Chapter 195: Overwhelming Strength that Transcends Realms
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read more at Nineheavens.org
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The one man and two women, who vaguely detected a powerful Divine Sense, sharpened their senses.
“Have they arrived already?”
“…Wait. It does not seem to be Cultivator Jin and Daoist Ju.”
Although it was not certain because the distance was too far, the approaching person was alone.
They were approaching without hesitation, as if they had discovered those who had dug into the snowy mountain.
Just as the three of them, tense and alert, prepared for the uninvited guest in their own ways.
As the distance closed and she became able to recognize the opponent’s face, the short-haired woman’s expression stiffened.
‘Yeo Mu-rin!’
Did she have a grudge?
Her pupils shaking wildly, she adjusted her breathing and regained her composure in an instant.
—Is it someone you know?
—He is the Flame-Extinguishing Division Leader of the Sacred City. Watch your words and behavior.
—Oh, dear…
Just as the group, who had exchanged voice transmissions, nodded.
Bang!
Yeo Mu-rin appeared, having forced open the entrance of the dug cave.
Scanning the one man and two women gathered near the ghost fire, he pulled out a mirror without warning.
“No, what…?”
Before they could make any protest, he activated a mirror Spiritual Treasure of the Rank 4 highest grade to emit a brilliant light.
The three people, who were already tense and alert, reacted immediately.
A wall made of ice, Sword Qi spreading in a circle, and so on.
They tried to block the light emitted by the mirror by various means, but it was to no avail.
The silently permeating light pierced through all defenses and reached the three of them.
At the same time as the flustered three retreated hurriedly, Chae Yeon-bi’s facial features began to change.
Her face, which had been too featureless to remember, turned into a beauty with a cold impression.
“…!”
Chae Yeon-bi, who was forced to reveal her true appearance by the mirror, turned pale for a moment, but that lasted only a brief instant.
“What is the meaning of this rudeness!”
Regaining her composure in an instant, she glared at Yeo Mu-rin and shouted, but his reaction was minimal.
“Apologies. I did so because there is someone I absolutely must find, so please understand.”
“Hah.”
“By the way, what did you all come to such a remote place for?”
The man who stood a step back frowned in displeasure.
“Why should we answer that? You are going too far. Just who are you to be so rude?”
“I am Yeo Mu-rin, the Flame-Extinguishing Division Leader of the Sacred City. I am pursuing a wanted suspect, so please cooperate. Let me ask again. Why did you come here?”
“…What else would we come to such a remote place for? Naturally, we are trying to enter the True Realm of Illusory Dreams in search of opportunities.”
“Compared to its dangers, you will obtain almost nothing from the True Realm of Illusory Dreams, though?”
“That is our own business.”
“Hmm…”
Yeo Mu-rin, trailing off, scanned the inside of the cave before locking his gaze on Chae Yeon-bi.
“Strange, Fairy looks familiar. Have we met before?”
“…I am a mere rogue cultivator, when would I have met someone from the Sacred City?”
Yeo Mu-rin, who narrowed his eyes in the uncomfortable silence, snorted.
“I remember now. You girl are the legitimate daughter of the Chae Clan. But how are you still alive? The Chae Clan should have been cleanly dealt with.”
Chae Yeon-bi, whose lips parted as if to deny it, paused and then grit her teeth.
“Yeo Mu-rin. I absolutely wanted to ask you if I ever met you. Just why did you exterminate our clan?”
She glared as if to kill him, exploding her suppressed hatred, but Yeo Mu-rin’s answer was absurdly simple.
“I do not know.”
At his tone that seemed completely indifferent, her fingertips, which had lost color from gripping the sword hilt too tightly, trembled.
“You do not know…? How can you massacre a family without even knowing the reason? At that time, my younger sibling was twelve years old!”
“One thing for certain is that the Sacred City is always right.”
“What…”
“If your clan was punished, it must be because they committed a capital crime. Nothing more, nothing less.”
A cold silence flowed at the declaration filled with sincere belief or arrogant obstinacy.
Chang!
Chae Yeon-bi, whose eyes turned bloodshot from broken capillaries, drew her sword, and the companions who heard the conversation also pulled out their Magic Treasures without hesitation.
“To think there are so many who oppose the Sacred City… How foolish.”
Simultaneously with Yeo Mu-rin’s brief sigh,
Boom!
A shockwave erupted from the spells of both sides that clashed as if they had been waiting.
