WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: WeTried Translations
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◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈
Chapter 12: Self-made Demon Beast
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Only after hunting twice in succession did Jegyeong's hunger finally subside.
He had been that hungry, but hunting had also taken longer because, without Cheongo, he had to find prey himself.
Had he finished hunting quickly, a single hunt would probably have been enough.
Their one-sided relationship had never felt inconvenient before, but this time, it did.
Cheongo could come to the pond to find him when it was time to hunt, but Jegyeong could not do the same.
Cheongo's unavoidable fear of him was the reason, so Jegyeong had no choice but to understand.
That understanding was the greatest support holding their relationship together.
Until Cheongo cast off that fear on their own, Jegyeong could not force the issue simply because it inconvenienced him.
After filling his stomach, Jegyeong returned to the pond.
He sank to the bottom and quietly calmed himself.
It was something he had done every day lately, so he slipped into a half-meditative state in an instant.
‘Hoo.’
Spiritual Energy Resonance.
It sounded impressive, but in truth, it was nothing special.
When Yu Jeonggyeom briefly explained Spiritual Energy Resonance to the extent of their own knowledge, Jegyeong gained a rough understanding of it.
To him, Spiritual Energy Resonance was a kind of visualization training.
In the end, Spiritual Energy and spiritual senses alike relied on senses beyond the physical body.
How should he handle senses beyond the body? Jegyeong had found his own answer.
The mind, and beyond that, imagination.
Spiritual Energy Resonance was the act of bringing a body containing the power of Qi and Blood into contact with Spiritual Energy.
Then how could he bring the two together?
Jegyeong found the answer in imagination and the mind, in other words, will.
‘Believe that I can do it, and use my will to make it happen.’
That was another reason it was difficult for beasts to become Demon Beasts.
First, they had to awaken Spirit Awareness and sense Spiritual Energy. Then, they had to resonate with that Spiritual Energy through their bodies.
The vast majority of empty-headed beasts, possessing nothing but their natural instincts, could never accomplish such a thing.
But Jegyeong could.
He had no doubt that he could do it.
He truly believed it, and he drilled that belief into himself.
After all, no one could take even a single step forward without first believing they could achieve it.
“...”
He first sensed the Spiritual Energy spread throughout his surroundings.
Although it had thinned considerably, there was still far more Spiritual Energy here than elsewhere.
Jegyeong imagined an ocean of Spiritual Energy.
Within his mind, he guided his relaxed body into that vast sea.
His body of blood, flesh, bones, and muscle softened in an instant, soaking in Spiritual Energy.
Then it absorbed it like a sponge.
‘Yes. Like a sponge.’
Hummm!
As his senses blurred, Jegyeong heard a sound.
It came from his body, yet it was not a sound that truly existed.
It echoed within the world of imagery he held in his mind.
Crack! Creak!
His bones twisted and broke.
Then, in an instant, they fused back together and set themselves straight.
Jegyeong felt no pain during the process. Instead, he felt refreshed.
When that refreshing feeling finally stopped, he tried to open his eyes, only to realize that he had never closed them.
“Ah!”
Something roiled heavily inside him. He opened his mouth and expelled it.
Only then did he realize it was a stream of extremely turbid breath.
Once he expelled it, a jolt ran from the tip of his head to the end of his tail.
“Hisss!”
Had he possessed human vocal cords, that escaping hiss would have been a single cry torn from the height of his joy.
Jegyeong had never experienced such a feeling in either his past life or his current one.
He had gone through a few similar experiences in this life, but even those could not compare to this feeling.
Boom!
He slammed his tail against the pond floor and sprang above the surface in a single leap.
Rising from the water like a lively fish, he opened his jaws wide toward the countless heavenly bodies hanging in the sky.
Before, only a forceful hiss would have escaped his mouth.
“Rooooar!”
But this time was different.
A thunderous roar erupted from his open jaws.
It shook the pond and the surrounding area, then spread faintly even farther away.
* * *
He had become a Demon Beast.
The fact alone filled him with immense satisfaction, but Jegyeong tried to calm himself.
Now that he had come to his senses, he regretted the uncontrollable roar he had let out.
What if another Demon Beast or some powerful being had heard it?
