Chapter 256: Exploding Proficiency
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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“Could I ask for an explanation?”
As he did not withdraw the power captured by the Yin-Yang Reversal and rather amplified it instead, the woman wearing a hairpin wore a bitter smile.
“Indeed. Even if I tell someone who was pursued until just now to put away his sword, it would be useless. Let us introduce ourselves first. I am Hwi-ryeong.”
“I am Jin So-myeong.”
“So-myeong… It is a good name. Glad to meet you. Hmm, by the way, where should I start speaking from… Since it has been a long time since I spoke, it feels unfamiliar.”
Looking at her who was deeply lost in thought, he decided to just ask directly.
Before the energy captured by the Yin-Yang Reversal ran wild, he had to distinguish whether the unidentified entity in front of him was an enemy or not.
“May I ask why you helped me?”
That was, if bringing him here like a kidnapping was truly helping him.
Thanks to it, he escaped from the Asuras without using the Moon-Burning Realm-Crossing, but he did not know yet whether the current situation would be a gain or a loss.
As he asked while controlling A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens which was becoming unstable moment by moment, her lips drew an arc.
“Just because I was bored.”
“…”
A mischievousness dwelled in the smile that was benevolent like a mother looking at her child.
“It is a joke. To give you a suitable reason to believe, I brought you here because you caught my eye at the exact moment I needed help.”
“…Just what kind of help do you need?”
“By now, my inner core must have regenerated somewhere in the Bright Blood Great Valley. I hope you will find it and bring it to me.”
Inner core?
At the unexpected word, he closely examined the woman, but no non-human elements like horns or scales were visible at all.
‘I thought she was a human… Was she of the demon race?’
If a human cultivator accumulates spiritual power centered on the dantian, a demonic beast takes the inner core as its nucleus.
Possessing an inner core meant she was of the demon race.
‘By the way, how is she alive when she said she lost her inner core?’
To the demon race, the inner core was the source of power.
If compared to a plant, it was equivalent to combining all of the root, stem, and leaves. Because it was literally everything, losing the inner core was identical to losing life.
Did she possess a special divine ability like the Undying Body?
Even so, the question remained.
What did it mean that her inner core would have regenerated in the Bright Blood Great Valley? To think she spoke as if that immense valley was her own body.
Depending on how one thought, it was a considerably meaningful statement.
“Would it not be better to find something as important as an inner core yourself?”
“Sigh. I also want to do so, but it is impossible.”
The moment Hwi-ryeong, who was carrying a serene smile, let out a long sigh,
a faint phantom wavered behind her back.
‘…A Black Dragon?’
Big enough to distantly transcend all sensory organs,
a giant something was visible.
A giant dragon possessing ink-colored scales was fallen while covered in blood, and pure white iron pillars were pinned here and there on the giant body buried in the earth.
Wedges as large as buildings had shattered the scales and penetrated the giant body, and it was not even a single one.
At least tens of thousands.
Innumerable wedges were pinned all over the body, so it could not move at all. It felt like looking at a stuffed insect.
“Haha. As you see, my condition is not normal. Even if I want to leave, I cannot leave.”
“…I understand. But why me of all people?”
“Are you asking the reason why I chose you among those who were there?”
“Yes.”
“Actually, the strength left in me is not that much. It is to the point where I have to accept a considerably large blood-letting to bring in a Void Refinement stage cultivator. In contrast, since you are in the Soul Formation stage, it is much easier.”
“…”
“Of course, if you were an ordinary Soul Formation stage cultivator, since you would not even have the ability to grant my favor, I would not have called you, but are you not different? To think you contended with a Void Refinement stage cultivator with merely a Soul Formation stage realm. Frankly, it was surprising.”
He thought deeply if there was a loophole in her story.
There was nothing particularly problematic, but… even so, to believe it readily, the situation was too suspicious.
To think a mysterious expert saved him at the moment of crisis. How many such convenient things would there be in the world?
“What happens if I refuse?”
“Since it is not something that can be done by forcing, it cannot be helped. I will send you back as soon as my strength is recovered.”
For a moment, his energy almost drained out.
Around the time he lowered his sword very slightly at the extremely cultured attitude rare to see in the cultivation world,
her voice continued.
“However, just know that I also have no intention of using you for free.”
“Then?”
“If you promise to find my inner core, I will lend you a 6th-rank high-grade spiritual vein.”
A 6th-rank high-grade spiritual vein.
It was a place perfect to cultivate for the time being, but the request was too difficult.
“I am sorry, but I am not in a position to go around searching the Bright Blood Great Valley right now. Did you not see me being pursued?”
“I am not asking you to find it immediately. You only need to find it when your realm becomes high enough to protect yourself. Because I also do not want to have my inner core snatched by others.”
“…So. You are saying that you will lend me the spiritual vein first, and I can find the inner core later when I have leisure?”
Hwi-ryeong furrowed her brow as if asking what kind of talk that was.
“Later? It will be troublesome if you are too leisurely. I hope you will bring it within two thousand years at the latest.”
Two thousand years…
The units of time they each thought of were different. Apparently, the opponent seemed to be of a race with an exceptionally long lifespan.
In any case, was there anything to lose by doing as she said?
There was none.
In two thousand years, the Void Refinement stage was naturally possible, and depending on his efforts, he could also become a Unity stage cultivator.
If so, the Asura race was not even a problem.
Even if he openly turned the Bright Blood Great Valley upside down, no one would be able to disrupt him.
“But what happens if I do not find the inner core even after searching the entire Bright Blood Great Valley? Could someone have already taken it?”
“Although I believe it will not be so, if it becomes like that…”
She, from whose face all smiles vanished in an instant, spoke with an expressionless face.
“I want you to kill the bastard who made me like this.”
“…May I ask who it is?”
“If you fail to bring my inner core, I will tell you then.”
“Hmm.”
Looking at her who again carried an elegant smile as if she had never been angry, he glanced and shifted his gaze.
He examined the surroundings, and a thick fog was visible high in the sky and near the horizon. As if blocked by a wall, he could not examine beyond a certain range.
According to the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye, this place seemed to be a space similar to the Secret Realm of the Mind.
‘If I push myself slightly, leaving will not be a problem.’
If he added the Infinite Void Formless Robe and the 6th-rank Realm-Crossing Talisman to the Blood Wings that had entered the fifth circulation, it seemed he could tear the empty air and escape outside.
After grasping up to this point, he contemplated.
Since he did not know what the situation outside was, should he stay here for a while and cultivate?
If he only had a stable environment and the 6th-rank high-grade spiritual vein, reaching the late Soul Formation stage would be in no time.
Although it was not that there were no suspicious parts about Hwi-ryeong at all…
the distant time of two thousand years made him forget all anxieties.
Because as time passed and his realm became high, something like minor tricks would all lose meaning.
“Since I spoke after a long time, I am tired. What will you do?”
“…”
“Although I understand what you are worried about, actually, it is not that I place immense expectations on you. I am merely attempting it because there is no particular loss.”
*
In the end, he accepted her proposal.
It was because the statement that she was merely attempting it since there was no particular loss touched him.
“This is the spiritual vein I spoke of. Stay as long as you want before you leave.”
Following Hwi-ryeong’s guidance, a valley where water transparent as dew trickled out appeared.
Beside the valley, a two-story tile-roofed house was built, giving the feeling of looking at a villa built for playing in the water.
Although it was a beautiful scenery to the point where his mind comfortably relaxed on its own, what was important to Jin So-myeong right now was spiritual Qi.
‘If I cultivate here, reaching the late Soul Formation stage will be in no time…’
Savouring the spiritual Qi thick enough to be grabbed if he clenched his hand, he nodded his head.
“It is a good place. I will use it gratefully.”
“I will go to rest now. Since it is a place I cherish, please do not handle it roughly. And clear away that fierce energy slowly.”
“Yes. I will manage it well, so do not worry.”
As Hwi-ryeong vanished beyond the horizon, the surroundings finally became quiet.
Because there were no parasites or Ancient Ominous Beasts that attacked every time they had a gap, and no Asuras pursuing tenaciously, he felt like he could live.
‘Whew… By the way, what should I do with this?’
Examining the sword still held in his hand, A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens on the verge of exploding was visible.
As he divided the energy poured out by the Asuras into the Five Elements and circulated it, it grew endlessly stronger.
‘It feels like spreading Blood Wings with the energy captured by the Yin-Yang Reversal.’
Since it seemed a decent technique would be born if he researched it well, he remembered the current sensation well.
How much time had passed?
Observing the energy running wild inside A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens, he stroked his chin.
‘Now it is truly the limit. I should get rid of it slowly…’
To just discard it was a waste.
Gold-colored energy hot like lava, a cold wind carrying cool frost, lightning Qi sharp like thorns, stone fragments pressing down on the surroundings, and so on.
Worthy of the offensives poured out by as many as nine Void Refinement stage cultivators, it was truly diverse.
At that moment when he was contemplating if there was a method to use it,
‘…Shall I try to absorb it?’
The Primordial One Qi Art he mastered was a cultivation method that fused and refined all of the hundreds of millions of energies existing in the world, eventually reproducing the primordial energy.
Simply put, it meant he had to encounter as diverse energies as possible, and fortunately in front of his eyes was the energy that as many as nine Void Refinement stage cultivators had crafted with sincerity.
‘Let’s try it.’
Contemplation was brief.
Utilizing the Chaos Origin Wheel, the divine ability he obtained upon entering the Primordial One Qi Art, he swallowed the energy running wild inside A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens.
At that moment,
Primordial One Qi Art (Initiate 22,100,000 / 300,000,000,000)
Primordial One Qi Art (Initiate 47,320,000 / 300,000,000,000)
…
Primordial One Qi Art (Initiate 65,600,000 / 300,000,000,000)
Primordial One Qi Art (Initiate 98,510,000 / 300,000,000,000)
“Oh?”
Even though he did not invest the Supreme Great Ability, the proficiency of the Primordial One Qi Art grew rapidly.
Even at this exact moment, it rose endlessly without stopping.
Because the act of absorbing diverse energies itself was the process of cultivating the Primordial One Qi Art.
It was expected that if he digested all the energy swirling inside A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens right now, he could raise hundreds of billions of proficiency points.
‘It is a jackpot.’
He had merely swallowed it because it was a waste to discard it, but the result was far greater than expected.
In addition to realizing the method to cultivate the Primordial One Qi Art, he saved several years’ worth of the Supreme Great Ability.
Jin So-myeong, who was delighted by the unexpected harvest, calmed his excitement.
In any case, since he came to a new environment, he needed to grasp the situation and organize what to do in the future.
‘Hmm…’
First, the most important thing was to grasp Hwi-ryeong, who was the master of this place.
According to what he found out through conversation, she seemed to have originally been in a lofty realm and then fallen after being hit by someone.
Although she did not seem to hold particular ill intent…
‘Let us just cultivate moderately and leave.’
When considering various factors such as the quantity of cultivation elixirs and spiritual herbs remaining in his spatial pocket, it seemed just right to leave after reaching the late Soul Formation stage.
‘Will it take about twelve years? Ah, I should also change my Natal Cultivation Art.’
Currently, his Natal Cultivation Art was the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art he mastered in the Lower Realm.
Although it was improved by the Supreme Great Ability and became an outstanding cultivation art that would not be a waste to be called a divine scripture, since it was a cultivation art that started from the Foundation Establishment level after all, its limit was low.
He needed to change it to the Primordial One Qi Art.
If he changed his Natal Cultivation Art, the efficiency would increase in all parts related to spiritual Qi.
For now, it was the fastest way to increase his strength.
‘The speed of accumulating spiritual power will also become faster.’
And the realizations he obtained while fighting the Asuras must also not be missed. In particular, he realized a lot while personally experiencing the Law Domain, which was the authority of a Void Refinement stage Heavenly Lord.
He needed to organize it through meditation and apply it to A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens.
‘Good. Let’s start immediately.’
Jin So-myeong, who set up a rough cultivation plan, was about to sit cross-legged when he paused.
Come to think of it, there was an existence he forgot for a moment.
Opening his spatial pocket, the phoenix enveloped in pitch-black flames was visible.
Coorook?
The fellow was diligently fluttering its giant wings in the blazing flame storm, meaning it was preparing to fight just as Jin So-myeong had ordered.
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