Chapter 254: Breaking Through the Fortress
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Upon openly doubting him, the Asura possessing the appearance of a youth frowned as if displeased.
“Watch your words. Numerous people inside the Red Lotus Realm saw Jin So-myeong killing Ra-heuk. How could we deceive you?”
“Hmph. What would the low-ranking ones know from watching? They probably think it ended after something flashed.”
“Sigh. In the first place, is there any reason for us to suddenly conspire to harm Ra-heuk? Is that not a statement that makes even less sense?”
“That, one would not know. Rather, I want to ask. Just why did you do that? Could it be you also came to kill me?”
“Curse it! Do not whine like a three-year-old child! Did we not say we would replenish all the resources consumed this time!”
“I doubt that very much. Once the matter is over, you will pretend not to know.”
Just as Wi Cheon continued to sneer and the angered youth was about to shout something.
One of the Void Refinement stage cultivators checked the transmission talisman in his pocket, and his expression brightened dramatically.
“Stop! Since they say the Castellan of Crimson Lotus City sent his incarnation, stop it. Now it is all over.”
“Ah! What a truly great relief. Although I do not know with what face I should see him…”
At the words murmured by someone letting out a sigh, Wi Cheon doubted his ears.
“What. Are you guys truly crazy? Just because you could not handle a single Soul Formation stage cultivator, you caused trouble for the Unity stage Dao Venerable?”
As the Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords silently nodded their heads, he was dumbfounded.
“Insane. I did not know you guys were this incompetent.”
“Sigh. Although we have nothing to say even if you insult us as incompetent, that fellow Jin So-myeong is truly not to be underestimated. If you face him even once, you will be able to know immediately.”
If a pack of wolves swarmed and said they could not kill a single chick because it was too fast and strong, would it feel like this?
At that moment when he was opening his mouth without even being able to sneer because it was too absurd.
Rumble…!
Along with a faintly heard explosive sound, a faint vibration was felt.
“He has come!”
The formation installed to explode if someone tried to pierce the Severed Realm Mountain Range was activated. It was undoubtedly Jin So-myeong.
“Where is it?”
“A hundred thousand li to the west…”
Right at that moment.
BOOM!
Starting with the explosive sound echoing from the east, the formations installed throughout the Severed Realm Mountain Range activated one after another.
“…A total of fifteen places.”
“Are they clones? It is an open decoy.”
“Even so, we cannot let the fellow pierce the Severed Realm Mountain Range. Only a part of us will go to confirm the places where the formations activated.”
“Good. If you discover the fellow, signal immediately. There is no need to face him overstrainedly.”
“Yes. Anyway, since he will arrive soon, we only need to drag time.”
Four of the nine Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords.
Pairing up in groups of two, they departed to the east and the west respectively.
They intended to fly along the mountain range to confirm if Jin So-myeong was there, and if there was, to disrupt him so that he could not pierce the mountain range.
“We should also go to our respective places. Since Jin So-myeong might try to pierce the Severed Realm Pass, we must prepare.”
“Understood. Wi Cheon, you also concentrate without being careless. The fellow is truly not an easy opponent.”
The remaining Void Refinement stage cultivators, excluding Wi Cheon, scattered in an instant.
Although the Severed Realm Pass was a fortress, since it was also an incredibly large city, they could not gather in one place.
Only by separating from each other could they guard the fortress walls without a gap.
Looking at the Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords scattering in an orderly manner, Wi Cheon narrowed his eyes.
“Tsk.”
Watching them, he could only think it was truly a spectacle.
For powerhouses who were nominally Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords to struggle like that to face a single Soul Formation stage cultivator.
Did their common sense become twisted while guarding the border line?
Although he wanted to pour out a torrent of insults, first he endured.
“Whew.”
Calming his annoyance with a deep breath.
At this point, he became curious about just how great Jin So-myeong was for them to behave like that.
With the thought of seeing him once the matter was over, he released his Divine Sense.
He sharpened his senses so that no one could invade the fortress while taking advantage of the clamor.
How many hours did he stand alone, guarding the fortress wall.
Around the time the sun set and the world was dyed in darkness.
Swoosh…
Truly faint.
A microscopic disparity, which would not be strange even if regarded as an illusion, pricked his senses.
“…”
He closely examined the formation installed on the fortress wall, and a part of the scenery, a speck-like point, wavered like a haze.
Did some problem occur with the formation?
Although it was a microscopic annoyance hard to notice if he had not sharpened his senses, he did not pass it over.
Drawing up his spiritual power, he concentrated it in both eyes.
At that moment when he was about to unfold a secret technique to amplify his senses in an instant.
Fwip!
The blade enveloped in pure white light was right before slicing his brow.
Wi Cheon’s pupils dilated at the sword that was brilliant enough to be hard to believe it was delivered from the darkness.
