What do people do when a tall woman with purple hair appears, walking towards them with a terrifying expression, flanked by three blue-skinned men?
The answer is this.
“An evil spirit has come back, the restless soul!”
“Namu Amitabul, Guanyin Bodhisattva!”
“In the name of the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign, I command you to retreat, monster!”
It’s as if they see a ghost; people hide behind buildings, pointing all sorts of tools this way. At least there’s someone chanting a spell, but…
If it has no effect, it seems like just any chant.
I looked around the village. It’s a pretty plain place.
Not exactly immortals, nor can they really be called villains—just a lot of mediocre folks.
In a more advanced society, these would be the real man-eaters, but in this era, they’re more like simple commoners.
At most, they might gather to ruin one family?
That’s too little warmth for my liking.
If I were to do something, it’d be better to go to a bigger village first.
Looking back in memory, the next city isn’t that far away. So I walked straight through the bustling crowd and headed towards the next city.
Unlike this town, which is just a village, it’s a place where the administrative power of a city is somewhat felt.
Thus, I decided to skip this village and head directly for the next one.
The three men stopped in that village and started discussing what they’d do next. Since I was watching in real-time, I parted ways with them in this village.
They planned to return to their sects and explain to their sect leader about the had stolen the treasure and escaped, seeking to make him pay the price.
They swore, filled with hatred, that they had to retrieve the life of their deceased sect member.
To me, that seems quite untrustworthy.
Seeing that they want to return to their sect, it seems like they just want to get back to a safe place.
Sadly, it’d probably be easier to go rambling off somewhere rather than returning.
Why do they think they could return to their sect?
Their skin has turned blue, and their hair has changed to purple.
So far, only Cheonma had blue skin, so just based on that alone, they likely won’t be suspected as Cheonma Church… or as they call it, the demonic sect.
But they’d still be questioned if they’re human or not.
However, after deciding to return to their sect, instead of parting right away, they discussed how to go back while glancing at each other’s skin, said their farewells, and each headed into the forest.
Though I feel regret that they won’t immediately go to kill Jeongchiljin from the Five Mountains Sect, it can’t be helped.
Well, if you think about it, Jeongchiljin’s status is higher at the moment. It wouldn’t cause much trouble if a blue-skinned person barges in and says a few words.
In fact, there’s a bigger chance that only they would die complaining it’s just the nonsense of the demonic sect.
Anyway, it’s not a bad thing for me if they don’t chase the sect leader but return to their sect. The farther they go, the better for me.
As they gather, it’ll create a big flow. I might not have the brain to understand where this flow leads, but I do know that people will gather.
I can think about that later.
Sorting out what to do moving forward and what I want to do, I completely left the village and climbed the long hill.
Once I go up and down this hill, there’s a large city ahead with vast rice fields and stone walls.
Though Kunlun Mountain is still quite far…
Let’s go.
*
I’ve arrived at the big city.
But a problem has arisen.
I was refused entry into the city. They say that foreigners like me aren’t allowed in casually.
“Foreigners, we cannot accept,” they say with a tone close to dismissal.
While it’s typical to wary of outsiders, I didn’t expect to be denied outright by soldiers who clearly seem to belong to the administration.
I’ll have to go around since I can’t afford to focus on this right now.
However, this isn’t just a simple place with a few buildings. Based on the faded man’s memories, it’s almost like an entire town.
So I must go around for quite a while.
Though there’s a slum-like tent village outside the city walls, it’s a place where you never know what might happen if you just walk in.
If it wasn’t me.
I walked down old, dirty alleys with hardly any straight paths.
I expected something to happen immediately, but surprisingly, the people around me just murmured and stepped aside without bothering me.
Well, that’s fine by me.
And after walking for a day, when the sun had completely set,
I stopped moving.
I was hungry, and there was nothing to eat.
While thinking it would be great if there was somewhere selling food in this area, I caught a faint whiff of food.
Immediately heading that way, I found a fairly spacious clearing between the buildings.
Around the place were shabby tents, dim bonfires here and there with people gathered around drinking.
And on one side, there was food close to being expired for sale.
“What do you sell?”
“There’s nothing here that a Murim person like you would want…”
The woman hesitated in her words and slowly stepped back. Though she looked old enough to be a crone, she wasn’t really that old. She just lived a rough life, leaving her face weathered.
“I’m not picky when it comes to food. Oh, did I forget money?”
Thinking back, I hadn’t carried any money.
