seemed like monsters whose tenacity went beyond mere survival—they were beings whose very lifespans were rewritten by the heavens. And that assessment was not far from the truth.
"They are monsters. To not die even when killed."
"Did I not tell you they die if their Golden Core is destroyed?"
"Even considering that, they are still monsters. It is no wonder they are called those who defy heaven."
"Well, think what you will. In any case, the Core Formation stage you speak of so lightly is not a realm easily reached."
That was certainly true. It seemed far more difficult than reaching the Harmony Realm. Perhaps it was a realm corresponding to the 'Limitless' state, which existed only in the legends of the Jianghu.
Yet, even so, it was clear that he had to step onto the path of cultivation if he wished to achieve human transformation. He had no intention of giving up just because the road ahead was treacherous.
"I wish to practice a cultivation method as well. Could you perhaps offer some assistance?"