The Power of Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust
The instant Jin Somyeong unleashed Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust, the first demon king touched by the radiance turned to ash before he could even react.
His end was so helpless it felt almost absurd, but it had not been entirely meaningless. Perhaps he had bought the tiniest sliver of time.
The second demon king directly behind him managed, by the barest margin, to respond.
Crack!
Both his arms swelled to twice their size, hardening until they were as solid as stone. With a confident look, he raised them like shields.
It meant nothing.
He vanished as gray dust, the smile still frozen on his face.
Even after vaporizing two demon kings, the force of Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust had not diminished. The blinding flash was about to engulf a third demon king when a roar shook the heavens.
“Kyaaaah!”
A golden-furred ape hurtled through the air and swung a bone club.
A shockwave erupted. It was enough to shake heaven and earth. As two overwhelming forces collided, the very air warped around them.
——!
After a heartbeat of silence, the Golden-furred Sacred Ape, who had blocked Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust, stood panting with a bloodless face. One of his arms, bone club and all, had already disappeared.
“What in the...”
Everyone on the battlefield was struck dumb.
The demon kings who had seen their comrades vaporized from right beside them were especially shaken, cold sweat running down their backs. They had realized that if their luck had been only slightly worse, they would have been the ones to die.
They staggered back, their pupils trembling violently. While they were still frozen, unable to grasp the situation, Gwang Myeong, the Golden Core sword cultivator on Sky Island's side, drew his sword.
Slash!
A moon-white sword light traced a single line, and blood burst out in its wake.
Seizing the opening Jin Somyeong's ambush had created, Gwang Myeong split a demon king in half from head to tail, the creature's lower body that of a serpent and its upper body that of a man.
At that moment, Jin Somyeong was forcing down the blood surging up his throat.
He had thought that becoming a Golden Core cultivator would greatly reduce the burden of using Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust. It was the opposite. The stronger its power became, the greater the strain it placed on his body.
Outwardly, he looked mostly intact, but inside he was a wreck. If he had not clenched his teeth and endured, he would have fainted where he stood.
Literally everything.
Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust was a divine ability that wrung out every ounce of power to produce the phenomenon called annihilation.
“Snap out of it, all of you! That bastard's exhausted!”
At someone's shout, the demon kings' eyes changed. They charged in, radiating savage killing intent, and poured spells toward Jin Somyeong, who had gone rigid with his fist still thrust forward.
Sky Island did not remain idle against the storm of techniques raining down on him.
“Not so fast!”
In Hu-yeon, the plump Golden Core merchant, swiftly flew over and blocked Jin Somyeong's path. With a gourd-shaped 3rd Realm Dharma treasure, he swallowed every attack pouring toward them.
His face flushed crimson from overexertion as he shouted at Jin Somyeong.
“Hurry back into the formation!”
Jin Somyeong urged his throbbing dantian and drew up his spiritual power. He flew into the sky and entered the Reverse Extreme Binding Formation.
The demon kings chasing him howled in frustration.
“Damn it! You filthy, underhanded humans!”
“Coward! Get back out here right now!”
They could not bring themselves to follow him into the formation and could only hurl curses from outside.
Their faces darkened as they bared their fangs and growled.
“What divine ability has that human cultivated to produce such power?”
“...From what I saw, its weakness is obvious. After using it, he falls into a state of exhaustion and becomes extremely vulnerable. If he fails to end things in one strike, the divine ability will get him killed.”
“Ha.”
Several of the quicker-witted demon kings let out bitter sighs.
He became extremely vulnerable after using the divine ability, but at least for now, that weakness was useless. If he unleashed a single blow and hid inside the formation afterward, there was no answer.
“It's over. I'm done.”
The black eagle known as Black Night Eagle beat his enormous wings and flew away into the sky.
That was the beginning. Nearly half the demon kings exchanged looks, then vanished across the clouds. Every one of them was a demon beast that lived alone rather than in a pack.
“Damn it.”
The golden-furred ape, the Golden-furred Sacred Ape, ground his teeth.
