WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: WeTried Translations

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈

Chapter 29: Dreaming of Becoming a Great Thief

──────

A gigantic demon fiend tree, so vast that even the word gigantic felt inadequate, basked in the sunlight on the riverbank. Half its roots were buried in the earth, while the other half stretched into the river.

Its leaves swayed in the gentle breeze. Several plump fruits hung from its branches, and a large bird dozed atop one of them.

If not for the withered, lifeless earth surrounding it, anyone unaware of the truth might have mistaken the demon fiend tree for a sacred tree.

But what sacred tree caused everything around it to wither so that it alone could thrive?

That was why it could only be a Wood Demon, not a divine tree.

“Muk-su, when is Jegyeong coming?”

Wooooo.

“You don't know either? I thought so.”

Woooooo.

“Why did I ask? Just because. Not everything needs a reason, right? Don't you think so too?”

Jegyeong had given Muk-su that name.

Jegyeong and Cheongo both had names. He had decided he could not keep calling this one by the bland, impersonal name of Wood Demon forever.

Cheongo had made a great fuss, saying it was wonderful, but Muk-su had shown little reaction after receiving a name.

It neither disliked nor liked it.

A name simply did not seem to mean much to Muk-su.

Cheongo could not understand that. In Cheongo's view, this laid-back tree should have been overjoyed.

“Why don't you like it? Isn't it nice to have a name? It's yours. Besides, nobody can take it from you.”

Muk-su patiently listened to Cheongo's chatter.

Part of that was because it had the relaxed nature of a tree. Another part was because Cheongo's endless prattling helped relieve its boredom.

Wooooo.

Muk-su said that, in its view, a name was like someone else's gaze.

It did not care how others saw it or what they called it, so there was nothing to like or dislike.

Cheongo did not understand that and felt a little dissatisfied.

Still, Cheongo did not force their opinion on Muk-su. Cheongo knew such behavior would be pointless.

“Muk-su, can I eat one fruit? You're asking if I ate one a few days ago? I want one again because I ate one a few days ago. If I'd eaten one yesterday, I wouldn't even be asking.”

Whatever Muk-su thought, Cheongo liked the name Muk-su.

Though in truth, Cheongo had also liked the old not-quite-a-name, “Tree.”

“Muk-su, what's it like underwater? There are lots of fish, right? Jegyeong said there are plenty of Demon Beasts too. Water Demons, I mean. He said they're dumber than the Demon Beasts on land. Do you think so too? You don't know? Why not? You've seen them too, haven't you? But how do you see things? Do you have eyes too? Where are they? Oh, they were hidden there. I didn't notice because they don't look like eyes. Now that I think about it...”

By the time Jegyeong arrived, Muk-su was nearly exhausted by Cheongo's endless chatter.

Cheongo spotted Jegyeong lifting his head above the water and greeted him happily. Muk-su, meanwhile, felt relieved.

“Huh? Jegyeong, you're hurt?”

Cheongo's eyes widened at the wound on the side of Jegyeong's head.

“Somehow.”

“Was there someone that strong in the river?”

“There was.”

There had been a strong opponent. More precisely, one that had only become strong at the very brink of death.

Jegyeong had been angry and dumbfounded when the side of his head was torn open, but now that he thought about it, he had learned the lesson cheaply.

As long as he remembered that pain, he would never make such a foolish mistake again.

“How about you two? Nothing happened?”

“Yeah. Nothing happened. I even slept out in the open, and nothing happened.”

“That's because Muk-su doesn't sleep even when you do.”

Cheongo used one of Muk-su's branches as a sleeping place.

Before, Cheongo had always flown off somewhere empty to sleep, and that had continued after becoming a Demon Beast. Things changed after the Wood Demon gained the name Muk-su.

As if even their last trace of caution had disappeared, Cheongo now stayed on Muk-su's branches at all times, except when flying around for one reason or another.

“How is your Qi Concealment Technique training?”

“It still isn't going well.”

At the mention of the Qi Concealment Technique, the lively Cheongo lowered their head.

The wings that had been flapping excitedly also sagged.

Watching that, Jegyeong clicked his tongue inwardly.

For some time, he had been teaching Cheongo the concept and training method behind the Qi Concealment Technique.

It was partly a kindness to Cheongo and partly preparation for what lay ahead.

Yet the usually clever bird was struggling this badly with cultivation.

Was Cheongo lacking talent for cultivation? Or, clever as Cheongo was, were they still only a Demon Beast?

‘Maybe I'm the abnormal one, and this is normal.’

Looking back, it was certainly unusually fast that he had grasped the essence of the Qi Concealment Technique as soon as he heard its concept and produced results after trying it only once.

The reason he could cultivate so quickly despite having the body of a Demon Beast was likely because a human mind dwelled within him.

