Chapter 175: The Spiritual Power Pass

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read more at Nineheavens.org
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Jeok Yun, the Grand Elder of the Lotus Palace and one of the Nascent Soul stage cultivators who entered the Defeated Sage Dojo.

His entire body stiffened as he had just entered the Flame Pass and was guarding his surroundings.

The interior of the Flame Pass was quite spacious, and fierce flames were burning in every place visible to the eye.

It was a place no different from a fiery hell to an ordinary person, but it looked different to Jeok Yun.

‘To think ownerless Rank 4 Sourceless Flames are scattered everywhere!’

It was like gold being scattered around.

To him, who cultivated fire-attribute methods, the Sourceless Flame —a fire that burned on its own—was no different from a treasure.

It could be used for cultivation, and it could also be used when strengthening his Natal Spirit Treasure.

With a face full of excitement, he hesitated just as he was about to hurriedly sweep up the Sourceless Flames.

He had lost his reason for a moment upon seeing the treasures, but this place was a secret realm.

As it was an extremely dangerous place, being careful and careful again was not enough.

Forcing his gaze away from the Sourceless Flames, he examined the surroundings more closely…

‘Red Qilin Beast!’

He discovered a leopard demonic beast crouching among the flames.

Seeing that its entire body was wrapped in red clouds, it was clearly the Red Qilin Beast said to be born with its own Sourceless Flame from birth.

‘…Is it not?’

Looking closely, its appearance was slightly different from a Red Qilin Beast.

A mineral resembling obsidian grew on its forehead like a third eye, and sharp spikes protruded near its spine.

Although it was a bit strange, the overall feeling closely resembled a Red Qilin Beast.

At the very least, it seemed like a mutated demonic beast that inherited the blood of a Red Qilin Beast.

The moment he thought so,

an intense greed arose in his heart.

If it was a mutated demonic beast, it was even better.

Mutated demonic beasts were literally mutations, and they were often born with unique divine abilities.

What if the innate divine ability was even useful?

It would be worth whatever price was named.

Since it was a special treasure that could be called one-of-a-kind in the world, he had to capture it by all means.

‘It seems to have just reached Rank 4, but… I must still be careful.’

Approaching slowly toward the Red Qilin Beast that was guarding against this side while hiding body among the flames, he spoke.

“Fellow Daoist, relax. I simply wish to speak with you. I am curious about what kind of place this is; can you tell me?”

“Kyahaaaaak!”

He hesitated at the sight of it hissing like a beast.

Could it be that despite being a Rank 4 demonic beast, its intellect has not opened?

Although there were occasionally demonic beasts whose instincts alone developed without reason, the Red Qilin Beast was not of that kind.

“Fellow Daoist? Do not play jokes.”

“Grrrr…!”

He called it a few more times, but a proper answer did not return.

A cold sneer formed on the lips of Jeok Yun, who narrowed his eyes.

It seemed that because it lived alone for a long time trapped in the Flame Pass, it had grown up in its beastly state as it was.

If the Red Qilin Beast lacked intellect, it was rather good.

For it meant it was easy to suppress.

The moment he drew up his spiritual power,

Fwoosh!

The flames that were in all directions turned into a net and rushed toward the Red Qilin Beast.

He intended to bind and suppress it in one breath, and then forcibly engrave a restriction to employ it as a spiritual beast.

“Uh?”

His expression that was full of delight was dyed with shock.

It was because the Red Qilin Beast, which was crouching as if frightened, suddenly let out a snicker and swallowed the flame nets flying from all directions completely.

“What!”

The flame net he threw looked ordinary on the outside, but was a Lotus Palace secret transmission.

It was not a spell that could be dismantled so easily.

Ridicule settled in the eyes of the Red Qilin Beast that crouched while pretending to be weak.

Jeok Yun, who had a hunch that something had gone wrong, quickly widened the distance and struck the beast-control pouch at his waist.

He intended to bring out the Rank 4 spiritual beast he had raised with care and entrust the front to it.

However…

The fierce tiger as large as a house that popped out in high spirits tucked its tail the moment it saw the leopard that was not even half its size.

“An, Ancient Ominous Beast!”

At the words spoken by the frightened tiger as it shrank back, Jeok Yun was also shocked.

It was not a Red Qilin Beast, but an Ancient Ominous Beast?

Were those not the terrible monsters that swept the cultivation world until one hundred thousand years ago?

Ominous information flashed through his mind.

Ancient Ominous Beasts were monsters that active in the distant past, and if one had to classify them, they could be called a branch of demonic beasts.

The difference was the presence or absence of reason.

