Chapter 109
Translator: T_Fan
A small leaf emblem was stamped along the edge of the voice-transmission talisman.
It belonged to Lulin Pavilion.
When Lee Hyun accepted it, Master Hu’s voice flowed out.
“Fellow Daoist Li. A fellow practitioner sent by Qinggui Demon Lord has arrived at Lulin Pavilion. Several nearby mountain lords will be gathering to discuss a matter concerning the southern sea route, so come by five days from now. We’ll discuss the details in person.”
The voice faded, and the demon power imbued in the voice-transmission talisman dispersed.
‘So something’s finally happened.’
It had already been more than two hundred years since Lee Hyun heard that Qinggui Demon Lord had met with the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect’s Spirit Transformation Supreme Elder.
There had been minor clashes since then, but no developments significant enough to warrant his attention. This time, however, the Demon Lord had apparently sent someone in person.
‘It’s a nuisance, but I need to know what’s happening before I can decide whether to stay out of it or help. And it’s hard to turn Master Hu down when he’s specifically asked me to come…’
…
Several mountain lords had already gathered at Lulin Pavilion when Lee Hyun arrived five days later. The Black Horn Immortal Lord raised a hand as he entered.
“Fellow Daoist Li. It’s been a long time.”
“Have you been well?”
“Well enough.”
Lee Hyun also exchanged a brief greeting with the mountain lord of Shiling Mountain, who was seated nearby, then took an empty seat. There were six mountain lords in the hall, including himself. Some he knew, while others he had only met in passing.
Master Hu was arranging thin stone tablets beside the seat of honor. An unfamiliar man occupied the seat itself, his eyes closed.
The man wore a long blue robe, and short, smooth horns protruded from either side of his forehead. He looked to be in his forties, but appearances were no reliable guide to age among the demon race.
The man suddenly opened his eyes.
‘…!’
The moment their gazes met, Lee Hyun discreetly reined in the divine sense he had been about to extend without thinking. Just then, Master Hu finished arranging the stone tablets and spoke.
“Everyone is here. This is fellow Daoist Qing Heng. He belongs to Qinggui Demon Lord’s clan and has come to oversee affairs in several regions of the southeast.”
Qing Heng spoke in a low voice.
“Thank you for answering my request on such short notice.”
His voice was quiet, but the pressure it carried silenced the mountain lords. At that moment, Master Hu’s voice transmission reached Lee Hyun’s ears.
[This fellow practitioner has reached late Tier 4. I know seeing someone powerful gets your blood up, but please don’t start any trouble today.]
[I’m not that belligerent a member of the demon race.]
‘On a par with late Nascent Soul….’
Lee Hyun’s magical power had increased since he reached Golden Core Stage 3, and he had grown accustomed to the Ink-Scaled Sword and Black Scale Armor. But anyone at late Nascent Soul was a terrifying opponent. Naturally, he had no intention of getting into a dispute.
Having commanded the room’s attention through his presence alone, Qing Heng flicked his sleeve, and a broad map unfurled in midair. Islands of every size dotted the coastline of the forest, which was shaded green. Three of them were marked in red.
“Long ago, after the Demon Lord negotiated with a powerful cultivator of the human race, a boundary was established between their docks and our territory. In exchange for leaving their existing footholds intact, they agreed not to venture any farther into our lands.”
Qing Heng pointed to a location on the map.
“Things remained quiet for a time, but over the past twenty years, small coastal clans have been losing members one after another. At first, we thought they had met with accidents while hunting or moved elsewhere. Only recently did we confirm that the same thing has been happening all along the coast.”
The Black Horn Immortal Lord raised his head.
“Has the human race crossed the boundary?”
“Rather than acting directly, they’ve been sending demon beasts ahead of them.”
Qing Heng produced a small jade casket containing two silver needles and a dark-red sac attached to a piece of dried flesh. Fine, veinlike strands of tissue ran across the sac’s surface. Something about it seemed familiar to Lee Hyun.
‘It looks like what I saw at Haimen Port long ago….’
Qing Heng put away the jade casket and continued.
