Chapter 475
Chapter 475
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 475
Chapter Title: Sacred Heaven Yun Clan (1)
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It wasn't easy at all to become a true cultivator who pursued higher realms, refusing to settle for the chakra one naturally picked up through their daily work.
Chakra was an ability open to anyone for initiation, but that didn't mean everyone could ascend to lofty heights.
Especially the power of lightning—one of the natural forces, particularly destructive by nature.
In the Yun Clan, it was commonplace to see people grabbing lightning rods and deliberately standing under thunderstorms to get struck by bolts.
Lusette, blessed with innate talent, had adapted relatively quickly from the very beginning. Still, her gifts and the agony she endured from childhood were entirely separate matters.
She had to endure daily what amounted to electric torture for any ordinary person—without a single day off. No wonder it was hell.
Such treatment would be decried as child abuse back on Earth, but here in the Savacheon Realm, it was just par for the course.
During that grueling period of training, when she was at her most tormented...
As the heavy expectations around her natural talent began to weigh her down, one existence stepped in to comfort her.
A tiny infant who could barely hold his own body steady on his own.
[The situation looks pretty dire, huh? The little young master begged me so much to come check it out... Good thing I did, or it might've been a disaster.]
The small, warm hand that toddled unsteadily toward her fatigued cheek and patted it gently.
The Yun Clan housed numerous nurseries and even more children, but the baby who approached her then felt somehow different from the rest.
'Maybe it was a sense of kinship.'
Looking back now, it might have been some form of resonance born from their shared affinity for lightning.
That made sense, given the accomplishments that child—Yun Sohoe—achieved later on.
Either way, the key point was that she drew immense comfort from that baby back then, which allowed her to rise to her current position.
[Hello? Lusette? You there?]
[...Yes, I can hear you.]
[Ah, good! I was worried the barrier might be messing with communication. You're pretty handy with mental messages, aren't you?]
[I've had a bit of similar experience. But more importantly, what's going on here? Why is it you, Mr. Hoon...?]
She had been waiting for reinforcements.
She'd dragged things out as long as possible, banking on the idea that severed regular reports would prompt dispatch of support forces before long.
But she hadn't anticipated it would be Hoon—the recent guest at the Yun Clan.
[There were various circumstances. It's too complicated to explain fully right now.]
[...I see. It seems less time has passed outside than I thought.]
[Sharp as ever. The time difference between your space and the outside is roughly eightfold.]
[Eight times...]
Just as she'd suspected.
But as she exchanged thoughts with Hoon, Lusette suddenly sensed a faint incongruity.
'Connecting communication through the barrier is one thing...'
That alone was impressive enough.
This was a trap so perfectly prepared that even a deep-layer cultivator like her couldn't find a flaw to exploit.
'But he's overwhelmed multiple high-layer ability users before. He must have some special trick up his sleeve.'
She could force herself to accept that much.
The real oddity came next.
'With that kind of time lag, how is our mental communication this seamless?'
Even without vocal exchange, such a disparity should show some stutter or delay.
Yet up until moments ago, conversing with him had felt utterly natural, as if she hadn't even noticed.
Like it was second nature ingrained in her body.
"...What's this? Who are you talking to?"
But those musings didn't last.
A high, thin, androgynous voice pierced her ears.
The Phantasm General, locked in confrontation with Lusette and scrutinizing her every move, furrowed his brow. His green eyes, etched with concentric circles, flashed sharply.
The exchange had been swift and covert, but it couldn't fully evade the attention of a powerhouse like him.
"Tch, looks like a rat snuck in."
Once he'd grasped the full situation, he curled his lips into a smirk.
One might expect panic at having his tail caught earlier than planned, but he remained utterly unperturbed.
He was fully prepared for contingencies like this.
"Can't just leave a guest standing outside after they've come all this way. Come on in—Azure Coiling Ring!"
With complex hand seals came the incantation.