Cheongo, on the other hand, was a pure Demon Beast inside and out. Perhaps Cheongo simply could not cultivate as quickly as Jegyeong.

“Jegyeong, maybe the problem isn't me. Maybe Muk-su is just too perceptive? You probably wouldn't find it easy to fool this one either.”

The instant Cheongo said that, Jegyeong's Aura disappeared.

Muk-su flinched and waved one branch up and down.

It looked like a declaration of surrender, or perhaps a complaint asking them not to blame it.

In the end, Cheongo could only say, thoroughly dejected, that they would work harder.

“If you're not ready, we can't even begin. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. I know. I'll work harder.”

After defeating the catfish and obtaining Healing Water, Jegyeong had gained a new perspective on his path of cultivation.

It would be fair to say his view had widened.

Before, he pursued efficiency, but stability and safety had always formed the foundation beneath it.

Some might mock him for being overly cautious or cowardly, but Jegyeong believed that was only natural.

If he died, cultivation and everything else would be over. To continue cultivating, he had to protect his life above all else.

That belief had not changed.

What had changed was his understanding of stability and safety.

Perhaps he had simply learned to look farther and more broadly.

For example, Jegyeong no longer avoided battles where he might be injured.

That would have been unthinkable in the past, but things were different now that he had something as reliable as Healing Water.

Jegyeong's belief about treasures had not changed.

If something had a useful purpose, it was a treasure.

On the other hand, no matter how precious it was, if it had no use or was too limited to be properly used, it was nothing but a burden.

After learning that Healing Water was not a one-use treasure that vanished forever after being used, Jegyeong stopped thinking of it as something to be worshipped and guarded like a sacred heirloom.

That did not mean he intended to throw himself into danger carelessly. It only meant that, when necessary, he was now willing to take risks.

An idea had come to mind.

It had lingered in his thoughts ever since he found the treasure called Healing Water in the catfish's Spirit Spring.

Curiosity and greed over what spiritual treasures might exist in other territories.

What if another territory held something as good as Healing Water?

What if it even held a Cultivation Treasure that could aid his cultivation?

The thought alone made his mouth water.

He felt no guilt or discomfort over coveting what belonged to others who had never harmed him.

Was it because, among the Demon Race, anyone other than himself was an enemy?

No, it was because he was a cultivator.

Jegyeong now understood that struggling and fighting over opportunities were a cultivator's nature and defining quality.

A cultivator's fate was to contend against heaven, contend against earth, contend against people, and contend against time.

The Human Race called the Demon Race lawless, but in Jegyeong's eyes, the two were not so different in essence.

If the Demon Race were bandits, then the Human Race were simply swindlers.

With not the slightest discomfort in his heart, the plan in his mind quickly took shape.

There was no guarantee that every territory would contain a spiritual treasure, but there was clearly a good chance.

If he searched five or six places and found even one, Jegyeong would be satisfied.

‘The problem is that none of the territory owners are easy opponents.’

He could not underestimate them just because of what happened with the catfish.

Jegyeong had defeated the catfish because he began with an ambush that restrained its strengths, and because the enraged catfish repeatedly made mistakes.

Jegyeong also possessed certain strengths underwater, so he had offset much of the catfish's advantage as a Water Demon.

He would have a harder time enjoying those advantages against the owners of other territories.

For one thing, they operated on land. More importantly, Cheongo and Muk-su's existence had been revealed during the fight with the catfish.

More precisely, it had become clear that they were working together with Jegyeong.

Members of the Demon Race were not highly intelligent and tended to be individualistic, so they were unlikely to gossip and spread rumors. Still, the owners of territories might be different.

Setting everything else aside, did it not show they had enough sense to consider the balance of power and read the situation when formidable figures had each claimed a territory, yet did not grow greedier and disturb the current balance?

If he brought Cheongo and Muk-su with him against opponents like that, they would immediately regard them with deep wariness.

There would be no chance of catching them off guard, and one wrong move might make them seem like a loach trying to muddy the balance.

Jegyeong did not want that situation, even if it was only a remote possibility, so he needed another method.

He did not even consider fighting the territory owners one-on-one without Cheongo and Muk-su's help.

His cultivation had advanced after eating the catfish, but he still fell short compared to the territory owners.

By Human Race standards, it was the difference between the middle and late phases of the Qi Refining Stage.

Jegyeong felt he had reached the very end of the middle phase of the Qi Refining Stage.

He was close to the late phase, but close was all it was. There was still a clear difference.

It felt as though he had failed to cross some threshold, some wall.

‘And that isn't all. Just like the catfish, there's a high chance they each have some special ability.’

No matter how he considered it, challenging the territory owners now would be suicide, no, self-harm.

Not suicide, but self-harm.

That was as far as Jegyeong's confidence could go.

He neither wanted to die nor be injured for no reason.

He believed fighting the territory owners would be a pointless loss that brought no benefit.

