Chapter 359

Chapter 359
## Chapter 359

Power of Gluttony (2)

Mount Song, Henan Province, Shaolin Temple.

In the middle of the frantic and unstable climate following the recent assault, a massive silhouette emerged on the grounds of the sanctuary.

“Ha! Where have you been hiding?”

“Hahaha! I had some… critical affairs to take care of! My bad! Did I keep you waiting too long?”

“…Not particularly. I had nothing else to occupy myself with, so I was merely… passing the time. Especially after that whole ordeal with the Demonic Cult.”

“True, true. I brought back some gifts for you, so lighten up, pal!”

Harley roared with laughter, his customary bright disposition completely unbothered, despite the palpable irritation vibrating in the voice of Mok In-gwang, the former Mad Demon.

The disciples of Shaolin were turning away every traveler at the base of the peak, but he remained a clear exception.

He was, after all, the person who had preserved their lives.

Chomp, chomp—

“…Just out of curiosity… what exactly are you doing right now?”

“Huh? Feeding on meat? Do you want a piece?… It’s an exceptional delicacy, you know…”

Because of his status, they found themselves unable to reprimand him directly, despite how much they frowned upon his… unorthodox tendencies.

Even so, they couldn’t simply overlook him gorging on flesh right inside a Buddhist sanctuary.

“Hmm.”

Harley paused for a brief moment, shifting his gaze from the hunk of meat gripped in his fist over to Mok In-gwang’s disapproving countenance.

Then, he gave a firm nod, as though reaching a definitive conclusion.

“Tsk— Fine, a real man shouldn’t be stingy with his meals. Here, taste some of this extraordinary delicacy. You ought to be grateful! It’s incredible!”

“That isn’t what I meant…”

He reached out his arm, presenting the food, and right then—.

“Ahem. Forgive the intrusion, Benefactor. This is a consecrated Buddhist sanctuary. We would deeply appreciate it if you could… refrain from eating flesh while on temple property.”

…A monk, carefully keeping his expression entirely blank, walked up to them and delivered the words gently.

He appeared quite uncomfortable, as if he had never anticipated having to make such a request.

“…Ah, right! It slipped my mind!”

Gulp—!

Harley swiftly pulled his hand back and shoved the entire chunk of meat straight into his mouth, gulping it down instantly, before nodding along.

He smacked his lips together, wiped his grease-covered palms against his trousers, and smirked.

“Hahaha! My deepest regrets! I’m unaccustomed to your… local traditions! I will be far more attentive from now on!”

A prompt apology coupled with a vow to play by the rules.

Regardless of whether he actually meant it… the monk, having successfully delivered his message, offered a minor bow and slipped away.

“Can’t be helped! We will have to enjoy the meat later!”

He seemed almost as if he had been anticipating the disruption, but it wasn’t due to him being cheap. He wasn’t hesitant to share his prized food.

‘…Should I consume a bit more? It’s only natural to expend some… assets during a conflict. If I view this as a form of… compensation… Yeah, a single head’s value ought to suffice.’

Harley peered down at his forearm, clenching his fist tightly, and ran his tongue over his lips.

An unparalleled sensation of might coursed violently through his hand.

Yet within that recognizable vigor, there existed something… entirely unfamiliar.

‘“Gourmand”…It truly lives up to its title. It’s merely a seed right now, but… ’

He hadn’t been particularly fond of the technique’s name initially.

It had struck him as far too… mundane, far too… laughable.

However, that was nothing more than his own narrow perspective.

Gourmand.

It was a technique that possessed the concept of ‘God’ within its essence.

There was no way it could be ordinary.

If he had to sum it up in just one thought, it would be…

‘The ultimate peak of consumption, capable of swallowing down even the divine.’

This wasn’t merely due to him consuming the flesh of the Six-Headed Dragon while utilizing the 「Power of Gluttony」.

The limb belonging to the Master of Heaven’s Turn Society, which he had fed upon back in Auterica, had likewise served a monumental purpose.

He hadn’t picked up on any instant alterations at the time, aside from gaining a tolerance against holy attributes… but the accumulated karma he had taken in had finally sparked a reaction, setting off a technique transformation.

Because of this, he felt a twinge of regret for not gorging on even more of the Six-Headed Dragon’s flesh.

Granted, it had been a diminished and flawed divinity, but it had nonetheless been a stupendous entity, a beast that had grazed the threshold of godhood.

Its physical form must have harbored a shard of divine essence.

Nonetheless, Harley suppressed the craving tearing at his stomach and shook his head.

‘No, I mustn’t let greed take over. Self-control is vital. I’ve already sown the seed, so there’s absolutely no reason to overdo things.’

The act of dying itself triggered a massive drop in raw capability.

