The Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda (5)

There's a very high chance this Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda isn't normal?

Jin Somyeong sank into thought as he read the necklace jade slip. It seemed the scholar had known something about the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda after all.

Maybe I should've captured him.

There was a faint twinge of regret, but what was done was done. Besides, prying the information he wanted out of a Golden Core cultivator would not have been easy. He might have lost the man while trying to interrogate him, or let his guard down and suffered a counterattack from some hidden trump card. If he could kill an enemy, killing him had been the right choice.

Jin Somyeong stared at the necklace jade slip, then poured Divine Sense into it once more.

He examined it carefully, but there were only a few recorded sentences. Judging by the tone and contents, it seemed to be something like a diary the scholar had personally written after entering the secret realm.

A mental restriction was added to this secret realm...

Was the strange dissonance he had felt upon entering the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda because of that mental restriction? Jin Somyeong frowned and organized the information he had uncovered.

First, he could roughly guess why the scholar had fashioned the jade slip into a necklace and worn it.

So he could read it often. He probably checked the jade slip whenever he had a spare moment and engraved those words into his mind.

In other words, it had been a way to maintain vigilance. There were many ways to resist a mental restriction, but the most basic was to constantly question whether one's own state was normal. If the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda contained a restriction that twisted the mind, then caution was only natural.

What about my mind right now?

From the instant he had first entered the secret realm until now, he retraced every action he had taken. Nothing in particular seemed wrong. But he could not completely relax. If he had already fallen under the restriction, then he would not be normal, and his judgment would have been clouded as well. He might be treating something bizarre as perfectly natural.

Which meant...

First, he had to recover his sanity.

There was no need to agonize over the method. He possessed a divine ability of the Formless Great Ability, something that could be called a fragment of omnipotence. Now that he had recognized the problem, solving it would be simple.

Jin Somyeong was about to make a wish at once, then hesitated.

...That feels a little wasteful.

Thinking it over again, was there truly any need? There were so many things he could do with the Boundless Great Ability. Was he really going to waste it just to resolve such a minor concern?

Jin Somyeong scratched between his brows, then shook his head. What mattered right now was obtaining more treasures and raising his realm. He could not afford to squander something as precious as the Boundless Great Ability on nothing.

Good thing I came to my senses now.

With a relieved hand over his chest, Jin Somyeong turned his gaze elsewhere. The restriction before him was on the verge of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠breaking, and the sight filled him with impatience. He wanted to smash it apart at once and savor the dense spiritual energy within, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he restrained himself.

There was still one more thing he had to do. He needed to examine the bracelet, the last treasure the scholar had left behind.

A magic treasure.

It was a string of prayer beads made from reddish-brown beads, and it was a third-tier upper-grade magic treasure. When he infused it with Divine Sense and magic power, its name, method of use, and effects surfaced in his mind.

Clear Mind Warning Bead. It clears the user's mind, and if there is a problem, it warns them with scorching heat.

Jin Somyeong's expression brightened at once. The Clear Mind Warning Bead was a magic treasure with effects perfectly suited to his current situation.

I was right not to use the Boundless Great Ability. I almost wasted it.

The moment he put the prayer beads on his left wrist...

"Urgh!"

A searing pain surged up as if he were being burned. He nearly threw the beads away.

Hissss!

The reddish-brown prayer beads heated until they glowed crimson. A heat hotter than lava traveled from his wrist and spread through his entire body. It was a temperature that should have melted his skin, yet his wrist remained perfectly intact. It was as though only the sensation of pain were being transmitted through his nerves.

Whoosh!

Illusory flames that began in the prayer beads surged toward the space between his brows. Jin Somyeong clenched his teeth against the terrible agony of his Divine Soul burning.

What is this...

His expression turned grave. With the situation reaching this point, he realized something had gone deeply, terribly wrong.

His current state was not normal.

"Kgh!"

Whether because of the heat or not, his head began to ache as if it would split apart. The judgment that he had to restore his mind to normal immediately with the Boundless Great Ability collided with the absurdly complacent thought that the Boundless Great Ability would be a waste, so he should simply endure a little longer.

He bit the tip of his tongue, adding a sharp sting of pain. In that instant, reason overpowered instinct, and Jin Somyeong, fully alert, drew up his magic power.

Wooooong!

He poured magic power into the Clear Mind Warning Bead as if flooding it. It was an action he could take precisely because magic power was not precious in the same way as the Boundless Great Ability.

The color of the prayer beads grew deeper and deeper until it reached its limit. Then the blazing heat melted away, if only slightly, whatever had been filling the inside of his mind.

Ah.

His mind snapped clear as if cold water had been poured over him. The moment lucid reason returned, however briefly, he understood what he had to do first.

Crack!

He consumed thirty thousand units of the Boundless Great Ability and made a wish.

For his twisted mind to return to normal.

The instant a mysterious wave born from the Boundless Great Ability swept over Jin Somyeong, the heat pouring from the Clear Mind Warning Bead vanished as if washed clean away.

Whew.

The prayer beads that had been glowing crimson returned to their original reddish-brown. As he touched the beads, now cooled in an instant, a sigh of relief escaped him on its own.

Why would they have grown cold? It meant his mind had returned to normal.

As expected of the Boundless Great Ability.

Having regained his composure, Jin Somyeong searched his memories. From the moment he had entered the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda until now, he reexamined every action he had taken. He had not noticed it earlier, but recalling the past with a clear mind, there had been more than one or two strange points.

He had wanted to chase down a cultivator who had not attacked him and take that man's storage pouch, and he had obsessed over a single tattered scrap of old cloth with no real use. On top of that, even though heading straight for the third floor of the secret realm would have been more profitable in the long run, he had been unable to ignore the restrictions he encountered.

Should he say his field of vision had narrowed? It felt as if he had become a clumsy, petty miser.

At this point, he could guess the effect of the mental restriction that had been added to the secret realm.

Did it amplify my greed?

In addition, it seemed to have the effect of obstructing his awareness that he was in an abnormal state.

Troublesome.

Right now, they were still in the early stage of the secret realm. In other words, he had not been exposed to the restriction for very long, which was why his mind had still been comparatively intact. It was at a level where he could endure even if greed arose.

That much was clear from the people who had come looking for him and then quietly retreated.

But what if someone spent a year here? Would they still be able to endure then?

...The closer the secret realm gets to its end, the more vicious things will become.

Little by little, greed would swell until it touched the heavens, and cultivators devoured by avarice would begin to appear one after another. What would those who had turned into vengeful wraiths do?

Most likely, they would roam the secret realm and attack everyone they met, demanding their storage pouches.

It might become a hellish battlefield filled with cultivators driven mad by greed.

Jin Somyeong imagined what would unfold in the future, then shook his head.

Enough. Worrying about it now is useless. Anyone at the Golden Core stage should sense that something is strange and prepare for it.

What he had to do would not change anyway. He would gather treasures, and any enemies who came for him would be cut down. He felt some pity for those who would be swayed by the mental restriction, but he could not afford to look after them too. At best, he could warn them several times to retreat, as he had done with the scholar.

Snap!

He flicked his finger. The scholar's corpse burned away, and he absorbed the storage pouch through the Mental Secret Realm divine ability. Ten units of the Boundless Great Ability were consumed to preserve the contents intact, but he paid it no mind.

He quickly looked over the new items that had appeared in his subspace. As expected of a cultivator who had used ice-attribute spells, there were many spiritual objects related to cold energy.

Not bad.

Including cultivation pills, there were quite a few items he could use himself. He passed over things like magic treasures and spiritual medicines, then examined the jade slips carefully. He wanted to know if there was any other information about the secret realm.

Yin-Yang Great Hand Seal.

