WeTried Translations

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◈ Ophidian of the Immortal World ◈

Chapter 63: Impressionist Great Demon Beast

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Jegyeong stared down the enormous crab, whose fear was plain to see, and twitched as though he might lunge at any moment.

He had little intention of actually attacking. He only wanted to show the other party how aggressive he was.

This stretch of water belonged to him.

And this enormous crab was an uninvited guest that had entered his waters without permission.

The Human Race could be territorial, but the Demon Race was especially so. Entering another's territory without permission was no different from asking for a fight.

“I, I'm Daehae.”

“I didn't ask for your name.”

Jegyeong snarled fiercely as if ready for a fight. Daehae, already intimidated, shrank back completely.

The enormous crab looked terrified enough to have fully accepted its disadvantage, but Jegyeong did not let down his guard.

This Great Demon was acting this way because it had mistaken him for a Jiao Dragon. If that misunderstanding were cleared up, it might turn fierce as though it had never cowered before him.

So while this fool was still too rattled to think straight, Jegyeong pressed harder. He was prepared to fight if necessary.

He did not know how strong Daehae was, but he had firmly seized the momentum. If they fought now, he would at least begin with a twenty percent advantage.

Besides, Daehae looked like a favorable match for him.

Its large body, unusually developed claws, and shell made it seem like the typical type that fought with its body. Jegyeong welcomed opponents like that most of all.

“This is my territory. Why did someone I've never seen before crawl in here? Did you come looking for a fight?”

“N-no, you've misunderstood! I only heard that this place had a new master, so I came to offer my greetings!”

Daehae shouted, waving its claws in denial.

“And you expect me to believe that?”

Jegyeong's narrowed snake eyes swept over Daehae.

The chilling gaze made the crab's body tremble.

“It's true! O-of course, I know it's hard to believe, but...”

Daehae took several steps back and insisted on its innocence in a trembling voice. It was so frightened that it hardly seemed fitting for a Great Demon Beast.

At this point, Jegyeong began to wonder whether Jiao Dragons were truly that terrifying or whether this crab was simply unusually cowardly.

Still, a stray thought did not make him stop what he was doing. He continued glaring fiercely at Daehae and baring his fangs to threaten it.

“If you're going to babble something so hard to believe and then tell me to trust you, how exactly am I supposed to do that? Whether it's an excuse or a lie, aren't you putting far too little effort into it?”

“Ugh...”

Daehae hesitated, then seemed to decide it had to say something. It began rambling about things Jegyeong had not even asked.

It said it was one of the masters of a Spiritual Land somewhere west of these waters. It had heard from a crayfish Demon Beast that something had happened in the Black Jiao Waters. It poured out all kinds of information without any order.

‘This thing... isn't very smart.’

If this was not an act, it seemed even dumber than Hyeon-gwi.

Jegyeong was impressed by Daehae's lack of intelligence, yet he tried to pick useful information from its stream of words. Once he had gathered enough, he finally relaxed a little.

‘So it isn't one of the Remnant Water Whale King's subordinates.’

The Demon Race of Yangseo Lake was divided into two groups: those under the Remnant Water Whale King and everyone else.

As Yangseo Lake's only Demon King, the Remnant Water Whale King's power and authority were absolute.

Yet he seemed to have little interest in expanding his influence. He had formed the Dragon King Palace and accepted some followers as subordinates, but that was all. He had never shown any sign of wanting to unite Yangseo Lake's Demon Race Cultivation World under his rule.

Thanks to the Remnant Water Whale King's lukewarm attitude, all kinds of Great Demons lived freely in Yangseo Lake, much like Rogue Cultivators among the Human Race.

Daehae was one such Rogue Cultivator.

It had no powerful backer and barely got by on its Great Demon cultivation alone.

The part about barely getting by was important.

The Spiritual Land where Daehae currently lived was larger than the Black Jiao Waters, but quite a few others lived there as well. Even without being particularly active, it could not help feeling cramped.

Fights occasionally broke out over the right to reside there, and Daehae said it had been caught up in several such disputes.

That was why it had come all the way to the Black Jiao Waters.

It wanted to learn what kind of Great Demon the new master was, whether it could drive that master away and become the new ruler itself, or failing that, whether it could find a corner where it could settle down.

“If I'd known the master here was someone like you, I never would have dared come near this place.”

Jegyeong glared at Daehae's servile flattery.

“Hmph! Save your honeyed words. If you don't want to die, get out of here at once!”

“Y-yes!”

As if it had been waiting for those words, Daehae quickly retreated.

Jegyeong did not take his eyes off the direction it had left until Daehae vanished and he could no longer sense its Aura with his Divine Sense.

* * *

Daehae's appearance gave Jegyeong much to think about.

‘Besides the Human Race, I need to watch out for the Demon Race too. Once word spreads further, more will definitely come snooping around like Daehae.’

He needed to pay special attention to this.

Fortunately, that fool Daehae had frightened itself into retreating, but those who came later would not all be such idiots.

‘Rogue Cultivators. Rogue Cultivators...’

Demon Race Rogue Cultivators.

