The Wizard Who Endured the World of Murim - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Surviving in the Martial Realm as a Mage: Episode 104
“The way for you to ascend is simple.”
“Ah, wait! If you’re about to spout some nonsense about needing to cultivate harder, I’ll bury you right here.”
Gyumok Rang bared his fangs and growled, but Ilhyang chuckled softly and pointed to his heart.
Ilhyang saw it clearly.
One side of his heart was saturated with water-attribute energy.
“You need to purge the water-attribute power from there.”
“What?”
“I’m saying you must drain the hydro force from your heart. Completely. Only then will you be able to ascend further.”
If he were a mage, multiple attributes would pose no problem, but this creature was different.
‘This one is like a spirit elemental.’
Just as humans in this world gathered inner force in their dantian.
Demon cultivators had also formed inner cores where their hearts resided.
‘Much like a dragon heart.’
It was easier to understand high-realm demon cultivators by thinking of them as dragons.
After all, dragons themselves originated from the same root as spirit elementals, so the comparison held truth.
‘Of course, even on the Seven Continents, dual-attribute dragons were rare but did exist.’
Dragons born with two or more attributes like mutations.
They were generally called dual dragons or variants, but their power was far weaker than ordinary dragons.
Their balance was fundamentally broken.
‘Though there were monsters that transcended even such cases.’
Only once in the history of the Seven Continents.
A rare species called the chromatic dragon had existed.
‘In this world’s terminology, you might call it a multicolored dragon.’
The chromatic dragon possessed every single attribute.
It had been a monstrosity that surpassed even the Dragon King’s power, yet its lifespan was far too short for a dragon.
“You’ll grow weaker for now, but looking ahead, unifying your attributes is the path to ascension.”
“….”
Had he been dimly aware of this all along?
Gyumok Rang opened and closed his mouth several times, attempting to curse, but ultimately said nothing and covered his face with one hand.
After a long silence in that posture, he finally lifted his head and asked.
“Hah, but how did you know that? This is strange. How could someone at your level even perceive that I’m dual-rooted? It doesn’t make sense.”
Demon cultivators are fundamentally born with a single attribute.
An innate singular attribute.
Even when mutations occasionally mixed in other attributes, one attribute remained overwhelmingly dominant.
Gyumok Rang was different.
“Ha… You’re telling me to abandon nearly half of my power? How is that reasonable?”
“I merely offered the most certain path. Whether you accept it or not is your decision to make.”
“This is maddening.”
Gyumok Rang had come to meet the human with a light heart, but received an unexpected blow and found himself in turmoil.
‘But can I trust what this creature says?’
Of course, I didn’t have to believe him.
Unfortunately, Gyumok Rang’s intuition was telling me that this human’s words held truth.
An instinct as reliable as prophecy itself.
“This is all because of Grandmother.”
The nine-tailed fox.
I grumbled toward whoever was watching from some distant place.
My ears immediately erupted as if a bomb had detonated.
[Didn’t I tell you not to call me Grandmother? Do you think I can’t interfere that far?]
[Oh~ fine. Keep scratching at my nerves like that. You won’t come to the Gui Yi Continent, right? You won’t go to the Immortal Celestial Realm, correct?]
[You should remember that your blood kin are living right next door, you little brat.]
Gyumok Rang immediately shut out the distant voice and turned to look at Ilhyang.
“Fine. I’ll carve today’s expensive advice into my bones.”
“Remember this: only the power you can handle yourself is truly your own. Everything else belongs to someone else.”
I’d seen plenty of fools intoxicated by power that wasn’t theirs, wielding it recklessly.
One must learn to distinguish between what is one’s own and what is not.
That’s the bare minimum condition for ascending further.
Gyumok Rang before me seemed to understand that distinction well enough.
But such instability could explode like a bomb at any moment.
It was best to shed it as soon as possible.
It was a miracle he’d endured this long.
“…This advice stings a bit. But it’s been helpful.”
“Then I’m glad.”
Ilhyang turned his gaze to the side.
There, people with tense expressions stood waiting, each gripping their weapons.
The sight felt so solemn that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Grandmother says your smiling face looks good.”
“Couldn’t she deliver her own message?”
Grandmother.
She must be referring to the Nine-tailed Fox?
“She just enjoys tormenting me. Her nature is quite vicious. You should be careful too.”
At that moment.
Crackle—
Red lightning fell from the sky, striking Gyumok Rang’s entire body.
“Hmph!”
Gyumok Rang absorbed the falling lightning and looked toward Ilhyang.
“You’re a strange human. But I like you. Very well—at least among the wolves, none will lay a hand on you first.”
“That’s unfortunate to hear.”
“What? Ah! Ha ha! Right, that’s why you didn’t declare your territory. This was bait?”
