WeTried Translations

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◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈

Chapter 35: Sang Yorim

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The wolf Demon Beast that had once fought Jegyeong was now caught in a fierce inner struggle.

Its instincts told it to lower its tail at once and roll onto its back.

Yet the pride born from its long reign as the master of this forest told it to hold its ground. To bare its teeth, growl, and protect its dignity.

“It may not understand my words, but it should understand their meaning. I won't say much. Follow me.”

It was only a calm statement, yet the wolf Demon Beast's eyes reddened and its four pitifully bent legs began to tremble.

The sight of a proud master of a Spiritual Land shaking in terror before its natural predator like a frightened mongrel was not amusing. It was simply pitiable.

If the masters of other Spiritual Lands that had once bled while fighting this wolf Demon Beast saw it now, would they laugh?

No. They would have been no different.

Like the wolf Demon Beast, they would have been frozen in terror, their eyes darting about in helpless panic.

Perhaps they would not have stopped there. They might have wet themselves as well.

It was a natural reaction that could not be helped.

The pressure created by the hierarchy of cultivation applied regardless of race, but it was especially severe among the Demon Race, particularly Demon Beasts. Even if a superior bore no hostility or deliberately exerted no pressure, creatures like the wolf Demon Beast would still be mentally worn down until they could barely stand.

In the brief span of a few seconds, the wolf Demon Beast staggered again and again.

At last, it lowered its head weakly.

* * *

Boom!

Jegyeong had not even had time to consider whether he should run, hide, or do something else.

During his brief hesitation, a mountain-like presence had already loomed above him. The instant Jegyeong's eyes widened, the ground shook with a deafening crash.

A massive figure had fallen before him like a meteor.

“It's big.”

The words did not come from Jegyeong. They came from the Great Demon Beast that had landed before him.

That was right. The being before him was a Great Demon Beast.

There was no need to inspect it closely. Jegyeong knew the moment he saw it.

It resembled a lion overall, but in place of a mane was a thick layer of something difficult to distinguish as either hide or shell. It had two heads.

Both heads looked up at Jegyeong, though each wore a different expression.

“It looks like a snake. Is it really a snake?”

“An ordinary snake wouldn't be this big.”

“You idiot. Does that look like an ordinary snake to you? It's a Demon Beast.”

“You're the idiot. Do you think I don't know that? Remember, whatever you know, I know too, and whatever you can see, I can see just as clearly.”

The two lion heads began bickering among themselves.

They spoke as though shouting at each other, then bared their teeth as if they were about to bite one another. The scene was almost comical, but Jegyeong could not relax in the slightest.

“That crow. It's the one that ran away earlier.”

“That's a Wood Demon. Interesting. Have three different members of the Demon Race set up a household together?”

Cheongo, who had been holding their breath atop Muk-su's branches, trembled violently when one of the heads looked their way.

Muk-su was clearly tense as well. Its branches and roots, which usually moved slightly with its mood, had stiffened like those of a real tree.

“Something is different.”

“Yes. They're different from the others. Those eyes are cunning. They definitely understand us. That crow, and this snake too.”

“Right. And this snake doesn't seem very intimidated.”

“Oh, you're right. What a truly unusual creature.”

Jegyeong sighed inwardly and lowered himself.

The two-headed lion was huge, but it was still clearly smaller than Jegyeong, whose body stretched over forty meters. Unless he lowered himself, he would have to keep looking down at it.

The Great Demon Beast did not seem to care much about that, but Jegyeong could not help feeling uneasy.

“My name is Jegyeong.”

To others, Jegyeong's words would have sounded like nothing more than a snake's hissing. Until now, Cheongo had been the only one who could properly understand him.

Yet as Jegyeong expected, the two-headed Great Demon Beast understood his words immediately.

“Jegyeong?”

“That must be his name.”

“A Demon Beast has a name?”

“He might have named himself. Or someone else may have named him.”

“Either way, he's an interesting creature.”

“Yes.”

Two heads and four bright eyes turned toward Jegyeong.

“We are Sagaewan.”

“Elder Sagaewan.”

Jegyeong dipped his head.

He did not know whether such manners existed among the Demon Race, but his intention should have come across.

“Calling us elder is too much.”

“Yes. Just call us Sir Sagaewan.”

Sagaewan's Aura remained imposing, but their attitude had clearly softened.

It seemed there was no race that disliked flattery.

“Sir Sagaewan.”

“Yes, yes. That sounds much better.”

“You're friendlier than you look, snake.”

Sagaewan did not appear to intend Jegyeong harm, so he relaxed a little. Still, he did not let down his guard.

“Sir Sagaewan, may I ask something?”

“You want to know why we came for you?”

“Yes.”

“To gather useful ones.”

“What does that...”

“We came from Upper Demon Grove. Have you heard of Upper Demon Grove?”

“My knowledge is shallow, so I haven't.”

Upper Demon Grove.

