The Foundation Establishment Old Monster

Meanwhile, at the very moment Jin Somyeong swung his sword at the black-clad man, a tall, strikingly handsome young man watching the colossal wall of ice flicked open a pure white fan.

"Oh?"

He was one of the geniuses of the three great families that ruled Jeokyang Market. Dan Saryang turned his gaze with a sidelong glance and spoke as though amused.

"You sneaking little thing. Come out at once."

"...!"

The rogue cultivator who had been hiding and watching in secret tried to flee in terror after being discovered, but the Dan family cultivators seized him immediately.

"Why were you hiding and spying on us?"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"Ha ha. Do you think I don't know what petty scheme you had in mind? You were waiting for us to go through the trouble of breaking the ice wall so you could sneak in after us."

"No! I just saw people gathered here and watched for a moment out of curiosity!"

Dan Saryang stared down at the rogue cultivator with cold eyes, then suddenly let out a faint laugh.

"Enough. I don't care why you followed us. Attack that ice wall three times with all your strength, and I'll let you go."

"R-Really?"

"Do you think I, the heir of the Dan family, would speak empty words? However, if I judge that you're trying to be clever, I won't forgive you."

"I'll trust you."

Gritting his teeth, the rogue cultivator drew out a spear-shaped Dharma artifact.

"Aaaaargh!"

With bloodshot eyes, he thrust the spear forward. A sharp force surged up and struck the ice wall.

Boom...! Boom! Boom!!

After three fierce assaults had passed, a jagged crack spread across the surface.

Craaaack!

A large chunk of ice broke away from the wall. The rogue cultivator, pale from having used too much strength, flinched, but nothing else happened.

"Whew! That's enough, right? I'll be going now."

"Wait."

"...Yes?"

"Not enough. I clearly told you to attack with all your strength. Stop playing tricks and attack two more times."

At Dan Saryang's calm words, not only the rogue cultivator but even the Dan family cultivators flinched.

"Um... Young Master?"

"Hm? Hyang, what is it?"

The girl standing beside him pressed her lips together, then ultimately shook her head. She looked as though she wanted to stop him, but she could not bring herself to act.

Dan Saryang smiled faintly, fluttering his snow-white fan as he spoke in a kindly tone.

"Hyang, you may call me a hypocrite if you wish. If it means keeping the cultivators of our family safe, I can do anything. I will gladly accept any insult."

"...Ah."

At Dan Saryang's bold declaration, the girl's face flushed red, and the other Dan cultivators were moved as well.

"Not at all! Who would dare insult you, Young Master?"

"We will only follow your lead!"

Their spirits soared. It was as if oil had been poured onto kindling, and their fervor blazed high.

All except for one person: the rogue cultivator, whose mouth hung open.

"...Damn it."

Clenching his fists and trembling, he had no choice but to draw out his Dharma artifact again.

With a face that looked ready to burst into tears, he struck the ice wall.

Boom!

And was swallowed by a pillar of fire, turning to ash.

"Hmm. Seeing it in person, the fire's power is quite substantial. We cannot risk ourselves, so capture the rogue cultivators nearby and bring them here."

"Yes!"

Even the girl, who had been about to say something, closed her mouth. She turned away from the pang of conscience and obeyed the order.

The Dan family began attacking the ice wall by sacrificing rogue cultivators.

Boom!

Before long, a large hole opened in the wall of ice. A path into the center had been cleared.

"Thanks to your wisdom, Young Master, we suffered no losses at all!"

"Heh heh."

Dan Saryang stood proudly, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

Just as everyone in the Dan family was rejoicing as one, a gloomy voice suddenly spoke.

"Good work."

The startled cultivators jerked in fright and drew every Dharma artifact they possessed.

"Who goes there?"

As they shouted and guarded every direction, their gazes fixed on a single point. A black-clad man had appeared there without warning.

Unlike his eerie arrival, he made no move at all. Just as everyone began to feel puzzled by that stillness...

"...Poison!"

