Chapter 241
Chapter 241
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 241
Chapter Title: Cultivator's Mountain (15)
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The corpse puppet he'd crafted into a 'Demon Lord' had been placed on the 80th floor.
Yet light had poured out from the 80th floor, and it was cleared.
The real problem came after that.
A brand-new 81st floor, one that hadn't existed before, was 'generated'—and not just that, but even faster.
Shwaaaaa!
...It spewed light.
Even if floors beyond the 80th existed, the clearing speed should have slowed bit by bit as one ascended. That was only natural.
Yet it had accelerated instead.
A situation even Anton hadn't anticipated.
"A bug... It has to be a bug user. There's no other way the 81st floor could suddenly appear when I never set it up."
That was the only excuse he could muster.
A 'bug user' exploiting a flaw in the Creation Abyss.
There was no other way to explain the other anomalies that had arisen, since it hadn't been cleared through normal means.
"In other words, there was a flaw in the 'Tower of Mystery' that you failed to notice? And the one climbing it now is exploiting that flaw?"
"Th-that's...!"
Under Kang Shi-chan's aggressive questioning, Anton frantically shook his head.
But it was already too late.
It only exposed his own incompetence.
Kang Shi-chan stroked his chin.
'They didn't climb the tower through normal means.'
Of the two who had entered, one had given up on the 73rd floor.
At least that one seemed to have climbed normally.
He must have quit out of disgust after seeing the demon turned into a corpse puppet.
In any case, having witnessed the demon corpse puppet, he could pose a threat to the Corpse Puppet Sect if he spoke carelessly.
If he opened his mouth recklessly, they'd have to abandon Anton to resolve the situation.
That was still manageable.
They could cover it up somehow up to that point.
The greatest crisis would come if the 'Demon Lord Corpse Puppet' was exposed.
Anton couldn't have done it alone.
The Corpse Puppet Sect would inevitably be implicated, and in the worst case, it would deal a massive blow to the sect itself.
'Better if it's a bug user.'
Thinking about it, that explanation was far more plausible.
A tower where difficulty rose exponentially the higher you went.
Climbing past the 80th floor...?
'Hold on.'
A sudden thought struck Kang Shi-chan, and he glanced at Chiwoo, the man who had exited the tower.
He'd momentarily forgotten about him amid the shock of whoever was still climbing, but was it even possible to reach the 73rd floor through normal means?
The tower had Corpse Puppet Sect demons deployed in it—ones they'd crafted themselves.
The power of those demon corpse puppets was incomparable to ordinary ones.
Even mid-tier experts of the Corpse Puppet Sect wouldn't find them easy to defeat.
And yet...
'His breathing is steady. Barely any wounds.'
The man's condition was remarkably calm.
Not a single hitch in his breath.
If he'd fought intense battles, his clothes should at least be disheveled, but from head to toe, he was spotless, without a speck of dust.
There were faint marks on the back of his hand, but even those seemed to have regenerated already.
It meant he'd handled the demon corpse puppet with ease.
His inner energy flow, his gaze, his stance—all of it.
'A true master.'
He was undoubtedly a master in the truest sense.
Which only made it all the more baffling.
'...A master of that caliber from the outer realms?'
It should be impossible to produce someone of that level with outer realm martial arts alone.
Modern martial arts were on a whole different plane from the old ones.
Moreover, he didn't look particularly old.
At most, around Kang Shi-chan's age...
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Light kept leaking out endlessly.
New floors generated and cleared in a mad frenzy.
'You bastard. Just how high do you plan to go?'
Even watching it now was enough to make him nauseous.
"Kahaha! As expected of the successor! He's on another level entirely."
It was then.
The man who had exited the tower first burst into hearty laughter.
...Successor.
Were there any in the outer realms worthy of being called 'successor'?
More than that, even the arhats from the outer realms seemed to be seeing this man for the first time.
Who the hell was he?
The one who had climbed the mountain with such a master by his side.
It had been ages since anyone stirred this much curiosity in Kang Shi-chan—the man called one of the Nine Dragons, heir to one of the nine great families, fearless of the world.
If the one still climbing emerged unscathed...
Even if it turned out to be a bug user.
'There'll be an uproar.'
Families vying to recruit him would be a dime a dozen.
The Corpse Puppet Sect would have to choose.
Recruit him into the sect without fail, or...
'Kill him.'
Killing the creator of the cradle wasn't the end.
The bastard had prepared another domain behind him.
But the time allotted was only 3 hours.
'3 hours is plenty.'
Park Chan-woo's entire body turned pitch black, like shadows.
It was the 'Absolute One' state.
The set effect of Baal's Sword and Baal's Belt.
He hadn't met the conditions until now, but facing the 'Creator of the Cradle' made activation possible.
He couldn't be sure if directly confronting the creator was the trigger, but thanks to it, climbing the tower became even easier.
True Master of the Cradle.
A massive black goat the size of a mountain.
It spewed immense curses and constricted his body with terrifying magic power.
But...
'Plenty of room to spare.'
Even so, its level hadn't reached 30 yet.
Unknown territory. From the 81st floor on, the opponent's level rose by 1 each time.
Of course, it was on another dimension from a normal level 30—a final boss-grade demon beast.
Yet Park Chan-woo smiled.
He was immensely curious just how far he could go.
Exactly 3 hours later.
No more light leaked from the tower.
Instead, something even more astonishing happened.
"Th-the tower...!"
"The tower's gone!"
"What? What happened?"
The tower had suddenly evaporated.
As if what had stood before their eyes was a lie.
And in the place where the tower had vanished.
"Successor!"
One man lay collapsed.
It was Park Chan-woo.
The moment Chiwoo spotted the fallen Park Chan-woo, he rushed over and propped him up.
He was unconscious, seemingly utterly exhausted.
His body looked gaunt, as if he'd burned through his physical fuel excessively.
Utterly different from before entering the tower.
'His inner energy is depleted. He pushed his body to the limit.'
He didn't know what martial art he'd used, but it was proof he'd wielded power beyond his limits.
Chiwoo immediately began tending to Park Chan-woo's body with his inner energy.
At the same time, murmurs rippled through the surroundings.
"That arhat..."
"Did he conquer the tower? Completely?"
"If that's why the tower vanished..."
The arhats turned to Anton.
The grader who had created and scored the trial.
They couldn't predict what score he'd give.
No, he might not even be able to score it.
There was no grade above 'Supreme', yet anyone could see this result was far too superior to dismiss as mere 'Supreme'.
An unknown realm no one had reached.
And he'd leaped far beyond even that!
"......"
Anton was at a loss for words.
Kang Shi-chan and the other Corpse Puppet Sect masters were the same.
Was it because the man's appearance was so unexpected?
No.
It was because the realm he'd reached right before the tower vanished defied imagination.
They hadn't even known floors past 80 existed.
Anton muttered softly.
"150th floor..."
An emergency meeting was convened.
Isa-baek, Yulla, and Anton stood at the center of the conference room.
"Did you sense any illicit power? Such as demonic energy, for instance."
Asked those clad in black robes like reapers.
They were the inquisitors tasked with resolving issues on the mountain.
They wielded authority powerful enough to mediate all families, yet for them to initiate a meeting over an incident at the mountain's base was unprecedented.
"None at all."
"No demonic interference. He even killed the incarnation."
"......I don't know."
Isa-baek, Yulla, and Anton answered in turn.
The inquisitor looked at Anton and said,
"You don't know?"
"I can't perceive anything happening inside the tower. However... it doesn't seem like he climbed it normally."
"Are you certain? Or is it speculation?"
"Speculation, but... close to certainty..."
"If you're not certain, don't answer."
"......Understood."
Anton's body trembled as he nodded.
The inquisitors' authority and power weren't something a mere Anton could defy.
"Two Supremes and one Double Supreme. Subject 'Park Chan-woo' passed the preliminary with an unprecedented score. Do you have any objections to awarding this?"
"None."
"I judge it more than sufficient."
"Based on the results alone... yes."
Anton, who answered last, squeezed his eyes shut.
The bastard who reached the 150th floor and made the tower vanish.
He was the one who'd assigned the nonexistent Double Supreme score to him.
And yet he still harbored suspicions.
"Finally, did you sense any aura of 'forbidden martial arts' from those two?"
"Hm... There was a trace of something akin to Lion's Roar."
"Similar to Lion's Roar, but not Lion's Roar."
"...I don't know."
The inquisitor eyed Yulla, who had answered second.
"If not Lion's Roar, then what?"
"Closer to a beast's howl. Likely an ability one of them possesses."
Yulla was a werewolf.
There was no way she couldn't distinguish a beast's howl.
The inquisitor nodded.
"Then there are no issues. Permission granted for those two to ascend to the mountain's 'midsection'. They are also permitted entry to all sanctuaries there."
"......To outer realm folk?"
Anton blurted out hastily.
Granting outer realm folk access to all sanctuaries was also unprecedented.
"They are more than qualified. All us inquisitors agree. And, Anton."
"......Yes."
"Did you use 'demons' to create corpse puppets?"
"......!!!"
......Only then did he realize.
That the Corpse Puppet Sect had abandoned him.
The inquisitor asking directly meant the sect had reported it themselves.
With the question out, there was no escape.
'Ah...! No!'
Anton's face drained of color once more.