Chapter 54
Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Appearance of the Heavenly Prodigy (2)
While Yong Yoo was spending a passionate night with the women, the representatives from various sects who had visited the Dao Tournament wasted no time in swiftly sending word back to their own sects.
Some rode incredibly fast flying treasures or dispatched nimble spirit beasts. Others used special sound transmission jade tokens connected over vast distances. And those who had come via avatars directly relayed their memories to their main bodies left behind at their sects.
The Central Spirit Realm was so vast and expansive that virtually everyone had at least one means of quickly sending information back to their sect.
In truth, these methods were originally intended for requesting aid if they found themselves in danger, but for now, they served perfectly as intelligence relays.
Thanks to the prompt actions of these quick-footed individuals, Yong Yoo's name spread across the entire Central Spirit Realm within a single day of the Dao Tournament's conclusion.
Some thousand li from High Heaven Sect lay Gloomshadow Valley, perpetually shrouded in a thick black mist that blocked the divine sense of cultivators.
People called it the place closest to hell itself and feared it accordingly, which was why—even though the surrounding area boasted clear waters, fertile soil, and abundant nature—no cities or villages had ever been built nearby.
Moreover, the spiritual energy around Gloomshadow Valley was poor, and cultivation resources were scarce, so no major sects or clans had claimed the region.
With one exception: Fallen Star Sect.
Fallen Star Sect had long ago settled in Gloomshadow Valley, cultivating a unique technique that harnessed its darkness. While others fled in terror from the valley's depths, they had made it their home.
Like serpents entwined in a massive mating coil, wedged between the valley's cliffs and petrified solid, lay the corpse of a colossal flood dragon. Fallen Star Sect's buildings stood atop this dragon's remains, with cave dwellings carved into the surrounding cliffs.
"Elder Ye, have you heard the news?"
A cultivator in black robes entered one of the cave dwellings, where a man draped in a blood-red robe with unusually long, wide sleeves stood before a corpse.
The corpse belonged to a strikingly handsome male cultivator, but everything below his face had been drained of vital blood, leaving him a withered mummy like a dead tree.
The man's cave was lined with such corpses—dozens of handsome, beautiful young men who had met the same fate, drained dry of their vital essence.
"What news?"
"Word is, a new Heavenly Prodigy has appeared at High Heaven Sect."
"A Heavenly Prodigy? You're not pulling my leg, are you?"
Ye Ga-seok, who had recently advanced to Nascent Soul Realm and become Fallen Star Sect's newest elder, held a jade token presented to him with the utmost reverence, as if it were a sacrificial treasure.
Fallen Star Sect elders were often twisted in temperament, so the standard protocol for dealing with them was to bow low and observe excessive courtesy.
As he accepted the token, his sleeve slipped back, revealing an arm that was no longer human.
From the elbow down, it was covered in thick, dark red fur heavy with weight, while the hand itself was blindingly pale—a truly bizarre sight.
In the past, defeated by Yong Yoo, Ye Ga-seok had lost both arms. He had sealed the wounds with flesh regeneration pills but couldn't regrow them, so he grafted on new ones instead.
Thus, he ended up with the arms of a red-and-white spirit monkey. After recovering, Ye Ga-seok had relentlessly hunted Yong Yoo for revenge.
But with Yong Yoo entering secluded cultivation for a decade upon returning to High Heaven Sect, there was no trace to find. Driven mad, Ye Ga-seok developed the obsession of slaughtering any handsome Foundation Establishment cultivator whose rumors reached his ears.
"A Heavenly Prodigy appearing so easily... impossible."
Scanning the jade token's information with his divine sense, Ye Ga-seok froze, eyes widening in shock.
The token detailed Yong Yoo's name, appearance, affiliation, age, Dao Tournament championship, spells used—everything.
Reading his appearance, Ye Ga-seok reeled in disbelief.
The hated enemy who had severed his arms and stolen his chance at becoming a Single Element Spiritual Root wielder had finally resurfaced after a decade-long hunt!