Dan Saryang staggered, then swept his fan to conjure a powerful gale. The instant he blew away the poison and swallowed an antidote pill, the ground rustled.

Poisonous insects began crawling out of the earth and attacking.

From centipedes to ants, swarms of grotesque insects rushed in like hunters closing on prey.

"Aaaagh!"

"It hurts! Save me!"

The insects tore into the Dan family cultivators, devouring them alive as they panicked and lost their senses.

Enraged by the sight, Dan Saryang cast wind-element spells like a madman. He desperately drove the insects back and shouted.

"You coward!"

"How absurd. Do you think anything would change if we fought head-on? A brat like you is no match for me."

A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strange bell rang from somewhere.

Jingle...

The moment that peculiar sound spread, Dan Saryang's fierce resistance changed completely.

"Ah..."

He suddenly stopped, vacant-eyed, and reached both hands forward. Drool even slipped from his mouth, as though he were gazing upon something rapturous.

"Young Master! What are you doing... No!"

As if throwing himself into the arms of a heavenly beauty, he willingly cast his body toward the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠viciously surging swarm.

"Young Master!!"

"Huh? Aaaaagh! S-Save me!"

By the time reason returned to Dan Saryang's eyes, everything was already over. Gnawed apart by the insect swarm, he left behind no body that could be recovered.

"Impossible!"

"How could the Young Master...?"

A cultivator at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, whom everyone had believed would one day become a great Foundation Establishment cultivator, had fallen without even resisting.

The horrific sight froze the Dan family cultivators stiff.

Then someone, face gone pale, uttered a word steeped in despair.

"C-Could he be... Foundation Establishment?"

"...!"

"Run!"

The Dan family cultivators, who had been resisting together, scattered in every direction as if they had agreed upon it in advance.

They truly fled with every ounce of strength they had, but they did not get far. One by one, they fell to the ground like kites whose strings had been cut and became food for the insects.

"Aah!"

The only survivors were those who had given up resisting early and dropped to their knees.

Why is a Foundation Establishment cultivator here?

The same question rose in all their minds at once, but none dared ask it. Even if the secret realm's restriction had left him with only Qi Refining-level cultivation, Foundation Establishment was still Foundation Establishment. With only a portion of his abilities, he was far stronger than ordinary Qi Refining cultivators.

"S-Senior, please spare us."

"We'll do anything you order!"

The Dan family cultivators bowed their heads in terror. Even though the heir of their family had died miserably, they did not dare think of revenge.

The girl called Hyang, who had been doted on by the Young Master, was no exception. She merely knelt there, shivering.

"Hmph."

The black-clad man snorted and was about to do something when he suddenly frowned and took a nameplate from inside his robes.

"..."

After glaring at the nameplate for a long while, a vein stood out on the black-clad man's forehead.

"Pathetic fools! To think they were defeated by trash softened by peace and sent a rescue request!"

With a sharp flap, the black-clad man swept his sleeve wide and immediately began walking. Without looking back, he passed through the hole in the ice wall and left for the center.

At the sight, everyone from the Dan family, including the girl, burst into tears.

"Senior, thank you so much!"

"Huh...?"

The cultivators, who had rejoiced because they thought he had spared them, went rigid with horror. Grotesque insects were swarming in from every direction.

"Aaaagh! Senior, please!"

Their desperate cries did not last long. The buzzing insects surged over them and erased them without a trace.

Back at the center of the secret realm, the battle between Jin Somyeong and the black-clad man was one-sided.

"You damned sword cultivator!"

The shouting black-clad man rolled across the ground with a terrified expression. As he desperately fled from Jin Somyeong's swinging sword, he screamed in a wretched state.

"Impossible! How can a mere middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator have nurtured such powerful Sword Qi?"

"Would knowing that change this situation?"

"Damn it!"

Jin Somyeong gave a faint laugh, sword wreathed in a shimmering haze. Watching his opponent run away covered in mud made him feel that all the effort he had put into growing stronger had been worth it.

