Chapter 123: Traces (2)

The inside of the gate was a cave not much different from the outside, but there was one distinct difference.

“Wow.”

As soon as they passed through the gate, an overwhelmingly rich energy was felt.

The Qi of Nature, or Qi of Heaven and Earth, was condensed several times more than it was outside.

This was the Central Heavens Realm, where the Qi was already at least five times richer than in the Lower Realm, but now it was several times stronger even than that—compared to the Central Plains, the Qi of Nature here was dozens of times more abundant.

To exaggerate a bit, it felt like internal energy was building up in the dantian just by breathing.

“Is the inside the Heavenly Spirit Vein?”

“Heavenly Spirit Vein? Is that like a Dragon Vein in the Lower Realm?”

“That’s right. It’s one of those rare places where the Qi of Nature is most densely concentrated in the Central Heavens Realm. Because it aids in elevation of one’s realm, it’s also called the Transcendence Pool, and some refer to it as the Gate.”

“Huh? A Gate? It’s like a spiritual vein, so why call it a gate all of a sudden?”

With an abrupt topic raised, Jin Ha-un widened his eyes and asked.

“Through the Heavenly Spirit Vein, one can communicate to some extent with the Lower Realm.”

“Huh? Really?”

“You think I’m lying?”

Jin Ha-un, still skeptical, gave him a doubtful look. Cho-su frowned at Jin Ha-un’s playful demeanor and was about to step forward when he was stopped by Jang Woo-hyun.

“Why? Is something there?”

“There are people.”

As they entered deeper, Jang Woo-hyun extended his Qi Threads to scan ahead, and something caught on his senses.

A fairly wide space. And four people.

In some parts, the Qi Threads were suddenly cut off.

“I’ll go ahead. Follow slowly.”

Though the presences weren’t strong, Jang Woo-hyun activated the Sacred River Flowing Armor just in case and kicked off the ground.

After only a few steps, he arrived at the destination and saw four cultivators drawing in energy with both hands.

“Die!”

In unison, they activated spell formations. Entering the realm of Transcendence, Jang Woo-hyun accelerated his consciousness to assess their condition.

As he had sensed, the four were not skilled. They weren’t using multiple Dharma Treasures like Myo Cheon-pung, nor did they possess great base strength.

Within the realm of Transcendence, Jang Woo-hyun effortlessly dodged the cultivators’ attacks and struck them as if time had frozen.

Crack! Crunch!

His targets were the cultivators’ arms and legs. Since there was no need to kill, he opted only to neutralize them.

“Urgh!”

“Aaagh!”

With internal energy infused at the moment of impact, their bones shattered.

Cultivators possessed far superior regeneration and recovery compared to martial artists, so he had used a bit more force than usual. Not just breaking bones, but crushing them completely.

“Grrgh…”

“Ughhh…”

With their limbs shattered, the four collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony. Jang Woo-hyun used Dragon King’s Scale to float blade-like scales near the fallen four.

They had stopped moving but could still speak, so this was a precaution. At the slightest suspicious action, Dragon King’s Scale would pierce their mouths and slit their throats.

Keeping his attention on the cultivators, Jang Woo-hyun scanned the surroundings.

It was a slightly wider space than the passage they had walked through.

At the center was something like a pond. About two jang in diameter. Instead of water, a faintly glowing mist had gathered, emitting a strong energy.

‘Transcendence Pool.’

This was the place Kim Min-soo had mentioned. The energy was clearly different. The Qi Threads Jang Woo-hyun had sent were cut off because they touched the powerful Qi of the Transcendence Pool.

‘What’s that?’

Slightly apart from the Transcendence Pool was a strange altar. Unfamiliar patterns were drawn on the ground, and several lines seemed to connect it to the pool—like it was drawing power from it.

“What’s that?”

Following behind, Cho-su also saw the altar.

“Is it some kind of altar? Why is this here?”

“We need to find out.”

Turning away from the altar, Jang Woo-hyun approached the fallen cultivators.

“What were you doing over there?”

“Urrrgh…”

Even when asked, the cultivators only groaned in pain and didn’t answer properly. After staring at them for a moment, Jang Woo-hyun stepped on the leg of the nearest cultivator.

“Aaaaaaah! Aaagh! Agh!”

In unbearable agony, the man eventually lost consciousness. With him out cold, Jang Woo-hyun shifted his target. He approached another fallen cultivator and raised his foot again.

“Aagh! Ack! Wait! Stop! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

As the foot lowered, the cultivator beneath gulped and opened his mouth.

