The Vengeful One (4)
This was strange. As expected, it was strange.
No matter how many times I saw it, the core remained clearly off-base.
Calling the disciples of Geumsincheonroemun “just” like that?
Why?
The feeling was completely different from the one I had when I was pleading for the disciples’ lives back then.
But it wasn’t as if my heart itself had twisted in some way. The emotions toward Kang Min-hee and Kim Yeon remained unchanged.
Could it have been influenced by Yang Su-jin’s theory of inhumanity? Even while concentrating my consciousness as my core and calling to mind Buk Hyang-hwa, those feelings remained exactly the same.
…Is it truly just an overreaction?
But I could not ignore this unease.
Well, there was no helping it. So I decided to quickly ascend my own realm and raise my position so I could observe my consciousness with a high-level consciousness cultivation method.
After making that decision,
I closed my eyes and continued cultivating Gwi-seon-gyu-ma-gyeol.
My core was already heading to the Integration Grand Completion and discussing it with Jeon Myeong-hoon before heading to Goe-gun’s transmission array, and I was focusing my consciousness on the Nascent Soul that had transformed into a Ghost King through Gwi-seon-gyu-ma-gyeol.
Kwaaaaa!
As Ratio’s body trembled beside the Ghost King-transformed Nascent Soul, it helped me condense the aura of death.
Death began to gather stickily like a thick mud at the riverbed and pressed against the inside of my Nascent Soul.
After a while, sharp ghost flames—exactly like those of Song Jin—ignited in the two eyes of my Nascent Soul.
And at some point.
Uwoong!
I felt a strange “sense” as if it were bursting in my upper dantian.
This is…
With that “sense” maintained, I opened my eyes.
The surrounding world looked completely different.
The lodging had suddenly turned gray.
The more I focused my consciousness, the more pitch-black “lines” appeared between the gray lights.
Hmm…
When I focused my gaze on the porcelain in the lodging, the “lines” in the porcelain gradually multiplied and took on the shape of a “crack.”
And as I continued to focus the sense, the “crack” gradually expanded its domain and completely blackened the porcelain.
And at that moment, I startled and shut off the “sense.”
What just happened?
Something terrifying had clearly been visible beyond that pitch-black crack.
“Ratio, when you become a Ghost King, explain what kind of sense you gain.”
[Yes. There is only one. The Ghost King’s recognition of the Underworld has been known in the history of ghost cultivation methods for a very long time. Venerable Ghost, of course you know, but I will recite a brief knowledge for you. The gray world that only the dead can see is the outer edge of the Underworld.]
“The outer edge of the Underworld?”
[That is correct. The black lines you see there mean “rest,” or “death.” If you look closely at those black lines, every black line floats above an object and spreads in a crack-like form from above the object. That is the “form of death” the object possesses.]
“Ho, I see.”
I remembered the lines that had spread in crack form on the porcelain.
Naturally, the porcelain must have cracked in that same crack-like form when it broke.
That was the fate of the porcelain and soon its form of death.
“As the form of death covers an object, the object grows closer to death, and when it is completely covered, it dies?”
[Exactly. This is a sense unique to ghosts, completely different from the Heavenly Origin Clan’s sense. We call it Myeong-gak.]
I did not ask further, but I immediately understood.
‘When viewed with Myeong-gak, an object completely covered by the form of death turns fully black. And beyond that black thing…’
That terrifying feeling.
[When the form of death is fully traced with Myeong-gak, the black area that appears… that black area is the Underworld itself.]
“Is that so…?”
I pondered for a moment, then closed my eyes and activated Myeong-gak.
With Myeong-gak added to my consciousness, I observed my own body.
And I could not help but startle.
Even without focusing my vision with Myeong-gak, my body was already completely black!
‘…I see. So I am already a deceased child.’
Still, the Nascent Soul that had become a Ghost King carried a faint gray light.
I had completely understood the principle of Gwi-seon-gyu-ma-gyeol.
