Chapter 153: Cleaved in a Single Slash
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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***
“Bwahahaha! Blue Lightning? Even heaven does not wish for your ascension! Die! Die! Just drop dead!”
He ignored the Supreme Elder who was barking noisily.
He spread the Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket, which he had set aside, above his head; to endure the Blue Lightning, which looked dangerous at a glance, with his bare body was not confidence, but arrogance.
Boomoon!
He could not distinguish whether the sound came first or the pain came first; the moment he thought he perceived it, the blue lightning, more brilliant than the sun, was stirring through all the limbs and bones of his body.
The Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket that stood against the Blue Lightning had long turned into ashes and vanished, unable to endure even a single second.
‘I will really die at this rate.’ Just as that thought filled his head.
Boomoon!
The second Blue Lightning struck down. Even his body, tempered to the Rank 3 highest-grade level, could not endure it and was about to collapse.
As if flailing in water, he responded to the Blue Lightning with his hazy mind.
He strove to control the Blue Lightning by circulating the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art, which he had repeated thousands and tens of thousands of times.
‘Can I endure it?’ Around the time such a thought arose.
With a roar, the third Blue Lightning struck down. There was no room to hold back. He even poured in his Supreme Great Ability.
The moment he barely endured by literally squeezing out all his strength.
‘…This can’t be?’
The dark clouds covering the sky remained the same. Now, it was to the point of feeling wronged; what on earth had he done so wrong for them to go this far?
The moment the blue lightning was dyed purple.
……………!
The purple lightning that struck down vertically. The moment it touched his crown, his thoughts cut off.
He reflexively deployed his Blood Armor to protect his heart, brain, and dantian, abandoning all the rest.
Was he even alive?
He tried to grasp the situation in a half-conscious state, but the surroundings were completely empty.
The formations that had maintained their sturdiness even against a Nascent Soul-grade blow had been swept away and turned to ashes solely by the aftermath of the purple Lightning Tribulation, and even the Supreme Elder who had been persistently interfering had distanced himself in terror.
‘Anyway, now it is truly over.’ The moment he thought so.
‘Ah.’
The entire world was dyed in purple.
A curse naturally escaped him. This crazy heaven had stubbornly struck down the purple lightning one more time.
Even the Blood Armor that protected his vital points could not endure and shattered. Right before his entire body turned into ashes and scattered.
At the sudden crossroads of life and death, he made a choice following something that could be either intuition or instinct.
The Lightning Escape Art.
He had cast the divine ability of becoming one with lightning upon the Lightning Tribulation.
‘···!’
How should he express this feeling? Should he say he had become one with the will of heaven, the Three Thousand Great Daos? An endless ascent continued. It felt as if the entire world would be placed beneath his feet if he only reached out his hand.
He almost fell into ecstasy, but he bit the tip of his tongue to snap out of it; becoming one with the world at his current realm would mean a dog’s death.
He struggled desperately to maintain his sense of self. The moment he endured with a tenacity that could be called stubbornness.
The lightning in his mind, nurtured by the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art, raced along his meridians and absorbed part of the purple lightning, taking on a faint purple glow.
At that moment.
The purple lightning that had been leading him to death transformed into a gentle energy.
Becoming a warm energy that could be called the essence of life, it restored his physical body and soul which were on the brink of collapse.
With just a few blinks of his eyes, his entire body regained a perfect state.
‘Ah.’
An overwhelming energy that could not even be compared to his days in the Golden Core stage welled up.
He instinctively knew at this moment.
That he had overcome all trials and ascended to the complete Nascent Soul stage.
He turned his gaze upon the ruins devastated by the purple lightning. He locked eyes with the Supreme Elder, who had withdrawn far away to avoid the aftermath of the Lightning Tribulation, and
Seureureung…!
He drew his half-melted sword. It was time to make the fellow who had persistently interfered pay the price.
***
At the same time, Hong Yu-ha, who was watching Jin So-myeong, felt nervous before she knew it.
‘Ugh, just how many times is the Lightning Tribulation striking.’
In fact, she was incredibly shocked upon seeing the blue lightning strike, because the appearance of Blue Lightning during a Nascent Soul Lightning Tribulation meant the cultivator possessed an extremely outstanding divine ability.
Looking at this phenomenon, some would evaluate it as a divine ability that even heaven would envy.
