Subjugation Battle (3)

Buy me some time.

Despite the insolence of Cheon Woo-jin's instruction, Tae Sa-ryang showed no displeasure. Coming from a man whose pride normally knew no bounds, it was remarkable.

"Understood."

Tae Sa-ryang nodded.

"I'll trust your resourcefulness. It's not as if any other road is open to us."

Muttering those words, Tae Sa-ryang drew out a large orb. It was his trump card — the supreme-grade artifact, the Thunder Strike Jade.

"Hmm. Quite a splendid artifact."

Jeok Ya-wol murmured.

"As expected, the orthodox sects hoard all the good ones. Our demonic path has always been wanting in that regard."

As he spoke, Jeok Ya-wol raised both hands. It seemed he intended to summon black flames as he had before.

"Go ahead and try taking that artifact from me, if you can!"

Kugu-kung!

A brilliant light erupted from the Thunder Strike Jade. Lightning qi, born of overwhelming magic power, gouged through the underground chamber as it surged toward Jeok Ya-wol.

Jeok Ya-wol met it head-on with ferocious black flames, and the collision shook the entire cavern to its roots.

Cheon Woo-jin did not miss that opening. He tore through the depths of the cave.

He had to get clear of this place, or the clash between Tae Sa-ryang and Jeok Ya-wol would swallow him whole. For all that Cheon Woo-jin's abilities transcended those of an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator, no one caught in a full-power duel between Core Formation masters could hold out.

When whales fight, the shrimp had better not get its back crushed.

Of course, he wasn't simply running. Escaping this law domain was all but impossible anyway — the subterranean labyrinth was so convoluted that even finding a way out would have been a struggle. So Cheon Woo-jin pressed forward instead, stretching his web of spiritual power in every direction like spider silk, using it as an extension of his own senses.

I need to map this space.

Cheon Woo-jin recalled his memories of playing Yeongro Suseonjeon. In the game, a law domain was a special technique available to cultivators who had reached a certain realm and above — a field-wide ability that operated across the entire battle space rather than a mere area-of-effect spell. To dispel one, you either layered a different domain over it or subdued the caster directly.

But this domain had not been created by Jeok Ya-wol himself. It was a law domain originally installed by the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace long ago — merely reactivated, with Jeok Ya-wol having secured its dominion over it.

Which meant all he had to do was strip that dominion away from Jeok Ya-wol.

The method was identical to how he had shattered the Golden Chain Formation earlier. He didn't need to comprehend every last thread of this space. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only needed to locate the point where the greatest concentration of power flowed, and destroy it.

Cheon Woo-jin stretched his web as wide as he could. He didn't need to chart the whole of this labyrinthine underground maze. He only needed to trace the current of spirit qi feeding into Jeok Ya-wol — and where it was headed.

Found it.

Spirit qi flowed like a subterranean watercourse. He traced the current upstream, the way one might search out the source of an underground spring. And at last, Cheon Woo-jin located the wellspring — a place where a colossal volume of spirit qi burst forth like water gushing from a springhead.

That this law domain persisted, that Jeok Ya-wol could wield power beyond the Core Formation stage — it was all because spirit qi was being supplied from there. Just how the deathly energy that had saturated Black Jade Valley was being converted and vented out like this, Cheon Woo-jin could not even begin to guess. But he didn't need to understand the theory in full. He only had to make sure Jeok Ya-wol could draw on the domain no longer.

Cheon Woo-jin closed his eyes and sank into the spiritual realm within himself — the endless black expanse born of his Body of the Dark True Abyss. There, he gave shape to his own mental image. He wasn't trying to seize the domain's power for himself. His goal was simply to cut Jeok Ya-wol off from it. No intricate formations or spellwork were required. He only needed to realize a force capable of striking that point.

Loosing the Heavenly Shell Flying Spirits, as he had against the Golden Chain Formation, would not suffice. Those were artifacts forged from the outer skeleton of a Core Formation demon beast, but this domain operated at a level far beyond Core Formation. Force them against it and they would shatter, unable to withstand its immense power.

So he needed a different kind of force. Even if he couldn't smash the whole thing, a single scratch on its delicate structure would do. An intricately machined device ceases to function the moment one gear breaks — and Cheon Woo-jin already knew exactly what to forge to break that gear.

