The Ghost King's Luminous Might (1)
Whoosh!
A blinding flash of light slammed into him.
Junje was well-known for it.
A genius who had only reached the Integration stage after five thousand years.
A prodigy of the Golden Attribute cultivation method, along with Heon-won and Golmaek, embodying the might of the Human Race Alliance.
Kwazizizik!
Junje, whose entire body was now covered in golden scales, struck at me with his hand.
Tung—
I neutralized the power of the Chongcheon-geom, stored Junje's strength inside it, and unleashed it back to fling him away.
He made an irritated face and reached for me again.
Kwazizik!
“…”
Space twisted as if bending, and suddenly I found myself gripped by the throat in Junje's palm.
At the same time, from above, Golmaek's snow-white bone armor rained down toward me.
I twisted my body mid-air, brought Junje's body in front of Golmaek, broke free from his grip, and quickly retreated backward.
Kwaaaaang—
Junje failed to dodge Golmaek's attack and was struck hard by it.
An immense shockwave echoed, and Junje's body smashed straight through Cheonin-do and crashed into the earth below.
“Ugh, that hurts.”
In the next instant, Golmaek rushed forward and thrust his fist at me.
I'd be in trouble if it hit me directly.
Tung, tung—
In the blink of an eye, I slapped his elbow with the sword, infused it with my footwork, and then slapped his palm against the elbow to maximize the explosive force of the footwork.
Kwaaang!
His arm never even reached me before exploding in mid-air.
Kwaaaaaang!
“Kkuek…!”
Yet even without direct contact, the sheer wind pressure hurled me outside Cheonin-do.
Golmaek…
“Kwaaaaaaargh!”
He let out a beast-like roar and poured energy into the bone armor covering his body.
Bone tails sprouted from the bone armor.
Claws resembling beast talons emerged from the bone armor on both his arms.
Golmaek, a late-Integration Peak Mountain Spirit who trained as a Heaven and Earth Twin Spirit alongside me and Heon-won.
Even at late-Integration Peak, he was treated as a peer of Junje, who had reached the Integration Grand Completion stage.
He was one of the representatives of the Human Race Alliance's martial power.
The Heavenly Earth Twin Spirit method he pioneered, the Bone Armor Treasure Origin Technique, was a strange power that stored the bones of his defeated foes inside his body and could fuse with his own when needed.
It was notorious for being almost impossible to wound him before his entire bone armor was shattered.
But furious at the bone-shattering attack through my footwork earlier, he gathered all his power and prepared to leap at me.
Just as he formed a stance, an immense gravitational force suddenly pressed down on me.
Kwadudeudeuk!
Junje!
Below Cheonin-do.
Junje, who had been pierced through Cheonin-do by Golmaek's previous strike and embedded in the earth, emerged again and pressed me down.
He's sturdy, isn't he? Enduring a strike from a Heaven and Earth Twin Spirit cultivator without flinching.
Before I could think, Golmaek leaped forward again and swung his bone-armor-covered hand.
Kwaaaaang!
An immense force slammed into my body.
But the next moment, Golmaek's will spewed out in alarm.
Uuuung—
It was because of my hand gripping his arm.
Huge power erupted from my forearm, which began to shine with starlight.
At the same time, black qi surged from my entire body, and 19 heads emerged.
Thud, thud thud!
Blood tears dripped from the 19 heads as they ignited the Black Ghost Flame.
Golmaek realized something was wrong and tried to pull away, but I grabbed his arm and squeezed until it shattered while saying,
[Where do you think you're going.]
Kiaaaaaargh—
Uwaaaaaargh—
Huaaaaaaaaaaa!
Black Ghost Flame flared, and screams too terrible to hear filled the heavens and earth.
Golmaek sliced off his own bone armor like a tail and barely escaped the influence of my curse.
Chwaaaaaargh—
Thanks to the curse's power, the bone armor instantly rotted and dissolved.
Chizizizik—
Circuits etched themselves across my entire body.
