WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈
Chapter 115: Fire Spirit
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One thing Jegyeong had said was true.
They intended to finish their business as quickly as possible and leave the Jimal Plain.
They had ventures underway at Yangseo Lake and could not stay away for long. Even aside from that, they had no desire to spend time in such a dangerous place.
The former went without saying, but the latter was Jegyeong's honest feeling.
The Jimal Plain was a part of the Cultivation World ruled by the Human Race. Here, even the Other Races had to breathe uneasily.
Jegyeong was confident that no Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator could see through their Transformation Technique, but that did not stop them from feeling uncomfortable.
If they made a mistake and exposed even a trace of demon power, it would not end with mere inconvenience.
“Go. Find out everything.”
After Jeon Yongseong left, Jegyeong gave Han Cheongyu an order.
“You don't need to act especially discreetly. Be open about it. There are surely eyes watching us anyway, so it would be better to act confidently.”
“Understood.”
After Han Cheongyu departed, Jegyeong sipped Spirit Wine and sank into meditation.
They could now maintain their human form for a long time without the help of Spirit Wine, but there was no harm in being cautious.
Besides, their ability to maintain human form only applied while they were calm.
When they had encountered the Flame Demon earlier, Jegyeong had thrown only one punch, yet they had felt their mind waver slightly.
If the fight had lasted a little longer... something bad might have happened.
Gulp, gulp.
Jegyeong drank and drank.
Before long, the fragrance of Spirit Wine filled the spacious guest room.
* * *
Han Cheongyu left Yuhyang Inn as evening began to fall and returned only at dawn.
“Dragon Lord. I investigated.”
Kneeling before Jegyeong, Han Cheongyu immediately began recounting what they had seen and heard.
“Most of what the young guide said seems to have been true. Gwangyang City is practically a business run by the Heavenly Fire Sect and the Yangbu Seon Family, while the city lord is the mediator they put forward. It seems that was possible because of his background. He was originally a disciple of the Heavenly Fire Sect, but he took a woman of the Yangbu Seon Family as his wife and even had children with her. Of course, that is not all. His strength must also be one of the main reasons. They say he is at the middle Foundation Establishment Stage.”
“Oh? Then he must be among the strongest in this city.”
“Yes. According to what is known, there are only three mid Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators in Gwangyang City.”
The other two, aside from the Lord of Gwangyang City, were naturally the two stewards from the Heavenly Fire Sect and the Yangbu Seon Family.
Those two, backed by their sect and family, ruled Gwangyang City in practice, while the Lord of Gwangyang City, who could mediate between them, played the role of its nominal master.
“Besides the market town and auction house found in every immortal city, Gwangyang City's main source of income is mining. The Scorching River flows nearby, and they say a special mineral called Red-Baked Spirit Ore is found around it. It was first discovered hundreds of years ago, yet new mines are still opening even now...”
Han Cheongyu trailed off as if unable to understand.
In their view, if they had mined for more than several centuries, not only the ore but even the ore's grandfather should have run out long ago.
Yet new mines were still opening with some frequency. Just how much spirit ore had been sleeping beneath the ground?
“The deposits may have been abundant, but perhaps they could not mine them properly.”
Unlike Han Cheongyu, Jegyeong could roughly guess the situation.
The Scorching River did not sound like an ordinary waterway, and if Red-Baked Spirit Ore lay deep beneath that region, it made sense that they had not extracted it all yet.
If they carelessly dug too deep and disturbed a water vein, it would not end with only a few deaths.
“Or they may be deliberately controlling the pace of extraction.”
In most cases, an item's scarcity and value were directly proportional.
Red-Baked Spirit Ore likely did not stray far from that principle.
If they were confident they could protect it, it would be better to regulate the extraction rate and profit from it for a long time than to mine everything at once and be done with it.
Jegyeong considered Gwangyang City an exceptionally stable business operation.
‘So that's why.’
Now that they roughly understood the situation, Jegyeong could see why Jeon Yongseong had been so blatant in probing them.
Gwangyang City was a still pond, and they were a stone that had suddenly fallen into it.
‘I need to leave soon.’
Jegyeong had no desire whatsoever to act like a notable figure.
Fortunately, they had given Jeon Yongseong an excuse, so it would not seem strange if they stayed only a few days before leaving. The problem was whether information about them would remain within Gwangyang City.
A Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator was not a common sight, and a Body Cultivator was even rarer.
‘Luck isn't on my side.’
Their original plan had been to investigate quietly and seek out collaborators, but things had turned out this way unexpectedly.
If only they had endured it instead of punching that Flame Demon...
‘No, that's not it.’
Jegyeong rejected the regret that had briefly arisen.
While in human form, they were sometimes seized by impulses they could not control. That punch had been one of them.
Even thinking back on it now, what happened during the day could not be called a mistake.
How could they endure it when that insect-like bastard came at them to their face? Were they supposed to let that fool's fire tricks singe their hair?
The fact that they had not turned the creature into a handful of blood on the spot was restraint enough.
Seeing Han Cheongyu turn pale under the aura they had unconsciously released, Jegyeong hurriedly suppressed their anger.
After emptying another bottle of Spirit Wine, they told Han Cheongyu to go in and rest, then continued meditating in the darkness.
‘Calmly. Rationally.’
Thinking they had made a mistake from the very first step in such a dangerous place, Jegyeong had momentarily failed to control their emotions.
‘Is it impatience, or fear?’
The first step in governing one's Heart State was being honest with oneself.
