Chapter 21

In a slightly hollowed ground.

A fox lay sleeping there.

What’s a fox doing here…?

Suddenly, Seo Ryang took a step back.

His eyes had sharpened as he gripped his blade. Though no killing intent leaked while maintaining Shadow God Dark Style, a blade-like sharpness flashed across his pitch-black pupils.

Could it be a demonic beast?

Of course it must be a demonic beast. This was an area inaccessible even with demonic qi surpassing first-rate internal martial arts masters. It couldn’t be an ordinary fox.

However…

…Hmm.

A pleased smile crept across Seo Ryang’s face, which had been full of tension.

It’s cute.

It’s not just a fox, but a baby fox.

Curled up in a ball with its chin resting on its front paws as it slept, its appearance was extremely adorable. Its immature nose and muzzle were bite-worthy, and its ears, large for a fox, were as beautiful as silk.

Golden fur gleaming with luster. Its luxuriant tail was even larger than its body.

Whoa…

Being enchanted, truly enchanted.

The more he looked, the more his smile spread. His eyes were spinning and his hands were tingling – truly, if not for an assassin’s patience, he might have unconsciously hugged it.

Is a demonic beast allowed to be this cute?

Its very existence was a protective art. No one could even flick this baby fox’s forehead no matter how vicious its actions.

Why? Because it was too cute.

Seo Ryang, busy admiring the fox while forgetting the situation, suddenly hesitated.

Fox? demonic beast?

What fox spirits were there in the Classic of Mountains and Seas?

…Can’t remember.

He had never seriously read the Classic of Mountains and Seas in the first place.

Still, he had heard things.

Surely it’s not a Nine-Tailed Fox[1]?

The fox spirit with nine tails said to live in Mount Qingqiu. Even without the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it was such a famous spirit that it immediately came to mind.

Seo Ryang glanced at the fox’s tail.

No, it isn’t. It only has one.

Besides, it’s too cute to be a Nine-Tailed Fox. He’d heard Nine-Tailed Foxes were so beautiful their spiritual energy would swirl even around their demonic aura.

This baby fox was different. Forget demonic aura, it barely emanated even the common spiritual energy of demonic beasts.

Blankly staring at the baby fox, Seo Ryang slapped his cheeks.

Damn it, this isn’t the time.

Though regretful, he should get going.

As Seo Ryang turned away, he immediately turned his head back to glance at the baby fox. Though trying to leave, it kept catching his eye – he seemed thoroughly enchanted.

Tch, if it’s still sleeping when I come back, I’ll have to try waking it up.

Having barely set aside his regret, Seo Ryang started walking again.

But.

“…Huh?”

Seo Ryang was bewildered.

“What? This is the end?”

The surroundings were blocked by bamboo in all directions except the path he came through. Bamboo thicker than he had ever seen were densely packed together.

Did I reach the deep layers’ end in that brief moment? How is that possible?

He looked around.

It’s smaller than I expected? Or did I take a wrong turn?

After looking around for a while, he closed his eyes and awakened his qi sense.

Woong.

His fists clenched involuntarily.

This is it! This qi is right! The spiritual energy spread here is the most concentrated!

Finally found it.

This is a bit anticlimactic.

Not knowing how terrifying the demonic beasts might be, he had obtained both Turbidity Control Grass and Cave Pine Tea leaves. The Turbidity Control Grass was for using concealment techniques, while the strongly aromatic Cave Pine Tea leaves were perfect for deceiving demonic beasts sensitive to smell.

Feels like overkill…

Opening his eyes, Seo Ryang ran his hands over the surrounding bamboo.

Hah!

Shock spread across Seo Ryang’s face.

Incredible.

Truly terrifying spiritual energy. All the bamboo he had harvested, purified, and consumed until now combined couldn’t compare to even one of these.

And such bamboo were densely packed here in abundance.

If I could just purify and take three of these…

He unconsciously swallowed.

In terms of internal energy alone, this would undoubtedly be the strongest.

Of course, he wasn’t yet at a level to accept such vast qi. No, even with his Assassin King body from his previous life, taking two would have been difficult.

Seo Ryang, who had been scanning the bamboo with desire-filled eyes, sighed.

Three my ass, don’t get greedy. I’d be lucky to properly take even one.

They were thick, extremely thick. Not just the weight, but the size made it impossible to carry more than one.