Kwazizizik!
Junje, trying to restrain me again, pressed down on me with gravity from afar.
I looked at Junje, stepped on the void, and vanished.
Paang!
In the next instant, I appeared right in front of Junje.
With the Chongcheon-geom wrapped around my arm, I swung my fist with all my strength toward him.
Kwaguaguaguang!
The earth shook violently.
Below Cheonin-do.
From the valley where Tae-yeol Temple stood, a Nascent Soul cultivator screamed and ran for his life with all his might.
The ground split in many places, and mountains and plains were reshaped.
Chwaaaaaak!
Shockwaves struck the entire heavenly realm shrouded in mist and clouds, tearing the clouds into circular shreds.
…He's tough.
But I frowned at Junje standing firm despite taking my strike.
The golden armor wrapped around Junje's body like scales.
And the magnetic field radiating from that armor.
Using magnetic fields like armor to deflect almost all impacts…!
Cultivators who had mastered the Golden Attribute method possessed far stronger gravity than others.
In the five elements, gold was represented by the Qian (Heaven) and Dui (Lake) hexagrams in the Bagua.
Qian was yang—thus yang qi or light itself was gold.
The Earth (Kun) and Mountain (Gen) hexagrams represented earth and mountains.
The Thunder (Zhen) and Wind (Xun) hexagrams represented lightning and wind.
Earth, mountains, lightning, and wind were clearly elemental.
Then what did the Dui hexagram mean?
Dui represented “pond.”
In short, it was “pond attribute.”
Someone might wonder,
Just what kind of pond-attribute nonsense is that?
Kwazizizizik!
[Kueuuuuuuk!]
Junje, basing his overwhelming gravity on the immense magnetic force derived from the golden attribute, pressed down on me like an absolute weight.
Kwodudeudeuk!
The earth sank, instantly turning the spot where I stood into an enormously deep ravine.
If you filled it with water, it would be a pond.
Dui.
That is, the “pond attribute” was nothing but a gentle expression of gold's magnetic force.
[I'll turn you into meat, you spy of the Heart Tribe!]
Junje wanted to turn me into meat, so his gravity focused on my chest.
But I raised my 19 heads and burned my ear qi.
Huh!
Junje flinched under my sharp glare.
Kwagu guku—
Inside the immense gravity pit, I dug my hands into the bottom and began to climb out.
[Crazy… Moving inside that? This kind of monster…!]
Kwaaang!
Right beside Junje, Golmaek landed.
He concentrated power in his bone armor and transformed it.
Kwodudeuk!
The shape of his bone armor changed.
Golmaek, whose bone armor had been reshaped into a muscular monster form, nodded at Junje.
[Good, come on in. Ah, wait a second.]
At that moment, Wolryeong and the Taoist arrived via the Bidunjutsu.
Wolryeong seemed to be casting some spell on Golmaek's bone armor.
Golmaek, who had received Wolryeong's spell, nodded and fell into the ravine.
Kwaaaaang!
He thrust both feet upward, kicking my face as I tried to climb back up.
I tried to resist, but I ended up falling back into the ravine.
Golmaek shook his head left and right with a crunch and said,
[Come at me, you spy.]
[Hahaha, you claim you're strong, do you?]
Ki i iing—
Circuits began to glow intensely.
I shone with 19 heads and my whole body became drenched in starlight.
We took a step toward each other.
Kwak, kwak, kwak…!
Because of Junje's gravity, each step I took made my feet sink deep into the earth.
And finally, when we stood before each other.
Wha rurururururung!
Wolryeong waved his fan, turning the ravine into a sea of flames.
At the same time, the Taoist blew fierce winds like bellows, creating an immense hellfire beneath the ravine.
It was flames fierce enough to burn even a Nascent Soul cultivator to ashes.
But I chuckled and said,
[What is this? Bathwater?]
To me, whose soul was still being roasted by the hellfire, this was worse than lukewarm tea water.
Of course, my skin was still being burned regardless of the actual temperature.
