Mount Jakryang (5)
KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Red lightning split the air with a thunderclap that shook heaven and earth.
The fire-attribute lightning qi of overwhelming scale — so immense that no one would ever believe it had been conjured by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like Su Yeong-geun's subordinate.
But he hadn't improvised it on the spot. It was something he had forged from every inspiration he'd gathered along the way.
The Sammae True Fire bursting from the subsidiary shield of the Crimson Sea Formation Flame Cannon.
Yuan Bisu's flame arts, which he'd watched at close quarters all this time.
And Gi Shin-ryeo's Sunfire Poison Flame Art, which had unfolded before his very eyes only moments ago.
Drawing from all of them, Cheon Woo-jin had brought this crimson lightning to completion.
The Five Thunder Art is a theory of lightning arts that subordinates the Five Elements to thunder-qi... Just as I granted the power of Water to create Black Lightning, it should be possible to grant the power of Fire as well.
In the Five Elements, the Fire element symbolized the force of spreading wide. If the Water element was like the dead of winter, where everything ground to a halt, Fire was like high summer — endlessly branching out, leaves thickening in abundance.
The fire attribute was that of expansion, like a blaze that kept spreading outward. That was why fire-attribute arts specialized in incinerating a vast area all at once.
And so — the poison qi Gi Shin-ryeo had so widely deployed could be burned away in a single stroke.
This is Red Lightning.
Black Lightning had been characterized by the power of extinction, erasing the enemy's offense and defense alike. Red Lightning, by contrast, specialized in sweeping away a broad area at once — a ranged strike that didn't need individual targets at all, incinerating everything within its domain.
That made it devastating against multiple enemies at once... and equally effective when the opponent was unleashing an area attack of their own — exactly like now.
Gi Shin-ryeo had deployed a massive cloud of poison qi in a wide net, trying to poison Cheon Woo-jin. But the flood of crimson lightning swallowed the poison whole and burned it away.
"How is this possible...!"
Flustered, Gi Shin-ryeo poured even more of his spiritual power into his art, restructuring his formula so that his poison qi wouldn't be consumed by the scarlet lightning. But nothing went his way.
This crimson lightning was borrowing the volcanic essence-qi of the mountain itself, granting it power beyond the limits of Foundation Establishment. Moreover, with the intrinsic speed of lightning arts, it had spread faster than any ordinary flame technique and completely dominated the entire area. Scattering poison qi through that was no easy feat.
"Damn it all...!"
Had Gi Shin-ryeo been in normal condition, he could have crushed it through sheer spiritual power alone. But his reserves were nearly spent.
Today Gi Shin-ryeo had subdued Lee Seon-gyeong, a cultivator of his own rank, and then broken the Geumsijong's Golden-Winged Bird Dragon-Breaking Formation on top of that. Because he'd had to shoulder all of it alone, he had burned through far too much power. As a result, he could no longer choose the most effective means of bringing down Cheon Woo-jin.
Bitterly enough, it mirrored the very scheme Gi Shin-ryeo himself had once planned — assassinating Geumsijong's powerhouses in advance to weaken their combined formation. Because Cheon Woo-jin had already defeated a substantial portion of the Mandokyuksamun's inner disciples before the battle even began, Gi Shin-ryeo had been forced to handle everything single-handedly — and in the decisive moment, he lacked the strength to see it through.
Seen from that angle, this outcome was no sudden reversal at all. It was the fruit steadily ripening from everything Cheon Woo-jin had built up since entering the war against the Mandokyuksamun.
"Y-you've done well, I'll admit!"
In the end, Gi Shin-ryeo abandoned his pride. He forsook a direct confrontation and chose to retreat.
If he fled for a while and swallowed a core elixir to restore his spiritual power, Gi Shin-ryeo could seize the upper hand again. It was a course profoundly humiliating for a Core Formation Great Circle cultivator and sect master — but there was no other way.
Gi Shin-ryeo rocketed skyward. Escaping the reach of the red lightning came first.
