Chapter 95
Stepping out onto the deck, she felt a light breeze brush past her cheeks.
Because she was inside the Barrier deployed by the Flying Dharma Treasure, no harsh winds blew in, but a slight current of air seeped in from beyond the Barrier.
The first thing that drew her gaze was the Formation Glyphs carved all over the hull.
The Formation Glyphs carved throughout the gunwales and the deck were faintly glowing as they took in spiritual energy.
She peered at each Formation Glyph, comparing it to the shapes she had learned from the Jinmun Formation Diagram.
Most of them were of a high difficulty that she had never handled before, but some looked like applications of the Formation Glyphs she had seen in the Jinmun Formation Diagram.
“This looks like an application of the Main Body Glyph.”
She could vaguely picture the structure: the Origin Glyph gathered spiritual energy, the Main Body Glyph organized that flow to use for flight, the Boundary Glyph formed the Barrier, and the Anchor Glyph stabilized the whole thing.
Of course, this was nothing more than a guess.
However, simply observing how the Formation Glyphs from the Jinmun Formation Diagram were used in an actual large-scale Formation was a valuable lesson in itself.
At the bow, the Gadan-gi Law Enforcer was still forming a Hand Seal with his eyes closed.
Considering how that person was controlling the entire Formation with his Divine Sense and spiritual energy, the burden didn’t seem light.
“Has he been doing that for days?”
She took a quick look as she walked past, but the Law Enforcer didn’t even twitch.
Just as her vision was starting to narrow from staring at the Formation Glyphs, Baek-Cheong moved over to the gunwale.
This time, she leaned against the gunwale and looked outside.
It had been a while since they left the Territory of the Yeonha Baek Clan, so the scenery had changed into something novel.
A plain stretching far to the south unfolded beneath her feet, a large river wound its way beyond that, and occasionally, a Mountain Peak exuding the thick traces of a spiritual vein rose in the distance.
“That mountain seems to have an abundant spiritual vein.”
It was a landscape that couldn’t be compared to the scenery she had seen within the Clan.
The sight of the Earth appearing vastly curved and the river looking as thin as a single line had become familiar after a few days, but every new landscape that came into view had a different flavor.
Beyond the natural scenery, other shapes entered her field of vision.
There was a flock floating at the Flying Dharma Treasure’s altitude.
“Those are Flying Demonic Beasts.”
Demonic beasts that looked like birds with massive wings, yet also resembled land animals, flew back and forth around the Flying Dharma Treasure.
At first, they looked like tiny dots in the distance, but as they drew closer, their outlines became clear and their true forms were revealed.
The sight of their feathers and scales, wrapped in spiritual energy, flashing in the sunlight caught her eye.
“This is my first time seeing live demonic beasts.”
Fascinated, she stepped closer to the Railing.
Since she had only lived within the territories of the Sect or the Clan after her Spiritual Root Examination, she had almost never seen a demonic beast in person.
She had only ever seen the Demonic Beast Diagram recorded in the Clan’s Treasury.
Seeing the shapes she had only viewed in diagrams unfold right before her eyes was incredibly exciting.
Judging by the level of their spiritual energy, most were at the 1st-tier or 2nd-tier, but there were some with even deeper energy among them.
“That big one over there must be in the 3rd-tier.”
She estimated their levels by recalling the demonic beast grading standards she had learned from the diagram.
A 3rd-tier demonic beast was a powerhouse equivalent to the Core Formation stage for a Cultivator.
If such a demonic beast approached the Flying Dharma Treasure, there was a high chance it would pose a formidable threat.
However, the demonic beasts did not come close.
They merely circled the Flying Dharma Treasure from a distance, giving off an atmosphere of vigilance.
The large one that appeared to be 3rd-tier was the same.
'They aren’t attacking.'
“Do you see them?”
A familiar voice rang out from behind.
Baek-Cheong replied without turning her head.
“Yes, uncle.”
Her uncle had taken a spot nearby, though she didn’t know when he had approached.
Her uncle’s gaze was directed more toward her face than the demonic beasts.
“We are currently passing through a demonic beast Territory.”
Her uncle kindly explained, even though no one had asked.
“When demonic beasts reach a certain level, their spiritual intelligence awakens. The 1st-tier is called a Demonic Soldier; the 2nd-tier a Demonic Warrior; the 3rd-tier a Demonic General; the 4th-tier a Demon King; and the 5th-tier a Demon Venerable. A Demonic General, which is comparable to our Core Formation stage, will not recklessly attack cultivators.”
The fact that demonic beasts also had titles according to their grades was interesting, so she kept an ear open to listen.
“Are those demonic beasts watching us then?”
“To be precise, it’s closer to their observing the cultivators passing through their Territory. They are monitoring us to see if we do anything suspicious or try to steal the spiritual treasures within their domain.”
“Aha.”
“They were just sightseeing.”
