The Heavenly Thunder (2)
The decision was quick.
‘I have to head north.’
I missed people, but the stone building to the north was far more intriguing.
I waited until nightfall.
When the night came and the stars rose, I read the constellations, determined my current location, and roughly gauged the position of the Byeokra Kingdom.
Then I drew a talisman and created a sand disk from sand, mounting it to cross the desert.
Whoosh―
While moving northward, I continuously unfolded the Earth-hearing Technique, sensing the ground below.
If there was a stone building, it would be buried deep beneath the desert.
‘It was stone, but the first ore I had ever seen. Extremely hard and solid. Even if it was a building from thousands of years ago, it would still not have weathered away.’
Then it should be easy to find.
* * *
Crack―
Days passed.
A sandstorm blew in.
I bent my earth-attribute technique power around myself to divert the sand particles above the disk.
‘After days of heading north and detecting the ground with the Earth-hearing Technique, nothing showed up.’
It seemed either the target was farther north or buried so deep that even the Earth-hearing Technique could not detect it.
One of the two, probably.
‘Honestly, scouring the entire Dabcheon Desert feels a bit foolish….’
When would I finish scouring this desert?
Perhaps it was time to give up and head toward the Byeokra Kingdom to see those familiar faces.
‘Just a little farther north. If nothing appears, I’ll turn toward the Byeokra Kingdom.’
Whoosh―
Amid the sandstorm, I faced the sand winds and sighed.
Everywhere was sand, sand, sand.
That was when.
“…!”
Something appeared ahead.
A small stone protruded from the sand plain.
The important thing was that the stone’s color matched the stone building exactly.
‘That’s it…!’
I hurriedly moved the disk and slid toward the stone.
“This is mostly buried underground.”
Even this small section had been barely exposed because the sandstorm had swept away a lot of sand.
I used the Earth-hearing Technique to determine the extent of the buried part.
It was indeed the same material as the stone building, but it looked like only a part of it.
This is like…
‘A hanging panel.’
I drew a talisman and excavated the stone from the sand mound.
On the square stone panel were ancient oracle script characters in an archaic font.
Also, the back side was cracked or damaged; I could not see the back.
While staring at the damaged part of the panel, I realized the shape of the damage matched the character fragments I had seen in the stone building near Deungsunhyang.
“The thunder character must come after this.”
What does this oracle script mean then?
I interpreted the oracle script on the stone panel and slowly decoded its meaning.
“This is… iron? No, perhaps meaning ‘shines’? Golden? It can be interpreted as gold….”
Recalling my past studies at the Wulin League, I carefully decoded the oracle script when.
I felt a strange sense of unease.
“This is… a ghost? A divine being? It seems to mean ‘god’… and the last character just before being damaged….”
I interpreted the last character among the three oracle scripts carved on the stone panel and furrowed my brows.
“…heaven (Heaven)…?”
And the fragment near the stone building by Deungsunhyang fit perfectly here.
The thunder character came.
Geumsincheonroe.
My eyes widened.
“The Geumsincheonroe Gate…?”
What connection did that stone building have with the Geumsincheonroe Gate?
Thinking about it, I recalled a stele that absorbed lightning from the thundercloud, and it did match the Geumsincheonroe Gate that handled thunder.
But the oddity was how the stone building was treated.
It looked like a building or shrine related to the Geumsincheonroe Gate.
The Supreme Sect Master of the Geumsincheonroe Gate had gone to the Ascension Gate, yet why was this building torn down and abandoned?
And while moving through the archives of the Cheongmun Clan, I had read about the location of the famous Su Dojongmun that existed before.
Cheongcheon Gaegbyeokmun was on the vast plain north of the Byeokra Kingdom.
Heuksaeguigolgyok was on one of the islands in the sea south of the Yeon Kingdom.
Geumsincheonroemun was on the western great mountain range of the Seongje Kingdom.
Based on the Yeon Kingdom, east was the Byeokra Kingdom, beyond that east was the Dabcheon Desert, and west of the Yeon Kingdom was the Seongje Kingdom.
Why was the panel of the sect located on the western great mountain range of the Seongje Kingdom placed right in the middle of the Dabcheon Desert on the opposite side?
‘Was this place the territory of the Geumsincheonroe Gate before?’
But in any book I read, the Geumsincheonroe Gate had recorded activity in the western Seongje Kingdom for nearly three thousand years.
‘If that’s the case, the event of the Geumsincheonroe Gate being here must have happened at least three thousand years ago….’
“…”
Su Do people lived so long that history extended beyond common sense, and it was impossible to know what happened during that long time.
‘I may have to investigate later… or, thinking of his personality, ask Geum Byeok-ho directly in my next life….’
Given his character, if I asked him, he would probably drop thunder on me, saying who was this Qi Condensation brat to speak so casually, and I would die.
Suddenly thinking of that made me feel bad.
‘Why are all Su Do people so vicious….’
It was then I was thinking random thoughts.
Ku gu gu gu―
The sandstorm grew even thicker.
“Um…?”
Suddenly, something appeared beyond the sandstorm.
With my enhanced eyesight, it looked like a city beyond the hazy area.
A dark city was in the sandstorm.
“Who’s there…?”
Just as curiosity arose, I flinched!
‘I smell blood… I do.’
I sensed a strangely ominous aura from the city.
My accumulated experience from repeated lives, intuition, and the slight inspiration granted by heaven warned me.
Danger.
For now, I had to get away.
I set down the stone panel of the Geumsincheonroe Gate and turned the disk to head south quickly toward the path I had come.
And a while later.
I managed to escape the sandstorm.
Whoosh!
“Hah… amazing.”
The sandstorm was one thing, but the ominous feeling from the city glimpsed beyond it was enough to give me goosebumps.
