CHAPTER 54: THE BONE EATING BEASTS

Im Beomhyeon casually continued feeding the bird.

The little myna bird was well-behaved.

The moment a bug reached its beak, it opened its mouth and ate without causing any extra fuss.

Im Beomhyeon lazily remarked, "Autumn isn’t so bad. But wait until spring—hehe, you won’t even need me to catch them for you. They’ll find you all on their own."

Bok Taejin couldn’t even manage a forced laugh this time.

Yet, determination ignited within him.

It wasn’t too late—he still had time.

For some reason, he just felt that if he trained diligently and unlocked more content from the One Flowers Sect Token, he would surely find a way to solve these daily hardships.

After feeding the bird, Im Beomhyeon released the excess bugs and blew out the candle, relying solely on the moonlight.

Seizing the opportunity, Bok Taejin asked, "Brother Im, what’s with the lanterns near the ancestral hall?"

Im Beomhyeon paused before realizing what he meant. "You mean those lanterns? They’re proof of the Heo family’s ancestors’ glory."

Bok Taejin was taken aback.

But Im Beomhyeon didn’t feel like explaining further.

He simply yawned about being exhausted from climbing the mountain and insisted on turning in early.

Then, he disappeared into his room.

Bok Taejin had no choice but to return to his own room and resume cultivation.

This time, when he was repelled from his deep meditative state by the forces of heaven and earth, he made an unexpected discovery.

There was a faint, grayish mist lingering within his dantian.

Unlike the life and death energies that circulated through his body, the gray mist remained confined to his dantian, drifting about in random motion.

Bok Taejin observed it carefully for a while and found that the mist originated from the Taiji Diagram.

He then tentatively tried asking the small light in his brow for answers, but as before, it gave no response.

Frustration welled up inside him.

His unanswered questions were piling up, yet not a single one had been resolved.

For now, he had no choice but to pretend he knew nothing.

In his past life, his mind had been too restless to fall asleep easily.

But this life was different.

He fell asleep instantly again and woke up precisely when the faint morning light seeped through the window.

The timing was accurate, yet flexible—it adjusted naturally with the shifting sunrise.

The length of day and night constantly changed, and the ancient sundial method of timekeeping meant that the duration of each hour also varied.

The traditional practice of staying up late and rising early in summer, while sleeping early and waking late in winter, was a natural adaptation to celestial changes.

Since his transmigration, Bok Taejin didn’t know if his body had simply retained its old habits, but he had adjusted well to this rhythm.

Breathing in the crisp morning air from the surrounding forest, he splashed his face with the icy well water and felt invigorated as he made his way to the radish field.

Someone was already there before him.

Instinctively, Bok Taejin wanted to ask Im Beomhyeon why he was up so early.

However, then he recalled hearing Im Beomhyeon’s snores before leaving his room and noticed that the person’s clothing was different.

Just as he was about to call out, the man heard his footsteps, looked up, and greeted him with a smile. "Morning, Taejin!"

Seeing who it was, Bok Taejin became even more puzzled.

He quickened his pace. "Brother Taegeon? What are you doing here so early?"

Heo Taegeon grinned and pointed at the thriving radishes in the field. "I couldn’t stop thinking about them! I’ve been growing radishes for years, but I’ve never seen any grow this well. It’s only been a few days, and look at them—they’re already this big and healthy!"

Indeed, the ten radishes planted in the field had all sprouted lush, vibrant green leaves, bursting with life.

But something was slightly off.

Bok Taejin frowned as he examined the first two radishes they had planted, scrutinizing them carefully.

Heo Taegeon had already noticed the issue.

Seeing Bok Taejin focus on them, he sighed, "These two need to be transplanted further apart. When you first planted them, you treated them like ordinary radishes, so the spacing was just enough for regular radishes to grow. But look at these—they’ve already grown leaves larger than those of a fully mature radish!"

Bok Taejin quickly asked for advice. "Should I move one now? It won’t affect their growth, right?"

Heo Taegeon seriously considered it for a moment before nodding firmly. "Alright. Let’s grab some tools and do it now. We need to move it before sunrise gets too strong, or the heat might harm it."

If he weren’t worried that the radishes were growing too fast and might become too big to move by tomorrow, and if he weren’t convinced that these miraculous radish sprouts had an unusually strong life force, Heo Taegeon wouldn’t have dared make such a decision.

Without hesitation, the two of them got to work.

Bok Taejin ran back to fetch a spade and a hoe.

Heo Taegeon, not trusting him with the delicate task of digging up the radish seedling, had him focus on preparing a new hole a little farther away.

However, just as Heo Taegeon pushed his spade deep into the soil beside the radish and pulled it up to make another cut—

Something unexpected happened!

"Oh my! What the heck is this thing?!"

Heo Taegeon yelped, stabbing his spade forcefully into the ground before hopping on one foot while clutching his leg.

Bok Taejin quickly set his hoe aside and rushed over, only to see Heo Taegeon pulling something off his leg.

His pants now had an irregularly shaped hole in them, as if they had been bitten through.

"Hey! It’s this little pest!" Heo Taegeon growled, gripping the small creature tightly by the neck. He looked down at the hole in his pants with heartache. "I just had these made last year! Now I gotta go back and have my wife patch them up."