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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 71: Retribution and Spoils

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Cheon Rajin had clearly heard that thought-speech as well.

For a moment, he looked back and forth between his founding patriarch and Han Yujin with an expression of utter incomprehension.

Then, as though some realization had struck him, all hope drained from his face. Unable to even beg any longer, he could only move his lips soundlessly.

At that moment, the human skin suddenly looked down at Cheon Rajin.

Rumble!!

Sensing something, Han Yujin immediately fired two bolts of lightning through the thunder dragon. One targeted Cheon Rajin, and the other targeted the human skin.

Yet instead of hitting their targets, the attacks collided with darkness surging up from the floor, creating only a strange explosion. It sounded as though he were hearing something from the depths of the sea, far in the distance.

As the darkness blocked the lightning, the human skin dropped from the air and pounced on Cheon Rajin.

“P-Patriarch...!”

His terrified cry did not continue.

For an instant, it seemed as though he tried to flee with the Dark Shadow Descent Steps, but the darkness that should have absorbed him instead appeared to bind him.

Then the human skin's grotesquely gaping mouth swallowed the restrained Cheon Rajin whole.

Crunch...!! Crack!

Crush! Crunch...!!

The sound of bones and flesh being ground and chewed echoed chillingly through the chamber.

The sight of the human skin's enlarged mouth and cheeks devouring a fully grown, strongly built man whole was surreal in its horror. Realizing he was already too late, Han Yujin silently watched.

After chewing Cheon Rajin thoroughly for several dozen more seconds, the human skin swallowed its contents in several gulps. Its empty, limp interior filled out slightly.

Feeling sick to his stomach, Han Yujin replenished the thunder dragon's expended strength and readied himself.

Where there was light, there was darkness. By the same principle, the cultivation world also had the righteous path and the demonic path.

Both sought to become immortals, but their methods differed completely. In fantasy terms, righteous-path cultivators were white mages, while demonic-path cultivators were black mages.

The difference was that while black mages in ordinary fantasy stories gained power by making soul contracts with demons, demonic-path cultivators could be said to walk the path of becoming demons themselves from the very beginning.

- Dao Friend... which Star Domain and which Heaven do you come from?

Having finished eating Cheon Rajin, the human skin seemed to have regained some clarity. Its thought-speech had become more distinct and fluent.

- No, there is no need to tell me where you came from. Do you know how to leave this place... this pit?

Star Domains and Heavens.

He could roughly guess what they meant, but he was not certain. And since it called this place a pit, it had clearly not come here willingly and seemed to want to escape at all costs.

Rather than answer, Han Yujin quietly studied it before speaking.

“Setting aside your body, it feels as though you do not even have a soul...”

- Of course not. I am only skin. I am trying to make a soul embryo, but it has not been easy.

The human skin grinned as it spoke. Dark, blood-tinged fluid ran from its empty eye sockets and mouth.

- No matter how I look at you, Dao Friend, you seem to be a righteous-path cultivator. Still, we are fellow cultivators, are we not? We are far closer and friendlier than those vermin here who do not even know the Way of Immortality.

“...”

- So, fellow cultivator, let us make a deal. If you tell me the way out, I will give you a Spirit Transformation cultivation method.

It meant a cultivation method that could be learned up to the Spirit Transformation Stage. It was also proof that its level was by no means low.

- No, no. I shall give it to you now.

With that, the human skin opened its black, darkness-filled mouth and spat something out.

A particularly white, cylindrical Jade Slip popped out of the mouth that had just chewed and swallowed Cheon Rajin, flying through the air. Han Yujin caught it at a distance with the Object Manipulation Art, narrowing his eyes.

- It is called the Black Night Soul-Creation Art. Have you heard of it?

At that moment.

Crack!

Lightning from the thunder dragon reduced the Jade Slip to powder.

“I have no desire to examine a Jade Slip made with a spell.”

- ...Right, right. There is nothing wrong with being careful.

Like the Jade Slips Han Yujin had examined in the Five Elements Sect ruins, making a Jade Slip was closer to pure craftsmanship, requiring extremely delicate and meticulous skill.

Though spells could store information more easily and in a wider variety of forms, there was a reason they still made them that way.

‘The moment a spell is involved, it becomes easy to lay a trap while storing the information.’

Given how many sinister spells existed in the cultivation world, it was only natural. Even if it was more troublesome and inconvenient, safety had to come first.

