"You dare come to me after killing a spirit beast?"
"?"
What was that supposed to mean?
I had already withdrawn my killing intent, but I could only blink at the baffling title.
The Beast Palace Lord seemed to notice my confusion and let out a dry chuckle.
"You look like you have no idea what I'm talking about. That's to be expected of someone from the Central Plains. Why don't you follow me first? I'll explain along the way before you tell me your business."
With that, the Beast Palace Lord gently stroked the head of the black panther he was riding.
The black panther Spirit Beast, the only one besides the Beast Palace Lord who hadn't trembled at my killing intent, glanced at me for a moment before turning and padding back the way we'd come.
I watched its tail sway as if beckoning me to follow, and shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, looks like things worked out. Let's get going."
"Worked out?! You call this worked out?! You took down a divine beast, for heaven's sake—whoa!"
Maeng Yu-baek jumped in surprise, but before he could get another word out, Chilgong grabbed him and hoisted him onto his back, silencing him.
Judging by the tears welling in his eyes as he clamped his mouth shut, he'd clearly bitten his tongue.
Chilgong, carrying his forcibly quieted master, looked at me with a pleading gaze, so I gave his head carapace a few pats.
"Don't worry about it."
Tsk.
The Centipede Sect Leader probably didn't fear me all that much, aside from that first time, because he'd never truly felt my killing intent.
Come to think of it, Chilgong had always been afraid of me, always treading carefully. Perhaps it was because of that whole "divine beast" business.
I let out a small chuckle at the sight of Chilgong wiggling his antennae as if in gratitude, then took the lead.
The black panther had been walking leisurely, as if waiting for us, so catching up to him was quick.
***
Contrary to my expectation that we'd head to a reception room or an office, the Beast Palace Lord led us to his own bedchamber.
"My apologies. My body isn't in good shape, so if we're to have a long talk, I had no choice."
"It's fine. I'm not so heartless as to force courtesy upon the sick."
At my words, the Beast Palace Lord smiled faintly and slowly dismounted from the black panther's back. Then, staggering, he lay down on his bed, and the black panther propped up his back, helping him sit up in a reclined position.
"I'm always grateful, Heukjo."
-Kreung.
The black panther replied lightly, as if it were nothing. Now that I looked, its claws were the same black as its fur. So that was why it was named Heukjo.
Still, Maeng Yu-baek, who knew well what was in his father's room, scurried about and brought chairs for us along with Chilgong.
Once we were all seated, the Beast Palace Lord finally spoke.
"First, let me introduce myself. You probably already know, but I am Maeng Oh, the Beast Palace Lord."
"I am Cheon Hwi of the Sichuan Tang Clan. I go by the alias White Moon Sword Lord… but I imagine the title Blood Flower Sword Demon is more familiar to the Beast Palace Lord."
Starting with me, the group introduced themselves one by one in order. Yet for some reason, Maeng Yu-baek kept glancing around nervously before she too began to introduce herself.
"I… I am…"
"Yu-baek. Strictly speaking, you can no longer be my daughter, but that doesn't mean the memories we shared together have vanished, so there's no need to…"
"I am the Sect Leader of the Centipede Sect."
"…"
"I came here to expose the misdeeds of my second older brother… no, of this young master, who tried to kill me through foul means, and to deliver a warning."
"…Is that so, Yu-baek. And just what warning could that insignificant sect of yours possibly have for the Beast Palace?"
"Someday, the Beast Palace will accept my challenge."
Meng Yu-baek said this with a bold expression. Just as the Beast Palace Lord's face was about to twist into a complicated grimace under that unwavering gaze—
"B-But I'll still spare Father and my eldest brother. As for my second brother and his subordinates… I'll shatter their Dantians and sever their meridians!"
"Heh."
Meng Yu-baek scowled fiercely as if she were declaring some truly terrifying plan. But the actual content was rather soft-hearted.
Seeing his daughter like that, the Beast Palace Lord spoke with concern.
"Yu-baek. I will punish that second brat's wrongdoings separately, and your kind heart is as admirable as always—but you must never show mercy to those who seek your life. Even if they are family."
