Chapter 123
As soon as they entered the cave, they heard something huge scouring through the ground from inside the black cloud. Baek Mu-Gun sensed that the Three-Headed Centipede had caught wind of their presence and began to move to stop them. As Seok Gang said, it seemed to be a ferocious and impatient beast. On the other hand, it could also simply be confident that it could win against them without having to fight in the poisonous fog.
“It’s coming out. Everyone, prepare for combat!” Mu-Gun shouted at the others as he unsheathed his sword.
As the grazes on the floor grew closer, a huge shadow began to loom over the poisonous fog.
“It’s so disgustingly huge,” Jin Yoo-Sung said with a look of disbelief.
Mu-Gun activated the Thunder God's Heavenly Eyes and examined the Three-Headed Centipede inside the poisonous fog. Its body was covered with a reddish-black shell spanning forty feet, and its three heads each hung at the end of a ten-foot torso, which was shorter and thinner than the body at the back. Moreover, the three heads’ colors differed from each other. The head on the left was silver, the one in the middle was red, and the right head was blue. Mu-Gun guessed that their color was related to the energy that they could use.
‘The silver head is probably the one that uses thunder qi.’
Mu-Gun prepared to fight the left head.
“Be careful, everyone. It will soon charge its energy into a round ball and launch it,” Geom Woo-Saeng warned.
Not long after, three spheres, each matching the color of the head that conjured it, flew toward them at high speed from within the poisonous fog. Mu-Gun thrust his sword toward the silver sphere, encircling it with golden moonlight qi. Amid the resulting explosion, the silver sphere shattered the moonlight qi, which was restraining it, pieces and continued to burrow toward Mu-Gun. Without delay, Mu-Gun raised the Flying Golden Shield to defend himself. The collision caused yet another thunderous roar and finally broke the silver sphere, scattering its fragments in all directions.
‘It’s as powerful as an Absolute Realm master’s vajra qi.’
After gauging the power that the silver sphere held, Mu-Gun imbued the Flying Golden Shield with lightning and tossed it toward the Three-Headed Centipede. Rotating violently, it flew toward the monster’s left head. In response, the head quickly ducked forward and avoided it. However, when the Flying Golden Shield flew past its target, Mu-Gun immediately made it turn in a wide arc toward the back of the left head.
Unable to see the incoming attack, the left head failed to evade it in time. The Flying Golden Shield struck its back, the impact blasting it forward and toward the ground of the cave. When it rose back up, it looked evidently slanted.
After retrieving the Flying Golden Shield, Mu-Gun raised his sword and executed the Five Lightning Volley, forming and firing five golden Thunderbolt Swords in quick succession. Even though it still hadn’t shaken off the shock it received from the previous attack, the Three-Headed Centipede’s left head managed to unleash a silver aura using the maxillipeds on its sides. The silver aura collided with the golden Thunderbolt Swords, causing yet another thunderous collision.
The silver aura showed stronger defensive capabilities than the protective vajra qi of Absolute Realm masters. However, the impregnable defensive wall proved useless in the face of the overlapping golden Thunderbolt Swords. Broken at the same time, the silver aura and Thunderbolt Swords’ fragments scattered in all directions and destroyed parts of the cave.
The close-range collision unleashed a shockwave that shoved away the Three-Headed Centipede’s left head and exposed some of its insides. Unlike its shell-covered exterior, its insides were wrapped in a thin husk.
Realizing that the Three-Headed Centipede’s weakness had been exposed, Mu-Gun wasted no time in launching another Thunderbolt Sword. Like a flash of lightning, it flew from his sword and burrowed deep into the left head, easily penetrating through its interior husk. With a horrifying scream, the left head was crushed to the ground, never to move again.
Afterward, Mu-Gun glanced at Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng, who were still dealing with the middle head and right head respectively. The two had been stuck in an equal battle until the Three-Headed Centipede lost its left head, flustering it. That brief moment of vulnerability enabled Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng to quickly go in for the kill. Afraid to die the way the left head did, the other two heads communicated through telepathy and soon decided to prioritize running away over killing Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng. Hence, they immediately escaped into the poisonous fog.
The Three-Headed Centipede began to avoid Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng’s attacks as it escaped. However, Mu-Gun didn’t plan to just watch it leave. Extending his hands toward the centipede’s remaining heads, he unleashed five Thunderbolt Swords from his left hand and the sword in his right hand.
Feeling threatened by the Thunderbolt Swords flying toward them like rays of light, the Three-Headed Centipede released immense energy to defend. However, the Five Lightning Volley proved too strong. Destroying the two auras, the shockwave from the collision blasted away the middle and right heads of the Three-Headed Centipede.
“Aim for its insides!” Mu-Gun shouted at Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng.
Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng saw how Mu-Gun defeated the left head. Following his example, they attacked the heads’ insides without hesitation. The Qiankun qi unleashed from Seok Gang’s hand tore through the insides of the Three-Headed Centipede’s middle head, and the brilliant flash of light discharged from Woo-Saeng’s sword penetrated the Three-Headed Centipede’s right head.
Pierced, torn apart, and no longer able to withstand the pain, the Three-Headed Centipede’s remaining heads fell. Its body gradually slowed down as it headed toward the poisonous fog, eventually dropping to the floor lifelessly.
“I can’t believe we were able to defeat the Three-Headed Centipede so easily. It’s all thanks to you, Young Patriarch Baek,” Seok Gang said.
“I’m glad I could be of help.”
“I find it hard to take the beast core for ourselves, considering you basically defeated it all by yourself.”
“It’s fine. However, in return, please let me have the Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse.”
“The Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse? What will you use it for?”
