The Victor (6)
Kuuwoong— shwaaaaaaa!
A colossal wave surged skyward, then pierced the clouds and scattered into mist. Amid that breathtaking spectacle of nature, the massive golden dragon slowly twisted its body.
Unlike every enemy Cheon Woo-jin had slain with the Instant Killing Heavenly Eye, no blood gushed from its form. What flowed from the Golden Dragon's body was not blood at all. It was the qi of the continent — the conviction of a spirit that had burrowed beneath the earth a millennium ago to protect Weijin Country, amassing the land's energy for a thousand years. That energy now scattered through the air as shimmering golden particles, merging with the towering waves until the entire raging sea was stained the color of gold.
Wuuuuung.
The Guardian Golden Dragon Divine Lord's ability to float began to fade. As the dragon descended bit by bit toward the sea, an incredulous thought-transmission drifted back from behind its head.
"Cheon Woo-jin… so you truly possessed an absurd power all along."
Soehon Hyeolma had apparently grasped that Cheon Woo-jin had instant-killed the Guardian Golden Dragon Divine Lord.
"I never anticipated a transcendent authority like this. This defeat is mine — the wager goes to you."
That ungrudging acceptance of loss stood in stark contrast to the Orthodox Taoists Cheon Woo-jin had felled of late. And then, as if to honor his earlier promise, Soehon Hyeolma began his explanation of the Blood Sea.
"You asked me to tell you what the Blood Sea signifies within the Blood Soul Command Art. It refers to the Chong Vessel, one of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians."
"The Chong Vessel? You mean the meridian that begins in the lower abdomen, passes the perineum, and ascends along the spine?"
"Originally it is a meridian tied to blood disorders in women. The foundation of blood-spirit manipulation is to perceive that vessel as a sea of blood and synchronize it with external blood."
The Chong Vessel was a meridian Cheon Woo-jin had barely ever consciously engaged while circulating spirit qi. So that was what it was for — blood-spirit manipulation.
"My thanks. Now I finally have a feel for it."
Cheon Woo-jin currently held nutritive blood equivalent to two Nascent Soul cultivators in the Mid stage — the fully intact blood essence of Gu Do-ryun and Yu Mu-gi. Until now, he had applied the principles of sword qi and used it solely as blood blades. If he studied the Blood Soul Command Art with what Soehon Hyeolma had taught him, he would be able to forge true blood spirits as well.
"So it's no empty rumor — that demonic cultivators keep their promises better than the Orthodox sects."
"Hmph. Do not forget it, from now on."
After that brusque reply, Soehon Hyeolma sent a thought that sounded strangely hollow.
"So opening the Blood World was never an easy undertaking after all. My fight ends here — the rest must be left to those who come after me."
Sreeeee….
Within the collapsing Golden Dragon's skull, a dark-red clump of blood came into view. It was the Nascent Soul of Soehon Hyeolma, which had burrowed in through the back of the Guardian Golden Dragon Divine Lord's head.
"Congratulations on becoming the final victor, Cheon Woo-jin."
"You endured much, Soehon Hyeolma."
Fwoosh.
Cheon Woo-jin burned that clump of blood to ash with his Realm-Extinction Sword. With that, Soehon Hyeolma was gone entirely. Even his status window no longer appeared.
Time for me to make my escape as well.
Aboard the Ghost Wood Boat, he pulled away from the Golden Dragon. The moment he did, a tremendous wave erupted from the sea and swallowed the dragon whole. The falling beast — still scattering luminous particles as it dropped — was swept up by that surge and crumbled away into nothing.
Leaving the glittering golden sea behind him, Cheon Woo-jin, the final victor, drifted serenely out of the Hwangryeol Flying Archipelago.
Song Yuhee had descended into the depths beneath the Imperial Palace. No matter how she searched, the man was nowhere to be found on the surface.
The space below the palace was where the Guardian Golden Dragon Divine Lord had slumbered, and the heart of the grand formation that stabilized all of Weijin Country. But now it lay in complete ruin. Part of it had collapsed when the Divine Lord awakened, yet there were unmistakable traces of deliberate, artificial attacks as well.
Who could that have been?
Song Yuhee knew at once. It was him. While operating apart from her, he must have slipped down here for a moment, destroyed the critical structures, and left.
"Th-this is…."
Just then a man descended into the underground using light-foot movement. It was the Second Prince, Gong Yi-un — the very prince the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect had sought to enthrone.
"Wh-what in the world has happened here? Just now I saw the Golden Dragon falling into the sea and vanishing…."
Gong Yi-un was not a cultivator of the cultivation world. He could not properly grasp what was unfolding around him.
"From the very beginning, this was what he came here for."
"I'm sorry?"
Before the bewildered prince, Song Yuhee spoke as though murmuring to herself.
"This place lies at the exact center of the continent. It was the one location where a ritual could be performed using all of Weijin Country. But with even the apertures connected to the spirit meridians smashed like this, no such ritual can ever be conducted again."
"Ah…."
"Which means this place is now a space worth nothing to the cultivation world."
