‘Was there a scene where I get caught after escaping in the original work?’

No. As far as I know.

It was a crisis. My mana and internal energy were empty. In the current situation, any kind of response was impossible.

In the tense situation, I examined the King of Insects’ intentions.

If I was judged as an intruder, I didn’t know what kind of punishment would be handed down. In the worst case, I could be summarily executed.

In this case, the important thing was to clear up the misunderstanding. I raised my hands to show that I meant no harm.

Then, the King of Insects slowly approached this side. As I was swallowing dryly at the pressure of a super-master that could be felt even when he was still, an unexpected remark came to my ears.

“Was it you? The one the white tiger chose.”

“Pardon?”

I reflexively expressed my question, but the King of Insects had already passed me, slung Oh Cho-sam over his shoulder, and turned around.

“Your body is a mess. Follow me.”

I followed him with a dazed feeling. I couldn’t escape from the King of Insects’ grasp anyway. His own body was a super-peak level master, and he was a monster who even handled spiritual beasts.

That’s why I followed behind the King of Insects with my staggering legs. While feeling a strange bewilderment at the changed development from the original work.

‘What is different?’

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had cleared the Altar of Provision at this point. And moreover, to have grown so quickly.

In the first place, if it weren’t for magic, I wouldn’t have even thought of coming so quickly. Because the white tiger and the guardians of the altar were all like a nightmare to a martial artist specializing in close-range combat.

As I was lost in thought, examining various possibilities, I suddenly felt a presence stop in front of me.

“Watch my footsteps carefully and come in. You would know well.”

In an instant, the King of Insects’ figure disappeared. I stepped on the same spot he had stepped on and moved forward.

Then, with the feeling of passing through a natural formation, a steamy space and bushes appeared.

“Here is?”

“You can recuperate here.”

As the King of Insects pushed aside the tall grass, a hot spring at the bottom of a small valley came into view. It was a natural hot spring that felt like it had a sacred energy at a glance.

“Why?”

It was a question with many implications. Soon, a vague answer befitting the question came back.

“Because you are qualified.”

With those words, the King of Insects placed the fainted Oh Cho-sam on the back of a large beetle. The beetle crawled at a fairly fast speed and soon disappeared somewhere in the bushes.

“I’ll send that guy to the student hall, so don’t worry and rest.”

And then he disappeared beyond the bushes.

‘I’m dumbfounded.’

Although it was sudden, seeing the King of Insects’ attitude, he seemed to be quite favorable. If not, we would have become a meal for the giant bugs that were spread all over the area the moment we came out of the tomb.

‘Should I rest for now?’

My body had already far surpassed its durability limit. I needed a place and time to rest my body anywhere.

I took off my student uniform appropriately and entered the hot spring. The warm water itself had a considerable amount of energy accumulated, and I felt the fatigue in my body disappearing.

The circle, which had been used violently, also felt a little stable, and I slowly closed my two eyes.

I remembered the mention of qualification that the King of Insects had made earlier.

‘Qualification…’

There were a few points that I could guess. The most likely one was the King of Insects’ hidden episode. I remember seeing a mention of something like that in passing.

‘I should have looked at it properly then.’

It seemed the qualification requirement was to grow at an unprecedented speed, build up a favorability stack with the King of Insects, and then pass through the Altar of Provision, which was the path of the white tiger.

‘The important thing is whether I can trust the King of Insects’ goodwill.’

Basically, he was a good person who protected the Martial Academy. He was one of the unchanging characters in the Martial Academy, where the role variables of each character were quite large.

‘Then what’s left is what he wants from me.’

To be frank, it was obvious that there was some intention in bringing a student who had raided a tomb to this heavenly paradise and letting him recuperate.

The next morning, I opened my eyes in the midst of a severe pain as if my whole body had been shattered.

There was no healthy place from the joints of my bones to a single blood vessel. It seemed to be the aftereffect of the unreasonable internal energy operation.

But the real problem was the circle.

I could feel that it had become very unstable, perhaps because I had overworked it like crazy. The circle would expand and become much more solid, but not right now.

Because the condition was so serious that I would have died in my sleep if it weren’t for the adaptability of [Transcendent Growth].

‘At least I was able to find stability quickly thanks to the hot spring.’

As I was lost in thought, I felt a presence beyond the bushes, and the King of Insects revealed his appearance.

“You will have to train with me from now on.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s my role.”

He had been saying strange things since last time. Of course, it was a story that I could guess to some extent, but I deliberately pretended not to know and asked back.

“What do you mean by that…”

“You use several cultivation methods at once, don’t you?”

As I kept silent at the sharp point that followed without warning, he asked again.

“It’s impossible to do such a thing without a single qi deviation. Don’t tell me you obtained the secret manual of the Heaven-Shattering Demon?”

It was a famous fact that I had used swordsmanship based on the Heavenly Thunder Qi at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

It was close to impossible to fully use the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art of the Huashan Sect and at the same time embody the cultivation method of the Namgung family.

But if I had inherited the will of the Heaven-Shattering Demon, the story would be different. The King of Insects looked at me and concluded his words.

“We, who inherit the will of the Heaven-Shattering Demon, protect this spiritual mountain. The same goes for the one who has been chosen by the spiritual mountain. I don’t know if you can believe it.”

“The chosen one, you say?”

“Yes, we call the student who came out through this entrance that.”

Although I wasn’t completely convinced, considering the King of Insects’ actions of protecting the Martial Academy and the spiritual mountain in the midst of various incidents in the original work, it wasn’t something I couldn’t believe at all. I pointed out a point I was curious about.

“…How, and from what do you protect?”

At my question, he pondered for a moment and then stroked his chin. A ladybug landed on his slightly raised little finger.

