Chapter 83
Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Battle of Myeongchim Valley (4)
The aura of Myeongchim Valley vanished in an instant. And in its place, an auspicious energy filled the void.
“Uwaaaah!”
“My body! My body!”
“Kuhuk!!”
The cultivators of the Fallen Star Sect, who had trained using the valley's aura, were thrown into chaos as all the world's spiritual energy suddenly turned auspicious. The weak ones evaporated into nothing, the slightly stronger ones melted away and died, and even those beyond them began collapsing, blood pouring from every inch of their bodies.
“This is……”
“What in the world is happening?”
“D-Did the immortal hidden in the mortal world make a move?”
The High Heaven Sect cultivators couldn't move either.
All the darkness that had blanketed Myeongchim Valley had vanished in a flash, replaced by golden auspicious light scattering in every direction, illuminating the world.
It was an omen of good fortune like no other, but because it had happened so abruptly without any warning, they froze in a mix of vigilance and fear.
“……”
This held true even for Soul Transformation Realm cultivators like Elder Jang and Geum So-ryeo, though Geum So-ryeo's reaction was slightly different.
'This auspicious light feels similar to Yong Yoo's serene spiritual power.'
Yong Yoo's serene spiritual power was currently influenced by the Eighty-Four Thousand Scripture Gate Pagoda.
Though Yong Yoo hadn't faced Geum So-ryeo lately, she had checked on her disciples each time she visited the sect, so she had noticed the change in his serene spiritual power.
Likewise, Do Mun-hyang, Wi A-han, and the others sensed a familiar resonance with Yong Yoo in the spreading auspicious energy and realized he was the cause of this upheaval.
“Yoo Lang.”
“Master.”
While Geum So-ryeo, as well as Do Mun-hyang and Wi A-han—who were covered in blood from the battle—were thinking of Yong Yoo, he quietly opened his eyes inside the Nether Six Paths Flood Dragon.
“……”
Having madly absorbed the surrounding serene spiritual energy to restore his spiritual power, Yong Yoo opened his eyes calmly, only to jolt in surprise at the sight of a ragged old man collapsed before him.
“What the—!”
Judging by the black robe he wore, he seemed to be from the Fallen Star Sect. And given his more ornate appearance compared to the disciples Yong Yoo had seen before, he looked like someone of high standing.
Yong Yoo cautiously examined the old man, then rummaged through his robes upon noticing how shriveled he was, like a dried-up corpse. He naturally pocketed all five storage pouches inside before finding an identity token proving he was the Fallen Star Sect Master. Yong Yoo paused to recall his memories.
'I barely remember anything after that Ye Ga-seok bastard choked me.'
As he sifted through his memories, Yong Yoo recalled being devoured by the Meritorious Sixfold Flood Dragon at the end and realized this was inside it.
“They said the Fallen Star Sect's main hall was built atop the flood dragon's corpse pile. Did they refine both the sect hall and the dragon's body into a dharma seat at once?”
Yong Yoo scanned his surroundings and spotted the jade throne at the center, where the sect master would sit.
If the entire hall had been made into a dharma seat, that throne was likely the control point. As he approached it, he noticed six inner cores embedded around it.
And it wasn't just the cores.
The hall's materials incorporated the dragon's bones and scales, with its tendons woven into decorative cloth hung about. The dragon's teeth and eyes adorned the structure, while its feet were fixed to the pillars top and bottom as ornaments.
As Yong Yoo examined the entire hall, an orange light flew in from afar and landed before him.
“Master.”
“So-hu.”
Yong Yoo gently stroked So-hu as it approached.
So-hu's face had been partially eaten by Ye Ga-seok, leaving it in a gruesome state.
“You okay?”
“I'm fine. No, actually, I'm thrilled.”
“Hm?”
“Master. These flood dragon corpses here. May I use them as my first step up the Ladder of Promotion?”
So-hu grinned through its torn face, truly delighted, and Yong Yoo glanced around before nodding.
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
Yong Yoo waved dismissively as if to say it was fine, then sat on the jade throne, closed his eyes, and focused on recovery. He had no idea what was happening outside, but with the Meritorious Sixfold Flood Dragon neutralized, the Fallen Star Sect was done for.
The moment Yong Yoo gave permission, So-hu began devouring the inner cores embedded in the hall floor. Meanwhile, with his eyes closed, Yong Yoo examined the pagoda that had taken root in his soul.
