Wide-open eyes.
Shaking pupils.
A gaping mouth, revealing molars riddled with cavities.
That was the common expression on the faces of the people of Rangachen Village.
An outsider who had visited the village sent his sword flying without even lifting a finger.
That sword, moving as if alive, ruthlessly slashed the body of the White Dragon, whom they worshiped like a god.
The White Dragon, its tail severed, tried to escape by soaring into the sky.
At that mont, the shaman they had driven away just last week appeared, riding a fox, and severed the White Dragon’s lifeline.
It was undoubtedly dead.
The fox—Cheongho—sank its fangs deep into the White Dragon’s neck and violently shook it from side to side.
The writhing White Dragon let out a final crackling sound before its body went limp.
Removing his mask, Dam Hyun scratched his temple.
“Why is no one saying anything?”
For Dam Hyun, who had departed from the Azure Forest, there was only one way to et up with Yi-gang, who had left earlier.
He had to get ahead and wait at a point that Yi-gang was certain to pass.
The journey he embarked on with Bodhidharma included a mission to find a dragon.
With the help of the Forest Lord and Yu Jeong-shin, Dam Hyun had figured out that path in advance.
He first rushed to this region of the Tibetan Plateau, near the border with Sichuan.
After gathering information, he discovered a village that worshiped a dragon.
He tried to uncover the truth about the so-called dragon, as the villagers’ accounts seed highly suspicious—but in the end, he was chased out.
If it were up to his temper, he would have beaten every villager senseless and hunted down the so-called dragon himself.
However, the thought that he would soon et Yi-gang kept Dam Hyun from losing control.
Staying in an area slightly removed from the village, Dam Hyun finally found his opportunity and barged in.
Yet, instead of giving him a round of applause for slaying a fake dragon, the villagers remained silent.
Yi-gang also stood there quietly, which made Dam Hyun feel slightly awkward.
“Well, technically, I didn’t catch it—Cheongho did.”
Saying this, he reached out and stroked Cheongho’s soft fur.
By now, they had beco quite close, and he expected the creature to understand his feelings.
However, Cheongho simply let out a low growl in response.
Instead, it suddenly shrank its previously enlarged body back to its normal size.
“Oh no!”
Caught off guard, Dam Hyun fell straight onto his rear.
Cheongho didn’t even glance back at him and bolted away.
“Yip!”
Letting out a bark like a small dog, Cheongho suddenly leaped into Yi-gang’s arms.
Yi-gang held Tsering in one hand while lifting Cheongho in the other.
「Yi-gang!」
Cheongho squird excitedly, overjoyed to see him.
Its two tails fluttered as if it were about to take flight.
As it bit and licked Yi-gang’s fingers, Tsering, who stood beside him, burst into laughter.
Dam Hyun got up with a bitter expression.
Yi-gang turned to look at Dam Hyun, who now resembled a drenched rat.
“Senior Brother, how did you get here?”
“Forest Lord sent . Told to help you.”
And just like that, the reunion of senior and junior brothers was settled without much sentint.
Dam Hyun briefly explained to Yi-gang what had happened in the Azure Forest and the reason he had co.
Apart from their conversation, a chilling silence lood over the village.
The villagers could not accept the fact that the White Dragon they had worshiped had turned into grilled eel.
Yi-gang scanned the villagers, who were all exchanging uneasy glances.
The situation was giving him a headache.
-Senior Brother, what do we do about this?
-What do you an, what do we do?
Yi-gang conveyed the situation to Dam Hyun through sound transmission.
-The people of this village have been practicing human sacrifice. We need to leave for Potala Palace soon…
Yi-gang subtly gestured with his eyes toward Tsering, whom he was holding in one arm.
-Simply leaving them alone and walking away doesn’t feel right… but there’s not much we can do either.
-It’s not that we can’t do anything.
Dam Hyun slightly opened his outer robe.
Inside, the inner lining of his robe was densely packed with long silver needles.
Yi-gang imdiately realized that Dam Hyun’s attire was no ordinary clothing.
-I modified the defensive robes of the Guardian to make a new outfit.
-…And?
-These silver needles do more than just block external attacks. I learned this while dissecting Mang-hon’s subordinates…
As Dam Hyun spoke, he pulled out one of the long silver needles.
-If you stab this deep into a nostril, it can reach the brain.
The very thought sent chills down Yi-gang’s spine.
-Martial artists and cultivators might resist, but for ordinary villagers, these silver needles can be used to place restriction seals.
-So, you’re saying…
-We can prevent them from committing violence, erase simple mories, or make them feel guilt over human sacrifice.
