Chapter 693

Beast King Stone.

For some reason, the words felt familiar. At the same time, a not-so-distant memory surfaced.

Seven nights ago—Beast Miao King telling me an old story on the way to Mount Aino.

Why Mount Aino became a forbidden place. The existence of the Five Poisons Sect that led to the current Southern Barbarian Water Palace. The great war that stained the entire Southern Barbarian Region with blood.

And… the lost Divine Stone.

‘It’s a legend passed down by word of mouth. The Beast King Stone is our palace’s Divine Stone, once held by the first palace lord—said to make every beast in the world follow.’

At that moment, I remembered Beast Miao King’s offhand remark.

-Behold.

Along with the low telepathy in my head, the Wraith—or rather, the Guardian Spirit, as it should now be called—shifted aside.

And the next moment, I finally saw it.

Swish.

The Black Tiger’s body slid out of my way, and my view opened to the summit shrouded in thick cloud-mist.

A colossal boulder stood there, towering like a monument.

‘Could it be…?’

My instincts answered first.

Why it had led me here.

And what that rock really was.

Thud.

My feet moved as if possessed. I passed the Black Tiger and stopped in front of the boulder—nearly three human-heights tall.

Swish.

I could feel it.

An unknown power clinging to the stone.

At the highest point of this mysterious land, it scattered a faint, dark glow—beautiful, yet dangerous.

Like a Divine Stone from a buried legend.

“…Beast King Stone.”

I exhaled the words. The Black Tiger, approaching like a ghost, gave a slight nod.

-That is correct. Long ago, it passed through the hands of a human and gained the same name as him.

“Then that human… was he perhaps…”

-He was as cool as wind, as clear as water, and as unchanging as a tree. And he was the only human who could freely enter and leave this space without my permission.

“Without your permission? That was possible?”

This was a hidden realm, concealed for hundreds—maybe thousands—of years.

The only reason we’d entered was because it had opened the way.

To my doubt, the Black Tiger replied.

-It was possible. Even I did not know it, but before my permission, the Divine Stone that protects this land accepted him.

So the Divine Stone it spoke of was the Beast King Stone’s original name.

And at the same time, I felt I could guess who that human had been.

The one and only leader who united dozens of tribes under a single banner, after endless wars had defined life in the Southern Barbarian Region.

‘And that’s not all.’

The one who carved the five characters for Southern Barbarian Beast Palace into this land.

The first—and last—person to appear for a brief moment with the Beast King Stone.

No… maybe he wasn’t its owner.

And my guess hardened into conviction as the telepathy continued.

-Then, one day, a great war broke out. Mountains and pastures were swallowed by flames, and the rivers filled with the corpses of countless beasts and humans. As time passed, this land became more and more defiled, and the Divine Stone gradually lost its power.

“Lost its power?”

-The power to rule beasts is only one of the Divine Stone’s powers, not all of it. It is called a Divine Stone because it protected this land’s abundance for a very long time.

I tore my gaze from the Black Tiger and looked back at the boulder.

Even now, it scattered that faint, dark glow—and it was cracked, fractured in places.

“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t have anything to do with abundance.”

Even from a distance, the ominous energy seeping from it made my skin crawl.

‘No matter how I look at it, this is…’

In the first place, Divine Stones weren’t factory-made with fixed standards, but there was a minimum expectation.

The Beast King Stone I’d pictured was pure white and sparkling.

Not a massive, ominous chunk that would make even Mount Seorak’s Rocking Rock step aside.

“…Well. I don’t know about abundance, but I get why it was called the Beast King Stone. If you smash heads with this, what beast wouldn’t listen? You could probably rule people too.”

I was honestly impressed the first Southern Barbarian Beast Palace Lord had carried this around at all.

How hard did he train? Did he hang an elephant from a bar and grind out five thousand reps?

The Black Tiger stared at me with sunken eyes, as if trying to understand what kind of “training” I was talking about.

-It is because of you.

“…What?”

-Once, this land was full of peace and abundance. Everything flowed according to the order of Heaven’s Will, and the Divine Stone was not what it is now.

Realization clicked, and I muttered,

“…It gradually lost its power. As humans began to live here.”

-To be exact, it began when they started killing each other.

I understood, vaguely.

The Divine Stone—the Beast King Stone—was bound to this land like flesh to bone. The more death and destruction spilled across it, the more its power faded.