He glared at Jin Somyeong as if he wanted to tear him apart for appearing out of nowhere and ruining the plan, but that was all he could do. There was no way to touch Jin Somyeong now that he had already entered the Reverse Extreme Binding Formation.
The battlefield, which had been raging with violence, gradually fell quiet.
Even the demon kings who had remained began leaving one by one. There was no point clinging to a failed plan.
By the time Jin Somyeong opened his eyes after finishing his recovery, the Golden Core merchants of Sky Island who had been confronting the demon beasts had gathered around him.
“To melt two demon kings with a single strike... That is a truly terrifying divine ability.”
Their eyes were filled with curiosity, as though they wanted to ask what kind of divine ability he had used.
But no one actually asked.
A cultivator's divine abilities were among their greatest secrets. Asking for specifics would have been rude.
“Mm... It's just a divine ability I happened to learn by luck. As you saw, it has many weaknesses.”
When Jin Somyeong gave a wry smile, In Hu-yeon, whose face had a warm and generous look, muttered with envy.
“Compared to its power, those weaknesses seem minor... Ahem. In any case, thank you. Thanks to you, we drove those demon beasts off.”
“I owe Sky Island a great deal myself. This much is nothing. But what happened to the spirit vein? The flow of spiritual energy is still strange.”
“It seems the demon beasts played some trick with a formation. Fellow Daoist Hyeon, can you tell what happened?”
Hyeon Jinja, a 3rd Realm formation master, raised a hand as if asking them to wait. He took out a tray-shaped formation Dharma treasure and concentrated for a long while, then frowned.
“They used a formation installed in the deep sea to choke off the spirit vein. To think they would do something so crude...”
“They blocked the spirit vein?”
“Yes. If left alone, the spirit vein will explode and shatter apart. Haa... In truth, it has already half-split. We must go and stop it now.”
“I don't understand. If the spirit vein is destroyed, that won't benefit the demon beasts either, will it?”
When In Hu-yeon muttered, Hyeon Jinja did not bother hiding his contempt for demon beasts.
“Exactly. This is practically self-destruction. As expected, beasts are not worth dealing with.”
“In any case, let's hurry. But what if they set a trap there?”
“Mm...”
“We can't simply leave it alone, either. This is troublesome.”
While the Golden Core merchants sank into thought, a calm voice sounded from the air.
“Tell me the location. I will go.”
The master of Sky Island, who had been dealing with the Sea Dragon Clan elder, had returned. With his strength at late Golden Core, he could break through even if there was a trap.
Hyeon Jinja's expression brightened considerably as he began recording the location into a jade slip.
The master of Sky Island looked between the empty battlefield and Jin Somyeong, then let out a sigh that might have been admiration or disbelief.
“You... no, Fellow Daoist Jin. You always exceed my expectations.”
Before Jin Somyeong could answer, the master of Sky Island spoke with a serious expression.
“Fellow Daoist Jin, please return to the eastern district at once and rest. After forming a Golden Core, you must absolutely avoid overexerting yourself for at least one hundred days. You need to maintain a calm mind and stabilize your realm.”
“Understood.”
In truth, Jin Somyeong had stabilized his realm using the Boundless Great Ability, so he did not need to rest for one hundred days, but he did not refuse. He needed time to examine what had changed after becoming a Golden Core cultivator.
After returning to the eastern district, Jin Somyeong sat cross-legged.
First, he converted his spiritual power into blood energy and began healing the meridians that Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust had ravaged.
“Mmm...”
It felt refreshing, like scratching an itch. As his meridians, which had been on the verge of tearing apart, recovered, he could feel them becoming tougher and sturdier than before.
Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust will be useful for tempering my meridians, too...
Muttering to himself, Jin Somyeong began operating the Five Viscera Hundred Refinements Art in earnest.
He did not know how long he had spent focused in a state of self-forgetfulness, but spiritual energy began flowing through the eastern district again. It seemed the Golden Core merchants of Sky Island had removed the formation installed in the deep sea.
That's a relief.
The spiritual energy was not as dense as before. The grade of the spirit vein seemed to have fallen, but it did not appear to have been completely destroyed, and that put him at ease.
He rested for a full day.
Thanks to his powerful recovery, every wound had healed, but he did not stop resting. He deliberately did nothing and simply rested well, calming his emotions and stabilizing his realm as the master of Sky Island had advised.
Ten days later, he was certain that both his body and mind had reached their best condition.
Good.
He was overflowing with vitality, as though he had just been born. After moving this way and that to check his physical condition, he focused his mind.
There was something he had wanted to see with his own eyes ever since becoming a Golden Core cultivator.
“Krr!”
Applause came from him without thinking.
The Boundless Great Ability had surpassed one hundred thousand. He looked forward to seeing how powerful it would be if he poured that enormous force into a single point.
And, of course... his lifespan had increased as well.
Six hundred seventy-two years?
Yet something puzzled him. The increase was too great.
As far as Jin Somyeong knew, the limit of a Golden Core merchant's lifespan was six hundred years.
There was Qi cultivation, which trained energy, and body refinement, which tempered the flesh. Those who cultivated both at once were called practitioners of Law-Body Dual Cultivation, but that did not mean they had twice the lifespan of others.
When either Qi cultivation or body refinement reached the 3rd Realm, one's lifespan increased to five hundred years. If the other path later reached Golden Core, it would normally increase by another hundred or so, for a total of six hundred.
Then why do I have as much as six hundred seventy-two years?
Was it because of the special nature of the Five Viscera Hundred Refinements Art, which supposedly allowed one to revive as long as even a single drop of blood remained once it reached great accomplishment?
Or was it a hidden effect of his natal cultivation method, the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art?
Hmm...
He could not say for certain. There were too many possible reasons.
Perhaps it was thanks to the proficiency system he had created by consuming an enormous amount of vitality.
Come to think of it, if I add up all the Boundless Great Ability I poured into these cultivation methods, it exceeds a million.
It would not be strange if there were some mysterious effect.
After considering it, Jin Somyeong shrugged.
In any case, it was a good thing. Since it was not a bad thing, he set it aside for now and decided to carry out something he had been planning for a long time.
He invested thirty thousand units of Boundless Great Ability.
The moment he registered the wind-element spell he had obtained from the Sea Wolf Clan demon king, Wind-Transforming Divine Force, into the proficiency system, a tingling energy flowed between his brows.
With a cracking sound like something splitting open, an unknown sense awakened.
Whoooosh...
Wind blew through the quiet eastern district. Warm, gentle currents gathered around him.
Feeling the breeze tickle between his fingers, he marveled.
Fascinating.
It was different from casting a spell with spiritual energy to create wind. This was not such an indirect method. It was far more direct, as though he could manipulate the wind by will alone, with no intervening process.
He played with the wind wrapped around his entire body like clothing, then extended his hand.
Whish!
The instant a strand of wind grazed the ground, the hard floor made from 3rd Realm minerals was deeply gouged. Wind as sharp as Sword Qi had left a blade mark behind.
Not bad.
Wind-Transforming Divine Force was simple, but powerful.
With the wind wrapped around his body assisting him, he could increase his speed, and he could also attack his surroundings by raising blades of wind.
Once I cast it, I don't even need to pay attention to it.
Until the energy infused into the spell ran out, it automatically assisted his movements. It was a secret art that could raise his combat power by an entire level while he fought exactly as he always did.
I like it.
For someone like him, who mainly fought in close quarters, it was extremely useful.
With this, he felt he could easily deal with a wolf demon king like the one he had barely defeated in the past, even without relying on an extreme measure like Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust.
Next...
It was time to examine the Dharma treasures he had obtained so far.
First, he entered the Mental Secret Realm and headed to the top of the hill.
Ten years had already passed since the sword seed, Mugeuk, had sprouted. Even while busy cultivating, he had raised it with care, and thanks to that, it had grown well.
The thing that had once been a finger-sized sprout had grown to a height of one meter.
They said I could use it as a sword once it bore fruit.
If so, there was truly not much time left.
Looking at the flower bud blooming among the silver leaves at the very top of the straight stem, he made up his mind.
I should gather one hundred thousand units of Boundless Great Ability and give it to Mugeuk.
He was curious what kind of sword the being that might become his natal Dharma treasure would turn into.