Three Deities Converge
As expected of a Soul Formation expert, the Grand Elder of the Wungok Sect arrived in the blink of an eye and stopped at an appropriate distance. The three beings now stood in a tense standoff.
The youkai took the form of a bipedal lizard, its massive body more than twice the size of an average human. Strangely, its skin felt like wood, and its movements carried an oddly plant-like quality.
Opposite it stood a male cultivator who was extremely gaunt. His eyes gleamed with an unsettling shine, and the hairpin securing his long hair was made of pure white bone. One glance was enough to tell he belonged to the demonic path.
Finally, the Grand Elder of the Wungok Sect who had arrived last was a man who appeared to be in his later years. A magnificent beard reminiscent of Guan Yu drew the eye. His silver daoist robe, embroidered with elegant ash-gray cloud patterns that shimmered with a subtle luster, gave him an air of true refinement.
By some strange coincidence, the orthodox path, the demonic path, and the youkai race had all gathered in one place.
“Treewood Demon Lord, White Bone True Lord.”
The Grand Elder of the Wungok Sect greeted them lightly. Once one reached the Soul Formation stage, it was only natural to become acquainted with others of similar power if their spheres of activity were not too far apart.
“If it isn’t Unhae Jinjun.”
The first to respond was the demonic cultivator.
Strangely, although he clearly appeared to be male, his voice was that of an incomparably beautiful woman, carrying an eerie quality that would make most people shudder uncontrollably.
“I never expected to meet under these circumstances…”
A twisted smile rose to the lips of the demonic cultivator, White Bone True Lord, as he spoke.
“But this works out perfectly. While we may stand in opposition as the orthodox and demonic paths, surely our relationship is still better than with the youkai race?”
As he spoke, he pointed toward the wooden lizard on the opposite side.
“That fellow may be a so-called Demon Lord, but if we capture him and split his body in half, it will still be quite useful. We could set up the Long Spring Yang Life Formation, refine it into a Soul Nourishing Wood, create an Yi Wood Life Creation Pill—anything would be good.”
— I heard you recently obtained a fragment of the Immortal Tree’s residual piece?
In response to the temptation, the wooden lizard-shaped Treewood Demon Lord sent a mental message. White Bone True Lord simply let out a soft chuckle, showing no intention of hiding the truth.
“That’s right. It’s a fragment of the demonic path’s Immortal Tree. Who else here could use it besides me? In the end, cooperating with me is the only option that benefits you, isn’t it?”
— No, no. I heard it was a fragment of the Harmony of Nature and Principle Plate. That’s why even the Formless Ghost Sect jumped out.
At that moment, the gaze of Unhae Jinjun—the Grand Elder of the Wungok Sect, who had remained expressionless until now—turned toward White Bone True Lord.
“By any chance, has a little rat crawled in here?”
Then he asked something completely unexpected.
“…What rat?”
“There is one who killed my disciple and fled. It seems you haven’t found him.”
Having spoken calmly, he glanced at a nearby giant tree and made a suggestion.
“There are three fruits. Let us each take one and part ways. It would be more detrimental for us to fight each other needlessly in such a secret realm.”
— Hmm…!
Treewood Demon Lord nodded as if in rough agreement, then spoke.
— I actually have no need for the fruits. What I need is the root of that tree. So if you wait until I harvest it, I promise to split my share of the fruits equally with no loss whatsoever.
As he spoke, he raised one hand. Clear wood energy rose from it, showing his confidence that he could truly split the spiritual fruit in half without any loss.
Since he was a Soul Formation-level youkai of the wood element, his confidence carried considerable weight.
However, Unhae Jinjun merely stroked his beard and remained silent.
Seeing this attitude, White Bone True Lord finally let out a derisive chuckle.
“It seems the information I heard was correct. The Ten Thousand Spirit Candle Dao Fruit only bears a single fruit.”
“……Hmm.”
— You foolish bastard. Your eavesdropping skills are quite decent.
The next instant.
Boom—!!
A horrifyingly pure white bone tendril shot out from White Bone True Lord’s hand at some unknown moment, only to be blocked by Treewood Demon Lord’s claw that had appeared just as suddenly, producing a deafening explosion.
At the same time as the blast, clouds erupted explosively from Unhae Jinjun’s body. Treewood Demon Lord’s rapidly swelling form was briefly revealed before vanishing inside.
Crack-crack-crack—!!
Countless white bone branches burst outward from within the clouds, radiating an indescribably grotesque power. The next moment, the clouds shattered into pieces and collapsed.
The clouds raged outward, attempting to engulf even the giant tree, but once again, countless bone branches accompanied by a chilling noise blocked the way like a breakwater. Then, dark green wooden stems and roots carrying Treewood Demon Lord’s power joined in, turning the area into complete chaos.
Grrrrrrrruuuung…!!
An enormous force began to swirl, shaking the entire basin terrain beneath the cliff. The rapidly surging and receding flow of spiritual energy added to the effect, making even the Mixed Origin Realm feel as if it were being arbitrarily flipped upside down.
