Chapter 290: Clothes Were Cut
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Deep in the deepest depths of the Limitless Pure Land.
The Elders of the Infinite Void Temple and Ha Do-jin were pouring dharma power into the formation with faces steeped in fatigue.
“Whew…”
“Everyone, please endure just a little longer. It is almost finished.”
The gazes of those maintaining the formation with all their might gravitated toward the center.
A transparent spring water was gathered in the center of the formation, which was the vitality extracted from the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone after all kinds of hardships.
A precious thing that could make even an ordinary person without a spiritual root live for several hundred years if injected.
Staring at the dense vitality, which was lifespan itself, they swallowed dry saliva.
“If we gather just a little more…”
On the surface of the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone, buried deep one million zhang underground, transparent droplets of water formed like dew.
Drip.
The moment the droplet of water, which rose against gravity, flowed to the center of the formation.
“It is done! Since this is enough to put out the urgent fire, let us take it and leave.”
“Already? It should have only been ten years since we entered the Limitless Pure Land. There is still a lot of vitality left in the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone, so let us extract more.”
Since they could stay in the Limitless Pure Land for twenty years, there was plenty of time.
At the words of Fairy So, the only woman in the group, Jeok Song resolutely shook his head.
“I have had a bad feeling since some time ago. It would be best to leave quickly before something ominous happens.”
“Yes?”
The startled Elders swallowed dry saliva.
Jeok Song had mastered the most difficult and mysterious divination art among the hundred arts of cultivation. Since even his vague feelings often proved correct, they could not be ignored.
“Understood. If Elder Jeok says so, we have no choice.”
Just as the group, having dismantled the formation, was about to pack the painstakingly gathered vitality.
“Wait.”
Startled, everyone’s gaze turned toward the unfamiliar voice that had suddenly echoed out of nowhere.
The Asura race member who had been sitting cross-legged right next to the group, Gwang-rim, openly approached and spoke.
“Is there not something you must do before giving this vitality to the Taixu Sacred Venerable?”
“Was there…?”
While the Infinite Void Temple group, whose faces had turned blank, hesitated.
Gwang-rim, stepping closer, flicked his finger and mixed a turbid energy into the painstakingly gathered vitality.
Swish…
The turbidity mixed into the vitality instantly became transparent, leaving no trace behind.
Although something unidentified was mixed into the vitality they had suffered for years to gather, the group merely stared blankly.
“It is all done, so now take it to the Taixu Sacred Venerable.”
“Ah, yes.”
Only after permission was granted did life return to their blank faces.
“Haa. It is finally over.”
“Everyone has truly worked hard. Let us leave the secret realm now.”
“Let us go to the exit we found last time. Since it is a place with severe spatial cracks, we should be able to leave simply by using a Boundary-Breaking Talisman.”
“Understood. Ah, by the way! What will you do, Daoist Brother Ha? Will you leave with us?”
At Jeok Song’s words, Ha Do-jin stroked his chin.
“Well. There are still ten years left, so it would be a bit of a waste to leave already.”
“I have a bad feeling for some reason, so how about leaving with us…”
Jeok Song, who was about to say something, paused and grabbed his brow.
Had a sudden headache arisen?
“Elder Jeok?”
“…”
The moment he sensed that something was wrong, he sprayed a handful of blood onto a golden talisman retrieved from his storage pouch.
He had consumed his True Blood to activate the 7th-rank talisman, the Soul-Settling Jade-Body Talisman.
Rumble!
Deep blue lightning poured from the talisman.
The lightning energy, which expanded with the momentum to cover the sky, contracted into a single point and transformed into a giant dragon.
The moment the giant dragon, bearing bright eye-light, roared, a fierce thunderous sound shook heaven and earth.
“Ah.”
As if waking from a dream, the staggering group widened their eyes and shouted.
“The Asura race!”
“U-Unity stage?”
“No! It is not the main body, but an avatar!”
The group, shouting in shock, unleashed their escape lights and scattered in all directions. It was something that happened simultaneously without anyone needing to be first.
They judged that if the Unity stage had not come in person, there was at least a hope of escape.
