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◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈

Chapter 19: Contemplation

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“...”

Jegyeong opened his eyes.

The sensation of his consciousness, or rather, a portion of it, returning to his body after drifting into another world was so strange that one could not understand it without experiencing it firsthand.

If he had to compare it to something, it was like suddenly becoming fully alert while half asleep.

‘I gained a lot this time.’

He was very satisfied with this gathering in the Forget-Me Garden.

The senior cultivators of the Full-Wing Gathering had all been friendly to him and generous with their knowledge. Perhaps that was because the knowledge meant little to them, but even when something held little value, it was not easy to give it away freely to a complete stranger.

In that respect, the senior cultivators of the Full-Wing Gathering had been truly generous, and Jegyeong was grateful to them.

If the opportunity ever arose, he intended to repay their kindness.

‘Even if that day comes, it’ll be far in the future.’

Jegyeong tried operating the Qi Concealment Technique, which he had only understood in theory until now.

Suppressing his Aura was, in some ways, similar to quieting his breathing. The difference was that he had to control his Aura rather than his breath.

‘Did it work?’

He gathered his Aura as the technique instructed, but he could not tell whether he had done it properly. Thinking he would test it again when Cheongo returned, Jegyeong shifted his coiled body.

It was a small exercise meant to aid digestion, though even he did not think it was doing much.

‘Demon Beast meat really is different from ordinary meat. It’s taking far longer to digest than I expected.’

No matter how much he ate of an ordinary animal, it was usually almost fully digested after one sleep.

The monkey Demon Beast meat he had eaten this time, however, still sat heavily in his stomach even after several days. He had eaten three monkeys at once, but even that was far from enough meat to fill his stomach by quantity alone.

Jegyeong could only conclude that Demon Beast meat was different from ordinary animal meat.

‘Still... it’s not entirely a bad thing.’

What did slow digestion mean? It meant it took longer for his stomach to empty.

In other words, he could stay full for a long time.

At least while digestion continued, he would not need to hunt. That was clearly an advantage.

‘The tree needs time to bear fruit too, so this works out well enough.’

Despite being a tree, the Wood Demon grew through Blood Meals, like other beasts.

Once its main body had absorbed enough blood and flesh, it bore fruit. To a human, those fruits were something like hair or nails, naturally produced byproducts.

The Wood Demon could intentionally force those byproducts to grow faster.

It said that doing so placed some strain on its main body, though Jegyeong had no way of knowing whether that was true or whether it had made it up because it feared he would keep demanding fruit.

If it had lied out of concern, it was worrying for nothing. Jegyeong had no intention of pressuring the Wood Demon to keep producing fruit.

He did not think it would obediently listen just because he pressured it, and more importantly, he was not particularly greedy for its fruit.

What interested him was not the Wood Demon’s fruit, but the Demon Beasts it could lure in. More precisely, their meat.

‘Once I finish digesting this...’

As he gauged the changes in his body that came with gradual digestion and the heaviness still in his stomach, Jegyeong thought he might molt again around the time that heaviness faded.

He did not know the exact conditions for Molting, or whether he could still molt after becoming a Demon Beast, but he had a feeling that a major change awaited him once digestion was complete.

‘If I do molt, I need to think about it beforehand.’

Once Molting began, he would be almost defenseless.

Fortunately, when he had molted before, one time had been after a hunt, while he was patting his full belly, and the other had been while he was stretched out comfortably beneath a pond. Neither time had put him in danger.

Looking back, he had been very lucky.

But he could not blindly expect luck to remain with him.

What if he suddenly began molting in the middle of a desperate fight? Then he might as well be dead. The opponents he would face from now on would not be ordinary animals, but formidable Demon Beasts.

‘It’d be nice if I could notice the signs of Molting in advance.’

Thinking about it, perhaps it was not impossible.

Even now, did he not have a feeling that a major change would come once the monkey Demon Beast meat in his stomach was fully digested?

If he honed that sense and learned to fully contemplate himself, he would be able to prepare for Molting to some extent.

Of course, that assumed he would still molt now that he was a Demon Beast, but even if he did not, the ability to contemplate himself was necessary.

Cultivation was, in one sense, the constant refinement of oneself. Understanding oneself was basic and essential.

Simple-minded Demon Beasts lived according to instinct and intuition without much thought, but Jegyeong, who firmly considered himself a person, could not do that.

As far as he could tell, Demon Beasts had no real cultivation system.

Perhaps high-ranking Demon Beasts at the Great Demon Beast rank or above were different, but that was how it seemed based on everything he had seen so far.

In a way, it was only natural.

Demon Beasts could grow stronger simply by constantly eating. The path was already open to them.

Would they suffer through searching for a better path when one already lay before them? Even if they had grown smarter, they were still beasts at heart.

Heaven was fair.