She had been listening without knowing the context and was about to signal that the explanation was sufficient, but her uncle’s explanation didn’t stop there.
“Therefore, it is a rule to pass the Flying Dharma Treasure in a straight line through a demonic beast Territory whenever possible. Proceeding while maintaining the Barrier is basic, and it is also proper etiquette not to recklessly scatter spiritual energy from inside the Barrier. If by some chance a demonic beast misunderstands and attacks, there are cases where even a Flying Dharma Treasure would find it difficult to block.”
'Ah.'
“Sometimes, young demonic beasts whose spiritual intelligence hasn’t awakened will playfully approach, but even then, we do not act rashly. The Master of the Territory might be watching. If the Master finds out we laid a hand on a young demonic beast living in the same Territory, it could lead to retaliation, so we avoid provoking the Master as much as possible…”
“The explanation never ends.”
Baek-Cheong wore a blank expression, but Baek Mu-Yeong continued his story with a pleased look on his face.
How to read the signs of a demonic beast Territory when passing a Flying Dharma Treasure through it, what the difference was between a Demonic General and a Demon King, what cases there were of Nascent Soul Great Cultivators striking deals with demonic beasts…
Suddenly, a realization flashed through her mind.
'Uncle was always talkative, wasn’t he?'
As expected of a Merchant Guild’s Guild Master, he was a sociable person, so his personality was such that once he started talking, it would lead to a sort of lengthy speech.
Usually, he was tied up in the Family Head’s Hall or the study, so that side of him didn’t show as much, but it seemed his potential was unleashed when he had this much free time.
“Should I not have come outside?”
The thought that she should have just stayed cooped up inside surfing the forum briefly crossed her mind, but it was too late to turn back.
“From the Demonic Beast Grading System to the Sect’s Demonic Beast Taming Custom, and then to the distribution of spiritual creatures near the Biun Sect…”
The topics flowed freely and wildly.
'Since it’s come to this, I’ll just listen.'
Baek-Cheong resigned herself and leaned against the Railing.
She let her uncle’s explanations go in one ear and out the other, while, on the other hand, she used Divine Sense Division to browse through the new juicy threads in the Nameless Forum.
“If I learn the Mind Splitting Art, will I be able to write posts in the Nameless Forum too?”
* * *
Like that, her uncle’s chatter flew by like an arrow, and time passed once more.
The time she initially guessed she wouldn’t be able to endure for even a day strangely became bearable.
Since she let half the content slide past her ears and filled the other half with forum surfing, her uncle’s stories settled in like just another piece of the scenery aboard the Baek Yeon-Ju.
Whenever interesting information was occasionally mixed in, she just had to pick it out and store it in her head.
For instance, the story was that the Biun Sect was a Sect proficient in cloud energy, so clouds were gathered all over their Territory.
The Sect’s main Peak was a massive mountain, and the Sect’s Pavilions were situated upon it.
The story was that the Sect’s key figures ranged from an Old Ancestor close to the Soul Formation stage to newly risen True Disciples.
These pieces of information piled up neatly in her head like short fragments.
“Just how big is it for him to say that?”
It was the same for any Sect’s main Peak to occupy an entire mountain, but it seemed the Biun Sect was a head above the rest even among them.
Curiosity arose about what it would actually look like in person.
* * *
As Baek-Cheong came outside when she heard they had almost arrived, a magnificent shape came into her field of vision.
It was the shadow of a mountain soaring into the sky far ahead.
'Don’t tell me… is that it?'
Its size was too unrealistic to be called a mountain.
An enormous shape that couldn’t even be compared to the mountain peaks she usually saw filled her entire vision.
The Flying Dharma Treasure was already at a considerably high altitude.
Even so, the mountain’s outline soared so dizzyingly high that she had to lift her gaze all the way up just to gauge where the top might be.
She couldn’t even see the Peak properly.
Thick clouds hung over the entire mountain, and near the Summit, the clouds wrapped entirely around the mountain, making it impossible to make out its shape.
“Is that really a mountain?”
Faced with this sight for the first time, her mouth fell open slightly like a child’s.
The word Sumeru Mountain naturally came to mind.
Because it was a name used as a metaphor for the most massive of mountains.
The terrain stretches from the low foothills, to the towering mid-slopes, to the Summit submerged in clouds.
With clouds draped all over the mountain, it looked less like a single landscape and more like a part of a vast world.
“Wow…”
A small exclamation of awe slipped out before she knew it.
She was usually used to wearing a mask in front of adults, but for this moment at least, her disguise didn’t work.
Baek Mu-Yeong looked at his marveling Niece and smiled warmly.
He gazed fondly at his Niece’s small shoulders heaving as she her mouth hung open, then slowly shifted his gaze toward the mountain.
“That is Cloud Mountain, cultivated by the Founding Ancestor of the Biun Sect.”
His low, quiet words reached Baek-Cheong’s ears.