“It’s a gu insect extracted from a demon beast we captured. This is a method used by the Dongming Sect of the Nanming Twelve-Sect Alliance. A Dongming Sect cultivator was also aboard a transport ship we seized half a year ago. They were carrying captured demon beasts and our clansmen to a place called Huiyan Island. Of the seventeen we rescued from the ship, three belonged to minor clans under our clan’s protection.”
The mountain lords’ gazes hardened. Qing Heng continued, his voice grave.
“The Demon Lord sent an envoy demanding that they return our clansmen and surrender the ringleaders, but they denied any involvement. They claimed it was merely the work of merchant companies under their authority.”
“That was the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect’s response?”
Qing Heng nodded at Lee Hyun’s question.
“Yes. But after comparing the accounts of those we rescued, we learned that Nanming hunters have been capturing members of the demon race and handing them over to the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect’s alchemists, who then refine their flesh and blood. The two factions have yet to unite fully, but there is no doubt that they are working closely together for profit.”
The mountain lord of Shiling Mountain snorted.
“Then we should teach them a lesson. If the Demon Lord acts personally, how long could it take to wipe out one insignificant island? If that old man from the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect interferes, we can ask the other Demon Lords for help.”
Qing Heng gave a bitter smile.
“The other Demon Lords… Do you truly think any of them would fight a Spirit Transformation cultivator of the human race to defend territory that isn’t their own?”
“But doesn’t this concern the entire forest?”
“Interestingly enough, there are those who think exactly that. The human race. They believe we Cangmang demons form a single united faction… That is why they have long refrained from sending armies into the forest and, whenever possible, hunt wild demon beasts rather than members of the demon race.”
Qing Heng’s finger traced the coastline on the map.
“But is that how things really stand? Suppose some mere Tier 3 Junior of the demon race, someone you had no ties to, came asking you to risk your life fighting a Nascent Soul cultivator of the human race. Would you readily agree?”
The mountain lords fell silent, unable to answer.
“For Tier 5 Demon Lords to act, there must be sufficient cause and compensation. If our Demon Lord intervenes personally, their Supreme Elder will gain grounds to intervene as well. Who will take responsibility if that bastard raids our clan’s stronghold while the Demon Lord is away destroying the island?”
Lee Hyun looked at the small dots marked on the map.
“But you can’t simply leave things as they are.”
“Precisely. If the clans under our protection have their children taken away while we stand by and do nothing, who will continue to follow us? They offer us spiritual resources from all across the forest and serve as our eyes and ears. In return, we must fulfill our duty to protect them.”
A question occurred to Lee Hyun, and he voiced it.
“Most of those being captured are demon beasts or clansmen at low realms. Would even someone like the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect’s Supreme Elder have a use for them?”
“Of course. He must have countless Juniors cultivating under him. Besides, they pay high prices for the marrow and essence blood of certain ancient bloodlines. We also have intelligence that some of these are supplementary ingredients in the blood medicine the Supreme Elder himself uses.”
Qing Heng picked up the stone marker hovering over Huiyan Island.
“That is why we intend to leave Nanming’s main port and the other merchant companies alone and strike only their hunting base on Huiyan Island. Our objectives are to rescue the clansmen and seize the ships and trade ledgers. Two early Nascent Soul cultivators are currently stationed there. One is said to be quite skilled in formations.”
Qing Heng pointed to the northern and southern sides of the island in turn.
“The docks are in the north. The cave abode and refining chamber are in the south. The outer defensive formation is only Tier 3, but the inner restrictions may be stronger, so they will need to be inspected on-site. I will guard the route from Nanming’s main port and keep the human Elder at late Nascent Soul in check. If the forces on the island differ significantly from our intelligence, don’t take unnecessary risks. Notify me using these communication tokens.”
Qing Heng placed several small bronze tokens on the table, and the mountain lords began weighing their options.
Those who traded extensively along the coast were eager to seize the docks. By contrast, a mountain lord from farther away said that matters in his territory prevented him from leaving for long.
The mountain lord of Shiling Mountain was also reluctant to go out to sea.
