The Old Ancestor (1)
So Sama Mun has shown himself after all.
Cheon Woo-jin gazed up at the figure looking down on him from the sky.
So it really did come to this.
In truth, Cheon Woo-jin had anticipated this possibility. If Gi Shin-ryeo died in this battle, there was every chance the Old Ancestor would emerge.
Ordinarily, Old Ancestors did not involve themselves in their sect's affairs unless something truly grave happened. Whether their sect went to war with another sect or not, they could not have cared less. When you were in the middle of cultivating over hundreds of years toward your next goal, there was no reason to spare attention for short-term events unfolding in the sect.
But what if the Sect Master to whom you had entrusted your legacy was suddenly murdered?
When a catastrophe of that scale occurred, even an Old Ancestor was likely to take an interest. Not necessarily out of a desire for revenge — but out of simple curiosity. Just who in the world managed to kill him?
And it wasn't as if I could have captured Gi Shin-ryeo alive instead.
Facing Gi Shin-ryeo at Core Formation Great Circle, could he really have fought with a soft touch while sparing his life? With Cheon Woo-jin's current strength, that was impossible. Given the circumstances, the only way Cheon Woo-jin could survive was to kill him.
So inwardly, he had hoped Sama Mun was absorbed in some other matter, or off somewhere far away. If that had been the case, there was a decent chance the Old Ancestor would have simply shrugged off Gi Shin-ryeo's death.
But that hope had gone unfulfilled. Sama Mun had sensed his disciple's death and emerged at once — and he had seen through the fact that Cheon Woo-jin was the killer at a single glance.
"So you're the one carrying a special constitution."
Sama Mun had even discerned the Body of the Dark True Abyss. The last time, Gu Do-ryun had failed to perceive Cheon Woo-jin's constitution because he'd relied on the senses of a low-grade puppet — but for a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Realm, seeing through it in one glance was only natural. If Cheon Woo-jin ever reached a higher realm, he might be able to conceal his information even before a Nascent Soul cultivator, but at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, there was no way.
"Born with it? No — you must have acquired it later. Now, where could you have possibly obtained it……"
Sama Mun continued muttering to himself, then suddenly furrowed one brow.
"By the way…… why do you keep ignoring me? Don't tell me you can't speak?"
"My apologies, Old Ancestor Sama."
Cheon Woo-jin immediately clasped his hands together and bowed.
"I thought there might be other ears listening, so I dared not speak."
"Hmm?"
Sama Mun swept the surrounding air with a searching look.
"I see. Quite right — this is no place for a conversation."
The warriors lying around them had all been felled by Sama Mun's Sleeping Poison. But Cheon Woo-jin had pointed out that other eyes or ears might still be lurking nearby.
Sama Mun evidently found the point reasonable enough, because he nodded and said, "Then we shall move elsewhere. First……"
"Old Ancestor Sama."
Cheon Woo-jin hurriedly pressed his palms together.
"I am still merely at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. If you take me to the Upper Layers…… I won't survive."
"Ah, so it is. Good point."
Sama Mun had been about to carry him up to the Upper Layers of Ghost Head City, where he habitually dwelled. But only those at Core Formation or above could ascend there. Had Sama Mun abruptly hauled him up, Cheon Woo-jin would have found survival very difficult.
"Now then, let's see — if it's a Foundation Establishment cultivator, where could I take him……"
Sama Mun, still murmuring to himself, broke into a grin.
"Yes — the Great Emptiness Cave Heaven Mirror. That's the place."
"I'm sorry?"
Sama Mun reached his hand into the empty air. At the sight, Cheon Woo-jin's eyes went wide. It was unmistakably the Universe in the Sleeve — the technique high-ranking cultivators used in place of a storage pouch. Unlike artifacts such as storage pouches, the Universe in the Sleeve was a space created directly through the spellcraft of a high-ranked cultivator, which meant there was no need to carry it around everywhere.
"Gate, open."
Muttering the words, Sama Mun held up a 'key' drawn from his sleeve — and a door abruptly opened in the sky above.
"Follow me."
"Yes."
Fleeing now would have been nothing short of foolish. Cheon Woo-jin followed Sama Mun through the door — and a familiar sight unfolded before him.
The Great Emptiness Cave Heaven Mirror. It really is.
Countless floating islands scattered across an endlessly sprawling void of cosmic space. This was the very cave heaven where Cheon Woo-jin currently resided.
So that key was an artifact permitting free entry and exit to the Great Emptiness Cave Heaven Mirror?
By the rules as he knew them, one had to travel to a designated location and speak a password to enter. But Sama Mun seemed to possess an artifact that allowed access from anywhere at will. He had never seen anything like it, even in the game.
"I used to make use of this place, long ago."
Key still in hand, Sama Mun strode up the invisible footholds in the air. Upon reaching an island, he used the key to open another door.
"Come in."
