Chapter 330

Chapter 330
Following Sa-ryeon’s careful retrospection, our group came to the conclusion that No-jin-ha was operating entirely on guesswork.

The fact that No-jin-ha had returned to our position multiple times raised immediate red flags, as did her report that he had been aggressively scouring Muk-rim throughout the night.

Had he actually witnessed me fleeing alongside the Sun Ape, his search efforts would have been intensely concentrated on that specific zone.

‘I suppose that counts as a stroke of luck.’

I had spent a considerable amount of time internally cursing Demonic Wukong because the Sun Ape’s inner dantian failed to expand my reserves of internal energy, yet this lack of progress ultimately worked in my favor.

Even if someone were to measure my internal energy right now, they would find no evidence of a sudden increase.

Furthermore, there were no dramatic changes to my physical appearance—

“Are you absolutely certain you didn’t consume the inner dantian of a Spirit? Your complexion looks remarkably clear……”

“Ahem, hasn’t my skin always been rather flawless?”

“Don’t give me that bullsh— wait, no! It’s just…… it literally looks like you are radiating light right now. Even your hair has an unusual, vibrant sheen to it……”

That absolute bastard of a Sun Ape.

“…………How could I possibly capture a creature on my own when hundreds of instructors and top Academy students failed to bring it down even after throwing themselves at it?”

“Well…… compared to them, what exactly is *Dae-sa-hyung* that he could hunt a Spirit of Muk-rim by himself?”

“…….”

What was that supposed to mean? Was she casually throwing shade at me?

Shaking off the mild irritation, I continued walking forward beside Sa-ryeon.

By the time we made it back to our campsite, the rest of the group had already woken up.

Though, looking around, why did everyone look so incredibly tense?

“No-jin-ha paid us a visit.”

“Is that so?”

“And furthermore……”

Eun-ho trailed off mid-sentence, casting an apprehensive glance toward Yang-ja-pyeong. Seeing this, Yang-ja-pyeong let out a muted sigh.

“It appears Instructor No is thoroughly convinced that Representative Jin slipped away to hunt down a Spirit.”

How on earth did the narrative spin out of control like that?

“To tell the truth, I……”

“Allow me to explain it to him.”

“…….”

Eun-ho cut across Yang-ja-pyeong’s explanation and took a step forward to speak directly.

“He was aggressively demanding accountability regarding the oversight of the Academy students since *Dae-sa-hyung* was nowhere to be found. To get him off our backs, I ended up telling him the truth. That you possess the ability to read Spirit Veins.”

Instructor No had been attempting to strong-arm the South Fist Sect over their failure to monitor the Academy students correctly. Unable to sit back and watch, Eun-ho had stepped in to shield the sect and inadvertently let the secret slip.

Upon discovering that piece of information, No-jin-ha apparently concluded that I had used my perception of the Spirit Veins to track down and deliver a fatal blow to the creature.

“Is that what happened? Understood.”

“……That’s all you have to say?”

Eun-ho and Yang-ja-pyeong both tilted their heads, looking completely bewildered by my casual reaction.

I honestly failed to comprehend why they were treating this like such a catastrophic revelation.

“Simply being able to perceive Spirit Veins doesn’t miraculously grant me the power to successfully slay a Spirit. Even if I did manage to do it, how exactly do they intend to uncover any proof?”

I might have to deal with some intense interrogation from No-jin-ha and the rest of the faculty, but what of it?

As the old proverb goes, once you eat the chicken, you can just flash a duck’s foot—without concrete evidence, even the King himself cannot convict you.

What could they possibly hope to accomplish?

“Is breakfast ready yet? I’m absolutely starving.”

Having spent the entire night locked in a grueling struggle against Demonic Wukong, my stomach was completely empty.

As the morning light fully broke, our squad pressed onward with our investigation of the Demonic Realm without encountering any disruptions.

Rushing back to look for the others would only serve to heighten their existing suspicions.