“I’ll deal with the hunters coming in by land. But I have no desire to venture out into the middle of the sea.”
The Black Horn Immortal Lord volunteered to go to Huiyan Island.
“I’ll cover the skies. But I can’t take responsibility for what happens beneath the sea as well.”
Lee Hyun studied the map.
“What about the Nine Kingdoms of Yunzhou? If Nanming shifts its forces this way, they might take the opportunity to act. Conversely, the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect could pressure them into attacking the forest….”
Master Hu held up a jade slip.
“Fortunately, there are no signs that they are joining forces with either Nanming or the Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect.”
With the mountain lords showing little enthusiasm, Qing Heng produced six jade slips.
“These list the rewards for each assignment. They may vary according to your accomplishments.”
The mountain lords’ expressions changed after they received the jade slips.
Lee Hyun also sent his divine sense into his.
The spirit materials and pills listed first held little interest for him, since he had no immediate use for them. But as he examined the list of inheritances farther down, he paused.
‘This… the main text survived!’
The illustration showed the same beast as the diagrams accompanying an ancient Record of Transformation. Master Hu had given him those diagrams nine hundred years earlier. It appeared to be the main text of secret teachings once used by certain ancient members of the demon race to circulate qi and blood by treating the entire body as a dantian.
Lee Hyun asked Qing Heng.
“Has the main text of this record been in Qinggui Demon Lord’s clan all along?”
“It isn’t an inheritance of our bloodline. It is a cultivation formula preserved among our old records, a method of circulating qi and blood that various clans can draw upon. Much of it is ill-suited to the demon race as it is today, so few have actually learned it.”
‘Is it a body-refining art or some form of martial arts for demons?’
His curiosity piqued, Lee Hyun put down the jade slip.
“I’ll go to Huiyan Island as well. I’d like this inheritance as my reward.”
“Very well. Once you complete your assignment, I’ll give it to you.”
Lee Hyun had not made the decision rashly, tempted by the reward alone.
Dongwu Ridge lay in the southeastern Cangmang Forest, making it one of the forest’s territories closest to the lands of the human race. Finding a new home after the coastal clans of the demon race had been driven back and his own mountain came under threat would be a nuisance. There was nothing wrong with assessing the situation beforehand and helping push back the human race’s forces.
Master Hu, who had been watching beside them, pointed to the northern part of Huiyan Island and offered a suggestion.
“How about fellow Daoist Black Horn opens the way from outside while fellow Daoist Li investigates the interior? You can decide the rest once you’re there.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
The Black Horn Immortal Lord folded his arms and readily agreed.
…
After the meeting, while Lee Hyun was in Master Hu’s study receiving the detailed records on Huiyan Island, Master Hu suddenly studied him.
“Come to think of it, that fierce aura around you has subsided considerably. Have you gained complete control over your demonic qi?”
“I suppose I’ve grown accustomed to my power.”
“Haha, that’s only natural. It has been quite some time since you entered the forest.”
…
Back at Dongwu Ridge, Lee Hyun bolted the stone door of his cave abode on the surface and went straight down to his underground workshop.
He had a little over a fortnight before he was due to join the raid on Huiyan Island. First, he checked the supplies he would take in the storage pouch he used for long journeys.
Then he stood before a mirror and loosened his robe’s collar.
He had spent centuries steadily refining his body with the help of the records on refining demon markings he had copied from Baoguang Temple. By now, the demon markings on his skin had faded so much that he gave off almost no trace of a great demon’s presence under ordinary circumstances.
A cursory examination of his aura would barely distinguish him from a cultivator of the human race. Still, if he intended to continue posing as a great demon in the forest, it would be wise to devise a way to produce demonic qi artificially.
‘I reproduced both Buddha-Light True Qi and Profound Yin White Bone True Qi with Primordial True Qi. If I can work out exactly how the energy flows, I should be able to imitate demon power too…….’
For now, whenever he roused a large amount of magical power or exerted himself vigorously, the remaining demon markings reacted and released demonic qi.