Even from its name alone, Jegyeong could roughly guess it was a gathering or organization of the Demon Race, perhaps Demon Beasts.

‘Did they come to recruit members like Human Race sects recruit disciples?’

If so, perhaps it was not as bad as he had imagined.

Whether this was recruitment or forced conscription, it at least meant he would not die immediately.

Still, not being the worst outcome did not make it a good one. Jegyeong was already living in an ideal environment, and naturally wanted to avoid serving under someone else and having his freedom restricted.

As his thoughts grew tangled, the head that had remained silent with its eyes closed after speaking only a few words opened its mouth without opening its eyes.

“I can roughly guess what you're thinking. But meeting us and gaining the chance to follow Upper Demon Grove is also for your own sake. Even if we hadn't come, those Human Race bastards would have arrived soon. Then you would have either died, or been captured and made into one of their pets.”

“The Human Race?”

“Yes. Have you heard of Jeyeon Sect? Since you've never heard of Upper Demon Grove, you probably don't know them either. They're a group created by those Human Race bastards. They call it a sect. They'll arrive here soon. Every member of the Demon Race they see will be killed or captured. Upper Demon Grove moved first to prevent that misfortune.”

Only then did Jegyeong begin to understand what was happening.

It seemed a Human Race sect called Jeyeon Sect and a Demon Race force called Upper Demon Grove were about to clash.

Perhaps they had already begun fighting.

‘When whales fight, the shrimp gets its back broken.’

Was this what it meant to be struck by lightning from a clear sky?

It was absurd, but Jegyeong had heard many stories from the senior cultivators of the Forget-Me Garden. He knew that such things happened in the Cultivation World more often than one might think.

Until now, though, he had believed those common occurrences only happened to other people.

That had been an incredibly naive thought.

Whether it was the Human Territories or the Demon Region, the Cultivation World was still the Cultivation World.

“You don't want to die, and you don't want to become a slave. So follow us.”

“I will.”

There had never been another option.

Sagaewan might be acting without much malice now, but Jegyeong knew they would change the moment he refused to join Upper Demon Grove.

“Good. The two behind you feel the same, I assume?”

Cheongo and Muk-su could not have failed to realize what Jegyeong had.

Unless they wanted to die, they had no choice.

* * *

Sagaewan gave Jegyeong, Cheongo, and Muk-su the task of bringing the Demon Race of Cold River Plain into Upper Demon Grove.

‘Cold River Plain.’

Only then did Jegyeong learn that this entire region was called Cold River Plain.

Based on the information Sagaewan had let slip, this area seemed to be a borderland between Jeyeon Sect and Upper Demon Grove. A place deliberately left empty so their forces would not directly face each other and clash.

‘Should I call this good luck or bad luck?’

It was hard to call it good luck when it had made them into shrimp caught between fighting whales.

Yet it was also hard to call it bad luck. Since this was land without a clear owner, he had been able to grow as he had without facing great danger or hardship.

“I'll deal with those who occupy Spiritual Lands myself. You gather the Lesser Demons. Kill every one that refuses to follow.”

After giving those orders, Sagaewan leaped away.

They had gone to win over the masters of the other Spiritual Lands.

Jegyeong, Cheongo, and Muk-su remained behind in silence for a while.

After some time, Cheongo, who had kept quiet all along, cautiously spoke.

“...Jegyeong. Should we run away?”

Their voice was so quiet that it would have been difficult to hear without listening closely, as though they feared Sagaewan might be hiding nearby and listening.

“No.”

Jegyeong answered firmly.

He also wanted to flee at once, but the Spirit Awareness he had honed through countless periods of contemplation told him something foreign had attached itself to his Spiritual Essence.

It had appeared when he made eye contact with Sagaewan before they left. Jegyeong was certain Cheongo and Muk-su had been marked as well.

“We can't escape.”

Jegyeong briefly explained what he had noticed.

Cheongo immediately looked dejected, and Muk-su also seemed gloomy.

They could not sense the unknown thing Jegyeong described, but neither doubted him at all.

“Let's go.”

They could neither flee nor fight back. For now, they could only do as they were told.

Still, there were things they needed to be careful about.

“Cheongo, hide the fact that you can speak. No, just pretend to be a stupid bird. Muk-su, don't bear Spirit Fruit. Pluck even the unripe ones.”

Sagaewan had already noticed that Cheongo was intelligent, but they still had to be as careful as possible.

‘That Sagaewan is far smarter and craftier than they look.’

At first glance, Sagaewan seemed to act recklessly without much thought. Yet that was only because they had confidence in their own strength.

Their goal was clear, and though their methods were rough, they were undeniably efficient.

‘They don't even see other Demon Beasts as worthy of consideration.’

Jegyeong had felt open curiosity in Sagaewan's eyes when they looked at him.

It was no different from the curiosity a human would feel while looking at a dog that could speak.

Sagaewan clearly did not see him as an equal, or even as one of their own kind.