“Then did you help the first palace lord? Three hundred years ago, when the Five Poisons Sect stained the Southern Barbarian Region with blood, the Divine Stone’s power must’ve dropped too.”

-I… No. We…

A flicker crossed those eyes. Longing, perhaps. Or something like regret.

-We did not help.

“….”

I stalled at the unexpected answer. Calm telepathy followed.

-Protecting the Divine Stone was my mission, and existing with this land was the Divine Stone’s duty. We only had to watch.

“Just… watched?”

-Yes. Like a being you know.

A figure came to mind.

The Water God Dragon I’d encountered months ago—an existence that protected its river for centuries while pursuing enlightenment.

An imoogi with strange, overwhelming power, guarding its territory without stepping into human affairs.

But if that was the case…

“Then what about the legend of the Beast King Stone? The legend passed down among the people here…”

-Legend. Yes. It was only a legend. It certainly exists, but it had to be fabricated.

Bitterness flashed in the Black Tiger’s blue-white eyes.

-He was the only human who understood our mission, and he wanted peace more than anyone else. So, to end the war, he created the Beast King Stone himself. I watched from an unseen place—until the day he called a stone with no power the Beast King Stone, became a chosen hero, united the tribes, fought other humans… and fell.

I’d stopped breathing without realizing it.

It felt like a book of ancient legends was opening right in front of me.

-He died like that. What humans revered as the Beast King Stone vanished as if it had never existed. The war continued for a hundred years after that, and I…

Growl.

The low sound trembled.

Blue-white eyes—like they were chasing something they could never catch—shifted from the Divine Stone to me.

-I had to regret it for two hundred years.

Silence followed.

Wind brushed past as I stood facing the Black Tiger, and I spoke.

“For what reason?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I wasn’t asking because I expected one.

“Because the land kept getting ruined as the war dragged on, and the Divine Stone kept losing power? Because it looks like even the scraps left will be wiped out by what’s coming? So you regretted it—regretted that you should’ve helped him back then. A useless regret.”

Heavy telepathy echoed.

-Is it blame?

“No. I don’t really care. If anything, I’m grateful you helped us. I don’t know if you’ll believe it.”

I didn’t care about the Divine Stone or the Guardian Spirit. And I didn’t think I had the right to judge.

This was something from hundreds of years ago, and whatever their mission was, the fact remained: it saved me and my group.

I just… suddenly thought of it.

“For a Guardian Spirit, you’re petty and cowardly. But I guess that’s fine.”

“If you’re upset, I’ll take it back.”

The Black Tiger stared at me in silence. Despite the ominous exterior, its blue-white eyes were large and clear.

Then—

-For two hundred years, every day. Every moment, I regretted it. That I should have saved that human, even if it meant breaking the order of Heaven’s Will.

-Foolish and young human. What you said is not wrong. I clung to a single mission for too long, and because of that, I made the wrong judgment. But… can you give me a chance?

“If it’s a chance…”

-I want to restore even a little of the Divine Stone’s power. And this time, I will try to correct the wrong choice of the past.

Swish.

The great tiger slowly opened its mouth. And in that instant, a crystal of clear, blue energy revealed itself.

Ting. Ting. Ting.

[New information has been updated due to meeting the conditions!]

[The Wraith of Mount Aino has been changed to Guardian Spirit!]

[Hidden letters are revealed!]

[You have discovered a Hidden Sacred Land!]

[You have met the conditions to trigger a hidden quest!]

[A hidden quest has been created!]

[Hidden Quest, Last Chance has been created!]

The bell-like chimes rang, and notifications flooded in.

Then the last hologram window appeared before my eyes.

[Would you like to strengthen the Ancient Divine Stone with Azure Dragon God’s Elixir?]

[Y / N.]

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

And…

‘Spiritual energy for spiritual energy, is that it.’

I muttered to myself and looked up at the sky.

Blue.

Like its eyes—no, the Guardian Spirit’s eyes—watching me now.

“I…”

—

Some left their seats.

Others stayed.

Yohee and Muyaho.

Waiting by the pond for the one person who hadn’t returned, they faced a change that arrived first.

Rumble!

The earth shook, and the pond surged like waves.

Hundreds—thousands—of birds burst into the air at once, and even more beasts rose from the brush.

A faint gasp escaped Yohee as she reflexively looked up.

“T-that is…”

Whooooom!

A pillar of light shot up as if piercing the sky, embracing the unknown space.