It was to absorb the “form of death” present in all beings and turn the Nascent Soul into a Ghost King that resides at the outer edge of the Underworld.
Those who trained it after death would remain at the outer edge of the Underworld and would not be pulled into the interior of the Underworld, while those who trained it while still alive would be able to enter the outer edge of the Underworld.
‘That is why the Ghost Kings are called great ghosts and I panic…‘
A being completely covered by the form of death itself becomes the entrance to the Underworld and heads toward it.
The form of death I felt from myself was extraordinarily large and deep.
I myself was almost like a “moving entrance to the Underworld.”
If it reached me, the ghosts would simply be pulled into the Underworld as they were.
‘Even this is nothing more than a part of my soul given to the strange parasite. If it were the core’s death…’
It would obviously be on a scale that was hard to imagine.
‘This is rather… not the darkness of a living being turning into a deceased child, but rather a darkness that has crawled out from the Underworld.’
That was why they had not fled from me calling me a devourer of great ghosts.
And I learned one more thing.
‘I see. Ratio is already…‘
I had thought Ratio was quietly returning from inside my body and chatting with me as usual.
But that was not the case.
Ratio had already gone mad.
The essence of the Water Sect was that the absolute majority of them were “immortals.”
Even if true immortality was impossible, many Water Sects pursued extending lifespan by reaching high realms.
Black Ghost Valley was no different.
They too had wanted immortality and had wanted to stay in the upper realm even after becoming a Ghost King.
The ones who did not want to die even after becoming a Ghost King were exactly these people.
But when I saw them, it seemed truly that I myself was wrapped in a death that was terrifying enough to make me question whether I was not a messenger of the Underworld.
Even compared to the core, it was weak.
Ratio answered only when I stimulated it, in a state where his mind was already broken.
‘The ghosts were mostly noisy, but why was Ratio so quiet inside my body…‘
I felt a bit sorry for the creature.
‘Still, according to Black Ghost Valley regulations, a newcomer disciple must remain inside the body for a certain period, so please endure for a little while.’
After that, he would return from inside my body again, lose the memories up to now, and peacefully be enshrined in the Seopmyeong Ship once more.
I comforted Ratio in my heart while continuing to cultivate Gwi-seon-gyu-ma-gyeol.
The law power began to accumulate rapidly inside the Ghost King-transformed Nascent Soul.
As I extracted and transformed my form of death into law power,
I soon realized something was changing.
‘This, this is…?’
Uwoong!
I focused my consciousness and pulled out the Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon.
Although it was a consciousness cultivation method called Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon, the name revealed that it was a law spell with the attribute of the Five Elements.
Tzutzutzu!
The Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon fused and melted quickly into my Nascent Soul.
Ye-wol-ji-geung.
Ye-il-ji-seung.
Ye-o-ak-ji-su.
‘Mid-stage Nascent Soul!’
I stepped outside the lodging and, following the guide, left the outer area of Heukrin-aeryeongmun for a short time to find a remote place.
Not long after, the Heavenly Tribulation began to descend, and I endured the Heavenly Tribulation while restoring the level of Mid-stage Nascent Soul.
With a somewhat dizzy feeling, I returned inside the lodging and observed my body again.
‘What is this aptitude?’
The fact that I had quickly reached Core Formation from Geumsincheonroemun was thanks to the training I had stored in the Colorless Glass Sword in the previous cycle.
If there had been no training from the previous cycle, it would have taken tens of years just to gather qi and reach Core Formation.
But now the Colorless Glass Sword was with the core, and I had no training stored from the previous cycle.
Yet I was able to accumulate law power enough to reach Mid-stage Nascent Soul right away.
I felt incredulous at this insane training speed and continued cultivating Gwi-seon-gyu-ma-gyeol inside the lodging.
The next day had come.
Myeol-un and Wi-hun.
The two Heavenly Person level elders looked at me with bright eyes.
“You were hiding your training yesterday. Mid-stage Nascent Soul.”
“A rather high-level disciple has entered Black Ghost Valley. Heh heh! Judging by the qi, it seems like a disciple who will soon become an elder.”