- But even so, you destroyed a Spirit Transformation cultivation method without examining it. I suppose you are not an independent cultivator?

“How did you end up here in that state?”

- Hehehe...

The human skin laughed and suddenly took a step closer.

- My memories are not entirely intact either... I believe my other body may have made me this way...

“Another body?”

- I was overcoming the Soul-Rending Tribulation. But... I believe there was a small accident.

As it answered, the human skin took another step closer.

- In any case, if you do not like the cultivation method, let us trade for something else. How about this?

Its mouth gaped open, and something like a birdcage appeared inside. The human skin took it in its limp hands and smiled, stretching the corners of its mouth nearly to its ears.

- Would you like to see? It is a Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasure...

At the words Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasure, Han Yujin instinctively raised his guard and looked at the object.

Then he met the eyes of something inside the birdcage, which had clearly been empty until just before.

It had the form of a small, plump human. Its body was blood-red, while its eyes were darker than the abyss.

Immediately afterward.

Han Yujin trembled as though struck by lightning. His normal eyes darkened into the abyssal color of the thing inside the birdcage, and in the end, he even stopped breathing.

- Hehehehe...!

As though it had been waiting for this moment, the human skin burst into laughter and strode forward. Muyong struggled in Han Yujin's arms and squeaked loudly in a panic, but he still did not wake.

A tiny infant-shaped figure made of mingled darkness and bloody light sprang from the human skin's gaping mouth. Yet it had a crude form, like a doll roughly shaped from mud by a child.

- At last, a proper body seizure...!

The moment it sent out that excited thought-speech.

Kaboom!!

Boom!

The thunder dragon, which had stopped along with Han Yujin and seemed incapacitated, suddenly unleashed a barrage of lightning. It was an attack nearly akin to self-destruction, releasing even the power that sustained it.

At the same time, Han Yujin's body, whose eyes had clearly been darkened and subdued by unnatural darkness, vanished like an illusion and reappeared unharmed some distance away.

It was the power of the divine ability he had gained when beginning the Dragon Heart's refinement, which he had only recently named Dream Illusion, Mind-Only.

- What...!?

The incomplete Nascent Soul had not expected it to be a trap. Before it could finish its question, it was swept up in the baptism of lightning.

─!!!

An indescribable scream rang out sharply, as though gouging at the mind. Yet Han Yujin only frowned slightly as he covered Muyong's eyes and ears in his arms.

The baptism of lightning did not merely sweep over it once. It tightly bound the incomplete Nascent Soul, projecting its might with flashes and deafening thunder for well over several dozen seconds, until all its power was spent.

When all the commotion subsided, nothing remained.

“...Did I get it?”

Muttering the classic magic words, Han Yujin gathered a Lightning School spell in one hand and prepared for any possibility. At the same time, he carefully swept the collapsed human skin, the birdcage nearby, and every part of the chamber with Divine Sense.

Fortunately, nothing unusual happened. The birdcage-like object still felt extraordinary, but it could not cause the dangerous phenomenon from before.

‘It was barely more than a remnant, not even enough to call a lingering soul...’

Still, if what it had said about the Soul-Rending Tribulation was true, it was the remnant of a cultivator at least at the Nascent Soul Stage. It had been quite a dangerous battle.

It might have seemed as though he had won easily, but that was not truly the case.

There was a reason it had carelessly revealed its incomplete Nascent Soul. What Han Yujin had suffered then had not been an act.

He had truly been caught.

It was simply that, as he had confirmed before visiting the Samsara Buddhahood Temple, the Dream Illusion, Mind-Only divine ability was exceptionally effective at saving his life.

According to preset conditions, it could even replace reality that had already unfolded with an illusion.

The moment an enemy was most certain of victory and let down their guard, the situation would turn upside down like a dream.

Of course, it was not omnipotent. If the opponent's abilities were superior, they could deal with it well enough. But this remnant within the human skin did not possess that level of ability.

As he thought, Han Yujin checked repeatedly for danger before pulling the human skin into the air with the Object Manipulation Art and spreading it out.

The more he looked at it, the more its disgusting appearance made him frown. Muyong covered her own eyes with both paws and buried her face in his clothes.

Its repulsiveness aside, it was a highly valuable object. The traces of dharma patterns and formula sequences, endlessly seeping with blood, were the Spirit Transformation cultivation method it had mentioned.

From what he could roughly determine, it seemed to be a top-grade cultivation method that would also pose no great problem when changing to another method in the future.