“Who would use coins like that in a place like this? It’s better to stay away unless you want to run into rats or scorpions.”
“Scorpions? Spiders? Aren’t they somewhat edible?”
If I don’t have money, I can just make gold.
Though that might be a disaster for her, what can I do? I need to make some noise while also getting something to eat.
I grabbed a stone from the ground and crushed reality to turn it into gold.
Crack!
Gold faintly formed in the air.
Seems I can keep doing this with gold for a while.
I handed it to the woman right away.
“This is gold.”
“Are you an immortal, sir?”
The woman gasped, clutching the gold as if mesmerized, her expression showing disbelief as she touched it. Then, the raucous laughter from the people around her faded away.
Without a sound, countless gazes turned towards us.
“No, I’m not an immortal.”
I took enough food to satisfy my hunger. The body needs calories, after all. The nutritional value may be lacking, but eating a lot right now can fill me up.
“Would you like a bottle of liquor too?”
“No, I don’t need liquor. Water is all I need?”
Seeing the woman nod her head while I ate the food before me, people gradually began to approach.
“Hey, you there. If you’re willing to throw around that gold, wouldn’t you want to do some charity for us too? Huh?”
Most of them were short and thin. But overweight folks had bloated bellies, likely due to nutritional imbalance.
“Want gold?”
“Yeah!”
So I picked up a stone and placed it in his hand.
Swish, thud!
“Are you kidding me?!”
The man glared at me, tossing the stone aside and leaning closer in aggression. It’s all the same when it comes to attempting intimidation.
Well, it’s a world where you don’t have to worry greatly about breaking gold.
So I transformed his limbs into gold.
Crack!
Dark fissures spread everywhere. I couldn’t turn him any further without the risk of him shattering, but this was enough.
“Ugh, AAAAAAH!”
“It’s the gold humanity desired.”
The guy screamed and collapsed onto the ground. Naturally, he can’t balance when his arms and legs turned to gold.
I decided to stoke the chaos here.
Pure gold is softer than you’d think.
So I grabbed the fallen man’s fingers and twisted them off.
It was a piece of pure gold. I tossed it right in the center of where most people had gathered.
The surrounding folks dashed toward it, shouting that it was theirs as if entranced.
Watching this, I said,
“There’s plenty of gold here. Why fight over that one piece?”
Yeah.
Right now, the face of the guy with the golden limbs turned completely pale. The gazes of those around became incredibly sharp.
In this era. In this place, a human life isn’t worth much.
But now there’s easily extractable gold?
Soon, just like prey being ripped apart by a pack of wolves, one person is torn to shreds.
In the frenzy stained with blood and gold, I gave a polite nod to the shopkeeper and walked away. Then, I approached the man who was dying with his limbs already ripped off.
His eyes had turned white, bleeding profusely, on the verge of death.
“Gold is yours, so why should someone else take it? I’ll help you ensure the rightful owner gets it.”
I clearly set him up as an enemy. In reality, this is something only a fool would do—giving a person chances while treating others as idiots.
But I’m wondering how many people can think clearly in such chaotic situations?
“I’ll hand myself over to you. But after you finish everything, I’ll receive what you possess. How about that?”
Then I quickly recited the contract.
Even if his consciousness isn’t quite right, this contract resonates in a person.
The man instantly accepted the deal, and his skin cracked like porcelain, revealing a blue-skinned man underneath. Of course, his arms and legs grew back.
He looked up at me with a face filled with fear and awe. He probably feared what I would do. But his consciousness was already mature enough.
So I said to him:
“Now, do what you want.”
After saying that, I left him behind.
A short while after,
The sounds of the man behind screaming for my gold and the counter-claims from others refusing to part with it, mixed with the sounds of people charging at those who won’t relinquish the gold began to echo in confusion.
I hope they survive as long as possible, creating just the right chaos while a blue-skinned man stands out everywhere.
Until I catch up to those who’ve returned to their sects.
Whoosh!
In the end, a fire broke out behind me. In a place like this, a large fire should be put out immediately, but who would care when there’s such easily recognizable wealth in front of them?
During the fire-fighting, if they could steal some gold?
Or perhaps someone could take this chance to snatch the gold?
Someone other than me would certainly try.
Someone would go put out the fire.
That’d probably end up fueling it. Until it becomes impossible to extinguish. At that point, the people inside the city walls would need to come out.
The flames may not cross the walls, but toxic gas? That’s another story, right?
Tap tap.
I walked towards Kunlun Mountain.