The reason the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect and the Gwangmyeong Sect had tried to seize Weijin Country was to carry out nation-scale grand rituals. Now even the attempt itself had become impossible.
"From this day forward, Weijin Country need never fear the meddling of cultivators again. You may rule the nation however you please."
"…!"
Gong Yi-un's eyes went wide.
"N-now that you mention it — Sage Shin Hyeok told me something. He said that from now on, I should realize my own ambitions with my own hands…."
"He must have meant that there will be no more help from — or interference by — the cultivation world."
"Ah…!"
Tears brimming, Gong Yi-un was overcome with emotion.
"He was the true sage who came to deliver Weijin Country! Thanks to him… oh."
Mid-prattle, the prince glanced at Song Yuhee's expression and shut his mouth. But Song Yuhee paid him no mind at all.
"He didn't come here for any of that."
"I'm sorry?"
"He came to move freely, bound by nothing… to carve his own path through the world on his own terms, and take whatever he desired."
So she murmured, then lifted her head and gazed up at the sky above the Imperial Palace. Golden particles drifting in from far away were suffusing the palace's heavens with a soft glow.
"That must be why he vanished without a word to me."
"I… beg your pardon?"
"He probably guessed I'd say I was coming with him. If I kept dogging his heels, I'd only slow him down — so he simply disappeared, without even a farewell."
By now, Song Yuhee had seen through everything. That she had been used by a rogue cultivator operating under the false name Shin Hyeok. He had steered her to achieve what he wanted, then departed without even a parting word.
"Yes… that, of all things…."
Calling to mind the figure of that man whose very real name she did not know, Song Yuhee smiled. It was a smile utterly free of resentment — pure and unadulterated.
"That is the you I've always admired."
Song Yuhee loved that way of being. Unlike herself, shackled to the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect, she thought it magnificent — a life where every choice was his own, lived without hesitation or hindrance. So she could understand even this course of action. No — more than understand. The fact that he had shown her that side of himself until the very end struck her with a charm nothing else in the world could replace.
"So I'm going to try living the way you do, So-woo."
Bound by nothing. Roaming the continent freely, without obstruction.
"You are one who walks the path of cultivation. To climb ever higher, you'll keep striding through the cultivation world from now on. Which means someday, our paths will cross again."
The life of a cultivator was a long one, after all. The day they met again was bound to come.
"Let's meet again then, So-woo."
And next time, I will not let you slip away.
With that thought, Song Yuhee soared into the golden sky. A hundred and fifty years had passed since, at the age of nine, she had been dragged up Mount Taiyi and set upon the path of cultivation. Only now was Song Yuhee finally beginning to live a life of her own.
By now, Song Yuhee has surely realized that I used her.
High above the Jinhwang Sea, atop the Ghost Wood Boat as it cut across the sky, Cheon Woo-jin — his disguise now shed — sat lost in thought. The red robes he had worn all this time had already been burned, and he had changed into a black robe laced with threads of crimson. He had discarded the fabricated identity of Shin Hyeok, used to deceive the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect, and returned fully to being Cheon Woo-jin.
I did consider leaving a single word behind before going… but in the end, this is how we part.
There had been too many matters to resolve, too little time to spare — and meeting her face to face again hardly seemed desirable, for her sake or his own.
Knowing Song Yuhee's nature, she won't comb every corner of the continent hunting for me. More likely she'll savor the freedom she's only just gotten her hands on.
In the game, Song Yuhee had always shown a far more stable mind when she left the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect and acted freely. Whenever she ascended to the seat of Sect Master, she degenerated into a tyrant drunk on madness.
Of course, the sect won't simply let her go.
This affair had struck the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect a heavy blow. Their Sect Master Song Mu-yeol and his inner circle had been massacred, and their Young Sect Master Song Yuhee had defected. Even so, the sect would not collapse outright — it held plenty of high-ranking cultivators beyond Song Mu-yeol and his faction. Someone among them would seize the initiative, take the seat of the new Sect Master, and rebuild. And a reborn Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect would almost certainly hunt the traitor Song Yuhee. All it would take was a little digging to learn that she had killed Song Mu-yeol and Song Mu-jin in the Imperial Palace and fled alone.
Which works out in my favor, too.
This was precisely why Cheon Woo-jin had not made Song Yuhee his target in this affair. Suppose she had died as well. The sect would then have hunted for the true instigator of the whole catastrophe, and there was a strong chance they would sniff out that a mysterious rogue cultivator had been pulling strings behind the scenes. If that happened, Cheon Woo-jin would never escape being hunted by the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect.
But with Song Yuhee alive, the sect's attention would fix on her alone. She was hardly the type to be taken quietly; she would repel her pursuers one after another, dealing the sect wound after grievous wound. She might even storm the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect herself and raise hell. In a situation like that, the sect would have no attention to spare for Cheon Woo-jin.
Someone like me will be old news — I won't have to worry about that side of things for a good while.
Of course, he must not forget the sect entirely. Someday he would inevitably cross paths with its true masters — the Soul Formation ancestors. But that day was still far off. Until it came, he need only build his strength, step by measured step.
Now then… time to sort through the spoils.
Cheon Woo-jin set his storage pouch down on the deck of the Ghost Wood Boat. He needed to take inventory, piece by piece, of everything he had gained.
The greatest prizes were the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace's Dharma Treasures: the Eight Directions Brand-Slaying Saber and the Ghost Wood Boat itself. The Brand-Slaying Saber in particular could later serve as a Nascent Soul Spiritual Material when he attempted the Nascent Soul realm, and the Ghost Wood Boat was a flying treasure he would rely on again and again for years to come.
The Blood-Birth Bead and the manual of the Blood Soul Command Art, taken from the Blood Soul Pavilion, were crucial spoils as well. The Blood-Birth Bead currently held nutritive blood equal to two Nascent Soul cultivators. If he trained in the Blood Soul Command Art using Soehon Hyeolma's knowledge, he would even be able to create blood spirits.
And I managed to grab this too.
Among the spoils was a large golden seal — the Destiny Jade Seal that Gong Yi-un had hurled into the fissure in the ground. Cheon Woo-jin had retrieved it during his brief descent below to destroy the apertures linked to the continent's spirit meridians. It would be of no use in combat, but this seal was a ritual implement once used in nation-scale ceremonies. It carried an immense power of shamanic sorcery, so the day would come when it proved useful.
Beyond that, he had obtained vast quantities of miscellaneous pills and spirit stones. The iron armor plating recovered from Gu Do-ryun's mid-grade landmines, and the demonic musical instruments of the Blood World Mara Sect, would both see use eventually. A haul like this made nearly a month of hardship well worth it.
And that's not all — I myself have reached the Mid Core Formation stage and formed my One-Pattern Golden Dan.
He had also devised new original Dharma Arts — the blood sword, the Evolved Earth Dragon, the Evolved Little Spirit, and the Sutra of Black Thunder Quaking the Sea. Watching the Black Spirit Blade Emperor, Gwan Hwang, had granted him a measure of insight into formation arts, and repeated exposure to domain-like territories had broadened his experience. Growth like this would be an enormous asset on the journey Cheon Woo-jin was about to walk — the road to the Nascent Soul realm.
"…."
As he stowed the spoils back into his storage pouch, Cheon Woo-jin turned his head. The Ghost Wood Boat was currently passing over Pyeonghwang Island, flying toward Myeongnyunjin. But… something was chasing them from the direction of Pyeonghwang Island.
Shuuuuung!
It was a white flying vessel with a sleek, streamlined hull. Built of white sandalwood, it skimmed above the Jinhwang Sea just as the Ghost Wood Boat did. Cheon Woo-jin already knew who commanded that treasure.
"…."
By the time they had crossed the Jinhwang Sea and reached the skies above Myeongnyunjin, Cheon Woo-jin slowed the Ghost Wood Boat. At once, the white flying vessel drew near.
Standing upon it, arms crossed, was a man with a lean, athletic build. And on his face sat a mask — a white mask painted with a smiling expression.
"Fellow traveler, where are you off to in such a hurry?"
A rich, resonant voice drifted from the masked man.
"You seem to have a long road ahead. Why not travel together and keep each other company?"
"…."
Mujeong Soma — Pavilion Master of the White Face Pavilion of the Blood World Mara Sect. Cheon Woo-jin had glimpsed him briefly alongside Song Yuhee at Pyeonghwang Island and given him a wide berth, having no wish to fight a Late Nascent Soul powerhouse. Now the man had caught sight of him and given chase — evidently puzzled that someone piloting a flying treasure of the same class was escaping the Hwangryeol Flying Archipelago alone.
"Sorry, but I'm pressed for road."
"Is that so?"
Laughter bubbled up from beneath the mask.
"Then board my vessel instead. You'll arrive that much sooner."
"I'll decline. My boat is faster."
"Then shall we race?"
Cheon Woo-jin gave no answer and sent the Ghost Wood Boat surging forward again. Mujeong Soma accelerated his own vessel and gave chase. But the Ghost Wood Boat held the advantage in speed — and just as Cheon Woo-jin was shaking off the white vessel and widening the gap, space abruptly warped, and Mujeong Soma's vessel teleported ahead of him.
Then, from atop his ship, Mujeong Soma hurled a bone-white sword at Cheon Woo-jin.
BOOM!
The sword qi carried force that outstripped even Song Yuhee's. Yet it never pierced Cheon Woo-jin — he had already unfolded layer upon layer of thunder-qi barriers around the Ghost Wood Boat. Cheon Woo-jin had anticipated this attack from Mujeong Soma from the very start.
"You call this a race?"
"You were preparing for it yourself, weren't you?"
Speaking in a voice that clearly relished the game, Mujeong Soma raised a white blade in each hand. Cheon Woo-jin amplified his thunder qi with the power of the Thunderwheel ring on his finger. Thunderclaps and rolling booms交织 — crackling detonations and deep booms interwove as the two vessels streaked through the sky, and their aerial battle began.