Chapter 316: A Strange Reunion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 316: A Strange Reunion
I had never learned to swim, nor had I ever tried.
The sea was the domain of deep-sea monsters, and rivers and lakes were no place for a swim either, as there was no telling what lurked within them.
Streams were said to be a little safer, but even those weren't easily accessible, as monsters would occasionally leap out from the mountainous regions.
As for going to a local swimming pool, that was an unimaginable luxury back in the days when even affording three meals a day was a struggle.
So, it was only natural that I had never so much as dipped my toes in the water, let alone learned to swim.
Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't swim.
How could a martial artist who had reached the Transcendent Realm not know how to swim?
So, my limit for holding my breath is 47 minutes? Shorter than I thought.
I expertly cut through the water, descending deeper into the lake.
But reaching the bottom was no easy task.
The average depth of East Lake was six meters, but its deepest point reached a staggering thirty meters.
[Light]
Fwaa!
A pure white light bloomed in the pitch-black depths of the lake where I couldn't see an inch ahead.
Relying on that single small light, I swam toward the deeper parts.
Of course, I wasn't without a guide.
Vwoom—
I sent out my Vajra Qi in all directions, like a submarine's sonar, to search for any traces.
But my senses picked up nothing.
The most I found were some incredibly large fish.
I caught one, wondering if it might be a spirit beast, but I couldn't find anything like a core inside it.
A lake the size of East Lake should have a few spirit beasts, so was it because it was too close to the city?
It made sense. Most humans exude impure energy just by breathing.
And spirit beasts are fundamentally sensitive to impure energy.
The mere presence of humans nearby would likely kill them off quickly.
Even if there were any spirit beasts, the martial artists would have surely caught them all by now.
Putting aside my disappointment about the core, I focused all my attention on finding a trace of Vajra Divine Monk.
But as I just said, my senses came up with nothing.
As this continued, I couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt.
The faint trace I had sensed outside the lake had vanished completely now that I was inside?
It can't be just because I'm underwater... Am I missing something?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with an answer.
With no other options, I decided to head for the lakebed.
The farther I got from the surface, the darker it became.
It reached a point where even my Light magic couldn't properly secure my vision.
Fwaa!
I altered the structure of the spell formula to nearly triple the magic's output, but strangely, the light didn't travel far.
It was as if the surrounding darkness was devouring the light.
I felt a sense of unease, but I continued my descent.
However, as time passed, that feeling of wrongness only grew stronger.
I felt like I'd descended at least fifty meters, but the bottom of the lake was still nowhere in sight.
What in the world is going on?
At some point, both my mana detection and [Detection] magic stopped working.
My mana couldn't extend into my surroundings.
...A formation?
There was no other explanation.
But I had no idea when I had entered the formation's range.
In the middle of the lake, where only cold water, a strange pressure, and darkness existed, the only thing I could use was my internal energy.
But even that was difficult to control.
It felt as if I were in shackles, unable to gather my strength properly.
Vwoooom!!!
I forced my internal energy to rise, trying to break the curse that bound me.
My demonic and lightning energies thrashed wildly, trying to escape my dantian, but I couldn't move my internal energy at all.
It was as if a colossal energy was suppressing my very being.
I couldn't remember the last time I had felt so powerless.
It wasn't this bad even when I was poisoned by the Ghost Valley Master... Just what kind of formation is this?
I wanted to take my time and analyze the formation's structure, but I only had about twenty minutes of air left at most.
It was time to make a choice.
Should I press on with the exploration, or should I return to the surface?
Staring into the bottomless darkness of the lake, I fell into thought and ultimately decided to retreat.
Putting everything else aside, it was reckless to continue the exploration when I wasn't even sure if I could escape the formation.
Just as I was composing my troubled thoughts and about to swim toward the surface...
...What is this?
Another sense of wrongness enveloped me.
The flow of the water around me felt strangely familiar.
Within the supposedly irregular currents, I could see a pattern.
Don't tell me...
At first, I thought it was impossible, but there was no mistake.
This was the sword path of the Formless Sword Art.
The sword path of the seven techniques of the Formless Sword Art was being drawn along the currents.
Only then did I realize one thing.
With all my energies, including mana, suppressed, the only thing I could wield was my Vajra Qi.
And before me was the sword path of the Formless Sword Art.
The situation implied only one thing.
Clang!
In the cold, dark water, the tip of the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword gleamed.
A brilliant golden aura rose in its wake.
I gripped the hilt of the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword, now covered in Formless Aura.
It was my first time swinging a sword underwater, but it was a sword I had swung hundreds, even thousands of times before.
There was no way I could lack confidence.
As the Vajra Qi spread out, the water's current grew faster.
A fierce torrent slammed into my body, but I closed my eyes and swung my sword.
In this moment, nothing could interfere with me.
Kiiiiing!!!
Formless Moon.
Dozens of slashes made of Formless Aura shook the water. My sword was unstable in many ways since I couldn't plant my feet on the ground, but I steadfastly continued my forms.
Vast Moon, Boundless, Heavenly Light, Six Voids, Light Dragon.
As I unleashed even the latter techniques of the Formless Sword Art—which I rarely used in succession due to their immense recoil—my entire body began to groan in protest.
