Returning Immortal

Chapter 36

The group, which had appeased their hunger with dry rations and jerky, gathered together and discussed their advance and retreat.

Perhaps because they had been trapped in the stone gate for a long time, everyone except Gwi Seongjin was mentally and physically exhausted.

Their bodies were tired, their internal injuries had deepened, and even the wounds that had been getting better had relapsed.

Especially the Grand Prince, whose injury from the Blood Scorpion Demoness had worsened to the point where he couldn't even move one of his arms well.

"Just a little... let's go in a little further."

When the Grand Prince insisted on going forward, the rest of the people had no choice but to shut their mouths.

But not even a shichen later, the Grand Prince regretted his decision.

"Run away!"

The monster the group had encountered in the swamp at the end of the wilderness.

The Grand Prince shouted loudly as he was being chased by a beast with twelve legs.

The fight with the beast was so fierce that except for Gwi Seongjin, not a single person was unharmed.

One of the Grand Prince's arms had burst, leaving only the bone visible, and Ne Jinja was also limping on one foot.

Thwack!

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had been staying at the very back to protect the group, was hit by the beast's attack and was sent flying about five zhang.

Then he rolled on the ground for another two zhang.

Swish!

When the Raging Fire Divine Lord was in a crisis, a silver flash flashed from the Grand Prince's hand.

The beast, which had experienced that the power of that flash was fatal, slowly moved back.

It had just lost another leg while attacking the human with the long sword.

Although it would regenerate over time, it was impossible to attack the humans any further.

Now that he was far from the swamp, other demons could attack his dwelling.

Swoosh.

When the beast retreated, Gwi Seongjin ran and supported the Raging Fire Divine Lord.

Fortunately, the Raging Fire Divine Lord was not to the extent that he couldn't walk.

Still, his whole body was covered in wounds.

His complexion was also as pale as could be, and as Gwi Seongjin saw it, the effect of the Demonic Poison Pill seemed to have worn off now.

"It's a pity we couldn't see the Heavenly Demon's Tomb... but let's retreat from here."

The Grand Prince, who had confirmed that the Raging Fire Divine Lord had no more strength to fight, now ordered a retreat.

The Grand Prince himself was also in a situation where it was difficult to even move due to severe internal and external injuries.

He was now enduring with superhuman patience.

Although the Grand Prince had unilaterally decided to retreat, not a single person raised an objection to his instruction.

It was because although they hadn't said it, it was a proposal they had all been hoping for.

"Ugh!"

A long time after the group had retreated like a defeated army.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was being supported by Gwi Seongjin, suddenly let out a groan and fell forward.

In response, Gwi Seongjin's hand tightened.

Thanks to that, the Raging Fire Divine Lord was able to avoid the embarrassment of falling forward.

But Gwi Seongjin's complexion was not good.

Gwi Seongjin, who was making a pained expression as if stabbed by a dagger, secretly sent a telepathic message to the Raging Fire Divine Lord.

[What are you doing?]

[Are you asking because you don't know? What happened to the Pure Yang True Qi you took from me?]

The Raging Fire Divine Lord sent a chilling telepathic message, pressing his palm tightly against Gwi Seongjin's ribs.

"Ugh."

Although the Raging Fire Divine Lord's fingers did not dig into his flesh, Gwi Seongjin was in so much pain that he couldn't breathe.

[P-Pure Yang True Qi? I don't know what you're talking about.]

[Are you really saying you don't know?]

The Raging Fire Divine Lord asked, adding strength to his five fingers.

"Ugh,"

Another rough groan burst from Gwi Seongjin's mouth.

[I-I don't know at all.]

[You don't know?]

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had wrinkled his face like a ferocious demon, placed his other hand on Gwi Seongjin's back.

It was the acupoint area where he had secretly hidden the Pure Yang True Qi.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord's face, who had examined Gwi Seongjin's acupoint by sending his internal energy, turned black after a while.

It was because the true qi he had left in Gwi Seongjin was still remaining in the acupoint.

'Don't tell me this wasn't Gwi Seongjin's doing?'

Although a doubt arose in his mind, the Raging Fire Divine Lord shook his head from side to side.

The fact that Gwi Seongjin had absorbed his Pure Yang True Qi was a truth that could not be doubted in the slightest.

It was just that there was no evidence.

'Could it be...'

The Raging Fire Divine Lord operated his true qi and scanned Gwi Seongjin's entire body once again.

But he still couldn't find the lost Pure Yang True Qi.

It was a situation where a ghost would cry.

[Are you really saying you didn't steal the Pure Yang True Qi?]