"High Heaven Sect! It was those High Heaven Sect bastards!"
"Elder? What..."
"No wonder he seemed extraordinary! A Heavenly Prodigy from High Heaven Sect!"
Ignoring his flustered disciple, Ye Ga-seok reveled in the joy of finally locating Yong Yoo.
"At last... I've found you!"
Elated at the prospect of vengeance, he strode to the center of his cave.
There grew a dark crimson tree, nurtured by the vital blood of the handsome male cultivators he had captured.
The ones who reacted most strongly to the new Heavenly Prodigy's emergence were the Heavenly Prodigies secretly nurtured in other sects.
A Heavenly Prodigy couldn't be hidden forever, no matter how hard one tried.
For a cultivator to grow, they had to roam the world seeking fortuitous encounters—and a Heavenly Prodigy demanded even greater opportunities proportional to their talent.
Such encounters naturally drew crowds, so walking the path of cultivation inevitably revealed a Heavenly Prodigy to the world.
Conversely, it also meant one could confine and raise them in secrecy until their growth stagnated.
Unlike High Heaven Sect, which boldly revealed Yong Yoo out of confidence in their strength, many sects chose to hide their Heavenly Prodigies right up to the precarious edge of discovery.
For instance, one of the righteous major sects, Verdant Summer Sect, was sheltering a Heavenly Prodigy.
Receiving word from the sect, the white-robed elder paused mid-pruning his bonsai and informed the disciple who had appeared behind him, kneeling in meditation.
"Seong-guk."
"Yes, Master."
"A new Heavenly Prodigy has emerged at High Heaven Sect."
"High Heaven Sect—the one the elders always talk about."
Un Seong-guk, the Heavenly Prodigy doted on by Verdant Summer Sect, had heard the name High Heaven Sect—leader among the Central Spirit Realm's righteous sects—endlessly.
Every elder who visited pressured him to topple High Heaven Sect and claim the mantle of righteous representative, so he couldn't avoid it even if he tried.
"What kind of Heavenly Prodigy is it?"
Un Seong-guk was more curious about this new prodigy than the sect itself.
"Reached Foundation Establishment Perfection at the age of 61, they say."
"Pardon?"
Un Seong-guk wondered if he'd misheard the white-robed elder.
"Master, you're saying that person is truly a Heavenly Prodigy? With all due respect, the age and realm seem too..."
"Indeed. Compared to you, they fall woefully short."
Un Seong-guk had achieved Core Formation Perfection at just 18 years old.
If not for Verdant Summer Sect's limited resources, he could have reached Nascent Soul with better support.
Nascent Soul before 30? An absurd level of talent.
'Yet this one is 61? And only Foundation Establishment Perfection? How can someone like that be called a Heavenly Prodigy like me!'
Raised in arrogance amid universal adoration and the sect's fawning resource offerings after being revealed as a Heavenly Prodigy, Un Seong-guk could not tolerate being equated with such a mediocrity.
"A Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator defeated a Core Formation Perfection one. What else could they be but a Heavenly Prodigy?"
"Foundation Establishment Perfection beat Core Formation... Perfection?"
"Yes. Heh heh. Astonishing, isn't it?"
The white-robed elder chuckled lightly and called it surprising, but Un Seong-guk couldn't stay calm.
To this young cultivator of merely 18, being a Heavenly Prodigy was his core identity and greatest worth.
The reverence he received, the praise and attention, the love, the power to act with impunity—all stemmed solely from that status.
But if a superior Heavenly Prodigy appeared...
"...Master, this disciple must return to cultivation."
Un Seong-guk bolted from the room without awaiting a reply. Watching him go, the white-robed elder smiled.
His disciple, growing lax amid constant flattery and slacking on training, now felt threatened by a potential rival of surpassing talent.
'Perhaps I should arrange for him to visit High Heaven Sect and meet this Yong Yoo in person.'
What would happen if two Heavenly Prodigies met?
Harboring his first curiosity in centuries, the white-robed elder finished pruning his bonsai with a hearty laugh.
