Lightning's Fury (3)
“What madness is this!? Who dares to raid the Geumshin Cheonroe Sect!?”
“And one who craves death so much!”
Five Nascent Soul elders encircled Won-yu, sparks of lightning crackling in their eyes.
Upon seeing his form, they briefly caught their breath, then formed seals and chanted incantations, readying their techniques.
I watched Won-yu and felt a strange freshness to it all.
‘Clashing with regular human sect disciples… that’s been an awfully long time.’
When I was caught by Goe-gun, I didn’t fight as puppets against puppets. I was battling Wondrous Castle as Seo Jang-gun to suppress Seo Jang-gun.
And in the Changcheon Gaebyeokmun, everyone fought shirtless, bare-handed, enjoying raw steel body combat. No one there used incantations or spells.
This life I’ve lived among the youjok instead of humans. I’ve sparred with their tough physiques and their youjok spells, so facing proper cultivators who still pull out incantations feels incredibly long overdue.
“Strike down! Heavenly Thunder Banner!”
A bearded elder swung his blue-flagged spell in fury. Blue lightning crashed down on Won-yu from the sky.
“Blood Vein Forest.”
The next instant, Won-yu formed a seal and yanked a red blood branch from the surrounding phantom fog, building a barrier. The lightning burned it away.
Starting with the bearded elder, the others began casting their spells one after another.
“To think you dare challenge our Five Door Immortal Master! You’ve truly fallen from grace!”
“Five Door Immortal Master…”
I took their spells head-on with Won-yu’s body and grinned.
“I heard the guards of Geumshin Cheonroe’s defense formation. In short, if you take me, no one can guard the main gate of Geumshin Cheonroe?”
“! There’s… allies…”
Kwaaang!
Before the Five Door Immortal Master’s words finished, the puppets I had summoned from the Ten Thousand Scales Tree Ocean slammed into the main gate of Geumshin Cheonroe again.
They were the sunshade-style Seo Jang-guns I had created on the spot.
Each one capable of firing a Nascent Soul-grade strike, they swarmed the entrance of Geumshin Cheonroe, mouths wide open, unleashing Seo Jang-gun arrows.
Chjejejeong!
The main gate of Geumshin Cheonroe shattered from a single strike. The ruined gate drew the sunshade Seo Jang-guns in a rush.
“W-what…!”
The Five Door Immortals panicked and tried to stop the sunshade puppets, but Won-yu blocked them this time.
“You may not pass.”
“You damn bastard, I can’t even tell if you’re male or female! Step aside or I’ll split you in half!”
“You may not pass.”
I moved Won-yu’s body and smiled.
The eerie smile blooming on Won-yu’s lips made the Five Door Immortals twitch, but they formed seals with gritted teeth.
“Die!”
“Hmph…”
And Won-yu opened his mouth, spitting out the spells from his golden pill.
Jiiieeng!
All the attacks aimed at Won-yu were blocked by the four towers he had spat out.
Spell towers began emerging around Won-yu, seventeen in total. Blood Spear, Skeleton Staff, and Tempest Blood Slash.
“You may not pass.”
Additionally, Won-yu summoned a Nascent Soul-level demon king from his summoned blood clouds and formed a seal with an eerie smile.
Kwaaang!
The next instant, Won-yu’s dagger flew at one of the Five Door Immortals, shattering his defense spell and striking the pure inner energy shield.
The defense spell shattered, but the Nascent Soul’s shield held. The dagger spun in mid-air.
But the next moment, the blood-colored demon king Won-yu had summoned raised its scythe and brought it down on the shattered Five Door Immortal.
Chjejejeong!
A deafening sound rang out again. This time Won-yu’s attack pierced the opponent’s shield and inner energy.
“Kkueuk…! Do you think I’ll lose to this guy?!”
The Five Door Immortal whose shield had broken formed a seal and transformed into a lightning serpent, mouth wide as it lunged at Won-yu.
Pishit!
Won-yu’s dagger targeted it, but the serpent left only a small wound on the neck and attacked Won-yu from the side.
Chjejejeong!
The tower spell’s barrier shattered under the impact.
“Blood Vein Forest.”
Chjororuk!
Won-yu formed another seal. Countless blood branches sprouted around him, whipping sharp thorns and leaves at the Nascent Soul elders.
Most dodged like lightning, but their shields and barriers began to waver.
“Blood Spear.”
And above the blood spear, the demon king’s form wielding the spear appeared.
The demon king drank the blood clouds and instantly raised its realm to Nascent Soul level like the scythe-wielding demon king before it. Then it unleashed a full-power thrust at the enemy ahead.
Chejeong!
“Kueok!”
The spear thrust shattered the Five Door Immortal’s spell and inner energy, tearing his side open.
Under Won-yu’s control, the spear-wielding demon king swept its weapons in all directions, shattering the elders’ shields and inner energy.