But since it didn't hurt much, I looked at Golmaek and laughed.
He seemed unaffected by the flames, probably having received some defense spell from the Taoist.
Seeing me unfazed, he let out a bewildered laugh.
[…Crazy. Can't you feel pain?]
[That's not possible.]
Buuung!
I swung my fist at Golmaek.
His skull's bone armor was severed.
Golmaek regenerated his bone armor and thrust his fist back at me.
Beok!
One of my skulls shattered, and I took a sword wound from his fist.
He frowned at the sword wound, looking irritated as he peeked through the gaps in his bone armor.
[Damn you, Heart Tribe brat….]
[You call yourself a Heaven and Earth Twin Spirit but act so fragile.]
Buuung!
I swung again.
Chwaak!
A sword wound was carved into Golmaek's body.
We exchanged blows.
No matter how fast I accelerated, gravity slowed my movement, so I had no choice but to take the hits.
I wounded him, and he shattered my skull repeatedly.
Beok!
Ho…
The flames Wolryeong had created were not meant to roast me but to exhaust the nearby Heaven and Earth spiritual energy.
So Heaven and Earth qi no longer flowed in.
On the contrary, the Golmaek in front of me still looked full of energy because of the vast amount of Heaven and Earth qi stored inside his body.
Then, from above, Oh Hyeon and Gongjin joined the fray.
Kugugugugu!
Oh Hyeon's Law Treasure, the Qian Kun Gyu Ma Tower, fell from the sky.
Kwaaaaang!
The tower grew massive and pressed down on my head from above, as if trying to crush me to death.
Gongjin pulled out a cauldron-shaped Law Treasure and opened its lid.
Churururuk!
The liquid inside the cauldron poured into the ravine.
Chwarararak!
In an instant, the entire ravine filled with a thick, foul-smelling liquid.
Fungus!
Gongjin's spell, which he had developed after stealing the secret technique of the Fungus Sea Clan, one of the Six Great Clans of the Human Race, spread across the ravine.
Bright red spores began sprouting across my body.
Fungus tentacles stretched out, draining my power and replenishing it for Golmaek.
Wolryeong and the Taoist seemed about to unleash yet another spell.
If this continued, I might really be defeated.
This is the Human Race's true resilience…
With a combined attack, they could capture even one late-Integration Peak Mountain Spirit cultivator in an instant.
That was the Human Race.
If Heon-won had been here, I probably would have been captured long ago and turned into a member of the Integration Grand Completion stage of the Human Race.
Or rather, the moment these people truly unleashed their power, resistance would become impossible.
In other words, “when they truly let loose.”
[…You aren't using your domain.]
I chuckled and surveyed the surroundings with my 38 eyes.
They seemed obedient to my words, but their will surged violently.
[They're all pouring maximum power into one massive short fight. Isn't that right?]
[Shut up and die!]
Golmaek struck at me again.
Kwaaaang!
I finally couldn't hold on anymore and knelt.
The Qian Kun Gyu Ma Tower pressed me down with even greater force, and I was finally pinned beneath it.
And the moment I was pinned, the Integration stage great cultivators began gathering power and preparing powerful strikes.
The Qian Kun Gyu Ma Tower turned semi-transparent and became immaterial, hanging high.
Through the tower, the great cultivators' attacks would pierce down.
But I chuckled.
[…Excellent.]
Countless light beams aimed at me.
Udeuk—
I forced my two hands to move, infusing black and white qi into them.
The jade of yin and yang five elements enveloped me.
And from inside the ravine, light exploded.
***
Junje was panting heavily.
“Is it over?”
“I believe it is. No matter what, after receiving a full-power attack from the great cultivators of the Integration stage, it's impossible to hold on.”
Wolryeong wiped his sweat and said.
“Damn it, how long has it been since I started using power and I'm this exhausted….”
“It was because I tried to see the True Immortal in pursuit of information to avoid the end. I overdid it.”
