As I gazed inward, I could see the form of a massive serpent within the buried killing intent.
An Azure-White Flood Dragon.
Just as the Beast Palace Lord had said, it must be the trace left behind by the creature right before its death.
However, that form merely existed. It didn't respond to my Intent, only glaring at me.
"Well, of course. It would be stranger if it obediently heeded the words of the one who killed it."
And I hadn't merely killed the Azure-White Flood Dragon. In the process of weakening it with the Killing Net Poison, its offspring—the Azure-White Cold Serpents—had also been wiped out.
Since it was already dead, I didn't think it would retain any will of its own, but… it wasn't left behind with good intentions to begin with, so it was only natural that it would be difficult to handle.
It wasn't harmful to me, and although a few conditions were attached, it was practically the same as strengthening my killing intent, so it would be fine to just leave it as is.
"It's a waste, really."
Now that I looked at it directly, I understood. I understood why the Spirit Beasts and the Beast Palace's Martial Artists connected to them struggled under my killing intent.
What the Azure-White Flood Dragon had left me was its presence.
It had tagged me as the one who killed it, so they instinctively sensed its overwhelming power and became frightened before even facing me.
Even if it was only a presence with no real power left behind, at this level of weight, it was practically a function in itself.
If I could find a way to use it, it would be a help. I could already think of five or six ways to incorporate it into my martial arts right now.
The simplest would be, as I did at the Beast Palace, to subdue those weaker than me more efficiently.
If I applied it a bit further, I could first send out pure Aura to throw my opponent's Qi Sense into confusion.
And perhaps… something even beyond that was possible.
Intent is, in essence, will and stray thoughts. In that sense, what the Azure-White Flood Dragon left me was a mere remnant—stray thoughts devoid of will. A half-formed Intent.
It was a Spirit Beast that had reached the Harmony Realm, even if it knew nothing of martial arts. There was nothing strange about it being able to handle Intent, even if only half of it.
The important thing here was that no matter how vast the stray thoughts the Azure-White Flood Dragon left me were, they lacked will.
Originally, it should have burst out long ago, recklessly scattering emotions and memories that weren't mine, disturbing my mental landscape.
But the reason nothing like that had happened so far was because it had been forced into submission, crushed under my killing intent.
Stray thoughts, in themselves, serve as a powerful force and a driving momentum—but without the direction of will, they merely scatter into nothingness.
Is killing intent not, after all, a form of Intent in which the will to harm one's opponent is most densely imbued?
The very fact that I had felt nothing unusual until now must itself be proof that my killing intent—the will within it—far surpasses the lingering thoughts of the Azure-White Flood Dragon.
If I used this well, I could overlay my own will onto the thoughts left behind by the Azure-White Flood Dragon and lend force to whatever direction I desired.
"No. It's a little different."
Power without direction is no better than a phantom. If it had truly been mere stray thoughts, they would have been swept away and vanished the moment I raised my killing intent.
But the form of the Azure-White Flood Dragon appears when I raise my killing intent, and when I disperse it, it disappears as if nothing had happened.
It's as if it has melted into my killing intent itself. To say that it has melted into a murderous intent with such an exclusively hostile nature—nothing else—
"Calling it a half-baked thing was too harsh."
It was only lacking compared to the size of the lingering thoughts—it seems I had properly poured my will into it.
This probably happened because the Azure-White Flood Dragon died while rampaging in Qi Deviation.
If so, one question inevitably arises.
Though it's incomplete because the ratio of will to lingering thoughts is off, Intent is still Intent. A power that makes the impossible possible wouldn't have been used merely to leave a label behind.
The reason it chose to dwell in killing intent is…
"Ah, so that's it."
What the Azure-White Flood Dragon wanted was, of course, my death. Since it originated from killing intent, it's only natural that it becomes distinct in response to my killing intent and then disperses, repeating that cycle.
That, well. Isn't it a common thing? Words like "I'll kill you even as a ghost."
Under normal circumstances, such words would merely leave a bad taste in the listener's mouth and end there, but the Azure-White Flood Dragon had actually poured real power into them.
My guess was that whenever I raised my killing intent or moved to harm someone, something unfortunate was supposed to happen.