Yet, even as the sun climbed to its peak in the sky and eventually dipped below the horizon, No-jin-ha never made an appearance.

‘What could be delaying him? I fully expected him to come charging over here with bloodshot eyes.’

Instead, the dense woodlands of Muk-rim began to churn with chaotic energy once more.

The disturbance had been building since midday and persisted straight through twilight.

Even after total darkness fell, the distant echoes of shouting and violent explosions continued to reverberate through the trees.

“Could they still be locked in a battle to hunt a Spirit?”

“It certainly looks that way. After making such an enormous scene claiming *Dae-sa-hyung* had already stolen the prize, it seems they stumbled upon another Spirit after all.”

Geum-pyo and Eun-ho conversed quietly while staring off toward the direction of the latest blast, leaving me to tilt my head in deep thought.

‘Without a doubt, Demonic Wukong was definitely fleeing from the Academy students when we crossed paths.’

If it hadn’t been weakened and run ragged by them, there was no way I could have subdued it so effortlessly.

If that was the case, had they actually managed to locate an entirely different Spirit?

I shifted my gaze toward Yang-ja-pyeong, who was quietly consuming his porridge nearby.

“Regarding these Spirits. Have they always inhabited the depths of Muk-rim?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course they have. They are entities that have been native to this place since its very inception.”

Yang-ja-pyeong explained that Muk-rim and its native Spirits shared an fundamentally intertwined existence.

“I see…… then answer me this. What occurs when a Spirit is successfully hunted?”

“Muk-rim exists as an isolated domain, completely severed from the external world, operating under its own unique constraints and self-sustaining mechanics. Because of this structure, I have learned that if a Spirit is removed, a replacement inevitably manifests to fill the void.”

“…….”

A strange thought crossed my mind.

If that were true, did Muk-rim actively perceive its own imbalance and correct it? Almost like a sentient being?

As if reading my quiet contemplation as a sign of unaddressed curiosity, Yang-ja-pyeong expanded on his point.

“If you submerge a bucket into a small puddle and draw out water, the vacancy doesn’t simply remain an empty hole forever, does it?”

He gestured broadly toward the surrounding thickets.

“If a tree is felled within a forest, a fresh sapling will eventually sprout in that exact location, drawing in sunlight and organic matter to grow. It is the fundamental law of nature. You can view Muk-rim as an environment where these natural laws manifest with extreme intensity. For that very reason, it has long been revered as a Holy Land (*Sin-ji*).”

Listening to his perspective allowed the pieces of the puzzle to settle a bit more clearly in my mind.

“What about the Four Great Spirits? How long have they been documented within Muk-rim?”

“As I previously stated, the Four Great Spirits have been bound to Muk-rim since time immemorial—”

“No, that’s not what I mean. The Sun Ape, the Blue-snow Ice-white Snake, the Ten-thousand-year Earth Bear, and the Golden-armored Roc. Those specific four. Have they truly remained undisturbed in this forest for centuries?”

“…….”

For the first time in our conversation, Yang-ja-pyeong visibly paused.

“……The Ten-thousand-year Earth Bear and the Blue-snow Ice-white Snake have been recorded here since roughly sixty years ago.”

“Hmm, which implies the Sun Ape and the Golden-armored Roc arrived later.”

“……What makes you ask such things?”

“What exactly became of the original Spirits that occupied those positions before the Sun Ape and the Golden-armored Roc took over?”

“……That remains entirely a mystery. Spirits exist to preserve the ecological harmony of Muk-rim, and it is believed they naturally fade away on their own once their vital energies are fully depleted.”

Isn’t that narrative far too neatly orchestrated to be entirely natural?

“In that case…… do you happen to know the exact period when a Spirit was first documented?”

“It occurred roughly two centuries ago. An ancestor belonging to our lineage was the first to lay eyes upon the Fire-Sun Ten-thousand-birds (*Bul-yang-man-jo*).”

“Which coincides precisely with the era when Muk-rim was cordoned off as a restricted territory.”