However, Jin So-myeong’s Lightning Tribulation did not stop with the Blue Lightning.
Purple Lightning.
Purple lightning striking during a Nascent Soul Lightning Tribulation? It was a bizarre event she had never even heard of. It would not be an exaggeration to say it was unprecedented.
Perhaps Jin So-myeong’s aptitude was far superior to what she had vaguely imagined.
…………!
The power contained within the purple lightning was so strong that even her skin, over a hundred li away, heated up.
“It is hot…!”
“Insane.”
Her older brother beside her uttered vulgar words, but she had no time to pay attention.
With the second purple lightning that followed again, the mountain peak where Jin So-myeong was staying was erased without a trace.
Could a mere human survive such a disaster?
For some reason, her mouth felt parched, and just as she reflexively gathered her hands to her chest.
Seureureung…!
The sound of a blade scraping against a scabbard was heard in her ears. Despite the ridiculously far distance, it was incredibly clear.
Jin So-myeong, wrapped in purple lightning, drew his sword!
A haze formed on the half-melted sword, then became a brilliant cluster of light.
Hong Yu-ha, who was watching the sword emitting a sharp aura that sent shivers down her spine as if possessed, was startled.
“Oh!”
This was because the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace, who had withdrawn far away to avoid the purple Lightning Tribulation, stiffened his gaze and shook his Rank 4 bell, and the grey fog that had been scattered as if surrounding the mountain peak rushed toward Jin So-myeong.
Just as the massive crowd of ghosts, numbering easily over hundreds of thousands, let out ghostly wails.
Pazijijijijik!
The purple lightning wrapped around Jin So-myeong’s body scattered in all directions, spreading out as if exploding and dyeing the entire sky.
Due to the intense thunder Qi that was too dazzling to look at with the naked eye, the ghost crowd that had flown in with a ferocious momentum was swept away all at once.
‘Wow.’
Hong Yu-ha, who was blankly admiring, hastily raised her dharma power at the pain felt in her eyes, casting her family’s secret divine ability, the Clear Azure Eye, to protect her eyes.
At that moment.
The Supreme Elder, who had lost his ghost crowd in vain, wore a dumbfounded expression.
“…I provoked him in vain.”
As if realizing that Jin So-myeong’s skill was out of the ordinary, he muttered regretfully and tried to withdraw.
Simultaneously with the Supreme Elder wrapped in escape light turning back.
Rumble!
A bolt of lightning traversing the void swept past the Supreme Elder, and that was the end of it.
The noisy battlefield instantly became so quiet it was chilling.
‘···?’
Opening her eyes wide, Hong Yu-ha tried to grasp the situation.
What had happened?
For some reason, the Supreme Elder who seemed about to flee immediately stood blankly with a dazed expression, and Jin So-myeong, who had been wrapped in purple lightning, had already swept past him.
“Th-this is…”
The words of the Supreme Elder, who was muttering something, could not continue.
Click!
Because simultaneously with the sound of sheathing the sword, his entire body was split vertically.
Hong Yu-ha’s mouth fell wide open.
What was it? To her perception, something had merely flashed, and the situation was over.
Thud!
The Supreme Elder, who had been rampaging while high-spiritedly interfering with the Lightning Tribulation, collapsed without even putting up proper resistance.
‘He died…?’
Only after seeing the corpse rolling on the dirt ground did the shock belatedly rush in.
An expert who had reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage died without even being able to leave a final testament!
In a split second that she could not even perceive, he had sliced through an enemy of a higher realm than himself with just a single sword strike.
***
As Jin So-myeong, who had cleaved the Supreme Elder in a single slash, glanced his way, the startled Mister Demonic Jade smiled awkwardly.
“Congratulations on ascending to the Nascent Soul stage. By the way, your skill is truly admirable. One must be at that level to be called the First Sword of the Golden Core.”
As he watched quietly, Mister Demonic Jade, who was swallowing dry saliva, rambled on with excuses he had not even been asked for.
“As you already know, I have never interfered with you! Rather, I helped you. That old Supreme Elder ordered me to harass you, but I ignored it all.”
“…”
“J-just now was the same. If you had been pushed back by the Supreme Elder, I would have helped you.”
Perhaps because the gaze felt burdensome, Mister Demonic Jade’s words became even faster.
“In the Black Night Palace, there are many people, including the Palace Master, who harbor complaints against you. I have mapped them all out, so as soon as I return, I will sweep them all away without you even having to step in.”
