Chapter 237
Chapter 237
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 237
Chapter Title: Cultivator's Mountain (11)
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A cloudless purple sky.
A flat brown wasteland devoid of even a single blade of grass.
And before it, a single Stiffened Corpse appeared.
Chiwoo immediately saw through the nature of the third trial.
"A trial using Stiffened Corpses, huh. So there are still families that handle them."
Even in his heyday, there had been families that manipulated Stiffened Corpses.
They couldn't join the super-first-rate ranks due to how finicky and limited they were to create.
"Did they succeed in mass-producing them?"
The chronic issue had always been production volume.
It boasted extreme inefficiency, pouring all sorts of drugs and techniques into a corpse just to barely make one.
Moreover, Stiffened Corpses couldn't surpass the limits of the person they were in life, dooming the families to regression.
Yet, if they were using them as trials at the base of the mountain, it seemed they'd resolved those chronic problems to some extent.
He'd thought they'd vanished long ago.
"Let's see, then..."
He extended his foot.
A Stiffened Corpse with no particular peculiarities.
This was just to check how much progress they'd made.
A Stiffened Corpse made from an utterly ordinary corpse.
The internal energy it exuded was at best that of a third-rate warrior.
Swoosh-!
Thud!
"...Oh ho."
The Stiffened Corpse blocked his fist.
And there was even a bit of rebound force.
Not quite at the level of Repelling Strength, but it meant it could handle energy on instinct.
Definitely far removed from the Stiffened Corpses he knew.
Unlike the shoddy ones that were slow to react and couldn't properly wield energy.
It had evolved much further.
Probably... during the years he was absent, martial arts of all kinds had advanced a step.
The problem was the method.
How had they solved the chronic issues?
The 'Eight Trigrams' of the second trial was a method unimaginable in the old Pantheon.
They valued pure martial force above all, never even considering tools.
In other words.
'It's changed.'
The Pantheon had changed.
Cultivator's Mountain was no longer the place he knew.
Whether this change was positive or negative would have to be seen.
But it made him uneasy.
Because...
'The Arhats have accepted avatars.'
The successor had said it in the second trial's venue.
There had been avatars.
The demons had made the Arhats into their avatars.
And the Arhats had accepted becoming avatars.
One couldn't become an avatar without mutual consent.
Things that would have been unspeakable in the past were happening one after another.
"...I can't just sit back as some forgotten old man in the back room."
Crunch!
With his mind made up, Chiwoo swiftly snapped the Stiffened Corpse's neck.
The Stiffened Corpses grow stronger with each floor ascended.
Chiwoo was curious.
What Stiffened Corpse would be at the top of the tower?
Would there even be one capable of matching him?
He who was the Heavenly King and had returned to youth through ultimate enlightenment.
Now, it would take six of the Twelve Heavenly Kings charging at him to stand a chance.
Even against the God-Slayer who had needed all Twelve just to sever his left arm, he could now somewhat contend.
Thus.
"Interesting."
Chiwoo smiled.
Old-era martial arts clashing with new-era martial arts.
Just imagining what had changed and how far they'd advanced was fun.
The Nine Families.
That's what they called the greatest families in the Pantheon.
The supreme group that all Arhats revered.
The true masters leading the Pantheon.
Among them, the 'Stiffened Corpse Sect' was the most brutal and vicious contender.
And the third trial examiner, Anton, had committed a grave sin against his family, the 'Stiffened Corpse Sect'.
'I awakened a Stiffened Corpse that should never have been awakened.'
Normally, he would have atoned with death.
But the reason he survived was simple.
The Stiffened Corpse Anton awakened recognized him as its master.
If Anton died, that Stiffened Corpse would vanish too.
Thus, Anton was demoted to the third trial examiner at the mountain's base.
Having fallen from the upper levels to the entrance, he naturally became the target of gossip overnight.
He too burned with the desire to climb back to the upper levels.
He had no intention of lingering eternally at the mountain's base.
'I'll definitely climb back up.'
No matter the demotion, there was a way to rise again.
Achieve results the family would covet.
And the mountain's base was the perfect place for that.
'Fresh corpses overflow here.'
Arhats taking the trials to ascend the mountain.
Their corpses were optimized for making Stiffened Corpses.
Of course, in the Abyss, the dead left no corpses behind.
Cultivator's Mountain was no different.
The Stiffened Corpse Sect had once walked the path of decline due to this chronic issue.
However, they perfected the 'Corpse Summoning Art'.
They could recall bodies of the recently deceased.
Though, despite the name, the summoned bodies were empty shells without souls, in the Abyss, the bodies themselves were treated as souls.
At any rate, with the perfected Corpse Summoning Art, the Stiffened Corpse Sect proudly claimed a spot among the Nine Families.
Naturally, Anton, as a member, could use the Corpse Summoning Art too.
'...If I complete an unfinished Stiffened Corpse, they'll see me differently.'
Anton grinned wickedly.
He had secretly placed his strongest awakened Stiffened Corpse at the tower's top.
But it was still unfinished.
He had awakened it prematurely.
Some body parts weren't suitable yet.
He needed a more perfect body, a more complete Stiffened Corpse.
No Arhat of satisfactory quality had appeared yet.
However.
'A guy who got consecutive top marks. His provincial origins are a turn-off, but... his body might fill in the remaining parts.'
This trial-taker Arhat was different.
If even Isabaek and Yulla acknowledged him, his body's potential was near limitless.
The only flaw was his 'provincial' origins.
Provincials.
The Nine Families didn't associate with Arhats from there.
Middling families eager to expand might eye them, but even they wouldn't entrust key roles to provincials.
They were descendants of those exiled to the provinces for grave sins.
Offspring of sinners.
Inferior by birth.
Just being allowed on the mountain was a boon for them.
Anton shrugged and gazed at the tower.
Inside there, the two provincial beggars would die.
And be reborn as Stiffened Corpses.
A fitting end for them.
"Already at the 10th floor, huh."
Examiner Isabaek muttered.
A brilliant light flared near the 10th floor.
Someone had conquered the 10th and ascended further.
"The 10th floor is something anyone can climb."
Anton remained unperturbed.
Countless Arhats couldn't even reach it, but these two had unprecedented scores.
It would have been disappointing if they hadn't.
But...
"Isn't the pace a bit fast?"
"Hmm. Both are relentless."
Their climbing speed didn't slow.
Even at the 15th and 20th floors, they kept ascending nonstop.
And it wasn't just one—both were the same.
"What was the record?"
"Around 53 floors, I think? Right, Anton?"
"59 floors."
Isabaek and Yulla asked, and Anton answered.
This too was set by a provincial Arhat.
But he hadn't reached the top.
The Mystic Tower strengthened Stiffened Corpses per floor.
Similar to the 'Creation Abysses' made by Creators.
Sometimes exceeding even Stiffened Corpse limits.
Higher floors meant facing Stiffened Corpses vastly stronger than oneself.
Reaching 59 was miraculous.
"...30th floor."
"...Fast."
Isabaek and Yulla's expressions hardened gradually.
Anton too.
Usually, speed slowed around the 30th.
Yet theirs didn't.
Impossible.
No Arhat had climbed this fast before.
Quitting at 30 still gave mid-tier scores.
40+ was high-tier, and only one had gone 50+.
'No way.'
Anton shook his head.
Seemed like some trick, but they'd hit their limit soon.
Different from the first or second trials.
...It had to be.
Only by proving his trial's perfection could he climb back up.
Park Chan-woo pondered for a moment.
'Too fast?'
He'd been severing the necks of every appearing Stiffened Corpse, but now wondered if he should pace himself.
Still stuck in negative territory.
He didn't know how many floors, but it meant at least 27 more of the same.
But if the 31st brought 'Peak Stiffened Corpses', there were limits to what appeared.
'Similar to Game Master Andariel's trial.'
It resembled the 'Death Booking' from the first night.
But then, he'd used Sword King Lee Hyuk-soo to handle it.
Park Chan-woo himself had just watched from behind with hands clasped.
Not this time.
He was fighting solo against Stiffened Corpses gradually leveling up.
The rewards from back then were mind-blowing.
What about now?
Reaching the limit might yield something different.
The reason was simple.
'Not just a simple trial. It's a Creation Abyss.'
This 'Mystic Tower' was undoubtedly a Creation Abyss.
A demon lord's— a Creator's— domain right at the mountain's base was absurd.
But in a Creation Abyss, worthy achievements brought worthy rewards.
Chiwoo too was intensely curious how far he'd climb.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
'Gotta go as far as I can.'