Dense Jungle (3)
So Seol-ryeong really does use ice-attribute sorcery, after all.
Seo Seol-ryeong was a Guye Zhenren from Mount Makgoya.
According to the Zhuangzi, on Mount Makgoya there lived a mysterious being whose skin was like ice and snow and whose grace was like that of a maiden. That was why the name Guye Zhenren — the True Person of Guye — conjured the image of an immortal who commanded ice and snow, or an ethereal beauty shrouded in mystery.
The game had never revealed what Seo Seol-ryeong's specialty was. But since her status window read Water Spirit Root, Guye Zhenren, it had been safe to assume she had trained an ice-attribute cultivation art or sorcery.
Ice attribute, with its manipulation of cold qi, was treated as a rare element in the game. It was hard to learn, too.
Of all the enemies Cheon Woo-jin had faced so far, only one had wielded cold qi — Gu Yang-gyeol of the Moonlit Thirteen League. Gu Yang-gyeol had learned the Six Extremes Yin Spirit Formation Art, a Yin Water cultivation method, from Gwi Myeon-saeng, one of the Thirteen Venerables, and that was what let him command cold qi.
Seo Seol-ryeong had most likely mastered an ice-attribute art of an even higher order. It was the norm for those of the Zhenren lineage to train the special ascension methods handed down from their ancestors, generation after generation.
If I could learn that, it would be a tremendous help to me as well.
Cheon Woo-jin also possessed a Water Spirit Root, which made the ice attribute a natural fit for him. Just as Wood Spirit Root cultivators paired wood with wind, if he could alternate between water and ice attributes, he would be able to handle a far wider range of situations.
"D-did you find that helpful?"
So Jun-bang watched Cheon Woo-jin's face with servile eyes. His expression was heavy with the hope that a piece of good information might buy him his life.
"If it's no trouble, I could tell you which direction that woman went. I could even guide you there myself."
"No, there's no need."
He had gotten the sighting; that was enough. If she had passed through this place, then she was definitely headed for the 6th Layer. He would be able to meet her once he climbed up there, so there was no need to chase her trail in such a hurry.
"In exchange, there's one more thing I'd like you to tell me."
"Yes?"
"Where is Jangrim Stronghold?"
"……!"
Where the stronghold of the Jangrim Stronghold gang was located. At the question, So Jun-bang began to tremble.
"Why... why would you ask that...?"
"Why do you think?"
Cheon Woo-jin stared straight at him and asked, "What do you think the reason is?"
"……"
So Jun-bang swallowed dryly. Cold sweat trickled down his face.
"Apparently words aren't enough for you. Then guide me there yourself."
"Ah......"
When Cheon Woo-jin shoved his shoulder, So Jun-bang's face twisted in anguish. But in the end, he took the lead and began guiding Cheon Woo-jin forward.
If my memory serves, Jangrim Stronghold built its main base near one of the entrances to the tower.
The underground passage into the tower had multiple entrances, and one of them sat close to the stronghold. Find Jangrim Stronghold, and the tower's entrance would be easy to locate as well.
I was planning to follow the spirit meridians like I did in the game, but that's turned out to be far more of a hassle than I expected. This way is better.
Yeongro Suseonjeon had been a game of impressive freedom, but coercing a Jangrim Stronghold flunky into escorting you to the main base had been impossible. Actions that complicated simply weren't implemented in the game.
But this world was not a game. He could act far more freely here than any playthrough had ever allowed.
"Th-this way, please."
So Jun-bang proved an excellent guide. Thanks to him, in less than half a day Cheon Woo-jin had drawn near the main base of Jangrim Stronghold.
"Much obliged. On my own, it would have taken me ages to get this far."
"Haha! Finding your way through this jungle is famously difficult, you see. The undergrowth spreads however it pleases, so no maps can even be made. Unless you live here year-round like we do, getting lost is simply inevitable."
As he spoke, So Jun-bang stole another glance at Cheon Woo-jin's face.
"So then... may I take my leave now?"
"No."
"……"
At the cold reply, despair flooded So Jun-bang's face.
"Wh-why not? I went to the trouble of guiding you all the way here!"
"Which is why I said thank you."
"Then in gratitude, couldn't you spare my life? Show me some mercy, I beg you!"
Cheon Woo-jin looked him dead in the eye and asked, "When you were ambushing the cultivators passing through this place, did you ever show any of them mercy?"
"……"
So Jun-bang shut his mouth.
Toward that head, bowed in resignation, Cheon Woo-jin extended his hand.
Crack!
He injected lightning qi into the man's upper dantian, killing him instantly, then murmured to himself alone.
"It wouldn't be the first or second time I crossed this jungle on my way up to the 6th Layer only to be ambushed by Jangrim Stronghold......"
Since he had come all this way anyway —
He would tear the gang out by the roots before he left.
Before assaulting Jangrim Stronghold, Cheon Woo-jin first entered the Great Emptiness Cave Heaven Mirror. There he changed his clothes and donned a disguise using the human-skin mask and the Reverse Form Alteration Art.
What he was about to do was not something Cheon Woo-jin should be seen doing. It had to be done as someone else entirely.
"Who goes there!"
As the disguised Cheon Woo-jin approached Jangrim Stronghold, the sentries raised their voices in alarm. But he answered no one; he simply drew the Black Locust Sword first. It was already imbued with the scorpion venom he had harvested from Sama Mun's eastern quarters.
"What business does some stranger have at our Jangrim Str— urk?"
"Wh-why is my body all of a sudden...... ghhk."
Metal fragments as tiny as gnats scattered throughout the stronghold. Venom seeped in through the small cuts they left as they brushed across skin, poisoning a great many of the bandits.
Cheon Woo-jin plunged into their midst as their combat strength collapsed. Sweeping the men aside as he unleashed one sorcery after another, the Black Shadow Thorn Spikes among them, an enormous voice exploded from deep inside the compound.
"You pathetic wretches! Groveling there because you can't even neutralize a little poison!"
Kuu-boom!
A colossal figure burst through the wooden roof and leapt out. He was so tall, and his skin had the rough texture of tree bark, that at a glance he looked less like a man than a tree demon.
This was Jang Po, the chieftain of Jangrim Stronghold. His tree-demon appearance was the result of reaching mastery in the Spring Spirit Divine Tree Art, a formidable wood-attribute cultivation method.
"You're the one stirring up trouble, aren't you? What exactly is your purpose here?"
"Honestly, I could have simply passed you by without a care."
"What did you say?"
"But then a thought occurred to me."
Cheon Woo-jin swept his gaze around the surrounding area as he spoke.
"If I burned this whole region to ash, it would be far easier to find my way the next time I climb toward the 6th Layer. That was all."
"……!"
Set a fire here and burn away the forest, and afterward he could pinpoint the location from the sky. No need to comb the jungle — he could fly straight to the spot thinking, ah, that burned patch is where Jangrim Stronghold used to be.
Given time, the trees would grow back, but before that happened he could simply start another fire and leave his marker again.
"You fool! You think this jungle is some ordinary forest? With your pitiful fire sorcery, you couldn't burn so much as a single tree!"
"That doesn't seem to be your problem to worry about."
Jang Po was right — Cheon Woo-jin's fire-attribute sorcery alone could not burn this region. Even drawing fire-attribute qi from the Spirit-Devouring Soul-Refining Sword to unleash Red Lightning made no difference; Red Lightning was a force closer to lightning than flame, poorly suited to setting a forest ablaze.
But Cheon Woo-jin possessed another means of burning this place to the ground.
"Worry about your own life instead, Jang Po."
"You insect......!"
THUD!
Jang Po stomped the ground and charged. For a man bearing a body like a great tree, his movements were startlingly swift.
Closing the distance in an instant, Jang Po thrust his palm toward Cheon Woo-jin. A palm technique laden with a colossal volume of wood-attribute qi — it carried the momentum to shatter anything in a single blow.
But it was met by the Silver Spirit Bulwark Shield, which Cheon Woo-jin had already deployed, and did no more than raise a tremendous boom.
"This bastard......!"
Blocked by a defensive dharma artifact, Jang Po's eyes went wide. Cheon Woo-jin sent his shadow crawling toward the man's feet.
Thrust!
A blade surged up out of the shadow and lunged for Jang Po. Unlike the other small fry, he reacted with remarkable speed — but even so, the black blade pierced clean through his right foot.
Crack-crack-crack!
Spikes erupted from the black blade and burst apart inside his foot. That alone would have destroyed not just the tendons but the very bone.
Jang Po, however, was no pushover.
"Hmph!"
Kwajik!
He wrenched his right foot free by force. Blood dripped in heavy beads from the foot, shredded to ribbons, flecked with torn flesh. Yet with a single turn of his ankle, fresh flesh grew over the wound and healed it whole.
The power of the Spring Spirit Divine Tree Art, is it.
The Spring Spirit Divine Tree Art was a cultivation method that pursued the life force of spring, when new shoots push through the soil. Its greatest hallmark in the game version of Yeongro Suseonjeon had been automatic health regeneration. An injury of this degree would be restored in the blink of an eye.
"Hngh!"
KWAAANG!
This time it was a fist. A straight punch launched at blistering speed slammed into the Silver Spirit Bulwark Shield. Unable to fully absorb the impact, Cheon Woo-jin's body was driven backward.
"Haaap!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Jang Po poured his assault down on Cheon Woo-jin without pause. Striking with his fist, with his wrist, with his elbow. Striking with his knee, with his shin, with the ridge of his foot. Beneath that mad cascade of blows, Cheon Woo-jin was pushed steadily back.
Utterly single-minded attacks.
Cheon Woo-jin analyzed Jang Po's offense from behind the Silver Spirit Bulwark Shield.
Which is exactly why they're so easy to block.
The wood attribute, by its nature, exerted its greatest power in straight-line movement. That was why the Azure Lightning of the Five Thunder Method also flew in a straight line. Jang Po's attacks were the same — a barrage of blows that came stubbornly, directly at Cheon Woo-jin's front.
Against attacks like that, a defensive artifact specialized in frontal protection like the Silver Spirit Bulwark Shield was more than enough. Jang Po no doubt wanted to shatter Cheon Woo-jin's defense head-on, but this was a top-grade defensive dharma artifact that Gu Yang-gyeol, a Core Formation cultivator, had carried in anticipation of dueling powerful foes.
No amount of power from Jang Po, a Foundation Establishment Great Circle cultivator, could break through it.
"This bastard......!"
When nothing worked, Jang Po's impatience began to show. The instant he dug his feet in hard, thick wooden vines surged up from the ground. Vines that could crush a human skeleton with a single lash coiled like serpents and descended upon Cheon Woo-jin.
Crack!
Generating lightning qi beneath his feet, Cheon Woo-jin retreated at high speed. Jang Po's attack crashed down upon nothing but the empty space where he had stood.
"Hm?"
At the sight of Cheon Woo-jin using lightning qi, Jang Po's eyes flew open.
"You — don't tell me......"
Realization dawned as to who his opponent was, and Jang Po faltered. But that faltering step was the greatest blunder of his life — for it handed Cheon Woo-jin time.
At this moment, the Spirit-Devouring Soul-Refining Sword hung in Cheon Woo-jin's hand. He unwound half of the silver-robed cloak he had wrapped around himself to smother its presence.
Even that much sent a spine-chilling aura rippling outward.
"That is......!"
Jang Po's eyes went wide as he recognized it for a dharma treasure. And as he watched the man's reaction, Cheon Woo-jin released the spirit energy stored within the Spirit-Devouring Soul-Refining Sword —
To subdue the giant of a man before him in a single stroke.
KWAAAAAANG!
The crimson lightning that even the Sect Master of the Myriad Poison Six Sand Sect had been unable to withstand struck Jang Po head-on. Lightning like roaring flame swallowed the giant whole, consuming his towering tree of a body from crown to sole —
And then, fanning out like the ribs of an open folding screen, it drove even the underlings behind him into death, every last one.