Chapter 255
Chapter 255
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 255
Chapter Title: Cultivator's Mountain (29)
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Chiwoo shuddered.
Most of the Arhats hadn't noticed, but Park Chan-woo's final strike had...
'Surpassed it.'
It was truly the pinnacle.
It had looked like a casual swing, but the subtlety packed into it fell short of being called merely a "Sword Tiger."
He had leaped over the wall and touched the ultimate essence in a single instant.
Park Chan-woo hadn't been trying to cut down Kang Si-chan from the start.
It had been an attack aimed at the sword all along.
'Equipment's life force. A strike that shatters durability.'
All equipment in the Abyss came with "durability."
There were occasionally indestructible pieces, but they were exceedingly rare. Unless it was one of those special cases, equipment would break once its durability ran out.
But durability wasn't visible.
It dwindled with use, but only the owner could check it.
Yet there existed a tiny handful of geniuses who could instinctively pinpoint it, relying solely on their senses.
Those born with the talent to sense durability appeared once in hundreds of millions, and most of them walked the path of grandmasters.
Even Chiwoo—no, not even any of the Twelve Heavenly Kings—possessed that gift. But Park Chan-woo did.
'...He has opened his eyes.'
The problem was that Park Chan-woo hadn't possessed any such talent before.
If he had, it would have been obvious from the beginning.
Those who could sense equipment durability handled their weapons in an entirely different way from the outset.
...A talent that had to be innate had manifested postnatally.
It defied all common sense.
The realm of the sixth sense had limits that mere training couldn't surpass.
Sensing durability sat at the absolute peak of that realm.
It couldn't be cultivated through practice.
If you weren't born with it, you could neither see nor feel it—and yet Park Chan-woo had stepped into that domain.
'In that final strike, it was as if he became another person entirely.'
While clashing with Kang Si-chan, he had realized the worn spot on the Black Dragon Sword and shattered it with his last attack.
But his stance, his breathing, his gaze—they had all been unmistakably different from the Park Chan-woo of before.
As if possessed, he had summoned the temperament of a grand sword tiger.
As if he had borrowed another person's talent...
And then, in an instant, made it his own ability.
'An unnatural aptitude for acquisition. A talent for conjuring something from nothing.'
It was anything but ordinary.
A heavenly martial body, paired with comprehension that surpassed even it.
The most terrifying part was how he grew stronger rapidly through "combat."
He showed particularly explosive progress against powerful foes.
In a situation where devoting everything to the fight should have been all-consuming, he patched his weaknesses on the fly, exploited his opponent's vulnerabilities, and powered up in real time.
It was a talent even more absurd than awakening postnatally to durability sensing.
'...His growth rate is downright frightening.'
It was a first.
The first time he had ever shuddered while watching someone else grow.
And that final strike? It was at a level that even made Chiwoo stick out his tongue in admiration.
It was undoubtedly a technique only someone who had honed their swordsmanship to its absolute limit could unleash.
If he ever had to face someone swinging a blade like that without a care... could he even win?
Chiwoo shook his head.
Park Chan-woo's final strike had transcended even Chiwoo's understanding.
And then.
There was one other person sharing Chiwoo's sentiments.
"It's driving me insane."
It was Cheon Ji-ho, the elder of the hidden realm.
He had come out to spectate the pair who had emerged from the Infinite Hell.
All he had wanted was to see just how strong they were to stir up such chaos in the mountain.
"Strong doesn't even begin to cover it. He's born with the ultimate qualities. A warrior's heart fused with a beast's savage ferocity—what else could you call that but the pinnacle?"
"Is it really that impressive?"
Arisa tilted her head quizzically.
The duel between Park Chan-woo and Kang Si-chan had been incredible, but the claim of "ultimate qualities" naturally made her wonder.
Cheon Ji-ho replied, brimming with excitement.
"He cleaved Kang Si-chan's Black Dragon Sword in two. He struck right at the gap in its durability. Heaven-granted talent, combined with ice-cold precision and audacity—what else but 'ultimate qualities'? And that last swing he unleashed..."
Cheon Ji-ho had also clearly seen Park Chan-woo target the durability flaw.
And that final strike? It was impossible not to shudder.
Any Arhat who had reached a certain level of attainment would have trembled instinctively, even without fully grasping it.
"...What on earth was that 'ferocious beast'?"
Arisa asked, her face stiffening.
It wasn't just the swordsmanship that defied understanding.
The emergence of that savage beast, which had frozen every Arhat in place, refused to fade from her mind.
Cheon Ji-ho answered in a grave tone.
"...It's a beast with no connection whatsoever to the Twelve Heavenly Kings. One of them bears the name of First Heavenly King Chiwoo, but even that's not what Park Chan-woo channeled."
"So he's not an heir who inherited the full lineage of the Twelve Heavenly Kings?"
"I thought he might be... but now, I'm not so sure."
Cheon Ji-ho stroked his chin.
If he had inherited the Twelve Heavenly Kings' lineage, he should have wielded techniques like Chiwoo's "Asura Sword."
But the swordsmanship Park Chan-woo displayed had absolutely nothing to do with the Twelve Heavenly Kings.
And that was hardly all.
The overwhelming beast that had appeared midway held no place in the Twelve Heavenly Kings' legacies either.
In other words.
"Not an heir to the Twelve Heavenly Kings' lineage... but an heir to something else entirely. That would explain it."
"An heir to another great lineage, you mean?"
"The Heavenly Demon."
"...!!!"
At the unforeseen name, Arisa's pupils dilated sharply.
Cheon Ji-ho pressed on.
"Moreover, long ago, there was someone who commanded a colossal, unspeakably ferocious beast. He was hailed as the true guardian deity of the Pantheon Temple but vanished alongside the Heavenly Demon. That might have been the beast."
"So he's the Heavenly Demon's successor...?"
"Arisa."
"Yes, Great Elder."
"Follow him."
"...Pardon?"
The abrupt command left Arisa utterly bewildered.
Follow him?
"You mean climb to the upper levels alongside him?"
"Exactly."
"But... some sanctuary masters won't permit me to attempt their trials. They despise anyone from this place."
To take a sanctuary's trial, its master had to grant permission.
But those who loathed hidden realm natives had blocked Arisa from every opportunity so far.
Short of forcibly seizing a sanctuary, there was no way around it.
Cheon Ji-ho drew a single sheet of paper from his bosom.
"Take this."
"This is...! An 'indulgence'?"
It was a pardon that absolved any violation of the mountain's rules—no punishment possible.
And it bore the seal of Taebaek himself.
In the Cultivator's Mountain, it wielded absolute authority.
"Make a deal with Kang Si Sect, and they'll permit challenges to every sanctuary."
"B-but this is something you should use, Great Elder...!"
"I never intended to use it in my lifetime anyway."
Cheon Ji-ho shook his head.
Sin-Slayer Taebaek.
He had received it directly from the man himself but had never once used it.
Nor did he ever plan to.
Cheon Ji-ho's power in the mountain was restricted due to grave sins from his past.
The indulgence would lift those shackles, but his pride forbade it.
"Take it. If you refuse, I'll use it to wipe my ass and toss it."
"...Understood."
"Handing over the indulgence now? Kang Si Sect will cough up everything they've got."
With Kang Si-chan's identity as an incarnation exposed, the sect could no longer evade responsibility.
But wielding the indulgence would shield them from any official repercussions.
Even if whispers and scorn followed, if they escaped true accountability, Kang Si Sect would bend over backward to help Arisa conquer the sanctuary trials.
"Keep watch by his side. And..."
"......"
"Once you reach the Pantheon Temple, you must master the latter half of the White Dragon Codex. Do that, and your martial art will be complete."
"...Yes."
Arisa nodded, her expression solemn.
The martial art Arisa practiced was incomplete—only half of it.
Its latter portion had been lost, leaving her with just the first half.
She had chosen that half-finished art due to her unique constitution.
'Nine Yin Severed Meridians... the perfect body for ice arts, but without completion, her life will be short.'
Arisa had been born harboring extreme yin energy.
She barely suppressed it with the White Dragon Codex, but failing to learn the rest at the Pantheon Temple meant an early grave.
He had handed her the indulgence now, deeming the moment ripe.
It was no item to squander lightly, save for times like these.
And besides.
'Your true place isn't the hidden realm—it's the Pantheon Temple.'
There was more he hadn't voiced.
It concerned Arisa's origins.
Arisa hadn't been born in the hidden realm.
She hailed from one of the nine great clans: the North Sea Ice Palace.
Born the palace lord's daughter, yet abandoned at birth for reasons unknown.
Arisa's birth mother had begged Cheon Ji-ho desperately, and only then had he taken her in.
Had he refused, Arisa would have perished before even gaining self-awareness.
'Wretched fools. What crime did a newborn babe commit?'
It still made no sense to him.
Why discard a child so pure and bright into the hidden realm?
He didn't know the full truth, but one thing was clear: this wasn't where she belonged.
'If he truly is the Heavenly Demon's successor...'
Thus, if Park Chan-woo really was the Heavenly Demon's heir.
Then following him up the mountain was a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity.
With every eye glued to Park Chan-woo, if Arisa could reach the Pantheon Temple and complete the White Dragon Codex, even the North Sea Ice Palace couldn't turn her away.
But that alone wouldn't suffice.
For the Heavenly Demon's successor, mere spectatorship from the sidelines would never do.
She had to help him ascend to the Pantheon Temple and restore order to this corrupted mountain.
And the best way to ensure that was...
'...Make him yours, Arisa. Without fail.'
To become his other half.
Cheon Ji-ho pictured the two standing side by side and smirked lecherously to himself.