'Is this the power of the Eighty-Four Thousand Scripture Gate Pagoda? It must have exerted just enough force for me to handle... yet it purified a dharma seat capable of facing three Soul Transformation experts in an instant.'
It was a truly wondrous power.
After inspecting the pagoda, Yong Yoo turned his attention to the Merit Golden Core.
'Ye Ga-seok's dead.'
The last thing Yong Yoo remembered of Ye Ga-seok was him stabbing a dark red wooden spear into Yong Yoo's chest, only for the Eighty-Four Thousand Scripture Gate Pagoda to reflect it, crumbling his body to dust—leaving only his head and right arm, with no time to even evacuate his nascent soul. There was no way he could revive from that.
Recalling Ye Ga-seok's death seemed to lighten the heavy heart demon weighing on his golden core. Yong Yoo let out a sigh of relief.
Above all, So-hu—gluttonously feasting on the flood dragon to climb its Ladder of Promotion—was quite satisfied with the current situation, its rage subsiding.
Since the root of Yong Yoo's heart demon had been So-hu's anger, it was only natural that the demon would fade or weaken now that the anger was gone.
'No more worries about heart demons, then.'
Yong Yoo sank deeply into the throne, nodding in satisfaction. He decided to cultivate using the overflowing serene spiritual energy until So-hu finished eating.
A war was likely raging above right now, but Yong Yoo felt he'd done more than enough by eliminating the Meritorious Sixfold Flood Dragon and the Fallen Star Sect Master.
'Well, technically the pagoda did the work! But since it's my intrinsic dharma treasure, that counts as me doing it.'
Yong Yoo boldly began cultivating. So-hu, face buried in the flood dragon corpse as it voraciously tore away, glanced at its cultivating master.
With each dragon devoured, So-hu's power surged dramatically.
Mid-feast, So-hu realized it could grow no stronger from these flood dragons and regretfully finished its meal.
Yong Yoo, who had been monitoring his spirit seed's growth during cultivation, looked at So-hu as it halted.
“Done eating?”
“Yes. I can't get any stronger from prey of this level.”
“They seemed like pretty strong flood dragons.”
“They lost much of their spirit when refined into a dharma seat, and then Master's power purified them, stripping away even more strength.”
“I see.”
Yong Yoo nodded in understanding, then eyed the tattered remains of the six flood dragons.
“But didn't you need to eat one full dragon per ladder rung?”
“I did—one dragon.”
So-hu nodded as if to confirm it knew full well.
“One inner core too. And just one dragon's worth of body.”
Yong Yoo confirmed the five remaining inner cores around the throne and nodded.
“How strong are you now?”
“Nascent Soul initial stage.”
“Can't you push all the way to perfection?”
“Hm. Now that I've started climbing the Ladder of Promotion... I can't grow by eating mediocre spirit beasts like before.”
“Got it.”
Yong Yoo nodded, halted his cultivation, and stood.
As he did, So-hu sensed the change in his spiritual power.
“Master, your spiritual power……”
“Yeah. It's changed, right?”
Yong Yoo drew out his serene spiritual power and manipulated it. It was far clearer and denser than before—so pure that even ordinary spiritual power seemed impure and in need of cleansing.
'Fish can't live in water that's too pure.'
After briefly circulating his unitary spiritual power, Yong Yoo watched it melt away against the serene spiritual power and narrowed his eyes.
'Guess I can't use the Harmony Art like this anymore. Need to raise the purity and intensity of my unitary spiritual power.'
Yong Yoo withdrew his spiritual power and looked around the hall again before asking,
“So... I can do whatever I want with what's left here?”
“Do as you please. You earned it, so it's yours. I'm just grateful you're sharing with me.”
Yong Yoo nodded in satisfaction at So-hu's words.
“Nice. Powerful dharma seats like this are always welcome. It'll take time and materials to repair, though.”
Muttering to himself, Yong Yoo infused his divine sense into the jade throne.
Surprisingly, the Meritorious Sixfold Flood Dragon's master recognition was already severed. Not broken by external force, but forcibly cut by the cultivator who held the master bond.
'Did he sever the link to escape the Eighty-Four Thousand Scripture Gate Pagoda's power? Wouldn't have helped him anyway.'
Yong Yoo glanced at the Fallen Star Sect Master's corpse, then dripped essence blood onto the throne to begin the master recognition.