The demonic alliance that once assaulted High Heaven Sect in the past.
Of the three sects involved, Golden Ring Sect was annihilated by High Heaven Sect, and Fallen Star Sect fled into Gloomshadow Valley.
So where had Molten Dragon Sect—the alliance's core—vanished to, eluding High Heaven Sect's pursuit all this time?
Molten Dragon Sect had hidden in the Demon Realm.
They had stumbled upon an ancient teleportation array linking to the Demon Realm, then devised a plan: raid High Heaven Sect for their vast cultivation resources and flee there.
Deeming their forces insufficient alone, they manipulated Wi Hong-tak—then High Heaven Sect's protector disciple—to sow internal chaos, luring the sect's main forces outward. Using two demonic sects as shields, they struck.
Thanks to Wi Hong-tak, they seized a substantial haul of High Heaven Sect's prime resources before escaping to the Demon Realm. Over 800 years, they grew into a major power dominating one axis of the Demon Realm.
Believing themselves strong enough at last, Molten Dragon Sect recently sent people and yokai through the ancient array into the Central Spirit Realm, establishing branches under new names. News from one such branch prompted an elder council.
"A new Heavenly Prodigy at High Heaven Sect."
"Hah."
A few elders groaned at the revelation. A sect as mighty as High Heaven could nurture a Heavenly Prodigy stably—this was no trivial matter.
"Do we really need to concern ourselves with High Heaven Sect now? We've grown over 800 years, while they've slowly declined since Jin Yang-pyeong vanished."
"True, our raid inflicted heavy damage back then, but High Heaven Sect has over ten thousand years of history! Don't underestimate them!"
"Ha! Elder Wi, you'd think you were from High Heaven Sect with talk like that. Still deluded about your position? Senility setting in?"
"What did you say? Insult me again, and I won't forgive you!"
"As if I have any face left to lose to your insults! Hahaha! I can still picture you last night—massacring the Jin bloodline, drenched in gore, crawling to Molten Dragon Sect!"
As Wi Hong-tak and the elders snarled, channeling spiritual power, the entire Molten Dragon Sect trembled.
"What if this Heavenly Prodigy becomes a second Jin Yang-pyeong?"
The words silenced the elders.
"High Heaven Sect's power could easily protect and raise a Heavenly Prodigy. Should a second Jin Yang-pyeong arise, our demonic path will be uprooted from the Central Spirit Realm for good."
"......"
"......"
The man who invoked Jin Yang-pyeong's name and painted a dire future turned to Wi Hong-tak.
"Elder Wi."
"......Yes, Grand Elder."
"Can you head to the Central Spirit Realm and eliminate High Heaven Sect's Heavenly Prodigy?"
"M-Me alone?"
Wi Hong-tak's anxious query earned a long stare from the grand elder.
"This is a fine chance to give my direct disciple some worldly experience. Take your disciples and Mak Ho-gan along. Once in the Central Spirit Realm, don't act rashly—hide in the branches for a while, then strike when the time is right."
"......Couldn't I go after breaking through to Soul Transformation Realm? I have only 40 years of lifespan left."
"Very well. But opportunities are fleeting. Fail even once, and depart for the Central Spirit Realm immediately."
"Understood!"
Wi Hong-tak bowed hastily to the grand elder. Trembling with humiliation at the elders' attitudes, he held his tongue and retreated to prepare for his breakthrough.
After Wi Hong-tak left, the council resumed.
"Grand Elder, is it wise to send Mak Ho-gan out like this? He's our Heavenly Prodigy, groomed to be the next sect leader."
"Indeed. Wi Hong-tak is expendable, but losing Mak Ho-gan... the loss would be immense."
"My disciple possesses an extra life via a special technique—no need to worry about losing him. Instead, expect him to grow vastly from facing mortal peril and death, experiences rare to come by."
The grand elder laughed heartily, dismissing their concerns.
Thus, as the Spirit Realm stirred in reaction to Yong Yoo's name, he himself was being fondled by Geum So-ryeo, who had sought him out in a state of half-undress.