After observing the demon markings for a while, Lee Hyun retrieved a jade casket wrapped in a Spirit-Sealing Talisman from deep inside his storage pouch and opened it.
Inside lay the Ink-Scaled Venomous Python’s Tier 4 demon core. The long years had dulled its surface luster and depleted much of its vital essence, but its solidified internal structure remained intact. That was enough to study the paths along which its demon power, qi and blood had condensed.
He laid out, side by side, the sheets on which he had recorded the core’s internal patterns every few years, then fed a thread of magical power into it.
A faint black glow appeared on one side of the sphere. Lee Hyun carefully compared the flow within it with the reactions of the demon markings remaining on his skin, then wrote down his new observations.
Once he finished, he sealed the demon core again and headed for Tunnel No. 5, where the Heaven-Origin Divine Tree grew.
Three small fruits swayed with a soft glow at the tips of branches that spread widely along the ceiling.
The largest was slightly smaller than a fist. Shallow, rounded grooves marked its surface, and an invisible force held the surrounding leaves at a fixed distance. It was the tree’s first fruit, slowly ripening since the tree’s medicine age had passed a thousand years.
Lee Hyun dropped a small bead of water over the fruit, followed by some stone powder. Neither reached its surface. About one finger segment from the fruit’s surface, they slid outward along a curve, as though deflected by an invisible spherical barrier.
‘Heaven-Origin Force.’
As the fruit ripened, the once-faint flow of repulsive force had grown much clearer. Until it fully ripened, keeping it on the branch was better both for preserving its medicinal potency and for observing its energy.
Lee Hyun reached toward the fruit and felt the force pushing back against his fingertips. Enveloping his hand in a thin layer of magical power, he spent a long while probing the way the energy inside the fruit rotated.
…
The next day, Lee Hyun sat in a small stone chamber beside the spirit field and placed a stone chip no larger than a grain of rice in a narrow groove he had carved into the floor.
If Earth-Origin Force pulled things inward, Heaven-Origin Force pushed them away. He incorporated the flow he had confirmed the day before into the qi-circulation method he had gradually refined while observing the fruit. After several failed attempts, the stone chip before him gently rolled forward.
“…Huh!?”
Lee Hyun held his breath.
He had not extended his magical power to push the stone directly. It had moved only a short distance before stopping, but it certainly seemed that he had moved it through repulsive force alone. He lowered his head until his nose nearly touched the floor and peered at the stone chip, a smile spreading across his face.
‘It really did move!?’
***
About a fortnight later.
Lee Hyun joined the Black Horn Immortal Lord and over a hundred Juniors of the demon race at a harbor on the southern coast. After coordinating their operation, they reached the waters off Huiyan Island.
With a hand resting on a half-submerged reef, Lee Hyun could see Huiyan Island’s dark ridgeline in the distance. Three ships were moored at the northern docks, with long warehouses stretching out behind them. Thin smoke rose from the halls on the southern mountainside.
To the naked eye, everything looked peaceful. But when he activated the Aura-Reading Art, water qi bending inward at regular intervals revealed the outline of a formation around the island. The guide from the demon race hiding nearby whispered.
“I made it as far as the underside of that reef. Restrictions beyond it kept me from going any farther.”
Lee Hyun carefully made his way around the island underwater to the southern reef, pressed his palm against the bedrock just inside it, and used the Ground-Sense Art.
Beyond the thick seabed rock, he detected an underground passage with straight, smoothly cut walls. Moving a little to one side and touching another rock revealed several more underground caverns, none of which appeared on Lulin Pavilion’s map.
Without disturbing the restrictions, Lee Hyun made his way back around the island and surfaced on its northern side. He recorded the terrain he had just discovered in a jade slip and handed it to the Black Horn Immortal Lord, who had descended below the clouds.
“There are underground passages and hidden facilities beneath the southern mountainside. Their restrictions are linked to the outer formation, so forcing our way straight through would expose us. But if you put pressure on their main position from the north, I can slip inside while the formation’s power is drawn that way.”
The Black Horn Immortal Lord stared at the island and asked.
“How hard do you need me to hit them?”