He had never thought much about them before. Yet after hearing Daehae's stories, those Demon Race Rogue Cultivators he had never cared about began to stand out in his mind.

‘Daehae was stupid, but it still knew how to look after its own interests.’

It was not particularly fickle, either.

Of course, he had to consider that Daehae had been extremely frightened at the time. Even so, it felt a little different from what he had heard from the senior cultivators at the Full-Wing Gathering.

From what he had experienced firsthand, it seemed possible to deal with them.

‘I need to give this proper thought later...’

That was right. Later.

For now, he had to prepare for the hyena-like creatures that might show up at any time.

‘Ngh.’

There was nothing grand about the preparations. It was not that he lacked foresight, but that there was simply little he could prepare.

Whoosh!

Fire energy born from his Spiritual Essence covered his entire body in an instant at his command.

This was not cultivation.

It was a kind of digestive exercise to settle the heaviness in his stomach, which had persisted since he swallowed the Hall Master of the Black Sect Hall.

‘I never had this problem before... Is it because he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator after all?’

And not even an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, but a mid-stage one.

Even something past its prime still had its worth. For more than half a month, his stomach, which had never suffered trouble no matter what he ate, had remained heavy and uncomfortable.

It was gradually improving, but Jegyeong wanted to resolve this abnormal condition as soon as possible.

“Raaah!”

Jegyeong moved around Black Shark Island with his body aflame.

The Demon Flame clinging to him did not go out even underwater, and before half a day had passed, Black Shark Island was blanketed in thick steam.

Fortunately, Jegyeong did not have enough demon power to continue his digestive exercise for long. Otherwise, Black Shark Island would have become an island of fog.

“Dragon Lord! I found it!”

Jegyeong's plan to continue the digestive exercise until the heaviness in his stomach completely faded was interrupted by Hyeon-gwi, who brought welcome news.

“It was clams. There are large clams that the Fleshscale Fish like. They might go without anything else, but they always eat those large clams. I moved some of them far away just in case, and as expected, some Fleshscale Fish left the school and headed toward the clams I had moved.”

“Excellent.”

Jegyeong praised Hyeon-gwi, who was as excited as a scholar who had made the discovery of the century, then asked about the large clams.

“Are those clams rare?”

“Yes. But I remember seeing them somewhere before, so even if they are rare, I think we can find them if we look.”

“Good. Find those clams.”

The information Hyeon-gwi brought washed away some of Jegyeong's unease.

If those large clams truly were a condition for a Fleshscale Fish school to form, then he could not only raise a school of Fleshscale Fish in the future, but also move the current school right away.

“Leave it to me!”

Hyeon-gwi immediately got to work.

There were too few subordinates to guard the Fleshscale Fish school while searching for clams, so Jegyeong personally subdued several Water Demons in the Black Jiao Waters.

At the same time, he openly showed favor toward Hyeon-gwi and dripped a few more drops of blood for them, strengthening their position.

It was only a simple measure meant to make Hyeon-gwi work better, but Hyeon-gwi seemed touched by it and threw themself into their task with even greater enthusiasm.

Driven by that enthusiasm, Hyeon-gwi soon found the large clams they had mentioned.

There were not many, but results were still results.

‘Do the Human Race not know about this?’

Jegyeong suddenly wondered.

According to Hyeon-gwi, the large clams could be found in deep places shielded from the light. It would not be strange if the Human Race did not know about them, but...

‘No. They must know.’

The Human Race had an unhealthy obsession with resources.

There was no way they had not studied such a useful resource as Fleshscale Fish. If so, they would naturally know what Fleshscale Fish ate as their staple food and what their habits and traits were like.

‘But the Human Race of Yangseo Lake doesn't seem to know. Or the supply is far too low compared to the demand.’

Either way, it was good news for him.

Even if the amount of Fleshscale Fish he supplied increased later, selling them would not be a problem. As Gwak Jeongsin had said before, Fleshscale Fish were treasure fish that people could not get enough of.

* * *

While Hyeon-gwi faithfully carried out their mission, Jegyeong diligently patrolled his waters as well.

Several times, he detected Great Demons prowling nearby and drove them away before they could get close. Not once did a clash break out.

It was for the same reason as with Daehae, the first one to come testing the waters.

The moment they saw him from afar, they either became frightened or at least looked deeply uncomfortable.

Jegyeong had thought before that not every Great Demon would be a fool like Daehae.

But perhaps he had been wrong.

‘They say knowing a little is worse than knowing nothing.’

Why were creatures that had never even seen a Jiao Dragon so afraid?

Still, it was good for him.

Those foolish cowards had greatly eased his concerns.

‘I'm benefiting quite a lot from my appearance in this life, unlike my previous one.’

Well. He might have been interpreting “benefit” in a slightly different sense... but good was good, was it not?

“Urk.”

Thanks to diligently balancing outside activity and cultivation, the heaviness that had tormented him for more than a month finally subsided.

At the same time, a faint itching sensation began to rise from deep within his body.

‘Again?’

Jegyeong could not help being startled.

He knew very well what that sensation meant.

Footnotes:

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