Whether it was a Qi Deviation brought on by impurities seeping into my Intent and slipping beyond my control, or the Azure-White Flood Dragon's emotions and memories encroaching upon me as I had originally suspected.
I couldn't say how such a thing was possible. But it wasn't entirely impossible, either.
Hadn't I already experienced firsthand that there were powers beyond martial arts—seals, secret arts, and the like?
Above all, the Azure-White Flood Dragon was a Spirit Beast that commanded Natural Qi itself and had reached the Harmony Realm through methods I didn't understand.
It was common knowledge in the martial world that only Aura could block Aura.
Yet the Azure-White Flood Dragon's blizzard had warped the Aura I shot at it, and the ice scales covering its body had casually deflected even my sharpest Sword Force.
Just because I didn't know of it didn't mean it was impossible. Even so, the fact that the last curse the Azure-White Flood Dragon left behind had no effect on me at all was…
"You got lucky."
It was because, as luck would have it, the will the Azure-White Flood Dragon had contained was based on killing intent.
My energy was already rampaging out of control, and I couldn't properly handle Intent—and of all things, it had to be killing intent, which was practically my specialty.
What's more, hadn't I achieved Enlightenment and reached the Harmony Realm precisely by overcoming killing intent?
Since I no longer needed to cling to killing intent, it naturally lost its power to affect me in any meaningful way.
The Azure-White Flood Dragon's final desperate struggle had ultimately come to nothing.
"Now, at last, I'm beginning to understand everything."
Intent is intent, whether or not it deals me any real damage. It would be impossible for someone else like me to handle it with half-measures.
Yes. That is, if it were a half-measure.
I recalled the only ones who had ever reacted to the remnants of the Azure-White Flood Dragon: the martial artists of the Beast Palace and the beasts accompanying them.
I understand why the sharp-sensed beasts are afraid. Fearing a stronger, larger predator is an essential virtue for survival as a beast.
But why did the martial artists of the Beast Palace react to my killing intent, unlike everyone else?
Neither Maeng Yu-baek nor the Seven-Flower Centipede had ever been directly exposed to my killing intent, yet why did Maeng Yu-baek feel at ease with me while the Seven-Flower Centipede found me difficult?
Above all, the Beast Palace Lord. His energy and the black panther's energy circulated through each other's bodies without distinction, as if they were one body.
Of course, this was during direct contact, but… the Beast Palace Lord, who should have been poisoned long ago, was still alive, and could go out, albeit only while riding the black panther's back — this was likely related to that as well.
"Share?"
Sharing senses, internal energy, and sometimes even thoughts with each other.
Perhaps that was the fundamental principle behind the Beast Palace's martial arts.
Unlike the Heavenly Poison Sect, which treated venomous insects as disposable consumables, the Beast Palace cherished beasts like family — and the difference between the two sects stemmed from this very point.
If that were the case, then Maeng Yu-baek's survival was likely because he had tamed the Seven-Flower Centipede using the Five Poison Sect's secret art, and thus, unlike the Beast Palace's methods, he had not shared senses with it.
Perhaps the answer lay here.
"Let's give it a try."
With the restoration of the Heavenly Thunder Divine Art mostly complete, this was the first clear guideline I had received in a long time, after endless training without a definite goal.
To put it plainly, I failed.
"Damn, this is hard…"
The moment I opened my eyes after finishing my contemplation, a sigh slipped out.
Honestly, this was only to be expected. I was trying to use the mystery of a martial art I had never learned to devour the Intent of another person—something I had never done before.
If I had succeeded on the first try, that would have been far stranger.
I stretched out my body, slightly stiff from sitting cross-legged, and glanced at Seomun Hwa-rin, who was sprawled across the enormous bed, taking up the whole thing.
Surprisingly, Seomun Hwa-rin was training in that very posture.
His closed eyelids twitched, and the muscles across his body gave the faintest of jerks—he was clearly sparring within his mindscape.
Well, that made sense. Unless I was going to sink into deep contemplation like I had a moment ago, there was no real need to sit cross-legged.
Ever since reaching the Harmony Realm, the efficiency of physical training had plummeted, except for loosening up my body or testing a finished sword form.
