Chapter 256: Video Call (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 256: Video Call (1)
A title is a second name, one that bears witness to a martial artist's deeds.
The title 'Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord' vividly reflected those very deeds.
Myeolsa (滅邪). To annihilate evil.
Anyone with even a shallow footing in the Murim could smell the thick scent of blood wafting from those words.
Naturally, things would get quite interesting when the North Sea Ice Palace Master—a prominent member of the Black Lotus Union—attended the wedding of such a man.
Even if Lee Seo-jun was fine with it, Baek Seol-hyang’s position could become incredibly awkward.
‘Like I care.’
Yet, Baek Seol-hyang didn't mind in the slightest. Why should she care what anyone had to say?
In the first place, Transcendent Realm masters of the Evil Sect had little interest in others. Unless a situation directly benefited or harmed them, they tended to focus solely on their own training, regardless of what the rest of the world was doing.
And aside from other Transcendent Realm masters, there was no one Baek Seol-hyang needed to worry about.
Politics was the domain of the weak—those who had no choice but to rely on petty schemes to get what they wanted. Unless a group of Transcendent Realm masters suddenly decided to gang up and bully someone (in technical terms, ostracization; though Baek Seol-hyang simply had no friends, she wasn't being ostracized), politics was none of her business!
"Then I shall go! Hmph. I cannot miss my friend's wedding!"
Thus, the two Transcendent Realm masters made their promise.
The political fallout that might arise from this? Neither of them gave a damn. Baek Seol-hyang intentionally ignored the consequences because she just wanted to play with her friend, and Lee Seo-jun simply didn't give it a second thought.
This was the Murim, after all...
* * *
Seo-jun bid a brief farewell to Baek Seol-hyang and departed from the Ice Palace.
‘I guess anything can happen if you live long enough.’
His trip to the North Sea had been full of unexpected events. How could he have predicted that he would suddenly reveal his identity and become friends with the North Sea Ice Palace Master? If he had that kind of foresight, he would have set up a fortune-telling stall by now.
Seo-jun attributed this bizarre turn of events entirely to Baek Seol-hyang’s unfortunate personality.
‘I should check in on her every now and then.’
He knew she had managed the Ice Palace without any major issues for a long time, but after learning the true nature of the woman named Baek Seol-hyang, he couldn't help but worry.
—Since you are the Young Palace Master and have proven your abilities, you may come to the Ice Palace whenever you wish! It would be nice if you sent word, but it does not matter if you do not!
This wasn't the farewell of a ten-year-old kid excited about making her first friend; it was the official decree of the North Sea Ice Palace Master.
From what he had heard, the three favors he completed were actually a sort of rite of passage.
Proving his martial prowess by subjugating demonic beasts, proving his intellect and leadership by modifying the sect's formations... and as for the Ice Crystal that only the Palace Master was allowed to touch...
Apparently, outsiders were absolutely forbidden from touching it, but Baek Seol-hyang had just let him do it anyway.
Seriously, what was he going to do with her? He was genuinely concerned.
‘I just hope the place hasn't gone to ruin by the next time I visit.’
Seo-jun smacked his lips. Regardless, that was a problem for another day. Right now, he needed to focus on the immediate task at hand.
"Oho."
After traveling some distance from the Ice Palace, a fairly decent estate appeared before Seo-jun’s eyes. It was the place where Baek Yun had lived.
Baek Yun’s residence was situated halfway up a ridiculously remote mountain. Considering the density and complexity of the mountain ranges in the Central Plains, it was a location that seemed almost impossible to find on one's own.
In the first place, the deep mountains of the Central Plains were practically a demonic realm in themselves. It was usually best not to set foot in these untamed peaks where secluded experts swarmed.
Of course, Seo-jun didn't particularly care.
"It should be around here..."
He entered the building and rummaged through a drawer in the right-hand room, exactly as Baek Yun had described.
"Found it."
It was a Crystal Ball about the size of a human head. Seo-jun stared at the artifact and carefully flowed his internal energy into it. He used qi with properties identical to the energy he had copied while 'handling' Baek Yun.
Click!
[Welcome. User authentication deactivated.]
Seo-jun’s expression turned sour at the successful unlock.
"This is just ridiculous, seriously."
Several glowing displays floated above the Crystal Ball. Even though the artifact clearly originated from the Western Regions, there seemed to be a Hanzi translation patch installed, as he had no trouble reading the text.
Having once been a modern man, Seo-jun spent a moment exploring the Crystal Ball’s functions as if he were operating a smartphone. To explain its features by modern standards, they were roughly as follows:
Call
Group Call
Video Call
Text
Various Settings
Games
Camera
Recording
Calendar
Etc...
Because the situation was so absurd, Seo-jun naturally launched a game within the Crystal Ball.
Beep beep—
A fighter jet controlled by the user fired shells, while opposing alien lifeforms launched all sorts of attacks to shoot it down.
‘Ah, it’s this game.’
Was it Galaga? Or maybe Dragon Flight, to use a more recent example? He wasn't exactly sure what the genre was called. He thought people usually just referred to them as shooting games.
However, the game inside the Crystal Ball boasted much more advanced graphics and quality than the arcade games in Seo-jun’s memory. The controls were simple, but it was incredibly fun.
For Seo-jun, who had been undergoing a forced dopamine detox in this ancient world, nothing could be more entertaining. It was honestly about one-hundredth as fun as squishing Geum Chun-bong’s cheeks.
And so, Seo-jun mindlessly continued playing.
[Clear!]
When he finally snapped out of his trance, two whole days had passed.
Seo-jun checked the high score screen with a satisfied expression.
1st - 99458
2nd - 99342
...
46th - 85421
For the record, 46th place was Baek Yun’s high score. Seo-jun, who had successfully dominated the top 45 spots with his own records, gave a smirk.
"He's trash at games, too."
Then it suddenly hit him. This wasn't the time for this.
Seo-jun, who had been completely enchanted by the drug known as gaming for the first time in years (actual drugs couldn't even scratch the mental fortitude of a Transcendent Realm master), finally came to his senses.
‘To think they have things like this in the Western Regions.’
He couldn't understand why the Murim Alliance didn't even glance at technology that the God-Destroying Association was freely using.
Of course, once a martial artist reached the Super Peak Realm, they wouldn't feel much inconvenience from a lack of technology. But surely the strategists who were much smarter than Seo-jun knew that reducing communication time alone would provide a massive tactical advantage.
Tick— Tring—
Pushing his questions aside for now, Seo-jun tapped the Crystal Ball to open the contact list. He quickly found the name 'Geom-gwang' among the few saved contacts.
It sounded like a title, but that was the man's name. To be precise, he called himself Geom-gwang, so it had become his name.
Seo-jun recalled what Baek Yun had told him about the man.
"Geom-gwang is one of the original founding members of the God-Destroying Association. He’s an old monster who reached the Transcendent Realm six hundred years ago."
"Geom-gwang? Does that mean he's a sword maniac?"
"Yes. Those in the Transcendent Realm tend to become obsessed with something, but his obsession is particularly severe."
The God-Destroying Association was an organization born from the fear of gods. However, not everyone in the association actually feared them. Geom-gwang was one such exception.
"The reason he joined the God-Destroying Association wasn't out of fear. It was because it was an independent power unaffiliated with the Orthodox, Evil, or Demonic sects. In other words, he thought he could use it to learn the sword techniques of all three factions."
At first glance, it sounded plausible, but a little thought revealed how nonsensical it was.
Learning the sword techniques of the Orthodox, Evil, and Demonic sects? He might have the talent to learn them, but how on earth would he obtain their highly guarded martial arts manuals?
When his thoughts reached that point, Seo-jun realized the dark truth.
"…That son of a bitch. Was the reason he annihilated the Geum family also because of the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword?"
"Yes. I heard Geom-gwang was originally a martial artist of the Jongnam Sect."
The Jongnam Sect was famous for the Heavenly Thirty-Six Swords, but they possessed a technique ranked even higher: the Taiyi Formless Sword.
It wasn't a 'Formless Sword' in the sense of being invisible, as people usually assumed; it was called 'Formless' because it had no fixed form.