‘The Jade Slip must have been a trap.’

He did not know why it had carved such a thing into its own skin, but he had gained a cultivation method. Even if he did not learn it himself, it would be a considerable prize that he could consult for a long time.

Moreover, if, after analyzing it thoroughly, he determined that it held no hidden danger, he thought he might be able to teach it to Lee Wonhui.

As befitted a demonic-path cultivation method, its way of creating and commanding spirit-infused darkness was truly dreadful. But if that part could be replaced with Lee Wonhui's awakened ability, there might be no great problem.

That was enough for him.

The human skin seemed to possess several additional functions, and he was not certain whether the birdcage was truly a Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasure.

‘Even if they are merely remnants, I cannot let down my guard around the belongings of a Nascent Soul Stage being.’

Who knew? Another lingering soul might be hiding within, waiting for a chance to revive.

Thus, he gathered the human skin and birdcage in one place and cast the Fire Spirit Bird Art. The large firebird that appeared gently settled atop the two objects and began to destroy them with terrifying heat.

As befitted extraordinary objects, they held out for quite some time.

But they had clearly already been greatly weakened, and with no master to wield them, they could only endure so much.

Soon.

With a faint, scream-like sound, the human skin struggled briefly before burning into ash. The birdcage beside it rattled violently and produced a strange resonant sound before finally melting into molten metal and breaking completely.

At that sight, even the faint unease he had not realized he felt disappeared completely.

Han Yujin scorched them with fire for some time longer, poured lightning over them repeatedly, then used the Earth Manipulation Art to bury every trace deep underground.

As he left the chamber, he unleashed the Earth Manipulation Art one last time on a large scale.

Rumble...!!

Watching the hemispherical space become completely buried beneath mounds of earth with a heavy tremor, he climbed the stairs.

It was time to visit the Dark Shadow Demon Cult's Scripture Pavilion and treasure vault.

* * *

Surprisingly, there had been resistance. People who, despite knowing they stood no chance at all, were willing to throw away their lives to stop the enemy.

If they would not step aside even after being warned, he had no choice but to grant their wish.

Riding the thunder dragon he had created again, Han Yujin made a circuit of the Dark Shadow Demon Cult's main headquarters and wiped out those who resisted.

The difference in strength was so vast that it might seem like nothing more than slaughter. But if he left such determined people alive, there was no knowing what form their retaliation might take. It was a necessary measure.

There was a reason the martial world had a saying warning against mercy. They were not particularly good people, and there was no reason to take risks to spare them.

As he crushed all resistance, he cast the Illusory Dream Heart-Seizing Art on several people and learned the locations of the Scripture Pavilion and secret vault. Once he knew where they were, looting them would be quick enough with his Storage Pouch.

When he arrived, a few quick-witted people had been diligently carrying off secret manuals and valuables. It only took him a little time to track them down and eliminate them.

After finishing all his retribution and collecting his spoils, he returned to Gold Lotus Manor as swiftly as he had left.

He intended to move again without resting even a day.

Before seriously beginning the Dragon Heart's Qi Stage refinement, he planned to deal with the Imperial House's Martial World Mediator, who had arranged the assassination.

Then Dok Junseong stepped forward.

“Master, if you entrust it to me, I will handle it properly.”

“You? How?”

“If word spreads that Master nearly wiped out the Dark Shadow Demon Cult alone, I can use the contacts from my time working for the Righteous Alliance to apply political pressure.”

When Han Yujin fell quiet in thought, Dok Junseong continued.

“There is no group that values its dignity more than the Imperial House. If Master handles this personally, you will of course settle the matter neatly, but...”

“There might be an unnecessary conflict?”

“Yes. My intervention alone will be enough to secure certain punishment for the person responsible and compensation.”

If that was the case, there was no need for Han Yujin to handle it himself. He nodded and granted permission, and Dok Junseong, looking very confident, left the manor for a while.

‘Once the rumors spread in earnest, the great sects that have not moved yet will come looking as well.’

Now he truly only had to continue his trades and focus on refining the Dragon Heart.

To reward Dok Junseong when he returned soon, and to handle some chores in advance, Han Yujin used alchemy with the various spirit plants obtained from the Dark Shadow Demon Cult.

There were not many things left for him to do in this martial world.

Footnotes:

“Did I get it?” is presented as the classic line that tempts an enemy's apparent defeat to prove premature.

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