Chapter 427: It Has Been a While (2)

It has been around four days.

We started to see villages with people in them after passing through mountains and forests.

People in our crew started to feel at ease at the sight.

Everyone was always high on their guard just in case of an ambush.

But since we entered the Tang Clan’s territory, such a problem wasn’t a worry anymore.

They all had stiff expressions on their faces, but now they looked relieved.

They even started to joke around with each other and even spar when they didn’t before.

As always, I enjoyed watching other people’s fights.

I was truly able to feel that the trip was coming to a close.

However…

Unlike everyone else, I only felt more concerned.

Swoosh.

I flowed Qi throughout my body.

Once it left my Dantian, it scattered through parts of my body.

Tsk.

I still saw no change despite constantly checking.

This was a problem that occurred ever since I hatched the Red Water Snake from the Demonic Stone.

My Qi has been slowly recovering ever since then, but the rate was way too slow.

The Dishonored Venerable noticed this as well, and he scolded me for it asking what the hell I did because it affected my training.

Damn it.

Getting scolded at this age.

It felt very humiliating.

Shaaaa…

Noticing my bad mood, the snake peeked its head from my sleeve to check me out.

“What are you looking at? Everything became a mess because of you, how are you going to make up for it?”

Shaa…

The little bastard licked my hand as if it was apologizing to me.

I repeatedly sighed at the sight.

Ugh, my back.

I was letting my anger out on a Demon, what a joke this was. It was strange that I was faulting this bastard in the first place since I was the one who gave birth to it.

I put my hand on my forehead and looked out the window.

The carriage continued its path, and the scenery endlessly changed.

I thought to myself after seeing the scenery.

We were about to arrive in Tang Clan soon.

Then…

I shall first go get that White Demonic Stone.

My original plan was to go see the Monster of Wudang with the Water Dragon, and then follow Pe Woocheol and visit Pe Clan.

Only then, I planned to go get the White Demonic Stone, but I had to change my plan now.

My body is a mess.

I had a bigger problem internally than physically.

My Qi wasn’t properly recovering, and it became a huge problem in using Heaven Destruction Art.

Ugh…

Thanks to that, I couldn’t feel at ease when I was already feeling impatient ever since reaching Fusion Realm.

Therefore, I planned to go get the White Demonic Stone and refill my Qi.

Shaaaa.

The Red Water Snake repeatedly poked its tongue out and looked at me.

“What.”

That was the only thing this snake did.

Shaa?

It only came out from time to time to either tilt its head out of confusion or poke its tongue out.

It was its routine.

“I guess this is better in comparison.”

Compared to the beast that growled every time it was hungry or the old man that nagged me inside my head all day long, this bastard was much better.

I would have immediately thrown the bastard out if it wanted more Qi from me, but thankfully it didn’t seem to want any.

It only seemed to want meat from Demons from time to time.

What a strange fellow.

It didn’t eat anything ordinary, and it only looked for meat from other Demons.

Demons were fine with eating anything, so I didn’t know why this guy was picky.

I guess it’s not a bad thing?

It would’ve been a problem if it wanted to consume Demonic Stones. Wanting meat was affordable at least.

I got plenty of Demon meat anyway since I hunted them for Demonic Stones.

The snake also didn’t nag me when it was hungry.

I just found out one day that it was hungry when I saw it was slumped over.

At first, I wondered why it was acting that way, and I didn’t even know since it didn’t ask me for food.

This is the first time I’m raising a Demon.

I didn’t even have an ordinary pet before, so I lacked knowledge in this regard.

“Were you too scared to say anything?”

Shaa…

I was rather bothered by the snake lowering its head without energy.

I was reminded of it not asking me for food despite it starving.

…How annoying.

I felt annoyed every time this happened.

It reminded of me my past life, and it put me in a bad mood.

“Say something next time. I’ll at least feed you.”

Shaa.

I wasn’t going to go out of my way to look for the bastard’s food. I only planned to get some when I hunted Demons for Demonic Stones.

I had no intention to raise this thing.

With that thought, I nodded my head.

The bastard moved its tongue faster than before as if it was feeling happy.

Then, I shook my arm in disgust.

“Stop! You are making my arm wet!”

When I shouted at the bastard, the snake quickly went back into my sleeve in shock.

Was this thing really a Demon? Why is it so full of fear?

As I wiped my hand, I started to hear a voice from the top of the carriage.

“Oh! We must be arriving now!”

It was the White Ripple Sword who was lying down on top of the carriage.

I didn’t know why she was doing that when the inside was much comfier, but I poked my head out the window after hearing her.

Then, I started to see something from far away.

I frowned a little after seeing the sight.

“Seriously… that took way too long.”

Was it spring when we started this trip?

It was now summer already.

Was it a coincidence?

I could’ve sworn it was also summer when I came here a few years ago.

It was the same season as back then.

I smirked at the thought.

I was barely a Third-rate martial artist at the time, but now I was a Fusion Realm martial artist and I even gained great honor and a high reputation in the Central Plains.

It was a completely different feeling.

Well, not really, I guess.

I just felt that time really passed.