Rumble!
The giant dragon rushing forward while pouring brilliant lightning. Gwang-rim, who was brushing off the talisman’s energy, narrowed his eyes.
“A 7th-rank protective talisman? No, it could not even exert ten percent of its original power. Indeed, there is no way a Void Refinement stage level could handle a 7th-rank talisman.”
Crunch!
Gwang-rim, who tore apart the giant dragon composed of lightning with his bare hands, stiffened his expression.
Looking at the Elders of the Infinite Void Temple scattering in all directions, he clicked his tongue.
“You are making a nuisance when it is all finished. Fine. Let us have only one of you return alive instead.”
The moment Gwang-rim, who was staring beyond the horizon, extended his finger.
“Ah!”
Fairy So, who was fleeing desperately, screamed and froze solid.
As if caught by a giant, she was fixed in midair and her entire body trembled.
“Wait quietly. I shall send you back with your body intact when the time comes.”
It was an extremely ominous statement.
What did it mean to send her back with her body intact?
Could it mean that he would manipulate her mind and memories as he pleased, and then send her back with only her body intact?
Fairy So, whose complexion turned pale, gritted her teeth and was suddenly engulfed in fierce flames.
“Huh.”
A trace of admiration passed through Gwang-rim’s eyes, which had been cold from beginning to end.
This was because she had burned her primordial energy, which was no different from her lifespan, to escape the restraint.
Boom!
The deep blue flames that rose as if exploding melted the earth, and Fairy So, pushing off the void, charged toward Gwang-rim in reverse.
The moment she judged escape was impossible, she burned even her life to counterattack.
The pillar of light starting from between Fairy So’s palms pierced the void, and
Shatter!
the entire sky turned like a broken windowpane.
Although the power contained in the pillar of light was so strong that space distorted, Gwang-rim’s response was simple to the point of being empty.
“Excellent.”
With a calm evaluation, he extended his finger, and
“Ugh.”
Fairy So, whose dantian was pierced with a hole as large as a head, vomited dark red blood and fell straight down.
Having her avatar pierced in a single blow she did not even perceive, she died instantly…
“Fairy So!”
Jeok Song, who witnessed that sight, gritted his teeth and threw the storage pouch containing the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone’s vitality to his companion.
“Go first! I shall hold him back somehow.”
The pausing Elder of the Infinite Void Temple nodded.
Raising a wind to pull in the storage pouch, he immediately fled with all his strength.
“You are struggling in vain. I have already blocked all the exits in the vicinity anyway.”
“Shut up!”
That the paths of escape from the secret realm were entirely blocked was despairing news, yet Jeok Song was unshaken.
Striking his heart to spray blood, he simultaneously pressed his palms together.
Rumble…!
The worldly primordial energy gathered in a spiral and sculpted a giant shape spanning dozens of li in diameter, which took the form of a baduk board.
Snap!
The moment black baduk stones were placed on the three star-points of the baduk board.
A giant fortress wall bisected heaven and earth, and tens of millions of soldiers risen from the earth nocked their arrows.
Phew…!
Just once. The sound of a bowstring being drawn taut and released echoed, and
a rain of arrows rising against gravity covered the sky.
Rumble!
Lightning arose along the trajectories passed by the tens of millions of arrows.
Bright yellow threads composed of lightning emitted dazzling flashes, and the lightning stalks, which were too intricately twisted to even discern their shapes, formed a formation.
The moment the lightning filling heaven and earth surrounded Gwang-rim.
Ha Do-jin, who was fleeing with all his strength, turned back and joined in.
-Daoist Brother Ha?
That Ha Do-jin, who was a rogue cultivator and not affiliated with the Infinite Void Temple, stepped forward while enduring risks.
When the startled Jeok Song sent a transmission, a reply came back.
-Did not that Asura say he would kill everyone except one? It clearly looks like he is plotting something against the Infinite Void Temple, and there is no way he would spare a rogue cultivator like me, so I would rather combine strength with Elder Jeok.
-Ah.
-If it is true that the exits are blocked, fleeing is useless anyway.