If Yu Jeong-shin were here, he would have been outraged, saying that a disciple of the Azure Forest should never do sothing so dreadful.
However, deep down, Yi-gang found the idea tempting.
-That doesn’t sound too bad. Are there any side effects?
-Of course there are.
Dam Hyun looked at him as if he were asking sothing ridiculous.
-It should last about three years. But the needle has to stay lodged in their heads. If they sneeze too hard, it might poke out through their nostrils.
-…
-One in five might end up as a complete fool. Jun Myung wanted to lose weight, so I tried sticking a needle in him. His eyes lost focus imdiately, so I had to pull it out in a hurry.
Yi-gang closed his mouth.
The villagers, rolling their eyes nervously, had no idea that silver needles could soon be lodged into their skulls.
-That won’t work.
-Why not?!
Yi-gang decided against accepting Dam Hyun’s suggestion.
It was a mistake to even entertain his idea.
-Why are you overthinking this? Just give them a stern warning to never even think about human sacrifice again and leave.
-Senior Brother, do you really trust people?
Coming from Dam Hyun, soone who practically embodied distrust, it was hard to believe he had said such a thing.
Dam Hyun let out a small chuckle.
-I believe that humans are cowardly, deceitful, and two-faced.
-Then…
-Can’t you see the expressions on their faces?
Yi-gang glanced around at the people once more.
They looked slightly different now.
He could see them trembling in fear.
-The reason they practiced human sacrifice was because they were terrified of the yokai—those strange and monstrous beings. Humans tend to worship what they fear.
-So, since they’re afraid of us now, they’ll listen to what we say?
-No, that’s not enough. A re human can’t be scarier than a giant man-eating eel.
-Then what do you suggest?
-It’s right there. Sothing much scarier than a giant eel.
A dangerous glint flickered in Dam Hyun’s eyes.
Yi-gang knew exactly when that kind of look appeared.
It only ca out when he found sothing he was deeply interested in—sothing he truly desired.
「Hmm, your senior brother has quite the sharp eye.」
Even Bodhidharma made a sound of intrigue.
Yi-gang finally understood what Dam Hyun was getting at.
Since there was a mighty Imoogi right beside them, Dam Hyun was suggesting that Bodhidharma should be the one to reform the people of Rangachen Village.
By revealing his terrifying form, he could command them to never practice human sacrifice again and to properly raise their children.
-What do you think?
「This is rather troubleso.」
Bodhidharma didn’t seem too eager.
Even though he had boldly stood before absolute masters, he apparently had no interest in scaring re villagers.
However, in the end, he agreed.
「You have granted my request, so how could I refuse such a trivial matter?」
With a soft thud, Bodhidharma slipped from Yi-gang’s grasp and landed on the ground.
“Oh…!”
Dam Hyun let out an exclamation.
Up until that mont, the villagers had yet to notice Bodhidharma’s presence due to his small size.
That was, until Dam Hyun declared in a fearso voice.
He turned to the villagers and bellowed, “You have angered the heavens by offering human sacrifices to a fraudulent yokai that dares to claim the title of a dragon!”
His voice, infused with internal energy, rumbled like thunder, sending shivers down the villagers’ spines.
Yi-gang was secretly impressed by Dam Hyun’s performance.
“At last, the true master of this sacred pool has returned!”
Right on cue, Bodhidharma began to grow.
Dudududu—!
His body expanded to the size of a giant serpent, then continued to swell into a monstrous form.
Crunch—Crack.
The severed tail of the eel was crushed beneath Bodhidharma’s growing body.
Bodhidharma was now even larger than when he had appeared at the Wangjia Village cetery.
His black-scaled body had outgrown the white eel, towering above them.
Each scale was as large as a human palm.
The scales looked so sturdy that even an iron coin shot from a strong bow would likely bounce off.
The villagers, now reflected in Bodhidharma’s glossy, dark scales, trembled in fear.
“H-heuaaack!”
“Dragon God!”
At that mont, they finally realized the truth.
The pale, slimy eel had never been a dragon in the first place.
In the end, though it had failed to beco a true dragon, the Imoogi before them appeared far more like one in their eyes.
「This should be enough.」
Bodhidharma had grown to nearly three tis the size of the eel yokai.
Behind his head, a glowing mandala appeared.
No one from the Tibetan Plateau would fail to recognize such a sacred symbol.
The villagers prostrated themselves before the divine dragon.
“Oh, sinful beings.”