Just as it gave humans great wisdom but weak bodies, it gave Demon Beasts powerful bodies but limited wisdom.

Not only those two races, but every race in the world possessed its own flaws.

Therefore, regardless of race, cultivators used cultivation to overcome their inborn flaws, achieve completeness, and advance toward transcendence.

In that sense, Jegyeong possessed an enormous advantage.

He had the powerful body of a Demon Beast while also possessing human wisdom.

Perhaps that was why the seniors in the Forget-Me Garden had shown interest in him. They might have highly valued his potential.

‘But potential is only potential.’

Even after becoming a Demon Beast, Jegyeong had not abandoned his cautious nature.

Within the Forget-Me Garden, he could enjoy being treated as a promising talent. Outside it, he was nothing more than a mere Demon Beast struggling to survive.

So until the day came when he no longer had to fear climbing higher, when he could roar to his heart’s content without concern, he had to remain cautious and vigilant.

Jegyeong pictured that distant day, then began considering his future plans.

The plan to lure Demon Beasts with the Wood Demon’s fruit still seemed quite good.

Still, it was not a hunting method he could use for long.

No matter how simple-minded Demon Beasts were, they would find it suspicious if he stayed in one place and kept dangling bait before them.

Jegyeong believed this method would only work three or four times at most.

After that, he would have to leave this place and search for a Spiritual Land as originally planned.

‘A Spiritual Land...’

His original plan had been to find a Spiritual Land and hunt the other Demon Beasts that had settled there, but meeting the Wood Demon had given him another idea.

This creature was highly unusual and useful.

Demon fiends were different from Demon Beasts, and some possessed all sorts of rare and unusual abilities. Even among them, this Wood Demon was likely a special case.

What demon fiend could create spiritual treasures so readily?

Its fruit might be inferior to naturally formed, genuine spiritual treasures, but that did not change the fact that it was valuable.

‘As long as I have this tree, I can set up a hunt anywhere.’

After finishing a hunt or two here, he would take the Wood Demon somewhere far away.

There, he would hunt again using the fruit as bait, then move somewhere else...

‘Wonderful.’

Wasn’t it a beautiful prospect?

Of course, the world was not so easy, and all kinds of unforeseen troubles might arise. Still, with the Wood Demon and its fruit, hunting Demon Beasts would become far easier.

The problem was how to persuade it.

‘I just need to get some decent results once or twice. Then the tree will realize that joining me is more profitable than staying here.’

He would have to give it a sizable share of the prey, but considering the Wood Demon’s value, that was a reasonable investment.

Unlike Cheongo, it was a true member of the Demon Race.

‘Come to think of it, when is that fellow coming back?’

Cheongo had taken some Wood Demon fruit and one hand from the monkey Demon Beast but had not shown up since.

They were probably still working hard to digest them.

Cheongo might be fairly intelligent, but they were ultimately still an ordinary beast. Digesting Demon Beast meat would likely take quite a while.

‘After they digest everything they got this time... could they become a Demon Beast?’

Remembering the eagerness and anticipation Cheongo had shown before leaving with their share, Jegyeong unconsciously flicked out his tongue.

* * *

Jegyeong discovered that he possessed an astonishing ability he had never known about before.

That ability was sleeping.

The moment he decided to sleep without thinking about anything else, he fell asleep for several days straight.

When Cheongo called for him and he opened his eyes, Jegyeong was shocked to realize that he had slept for three full days.

‘I thought I knew my body by now.’

It was not hibernation. Could he sleep like the dead whenever he wanted?

If Cheongo had not come, how much longer would he have slept?

Feeling refreshed, Jegyeong raised his head and suddenly noticed that the heaviness in his stomach had eased considerably.

It felt as though more than half the Demon Beast meat that had remained in his stomach had been digested.

‘What happened?’

Jegyeong was briefly confused, but soon guessed what had occurred.

Perhaps all his bodily functions had focused on digestion while he slept for those three days.

‘If that’s true... do I not need to worry so much about overeating from now on?’

He was getting ahead of himself, but the thought pleased Jegyeong.

‘I don’t even need to worry about being attacked while I sleep.’

Though he had slept soundly for three days, a thread of his consciousness had remained awake the entire time.

That was why he had awakened as soon as Cheongo called, and why he had realized three days had passed the moment he opened his eyes.

If someone had entered the cave while he slept, Jegyeong would have immediately sensed the intruder and awakened.

“Cheongo.”

“Jegyeong! Look at this! Look at this! Isn’t it amazing?”

When Jegyeong reached the cave entrance, Cheongo, now much larger than before, flapped their wings as if showing off.

Every time their wings, faintly tinged with blue light, beat, the light danced.

It looked like a particularly well-made special effect.

“It is amazing.”

“Right? Right?”

Cheongo held their head high and showed off.