Should he flee far away right now?
Countless thoughts flashed through Jegyeong's mind, but he did his best to reassure himself that it would be fine.
Suppressing his unease, he began examining the changes that came with becoming a Demon Beast.
The first thing he noticed was how light his body felt.
It could not be that he had lost weight, so it had to mean the strength throughout his body had increased.
He would have to test it himself to know by how much, but it was a welcome change regardless.
Next came changes to his body's appearance, no, to its structure.
Originally, scales covered about two-thirds of his body.
The remaining third, his underside, had been bare flesh. Now, scales completely covered even the belly that had once been exposed.
He would have to test it to be certain, but the scales covering his entire body also seemed tougher than before.
And then...
‘Doesn't seem like there's anything else?’
He moved his body around for a while, then closed his eyes and searched for any power that might be sleeping shyly within him.
No matter how hard he concentrated, though, he could not sense anything.
‘Is there really nothing?’
He had considered that this might happen, but now that the possibility had become reality, disappointment washed over him.
The cultivation of the Human Race was built by learning and accumulating things one by one.
Demon Beast cultivation, on the other hand, was based on awakening the power within one's Bloodline.
Put simply, it was like inheriting an estate passed down by one's ancestors.
The more the ancestors possessed, the greater the inheritance passed to their descendants.
It was practically a race built around the spoon one was born with.
Still, even if one's ancestors left behind a golden spoon, it did not mean their descendants would certainly draw a golden spoon as well.
According to Yu Jeonggyeom, even if the Bloodline inherited from one's ancestors was exceptional, how completely it was passed down and how much of it the descendant could awaken were separate matters.
It was like a draw rate. Even so, the difference between having something to inherit and draw from, and having nothing at all, was as vast as heaven and earth.
Take Jegyeong himself, for example.
For a dirt-spoon Demon Beast with a very high chance of having nothing to inherit or awaken, all of that was a story from another country, no, another world.
‘Well... it’s still fine.’
A dirt-spoon Demon Beast.
He would be lying if he said it did not sting, but he had prepared himself, so he could accept it well enough.
‘It doesn't matter if I don't have a spoon to inherit. I'll make my own.’
Even that fine spoon someone inherited must have had an original owner.
Where would that owner have gotten it?
They must have made it themselves, just like Human Race cultivators.
‘Besides, if I think about it, it's not like I have no abilities at all.’
Jegyeong looked over his large, sturdy body.
It was big and powerful, a body so extraordinary for his age that calling it monstrous would not be an exaggeration.
What other ability did he need? This body itself was the greatest ability he could boast of.
He had not grown any larger this time, but after his second Molting, he had undergone another major growth spurt.
Now that armor-like scales covered his entire body as well, was he not qualified to proudly call himself a physically powerful Demon Beast?
There was one more positive change.
The gate to the Forget-Me Garden now felt closer.
Not immediately, but if he refined his Spirit Awareness a little more, he felt he could enter the Forget-Me Garden again without gaining Divine Sense.
‘Will I be able to meet Yu Jeonggyeom again?’
Probably not.
Yu Jeonggyeom would likely remain a guide for the time being and would not have much time to spare.
Even if they did, they would not spend it on a newcomer who had only just gained the right to enter.
Jegyeong was fairly good at assessing himself objectively.
No matter how much kindness Yu Jeonggyeom had shown him, Jegyeong clearly understood that, at heart, he was only one of the seeds they had planted for the future.
‘Maybe it's better to get used to things by facing them head-on.’
The Forget-Me Garden was a great opportunity.
According to Yu Jeonggyeom, the road of cultivation was nothing less than a thorny path.
The difficulty of cultivation itself was a great mountain, but countless obstacles also awaited those climbing a mountain of unknowable height.
Even a being with exceptional talent could not manage alone, so cultivators desperately chased opportunities.
Those opportunities were Wealth, Companions, Methods, and Land.
Wealth meant material resources, including the cultivation resources required for training.
Companions meant personal connections, including Dao Companions. No one could stand alone forever.
Methods meant Cultivation Methods and Secret Arts.
Land meant a stable environment where one could cultivate. Spiritual Lands could also be considered part of Land.
