Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 58 - A Fluffy Flying Creature

Chapter 58 – A Fluffy Flying Creature

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Learning the Poison Accumulation Method and Poison Emission Method did not take very long. Though they were called secrets, they were merely ‘techniques.’

Of course, among things called techniques, there were difficult ones like the Celestial Nose and Celestial Hearing, but these two martial arts were not like that.

Originally, those techniques were meant to fully demonstrate their power when combined with the Five Poisons Valley’s special internal cultivation method.

The Five Poisons Valley’s cultivation method drew energy evenly from the Five Elements to accumulate internal energy resembling natural energy as closely as possible.

As a result, power and energy-gathering efficiency were somewhat lower, but it was very advantageous for using poison arts.

The reason the Five Poisons Valley martial artists’ internal energy had a dark color was because they mixed multiple elemental energies turbidly.

Meanwhile, Ju-seong’s internal energy, which strongly carried fire energy, did not harmonize perfectly with the poison accumulated in his dantian.

“But this should be more than enough.”

When Ju-seong struck a log hard, red flames flashed up, then silver-gray energy shimmered and swirled over the burned spot.

He had emitted the poison of the Purple Gold Centipede, which carried metal energy.

Indeed, as one of the five most powerful poisonous creatures, its power was not bad.

Ju-seong assessed the power and realized that while he didn’t know if it would work on true masters, it was perfectly suitable for dealing with multiple enemies at once.

“Now it’s time to leave.”

Ju-seong’s body had fully recovered, and he still had business in the southern jungle, so it was time to leave the Five Poisons Valley.

Ju-seong and Red Beggar paid their respects to the Valley Master and said their farewells to the Yeo Hong-pa and Yeo Hong-yeon siblings.

“Please be sure to visit again, Young Hero.”

At Yeo Hong-yeon’s words, Ju-seong smiled and nodded.

“Haha, of course.”

“I mean it.”

Hong-yeon smiled mysteriously and gazed at Ju-seong, who awkwardly laughed and shifted his gaze to Yeo Hong-pa.

“Brother Yeo, take care. I hope to see you again sometime.”

“Yes, Brother Ju… Is it Ju?”

“I don’t have a surname. If you must address me, call me Weiji Ju-seong, or Hwang Ju-seong… Something like that.”

“Haha, martial artists don’t need to care about family names or surnames. One proves oneself solely by martial arts. Anyway, take care. Ah, Red Beggar. You take care too.”

“Take care until we meet again. I’ll send occasional word through the Yunnan beggars.”

“Young Hero Red Beggar, please wash up sometimes. With such a fine build, what is this?”

Yeo Hong-yeon was a woman radiating quite enchanting charm, and Red Beggar couldn’t collect himself, blushing as he answered.

“Mm, alright. Let me try washing sometimes. I’ll do that.”

Ju-seong looked at Red Beggar with pity.

‘What are you saying, you crazy bastard.’

Anyway, Ju-seong and Red Beggar exchanged warm farewells and left the Five Poisons Valley.

The scenery half a day’s journey southward was far from warm, though.

“My…”

“What is this…” Red Beggar asked, looking around. “A complete mess.” “Indeed,” Ju-seong replied.

All manner of animals lay on the mountain paths, twitching in convulsions or scratching their bodies where boils had formed.

The forest where the moths lived had burned entirely, and smoke from the burning toxic powder had spread toward Yunnan Province on the south wind.

A martial artist’s internal energy provided some resistance to poison. But ordinary people without internal energy would be affected by this toxic smoke.

“Yunnan Province will become quite noisy.”

“There’ll be those saying they should have taken the initiative to burn the forest first.”

“Indeed. People will say things like they should have set the fire during winter when the north wind blows, and such. But they can’t afford to make enemies of the Southern Barbarian people… Internal strife could intensify again.”

“Haah, it’s difficult. Anyway, let’s go find that thing you mentioned, Brother.”

“Yes, we need to do what we came to do.”

The two quickly performed qinggong and headed toward the southern jungle.

The southern jungle looked wretched, as if a fire demon had swallowed it whole. Trees that had failed to become even charcoal stood gray-white, like the last spectators watching the forest’s death. Some leaned, some had fallen, and others stood tall, as if facing their end just as they had lived; but in any case, they were all dead.

The trees with only their trunks remaining, the animals with skin seared to the bone, the shrubs, the grasses… even the insects… everything was dead, yet no unpleasant death energy could be felt.

Because the wildfire had consumed even the rotting corpse energy as fuel.

So walking through this desolate landscape was, aside from the scenery, actually rather pleasant.

After walking for a while, they only found what they were looking for at the heart of what had been forest.

“My goodness…”

“I didn’t think it would fail to escape and die.”

“…It chose death.”

They were looking at the charred corpse of a moth.

The creature had died embracing something precious, covering it with its wings.

When Ju-seong removed its corpse, they could see what was beneath.

“Mm…”

Ju-seong and Red Beggar both let out low sounds.

Beneath them was the sexual predator’s corpse, and in its abdomen sat a white, glowing oval object.

Red Beggar looked at Ju-seong with an uncertain expression.

“This is…”

Ju-seong nodded. “Yes. It’s Heavenly Silkworm Silk… more precisely, it’s a Heavenly Silkworm Moth cocoon.”

Ju-seong stared at the object for a moment, then something inside the cocoon began squirming and started breaking out.

Cutting through the fibers making up the cocoon was impossible even for the cocoon’s owner. The creature squeezed its wet body through the gaps between threads, pushing itself outside.

Ju-seong watched the clumsy movements and the struggling will to live in silence.