“We did not greet you in advance. I hope you do well in the future, Elder Seo. Heh heh!”
“Haha… No, senior elders.”
I smiled awkwardly.
‘…Even if I say I reached Mid-stage Nascent Soul from the middle of Nascent Soul in just one night… they won’t believe it?’
Even if I gathered a bit more qi, I could immediately promote to Heavenly Person.
I smiled awkwardly and, from that day on, followed the mission of Heukrin-aeryeongmun, enhancing, complementing, and amplifying the curses they produced.
‘I understand why curses were also studied in Black Ghost Valley.’
When I floated the curse spells with Myeong-gak, the spells were infinitely transparent in form, the opposite of the form of death.
‘The gray light symbolizes the outer edge of the Underworld, the black light symbolizes the Underworld itself, and the transparent light that does not belong anywhere symbolizes the mortal realm?’
I recalled Ratio’s words and looked at the curse spells.
Curses were pain itself.
Pain, regardless of how it was, belonged to the domain of “life,” so it could not be perceived on the outer edge of the Underworld.
Blessings also appeared transparently.
Although blessings and curses seemed opposite, from the perspective of death they were one and the same.
‘A curse cultivation method would be quite necessary for those Ghost Kings who have little time left before being pulled into the Underworld.’
It was a law spell belonging to the domain of life, almost like a kind of wedge that would hold back those who were about to be pulled into the Underworld.
Of course, the Ghost Kings were just a bit late; since their lives were already dead, their fate was to be pulled into the Underworld someday anyway.
So, after death, even if they mastered curse cultivation methods or consciousness cultivation methods belonging to life, if the force of the Underworld grew stronger, they would inevitably be sucked in.
‘By the way, this curse…’
Chi-i-i—
I clicked my tongue while looking at the curses made together with the other nine curse artists.
They were quite vicious curses.
While probing the essence of the curse spells, I realized the essence of this curse was someone’s “hatred.”
‘I cannot know exactly whose, but… powerful resentment was used as a basis to create this curse on top of it.’
Anyone who received this curse would be in quite a predicament.
For those below Heavenly Person, they would not just be weakened by the curse but would rot alive the moment it touched them.
Even the curse artists found it difficult to handle this curse, and the moment the strongest curse artist among them, me, took control of the curse.
I filled the Yin Soul Ghost Curse with as many words as possible and guided the path so the curse spell would not run wild without my permission.
“Ho, have you already stabilized it?”
The boy who had given us the mission.
Hyeon-gwi, a boy named Hyun-gwi, laughed loudly while looking at us who perfectly controlled the curses.
“I never imagined that even gathering the best curse artists would achieve this level of effect… You are truly amazing. Especially you, Sir Seo…”
He looked at me, who handled the curse skillfully, and let out a small sigh.
He seemed to be watching me.
I had an intuition that it would be better to show well to Hyeon-gwi, so in front of him I manipulated the curse spells even more flamboyantly.
The work of enhancing and amplifying the curse spells took several days.
After we had strengthened the curses to a certain degree, we were even able to take breaks.
After roughly ten days of strengthening the curses, it felt like we could rest for a day or two.
And among the ten of us, one could go out to Heukrin-aeryeongmun for external activities at set intervals and return without issue.
Of course, only one person could go out at a time, and we received a strict ban on discussing curse production in Heukrin-aeryeongmun, but there was no problem.
And before long, the time when I could go out drew near.
“If Sir Seo goes out, it will be difficult to stabilize the curse, so please return quickly.”
Hyeon-gwi smiled and saw me off to the main gate of Heukrin-aeryeongmun.
“I understand. Anyway, I am going out because I need to check something briefly after going to Black Ghost Valley, so there is no need to worry.”
“Understood.”
“Then I will take my leave…”
It was the moment I was about to greet Hyeon-gwi and head to the transmission array heading to Black Ghost Valley.
“Wait, Sir Seo. I have one thing to tell you.”
“What? What is it?”
