Ophidian of the Immortal World - Chapter 31

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: WeTried Translations

◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈

Chapter 31: Theft

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It went without saying that if he wanted to steal spiritual treasures, he first had to know where to find spiritual treasures worth stealing.

But unless he inspected every Spiritual Land one by one, how could he know where they were?

Nor could he search every Spiritual Land individually.

That would mean picking fights with the owners of each Spiritual Land, one after another. Jegyeong wanted to collect spiritual treasures, not shorten his lifespan.

After giving the matter some thought, Jegyeong came up with a plan.

"Find the ones that are especially touchy."

First, they would provoke them lightly.

Every owner would react somehow. The owners of Spiritual Lands were all touchy by nature, but surely some would be far more sensitive than the rest.

Jegyeong intended to single out those especially touchy ones.

They might simply have worse tempers, but it was also possible that they acted more aggressively because they were hiding something valuable inside. Looking back, perhaps the catfish had been like that as well.

Could it have been unable to tolerate others approaching because it kept Healing Water, a treasure, inside its Spirit Spring?

If so, they could use the same method to narrow down those hiding spiritual treasures.

"Just trust me!"

Cheongo flapped their wings confidently.

"You've always been careful, but you need to be especially careful this time. If they catch my tail, things will become truly dangerous."

"Your tail?"

Cheongo's gaze shifted to his long tail, and Jegyeong hurriedly added,

"It's an expression."

"Okay."

"Anyway, be careful. Pretend you didn't mean anything by it. Just fly near the area and act as if you happened to stop by."

"Okay!"

Cheongo was, in fact, an expert in this sort of thing, so Jegyeong's advice was unnecessary.

Even knowing that, he could not help nagging because this was dangerous.

More precisely, because of the consequences they would face if things went wrong.

This region had been peaceful until now.

Someone might call that nonsense in a place crawling with bloodthirsty members of the Demon Race, but the daily battles of life and death here were all the result of fierce struggles for survival. There were no lunatics who slaughtered others for no reason, so by Demon Race standards, this could be called peaceful.

That peace had been created and maintained by the owners of the Spiritual Lands.

The strongest beings mostly remained within their own territories and set the tone. Those beneath them had no choice but to read the situation and follow suit.

Yet what Jegyeong was about to do would seriously disrupt that peace.

Naturally, the owners of those Spiritual Lands, especially those he robbed, would be furious and would not let it pass. If they discovered he was responsible, Jegyeong planned to lick up every last drop of Healing Water and flee at once.

'Part of me wonders if I'm stirring up trouble for no reason...'

There was nothing wrong with simply maintaining the current situation.

He could enjoy the abundant Spiritual Energy of the Spirit Spring, secure his position in the water, and wait for his body to grow. Then becoming a Great Demon Beast would not be a dream.

It was a stable, hopeful future.

What he planned to do now, in contrast, was an incredibly dangerous gamble, like playing with fire.

Did he really need to stake a future that was practically guaranteed to be safe on such a risky adventure?

He had just reassured himself that it was fine to be slow as long as he did not stop.

'There is.'

This could become dangerous because no one had ever done something like this before.

Then again, that was exactly why he could try it. No one had done it before.

What if things went wrong? He could just leave.

He could find another Spiritual Land anywhere. Did he really need to cling to this Spirit Spring? Healing Water was the only thing that truly mattered, so if he took that and left, he would not lose much.

The danger he actually had to bear was not as great as it seemed.

If things went well, on the other hand, what he could gain would make the risks seem trivial.

'Once my body grows, I can overcome this bottleneck without much trouble. No, it should happen naturally. But becoming a Great Demon Beast is another matter.'

If his guess was correct, that the growth of his Qi and Blood had stopped because his body had not yet finished growing, then calling his current obstacle a bottleneck was questionable.

What kind of bottleneck naturally resolved itself with time?

The real bottleneck would come after this, and its frustration would be nothing like what he felt now.

He needed to prepare in advance.

Jegyeong knew nothing about how a Demon Beast became a Great Demon Beast, but he had heard quite a lot about how Qi Refining Stage cultivators reached the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Such knowledge was precious in the outside world, but not in the Forget-Me Garden. Jegyeong had never dared to ask about it openly, but he had overheard plenty while observing the cultivation discussions of senior cultivators nearby.

