Rebirth of the Thunder God

'Attendant Hwang. His corpse has disappeared.'

Hadn't Namgung Hui personally taken his breath away?

Although it was hard to see it as a complete corpse, he had thought that at least his belongings would remain.

But at some point, his corpse had disappeared as if it had evaporated.

Namgung Hui looked at his party.

But no one would have touched Attendant Hwang's corpse.

The six-tailed fox, the most untrustworthy being, had been with Namgung Hui, so she had no time to steal the corpse.

Dancheong didn't have that kind of ability, and Jeok Hwarin had also been loitering around Namgung Hui.

As for Jang Hwang, he was trustworthy...

"Brother. Were you looking for this fellow?"

"Did you raise him, brother?"

"It seemed he had a lot of information, so I tried to revive him with corpse art. His soul has left, but his spirit still remains, so he should be able to open his mouth to some extent."

"Oho. If there was such a convenient and good sorcery, you should have told me sooner."

"It's not something I can do anytime. The mental energy consumption is also large, so I can only perform it about once a month. This must all be due to my inadequacy. Hohoho."

"Well, if you're inadequate, brother, all the sorcerers in the world should just go and die. Anyway. Can we start the interrogation right away?"

"Wait a moment... Done. Begin."

Namgung Hui nodded his head and threw a question at Attendant Hwang, who was no different from a rag.

"Your name?"

"Hwang Jeongyeong..."

"From whom did you learn the Sunflower Manual?"

"First Envoy..."

"What is the First Envoy's name?"

"..."

As no answer came, Namgung Hui asked Jang Hwang.

"Brother. What is the situation when he doesn't answer?"

"Hmm... He's instinctively rejecting it strongly. This is the first time I've seen a case like this. It must be that a strong prohibition was placed on him in his lifetime, or that the one called the First Envoy is extremely scary. Let's move on to another question quickly. We don't have much time."

"I have no choice. Then what were you trying to do with the fox bead?"

"...To transfer a soul."

"A soul? Whose soul?"

"The emperor..."

Thud.

Attendant Hwang, who returned to being a corpse again.

Perhaps because this was the limit of the sorcery, he could not ask a few more questions and it ended.

Still, it wasn't as if there were no initial results.

The fact that a soul could be contained in a fox bead, and that the target was the emperor, could be called a great gain.

'The emperor is not on our side, as expected. Rather, his life is even being targeted? But why are they transferring his soul?'

In an instant, all sorts of speculations ran rampant.

They could be trying to make the emperor a scarecrow and rule the country instead.

Or they could trap the emperor in a fox bead and extract confidential information.

Or they might need the emperor's soul for a reason that Namgung Hui could not predict.

'A reason to approach the emperor has arisen. As expected, there would be no better place than the Zhuge family to ask for a bridge.'

The places to visit after returning from the Kunlun Sect had increased.

First of all, he had to go to the Shaolin Temple to check if there was a sacred artifact of the Blood Cult, and he had to stop by his family to specifically set up a plan for the Righteous Heaven Alliance.

Besides that, the Pungun Merchant Guild, the Sichuan Tang family, the Mount Hua Sect, etc.

There were so many places that Namgung Hui had to draw into his own forces.

'If I'm late, I'll lose them all to the Iron Blood Fortress, not the Hoicheon Association guys.'

As it was, hadn't the Fist King and the Poison King had a meeting a while ago?

Although he was on the side of trusting the Poison King, given the nature of the Tang family, there was no law that said they wouldn't turn their backs if the Iron Blood Fortress was more profitable.

Because the Iron Blood Fortress was geographically located right next to Sichuan Province, it could be said to be perfect for making an ally.

"Ah. Brother. The onmyoji I defeated is in front of the village over there. Brother, please collect the spoils of war from that fellow. The sorcery that fellow used was not ordinary, so you should have some gains."

"An onmyoji? A fellow who came over from the Wa country?"

"Yes. His speech is also slurred, so he must be a Japanese fellow. I had quite a hard time facing the flood dragon that fellow summoned."

"If he can even summon a flood dragon, he must be a top-grade onmyoji. Alright. I'll go right away."

