The Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda
Thanks to time flowing like a river, the day the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda would open had finally arrived.
Before leaving Dongju, Jin Somyeong’s hand paused as he absently stroked the scabbard at his side.
Should I swap to the Heaven-Breaking Black Ink Sword?
The Five-Element Sword was a top-grade 2nd-rank magical weapon. It was familiar and comfortable in his hand, but for a Golden Core cultivator, its rank was a little low.
He was about to enter a secret realm. If he wanted to maximize his combat power, this was the time to squeeze out every last bit of strength he had.
Flash!
The moment he concentrated, a blinding burst of light spread outward, and a vast hilltop appeared before him.
As he entered the Mental Secret Realm and walked toward the center of the herb field, Mugeuk—who had been sleeping in a pit of soil—popped up with a soft thud.
“Have you been well?”
Like a puppy greeting its master, Mugeuk flew toward him, scattering sword qi as it circled around him in delight.
The cotton-fluff sphere drifting through the air was honestly rather cute.
It still looks like cotton candy, no matter how many times I see it.
It was the sort of shape that made one want to reach out and pet it, though doing so might result in losing a wrist.
Seen with enough focus, it was actually a terrifying orb condensed from tens of millions of sword energies.
Clang!
The moment Jin Somyeong flicked his finger and shot a strand of sword qi forward, Mugeuk darted in faster than an arrow and snatched it out of the air.
Watching it devour every last trace of sword qi without missing a single strand was enough to make him laugh. Then as now, the thing’s appetite was monstrous.
“Mugeuk. How much of the Heaven-Breaking Black Ink Sword have you absorbed?”
Wooooong!
With the vibration of steel and the hum of a sword, a vague will arrived, as if an infant were babbling at him.
“Half?”
Mugeuk spun in place. It wasn’t completely certain, but it seemed to be saying that was about right.
Half, huh. That was a rather awkward number.
It seemed he would need to give Mugeuk more time to absorb the Heaven-Breaking Black Ink Sword.
“Hmm... For now, don’t stay in the Mental Secret Realm. Come with me instead. Just absorb it outside.”
Wiiing!
He took Mugeuk, who trembled up and down like it was hopping in place, and left the Mental Secret Realm.
After fastening the Heaven-Breaking Black Ink Sword, now housing Mugeuk, at his waist, he set out for Sahon Wilderness, the desert southwest of Gwangya Immortal City.
After flying for some time, the number of cultivators he encountered began to increase sharply.
The density of people was so high it was hard to believe this was a barren desert at all.
Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators were common, and even Golden Core cultivators appeared here and there.
Hundreds of cultivators were flying in the same direction, clearly all headed for the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda.
What a sight.
Those who had resolved themselves to death carried a peculiar air.
The lower-rank cultivators crossing the desert all wore stiff expressions, proof that they knew exactly how dangerous a place they were heading toward.
What must it feel like, for a Qi Refining cultivator to challenge the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda, where even Golden Core cultivators died?
It must have felt like walking halfway toward death.
In other words, a gamble with your life on the line.
From the perspective of those lower-rank cultivators, anything gained from the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda was an enormous harvest.
Herbs usable in the 3rd Realm, techniques that could carry them all the way to Golden Core, even fragments of discarded magical treasures that had long since broken down.
To a Golden Core merchant, those things might be no better than weeds, but to a Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment cultivator, they were opportunities that could change a life.
I can understand why they’re all coming.
Maybe because Jin Somyeong had once lived a similar life, he felt he understood what those people were thinking.
Watching Qi Refining cultivators literally running on foot because they didn’t even own proper flight magical treasures stirred old memories in him.
How many times was it that I nearly died in the Red Cloud Secret Realm...?
High above the desert, as he blankly watched the industrious lower-rank cultivators below, the ground suddenly exploded with a boom.
A scorpion burst out of the sand.
The creature, as large as a boar, exuded a vicious killing intent before jabbing its tail at a Qi Refining cultivator beside it.
“Aaaagh! Wh-what is that!”
The young man in a brown robe screamed in panic and rolled across the ground.
He narrowly avoided the first strike, but his feet kept sinking into the sand, so he couldn’t run properly.
He only made it a little farther before collapsing with a splat, and just as he shut his eyes tight—
Slash!
A pale sword light split the scorpion cleanly in two from head to tail.
It hadn’t even had time to react, much less resist. Still in the posture of having swung its tail, it was split apart on both sides, spraying blood into the air.
“Ughhh, huh?”
The young man, making strange noises, got up awkwardly.
He blinked repeatedly, looking bewildered, and only after a beat seemed to realize what had happened. Startled, he shouted at the sky.
“I don’t know which senior helped me, but thank you for saving me!”
He bowed again and again in every direction, but Jin Somyeong, who should have received the thanks, never even noticed.
He had already left the scene the instant he shot the sword qi and killed the scorpion.
Whoosh!
After flying for some time, Jin Somyeong used his cultivation to enhance his vision.
Near the horizon, he saw a seven-story stone pagoda rising high into the sky.
So that’s the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda.
To be honest, his first impression was underwhelming.
The stone pagoda looked shabby and ordinary, like something you’d find at any random temple. Aside from the fact that it was tall enough to touch the clouds, it didn’t inspire much awe.
And yet, for some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
The more closely he looked, the stranger it seemed.
The surface of the stone tower was densely covered in tiny talismanic characters, and a faint halo of seven different colors shimmered over it as well.
...I see.
He could understand why it was called the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda.
Curiosity aroused, he was just about to read the characters carved across the tower’s surface when—
Kuh!
A pain like being stabbed with an awl shot through his head, and he hurriedly shut his eyes.
It felt as if a red-hot iron skewer were ripping through his nerves; there was no way he could keep staring at it.
Pressing hard on his eyelids, Jin Somyeong gave a wry smile.
So even looking at it was forbidden. That alone gave him a vague sense of how high the realm of the one who created the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda must be.
As expected, there are plenty of masters in this world.
With admiration came tension. This secret realm was dangerous even for him. If he didn’t want to die pointlessly, he had to keep his mind razor sharp.
As he drew closer to the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda, there was hardly room to land.
More than tens of thousands of cultivators surrounded the tower. The outermost ring was occupied by tense Qi Refining cultivators, the middle by Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the area closest to the pagoda belonged to the Golden Core cultivators.
The area inside is a little quieter.
The outskirts were so crowded they were practically a marketplace, but the inner area had plenty of space.
The lower-rank cultivators simply didn’t dare approach the place where the Golden Core merchants were standing.
Of course, Jin Somyeong was a proper Golden Core cultivator, so he headed toward the center without the slightest hesitation.
The moment he arrived, blatantly suspicious gazes fell on him from all directions, sharp enough to make his skin prickle. He met them calmly, one by one, each look full of caution and curiosity.
About thirty Golden Core cultivators came in from this side.
There were many familiar faces.
These were the same people he had met at the Golden Core gathering while searching for the spiritual item related to divine sense.
“Dao Friend Jin.”
“It’s been a while, Madam Ryeo.”
Among them was Ryeo Jeong. She greeted him with that signature eye-smiling expression of hers, and he nodded back in acknowledgment.
Seeing her smile without hiding her pleasure at the reunion, a question suddenly occurred to him.
Why is her divine sense still the same?
Madam Ryeo’s divine sense was exactly the same as it had been two years ago.
Had she not eaten the Moonlight Gold Herb?
He was curious what she had used such a precious herb for, but he didn’t ask.
After settling somewhere nearby, he quietly extended his senses.
There are three late Golden Core cultivators.
An emaciated old woman with rings on every finger, a giant in splendid dragon robes like an emperor of the mortal world, and a monk leaning on a bamboo staff as though it were a cane.
At a glance, those three were clearly the strongest people here.
He was studying them closely to gauge their abilities when—
The giant in dragon robes met his eyes.
“Hmm?”
When Jin Somyeong didn’t look away, the giant’s gaze gradually changed.
At first it had been indifferent, like looking at a pebble lying by the roadside. Then amusement surfaced, followed quickly by a trace of contempt.
Sitting on a magnificent jade throne that would have suited even an emperor who had unified an empire, the giant grinned.
The expression on his face plainly said, You’re the one I’ve taken a dislike to.
What a clown.
Jin Somyeong lifted the corners of his mouth as well.
Late Golden Core? He wasn’t afraid. Who would win in a fight was something you only knew after exchanging blows.
They stared at one another as if locked in a contest of will, until—
Both their gazes snapped away.
Not only that, but everyone present turned their eyes in the same direction. Each face was full of shock.
