The Crimson Lotus Wine and the Distant Horizon
After spending several hours hunting nearly a hundred monsters with the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle, Han Yujin continued to observe its operating process with keen interest. In doing so, he finally grasped most of its capabilities.
His initial hunch had been correct. This was an artifact capable of instantly producing a spirit essence far superior to the Bloodwood Essence and Spirit Wine. Moreover, the artifact itself possessed formidable offensive power.
It seems to have characteristics that set it apart from typical treasures…
Calling it an artifact in the fantasy sense might be more accurate.
Furthermore, this item appeared compatible with refinement through the Three Realms Harmony Art. Once refined, he would likely understand all its functions and traits perfectly.
Finding a quiet spot, he stopped and tilted the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle slightly, letting a few drops fall into the air.
He drew them close with a water manipulation technique and examined them. Inside the ruby-like sparkling liquid, a deeper crimson hue had formed a shape resembling a lotus flower all on its own.
Truly worthy of a spirit essence produced by a treasure of this caliber.
After confirming there were no issues, he tasted a single drop. Despite the tiny amount, the moment it touched his tongue, the sweet yet profound aroma nearly drew an involuntary exclamation of delight.
Just the flavor and scent alone already surpassed the Bloodwood Essence and Spirit Wine.
It’s hard to believe this spirit essence was created by killing monsters…
A sudden realization struck him.
The black magic tomes he had seen in the palace of those demon worshippers—the books that showed what could be done with blood and souls—shared certain principles with the Bloodwood Essence and Spirit Brewing Technique.
It seemed the version of himself whose ego had been corrupted by wearing the pendant had drawn inspiration from exactly that aspect.
Especially in the sense that one could use people as ingredients to create Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine…
Perhaps.
When made from human ingredients, it might reveal its true, proper flavor, aroma, and efficacy.
Han Yujin shook his head vigorously at the thought. It was clear that the version of himself twisted by the pendant, despite possessing boundless knowledge and wisdom, had become seriously warped in a demonic way.
If I wear the pendant again next time, what exactly will I end up creating?
The Karma he had spent to select the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle as his harvest was by no means a small amount.
Although its usefulness had proven worth the cost, there was no guarantee he would be this lucky next time.
Since most of his memories had become hazy like dreams, he would have to select items with potentially horrific properties—without knowing their exact nature—by burning through massive amounts of Karma in a blind gacha draw.
It’s not like this is some game lootbox system.
It was enough to make him laugh bitterly, but at least the first gacha had been reasonably successful.
After a moment of thought, he shared a drop of the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine with Mu-yong.
“Have a taste.”
Jjik—!
The little one, who had been unable to take her eyes off it since the scent first spread through the air, slurped the drop into her mouth. Her already round eyes widened even further, and her body froze for a moment.
“Is it good?”
Jjik…! Jjik-jjik! Jjik!
Her excitement was adorable, reminiscent of the first time she had tasted spiritual liquid wine back when she was still an ordinary beast. It also made him let out a small sigh.
For some reason, he had a feeling that no matter how much her spiritual essence improved, that gluttonous nature of hers would never change.
While he was enjoying this brief, not-quite-restful break—
A special task force of about a dozen people, including a hunter with tracking abilities, appeared. They had followed the traces of his movement as per their duties.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Han Yujin greeted them warmly, showing clear goodwill.
They didn’t meet often, but these were the people who followed behind him, recorded his achievements, prepared for any contingencies, and provided support in various ways. There were more than enough reasons to treat them kindly.
“You’ve been working hard. Were you taking a break?”
“Yes. I had a few things to think about.”
When the special task force captain asked in his affable manner, the man—who appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties—smiled as if amused.
“You’re probably the only one who would talk about strolling through the Great Rift like that, Vice-leader Han Yujin.”
As an aside, since Han Yujin was an S-class hunter, he had long since become the vice-leader of the Pioneer Guild alongside Park Seryong.
Even in this location, their peaceful small talk continued.
“Looks like you’re having a bit of bad luck today. The monsters are strangely nowhere to be seen.”
“Indeed. Well, days like this happen too.”
As he answered, he smiled wryly to himself.
The downside of using the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle inside the real Great Rift was that it left no monster corpses behind.
That meant the task force following him couldn’t verify his achievements, which in turn meant the compensation he would receive later in Mana Stones would decrease.
If I’m not planning to train here in reality anyway, there’s no real reason to keep using the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle in this place.
He still had to wait for a massive influx of Karma through knowledge distribution and the supply of awakening herbs, but the results would come within a few months at most. It was too short a time for proper training.
Above all, since he was already on the verge of a breakthrough, training through spirit essence held little meaning.
After chatting a little longer, he ended his break and began moving again.
Now that he had finished testing the performance of his new acquisition, it was time to focus on his original goal of gathering Karma.
Completely overturning the task force captain’s comment about bad luck would be a small but satisfying amusement.
He slightly adjusted his routine, spending about three days focused on hunting before taking a day or two of leave.
Staying exclusively inside the Great Rift for too long created problems with environmental characteristics cutting off contact with his acquaintances.