So-hu was right about it having lost much power; unlike its former might that overwhelmed two Soul Transformation elders, the process went smoothly.
Through the master recognition, deeply linking with the dharma seat, Yong Yoo read the past of the flood dragons it was made from.
Born as children of the Dragon King who ruled the seas, these six flood dragons grew arrogant beyond measure with none daring to touch them. Deeming competition unnecessary, they abandoned growth and grew indolent in the comforts provided by their father.
Indulging in luxury made them lazy, and they soon pursued pleasures.
Chasing worldly delicacies, hoarding gold and jewels worthless to them, sleeping for decades—whatever amused them, they did. Falling into carnal indulgence was inevitable.
They started separately, but their boundless arrogance left them unsatisfied with lesser beings for gratification.
It was only natural for these depraved six flood dragons to descend into incest.
“No, even so, to keep at the incest until poisoned to death……”
After a moment's contemplation, Yong Yoo decided to neatly forget the flood dragons' past. He had finally gained a cool, powerful dharma seat; he didn't want it tainted by such filth.
'Mm. It was purified by the pagoda's power, so let's say the past is clean too. Perfect, problem solved!'
Shaking off the distasteful history, Yong Yoo completed the master recognition and fully infused the dharma seat with spiritual power.
The Meritorious Sixfold Flood Dragon creaked to life, sluggishly moving under the influx. Yong Yoo stored it in his soul, picked up the sect master's corpse, and climbed onto So-hu's back.
“Gotta rename this dharma seat. Meritorious Sixfold Flood Dragon's a bit off. Where'd 'sixfold' come from? The six heads?”
“I think it's fine... Six dragons—sounds good, doesn't it?”
“So-hu, you like any dragon?”
“I'm destined to become an Imperial Dragon someday, so all dragons will eventually kneel to me. Loving your subordinates is a virtue.”
“Heh. Save that talk for when you become an Imperial Dragon. You're still a fledgling.”
“I wanna evolve into a Blade-Horn soon……”
Thus, Yong Yoo and So-hu exited Myeongchim Valley, only for him to startle at the flood of gazes upon them.
'……No Fallen Star Sect bastards left?'
A quick scan showed every Fallen Star Sect cultivator gone without a trace—no bodies.
As Yong Yoo surveyed the battlefield, the High Heaven Sect cultivators stared at him in a daze.
The handsome man in green armor, soaring majestically with the sun at his back atop a massive orange tiger, made for a scene worthy of a painting.
'……Did Elder Jang and Geum So-ryeo handle them?'
Assuming the two elders had wiped them out without remains, Yong Yoo approached and offered the sect master's corpse.
“This is the Fallen Star Sect Master.”
Elder Jang took the body, examined it briefly, and realized the storage pouches were gone.
“……”
Silently eyeing Yong Yoo, he patted his shoulder in approval and sent a divine sense transmission.
[I'll let you keep the sect master's personal wealth, not the sect's assets. Submit the storage pouches later.]
Yong Yoo smiled wryly and nodded. Even as a favored heavenly prodigy, devouring a Sect Master's entire haul was too much.
“Yong Yoo. Can you tell us what happened?”
After Elder Jang withdrew, Geum So-ryeo approached, checked his condition, and asked.
Realizing everyone was listening intently, Yong Yoo grinned.
“The arrangements left by Senior Jade from the ancient secret realm saved me.”
He had no intention of revealing the Eighty-Four Thousand Scripture Gate Pagoda, so he borrowed Ok Ha-hee's name.
“An immortal……!”
“Calling an immortal 'senior'? Isn't that disrespectful?”
“She must have allowed it! Who else would dare say that to an immortal!”
“An immortal in our sect's ancient secret realm?!”
As Yong Yoo expected, the immortal's existence cleaved through all doubts and suspicions like a banner of truth.
“The immortal is watching over our High Heaven Sect!”
“Waaaaah!”
“Long live Lord Yong!”
“Long live Immortal Jade!!”
“This victory is granted by the immortal!”
The High Heaven Sect disciples, who hadn't fully savored their joy amid the mystery and tension, now cheered wildly, invoking Yong Yoo, the immortal, and the sect.
And a few days later.
Yong Yoo's name echoed once more across the Central Continent as “the cultivator favored by an immortal.”
And naturally, the High Heaven Sect—which had been slowly fading—became known as “the sect where an immortal resides,” its fame soaring to the heavens unchecked.