Chapter 138: Traces

‘Below?’

No matter how one spread the Qi Threads, they couldn’t reach beneath the ground. However, Yongwangrin pointed to the floor as if he knew something, despite not having examined it.

“What’s going on here? Did you do this, junior?”

“No. It moved on its own.”

“It moves by itself?”

“Sometimes.”

It wasn’t a frequent occurrence.

The last time Yongwangrin moved on its own was when they had witnessed the tremendous power of a True Immortal. If Mukya and Yongwangrin hadn’t acted at that time, Jang Woo-hyun might not have regained his senses.

‘It wouldn’t have moved without a reason.’

It must have moved either to help him or to convey something.

Yongwangrin and Mukya were not ordinary. They had a will of their own and secrets yet to be fully revealed.

And both were his companions.

“Senior Kim.”

After concluding his thoughts, Jang Woo-hyun called out to Kim Min-soo.

“Hm?”

“If we destroy this, are there no other alternatives?”

“Destroy what? This? You’re thinking of destroying this?”

As Jang Woo-hyun nodded, Kim Min-soo shouted in alarm.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! It takes more than a year or two just to prepare this! Why? What’s the reason behind this?”

“It’s just a hunch.”

“A hunch?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of nonsense…”

Kim Min-soo was about to raise his voice again but stopped upon seeing the seriousness in Jang Woo-hyun’s expression.

“…Is it that strange?”

“Yes, there’s something I can’t explain. But I can’t quite put it into words. And there must be a reason why this guy’s reacting this way.”

Jang Woo-hyun pointed to Yongwangrin in his hand.

“Whew, just a moment. Let me think.”

Kim Min-soo began pacing around, calculating various possibilities.

A short while later.

“If I concentrate the energy in one direction, we might be able to use it once. Otherwise, we may have to start over. But since you’re here now, junior, if you directly infuse internal energy, it might not take that long.”

“Assuming the worst, if we can’t use it again, how long will it take to reuse it?”

“At least five years.”

Five years. A time that could be considered short or long, depending on perspective.

Since he had entered the Realm of Transcendence and extended his lifespan, five years wasn’t terribly long.

However, given Jang Woo-hyun’s pace and growth, five years was long.

It had taken him about three years to reach this level, and he had spent a year and a half on the Dawn Continent. For him, five years was an incredibly long time.

A choice had to be made.

He could ignore it and ascend to Central Heavens, or he could investigate the strange feeling and search underground.

After a brief hesitation, Jang Woo-hyun looked at Yongwangrin and changed his mind.

“Let’s search.”

“…”

At Jang Woo-hyun’s decision, Kim Min-soo closed and then opened his eyes.

“I don’t know. Alright, let’s give it a try.”

He then moved around the cave, making preparations.

Half a si-jin later.

Kim Min-soo informed him that everything was ready.

Jang Woo-hyun immediately transformed Yongwangrin into a sword and infused his energy into it.

He walked deeper into the cave, exhaled once to calm his nerves, and then thrust Yongwangrin toward the floor.

Kwaaaaaa—

A pillar of light pierced through the ground.

While unleashing Annihilation Slash, Jang Woo-hyun minimized the area of impact to increase penetration. It wasn’t an attack to destroy, but to pierce.

He infused a vast amount of internal energy into Yongwangrin. With the overwhelming flow of Qi Projection, a massive hole was created in the cave floor.

Thanks to Jang Woo-hyun’s near-miraculous control of internal energy, only the floor trembled initially—there was no cave collapse or landslide.

He drilled through the floor with unbelievable precision.

The moment he retracted his power after digging the deep hole—

Kuuuuu—

A tremendous energy surged up through the hole.

“…”

At that surge, Jang Woo-hyun stepped back to shield Kim Min-soo and activated the Sacred River Flowing Armor.

Kududududu—

The floor shook, and the air vibrated.

It wasn’t ordinary natural energy.

Breathing became difficult, and his fingertips trembled. It felt like someone was exuding killing intent through the energy.

In response, Jang Woo-hyun raised his own energy to the limit.

“What is that?”

Kim Min-soo asked cautiously from behind, but Jang Woo-hyun couldn’t answer. He didn’t know either, and all his senses were focused on the gaping hole in front of him.

The energy gradually weakened, and it wasn’t until a full Il Dakyung had passed that the two could finally relax.

“It’s not something like a Dragon Vein, is it?”

“It might be. What the hell is this energy?”

The two cautiously approached the hole. Though weaker than before, the energy still held considerable force.

“Could something be down there?”

“Who knows. It might be a sealed entity. But given how the energy is fading, it might also be nothing. What should we do?”

Once again, Jang Woo-hyun thought for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

“Let’s go down.”

“It might be dangerous. Are you sure?”

“We can’t just leave it like this.”

“True enough.”

Agreeing, the two took a deep breath and jumped into the hole.

The hole Jang Woo-hyun had pierced was deeper than expected, and the two fell for quite a while.

Just when it felt as if they were descending into another world, the space around them suddenly opened up wide.

And at the same time, they felt it—an immense pressure.

“Urgh!”

It tightened from all directions. Yet, no one was directly causing harm.

It was simply that the pressure contained within that energy seemed to be pressing down on the world.

Jang Woo-hyun had felt something similar before.

‘True Immortal.’

It was akin to the overwhelming pressure he had felt from the massive silver hand of Heavenly Venerable of the Silver Radiance and Universal Transformation of the Three Pure Ones who had attacked him in Central Heavens.

Though it wasn’t as intense, Jang Woo-hyun realized this was the power of a similar existence.

To regain his composure amidst the pressure, he drew up all his energy to resist it. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be an attack, and shaking off the pressure wasn’t difficult.

Moreover, no will could be felt. It was simply energy—just that its power was exceedingly immense.

Once free from the pressure, the two stepped on the air to stop their fall.

Hwaaak—

As Kim Min-soo waved his hand, dozens of orbs of light appeared and lit the surroundings. Only then did their surroundings come into clear view.

A massive cavern.

It was large enough to contain an entire mountain. At a glance, it was clear this place had not formed naturally.

The enormous space was filled with energy strong enough to make even a Realm of Transcendence master tense.

Kim Min-soo moved his hand again to examine the interior.

The floating orbs grew brighter and spread in all directions.

There was nothing inside the artificially made empty space.

“Could it have just been a place where energy had gathered?”

“Hard to say. I’m not exactly sure either.”

Even though Kim Min-soo had been preparing everything here all this time, he hadn’t felt anything unusual. Perhaps, as a Projection, he couldn’t sense what Jang Woo-hyun did.

After a brief exchange, the two walked on air to search the area.

That was when they discovered a white object in one corner.

In this massive void where nothing remained, it was the only thing left.

At a glance, it was clearly not an ordinary object.

The moment they approached it, both understood.

‘That’s it.’

That object was what filled the entire cavern with energy and even released it outward, making it appear like a Dragon Vein. The white object was the origin of everything.

Descending to the ground, Jang Woo-hyun approached the white object.

No life force could be felt. It only appeared to be a large white rock, bigger than a person.

“Gah!”

A sudden sound from behind made Jang Woo-hyun halt and turn around.

“Senior Kim?”

He saw the Projection of Kim Min-soo clutching his head and staggering.

“Uuuuugh…”

His body began to tremble violently.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

Jang Woo-hyun rushed over and grabbed Kim Min-soo.

In that moment—

Everything he could see changed.

Everything was being destroyed.

Though he was clearly seeing with his eyes, he couldn’t comprehend what was happening. All he knew was that everything was being destroyed.

A single flash of light, and the world vanished. Another flash, and space itself disappeared, leaving only black void.

What Jang Woo-hyun was seeing—or thought he was seeing—was a battle between divine beings, far beyond the limits of human perception.

As more time passed, the figures of those fighting began to vaguely appear.

Around the one sharing vision with Jang Woo-hyun were many figures, while on the opposite side stood one enormous being and perhaps two others.

‘Is he alone?’

Upon closer look, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Only indistinct forms could be seen, making it impossible to clearly identify appearances or count numbers.

The figure on the opposing side was clad in the darkness of the night sky like armor and held a sword that shone like the stars.

When he moved, the battle resumed.

Watching their powers, Jang Woo-hyun realized something.

‘They’re not True Immortals.’

He had seen glimpses of True Immortal power before. But the power these warriors wielded in this war was of a different nature.

‘Martial Arts… could it be?’