“That’s… an altar to borrow the power of a Great Being.”

“Great Being? That Great Being you speak of, is it the True Immortal you all worship?”

“H-How did you…”

“You’re members of the Ascension Cult. I already know everything. With the power of the Heavenly Spirit Vein, can you draw out the power of the True Immortal?”

“…”

As if it were a great secret, the man shut his mouth. Without another word, Jang Woo-hyun raised his foot again.

“That… that’s right. It’s not true for all of them, but the Heavenly Spirit Vein also serves as a kind of gate, so it’s possible to connect with the Great Being through the gate.”

“Is that… even possible?”

Jang Woo-hyun turned his head and asked Cho-su.

“Well, I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of borrowing the power of the True Immortal. If it had worked before, others would have used that power too. How does this even work?”

As the cultivator fell silent again in response to Cho-su’s question, Jang Woo-hyun stepped on his leg. There were still two others left anyway.

After taking care of the second cultivator, even before approaching the third, a frightened voice spoke up.

“W-We don’t know either. In most cases, there’s no response. The True Immortal only answers under special circumstances, but we don’t know the conditions. Only Senior Myo knows that.”

“Senior Myo? You mean Myo Cheon-pung?”

“Huh? Y-Yes. That’s right.”

The one with the information, Myo Cheon-pung, was already dead. By their own hands, no less.

For a moment, Jang Woo-hyun wondered if he should have captured him alive, but he quickly cast off that regret and asked something else.

“Then why did you all keep the gate shut? With your level of skill, it would have been better to run.”

“…”

This time, the cultivator who had been answering obediently closed his mouth. So Jang Woo-hyun stepped on his leg.

“Gaaah!”

The third cultivator also lost consciousness in pain.

“W-Wait! Don’t come! Don’t come! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you! The ritual… it was almost complete! If we had stalled just a little longer, we could have borrowed the power of the Great Being and dealt with you… I mean, your side!”

The last cultivator shouted quickly.

“Almost complete? How much time was left?”

“Th-That… I don’t know exactly. I only know it was nearly finished.”

“What is the name of the being you serve? Who exactly is it?”

“…”

The cultivator clammed up again.

Even as Jang Woo-hyun lifted his foot, the man only trembled and shut his eyes tightly. From that reaction, Jang Woo-hyun realized the situation.

“You don’t know either. Why serve someone when you don’t even know who they are?”

Even the Ascension Cult cultivator who had extracted the blood of the Beastkin in Sa Do-woong’s stronghold didn’t know who the True Immortal they worshipped really was. This one was the same.

Realizing there was nothing more to gain, Jang Woo-hyun walked toward the altar.

A rectangular altar about the size of a person lying down. The pattern drawn on the floor glowed, seemingly pulling energy from the Transcendence Pool.

“Hmm.”

As he approached the altar, Jang Woo-hyun was startled by the powerful energy he felt. Strangely, he hadn’t sensed any power earlier despite being just a short distance away. Only when he crossed a certain range did he begin to feel the force.

Taking a few more steps to stand before the altar, something he hadn’t seen came into view.

‘A fist?’

At first, it looked like a silver sphere, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a sphere—it was a silver hand clenched into a fist. The sight was familiar.

“Huh?”

Its appearance was like skin plated with mercury. Unforgettable. The silver hand floating above the altar resembled the Silver Giant he had encountered during the Ascend.

Seeing the suddenly revealed silver hand, a thought popped into Jang Woo-hyun’s mind.

‘No way…’

Could the True Immortal worshipped by the Ascension Cult be related to the being targeting him?

He couldn’t jump to conclusions based on that alone, but Jang Woo-hyun’s instincts screamed otherwise. That the being worshipped by the Ascension Cult and the one targeting him were the same.

And the moment he realized that—

He saw a character inside the silver hand.

It was someone’s name. And at the same time, the thought crossed his mind that he must not read it.

His instincts screamed not to say it, but before he knew it, Jang Woo-hyun’s mouth opened.

An act beyond his will. Some unknown force was at play. From Jang Woo-hyun’s lips, the name inscribed inside the silver hand rang out.

【삼천광은보화천존】

Though he had clearly “spoken” the name, it transcended vocal sound and was etched into the world through Will-Form Qi.

The Silver Light of the Three Heavens, Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable.

As the name echoed, silver light poured out from the eyes and mouths of the fallen cultivators.

“Uaaaah!”

“Gaaah!”

“Aaagh!”

