Forged in the Viper's Den
Dang Sobaek watched the ground rushing up to meet him in real-time and flapped his wings desperately.
It was futile.
His descent slowed slightly, but that was all.
'Damn it.'
A kaleidoscope of memories—a phenomenon he hadn't even experienced in his past life—flashed before his eyes.
Yet, Sobaek found this situation strangely familiar.
His father, whose face was now a hazy blur in his memory.
Specifically, the previous patriarch of the Tang Clan had once subjected Sobaek to a similar ordeal.
'Even now, the memory makes my skin crawl.'
The previous patriarch had forced Sobaek to swallow a Qi-Dispersing Poison before tossing him into a viper's den—a cavern teeming with dozens of highly venomous serpents.
The Qi-Dispersing Poison scattered the inner energy within his body, rendering it impossible to channel his martial arts.
All he could rely on was his knowledge of serpentine behavior, the physical body he had desperately trained, and his hard-won immunity to poisons.
That was everything.
There was no water, no food—only lethal, venomous beasts surrounding him.
Terrified of losing his life in his sleep, he had stayed awake for days on end, forcing himself to endure.
As time passed, his lips cracked, and his skin grew parched. His thirst reached a fever pitch, and hunger clouded his mind.
Sobaek had resorted to desperate measures to survive that pit.
He tore into raw snakes with his bare teeth and drank their blood in place of water.
A viper's blood ran thick with poison.
Yet, he drank it anyway, fully aware of the danger.
He drank it believing that his poison resistance would allow him to endure.
As his confinement in the viper's den dragged on, Sobaek's body gradually grew more resilient.
Like steel forged in fire, the body grows stronger with every strike.
Just like steel that hardens the more it is hammered.
Only after enduring nine agonizing days did he finally escape that cavern.
Even now, the mere memory made him shudder.
'Parents... every single one of them is the same.'
Whether it was Mother Jimjo or his father from his past life, there was no difference. They were cut from the same cloth—damnably ruthless.
This was an incredibly perilous method of upbringing.
If he failed to overcome it, he would simply lose his life.
Sobaek cursed inwardly, but his wings never stopped moving.
Compared to the day he was thrown into the viper's den, this was actually manageable.
After all, a Jimjo was a winged beast.
Instead of flapping his wings mindlessly, Sobaek began to calculate the flow of the air.
'The wind is blowing from behind.'
By maintaining a steady rhythm, Sobaek pushed the air downward and backward.
Slowly, his rapid descent began to taper off. His body hovered in the empty air, and he began to glide forward.
It was a bizarre sensation.
Instead of fighting the wind, he felt its currents and adjusted the angle of his wings accordingly.
Whoosh—!
His body surged forward at a rapid pace. The surrounding foliage blurred past him.
As he gradually got the hang of it, he even found himself able to ride against the wind.
The other chicks had also successfully taken flight, circling gracefully in the sky.
'I suppose it wasn't that difficult for them.'
Flight was already hardwired into their instincts.
Mother Jimjo hadn't demanded the impossible. It was only dangerous because Sobaek was a reincarnated human whose mind resisted those avian instincts.
Forming a neat echelon with Mother Jimjo, they soared through the vast blue sky for a long time.
Looking down from the dizzying heights, the geography of the region finally laid itself bare.
The cave they had lived in until now was nestled high up on a towering mountain.
Below it stretched a vast forest.
It was a beautiful vista.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy, scattering fractured beams of gold across the forest floor.
The vibrant colors of wildflowers painted the landscape, accompanied by the distant, melodic chirping of birds.
At the heart of the forest lay a massive lake. Though the water was not crystal clear, the lotus flowers drifting upon its surface lent it a serene, timeless elegance.
'This is nothing short of a paradise.'
Sobaek could feel that the spiritual qi here was exceptionally dense compared to the Central Plains.
'Spiritual herbs might grow here.'
For instance, Red Pine Ginseng, which only thrived in regions rich in spiritual energy.
Peering closer, he spotted a few red pines scattered below.
Since Red Pine Ginseng only grew beneath such trees, it would be wise to investigate when the opportunity arose.
Mother Jimjo led Sobaek and his siblings in wide, sweeping circles, tracing the boundary where the forest began and ended.
Sobaek observed the perimeter intently. It seemed Mother Jimjo was marking out her territory for them.
'My word... all of this belongs to the Jimjo?'
The territory was vast.
Beyond the Jimjo's domain to the north lay an expansive desert, while a rugged plateau stretched to the west.
