Seven-Colored Radiance
Ouyang Qiangang asked.
'Akasha, can you gauge their strength? Who's dangerous and who's relatively weak — can you at least get a rough sense of their levels?'
"Theoretically, yes, Doctor. I would disperse thirty nanobots across the area and perform a spectral analysis of the 'qi energy' each of them emits. By analyzing the amplitude, frequency, and stability of their energy waves, I could reverse-calculate each individual's internal cultivation level and assign an approximate combat rating. However, Doctor — I strongly advise against it."
'Is this another matter of internal energy drain?'
"Yes. Passive eavesdropping was one thing; this is an active wide-area scan targeting hundreds of masters. To measure their qi waves precisely, the nanobots must first emit a faint probing signal and then collect its echoes. That process alone consumes enormous energy, and analyzing hundreds of tangled qi signatures in real time would overload my computation core."
'Hmm….'
"With your current internal energy, Doctor, there is a greater than 98% probability that sustaining this scan for even one minute would exhaust every last drop of your power and leave you completely drained."
Ouyang Qiangang let out a bitter smile and muttered to himself. 'My internal energy is always the bottleneck….'
Just then, someone spoke up.
"Might you be Lady Heo Cho-ryeong of Bamboo Forest Manor — the Storied Beauty of Nanchang herself?"
The man addressing her was dressed in the shabby robes of an itinerant scholar, but he was a handsome man of about thirty, with striking features and deep, penetrating eyes. His smile was warm, his manner genuinely likable.
The moment Ouyang Qiangang laid eyes on him, his brow furrowed without his meaning to. For an instant, he had sensed something profoundly dark and dangerous radiating from the man.
Heo Cho-ryeong answered, looking puzzled.
"How do you know who I am…?"
"Some years ago I passed through Nanchang on business and saw you in the company of Great Hero Heo. I thought then that you would grow into a remarkable beauty — and yet the lady you have become has far exceeded even this humble scholar's expectations."
"You clearly recognize me, yet I have no memory of you."
"Hahahaha. Seo Il-pyeong is but a nameless wandering scholar drifting through the martial world — how could a lady of your standing possibly remember him?"
A mere scholar participating in a contest for a divine treasure made no sense at all. Put off by the man's transparent evasions, Heo Cho-ryeong fell silent. But Seo Il-pyeong, seemingly unbothered in the slightest, simply lingered at the edge of their party.
Ouyang Qiangang spoke to Heo Cho-ryeong.
"Sister, I'm going to look around the area for a bit. I won't be long."
With Hwang Nodae staying at her side, there was no need to worry for her safety even if Seo Il-pyeong approached with ill intent. Knowing full well that Ouyang Qiangang never acted without purpose, Heo Cho-ryeong nodded.
"All right."
Ouyang Qiangang strolled leisurely around the rim of Sand Rock Peak, which sat like an overturned bowl. He was searching for the source of the resonant energy, but the peak's circumference offered nothing but sheer, smooth cliffs — not a single ordinary cave to be seen.
'Akasha, what's the composition of this cliff face?'
Each time he pressed a hand against the rock wall, Akasha's voice flowed into his mind.
"Ordinary granite. I've conducted a precise surface scan — no artificial structures or fissures detected."
'So there's nothing on the surface. What about the interior, then?'
Ouyang Qiangang's gaze sharpened, as if to pierce straight through to the mountain's core.
'Scan the inside of the peak. Look for a hidden gate operated by a mechanical device.'
"Understood. Initiating ground-penetrating radar and acoustic detection."
A breathless silence followed.
"Doctor, I am detecting a hollow cavity beneath the center of the peak. A completely empty space, fully sealed off from the outside."
Ouyang Qiangang's eyebrows twitched.
'So it is hollow on the inside… but there's no entrance from the exterior. That leaves only one possibility.'
When Ouyang Qiangang returned to Heo Cho-ryeong and Hwang Nodae's side, Seo Il-pyeong smiled and asked, "It seems the young master has precious little interest in a divine weapon, for all that you've come to contend for one."
Ouyang Qiangang made no attempt to hide his irritation. "What do you mean?"
"Everyone else is utterly transfixed by the peak, yet you, young master, concern yourself only with the lay of the land."
Ouyang Qiangang glanced at him and replied in a bored tone, "Those who know their limits live long lives. I have matters to discuss with my companions, so if you'll excuse me."
He led Heo Cho-ryeong and Hwang Nodae to a sparsely wooded stretch of forest some distance away. After dispatching nanobots to confirm no one remained within ten paces, he spoke in a low voice.
"The Hall of Ten Thousand Years seems to lie beneath the center of Sand Rock Peak. But there's a problem."
Heo Cho-ryeong asked, "What is it?"
"The entrance appears to be near the summit of the peak. I couldn't find any other way in."
At his words, the expressions of both Heo Cho-ryeong and Hwang Nodae hardened. He was saying that to obtain their prize, they would have to climb to the very place where hundreds of martial lords were watching like wolves with bloodshot eyes.
Heo Cho-ryeong asked, her face clouded with worry, "Won't that be far too dangerous?"
"Which is why we cannot move yet. But an opportunity to approach will present itself soon." Ouyang Qiangang's eyes gleamed as he continued. "If the rumors hold true, an auspicious energy will soon erupt from that peak again. Every gaze will be drawn there, and once the true masters move first, the rest of the crowd will come pouring after them."
Heo Cho-ryeong nodded. "So you intend to move in the chaos."
"Precisely, sister."
Ouyang Qiangang looked between the two of them and went on.