Within his spiritual realm, Cheon Woo-jin sculpted that force into something still more potent — recalling the black flames Jeok Ya-wol had unfurled moments ago, and realizing a power of annihilation that was crueler still.

Go.

The annihilation principle, made manifest in the real world. Cheon Woo-jin drove that force into the acupoint before his inner eye.

Pwang!

Tae Sa-ryang's right arm exploded.

"Ggh…!"

Bleeding, Tae Sa-ryang collapsed onto the cave floor. He had fought desperately against Jeok Ya-wol with the supreme-grade Thunder Strike Jade in hand, but against an opponent backed by the power of the law domain, it had not been nearly enough.

As a Core Formation cultivator, Tae Sa-ryang would suffer no grave harm from losing an arm or two. That was the nature of his realm — so long as the Golden Core remained intact, even a hole torn through the torso could be regenerated. But he had undeniably burned through a great deal of power, and continuing to fight Jeok Ya-wol in this state was out of the question.

"Hm."

Jeok Ya-wol, black flames draped across his body, surveyed his surroundings with his hands clasped behind his back. He no longer seemed to regard Tae Sa-ryang as any kind of threat.

"Now that I think of it, you were shrieking earlier about having some way to turn this around."

Searching for Cheon Woo-jin, who had vanished somewhere, Jeok Ya-wol asked,

"What exactly did he intend to do?"

"……"

Tae Sa-ryang had no answer. He couldn't even guess what Cheon Woo-jin was attempting. He had simply chosen to believe the stories he'd heard — about that unidentified loose cultivator who defied every law of the cultivation world and walked back alive no matter how desperate his circumstances. The reason Tae Sa-ryang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had handed over an Operating Spirit Stone as an advance payment in the first place was the hope that this very quality of Cheon Woo-jin's might prove decisive someday.

"Could he have gone to undo the law domain?"

"What…?"

Jeok Ya-wol laughed, shoulders shaking.

"Granted, doing so would let you suppress me. But tell me — how in the world is a mere Qi Condensation cultivator supposed to influence a law domain?"

"……"

"This domain is something we poured enormous effort into reactivating. It is not something that can be understood in a short span, and even if he did understand it, the power of Qi Condensation could not affect it in the slightest."

Tae Sa-ryang had no rebuttal. There was not a single flaw in Jeok Ya-wol's logic.

"I confess I'm curious what he thinks he can do. Perhaps he possesses some special artifact?"

"……"

A special artifact. That was a suspicion Tae Sa-ryang had harbored as well. There was every possibility that Cheon Woo-jin held artifacts more powerful than anything he had shown so far.

"Truly a fascinating creature. I'd very much like to take him alive and set him walking the demonic path."

"The demonic path must be short of people, then — welcoming some loose cultivator nobody knows the name or history of…"

"Hm. It isn't people we lack. It's people who can actually serve as people."

Jeok Ya-wol said in a leisurely voice,

"That is precisely why we've extended our reach into Ghost Head City."

"You don't mean…"

"You're aware of how unsettled Weijin Country has grown lately. Before long, a great calamity will break out — and to prepare for it, we need capable talent."

Only now did Tae Sa-ryang understand why Jeok Ya-wol had entered Ghost Head City. It was to recruit promising rogues among the city's loose cultivators and turn them into assets of the Blood World Mara Sect for the calamity to come.

"Is this coming calamity truly so significant? Significant enough for the Blood World Mara Sect to dispatch you to Ghost Head City of all places?"

"What's this? You mean the Shengjue Yiyuan Sect still hasn't grasped the details?"

Jeok Ya-wol snorted with laughter.

"No — I suppose they simply haven't told a mere Core Disciple. The leadership of the Shengjue Yiyuan Sect couldn't possibly be ignorant of what's happening beyond their walls."

"……"

Tae Sa-ryang bit his lip. Both of them were Core Formation cultivators, yet the roles they occupied within their sects were worlds apart. To Tae Sa-ryang, that stung his pride more than anything.

"Hm. I suppose it's time to go find that man. Let's see just where he's crawled off to."

As if Tae Sa-ryang no longer interested him in the least, Jeok Ya-wol turned his head. He was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about to unfurl a divination spell to locate Cheon Woo-jin when — from somewhere — a crackling sound began to ring out.

"Hmm…?"

Jeok Ya-wol flinched and froze.

"What… is this…?"

The very next instant, the black flames shielding Jeok Ya-wol's body began dying away at frightening speed. Almost simultaneously, Jeok Ya-wol clutched his own head, as though seized by a splitting migraine.