But Cheon Woo-jin had anticipated even that. Before Gi Shin-ryeo belatedly glanced up, Cheon Woo-jin's final strike had already fallen.
A jet-black bolt tearing down from directly overhead.
Black lightning fell from above his head. The pitch-black strike, an embodiment of the principle of extinction, plunged into the crown of Gi Shin-ryeo's skull — and was drawn into his upper dantian.
"GKKAAAH...!"
A Core Formation cultivator could revive as many times as he liked so long as his Golden Core remained intact — but the upper dantian was still a vital point. The black lightning-qi that penetrated through the crown's Hundred Convergences aperture completely destroyed Gi Shin-ryeo's upper dantian, leaving him unable to properly wield his spiritual power.
And what happens when your power cuts out mid-flight, high in the air?
You fall.
And of all places — this was the summit of an active volcano.
"Ah......"
Gi Shin-ryeo plummeted onto the red lava erupting from the crater. Had he been able to wield his power properly, escaping would have been simple enough — but with his upper dantian blasted apart, that was impossible.
Still, he thrashed and clawed desperately at the rock, trying to drag himself free — until the moment his Golden Core melted away along with his lower body, and he stopped moving at all. Then, his face frozen in an expression of pure despair, he vanished entirely into the molten rock.
"Hoo......"
Having watched it all the way to the end, Cheon Woo-jin slumped down onto the ground.
Had that final Black Lightning missed, things would have gotten ugly.
The moment he'd unleashed it, his spiritual power had been utterly drained — he'd spent far too much casting Red Lightning. It was a wide-area, high-output art, and it consumed power in proportion. Even though he'd drawn on the volcano's essence-qi to the limit, the Su Yeong-qi acting as its catalyst had been consumed in massive quantities as well. For Cheon Woo-jin — who, until moments ago, had been in the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment — it had been nearly beyond his capacity to bear.
With hands that barely had strength left in them, he fished out a core elixir and placed it in his mouth. As he was chewing it down and catching his breath, a voice rose from below.
"Cheon Do-u......!"
Jang Ryang and Yuan Bisu — who he'd assumed had each fled in a different direction — were climbing the volcano.
"Why did you come this way......"
"We couldn't run off and leave Cheon Do-u behind!"
"If I recall, when the Nine Yang Fiend appeared back then, we scattered without so much as a glance back at each other."
"That was then, and this is now!"
Jang Ryang wore a wounded look.
"And, well... I suppose I had a little expectation too."
"Expectation?"
"The expectation that if it was you, Cheon Do-u, you might manage something even against Gi Shin-ryeo."
When they'd fled from the Nine Yang Fiend last time, they had both believed that getting caught meant the end, plain and simple. That was why Jang Ryang and Yuan Bisu alike had been shocked to see Cheon Woo-jin come back alive.
But now was different. Now they knew what kind of man Cheon Woo-jin was.
"It seems that expectation was well placed."
"......"
Surveying the traces of lightning-qi lingering around the crater, Jang Ryang and Yuan Bisu exchanged smiles.
Before long, Gwak Gyeong-in and the other Geumsijong cultivators climbed to the summit as well. They had been struck down by Gi Shin-ryeo's Sunfire Poison Flame Art earlier and had fallen — but as Core Formation cultivators, their lives had never been in danger.
"Cheon Do-u... did you truly defeat the sect master of Gi?"
Gwak Gyeong-in asked, his face full of disbelief.
"How in the world......"
"Gi Shin-ryeo had exhausted his spiritual power through a chain of battles," Cheon Woo-jin said flatly. "I lured him into the crater, struck at his opening, and dumped him into the lava."
"In-into the lava?"
"No matter how far into Core Formation Great Circle you are, once your Golden Core melts in that lava, it's over."
"......!"
Gwak Gyeong-in's jaw hung open. So did every other Geumsijong cultivator's.
"No — even if his power was spent and you caught him off guard, that's still......"