“……The inherent perils surrounding Muk-rim were being openly debated long before that declaration. But why this sudden interrogation? Have you uncovered some sort of anomaly?”

I offered Yang-ja-pyeong a subtle, reassuring smile while gently shaking my head.

“Not at all. I simply find the inner workings of a place like Muk-rim to be utterly fascinating.”

“It truly is, isn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

The Spirits bound to Muk-rim shared very little in common with the standard Spirit Beasts found throughout the Central Plains.

Only now did it click why the Sun Ape’s inner dantian was barely the size of a tiny grain of millet.

It meant the creature had likely only existed as an active Spirit of Muk-rim for less than sixty years.

Because a Spirit had never been successfully harvested before, no one had ever actually ingested an inner dantian, leaving almost everyone completely oblivious to the unique benefits it possessed.

I decided to press with one final query.

“By any chance, has anyone ever stumbled across the physical remains of a Spirit that perished naturally?”

Yang-ja-pyeong shook his head in exasperation, clearly growing tired of the theoretical questions.

“You really are relentless. You are simply trying to deduce whether a Spirit Pill can be harvested from them, aren’t you?”

Well, that wasn’t the precise angle I was researching, but the data was highly valuable nonetheless.

“Guilty as charged.”

Despite his heavy sigh, he took the time to provide a thorough explanation.

“No such remains exist. Traditional lore dictates that when a Spirit senses its life coming to a close, it retreats into a concealed sepulcher buried deep within Muk-rim. That destination remains an entirely uncharted territory that not even the South Fist Sect, let alone outsiders, has ever managed to locate.”

I nodded along, feigning pure wonderment.

“That truly is an incredibly cryptic legend.”

“That is simply the nature of Muk-rim.”

Yang-ja-pyeong gave a loose shrug of his broad shoulders.

Yet, despite his dismissive attitude, a singular theory refused to leave my thoughts throughout the entirety of his explanation.

‘The variables align far too neatly, don’t they?’

The exact timing of Muk-rim being designated as a restricted zone.

The rapid cycle of these Spirits manifesting and subsequently vanishing.

Even the total absence of any physical remains left behind by the deceased beasts.

‘The fragments of this puzzle lock together perfectly, to a degree that feels entirely deliberate.’

A casual observer might dismiss it all as mere happenstance, but I certainly couldn’t.

A literal beast had spoken the words ‘Heavenly Demon’ right to my face, and I’m supposed to believe it’s a coincidence?

What, was I supposed to look at this as some grand prophecy delivered by the Demon God?

There had been a total lack of data concerning Muk-rim within the archives of the Bureau of Universal Information, and the Hall of Deep Wisdom yielded absolutely nothing as well.

When boiled down, it meant the Martial Arts Alliance had locked down Muk-rim centuries ago and intentionally forced the world to look away.

It appeared I would need to initiate an investigation into this matter utilizing the network of the Lower Gate (*Ha-o-mun*).

When dealing with historical secrets of this magnitude, the core truth is almost always buried underneath the scattered debris of street rumors.

Right as that thought solidified—

*Ta-da-da-da-da-dak.*

The distinct, rapid thumping of frantic footsteps broke the silence.

A cluster of individuals was recklessly crashing through the dense undergrowth nearby.

‘What is going on over there?’

A moment later, their panicked shouting carried through the trees.

“L-look……! Right there! There is smoke rising from that direction!”

“Move out!”

The individuals navigating the brush sprinted in the wrong direction for a considerable distance before screaming out once more.

“Curse it……! There’s nothing here! It’s over that way, over that way!”

“Get out of the way! Let me map out the path!”

“This miserable woodland!! This wretched forest!”

The voices bellowing out those bitter frustrations began to draw closer to our position again, only to abruptly veer off to the right and fade away into the distance.

“Damn it all! This spot is a dead end too!”

“This is insane, someone figure a way out!”

……What on earth are you people attempting to do?

