The Three Great Calamities (1)
BOOM!
A deafening explosion thundered as I and my companions crossed the void space and burst into this space. It was the same place we had seen before. The Bongyang Layer of Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension. The familiar scent of smoke. The familiar scenery. The familiar faces. And the unbearable ache of loss that even familiarity could not dull. I turned around and looked back at the remaining members of our group. Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Oh Hyun-seok, Kim Yeon, Buk Hyang-hwa, Hong Beom, Seo Ran, Siho, Yeon-jin, Wihun, Eumwa. Of the countless disciples of the Mugeuk Sect who had numbered four hundred million in this life, only eleven had succeeded in entering Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension. Baek Rin, Yuk Yo, and the other Guardian Ghost Kings, along with other mid-tier executives, were all gone. No one had made it through with us. I stared at the entrance of the void space we had just escaped from and bowed my head in silent prayer. The others did the same. Especially Jeon Myeong-hoon, his hands trembling violently as he bit his lip. Had it not been for me and the others, he might have exploded right there. Uuuung— Thanks to the restoration power within Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension, the dimensional curtain we had torn through closed once more. Only then did I take a deep breath and turn my head. There stood Gyeo-yeom and the other two Tianzu cultivators, faces tight with tension. “You must have sent all the people inside the Pocket Dimension back out, right?” To my question, Gyeo-yem nodded frantically. Before we performed our summoning ritual, all the cultivators who had entered this place with us were sent back outside. They had probably thought we were going to seize the treasure for ourselves, but sadly, what we gained was not a treasure but a group of us who were now extremely sensitive after losing our companions. “You bastard… Why are you just nodding your head and not answering? Do you think we look like fools…?” Jeon Myeong-hoon glared at Gyeo-yem and immediately started berating him with a snarl. His eyes were bloodshot, a feeling of pure rage since the Jinseon Cheonroe Moon disciples he had relied on within the Mugeuk Sect could not be saved. Gyeo-yem was a Core Formation stage Daoist of the Blood Ghost Clan, but in front of a Core Formation Peak cultivator spitting out thunderbolts with bloodshot eyes, he could only kneel and kowtow. “Ah, no! I have committed a grave offense, please forgive me! I have a wife waiting for me at home…” At the mention of “wife,” Jeon Myeong-hoon gritted his teeth and turned his eyes to the other Tianzu. “What are you guys standing so stiffly for?” “Ah, s-sorry, Senior! Please forgive me!” Green-mother and White-winged One were drenched in cold sweat. I retrieved the Purple Soul Filling the Heavens that had been suspended around them and reached out into the void. Uuuung! Under my force, the Heavenly Lotus Seed that had been hanging from the Multigul Tree was pulled into my hand. I placed the seed in my palm and walked over to look at one of the corpses beside the Multigul Tree. It was the body of Hyeon-gwi. The corpse of Hyeon-gwi, whose decay was beginning to set in, was quite ghastly. But that was all. No suspicious energy or eerie presence could be felt. I extended my consciousness toward the body of Hyeon-gwi and searched every part of his body in detail, but found nothing out of the ordinary. What Hyeon-gwi had cultivated was the orthodox Black Lotus Evil Spirit Sect technique, and he possessed a body optimized to borrow the power of Heum-eum the Black Dragon King. Even at the cellular and genetic levels, I found no abnormalities. I observed the corpse of Hyeon-gwi for a moment longer, then simply used a spell to bury his body. No matter how I looked at it, this guy was connected to a True Immortal. It would be better not to touch the corpse any further and attract attention. Holding the Heavenly Lotus Seed in my hand, I returned toward the altar where my companions were gathered and thought. ‘From now on, I must be careful not to get entangled with True Immortals.’ I had been too reckless with the Taesan Yeolje Art. The result had been that those who had believed in me were wiped out to a man because I had become connected to the Lord of Taesan. This world was filled with evil. Yeon-wi’s words were wrong sometimes, but fundamentally correct. Even a single grain of sand on the riverside or a stone by the roadside could be tied to a great being in this world. From now on, even breathing had to be done carefully. I would have to be cautious to the point of driving mice out of my hair. “Gyeo-yem.” I approached Gyeo-yem. He bowed his head in awe. “Receive this. It is the price for helping us.” “T-thank you!” He trembled as he extracted a single drop of juice from the Heavenly Lotus Seed and handed me the rest. “I will present this to the Great One.” “You were just given this. Why are you giving it back to me?” “T-this Heavenly Lotus Seed is said to be an essence that aids in advancing to the Star Shattering realm. Please consume it, Senior, and raise your cultivation level.” “Hm…” I hesitated for a moment before accepting the Heavenly Lotus Seed. After all, it might be needed by my companions even if not by me. After receiving the seed, I looked at the other two who had been pulled along with us. Green-mother and White-winged One bowed their heads in front of me with faces full of fear. Ugu-geuk— As I reached out, the space warped. At the same moment, the space I had previously distorted returned, and a warehouse hidden in the Bongyang Layer appeared. “…” “T-that is…” I opened my mouth with an expressionless face. “Pick out what you need from inside. It will be more useful than the ordinary items inside this Pocket Dimension.” These were the treasures I had gathered through my clones over tens of years within Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension. They would be quite useful. They exchanged awkward glances with each other before entering the warehouse I had revealed and selecting items. Green-mother took a single clump of soil called Leizee Sangtu, good for trees. White-winged One selected one of the essences called Cheonhoe Bong. “Good. Then you two go over there and…” I gave a small nod to White-winged One and Green-mother, and they nodded urgently before retreating to the back. Gyeo-yem looked at me with a face that had turned pale, as if he did not understand why I had left him behind. “U-uh, Senior… Do you have some business with me…?” “…You are a Land Spirit. Among Land Spirits, the Blood Ghost Clan is a sea Yao race…” “Y-yes! That is correct…” “Then… what do sea Yao races do when holding a funeral?” “Y-yes…?” I asked Gyeo-yem about the funeral customs of the Yao races. Over eighty percent of the disciples of the Mugeuk Sect were ghost beings. The Ghost Kings Wihun and Eumwa knew the ways to honor them well, but twenty percent of the disciples were Yao race members who had joined the sect from the Goryeok Realm. The Goryeok Realm had many sea Yao races among the Yao, so I had asked about their funeral customs. I could have asked Seo Ran, the Dragon King of the Sea Dragon Clan, but Seo Ran had said that the entire Dragon race, including Sea Dragon Clan, held funerals only in the Dragon race’s way. There was no point in asking him. Of course, Seo Ran knew some ways for Yao races to hold funerals, but everything he knew was of the lower realm, so it might not match. That was why I had left Gyeo-yem behind. Gyeo-yem thought for a moment and spoke. “Do the ones performing the funeral know how they passed away…?” “…They were killed by an inescapable being.” At my words, Gyeo-yem’s eyes lit up. “Our Yao race, especially the sea Yao race of the Central Border Realm, has a similar way of holding funerals. First, those who die naturally or reach their cultivation realm and fall into mania, or those who die to a heavenly calamity, are given a funeral so they can merge with nature. However, those who die from natural disasters or illness are cremated… and if killed by someone, relatives of the Yao race perform burial and vow to seek revenge if they have some connection.” Natural death: funeral rite. Accidental death: cremation. In the case of murder, burial is performed along with a vow of revenge. That was the funeral custom of the Yao race. After discussing it with my companions, I destroyed all the Huashi in the Suryu Layer of the first floor of Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension and created a massive tomb. To honor the four hundred million disciples of the sect. And to engrave a desire for revenge against the god of Taesan who had massacred our disciples. I had stacked the tomb inside the Pocket Dimension so that they could be buried as close as possible to the place where they died. Just like with the Heavenly Punishment God, I and Jeon Myeong-hoon, and Kim Young-hoon, and the others swore in the flames. “We will take revenge.” I said. “I will take revenge.” Kim Young-hoon said. “I will take revenge.” Oh Hyun-seok. Followed by Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kim Yeon, Buk Hyang-hwa, Seo Ran, Siho, Hong Beom, Yeon-jin, Wihun, Eumwa, and the rest. Uuuung! Kugugugu! As we all unleashed our aura at once, powerful Ohaeng Yeongqi swirled around us. Was it because we were all facing the god of Taesan? No matter how low the mountain god lowered his prestige and descended, the great being was still a great being. After seeing him, we all obtained the same powerful Ohaeng Shintong. For me, it became clearer to see the