"Hmph! Isn't it the Beast Palace's law that the victor holds the power of life and death? Whether to show mercy or not is my choice! …Of course, that's only after I win."
Maeng Yu-baek, who had been about to snort, suddenly crumpled in on himself.
Well, of course. Of everyone involved in this incident, the one with the most on his mind would be Maeng Yu-baek, who had nearly been killed by his own family. So this was what he had been mulling over all this time.
If someone tries to kill you, you have no choice but to kill them first.
He had refuted the Beast Palace Lord's words head-on. Not with the excuse of having no choice, but with the resolve to follow where his own heart led.
People who refuse to listen to others no matter what and insist on having their own way—strangely enough, they're heartwarming to watch.
…Perhaps that was also the reason the Lord of the Black Alliance had taken a liking to me.
As I nodded inwardly, the Beast Palace Lord, who had been blankly staring at his daughter, burst into laughter so hearty it was hard to believe he was an invalid.
"Hahaha! Right! That's exactly right. Power belongs to the strong. The loser can only follow, flee, or challenge! No matter what the outcome!"
"Eek."
Maeng Yu-baek, who had been quite serious about his declaration, seemed startled by the Beast Palace Lord's laughter, and quietly hid himself behind Chil-gong.
My observation of the father-daughter reunion lasted only a moment. It wasn't until the Beast Palace Lord's laughter began to fade that I finally spoke.
"Well, since the pleasantries are done, I'd like to get to the main point."
"My, my. I said we'd talk inside, but here I am going on about other things. First, let me explain what I mentioned earlier."
The Beast Palace Lord, looking pleased, stroked the black panther lightly as he continued.
"First, how much do you know about Spirit Beasts?"
"Animals that possess an inner core. Their power is on a completely different level from ordinary beasts, they sometimes gain special abilities, and once captured, every part of them can be put to good use without waste—that's about the extent of my knowledge."
"Hmm. The first thing you think of is capturing and killing—very Central Plains of you. Ah, I'm not criticizing. I'm just surprised to learn how different our ways are."
Having said that, the Beast Palace Lord coughed once and leaned a little deeper against the black panther, his complexion somewhat pallid.
"Spirit Beasts are what we of the Beast Palace call animals that are extremely powerful—beasts that have entered the realm of the divine."
"Divine? You mean beings like the Primordial Heavenly Lord or the Buddha?"
"Not quite. They are called that because they inspire not just fear but reverence, and their power rivals natural disasters. To put it in terms you Central Plains folk might understand better… they would be Spirit Beasts that have reached the Harmony Realm."
"Ah."
Yunnan had always been home to vast jungles, and it was said that Spirit Beasts were often born there by absorbing the Natural Qi of the land. Naturally, some of them reached the Harmony Realm more frequently than in the Central Plains, which was why they had earned the separate name of Spirit Beasts.
Hearing that, something clicked.
Azure-White Flood Dragon.
It wrapped itself in a blizzard laced with internal energy, and the power emanating from its body, larger than any hall, was enough to reshape the terrain in an instant.
To ordinary people, it was a monstrous existence no different from a god.
In the first place, the only reason I had been able to bring the thing down was luck and favorable circumstances.
Because the blizzard laced with vast internal energy made it impossible to properly cut through its main body even with Aura, wasn't it true that even when Seomun Hwa-rin and I went at it together, we couldn't land a critical blow and were slowly pushed back?
It was thanks to Seol Ri-hyang combining the power of the Ice Crystal with the strength of the North Sea Ice Palace's Martial Artists and hurling it all at once that the creature's blizzard was momentarily neutralized.
Seizing that opening, Seomun Hwa-rin and I slammed in our full power to bring it down—if Seol Ri-hyang hadn't created that gap, there was no way we could have defeated the Azure-White Flood Dragon.
At best, we would have gathered up as many people as we could and fled far away.
"You seem to have some idea of what's going on."
"Yes. Some time ago, I defeated a Spirit Beast called the Azure-White Flood Dragon in the North Sea."
"The Azure-White Flood Dragon?"