If Jegyeong had refused Sagaewan's order earlier, they would have killed him as easily as crushing a fly.

‘This is normal.’

Perhaps spending so much time with the kind senior cultivators in the Forget-Me Garden had dulled his sense of reality.

Even when they told him how harsh the Cultivation World was, had he thought he understood well enough and failed to truly listen?

Humans looked down on dogs, and dogs looked down on ants.

In the Cultivation World, a cultivator's strength and cultivation determined their position.

Jegyeong was once again forced to understand that obvious truth every cultivator knew.

* * *

Jegyeong had gained enough strength to be a worthy master of a Spiritual Land, and Cheongo and Muk-su were with him. Members of the Demon Race too weak to claim even one Spiritual Land were no match for them.

Jegyeong first crushed them with strength, then bared his saliva-dripping fangs before their eyes. Seven out of ten obeyed without resistance.

Put another way, three out of ten refused.

Jegyeong showed no mercy to those stubborn creatures.

Crunch!

Another Demon Beast had its entire upper body violently torn away.

That missing half went straight into Jegyeong's stomach.

“Jegyeong, is this really all right?”

“Of course. Sagaewan told us to gather the Demon Race, but they never said how many we had to gather.”

In Jegyeong's view, seven out of ten was already an excellent rate.

If they coaxed and persuaded the remaining three as much as possible, they might draw in another one or two. Yet he saw no reason to bother.

Sagaewan had told them to gather Lesser Demons.

From Sagaewan's perspective, these were insignificant troops, useful if available but not worth missing if not. They would likely be used as fodder in the fight against the Human Race.

Rather than let them be wasted so meaninglessly, it was better to use them as food.

‘It still isn't enough.’

After Molting and crossing the wall, his Qi and Blood, which had nearly stopped growing, began to increase again.

Even if he gorged himself, not all of it would become Qi and Blood. Still, if there was even a small chance to increase it, Jegyeong intended to eat as much as he could.

Fortunately, his stomach was strong enough to endure such excessive meals.

“You two should eat as much as you can while you have the chance. We don't know what will happen later.”

Cheongo and Muk-su still seemed somewhat dazed.

Sagaewan's terrifying pressure and Jegyeong's lead had made them move without much thought, but they had yet to fully grasp the situation.

“Listen carefully. We've been caught up in a fight between Upper Demon Grove and that Human Race sect... Jeyeon Sect.”

Jegyeong tossed the remaining half of the Demon Beast's corpse to Cheongo and Muk-su. As they ate, he slowly continued.

“I know. You're confused. This is... like a sudden downpour. Sadly, we can't avoid it or run away from it. Rather than regret what we can't do, the best thing is to focus as much as possible on what we can.”

When Sagaewan first arrived, it had been so sudden, like being struck by lightning from a clear sky, that his thoughts had frozen.

Even so, he had forced his stiff mind to work. Now that he calmly considered everything again, more thoughts came to him.

‘There is no need to think of it as entirely bad.’

Of course, this was something he had never wanted. Objectively speaking, it was enough to make anyone curse.

Still, it was not impossible to find some good in it.

‘This is a war between cultivation forces. And war always creates opportunities.’

Setting everything else aside, if he was lucky enough to eat even a few late Qi Refining Stage cultivators, it would greatly help the growth of his Spiritual Seed.

Perhaps, just perhaps, he might even consider joining Upper Demon Grove for good through this opportunity.

Of course, he did not have even the slightest desire to do so yet. It was only a possibility among possibilities.

‘All of this assumes I survive.’

It would all be meaningless if Upper Demon Grove drove him and the other members of the Demon Race in Cold River Plain into certain death, or if he died fighting Jeyeon Sect.

“Once you're done eating, let's move again.”

Jegyeong carried out his task diligently.

As a result, he gathered more than fifty members of the Demon Race in less than five days.

It was an achievement born entirely from his strength and brutality.

“Oh?”

“You gathered quite a lot.”

Sagaewan fell from the sky as they had before. Their eyes shone as they looked at the disorderly mass of Demon Race members gathered behind Jegyeong.

“It's clever.”

“Quite useful.”

The two heads spoke in turn. Jegyeong did not know which one he should agree with, so he simply remained silent and lowered his head.

“Good. There are others, so this should be enough.”

“We're going to the assembly point. Follow my Aura.”

As though questions would not be allowed, Sagaewan leaped into the air the moment they finished speaking.

The sight of that massive body floating through the air without wings was mysterious in itself. Before long, Jegyeong saw Sagaewan, who had risen high into the sky, gradually descend.

‘They aren't flying. They're jumping.’

They had simply jumped so high that it looked as though they were flying.

It was somewhat surprising that a Great Demon Beast could not fly, but that monstrous jumping ability was astonishing enough.

‘An assembly point.’

Jegyeong forced his tangled thoughts to settle, then led the Demon Race members who had been left dazed by the Great Demon Beast's pressure as they followed Sagaewan's Aura.

Footnotes:

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