"Hwang Nodae, return to the ship at once and guard it against any eventuality. And sister… you're the sort who wouldn't listen even if I asked you to stay with Nodae, so you'll come with me."
Heo Cho-ryeong smiled and nodded, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Hwang Nodae spoke with evident concern. "Young master, this old man's duty is to remain at your side through any peril. How could I possibly send you into the most dangerous place and seek a retreat for myself from far away? I beg you — I cannot follow that order."
His voice was not raised, but the resolve not to back down was written plainly across his face.
Ouyang Qiangang regarded the old man with eyes both gentle and unyielding.
"Hwang Nodae, staying glued to my side is not the only way to protect me."
"……"
"If we find ourselves in crisis with no preparations made and our line of retreat cut off, then everyone is endangered. That is why securing the road home for me and my sister is a mission beyond any comparison."
He met Hwang Nodae's eyes squarely as he finished.
"Nodae. Trust me. I will return safely to the ship."
Hwang Nodae, who had been biting his lip and staring straight into Ouyang Qiangang's eyes, at last let out a long sigh.
"…If that is truly the young master's will, then this old man will stake his life on securing the way back."
After he departed with a subtle gesture toward the hidden ship, Ouyang Qiangang and Heo Cho-ryeong returned to the edge of the crowd.
Time continued its slow creep, and the tension coiling around the martial artists encircling the peak climbed higher and higher, as if it might burst at any moment.
The night sky was without a single cloud; the pale moon burned bright, and the stars glittered in a brilliant river of the Milky Way. Though the hour had grown late, the moonlight alone was enough to make out the face of the person beside you.
Behind the mass of gathered warriors, Ouyang Qiangang and Heo Cho-ryeong sat at ease, gazing up at the great boulder-strewn peak — Sand Rock Peak, the Stone Cliff Summit.
As the hour of the auspicious sign drew near, the mood among the crowd turned feral. The taut strain radiating from more than five hundred martial artists hung suspended in the air, ready to detonate.
And then the moment came.
At the very instant everyone had been holding their breath for, the change began.
A pillar of light erupted from the summit of Sand Rock Peak, shooting straight up as though to tear the night sky in two.
KWAAAAAH—!
At first it was thin and faint as a needle, but within a single breath it bloomed into a dazzling rainbow and stood upright against the heavens — a colossal column of light.
The Seven-Colored Radiance!
The auspicious light that, legend held, appeared only when the divine weapon rose to manifest itself. Its mystical, sacred brilliance lit up the darkness.
A momentary hush fell over the hundreds of warriors packed below the peak. Then that silence shattered into an explosive roar.
"WAAAAAH—!"
"The Seven-Colored Radiance!"
"The divine weapon has revealed itself!"
"It's mine! That treasure is MINE!"
Every eye in the crowd flushed red with greed. Shouts and curses mingled with the curses hurled at those already sprinting for the peak, and in an instant the foot of the mountain dissolved into a vast pandemonium.
But Ouyang Qiangang did not so much as stir, his brow still knit.
'Akasha, can you analyze that light? For a treasure radiance, something about it feels distinctly wrong.'
"The distance is too great for a precise analysis, Doctor. I can't be certain, but…"
'And why are you hedging?'
"Judging from the baseline data collected, that light is difficult to classify as a naturally occurring energy discharge. The wavelength is far too uniform. It is artificial."
Akasha's analysis hammered the final nail into his premonition of disaster.
'Artificial? Then that whole display is a fake — something someone engineered deliberately.'
Ouyang Qiangang's eyes cooled to ice.
Just then, a dozen figures among the crowd flung themselves toward the summit of Sand Rock Peak. Each one's single leap carried them two to three zhang straight up — a breathtaking display of lightness skill that proclaimed, louder than any words, that they were Peak Masters of a caliber far beyond ordinary martial artists.
Shouts rang out from the crowd as onlookers recognized them.
"That's the Eight-Direction Divine Sword of the Namgung Clan — and Wolhui!"
"The Azure Cliff Sword Master of the Mount Wu Sect!"
"Great Hero Yi, the Autumn Wind Swordsman of the Hyeongsan Sect!"
"And the One Fist Reaching Heaven of the Jongli Clan!"
Masters whose very names commanded respect across the entire martial world. With them as the vanguard, hundreds of martial artists began charging up the slope, screaming battle cries.
Until then, the itinerant scholar Seo Il-pyeong had been quietly watching the scene unfold at their side. Now he smiled and asked Heo Cho-ryeong, "Will you not be going, Lady Heo? If you don't hurry, you won't even catch a glimpse of the divine weapon."
Heo Cho-ryeong answered in a calm, level voice.
"They say every treasure already has its destined owner. If it belongs to me, I could arrive last and still obtain it. And if it doesn't — I could stand first upon that peak and never lay a hand on it."
"Hahahaha! To think a lady of such brilliance possesses a grace so utterly transcendent of worldly greed! It speaks volumes about the family virtues of Bamboo Forest Manor."
Seo Il-pyeong clucked his admiration and continued, "But this impatient petty soul of mine cannot endure the wait a moment longer — I must go on ahead. May I be granted the honor of beholding your fair face once more."
With that, he unleashed a rising lightness skill that cleared three zhang in a single stride, vanished into the crowd in the blink of an eye, and began his ascent of Sand Rock Peak.
Watching his retreating back, Heo Cho-ryeong murmured quietly.
"That man… he doesn't feel the way he looks. Something's wrong with him."
Ouyang Qiangang nodded.
"I couldn't agree more, sister."