Chapter 202
Chapter 202
The temperature of the surroundings began to drop rapidly.
A chilling Killing Intent and expressions that showed utter confusion coexisted within the stillness.
Within that dreadful silence where numerous emotions tangled together like threads, Youngho opened his mouth.
“Just what is a Divine Spirit?”
“Someone who can defy the providence of the world.”
“…….”
It was only a single sentence, yet the meaning contained within it was deep.
‘The providence of the world…….’
Something closely touching the principles of nature, yet at the same time different in its essence.
A laugh slipped out on its own. Youngho chuckled for a moment before glancing at the old man’s severed arm and speaking.
“You should probably stop the bleeding.”
“Understood.”
The old man immediately pressed an acupoint to stanch the bleeding. The cut had been so clean that the blood stopped the moment the point was pressed.
Maintaining a posture of submission toward Youngho, the old man spoke.
“My name is Ohyo. If it does not inconvenience the Divine Spirit, may I escort you to the Beast Palace?”
“That’s fine. But I’d like to take this fellow along as well.”
When Youngho cast a glance toward Maeng Yulho, Ohyo answered without the slightest hesitation.
“That is acceptable. Shall we keep him alive?”
“I’d like to talk with him, so I’d prefer to keep him alive for now.”
“I shall obey your command.”
Afterward, Ohyo took a small bottle tied at his waist and shoved it into Maeng Yulho’s mouth.
When the liquid inside the bottle was forcibly poured down his throat, about half a Dakyung later Maeng Yulho woke up retching.
“Uwaaaack!”
The sight of him vomiting everything inside his stomach made his already barbaric appearance seem even more savage.
Youngho watched the muscles on Maeng Yulho’s back writhing as he asked Ohyo,
“Right now, who should be called the Palace Lord? Are you the Palace Lord?”
“You may address me however you find comfortable.”
Ohyo’s demeanor had become incomparably more obedient than before, which was quite strange.
This appearance of blindly believing and following something was almost like……
‘The Demonic Cult.’
It reminded him of fanatics who once worshiped and followed the Heavenly Demon.
Youngho asked the still-heaving Maeng Yulho,
“Palace Lord, this man says I’m a Divine Spirit. Do you know anything about it?”
“What?!”
Maeng Yulho, who had been vomiting, stared at Youngho with bloodshot eyes.
“Is it really that shocking? Your pupils seem severely dilated.”
“Who said something like that…?”
Before Maeng Yulho could finish speaking, he suddenly scowled as he felt a sinister Killing Intent from beside him.
“Ohyo.”
“You should mind your decorum.”
“You were the one who said it?”
“And if I did, what will you do?”
Ohyo smiled darkly as if mocking a discarded beast.
“The people of the Beast Palace all serve and revere the Divine Spirit. A mere Palace Lord should not attempt to judge the Divine Spirit.”
“Hm…….”
Maeng Yulho let out a low groan before asking,
“Do you have proof?”
“How disrespectful.”
“I simply do not trust your words. That person is the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance. In the Central Plains, he is called the Martial God.”
This time even Ohyo looked surprised. He rubbed his neatly groomed beard with his fingers in an attempt to hide his agitation.
“……Even so, that person is indeed the Divine Spirit. He severed my arm with the power of ‘will.’”
“……!”
Maeng Yulho jerked in shock and stared at Youngho.
‘He used the power of ‘will’?’
It made no sense. If such a thing were truly possible, then he would indeed have to be regarded as a Divine Spirit.
“……I cannot believe your words.”
“Not only my honor, but if that person has never used the power of will, I will deny that I am the son of the Five Poisons.”
“……!”
The Five Poisons was the sacred existence that had contributed the most to the creation of the Beast Palace.
And Ohyo was the sacred son who inherited the blood of the Five Poisons.
Yet he was declaring that he would discard his own noble lineage?
‘If he is boasting to this extent, then there really must be something to it.’