“There’s no need to break through straight away. Just draw their attention.”
“That won’t be difficult.”
…
A short while later, immense wings unfurled from the Black Horn Immortal Lord’s back.
As Lee Hyun approached the southern mountainside underwater, the Black Horn Immortal Lord soared into the sky north of Huiyan Island. He whipped up a fierce demonic wind and struck the defensive barrier over the docks.
BOOOOM―
The explosion shook heaven and earth, and an alarm bell rang urgently from the dock watchtower.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The Tier 3 grand formation surrounding the island blazed blue, drawing water qi toward the northern sky. At the same moment, energy drained northward from beneath the southern bedrock, briefly weakening the connections between the restrictions around the drainage channel.
Lee Hyun drove a needle-sharp strand of magical power into a seam he had identified earlier. As the energy flow shifted, his body slipped into the rock.
Moving through the layers of seabed rock as though through water, he followed the stone wall beside the drainage channel, where murky water flowed out, and burrowed deep beneath the southern mountainside.
Before long, the Ground-Sense Art detected three enormous underground caverns.
Only after reaching the wall of the outermost cavern did Lee Hyun extend a fine thread of divine sense.
Rows of iron-barred cages stood inside. They held some twenty members of the demon race whose demon power had been sealed, along with Tier 3 demon beasts. Dense blood qi and the energy of fire emanated from a large stone chamber farther within.
Lee Hyun moved up against the bedrock beneath the chamber floor. Timing his probe to coincide with the vibrations of techniques clashing in the north, he briefly extended his divine sense to inspect the room above.
A huge copper-red pill furnace stood in the center of the chamber. Four alchemists in Scarlet Refining Demonic Sect robes worked around it, boiling demon-beast essence blood as they refined Blood Pills.
Behind the pill furnace, a white-haired old man in a gray Daoist robe sat in the lotus position atop a high stone platform. An enormous blue-jade formation plate lay before him.
He was one of the two early Nascent Soul cultivators guarding Huiyan Island, the formation master responsible for the island’s defensive formation.
“Worthless beasts. Did you think a single great demon running wild could breach my Supreme Yin Water Veil Formation?”
The old man snorted as he watched his fellow Nascent Soul cultivator confronting the Black Horn Immortal Lord at the northern docks through a water mirror.
‘I see. A Nascent Soul cultivator is sustaining the formation himself. If I bring the captive members of the demon race out now, we’ll be targets for those two. I’ll have to deal with this one first.’
Lee Hyun withdrew his divine sense and further suppressed his presence with the Spirit-Concealing Art and Aura-Concealing Art. The old man’s divine sense extended through the formation plate toward the northern battlefield. Lee Hyun had to finish his preparations before it turned inward again.
He studied the energy branching out from the formation plate, intending first to locate the connected formation devices and a route for getting the captives out.
‘Wait, since I’m already here…’
While the old man’s attention was fixed on the water mirror, Lee Hyun followed the energy flow and began snooping around the nearby rooms.
Slipping up through the floor of one storeroom, he swept the jade slips, boxes, and refined demon-beast materials from its shelves into his storage pouch.
He left alone any rooms laced with intricate restrictions inside and out.
After emptying several storerooms, Lee Hyun returned to the bedrock near the stone platform, steadying his nerves as he worried that he might have been discovered.
The sight of the Nascent Soul formation master, still utterly oblivious and brimming with confidence, filled him with a peculiar satisfaction.
‘Come to think of it, I am the society head of the Two Heavens Society, aren’t I? I ought to do at least this much to hold my head up in front of the members.’
He slipped away again. While locating the remaining formation devices, he also cleared out the storerooms he could enter easily. The humans on Huiyan Island were growing poorer by the moment, none the wiser.
Once he had confirmed the arrangement of the formation devices and a route for evacuating the captives, Lee Hyun returned to the vicinity of the Nascent Soul formation master.
Above him, six core formation pillars stood rooted in the earth veins, channeling the power that sustained the island’s entire defensive formation.
Lee Hyun quietly drew the Ink-Scaled Sword from his storage pouch and gripped its hilt.
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