Chapter 237: Cult of Ascension (3)

The warriors of the Extermination Squad, who had been crushing the shamans, all came to a halt.

The noise of the battlefield subsided, leaving only the distant clash between Wind-Passing Great Sage and Jeok-am echoing through the air.

The same went for the Extermination Squad’s core members, including Jang Woo-hyun—they, too, stopped.

The monks clad in radiant silver armor exuded a pressure that bore down on all sides.

The oppressive force of a difference in level.

It felt as though some colossal, inhuman being was gazing down upon them all from the heavens.

The warriors of the Extermination Squad and the spellcasters of the Radiant Light Sect trembled. The aura before them was far too overwhelming for them to face.

Of course, even under such pressure, there were those who remained unfazed.

“…Could that be the power of a True Immortal?”

Seo Ryeom was stunned by the power of the monks he’d never seen before. Beside him, Mak Ya-wol tilted his head.

“They’re weak.”

Last time, just making eye contact had nearly brought him to his knees.

The pressure from the difference in their levels had been too much even for Mak Ya-wol. But now it was different.

Though the pressure and vicious energy made his body tingle, it was bearable.

“Weak, you say? Are you insane?”

Seo Ryeom scowled as he questioned him.

“They’re weaker than the monk we met last time. Was his name Yeogongbaek? Anyway, they’re not as strong as him. There are more of them, sure, but do they not share information among themselves? At that level, they’re no match for our captain.”

Jang Woo-hyun had once obliterated Yeogongbaek—who had received power from a True Immortal—with a strange martial art that created mandala patterns.

Now, he was even stronger than back then, yet these three monks were weaker than Yeogongbaek.

If they fought as-is, the monks would undoubtedly lose. Their only viable tactic would be a combined attack. But even that wouldn’t work—Mak Ya-wol and Seo Ryeom wouldn’t just sit back and watch.

Mak Ya-wol and Seo Ryeom positioned themselves behind Jang Woo-hyun, ready to dash in and smash the monks the moment the order was given.

As Jang Woo-hyun met their eyes, the one standing at the center of the three monks stepped forward.

It was the middle-aged monk who had previously faced Yeop Jun-ui and Ho Sam-rang. He opened his mouth.

【I am Ban Geum-yang.】

He simply stated his name, yet the surroundings resonated with a hum, and an invisible force radiated outward.

【Jang Woo-hyun of the Heavenly Sword Alliance. A fool who dares defy the divine.】

Ban Geum-yang’s eyes began to glow like stars embedded within them.

【You must believe in your strength.】

But Jang Woo-hyun’s power was only considered great by Middle Realm standards. It was merely at the level of the Central Heavens Martial Realm.

From the perspective of a True Immortal, he was no more than a bug.

A slightly larger, more troublesome bug.

If a mighty being were to truly project its power, he would be crushed without even getting the chance to fight back.

【Today, I will erase you from this world.】

Ban Geum-yang was confident—he had prepared something specifically to capture Jang Woo-hyun.

He raised his hand, and as if on cue, a massive gate appeared in the distance above the ship.

Boom—

A black gate, radiating ominous energy, opened.

Inside were bizarre lifeforms, some of their body parts replaced with mechanical devices.

They were monsters, part divine tool, part automatic puppet, and part demon.

While Jang Woo-hyun had grown stronger, the Cult of Ascension hadn’t been idle either. They had prepared this move ever since they heard that the Wind-Passing Great Sage was part of the Extermination Squad.

Leading the charge was a massive serpent rivaling a dragon in size, followed by countless monsters flooding out of the gate. In an instant, the distant sky became filled with monsters.

As they flew in, all eyes turned toward Jang Woo-hyun.

Normally, he would have rushed forward immediately, but now that he stood still, no one else dared move.

Jang Woo-hyun’s eyes were fixed beyond the three monks.

Traces invisible to others.

A massive silver hand was connected to the three of them. It was clear that the three monks had indeed received the power of a True Immortal.

Having experienced this several times now, Jang Woo-hyun could envision how the power of a True Immortal was connected and what it would result in.

‘Should I just call it?’

In that state, if he uttered the name, the power of the True Immortal would descend immediately.

As it had before, the monks might explode like bombs.

So instead, Jang Woo-hyun planned to flip the board altogether.