“But if this injury is healed, all the remaining Human Race great cultivators will obtain the powerful Heavenly Thunder Law Technique. So it wasn't all bad. The only races that saw the True Immortal and had all their great cultivators survive are the Longwood Clan and our Human Race.”
“That's true.”
While we were chatting, Wolryeong moved his hand.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The wind blew, dispersing the dust cloud.
Revealed from within the dust cloud was Golmaek standing tall in his bone armor.
“Lord Wolryeong. Now please retrieve this spy's corpse and soul. We will investigate the details in the great cultivators' meeting.”
“By the way, a Human Race cultivator who has mastered the Heaven and Earth Twin Spirit method and the Deep Spirit method… He's an incredible genius.”
“Still, since he mastered the Deep Spirit method, he must have been influenced by Jang Ik. His thoughts are definitely tainted. We must return him to the proper Human Race through thought validation, brainwashing, and suggestion.”
Junje talked with Wolryeong and looked back at Golmaek in the ravine.
“Lord, what on earth are you….”
And Golmaek's voice came.
“R, running….”
In the next instant.
The bone armor covering Golmaek's body shattered into pieces, and a woman in white hair and crimson eyes, clad in blood-red armor, collapsed in her place.
“Golmaek Sect Master!”
Junje was startled and tried to fly to her.
But from inside the dust cloud, a starry monster with 19 heads walked out and laughed.
[If it were a long battle, my trump card would have worked… Everyone's bodies are really in bad shape, aren't they? I could tell from how reluctant you are to even unfold your domains.]
“You bastard…!”
Kugu ggeuk!
Junje spewed out his magnetic field again and crushed me.
But the strength of his gravity had weakened considerably compared to earlier.
I folded my arms and said,
[Just now, you attacked me first, so I had no choice but to respond. But fighting like this endlessly is meaningless… I want to sit in the seat of the Human Race great cultivator. After all, after “that person” is seen, everyone will be in bad shape. If I, who have Integration Peak stage power, become a great cultivator, wouldn't that be good for both sides?]
At those words, Wolryeong, the Taoist, and Junje all glared at me simultaneously.
“Ridiculous! You're saying we should take a Heart Tribe spy as a great cultivator of the Human Race Alliance!”
[I'm not Human Race…? In theory, the Human Race can master all three methods—Heaven, Earth, and Heart—why not?]
“Haha, the Heart Tribe are born from ridiculous oppression and torture, and the Human Race is no different. In theory the Human Race can master the three methods, but every Human Race cultivator who mastered the Deep Spirit method was influenced by the Heart Tribe's thoughts and either denied the slave system or launched meaningless movements like liberation. How could that be believed?!”
[Hmm… I see.]
I clicked my tongue at Junje's attitude and grabbed the tail of Golmaek, who had fallen in front of him, to lift him up.
I didn't say anything, but Junje's eyes burned with rage as he glared at me.
“You cunning…! You dare to take hostages…!”
[No….]
Seeing Golmaek being taken, Wolryeong and the Taoist also tightly closed their eyes.
“Lord, there's no choice. Please accept this monster's proposal. Golmaek Sect Master's life is on the line.”
“Kkuek…! You cunning Heart Tribe bastard…!”
[No, wait… I haven't said anything yet…]
In the end, Junje tightly closed his eyes and sacrificed Golmaek to save the mad Heart Tribe spy who carried 18 Nascent Soul Human Race heads on his shoulders.
“Good! I allow you to take the seat of the great cultivator! However, you cannot interfere in the major events of the Human Race Alliance. You can only hold your title. You cannot be given a position on Heavenly Mountain and all resources allocated to you must be used by you. If I detect any sign of you delivering Human Race resources to the Heart Tribe's domain, I will immediately arrest and put you on trial! If you refuse, I will kill you by sacrificing Golmaek's life!”
[…Y, I'll accept it…]
[If you've accepted, hurry and hand over the hostage!!]
In exchange for the hostage Golmaek, the Human Race Alliance ultimately accepted me as a great cultivator.