“First, let’s just talk about what’s at hand. You, haven’t you become a target of the Blood Cult?”

He asked as if to confirm, how far his investigation had gone.

“You know that the Zhuge family and the Namgung family have stepped forward because the Blood Cult targeted you last time. The Sichuan Tang family and the Hainan Sect are also lending their strength…”

And then he affirmed with a serious face.

“There will be a great subjugation soon. No, it will be a war between the forces.”

He added, gently blowing the ladybug away.

“So get stronger until then. Strong enough to survive.”

It was a resolute piece of advice, but it didn’t really resonate with me.

It wasn’t like I was doing this because I didn’t want to get stronger.

This was the result of struggling with all my might. Thanks to crossing the threshold of death several times, I was able to become this strong in less than a year.

As if he had read my expression, the King of Insects’ proposal followed.

“So I will make you grow.”

“Growth?”

“I’ll help you utilize your aptitude with a focus on practical combat.”

The King of Insects said so and placed a few grain pills and a water bottle on the floor.

“First, eat and rest. Your recovery is unbelievably fast, so let’s start training tomorrow.”

And then he just disappeared without even asking for my opinion.

‘The King of Insects as a master…’

It wasn’t bad. The opportunity to learn from a super-master like him was not common. And most of all, he was a being who knew my current state of using magic and the Heaven-Defying Cultivation Method. He could give me guidance that suited me.

I moved my stiff arm from the muscle pain and picked up a grain pill. Since I had been on an empty stomach for almost two days, I had to eat something.

Something with a thick and dry texture. The moment I chewed the dark red grain pill, my expression crumpled. The bitter, astringent, and strange taste was like a concentrated lump of herbal medicine.

‘Damn it.’

But it seemed to have nutritional value, so I forced myself to eat it and then drank from the water bottle.

But the water bottle was also something strange. A liquid that I couldn’t tell if it was tea or sap. It was a terrible blandness that felt like my tongue would be paralyzed, but since I couldn’t drink the hot spring water I had soaked my body in, I drank it down and recovered my stamina.

The next day, having recovered enough to barely move, I felt a presence and walked out of the hot spring, picking up my clothes.

‘It’s certainly a sacred hot spring.’

I thought its energy was unusual from the first time I saw it, but to think it would calm down my serious circle and blood vessels so much in just two days. It wasn’t a place hidden by a formation for nothing.

And besides, usually if I had been soaked for this long, my skin should have been swollen and burst, but it was strangely fine. It seemed it was because it was a special water.

I changed into the student uniform I had washed in advance yesterday and faced the King of Insects.

“Training… what kind is it?”

“Practical combat. Your fighting style is unique, so I have no choice but to supplement it by facing you directly.”

As it was, my abilities, including my mana, had increased quite a bit due to this incident, so I needed a period of adaptation. But even so, I couldn’t just bite the opponent’s proposal without thinking.

“Is there really nothing you want from me? I don’t want to be charged separately later for tuition or whatever.”

“Do as you please. No, no. I should have some reward too.”

I looked at him, wondering if he had a hidden agenda, but the King of Insects’ words continued.

“First, let’s start by winning the ranking competition that will be held in two weeks. You should be able to defeat Bong So.”

As he said, it was about time for the ranking competition to start. The ranking competition was literally about dividing the ranks among the students.

The basic format was similar to the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly. The peculiar thing was a rule called the nomination system… but the real problem was something else.

“Me, winning?”

To do that, I had to defeat Bong So. That monster who had reached the peak of the peak.

“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you well~.”

‘This, I’ve gotten myself into something bad.’

For some reason, I had a strong feeling that it would be arduous.

“Ah, and I took care of your overnight stay with my professor’s discretion, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

There was no place to run away anymore.

***

A clearing in the forest. The King of Insects, Go Du-gyeong, stood in the center.

“Try to defeat me.”

“…Does it matter what means I use?”

Although I was flustered for a moment, I soon took out the Daoist Scholar’s Fan. Seeing is believing. If I wanted to improve my skills, I had to see his skills.

“Good.”

As soon as I heard those words, I took out the First Blade.

The King of Insects had already found out about my Heaven-Defying Cultivation Method to some extent. Since I had decided to give him my trust in his guidance, I was planning to show him everything I had.

I was curious to see how far I, who had grown so far, could go.

“Hoo.”

Go Du-gyeong sent a surprised gaze, but that was also for a moment.

Flash-

After blinding his two eyes with light magic, I immediately fired the First Blade.

Kaang!

Go Du-gyeong, who had taken out a short spear before I knew it, deflected the First Blade with his eyes closed.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

The two lightning strikes I had made in both hands were already flying towards Go Du-gyeong from both sides. The moment the fastest blow was about to explode on his both shoulders.

With a flick of his wrist, the short spear flashed and was swung at an unbelievable speed, scattering the lightning strikes.

‘As expected, this isn’t enough, is it?’

I widened the distance by stepping on the Spirit God Step with my two feet, with my shadow wrapped around my torso where my dantian and circle were.

And then I retrieved the deflected First Blade and formed a spear of flame lightning in the air.

‘A normal attack won’t work. I’ll hit him with the maximum blow from the beginning.’

A super-peak master was such a being. There was a distant gap between us.

Go Du-gyeong was still standing in that spot. Now, when he was off guard, was the chance.

I put the giant spear of flame lightning, which contained a huge amount of mana, into the First Blade.

Kiiiiing-!

The dagger-shaped fan rib, which was burning white, aimed at Go Du-gyeong.

“Try to block this.”

Flame Lightning First Blade Spear. My maximum and highest firepower blow became a flash of light and rushed towards Go Du-gyeong.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep