Chapter 150: Another World

【Who are you?】

The skull inside the crystal spoke, as if it had consciousness.

Jang Woo-hyun was momentarily startled but quickly regained his composure. In a world with unique races like the Beastkin and giants, and even mad trees that walked and talked, a talking skull wasn’t exactly shocking.

【You’re not one of them.】

A faint Ghost Flame flickered in the skull’s eyes.

“What are you?”

【Did you not come here knowingly?】

“I came in by chance. I heard someone was trapped here.”

Although Cho Ryeong had mentioned a skull, he thought it was just a figurative expression. But now, an actual skull was in front of him.

【Everyone in here is the same. We were all captured by him.】

The will-transmitted voice carried a strong sense of anger.

【Can you get me out of here? I will certainly repay you.】

Jang Woo-hyun paused to consider.

It was true he had come to rescue someone trapped here. Judging by Yang Jeon-gun’s behavior, they were likely a victim.

But seeing a talking skull made him reconsider.

‘Is this just my own prejudice?’

Perhaps the skull itself was just another unique race of the Central Heavens Realm.

As he was mulling it over—

Footsteps approached from behind.

“Waaah! What the heck is this?!”

Cho Ryeong, carrying the horned woman, came to stand beside Jang Woo-hyun.

“What is this? A corpse? That freak… What disgusting taste. It’s sickening. That perverted bastard.”

“Didn’t you say you knew someone was down here?”

“Me? No way. How would I know something like that?”

“You told me a skull and a horned woman were trapped here.”

“Oh, this unnie is someone the kids had seen while passing by, and they told me when they brought me water. As for the skull, I figured there was something because that perverted bastard mumbled to himself sometimes. I thought he was just calling some skinny guy a skull, but it was an actual skull.”

From the way she spoke, it seemed even Cho Ryeong didn’t know much about the skull inside the crystal.

“There’s no race like that, right?”

“What nonsense are you saying? That thing’s dead. No such race…”

【I’m not dead.】

“Eek!”

Cho Ryeong shrieked and jumped at the sudden voice.

“What the hell? It’s alive? Isn’t it a ghost? Oppa, do something! You’re good at fighting. Just slice it up.”

Cho Ryeong and the serpent woman hid behind Jang Woo-hyun, peeking out with only their heads. From their reaction, Jang Woo-hyun surmised that the skull was not a normal race.

“Ugh, this is nasty. Who puts stuff like this down here? I’m going upstairs. This place isn’t good for this unnie either. Let’s go. Oppa, clean this up and come after.”

Cho Ryeong and the serpent woman left, leaving Jang Woo-hyun alone with the skull inside the crystal.

As she exited, Cho Ryeong drew her finger across her neck and whispered, ‘Slice!’ That self-centered and reckless behavior made Jang Woo-hyun chuckle. She was a mad tree, but amusing nonetheless.

“What are you? Why are you here?”

【Asking the same question again. I too was captured by that man and imprisoned here.】

“Why were you imprisoned?”

【He needed my power. Before we continue this conversation, could you please release me? I have no intention of harming you.】

Jang Woo-hyun hesitated again.

As the skull said, the likelihood that he was a victim was high. Still, freeing him so rashly left a bad feeling.

What if Yang Jeon-gun hadn’t merely collected him but had sealed him for a reason?

‘Is this just my prejudice?’

Maybe so, but someone like Jang Woo-hyun, a regular person, couldn’t help but be biased by such an appearance.

After thinking for a moment, Jang Woo-hyun approached the crystal.

He placed his hand on it and slowly examined the inside by channeling Qi.

‘The energy is gathering in one place.’

It was pooling at the bottom and flowing somewhere through a Spell Formation. As the skull had said, Yang Jeon-gun had been extracting its power.

He tried to reverse the flow with his Qi. However, the repulsion was stronger than expected, and his Qi got swept along.

‘Stronger than I thought.’

Measuring the strength of the flow, Jang Woo-hyun sent in Qi many times stronger.

This time, he wasn’t pushed back. His Qi entered the crystal and began to examine the skull’s Qi.

【What are you…】

Ignoring the startled skull, Jang Woo-hyun made his conclusion.

‘So this is his level.’

There wouldn’t be much trouble releasing him. He didn’t seem like a sealed monster, just someone being used for his power.

Even if something went wrong, Jang Woo-hyun could handle it.

“Alright, I’ll release you. Then we can talk.”

He stepped back a few paces and drew his sword.

【Are you going to cut it with a sword? That won’t work. Let me explain how—wait? Hey, hold on. Wait! That won’t work! With that much force, it’s dangerous…】

Jang Woo-hyun’s sword drew strength, and sensing that power, the skull began to speak in a hurried tone. Ignoring it, Jang Woo-hyun simply brought his sword down.

Kagagak!

The crystal didn’t shatter with a single strike.

‘Not enough?’

Then he would simply use more strength.

【Hey, you brute! That won’t work! You’ll break everything! Wait! Just wait! I’ll tell you the method… Hey!】

As the skull screamed, Jang Woo-hyun thrust his sword forward this time.

With a metallic clang, Mukya stabbed into the crystal, and Jang Woo-hyun immediately twisted the blade.

Kwa-jang-chang!

The crystal shattered, and the skull that had been inside fell to the floor.

【Urgh!】

Unable to maintain balance, the skull rolled across the ground with a strange noise.

“Now that I’ve released you, we’re even, right?”

Just in case, Jang Woo-hyun kept his sword drawn as he spoke. If the skull tried anything funny, he was ready to strike.