Tae Sa-ryang did not miss that opening.

"Fire!"

Intense lightning qi erupted from the supreme-grade Thunder Strike Jade. Tae Sa-ryang was already exhausted, but he had enough left in him for one decisive blow. All this while, the black flames coating Jeok Ya-wol's entire body had rendered lightning attacks useless — but those flames were guttering out right now.

Tae Sa-ryang's surprise strike struck home — and blasted away Jeok Ya-wol's entire left side.

"GRAAAAGH…!"

The attack had worked. That meant Jeok Ya-wol was unable to draw on the law domain's power. While Tae Sa-ryang bought time, Cheon Woo-jin had kept his promise — by a means no one could have predicted, in a way only Cheon Woo-jin could.

"Ghh—…!"

Jeok Ya-wol groaned and hammered out attack spells with his remaining right hand. Tae Sa-ryang was in no condition to properly block them either. Bloodied and broken, all he could do was evade and flee. And as he fled, Tae Sa-ryang saw it — beyond the pitch-black darkness, Cheon Woo-jin hurtling toward them at a terrifying speed.

Cheon Woo-jin confirmed the sight of Jeok Ya-wol grievously wounded. Most of his left half — arm and leg included — had simply ceased to exist. The moment the domain's power had been severed, Tae Sa-ryang had counterattacked and blown it clean off.

Well done, Tae Sa-ryang.

Even so, Jeok Ya-wol was Core Formation; an injury of this scale would not kill him. Even as he was, he could still wield considerable power.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have to bring him down now.

At this moment, no power flowed to Jeok Ya-wol from the law domain. But with time, that supply would resume. Cheon Woo-jin's Black Lightning Annihilation Vista had unquestionably damaged the domain's formation — yet the spellwork crafted by the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace carried its own capacity for self-repair. He didn't know when it would complete, but once the damage mended, power would flood back into Jeok Ya-wol, who would restore his body in an instant and unleash overwhelming strength once more.

He had to fall before that happened.

"You…!"

The moment Jeok Ya-wol spotted Cheon Woo-jin, he roared like a beast. Gone was the man who had courted Woo-jin to serve beneath him — the rage burning in him now was utterly genuine. Mighty spiritual power erupted from his body. He had lost the domain's power and suffered a devastating wound, but even in this state he could still outmatch Cheon Woo-jin.

Yet Cheon Woo-jin felt no fear. If anything, he wanted to see the spell Jeok Ya-wol was about to unfold. Before leaving the rest to Tae Sa-ryang, something in Jeok Ya-wol's attacks had stirred an inspiration in him — and he wanted to confirm it once more.

Kugugu-kung!

With a sound like space itself being crushed, hundreds of strands of black flame spread out. As if to leave Cheon Woo-jin nowhere to run, the tendrils of black fire fanned across a vast expanse, swallowing the underground cavern whole.

The instant he faced that spell, Cheon Woo-jin felt as though time itself had stopped.

It looks like flame — but it isn't.

Within senses accelerated by the deepest possible focus, Cheon Woo-jin looked upon the demon Jeok Ya-wol for what he truly was. Jeok Ya-wol was a loose cultivator bearing the Black Soul Physique. He was simply releasing the black, water-attribute spirit qi he possessed in the form of flames. Even earlier, when he had borrowed the law domain's power, he had deployed his attacks the same way.

It was power realized on the basis of a theory so advanced that Cheon Woo-jin had never dared to imagine it — far more refined, and far more destructive, than anything Cheon Woo-jin could barely produce by borrowing the might of the Five Thunder Heaven-Stepping Sword. Gazing into the profound principle within it, Cheon Woo-jin felt a stirring as though beholding a work of transcendent art.

And along with it, a fierce, burning desire rose in his chest.

I want to do that too.

Yes — like this.

Within his infinitely unfolding spiritual realm, he composed a spell on the spot, reflecting his new realization. The power it required he could draw in from outside — the area around him was thick with masterless yin qi scattered in the aftermath of battle. All he had to do was pull it in and wield it through his Body of the Dark True Abyss.

A new door had opened.

The moment Cheon Woo-jin became aware of that fact and extended his arm — with a roar that tore space itself to ribbons, hundreds of columns of black lightning qi burst forth and pierced straight through Jeok Ya-wol's black flames.