'To begin with, I became a Demon Beast from an ordinary animal, and I don't have a Bloodline to rely on. The Human Race's methods are the only thing I can draw on.'

They said the Demon Race could make use of even part of the Human Race Heritage only after undergoing the Transformation Tribulation. Yet that was only true for ordinary members of the Demon Race.

In terms of mind and body, achieving transformation meant gaining a physical resemblance to the Human Race. In other words, they could be considered half-human.

'Then what about me?'

He had the body of a Demon Beast, but his mind was no different from a human's.

Could he not be considered already half-human, despite never undergoing the Transformation Tribulation?

'The core of Foundation Establishment in Human Race cultivation lies in nurturing a spiritual root.'

A spiritual root was also called a spiritual embryo. One needed it to resonate with and draw upon the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, then wield Spiritual Power. It was an essential aptitude for walking the Immortal Path.

Almost all members of the Human Race were born with spiritual roots, but those roots did not reveal themselves unless stimulated through cultivation.

Thus, cultivation at the Qi Refining Stage involved revealing the hidden spiritual root, growing accustomed to Spiritual Energy, then refining that Spiritual Energy into Spiritual Power and storing it in the body. All of it was preparation for Foundation Establishment. To cross the gate of Foundation Establishment, a Qi Refining Stage cultivator had to use the spiritual root they had sprouted and the Spiritual Power they had accumulated to forge Dharma Power.

Then what was Dharma Power?

If Spiritual Power was borrowed strength, Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth brought in and roughly marked with one's own name, Dharma Power was strength personally forged by a cultivator's own will.

That was why, as Uh Dobaek had said before, Dharma Power could not help but bear a cultivator's distinct character.

'The strength of Foundation Establishment cultivators is called Dharma Power, while the strength of the Demon Race, including Great Demon Beasts, is called demon power. But their essence doesn't seem very different to me. Both are, in the end, the power of heaven and earth forged in one's own way.'

The Human Race refined Spiritual Energy based on their spiritual roots.

What about the Demon Race? What about Demon Beasts?

They strengthened their Qi and Blood, yet did not Demon Beasts with exceptional Bloodlines raise their realms with ease simply by absorbing the power of their Bloodlines, without much cultivation at all? Of course, if absorbing Bloodline power was considered cultivation in its own right, then there was nothing more to say.

'That's something a poor bastard like me, no, someone with nothing at all, can't do. So I have no choice but to draw on Human Race cultivation.'

If the key to Foundation Establishment was forging the power of heaven and earth into one's own strength, what should he use as a foundation, and how should he forge that power?

'My foundation is Qi and Blood. That's all I have. But if I use that as my foundation, where do I draw the power of heaven and earth that I need to store?'

Jegyeong thought for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

'I need to borrow the power of external things.'

Human Race cultivators practiced a cultivation method, refined the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth into Spiritual Power, and stored it in their bodies.

Yet even setting aside how he would obtain a cultivation method, that was not something Jegyeong could practice with a body completely different from a human's.

To draw in Spiritual Energy, he had no choice but to use spiritual treasures that contained it.

But such treasures were rare even among spiritual treasures. More importantly, they were classified as Cultivation Treasures, which Human Race cultivators eagerly sought. Their value was far higher than that of ordinary spiritual treasures.

'It bothers me that it won't be Spiritual Power, but my body is far sturdier than a human's. It should be fine.'

Human Race cultivators refined Spiritual Energy into Spiritual Power partly because it was easier to use that way, but also because their bodies were too fragile to contain raw Spiritual Energy.

Yet Jegyeong was confident that, even among Demon Beasts, he possessed a top-tier body in sheer toughness. He did not need to worry about that.

'A Human Race cultivator forges Dharma Power the instant they challenge the Foundation Establishment gate. Then I should, um... consume a spiritual treasure when I challenge the Great Demon Beast threshold? But can I succeed in one attempt?'

Jegyeong could not be certain.

It would naturally be ideal if he succeeded on the first attempt. But what if he failed?

Among Qi Refining Stage cultivators of the Human Race, only a handful dared to knock on the threshold of Foundation Establishment. Of those, only another handful broke through the Foundation Establishment gate. That alone showed how difficult it was to cross a major realm.

The low chance of success was a problem, but the greater problem was the terrible price of failure.