Realizing I had little choice in the matter, I began walking out to intercept them.

After successfully navigating past a couple of Natural Formations, they finally came into view.

A collection of Academy students stood before me, completely drenched in perspiration from head to toe, indicating they had been running aimlessly for hours.

“W-who’s there? R-Representative Jin!”

“Jin-so-woon! What are you doing out here?”

“It can’t be…… did you end up getting completely turned around as well?”

What kind of nonsense were they babbling?

I stared back at them, making no effort to conceal my utter disbelief.

“Weren’t you actively tracking the smoke trail? What kind of reckless fools wander through this terrain entirely on their own without a proper tracker?”

“Hold on…… was that smoke signal your doing? I-in that case, does that mean this area is?”

“Correct, you have walked straight into the Demonic Realm.”

“……We never had any intention of penetrating this deep into the territory.”

The six Academy students standing before me were the exact same individuals who were supposed to be traveling under the supervision of the instructors.

Why in the world were students who had the luxury of professional external guides roaming the wilderness completely unescorted, and what had become of the faculty and their hired trackers?

“……The reality is, we became entirely separated from the group.”

“In what manner?”

“We were hot on the trail of a Spirit when……?”

“Keep your mouth shut!”

One of the sharper Academy students quickly clapped a hand over the mouth of the one who was answering me truthfully.

“Hmm…….”

Recalling No-jin-ha’s three separate intrusions into our camp the previous evening, I probed further.

“Didn’t you claim that the Spirit had already evaded you entirely?”

“…….”

“…….”

They locked eyes with one another, hesitating to speak as if protecting a monumental secret.

Good grief, what earthly purpose did it serve to guard information now, when they had already completely humiliated themselves?

“It appears my assistance isn’t actually required here. In that case, I shall catch up with you all once the grand expedition has officially concluded.”

The moment I offered a casual wave and turned to walk away without a second thought, absolute panic set in.

“H-hold on! P-please guide us back to where the tracker is stationed……. If you do, we’ll disclose everything!”

“Hey! If you blab about that, the faculty will……!”

Good grief, they still hadn’t grasped the reality of their situation.

“Honestly, I’m not particularly dying to know. Oh, and you might want to watch your step, considering the Demonic Realm is absolutely crawling with dangerous beasts.”

The second I began to slide my body past the threshold of a Natural Formation, a frantic, desperate scream erupted from behind me.

“I-I’ll confess! I’ll tell you everything!!!”

I allowed only my head to peer back out from within the Natural Formation.

“*Hiek!*”

The group recoiled in terror, tears and mucus streaming down their faces as though they were staring directly at an apparition.

“J-Jin-so……”

“Representative *Nim*!”

“…….”

Look at that, no matter how dire the crisis, one should always remember to utilize the appropriate honorifics.

When I gave a loose shrug of my shoulders, the Academy students twisted their features into expressions of intense desperation.

“Y-yes, Representative *Nim*! Our most esteemed Representative *Nim*……! We will reveal every single detail, so we beg of you, please do not abandon us here.”

Naturally, I had fully intended to escort them back from the very second I laid eyes on them.

Regardless of how irresponsible their instructors had been, I couldn’t simply leave them behind to perish in the wilderness.

My decision was completely unrelated to being referred to as ‘esteemed.’

Yes, naturally, that had absolutely nothing to do with it.

“Very well, speak. What exactly happened?”

Yet, the information they breathlessly relayed caught me completely off guard.

“A-another Spirit made an appearance.”

“An entirely different Spirit?”

“Yes……! The tracker noted that based on the tracks, it appears to be the Ten-thousand-year Earth Bear.”

“Ho-oh, is that so?”

It seemed the old adage about virtuous deeds returning blessings to the righteous held some truth after all.

Like I said, I had every intention of taking them under my wing from the absolute beginning.

“……Is there truly any logical reason for us to actively hunt for them? We are bound to cross paths eventually back at the main staging ground.”