Both regions felt rich in qi, but there was nothing else particularly noteworthy about them.
However, though he couldn't measure it precisely, a strange energy emanated from the very center of the island.
It was similar to the qi Sobaek knew, yet fundamentally different. It carried the distinct aura of a grand formation or a powerful barrier.
As Sobaek drifted toward the center to investigate further—
'Ugh.'
A sudden chill washed over him, and his body recoiled in visceral rejection. It was as if every instinct was screaming at him to stay away.
His body refused to obey, trembling uncontrollably.
Mother Jimjo quickly flew over, blocking his path and shaking her head firmly.
'Just what is hidden over there...?'
His curiosity was piqued, but he chose to back away for now. He could always investigate once he had grown stronger.
Aside from that, a hostile aura drifted from the southern region.
It didn't feel like a natural predator, but rather pure, unadulterated killing intent. Sobaek could feel eyes watching them from below.
The terrain there was a swamp, its dark, reddish-black mud bubbling with noxious gas.
Sobaek soared higher into the sky.
The entire landscape unfolded beneath him in a single glance.
'It's an island.'
All four sides were hemmed in by the vast, open sea.
This was definitely not the Central Plains.
In his past life, Sobaek had traveled far and wide. He had visited the lands of the Eastern Barbarians and even raided the strongholds of the Japanese pirates.
Yet, he had never seen or heard of a place like this.
A plateau, a swamp, a forest, and a desert all crammed onto a single island made absolutely no geographical sense.
The hand of artificial design was far too prominent.
This was an uncharted territory Sobaek had never set foot in. Perhaps it was some western region far beyond Tianzhu.
With those thoughts in mind, Sobaek lowered his altitude. Though he was still clumsy, soaring through the heavens was an incredibly liberating experience.
At the same time, the creatures crawling on the earth suddenly seemed strangely trivial.
Glancing to the side, he saw his siblings performing acrobatics—barrel-rolling and diving through the air to show off.
However, such feats were still beyond Sobaek.
He had barely managed to master basic flight. For now, he contented himself with gliding quietly beside Mother Jimjo.
'Sigh... how pathetic.'
Sobaek muttered self-deprecatingly inside the cave.
Following their flight training, Mother Jimjo had introduced a new lesson.
The hunting method of the Jimjo.
While they could snatch prey with their beaks or talons, they primarily relied on a far more sophisticated technique.
A Jimjo was like a highly trained assassin. They infused their feathers with poison and launched them like throwing daggers.
'Poison Feather Daggers...'
But there was a problem. Sobaek had absolutely no idea how to discharge his feathers.
"Peep! Pee-hahaha—"
Jim-il, the eldest brother, cackled and mocked him. Every other chick had succeeded on their first try. Sobaek was the sole failure.
'Well, I suppose it's mere instinct to them.'
Sobaek glared irritably at Jim-il. Intimidated by his fierce gaze, the eldest brother took a hasty step back.
'I don't know why that fool keeps picking fights when he always ends up losing.'
Sobaek completely ignored Jim-il and calmly turned his focus inward.
He spent several days searching for a way to replicate the technique, but achieved no notable results.
Just then, someone nudged Sobaek.
It was Jim-i.
"What is it?"
"Peep, peep-peep!"
Jim-i swept her wing diagonally toward the cave wall.
Swish—!
A single feather shot out, but it bounced harmlessly off the stone wall. Her power was still too weak.
'Are you telling me to watch?'
"Pee-aaak!"
It seemed so.
Jim-i demonstrated the motion a few more times. She hadn't forgotten Sobaek's past kindness and was trying her best to help him.
After a few more tries, Jim-i collapsed onto the floor, panting heavily. It seemed discharging feathers consumed a significant amount of stamina.
Finding the display intriguing, Jim-sam waddled over and casually flicked his wing toward the wall.
Thud-crack—!
The feather pierced deep into the solid stone wall. Jim-i's eyes went wide with shock.
'Show-off.'
Jim-sam was disgustingly talented in every aspect.
After a couple of repetitions, Jim-sam quickly lost interest, waddling back to the nest to doze off.
However, by closely observing his siblings, Sobaek had grasped the underlying principle.
It required micro-adjusting the muscles in the wing to push the feather out from the follicle, then using the momentum of the wing's swing to launch it.
'The key lies in the precise control of the muscle fibers.'
Discharging dozens of feathers at once might actually be easier, but firing a single, precise feather was incredibly difficult. It demanded absolute, razor-sharp concentration.
'I can do this.'