Was that the entirety of his reason for challenging the Asura while enduring risks?
He could not know, but it was not important right now.
Boom!
As Ha Do-jin formed hand-seals, iron chains rising from the ground emitted a golden brilliance.
The lightning formation filling heaven and earth and the iron chains rushing forward while tearing the void apart.
Neither of them was an ordinary dharma art, yet Gwang-rim was not flustered in the slightest.
From left to right.
He made a hand gesture as if clearing away miscellaneous things, and
Crash!
the fierce attacks poured out by Jeok Song and Ha Do-jin with all their strength shattered into pieces without lasting even a brief moment.
“Ah.”
The moment they blanked out at the dharma arts that turned to powder without even maintaining their shapes.
Gwang-rim pointed his finger, and Ha Do-jin, unable to even resist, vomited blood from his seven orifices and fell to the ground.
Jeok Song was not unscathed either.
“Cough!”
Fully suppressed in a single move, he was left in a state where he could not move even a single finger.
Gwang-rim, who pressed down the two with overwhelming divine abilities, glanced to the side.
“A replica of the 7th-rank divine treasure, the Black and White Heaven Diagram…?”
Staring at the baduk board still floating in the void, he nodded.
“To possess such a dharma treasure along with a 7th-rank protective talisman. You are clearly a disciple favored by the Taixu Sacred Venerable.”
He smirked at the sight of Jeok Song staring with gritted teeth.
“Fine. I shall spare you. For if it is the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone’s vitality that you brought in person, even the Taixu Sacred Venerable will consume it without suspicion.”
The fingertips of Jeok Song, who glared with widened eyes, trembled.
This was because only after hearing Gwang-rim’s words did he realize that there was a problem with the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone’s vitality.
Gwang-rim’s eyes narrowed as he closely examined the violently trembling pupils.
“It seems indeed true that you collected vitality to give to the Taixu Sacred Venerable. Is the Taixu Sacred Venerable’s condition so bad that he needs the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone? Enough to endure the side effects?”
“…!”
Gwang-rim, who found out several facts simply from Jeok Song’s reaction, narrowed his brow.
“It is a strange thing… Since he has taken so much of the human Void Refinement stage cultivators’ lifespan, he should still have leeway.”
From a very long time ago,
those who achieved the Void Refinement stage using the Void Refinement spiritual objects held by the human race had to offer a thousand years of their lifespan.
It was a desperate measure chosen by the short-lived human race to maintain the number of Unity stage Dao Sovereigns.
“Does it mean the Taixu Sacred Venerable’s lifespan is almost at an end…?”
Had it not been the case, he would not have taken the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone.
The Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone was a spiritual object powerful enough to extend the lifespan of a Unity stage cultivator who had used all means and arrived at their limit, the side effects were severe.
If one extended their lifespan using the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone, all kinds of disasters would strike before long, leading to death. There was no exception.
Although Void Refinement stage cultivators might not know because the Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone itself was such a rare spiritual object, it was a fact known to most Unity stage Dao Sovereigns.
Gwang-rim, who was lost in thought with narrowed eyes, extended his hand.
Just as he pulled Jeok Song right before him and was about to place his palm on the crown of his head.
Pausing, he whipped his head around and stared beyond the horizon.
“Jin So-myeong?”
A swordsman clad in greyish-white martial robes without a single decoration, with a sword hanging at his waist.
His eyes met Jin So-myeong’s.
No one moved. How much time had passed in the silence?
The two, who stared intently at each other, opened their mouths at the same time.
“So you were of the Asura race. I can see it only now.”
“To think you have already reached the mid Void Refinement stage…?”
After a brief silence.
Gwang-rim extended his finger toward Jin So-myeong beyond the horizon, and Jin So-myeong, who spread his blood-colored wings, swung his sword.
Clang!
A rupture sound as if something had smashed echoed, and
“Huh.”
Gwang-rim, who exhaled a low breath, lowered his gaze.
At the end of his gaze was his shoulder, where his clothes, which had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, were cut.
Just as if they had been sliced by a blade.
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