Chapter 297: A Sword Cultivator Appearing by Clefting the Sky 2

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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“Ah.”

The formation engraved on the outer wall of the sailing vessel emitted a radiant brilliance, but it could not block the fist that appeared through the clouds.

BOOOOOOM!!

Ending with a rumble and vibration that shook like crazy, the sailing vessel, which was the pride of the Castellan of Flying Cloud City, was half destroyed in a single strike.

The outer wall wrapping the cabins was blown away entirely, and the Nascent Soul Stage cultivators who became bloody while trying to maintain the formation by force collapsed weakly.

The Soul Formation Stage cultivator who was at the center of it.

The Castellan, whose front collar was dyed red whether because he spat blood, stood up with difficulty and yelled.

“Surrender! I will surrender!”

At the sight of the Castellan, who was as good as heaven, bowing his waist, everyone fell into shock.

“Hmph. Boring.”

The Asura giant who descended from the sky clicked his tongue, but he did not seem to have any intention to attack further.

It was said that the Asuras would treat them as workers as long as they surrendered, but was that saying true?

However…

why did he surrender so easily? The opponent was merely one person, and his realm even seemed to be in the Soul Formation Stage, same as the Castellan.

His disappointment was brief.

The old man, who desperately protected his granddaughter in the sudden situation, urgently managed his internal injuries.

In any case, it was fine as long as they survived. Then someday…

Just as he was repeating that.

The Asura giant scanned the surviving humans, and his gaze, which moved rapidly as if checking the harvest, came to a sudden halt.

“Hooh.”

Seeing him admire while looking at his granddaughter, he instinctively knew.

That it was exposed that his granddaughter possessed the Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Simultaneously with a chilling shiver, an extremely ominous thought flashed past.

What the Asuras wanted was obedient workers.

Therefore…

there was no way they would leave a Heavenly Spiritual Root cultivator, who was no different from a sprout of trouble, alone.

A strong premonition that the Asuras would not let his granddaughter live filled his mind.

“…”

Moving his lips for an instant, he clenched his molars.

Tapping his frightened granddaughter’s cheeks to make her snap out of it, and staring intently into her eyes, he cried out silently.

That now was precisely the time to use the Rank 5 Transfer Talisman.

Did his earnest wish reach her?

The trembling granddaughter bit her lips and nodded, and the old man, who wore a faint smile, tapped his storage pouch.

An instant.

The one thousand and eighty sheets of talismans that poured from the storage pouch shone light.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine sheets of Rank 3 talismans and eighty sheets of Rank 4 talismans.

And burning the last remaining Rank 5 talisman, he burst flames.

He did not think it would work.

Although the talisman left by the ancestor was infused with a Soul Formation Stage-grade aura, even so, he was merely at the Golden Core Stage.

Merely even for a very brief moment,

he just hoped to draw his attention for a moment so that his granddaughter could activate the Transfer Talisman.

Boom!

The dark red flame that raged like a typhoon swallowed the Asura.

After an instant of silence.

Along with a chuckling sound of laughter, the flame disappeared as if washed away.

There was no miracle.

There was not even a speck of a wound.

No matter how much he borrowed the power of talismans, Golden Core was Golden Core. The difference in realm was absolute.

The old man, who stared at the Asura with a stiff face, squeezed his eyes shut.

Because right behind him,

“Uh, uh…?”

the flustered voice of his granddaughter was heard.

Had she not used the Transfer Talisman?

No.

The granddaughter, even while tearing up, activated the Transfer Talisman, and the Transfer Talisman emitted a strong light and distorted space.

However, only up to there.

No further change occurred.

Why?

At just the right time, the clouds that covered half the sky cleared away completely,

and hundreds of vessels that densely filled the blue sky were revealed.

“Ah…”

Only now did he realize.

Why the properly activated Transfer Talisman did not produce any effect.

Why the Castellan of Flying Cloud City, who was in the Soul Formation Stage, bowed his waist immediately without making even a tiny bit of resistance.

Since the Asura army had appeared right in front, it was an entirely natural thing.

“To surrender and then resist immediately. Is this your choice?”

At the expressionless voice that echoed from the sky, the complexion of the Castellan of Flying Cloud City turned pale.

Who would be the existence commanding a grand army of that scale?

Naturally, it was a Void Refinement Stage Heavenly Lord.

“It is not! It is that fellow’s arbitrary action! They have nothing to do with Flying Cloud City!”

“Ridiculous.”

Just one word.

With just that, the Castellan’s right arm was brutally torn off and flew away, and a fountain of blood poured. It was a scene as if his arm was plucked off by an invisible giant.

“It is the punishment for failing to manage the subordinates properly.”

At the calm voice that descended from the sky, the Castellan, who was breaking out in cold sweat, forced a smile.