‘The Dabcheon Desert… I was relieved thinking it was just sand, but it was quite dangerous.’
Thinking about it now.
At this time, there had been a massacre near the Dabcheon Desert.
And because of that, the Makri Clans of the Yeon Kingdom, including the Cheongmun, Byeok, and Gongmyo Clans, the Jin Clan, the capital families of the Seongje Kingdom, and Core Formation Su Do people in countries east of the Dabcheon Desert had all been on high alert.
‘Was that city related?’
The ominous aura and blood scent from the city gave me chills.
I guessed that city was probably related to the massacre near the Dabcheon Desert.
If I had kept heading toward it out of curiosity, I would have entered my next life right away.
While heading south along the path I had traveled while trembling, night fell again.
When I tried to confirm my position again through the constellations.
‘Eh…?’
Something was strange.
I had not thought about terrain because the desert landscape had changed due to the sandstorm.
So even though the positions of the sand dunes had shifted, I had shrugged it off.
But seeing the constellations, I felt something was wrong.
‘I ran south the moment I saw the city, so why….’
The place I arrived was much farther west, near the Byeokra Kingdom?
Shiver!
The Su Do Array!
It was definitely the place where high-level Su Do people lived, and an enormously vast area had been covered by the array.
While approaching the outer edge of the Su Do Array, I could simply turn around and leave, but
If I had approached even a little more…
‘I almost died. I need to get out of the Dabcheon Desert as fast as possible.’
Controlling the disk’s direction, I turned west and headed toward the Byeokra Kingdom.
* * *
Twenty days and nights passed.
“The Dabcheon Desert is vast.”
I clicked my tongue and took out the fruit seeds from my pocket to eat.
Now, the food and water from Deungsunhyang were almost gone.
Only those who had reached Foundation Establishment could survive long without eating.
Since I was only at Qi Condensation level, I needed food to survive.
Of course, since forming my inner pill, I could last much longer than ordinary people.
But enduring while constantly consuming technique power and moving was a different matter.
‘Still, almost there.’
Just a day or two more and I would reach the eastern end of the Byeokra Kingdom.
The area of the Gongmyo Clan.
Many desert tribes had gathered in the Gongmyo Clan’s territory, so I should be able to find food and water.
And the next day.
Whoosh whoosh
Parched, parched…
My throat burned with thirst.
Now, there was no more water left.
Food was also my last piece of tree fruit eaten yesterday.
Hunger was not the issue.
But thirst was the problem.
My throat felt like it was burning.
‘If I could just drink one sip of water… no wishes left….’
Although I had formed my inner pill and reached Qi Condensation, I had not yet transcended humanity, so I gritted my teeth while enduring the burning thirst.
‘I never thought I would miss those bastards from the Makri Clan….’
Precisely, I desperately missed the sound-attribute techniques and water-attribute techniques they used.
The Jiwol Ipdogyeol was very convenient, but it was far from the Su Gong techniques needed to obtain water in such extreme situations.
‘Damn it, I’m dying of thirst. Was this life meant to end in starvation?’
I had died many times, but it was an experience I did not particularly like.
That was when.
“…”
In the distance, someone in a pure white robe appeared.
‘A person, it’s a person!’
Perhaps they have water!
I hurriedly drew a talisman and increased the disk’s speed.
The person in white was a black-haired woman.
Her pure white robe contrasted with her jet-black hair, and she wore multicolored glass bracelets on her wrists and jade beads on her waist.
Her appearance was generally gentle rather than beautiful, yet there was a certain stubbornness.
And she was drawing a circular pattern around her brow with her consciousness.
A Su Do.
“H, hello….”
I spoke with hesitation and shouted to her.
Because it had been so long since I spoke to someone, my words did not come out properly.
“H, do you by chance….”
“You look parched. Please drink this.”
“T, thank you….”
I accepted the water pouch she offered and gulped it down madly.
‘Water! Water!’
It was lukewarm, but more heavenly than any drink I had ever tasted.
Glug, glug, glug…
“Hah… I will survive. Thank you, miss.”
“No need. The city is not far from here anyway. You are coming from the east, so you must be a traveler. But that outfit….”
“Hah. It’s a long story. What is the name of the city nearby?”
“Tianse City. It is about one si-jin walk southeast. It seems we are fellow Daoists. If you use the technique you used to get here, you will arrive within a watch.”
“Ah, thank you so much. If you could tell me your name, I will repay you later.”
She shook her head at my words.
“Helping lost people in the desert is natural. It is repaid. Go on your way. I need to find law artifact materials nearby, so I will go now.”
She drew a talisman and rode the sand like waves, heading far away.
“Qi Condensation, about the thirteenth level. Thank you, miss.”
I bowed to the direction the kind lady had gone and, following the direction she pointed, drove the disk to move.
Exactly one watch later, as she said.
I arrived at the city of Tianse City at the eastern end of the Byeokra Kingdom.
Tianse City was named after the Foundation Establishment Su Do of the Gongmyo Clan, Gongmyo Cheonsaek.
According to what I had heard from the Cheongmun Clan, it was a famous place where all kinds of law artifacts were traded.
Also, the city’s glass craftsmanship was considered art, and many places wanted to buy the glass artifacts from here.
Of course, I had no interest in such things and, after dealing with a suitable sect inside Tianse City, I took them to the authorities to claim the bounty.
After that, using the bounty money, I bought basic clothes, water, and food to eat.
Then I headed west toward the territory of the Cheongmun Clan.
My remaining lifespan was now about nine years.
Although I had delayed much while dealing with demons for forty years, fulfilling rites.
I planned to check how those bonds from my past life were faring.
I decided to head to my master first.