“I have no interest in the Black Night Palace, so do as you wish.”
“Ah, then I am grateful. I hope you continue to succeed on the path of cultivation in the future.”
As Mister Demonic Jade, who let out a sigh of relief like a man who had barely escaped death, departed in a hurry, Ju Gwang approached.
“Did you perhaps use the power of the Lightning Tribulation to cleave Ya Cheon-ryun?”
“Ya Cheon-ryun? Ah, you mean the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace.”
“Just how on earth did you control the Lightning Tribulation? I cannot understand it.”
“It was a coincidence. I could not do it again even if asked.”
It was not a lie.
Although he had grown stronger after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, he was not at the level where he could slice down a mid-Nascent Soul stage Supreme Elder in a single stroke.
Because he had accelerated using the power of the purple lightning remaining in his body after enduring the Lightning Tribulation, the Supreme Elder had died without even being able to react.
“Hmm… Indeed. A human would not be able to freely manipulate the Lightning Tribulation.”
Seeing Ju Gwang nodding his head, Jin So-myeong fell into thought.
‘I thought it was just shabby clothes, but it was a Rank 4 spirit treasure.’
This was a fact he learned thanks to his Divine Sense growing stronger after reaching the Nascent Soul stage; the shabby hemp clothes riddled with holes worn by Ju Gwang was a treasure specialized in concealment and disguise.
“But why did you help me? It is not as if I said I would join the Myriad Cultivators Alliance.”
“*Cough*. Actually, my mission received from the Myriad Cultivators Alliance was to protect you.”
“Pardon?”
“I do not know the exact details either. I just received a request to protect you until you reached the Nascent Soul stage. While I was at it, I tried to draw you into the Myriad Cultivators Alliance, but things became awkward.”
“…Why did you hide your realm?”
“I wanted to find out what kind of person you were while traveling to the Middle Province together. Things got a bit tangled up, but I held no ill intent.”
Comprehending roughly, Jin So-myeong nodded.
‘Who tried to protect me? Could it be Hong Seol?’
Except for Hong Seol, whom he regarded as his master, no one else particularly came to mind. While he had acquaintances, she was the only one capable enough to hire a Nascent Soul stage expert.
The image of her appearing from the Limitless Divine Sword and helping him when he had just achieved Foundation Establishment and was chased by the Thousand Corpses Sect in the past came to mind.
‘She swung her sword once and sent me to the sea where Sky Island was located.’
Although he did not know where she was and what she was doing, receiving a guard made him feel strange. It was because one-sided goodwill without any price was rare.
“In any case, my mission is roughly finished, so I will be off. Let’s meet again if fate allows. Ah, by the way!”
Ju Gwang, who had seemed about to leave immediately, held out a palm-sized mirror.
“This is the Ten Thousand Li Water Moon Mirror. With this mirror, you can contact the branch leaders of the Myriad Cultivators Alliance in each city. You can even publish missions if necessary.”
“…Are you telling me to join the Myriad Cultivators Alliance?”
“That would naturally be great, but it is fine even if you do not join. In any case, wouldn’t it be good for rogue cultivators to help each other? If you have something to ask of the Myriad Cultivators Alliance, use this mirror.”
After hesitating for a moment, he accepted the mirror, and Ju Gwang, grinning, departed riding the house-sized gourd.
And,
as if she had been waiting for this very moment, someone flew over swiftly. It was Hong Yu-ha, looking this way with sparkling eyes.
“Spectacular!”
“…Huh?”
“Senior. No, I have never seen a sword cultivator as strong as you! Fine. I will admit that I lacked an eye for talent. I also apologize for acting slightly rude.”
Speaking chirpily, she presented a jade box.
“This is an apology gift! It is a Root-Cleansing Spirit-Replenishing Pill.”
“Root-Cleansing Spirit-Replenishing Pill?”
It was a pill that even Jin So-myeong knew of, a fairly precious treasure.
It was a Rank 4 pill that, when consumed by a cultivator who had just broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, helped them regulate their unstable dharma power and also improved their spiritual root quality.
“For someone with a genius talent like you, it won’t have a very significant effect, but it will be better than not eating it.”
That was not the case. Since Jin So-myeong possessed a high-grade spiritual root, he would obtain a far more outstanding effect than she thought.
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