Lee Sungmin was used to being homeless. During his trip to Travia he often had to live like that as there were sometimes no inns in the harsh blizzards of the north. Although he was traveling South this time and there weren’t any raging blizzards, there was just as much lack of visibility through the forestry encapsulating the Southern Regions of Eria. That being said he was very cautious while traveling towards Travia, even as the South was different, he still needed to be on guard. If not more than he was before.
[A follow-up request on your information has been circulating through the information guilds and the Othodox Factions of Murim.]
Lee Sungmin was listening to Neville informing him about the recent activity of his pursuers. They had already discovered that he had killed Ironclad. They also somehow seemed to have found out that he had separated from Wijihoyeon. But what was really disturbing him was that they ignored her departure, and focused their hounds on tracking Lee Sungmin for the death of Ironclad.
His actions and whereabouts were under constant watch thus making Lee Sungmin extremely wary. They hadn’t had any direct conflict yet, which was quite the blessing. Regardless, Lee Sungmin asked for The Crazy Heavenly Demon’s advice. He had confirmed most of what he knew by consulting him.
The Orthodox Faction of Murim was considered a Political Faction. As for most Political factions they couldn’t just be represented by one’s personal interests but rather by the entire group’s interest.
The Political Factions weren’t like Religious Sects. The Religious Sects pursued their own ideologies and prioritized those values over everything. Though the political factions wanted to believe they were righteous and upholding justice, the truth was far from that. In Eria, several people from the Murim were summoned and there were too many people to keep track of and interests clashed. Thus it was more of a facade that they were always represented righteousness and cooperation.
Their very ideology had become viewed as old fashioned within the upper echelons of the Political Factions.The same was for the Heretical Faction, which was often depicted as an Evil Faction though it was just because they didn’t like to bind themselves with ideologies they knew they wouldn’t uphold.
“However, there’s a way to expose those Orthodox buffoons for being hypocrites”, the Crazy Heavenly Demon had told him. “What’s that?”, he asked back. “Become a force to be reckoned with and acknowledged by all. Whether it’s a being people venerate in respect or in fear, it doesn’t matter. Power speaks for itself.”,was the answer he got back.
The Orthodox hounds were only observing him for now, but that wasn’t guaranteed to stay, as the circumstances were becoming more and more unstable as more people talked.
“You should avoid friction with them.”, said Byuk Won-Pae, The Crazy Heavenly Demon, gazing at the embers sparking from the bonfire, “They’re not just sending people willy-nilly. These are the individuals known as the hounds of the Orthodox, they’re trained in tracking and utilizing dirty methods to accomplish their goals. One individual may not be much, but they’ve been trained as a unit to capture or kill the most devastating of targets. Have you ever come in contact with them?”
“I haven’t.”, Lee Sungmin replied.
Lee Sungmin also turned his gaze to the crackling bonfire. Rubia still had a pouty face because she hated traveling and being homeless. But, once the meat was cooked and the smell permeated around the three of them, her face brightened up like a candle.
“Breaking into the realm of Transcendence is no easy task. You have the power to match with them and even almost kill them as you did with Amzone who was already in the realm of Transcendence.”
“That was only thanks to his carelessness.”, Lee Sungmin replied blankly.
“Gahahah! That’s still quite the accomplishment! Even if one steps into the realm of Transcendence, it doesn’t fix their bad habits or personalities.”, The Crazy Heavenly Demon burst out into laughter.
Unlike Lee Sungmin, The Crazy Heavenly Demon had lived a long time and had observed how others react and listen. The only reason The Crazy Heavenly Demon had been left alone by the Orthodox despite not being in the realm of Transcendence, was because when he went berserk, he killed several practitioners in frenzies and didn’t fight to protect himself when in that state. If they wanted to capture or kill him, they couldn’t do it without making several sacrifices.
If they were only observing Lee Sungmin for now it was okay. Even if they decided to make a move, Lee Sungmin wouldn’t hesitate to go all out and use the powers from Heoju. Though he still would like it if that didn’t come to be the case.
Lee Sungmin was hoping things could pass by smoothly without friction.
The Forests were incredibly thick and the temperature was humid. Though it was hot and stuffy, Rubia didn’t complain as she was told she might be able to find her master, Envirus, if she went South with Lee Sungmin. That alone was enough for Rubia to dismiss any minor inconveniences in her travels.
[There are various tribes living in the south.]
Lee Sungmin inquired with Neville over the course of their travel about the kinds of Tribes in the South and what they were like.
[They’re very secluded and are hard to find within the forests of the South. They have several different cultural beliefs and part of the reason it’s so hard to find them is because the several monsters that reside in the forests.], said Neville.
[The monsters manifest their powers from the fears of the living.]
said Heoju, giving his own two-cents to Lee Sungmin to make sure he could prepare for anything they might encounter.
[The way the monsters came to existence in the South is rather hilarious as they were initially incredibly weak. But, in the tribes and cities in the South, there are several stories passed down through generations which feed those weak monsters with the power of fear. So despite being weak at first, any monster here could grow to be something disastrous.]