Relying on his superhuman memory and focus, Sobaek began to map out every single muscle fiber in his wings.
This painstaking process alone took him seven full days and nights.
The hunting training commenced once more.
This time, Mother Jimjo did not bring back prey as she used to.
Instead, she led them outside.
Flying low to the ground, she guided her brood through the forest.
Thump-thump-thump—!
Sensing the terrifying presence of the Jimjo, the forest beasts fled in a panicked stampede.
The earth trembled. Among the fleeing horde were wild boars, massive bears, and various other apex predators.
Yet, among those making such a racket—
None possessed even a shred of demonic qi.
Sobaek knew better now.
Consuming ordinary beasts might fill his stomach, but it would do absolutely nothing to aid his growth.
It was merely a means to stave off starvation.
There were two primary ways for a Jimjo to grow:
Consuming venomous creatures,
Or consuming spiritual beasts that harbored qi.
Naturally, prey that satisfied both conditions was the absolute best.
However, possessing qi meant the creature had attained spiritual awareness.
Instead of fleeing in a noisy panic, such beasts completely suppressed their presence.
They hid deep within their dens, holding their breath and concealing their energy.
But the Jimjo were born hunters.
Mother Jimjo hovered in the air, her wings beating slowly.
Then, without warning—
Swish—!
She fired a feather straight through the dense foliage of a red pine. To the naked eye, there had been nothing there, but—
Screeech—!
A horrific shriek rent the air. A translucent camouflage barrier dissolved, and a massive spider plummeted to the forest floor. Its crimson body was patterned with tiger stripes, and a single horn protruded from its head.
It was a spiritual beast.
The spider writhed in agony, its eight legs clawing frantically at the dirt.
Though Sobaek couldn't read its expression, it was glaringly obvious that the beast was in excruciating pain.
Mother Jimjo looked back at her chicks. It was a silent command to follow her lead. Having lived with her for some time now, Sobaek understood her gesture without difficulty.
Jim-il was the first to fire his feather.
However—
Clang—!
The feather bounced harmlessly off the spider's thick carapace. The other chicks fired in rapid succession, but the results were much the same. Only Jim-sam's feather managed to chip the shell, embedding itself ever so shallowly.
'Hmm...'
The difference between the chicks and Mother Jimjo lay in whether they could properly infuse their feathers with poison.
At their current stage, neither their feathers nor their poison was potent enough to corrode and pierce the spiritual beast's armor.
Finally, Mother Jimjo turned her gaze to Sobaek. She was urging him to try.
He had already figured out the mechanics of launching the feather by watching the others.
The only question was whether he could pierce that carapace.
Sobaek calmly circulated his Mandok-gwigong.
First, he transmuted the poison within his body into the Tang Clan's signature Hyeolhaesan.
The Hyeolhaesan was a highly corrosive acid-poison.
Its effects were notoriously vicious.
It rotted the blood and dissolved internal organs upon contact.
Sssss—
He channeled the corrosive poison entirely into a single feather.
The ultimate poison cultivation technique of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Transmuting the inner poison into the vicious, blood-corroding acid of the Hyeolhaesan.
'No, even this is not enough.'
For the Hyeolhaesan to exert its full lethality, the feather had to penetrate the shell and embed itself deep within the flesh.
Therefore, Sobaek infused the strike with the profound principles of the Tang Clan's Flying Dagger Technique.
Sobaek's feather shot forward at a terrifying velocity—a speed incomparable to the clumsy attempts of his siblings.
Crack-shatter—!
Before the eye could even register its trajectory, the feather shattered the carapace and buried itself deep inside. The weakened spider convulsed violently once more.
By now, the corrosive poison would be liquefying its internal organs.
It was a brutal method, but this was the wild. To hunt was to survive; there was no room for mercy.
Unable to bear the agonizing pain, the spider slammed its head repeatedly against a tree trunk. It thrashed in a frenzied death throes, a sight that made Sobaek frown.
Dirt sprayed in all directions as a massive tree snapped with a loud crack, collapsing and pinning the spider's body beneath it.
Only then did the light fade from the spider's eyes. Its breath had ceased entirely.
Jim-il stared at Sobaek with a look of sheer horror.
Jim-sam remained characteristically aloof, while Jim-i chirped and hopped around in pure delight, celebrating Sobaek's success as if it were her own.
The coldness in Mother Jimjo's eyes, which had lingered due to his previous failure with the feathers, melted away, replaced once more by maternal warmth.
At long last, Sobaek had proven himself capable of playing his part as a true Jimjo.