[How can I, who am merely a first-rate, steal the true qi of a supreme master? Do you, Divine Lord, judge that to be possible?]

[Damn it...]

No.

As Gwi Seongjin had said, this was something that could never happen.

Was it because he knew that well?

The Raging Fire Divine Lord's two hands, which had been touching Gwi Seongjin's body, fell down powerlessly.

In that gap, Gwi Seongjin escaped from the Raging Fire Divine Lord's embrace.

Gwi Seongjin, who had flown up and moved far away from the Raging Fire Divine Lord, finally understood the reason why his spirit energy had increased so much after his acupoints were released.

The Primordial Chaos Spirit Qi Art, passed down in the Ghost Valley Sect, was an immortal cultivation method based on the wood and earth attributes.

It was because most of his ancestors had the wood and earth dual spirit root body.

In short, the Primordial Chaos Spirit Qi Art was the best cultivation method for his ancestors.

However, for someone with a fire, wood, and earth triple spirit root body like Gwi Seongjin, this cultivation method was not very suitable.

It was because the fire attribute was weak, so the speed of spirit energy generation was too slow.

To such a Gwi Seongjin, the Pure Yang True Qi was like a spiritual medicine.

The Pure Yang True Qi that the Raging Fire Divine Lord had injected through his Baihui acupoint had passed through Gwi Seongjin's lower dantian and had gone straight into his middle dantian.

And mixing with the wood and earth attribute true qi, it had been converted into spirit energy in an instant.

Before that, since there were only the wood and earth attributes, they had remained as true qi, but when the three attributes were complete, they had finally formed spirit energy.

In conclusion, the reason his spirit energy had increased so much in his upper dantian was because of the fire attribute Pure Yang True Qi.

Although he had finally understood the reason why the Raging Fire Divine Lord was venting his anger on him, Gwi Seongjin did not say anything.

Frankly, he couldn't spit out the spirit energy and make Pure Yang True Qi again.

Having no choice, Gwi Seongjin managed his expression as if he were being wronged.

Pretending not to know even when asked.

Pretending not to know even when he knew.

When Gwi Seongjin strongly denied it, the Raging Fire Divine Lord did not push it any further.

Still, perhaps because his suspicion had not completely disappeared...

The gaze with which he looked at Gwi Seongjin still carried a killing intent.

* * *

Swish!

Perhaps because they had stabilized their internal energy while crossing the wilderness, by the time they arrived at the lake, everyone had recovered their energy to some extent.

Even the Raging Fire Divine Lord, whose internal injury was severe, was to the extent that he could skip two stone platforms at a time.

Gwi Seongjin, who was following behind, looked into the water with his spiritual sense. Perhaps because his consciousness had become stronger, he could now see through the lake up to a depth of one zhang.

'To have increased from one chi to one zhang in just a few days...'

A smile naturally formed on Gwi Seongjin's lips.

The number of demonic beasts staying in front of the lake was not as large as he had thought.

Instead, corpses and remains were scattered everywhere, and it seemed a big fight had taken place in the meantime.

Oink, oink.

As the group that had crossed the lake was passing through the gate of the ancient formation, a deep pit was visible in front.

Since it hadn't been there before, he looked out of curiosity, and a pig demonic beast was digging the ground, oinking.

It was a pig with blue skin and abnormally large fangs.

"That pig bastard must have nothing better to do."

"Maybe the prey it was chasing dug into the ground."

"That being said, it looks quite delicious."

The Grand Prince and Ne Jinja, who didn't know the reason why the pig demonic beast was digging the ground, exchanged words as if it were no big deal.

However, Gwi Seongjin, who knew the purpose of the demonic beast, was making a regretful expression.

It was because a spirit stone was located right in front of the pig demonic beast's nose.

In a little while, the spirit stone would go into the demonic beast's mouth.

At that very moment.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had been silent until now, lightly flicked up a stone rolling on the ground with his foot.

Next, he intercepted the stone and just swung his wrist once...

Swish!

The stone cut through the space like an arrow and pierced the air.

At the same time.

The pig, which had been distracted by the spirit stone, fell to the ground with a thud without even being able to scream.

Looking at the fallen pig, its skull was broken and it was spewing blood like a fountain.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had simply caught the pig demonic beast with a single stone, instructed Gwi Seongjin.

"Go down and cut off just enough to roast and eat."

"I understand."

Gwi Seongjin, who had barely appeased his hunger with the last remaining dry rations and jerky since their food had run out, answered cheerfully and jumped down into the pit.

Gwi Seongjin, who had cut off one leg with his Thunder Cloud Sword, opened the dead pig's mouth and looked at its fangs.