It was nothing like the martial arts he knew. Yet, the thought that it was martial arts wouldn’t leave his mind, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

‘If not True Immortals…’

Beings that used power different from True Immortals, something akin to martial arts. Jang Woo-hyun repeated the name by which they were called.

‘Martial Gods.’

It was said that when cultivators from the Spiritual Realm ascended to the Upper Realm, they were called True Immortals, while martial artists from the Murim Realm who ascended were called Martial Gods.

In this vision Jang Woo-hyun was witnessing, those fighting against the one clad in the night sky were Martial Gods.

They were those who had ascended from Central Heavens Martial Realm to the Upper Realm through Ascension once more.

At that moment, Jang Woo-hyun was sharing vision with one of them.

Once again, the battle resumed.

When the opponent swung his hand, someone nearby was shattered and fell.

The form wasn’t clear, but he could see the shape.

A wolf Beastkin walking on two legs. The form, like white smoke, faded slowly as its body was severed.

It was a form he had never seen before. Yet Jang Woo-hyun knew exactly who it was.

‘Divine Suwang, Celestial Wolf Emperor.’

A Martial God from the Upper Realm, born as a Beastkin.

When he had fought Bi Ik-ryeon, a captured cultivator from the Floating Stronghold had spoken of it.

–By chance, we discovered that Divine Suwang had vanished, and we found a way to extract his power from Beastkin blood. He likely passed fragments of his power to the Beastkin when he disappeared. He was capable of such a feat. Of course, he may not have perished. But even if he didn’t, he must have been gravely wounded and hidden away, since there’s no trace of him in the Upper Realm.

Ascension Cult had been extracting those power fragments from Beastkin to enhance Bi Ik-ryeon’s warriors.

If this memory was the truth, the likelihood that Celestial Wolf Emperor had perished was high.

Even after Celestial Wolf Emperor disappeared, the battle raged on for a long time.

It wasn’t a matter of a few years. It seemed to have lasted decades, maybe even centuries.

As the memory continued, the number of comrades fighting dwindled. Eventually, the being sharing vision with Jang Woo-hyun was gravely wounded and fled in terror.

The vision’s owner fell, shattered and powerless.

Falling for a long time, the owner of the vision crossed into a place never seen before. Then, leading countless worshipers, they crossed dimensions again.

The surrounding landscape changed many times, as they repeatedly leapt across dimensions. Through the gradually dimming eyes, Jang Woo-hyun realized the life of the one sharing this memory was fading away.

In the hazy vision, a continent appeared in the far distance.

He had never seen it before, but Jang Woo-hyun knew where it was.

‘Dawn Continent.’

He recalled the story Lee Ga-hang had told him.

–The minorities of the White Forest are not people of this world.

Just as she had conveyed, the minorities living in the White Forest were not from the Dawn Continent, but had come from another world.

The being that had fallen from the sky collapsed, having lost all power. A mountain rose over the remains buried deep underground, and a vast forest formed above it.

It was easy to guess the name of that forest.

‘White Forest.’

The memory ended with the scene of the forest’s creation.

“Hoo.”

With the sensation of waking from a long dream, Jang Woo-hyun opened his eyes.

He was still inside the massive cavern he had entered moments ago.

‘It was the memory of a Martial God.’

The scenes he had just witnessed were the memories of a Martial God who had fought against some unknown existence. It was that very being who had brought the minorities, including the White Horn Tribe, to this place.

Now it made sense why they had a completely different martial arts system from the martial artists of the Dawn Continent, and why they bore mixed features.

They were from another world—of course they would be different.

‘So they were called the White Horn Tribe even though they had no horns…’

Most likely, it was a name derived from the appearance of the being they worshipped.

A war between Martial Gods in the Upper Realm. And those who had perished.

He had merely glimpsed someone’s memories, yet an intense headache struck him.

“Senior Kim saw the same thing as me…”

Wincing in pain, he looked around for Kim Min-soo.

“Senior Kim!”

His gaze locked onto a spot.

The Projection of Kim Min-soo had collapsed on the ground, and its form was gradually fading.

Just like when they had first met. Like the image he had shown before disappearing.

“Senior Kim!”

Jang Woo-hyun lifted Kim Min-soo in his arms and kicked off the ground. He didn’t know what the problem was, but he had to return to the cave where the Projection had first appeared.

Otherwise, everything might end right here.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep