A Fortuitous Encounter?
On his way toward the deepest reaches of the Red Cloud Secret Realm, Jin Somyeong stopped.
Before him stretched a sea of lava. No, not a sea, but an enormous river of molten fire.
There were several routes into the heart of the secret realm, but crossing this lava was the fastest. That did not make it easy. It was a natural barrier worthy of being called an ocean of flame, a crimson spectacle that ran beyond the horizon and overwhelmed the eye.
A sharp headache, like a needle stabbing into his skull, suddenly struck him.
Poison.
Gray smoke rose endlessly from the lava, carrying its ferocious heat. The map had mentioned this, so he was not surprised. He observed the lava from a distance for a while, then made his decision.
I can cross it.
He swept through his subspace and took out an antidote he had prepared in case of poisoning.
Thup.
The moment he tossed the pill into his mouth, a cool sensation spread from his stomach. The stabbing headache vanished as if washed clean.
Works well.
Inwardly impressed, Jin Somyeong took out his flying sword and stepped onto it. He stared into the gray smoke billowing from the lava and steeled himself. In preparation for a possible ambush, he even activated the Blue Bamboo Dharma Robe.
Whoosh!
He flew for a long while, keeping watch on his surroundings. The acrid smoke was so thick he could barely see a meter ahead. Even after taking the antidote, the poisonous qi seeping in made his head ache.
Fwoosh!
He circulated the Ojangbaekryeongyeol, stirring his blood vitality. Burning away the poison qi, he continued forward. Anxiety rose as his spiritual qi drained at a terrifying pace, but he flew on in silence.
When roughly half his spiritual qi remained, his field of vision suddenly opened wide.
Ah!
Before he knew it, he had arrived at the deepest part of the secret realm.
After crossing the lava river and landing on solid ground, Jin Somyeong let out a breath of relief. He looked around and saw nothing especially unusual, but the temperature was different. It was much hotter here. As befitted a place surrounded by lava, the heat sweltered around him.
First, I need to recover my spiritual qi.
He hurried to find a safe place, but his steps kept slowing despite himself. Spirit herbs were everywhere. All kinds of rare herbs he had only ever heard by name lay scattered across the ground.
He forced his eyes away from the treasure-filled earth. Recovering his spiritual qi and returning to peak condition mattered far more.
Slip.
He found a crevice between rocks, perfect for hiding, sat cross-legged, and gripped spirit stones in his hands.
Crack!
A dozen or so spirit stones crumbled into powder, and his dantian returned to its optimal state.
"Hoo..."
After expelling turbid qi, Jin Somyeong sprang to his feet. He headed straight for the treasure vault he had set as his goal, gathering as many spirit herbs as he could along the way without wasting too much time.
By the time his subspace, now wider than most rooms after absorbing the storage belt, was filled with all sorts of spirit herbs, he had arrived before a gate so tall his neck hurt when he looked up at it.
Staring at the structure soaring into the sky, the word skyscraper came to mind. The arched pillars, densely engraved with thousands of talismanic characters, were a magnificent sight. Anyone could tell this was the entrance to an important place.
No one is here.
It was no coincidence that there was not a single person near such an eye-catching structure. An entrance was an entrance only to those with the proper qualifications. To those without permission, it was nothing more than an unyielding barrier.
At least, according to what Jin Somyeong had heard, not a single person had ever broken through this place. Countless people had tried, and all had failed. This was far harder to penetrate than the ice wall.
Let's see...
His eyes narrowed as he focused his senses. He had to judge whether he could break through the formation blocking the main gate.
Clack.
Holding the Boundless Divine Sword tightly, he raised his concentration to its peak, then snapped his eyes open.
It's possible.
If he used the Gangun Sword Qi, which specialized in twisting and burrowing into flows, together with the Boundless Great Ability, he felt he could break the formation. The problem was that he could not tell how many golden beads it would cost. He did not know how powerful a first-grade Formation-Breaking Talisman would be.
Still, it's worth trying.
He firmly suppressed his desire to enter at once and thought it through again with care. What benefits might lie in this place no one had ever entered, and what dangers?
Pressing his brow, Jin Somyeong gave a bitter smile.
With no information, this is no different from gambling.
He stood still for a moment, slowly looked up at the sky, and finally drew out a talisman. He had decided to try breaking through the main gate.
I hope there isn't too much danger.
He had come this far. He could not give up without even attempting it.
Fwoosh!
The burning Formation-Breaking Talisman emitted dense spiritual qi. It gathered in midair like a sharp awl, humming as though it might explode at any moment.
"Go!"
At his command, the talisman's power charged toward the formation like a battering ram.
Shing.
The Boundless Divine Sword slid smoothly from its sheath, catching the light. The instant Sword Qi bloomed along the blindingly sharp blade, golden energy mingled with it. He had fused the keen edge forged from the Boundless Great Ability with his Sword Qi.
At the very peak of his focus, the Formation-Breaking Talisman collided with a thunderous boom, creating a hairline crack. Jin Somyeong stabbed precisely into that point.
Crack-crack-crack!
The moment the Boundless Divine Sword touched the formation, the tiny fissure began spreading like a spiderweb. When the forcibly widened gap reached its limit, part of the formation collapsed with a heavy vibration.
Done!
Jin Somyeong's face had gone pale from pouring out his full strength in an instant, but his eyes shone. A hole large enough for a person to pass through had opened.
The formation was already repairing itself little by little, but it was enough to enter.
Looks like it consumed around thirty beads of the Boundless Great Ability.
Just as he was about to sigh in relief, dense spiritual qi erupted through the newly opened hole and shot into the sky.
Shhhk!
It was so fast he had no time to react. The energy pierced even the red clouds and rose high into the heavens, transforming into a brilliant light. It became a radiant pillar that illuminated heaven and earth in every direction, seizing the gaze.
"...Hah."
Jin Somyeong's mouth fell open. He had struggled to pierce the entrance, and now this?
With a light this intense, anyone in the secret realm would be able to see it. Countless cultivators who saw the pillar would undoubtedly rush here at once.
I need to hurry.
An unexpected situation had erupted, but what he had to do was clear. He had to loot the treasure vault as quickly as possible and get out.
Wait. Rather than just going in...
Jin Somyeong took out a talisman. After a moment's thought, he activated a Sound Transmission Talisman and issued an order to Beom Chang.
Go to the place where the pillar of light just rose, right now. I don't know what kind of treasure might be there, so interfere with anyone trying to approach until I arrive.
Whoom!
Watching the Sound Transmission Talisman fly across the sky, he nodded.
That should buy me some time.
To make sure the order was delivered, he used five Sound Transmission Talismans, then kicked off the ground.
Clang!
With his sword drawn in preparation for any danger, he entered the interior and was surprised by how peaceful the scene was.
Inside the gate was a long corridor, spotless and clean without a speck of dust.
...Quiet.
After staying on guard for a while, Jin Somyeong began to walk. He did not have much time because of the pillar of light. Since he had no idea who might arrive or when, he continued forward without stopping.
How long had he walked down that endless single path?
Eventually, he arrived at a small room marked Alchemy Chamber.
Hoo. Do I open this door or not?
He sharpened his senses, but felt no threat. Still, he could not tell what lay beyond the door.
After hesitating, Jin Somyeong clenched his teeth. He had even used a Formation-Breaking Talisman, yet gained nothing so far. It would be too frustrating to give up and turn back now.
Besides, if he wanted to obtain anything, he had to take risks.
Clack!
The moment Jin Somyeong steeled himself and stepped into the alchemy chamber, an overwhelming vitality crashed over him.
It was a primal force of life he had never felt before, and even his eyes grew hazy.
Thump...! Thump...!
He heard the sound of a giant heart pounding like a steam engine. He could not tell whose heart it was.
Is that my heart...? No, I don't think-
His thoughts broke apart. His clear reason softened and dissolved, and his body would not obey him.
A trap?
His mind felt rusted, unable to turn. Even making a simple judgment was so difficult it made him want to vomit.
One step at a time.
As if bewitched, he had no choice but to walk toward the center of the alchemy chamber.
Ah.
His eyes, moving of their own accord, fixed abruptly in place. Every nerve in his body focused on the furnace at the center of the chamber.
Inside the modest furnace burned a pure white flame the size of a candle. It burned on its own, without any fuel. It reminded him of the primordial fire said to burn eternally, and he wanted it so badly he felt he might go mad.
If I have that!
An incomprehensible greed boiled up inside him. Desire gnawed at his reason and filled his mind.
Woooong!
A sharp sword cry shook his consciousness. Jin Somyeong clutched his sword out of habit and was horrified.
"What the hell!"
A chill ran through him at the bizarre experience he had never undergone before. The feeling of losing control over himself was truly dreadful.
Yet the absurd thing was that even now, he was still going insane with the urge to possess that flame.
"Kuh."
He wanted to bite the tip of his tongue and use pain to wake himself up, but even that was impossible.
Step. Step.
His creaking body continued toward the flame. He felt like a puppet tied to strings. Was someone controlling him?
He did not know.
All he knew, instinctively, was that the life force condensed within that pure white flame was something unimaginably precious. Even with the situation reduced to this, he wanted it desperately enough to lose his mind.
No!
He had thought his reason had returned when he gripped the sword, but that had been an illusion. His body still would not obey his control.
His flesh advanced without stopping for even a moment, and then his hand closed around the flame.
Fwoosh!
The world burned.
"Aaaah!"
Flames spread in an instant and seeped into his body. How long did that white-hot pain, enough to bleach his mind blank, continue?
The turbid qi and every impurity he had accumulated throughout his life, all of it burned to ash and disappeared, leaving only a pure body behind.
He understood instinctively. His body was different from before. It had become superior in every aspect, without exaggeration. One could say he had evolved on a fundamental level.
Marrow cleansing and rebirth?
Joy came briefly at the word that flashed through his mind. The dense vitality contained within the flame did not stop.
It came crashing in endlessly, like waves. Jin Somyeong had already reached his limit, and still it poured into him.
So pure it was violent.
The essence of life filled his body, then filled it again.
"Ghhk."
A sense of crisis surged. It was no simple metaphor. His body truly felt as if it might burst.
With a mind suppressed by that unknown energy, he thought desperately. No matter how life-giving vitality was, too much of it was poison.
He had to dissipate this overflowing vitality if he wanted to survive.
Gritting his teeth, he forced his trembling body to move. Barely managing to sit cross-legged, he circulated the Five Elements Qi Refining Art.
Wooooong!
Spiritual qi swept in like a typhoon and was absorbed without pause, mingling with the vitality rising from the flame.
How many times had his filled dantian expanded again and again?
Boom!
The wall blocking Jin Somyeong shattered. He had broken through the wall called a minor boundary and reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining.
Ah.
He knew it intuitively. His Boundless Great Ability had doubled, becoming one hundred and sixty beads.
He poured golden beads out without hesitation to stabilize his realm, and at the same time, continued mixing the unending vitality with spiritual qi.
Wooooong!
When he crossed even the wall of the seventh layer and reached the eighth, blood trickled from Jin Somyeong's mouth.
"Kuhak!"
His realm was rising continuously, but instead of feeling glad, he felt a chill down his spine.
No! This is too much!
If this continued, his body would really explode and kill him.
The vitality contained within the flame was of an entirely different grade. It felt as though a tidal wave of concentrated life force was pouring over him.
The Five Elements Qi Refining Art could not possibly handle it. He needed another way to consume this enormous vitality.
Then, the spiritual qi that had fallen out of control ran wild. Together with the vitality, it rampaged through his body and destroyed him.
Destroy?
At the word that flashed through his mind, he focused. Instead of the Five Elements Qi Refining Art, he switched his cultivation method to the Ojangbaekryeongyeol.
The Ojangbaekryeongyeol was a technique that tempered the flesh by repeating destruction and regeneration.
If it was this body-tempering technique, which consumed enormous resources, it might be able to bear the flame's vitality.
Crack-crack.
He focused until even the flow of time slipped from his awareness. After repeating hundreds of rounds of tempering through agony, he evolved every one of his five viscera except the heart into spiritual organs, starting with the lungs, then the kidneys, then the liver.
It worked!
He wanted to take the momentum and open his heart as well, but he could not. Among the five elements, the heart corresponded to fire. Since he had no fire spiritual root, opening the heart required a troublesome procedure.
The moment the four organs transformed into spiritual organs, a condensed, tremendous force surged from deep within his body. Hot blood vitality rose like an explosion.
It felt as if a single punch from him could pierce even the sky.
His ecstatic joy lasted only a moment. Jin Somyeong's face turned white.
He realized that the life force condensed within the flame still had not ended.
Even after consuming such a vast amount, it had not decreased. If anything, it only kept increasing geometrically.
This is driving me insane.
The thought that it was a trap filled his mind.
From the beginning, this vitality was not something that could be handled at the Qi Refining level. He did not know who had created the Red Cloud Secret Realm, but they had definitely not left this flame behind for a Qi Refining cultivator.
I never should have come in here in the first place...
Just as a weak thought seeped into him, Jin Somyeong widened his eyes and shouted.
"No!"
Cultivation was an act of defying the heavens.
Countless difficulties would await him in the future. He could not give up over something of this level.
His body had begun swelling like a balloon under the excessive energy, but he forced himself to ignore it. He threw off the energy interfering with his thoughts and considered a solution.
Vitality. How do I consume this vitality...
In that instant, Jin Somyeong flinched as he sensed something. He immediately focused his mind, and a translucent hologram appeared before his eyes.
After reaching the eighth layer of Qi Refining, the number of Boundless Great Ability beads had increased to one hundred and ninety.
Normally he would have been extremely pleased, but that was not what mattered now. What he had to pay attention to in this moment was his lifespan.
Seventy years! My lifespan limit was definitely sixty-seven, but it increased!
The reason was clear.
It was because of the dense vitality powerful enough to drive a person toward death.
Merely pouring it into someone was enough to kill even a body refiner, and since it was the essence of life, it was no different from lifespan itself.
Boundless Great Ability! I need to consume the vitality and make a wish.
A wish powerful enough to consume every last bit of the endlessly pouring energy.
That was the kind of wish he had to make.