And so, after sending Jang Hwang into the village, Namgung Hui thoroughly searched not only Adjutant Song but also the corpses of the assassins and collected the spoils of war.

As a result, what was held in Namgung Hui's hand was another envoy's plaque, a precious sword, a few daggers, and unidentified inner cores.

The number was also quite large, and it seemed to be at least twenty.

If you were to value each one, it was a level that far surpassed a thousand-year-old fleece-flower root.

Although it wasn't up to the inner core of a ten-thousand-year-old fire lilly, it was still an energy that was at the level of a Small Reversion Pill.

Perhaps these inner cores were from the spirit beasts that the fellows had hunted until now.

'Since the emperor is not on the side of the Hoicheon Association, are they aiming for the inner cores like this? Anyway, thanks to that, it's a windfall.'

The spirit medicines that had disappeared from the Imperial Palace's secret repository might have been used by the emperor, or they might have been hidden in another safe house.

If not, it didn't make sense that the eunuchs of the Hoicheon Association had little internal energy.

Right now, even Attendant Hwang in front of him did not have a large amount of internal energy.

Mungchi, who was watching from the side, stealthily approached Namgung Hui and asked.

"Ahem! Dad. Can't you give me an inner core too?"

"I can give it to you. Here, take it."

"That... Can't I have one more?"

As far as Namgung Hui knew, Mungchi was not this greedy.

In the first place, since Mungchi was in a state of being full of spiritual power, there was no need for him to eat an inner core.

What Mungchi needed was training through meditation or contemplation.

"You're trying to give it to that fox. Here. Take it."

Mungchi held two inner cores and smiled broadly.

He ran to the six-tailed fox without even saying a word of thanks to Namgung Hui.

"Nahi. Eat this."

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"I saw everything earlier. You hurt your insides by overdoing it. If you eat this, you'll recover to some extent."

The six-tailed fox shook her head and refused the inner core that Mungchi offered.

"It's no use to me. Since my body is still half-filled with monster Ki, if I eat such a clear inner core, a reaction will occur."

"Keung... Is that so..."

Namgung Hui, finding the conversation interesting for a moment, approached the six-tailed fox and asked.

"So you're saying a clean inner core won't do, but a turbid inner core will?"

"Well, to put it simply, yes."

Namgung Hui, who had nodded his head, took out the white snake's inner core from his bosom and offered it to the six-tailed fox.

"You can eat this, right?"

"A great monster power and spiritual power...! It must have been at least a seventh-grade vicious beast. Did you catch this, Your Excellency, the constellation?"

"Constellation, constellation. It's uncomfortable to hear. Call me by another title. Well, Great Hero or Young Hero, whatever is comfortable."

"I understand. Great Hero. I will gratefully accept this."

"I'm curious about the result, so why don't you take it right now? It will also be the safest when Mungchi and I are standing guard."

The six-tailed fox, as if she agreed with Namgung Hui's opinion, nodded her head and immediately swallowed the white snake's inner core.

Gulp.

Even the sound of swallowing the inner core was enchanting.

Like dew on a leaf flowing, the white snake's inner core flowed down her throat and melted in her stomach.

-Seuseuseuseu.

The sound of the inner core melting was clearly heard even in Namgung Hui's ears.

As expected of a fox, her digestive power was extraordinary compared to a human.

A moment later, when the inner core had completely melted, a huge energy suddenly soared from the six-tailed fox, and even a wind swirled in a certain radius.

Huuuung! Goooo...

However, since that time was only for a moment, it switched to a peaceful atmosphere as if nothing had happened, and something poked out from between the six-tailed fox's swaying tails, and they increased to seven.

Now, Nahi had become a seven-tailed fox.

"Nahi. Congratulations. On top of that, your monster Ki has also been purified to some extent."

"Thank you. Your Excellency... benefactor."

"Forget about benefactor. Just be good to Mungchi here. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have given you the white snake's inner core. It was originally an item I was planning to purify at the Divine Treasure Fortress or the Kunlun Mountains."

"Yes. Mungchi. Thank you."

She, who had been using honorifics to everyone, was now speaking informally only to Mungchi.

