Chapter 980
Chapter 980
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 980
Chapter Title: Radiant Ascension Path
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I plastered talismans all over Mobi-seol's neck—or more precisely, the severed stump.
"H-Hold on…! Nngh…!"
His resistance was all talk. With no body left, there wasn't much else a trunkless Mobi-seol could do. Escape was out of the question.
"Weird, huh? How are you even talking without anything below the neck? Must be because you're a yokai."
I grabbed Mobi-seol's head and shoved it into the box. Truth be told, it wasn't that surprising.
"D-Damn it! Don't stick my head in this stifling box! Get me out—right now! Are you deaf?!"
"Stay put in there nice and quiet. I'll let you out once you're ready to answer my questions properly. Oh, and work on that attitude—make it polite."
"You bastard! How the hell did I end up like… Waaah!"
His screams were getting annoying. I wrapped the box in cloth a few times, muffling the noise completely.
"Sung Yu-jin-nim. What should we do with these?"
I turned to the side. Mobi-seol's wriggling flesh lumps had gone limp. Cut off from their regeneration, they were just ordinary meat now.
"Burn 'em. We'll head out around lunchtime today. Rest up until then."
"Um… Sung Yu-jin-nim. What about their loot…?"
Jin Gu-eon asked cautiously.
"Oh, right. We gotta divvy that up. Sung Ji-gon, you're on it."
"Got it, Yu-jin. But there are martial arts manuals too. What do we do with those?"
"Couldn't care less about that trash. Handle it however. Just make sure my cut of the cash is secure."
I dumped everything else on them and headed to an empty room at the inn, collapsing onto the bed for some shut-eye.
The sun had climbed high in the sky.
The Iron Oath Group set off for Manmu City, bringing the old lady from the paulownia inn and her son along.
"Oof, oof."
The old lady groaned in pain. Trekking a long distance was tough on her frail, untrained body. Her son couldn't help much—he was already weighed down by all the baggage. In the end, Sung Ji-gon stepped up.
"Granny. Hop on—I'll carry you."
"…Th-Thank ye."
Before long, the old lady trusted and relied on Sung Ji-gon more than her own son.
And whenever the group took a break, Sung Ji-gon and the old lady would quietly slip away somewhere. No one—not me, not the others—said a word. We all knew exactly what they were up to. When they returned from their "rest," the old lady looked exhausted, while Sung Ji-gon had a refreshed glow.
'Walking's a pain. Time to hit auto-progress.'
Time flew by.
This world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Bandits might jump us, or a yokai could ambush out of nowhere. No wonder ronin bands and escort agencies thrived.
"It's a man-eating tiger!"
A tiger that had tasted human flesh and awakened as a yokai charged us, its eyes blazing red.
I didn't need to lift a finger. The Iron Oath Group had a solid rep as ronin for a reason. They handled a mere man-eater without my help.
"Sung Yu-jin-nim! Here's the tiger pelt!"
"Don't need it."
"Pardon?"
"I said I don't need it."
"Th-Then this…."
"Do whatever."
I ignored Jin Gu-eon and pulled out the cloth-wrapped box. Opening it released a foul stench, revealing Mobi-seol's head, which eerily resembled a newborn's face.
Mobi-seol's eyes twitched before slowly opening.
"Nng… ba…!"
"Cut the crap. Ready to answer my questions now?"
"…How many weeks has it been?"
Mobi-seol asked in a voice like death's doorstep.
"Weeks? Hasn't been that long. About two weeks, give or take?"
"Only two weeks…?"
"Looks like you're still not broken enough. Next time, it's a month."
I started shoving his head back into the box. Mobi-seol's mouth gaped wide.
"W-Wait! I never want to go back in there! That place is hell—like the endless pit!"
"Your tone's still rude."
"S-Sorry! Please, don't put me in the box! A few more days in there and I'd really lose my mind!"
"Do you even have a mind to lose?"
"Y-You have so many questions for me! If I go mad, it'll be a problem for you, Sung Yu-jin-nim!"
Terror filled Mobi-seol's eyes. The box confinement had worked better than expected.
"You're misunderstanding something. You're not that valuable. I can get info on the Black Paper Union from others."
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything I know! Just let me out!"
"Let you out? You cheeky bastard. Still haven't learned your place."
I lifted the box. Mobi-seol panicked.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll tell you everything! Please, anything but the box!"
"Now we can have a proper chat. Unsatisfactory answers, and it's box time for you."
I set the box down and pulled out a slip of paper. Pointing to the Earth script on it, I asked,
"This script. It's a code, right?"
"…Yes. The Black Paper Union's cipher."
"Who developed it?"
"I don't know. I only received the decryption method from the Black Paper Union's leader."
I furrowed my brow, lost in thought for a moment. Was the Black Paper leader the Possession Heavenly Demon? Unlikely. In that story, 'I Woke Up as the Heavenly Demon,' the current Heavenly Demon was the possessed one.