It meant they were beasts that could not even speak properly, which made them more dangerous.

Because they were powerful enough to face high-grade cultivators solely with instinct and physical body.

In the past, even in the era when the cultivation civilization was several times more prosperous than now, they were monsters difficult to oppose.

To the point that there was a story that the entire human race almost went extinct because of Ancient Ominous Beasts.

‘I must get out right now.’

There was no need to think.

At times like this, hesitating only meant death.

After ordering the spiritual beast, which wanted to flee, to block the Ancient Ominous Beast, he fled with all his might without looking back.

Keuheoeeong!

Before long, a scream full of pain and the sound of flesh tearing were heard, but he forced himself to ignore it.

Breaking out in cold sweat, he searched the Flame Pass thoroughly and barely managed to find the transmission formation leading to the outside.

‘Ah!’

Truly a relief.

The Sacred City said there would be transmission formations all over the Defeated Sage Dojo, and it was true.

Swish—!

At that moment when he flew crazily like a racehorse looking only ahead and tried to operate the transmission formation,

“Kyakyakyak!”

Along with an explicit sneer that pierced his ears, he could find that a part of the transmission formation had melted down…

Clearly traces of intentional damage.

Jeok Yun, who stared blankly at the ruined transmission formation, flinched.

Turning his head at the feeling of his hair standing on end, he fell into despair.

Right behind him, at a distance close enough to hear its breathing.

It was because the Red Qilin Beast—no, the unidentified monster active in the ancient times—holding a dripping bloody thigh in its mouth was looking down at him as if mocking.

***

At the same time, somewhere in the Defeated Sage Dojo.

In a desert composed of powder that made a crunchy sound when stepped on,

two lifeforms with bizarre appearances appeared.

Their sizes were similar to humans, but their appearances were completely different.

On the crowns of their heads, two elongated antennae protruded like horns, and they had as many as four arms.

Was that all?

On their skin covered in armor shells, sharp tentacles grew densely like fine hairs, and it was hideous to the point that an ordinary person would find it difficult to even look.

Possessing even the thin wings characteristic of insects, they stared into the air as if looking at a very distant place and sneered.

“It is noisy. Could it be those Sacred City bastards have come again?”

“It does not matter who it is. I was hungry, so this is fortunate.”

“Heh, I will have a feast after a long time. Those human bastards won’t even dream that we have already seized control of more than half of the formation.”

“Since they have come all the way here, no one will be able to leave.”

Thanks to the connection with the Upper Realm growing stronger recently, albeit very briefly, they were able to dismantle a part of the formation.

Their tone of voice, which mocked the entire human race as if looking down on trivial things, was soon filled with displeasure.

“Phew. It is absurd that I have to be pleased with the thought of devouring just a few human cattle.”

“Getting angry is the same for me as well.”

“To think we were defeated and trapped by human scum, a weak race… If only we connected with the Upper Realm, we would sweep away a minor world like this in an instant.”

Uttering hard-to-understand swear words as if grinding their teeth, they clicked their tongues.

“Forget it. Once Mother awakens, everything will be solved.”

“If we just escape from this tedious place, we will be able to find a way to contact the Upper Realm.”

They were the Insect-Armor Race , who proudly occupied a place even in the Upper Realm where all kinds of mythical monsters teemed.

A minor world like this could be swept away in an instant if only a few high-grade Insect-Armor Race members descended.

“Let’s first deal with the humans who sought this place out without fear.”

“Good. But I do not know if we can fill our bellies. Perhaps because those human bastards are frail, their nutritional value is too low.”

“Thanks to that, is it not easy to hunt?”

Whether they were grinning, they twitched their pincer jaws, presumed to be mouths, and traversed the desert.

***

Meanwhile.

Jin So-myeong, who was teleported somewhere while being swallowed by intense light, flashed his eyes open.

Wiiiing!

Something flew in rapidly along with the buzzing sound characteristic of flying insects.

The moment he perceived it,

Chwak!

he swung the sword drawn at a speed like a ray of light,

and dozens of flying sword illusions that arose in pursuit swept all directions.

He sliced all the fist-sized entities that flew in as if launching a surprise attack.

‘Insects?’

Roughly examining the split fragments, it was a bizarred-looking insect.

It was a flying insect with a pincer-shaped muzzle and a polished breastplate, which felt like a mix of an ant and a hornet.

Sweeping away the insect fragments scattering like dust with a single gesture, he released his Divine Sense.

‘Is this the Spiritual Power Pass?’

It was a square secret room with each side measuring about three hundred meters.

It was narrower than he thought, and there was no one.