The aftershock of the battle swept violently across the spot where Han Yujin had hurriedly hidden, producing a terrifying noise. Although no actual explosion occurred, everything it touched was crushed into nothingness without leaving even a speck of dust.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom—!!!
At one point, an uncontrolled burst of power exploded upward into the sky, flooding the surroundings with blinding light.
The storm that followed in the wake of that light spread out widely, slicing, smashing, and tearing apart everything like blades of steel. It was nothing short of a catastrophe.
‘So there really is only one fruit!’
At that moment, Han Yujin was carefully observing from an underground position of moderate depth, trying to approach the tree.
If he went too deep underground, he risked being crushed by the battle’s aftershocks and exposing his presence. On the surface, the raging gusts made movement extremely difficult.
The important thing was not to be discovered. With three powerhouses fighting one another, it seemed quite feasible.
It was an incredibly dangerous gamble where he could easily be swept up and killed, but since dying wouldn’t cause him any real loss, Han Yujin was exceptionally bold.
Most likely, Unhae Jinjun, the Grand Elder of the Wungok Sect, had not anticipated anything like this. Even if he had, he could not afford to let his guard down against two formidable enemies.
‘Good thing I brought him along…!’
While thinking this, he nearly got pierced by a white bone fragment that had drilled deep into the ground and barely managed to calm his racing heart.
The bone shard contained an extremely sinister energy. If it had penetrated him, he would have suffered significant damage and his presence would have been exposed.
After that, he would have been crushed into oblivion by the three Soul Formation experts’ deliberate scattering of aftershocks. Since they were all experienced, they would be serious about eliminating variables.
In fact, Han Yujin’s current actions were not only exceptionally brave but also astonishingly stealthy and agile. If he had been an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator, even with the same courage, he would have been detected long ago and killed, or at best unable to move even half as effectively.
A short while later.
After dodging four or five near-death or near-discovery crises with astonishing reaction speed and quick thinking, he finally managed to approach the root area of the Ten Thousand Spirit Candle Dao Fruit tree.
This place was the one the three Soul Formation experts were most focused on, so it was ironically the safest from the battle’s aftershocks. However, the constant, razor-thin tension that even the slightest carelessness would lead to discovery kept sending chills down his spine.
And so.
Han Yujin finally detected what he believed to be the real Ten Thousand Spirit Candle Dao Fruit located at the center of the giant tree’s roots.
It had an ugly, potato-like shape, but its color was vivid and beautiful, as if it contained a rainbow aurora. Moreover, once perceived, it possessed a mysterious charm that made it nearly impossible to look away.
Now that harvest was right before his eyes, his excitement paradoxically subsided, and his mind grew perfectly calm. After safely approaching within arm’s reach, he did not rush. Instead, he carefully observed how the battle outside was unfolding.
Although the situation could change at any moment in any way, he waited patiently without moving. Then, at the exact moment when a particularly large aftershock occurred, he plucked the fruit and immediately stored it inside the Mountain Sea Pearl.
The loud presence generated by the detached fruit spread only within the Mountain Sea Pearl. The presence that had arisen from the root was far weaker than he had feared and could be sufficiently concealed with Monghwan Yusim.
‘Halfway there.’
Now, even if he died, this spiritual fruit would undoubtedly appear when selecting his harvest.
However, if he could escape safely instead of just luckily obtaining it and immediately dying, the karma expenditure would decrease even further. Just like he had thought during the Dragon Heart incident.
Fortunately, the battle between the three Soul Formation experts was growing increasingly fierce.
Perhaps because of that, the giant tree that had been thoroughly protected in the early stages was now being swept by the battle’s aftershocks, leaving scars. A large branch had snapped off, and a wound resembling claw marks from a beast had appeared on the trunk, from which clear, emerald-green sap flowed steadily.
That sap was surely an extremely rare and useful spiritual material close to the highest grade, but Han Yujin did not covet it. He simply began retracing his steps.
About ten minutes later.
He had escaped the battlefield so safely that even he could hardly believe it. Only then could he finally increase his speed and truly flee.
‘Fuck… I did it! I actually pulled it off!’
Although he had bravely attempted it, there had been no guarantee of success, so he felt tremendous joy.
But at that moment.
A certain restrictive formation appeared to block him as he hurried to leave the area. It was a formation that had definitely not been there when he entered.
He realized the truth without needing to think deeply.
‘So that’s why he was late…!’
The reason Unhae Jinjun, the Grand Elder of the Wungok Sect, had appeared late was now clear.
The moment he roughly guessed where his target was heading, he had immediately laid a trap to surround the entire area. So that even if a situation like this occurred, no one could easily escape.
However, as he examined the formation with a chilled heart, he suddenly realized something.
Although the formation was quite sturdy, it was not as meticulous as he had expected.
Worried that even this sloppiness might be a trap, he examined it two or three more times, but he could not find any particularly sinister dangers.