The hideously shaped fangs, half a chi in size, were as sharp as could be.

"Wow! I could make a dagger with this."

Although he had said that, he did not actually cut the fangs.

Instead, while putting down the pig's head he had lifted, he carefully rubbed his toe and took out the spirit stone in the ground.

Gwi Seongjin, who had taken out the spirit stone, glanced at that side.

A fire attribute spirit stone.

It was much larger than the one he had seen in the Ghost Valley Sect in the past, and with this size, he could fill several barrier stones.

Gwi Seongjin, who had secretly put the spirit stone into his sleeve, carried one of the dead pig's legs on his shoulder and climbed up the pit.

The group was already walking far ahead.

Gwi Seongjin, who was appeasing his hungry stomach with the roasted pork outside the ancient formation, secretly deployed his spiritual sense.

Fortunately, there was no danger within sixty zhang.

The same went for underground.

For some reason, he couldn't find a trace of the green-robed woman, who was said to be skilled in the Earth Escape Technique.

It was when the group had entered the formation where they had killed the Three-Eyed Toad.

Although only a few days had passed, surprisingly, only the bones of the Three-Eyed Toad remained.

Buzz, buzz!

The flying insects that coveted the dead meat were deeply embedded in the bones and were greedily tearing at the remaining flesh.

Flash!

When Gwi Seongjin looked with his spiritual sense, a small flying insect turned its head and glared at him.

A red radiance flashed from its eyes, and it was an insect whose cultivation was even higher than Gwi Seongjin's.

If those things rushed in a swarm...

Gwi Seongjin's shoulders trembled, and his steps naturally quickened.

One could not ignore them just because they were small.

Fortunately, the flying insects did not rush at the group.

The rotten meat of the dead Three-Eyed Toad seemed to be better.

The corner of Gwi Seongjin's lips, who was following behind the Raging Fire Divine Lord and the Grand Prince, twisted slightly at some point.

It was because a human figure was approaching from under the ground.

It was the very same demoness who had attacked them a few days ago.

Judging from the direction the demoness was approaching, her attack target was Ne Jinja.

Limp, limp.

Perhaps because one of his legs was uncomfortable, Ne Jinja was walking awkwardly, swaying his body.

Perhaps because of that, he was gradually falling behind the group.

Phew!

Ne Jinja, who had stopped walking for a moment, frowned and then suddenly let out a sigh.

Seeing that he was regulating his breathing for a moment before walking, his internal injury seemed to be more severe than he had thought.

At that very moment, the speed of the Blood Scorpion Demoness, who was performing the Earth Escape Technique, suddenly quickened.

The direction the demoness was approaching was Ne Jinja's side.

It was a direction that cleverly avoided the Raging Fire Divine Lord's consciousness range.

Come to think of it, no one except Gwi Seongjin had noticed the Blood Scorpion Demoness's approach now.

It was as clear as day that Ne Jinja would be in danger, but Gwi Seongjin did not bother to warn him.

No, he couldn't.

Instead, he focused his attention on the Earth Escape Technique the demoness was performing.

As a result of Gwi Seongjin's observation, the Blood Scorpion Demoness's Earth Escape Technique was closer to a martial art than a spell.

The core of the Earth Escape Technique she was performing was the Five Elements Divine Pearl in her hand.

The demoness, who had cultivated an internal energy with a strong earth attribute, was freely controlling the surrounding earth by blowing true qi into the pearl.

It was a method of loosening the hard ground to expand the gaps and moving as if swimming by pushing the earth in front to the back.

A technique similar to the Earth Traveling Art in a way.

Even so, there were almost no traces left behind her after she had passed.

It was to the extent that he could barely grasp it by examining it closely with his spiritual sense.

However, it seemed it was difficult for her to exert her divine power in stone.

When she encountered a rock or a stone while performing the Earth Escape Technique, she would go around it and then move forward.

The Blood Scorpion Demoness, who had succeeded in secretly approaching under Ne Jinja's feet, stopped moving for a moment.

It was to prepare her mind before attacking.

The place where the Blood Scorpion Demoness, who had been seriously injured after killing the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, had stayed was at the entrance of the path that Gwi Seongjin's group had to pass to return.

Although she had been circulating her qi and treating her wounds by digging into the ground there, she had not neglected her vigilance for a moment, so she was finally able to seize the opportunity to hunt Ne Jinja.

Although she could have fully recovered her body if she had recuperated for a few more days, she had immediately chased after Gwi Seongjin's group.

It was because the group's condition did not look very good either.

(End of Chapter)