Does it have a taste?
Jeok Muryong honestly couldn't be sure.
Strictly speaking, there was something—a flavor the tongue could detect.
For Jeok Muryong, that alone was enough.
An eternity trapped in the void of the Bottomless Abyss.
And now, that space had suddenly vanished before his eyes. Jeok Muryong had reclaimed his body.
He had no idea what trick of fate this was.
Honestly, he didn't even want to know.
The only certainty was that he had returned.
Back to the Central Plains, with a fully intact body and mind.
Fully intact?
He wasn't so sure about that.
His mind might be fine, but his body was a utter wreck.
What greeted Jeok Muryong in this state was a thick fog.
Water vapor clumped together, so there was some moisture, at least.
But it was still colorless, tasteless, odorless.
Jeok Muryong wanted to eat something—anything to stimulate his tongue.
And right then.
He caught a scent drifting through the fog.
"...!"
Even after eons, he recognized it instantly.
The smell of blood.
'Meat!'
Jeok Muryong tried to dash toward it.
But even rising to his feet was no easy task.
"Urk."
It had been far too long.
His body, unused for centuries, had withered like a mummy.
Muscles thinned to threads, joints seized up— they creaked as if they'd snap at the slightest movement.
One might think it had been abandoned somewhere while his spirit languished in the abyss.
Miraculous that it hadn't rotted away.
"Groan."
Still, he couldn't give up.
With superhuman willpower, Jeok Muryong dragged his body across the ground.
And moments later.
He sensed a group locked in confrontation not far off.
Two women and a bunch of men.
The blood scent wafted from the corpses around them.
Gulp!
His stomach growled so fiercely it felt like it might punch through his back, but Jeok Muryong desperately held himself in check.
'I am the Heavenly Demon, Jeok Muryong! No matter how starved I am, I can't abandon my humanity!'
Grrrrumble!
He'd just managed to talk himself down when his gut started howling for something—anything.
'Just blood, then?'
Come to think of it, his parched tongue was in dire straits too.
'Blood should be fine, right?'
On reflection, he vaguely recalled some blood sect or demon cult with a technique for sucking blood to build inner energy.
'Urk! No. I am the Heavenly Demon! How could the supreme ruler of the world stoop to slurping human blood like some glutton!'
They said going in and coming out were different?
Trapped in the abyss, he'd have devoured anything. But back in the Central Plains, his pride as the Heavenly Demon reared its head after ages forgotten.
Still, hunger and thirst were stark reality.
'Groooan!'
The instant his instincts threatened to override reason.
A sweet aroma teased his nose.
"...!"
He looked up. About ten zhang away, he glimpsed a girl's legs.
And below them, something crushed and caked in dirt.
Strictly speaking, he sensed it with his qi perception, not his eyes.
The gray fog blanketing everything obscured even five zhang ahead.
But that had upsides too—the men and women nearby hadn't noticed him.
Especially since eyes rarely glanced at ground level, where the fog hung even thicker than at normal height.
'Hold on—my qi sense is intact?'
Jeok Muryong's vision was blurry.
Long years had degraded his physical faculties to the limit.
His inner energy had bottomed out long ago.
Only the barest innate essence remained in his body.
Yet his qi sense was perfectly fine.
He didn't know why, but there it was.
'Anyway!'
Jeok Muryong began crawling slowly.
Maybe because the "high ground" was close?
His crawling speed was already better than at first.
Thus he reached the girl's feet.
Victory was at hand!
Without a second thought, he snatched the mud-caked lump.
He knew what it was instantly.
Wall Grain Pill.
A Zen provision made by grinding grains, beans, jujubes, chestnuts, and such, then binding with honey into balls.
Now trampled, pulverized, and filthy with dirt.
Didn't matter.
Jeok Muryong shoved it straight into his mouth.
Buuuurp!
A belch erupted once he'd wolfed it down.
Of course, it was nowhere near enough.
Half of what slid down his throat was dirt and dust.
Still, it was delicious.
More than anything, it was the first thing he'd tasted in centuries.
Only after swallowing the muddied Wall Grain Pill whole did Jeok Muryong truly feel alive again.
'I am alive.'
Drip, drip.
Hot tears streamed down Jeok Muryong's cheeks.
Once, a man who shook the world alone.
Tears of genuine emotion from the supreme being, body and soul.
Everyone around stared at him in stunned silence.
A man emerged as the thick fog parted.
A bizarre freak devouring dirt clumps, now sprawled and sobbing.
'What the...'
'Every lunatic's accounted for, huh?'
No telling where he'd tumbled from.
Matted hair, haggard look—maybe he'd lost his way in Death Valley's fog and gone mad.
'But...'
'Even so...'
'Gobbling dirt and calling it tasty?'
No one had spotted the dropped Wall Grain Pill, so they assumed he'd eaten plain mud and wept.
Of course he'd look insane.
Especially in this situation.
"Um, are you okay?"
A voice from above.
The girl peered down at Jeok Muryong.
Only then did he realize he was still sprawled beneath her.
'Damn it all.'
What disgrace for the Heavenly Demon?
Jeok Muryong felt shame anew.
But only for a moment.
Something more important overrode fleeting embarrassment.
"Was it yours?"