‘What…’
The strike that flew in secretly without even a presence tried to end his life.
A split second.
The response was faster than judgment.
He regained his composure in an instant amidst the confusing situation, and swung the back of his hand tempered by body tempering to parry the sword.
It was an excellent response suitable for a battle-hardened veteran who had undergone countless battles.
‘It is him.’
Around the time he realized the identity of the ambusher was Jin So-myeong.
Wi Cheon’s body was already in a state of entering a counterattack.
Although he did not know by what means the fellow pierced the formation and invaded the fortress, he put aside his doubt.
While seizing the surroundings to form a Law Domain, he concentrated the formidable strength flowing in his body into a single point and delivered a fist.
At that moment when the straight fist that went while tearing through the empty air tried to smash Jin So-myeong’s face.
‘Ah.’
A beat late, the warning the other Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords had given occurred to him.
Did they say Jin So-myeong possessed a bizarre divine ability that returned or parried attacks?
The words that he must not pour his full strength into a single strike occurred to him, but it was too late to withdraw his fist now.
If he tried to recover the strength contained in his fist now, a gap would inevitably be revealed. He would present a counterattack opportunity to the opponent.
‘This is…’
In a split second, numerous thoughts brushed through his head.
Normally, he would have stopped his fist at this point.
Although forcibly stopping his fist would inevitably reveal a gap, even so, because the opponent was in the Soul Formation stage.
Even if he was poked in the gap, there was no way it would be dangerous.
That should be normal, but
The surprise attack he received initially made him hesitate in his choice.
The moment he parried the sword Jin So-myeong delivered, he realized.
That the opponent’s sword was already sharp enough to reach the Void Refinement stage, so he must absolutely not look down on him.
If he slipped up, this side might be the one defeated.
“…”
A short time in which he could not even blink once.
He erased his hesitation.
Crack…!
Far from retreating, rather, he advanced while stamping his foot.
Even the spiritual power he had saved for a follow-up blow was entirely drawn up and loaded into his fist, and he delivered a strike containing literally his full strength.
Instead of the warning the other Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords had given, he decided to trust his own strength accumulated while cultivating over several thousand years.
Creeeak!
At that moment when the surrounding earth was ground away just by the wind pressure created as his fist advanced.
The straight fist that was advancing while carrying a formidable power rapidly slowed down.
It was because Jin So-myeong’s sword tip drew a speck-like circle, and a pure white curtain spread around that point blocked the straight fist.
‘Is this…’
The bizarre divine ability that Jin So-myeong was said to possess.
At the moment he was astonished by the empty feeling as if striking a cloud.
The control over the strike he had delivered with his full strength vanished in an instant.
‘He did not pierce?’
The destructive power contained in his fist was trapped by the pure white curtain and became a formless shockwave, and its trajectory was completely distorted.
The bewildered empty state of mind that was hard to believe was also brief.
Since he had poured his full strength and was in a defenseless state now, if he was hit by that shockwave, he would suffer a fatal wound. At that moment when he blocked his heart with his opposite hand under a hair-raising crisis.
BOOM!
The formation guarding the Severed Realm Pass shook as if it would collapse.
Because the shockwave trapped in the pure white curtain targeted the formation installed in the fortress instead of Wi Cheon.
“You fellow!”
As the situation became like this, Wi Cheon also realized thoroughly.
Jin So-myeong had already transcended the Soul Formation stage level.
A mutant who could not be judged by his realm, an entity out of the standard.
He had to deal with him under the judgment that he was an enemy of the same class who could end his life.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As proof of that, the fists he poured out like buckshot were all blocked.
Although they were fists delivered while parrying to check him after reducing his strength, even so, they contained a power impossible for a Soul Formation stage cultivator to bear.
Yet, he could not pierce the sword enveloped in pure white light.
‘He is truly a monster…’
Even when he tried to press down by utilizing his Law Domain, it did not work.
They said that if he faced Jin So-myeong even once, he would know how troublesome he was, and that statement was exactly correct.
It was to the point of being embarrassing that he had sneered at his comrades.
‘Tsk.’
While holding Jin So-myeong by pouring out consecutive strikes, he sent a signal.
Since a clamor arose, his comrades guarding the other fortress walls would swarm in.
He only needed to hold him until then.
Like that, in a split second when his concentration was divided very briefly to send the signal and grasp the situation.
Jin So-myeong, who was engaged in a close battle, flicked the dark blue pearl with his finger.
‘Blazing Fire True Jade?’
It was a consumable Dharma Treasure crafted by condensing a 6th-rank flame, a thing with a considerable explosive power.
Since its power was similar to a blow delivered by a Void Refinement stage cultivator with his full strength, there was no way it would be good to be hit.
Frowning, he drew up his spiritual power.
Unfolding a spell, he formed a barrier looking like armor, and made it protect his vital points.
A single blow from the Blazing Fire True Jade was something he could endure with his body tempered by body tempering.
Rather than giving a gap by trying to avoid in vain, he concentrated on pouring consecutive strikes on Jin So-myeong while ignoring it.
‘I only need to hold him.’
His carelessness was enough with one time.
It was sufficient to drag time like this. Soon his comrades would arrive, and then Jin So-myeong would be finished.
At that moment when he was continuing his check while ignoring the Blazing Fire True Jade.
BOOM!
Along with a roar that shook heaven and earth, all his senses including his vision cut out in a split second.
Bip………!
“Cough.”
He was about to lose his mind at the blood surging along his airway and the eardrum-piercing tinnitus.
It was undoubtedly the Blazing Fire True Jade, but its power was completely different from what he knew.
Its explosive power was easily four to five times stronger, and the speed at which the flame spread was too fast, leaving no time to react.
‘…Wait. Where is Jin So-myeong?’
As soon as he regained his senses, he searched for the fellow, but it was already too late.
Jin So-myeong, enveloped in violet lightning, flew across the fortress in an instant toward the opposite wall, and
Passing through the empty air blocked by the formation like a ghost, vanished beyond the sky.
“How could this…”
To think it was pierced like this?
He felt as if he were bewitched by a ghost.
At the surprise attack that flew while he was not taking the enemy seriously, he reacted too excessively, and that strike was parried to shake the formation.
On top of that, since he escaped after breaking free from checking by utilizing the Blazing Fire True Jade possessing a bizarrely strong power.
In the end, he ended up losing Jin So-myeong because of the single carelessness he committed initially.
At that moment when Wi Cheon stood with a bewildered expression.
“What are you doing! We must pursue immediately!”
The youth who flew in while riding the flying carriage made of leaves gestured as if telling him to get on immediately, and Wi Cheon, whose expression hardened, climbed onto the flying carriage.
And,
The other Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords who had been guarding the other walls also flew in while raising their light rays to pursue Jin So-myeong.
***
Jin So-myeong, who passed the Severed Realm Pass by utilizing the dark blue pearl whose power was reinforced by investing 30 billion points of the Supreme Great Ability and the Infinite Void Formless Robe, immediately summoned the Black Flame Boundary Stone and climbed on.
“Let us go.”
Screeech!
At the moment when the phoenix waiting in his spatial pocket spread its giant wings.
The phoenix traversed the sky at an immense speed, and the surrounding scenery stretched out.
‘Good. Now if I go a little further, it is the human territory.’
Since he had crossed the fortress that was the most dangerous gateway, there was not much left now.
Once he crossed the neutral area that could be called the military buffer zone and entered the territory ruled by the humans, it was over.
‘By the way… they are truly persistent fellows.’
While looking back while riding the phoenix, five Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords were pursuing.
Their tenacity of not giving up until the end was to the point of eliciting admiration.
At that moment when he was gauging the distance to the enemy.
Pitter-patter.
The silver water drops that began to fall one by one soon became a rainstorm.
‘Rain?’
For a split second, he wondered if the Asuras played a trick, but it was not.
This silver rain was undoubtedly a bizarre natural phenomenon that was said to fall once in several hundred years in the Bright Blood Great Valley.
Pour…!
His brow furrowed at the rainstorm pouring violently as if a hole opened in the sky.
‘To think the rain that falls once in several hundred years falls at this exact time.’
The silver water drops touched the Divine Sense that was scanning the surroundings without rest, and his Divine Sense rapidly weakened.
It was not particularly a strange thing.
Originally, when rain fell in the Bright Blood Great Valley, Divine Sense could not exert its strength.
It meant that not only his Divine Sense was weakened, but the Divine Sense of the Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lords pursuing behind was also weakened.
“…”
Although he did not know whether the suddenly falling rainstorm would be a luck or a disaster, first he concentrated on the Asuras again.
Although he was troubled because his Divine Sense was weakened, anyway, were the conditions not the same for each other? It was enough to concentrate on crossing to the human territory according to his original plan.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The talismans piled in his spatial pocket, the Chaos Sky Shattering Annihilation Palms, and all kinds of consumable Dharma Treasures discovered in the storage pouches he had recently obtained.
At that moment when he was disrupting the pursuing Asuras by mobilizing all kinds of means.
The flying carriage made of leaves that the Asuras were riding was enveloped in flames on its own, then rapidly accelerated.
Should he call it running wild?
It was clear they had amplified the speed at the cost of accepting permanent damage to the Dharma Treasure.
On top of that, one more thing.
The Asuras who were glaring with eyes filled with murderous intent burst their hearts simultaneously.
They had even used the unique divine ability of the Asuras that carried a massive aftermath.
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