Yang-ja-pyeong voiced his opposition, his features clouded with intense apprehension, however…

“Those individuals intentionally deserted the Academy students placed directly under their supervision just to chase a prize. Do you honestly believe there aren’t more students abandoned out there? What happens if those left behind blindly stumble into the Demonic Realm and meet a grim fate?”

“……Is that truly the primary motivation driving you right now?”

“*Ahem*…….”

The deeply skeptical look shadowing Yang-ja-pyeong’s face showed absolutely no signs of fading.

Good grief, why must people live with such a profound lack of trust in their fellow man?

I delivered my response with burning conviction, projecting the aura of a man who prioritized the safety of the Academy students above all else.

“We cannot afford to waste another second……! If we delay any longer, we might lose our chance to rescue To-ung!”

“……Did you not just refer to someone named To-ung?”

“*Ahem*……! There is an individual among the Academy students who goes by the moniker of To-ung. He and I share a profoundly unique bond.”

“……Does this person belong to the Righteous Alliance?”

“That is correct.”

Letting out a heavy, defeated sigh, Yang-ja-pyeong finally conceded with a nod.

“Understood. Regardless of the circumstances, navigating the uncharted sectors of Muk-rim without the aid of a guide is an act of pure suicide.”

Shifting our trajectory, we charted a course directly toward the last known coordinates of the faculty members.

As we advanced toward the sector where the thunderous detonations had been echoing throughout the prior day, we successfully intercepted the abandoned stragglers, precisely as I had anticipated.

“S-save us!”

“We’re finally saved!”

“P-please, do you have any spare water?!”

However, the physical state of this particular batch of Academy students was significantly more critical than the group we had previously pulled out.

Their bodies were covered in a multitude of lacerations, and more than anything, they were on the verge of total collapse from sheer physical exhaustion.

One student, desperately draining a canteen of water, managed to speak between ragged gasps for air.

“Th-the Spirit ambushed our formation halfway through.”

“It launched a direct assault on you?”

“The behavior was completely uncharacteristic of our encounter with the Sun Ape……! There was an undeniable certainty that this creature was highly practiced in the art of slaughter. We barely managed to break away and flee for our lives.”

“…….”

Amalgamating the newly rescued stragglers into our rank, we pressed forward once more.

The moment we stepped into the clearing where the midnight conflict had unfolded, the scenery turned considerably more gruesome.

Our eyes met the grim reality of the expedition’s first confirmed fatality.

I turned back toward the rescued group, demanding a precise account of the event.

“What exactly transpired here?”

“Th-the Spirit, the Spirit went into an absolute frenzy……”

One Academy student could do nothing but stammer incoherent phrases, his psyche completely shattered by the horror.

Positioned right beside the lifeless form…

“U-ugh……!”

A rugged individual garbed in traditional hunting attire, who had been contracted to serve as their guide, was rocking back and forth while frantically gripping his skull.

“……I-it is the retribution of the Spirit! This is without a doubt the Spirit’s curse!”

The woodsman appeared to have decoupled from reality to an even more severe degree than the traumatized student.

When I shifted my gaze to consult Yang-ja-pyeong, he merely closed his eyes and let loose a quiet sigh.

“……It is an ancient superstition whispered among the inhabitants of Muk-rim. It is said that should a Spirit’s wrath be truly ignited……”

Pausing briefly to catch his breath, his eyes flashed with a sudden, sharp intensity as he finished the thought.

“Every single breathing entity within the borders of Muk-rim will be delivered to its demise……”

Prioritizing efficiency, I ordered the immediate treatment of the wounded individuals first. It was physically impossible to wage a campaign while dragging heavily incapacitated casualties along with us.

With that settled, I paced over to inspect the deceased individual.

The exact millisecond my hand extended downward to analyze the nature of the fatal wound…

“……!”

*Drrrr.*

The Red Phoenix Ring (*Jeok-bong-hwan*) resting upon my left hand began to emit a subtle, rapid vibration.