"……"
Cheon Woo-jin cast a glance over Sama Mun's island. Its layout was identical to the eastern field he used on a daily basis. There were traces of crops once grown in the spirit field, but they were all withered and dead, as though left untended for a very long time.
Looks like he used it only up to Core Formation and then abandoned it.
From the Nascent Soul Realm onward, there was almost never a need for such a field. Upon reaching Nascent Soul, one's mastery of spatial manipulation developed to the point that if a field was needed, one could simply carve out the space oneself. The same logic explained why high cultivators used the Universe in the Sleeve instead of storage pouches.
But wouldn't the lease lapse if he stopped paying rent? Was there some kind of leasehold system back in the day?
That key, too, suggested that the old rules for using the Great Emptiness Cave Heaven Mirror had been somewhat different.
"Now, then……"
Beside the spirit field stood a large table hewn from a single felled log. Sama Mun tossed the key onto it and settled into a wooden chair.
"Let us have a nice, long chat, shall we?"
"……"
Cheon Woo-jin silently took the chair across from him, and while meeting Sama Mun's gaze, checked the status window once more.
Sama Mun stood at the Nascent Soul Realm Middle Stage — the same level as Heukha-ryong. And he possessed a special spiritual root: the Five Elements Spiritual Root. A root with aptitude for all five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Because it required training all five types of spiritual qi from the very Qi Condensation stage, its growth rate was extremely slow. But once such a cultivator entered Foundation Establishment and laid a proper foundation, they could become a warrior fluent in every attribute.
Sama Mun could presumably wield all six of the Myriad Poison Six Evils Sect's poisons. With command of all five elements, he could produce every one of the six evils: wind, cold, summer heat, dampness, dryness, and fire. Whether it was Dan Mok-gil's Yang Bright Bird Poison Acid Method or Gi Shin-ryeo's Lesser Yang Fire Poison Scorching Method, he could use them all — and worse, by combining multiple attributes he could concoct composite poisons that no antidote could touch.
Even back at Core Formation, he must have been leagues beyond Gi Shin-ryeo.
A stray thought crossed his mind: thank goodness the current Sect Master of the Myriad Poison Six Evils Sect was Gi Shin-ryeo and not Sama Mun.
And his Destiny is Conceit.
Conceit meant flaunting one's talent and looking down on all others. Put simply, it described a being of extreme arrogance — someone fated never to escape their own pride. The insolent leisure with which Sama Mun was toying with him now flowed from that very nature.
Viewed from another angle, though…… it was precisely that arrogance which allowed Cheon Woo-jin to face him so calmly right now.
"So then — how exactly did you come by the Body of the Dark True Abyss?"
Sama Mun cut straight to the crucial question. He already knew the constitution was not innate, so a clumsy lie was sure to fail. Cheon Woo-jin answered with the truth.
"I ate Heukha-ryong's Golden Core."
"Hmm?"
Sama Mun's eyebrow shot up at the reply.
"You can acquire a constitution by eating a Golden Core? Is that truly possible?"
"In the case of a mortal born without a spiritual root — yes, it is."
"……"
Sama Mun's expression turned grave. He stroked his chin and sank into thought.
"Hold on. If that's the case…… oh-ho!"
After muttering to himself for a long while, Sama Mun looked back at Cheon Woo-jin.
"I've never once heard of such a thing — but it isn't impossible, is it?"
The fact that a mortal without a spiritual root could gain both a root and a constitution by consuming a Golden Core was a truth unknown to the world. New knowledge glinting in his eyes, Sama Mun fired off another question.
"Then who was it that fed you Heukha-ryong's Golden Core?"
"That is……"
He had slain Heukha-ryong with the Instant Killing Heavenly Eye and torn out the Golden Core with his own hands. That much he could hardly confess. But a clumsy lie would be seen through — so Cheon Woo-jin changed the subject.
"A great calamity will soon befall Weijin Country."
"Hm? And how would a Foundation Establishment rogue like you know anything about that?"
Surprise flickered across Sama Mun's face.
"Ah — could it be you heard it from the ones who fed you the core?"
"Exactly."
He's taking the bait.
Cheon Woo-jin spoke while managing his expression with the utmost care.
"Before long, the Emperor of Weijin will pass from this world. As always, a puppet emperor must then be enthroned in his place — and over the matter of that candidate, a fierce underground struggle has already begun among the great sects."
This was the true face of the calamity for which the sects were all preparing. Ordinarily, the great sects took little interest in secular power — but the seat of the next emperor was another matter entirely. Seat your own puppet on the throne, and you could attempt the Grand Method of harnessing the entire nation for your sect's purposes.
At the moment they merely watched and checked one another in the shadows. But the moment the present emperor died, a full-scale war would erupt.
"Then the ones who fed you the core were……"
"The Taiyi Easy Separation Sect — the faction seeking to enthrone the Emperor's second son."