As they headed south, Heoju showed signs of joy. He was born, raised, recognized and even died in the South. Everything to his existence seemingly originated from here.
[Be sure to stop by that place at the end of the day. It’s a pretty cool city.]
There was a rather peculiar city located in the South. It was a city where the night never ends and the sun never rises. The population seemed to be made up mostly of monsters that resembled humans but weren’t exactly humans themselves.
“If I have a chance, I will.”, Lee Sungmin replied to Heoju.
He took turns to stand guard during the night with the Crazy Heavenly Demon. Lee Sungmin hugged the spear and looked at the bonfire. Nearby, Rubia was asleep curled up. Earlier, Rubia laid the boundary magic to support them safely, but she told them it would be best if they didn’t trust it unconditionally.
The forest was dark and seemingly boundless.
Lee Sungmin looked beyond the bright flames of the fire flickering in the dark night. Something was shaking in the shrubs beyond the campsite. Lee Sungmin unconsciously swallowed his saliva and gripped his spear tightly in nervousness. He couldn’t make out the figure but it seemed to be a non-human entity.
“Who is it?”
Lee Sungmin wasn’t scared but he was nervous. Lee Sungmin’s martial arts was something he had confidence in. In some cases he could even face people above his level so his confidence wasn’t unfounded. With a rustling sound, the being moved out from the shadows. It was a 3 meter long serpent, with a shining tint of purple coloring it’s scales. The snake brought it’s tongue out from it’s mouth and made a creepy hiiiiiisssssss sound with its forked tongue.
“A…snake?”
[It’s a monster.]
Heoju murmured. The snake, looking at Lee Sungmin with a blink of an eye, lifted its tail in the air and shook it ever so slightly.
[Who are you?]
The snake did not open its mouth, but its voice rang telepathically in Lee Sungmin’s head.
[A foolish human from the looks of it. Did you break in even though you knew this was the territory of this magnanimous being?]
‘What is it talking about?’, Lee Sungmin asked Heoju about the details of what the snake was talking about.
[I don’t know. It seems to be quite matured for it’s age, but this is just a petty and small area thus, I don’t quite know what it’s talking about, but I can guarantee it’s not something that would give you much trouble.]
Heoju said to Lee Sungmin. On their way here, Lee Sungmin had delved into the information Heoju had on the South. Learning about different species, what types of poisonous plants there were or escape methods the monsters used.
[Are you not answering me?], the snake hissed in irritation.
[That stupid snake can’t even realize it’s completely outclassed. Kill or not, I don’t care.]
Heoju said to Lee Sungmin, while speaking in a slightly annoyed tone.
The purple-scaled serpent opened its mouth, raising its body as if to threaten and intimidate Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin sighed because he didn’t want to fight.
“Don’t bother me and go away.”, he replied to the snake.
[Hahahah! You weak and incompetent human!]
Lee Sungmin said that out of consideration for the purple snake. But, the snake was rather foolish. It lunged forward with its teeth bared. Although it was fast for a monster in the vicinity, it couldn’t scare or surprise Lee Sungmin in the slightest.
Lee Sungmin twirled the spear in his hand and stabbed it into the mouth of the Monster. The long body of the monster struggled and squirmed while being pierced by the spear.
[ Kyakkkk !]
The twitching body of the monster finally stopped moving. Lee Sung-min pulled out the bloodied spear from it’s corpse. Even if it’s a monster, it looked like a snake.
‘Wouldn’t this be edible? Although I like snake meat, I’m not too sure if I want to eat it based on how it was talking to me.’ Lee Sungmin thought to himself.
As the night passed and he switched shifts with the Crazy Heavenly Demon to get some sleep. He eventually woke up and opened his eyes to the sounds of the forest.
“Oh, did you wake up?”
The Crazy Heavenly Demon asked Lee Sungmin with a smile on his face. Lee Sungmin sniffed at the smell of the meat roasting and looked at Byuk Won-Pae and Rubia with a confused look.
“Heheh… We were lucky! We found a big snake dead around there. You look like you could use some good old snake meat!”
Byuk Won-Pae said with a childish grin pointing to the area where Lee Sungmin had slain the snake last night. Rubia was seemingly happy with a foolish smile as she dug into a large piece of the snake meat.
“…”
Lee Sungmin briefly pondered whether to tell him it wasn’t exactly a snake but, rather a monster. He gave up on the idea and sighed, walking over to the fire where the meat was roasting.
Although it was the meat of a monster, it was quite delicious.
‘ What if I ate the heart instead of the meat?’
Lee Sungmin’s appetite disappeared when his thoughts reached up there. Thanks to the black heart, Lee Sungmin can quickly increase his strength by extracting and eating the heart of another being through the innate skill of the heart called Predation .
However, such a means of attaining power frightened him as he felt he would really completely lose his humanity if he did so.
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