Youngho listened to the two briefly before thinking,
‘Is it some kind of folk belief?’
Whether in the Central Plains or beyond the frontier, conflicts caused by religion seemed no different.
‘This is going to become troublesome.’
He strongly wanted to return, but……
Youngho glanced sideways at the palace members staring at him with peculiar eyes and thought,
‘These guys probably won’t let me go.’
An idol.
At the moment, they regarded Youngho as something noble and sacred.
‘Because of that Divine Spirit thing?’
He had once been the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance and even a hero of war, but he had never become a god.
Just as he was wondering what he should do—
“Is there something that troubles you?”
The sharp-eyed Ohyo quickly approached Youngho and asked. Although it had been Youngho who severed Ohyo’s arm, the emotion Ohyo showed was not resentment or hatred, but reverence.
“……Just lead the way. You said you wanted to take me somewhere.”
“My apologies.”
Ohyo raised his remaining hand toward the sky and made a strange hand gesture.
As if it were a signal, the presences hiding within the forest scattered in several directions.
“And don’t touch the people here.”
“Anything protected by the Divine Spirit is something we must also protect. Please do not worry.”
When Youngho said that to protect the palace members, Maeng Yulho expressed his gratitude with a glance.
Despite the grateful look, Youngho yawned and said,
“Palace Lord, come along as well. It seems we need a rather confidential conversation.”
Maeng Yulho bowed his head with a stiff expression. Taking it as agreement, Youngho looked at Ohyo with an urging gaze.
Perhaps because he was used to serving someone difficult, Ohyo immediately reacted even to Youngho’s slightest glance.
Not long after they set out, Youngho and the group arrived at the Beast Palace.
“Desolate.”
That was the impression he felt the moment he arrived.
The buildings were grand and refined, yet not the slightest trace of vitality could be felt within them.
Because the presence of people could be sensed here and there, the place seemed full of empty spaces.
“It’s Maeng Yulho!”
“Everyone assemble! Maeng Yulho has appeared!!”
Seeing one of the palace members shouting urgently, Youngho asked,
“Ohyo, who are those people? They don’t seem like members of the Five Venoms Sect.”
“To explain briefly, our Five Venoms Sect is somewhat of an anomaly within the Beast Palace. Instead of developing muscles, we developed techniques…”
“So most of the others trained their muscles.”
“That is correct.”
After saying that, Ohyo began calming the man who was gathering people.
After speaking with him for a moment, the man nodded with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.
“You may enter now. And Maeng Yulho, please follow this person for a moment.”
Maeng Yulho looked at the person Ohyo pointed to.
“…Are you serious?”
“There is no one else capable of stopping you except him.”
“Why not poison me again with that precious poison of yours like before?”
“That was only possible because it was me. If others tried the same, they would not even be able to peel your skin.”
“…Tsk.”
Maeng Yulho frowned fiercely. However, knowing there was no alternative, he did not refuse.
“Divine Spirit, please come this way.”
“Ah, before that, I’d like to wash my disciple.”
“……!”
For a moment shock flashed in Ohyo’s eyes. However, he skillfully concealed it and looked at the dirt-covered Yoon Seojeong.
“Is she the Divine Spirit’s disciple?”
“That’s right.”
At Yoon Seojeong’s confirmation, Ohyo pondered briefly before asking,
“May I ask your age?”
“You don’t have to address me so formally. I’m not even of coming-of-age age yet.”
The somewhat gloomy look in Ohyo’s eyes suddenly shone brightly.
Smiling, he summoned a maid and assigned her to Yoon Seojeong.
“This child will serve the Young Divine Spirit with utmost devotion. If you require anything, please tell her.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll see you later, Master!”
“Yes, wash up and eat the rice cakes I made. I’ll come shortly.”
“Of course! I should eat well what Master gives me!”
Youngho smirked at his disciple’s cheerfulness and waited until Yoon Seojeong disappeared from sight before speaking.
“So what exactly is all this?”