Even a genuine deity was forced to surrender an immense price to achieve rebirth, so how much could he truly hope to extract from a faded and shattered divinity?

It would yield far better results to utilize the remains for his primary objective, the revival of Ganghwange.

‘There will be alternative chances down the line.’

He held absolute certainty that he would eventually lay hands on what he coveted.

‘Prospective openings will present themselves naturally, provided I keep moving along my chosen track. In the exact same manner as always.’

But before any of that,

There was a matter he absolutely had to take care of.

A critical obligation he had been continuously putting off.

“Hey, pal?”

“…What is it?”

“I noticed people have been calling us the ‘old Mad Demon’ and the ‘new Mad Demon’.”

“…”

“Tsk— I’m not a fan of that. It has to be the fault of those who were present during the event. If a single person had stepped in to correct them, we wouldn’t be saddled with these bizarre titles. What’s your take?”

Mok In-gwang shifted his eyes away, clamping his mouth into a tight, straight line as Harley spoke, his gaze narrowing significantly.

The giant was entirely correct.

If he had simply set the record straight when the rumors initially began to circulate, the outcome might have shifted.

Even if titles were handed out by the masses rather than being self-proclaimed, no one would have easily dismissed the perspective of an individual who had just delivered them from ruin and exhibited such cataclysmic might.

Yet, he had chosen to remain completely quiet.

His reasoning was perfectly clear.

He would far prefer to bear the moniker of the ‘old Mad Demon’ than openly concede his total defeat and be rebranded as a ‘Mad Dog’.

“It couldn’t be prevented. There was massive disorder everywhere after you vanished into thin air, and by the time the dust settled, everyone was far too preoccupied with rushing back to their own territories… Furthermore, monikers aren’t exactly something you can just… pick out for yourself…”

“Hey! Why are you giving me this long-winded explanation? I’m not tossing blame your way! Are we really the sort of people to bicker over such meaningless details? I’m genuinely insulted!”

“…Is that so?”

Mok In-gwang’s face brightened considerably upon hearing Harley’s surprisingly charitable words.

He had been bracing himself for another intense clash with the notoriously short-tempered colossus… but it appeared his anxieties had been entirely unfounded.

‘What a relief. Well, he doesn’t truly seem like the kind of guy to… ’

However, Harley was nowhere near finished.

“Hahaha! Let’s just… exchange thoughts in our own distinct fashion! That is precisely how we struck up a friendship to begin with!”

“…Our own fashion? Friends?”

“Yeah! Exactly like the day we first crossed paths!”

Thud!

He cracked a wide smile, slamming his fist firmly against Mok In-gwang’s.

His colossal muscular frame flexed and rippled with intensity.

Simultaneously, a memory, distant yet agonizingly clear, tore through Mok In-gwang’s mind.

Gulp—

His features froze entirely as the deeply buried trauma forced its way back to the surface.

Yet Harley, completely unbothered by his companion’s visible horror, merely kept grinning.

Physical exchange, a dialogue conducted entirely through their bodies.

It was undeniably the finest method to hold a thoroughly sincere and transparent debate!

‘This serves as an excellent window. I’ll gauge exactly how much progress he’s managed to make.’

The absolute best route to measure an individual’s advancement was by testing them in combat.

And Mok In-gwang, widely celebrated for his incredible resilience, represented the ultimate test subject.

“Come along, pal! Let’s get to it! Hahaha!”

“…”

Harley, taking the point, confidently marched his way toward the courtyard meant for sparring, while Mok In-gwang, completely stripped of any ability to decline, trailed behind with immense dread, resembling a helpless creature being guided straight to its doom.

And when a significant period had elapsed,

A solitary figure eventually stepped away from the utterly demolished training grounds.

‘Whew, that really cleared the air. He was long overdue for another… adjustment anyway. Hitting two targets with a single strike.’

Granted, Mok In-gwang had transformed into a substantially more balanced and logical individual following his encounters with Harley, but he had nonetheless been recorded as one of Ganghwange’s most infamous lunatics, feared far and wide as the ‘Mad Demon’.

He had kept a relatively low profile of late, but there remained a constant threat of him reverting to his old ways, meaning routine… servicing was absolutely mandatory.

This wasn’t a display of mindless cruelty; it was a form of therapy, an act driven by pure benevolence and goodwill.

‘There weren’t any practitioners within the Golden Island Sect who possessed mastery over the Mad Control Heart Technique, but I happen to hold the “optimized” variant, so it isn’t an issue.’

Underneath his strict tutelage, it wouldn’t take much time at all before Mok In-gwang managed to break into the Mysterious Realm.

Naturally, the journey there would be… exceptionally agonizing and brutal, but such was the fundamental reality of reaching true awakening.

‘Alright, time to handle the real business.’

Harley, having successfully tied up his… lingering loose ends, officially put in a request for an audience with the Shaolin Abbot.