Hyeon-gwi grinned and spoke in a low voice.
“There is one thing I wanted to tell only you, Sir Seo. I am impressed with your curse skill and have a favor to ask.”
Zabok, zabok…
He stepped beyond the main gate of Heukrin-aeryeongmun and snapped his fingers on the spot.
Ttak!
Tsuuuaa!
Then dark qi spurted from his body and dyed the surroundings.
I sensed that a special barrier was blocking the situation outside and inside.
“What secret matter are you trying to speak of so mysteriously?”
“…There are many things to be careful about. Lord Black Dragon has cast spells throughout the entire Heukrin-aeryeongmun and is always monitoring us. Whether we are trying to escape his grasp.”
“…!”
“In fact, this fact is one of the secrets and cannot be openly passed on. Only after coming outside Heukrin-aeryeongmun and casting the barrier can I speak comfortably.”
Hyeon-gwi continued with a bitter expression.
“…The Heukrin-aeryeongmun we belong to is said to have Black Dragon as its backer. Since it is a sect led by his descendant, I thought he would treat us well. But that is not the case. Every year, we must offer high-level cultivators of Core Formation or above to Black Dragon as sacrifices.”
“…!”
“If the number of sacrifices is insufficient, Black Dragon will take one of our disciples as a sacrifice. We are not receiving his favor; we are sacrifices and slaves for him. For that reason, one faction of Heukrin-aeryeongmun had such thoughts.”
His eyes shone brightly.
“Even if we are demoted in the Human Five Great Sects, as long as we escape from Hyeon-eum’s grasp… We cannot escape because the whole line is bound by the prohibition, but… there is a possibility.”
I swallowed hard while listening to Hyeon-gwi.
‘He is even telling me such intimate secrets… He will kill me if I do not cooperate.’
Of course, Hyeon-gwi in front of me was not that scary.
He was a cultivator of Heavenly Origin Twin Trees, but I had the confidence that I would win anyway.
But the fact that he made such a statement beyond the main gate of Heukrin-aeryeongmun meant that there were comrades of Heukrin-aeryeongmun who shared his thoughts hiding nearby.
Since Seo Lip was a clone, it would not matter even if he died, but since it was a clone infiltrated into Black Ghost Valley, it was a bit regrettable.
“What possibility?”
I decided to listen to his thoughts at least.
“Five hundred years from now, a Treasure Map of Jeongryong Jinin will appear in the乱界 region.”
“Jeongryong Jinin!!!”
I startled and asked back.
“Is that true?”
“That is correct. Those who know already know. It appears once every two thousand years.”
I let out a gasp.
A True Man could only use the title of Gaeyeol.
And I knew the title “Jeongryong” very well.
A legend I learned when I lived in the Zhizu clan.
Long ago, during the Gwanghan Realm war, an ancestor of the Zhizu Jinryong Alliance that led the Gwanghan Realm to victory.
The land of the place where the current Jinryong Alliance was established.
The ancestor of the dragon race, which itself was the domain of the Jinryong Alliance, was Jeongryong Jinin.
“A relic left by the ancestor of Zhizu will appear?”
“That is correct. The Treasure Map he left is itself a law treasure and also one otherworldly realm. And we have found an object in the Treasure Map that allows us to escape from Hyeon-eum. An object that can remove the prohibition Black Dragon has placed on us. However, it requires an excellent curse artist to remove that prohibition.”
“So you want to recruit me?”
“Yes. If you help us, we will give one of the objects obtained from the other world and add ten times the reward you were given in this mission.”
“Hehe…”
Even the current reward was considerable.
But ten times that reward?
It was quite tempting.
“There is a special prohibition in the other world, so Integration Grand Completion cultivators cannot enter, so there is no great danger. You only need to cast curses on me.”
“Hmm…”
I pondered and asked him.
“Among the objects obtained from that other world, what kind of objects are there?”
“I will show you the list right away.”
Ttak!
When Hyeon-gwi snapped his fingers, countless items’ illusions appeared in front of my eyes.