"Come now — are you doubting what your own eyes can see?" Yuan Bisu cut in. "There's not so much as a whisker left of Gi Shin-ryeo, and Cheon Do-u is standing here alive and well. Are you really going to question it after seeing this?"
"Mm... it's not that I doubt it," Gwak Gyeong-in groaned. "I'm simply astonished. It is truly a wondrous feat......"
Saying so, Gwak Gyeong-in looked around. The Geumsijong side had suffered heavily. Gwak Gyeong-in himself was gravely wounded, and the sect master, Lee Seon-gyeong, would need treatment for some time to come.
But on the Mandokyuksamun's side, their sect master Gi Shin-ryeo was dead — and the remaining cultivators had all been subdued. This decisive battle, whatever anyone said, belonged to Geumsijong.
"In truth, it was Cheon Do-u who carried this victory to us."
Murmuring so, Gwak Gyeong-in turned to face Cheon Woo-jin.
"Cheon Do-u — on behalf of Geumsijong, I shall offer you the rite of gratitude."
Gwak Gyeong-in pressed his palms together and bowed to Cheon Woo-jin. At once the other cultivators followed suit in unison.
"Our deepest thanks, Cheon Do-u!"
The distinguished disciples of Geumsijong offered their gratitude in one voice. In that unified chorus and disciplined gesture lay the virtue of a renowned orthodox sect — and all of that reverence was directed at Cheon Woo-jin.
"Heh heh, well now......"
"This is a first for me, haha."
Jang Ryang and Yuan Bisu looked at Cheon Woo-jin, beaming as though it were their own triumph. In truth, Cheon Woo-jin was nothing more than a mercenary who had joined the war for pay. That he was receiving such acclaim only went to show how extraordinary his performance had been.
"......"
And yet, amid all the praise, Cheon Woo-jin kept his expression cold and level.
It wasn't merely his nature. He knew this was not where it would end.
"Everyone, stand back."
At the words that burst from him, all of them wore puzzled looks. But before he could explain, a voice rang out.
"Ho ho... remarkable."
"......!"
Every head snapped up in alarm.
Beyond the black smoke rising from the volcano, the figure of a Taoist in a crimson robe came into view.
"When word of the Gi sect master's final moments reached the upper strata of Ghost Head City, I thought I'd poke my head out and see for myself — and what should I find but such an uncut gem."
"Th-that man is......!"
Gwak Gyeong-in tried to say something — and immediately collapsed on the spot. So did the rest of Geumsijong, and Jang Ryang and Yuan Bisu with them. Everyone toppled over, unconscious. Only Cheon Woo-jin remained standing.
But this wasn't because Cheon Woo-jin had done anything. The Taoist floating in the sky simply hadn't used the Death-Swoon Poison on him.
Jang Ryang and Yuan Bisu beside him had dropped instantly, but Cheon Woo-jin had never been designated a target of the toxin — and so he was untouched.
Only one man in all the Mandokyuksamun could wield poison in such a manner.
"I am Sama Mun — the former sect master of the Mandokyuksamun. What is your name, boy?"
The former sect master, Sama Mun. He was the true hidden head of the Mandokyuksamun.
The current sect master was, on paper, Gi Shin-ryeo — but even Gi Shin-ryeo had to bow as low as his body would allow before Sama Mun. Because Sama Mun had reached a realm higher than the Core Formation Great Circle that Gi Shin-ryeo had attained... the Nascent Soul Realm.
Sama Mun had not intervened in the war with Geumsijong until now. It was customary for old ancestors of his standing to wash their hands of a sect's mundane affairs and devote themselves wholly to personal cultivation. But this time, sensing Gi Shin-ryeo's death, he had poked his head out — to see just who had killed him.
And the result... was Cheon Woo-jin.
"A truly delicious-looking morsel, aren't you?"
The Nascent Soul old fiend smacked his lips as he gazed down at Cheon Woo-jin.