Unlike its mother, the creature’s body was not terrifyingly large. Rather, it was even smaller than ordinary Heavenly Silkworm Moths, barely the size of an adult’s palm.

But unlike other Heavenly Silkworm Moths, its white fur all over was striking.

Did it know that its mother had burnt her flesh and wings to protect it?

Ju-seong silently watched the moth drying its wings.

Though the wet wings made it hard to see clearly, the subtle blue shimmering on them showed it was an extraordinary individual.

By intuitive impression alone, even though it was smaller, its innate quality seemed more remarkable than its mother’s.

“So the host was what mattered after all.”

To create a strong individual, a strong host was needed. Though the sexual predator had used foul methods, he was a martial artist at the peak level’s grand completion, so he must have provided nutrients for that creature to grow.

“…What should we do? Kill it too?”

Ju-seong slightly furrowed his brow as he watched the moth trembling its wings.

“…I don’t know. When a human eats a human, that’s demonic. But when a moth uses humans as prey, isn’t that just inborn nature?”

Red Beggar nodded in agreement.

“You can’t blame a tiger for catching a deer.”

“Moreover, it doesn’t only harm humans. Looking at it, it seems to use wild animals as hosts too… How can we call this creature wicked?”

Ju-seong and Red Beggar sat down and watched the moth drying its wings.

Its gaunt body and wet wings looked somehow pitiable. Even a monster that could make countless people tremble was this fragile when incomplete.

Ju-seong felt life’s wonder more in its imperfect form than its powerful one.

To think something so delicate would fight and grow to claim its place in the world. In a way, that too was a tale of martial valor.

The creature finished drying its wings and slowly flapped them as if trying to fly.

“Brother, if you’re going to kill it, now’s the last chance.”

“…I know.”

Ju-seong answered only that and stared at the moth with sunken eyes. Perhaps sensing the killing intent that leaked from him.

The creature trembled, then turned its black compound eyes to look at Ju-seong. Then it preened its white fur and approached Ju-seong instead.

“What is it doing? What does it want?”

When the fluffy moth crawled toward him in an uncharacteristic manner, Ju-seong visibly panicked and scooted backward on his haunches.

-Tz tz… Tz.

Ju-seong felt his head ringing for a moment and furrowed his brow.

It wasn’t like his entire skull was resonating, but rather a sensation like the thin part of his skull vibrating very finely.

It felt as if a sensory organ he never knew existed had awakened.

Through that strange wavelength, he could intuitively sense the moth’s emotions.

And what the creature felt toward Ju-seong was.

‘Mother?’

Ju-seong was visibly flustered and spoke to the moth.

“…Now, you fluffy flying creature, I am not your mother. Unfortunately, your mother attacked me in mutual destruction and then burned to death trying to save you. Truly a noble death. So calling me mother is an insult to your real mother.”

“Brother, please stop doing crazy things.”

Red Beggar chided him from the side, but Ju-seong lightly ignored him.

Ju-seong could intuitively feel the moth’s emotions, but the moth didn’t understand his words.

Naturally. It couldn’t understand human speech the moment it emerged from its cocoon.

‘…Does it make sense that I can understand moth language?’

Of course, since it wasn’t human, it only had very simple, superficial emotional expressions.

Wonder at the world, slight hunger and thirst, instinctive familiarity with the being before it who shared a similar quality…

‘Ah.’

Ju-seong looked down at his dantian. Inside it was the Heavenly Silkworm Moth’s poison, which had served as a catalyst for his breakthrough to peak level.

The creature had sensed that poison energy and instinctively recognized Ju-seong as its mother.

Ju-seong explained this situation to Red Beggar. Meanwhile, the moth that had crawled diligently toward him was now perched on Ju-seong’s knee, scattering white powder.

Ju-seong carefully pinched the creature’s wings between his index finger and thumb, lifting it off him.

“…But insects usually don’t need parental care after leaving their cocoons.”

“Brother, this thing is a spiritual creature, so can you compare it to ordinary bugs? Besides, does it make sense that something parasitizes humans or animals and consumes their energy to grow?”

Ju-seong slowly nodded.

This creature was probably the heir apparent to the leader moth.

Unlike the creatures that broke from their cocoons and immediately scattered toxic powder throughout the forest, this one might grow while receiving its mother’s care.

Meanwhile, Ju-seong realized that the creature’s white powder wasn’t particularly harmful to humans.

“…It does shed quite a lot of powder, though…”

Ju-seong sighed as he looked at the moth that had climbed back onto his knee.

-Tzzzz…

The creature was now whining that it was hungry. Moths normally survived by drinking tree sap. But this thing was no ordinary moth, so it might be carnivorous.

Either way, there were no trees to drink from or animals to eat around here, so it was fussing.

“For now…”

Ju-seong picked up the creature and placed it on Red Beggar’s head. The moth scattered powder all over the disheveled beggar’s hair.

Red Beggar shrieked in horror.

“Ah, why are you doing this! Are you crazy!”

“You don’t wash anyway…”

“Ah, I really hate this!”

Fortunately for Red Beggar, the creature flew up with clumsy wingbeats and landed on Ju-seong’s shoulder.

Ju-seong glanced at it from the corner of his eye for a moment, then let out a small sigh.

“Haah… Let’s go. Humans and beasts alike need to eat.”

He nearly forgot to collect the creature’s cocoon with all the chaos.

Ju-seong tried to tear apart the fibers forming the cocoon with his hands, but naturally, that was impossible.

“It is Heavenly Silkworm Silk after all.”

After that final confirmation, he placed the cocoon in his bundle and set off.

For both humans and beasts, mealtime had long passed.