It was the spell the scholar had used as his main technique. It was an offensive art that condensed energy into the shape of a palm and struck the enemy. Jin Somyeong put it aside for now, intending to read it in detail later.

After checking every jade slip, he learned several things. First, the scholar had come from the Frostsmoke Continent. Unlike Dongju, where Jin Somyeong was, the Frostsmoke Continent had had the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda for thousands of years. Naturally, far more information about the tower was known there.

The normal survival rate of the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda is less than twenty percent...

The tower's difficulty kept changing as if it were alive. If not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enough people died inside, cruel restrictions would be added. Jin Somyeong had not known this because there was a gap in information between continents.

In Dongju, the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda had opened only three times counting this one, so little was known about it.

I have a rough idea of the situation now.

Having finished grasping the matter, Jin Somyeong was about to close his subspace when he stopped. Frowning, he took something out. It was the tattered scrap of cloth.

Looking at the item he had taken while swayed by greed, a hollow laugh escaped him.

"Well, now."

The moment he resolved to throw it away even now, a feeling that it would be a waste began to creep up inside him. From the prayer beads around his left wrist came a faint warmth. It meant the mental restriction was already beginning to affect him again.

It's truly persistent.

Jin Somyeong stared at the scrap of cloth, then closed his eyes. For a long while, he calmly observed the changes occurring within his heart.

Why do I feel this scrap of cloth is too precious to discard?

He faced the desire slowly swelling inside him exactly as it was, trying to understand the mechanism by which the mental restriction operated. It was a meaningless scrap of cloth, but if he sold it, it would fetch Spirit Stones. Spirit Stones meant cultivation resources.

And cultivation resources? They led to an increase in realm and to the great path of longevity.

So it makes me obsess even more over the things I usually desire.

Having understood that much, he straightened his will.

Whoosh!

He cast the Windflower Divine Scripture, raising a gust of wind that sent the scrap of cloth flying far away. He did not know whether any low-level cultivator would make it all the way to the second floor of the secret realm, but he yielded it to them.

"Hoo."

After a short breath, he felt as if his head had cleared. It was natural for people to have greed, but if that greed had been forced upon them by another's will, they could not allow themselves to be dragged around by it.

Along with a strange sense of accomplishment, he realized something that was fairly good news. The effect of the restriction was not absolute. He did not know whether it had been designed that way on purpose, but if he set his will properly, he could resist it.

It would not be easy, but someone truly upright would not be swayed by the restriction.

Maybe this could even help my cultivation...

If he became able to distinguish between greed that arose from himself and desire distorted by the restriction, something might change.

After thinking deeply for a moment, Jin Somyeong closed his subspace first. Then he gripped the necklace jade slip and focused ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his mind.

To prevent the same problem from happening again, he added a warning phrase.

What it referred to was, of course, the Boundless Great Ability. He simply did not want to record the name of his divine ability on a jade slip that someone else might see, so he had called it it.

This should be enough.

As he toyed with the cold prayer beads, he felt reassured. If he checked the jade slip from time to time and kept wearing the Clear Mind Warning Bead, he would not be one-sidedly victimized by the mental restriction.

Now that I've come to my senses, I need to redraw the plan.

First, he examined the condition of his body. He gauged the magic power accumulated in his dantian, and after sweeping through every restriction from the first floor onward, he had somehow reached the verge of the third layer of Golden Core.

Thinking about it now, it had been a somewhat foolish thing to do, but in any case, thanks to that, his cultivation progress had advanced significantly. If he broke just one or two more restrictions, it seemed he would break through to the third layer of Golden Core.

...Good. Since it's come to this, I'll raise my realm first.

Even with his mind clear, that was the right choice. If his realm rose, his flight speed would also increase, so there was no reason to hesitate.

What he had to do from here became clear. After raising his realm to the third layer of Golden Core, he would ignore every restriction outright and head straight to the next floor.

Having made his decision, Jin Somyeong manipulated his clone. Conveniently, there was a restriction right beside him that was just about to break.