All to lay down the foundations for his upcoming Home Theater practice run.

—

It wasn’t a complete anomaly that Zhuge Hyemi’s transmission incantation had accidentally locked onto Hugo.

This was, when considering the facts, her very first attempt at orchestrating an official mystical formula.

Consequently, a minor deviation in her targeting parameters was entirely within the realm of reason.

[“…It appears my arithmetic was slightly flawed when I drew upon Prince Zhu Gang-in’s vital reserve. Panic was setting in, and the remaining group members were in terrible shape, leaving me with no choice but to beg for his assistance…”]

Yet because of that exact blunder, she had not merely forged a powerful connection with the two of them, but had likewise established a profound causal link with Hugo, who had journeyed out specifically to pull them from harm’s way.

‘That is quite an extraordinary feat all on its own.’

Furthermore, it had saved him a massive amount of time, which proved to be highly advantageous.

Every single second was of paramount importance.

Hugo offered her words of comfort, instructing her to establish contact with the Zhuge Clan to pass along their current coordinates and status.

[“Are you absolutely certain it won’t cause trouble? Things have remained calm for a brief period. However, even if I exercise extreme caution, a premier combatant might pick up on the mystical trace if they draw near.”]

There was no danger.

He had personally swept the entire perimeter clean of any viable hazards.

But since he couldn’t openly relay that information to her, he merely offered reassurance, keeping his tone perfectly balanced and poised.

[“…Huu, understood. I will make another attempt. I feel significantly more self-assured now that I have successfully managed it once. To think I spent so many years confined to a bed solely because of this burden…”]

Her vocal tone, which had previously been vibrating with deep apprehension, was now brimming with a fresh sense of resolve.

And just as he assumed their communication had reached its natural conclusion…

[“…This entire outcome is a direct result of your aid, Young Master Ha. I would have utterly failed to accomplish this if my body had remained as frail as the others.”]

Her voice persisted, sounding rather guarded and self-conscious, as a trace of her underlying nervousness bubbled back to the surface.

[“…We will… cross paths again, right?”]

And Hugo’s response was already waiting on the tip of his tongue.

[“Naturally. Didn’t we settle on a pact? I intend to recount every single detail concerning the grand gathering of the Murim Alliance.”]

[“…You actually kept that in mind?”]

[“Of course. I even went out of my way to secure a memento for you. Tell me, have you been keeping up with your physical conditioning routinely, Young Miss?”]

[“I haven’t skipped out on a single session… until today, at least. I was completely consumed by managing this spell.”]

[“As luck would have it, midnight is still a considerable duration away. You possess more than enough time to reach out to the Zhuge Clan, complete your physical training, and then retire for the night.”]

[“…Tsk, fine.”]

Their casual, lighthearted back-and-forth seemed to have successfully dissolved the weight of her worries.

It certainly hadn’t been a meaningless exchange.

[“I have practically arrived at the gates of Beijing. I will discover a path forward. Do not lose heart. I will extract you from that place, no matter the obstacles.”]

[“…”]

His declaration, saturated with an unyielding certainty—a vow anchored in an undeniable reality—

…reduced her to complete silence.

[“…Yes, I will be waiting for your arrival.”]

Following that quiet, barely audible murmur, the mystical link dissolved entirely.

She would take a brief moment to gather her strength, then reach out to the Zhuge Clan, detailing their coordinates and the immediate landscape with as much precision as she could muster.

There was a chance he might ultimately discover he had traveled all this way for zero return… but he remained completely unbothered by the prospect.

His trek to Beijing was anchored in far more than merely extracting pieces of intelligence.

“Now then…”

Hugo gave a firm nod, his face setting into a serious mask as his awareness locked back onto his immediate objective.

He had been momentarily sidetracked by Zhuge Hyemi’s sudden transmission, but he was currently in the dead center of a critical procedure.

‘Let’s review… up next… the Hundred Year Mountain Polygonatum? Pass on that. I have no desire to develop an artificial immunity to subpar medicinal treasures. Oh! The Thousand Year Ginseng King. Now that is precisely what I need. Although even this is slightly lacking… I ought to summon Harris and task him with collecting some genuinely high-grade miracle herbs.’

He gulped down the medicine entirely intact, bypassing any traditional methods of cooking or refining.

It was an action that would normally be deemed catastrophic for an ordinary martial artist, but given his possession of the 「Power of Gluttony」, such rules were entirely irrelevant.

Hummmmm—

His internal reserve erupted into motion, his physical form vibrating in perfect alignment with the shifting currents of Ki.

Hugo—Ha Seung-hoon, a supreme powerhouse of the Master Realm who had barely entered his twenties.

His inner energy, when evaluated purely by its sheer volume, had already ascended to the very peak of the world.