Perhaps because of his enormous size, his voice resonated deeply and powerfully, causing the surface of the Sacred Pool to ripple and leaves to fall from the trees.
“Almsgiving and offerings are ant for bodhisattvas. Yet, you ignorant souls have offered precious lives to a re yokai.”
Terrified, the villagers scrambled to beg for forgiveness.
“We are sorry!”
“We knew nothing! We were deceived!”
Just monts ago, they had been so confident, but their attitude had changed in an instant.
Dam Hyun wore a smug expression, as if to say, ‘See? I was right.’
It seed that a trace of Bodhidharma’s past as a preacher still remained.
He rebuked the Rangachen villagers with words that were difficult to comprehend—words that made them revere him even more.
Never again were they to practice human sacrifice. Instead, they were to cherish their children and the lives of all people.
The villagers swore to uphold their promise and descended back to their village.
Yi-gang entrusted Tsering to the village chief.
“We’ll be down soon. In the anti, give him so warm tea.”
The village chief hurriedly nodded in agreent.
Only after the villagers had left did Bodhidharma let out a long sigh.
“Phew…”
“You’ve done well.”
“No, I just… need to rest for a mont.”
Despite having grown to an enormous size, Bodhidharma was still nowhere near his original form.
According to him, he would have to grow thirty tis larger to reach his true body size.
Dam Hyun stared at him with sparkling eyes.
“This is amazing…”
“Go away, Taoist.”
Bodhidharma snorted, sending a gust of wind that blew Dam Hyun back like a fallen leaf.
“Hahaha, truly an incredible being!”
Yet, rather than being upset, he seed overjoyed.
As Bodhidharma rested with his head lowered to the ground, Yi-gang tried to console him.
“This must be disappointing for you.”
“…Are there truly no real dragons in the mainland?”
This ti, he had truly believed he would find a dragon. Yet, what he encountered was nothing more than an eel yokai.
Now, with no real dragon in sight, they would have to continue their journey to Potala Palace.
“Perhaps in that last place in Nanman, a dragon may still exist…”
“Getting there will be difficult.”
“Indeed. Every matter has its priorities.”
Even Bodhidharma understood the importance of prioritization.
To shift the conversation, Yi-gang posed a question to Bodhidharma.
“By the way, how did that eel yokai manage to use techniques only dragons should be capable of?”
“Hmm…”
It was a fair point upon reflection.
It had soared through the sky just like a dragon—and, more importantly, it had manipulated water with uncanny precision.
By all accounts, it had even made rain fall.
For a re eel yokai to possess such high-level techniques seed unbelievable.
“Perhaps, in striving to beco a dragon, it ended up resembling one. Even I do not possess such abilities.”
There existed a spell known as calling forth wind and rain. Highly skilled sorcerers could indeed summon rain.
However, such magic was a far cry from the divine authority of dragons.
It was like the difference between starting a fire with a fire striker and trying to ignite it with bare hands.
“I don’t really know.”
There was a hint of bitterness in Bodhidharma’s voice.
At that mont, Dam Hyun suddenly shouted, “Found it!”
When they turned around, they saw that he had already dissected the eel’s corpse.
In his hand, he held a brilliant blue orb.
It was undoubtedly the inner core of the eel.
Though it wasn’t a true dragon’s, it belonged to a yokai that had claid to be the White Dragon, making it exceptionally large.
If purified, its effects would likely be extraordinary…
However, Dam Hyun’s face twisted in displeasure.
“What’s wrong? Is it not to your liking?”
“This thing has eaten too many people. If we don’t conduct the proper purification rituals, it won’t be safe to consu.”
Even the inner cores of chang-gwi were so poisonous that ordinary people couldn’t ingest them.
If that was the case, how lethal would the inner core of an eel yokai be—one that had consud humans for centuries?
After so thought, Yi-gang spoke, “We could bring it to the Forest, or perhaps perform a purification ritual at Potala Palace.”
“You want us to carry around sothing so overflowing with malice until then? That’s not a good idea.”
A suffocating malicious aura radiated from the eel’s inner core.
Even sealing it properly wouldn’t be an easy task.
“Still, it would be a waste to simply discard it. And if we leave it behind, the land might beco contaminated.”
It could cause a disaster similar to when the remains of a fire dragon had tainted the earth.
At that mont, Bodhidharma spoke cautiously, “I will dispose of it.”
“Dispose of it?”
Dam Hyun tilted his head, not quite understanding.
“I will consu it to dispose of it.”
Bodhidharma clarified his words more explicitly.
Dam Hyun hesitated for a mont before muttering, “You might get an upset stomach, though…”
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