“I humbly apologize, but I do not know what it is that the Divine Spirit has sensed.”
“Someone is watching me.”
After silently listening to Youngho’s words, Ohyo showed an intrigued expression.
“It seems that person has taken interest in the Divine Spirit. I was actually about to guide you to that person.”
“I don’t like the hobby of spying… The person I’m going to meet isn’t a man, is it?”
“In terms of gender, she is a woman. But why do you ask…?”
Perhaps he thought it was some mysterious remark befitting a Divine Spirit. A strange longing appeared in Ohyo’s eyes.
However, the reply that came back was mysterious yet chilling beyond comprehension.
“If it were a man, I’d have to gouge out his eyes.”
“…?”
At first Ohyo thought it was a joke from the Divine Spirit. After all, the thoughts of a Divine Spirit were impossible for him to predict.
“If someone peeped at my disciple, shouldn’t a master take action? Don’t you think so, Jongpal?”
“That is called being overly fussy.”
“With Heukyeong gone, I suppose I’ll have to raise my own fist instead.”
“How could a simpleton like me understand the heart of a master caring for his disciple? I merely meant that the Alliance Lord cherishes his disciple exceptionally.”
“You dodge quite well.”
Listening to their conversation, Ohyo thought,
‘Was that really a joke?’
The way it seemed both a joke and the truth at the same time felt strangely mysterious.
Perhaps because he was too absorbed in thought, Ohyo failed to notice the Killing Intent flickering in Youngho’s eyes.
‘If it’s a man, I’ll kill him. If it’s a woman, I’ll only gouge out her eyes.’
Even if it were the same gender, would it not feel unpleasant if someone looked at another’s body without permission?
As always, Youngho was prepared to stain his hands with blood if it was for the sake of his disciple.
Unlike Ohyo, who thought it was merely a joke, Youngho was always serious.
After moving deeper into the palace, the space gradually grew narrower.
It was wide enough for someone slightly larger than Maeng Yulho to pass through, but for the interior of the Beast Palace it was strangely cramped.
Then Ohyo stopped walking.
And at a dead end, no less.
Had someone presumed to be a high-ranking expert of the Beast Palace gotten lost inside the palace?
Just as Jongpal thought it might be a trap and was about to draw his sword—
Ohyo bent down and pressed his palm against something.
The wall that had looked like an ordinary pavilion wall suddenly became a stone wall.
A rough stone wall sharp enough in places to tear flesh.
Seeing the place that resembled a crudely arranged cave, Youngho could not laugh.
‘What kind of place is this?’
Even when he heightened his Qi Sense, he could not feel the presence of the people who had been inside the palace.
‘A Formation?’
No, this was not a spatial severance.
‘We moved.’
Ohyo had touched some sort of mechanism formation and transported himself, Youngho, and Jongpal somewhere else.
‘I’ve lived a long time, but this is a first.’
No matter how much he heightened his Qi Sense, he could feel nothing.
The only things he could sense were the extremely anxious Jongpal and Ohyo calmly tapping protruding stones with his finger.
Tap!
At that moment, a clear sound came from ahead.
Rumble!!
By the time Ohyo straightened his body again, the stone wall blocking their way had disappeared.
As the wall vanished, countless plants greeted Youngho.
Flowers of purple, red, green, and blue were neatly arranged as though tended by human hands.
Thin vines wrapped around the nearby small trees, and strangely even trees that normally had no vines were entangled by them.
The vines, which seemed to be fixing the trees in place, gave the impression that they were binding something.
“A harmony.”
Because of that, it felt balanced.
It felt as though the boundary between what should be done and what should not be done had been perfectly distinguished, filling Youngho with an indescribable sense of mystery.
And beneath a large ancient tree growing in the center of the garden sat a woman with a long smoking pipe in her mouth, looking at Youngho.
Soon she removed the pipe and lightly exhaled smoke before speaking.
“Why are you staring so intently at my eyes? You’re not actually planning to gouge them out, are you?”