He accelerated his thoughts, contemplating all possible scenarios. But it wasn’t easy to decide which would be best.

“How long are we supposed to just stand here?”

Mak Ya-wol asked as he approached, snapping Jang Woo-hyun out of his thoughts.

He had been overthinking, uncharacteristically so. His past experiences had become a shackle.

‘Let’s just clash head-on.’

There was no need to decide everything alone. He had people beside him.

Jang Woo-hyun stopped thinking and looked at Mak Ya-wol. Then he nodded.

As the signal was given, Seo Ryeom and Mak Ya-wol simultaneously launched into the air.

To avoid harming their allies, they each hurled the monks flanking Ban Geum-yang far away.

With the two as the trigger, the frozen battlefield moved once more.

The Extermination Squad and the Radiant Light Sect’s shamans clashed, while spells and divine tools from Gungroiseong poured toward the incoming monsters.

Explosions, screams, and shockwaves erupted from all directions.

In the middle of the chaos, Jang Woo-hyun looked only at Ban Geum-yang.

“What kind of scheme are you hiding?”

Though he had come prepared, the Cult of Ascension’s current forces were no match for the Extermination Squad, so he asked bluntly.

Ban Geum-yang offered no reply, only a smile. As if Jang Woo-hyun was easily within his reach.

【Die.】

The words came out like a prophecy, imbued with power.

An invisible force surged from all directions, pressing down on Jang Woo-hyun. Had he been weak, he would have been crushed into a splash of blood by now.

But it didn’t work on Jang Woo-hyun.

As he drew and swung the Black Wilds Sword, the approaching force was all severed. At the same time, he unleashed all of his power.

Hwaaah!

Will-Form Qi spread in all directions.

With nothing but intent and thought, everything could be cut.

【……】

Ban Geum-yang’s face stiffened. He had thought he’d grasped the extent of Jang Woo-hyun’s power, but he had been wrong.

Everything visible was being sliced.

The space where Ban Geum-yang had stood a moment ago was slashed to ribbons by invisible blades, and the monsters rushing at Jang Woo-hyun from behind were shredded into thousands of pieces and rained down.

And it didn’t stop there—Jang Woo-hyun concentrated his Will-Form Qi and swung his sword again.

The Transcendental Sword—a slash that extended infinitely and cut enemies regardless of distance.

The sky was split in two, and the giant black gate that had been spewing monsters far in the distance was cleaved apart and vanished.

It wasn’t a gate that should break so easily, and Ban Geum-yang’s eyes widened.

‘Was he really this powerful…?’

This was beyond expectations. Ban Geum-yang hadn’t expected to win with his own strength, but neither had he anticipated such a gap.

Ban Geum-yang immediately changed plans. From the start, he now intended to go all out.

He began gathering energy and instantly invoked his divine art.

【Scorching Barrier.】

Rrrumble—

The atmosphere trembled as the spell activated.

A massive wall of fire erupted into existence, radiating intense heat in all directions.

【Ten Thousand Flames of Terror.】

The next spell followed immediately.

The sky turned red, and streams of flame fell like waterfalls. Hundreds of towering fire pillars rose up around them.

Jang Woo-hyun moved forward, paying no attention to the spell that seemed like it could burn the world itself. In the past, he would’ve simply slashed through it before it could even be properly activated. But now, that was no longer necessary.

Behind Jang Woo-hyun, a luminous wheel of five-colored light rose like a divine halo.

It was a recreation of the Circulating Taeguk of the Microcosm—an imitation that manifested the Wheel of the Five Elements.

The wheel radiated light and resonated with the surrounding flames.

Fire turned to earth, earth to metal, metal to water—

Through the cycle and mutual generation of the Five Elements, the energy around Jang Woo-hyun instantly transformed into water energy, colliding with the fire pillars.

With little effort, hundreds of fire pillars burst apart.

Even as she watched her spells be effortlessly nullified, Ban Geum-yang didn’t stop. She unleashed several more flame-type spells, turning the area into a hell of fire.

【Flame Dragon of Terror and Encirclement!】

Gathering the full force of her spell, she summoned a dragon of fire.

The massive flame dragon twisted through the air, coiling around Jang Woo-hyun.