'But the Heavenly Demon's name isn't that famous here. And he wouldn't stoop to leading something like the Black Paper Union.'
Even if worlds had merged, the basics shouldn't change.
"What does this code mean?"
"It's an order to gather at the Black Paper Union's heart in three months! About two months left."
"Two months… Can't make it. Gotta hit the Myriad Martial Tower."
The tower could take months or even years. No way to disguise myself as Mobi-seol with sorcery.
"What's the Black Paper leader look like? Refined type?"
"The leader? Far from refined. Even rougher-looking than me."
"Name?"
"Don't know. We just call him Leader."
I scowled.
"You… What do you even know?"
"S-Sorry."
"You're a Black Paper exec, right?"
"Yes! I'm one of their top five!"
"And you know jack shit? How'd you even join?"
"Well… I was a bandit originally. Practiced the Immortal Divine Art by snacking on passersby in the hills. Then the Black Paper leader approached me with an offer: elixirs and Vermilion Divine Kidneys if I joined up…."
"Sold out for the kidneys?"
"Yes. And easier access to humans…."
Gulp.
The head swallowed hard.
"Sung Yu-jin-nim. I'm so… so hungry… No human meat, please. Just something else to eat?"
"Shut it, you bodiless freak. Answer straight, no games, and maybe I'll give you water."
I grilled him relentlessly about the Black Paper Union. I got a rough picture: they were recruiting yokai and demons alike, expanding aggressively.
'Got all I need on them. No capacity to chase us anyway.'
We were long out of their reach. Too late to pursue, and Manmu City wasn't a playground for nobodies like them.
'Info secured… Time to off this creep.'
No way was I lugging that ugly mug around.
I raised the crimson blade, Flame Lotus Sword. Mobi-seol's eyes widened.
"No way, right? You're not gonna kill me? I haven't spilled everything on the Black Paper Union!"
"Enough. Got what I came for."
"Spare me! I know their operations too! I'll tell all—please…!"
"Not important. I'll just grab the leader later and squeeze him. Wait, does cutting the head kill you?"
"Y-Yes! These weird talismans sealed my Immortal Divine Art! I don't want to die! Please, spare me!"
"Die."
Stab.
The blade pierced Mobi-seol's forehead dead center. He convulsed and went still. The ghost talismans guaranteed no resurrection.
"Sung Yu-jin-nim. Better burn it just to be safe, no?"
Jin Gu-eon suggested. Still uneasy despite the clear death.
"Handle it."
Jin Gu-eon tossed the head into the bonfire. It didn't burn easily. Five hours later, the skull emerged; he and the others smashed it to powder with rocks. The dust scattered on the wind.
Our journey ended in Manmu City, home of the Myriad Martial Tower.
The tower loomed at the city's heart, easily over 100 meters tall. Yet only twenty stories—each floor massive as a building. I marveled at it, then glanced back.
The Iron Oath Group had shrunk from over thirty to twenty-three. Twenty-five including me and Sung Ji-gon. Casualties from bandits and yokai along the way.
For reference, the inn's mother-son duo died a week ago. The old lady perished from a burst heart mid-sex with Sung Ji-gon.
"Lost a prime pussy… Be happy there, Granny."
Sung Ji-gon murmured wistfully at the night sky on her death day.
"M-Mother dead?! You psycho! Did you have to fuck her to death?!"
Her furious son, Shin Gu-bo, grabbed a sword stolen from a ronin and lunged at Sung Ji-gon. Sung Ji-gon disarmed him and plunged it into his heart.
"Shin Gu-bo… You lived this long for Granny. She's gone; you're useless now. Filial piety awaits in the afterlife."
"Gahk! You mad… bastard…!"
Grieving his lost hole, Sung Ji-gon moped for two days before snapping back to training.
After all that drama, we reached Manmu City. We settled at a nearby inn and submitted our tower entry forms.
Five days until the Myriad Martial Tower opened.
The day the Myriad Martial Tower opened its gates.
Crowds flooded the tower entrance from every corner—warriors, merchants, sorcerers, escorts, all walks of life. The tower offered not just martial arts, but elixirs and artifacts too.
It accepted anyone under fifty. Even a ten-year-old kid qualified.
'At least two hundred thousand. Impressive.'
I spread my senses through the throng. A few radiated immense presences—like me, at the Five Qi realm.
'So many reaching Five Qi before fifty… This world's vast. Insanely so.'
Allies or foes? Unknown. The tower's trials varied each time.
Clang. Rumble…!
The massive iron gates swung wide. Armored soldiers marched out in unison. Expected—the tower belonged to the emperor; they were his men.
At their center: a middle-aged man with black beard, ornate red helm, and pristine white spear.
"Attention."
All eyes turned to him. I tensed. His aura screamed Three Essences expert.
"I serve as general under the Western Ox Divine General. Folks call me White Snow Spear. I oversee the Myriad Martial Tower now, and I'll handle the first-floor trial."