This world obeyed the law of the strong. The black-clad man who had mocked him only a short while ago was now wearing an expression thick with regret. How could that not be satisfying?

"I was... No, I was wrong!"

"Really?"

"Of course! If you promise to let me go, I'll hand over everything I have and withdraw!"

His opponent apologized with a sincere expression, but Jin Somyeong did not believe him. He could clearly sense the presence of insects creeping toward him through the ground.

Jin Somyeong narrowed his eyes and swept his hand. A strong wind raised by Wind Control began revolving around him, and he mixed Sword Qi into the curtain-like swirl.

Handling Sword Qi this way would weaken its power, but it was more than enough for small insects.

With brittle cracks, countless poisonous insects that had charged in to ambush him were ground to dust before they could even approach.

The face of the black-clad man, who had been acting respectful until moments ago, twisted violently.

"You little... Do you have any idea how hard it is to raise the Black Death Insects you just killed?"

"No idea. Judging by how weak they were, they didn't seem very precious."

"...Hmph! I didn't want to use this."

The black-clad man gritted his teeth and tried to take something from his storage pouch. Jin Somyeong, who had been waiting for an opening, thrust out a swift sword strike in that instant.

Thuk!

The blade of the Boundless Divine Sword dug into the back of his neck. At that moment, one of the rings the black-clad man wore burst into flame.

A reek of blood suddenly spread, and the man's body shifted ten meters away. The wound on his neck healed rapidly as well.

It was a strange sight, as if he had sacrificed the ring to escape a fatal attack.

Jin Somyeong had failed to kill him, but he was not disappointed. He had seen this same scene repeat several times while dealing with him.

The last ring broke. This is over.

All the rings that had allowed the black-clad man to endure so tenaciously had burned away. His defensive Dharma artifacts were shattered; all that remained was to deliver the final blow.

As Jin Somyeong circled his opponent, watching for a gap, the black-clad man rolled his eyes so far back the whites showed and shook a skull bell.

Jingle...

A peculiar sound wave swept across the battlefield, and Jin Somyeong, who had been raising his spiritual energy in preparation for a final desperate struggle, paused.

A headache?

A fine pain pricked between his brows, unpleasant in the extreme. His face creased on its own, but his opponent's reaction was far more violent.

"Why? Why doesn't it work? Why!"

The black-clad man, eyes bloodshot and looking like a ruined madman, shook the bell frantically.

Keeeeeeek!

A ghastly wail rang out with the bell's sound, but that was all. It did not work on Jin Somyeong. His headache had merely grown a little worse.

...A soul attack, is it?

Now that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he saw it clearly, the bell was a special Dharma artifact that attacked the mind. It would have been an extremely troublesome attack for ordinary cultivators, but it did not work on him.

He had tempered his soul through the Spirit Stone mine.

"Guhak!"

Perhaps because of the backlash from failing with the soul attack, his opponent vomited blood and collapsed. He had destroyed himself before Jin Somyeong could even cut off his head.

Tsk, tsk. Using a Dharma artifact that attacks the soul at the Qi Refining level.

Jin Somyeong did not know the details, but he had heard that Dharma artifacts of this kind carried great danger for the user in proportion to their power.

Clicking his tongue, Jin Somyeong looked down at the black-clad man, now a corpse. His bloodless appearance was hideous, as if a ghost had sucked out his vital essence.

Jin Somyeong glanced at the skull bell lying on the ground and reached out.

With a sweep, he gathered everything the man had and left the spot. After moving to a place that seemed as safe as possible, he checked his spoils.

The man had left behind two storage pouches in total. While examining one of them, a belt-shaped bag, Jin Somyeong's eyes widened.

Could this be a beast pouch?

A beast pouch was a spatial Dharma artifact with a function similar to a storage pouch, but differed in that it could hold living creatures. It was a treasure that allowed cultivators to carry spirit beasts or spirit insects they controlled.

This should be fairly precious.

Just as a smile began to form at a prize worth several times more than a storage pouch of the same size, welcome news arrived.

Oh?