【Fiery Dragon Binding Coffin (火龍焰縛櫃)!】

The moment the fiery dragon wrapped around Jang Woo-hyun and all surrounding energy was drawn in to form a prison—

Ban Geum-yang threw ten small jade bottles taken from her Inner Robe.

‘I’ll pour everything into this!’

She hadn’t planned to use this much, but the moment she saw Jang Woo-hyun’s capabilities, her mind changed. That monster had to be dealt with here and now, even if it meant using everything she had.

As the jade bottles exploded within the fiery prison, Ban Geum-yang activated another spell.

【Explosive Heat Inferno (爆熱地獄)!】

BOOOOM!

The explosion was so blindingly bright that it was impossible to open one’s eyes. And in the center of that explosion, a miniature sun emerged.

Inside that sun stood Jang Woo-hyun.

Even as he was trapped in a prison of fire, Jang Woo-hyun wasn’t especially worried. Basic flame-type spells could no longer deal proper damage to him.

Just as he was about to disperse the surrounding heat using the Wheel of the Five Elements—

A massive explosion engulfed the area.

But the surrounding energy was already under Jang Woo-hyun’s control. The flames conjured by Ban Geum-yang’s spell instead erected a shield in accordance with his will, protecting him.

Now that he had grown more adept at wielding the energy of the Five Elements, brute-force attacks no longer worked.

Unless someone could control the flow like Cheok Hwa-hong or devise another method, no single energy could harm Jang Woo-hyun.

As he manipulated the surrounding flames and tried to repel the force of the explosion, his eyes caught sight of a flame of an unusual color.

‘Black?’

The black flame rapidly approached, devouring other flames as it moved.

Jang Woo-hyun activated the Wheel of the Five Elements again and tried to manipulate the heat.

‘What…?’

Contrary to his expectations, the black flame refused to obey his will.

Sensing danger, he immediately pulled back.

But by then, the surroundings were already engulfed in black fire.

Absorbing all surrounding energy, the black flame slithered like a snake toward Jang Woo-hyun.

He quickly swung his sword. The black flames approaching from all directions exploded outward.

“……!”

But it wasn’t enough.

A portion of the exploding black flame pierced his defense and made contact with his body.

“Ghk!”

The pain was so overwhelming that he nearly dropped Black Wilds Sword from his hand.

He drew upon all his energy, and the elemental forces composing his body surged to respond—but the black flame ignored everything and began burning Jang Woo-hyun’s very soul.

“Grrrrraaaaah!”

The black flame that scorched both soul and origin resonated with the Five Elements energy that made up Jang Woo-hyun’s body.

As a result, Jang Woo-hyun was plunged into searing agony—and a vision unfolded before him.

Countless people walking slowly.

Ahead of them was an enormous, unidentifiable mechanical device.

At the top, a massive cube large enough to hold hundreds. Beneath it, an inverted pyramid-like structure.

People ascended and entered the cube. Inside, they floated as though gravity didn’t exist.

Their faces were all expressionless.

They looked as if they held no thoughts.

Then—

Expressions returned to their faces, and the walls of the cube groaned as they began to move.

The gigantic machine crushed the people within.

Horrific screams rang out. People wailed in torment.

‘Ah…’

This wasn’t an illusion. It was a memory.

Not the memory of a single person, but a chaos of countless memories jumbled together.

Crushed human bodies turned to blood, streaming down below.

The inverted pyramid at the bottom filtered something out and collected transparent oil into small bottles.

Grit.

Jang Woo-hyun clenched his teeth hard enough to shatter them.

‘These insane bastards…’

What he’d just witnessed was the extraction of oil from human beings, as if pressing grain for oil.

Among the countless people, not one showed anger.

Due to a small silver bell imbued with the power of the True Immortals, the emotion of rage had been erased. They only grieved, resigned, and trembled in fear.

To prolong their suffering, the walls of the cube moved slowly.

A middle-aged man went mad from the situation. A woman died instantly from sheer terror. An elderly man vomited blood as he screamed, while an older woman could do nothing but weep.

Within the device built solely to inflict suffering on humans, resentment and sorrow surged.

Men and women, young and old, died indiscriminately.

In that despair, one parent cradled their child to protect them.

But the act only ended up crushing the child faster—their body pressed by the very embrace meant to shield them.

The moment Jang Woo-hyun saw that—

Snap.

Something inside him broke.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep