I Became an Evolving Lizard in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 158

Chapter 158 –  The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique

A lizard like me falling under a spell?

Baeklang. He was a terrifying spiritual beast.

It seemed like he was close to the Snake Queen, and his Middle Dantian was no ordinary thing.

To be honest, I had a few concerns as I headed towards the Dragon Gate.

I had to go somewhere that wasn’t the Snake Queen’s temple, Baek Yeonyeong’s Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, or the spiders’ marshlands.

It meant I wouldn’t be able to see something large that gave me peace of mind for a while.

I even thought about kidnapping Tang So-yeong, but it seemed like she wouldn’t be of much help.

…

…What on earth am I thinking?

“Geck!”

As the divine beast of the Gecko, a Komodo-Lania, I seemed to be having inappropriate thoughts.

I should restrain myself.

At my age, I shouldn’t be having such childish thoughts.

…

But wouldn’t it be something to like at six months old?

In fact, not liking it would be stranger.

So, what I’m doing is perfectly normal.

Of course, for a regular lizard, they wouldn’t just not like it—they wouldn’t even feel the slightest interest.

It was an organ unnecessary for lizards, after all.

Still, the fact that I had a peculiar obsession with it…

meant I had a human mind rather than a lizard’s.

“Geck geck.”

Thinking that way put my mind at ease.

There were times when I spaced out uncontrollably, but that was probably because the remaining humanity within me was manifesting.

As long as that thing existed, I could maintain a human mindset.

Just in case, later on—if, by any chance—

I became confused about my identity, I could just take a look at it once.

If I still liked it, it meant I had a human heart. If I felt nothing, that would mean I was in serious trouble.

I’d be able to take action before it was too late.

“…You’re not a lizard, are you? No lizard would make such a sly expression.”
“Geck geck.”

It was because I was a lizard with a human heart.

Being among the furry mammals felt rather comforting.

The temperature here was a bit low, but thanks to their body heat, my body warmed up nicely.

And as an extra, Baeklang’s tail was offered as a treat.

“Arrr….”

…He seemed to get angry when I touched him too much, but since he’d already allowed me his thigh, what couldn’t I do?

*

I lived with the wolf pack for a while.

Personally, I was gathering materials, and when I got by-products in the process, I gave them to the wolves.

Including Baeklang, there were as many as eight of them, so they gratefully accepted the meat I threw at them.

Although Baeklang and the rest of the wolves were quite strong, the other creatures in this area weren’t easy prey either.

Catching enough prey to feed all eight until they were full was even harder.

On the other hand, for someone like me, specialized in one-on-one combat, it was an easy task.

After approaching with the Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step and breaking the neck, the hunt was over.

There was a reason people said size was power.

“…You sure do hunt well.”

Baeklang admired the giant deer I had dragged in.

The wolves nearby wagged their tails.

“Awooong…”

They began devouring the meat ravenously.

Baeklang watched as his pack ate their fill, then he started tearing at the meat bit by bit.

“…Lizard, aren’t you going to eat?”

He suddenly remembered and spoke to me.

“Geck geck.”

Just watching you eat was enough to fill me up.

I made that sound to convey my meaning.

In truth, I had eaten a lot while wandering around, so I was full.

Since all these wolves were scrambling to eat the meat, if I joined in, it would turn chaotic.

Some wolves might not be able to eat because of my size.

That’s why I chose to eat separately.

“Heh…”

Baeklang made that sound and wagged his tail once.

A free food dispenser had appeared, so of course, he’d feel good.

I had almost gathered all the materials Baeklang had asked for.

That is, the ones I could gather on my own.

Now, the only materials left were the ones I had to collect after climbing the volcano.

After leaving enough food in the cave to last the wolves for a while, Baeklang and I set off.

Unfortunately, he was in wolf form, not human form.

“You seem oddly disappointed.”

“Ge-ge-geck.”

“…I keep telling you, I’m not interested in scales. So don’t get any weird ideas about seducing me.”

Baeklang had a strange misconception.

I often petted the wolves and sometimes coveted Baeklang’s fur, but it wasn’t because of any thoughts like that.

I just touched the fur because it was there.

“Geck.”

And that guy touched me quite often, too.

Wagging his tail, he maintained his human form and kept me close.

“You’ve probably noticed while wandering around, but the beasts here are different from the ones elsewhere.”

As we walked toward the Dragon Gate, Baeklang explained things to me.

She was right.

The beasts in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains were generally more intelligent than ordinary beasts.

Take the spiders for example, and the other creatures I’d seen as I wandered around.

But the ones near the Dragon Gate were different.

Their brains—or rather, their intelligence—were several levels lower than those of the beasts I knew.

“They’re creatures who’ve lost their reason, intoxicated by the power of the Dragon Gate. They’re not that smart. But in exchange for abandoning their intelligence, their strength has increased. They’re much larger than the creatures outside as well.”

Though their intelligence was lower, their combat power had grown significantly.

Sometimes, creatures appeared that were easily twice the size listed in the status window.

“Still, as long as they just swing that power around recklessly, it should be manageable. Most of the ones you’ve encountered so far would be like that. But if you meet one that refines that power to use inner energy and martial arts, it’ll be a different story.”