The four figures shot out from the mountain debris that collapsed with a loud roar, and without even a split second of leisure, they poured offensive moves toward each other.
Boom, boom, boom!
The clashes continued relentlessly, and brilliant sparks dyed the empty air.
Who was dominant?
Astonishingly, despite the three late Nascent Soul cultivators joining forces, Yeo Mu-rin was not pushed back.
No, he went beyond simply not being pushed back to overwhelming them.
“Ugh.”
To the point that a groan mixed with pain leaked from the mouth of the girl who struggled to endure the shockwave.
Just as the battle somehow continued, Yeo Mu-rin formed a hand seal.
Bang!
The snow-covered ground split like a canyon, and a giant tree surged upward.
A crimson leaf—no, flames burned on the giant tree that grew in an instant to reach the clouds.
At the fierce heat, even the snowstorm that had been blowing continuously went silent,
Sizzle…!
and the snow accumulated for tens of thousands of years evaporated, revealing a muddy ground.
The sky was dyed red. The flames fluttering in the wind entangled and turned like ropes.
At the sight of a giant net covering the entire world, the complexions of the three who had been pouring out spells darkened rapidly.
“Did he isolate space…?”
The girl, realizing that she could no longer escape before she knew it, furrowed her eyebrows.
Glaring at the opponent with her youthful face, she tried to tear the net apart by creating a giant ice scythe with a size of thirty zhang.
The other companions did not stay still either.
The man pressed Yeo Mu-rin by burning twenty sheets of Rank 4 talismans simultaneously, and the sword cultivator Chae Yeon-bi displayed sword control technique.
Swish—!
The single sword traversing the empty air increased to 108, emitting sharp energy.
Thousands of slash attacks originating from the wildly rampaging flying swords gathered into one. A giant sword, larger than an ordinary building, shot forward like a meteor.
All three launched a total offensive by their own means.
However,
the moment Yeo Mu-rin clasped his hands.
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.
The rain of five colors originating from the Five Elements rotated fiercely, and then converged to a single point to become a dazzling giant dragon.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The giant dragon, which swallowed all the pouring offensive attacks, galloped forward without hesitation.
“…!”
It was too fast for them to even have time to pull out other means.
Swept by the giant dragon, the three fell vomiting blood, and were subdued upon being caught in the net covering the sky.
The clash that had been somewhat tense ended in an instant.
The cultivators of the Myriad Cultivators Alliance, who could not even commit suicide due to their spiritual power frozen hard as stone, despaired.
Indeed, should it be called the Sacred City?
Even though three late Nascent Souls launched a joint attack, they were defeated in an instant. The difference was large enough to be described as overwhelming.
“You guys. What is your relationship with Jin So-myeong?”
At Yeo Mu-rin’s low question, the three clenching their teeth flinched.
“Jin So-myeong…?”
“Damn it! Why do you suddenly ask us such a thing?”
They played innocent, but it was of no use.
“There is no way three Nascent Soul cultivators would accidentally be in this place. Speak whatever you are hiding. If you cooperate sincerely, I will not kill you.”
“Pfft… They say the bastards of the Sacred City are all stubborn, and that statement is exactly right. Did I not say I do not know? I swear I have never even met Jin So-myeong!”
The man, whose front collar was dyed red from vomiting blood, shouted in frustration, but Yeo Mu-rin remained expressionless.
From the start, he did not seem to have any intention of believing whatever they said.
“It would be best for you to cooperate quietly before you suffer harsh treatment.”
“Are you deaf? Damn it! What awful luck.”
“Since you insist on bringing pain upon yourselves, I will grant your wish. Under normal circumstances, I would not have gone this far, but this matter is too critical.”
Whoosh!
A green flame ignited on Yeo Mu-rin’s index finger. The moment that flame filled with foreboding touched the man’s forehead.
“Kuuuuugh!”
Veins stood out all over the skin of the wide-eyed man.
In intense pain, he trembled in his limbs as if having a fit, and the focus in his pupils vanished.
“Hmm… That bitch Hong Seol is trapped in the True Realm of Illusory Dreams? Now that I see, you bastards are all a band of rebels.”
As a look of interest settled on Yeo Mu-rin’s face, the two women who were struggling to break free from the restraint were shocked.
“The Soul Search Art?”
To extract memories targeting a fellow Nascent Soul.
They could not understand.
Because the Soul Search Art, which subdued the mind to forcibly read memories, was a spell that could only be displayed against low-level cultivators whose difference in level was extreme.
