Chapter 288: Unexpected Connection

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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【Cultivation Method】

Nine Successes Golden Body Art (Mastery 0.1 trillion / 100 trillion)

As the body tempering cultivation method reached the Mastery stage, several changes occurred.

Not only the five viscera tempered by the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art, but also other organs…for example, the six bowels, skin, bones, eyeballs, and so forth…began to have their potential bloom.

The speed at which energy flowed inside his body became three to four times faster, and his senses, including his five senses, grew sharper by the day.

In particular, the insight of the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye became rapidly stronger, and it seemed another change would occur in his eyes before long.

And also.

as Limitless reached Rank 6, he consumed the vitality contained within the life-prolonging stone to make a wish,

and he became able to store the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration that had undergone five circulations.

It was a small but very significant change.

Now, if he so willed, he could immediately enter the fifth circulation state.

He had become able to fight with full power at any time.

Just considering the instantaneous firepower he could exert in a sudden situation, it was safe to say he had become dozens of times stronger.

It meant he had escaped the fatal flaw of the Blood Wings…their structural limitation.

‘I can also attempt Time Annihilation at any time now.’

Although there was no guarantee of unconditional success just by attempting it, a low success rate was not a problem.

Since anyone was bound to become proficient if they repeated something.

And although this was still a conjecture, it would also have become possible to store the realm amplified by the Moon-Deducing Dao Scripture.

Although he could not test it due to the nature of the Moon-Deducing Dao Scripture consuming a massive amount of lifespan, it was almost certain.

‘It is smooth sailing.’

The feeling of advancing step-by-step toward his goal was gratifying.

Now, all that remained was to concentrate on cultivation and break through to the mid Void Refinement stage.

‘After breaking through to the mid Void Refinement stage in the secret realm, I can go to a Rank 7 Immortal City and research methods to achieve the Unity stage.’

Although there was a fair share of feeling that he was cultivating somewhat hurriedly, he did not want to act leisurely because he had been inexplicably anxious ever since entering the secret realm.

‘Is it because it feels like a war is about to break out soon?’

Roaming around the Asura territory, he felt a strange tension.

As a rogue cultivator lacking high-level information, it was hard to be certain, but it did not seem the current peace would last very long.

‘A war…’

Could the human race truly defeat the Asura race?

He reviewed everything he had personally seen and experienced, but it was hard to judge.

At a glance, it seemed the human race, steeped in peace, would be unilaterally pushed back, but the potential possessed by the human race was also formidable.

Was not Yin Cheon-ho, whom he had fought recently, an immense powerhouse?

Because the capabilities of each individual in the human race were so wildly different, it was hard to readily judge.

‘Enough.’

He shook his head. Whatever the situation, what he had to do now was clear.

In a chaotic situation like a war, the most important thing was one’s own martial strength.

To avoid being swept up in the giant current and losing the initiative, he had to raise his realm as much as possible.

‘The remaining time is sixteen years.’

He closed his eyes and circulated the Primordial One Qi Art.

He gauged the speed at which his dharma power accumulated, and the time was slightly awkward.

‘It seems it will take about seven years to reach the 3rd layer of the Void Refinement stage. As for the 4th layer…’

Since he had to break through a minor realm, he would have to allocate at least ten years.

The time was barely insufficient.

‘No. Since the spiritual Qi becomes denser the closer one gets to the center of the Limitless Pure Land, it might be fine.’

Then, what he had to do from now on was simple.

It was to head deep into the secret realm to increase his cultivation speed.

‘Let’s go immediately.’

He took out and activated the Life-Sensing Compass, a dharma treasure specialized in finding the vitality contained in life-prolonging stones.

If he went where this dharma treasure pointed…

‘Found it.’

He saw a pack of the Stone Heart race guarding the life-prolonging stone.

There were exactly ten of them, and two of them were at the mid Void Refinement stage level.

In the past, he would have had to expend some effort, but now it was different.

Shhhring.

The metallic sound of the blade scraping against the scabbard was pleasant to hear.

At the same time he drew his sword, he awakened Limitless, who was slumbering in the Secret Realm of the Mind.

The moment he resolved to unfold the Blood Wings.

Rumble!

An extremely familiar energy poured out from the depths of his soul.

As if a zero suddenly became a hundred.

His empty mind and body were filled in an instant.

Concurrently with the start of the battle, his Blood Wings entered the fifth circulation.

The Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration, which blazed as if blinking, galloped along his meridians and circulated through his entire body, emitting massive energy.

Guiding the bursting power to the tip of his sword, he drew a horizontal slash.

Exactly three times.

The sword light flashed, and there were no longer any living, moving Stone Heart race members.

Rumble…!

All ten crumbled into piles of earth.

The Stone Heart race members who possessed mid Void Refinement stage-grade energy were no exception.

Whether they blocked it or not, it was all the same.

The moment the slash brushed past them, they were literally sliced like sheets of paper.

Although the Stone Heart race, composed of earth and rock, was a race with an extremely sturdy body if nothing else, it was meaningless before Rank 6 Limitless.

‘Indeed…’

Storing the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration flowing along his meridians back into Limitless, he nodded of his own accord.

Although the sharpened sharpness was good enough, he highly liked that the flaw of the Blood Wings had been improved.

Being able to exert full power at any time put his mind at ease beyond imagination.

‘Good.’

Smiling with satisfaction, he gathered the Stone Heart hearts and the life-prolonging stone.

And he did not forget the Stone Heart remains that had turned into ordinary piles of earth.

Although he did not know how to use this earth, it would surely be useful somewhere.

Just as he was sweeping up the mountain-like, giant piles of earth.

Ah… Ah…

A dry, turbid, powerless voice that would sound like an elderly man on the verge of death was heard.

‘What.’

Astonished enough for his eyes to widen, he simultaneously keyed up his senses.

He was not surprised simply because he heard an unidentified voice. It was because the place where the voice echoed was extremely bizarre.

Had the voice been heard right next to him instead, he would not have been this surprised.

‘Yet, inside the sub-space?’

Who on earth, and by what means, had infiltrated the sub-space?

His embarrassment was brief.

He immediately regained his composure and responded.

Inhabiting the clone that was organizing items in the sub-space, he traced the source of the voice.

“Ah… I cannot feel that person’s gaze. How can such a thing happen?”

Finding the owner of the voice was not very difficult.

This was because the Stone Heart remains collected so far floated into the air and took on a shape similar to a human face.

Although it was somewhat foreign due to having no eyebrows, it gave a feeling similar to a middle-aged man with a rigid impression.

“What is this place…”

Yet, absurdly, the opponent was also clearly flustered.

With unfocused pupils, he looked around the sub-space and tried to grasp the situation.

Watching that appearance for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“Who are you?”

Since the situation was strange, he intended to talk first. However.

“Who?”

No answer came.

The giant face composed of earth and rock loosened blankly, and even the sound of speaking was abruptly cut off.

“I am…”

How long did the bizarre silence last?

At some point.

A brilliance more radiant than the stars in the night sky dwelt in the hazy pupils, and a thunderous voice echoed.

“My name is Gon-ak. A True Spirit who awakened on my own from heaven, earth, and nature. Since the mountains and the earth are my true body, I am the Limitless Pure Land itself.”

All the earth collected over several years since entering the secret realm vibrated with a rumble.

A bizarre strength dwelt in the voice that had been dying out, and a momentum like Mount Tai swept through.

‘…A True Spirit?’

According to legend, a True Spirit was a mythical existence that was born on its own from heaven, earth, and nature without parents, and exerted Unity stage-grade divine abilities from the moment of birth.

Furthermore, that he was the Limitless Pure Land itself.

Could it be that the entire secret realm, all of the endlessly unfolding vast earth, was his body?

It was an absurd, hard-to-believe statement.

Yet, why was it?

Looking at the cluster of stars dwelling in the giant’s pupils, he felt that those words might be the truth.

“I am Jin So-myeong.”

Although he was a True Spirit, the felt energy itself was not that strong.

Mid Void Refinement stage or so?

Why was a True Spirit, who should possess at least Unity stage-grade divine abilities, this weak? It was not difficult to guess.

Gon-ak said he was the Limitless Pure Land itself.

If those words were true, it meant that all the land in the Limitless Pure Land had to be merged to exert his original strength.

‘To think the entirety of the Limitless Pure Land, whose end is hard to grasp, is his body…’

It was difficult even to imagine how strong he must have been during his heyday.

Yet, was not the Limitless Pure Land the ruins of the Stone Heart race that had perished long ago?

Just as he narrowed his eyes at the question that flashed through his mind.

“Young swordsman. Are you the master of this bizarre space?”

“Yes, indeed. But I do not know how this suddenly came to be. May I ask for an explanation?”

“Well, I do not know either. How did I awaken again?”

What on earth.

He was momentarily dumbfounded, but it did not seem he was joking.

“I was surely defeated by that person and reduced to a lowly creature.”

“…That person?”

“Come to think of it, this place is truly bizarre. To think there is a place under heaven where that person’s gaze does not reach.”

Although they were rambling words, there was room for interpretation.

It seemed that Gon-ak’s awakening was related to the sub-space.

‘There was something suppressing Gon-ak in the secret realm, and did he regain his senses as it was moved to my sub-space?’

A shiver ran down his spine in an instant.

The Limitless Pure Land had existed for at least five million years…?

During that remote span of time, there was only one existence in this world capable of suppressing a Unity stage True Spirit.

The Great Vehicle stage.

An existence that was born as a mortal and achieved immortality.

The pinnacle of cultivators.

Excluding the True Immortal, a path-untrodden realm of imagination, the most supreme existence in this world was the Great Vehicle stage.

“Does ‘that person’ refer to the Great Vehicle stage?”

“I shall not answer. For there are times when knowledge itself becomes a disaster simply by knowing.”

Just as he was chewing over the meaning.

“Although this space is out of that person’s gaze… I still cannot understand.”

Gon-ak, who was staring intently at the sub-space, groaned and continued speaking.

“If you possessed such a space and had the potential to awaken me, you would not have been able to enter the Limitless Pure Land in the first place.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Because that person would not have wished for it. All sorts of unavoidable coincidences would have overlapped, preventing you from entering the Limitless Pure Land.”

“…Huh.”

Simply because the Great Vehicle stage did not wish for Gon-ak to awaken, Jin So-myeong, who had absolutely nothing to do with it, would have been unable to enter the Limitless Pure Land?

It was an absurd story, enough to make his head throb.

“Ah, something is protecting you. Though it is hard to examine in detail since my power has degenerated, it is certain.”

“Who is protecting me?”

“Yes. Someone paid an immense price for you. Simply to detach you from their gaze, even if only for a short moment.”

“…”

Although Gon-ak’s words grew increasingly hard to believe, he still did not ignore them.

He retraced all his memories since the time he was in the Human Realm. He examined whether he had any memory of being protected.

For one, he had received help here and there quite a few times.

When he had newly reached the Foundation Establishment stage, there was also a time he got through a crisis thanks to Hong Seol.

However…

Even combining all his memories, there was no existence capable of influencing the Great Vehicle stage.

The only one with a slight possibility was the Star-Shattering True Monarch, who had wandered in search of the human race’s blade, but frankly, the probability was thin.

The highest-realm individual among the human race was also at the Unity stage. It did not seem he could have influenced the Great Vehicle stage.

Jin So-myeong, who was lost in thought, nodded.

“I roughly understand. Let us first decide clearly on the important matters. It seems Senior is in a difficult position if you go outside, is that correct?”

“The moment I touch that person’s gaze, I shall become a lowly creature again.”

“By lowly creature, do you mean the Stone Heart race?”

“The Stone Heart race? Those ones are like moss sprouted from my remains, so they are unrelated to me.”

“Hmm.”

“The lowly creature I spoke of refers to a state where spirituality is weak, like earth and rock.”

He had asked out of concern that hunting the Stone Heart race might have incurred Gon-ak’s displeasure, but there was no such sign.

“Then Senior must wish to stay here by all means. Since going outside will make you lose your sanity again.”

“…Is there something you desire?”

“Well, who knows.”

At the unexpected situation, he tapped his scabbard.

One thing certain for now was that he could not completely trust Gon-ak.

In the cultivation world, one must not recklessly trust a stranger.

In particular, words spoken by someone of a higher realm than oneself had to be filtered cautiously.

There was no need to deliberately lie either.

Simply omitting part of the truth and conveying only facts advantageous to oneself was sufficient.

Therefore, he first checked whether he could isolate Gon-ak by dividing the sub-space into several compartments, and fortunately, it was possible.

Since his Supreme Great Ability had grown stronger upon reaching the Void Refinement stage, dividing the sub-space was simple.

Should he allow Gon-ak to stay in the sub-space? If he did so, what should he demand in return?

‘There are many things I want to ask, though…’

He fell into contemplation while tapping his scabbard out of habit.

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