Tap, tap.
In the strange silence, an old man in faded robes approached with slow, measured steps.
He carried neither oppressive presence nor imposing aura, and yet no one dared act carelessly around him.
“...Why is Senior Muyang Jin-in here?”
Someone murmured those trembling words, and they voiced exactly what everyone was feeling.
“What, am I somewhere I shouldn’t be?”
“N-no, of course not.”
It was a Nascent Soul expert who had appeared without warning. Under everyone’s gaze, he walked with infuriating slowness before suddenly stopping.
“Hoo.”
As though he were winded just from walking a little, he wiped the sweat on his brow with his sleeve, looking for all the world like an ordinary old man.
When the Nascent Soul cultivator stood there catching his breath, the giant who had just been eyeing Jin Somyeong rose abruptly to his feet.
“Senior, please sit and rest here. My Golden Scale Taishi Chair is a magical treasure that speeds up the recovery of spiritual power.”
He pointed at the splendid jade throne as he spoke, but the old man waved a hand dismissively.
Thud.
As though speaking were too much trouble, he simply sat down on the ground.
Coincidentally, the place he chose was right beside Jin Somyeong.
“...”
Twitching at the corner of his eye, the giant awkwardly smiled and withdrew the throne into his storage pouch.
Unable to dare use such an ornate chair in front of his Nascent Soul senior, he stood there in an uneasy pose instead.
Meanwhile, Jin Somyeong was using all his senses except Boundless Great Ability to examine the Nascent Soul senior.
...I can’t tell.
If they had met on the street, he might have passed this man without feeling anything unusual at all.
An old man who looked like he could die tomorrow, or even today—this was what the Nascent Soul expert known as Muyang Jin-in seemed like.
I can’t even begin to tell how strong he is.
Being unable to read an opponent meant the gap was that much greater. The Nascent Soul realm seemed farther away than he had expected.
Why would a master like that come here?
As far as Jin Somyeong knew, even approaching the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda was dangerous for a Nascent Soul cultivator.
One could be seduced by the Dao contained within the pagoda and turn into a fool.
And yet Muyang Jin-in seemed to intend to enter the tower. For a Nascent Soul cultivator, that was an extremely dangerous act.
Muyang Jin-in... I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere.
As he sifted through memories of the inquiries he had made while roaming Gwangya Immortal City, several pieces of information surfaced.
Muyang Jin-in was a Nascent Soul expert active in Dongju, and his publicly known age alone was over sixteen hundred years.
Ordinarily, a Nascent Soul cultivator’s lifespan was 1,500 years, so...
He was the sort of old man who could die literally tomorrow. No—today.
Is he trying to enter the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda with the desperation of a drowning man grasping at straw, since he’s going to die anyway?
He looked away from the old man, who had closed his eyes and was panting hard.
He looked as if one poke would kill him, but that did not mean he could be underestimated. That was a natural disaster in human form.
What kind of variable will that Nascent Soul monster become inside the secret realm...
As Jin Somyeong sank into deep thought, he suddenly froze.
Before he knew it, the sun had set. Stars had begun to fill the night sky, and one of them was shining with especially brilliant light.
“The Green Lotus Star has appeared!”
The star that, once every three hundred years, emitted a radiance like the aurora.
The instant the Green Lotus Star revealed itself, the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda began to tremble.
The seven-colored glow that had been circling the tower like guards melted away as if washed clean, which meant the seal had opened!
It’s finally open.
As he stared hard at the seal dissolving into starlight, Jin Somyeong flinched.
The Nascent Soul monster standing beside him had vanished without a trace. To leave so silently from such close range...
A chill ran down his spine at a skill utterly unlike that of a dying old man.
Jin Somyeong wasn’t the only one startled.
Everyone stared in stunned silence at the spot where Muyang Jin-in had disappeared.
How many seconds had passed in that eerie quiet?
Step.
Among those who still couldn’t bring themselves to move, Jin Somyeong was the first to take a step forward.
A 4th Realm spiritual item. Something that would help when challenging Nascent Soul.
Hye-gong had advised him to enter the tower while hoping for a soul-splitting technique, but Jin Somyeong had no intention of following that advice to the letter.
Nascent Soul was far more important than a soul-splitting technique.
As though reciting a spell to himself, he silently repeated those words and began walking, step by step, toward the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda.
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