Chapter 54. Skill Acquisition (1)
Liangshan.
A mountain area surrounded by vast wetlands.
A paradise of heroes.
Liangshan had begun as nothing more than a group of bandits.
But under the leadership of "Timely Rain" Song Jiang...
Its power steadily grew.
Eventually, the Song court recognized them.
The heroes of Liangshan went on to defeat the Liao and suppress rebellions, earning great military achievements.
They suffered enormous losses.
But in the end...
The heroes of Liangshan became heroes of the world.
Song Jiang was even granted an official government position.
However...
Corrupt officials who envied them began plotting.
Because of those schemes...
The heroes started dying one by one.
Eventually...
Poisoned wine was sent to Song Jiang.
And Li Kui went to see him.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Hyung."
Li Kui smiled at Song Jiang, who was crying.
"Just like you said..."
"If you die, I'm the one who'll cause the biggest disaster."
"I'd probably try to overturn everything."
Song Jiang feared that after his death...
Li Kui would rebel.
Thinking of the court and the people...
Song Jiang had made Li Kui drink poisoned wine too.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry..."
"What's the point of me living if you die, Hyung?"
Song Jiang had been the one who gave meaning to Li Kui's life.
Before that...
Li Kui had known nothing except killing.
If he could die together with Song Jiang...
He had no reason to complain.
"I served you while alive."
Li Kui grinned.
"So I'll serve you after death too."
But...
Li Kui never got that chance.
After reincarnating as a Constellation...
Li Kui searched every corner of the Spirit Realm.
But he could not find Song Jiang anywhere.
"Ugh..."
Li Kui opened his eyes with a frown.
Constellations didn't actually need sleep.
But whenever Li Kui became bored, he would close his eyes and shut down his mental activity, entering something similar to sleep.
"I dreamed about the past again..."
He felt depressed.
So Li Kui reached to the side and grabbed the bottle sitting there.
He drank the remaining alcohol from before his sleep in huge gulps.
"Might as well drink..."
Constellations normally didn't eat or drink.
There were no fields or ranches in the Spirit Realm in the first place.
However...
It was possible to bring food from Earth and consume it.
Of course...
Doing so cost a considerable amount of Origin Power.
"Haa..."
After finishing the remaining alcohol...
Li Kui sighed.
That had been the last of his stored supply.
It looked like he would have to stop drinking for a while.
"I'll buy more once my Origin Power recovers..."
On average...
Li Kui earned around ten million Origin Power every month.
Most of it came from his Contractors active on Earth.
At the same time...
Around five million Origin Power was spent each month on fixed expenses.
Communication costs for maintaining his observation device.
Maintenance costs for automated systems that granted Blessings to his Contractors.
Things like that.
So roughly five million Origin Power remained each month.
Li Kui spent that money first on alcohol.
Anything left over...
He donated to Contractors who caught his attention through the observation device.
The conversion rate changed depending on the time...
But even one million Origin Power could be converted into tens of millions of Coins.
That was more than enough for occasional donations.
Li Kui had no particular desire to save Origin Power.
So he practically spent everything as soon as it came in.
"Right now..."
"I have around thirty million points left, don't I?"
Thirty million Origin Power.
For a typical B-rank Constellation...
That was very little.
But for Li Kui, who rarely interfered on Earth and had almost no expenses besides alcohol and donations...
It was enough.
Honestly...
He wanted to spend all thirty million on alcohol immediately.
But the last bit of self-control he possessed stopped him.
"I can't drink as much as I want."
"I can't eat as much as I want."
Li Kui stretched and looked around.
"Being a Constellation isn't that great."
His home consisted of only a mat and one observation device.
Other Constellations would probably call it pathetic.
Li Kui was satisfied.
All he did here was drink while watching the observation device.
What use did he have for impressive furniture?
"Oh?"
At that moment...
The space around him shook.
Li Kui raised his head.
"Finally here?"
A man appeared inside his empty throne room.
Li Kui looked at the unimpressive figure and chuckled.
"You must be Kang Yujin's Constellation."
"Sit down."
He pointed to the mat.
"I don't have anything to serve you, though!"
It was unfortunate that he had run out of alcohol right before receiving a guest.
Black Whirlwind Li Kui...
I sat on the mat while looking at the rough man smiling in front of me.
This is only the second time I've visited another Constellation's throne.
Through Number 36's introduction...
I had made contact with Li Kui, the "Murderer with Two Axes."
I had originally wanted to speak through a communication window, like I had with Xiahou En and Jason.
But Li Kui insisted on meeting in person.
I didn't want to reveal the coordinates of my own throne.
So I came to his instead.
He's completely different from every other Constellation I've met so far.
I'd already guessed it from the messages he normally sent...
But Li Kui was rough and vulgar.
The fact that he had no chair and only a single mat was shocking enough.
Worse...
He smelled like alcohol.
This feels like visiting the tiny apartment of some guy who does manual labor for a living.
While I sat there awkwardly...
Li Kui slapped his knee.
"I'll get straight to the point."
"What is it?"
"Everything that happened to Kang Yujin's group on the train was arranged by Shi Jin."
"Shi Jin..."
"The A-rank Constellation 'Hero of Nine Dragons,' right?"
"Exactly."
Li Kui nodded.
"I met Shi Jin myself and confirmed it."
So my guess had been right.
One reason I had accepted Li Kui's invitation was because I expected someone from Liangshan like him might know something about Shi Jin.
Coming here had been worth it.
"He ordered Jegal Geum to approach Kang Yujin."