Although this sight felt fresh to others, Namgung Hui rather felt that this was familiar.

'Originally, a dog and a monkey are on bad terms, so this is how it should be. It's a natural principle for a fox to be wary of a monkey.'

Well, since there was no law that said their relationship wouldn't improve gradually.

Hadn't Namgung Hui himself, who had been no different from an enemy, now become close with Beak Seolhwa?

Since there were no more spoils of war to take, Namgung Hui gathered the corpses and immediately turned them to ashes.

He blew away the pungent smoke that was burning with a palm wind and returned to the village.

Now, all he had to do was take Jang Hwang and leave the village.

Mungchi and the seven-tailed fox would take care of the aftermath.

Because he had even given them an inner core for that.

"But you're not giving me anything? You even fed that fox an inner core."

Jeok Hwarin was grumbling, perhaps because he hadn't taken care of her.

"Don't you want to go to the Kunlun Mountains? Then I'll go alone."

"A man is being so petty over something like this? You're young, but you've only learned bad things."

"It must be nice to be old. The marriageable age is slowly passing..."

"Hey!! You're really mean. Hmph! I don't need any of it."

"Really? Then I'll have to give this to Dancheong. Here, take it, Dancheong."

Dancheong, who had suddenly received the inner core that Namgung Hui had thrown, tilted his head and asked.

"Why are you giving this to me? By the way, is it okay to eat this? I'm afraid I'll get sick..."

Dancheong's worry was extremely reasonable.

Hadn't even spirit herbs and poisonous herbs not been clearly distinguished?

An inner core was also the same, and what humans could consume and what they could not were thoroughly divided.

Rather, if an inner core was not refined, it was difficult to digest.

To put it simply in terms of food, plants were easy to eat raw, but meat had to go through a cooking process.

If you were to compare that principle to inner cores and spirit herbs, an inner core could be called meat, and a spirit herb could be called a plant.

"Although it might be dangerous for an ordinary martial artist, if it's you guys who have learned a fire art, you should be able to digest an inner core with the same fire Ki without any particular trouble. I'll help you. Try eating it. You won't die, so don't worry."

If a side effect or a problem were to occur, all Namgung Hui had to do was recover it.

Perhaps because Dancheong also trusted Namgung Hui, his face lit up, and he immediately swallowed the inner core.

"Just circulate your Ki as if you were melting a spirit medicine."

As expected, as Namgung Hui had guessed, the inner core of fire Ki began to melt easily.

Since the inner core of the ten-thousand-year-old fire lilly also belonged to such a spirit beast, it might have been a natural result.

As Dancheong's Ki noticeably increased, Jeok Hwarin ground her teeth and shed a few tears.

"Hing! You're so mean! Really!"

"The effect of the medicine is quite something. To think even Dancheong has gotten close to the supreme master level."

"No! What I mean is... Eup!!"

"Stop talking nonsense. You just sit down and circulate your Ki too. If you drag your feet, the energy of the inner core might escape."

As Namgung Hui suddenly stuffed an inner core into Jeok Hwarin's mouth, her mouth closed on its own.

Watching her, who had now become quiet, Namgung Hui slowly nodded his head.

'As expected, her talent is outstanding. On top of that, perhaps because of her innate constitution, the spirit beast's inner core was digested in an instant. What on earth is her constitution? A constitution full of fire Ki...'

Jeok Hwarin, who had been at the end of the peak, had now completely broken the wall and had risen to the supreme master level.

She had now become a master, to the point where she could take care of her own body.

If she were to meet the bandit group she had met before, she would now win.

"Th-Thank you."

Jeok Hwarin, as if she were sorry for having thrown a tantrum, blushed deeply and showed a clear sign of embarrassment.

Namgung Hui grinned at Jeok Hwarin's appearance and then said to his party.

"My brother is coming back, so we'll leave the village right away. Now that you've also become stronger, we'll pick up the pace a little. Be prepared."

"Yes!"

"Okay!"

Perhaps because of the inner cores they had eaten, the journey to the Kunlun Sect was completed in less than half a month, and they were able to arrive at the Kunlun Mountains.

But the problem was from now on.