In fact, when I had refined the Thunderclap Divine Art and created the Thunder Roar Sword the other day, I had reworked everything inside my mindscape without ever swinging a real blade.
Until now, I had followed habit and sat cross-legged in concentration, but next time, I should try a more comfortable posture like Seomun Hwa-rin.
I stole a sidelong glance around the room. Tang So-wol was huffing and puffing on her own at the desk, mixing various poisons together.
Seol Ri-hyang was nowhere in sight, but when I stretched out my Qi Sense, I could feel her training not far away. She must have gone to the training ground.
Maeng Yu-baek… well, he would manage on his own.
Surely no one would come all the way to the Beast Palace just to assassinate me. And the second young master had already been exposed as the culprit.
I nodded and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed. Then Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been lying spread-eagled in the center, slowly began to open her eyes.
"Oh. Did I disturb you, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin?"
"That is not the case. I was just about to wrap things up since I was getting hungry, and then you arrived."
"Good to hear. I'm starting to feel hungry as well, so perhaps we should all ask for a snack together."
"Mmm. I am looking forward to the Beast Palace's food. Even Sichuan Province had a distinctly different food culture from the rest of the Central Plains, but I cannot even imagine what the food of the Southern Man lands, where the very diet is different, might be like."
"I don't know what will come out, but since it's food served at the Beast Palace, the basic quality should be guaranteed, right?"
"Oh ho! You know your stuff!"
"Haven't you been traveling with Senior Seomun Hwa-rin for quite some time now? You certainly have a good appetite."
"Mmm. It seems I'm still in my growing years."
"…?"
I looked at Seomun Hwa-rin, who was still lying down as she answered. Was it because the bed was so large? She looked more diminutive than usual.
"…Your gaze is impure. Unlike you, whose growth has already stopped, this lady is still getting taller!"
"Yes, well."
She would be tall, of course. Before the regression, Seomun Hwa-rin had been about one or two finger-widths taller than she was now.
In other words, she was only going to grow about one or two finger-widths more from here on out.
My pitying gaze at Seomun Hwa-rin lasted only a moment. Something suddenly came to mind, and I spoke.
"It's a bit sudden, but there's something I'd like to ask you, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin."
"Don't worry. Didn't So-wol find a solution recently? I may not know about height, but this part will grow properly, so you just wait patiently."
Seomun Hwa-rin thumped her chest with complete confidence. I shook my head at her and continued.
"That's not it. Since you also helped take down the Azure-White Flood Dragon, Senior, I thought you might have something left behind by that thing, just like I do."
I was fine, of course—I'd always prided myself on being among the top three on the Central Plains when it came to handling killing intent, and I'd even overcome it upon reaching the Harmony Realm.
But Seomun Hwa-rin was different. I worried that the Intent left behind by the Azure-White Flood Dragon might be disturbing her mind without her even realizing it.
"As a matter of fact, I heard about it from the Beast Palace Lord as well, and I was so concerned that I checked right away."
"How was it?"
"It was clean. I couldn't feel a thing. Just to be safe, I even asked some of the other martial artists at the Beast Palace to test my killing intent, but there was no difference at all."
"…We brought it down together, so why am I the only one cursed while Senior Seomun Hwa-rin is fine?"
It was a good thing, but I couldn't quite understand it, and the grumbling slipped out before I could stop it.
Hearing this, Seomun Hwa-rin curled the corners of her mouth into a grin.
"That's because you were the one who severed the Azure-White Flood Dragon's neck at the end."
"That's true, but…"
"Above all, unlike this adorable one here, you're a bit frightening when you fight, aren't you? It's only natural that you'd be hated more!"
"…"
I grabbed Seomun Hwa-rin's cheek as she spouted nonsense without a hint of shame.
"Nyaaah!"
Her cheek stretched out like dough. Feeling annoyed, I grabbed the other cheek too.
Squuuueeeze!
"S-Stop it! This adorable one's cheeks will be torn off!"
I quietly looked down at Seomun Hwa-rin, who was helplessly stomping her feet while her cheeks remained under my control.
Hmph.
Cute, isn't she.