When I grabbed the illusions that appeared nearby, I felt information about those illusions flowing into my mind.
‘Ho… They are all amazing.’
I clicked my tongue.
But I remembered being hit on the head by Seo Hyoel so many times that suspicion arose.
‘Is this really too good a condition?’
Could there be a trick?
‘The intention is also suspicious.’
Hyeon-gwi had something else he had not told me yet.
But it did not seem that remarkable, and the intention was only a little suspicious.
And then.
‘Hm?’
I saw one of the books in the illusions Hyeon-gwi pulled out.
A book bound in strange beast leather had a title written in a language I had never seen.
At that moment, Ratio inside my body spoke.
[Master, please choose this book as the reward.]
‘Hm? Is there something special about it?’
[The script written in that book is the language of ghosts used in the Underworld. Especially the language of high-ranking messengers, I believe. Didn’t you know?]
‘No, of course I knew. More importantly, why do you want me to get that?’
[Ah, that is right. Venerable, you might not even like it. But it is a secret technique book passed down like a legend. The Heukrin-aeryeongmun guys probably cannot understand its value, so let us take it.]
‘Explain what that is.’
Following Ratio’s words, I almost startled.
[Venerable, you already know, but there is a truly orthodox qi axis, right? Not the perverted way of stacking with the Five Elements. And the Bu-deok-je-sa-seo is one of the secret books known to allow obtaining the axis of wealth among the truly orthodox qi axes. In reality, it is not a book but an elixir in the form of a book! Venerable, you can already do foreknowledge and foresight with knowledge of the orthodox qi axis, but giving it to the disciples of Black Ghost Valley who do not have it will allow them tremendous growth!]
‘…!’
An ardent reaction came from the core as well, and I chose “Bu-deok-je-sa-seo” without hesitation.
“Hmm, this book? Well, since we in Heukrin-aeryeongmun cannot even interpret this book, if you like it, you may take it, Sir Seo.”
Hyeon-gwi nodded.
“We have no value in this item, so I will give it to you as an advance payment right now.”
Uwoong!
Hyeon-gwi seemed to be communicating with someone outside, then split the space and reached in to bring out a book from somewhere.
And I could receive the “Bu-deok-je-sa-seo” on the spot.
***
‘Good. If I obtain the Bu-deok-je-sa-seo, I will be able to stack the axis of wealth…‘
I had sighed before when I thought I would have to roam the middle realms to obtain the truly orthodox qi axis.
But fortunately, it seemed I only needed to roam three places.
‘I do not need to go to the Purple Gold Realm.’
Jinma, Goryeok, Myeong-gwi.
It seemed I only needed to visit these three later.
“You seem in good spirits, Seo Eun-hyun.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon asked with a smirk.
“Are you going to meet Kim Yeon?”
“Well, that is one thing.”
“Interesting. In the company, you were so dense that no matter how much they pushed, it was strange. But here you noticed?”
“….”
Judging by this, it seemed Kim Yeon was showing interest in me enough for even Jeon Myeong-hoon to know.
“Actually, I thought you were pretending not to know about this love. So I heard rumors in the company that you were a single person or something like that.”
“…What kind of gossip is that. Where did you hear it?”
“I heard from Deputy Oh Hye-seo. She said she heard it herself and that there are already rumors everywhere in the company. Well, I thought you just couldn’t do love because you were a fool, but…”
“….”
I decided I would have to keep an eye on Oh Hye-seo from now on and flicked the head of joking Jeon Myeong-hoon, bursting it.
Pwaeng!
“Kyaaaak!”
“Be quiet. And… it’s finally here.”
Before long, a strange castle came into view in the distance.
Jji-ing!
At the same time, I smiled at the familiar ripple of Gimyoseongsimjeon.
“Yeona, it’s been a while…”
Kwa-jijijik!
Right then.
Space tore, and the arms of [She] suddenly burst out.
“Meow. Why are you here at our house?”
And suddenly Goe-gun burst out from the void.