He looked down at JeGalYeon’s face, who was lightly sleeping.

‘She seemed to be flustered by the shock, but fell asleep quickly.’

Although it took quite a while for her to fall asleep as she pondered, it wasn’t boring at all to him. To him, JeGalYeon was like a fascinating animal he had never seen before. He never got tired of watching her.

‘So small, yet her fingers are firm. This woman is really intriguing.’

As he reached out to touch JeGalYeon’s hand, the cat snuggled in her arms hissed, showing its teeth. It’s just a cat, but fearing she would wake up, he stood up from his seat.

His eyes naturally flowed down to her profile, stopping at the large shackles on her ankles. Words she had said earlier popped into his head.

“How can you be sure I’ll really change the future as you want when I go back?”

He nearly burst into laughter at those words.

‘Why is she asking such a foolish question? Does she think I will really send her back forever?’

After sending her back, he planned to summon her again. It would be possible to do it twice since he had done it once.

‘She thinks she can leave my side?’

Thinking like this, his stomach twisted.

‘I’ll call her back again and again. Until she realizes running is futile and settles down beside me.’

With that thought, he walked out of JeGalYeon’s room. But suddenly, a new thought struck him.

‘But will she become a baby again when I summon her?’

He didn’t like that. Her childhood would undoubtedly be adorable, but growing a human took too long. The best thing would be to preserve her body well and summon her soul to it.

At that moment, a soul mage who had been looking for him found him and approached quickly. He asked outright what was on his mind.

“Is it possible to resurrect a Jiangshi?”

“Excuse me?”

“If you breathe a soul into it, can it become the same as it was in life?”

“Of, of course it will be different, right? Why do you ask about that suddenly?”

Regardless of the essence, a Jiangshi, being a preserved corpse, could not have the same sensation as a living human.

Unsatisfied with the soul mage’s answer, he scowled and asked again.
“Can a body be revived then, if the soul momentarily escapes and then returns? Not a rotten corpse.”

“Well, I suppose we could find a way if we research. In fact, there are often records in ancient texts of a frozen corpse moving again.”

“Research? How long would that take?”

At that moment, the necromancer realized he had caught a clue. He answered, eyes twinkling, to Hyul Junghyuk.

“That depends on how many quality specimens we can secure. We also need the lady’s help in breathing in the soul. Have you never coordinated with the lady before?”

Though the necromancer was suppressed by Hyul Junghyuk’s energy at the moment, he was fundamentally insane.

If he could use healthy living humans as experimental subjects at will, he could even lick Hyul Junghyuk’s feet. Let alone researching the demanding Jiangshi he desired.

Facing Hyul Junghyuk, who seemed lost in thought, the necromancer smoothly laid out his requirements, as if he had greased his lips.

“Ah, of course, because the lady might fundamentally object, it would be best if the subject has a strong motive to be kept alive. And they must be sturdy. It’s the first experiment, after all, so it might fail frequently.”

Sturdy and healthy body, and a subject that Jegal Yeon would desperately want to keep alive.

Such a subject was coincidentally headed this way. Hyul Junghyuk smirked.

“I’ve just thought of the perfect specimen.”

(This is a time separator.)

“This is the Blood Sect.”

Looking up at the treacherous mountain from below, Danmokbi pursed his lips.

‘Yeon is inside there right now.’

How scared must she be? Just imagining Yeon waiting, trembling in fear, made his heart tighten.

That was only assuming Hyul Junghyuk was keeping Yeon confined gently. If he thought that something harmful had been done to her, the negative emotion would spiral out of control.

‘She must remain safe until I get there. Don’t provoke him by resisting or trying to escape.’

Danmokbi was whispering to Jegal Yeon, who wouldn’t hear him, when this happened.

Jegal Min, who played the biggest role in reaching the Blood Sect headquarters, wiped the sweat from his brow while examining the terrain, and said,

“There doesn’t seem to be any device here. We can take a rest.”

Only then did the party members collapse to the ground or drink water to rest.

The foothills of the Red Mountain, where the Blood Sect settled, had all kinds of traps. Among them were poisonous snakes that would kill on contact, and forests that showed hardtoescape illusions.

The one who defeated them all, with a reputation in formation, was Jegal Min.

“You are indeed the Sogaju of Jegal Sega.”

“Thanks to you, we came easily.”

Danmokbi’s warriors from Danmok Sega did not spare their praise for Jegal Min.

Having performed brilliantly, he had every right to be proud, but Jegal Min humbly said,

“We can’t let our guard down yet. Up to here, we were lucky to have destroyed all mechanical traps, but closer to the headquarters, they must have installed more horrifying things. As evidence, there’s not even a wild animal in sight.”

“You’re right.”

As he said, the forest was eerily quiet.