Chapter 36: Day 36

“Peaceful, isn’t it?”

Cheon Seo Ah, concealed in the shadows of an alleyway off a bustling market street, chuckled softly.

Having acquired the Sea Devouring Dragon Sword, the Sea Devouring Dragon Sword Art, and the Nine Yin White Bone Claw from the Hidden Dimension, she had left the Central Mountain Range.

While she longed to storm the Blood King Sect and slaughter them all, she knew she wasn’t strong enough yet.

“But I have time.”

She felt neither disappointment nor despair.

Though unsure of her exact age, she knew she was less than thirty.

Even having sacrificed fifty years to the Ninefold Demonic Mask, her remaining lifespan, thanks to her Golden Core, was far longer than any ordinary human’s.

With diligent cultivation, she would eventually be strong enough to crush the Blood King Sect and the White Snake Gate.

“Now, where can I find some useful ingredients?”

She stroked the hilt of the Sea Devouring Dragon Sword, her eyes scanning the passing crowd.

Her hands were twisted and gnarled, the skin stretched taut over bone, more like the hands of a corpse than a living being.

“I need to find some decent gloves, too.”

Since leaving the Central Mountain Range, she had been cultivating the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, using the “ingredients” she’d acquired from the villages she passed through, on her way to the city of Gahong.

The more she practiced the technique, the more her hands resembled those of a corpse.

Soon, the last vestiges of flesh would disappear, leaving only bone.

She needed gloves, something better than the ordinary ones sold in markets.

Something made from the hide of a spirit beast, or perhaps a treasure, like the Sea Devouring Dragon Sword.

As she scanned the crowd…

“Huh?”

An old man shuffled past, his back hunched, leaning heavily on a black wooden cane.

His hair and beard were white as snow. Cheon Seo Ah’s eyes lit up.

“Found one.”

She grinned.

Not just a useful ingredient, but an excellent one.

Her gaze followed the old man as she began to move.

*

Late at night, in a cemetery not far from Gahong, the cawing of crows perched on tombstones and withered trees filled the air.

An old man with a long white beard and hair, his back hunched, leaning on a black wooden cane, appeared.

He wore a mask shaped like a black ant’s head.

“I greet the Black Ant Elder.”

The earth stirred, and a figure wearing a crow mask emerged, bowing respectfully to the old man.

The Black Ant Elder simply nodded in acknowledgment.

“Has the Full Moon Gathering not begun yet?”

“There’s still time, Elder.”

“I hope this old man isn’t too late.”

“Haha, not at all. Who would dare fault the Black Ant Elder?”

The crow-masked figure chuckled and made a hand gesture.

A section of space rippled like a curtain, revealing a small, abandoned house where a dozen figures, each wearing a mask resembling an insect or animal, were gathered.

The Black Ant Elder scanned the masks with a sharp gaze, then nodded.

“Good.”

With a satisfied chuckle, he entered the house.

The crow-masked figure waited until he was inside before attempting to close the spatial curtain.

“May I join this Full Moon Gathering?”

A voice from above startled him.

He looked up and saw a young girl in black robes and a bamboo hat, a sword hanging from her waist.

The moment he saw her, Cheon Seo Ah, a cold sweat broke out.

He hadn’t sensed her approach. If she hadn’t spoken, he wouldn’t have known she was there.

‘Who is she…?’

He couldn’t read her cultivation level, which meant she was far stronger than him.

In his hundred years of organizing the Full Moon Gathering in Gahong, he’d never seen her before.

Where had she come from? And how did she know about the gathering? Could she be…

‘Following the Black Ant Elder?’

His thoughts raced, his unease evident even behind the mask. Cheon Seo Ah chuckled.

“Don’t think too hard about it. I just happened to stumble upon this while passing by.”

She landed lightly before him. The crow-masked figure spoke cautiously.

“I greet Senior…”

“Call me the Bone Girl.”

Cheon Seo Ah grinned. Senior? She didn’t need such formalities from a wandering vagrant, a mere ingredient waiting to be harvested.

The crow-masked figure’s confusion deepened. The Bone Girl? Was it because of her hands?

He glanced at her hands, bone-white and skeletal. The name fit, though it was a bit… direct. But…

‘A technique that turns one’s hands into bone… could it be…?’

A Demonic Art? He gulped. But it couldn’t be.

Demonic cultivators exuded a distinct aura, and he would have sensed it, no matter how weak his own cultivation.

She must be a senior cultivating some unusual technique.

“So, can I join?”

He flinched again at her voice.

It was the voice of a young girl, yet it sent shivers down his spine, the instinctual fear of a prey animal facing a predator.

He couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer.

Her patience was clearly wearing thin, despite her calm demeanor.

“Of course. The Full Moon Gathering welcomes all fellow cultivators.”

He stepped aside, and Cheon Seo Ah, with another chilling grin, passed through the spatial curtain and entered the abandoned house where the vagrant cultivators were gathered.