Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Pioneering a New Realm with the Giant's Boon
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“You don’t even know who I am, yet here I am shamelessly trying to take your legacy. Please understand.”
Geon-woo faced the hollow eye sockets of the skeletal remains and sought permission like that.
= Lord, I and the Jiangshi will stand guard.
Ilryeong picked up on Geon-woo’s thoughts and blocked the entrance they had come through alongside the Jiangshi.
Geon-woo nodded and sat cross-legged on the altar, beginning the circulation of the Yeonga Gangsi Gong.
The Yeonga Gangsi Gong, which originally absorbed the energy held within a corpse to strengthen the Jiangshi body.
He intended to use that technique to suck up every last bit of energy remaining in the giant’s bones.
Wuuuuuum! Wuuuuuuuum!
Some time passed as he focused on circulating the Yeonga Gangsi Gong while facing the skeletal remains, and a heavy flow of energy arose between Geon-woo and the bones.
That flow was directed from the giant’s skeletal remains toward Geon-woo.
= Oh, the Lord is absorbing the giant skull’s regenerative qi.
Ilryeong watched the phenomenon, trembling with ecstatic delight.
The energy the giant possessed was powerful regenerative force.
That ultimate regenerative power was comparable, in a way, to indestructible qi or immortal qi.
As that energy flowed into Geon-woo, Ilryeong—connected through their linked souls—grew intoxicated by the immense power, feeling waves of ecstasy.
Crunchcrunchcrunch! Crunchcrunch!
While Ilryeong was utterly immersed in the regenerative energy, Geon-woo’s Jiangshi body was approaching the pinnacle of transformation.
He had already absorbed some of the giant’s energy, granting him a body close to diamond indestructibility.
But it had still fallen short of true completion.
Now, as he took in even more energy from the giant’s skull, the changes that had begun in his bones, flesh, and skin started to reach perfection.
His bones grew stronger than diamond, his muscles brimmed with several times their previous power, and his skin combined supreme softness with unbreakable toughness.
Geon-woo’s body was now several times stronger than it had been when he’d cleaned up those demons earlier.
‘Incredible. Now I could take hits from Kolon the lord barehanded without breaking a sweat.’
Kolon the lord was one of the strongest among Onbiroad’s natives.
To withstand attacks from the likes of Kolon with his bare body.
At this level, he could even mix it up with those counted among Onbiroad’s absolute top tiers.
‘The so-called Masters too.’
Monsters that could be called one-man armies.
Human weapons so rare that even an empire might boast no more than five.
He couldn’t say for sure if his current Jiangshi body could ignore a Master’s aura blade.
But even an aura blade wouldn’t sever his limbs in a single stroke.
‘This is the peak result I’d hoped for. True diamond indestructibility.’
Geon-woo finished circulating the Yeonga Gangsi Gong and couldn’t help but smile.
But in that moment, as he tried to end the circulation, a foreign sensation transmitted through the Yeonga Gangsi Gong.
It felt like something clinging to the end of the energy flow.
‘Hm?’
It wouldn’t let him sever the circulation he should have stopped, persistently hanging onto the Yeonga Gangsi Gong’s energy.
‘What is this?’
Geon-woo kept the circulation going instead of halting it, focusing his mind on that energy.
And soon enough, he realized it was the giant’s lingering thoughts.
‘It’s the same type as what aided my progress in the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong.’
Geon-woo immediately began carefully layering the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong atop the Yeonga Gangsi Gong upon grasping that fact.
The two core arts originally acted on different domains—mind and body—so they rarely clashed.
Even so, Geon-woo had never once considered operating both arts simultaneously until now.
When Ilryeong had taught him the core arts and Gangsi Gong, the basics emphasized circulating just one at a time.
Yet his instincts now told him this energy needed to be absorbed via the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong more than the Yeonga Gangsi Gong.
The problem was that stopping the Yeonga Gangsi Gong circulation would sever the tenuous thread of those lingering thoughts he’d only just grasped.
Thus, he had no choice but to attempt operating both core arts at once.
‘As expected! They don’t conflict. No, they actually mutually reinforce each other.’
The result was excellent.
Geon-woo grew excited at discovering this new circulation method but soon composed himself and focused on the lingering thoughts transmitted from the giant.
* * *
‘A shame. Nothing to learn about the giant himself.’
Geon-woo let out a slight sigh as he gathered the energy of the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gangsi Gong.
The Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gangsi Gong was the name he’d given to simultaneously operating the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong and Yeonga Gangsi Gong.
= Lord!
Ilryeong rushed toward Geon-woo as he finished circulating, face overcome with emotion.
Ilryeong had watched the entire process and witnessed the birth of a new art.
“Quite some time has passed, hasn’t it?”
Geon-woo asked, looking at Ilryeong.
= Seven days have gone by.
“Not too long drawn out, then.”
= Congratulations on your great accomplishment, Lord.
“Thank you.”
= Beyond the massive boost to the Yeonga Gangsi Gong’s effects, it seems something changed in the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong as well—what is it?
Linked through souls via the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong, Ilryeong was sensitive to shifts in the core art.
“You know I gained ultimate regenerative power from the giant, completing my Jiangshi body’s diamond indestructibility.”
= Yes, Lord.
“And as I wrapped up the Gangsi Gong, new ability came from the giant’s lingering thoughts.”
= A new ability?
“Didn’t I gain the power to summon Jiangshi spirits from the giant before?”
= Yes, Lord. And thanks to that, I’m able to stay by your side like this.
“I can now fill in the gaps of that summoning power.”
= The gaps...
“I don’t know what manner of being the giant was, but it seems he too had mastered spirit arts or necromancy.”
= In that case, Lord, your Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong is in no way inferior to that giant’s.”
“Who knows. But looking at the bones making up the chair he sat on, he might have been a cut above me.”
= Pardon? What do you mean? What’s so special about those chair bones...
Ilryeong asked with a puzzled expression.
“Those bones all belonged to the giant’s minions. And in greatly compressed form, at that.”
= Compressed... so you’re saying those bones were originally much larger?
“Among them are minions bigger than Veloka’s gates. And not just one or two. The bones are jumbled in sizes with varying compression ratios, but that’s the gist.”
= Then, does that mean you can compress minions like that now too, Lord?
Ilryeong guessed at the new ability Geon-woo had gained.
“No, what I meant is that the giant had the power to command that many minions. Which suggests he might have surpassed me.”
= But I can’t accept that this giant who perished was superior to you, Lord.
“Sure, it’s unconfirmed, so believe what you will. In any case, the giant commanded vast numbers of minions and sometimes needed to hide them away.”
= So he compressed them small...
“No, he used an even better method. This one.”
Geon-woo cut Ilryeong off midway and extended his left hand’s back.
There, a black tattoo that hadn’t been there before was rising to the surface of his skin.
An intricate pattern of strange symbols, lines, and characters blended together, reminiscent of a magic circle.
= That tattoo...
“It’s a dimensional space linked to the soul. The tattoo only appears when using the dimensional space.”
= So... you’re saying we can store minions there? Us Jiangshi?
“Exactly. And it could double as storage too.”
= Like the soul subspace you always wanted, Lord?
“Something like that. The pity is, I didn’t inherit the giant’s space—I created a new one. Couldn’t get what he had.”
= Such a shame...
“I tried everything to summon the giant’s dimensional space, but the lingering thoughts were too faint, and it failed.”
= I see.
“Well, can’t be helped.”
Pity about whatever treasures might be in the giant’s dimensional space.
Geon-woo reached out and stroked the giant’s finger bones.
Nothing clung to the body—just bare bones and hide.
The giant’s hide seemed to serve as its clothing.
Yet amid that, one anomaly.
On the left middle finger.
= What’s that?
“Beats me. Looks just like a fish scale, but only one? Weird.”
Geon-woo said that as he pocketed the scale.
It became the first item to enter Geon-woo’s dimensional space.
A relic of the giant—maybe it held some great secret.
Plus, it might serve as a clue to finding the giant’s dimensional space later.
Whoosh! Fsssh!
= Huh? Lord!
“Don’t be startled. It lost all its energy and even its lingering thoughts scattered, so it can’t withstand Onbiroad’s influence anymore.”
As Geon-woo took the scale, the giant’s bones and chair crumbled to powder.
And that powder vanished without a trace amid tiny sparks.
= So that’s the end for beings without dimensional sanction. Even in death, erased without a remnant.
Ilryeong guessed the meaning of the scene unfolding before them and murmured bitterly.
Then, Ilryeong bowed deeply to Geon-woo once more.
= For this Ilryeong, meeting you truly was heavenly fortune, Lord.
Without Geon-woo, Ilryeong would have met the same end as the giant’s bones.
Knowing that, Ilryeong thanked him again.
“You’re at it again. Just as meeting you was my heavenly fortune, so was it yours. Enough gilding each other’s faces.”
= …….
“Alright, we’ve taken what we came for—time to head back?”
= Before that, shouldn’t you check on Earth? You’ve lingered too long in Onbiroad fighting demons and creating the Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gangsi Gong.
“Right, need to look after the Jiangshi there too?”
= That, and you should contact Paeng as well.
“Oh, what happened to Paeng? He went out with us.”
= Around when our soul link weakened, I notified him I’d move separately. Even if he wanted to stay together, he couldn’t keep up with the travel anymore.
“And? No separate promises or anything?”
= No, Lord, nothing.
“Fair enough. Paeng would have ways to contact me from Earth regardless. I don’t know where he is, but he’s got means aplenty.”
Geon-woo said that and recreated the vertical passage leading to the underground cavern.
Rumble rumble rumble!
“With the giant gone, using psychokinesis feels this easy. He was definitely the one suppressing abilities.”
= Isn’t it thanks to your mental power surging yet again, Lord?
“Well, it does feel two or three times stronger than at Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong’s 11th stage.”
Geon-woo’s psychokinesis was an ability that drew on mental power.
Thus, greater mental power meant amplified psychokinetic might.
Plus, without the giant’s suppressive aura, carving a path to the cavern felt as easy as breathing.
= Who among the users could rival your psychokinesis now, Lord? Even without Jiangshi or Jiangshi body power, you could claim the pinnacle of users.
“Haha, maybe you’re right? And imagine unleashing this psychokinesis on Earth.”
Regrettably, psychokinesis was affected by soul fusion levels.
So on Earth, it’d only output about 20% power.
Though pairing it with Cheonroe Bunshim Jeryeong Gong’s mental boost would yield far greater force.
= Combine the souls I have with yours, Lord, and we’d hit 10,000 souls soon. Then you could wield 50% psychokinesis power even on Earth. That alone would make you a calamity—to users or the world alike.
“Past 10,000 to 20,000, then the next stage—we’ll push diligently. For now, log out here. Better check Earth’s situation before surfacing.”
Geon-woo shot up from the giant’s tomb to the underground cavern through the vertical hole, then erased the passage as he spoke.
Now no one could find any trace of the giant.
= Lord, while you’re heading to Earth, why not store this Jiangshi in the dimensional space? Bringing Jiangshi to Earth would be ideal.
At those words from Geon-woo, Ilryeong hurriedly offered advice.
Already on Geon-woo’s mind, he readily nodded, opened the dimensional space, and sent in the demon tribe leader Jiangshi.