Inner energy and martial arts.

All strong beasts could use inner energy, and some even mimicked movements that seemed influenced by human martial arts.

Even the Deinonychus in the marshlands used formations, so the beasts of the Dragon Gate, which were far stronger, would likely use similar techniques.

“The closer you get to the Dragon Gate, the stronger they become. Among them, some naturally use martial arts. Of course, the Guardian-class beasts use them, and the beasts influenced by them also utilize martial arts.”

But I wasn’t too worried.

Even if they used martial arts, how well could they really do it?

I was Baek Yeonyeong’s top disciple.

Surely, they wouldn’t be better than me.

“We need to hunt one of those beasts that use martial arts.”

“Gegegek.”

As we continued walking, the landscape began to change.

The temperature steadily rose, and the grass and trees started becoming sparse.

“This is the Dragon Gate you’ll be climbing, the volcano.”

A rather majestic mountain came into view.

Lava flowed in several places, and volcanic ash fell from the sky.

Near the entrance, beasts that had lost their reason were fighting each other.

Crack.

Where Baeklang’s foot touched, the ground slightly froze.

“We’ll need to climb up a bit. That beast wouldn’t be down here….”

Baeklang trailed off.

“Duck!”

Suddenly, Baeklang pressed down on my head.

She seemed urgent, so I followed her command without complaint.

“We won’t need to climb after all.”

Hiding behind a rock, I quickly realized what she meant.

“It usually stays halfway up the mountain. Why has it come down here?”

A furry beast was fighting to the death.

Thud!

Thud!

And in the midst of the battle, a gigantic red-skinned dinosaur appeared.

“Craaah!”

【Magnosaurus lv65】

This was today’s target.

It had been a while since I last saw a dinosaur.

Well, the Dragon Gate would naturally attract creatures that wanted to become dragons.

And dinosaurs were kind of like us, weren’t they?

__________________________

【Magnosaurus】

The body length is about 5 meters, and the weight is approximately 600-700 kg, making it a medium-sized theropod.

Its scientific name means “great lizard,” which shares the same meaning as the name of Megalosaurus.

__________________________

The “Magno” in Magnosaurus might seem similar to “magma” at first glance, but it’s actually different.

It just means “big.”

Although it has a name similar to Megalosaurus, it’s definitely smaller than that dinosaur.

At least, that’s what I knew from common knowledge, but the creature in front of me was different.

For starters, its size was almost double what the status window indicated.

It was either similar to or slightly bigger than me.

Its skin had a vivid red hue, and flames erupted from various parts of its body.

Did it have that ability because it lived in a volcano, or did it gain that ability from living there?

Either way, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that we had to hunt it.

“Hunting it won’t be easy. It can manipulate fire, after all.”

It was dangerous to underestimate it just because its level wasn’t too high.

Level 65 wasn’t exactly low, and given that flames were bursting from its body, it was clearly not an ordinary dinosaur.

It had probably doubled in strength due to the influence of the Dragon Gate.

“The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique. It’s a fearsome attack. Knowing about it doesn’t mean you can avoid it.”

“Geck.”

That was true.

The Plum Blossom Sword Technique of the volcano was….

“Geck?”

What nonsense are you spouting now?

I looked at Baeklang’s face.

She was serious. Judging by her expression, she wasn’t joking.

What on earth was she talking about, saying something like the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique?

There were so many things I needed to clarify.

For one, that was a dinosaur.

A dinosaur using sword techniques….

I guess it could be possible.

It did have some sharp-looking things on its tail.

But using the Plum Blossom Sword Technique? That didn’t make sense.

That was a martial art of the Hwasan Sect.

…This might be a volcano, but it wasn’t *that* volcano.

Even if, by some stretch, I accepted that the Hwasan Sect was based in a place with flowing lava.

This was the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

What kind of crazy person would set up a martial sect right next to the stronghold of the Heavenly Demon Cult?

The Hwasan Sect should be located at the mountain of Hwasan (華山), not at a literal volcano.

So why did Baeklang speak as if the Plum Blossom Sword Technique was a given?

…The most plausible guess was that a true member of the Hwasan Sect had taught martial arts to these spiritual beasts.

Whoever the eccentric was, given the situation, that seemed like the most reasonable conclusion.

“Even if you avoid the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, it doesn’t end there. Next, it’ll rain the Mancheonhwau (満天火雨), a rain of fire.”

Craaaah!

It was understandable, albeit strange, for a dinosaur at the volcanic mountain in the territory of the Heavenly Demon Cult to use the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

It wasn’t entirely impossible, after all.

I had learned martial arts from Baek Yeonyeong, so it wasn’t unreasonable to think there could be a spiritual beast that had learned from the Hwasan Sect.

But Mancheonhwau?

“Grrr….”

That I couldn’t accept.

I could vaguely understand how Tang So-yeong felt.

This wasn’t the Hwasan Sect!

Mancheonhwau was a technique of the Beggars’ Sect, one that the Tang Clan had stolen.

Now I had one more reason to hunt that creature.

“Tsk, still, that thing usually doesn’t come down this far. Let’s wait a bit and… Hey, where are you going?!”

I had to deal with it before it polluted my mind any further.

“Gegegek!”