"Pardon?"
"The Wall Grain Pill you dropped. I'm asking if it was yours."
"Ah!"
The girl nodded, realizing late that her pocket was empty.
"Thank you."
Jeok Muryong said.
"You've made this seat realize he's alive."
"Pardon?"
The girl's face showed utter confusion.
Who cared?
Jeok Muryong was just glad.
"Heh."
So he laughed.
"Heh heh heh heh."
"...."
The stares at Jeok Muryong grew even stranger.
As if he were something less than human.
The sole exception was, of course, the girl.
And right then.
"Where'd a beggar like you crawl from? If you liked that so much, why not try this too?"
Ptoo!
The Gale Division Leader spat, face twisted in disgust.
"Go on, eat this too, huh?"
Flinch!
Jeok Muryong's body jerked sharply.
He'd reacted thinking it was food being tossed his way.
'Me? The supreme being of past and present, the Heavenly Demon Jeok Muryong?'
Jeok Muryong grew afraid of himself.
Elder Hwang's old words resurfaced after centuries: Greed Demon as precursor to a greater heart demon.
But now he saw the truth.
During his abyss imprisonment, Jeok Muryong's Greed Demon had ballooned into something monstrously savage.
"Huh? You—what? You weren't actually gonna eat that, were you?"
The Gale Division Leader's mocking voice.
He'd caught Jeok Muryong's flinch.
"Kuhahaha! What a day—folks won't enter Death Valley's infamous fog, and now some filthy beggar chows mud!"
"...."
Jeok Muryong slowly raised his head.
Listening quietly, the dagger-wielding fool spared no insult to the Heavenly Demon.
"Huh? What's that look?"
The Gale Division Leader's demeanor turned savage upon seeing Jeok Muryong's eyes.
"Looks like you beggars are suicidal."
"...."
"I was gonna toy with your pitiful hide a bit out of pity before sending you off. But no—this calls for mercy killing right here!"
Jeok Muryong furrowed his brow.
The brute's babble didn't matter.
Back in the Central Plains, even curses and mockery sounded sweet.
One problem, though.
"Too noisy."
"What?"
"So human speech was always this loud."
Jeok Muryong muttered softly.
After endless silence and void, he'd forgotten.
"That's right."
"Hah! Don't even know what to say anymore. Fine. Lunatics like you litter the earth."
The Gale Division Leader tsked pityingly, his hand flashing through the air.
"Die."
Shing!
Two bolts of lightning erupted from his fingertips.
Lightning Flying Dagger—the signature technique that earned him his Gale Division post.
Overkill for slaying a mere madman.
'Heh, be grateful! I'm in high spirits today.'
The Gale Division Leader's grin stretched ear to ear.
With True Heaven Palace's Young Palace Lord in hand, his future was paved in gold.
Thus, such an extravagant death for trash.
"Huh?"
It should have been.
But...
"Wh-what?"
Vmmm.
The two Lightning Flying Daggers hovered midair.
Caught by some invisible force, mere inches from the madman's brow.
The Gale Division Leader and his men gawked, dumbfounded.
Too much for them to recognize Vacuous Air Grasp.
"Hoo."
Jeok Muryong sighed.
As checked earlier, his inner energy was depleted.
Of essence, qi, and spirit, only spirit—willpower—remained intact.
But for the Heavenly Demon, that sufficed.
The rest took minimal exertion.
Replaced by the scant innate essence lingering in his body.
Fortunate?
The Wall Grain Pill had restored a pittance of qi.
Enough for now.
For Vacuous Air Grasp.
Bang!
In an instant.
The daggers reversed, shooting back like arrows loosed from a bow.
Splat!
"Gack!"
"Urk!"
Subordinates toppled with dying cries.
The daggers pierced their brows, scattering blood droplets in the air.
"Gasp!"
The Gale Division Leader recoiled in shock.
Then twin flashes filled his vision.
Splurt!
No chance to dodge—the Lightning Flying Daggers impaled his heart and skull.
A super-first-rate master worthy of leading True Heaven Palace's elite perished pathetically.
"Eek!"
"Aaaah!"
The survivors screamed in terror.
Meanwhile, Jeok Muryong's vision yellowed.
The toll of Vacuous Air Grasp on his corpse-like frame.
No choice if he wanted them dead, but the burden was immense.
Didn't matter.
Killing them came first.
"Quiet now."
Jeok Muryong murmured, eyes blazing.
The sole unchanged trait from centuries past.
His piercing gaze made the Gale Division warriors feel pierced hearts.
"Ugh, uwaaa!"
"Run!"
The division split: fleers and chargers.
Jeok Muryong unleashed Lightning Flying Daggers at both.
Optimal trajectories for maximum efficiency.
The daggers carved through the Gale Division in a flash.
Splat! Splatsplat!
Blood trails embroidered the air.
The Gale Division was annihilated in moments.
"Ahh...!"
Jin Choyoung paled, moaning shakily.
Neung So-hwa stared wide-eyed in fear.
When Jeok Muryong's gaze turned to them, both women flinched in unison.
Grrrrumble!
Thunderous rumble.
Jeok Muryong's vision spun.
"Food..."
Jeok Muryong collapsed, unconscious.
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