“Seal!”
Pajijijik!
But the bald-headed elder formed a seal. Lightning shackles bound the demon king.
In an instant the demon king was neutralized, yet Won-yu scattered seventeen blood daggers in every direction.
The aura was terrifying. Under Won-yu’s manipulation, the daggers grazed every inch of the elders’ skin, drawing blood droplets.
“Everyone stay alert! This guy isn’t easy!”
“If you keep your mind sharp, you won’t fall to this creature!”
The Five Door Immortals were pushed back, then pushed Won-yu harder, gradually forcing him down.
And at some point, the perfect synergy of the five elders caused Won-yu’s body to accept every attack without resistance.
Kworororung!
Thunder boomed as Won-yu’s body was torn apart by lightning, leaving only his golden pill before being flung away. The highest-ranking elder fired a lightning arrow that shattered Won-yu’s pill.
Just like that, Won-yu died.
“Hah, what a tenacious bastard.”
“Now that I’ve captured a Nascent Soul, it’s over.”
“Not just one Nascent Soul cultivator. I fought three at once.”
“He really was that strong. Then now…”
And.
Chjorororuk!
The blood clouds Won-yu had spewed out began to seep into the shattered pill they had destroyed.
Won-yu’s pill regenerated.
And around the regenerated pill, his flesh began to grow anew.
Twitch, twitch…
The flesh chunks that had been writhing like red meat chunks gathered and reformed into Won-yu’s shape again.
Just like that, Won-yu was revived.
“You may not pass.”
“What…!”
Seeing Won-yu revived and whole again, the Five Door Immortals gritted their teeth.
“Yes, we always expected you to have some immortality when you used demonic arts! Demonic cultivators die but learn many resurrection techniques. You have to kill them three times, not once or twice?”
“…”
Won-yu simply formed another seal without expression.
“I’ll kill you three times! Come on, keep going!”
The battle between the Five Door Immortals and Won-yu resumed once more.* * *
The Geumshin Cheonroe Sect was in complete chaos.
My sunshade Seo Jang-guns were smashing palaces across the area, firing beams with open mouths.
To suppress the panic, Nascent Soul or Heavenly Person cultivators from all over flew in and began destroying the puppet Seo Jang-guns.
And when the sunshade Seo Jang-guns fired beams near Noeun-bong, even the elder of Bongroedang had no choice.
In the end, the Nascent Soul elder of Bongroedang frowned and rushed down to slaughter the sunshade puppets.
And I moved Jeon Myeong-hoon’s body to slip into Bongroedang through the gap.
The Geumje… as expected, it had been neutralized by Goe-gun’s circuit and wasn’t working.
‘This is Bongroedang…’
It was huge!
From the outside it looked like a small shrine, but inside it was as vast as the main hall of a palace.
Space Compression Spell.
I sensed something with powerful lightning energy far in the distance of this vast hall and walked toward it.
Pajik, pajijik…
Whatever golden arrays were activating with lightning properties… reacted without doing anything and were all sucked into Jeon Myeong-hoon’s body.
‘Does lightning energy get swallowed whole by Jeon Myeong-hoon without resistance?’
It seemed this was the power of the Heavenly Golden Lightning Body.
How many of the lightning golden arrays that crumbled helplessly before Jeon Myeong-hoon’s flesh had I pierced through.
Finally I reached a large dais.
And on the dais fluttered a vivid golden flag.
Kurling, kururung…
‘That’s the Heavenly Thunder Banner…’
The Heavenly Thunder Banner was enormous.
It couldn’t be held in one hand or swung easily.
Just the flag alone was larger than four or five Jeon Myeong-hoons combined.
Pajik, pajijik…
When Jeon Myeong-hoon touched the Heavenly Thunder Banner, it began to buzz and vibrate wildly.
‘Hm?’
But I looked at the Heavenly Thunder Banner through Goe-gun’s eyes and was startled.
‘This Heavenly Thunder Banner…’
It was releasing human-like will.
‘Alive…?’
Woo-woong!
When Jeon Myeong-hoon touched the Heavenly Thunder Banner, it sent out a terrifying will and vibrated violently.
It clearly disliked being touched.
But even though it hated and feared it, it couldn’t resist when Jeon Myeong-hoon grabbed it and accepted it in his hand with a reluctant expression.
‘Heh, how strange.’
I gazed at the artifact in wonder, then picked up the Heavenly Thunder Banner and stepped outside.
The elder of Bongroedang was still wrestling with the sunshade Seo Jang-guns.
‘Now that I have the Heavenly Thunder Banner, I’m done.’
* * *
The main gate of Geumshin Cheonroe.
Five Nascent Soul elders of the Geumshin Cheonroe, the Five Door Immortals, were panting above it.
“Now… he must be dead, right?”