Gyumok Rang instantly saw through my intentions, laughed heartily, and spoke with a slight curl of his lips.
“I should warn you to be careful. Tell those around you that there’s a dangerous hunter about.”
“….”
“Don’t look at me like that. Hey! We’re serious too. We’re 4th Realm Demon Cultivators. By human standards, we’re the kind worth using from the Wonyeonggi level onward, so it would be problematic if our numbers dwindled too much.”
It’s true that some time has passed since the connection with the Lower Realm was severed.
We tried to replenish our numbers independently.
But it seems difficult due to the conflicts with the Immortal Celestial Realm.
“So you need more numbers because of the conflicts with the Immortal Celestial Realm?”
“Exactly! Those scarecrow bastards—I don’t know about anything else, but their numbers are truly vast.”
The territorial struggle between demons and humans unfolding in the Deep Three Continents.
Clashes at the Hapdogi level occur perhaps once every few decades.
But the monsters from the Wonyeonggi level down to the Yeonheo realm have collided frequently.
“We’re testing each other’s strength. Seeing how weakened the other side has become.”
And if the other side seemed weakened?
It would immediately shift to a large-scale offensive.
A Demon Immortal War would erupt.
Countless creatures on both sides would perish.
Perhaps there was a way to induce this and draw it to our advantage?
While Ilhyang pondered briefly, Gyumok Rang spoke.
“Thanks to you, we were able to plant seeds in the Lower Realm. That’s fortunate. Very fortunate indeed. To be honest, being completely cut off from the Lower Realm has been quite difficult.”
“I’m glad if it was helpful.”
Gyumok Rang gave Ilhyang a simple and courteous explanation, then opened his mouth while observing the humans gathered nearby.
“Humans gathering like this without slave collars is something that hasn’t happened before.”
Humans did exist in the Demon Immortal Realm.
There were separate places called breeding grounds where they were kept, or so I’d heard.
That didn’t strike me as particularly unsettling or uncomfortable.
Those in the Upper Realm were the same whether in the Immortal Celestial Realm or the Demon Immortal Realm.
‘The weak are devoured.’
This realm operated on the principle of survival of the fittest.
The powerful decided everything.
It was the wild world itself.
“Still, make sure to declare your territory. The Grandmother watching over this place and I will overlook it, but if you’re unlucky, those who come to mete out punishment will appear.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Gyumok Rang ended his words there, slowly rolling his shoulders as he summoned and mounted Neomok Ryeong.
“The Golden Monkey marked this human, so I was curious, but now I understand why he did. It seems I came at a good time indeed.”
Gyumok Rang, who had been examining Ilhyang from every angle, departed with a satisfied smile.
After he vanished from sight, Bing Baek Ma-gun Gu Sang-hak approached first and asked a question.
“Lord Ilhyang. Are you alright?”
Ilhyang found himself swaying slightly as he took a seat.
Though Gyumok Rang had been restraining himself as much as possible.
Facing his true form head-on.
The very presence of these beings exerted an overwhelming pressure.
‘Monstrous creatures.’
To think there were twelve of them in total.
This must be the weakest among them.
Merely facing it made it difficult to maintain my composure.
“Are you all unharmed?”
“We are safe thanks to the Patriarch’s protection.”
Had Ilhyang not expanded his Mental World to its fullest extent and erected a defensive barrier,
everyone here would surely have perished without drawing another breath.
Monsters whose very existence crushes all life beneath them.
Fortunately, such beings held favor toward me.
Otherwise, I should never have dared venture into the Demon Immortal Realm.
‘I never imagined spirit affinity could prove useful in this manner.’
As I calmed my frayed nerves and closed my eyes,
Jigang Apryong approached hesitantly.
[Exalted One.]
“Speak.”
The creature wavered uncertainly several times before finally opening its mouth with utmost caution.
[W-well… in truth, our Blood Clan’s ruler wished to know if you could communicate.]
“Your Blood Clan?”
A lizard.
So this was what they called an Earth Dragon?
Could this creature also be one of the Twelve Demon Sovereigns?
If so, it might have been observing the entire situation unfold.
‘Unnecessary discord would be troublesome.’
Though I found their behavior peculiar,
I understood their position—they harbored unresolved anxieties that warranted such caution.
After rubbing the bridge of my nose briefly, I nodded readily and spoke to Jigang Apryong.
“Connect us.”
At my response, Jigang Apryong flicked its slender tongue several times,
and in that moment,
a soft hiss escaped—
its eyes narrowed to slits as it lifted its head and gazed upon me before it.
And then,
[Greetings, Ilhyang.]
The creature spoke with its vertical pupils raised to meet my gaze as much as possible.
[Or rather, welcome, traveler from an unfamiliar world.]
Ilhyang’s previously placid expression turned glacial in an instant.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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