Overwhelming Skill Beyond the Bounds of Realm
The two women and one man, having faintly sensed a powerful divine sense, tensed their nerves.
“Are they already here?”
“...Just a moment. It doesn’t seem to be Jin So-myeong or Ju Do-u.”
It was too far away to tell for certain, but the approaching figure was alone.
Whoever it was had apparently discovered them burrowed deep within the snow mountain and was making straight for them without the least hesitation.
The three, now on edge, prepared for the intruder in their own ways. Then, as the distance closed and the visitor’s face came into view, the expression of the bob-haired woman stiffened.
Yeomurin!
As if she bore him some deep grudge, the woman’s eyes shook violently, then she drew a steady breath and quickly regained her composure.
- Do you know him?
- He is the Commander of Myeolhwadan in Seongdo. Be careful with your words.
- This is bad...
Just as the group exchanged thoughts through divine sense and nodded to one another, Yeomurin had already forced open the entrance to the tunnel and appeared before them.
He swept his gaze over the two women and one man gathered near the ghostly fire, then, without warning, pulled out a mirror.
“No, what—”
Before anyone could even protest, he activated the mirror treasure, a top-grade artifact of the 4th tier, and it unleashed a blinding radiance.
The three, already taut with tension, reacted at once.
Walls of ice, circular bursts of sword qi, and other methods rose in haste to block the mirror’s light, but it was useless.
The soundless radiance seeped through every defense and reached the three of them.
As the startled trio retreated in alarm, Chae Yeonbi’s features began to change.
A face so unremarkable it was difficult to remember transformed into the cool, striking countenance of a beauty.
“...!”
Forced by the mirror to reveal her true appearance, Chae Yeonbi went pale for an instant—but only for an instant.
“What kind of rude behavior is this!”
She quickly regained her cool and shouted at Yeomurin, but the response was little more than a shrug.
“My apologies. I had to find someone, so I hope you’ll understand.”
“Hah.”
“But what are you all doing in a place like this?”
The man, who had been standing a step back, frowned in obvious annoyance.
“Why should we answer that? You’ve gone too far from the very start. Who exactly are you to act this rude?”
“I am the Commander of Myeolhwadan in Seongdo. I’m pursuing a fugitive, so please cooperate. I’ll ask again—why have you come here?”
“...Why else would we come to such a remote place? Obviously to seek a fortunate encounter and enter Hwanmongjingyeong.”
“Hwanmongjingyeong is dangerous, and the rewards from it are almost nonexistent.”
“That is for us to decide.”
“Hmm...”
Yeomurin trailed off, then swept his gaze across the cave interior before fixing his eyes on Chae Yeonbi.
“You look strangely familiar, sir. Have we met before?”
“...I’m only a humble mountain wanderer. When would I ever have met someone from Seongdo?”
As Yeomurin narrowed his eyes in the uncomfortable silence, he snorted.
“I remember now. You’re the direct daughter of the Chae clan, aren’t you? And yet you’re still alive? I thought the Chae clan had been dealt with cleanly.”
As if she were about to deny it, Chae Yeonbi’s lips moved—but then she froze, grinding her teeth.
“Yeomurin. Someday, if I ever laid eyes on you, I wanted to ask you one thing. Why did you wipe out our entire clan?”
She glared at him as though she meant to kill him, her long-suppressed hatred spilling out at last, but Yeomurin’s answer was absurdly simple.
“I don’t know.”
His tone made it sound as though he didn’t care in the slightest.
The woman’s fingertips trembled violently as she clenched her sword so hard the blood drained from her hand.
“You don’t know...? How can you slaughter an entire clan without even knowing why? My younger brother was twelve years old at the time!”
“One thing is certain. Seongdo is always right.”
“What...”
“If your clan was punished, then it must have committed a crime worthy of death. Nothing more, nothing less.”
A declaration filled with either sincere faith or arrogant obstinacy fell into the freezing air, and silence followed.
Ching!
Chae Yeonbi, her eyes bloodshot from burst vessels, drew her sword. The others, having heard the exchange, also pulled out their own magical treasures without hesitation.
“There are so many who would defy Seongdo... How foolish.”
With Yeomurin’s brief sigh,
Kwaaaang!
the two sides’ spells, which had been waiting for the opening, collided and sent shockwaves blasting outward.
From the wreckage of the mountain collapsed by the thunderous impact, the four figures sprang into the air and hurled themselves at one another without even a moment’s pause.
Kwakwakwang!
The clashes came one after another, and brilliant flashes stained the air with fire.
Who had the upper hand?
Surprisingly enough, even though three late Nascent Soul cultivators had joined forces, Yeomurin was not being pushed back.
No—he wasn’t merely holding his ground. He was overwhelming them.
“Urgh.”
The girl, straining to endure the shockwaves, even let out a pained groan.
Still, the battle dragged on—until Yeomurin formed a hand seal.
Kwaaang!
The snow-covered ground split open like a ravine, and a colossal tree burst upward.
It grew at a terrifying speed until it reached the clouds, and its massive branches were adorned not with red leaves but with flames.
The fierce heat silenced even the blizzard that had been raging without end, and
chiiik...
the snow that had accumulated for tens of thousands of years evaporated, revealing mud-caked earth beneath.
The sky turned red. Flames whipped and tangled in the wind, twisting together like ropes.
At the sight of something that looked as if a colossal net had spread across the entire world, the three people pouring out their spells grew markedly grim.
“He isolated the space...?”
Realizing she had no way to escape, the girl frowned.
Her youthful face turned sharp as she glared at her opponent, then formed an enormous ice scythe thirty jang long and tried to tear the net apart.
The others were not idle either.
The man simultaneously burned twenty 4th-tier talismans to suppress Yeomurin, while the sword cultivator Chae Yeonbi unleashed her flying sword art.
Whoosh—!
One sword slicing through the air multiplied into 108, each one radiating a keen, murderous edge.
Thousands of slashes born from those berserk flying swords gathered into one. A great sword larger than most buildings shot out like a meteor.
All three unleashed their total offensive by their own means.
However—
the instant Yeomurin clasped his hands together,
wood, fire, earth, metal, water.
The five colors born of the Five Elements whirled violently like sheets of rain, converged into a single point, and became a dazzling divine dragon.
Kwakwakwakwang!
The dragon swallowed every incoming attack and charged forward without hesitation.
“...!”
It was too fast. There wasn’t even time to bring out another measure.
The three, swept away by the divine dragon, coughed blood and fell, then were pinned down by the net spread across the heavens.
The tense exchange had ended in an instant.
The Manseomeng cultivators, their laws of power hardened as solid as stone and now unable even to take their own lives, fell into despair.
Was this truly Seongdo?
Three late Nascent Soul cultivators had attacked together, only to be defeated in the blink of an eye. The difference was so vast it could only be called overwhelming.
“You lot. What is your relationship with Jin So-myeong?”
At Yeomurin’s low question, the three, grinding their teeth, flinched.
“Jin So-myeong...?”
“Damn it! Why are you suddenly asking us something like that?”
They tried to play dumb, but it was useless.
“There’s no way three Nascent Soul cultivators would happen to be here by chance. Say everything you’re hiding. If you cooperate honestly, I won’t kill you.”
“Heh-heh-heh... So all those rumors were true—that Seongdo’s bastards are stubborn to the core. I already said we don’t know anything! I swear, I’ve never even met Jin So-myeong!”
The man, coughing up blood so that his chest was stained red, shouted in indignation, but Yeomurin’s face remained expressionless.
He didn’t even look like he had any intention of believing a word they said.
“You’d do well to cooperate quietly before this turns ugly.”
“Are you deaf? Damn it all! We’ve really been cursed with bad luck.”
“So you’d rather suffer for no reason. Very well. I’ll grant your wish. Normally I wouldn’t go this far, but this matter is too important.”
Fwoosh!
A green flame ignited on Yeomurin’s index finger. When that ominous flame touched the man’s forehead—
“Gghhhhh!”
the man’s eyes flew wide as veins bulged across his skin.
With excruciating pain wracking him, he convulsed violently, all four limbs shaking, before the focus in his pupils vanished.
“Hmm... So that Hong Seol woman is trapped in Hwanmongjingyeong? I see now. You lot really are a band of rebels.”
The flicker of interest that entered Yeomurin’s expression made the two women, who were struggling to break free of his suppression, shudder in shock.
“Soul-seizing art?”
To draw out memories from another Nascent Soul cultivator?
It made no sense.
After all, the soul-binding art that forcibly read memories by subduing the mind could only be used against low-level cultivators whose cultivation differed by an enormous margin.
“Manseomeng. So that’s what you were—utterly insolent. Secretly opposing Seongdo while inflating your ranks by taking in any stray wanderer you could find. Did you think that would make you safe?”