"It was originally a serpent called an Azure-White Cold Serpent that carried chilling energy, but over a long period of time it accumulated power until it could manipulate the very climate around it, much like a flood dragon."
"It must have been quite a sight. I wished to see a divine beast at least once before I died, but as the years pass, the number of Spirit Beasts dwindles and my own lifespan shortens—it seems that is a wish I will never fulfill."
"Well, sight or no sight, I nearly died back then, so recalling it now is a rather dreadful memory."
It was said the creature had gone berserk after devouring its own offspring that had died to the Killing Net Poison, but the fact that even two Harmony Realm Martial Artists couldn't handle it was somewhat shocking.
"Heh heh. Wouldn't it be better to resolve things through conversation rather than fighting?"
Grunt.
The Beast Palace Lord stroked his Spirit Beast with a gaunt arm, and the black panther accepted it with apparent pleasure.
After a moment of this, the Beast Palace Lord began to cough—for what must have been the umpteenth time.
"Cough! I've strayed from the point. In any case, having faced one directly, you must understand—a divine beast is on a different level from ordinary Spirit Beasts. That much stronger in the power it holds, that much greater in the abilities it can command… and for that very reason, even in death, it does not die easily. It leaves behind its lingering resentment and presence."
"Resentment? Presence? I can't feel anything of the sort."
"It's not something an ordinary person would feel. But to Spirit Beasts with keen senses, and to the Martial Artists of the Beast Palace who share in those senses, it is clearly perceptible. The owner of the blood you've drenched yourself in… how mighty the Azure-White Flood Dragon was. And how it died, full of resentment."
"Hmm."
"You still look unconvinced. Then think of it in terms of people, and it will be easier to understand. The Aura exuded by a Demonic Head who has spent his life killing people is not the same as that of a righteous knight who has spent his life saving them. Judging by that killing intent from earlier, the White Moon Sword Lord probably knows this well too."
"Ah."
That made sense.
If you kill too many people, killing intent inevitably seeps out of you, and if you can't control it, you fall into Qi Deviation.
Conversely, a Taoist who cultivates the Way, drawing closer to good deeds than to the Karmic Sin of Killing, radiates a clear and pure energy that clears the minds of those around them just by being near.
That doesn't mean they're stronger or weaker, though… it's just that such an energy becomes ingrained in the body.
The same goes for Spirit Beasts. I haven't slaughtered many beasts myself, but the Azure-White Flood Dragon was such a mighty being and left behind such a great grudge that they instinctively sense the danger.
"To put it more simply, it's like how the neighborhood dogs tuck their tails and run away when the dogcatcher comes around…"
"I understand, so you needn't explain further. I'll look into the details myself."
If I played my cards right, I could refine my Aura further and use my killing intent more efficiently. Though I claimed I no longer relied on killing intent, it remained one of my sharpest weapons, so if an opportunity to hone it further presented itself, I would be wise to seize it.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Well then, I would like to discuss the reason we came here."
"I see. If it's about the marriage with the Centipede sect leader, that's no longer any of my business. She's already married off, so as long as the two parties agree…"
"We absolutely did not come here for that reason—what on earth are you talking about?"
The retort burst out without even a breath in between. The Beast Palace Lord, who had been hesitating as if embarrassed by the outburst, cautiously asked back.
"Were you not plotting to use my blood kin to swallow the entire Beast Palace whole?"
"Y-you've been looking at me that way all this time…?"
Maeng Yu-baek's gaze fixed on me with startled eyes.
But there was only one thing on my mind. Tang So-wol, who had been smiling wordlessly this whole time.
Ever since she had glimpsed my memories, Tang So-wol had grown strangely possessive in matters like this. To put her at ease, I spoke in a firm tone.
"I have no interest in children."
Her expression softened a little, but she was still smiling as if that wasn't enough. So I decided to make things a bit more explicit.
"Unlike my betrothed, who held an engagement ceremony with me when I was fifteen, I have no interest in children."
"Eh."
For some reason, this time it was Tang So-wol who froze.
It seemed my sincerity had finally gotten through to her.