The silver grew more intense, and the cultivators’ heads melted like mercury. It began with their heads, then their bodies. Their clothes and flesh dissolved, and like an Ascend, the light soared into the sky. When the light vanished, nothing remained—as if it had all been a lie.

“W-What? What is this?”

“Whoa!”

Hearing Cho-su and Jin Ha-un’s voices, Jang Woo-hyun finally snapped out of it.

‘What just happened?’

For a brief moment, he had no memory. As if he had blacked out.

“We should get out of here.”

“So suddenly? What do you—”

Tuuuung!

Before Cho-su could finish his sentence, a soft impact sound came from the altar, and a strange energy spread outward in a spherical shape.

The energy moved faster than a blink, passed by the three of them, and vanished through the wall of the chamber.

Seeing that incredible speed and the energy, Jang Woo-hyun realized the qi had spread far beyond what he could perceive.

“What was that just now?”

“I don’t know. Something just brushed past us… You’re not hurt, right?”

“Yes. For now, just like you said… Huh? What’s this now?”

Jin Ha-un and Cho-su, who were about to approach Jang Woo-hyun, noticed something strange.

Crunch. Crackle.

The hard stone floor turned to sand. And that was just the beginning.

The walls turned to sand and began to flow, and sand began falling from the ceiling like a waterfall. All of it happened without any impact or tremor.

Rumble…

It was as if the entire Floating Stronghold had turned into sand and was collapsing.

“Stick close to me.”

Jang Woo-hyun moved to the two of them and raised his sword, filled with energy, upwards.

The massive Floating Stronghold crumbled, turning into sand.

In its center, a pillar of light surged upward, and soon, three people ascended into the sky.

“……”

The three who had come outside looked around, but could say nothing.

The Storm Archipelago had vanished.

The lightning that had raced across the sky, the howling wind and rain, even the countless Floating Strongholds that had been scattered around—everything was gone.

All that remained were sandfalls dropping through the air in various places.

“What in the world…”

The sight of the world breaking apart left them speechless.

The vast region known as the Storm Archipelago was vanishing. No, it had already vanished during their brief moment of confusion.

────────!!

A sound reached them before they could even collect themselves.

“Guh!”

“Ugh!”

It wasn’t a sound they heard through their ears—it struck through their entire bodies.

Just being exposed to it, the three of them felt their insides violently shaken. They wondered if this was what it sounded like when the world ended.

Even in the midst of that, Jang Woo-hyun reflexively tightened his grip on his sword.

Staggering from the shock, the three managed to steady themselves and lifted their heads. Because the sound had come from the sky.

“Heavens…”

“My god.”

What they saw was beyond belief. More shocking than the disappearance of the Storm Archipelago was what they saw now.

Rumble—

The sky had turned silver.

And that sky collapsed.

It wasn’t a metaphor—the actual sky was falling.

The end of the world. That thought filled all three of their minds.

Unable to scream or even groan, they could only watch with blank expressions as the sky fell.

Rooooar—

Space itself trembled as if the entire world were being shattered. Though their feet weren’t on the ground, their bodies trembled as if in an earthquake.

To steady his shaking body, Jang Woo-hyun added more strength to his grip on the sword.

The world itself was howling, declaring its end.

Just watching it made their bodies tremble. Their insides were in chaos. The world was collapsing. Everything was falling apart.

“Huuuuu.”

Jang Woo-hyun took a breath and moved his internal energy. While quickly recovering his body, he tried to assess the situation. He gripped the Black Sword and Dragon King’s Scale tightly, and just as he was about to avert his gaze from the void—

────────!!

Once again, a sound beyond the senses rang out.

And this time, the sky split open.

“……”

A part of the split sky began to move, and like a lie, a mountain began to fall from the sky.

Vwoooooom—

There were five of them. Five silver peaks, each larger than any mountain he had seen in the Central Heavens Realm, surged downward—not upward.

“Ah…”

Seeing that overwhelming sight, Jang Woo-hyun understood.

That wasn’t the sky.

It was something so massive it could be mistaken for the sky, along with five peaks like Mount Tai.

Even as he watched, he couldn’t believe it.

What was falling as if to crush the entire world was a Giant Hand Wrapped in Light.

A being beyond human reason and perception had revealed its power.

Before that overwhelming force, the word “surrender” appeared in Jang Woo-hyun’s mind for the first time.

‘Impossible.’

He couldn’t fight this.

An overwhelming power.

Not only was it impossible to measure, it was even difficult to describe.

Since the day he began learning martial arts, this was the first time.

Jang Woo-hyun dropped his sword while facing his enemy.

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