【You can put the sword away. I’m not… not… was it benevolent? Benign? I can’t quite recall. Anyway, I’m not someone who forgets a favor.】

The skull seemed unskilled with speech, unable to find the proper word.

【Wait a moment.】

The skull sat in the lotus position. Then, it reversed the Spell Formation that had been absorbing his energy to draw power inward instead. Jang Woo-hyun silently observed.

A short while later.

The skull’s form began to change.

Something like red flesh sprouted from the bones, swiftly forming blood vessels and muscles. Then skin followed, and before long, the skull had transformed into a human.

His appearance was so unexpected that Jang Woo-hyun widened his eyes.

“A colored-eye?”

Clear facial features, brown hair, and blue eyes.

The skull had become someone of a completely different race from Jang Woo-hyun.

Exhaling deeply, the man stood up.

“Now I feel alive again. Thank you. I’m Lee Ahn. And you?”

Thanks to having vocal cords now, Lee Ahn could speak with his actual voice.

“Jang Woo-hyun. But what are you exactly? Did you Ascend? Or were you originally from Central Heavens?”

“Ascension? Not exactly. It’s a bit different. Here, people call it Flight to the Heavens. They call us ones who have flown up—Flight to the Heavens.”

“‘Here’? ‘Flight to the Heavens’?”

Seeing Jang Woo-hyun’s confused expression, Lee Ahn realized what was going on.

“You really don’t know anything, huh. Well, you see. In your world, these terms might all sound similar, but people here make clear distinctions. Cultivators ascending from the Middle Realm are called those who undergo Flight to the Heavens. Martial artists who ascend are called Ascendants. People like us from my side are called ones who underwent Flight to the Heavens.”

Jang Woo-hyun was familiar with the terms Ascension and Flight to the Heavens. But “Flight to the Heavens” was new to him.

“You keep saying ‘your side.’ That means you’re not from the Murim Realm or the Spiritual Realm, right?”

“That’s right. Now how should I explain this… Give me a second.”

Lee Ahn paused, murmuring to himself. Then a faint barrier of light emerged around his body.

“Phew. Now I can breathe a little. Just standing around here is uncomfortable. Where was I?”

“You were about to explain where you’re from.”

“Hmm, judging by your Qi, you’re a martial artist. Do you understand what Ascension is?”

“Yeah, I ascended from the Lower Realm.”

“Right. Then you’re an Ascendant. The one who trapped me was a cultivator from the Spiritual Realm, and since he came up to Central Heavens, he’s a Flight to the Heavens one. You all call us ‘those who underwent Flight to the Heavens.’”

Jang Woo-hyun then asked what he meant by ‘we.’

“Before that, let me ask you something. Was your world a single civilization?”

“A single civilization?”

“Wait, maybe that’s not the right word. Let me rephrase that. One moment.”

Lee Ahn quietly contemplated, searching for the right word. It seemed he hadn’t completely mastered the language he was using. He sounded like a foreigner speaking a second language.

“To put it simply—where you lived, did different countries share the same race and culture? Or were there entirely different races and nations?”

To the west of the Central Plains where Jang Woo-hyun had lived was the Western Regions, and beyond that lay the Western countries. Of course, colored-eyes existed there too.

The original owner of Six-Legged Horse King’s Step, the Flying Horse King, had also been a colored-eye.

“In the country I was active in, if you headed west, there were different nations. Their people had different eye colors, so we called them colored-eyes (色目人).”

“Then that’ll make this easier to understand.”

Jang Woo-hyun looked at Lee Ahn with a ‘what?’ expression. He understood none of it.

Seeing that look, Lee Ahn’s face also stiffened. With a blunt expression, he spoke.

“You think only your people Ascend?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m asking—do you think only your people Ascend? Haven’t you considered that people from other countries—those you call colored-eyes—also Ascend?”

“Uh…”

It was something he had never considered deeply.

But now that he thought about it, Lee Ahn was right. There was no rule saying only Murim people could ascend to the next world.

“Crossing paths is rare. The systems and positions are completely different.”

As Lee Ahn spoke, two transparent cylindrical columns floated in front of him. One was red, and the other was blue.

“The red one is our side. The blue one is yours. It’s not exactly like this, but this makes it easier to understand.”

With a few hand motions, dozens of small dots appeared near the base of the two columns.

“Those dots at the bottom represent the Lower Realm. I came up from down there too.”

Lee Ahn moved his hand again. This time, several spheres appeared in the middle of the columns, and red and blue clouds formed at the very top.

“Each of those spheres is a Middle Realm.”

“And those cloud-like ones at the top—those are the Upper Realm?”

“Correct. Over here, they’re called the Upper Realm or the Grand Realm. I don’t know much about them myself, so I just represented them like that. Anyway, as you can see, the zones are so different that it’s rare for people to interact. But there are places where the worlds do intersect.”

Lee Ahn slid his hand between the two columns. A sphere appeared overlapping both sides.

“We call it the Corpse-Blood Realm. The land of corpses and blood. Each Middle Realm has its own characteristics. The Central Heavens is the largest and connects to every other Middle Realm. It’s the center of them all. The Demonic Spirit Realm is the most chaotic. And the Corpse-Blood Realm spans both worlds.”

Lee Ahn paused for a moment, then met Jang Woo-hyun’s eyes and smiled.

“I’m a great sorcerer who rose from the Lower Realm to the Corpse-Blood Realm.”

There wasn’t an overwhelming aura or energy.

But even so, Jang Woo-hyun could tell—Lee Ahn’s true form was not what he now appeared to be.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep