Chapter 174: The Gateway

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read more at Nineheavens.org
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The Nascent Soul stage cultivator belonging to the Sacred City whom he had only heard of through rumors.

He was a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat made of straw and a snow-white dharma robe, but his atmosphere was a little different from what he had vaguely imagined.

He was neither intimidating nor arrogant.

Flying over in a gentle parabola, he scanned the cultivators gathered to enter the Defeated Sage Dojo and let out a very small sigh.

And.

Without a single word of greeting, he pulled out a palm-sized wooden tablet and injected spiritual power.

The moment light erupted from the wooden tablet, which was cracked here and there and felt aged with time,

the sky touched by the radiance fluctuated as if distorted and split vertically with a cracking sound.

It was a sight as if a passage hidden in the void had been opened.

Beyond the elliptically split gap, a gray sky was visible.

Everyone gathered here aiming for a fortuitous opportunity held their breath.

That place was indeed the secret realm monopolized by the Sacred City, the Defeated Sage Dojo.

At that moment when he was staring at the alien landscape as if bewitched,

“The entrance will only be maintained for exactly one day, so whether you enter or not is up to your will.”

That was all.

He sat cross-legged right in that spot and closed his eyes.

It was an absurdly simple attitude.

Was it really okay to enter?

At that moment when a strange silence flowed,

A nameless Nascent Soul stage cultivator wearing a wolf mask spoke.

“Is there anything in particular to be careful of in the secret realm? If there are any taboos, please tell us.”

There was no answer.

The cultivator of the Sacred City’s side was merely closing his eyes as if meditating.

Since he was completely ignored, it could have been embarrassing, but the man wearing the wolf mask asked once more.

“If the entrance is only maintained for one day, what must we do when coming outside?”

Was something different about this question?

Slowly lifting his eyelids, he replied in a low voice.

“There are transmission formations leading to the outside all over the Defeated Sage Dojo. Finding them should not be difficult. If you are still human, you will be able to come out easily.”

“If still human? What does that mean?”

“Just know that the Sacred City sealing the secret realm was all for your sakes.”

The cultivator of the Sacred City’s side, who was silent for an instant, added a word, and with that, did not respond to any questions.

How many minutes had passed?

Those who were silently lost in thought entered the Defeated Sage Dojo one by one.

There was no one who would give up after coming all this way just because of a few words of warning.

***

Simultaneously with the feeling of passing through a thin barrier, he arrived at a spacious open space.

First of all, the air was different.

Deep and heavy spiritual Qi permeated to the point of filling his lungs every time he breathed.

‘At least a Rank 4 high-grade spiritual vein.’

Jin So-myeong, who was closely observing the surroundings while raising his vigilance, narrowed his eyes.

The Defeated Sage Dojo was, compared to his thoughts…

much more peaceful.

And it gave off a strong artificial feeling.

Stone blocks similar to marble were laid on the ground, and a gray sky was visible beyond a dome-shaped opaque barrier.

Columns engraved with unrecognizable strange letters, a circular mat of a size that a single person could barely fit inside, and so on.

Although he could not know the exact uses, it was full of structures that seemed to be man-made.

Tapping and stepping here and there to grasp the hardness of the ground, he thought.

‘It’s not a particularly hard material, yet the ground is intact. Does it mean at the very least, it’s not a place where battle took place?’

Was this vicinity safe?

He sharpened his senses and expanded his Divine Sense.

Since he had come to an unfamiliar place, he had to obtain as much information as possible.

However, he could not inspect beyond twenty kilometers.

It was because the formation installed on the outskirts of the open space bounced back his Divine Sense.

‘Is it a formation that distinguishes the open space from the outside?’

Even a rough look showed it was not a Rank 4 formation.

It was presumed to be at least a Rank 5 formation.

The outskirts of the open space were not entirely blocked.

There was also a staircase leading somewhere, as if this way was the path.

At that moment when he was scanning all directions with his Divine Sense to grasp the Defeated Sage Dojo,

“Here is?”

“I thought we would scatter in all directions like in other secret realms, but it seems we start from the same place.”

“I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing.”

Buzzing murmurs were heard from the surroundings.

The cultivators who had entered the Defeated Sage Dojo together with him were scanning the surroundings and staying on guard like Jin So-myeong.

The Nascent Soul stage cultivators were relatively calm, but the Golden Cores could not hide their anxious looks.

Of course, that was also brief.

“For the spiritual Qi to be this dense!”

“Could it be a Rank 4 spiritual vein…?”

Joy hovered in their eyes.

Some trembled their entire bodies as if ecstatic just from breathing.

To a Golden Core, a Rank 4 high-grade spiritual vein was in itself an unparalleled fortuitous opportunity that would make cultivation dozens of times faster.

Gulp…

Although their expressions looked as if they wanted to cultivate right away, no one moved rashly.

If one acted according to their desires in a dangerous place like a secret realm, it was not strange to die at any moment.

Those in this place were at least Golden Cores.

Everyone did at least a basic assessment of the situation.

“…”

Had about five minutes passed in the silence?

As still nothing happened, the tension on people’s faces faded a little.

The cultivators, who were examining the surroundings in their own ways, spoke one by one.

“No matter how much I look, there is nowhere to go but that staircase.”

“It seems something will appear if we go over there.”

“Mhm…? Wait, something is strange.”

At the moment they were about to start moving,

a certain youth, who had just taken a step, lost his balance and stumbled.

Flailing his arms to barely avoid the unsightly act of falling, he widened his eyes and shouted in fright.

“Poison! There is poison in the air!”

“…What?”

The complexions of several people turned deathly pale.

There were also those who quickly swallowed antidotes, as if only now realizing they were poisoned.

Among those acting noisily,

Jin So-myeong was in the middle of focusing attention on his physical interior.

‘Is it petrifaction poison?’

The senses of his extremities and fingertips grew minutely dull.

He pinched his fingertip slightly, and it felt like touching a hard lump of stone rather than normal skin.

‘…It’s a deadly poison.’

It was not the kind of poison that took a life in a single instant.

The speed at which the toxicity acted was frustratingly slow.

However, it was very stealthy and persistent.

By the moment he noticed, it had already permeated deep into his bones, making it hard to shake off.

It was so even though he had mastered the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art.

Around this time,

the majority of the cultivators could no longer endure and swallowed their antidotes.

Those who still had not consumed the antidote were only two or three people, including Jin So-myeong.

‘Is it bearable…?’

At that moment when he was assessing the level of the poison, a sense of incongruity suddenly arose.

He realized it while exchanging thoughts with Mu-geuk, whose soul was connected to his; the emotions and thoughts Mu-geuk transmitted were particularly faster than usual.

At first he thought it was a simple illusion, but it was not.

As time flowed, the gap grew even larger and became vivid.

‘…It’s because of the poison. It’s not that Mu-geuk became faster, but that I became slower.’

It was not a normal petrifaction poison.

It was a terribly vicious deadly poison that not only hardened the physical body but also slowed down the speed of thought.

If thoughts gradually slowed and ultimately stopped, no matter how sturdy the physical body was, it was no different from being dead.

Jin So-myeong, who took out the antidote and fiddled with it, carefully examined his physical state.

He needed to first grasp whether he could endure without the antidote or not.

Ten minutes later,

after carefully observing while resisting the poison by operating the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art, he reached a conclusion.

‘I can endure it.’

Instead, it seemed he would have to waste a considerable amount of time to adapt to the poison and develop antibodies.

While he stood still fighting the poison, others would leave to find treasures.

He could also be launched a surprise attack at the moment his thoughts slowed.

Only after pondering this and that factor did he swallow the antidote.

Rather than using up time to force endurance and create antibodies, it was better to explore the secret realm and find treasures.

‘…The effect is good.’

The energy of the antidote spread to his extremities and gently loosened his fingertips that were hardened like stone.

It felt like being released from a bondage that tightly wrapped his entire body.

It was refreshing as if he had thrown off a heavy burden.

As his dulled senses revived, even the air brushing past his skin felt refreshing.

He did not perceive it when his thoughts were slowed, but upon becoming fine after eating the Pure Cleansing Pill, he wondered how on earth he had endured.

‘What kind of poison is it to be this stealthy and vicious?’

It seemed that considerable dangers were hidden in this peaceful-looking Defeated Sage Dojo.

Controlling his mind which was about to loosen its tension and scanning the surroundings, the Golden Core cultivators who had been checking reactions were scattering here and there, digging tunnels or setting up formations.

Were they making cave dwellings?

