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Chapter 329. Divine Spirit Hunt (4)
The Red Radiance Sword slipped from my grasp.
"......Y-you, you could talk this whole time?!!"
I seized the Solar Monkey, but the light of life was already fading from its eyes.
"Why......why! Why didn't you speak sooner?!!"
Blood continued to pour from the hole in its heart.
Е n u̇ m ӓ. і̊ d
A tidal wave of regret and remorse crashed over me.
If only I'd stabbed a little later......
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"My...... money......"
The image of myself laughing heartily atop a mountain built of gold and treasure dissolved into nothing.
That I could be this unlucky......
I wallowed in despair for a moment before my mind went cold.
Èń um а̊ . і̇d̆
But the last word this thing had said was "Heavenly Demon."
"......"
What were the odds of encountering a talking monkey, and what were the odds of that monkey's first word being "Heavenly Demon"?
You'd have better chances throwing yourself off a random cliff and stumbling into a Fortuitous Encounter.
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"And the bastard who killed it without realizing—that'd be me......"
After endlessly berating myself, I finally shook the thoughts from my head.
Еnu m̈а̃. і̇ḋ
A monkey tainted by the 'Heavenly Demon.'
Before it could ever become a public spectacle, the only place such a monkey belonged was the basement of the Murim Alliance's Execution Pavilion.
And its owner—me—would inevitably be dragged along for the ride.
The monkey could talk, so who wouldn't be curious about its master? I'd be extremely curious.
Curious enough to want to dig through the skull of whoever taught a monkey the words "Heavenly Demon."
"That's right...... I did well to kill it. Good job, Jin So-un...... huh? Why are my cheeks wet? Is it raining?"
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I steadied my heart and picked the Red Radiance Sword back up.
"Right, what's the point of building a mountain out of gold? The Inner Core's better. If this thing's Inner Core is what I think it is, it'll definitely make me the greatest under heaven."
Yes, indeed.
Comforting myself, I cut open the Solar Monkey's chest.
SQUELCH.
As the chest split open, blood gushed out.
Ẃ е_bn̄ ӧv̊ е̊ l Е nu̇ mа́
I waited a moment for it to drain, then pried the ribcage wide. The organs were exposed.
I lifted the organs from where the Inner Core should be, and there—something the size of a grain of millet was giving off light.
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"......Maybe the Solar Monkey keeps its Inner Core somewhere else? Yeah, that must be it."
I rummaged through the organs again, turning the insides over.
"No way......"
But there was nothing even resembling an Inner Core anywhere else.
Е n̂.ù m̈ à
Was this for real?
"......"
What kind of wretched luck was this?
If I'd known, I would've tried training the damn thing.
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Purging Demons and Destroying Evil.
The pronunciation was close enough—teach it that phrase instead, and there'd be no need for the Execution Pavilion. It'd make a great show, earn good money......
Ẅ е̇ b́ñ оv̀е l Е ń û m̊а
"AAAAARGH!"
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
After venting for a good while, some semblance of sanity returned.
"Hah......"
I stared at the Solar Monkey's Inner Core on my fingertip, then popped it in my mouth.
If I didn't at least eat this, the injustice would be unbearable.
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I calmed down and reorganized my thoughts.
First: Divine Spirits lived in the Black Forest.
Second: the Academy students and instructors had tried to hunt one of them—Sun Wuk...... no, the Solar Monkey—and failed.
Third: by chance, I'd caught the Solar Monkey, and it could talk.
Fourth: but the only word it uttered was "Heavenly Demon"......
What the fuck.
Ẃ ẽb̈ǹ ǒvе̇ l̀ Е n ŭm a
Scratch, scratch.
I raked the back of my head several times, but found no relief.
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"Does this even make sense?"
A sequence of events that I'd assembled myself yet defied all reason.
If this report landed on Mantongbu's desk, Jegal So-myeong would probably tear it to shreds and burn the pieces.
"Not that I was planning to report it anyway."
Е̄ n u̇m а̃
The problem was the fourth point, more than the third.
A monkey speaking was astonishing enough, but the fact that this Demon Wukong's word happened to be "Heavenly Demon"—that was the real issue.
What possible connection could a Black Forest Divine Spirit have with the Heavenly Demon?
"Those sons of bitches never miss a trick."
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I was already brimming with grudges, and now they'd only deepened.
If I ever met them, I wanted to crush their skulls first, then ask.
Е̂ n ù m а. ĭ d
How do you make a monkey talk?
Not because of the money. Really, truly not.
"Hah...... let's head back."
A pit happened to be nearby, so I placed the Solar Monkey inside and covered it with dirt.
The burial was obviously conspicuous, but the surroundings were already such a wreck that it didn't stand out.
Just as I sealed my lips and turned to head back to my teammates—
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FLICKER.
A fire ignited inside my qi center.
***
I'd consumed both poison cores and Inner Cores throughout the Black Forest, but I'd never actually needed to perform Qi Circulation and Breathing.
My qi center already held such a vast reservoir of inner arts that simple Moving Circulation was more than sufficient to absorb outside energy, and using the Azure Dragon Bracelet eliminated even that need.
But this time was different.
Еn u mа̄
A flame that started small was now feeding on the inner arts stored in his qi center, growing ever larger.
As if losing a talking monkey wasn't heartbreak enough—now its Inner Core was devouring his inner arts.
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"What the hell kind of......"
I hastily assumed a cross-legged position and began circulation, but the flame showed no sign of dying down.
If anything, it drew even more energy and burned with wild abandon.
The heat that had started in his qi center spread through his blood meridians and across his entire body.
Éñǔm̊а̀. і̆ d̆
Even though the Wind Spirit maintained a comfortable temperature around him, the boiling heat wrapped his body as though it would incinerate him.
'No, stop!'
The most critical problem was that the inner arts in his qi center were vanishing, consumed by the Inner Core.
After everything he'd done to accumulate them......!
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I poured every ounce of energy in my qi center together and smothered the heat in one massive surge.
A sea of energy vast as the open ocean should be able to crush a grain-of-millet-sized spark in an instant.
Ė n ü_m̄ а .і̊d̆
But—
'S-stop it, you lunatic!'
The heat continued to boil, expanding its reach.
The harder I squeezed, the larger it spread.
At this rate, his body might turn into a candle—a sense of crisis I couldn't shake.
This was maddening.
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I had to control the heat somehow. Or at least expel it......
'Hm? Expel?'
The Solar Monkey's behavior flashed through my mind.
Setting its mane ablaze and radiating heat.
......But could a human actually replicate that?
There was no time for further deliberation.
Wе̃bñ о v̂ еl̇ Е̌ ň ü m̆ a
At this rate, his blood meridians would burn to nothing.
"Hah......"
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I shunted the inner arts in my qi center to one side and moved only the heat.
The Solar Monkey's Inner Core, which had been transmitting heat along the blood meridians, began racing through my body even more gleefully once the restraints were lifted.
The heat spread along the blood meridians and fine meridians, leaving no part of my body—from fingertips to toes—free of agony.
It felt as though my entire body was melting inside a furnace.
Е nǔ m̆а
At the very limit of endurance, I expelled the heat outward through my pores—the way one might push the smell of alcohol from the body.
FLARE!
Behind his closed eyelids, a bright light flooded in.
'Did it work?'
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The temperature in his blood meridians and fine meridians had dropped noticeably.
But the heat rising again from his qi center forced him to expel it through his pores once more.
Ĕ ǹ ũm̀â . i̇d
FLARE!
A far more vivid flash of light than before.
He cracked one eye open and saw small flames licking at the dry leaves around him.
'Good heavens.'
It was astonishing enough that the heat had escaped this way, but the fact that he was actually emitting fire—
In any case, knowing it worked meant there was no time to waste.
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FLARE.
FLARE.
With each expulsion, Fire Qi radiated outward, and the blaze roaring inside his qi center gradually diminished.
How much time passed like that?
When he came to his senses from the state of trance, the Fire Qi that had been devouring his qi center was gone.
"Hah......"
Еn ŭm̀а̀ . і ď
The flame inside was extinguished, but there was no sense that the Solar Monkey's Inner Core had vanished.
If anything, the opposite.
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He raised a hand before his eyes and pushed Intent into his fist.
The fist glowed an angry red.
"......"
Most likely, this was the ability the Solar Monkey had demonstrated.
Е̄ń u m̄ӓ
Checking his qi center, his inner arts had neither increased nor decreased.
The Solar Monkey's Inner Core had consumed some, and then replenished exactly what it had taken.
"......The Solar Monkey's Inner Core had an effect like this?"
A martial artist learning Fire Arts was nothing unusual in itself, but if word got out that a single Inner Core had granted this power, No Jin-ha and the instructors would never let it go.
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"Still, 'Divine Spirit' is a fitting name."
He wanted to investigate the Solar Monkey's Inner Core further, but time was short.
Е.numа. іd̊.
"There's still plenty of time before dawn, but at this rate......"
His clothes had burned away, and he was about to walk back stark naked.
***
Having woven a crude garment out of grass, I returned to camp and used Sound Transmission to ask for spare clothes.
A moment later, footsteps approached, and Geum-pyo arrived—
"What the hell have you been doing out...... KYAAAH!"
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Why did Geum-pyo's voice sound weird......
"......"
Sa-ryeon let out a shriek and dropped the clothes.
I'd called for Geum-pyo, so why had she come?
I snatched the clothes out of the air with the Flying Dragon Claw.
"I'm not naked, you know. Why the reaction?"
Е ǹ úmа́ .і̊d́
Crude as it was, the garment maintained a reasonably intact shape.
If there was anything to be startled...... no, surprised about, it was simply the primitive appearance.
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"Wh-what...... what happened to your clothes?"
Sa-ryeon's face was flushed red, and she kept awkwardly averting her eyes.
Her acting like this was making me feel strange too.
"......Just, some things happened."
Е̊núm а
"What things...... sniff sniff, are you going to wear those as they are?"
"Why?"
"Sniff sniff, don't you smell that? Did you crawl through a Demonic Beast's dung pit or something?"
Following Sa-ryeon's lead, I pressed my nose to my arm and was hit with a vile stench.
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My skin had looked clean, so I'd been completely unaware.
"......"
Е́nũ m̀ å .і̀d
I waded into a pond I'd noted on the way back and scrubbed myself with a stone. A yellowish, grimy sludge washed off.
"Ugh...... how long have you gone without washing?"
Why was she following me? I told her to go ahead.
"Anyway, I called for Geum-pyo. Why did you come? It wasn't your watch shift."
Sa-ryeon made an incredulous face.
"And whose fault is that?"
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"What now?"
Had something happened while I was away?
"Do you have any idea what a commotion No Jin-ha caused last night?"
"Hm?"
"He barged in during the middle of the night, screaming about where you were, whether you'd gone to hunt a Divine Spirit. He threw a complete fit, yelling to hand you over immediately."
Sa-ryeon continued, her eyes sharp.
Wë b̄ ň о̌vе́ l̊ Еnùm а̌_
"The instructor was raising hell, and for some reason you weren't in your spot. So of course we thought you'd actually gone off on a Divine Spirit hunt."
Had they tracked the Solar Monkey and noticed my absence? Or had they seen me chasing it?
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The response would differ entirely depending on which it was.
Moreover, if it came to light that I'd consumed the Solar Monkey's Inner Core, it could ignite an enormous problem down the line.
It wouldn't end at the simple question of who ate the Inner Core.
It would start with whose contribution to the hunt was greater, then escalate into the question of who ultimately owned the Inner Core.
Е́ n̊ǔ m̂a . і̃ d
"Hmm, I'm fucked."
Because if fault was established, I might have to pay massive reparations.
Reparations for the Solar Monkey's Inner Core?
I'd die before watching that money leave my pocket.
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Not that the Taeul Sect had that kind of money to begin with.
I splashed more water on myself and asked Sa-ryeon.
E n̆ ŭ m̈ а.ĭd̈
"Hmm...... exactly what did he say? Did he go 'You went to hunt the Divine Spirit, didn't you?!' in an accusing...... no, frantic way?"
"How am I supposed to remember the exact wording? I'm not you."
"Think about it. This is actually quite important."
"How is that important?"
"'You went to hunt the Divine Spirit, didn't you?!' and 'So you did go hunt the Divine Spirit!' carry entirely different meanings, and how I respond depends on which one it was."
"......Eldest Senior Brother."
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For a moment, a look of shock crossed Sa-ryeon's face.
"Don't tell me......"
Then she took one long stride toward the pond.
Why was she holding a rock?
"Did you catch the Divine Spirit?"
My junior brothers really did have sharp instincts.
Е̇nů m̂ а
Would this secret even stay a secret?
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