“Thank you for your mercy.”

The half-destroyed sailing vessel was dragged along by the fleet in that manner, and the Castellan of Flying Cloud City whose arm was plucked off stared at the old man and his granddaughter as if to kill them.

Ah…

Everything was over.

It had become worse than dying. Just as the despairing old man plopped down.

Crack.

A massive slash suddenly arose in the clear sky where there was not a single speck of cloud.

A massive crack that diagonally crossed the vault of heaven.

It was a mark as if an incredibly large sword had scratched past the sky.

At the mysterious presence flowing out from beyond the crack,

hundreds of vessels came to a halt simultaneously as if they had planned it.

No one could readily move.

How long did the strangely quiet silence continue?

Crack…!

The sky split along the trajectory where the sword mark was engraved, and a sword cultivator enveloped in black lightning descended.

***

What Jin So-myeong faced upon escaping from the Limitless Pure Land was over hundreds of super-large warships.

‘Asuras?’

Where on earth was this for a grand Asura army to be present?

Windexing a glance around his surroundings, it was filled only with desolate sand.

Since he came out of the secret realm, it should be the Blue Cloud Sea Region, but a wasteland was visible instead of the sea.

Could it be that this was not the Stone Heart Realm?

It seemed space had warped in the process of escaping the secret realm.

Numerous questions flashed past his head, but he folded all of them.

Because what he had to do now, with the enemy in front of him, was not this kind of trivial worry.

“Jin So-myeong?”

One of the fleets that densely filled the sky.

An Asura man who was aboard the largest warship flew over while creating a sound of breaking through the air, then blocked the front.

“I thought you were dead, but you were alive. Could it be you were trapped in the Limitless Pure Land and then escaped?”

“Do you know me?”

“How could one not know the person who defeated Sir Gwang-rim? Of course I know.”

He examined the man who was clinching his fists and adopting a battle stance, and he was in the mid-stage of the Void Refinement Stage.

“You will come at me while knowing that I killed Gwang-rim?”

He must know better than anyone that his chances of winning were slim.

He asked out of pure curiosity, but a proper answer did not return.

“I am Ya-hon, the leader of the Red Horn Clan.”

That was all the Asura, who burst his own heart to unfold the Heart-Shattering Blood Glyph, said.

It was a truly out-of-the-blue answer, but its meaning was vividly felt.

Jin So-myeong, who nodded silently, drew his sword and swung it,

Boom!

and the fist that flew in while crushing space was deflected and flew back.

Simultaneously.

The fleet that densely filled the sky vibrated as if resonating, then poured out thousands of columns of light.

It was extremely strong, befitting a bombardment combined by tens of thousands of Asuras aboard the warships, but…

Ya-hon, who silently threw a second fist, was more dangerous than all of the thousands of columns of light combined.

The fist, whose skin cracked as it could not handle the sharpness contained in the blade, was covered in blue light, then accelerated rapidly.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Deflecting the fist flying toward his pit of the stomach and the pouring columns of light entirely with a single sword,

he pondered whether to use the Blood Wings, then refrained.

Just seven hours ago, he was Void Refinement Stage 4th Layer.

Because his realm rose in succession in just a few hours, the balance of his mind and body was minutely out of joint, and if left unattended, it might turn into a fatal weakness.

Before the warp grew larger, he had to tune his senses through actual combat.

Because of that,

instead of unfolding the Blood Wings or the Golden Body Dharma Image to amplify his energy, he focused purely only on swinging his sword.

He forgot all miscellaneous thoughts.

More sharply.

Faster and more exquisitely.

As if honing a blade on a whetstone, he poured his entire mind into the sword held in his hand and his opponent.

How many times did the instant felt like eternity repeat?

Clang…!

The moment the sword swung upward diagonally collided with the fist.

He drew a circle.

While leisurely flowing away the heavy repelling force felt through the blade,

he took a step forward and stabbed his sword.

Pft!

Ending with the sensation of the sharp sword tip digging into something hard.

The tuning ended.

Ya-hon, whose single remaining heart was pierced, sighed shortly and then chuckled immediately after.

“Heh… You are nothing short of a monster.”

Just as his vivid vitality dwindled rapidly.

Ya-hon, who laughed brightly enough to expose his molars, closed the distance.

Meditating a step closer with his heart pierced, he swung his hand blade.

Watching the hand blade approaching with the momentum to slice his nape,

Shhh-t!

he brought down the sword stuck in the heart diagonally while simultaneously swinging it upward vertically.

The arm severed along with the shoulder fell while drawing a parabola,

and the slash that extended riding the blade cleft the void.

……………!

Screams ran rampant.

Dozens of warships caught in the sword’s trajectory were completely split in half.