Wiiiing!

Except for the insects rushing at him incessantly, wondering where on earth they popped out from.

Although there was clearly someone who crossed over first ahead of him, it was strange that there was no one.

‘Were we teleported to different rooms each?’

By all accounts, the trials seemed to proceed separately for each individual.

Crunch!

At that moment when he had already swung the sword for the fourth time to sweep away the insects,

a light green energy leaking out from the insect corpses began to dye the void.

‘Poison? They are truly doing all sorts of things.’

Puzzling for a moment, he tried absorbing a tiny amount of the toxic Qi.

He checked his physical reaction, and fortunately, it was not a deadly poison of the level of the petrifaction poison floating throughout the secret realm.

‘At this level, I can ignore it.’

Although other Nascent Soul stage cultivators would find it troublesome, since he had mastered the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art, he did not need to care about minor poisons.

Crunch!

Anyway, the insects keep flying in.

He had already cleanly swept the inside of the room, so where on earth were they popping out from?

Scanning the pitch-black room with not a single speck of light closely, he paused.

[Only the one who has completely emptied can move forward.]

It was a sentence written on the wall.

‘Is this the trial?’

What does it mean?

Could it mean to completely empty the dantian?

However, consuming all his spiritual power in a place like this was a dangerous thing.

Therefore, putting the dantian on hold for a moment, he pondered what else could be emptied, and a perfectly suitable idea came to mind.

‘It seems like it means to consume all the spiritual Qi in this room.’

The moment he inhaled and operated the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art in a simplified form,

his eyes flashed open.

‘Insane.’

It was because the spiritual Qi floating inside the room was very, very excellent.

It was an energy so clear and pure that it was comparable to the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, which was said to be the purest energy under the sky.

Because it could be refined several times more easily than normal spiritual Qi, it was convenient to accumulate in his dantian.

To put it simply, it meant the cultivation efficiency was superb… compared to the outside, it was at least twenty times faster.

‘At this rate, I will become a mid Nascent Soul stage even if I cultivate for just one year.’

Setting aside the trial, he could not miss such a good opportunity.

Since emptying the dantian could be done at any time, he decided to first absorb all the energy here.

However, there was something to do before focusing on cultivation.

Wiiiing!

The summer mosquitoes he experienced on Earth in his past life came to mind.

Since the hideous-looking insects persistently launched attacks, it was annoying enough to be irritating.

‘Is this why it’s a trial?’

Incessant attacks.

Frankly, it was not a good environment for cultivation.

Jin So-myeong, who contemplated for a moment, closely scanned the entire Spiritual Power Pass.

It was because he wondered where on earth the insects were popping out from.

‘It was the wall?’

Surprisingly, the insects popped out of the walls which had not a single hole.

Looking closely at the wall, it was covered in an opaque barrier, and every time it shook like waves, insects crawled out.

Tapping it, it was quite solid.

‘It is a one-way street.’

He could not cross over from this side to that side.

Observing the barrier intently, he turned his gaze.

There was one more thing he discovered while examining the Spiritual Power Pass.

‘Transmission formation.’

In a corner of the room, a circular formation of a size just right for one person to use was visible.

It seemed like an exit leading to the outside…

It was a mess.

It was in a state with holes here and there like a leaf eaten away by caterpillars.

Just by looking, it was clear that the insects filling this room had gnawed it.

Suddenly, the name of the secret realm flashed through his mind.

Defeated Sage Dojo.

He had wondered what it had been defeated by; could it perhaps have been beaten by insects?

‘Well, it is indeed hard to deal with cockroaches once they get inside the house.’

Jin So-myeong, who was lost in various thoughts, flicked his finger.

Pajijijik!

Pouring out the Five Elements Divine Thunder to burn away the insects, he completely released control over the spiritual power that was sleeping peacefully in his dantian.

An instant,

all the spiritual power accumulated through the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art turned into lightning Qi.

Watching the entire space being dyed with colorful lightning, he even unfolded the Myriad Thunders Chaos Sky Saber.

Kwarrrrung!

The thunderbolt running wild after escaping from control was a disaster by its very existence.

Worthy of the fierce energy called the head of ten thousand spells, just releasing it turned everything that approached into ashes.

Seeing the insects that were acting annoyingly burn to death in the lightning every time they approached, his chest felt cleared.

Nodding his head at the extremely gratifying sight, he called Mu-geuk and his clones to entrust them with guarding.

And,

he sat cross-legged in the center of the lightning storm.

Leaving only a strand of consciousness to guard the surroundings, he began to advance toward the mid Nascent Soul stage.

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