“Well, what can you do? Wouldn’t it be heaven’s fortune just to get this one?”

The truly remarkable thing about this spiritual bamboo wasn’t the quantity but the quality of its spiritual energy.

It was qi filled with pure sanctity. Though demonic qi was said to be incompatible with pure divine energy, there couldn’t be better spiritual bamboo as raw material for demonic arts.

Moreover, the Shadow True Demonic Arts retained significant portions of Buddhist martial arts principles. Depending on how one guided the true qi, one could clearly obtain much more true qi than ordinary demonic practitioners.

Seo Ryang grinned.

“Done. Objective achieved.”

A little… just a little…

Man, this is disappointing.

The amount of internal energy doesn’t determine one’s level of skill. But if the body is prepared to accept it, having more internal energy isn’t bad either. Especially for a supreme master with top ten master-level enlightenment, the applications would be endless.

Furthermore, spiritual energy greatly helps develop the upper danjeon, namely brain capabilities. One could quickly gain mystical upper danjeon abilities that would take enlightened high monks a lifetime of cultivation to achieve.

Too much of a good thing is bad, too much is bad. Let’s just take one. Even the cult doesn’t harvest more than necessary.

Clicking his tongue regretfully, Seo Ryang suddenly looked down at the ground.

Hm?

There was a small bamboo shoot protruding from the ground.

He looked around.

Just this one bamboo shoot?

Hmm…

Pop!

He pulled out the shoot by its roots and shook off the dirt.

At that moment.

Flash!

The baby fox’s eyes opened.

Five-colored brilliantly dazzling eyes. The cute fox he had seen earlier was nowhere to be found. There was only a mystical yet eerily bizarre gaze.

Swoosh.

The baby fox, slowly rising from its spot, looked at Seo Ryang.

Flash! Flash!

The five-colored eyes whose emotions couldn’t be read kept flickering.

Usually the sensitive Seo Ryang would have noticed this, but he was busy cleaning the bamboo shoot.

After examining the shoot for a while, Seo Ryang’s eyes widened.

“Wow, what is this?!”

The spiritual energy was incredibly pure.

The quantity wasn’t much. Perhaps just slightly more than the shoots commonly found near their residence?

But the quality of the spiritual energy was higher than any bamboo in the deep layers and pure as water. Like the core of clear, pure spiritual energy.

Isn’t this literally essence itself?

In terms of spiritual medicine, this was Sky Blue Stone Milk[2] level.

He’d heard it takes a hundred years to produce one drop, or was it a thousand years?

It’s so pure I won’t even need purification techniques.

Crunch!

Seo Ryang bit into the shoot.

Though he expected it to be tough, it melted as soon as it touched his teeth. As he chewed the melting pieces, they suddenly liquefied and slipped down his throat.

“Ah! The fragrance is also amaz- huh?”

Seo Ryang tilted his head.

What’s this? Why isn’t there any reaction?

The liquefied bamboo shoot he had swallowed.

But he couldn’t feel any overflowing energy. His stomach just felt a bit warm, like after taking good medicine.

If anything felt different, it was as if something was being digested extremely quickly, becoming blood and flesh immediately? Besides that, there really weren’t any notable peculiarities.

Crunch! Crunch! Munch munch.

He chewed and swallowed several times. But still felt nothing special.

“I knew it. Essence? What bullshit. How could someone who used up all their luck in their previous life have such fortune again?”

Shing.

Seo Ryang drew his blade while finishing the bamboo shoot.

Shadow God Dark Style had long since dissipated, and vigorous demonic qi was rising from his entire body.

Constantly grumbling noisily, he was clearly different from usual.

He showed no caution at all. Someone who was usually more delicate and focused than anyone when needing to move seriously was now extremely careless.

As if bewitched by a spirit.

Yet the fact that he still thought to pull out and eat the shoot and split the bamboo showed how terrifying his sense of purpose was.

Woong.

A reddish energy gathered around his blade. The demonic qi of the Shadow True Demonic Arts had concentrated enough to become visible.

Seo Ryang swung his blade carelessly.

Clang!

“…Huh?”

What? Why won’t it cut?

Looking back and forth between the blade and bamboo, he stuffed the remaining shoot in his mouth and gripped the sword with both hands. Then he swung again.

“Hah!”

Thunk!