“I know a medical clinic. I’d like to determine if they can use it as a medicinal ingredient.”
Mu-Gun planned to bring the corpse of the Three-Headed Centipede, a divine beast, to the Medicine King Family under the assumption that they could use it to make a pill. Even if that proved impossible, the Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse could at least contribute greatly as a normal medicinal ingredient, considering it was still a divine beast’s body.
“That’s true. Considering centipedes can be dried and used as a medicinal ingredient, the Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse would likely be even more effective since it’s a divine beast. How do you plan to take something that big with you, though?”
The Three-Headed Centipede was more than fifty feet long and at least two average human armspans thick. Moving it would not be easy, much less taking it on a journey.
“I can use my internal energy to dry the Three-Headed Centipede’s body completely. That should reduce its volume and weight enough to eliminate any problems in moving it around.”
“Ah, so such a method exists! However, drying such a big beast would require an extraordinary amount of internal energy. Will you be fine?”
“That won’t be a problem, so don’t worry.”
“I see. We’ll take a look at the Three-Headed Centipede’s beast core now, then.”
Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng approached the slain divine beast and glanced at it.
“Crap. We have to know where the beast core is before we can take it out.” Seok Gang was at a loss.
“May I take a look?”
“Go ahead.”
After receiving their approval, Mu-Gun activated the Thunder God's Heavenly Eyes and examined the Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse. Much to his surprise, he found a spherical beast core inside each of the heads’ torsos. It seemed a beast core had manifested in each head.
“The Three-Headed Centipede’s beast core is located at the torso attached to the head. However, it has three beast cores.”
“Did you just say three beast cores?”
“It seems a beast core was formed in each head.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? I felt bad for being the only one to take a beast core. Having three of them means we can share them.” Seok Gang sounded delighted.
“Let’s extract the beast cores for now.”
With a sword, Mu-Gun cut the torso of the left head, which he had defeated. He then stuffed his hand inside and took the beast core out. It was silver in color as well, like the left head. Mu-Gun wasn’t sure, but he estimated it to contain about sixty years to a hundred and twenty years' worth of energy. After handing the silver beast core to Woo-Saeng, Mu-Gun proceeded to extract the other two beast cores. One of the beast cores was red and contained fire qi, while the other was blue and contained ice qi. Moreover, they each contained the same amount of energy as the silver beast core.
“I’m not sure how to divide these.” Woo-Saeng seemed confused.
“Wouldn’t it be best for the three who defeated the Three-Headed Centipede to each take one?” Yoo-Sung suggested.
“Wouldn’t Young Patriarch Baek lose out on a lot?” Woo-Saeng looked at Mu-Gun.
“Not really. It’s already great that I can get one.” Mu-Gun shook his head.
“Well, the least we can do is let you choose first. Please take your pick.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s only natural for us to do that much for you.”
“I will take the silver beast core, then.”
“As you wish. We will take the other two.”
Mu-Gun took the silver beast core, which contained thunder qi, and Seok Gang and Woo-Saeng took the other two.
“Are you planning on giving both to your disciple?”
The fire qi and ice qi were polar opposites. If they were consumed together, they could clash and cause the user to suffer from qi deviation.
“We plan to make him consume one at a time.”
“The two beast cores contain polar opposite energies. Will he be fine?”
“With the internal energy cultivation method that brat has learned, he should be able to properly harmonize the two energies,” Seok Gang responded.
Woo-Kyung was learning Seok Gang’s Qiankun Harmony Body Cultivation Technique, one of the best internal energy cultivation methods to ever exist. Considering it could even harmonize yin-yang energies, Woo-Kyung should be able to do the same to the two beast cores’ energies. However, he had to avoid taking both beast cores at the same time. Considering one already contained an unbearable amount of energy, consuming both at the same time could cause the energies in them to run out of control and obliterate his body.
“There’s no need to worry, then.”
Mu-Gun was about to suggest leaving the two beast cores to the Medicine King Family so that they could turn them into pills that could be safely consumed, but that didn’t seem necessary anymore.
“Will you be drying the Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse now?”
“Yes, but it will likely take some time.”
“Don’t worry about us. Delaying our journey for one more day won’t change anything.”
“Please rest while I dry it, at least.”
“We will. We wish you luck.”
Mu-Gun approached the Three-Headed Centipede’s corpse and separated the three heads and the torso attached to it from the main body. With his hands on the left head and its torso, he emitted the internal energy of the Heavenly Thunder Constellation Divine Art. As golden thunder qi enveloped the left head and its torso, hot, haze-like energy began to fume and vaporized the fluids inside them.
Although it was not visible, the left head and torso began to dry up and shrivel from the inside. Unable to endure the Thunder God qi’s heat, its exterior shell and interior husk also began to dry out. Within fifteen minutes, Mu-Gun had shrunk the two parts by more than half of their original size and reduced their weight to a tenth of their original weight, making them light and compact enough for one person to carry. Mu-Gun immediately proceeded to do the same for the middle head and torso, causing his internal energy to empty out.
After replenishing his internal energy through qi circulation, he dried the right head and torso. Mu-Gun then divided the main body, which was more than forty feet long, into four equal pieces and dried them one by one. By the time he was done, the sun was already setting.
Since it was too dark to leave now, Mu-Gun and his group decided to spend another night in Dieyun Valley and descend the mountain the next day instead. He used that extra time to roll up and tie the seven dried Three-Headed Centipede pieces with wooden vines. The Six White Wolves and Woo-Kyung each took one. Mu-Gun wanted to carry one himself, but Woo-Kyung insisted that the Young Patriarch should not be handling such tasks.
Mu-Gun and his group returned and spent another night at Dieyun Valley, then descended Mount Nankun early the next morning.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