Yu Jeonggyeom had called these Wealth, Companions, Methods, and Land, the four essential conditions for cultivation, and every word of it was right.
Jegyeong himself had already benefited from the blessing of a Spiritual Land and was considering setting out to find another one.
Why?
Because he had tasted its sweetness.
He had fulfilled only one of the four conditions, yet it had already produced great results.
Naturally, Jegyeong intended to seize the other three somehow as well.
That was why he wanted to enter the Forget-Me Garden as soon as possible.
He expected to build up Companions, the second component of Wealth, Companions, Methods, and Land, there, in other words, personal connections.
In a way, he had already accomplished half of it.
Yu Jeonggyeom had taught him not only knowledge of cultivation, but also general knowledge of this world. Those lessons had been a great help.
Of course, Jegyeong did not expect the other supposed “kin” of the Forget-Me Garden to be as kind as Yu Jeonggyeom.
They might not be as kind or make as good teachers as Yu Jeonggyeom, but if he tried to interact with them, surely he would gain something.
Besides, Jegyeong had something to rely on.
Yu Jeonggyeom had recognized that he was a mentally stable beast and treated him kindly.
Would others not be similar? No, would there not be at least a few like that?
When he first met Yu Jeonggyeom, he had been no more than a beast, even if he had a high chance of becoming a Demon Beast.
Now, he was a proud Demon Beast.
He might be dirt-poor without even a spoon to his name, but a Demon Beast was still a Demon Beast.
Jegyeong had no intention of puffing himself up and boasting, but he also had no intention of hiding or downplaying his own value and letting benefits he could claim slip away.
The next day.
As always, Cheongo flew to the pond with cheerful flaps of their wings and called out loudly for Jegyeong.
Splash!
A moment later, the whole pond seemed to heave before its surface overturned.
Then a huge snake's head emerged.
“Huh?!”
Expecting a familiar face, Cheongo's eyes widened.
“You...!”
Cheongo noticed the two bulging bumps on the familiar-looking snake's head, but that change in appearance was not why they were startled.
The moment Jegyeong appeared, Cheongo's eyes flew open at the pressure flowing from him.
That pressure did not stem from simple fear.
It was the pressure a living being naturally felt when facing a life-form on a higher level.
Cheongo was not unfamiliar with such pressure.
The small bird had seen Demon Beasts from afar and had once stood beside a great Immortal and listened directly to an Immortal's teachings.
So Cheongo knew.
“Jegyeong. You...”
“That's right.”
“How?”
“I ate a lot and slept a lot. You know that.”
Ate a lot and slept a lot?
Cheongo naturally knew all about this large partner's way of life.
They had watched firsthand just how much he ate, and they knew he regularly slept in this fine place.
Even so... was this not too fast?
Cheongo had believed that Jegyeong would become a Demon Beast one day and had even guessed that day was not far off. Still, they never expected it to happen this quickly.
“Amazing!”
That was Cheongo's honest impression.
“Congratulations!”
That was what their smarter mind came up with next.
“Thanks. I have you to thank for it.”
“Me?”
Cheongo tilted their head.
“Hunting became easier because of you. I can eat more easily and fill my stomach better than before, so I benefited from having you around.”
“But I get to eat meat because of you too.”
“Then let's say we've both benefited from each other.”
“Something about that sounds strange... but I think I get what you mean.”
Cheongo's eyes shone as they looked over Jegyeong, who had just emerged from the water.
The scales covering his entire body looked incredibly sturdy at a glance, reminding Cheongo of the rock monster they had seen before.
At the time, Cheongo had thought that nothing in the world would be frightening if one had such a large, hard body. Seeing Jegyeong now gave them a similar feeling.
Flapping their wings in envy, Cheongo suddenly looked down at their own wings, which seemed small even when fully spread, and let out a deep sigh.
* * *
Boom!
A gate opened, and a majestic bridge appeared.
Though invisible, it seemed like an illusion at first glance, but it clearly had substance.
Jegyeong could sense its existence through his Spirit Awareness.
He cast his consciousness toward that mysterious, magnificent bridge.
The moment his consciousness barely settled upon it, Jegyeong entered the Forget-Me Garden once again.
Footnotes:
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