At best, one's vitality would be severely damaged, requiring a long period of recovery. Many lost their lives.

Those with means would therefore take something like a Meridian-Protecting Pill before attempting a breakthrough, preparing for the possibility of failure.

That was naturally irrelevant to Jegyeong.

A Meridian-Protecting Pill? Where would he even find one? And who knew whether a Human Race Medicinal Pill would work on him?

'I need to assume I have only one chance.'

Rather than considering what would happen if he failed, he needed to think about how to improve his chance of success.

'I should increase my control over Spiritual Energy as much as possible before attempting a breakthrough.'

To do that, he needed to gain experience by consuming spiritual treasures that contained Spiritual Energy beforehand.

There might be other ways, but this was the only one Jegyeong could think of.

'The problem is that this requires at least two spiritual treasures.'

There were alternatives to spiritual treasures.

They were not the only things that contained the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth. Human Race cultivators, for instance, could also be a good option.

What they accumulated in their bodies was not pure Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth but Spiritual Power refined once already. Still, it was ultimately just Spiritual Energy that had been worked over a little.

But that would be even more difficult and dangerous than finding spiritual treasures.

Had he not fled all the way here to avoid Human Race cultivators? Unless he had no other choice, Jegyeong did not want to get involved with humans.

'Spiritual treasures containing the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth...'

The prospect felt a little daunting.

Healing Water alone had made his eyes widen, yet spiritual treasures like those were far more valuable than Healing Water. That judgment came from the standards of the Human Race, of course, but such spiritual treasures really were rarer than most ordinary ones.

'Still, it isn't completely hopeless. I might be able to get one this time.'

That was not empty hope. It was why Jegyeong intended to rob the owners of the Spiritual Lands.

Elsewhere, perhaps not. But in a place untouched by the Human Race, it would not be strange at all for members of the Demon Race to possess such treasures.

Jegyeong did not know whether this place belonged to the Demon Region, but its environment was entirely unlike the Human Territories that always appeared in the stories of the Forget-Me Garden's seniors.

It was a little unfair to the seniors of the Forget-Me Garden, but Jegyeong thought humans were like a swarm of locusts.

Wherever they passed through, they stripped everything clean, not only spiritual treasures but even the most insignificant things.

That was not because they were greedy.

Jegyeong believed there were two reasons.

First.

The vast Human Race Heritage broadened their perspective.

They could find meaning in little things the Other Races did not even notice. To put it extremely, what looked like trash to the Other Races could appear to be a spiritual treasure to the Human Race.

Second.

There were simply too many of them.

A large population meant that the amount of resources each person could enjoy was inevitably smaller. Those with full bellies might seek only delicacies, but would those who were hungry distinguish between coarse grain and white rice? If necessary, they would not hesitate to strip and eat tree bark.

'There is a reason the seniors lamented that the Human Race's prosperity was the misfortune of Human Race cultivators.'

He had not thought deeply about it at the time, but now that he recalled those words, they struck him differently.

* * *

Cheongo did not take Jegyeong's warning lightly and moved with great care.

They had previously made a circuit of nearby Spiritual Lands while searching for the Spirit Spring, but that had only been an attempt to peer at them from afar.

This time, they had to approach the Spiritual Lands and draw out their owners' reactions.

In a sense, it was practically picking a fight.

The danger was naturally incomparably greater than during their earlier circuit, and Cheongo exercised extreme caution.

After working diligently for more than a month, Cheongo finally completed the task.

"Two demon fiends and four Demon Beasts."

Cheongo had narrowed the targets down to six in total.

Of those, Jegyeong judged four worth targeting. The other two had cave-like Spiritual Lands that were easy to enter but difficult to escape, making them unsuitable targets.

"Let's start with this wolf."

"Okay!"

The preparation period had been long enough. Jegyeong no longer wanted to delay.

After letting Cheongo rest for two days, he immediately headed for the wolf Demon Beast's Spiritual Land.

"Grrrrr!"

The instant Jegyeong entered the territory, a wolf as large as a decent-sized house appeared before him.

Its murderous appearance made its anger and wariness clear.

"Calm down. Shall we talk for a moment?"

Jegyeong conveyed as gently as possible that he had no intention of fighting.

He knew it would only sound like a snake's hissing, but they said sincerity could get through, did they not?

"Roar!"

Apparently, it could not.