yin-yang Ohaeng Yeongqi, and for Oh Hyun-seok, just by seeing the Lord of Taesan, Ohaeng pillars were born within his body, becoming a Core Formation Peak cultivator. Kim Young-hoon instantly had a golden core with Ohaeng attributes inside his stomach and became a Core Formation cultivator. Buk Hyang-hwa obtained a shintong to create a hand made of Ohaeng Yeongqi, and Kim Yeon had Yeo-hyeok born inside her body and suddenly became a Ghost Land Core Formation cultivator. Seo Ran, because his blood vessels had been stimulated, advanced from Heavenly Person Peak to half a step Core Formation Peak, and Siho, because his blood vessels had been stimulated, could now grant Ohaeng attributes to the phantom dream shintong he handled like the Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon. Yeon-jin, because the yin-yang Ohaeng of his soul was perfectly aligned, instantly rose from Nascent Soul Peak to the beginning of Heavenly Person. Jeon Myeong-hoon could now grant Ohaeng attributes to the thunderbolts within his Tao realm, allowing him to descend Ohaeng Ro-geop and the like. Wihun and Eumwa each obtained a bloodline that could give Ohaeng attributes. All of us had to experience a terrifying ordeal when we met the mountain god, but in return we had all become stronger. Had the fact of having met the mountain god been treated as a heavenly calamity, or had those who had advanced in cultivation not suffered a heavenly calamity? After all of us vowed revenge and set the flames alight. I looked at them and said. “…I know you’re all sorry, but you know there is still work left to do, right?” To my words, they all nodded weakly. “We have to save Kang Min-hee.” Jeon Myeong-hoon said with a gloomy expression. “Yeah. And looking at my prediction…” I hardened my face. “She will have reached Star Shattering level.” She would have already become the Ghost Dao Holy Mother and exploded. There was nothing I could do to stop her from exploding at this time. Even if I saved my companions, the situation would have reverted thanks to the restorative power of fate. Kang Min-hee would explode at this time and swallow the Gwanghan Realm. “…It is awkward to say this, but I have the resolve to reach Core Formation Peak and attempt Star Shattering advancement if given about three hundred years.” I had the experience of reaching Core Formation Peak. Although I had fallen to Core Formation Peak Early Stage after regression, I had enough experience to rise back to Core Formation Peak. “Our goal is one.” I said, looking at my companions. “Let us get stronger.” Squeeze… I said, clenching my fists. “Let us get even stronger so that no one can persecute us anymore.” Dduk, dduk-dduk… Something was flowing from my eyes. A curse. Just like after the tenth loop, a black curse was falling from my eyes. Chi-iiii- The ground around me instantly rotted and crumbled. It had been a considerable time since something ordinary like tears had not flowed from my eyes. Kwang— I hit my chest, feeling inexplicably frustrated. A monster made of curses crawled out of my body, looked at me, and fled in a hurry. Monsters grew from my body and fled, and a faint landscape of my Tao realm was reflected around me. My Tao realm was a desert. Three thousand colorless glass swords were planted in the desert, and during the day the land blazed, while at night monsters grew in the darkness and howled in terror, trying to escape my domain. I felt the flow of curses from the seven holes at the center, and said from the heart of the monsters fleeing around me. [Get stronger and stronger, and take revenge. Definitely…!] The curse flowed along my body and covered it. I revealed my core with twenty heads in the curse and roared. [I will definitely take revenge and honor the dead…!] Kurururu— Jeon Myeong-hoon had become a giant of lightning tribulation. Because his prowess had increased, the top of Jeon Myeong-hoon’s head was split in half and became the Thunder God of Idu-yukbi. Oh Hyun-seok revealed a purple soul giant body, and Kim Young-hoon, unable to control his grief, shouted toward the sky. Golden phoenix shadows swirled around Kim Young-hoon. Wihun, Eumwa, Hong Beom, Seo Ran, Siho all revealed their giant bodies and screamed with blood and tears, while Buk Hyang-hwa and Kim Yeon simply cried silently with pale faces. Yeon-jin, through the Tai Chi Thunder God, had his face split in half and cried. Gyeo-yem, Green-mother, White-winged One, and the others, under my roar, clung together to the monsters crouching on the ground and trembled. The goal of this life was simple. To save Kang Min-hee. And to raise my cultivation level to save her. By raising my cultivation level, I would become stronger. With this simple but difficult goal engraved in my heart, I swallowed my tears, embraced my companions within my Tao realm, and left the Pocket Dimension.