The Taiyi Formless Sword was a technique devoid of set stances, flowing entirely according to martial principles. While stuck behind a bottleneck in his cultivation, Geom-gwang had a sudden revelation.
‘Formless Victory. To perfect that state, I need to know every technique in the world.’
Thus, after joining the God-Destroying Association, he began obsessively collecting the sword techniques of the Central Plains. But as time passed, he came to another realization:
‘The sheer number of techniques is no longer what matters. I need a sword technique that transcends humanity.’
There were countless sword techniques in the Central Plains, but one was universally acknowledged as the absolute zenith.
The sword technique created by a god. The Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
If he could grasp the essence of the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword and use it to evolve his Taiyi Formless Sword, he could truly reach the realm of the gods. Driven by that single-minded obsession, Geom-gwang orchestrated the annihilation of the Geum family shortly after the Sword God ascended.
"He is a monster. Once I caught his eye, I had no choice but to cooperate with him."
Of course, it wasn't as if Baek Yun had been dragged along kicking and screaming.
Baek Yun had his own sights set on the Geum family’s Yellow Cloud Divine Art and Azure Cloud Divine Art. Those two martial arts shared the exact same essence but were divided based on the gender of the practitioner. Baek Yun believed he might find a clue to breaking through his own bottleneck by studying them.
In addition, Geom-gwang had made a tempting proposal. He promised to hand over the Small Hand Demonic Art if Baek Yun helped him.
"Small Hand Demonic Art? Why does he have that?"
"Apparently, he killed the Small Hand Demonic Queen of the Demonic Cult in the past and claimed it for himself. Regardless, it is an ultimate Yin martial art, so I believed it would help me master the Ice Soul Divine Art."
However, Baek Yun never obtained the Small Hand Demonic Art. The same went for the Yellow Cloud Divine Art and the Azure Cloud Divine Art.
During the attack on the Geum family, the Master of the Divine Sword Geum Family and several elders—who were hovering on the border between the Super Peak and Transcendent Realms—blocked Geom-gwang and Baek Yun with unexpected ferocity. They bought just enough time for the Geum family to destroy their martial arts manuals.
Furthermore, the true successor—the possessor of the Divine Blood and the one who inherited the lineage of the Divine Sword, Geum Hee—managed to escape.
"Although we received support from the God-Destroying Association under the pretext of eliminating the Divine Blood... the mission ultimately ended in failure."
Geom-gwang had lost the clue to reaching godhood right before his eyes. At least, that was what he believed. Having failed to obtain the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword, Geom-gwang went on a furious rampage, and even Baek Yun hadn't dared to ask him for the Small Hand Demonic Art afterward.
Having heard all of this, Seo-jun was able to formulate a plan to lure Geom-gwang out.
The Yellow Cloud Divine Sword that the man wanted so badly? Although Seo-jun hadn't mastered it, he knew the entirety of the technique.
Since he had the Crystal Ball, contacting the man was a simple matter.
‘I feel like he’d come running even if I just provoked him using my true identity, but...’
To increase the probability of success even slightly, Seo-jun copied Baek Yun’s appearance and voice. It wasn't a difficult task, so there was no reason not to do it.
Ring— Ring—
That was why Seo-jun, currently in the guise of Baek Yun, was making a video call to the old monster.
‘This is just ridiculous, seriously.’
A video call in the Murim. Seo-jun let out a hollow laugh as he listened to the dial tone.
Since Neung Wol also had a Crystal Ball, if Seo-jun took this one and brought it to the Namgung Clan, wouldn't he be able to call Chun-bong or Su-ah Noona every day, even when he was out traveling?
Ring— Ring—
Why on earth was the Murim Alliance completely ignoring this technology and still relying on messenger pigeons?
Ring— Ring—
While Seo-jun was seriously considering starting an industrial revolution in the Murim, the dial tone suddenly stopped.
Beep— Beep— Beep—
That didn't mean the other person had answered; it meant the connection had been cut. It seemed the ring time had exceeded the limit.
"This son of a bitch, why isn't he answering?"
In that case, he would just keep calling until the man picked up.
An annoyed Lee Seo-jun’s relentless phone harassment descended upon Geom-gwang’s Crystal Ball!