Especially now that he had firmly decided to take Lee Won-hee as his disciple, he needed to meet her frequently and build their relationship. All human relationships flowed more smoothly and without side effects when they followed proper context. This was the process of creating that context.
Once again, he visited the child’s home, took her out, and was treating her to delicious food at a nearby pasta restaurant.
“I want to learn.”
“Hm? Learn what?”
“That. The thing… about controlling my ability better.”
“That’s a good decision!”
Han Yujin openly showed his delight without hiding his emotions.
It was genuine, but he also believed that showing this kind of reaction to the child’s courageous choice would prevent her from feeling disappointed.
After that, he began going out from the Great Rift more frequently and steadily met with Lee Won-hee to teach her basic knowledge.
There was no way a nine-year-old child could simply be handed the Returning Origin Art and master it on her own. Even if she possessed the extraordinary intelligence expected of someone with a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
The transformation technique he had obtained through the human skin in the martial world was not something to worry about right now.
The most suitable cultivation method he knew for beginners was precisely the Returning Origin Art. It was designed to make even minor mistakes completely harmless, and while prioritizing safety, it still offered a decent speed in refining both body and soul.
Additionally, the included purification technique, Clear Mind Art, was reason enough to recommend it for novices. The purification spells it contained were too useful to overlook.
I wonder how fast she’ll progress once she begins proper training…
A Heavenly Spiritual Root—the bearer of a talent acknowledged by all even in the cultivation world. What kind of spectacle would she show?
Even though he had not yet officially accepted her as a disciple, his heart was already pounding with anticipation.
No matter how quickly he advanced through his awakening abilities, she would likely be the only disciple with any real chance of keeping up.
Inside the Great Rift, he continued to focus on hunting while simultaneously beginning training to fuse divine powers with legal techniques.
It was an attempt to combine the Origin Power Great Hand with mid-level Five Elements techniques. Since he had learned the Origin Power Great Hand relatively recently, he hadn’t had many opportunities to experiment with it in the martial world.
Fortunately, it wasn’t so difficult that he needed to find a separate world just for practice.
It was simply a matter of adding the already highly proficient Five Elements techniques to a divine power that could be used instinctively without special calculations, yet still possessed concrete form.
Moreover, regarding the Five Elements techniques, wearing the pendant had allowed him to reawaken his original knowledge with a slightly different perspective, making him even more proficient.
Fwoooosh…!
A terrifying hand of flame was created as the originally semi-transparent Origin Power Great Hand fused with the Pure Yang Extreme Flame. It lightly struck a monster that resembled a bear but wore hard, hairless armor.
Whoosh—!
Rather than a proper impact sound, it was more like the noise of a powdery form exploding. The moment it made contact, the monster’s body burst into ash and scattered.
The nearby bushes and trees, before the flames could even spread, were burned pitch black and collapsed one after another.
“Hmm…”
After practicing this several times, he nodded in satisfaction at the result and withdrew both the divine power and the technique.
The power was satisfactory, but using it for hunting in the Great Rift felt somewhat awkward. Like when using the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle, it left almost no traces behind.
At least the visible ash remained, which was better than nothing, but since it made it impossible to identify what kind of monster it had been, there was significant potential for loss in achievement calculations.
Pure Yang Extreme Flame is good enough… I’ve practiced the Deep Sea Cold Ice Hand sufficiently as well…
The Hard Metal Sword Energy didn’t feel particularly compatible for fusion. The same went for the Wind Cloud Spirit Tiger.
Adding the Thunder Dragon seemed like it would be useful when dealing with legal techniques, restrictions, or ghosts.
Combining the Deep Sea Cold Ice Hand with the Thunder Dragon should work nicely. Especially against enemies that require special attention.
With these various thoughts and verifications, he continued hunting with great focus for a long while.
Only then did he suddenly realize—
He had traveled much farther than he had originally planned.
He rose high into the air using a wind concealment technique and looked down. An endless sea of trees stretched across the horizon in every direction. Interspersed with towering mountain ranges, the sight made the Great Rift feel like an entirely different world.
Perhaps it’s not just a feeling.
Although exploration was extremely difficult due to the countless dangers lurking within, even after several decades, this was a place whose full scale could not even be estimated.
Over those decades, the safety of the outpost fortresses and their surrounding vast regions had been somewhat proven, but…
If one ventured far beyond with determination, who knew what new threats might be lying in wait.
Of course, it wasn’t that no one had ever attempted long-range reconnaissance.
However, due to the unique properties of the Great Rift that prevented electronic devices from being brought in, there were far too many restrictions, resulting in almost no meaningful achievements. With no results, attempts had gradually become more passive.
This wasn’t just Korea’s problem. Japan and China were in similar situations.
Precisely because of that—
This reality held critical importance for him, so he considered conducting a personal long-distance reconnaissance.
There was no telling. Just like in the Primordial Forest, he might think a place was safe only for a powerful enemy to suddenly appear.
“Hmm.”
It seemed best to have a quick discussion with Park Seryong first.