“Ugh...”
Yeomurin muttered that he’d need to sweep away the entire Manseomeng before long, then continued reading the memories, and his expression turned serious.
“As expected, Jin So-myeong was headed this way.”
He had never underestimated Jin So-myeong.
The chance was slim, but if it was true that Jin So-myeong had survived a Chunggapjob at the Deity Transformation level, then he was no ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator anymore.
That meant he had to use every possible means. Whether those means were righteous or underhanded didn’t matter at all.
After tapping his storage pouch to set a formation around them, Yeomurin asked once more,
“Jin So-myeong’s weaknesses. Tell me everything you know.”
“Ghk... I don’t know anything... We’ve never even met him.”
Yeomurin clicked his tongue as though looking at worthless trash, and his eyes suddenly widened.
“You...”
No one knew what memory he’d read, but the surprise on his face was impossible to hide.
He paused, about to say something—when, just then—
“Are you looking for me?”
At the low voice carried from beyond the horizon, Yeomurin’s head snapped around.
A dot that had been small as dust rapidly grew larger, becoming a flying ship.
An enormous flying vessel, arriving at great speed, came to a stop directly overhead.
The moment it arrived, Jin So-myeong leaped down from the deck and stepped onto the air.
Standing at a slanted angle, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, he looked down at the battlefield.
“Did you have business with me? If you’ve got something to say, don’t bother picking on the wrong people—say it to my face.”
Yeomurin exchanged a glance with him for the briefest instant, then hardened his expression.
“Jin So-myeong. I am Yeomurin, Commander of Myeolhwadan in Seongdo. Are you willing to come with me to Seongdo?”
“Seongdo?”
Jin So-myeong fell silent for a moment, thinking it over, then nodded.
“I happen to have business there.”
Having reached the Nascent Soul stage, he had heard through various rumors that whenever traces of upper-realm relics were discovered, Seongdo would appear and sweep them away.
That meant there was a high probability that Seonseok could be found in Seongdo.
Unless he got lucky and obtained some by chance, he would need to pay Seongdo a visit at least once in order to strengthen Simsangbigyeong to the 5th grade.
“But not right now. I’ll go when the time comes, so wait.”
“...If you refuse, I’ll have no choice but to take you by force.”
For a brief moment, the two stared at one another in silence.
Then the bracelet Yeomurin wore suddenly burst with blinding light, and the air itself warped.
Kwaaang!
From the shattered, glasslike sky, five dragons burst forth with a roar.
The five divine dragons symbolizing the Five Elements flew straight at Jin So-myeong, and at the same time—
chains erupted from the ground. The hidden formation had been activated.
In response to that entire onslaught, Jin So-myeong’s answer was so simple it was almost disappointing.
Sreeeek!
He merely drew his sword and brought it down.
The blade’s edge became a crescent-shaped slash.
The two attacks crossed as though passing through one another, and the eyes of those watching widened.
In a world that seemed to flow slowly, as if time itself had paused—
Thunk—!
The five divine dragons were stopped cold by the ink-dark barrier Jin So-myeong had raised, unable to advance a single step farther.
The vertical slash, meanwhile, did not stop for even an instant as it pressed on.
“...!”
Frowning, Yeomurin thrust both arms above his head. Five shields burst into existence in the air, interposing themselves before the slash.
At the moment the two forces collided—
shk.
the shields, thicker than a man’s forearm, were split apart as though they were paper.
The shield formed by compressing an enormous amount of spiritual power could not even buy a moment’s delay.
Ah...
As the crescent slash approached soundlessly, Yeomurin’s pupils dilated. Grinding his teeth, he squeezed out every last scrap of strength and crossed his arms before him.
The bracelet on his wrist—a top-grade 4th-tier spiritual treasure—burst with light.
He blocked with all his might... but he couldn’t withstand it. Every resistance was rendered meaningless before a single sword strike.
The bracelet turned to powder.
The protective armor meant to defend his dantian and heart was no exception.
Crunch!
His knees were forced to buckle by the unbearable impact, and the focus vanished from Yeomurin’s eyes.
If not for the protective talisman that drastically amplified his regenerative power and briefly granted him an indestructible body, he would already have been dead. The man, now staring blankly, looked utterly stunned.
“What in the world...”
He had lost his wits.
Was this really the same Nascent Soul stage?
Unable to believe what he was seeing, he remained on his knees and stared dumbly up at Jin So-myeong.
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