“…”

Seo Ryang’s eyes bulged like marbles.

The blade infused with demonic qi only stuck in the surface. A strike that could split even decent-sized rocks only managed to crack the bamboo’s skin.

“Well look at that? So it really is different, huh?”

Rip!

Pulling out his blade, Seo Ryang closed his eyes.

The blade held in middle stance.

Swish!

A translucent red energy suddenly gathered on the blade. It was energy that simultaneously held contradictory qualities – sticky and gloomy like blood yet bright and gorgeous like flame.

A peak ability that could only be manifested after reaching the realm of unity between person and sword.

Mind Intent Following Sword[3], Sword Qi Harming People[4]. Powerful blade energy was swirling within the blade.

Seo Ryang’s eyes flashed.

Moon Cleaver[5].

Flash!

A streak of red light split the air.

Rustle.

The bamboo, cut at its base, slowly tilted.

Boom!!

The ground shook.

He had thought it would be quite heavy given its unusual thickness and length, but this was beyond imagination. Forget lifting it, he might have to drag it.

Sheathing his blade, Seo Ryang squatted before the fallen bamboo and tapped its surface.

“This could even be used as a weapon. How concentrated must the spiritual energy be for mere bamboo to transform into steel? Truly amazing, amaz-“

Crunch. Lick lick.

“Hm?”

What’s this familiar sound and the slight pain coming with it?

Seo Ryang looked down at his left hand.

“…Oh?”

Lick lick. Munch munch.

The baby fox was wagging its tail while gently chewing his fingers.

Not only that, it was happily licking the blood trickling down his hand.

The delicate fragrance of the bamboo shoot that had filled his hand had long since been replaced by the fishy smell of blood.

Flinch.

Sensing his gaze, the baby fox looked up.

Seo Ryang and the baby fox’s eyes met in mid-air, sparking.

Shortly after.

“Ahhh!!”

“Kyaang!”

Falling back with a thud, Seo Ryang quickly righted himself and drew his blade.

Though somewhat impetuous, the aura rising with his draw was extraordinary. Compared to the intensely chilling blade energy, the killing intent had noticeably decreased – an instinctive response.

“Kyiing…”

The baby fox timidly backed away.

Its appearance as it retreated with lowered head was extremely pitiful. Even Seo Ryang felt embarrassed for immediately drawing his blade.

“Huh? But you?”

“…”

“What? When did you wake up?”

The fox couldn’t possibly answer. It kept lowering its body as it retreated until finally laying completely flat, resting its chin on its front paws while looking up at Seo Ryang.

An utterly pitiful posture. Seo Ryang scratched his head.

“You were sleeping so peacefully in this vicious place, why such a submissive attitude now?”

Swish swish.

Its large tail kept wagging.

Considering foxes are canines, it probably wasn’t scared. Roughly guessing…

Feeling hurt?

Seo Ryang smiled.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Shing.

Putting away his blade again, he lifted the bamboo. Anyway, he sensed no killing intent or primal ferocity characteristic of beasts from the fox. His hypersensitivity proved it, so he was certain it wouldn’t attack.

Well, even if that tiny thing did attack, it probably wouldn’t even hurt.

Seo Ryang waved his left hand.

“Ow, it hurts. For something the size of a mouse dropping, it’s got tiger-like jaw strength.”

Thud.

He lifted the bamboo. Though he thought he’d have to drag it, somehow he managed to shoulder it.

Seo Ryang hummed a tune while walking with the bamboo on his shoulder.

Shortly after.

“…Why are you following me?”

When Seo Ryang stopped, the baby fox that had been trotting behind placed its front paws on his thigh and wagged its tail. Then it blinked its large eyes.

“…”

It really was unbearably cute.

Seo Ryang waved his hand.

“Shoo, shoo. Return to nature’s embrace.”

How long did he walk like that?

“…”

The baby fox again put its front paws on his thigh. The way it blinked its bead-like eyes and twitched its nose suggested it had something to say.

Seo Ryang scratched his cheek.

“Well, it doesn’t seem dangerous. It’ll probably leave on its own.”

Taking it lightly, he retraced his steps. His footsteps were particularly light after the spiritual bamboo harvest that had gone much more smoothly than expected.

And the baby fox followed behind him, trotting along.

In the baby fox’s black pupils watching Seo Ryang’s back, a five-colored light briefly gleamed.