‘Unless I reach the point where I can hunt them with ease, it won't pay off at all.’

The meat of the catfish he had hunted with such difficulty had not been as effective as expected.

It was certainly not because he had only eaten half.

It was somewhat better than the meat of ordinary Demon Beasts, but the difference was not great.

It was absolutely not worth risking serious injury for.

So he excluded the option of facing the territory owners directly from the start.

The next thing Jegyeong thought of was using a diversion, or more bluntly put, theft.

He would lure out the owner of a territory, then Cheongo would sneak in to search for spiritual treasures. If Cheongo found one, they would snatch it and flee.

In a way, Jegyeong would be doing exactly what Muk-su had done against the catfish before, except this time, they were not after their opponent's life. They were after the spiritual treasures within the territory.

This plan required two conditions.

First, there could not be any Demon Beasts or other demon fiends in the territory besides its owner.

Second, Cheongo's Qi Concealment Technique had to reach a sufficient level.

Jegyeong was not particularly concerned about the first condition.

Most of the Demon Race had a strong sense of territory, and the owners of territories had it even more strongly.

Cases like the catfish, which claimed an entire river and controlled it thoroughly, were rare. Still, most territory owners were similar in that respect.

‘Besides, if a territory holds a spiritual treasure and they know it exists, they'll be even more likely to drive out others. So the first condition isn't a problem. Cheongo is the problem.’

If he did not care about what happened afterward, he would not need to worry much about Cheongo's Qi Concealment Technique.

But Jegyeong had no intention of giving up the Spirit Spring and Healing Water he had worked so hard to claim. So they needed to be thieves, not robbers.

Which meant, in the end, it all came back to Cheongo.

The plan could only work if Cheongo tried harder and mastered the Qi Concealment Technique properly.

But...

‘Is a birdbrain still a birdbrain, no matter how clever it is?’

He knew that was not really the issue.

Still, watching Cheongo have a standoff with Muk-su over a Spirit Fruit that had just ripened made him feel as though something were lodged in his stomach.

* * *

Forget-Me Garden.

Several Spirit Bodies sat atop the stone pillar, which had become somewhat familiar by now.

Yet the gathering that had once felt familiar now seemed slightly unfamiliar because the seat of honor where Yu Gyeyun had sat remained empty.

“So, you have decided to leave?”

Uh Dobaek asked, and Chae Yeonri answered.

“I have.”

Just as Jegyeong had expected, Chae Yeonri had declared that she would leave the gathering. With Yu Gyeyun gone, the Full-Wing Gathering no longer held much appeal for her.

The reason she did not leave without a word and spoke to them directly was likely courtesy toward the time they had spent together.

“Then today may be the last day we see one another.”

“It may be, or it may not. As long as the Immortal Path remains unbroken, won't we meet again somewhere in this world?”

“Haha. True. Then I hope Dao Fortune blesses Fellow Daoist's path ahead.”

“And I wish the same for you.”

The mood of the farewell was no different from any other day.

It was as though they were parting today after promising to meet again tomorrow.

“I hope Dao Fortune accompanies Senior's path ahead.”

“Thank you.”

Every cultivator in the Full-Wing Gathering, Jegyeong included, offered Chae Yeonri their good wishes as she departed.

After thanking each of them, Chae Yeonri left just as Yu Gyeyun had before her.

“With two seats empty, the place feels a little bare.”

After lightly joking about it, Uh Dobaek moved to the seat of honor where Yu Gyeyun had once sat.

The cultivators of the Full-Wing Gathering accepted it naturally.

Though aside from Uh Dobaek, there were now only three cultivators in the gathering.

“Hm. As I told Senior Yu before, I intend to preside over this gathering from now on. Though preside may be too grand a word. I don't intend to do anything special. I'll probably just speak a little more than before. Nothing else will change. We will share what we wish to share and associate as our hearts lead us.”

Jegyeong felt the same, but Ye Janggyeong and Choe Jutang also seemed to have nothing in particular to say.

From their perspective, the person they could seek instruction from had simply changed from Yu Gyeyun, who was in the late Foundation Establishment Stage, to Uh Dobaek, who was in the middle phase of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

They would be lying if they said they were not disappointed at all, but whether it was a gap of two steps or one, either senior was still far above them.

“So. Shall we begin?”

The gathering began with Uh Dobaek's words.

The ordinary updates on their recent circumstances passed quickly, and their discussion of cultivation soon followed.

Ye Janggyeong and Choe Jutang, who had reached the Foundation Establishment Stage years ago but remained at its starting line, were the first to seek Uh Dobaek's guidance.

Before, Uh Dobaek had deferred those questions to Yu Gyeyun and Chae Yeonri. Now, Uh Dobaek taught them quite earnestly.

Jegyeong stored those teachings in his mind, though he could not understand them at all yet.

He hoped they would be useful someday.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried