-It is interesting. Why does it follow your orders?
I had no idea.
Human Faced Purple Eyed Snake.
According to the Great Doctor, it was said to be more of a monster than a spirit beast. A being worthy enough to be called a monster was following my words.
What surprised me more was that it could understand the meaning of these words.
-If the guy you fought before could understand human tongue, then it would have signaled something too.
Well, it was a time I was going through a rough few days and with this chance I didn’t regret what I did, rather I felt more fortunate now.
“Please, tell the monster to move back.”
The man begged me. He was terrified with the two people being eaten right in front of me.
And when I looked at the snake, it twitched its lips.
Such a smart one.
-It looks creepy from the appearance but it is actually like a dog.
-Right
-Hahaha! As expected, sticking with you will not make me bored.
At some point, this sword was regretting giving up on Baek Ryeon-ha and now he changed again.
As the snake stepped back on its own, I asked the trembling guy.
“Will you answer the question now?”
“Y-Yes. Ask me anything.”
So nice. Rather than force or threats the snake made him succumb.
“You were talking about the bundles of roots earlier, then is there someone here who is doing business with certain things?”
I was listening to their conversation earlier. The man with a limping leg had asked them for wood.
He hesitated with his reply.
“Yes.”
Quite a funny situation. Even in places like this, there was barter happening.
-Humans are so special. Seeing that even in such a remote area they aren’t joining forces but looking after themselves is strange.
In a way this was sad too.
“The business with material. Is the one called Paeung the one doing it?”
The man nodded at my question.
After I was done with the questioning, I was able to understand the situation of the valley.
Those trapped within the place were divided into two categories. The first were those imprisoned by the Dual Martial Forces and the others were imprisoned by Wicked Moon Sword.
The one with more numbers belonged to the first category.
It seemed like many men were captured and thrown by two sides, and they decided to divide the problems within.
Even then there supposedly existed a problem for this power structure. It was said that within this valley were three groups.
An existing one, Old Moon, who had been here for a long time.
-Was it led by the 8 of them?
Right.
And the second one was led by Paeung, which consisted of most people. Although Paeung’s group was composed of people known to be dropped by Sima Chak and had been in here for a year and three months, he was said to have taken control swiftly.
-Must have a good head.
I had the same thoughts as Short Sword.
It was said that the first thing the man did after arriving at the cave was to take control of the place the roots appeared.
I heard that the only place where the roots descended was near the northern cavity. Water was easy to get with the flowing current, but the difficult thing was fire to light the roots.
-He figured out what everyone needs.
Right.
The guy with a smart head. Well, he and his men made sure of protecting the place and they were a team of 23 members.
-About half the number.
It was like dominance over the region.
The last group were said to be neutral. They hunted on their own, procured food and gave it to Paeung’s group in exchange for the roots.
To survive the coming winter.
-Then it is out in the open that Paeung is the boss. Tch.
Actually, he was more like the Lord here. Originally I heard that the Old Moon group was larger than this.
At that time it was said that they were even during tense times.
But the situation changed at once when one of the Old Moon member had tried to make an escape from here and suffered an incident in which a water opening burst open.
In addition one of them fell ill from an injury and this changed the tide.
-But it has nothing to do with you whatever they do to each other.
Right. Because I was the one who would stay here for just one month.
-Human, you sure have luck.
I wouldn’t deny it. Actually, this might not even be what Sima Chak wanted.
Maybe he hoped that I would just survive from here fighting with my bare body. Then again, I guess the upper dantian point was working and then I had a monster obeying me.
And if I could get a comfortable bed, I could do anything right.
-A month is a piece of cake.
The small pond where the fishes were close to hand, and water everywhere, the last thing I needed.
The bundle of roots to be used to survive the darkness and cold.
“Look here.”
“Y-yes!”
“Guide us to where your boss is.”
“I-I understand.”
This was something which should be done.
As I was about to leave I moved to the snake and stroked its head.
“Guard this place.”
Its purple eyes nodded up and down making me creep out, but the more I saw it, the more spirit beast-like creature it looked to me.
-Spirit beasts are born. The other things are gross.
Short Sword stuck its tongue out. She was someone who could not look at things differently.
-Maybe as a boat too.
“I will come back fast”
It would be more useful if I could take it out, but its huge body wouldn’t fit. So I followed the guy back in the maze-like path and moved to the place where the supposed roots descended.
I could hear chattering sounds and the caves seemed brighter here.
“We are almost here.”
The man spoke, looking at me cautiously.
“Ahead.”
At my words, the guy just moved without another word. It was because he was aware of the fact that he couldn’t do anything due to my power.
Upon entering the cave which seemed larger than before, I could see tree roots filling half of the ceiling like vines as they spread down.
In front of the opposite wall was the muscular one eyed middle aged man sitting proudly in the stone chair made into a throne.
“Is he the one?”
“Y-yes.”
As expected, the man above was Paeung.
The men who were sitting on the floor began to move and asked.
“What? Gap Chan. Where is the fish you spoke of?”
“Didn’t the newbie get eaten by the monster snake?”
“T-that…”
So the name of the limping man had to be Gap Chan. I never asked him because I wasn’t curious.
And this Gap Chan seemed clueless. In front of him were the leader and his colleague he followed and in the back there was me ready to kill him, so he was bound to be scared.
“And the weapon?”
As Gap Chan continued to ask, I moved ahead and said.
“You are Paeung, the leader here?”
“This bastard is that newbie!”
At my words, everyone pulled out their weapons in unison. Not everyone had the right weapons and about half of them had swords and the others had stone weapons, just like the people I met first.
Gap Chan broke into cold sweat.
“I-if it were me, I wouldn’t fight.”
“What?”
“This man can handle the monster snake.”
“What nonsense is this?”
The men pointed their weapons at me and uttered.
“Eh. Newbie. If you want to live, put down the swords and daggers you have. Otherwise, I will tear you apart right here.”
“I cannot hear you! Brat!”
It was all ready to fight kind of mood and I smiled.
Then, I pulled Blood Demon Sword from my waist.
“Oh Oh. That is a complete sword, Mr. Paeung.”
The men’s eyes looked greedy for the sword which looked splendid. On the outside this was no different from the other treasured swords, I just ignored them and shouted at Paeung who was sitting arrogantly on the chair.
“Let’s make a bet.”
“What is he saying now? How dare this bastard do this!”
One of the men tried to wield the sword at me and in response I brought the tip of the Blood Demon Sword to his throat like lightning.
“Uhh!”
“I have no intentions of fighting the lower ones.”
The men were surprised and perplexed by the speed I held.
This was because it was something that couldn’t be achieved without using internal qi.
“H-How did you develop internal qi?”
“You weren’t caught?”
The men began to seem agitated and stepped back from me. It was the most effective way to display power.
“Kuahahaha.”
At that time, the man called Paeung, sitting on the stone chair, laughed tilting his head. He alighted, as he said.
“One world”
I wondered what this could mean, but the men behind the wall had torches in the hands and they put them close to the entwined vines around.
‘…?’
This was an unexpected thing. Six people were holding torches in each direction, but if they stuck to the roots of the trees, this would turn into a sea of fire.
If that happened all the tree roots and possibility of fire in future would be lost.
-Such a shrewd guy.
My head was spinning at his response which was better than mine. He knew how to make use of the resources he had.
Paeung sighed and laughed.
“If you move even a little, I will burn down all the roots. Then we all can die together.”
The guy who said that approached me and stood 10 paces away.
Seeing that they held a distance it seems like they didn’t want to risk anything. And the guy added.
“You. How can you use the internal qi?”
“That is none of your business.”
At my words, Paeung shook his head as he smiled.
“Not an important issue. A person who can use internal qi must be able to pull out the needles stuck in the body.”
Ahh….
Come to think of this, this man was also caught by Sima Chak. Like me, he had to be stuck with needles or blood points sealed.
Paeung told me.
“You want the root of this tree?”
“You know me well.”
“There is only one reason for coming here.”
“Then a trade?”
“Nice. I want something too. The only condition is to get rid of the needles within the body and then I will do what you want.”
Take it out… but how would I do that?
“I am sorry, but that is not possible.”
“What?”
“What?”
“If it was possible I would have removed the ones within my body a long time back.”
At my words he frowned.
“You… You were caught by Sima Chak?”
I didn’t deny it. In a way he was right and I told him.
“I feel bad for not being able to tell you. My condition is simple. I want the roots, enough to help me sustain for a month.”
At my words, he looked like this was absurd.
“Then what will you give me?”
“I heard that fishes are worth more than tree roots here.”
Paeung frowned and replied.
“Are you sure you can handle that monstrous snake?”
“Do you want to check it out for yourself?”
He looked at the one called Gap Chan.
“I-It is true. I saw it clearly with my own eyes. Byeon Do was eaten by the monster snake.”
The man’s words made Paeung touch his chin.
He looked at me intently as if being worried.
“Ten fish in one batch.”
“Too much.”
“Look at our men. The men here are over 20 years old, do you think we can handle one or two fish?”
“The hole only gets eight or nine.”
The reason I denied the excessive number was because if the fish didn’t always come, then I would run out of food.
“That isn’t mine to care about. Ten fish for a bundle of three roots. Otherwise no deal.”
Paeung came out strong
“Different from what I heard.”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard from the man that even if five mice were caught, you would exchange it for a bundle of roots.”
At my words, Paeung grinned.
“Values always change. The more difficult it is to obtain, the higher the price but now we can get fishes more often.”
“If the fish don’t come then it will be hard to get.”
“Then eat something else. You will not die from not eating fish. But trees are different. How will you endure the harsh coldness from the winter?”
He knew the advantage he had so he was trying to hold the place.
Paeung said with a smile, as if he had won.
“You understand things well so get me the ten fishes. Then I will give you the bundle of tree roots you desperately want.”
“All these things seemed to be set by you.”
At my words, Paeung spread his arms wide.
“In this place I am the king. If you want to have a comfortable life down here, you better follow my words too.”
“Right. The one who occupies the root of the tree is the king.”
“Hahaha. If you understand, come on…”
“Then shall I check if the subordinates of yours have the courage to die according to the will of their king?”
“What?”
Puak!
“Kuak!”
Blood Demon Sword went straight for the forehead of Paeung.
The guy who had been pierced through the head made the cracking sound and fell to the ground with a thud.
The guy sitting on top failed to see a sword arrive from ten paces away? Just a throw was enough.
‘…!!’
What happened in an instant made everyone go dumb. Well, no one must have expected their leader to be killed at once.
I held the torch in hand as I shouted.
“Go on, burn it.”
“Kuak!”
The men with torches were all shocked, unable to decide on what to do.
“Looks like you don’t want to die together.”
The men had no answer to my words. Would those who ate bugs and rats to live through the tough life here throw it away over a conflict of tree roots?
Swish!
I pulled out the sword from Paeung’s forehead and smiled.
“Now that the king has died in my hand, am I the king? If you have a different opinion, step forward.”
The men all shut their mouths at the sight of me whisking the blood soaked blade.