Although an outer wall thicker than a city wall wrapped their exteriors, it held no meaning before the sharpness honed to the limit.

The outer wall made by refining high-level ore parted like tofu, and the Asuras who touched the slash without luck all turned into lonely souls without a single exception.

They died even if just grazed.

It was because the sharpness contained in the slash permeated into their mind and body and sliced them down to their souls.

“Ah…”

Simultaneously with someone’s sigh.

“The Heavenly Lord was defeated…! He died!”

“Shut up! Maintain the formation and fight to the end! Blow away even just one arm!”

“Dog-like! What do you expect us to do against a Void Refinement Stage Heavenly Lord!”

The reactions of the surviving Asuras divided precisely into two.

Between those who struggled to the end even while knowing there was no chance of winning, and those who completely lost their fighting spirit and fled while even abandoning the warships.

In a way, it was a natural thing.

Since it was not that everyone was brave enough to risk death just because they were Asuras.

Rather, the surprising side was those who did not back down even when dying was clearly in sight.

Their number was not small either.

More than half. Almost all Asuras launched bombardments while keeping their positions.

“…”

Those fleeing desperately and those coming at him while risking death.

Jin So-myeong, who looked alternately at the two, brought down his sword.

Slash!

He ruthlessly sliced down the vessels that poured out bombardments while maintaining their ranks.

Even if their courage to fight while prepared for death was admirable, and even if their realm was low.

All were secondary problems.

The mercy to be granted to an enemy who pointed a blade was only one. Only death.

Every time the sword light flashed, dozens of warships fell.

Over tens of thousands of spells flew in as if counterattacking, but that was all.

Not a single one could reach. They perished without overcoming a single sword.

It did not take that long a time until the clamor that shook heaven and earth fell quiet.

“Ugh… A monster! That is a monster!”

Some Asuras who survived by heavenly luck talked incoherently, but that was the end.

There was not a single person who possessed fighting spirit anymore.

Merely by their gazes meeting, they fled in startled fright, and the battlefield was enveloped in complete silence.

Jin So-myeong, who silently looked down at the battlefield turned into ruins, withdrew his gaze.

Since the fight was over, there was something to verify.

“Are you alright, Senior?”

He visited Gon-ak through the clone in the sub-space, but there was no answer.

Gon-ak, who had awakened his true body in the Limitless Pure Land, had turned like ordinary soil before he knew it.

“Senior Gon-ak?”

The fact that there was no reaction no matter how much he called meant that he seemed to have lost his reason in the process of escaping from the secret realm.

‘…Will he awaken again once time passes?’

Come to think of it, it was like this in the secret realm as well.

After storing the soil of the Limitless Pure Land in the sub-space, he awakened only after several years passed upon escaping the restriction’s influence.

‘It seemed he overstrained himself considerably this time, so I do not know when he will awaken again…’

While looking at the soil piled in the sub-space, he faltered.

It was because a snow-white mountain lay at the outer edge of the soil heap that could be called Gon-ak’s body.

The Heavenly Lifespan Life-Prolonging Stone.

Seeing the super-large mineral that was too big and looked like a rocky mountain, he felt sorry while simultaneously grateful.

‘He must have overstrained himself further to secure this.’

Assessing Gon-ak who reverted to soil once more, he recovered his consciousness from the sub-space.

Looking around the battlefield where an acrid burnt smell vibrated, he reached out his hand.

He secured all the split and smashed warship fragments.

Although most were in a completely ruined state, the materials composing the warships were still useful.

‘It will be perfect to use to grow the Secret Realm of the Mind.’

A furnace built by stacking fire-attribute spiritual objects, or a cold cave where ice-related spiritual objects were gathered, and so on.

It seemed he could use them to develop various environments constructed in the Secret Realm of the Mind.

He did not forget to also take Ya-hon’s storage pouch.

As he cleaned up the battlefield in that manner, the only thing remaining was a half-destroyed sailing vessel, and strangely, humans were aboard instead of Asuras.

Scanning them who had still not snapped out of it and were gaping their mouths,

he tapped the Beast-Taming Pouch he wore at his waist.

Flash!

The three men who popped out along with a halo of light examined their surroundings and narrowed their brows.

“The Origin Qi of heaven and earth is fluctuating. Was there perhaps a battle?”

He nodded his head at the words of Jeok Song, whose complexion was stiff.

“Yes. There were a few Asuras, so I disposed of them.”

“Asuras? Could it be we were transported to the Asura territory?”

“Well. I have also not yet grasped the situation. Because I called the fellow daoists immediately upon escaping from the secret realm.”

“Hmm… Then we can just ask them.”

The gazes of the Void Refinement Stage Heavenly Lords directed toward the humans who stood out of their minds.

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