Still, I clenched my jaw.
Crrrack—
I gripped the hilt with formidable strength.
A normal iron sword would have shattered long ago, but the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword seemed to joyfully devour the Vajra Qi, proving its worth.
Kiiiiiiing!!!
The massive Formless Aura, which had risen to its limit, raged toward the lake.
Formless Sword Art: Genesis.
—!!!
A single, perfectly straight line, as if drawn with a ruler, split the lake in half.
Bright moonlight poured in.
I stared blankly up at the beautiful night sky.
Then, I blinked as I normally would.
“...Huh?”
When I opened my eyes, I was standing on a green meadow.
*
The five human senses are not perfect.
Just as there are people who have died from burns simply by thinking they were on fire, even escaping a simple illusion can be a struggle.
There's a reason the term 'phantom pain' exists.
“Where am I...”
Muttering to myself, I turned my head to survey my surroundings.
The endlessly stretching meadow looked incredibly peaceful, and there wasn't a single cloud in the clear sky.
A pleasant breeze brushed past the tip of my nose.
Chirp, chirp!
Just then, a sparrow flew in from somewhere and landed on my shoulder.
The warmth, the sharp claws, and even the musty smell.
All the information my five senses conveyed told me this sparrow was a living creature.
But this bird was not alive.
And that wasn't all.
The very environment surrounding me was not reality, but an illusion.
“...Have I entered the formation's interior?”
My mana, demonic energy, and lightning energy were all still completely unresponsive.
But the suffocating pressure of my breath running out in the cold water was gone.
In other words, I wasn't trapped in an illusion created by the formation, drowning in the water.
Of that much, I was certain.
Human senses are easily deceived, but a mage's mind is not.
A mage's mental barrier is so robust that by the 5th Circle, distinguishing between illusion and reality is a simple matter.
But that was all.
Even with the mental barrier of a 5th Circle mage, the keen senses of a Transcendent master, and the prior knowledge that I was in a formation, I still had to keep asking myself if this place was truly an illusion.
The moment I stopped, I felt the boundary between reality and illusion would truly crumble.
I had never seen a formation of such high caliber, not even from the Jegal Family.
Its level of completion was so high that it would be better to call it a barrier rather than a formation.
A gasp of admiration escaped my lips.
“Just what kind of formation creates such an absurd illusion...”
“The Mansangjohwahwancheonbeopjin.”
As I muttered to myself, a strange man's voice came from directly behind me.
...
A cold sweat ran down my back.
I hadn't let my guard down.
And yet, he had gotten behind me so easily.
Even with my mana restricted, it was an unbelievable situation.
The silver lining was that he wasn't showing any hostility.
“This is not an illusion. I have merely transposed a landscape from my youth to this place.”
“...Isn't that the same thing?”
“Tsk, tsk, how ignorant. Is seeing something with your own eyes the same as seeing it in a painting to you?”
“...”
Why?
Why does such a trivial comment put me in a bad mood?
Hoo...
I suppressed my anger with superhuman patience.
The man standing behind me was a powerhouse whose defeat I couldn't guarantee even if I went all out.
He might even be stronger than Duke of Rutland.
If I provoked such a monster and he decided to kill me, my life would truly be in danger.
Even if I fled back to Earth, I couldn't even begin to guess how many years it would take to defeat him.
“I, Kang Mo, am humbled to have received a lesson from such an eminent figure. If it is not too much of an imposition, would you grant me the honor of hearing your esteemed name?”
“An eminent figure..." the man repeated, his voice laced with amusement. "Or a departed one.”
A strange silence passed between us. After a moment of hesitation, I cautiously turned my head.
Somehow, I felt he had given me permission.
When I saw the man's face, I couldn't help but be shocked.
The nine monk's dots branded on his forehead, a face so rugged it was hard to believe he was a monk, a frame a full head taller than mine, and incredible muscles visible even through his robes.
“...Vajra Divine Monk?”
Though he looked somewhat younger, it was undoubtedly the face I had seen in the old temple.
But I had never expected to reunite with Vajra Divine Monk, and I couldn't help but be flustered.
According to the records, he died hundreds of years ago.
Even at the temple, I had only spoken briefly with his remnant thoughts.
And yet, the man before me was semi-corporeal.
Of course, that didn't mean he was alive.
I didn't know the details, but it seemed a part of his soul had been anchored by the formation.
He probably couldn't leave the formation's confines.
But inside it, he was practically alive.
Needless to say, that was something even a 1st Grade Barrier Master couldn't do.
If such a thing were possible, most of the powerful leaders of great nations would be living eternally within barriers.
I wracked my brain, trying to understand the structure of the formation.
Of course, it was a hopeless endeavor.
Finding my reaction amusing, Vajra Divine Monk watched me with eyes full of interest.
“Not only did you enter the Mansangjohwahwancheonbeopjin on your own, but you even know my face.”
Shudder—
At that moment, an unidentifiable chill ran through me.
I didn't know what it was, but it was definitely not a good feeling.
Thud!
Vajra Divine Monk grabbed my shoulder.
“So you're the one who found it, aren't you? The Formless Vajra Art.”
A broad smile spread across his lips as he looked at me.