“The Myriad Cultivators Alliance. Now that I see, you are truly insolent things. Opposing the Sacred City in secret. Did you think you would be safe by growing your size by accepting rogue cultivators indiscriminately?”
“Ugh…”
Yeo Mu-rin, who muttered that he should sweep away the entire Myriad Cultivators Alliance before long, continued to read the memories, and his expression grew serious.
“As expected, Jin So-myeong was coming here.”
He absolutely did not take Jin So-myeong lightly.
Although the possibility was very slim.
If it was true that Jin So-myeong had survived against a Soul Formation-grade member of the Insect-Armor Race, it meant he was no longer an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.
Hence, he had to mobilize all possible means. Whether those means were righteous or despicable, such things did not matter at all.
Yeo Mu-rin, who tapped his storage pouch to set up a formation around, asked once more.
“Jin So-myeong’s weaknesses. Speak everything you know.”
“Groan, I do not know… I said I have never even met him.”
Yeo Mu-rin, who clicked his tongue as if looking at a useless object, widened his eyes.
“You…”
He knew not what memory he had read, but he could not conceal his astonishment.
Just as he paused and was about to say something.
“Are you looking for me?”
At the low voice delivered from beyond the horizon, Yeo Mu-rin’s head whipped around.
A dot as small as a speck of dust expanded rapidly and became a flying vessel.
A single giant flying vessel that flew at an immense speed stopped right above.
Jin So-myeong, who jumped from the deck upon arrival, stepped on the void.
Standing in a slanted posture, he looked down at the battlefield with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
“Do you have business with me? Do not bully innocent people and speak directly.”
Yeo Mu-rin, who exchanged looks for a split second, hardened his face.
“Jin So-myeong. I am Yeo Mu-rin, the Flame-Extinguishing Division Leader of the Sacred City. Are you willing to go to the Sacred City with me?”
“The Sacred City?”
Jin So-myeong, who pondered something intently for a moment, nodded.
“I did happen to have business there.”
It was something he had learned through various rumors upon ascending to the Nascent Soul stage: when traces of the Upper Realm were discovered, the Sacred City would appear and sweep everything away.
Thus, there was a high probability that there were Immortal Stones in the Sacred City.
It meant that unless he luckily obtained Immortal Stones, he would have to stop by the Sacred City at least once to strengthen the Secret Realm of the Mind to Rank 5.
“However, not now. I will go on my own when the time comes, so wait.”
“…If you refuse, I have no choice but to take you by force.”
In the moment they stared at each other in silence.
Yeo Mu-rin’s bracelet erupted with brilliant light, and the empty air warped.
Boom!
From the sky warped like a shattered window, five dragons emerged and roared.
At the same time as the five giant dragons symbolizing the Five Elements flew toward Jin So-myeong, chains even shot out from the ground. The secretly installed formation had activated.
Against all that offensive pressure,
Jin So-myeong’s response was simple to the point of futility.
Scree!
He simply drew his sword and struck straight down.
The sharp energy starting from the tip of his sword became a half-moon shaped slash.
The attacks of both sides passed each other as if crossing, and the pupils of those watching dilated.
Within the world flowing slowly as if stopped,
Thud!
The five giant dragons were blocked by the ink-colored barrier raised by Jin So-myeong and could advance no further.
The vertically plunging slash did not stop for even a moment and continued forward.
“…!”
Yeo Mu-rin, frowning, extended both arms above his head. Five shields emerging from empty air blocked the slash.
At the moment the two energies clashed,
Slash!
The shields, thicker than a forearm, split literally like paper being sliced.
The shields made of condensed massive spiritual power could not buy even a brief moment of time.
Ah…
Yeo Mu-rin, whose pupils dilated at the silently approaching half-moon slash, grit his teeth. He squeezed out all his strength in a split second and crossed his arms.
The bracelet worn on his wrist, a Spiritual Treasure of the Rank 4 highest grade, emitted light.
He blocked with all his might, but…
He could not endure. All resistance was powerless before the single sword.
The bracelet turned to dust.
The protective armor to safeguard his dantian and heart was also no exception.
Crack!
The focus in the pupils of Yeo Mu-rin, whose knees were forced to buckle from the impact exceeding limits, vanished.
If not for the protective talisman that raised regenerative power to the extreme to grant him an Undying Body in an instant, he would have already died; his expression turned desolate.
“What is this…”
He was out of his mind.
Is this really the same Nascent Soul stage?
In the unbelievable reality, he stared blankly up at Jin So-myeong while kneeling.
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