At that instant, the chakra forming the barrier resonated, generating immense suction from beyond the material realm.
[Wha—wait...?]
Hoon, caught off guard, tried to react, but it was far too late.
Thud—
Something hit the ground.
Lusette and the Phantasm General's gazes snapped toward it.
"...Whoa, it actually worked like that."
There sat Hoon, forcibly yanked into the barrier, plopped on the ground with a dazed expression as he looked around.
He'd pierced the barrier via their mental link to contact Lusette inside, only to get reeled in before he could do anything with the connection.
Like a fisherman yanking his line and dragging the angler into the water instead.
"Heh heh, a Yun Clan scout? Sniffing your way here already—you must be a fine hunting dog..."
The Phantasm General eyed Hoon with a sneer in his reedy voice.
This space was his domain alone.
Once inside, no one short of Lusette's caliber stood a chance against him.
The concentric circles in his eyes spun, dissecting Hoon's inner self down to the atoms.
"Hmm? Just low-layer level? Unexpected. Your body's well-trained, though."
No way someone at that level could reach here.
Frowning at the discrepancy, his eyes suddenly widened in realization.
"Ah, I see. You're an otherworlder. That explains it."
Beings who wielded diverse abilities beyond mere chakra, sometimes outshining cultivators themselves.
The Yun Clan sponsored thousands of such otherworlders—no surprise if this man was one.
"Tough luck. You've got some talent, so normally I'd try to recruit you... but not this time."
He'd seen too much—things he shouldn't have.
The grand plan was already underway, so it might not matter much, but no need to invite extra variables over one man.
"Blame yourself for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."
"Mr. Hoon!"
The Phantasm General snapped his fingers.
Lusette, lightning cloaking her body, shot forward like a beam of light to block him—but as always, her bolts changed nothing.
Splat—
The force brushed past her as if she were air, shredding Hoon's body to pieces.
His form disintegrated beyond recognition, scattering into thousands of fragments like dissipating smoke.
Lusette's face twisted in horror and rage.
"You bastard, Phantasm General!"
"...Huh? What the hell?"
But her fury faltered at his bewildered reaction.
His face stiffened, lips twitching.
"You dare deceive me? In my Spectral Grove?"
It didn't take her long to realize why.
"Whoa, that was close. Coming at me with such a vicious attack out of nowhere."
The familiar voice rang out again.
Whipping her head around, she blinked blankly at Hoon perched atop a tree.
"Hoon-style Ninjutsu Secret Art: Art of Cloning."
He looked perfectly fine, casually forming hand seals with a solemn expression while spouting nonsense.
"...What trick did you pull?"
But the Phantasm General couldn't just laugh it off.
This was his Spectral Grove, his absolute domain.
To fool and mock his senses completely? Unforgivable.
"Never mind. Must be one of those unique skills otherworlders have."
He quickly regained his composure, glaring at Hoon with razor-sharp eyes.
Whatever method he used didn't matter.
It wouldn't work twice.
'Yes, I was careless just now.'
Maintaining the Spectral Grove while keeping Lusette in check was a heavy mental burden even for him.
He projected total dominance, ignoring her lightning effortlessly, but the effort he poured in behind the scenes was immense.
In that state, how could he fully focus on what he dismissed as small fry?
"This time, I'll eliminate you for good."
Now the situation had changed.
He decided to bear the extra strain and dispose of this slippery unknown first.
Vmmm—
Ripples emanated from the concentric circles in the Phantasm General's eyes.
As the sect's secret art, "Concentric Eyes," activated to its limit, the barrier sustaining the Spectral Grove began warping chaotically.
A deep-layer cultivator wielding the barrier's full power.
Wails of specters echoed from all directions as unidentified waves surged like a tidal wave.
"...Well, no helping it, I guess."
The force crushed the space itself.
Caught in it, there'd be no chance to react before turning to dust.
Lusette could handle herself, but for Hoon, whose realm was still lacking, something more special was needed.
"Hoon-style Ninjutsu Ultimate Secret Art."
He formed hand seals once more.
The gesture itself held no real meaning.
He just felt like doing it.
'About time Hoon developed some personality.'
A amused chuckle escaped him.
Facing the storm that shook the entire Spectral Grove head-on, he murmured lowly.
"Psychic Rampage."
The name sounded grandiose, but it wasn't much different from his prior "Mental Resonance."
Yet this first-time ultimate technique, unleashing communicative chakra—
"Guhk!"
—carried utterly transcendent power.
It pierced straight into the enemy's mind.
"Grk! Kek!"
The Phantasm General staggered in place, face bulging with veins as he doubled over, retching.
The ferocious storm surging from all sides had already shattered into nothingness.
No, it went further.
Rrrrip—zzzt—
A sharp tearing sound reverberated.
The barrier's core faltered, beginning to crumble.
"Ah, aaah. No. This can't— uwaaa."
His face drained to blue as he clawed at it, sputtering incomplete words.
Blood streamed from all seven orifices.
The concentric circles in his eyes flickered erratically, distorted into irregular paths.
"Wha— Mr. Hoon? This...?"
Psychic Rampage.
One phrase had flipped the situation.
Lusette, amassing lightning, hesitantly addressed Hoon with wide-eyed shock.
She'd seen its effects during the Yun Sohoe kidnapping, but this was leagues beyond.
'No way. The Phantasm General?'
High-layer and deep-layer cultivators differed by one step, but the gap was immeasurable.
Deep-layer meant perfecting one's inner imagery.
Naturally immune to external influences, their ironclad minds wouldn't break even in extremes.
"Ahh. Aaaa! I— no. Aaa—!"
Of course, this was alien to her.
He looked utterly mentally shattered!
To reduce a deep-layer cultivator to a vegetable with mere words?
'Could even Heaven-Opening do that?'
Perhaps.
If they reached the demonic path to the heavens.
She swallowed dryly without realizing.
'Impressive. With just this, maybe no other powers are needed?'
Hoon nodded in satisfaction amid the collapsing Spectral Grove.
Worried about output, he'd laced his chakra with a touch of "Limit Break"—perfect results.
If prior "Mental Resonance" was a syringe injecting poison, this was slamming in a spiked pipe.
'Still, for versatility, better stock other options. This is too all-or-nothing.'
Hoon's ultimate was binary: total failure or total mind-wreckage.
For varied scenarios, honing "Root of Imagination" further seemed wise.
"...Well, good things are good, right? Glad you're safe anyway. Sohoe was worried sick."
"Y-yes! Thank you so much, Mr. Hoon. First that child, now me... I haven't even repaid the previous favor yet..."
With the eerie forest vista fully collapsed,
they now stood side by side amid crimson woods.
"Urk... L-Lord Phantasm General!"
"Stabilize the chakra backlash first!"
"Impossible! How could this...!"
The wriggling general, reduced to a worm on the ground, and his supporting cultivators.
Bzzzzt—!
Lusette stepped forward, sparks flying from her body.
"...I'll handle them."
It was a matter of pride for the debt in this crisis, plus securing witnesses for interrogation.
The ringleader Phantasm General was in no state to testify.
And as expected,
no one here—even exhausted—could stop a deep-layer cultivator like her.
'Good, it all worked out. Lusette's safe too.'
Truth be told, it wasn't cause for unbridled joy.
This incident revealed high echelons of Hongshan Nation—one of the two great powers—plotting against the Yun Clan.
No telling how many inside Hongshan backed it, but smooth sailing ahead was unlikely.
'Of course, as an outsider, it's none of my business.'
Such complications were for the Sacred Heaven Yun Clan to handle.
He just needed to grab what he could and focus on self-improvement.
... That's what he thought.
Until realizing the flames of a continent-engulfing war had crept right up to his chin.