Jegyeong gave them the appropriate response while examining their condition.

They had certainly changed a great deal compared to a few days ago.

Both their appearance and their presence had changed. Cheongo could no longer be considered an ordinary beast.

Yet despite those changes, they still could not be called a Demon Beast.

They were still lacking a little, just a little.

If Jegyeong had given Cheongo one more monkey Demon Beast hand before, no, even a few more fingers, Cheongo might have become a Demon Beast.

‘Maybe I should have given them more.’

Watching Cheongo continue to show off, Jegyeong smacked his lips in regret.

Seeing how happy they were made him think that perhaps he should have been more generous. One hand was not much of a loss for him anyway.

‘No. No.’

Jegyeong steadied his softening resolve.

He thought Cheongo was at exactly the right point now.

A well-fed dog did not run. To keep making use of Cheongo, he had to leave them wanting more.

Cheongo was smart and had ambition in their own way, so they probably would not suddenly change their mind just because they became a Demon Beast. Still, one never knew.

Therefore, Jegyeong had no intention of deliberately hindering Cheongo’s growth, but neither did he intend to actively help them.

“There’s really not much left now.”

“Yeah! Not much at all! I think one hunt will do it!”

Cheongo showed more enthusiasm than ever before.

Naturally, the prey they meant was not an ordinary animal, but a Demon Beast.

Cheongo already knew about Jegyeong’s new plan.

When Jegyeong had explained his idea to cooperate with the Wood Demon, Cheongo had exclaimed that it was a good idea.

“How is the tree doing?”

“Six fruits have grown! But they’re still small, so it says we need to wait a little longer!”

“How long?”

“About five days? I asked, but it says they can’t grow any faster.”

“Five days.”

Cheongo seemed dissatisfied, but Jegyeong thought it was perfect.

‘Five days is enough.’

It was enough time to finish digesting what remained.

The only uncertainty was the change that would occur after digestion was complete. Jegyeong expected it to be Molting, but it might not be.

Or even if it was Molting, it might be very different from what he had experienced before becoming a Demon Beast.

“Once the tree is ready, and I’m ready too, we’ll begin right away. The hunting will be done by me and the tree, but you have work to do as well.”

“Yeah! Just tell me what to do!”

Cheongo looked ready to do anything he told them.

“First, take a good look around the area for the next few days. And...”

After giving Cheongo his instructions, Jegyeong returned deeper into the cave and coiled up again.

He had slept like the dead for three days, so he was not tired at all and his mind was completely clear. Yet he could still fall asleep whenever he wanted.

“Hiss-”

The instant he closed his eyes and decided to sleep, Jegyeong’s consciousness sank.

His heartbeat became faint, and the sound of his breathing nearly vanished.

Three days later.

“Grrr.”

The enormous snake that had been frozen like an elaborate sculpture snapped open its eyes.

Its closed mouth opened, and a stream of breath leaked out.

The entire cave, which had been steeped in silence, trembled faintly.

‘Digestion is complete.’

Despite having just awakened from deep sleep, Jegyeong immediately examined his condition with a clear mind.

Thanks to his Spirit Awareness, which had developed greatly since he first acquired it, Jegyeong could accurately grasp the state inside his body at once.

This could be considered a basic level of internal contemplation.

‘It’s coming.’

As his heartbeat returned to normal and strength flowed through his body, the sign came immediately.

It was the change he had anticipated.

While contemplating himself through Spirit Awareness, Jegyeong tried to sense that change as fully as possible.

Thump!

It began with his heart.

Blood suffused with explosive Aura raced through the blood vessels throughout his body like a racing car tearing around a circuit.

Soon, his entire body was engulfed by the Aura born from his blood, and a mysterious transformation began.

‘It’s Molting.’

Jegyeong knew it instinctively.

He did not know if his previous molts had been like this, but he finally came to understand the process of Molting.

The Qi and Blood, which had rested quietly within the vessel of his body, grew so powerful that they put the once-stable vessel in danger.

But because the body and Qi and Blood could not be separated, the Qi and Blood endangered the body without breaking it. Instead, they stimulated the body and helped it return to a stable state.

‘The accumulation of Qi and Blood, and the strengthening of the body.’

He had heard that Human Race cultivation methods included Body Tempering Methods that trained the flesh.

Such methods fundamentally trained the body and built up Qi and Blood. By analogy, they first made the water bowl larger, then allowed rainwater to fill it naturally.

But the Molting Jegyeong was experiencing now was precisely the opposite.

It was not expanding the vessel to increase its contents. The greatly swollen contents were forcibly expanding the vessel.

The process was dangerous and painful, but explosive in return.

“Grrr.”

Jegyeong endured the pain and let out a low growl.

The pain caused by the rapid transformation was considerable, but compared to the previous two times, it was bearable.

Footnotes:

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