It seemed they intended to cultivate at the relatively safe-looking entrance without overdoing it needlessly.

‘Indeed. To them, just a Rank 4 high-grade spiritual vein was a sufficient fortuitous opportunity.’

He no longer paid attention to others.

He headed toward the staircase he had found earlier.

How long had he climbed the stairs that continued endlessly like an infinite sea?

The Nascent Soul stage cultivators who had consumed the antidote and departed first were gathered in another open space, murmuring.

“This transmission formation here seems to lead to the outside of the secret realm.”

“Mhm, the Sacred City did not lie.”

There was an escape exit in a corner of the open space, but most glanced at it and lost interest.

Who would want to go out already when they have not obtained even a single treasure yet?

“By the way, I do not know where to go.”

“To think there are so many forks…”

Beyond the open space, there were dozens of forks, and plaques hung as if explaining what path each was.

Spiritual Power Pass, Body Tempering Pass, Puppet Pass, Sword Pass, Flame Pass, Elixir Refining Pass, Spiritual Crop Pass, Formation Pass…

‘Pass ? Does it mean a trial?’

Thinking about it, this secret realm is a dojo starting from its name.

It meant it was a place to learn and master something through trials.

If so,

if one chose the Body Tempering Pass, would a path testing body tempering unfold?

And if passed, give rewards related to body tempering?

Trial and reward.

Fitting for the name dojo, it was a fairly intuitive structure.

‘Where should I go?’

Though he wanted to go to all of them once in his heart, he ultimately had to make a choice.

Struggling because it was hard to choose readily,

he reflected on his goal to clear his complicated mind.

At times like this, there was a need to simplify thoughts.

What was most needed right now?

Naturally…

‘A Soul Formation spiritual object.’

If so, which gateway should he go to in order to obtain a Soul Formation spiritual object?

Spiritual Crop Pass?

Elixir Refining Pass?

These two were the ones with the highest probability of being associated with a spiritual herb field.

Of course, it was not certain.

If he went to the Elixir Refining Pass, they might only test knowledge regarding elixir refining.

Even if he went to a spiritual herb field, there was no guarantee that a Soul Formation spiritual object would be there.

Taking risks to come all the way to a secret realm, only to learn elixir refining?

That would be nothing but a failure.

After a brief time of quite fierce contemplation, Jin So-myeong made a choice.

‘Let’s go to the Spiritual Power Pass.’

The power that a cultivator refined from spiritual Qi and perfectly commanded as their own was called spiritual power .

As it was no exaggeration to say that the more spiritual power was accumulated, the higher the realm rose, if it was a gateway testing spiritual power, it was highly likely to be related to raising the realm.

Since he had made his decision once, he did not hesitate any longer.

At that moment when he took a step,

“We shall go to the Puppet Pass.”

“Yes, Patriarch.”

Others also began to move one by one.

“You go to the Spiritual Crop Pass. Since I will go to the Elixir Refining Pass.”

“I will do so.”

Forces bound tightly like families connected by blood flocked to a single gateway or split into multiple paths for a grander purpose.

Groups with weak cohesion, either individuals like Jin So-myeong or bound by simple interests, selected their desired paths each.

*

Grey mist was filled outside the path leading to the Spiritual Power Pass, and judging from the sensed energy, it did not seem to be a Rank 4 formation at the very least.

Since he did not want to trigger a formation restriction that was at least Rank 5 by touching it needlessly, he walked quietly along the path.

How much time had passed?

The moment he reached the end of the path,

a flash so intense that he absolutely could not open his eyes pierced his cornea.

‘A door?’

The light was so intense that he could not inspect it properly even with his Divine Sense, but he could faintly see a scene of someone who went ahead opening a door and entering.

Thud!

Along with a heavy thud, the door enveloped in light closed.

‘Is this the entrance leading to the Spiritual Power Pass?’

Standing in front of the door with a height of three meters, on whose borders strange patterns were engraved, he narrowed his eyes.

He checked with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye just in case, but there was nothing to be known.

However, what would he hesitate for after coming all this way?

If he delayed in vain, he might be deprived of fortuitous opportunities by those who went ahead.

The moment he placed his hand on the doorknob,

the intense light he saw earlier was emitted.

Along with the feeling of being sucked in somewhere, the scenery in front of his eyes changed in a single instant.

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