“We’ve already killed him four times. If he revives again…”
And in front of them, blood clouds gathered once more and Won-yu appeared again.
“Hwaaaaah! Reviving again?!”
“That blood cloud is reviving him!”
“Y-yes, the blood cloud has almost run out now. One more death and…”
That was when.
Won-yu raised the Skeleton Staff.
The next instant, the Skeleton Staff opened its mouth and the wounds it had grazed during the fight suddenly widened, sucking the elders’ qi and blood toward Won-yu.
“No!”
“You damn bastard, my qi and blood are…”
And a while later.
The Skeleton Staff closed its mouth and Won-yu replenished his energy from it.
When the energy-replenished Won-yu opened his mouth again, an enormous amount of blood clouds gushed out and filled the surroundings.
It was the life force he had absorbed from the five Nascent Soul cultivators.
“Y-you damn…!”
“We’re sustaining our lives with our own life force!”
“Please just die already!”
The Five Door Immortals who had exhausted their energy trying to kill Won-yu by draining him ran at him with tired expressions.
And watching that spectacle from behind, I waited for Jeon Myeong-hoon, who was coming out using Wansuigungmurok.
A while later.
“H-has it been cured?”
When the Five Door Immortals went for Won-yu’s sixth death.
Jeon Myeong-hoon finally emerged from outside Geumshin Cheonroe.
“Good, finally…”
I turned to the Heavenly Thunder Banner he had brought with glee.
And I felt something was wrong.
‘…?’
It wasn’t visible.
To my eyes, Jeon Myeong-hoon simply looked like he was grabbing empty air and charging forward.
‘What’s going on?’
It was strange.
Through Goe-gun’s eyes, Jeon Myeong-hoon was clearly holding the Heavenly Thunder Banner.
But to my eyes, it wasn’t there.
‘What the hell is happening…’
I looked around in confusion and, for now, reached for the Heavenly Thunder Banner Jeon Myeong-hoon was supposedly holding.
And.
Kururung!
“…”
I felt a tingling lightning current running up my hand and furrowed my brows.
My hand was being burned by lightning.
But I ignored the pain and tried to grab the Heavenly Thunder Banner.
Still, the Heavenly Thunder Banner wouldn’t come.
It wasn’t that my hand couldn’t pierce its lightning or anything like that.
‘Ah…’
When I tried to grasp where the Heavenly Thunder Banner was, my hand could only touch ‘lightning’.
That was it.
The true nature of the Heavenly Thunder Banner was lightning itself!
As a relic used by True Immortals, its material was lightning itself, not ordinary matter.
I discovered the characteristics of the Heavenly Thunder Banner and let out a dry laugh.
‘Everyone sees it with Jeon Myeong-hoon’s eyes and vision. But I can’t see it. That means…’
As a disciple of Geumshin Cheonroe, anyone who hadn’t learned the lightning body-refining technique of Geumshin Cheonroe couldn’t even see the Heavenly Thunder Banner with their own eyes, let alone touch it.
The relic only accessible to those who had mastered Geumshin Cheonroe’s techniques.
That was the Heavenly Thunder Banner.
I looked at the distant fighting Won-yu with empty eyes.
The Five Door Immortals had given up completely, watching the seventh revival of Won-yu.
“You’re not allowed to revive seven times!!!”
“Just die already, you damn bastard!!!”
“We’re not even dead yet!!! Please just die already!”
‘I didn’t know there was such a flaw…’
I had successfully stolen the Heavenly Thunder Banner.
But I couldn’t see it with my own eyes, and even if I grabbed it, I would only get lightning.
‘Then…’
“I suppose I’ll have to kidnap Jeon Myeong-hoon too.”
Maybe that was the best option.
“Won-yu, come back. It’s time to go.”
That was when.
Tap…
“…”
Someone silently appeared behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
And then a voice followed.
Kurrururung!
With a dizzying thunderclap, a familiar voice spoke.
“I thought it was some guy who’s seen me before. It’s the Nascent Soul cultivator who beat me alone last time, right?”
I quickly turned around and called for Won-yu.
The familiar golden robe, a Nascent Soul cultivator of Geumshin Cheonroe.
Supreme Sect Leader Geum Byeok-ho.
“First, I’ll ask why you suddenly went crazy, placed a golden array on the mind of a disciple here, and touched the Heavenly Thunder Banner.”
I swallowed as I looked at Geum Byeok-ho, who had flown back to Noeryeong-do at lightning speed.
His aura was not beneath Changhoza’s at all.
‘Should I give it a try?’
But if that was the end, maybe…
At the same time he reached out, the Heavenly Thunder Banner I had longed to hold naturally moved into Geum Byeok-ho’s hand and shrank to a size perfect for swinging.
The Heavenly Thunder Banner had returned to Geum Byeok-ho’s hand.
‘This won’t do.’