‘It is a high-grade formation, but…’
It was barely passable and could by no means be considered high-level. Moreover, it had not been personally installed by a formation master to match the environment; it had been hastily deployed using a formation tool.
He summoned the Monghyeon-gyeong above his head and, with the help of the fused intelligence spirit Elb, mobilized every means available—including the Yin-Yang True Dragon Eye and divine awareness—to examine the formation.
And in less than ten minutes, he touched the transparent wall of the restrictive formation and opened a temporary passage large enough for one person to pass through safely.
‘Haha… how crude!’
Unhae Jinjun would never have anticipated this either.
How could he have predicted that the person he was chasing was not only outstanding in combat power but also possessed formation master-level skill?
‘Unhae Jinjun, don’t be too discouraged. Your opponent is me, after all.’
Muttering cheerfully to himself, he slipped out of the formation and sped away with all his might.
A short while later, the temporarily opened passage closed cleanly as before, leaving no trace behind.
Knowledge is power.
Following this principle, Han Yujin moved erratically while assuming that Unhae Jinjun was continuing to track him through indirect fate-manipulation techniques.
In other words, while looking at the map, he had not set any specific destination.
This way, he could interfere with the opponent’s divination with a fairly high probability. Even if the reading succeeded, the result would quickly become useless.
After moving at full speed for about half a day like this, he gradually began to feel more at ease.
Whether it was because the battle between the three Soul Formation experts had not properly ended, because they had finished fighting but lacked the leisure to resume the chase, or because his own actions had truly been effective.
The persistent pursuit that had made him curse the opponent as a crazy bastard had not occurred even once. The instinctive sense of danger that had been sending chills down his neck had also gone quiet.
Then, at that moment.
He discovered a lone late-stage Core Formation cultivator moving stealthily by himself and stopped. The instant he easily identified the man as a worthless demonic cultivator, he revealed himself before him.
“Huk…!”
The demonic Core Formation cultivator, who had been moving as stealthily as a ghost, let out a gasp the moment he saw Han Yujin suddenly appear in front of him. He hurriedly pulled out a bowl-shaped natal magic treasure.
But the moment he realized the person before him was a Nascent Soul True Person he could not possibly oppose, he immediately recalled the treasure and bowed obsequiously.
“This junior greets the Nascent Soul True Person.”
“Where were you headed?”
“I was moving in search of… a fortuitous encounter.”
Han Yujin nodded at the all-too-obvious answer and said,
“If you win rock-paper-scissors, I’ll spare your life.”
“…Pardon?”
Han Yujin took a moment to explain what rock-paper-scissors was. Then, without waiting, he immediately shouted.
“If you don’t play, you lose! Rock-paper-scissors!”
“R-rock-paper-scissors—!”
The opponent hurriedly shouted along and played scissors at the same time.
In that fleeting instant, he had used every means at his disposal to choose a winning move, but once Monghwan Yusim was lifted, Han Yujin’s hand was in the shape of a rock.
“You lost, hahaha!”
“S-Senior. Although I may be from the Scattered Cultivator faction, I have a Nascent Soul senior brother who has sworn brotherhood with me in the Myriad Demon Sect…”
Before he could even finish speaking, the Dream Illusion Mind Snatching Art was deployed.
The man was indeed from the Scattered Cultivator faction. He had some form of mental defense, but it was so crude that it might as well not have existed.
“Wonhui, play with him however you like.”
Since Wonhui was always hungry, he had to feed her whenever an opportunity arose. This guy was vicious enough to be treated this way without issue.
While the demonic cultivator staggered from a brief bout of dizziness and then flinched in shock upon seeing Wonhui rising from Han Yujin’s shadow,
Han Yujin leisurely turned away and recalled the information about the treasure he had learned in detail.
It was a treasure already marked on the map, but he had not known what kind it was. It was probably because his experience in the cultivation world was still shallow.
— Aaaaaaaaagh…!!
He casually ignored the scream bursting from the darkness that had risen at some point and continued his thoughts.
‘Divine Tree Yang Origin Soft Body Technique…’
It was a cultivation method for soft body practitioners, who had now firmly established themselves as a definite minority in the cultivation world.
Interestingly, it was a technique that involved raising the Primordial Heavenly Divine Tree while simultaneously training the body. According to the information, it was certainly worth paying attention to.
Although the conditions for training were extremely difficult to meet, it could easily overcome the drawback of requiring far too many spiritual materials—the very reason soft body training methods had become a minority path.
Most importantly, it was said to help overcome the final of the Three Tribulations of Cultivation that appeared after reaching the Body Integration stage—the Body Decay Tribulation.
Whether the information was true or not was questionable, but it was not something he could simply ignore. After all, it meant it was a soft body cultivation method that could at least be trained up to the Body Integration stage.
‘After transforming the Dragon Heart into the Dragon Heart Dao Seed, I may need this kind of soft body training method to continue maintaining my Dharma Body Dual Cultivation ability.’
His heart was naturally drawn to it.