Jegyeong believed they had been dropped alone into enemy territory, and that was why they were afraid.
‘I'm overthinking it. The situation is not that bad yet. Even in the worst case, there would be no difficulty in getting myself out. There's no need to worry.’
Jegyeong did not force themself to feel better.
Instead, they remained as calm as possible and persuaded themself with objective facts.
At some point, their vertically slit pupils had returned to ordinary Human Race eyes, and their body, which had grown hot enough to emit steam, cooled down.
Their mind, heated to its limits, was plunged in an instant into the depths of an ice cave.
It had been a close call, but their heart, uneasy like a child who had lost their parents, finally returned to its proper place.
‘I'm truly weak.’
Having regained their calm, Jegyeong bitterly mocked themself.
A Great Demon at the middle stage of the Great Demon Realm?
The Dragon Lord of the Black Jiao Waters?
What did any of that matter?
Just moments ago, they had been nothing more than an earthworm trembling in vague fear, unable to tell what was what.
They could make excuses and blame the unstable mentality of their human form, but they did not want to.
That would be cowardly avoidance and escape.
Was the one in human form not still Jegyeong?
“Hoo.”
Jegyeong was discouraged, but only briefly.
Once they had reflected enough, there was no need to remain submerged in negative emotions.
After organizing their thoughts and lifting the burden from their heart, Jegyeong's attention naturally turned elsewhere.
‘It really is dense.’
It was the heaven-and-earth Spiritual Energy, tilted to an extreme.
They had felt it even before entering Gwangyang City, but the sensation became far clearer after arriving.
Simply sensing the Spiritual Energy seemed to bring warmth.
Cultivators with keen Spirit Awareness, or cultivators who practiced Fire Arts, would all feel something similar, though to different degrees.
‘The balance is badly broken. If it goes any further, will this become a dead land?’
Today, a dead land simply meant a dangerous region one should not enter.
Originally, however, a dead land was a concept devised by the ancient Human Race, referring to a place where the balance of heaven-and-earth Spiritual Energy had completely collapsed.
All kinds of unpredictable phenomena occurred there, and most came with extreme danger that barred cultivators from approaching.
That was why it had been called a dead land.
Jegyeong knew both meanings, and their thought just now came from the latter.
To them, the heaven-and-earth Spiritual Energy in Gwangyang City had already lost its balance.
If the whole of Spiritual Energy was assumed to be one hundred, each of the Five Element Spiritual Energies should account for no more than thirty and no less than ten.
That was the bare minimum for a normal balance.
Yet of the Five Element Spiritual Energies in Gwangyang City, none except fire qi seemed to exceed ten.
Water-aspected Spiritual Energy was especially scarce, almost to the point of being undetectable.
‘Very good.’
If the Spiritual Energies of the other four elements were like starving beggars shriveled from being unable to eat even one proper meal a day, then fire qi was like a greasy fat man who had stolen all their food for himself.
‘I can't resist.’
As someone who could be considered half a Fire Path cultivator, Jegyeong found it difficult to resist the temptation of this dense fire qi.
Part of it was also to soothe their exhausted heart with a little pleasure.
They did not worry about demon power leaking out.
The room they occupied was Yuhyang Inn's highest-grade guest room, and according to the inn manager, nothing that happened inside could be sensed from outside.
Of course, Jegyeong did not naively believe every word of that.
So they set up a simple blocking formation with formation flags prepared in advance, preventing any possible mishaps.
‘Good.’
After confirming that the blocking formation was functioning properly, Jegyeong slowly circulated their cultivation method and drew in heaven-and-earth Spiritual Energy.
A scorching heat soon swirled around Jegyeong.
‘As expected.’
It was as they had anticipated.
The heaven-and-earth Spiritual Energy rushing in was so dense that it might as well have been fire qi itself.
‘Such dense fire qi would be both a blessing and a curse for Fire Path cultivators.’
Fire Path cultivators training here could be said to walk a path strewn with flowers.
Their cultivation would proceed as smoothly as a ship before the wind, allowing them to reach bottlenecks more easily.
But once they reached a bottleneck, that same ease they had enjoyed would become another wall blocking their way.
Cultivation could not be too difficult, but neither could it be too easy.
In the former case, no one would be able to overcome it. In the latter, cultivation itself would have no meaning.
For Jegyeong, however, the dense fire qi of the Jimal Plain was as intoxicating as a sweet snack tasted for the first time.
The Spiritual Energy they drew in indiscriminately melted directly into their powerful Spirit and Flesh without even a refining process.
“How gluttonous.”
At that moment, as Jegyeong reveled in the sweetness, they heard a strange voice.
It sounded as though it were whispering into their ear, yet also as though it came from deep within their heart.
“You, Demon Race. You are truly unusual.”
Jegyeong, instantly on the highest alert, stopped circulating their cultivation method and raised their eyes.
‘Who are you?’
None of their senses could detect the other party.
But this voice was certainly not an auditory hallucination.
“There is no need to be wary. I am merely a pitiable thread of lingering resentment. I cannot harm you, nor do I wish to.”
The moment they heard those words, a possibility came to mind.
Half believing and half doubting, Jegyeong asked.
‘Are you... a fire demon? No, a Fire Spirit?’
For an instant, a strange sound, something like a sigh and something like laughter, seemed to pass through the air.
“I have been called that as well. But names hold no meaning for me. Call me whatever you wish.”
At those words, Jegyeong's already tense expression darkened further.
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