I calmed my breath after leaning against my seat.

Finally, after a few months, we arrived on the streets of Sichuan’s Tang Clan.

I was reminded of when I went to Sichuan in order to find the Golden Sky Yeon Clan’s secret vault.

It would’ve been strange for me to forget about that event considering all the things that happened.

I found Wi Seol-Ah hiding in the carriage during the start of our trip, and I met Namgung Bi-ah for the first time in this life.

I couldn’t describe my shock when I saw Namgung Bi-ah’s face.

I was horrified while wondering why that crazy woman was here.

In some ways, that’s when many things started to change in this life.

My relationship with Wi Seol-Ah started to change around that time, and my relationship with Namgung Bi-ah took a completely different turn compared to the one I had in my past life.

The point where the flow of time started to change a lot.

That’s when I stepped my feet into the lands of Sichuan.

Creak.

A giant gate opened.

It was twice as tall as an average person, and much bigger than Gu Clan’s gates in comparison.

Our gate was so short that the First Elder or my father had to lower their head in order to enter.

Once the gates opened, I saw a ton of people lined up waiting for us.

“We congratulate your return, our Lord.”

-Congratulations!

Many cheers erupted as the Poison King appeared.

…Wow.

Seeing all these people clapping and cheering. How should I say this…

What the hell is this nonsense?

That’s the first thought I had.

Some of these people looked busy, yet they were doing this nonsense.

Judging by the Poison King or Tang Soyeol’s reaction though, they seemed to be used to it as if this was obvious.

This is obvious to them…?

Perhaps I wasn’t used to such a welcome since my father is different.

Considering how Moyong Hi-ah and Namgung Bi-ah also showed no changes in their expressions, it seemed like most other clans did something similar.

Craaack.

I started to hear a strange sound as I walked.

It was Tang Duk clenching his fist tightly.

I sent him a telepathic message after noticing.

-Loosen up.

Tang Duk loosened his fist while shaking his body after hearing my command.

It was obvious for him to show such a reaction as he was in his most hated land, but it didn’t matter to me.

It would become a problem if I was caught because of him, so I had to make sure I ordered him properly.

Maybe I should’ve told him to wait outside if I knew this was going to happen.

But what could I do when we already came here?

I turned away from Tang Duk and looked in front again, and a bunch of white-haired old men were waiting outside to greet the Poison King.

Those guys must be the Elders.

They seemed to be the Elders of the Tang Clan.

“Welcome back, our Lord.”

The Poison King lightly lowered his head after hearing the Elders’ welcome.

I was able to know one thing after seeing this sight.

The Poison King must have a lot of power.

I was able to know that he possessed great power as a Lord.

No Elders would act like that towards their Lord if they possessed lots of power in their clan.

For example, the Elders had lots of power in Namgung Clan.

Well, it was the Heavenly Venerable who had a lot of power to be more accurate.

It wasn’t the Lord who had the most power in that clan.

Namgung Clan was a great example of that.

Tang Clan seemed completely different in comparison…

Tang Clan didn’t have as much influence with their merchant associations like Moyong Clan, but they were pretty competitive in the industry.

They were the clan of steel.

It was Tang Clan that had the highest quality metal in the Central Plains.

Because of that, everyone knew that Tang Clan didn’t only have great political power.

Anyway, putting that aside for now.

I want to go in already.

I first wanted to unpack and rest a little.

I was exhausted both mentally and physically, so it was necessary for me to rest on the day of arrival.

As I wondered when this welcome ceremony was going to end,

“It’s so damn long. When is this thing going to end?”

I heard a voice and the group behind me looked towards the voice in shock.

There was actually a person who pulled the exact words out of my mouth.

But they actually said it out loud? At first, I thought they were pretty brave, but it was the White Ripple Sword.

This woman definitely has to be crazy.

I couldn’t believe that she actually said those words out loud.

Even I wouldn’t have done such a thing.

“I’m so hungry, ugh…”

“Auntie, please…”

When the White Ripple Sword spoke with a sigh, Moyong Hi-ah next to her tried stopping her as her ears became red in embarrassment.

Honestly, I did agree with her.

As Moyong Hi-ah continued to keep the White Ripple Sword quiet, I took a look at the Poison King.

It seemed like his conversation was coming to an end.

Then, the Poison King’s shoulders flinched after the Elders told him something.

It seemed like they were having a pretty important conversation.

Hush.

When the Poison King raised a hand, the cheering sound from the surroundings all became silent in an instant.

He should’ve done that in the first place.

When I looked at him with dissatisfaction, the Poison King turned his head and spoke.

“It was a long trip, you all worked hard.”

For some reason, he had a pretty dense atmosphere as he welcomed everyone.

“We already prepared rooms for the guests, so how about we rest for today and hold a banquet the day after during sunset?”

A banquet, huh?

I wasn’t interested, but he probably was asking everyone to come since he was announcing it on this spot.

Unlike the start of this noisy welcome ceremony, the end of it ended pretty anticlimactic.

After the Poison King was done with his speech, he and the Elders disappeared off into some direction and the guests headed towards their rooms as the guide led them.