Cheon Woo-jin lied with a perfectly straight face.
"They intend to feed a Golden Core to that second son — a mortal born without a spiritual root — and thereby make a cultivator of him."
"Oh-ho……!"
Sama Mun leaned forward, hanging on Cheon Woo-jin's every word. Judging by his expression, not a shred of suspicion remained. He was utterly engrossed in Cheon Woo-jin's recitation — game lore, artfully dramatized.
"Damn it all!"
Jang Ryang slammed his fist into the ground as he came to, seething.
"To think Cheon Do-u was abducted while we lay unconscious……!"
Jang Ryang, Won Pil-so, Gwak Gyeong-in, and the rest had all been struck down by Sama Mun's Sleeping Poison. By the time the hours passed and they stirred awake, Cheon Woo-jin was nowhere to be seen. There was no doubt in anyone's mind — Sama Mun had taken him.
"Elder Gwak! You must summon the former Patriarch of the Jinshi Sect as well!"
Won Pil-so lunged at Gwak Gyeong-in.
"We have to beg him to rescue Cheon Do-u!"
"Senior Won, we cannot do that."
Gwak Gyeong-in's face twisted with anguish.
"From the very start, contacting our Patriarch is simply not possible. We don't even know where he is in secluded cultivation, you see……"
"Damn it……!"
"I want to save Cheon Do-u every bit as much as you do. But……"
Letting out a long, heavy sigh, Gwak Gyeong-in went on.
"What exactly are we supposed to do against a Nascent Soul Old Ancestor? Like I said before, we can only……"
He looked up at the sky — though the "sky," of course, was the artificial firmament within Ghost Head City.
Somewhere beyond it, Cheon Woo-jin had been dragged away, and there he would meet his end.
"We have no choice but to accept it as an act of heaven — a disaster beyond human control."
Hot tears streamed down Gwak Gyeong-in's face. Before the tyranny of transcendent beings, all resistance was meaningless. That was the cruel reality facing every soul who lived in the cultivation world.
"Thanks to you, I've gathered a great deal of information. My gratitude."
Sama Mun wore a satisfied smile. This was the first time he had ever held such a lengthy conversation with a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"Have all your questions been answered?"
"They have. A few new ones have cropped up, mind you…… but if this is all you know, then there's nothing to be done."
Some of it had been knowledge he already possessed, and some of it was new to him. But not a single detail had failed to fit — the man clearly hadn't lied.
"Old Ancestor Sama, then as for me — what will you……"
"Ah, your disposition? Worry not."
The conversation had served its purpose. There was nothing left to see in this one.
"I intend to put your life to a very meaningful use."
With a smooth motion, Sama Mun reached his hand into the Universe in the Sleeve and pictured the object he desired in his mind. The moment he did, it found its way into his palm of its own accord.
Shing.
A treasured sword slid out of the empty air. The fierce energy radiating from its blade made the very space tremble.
"Don't tell me…… a Dharma Treasure?"
"That's right. This is the very Dharma Treasure I have spent long years preparing in order to reach the Soul Formation realm."
A Dharma Treasure — a treasure whose power stood in a class entirely apart from ordinary Dharma Artifacts. Upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, a cultivator gained the ability to forge one with his own hands. It demanded an enormous investment of resources, but forge a treasure perfectly matched to oneself, and one could obtain monstrous power — enough that it could serve as the decisive key to reaching Soul Formation.
"I forged it using the Poison Dragon Gal Roe as a sacrificial offering."
The Poison Dragon Gal Roe had once been the guardian beast of the Myriad Poison Six Evils Sect. Word had it that it had followed Sama Mun up to the Upper Layers of Ghost Head City.
But that had been a lie. Sama Mun had killed Gal Roe with his own hands, laid it upon an altar, and forged this treasure from its remains. Guardian beast or not — however many long years of loyalty it had given the sect — if a higher realm awaited on the other side, he would kill it without a moment's hesitation.
"This Tamryeong Yeonhonggeom — the Soul-Greedy Refining Sword — was crafted by adapting the grand methods of the Demonic Dao. It grows ever stronger by devouring souls of special quality. And what I wish to feed it, you see, is your Body of the Dark True Abyss."
At those words, Sama Mun threw his shoulders back and roared with laughter — for the man before him showed not the slightest trace of fear. His eyes had never once left the Dharma Treasure.
"Awed by the majesty of the treasure I forged, are you? And why shouldn't you be! This is the finest masterpiece of my entire life!"
Sama Mun's arrogant laughter rang out unchecked. This, after all, was the moment when he felt his greatest pleasure — flaunting his achievements.
"Yes, Old Ancestor Sama."
But at that very instant, a voice of absolute, glacial calm answered him.
"I wanted to see that Dharma Treasure with my own two eyes. More than anything."
In that moment.
Cheon Woo-jin's eyes gleamed with an unearthly light.