Chapter 327: Golden Sea

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Jin So-myeong, who was moving toward the center of the city, paused.

He was flying while even unfolding the Lightning Escape Art, but no matter how much he flew, there was no end.

‘The scale of the city is larger than what I saw from the outside.’

When he first discovered the city a few years ago, he had circled the outskirts of the city while riding on the sailing vessel.

Even then, he had thought this city was only about two or three times the size of a Rank 7 immortal city, but looking at it now, that was not the case.

It was at least dozens of times larger than an ordinary Rank 7 immortal city.

And there was one more strange thing that he learned while traversing the city.

‘The architectural styles of the pavilions are strangely similar. No, they are almost at the same level.’

It was as if they were buildings constructed by a single person.

Although they did not look exactly identical as if copied, their atmosphere and feeling were unified.

Out of curiosity, he went closer to examine them, and the characters ‘Dark Heaven’ (墨天) were engraved on every roof tile.

‘Dark Heaven?’

It was a familiar name.

The closest region to this unpioneered land was precisely Dark Heaven Xuan .

Could it be that in the past, the place where this ruin was located was also called Dark Heaven Xuan?

‘But usually, they wouldn’t engrave the name of a region onto the roof tiles.’

The characters engraved on roof tiles often meant the owner of the building or the possessing force.

Was that why?

Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that this place might not be a city.

Perhaps, rather than a city…

He thought that it might be a colossal sect that had achieved a scale equivalent to a city in the very distant past.

Could it be that this region was called Dark Heaven Xuan because of this force?

If that were the case, it meant they were a force massive enough to dominate a region of a Xuan unit, but how did they vanish, leaving only traces behind…

‘For now, let’s keep going.’

At that moment, as he was moving toward the center of the city, leaving his questions behind.

Rumble…!

His attention was instantly drawn to a foreign noise coming from beyond the fog.

In the city that was quiet to the point of silence, the faint sound of thunder could be heard.

After contemplating for a moment, he changed direction.

‘Let’s go check it out.’

Pushing through the thick fog, he flew toward the direction where the sound of thunder was heard, and the faintly echoing thunder grew louder by the moment.

Rumble!

By the time his eardrums were about to go numb from the rapidly increasing roar.

He was able to discover a pavilion covered in golden moss.

‘Moss?’

At first glance, it looked like ordinary moss, but looking closely at the surface, thin arcs of lightning were constantly flowing.

He wanted to go closer and examine it, but this pavilion was also blocked by a translucent barrier.

‘Why is only this pavilion covered in moss?’

He was curious, but his curiosity was soon resolved.

There was a place where the moss was exceptionally thick, so he examined it closely, and found a fine hairline crack on the outer wall of the building.

It seemed that the moss had grown due to the energy leaking from inside the building.

‘Is it a building related to thunder Qi?’

Continuing his speculation, he unfolded the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye.

As he consumed his Supreme Great Ability to amplify his senses, he was able to tell that the energy flowing inside the building was substantial.

‘I should try to enter this place.’

Chang!

Simultaneously with drawing his sword, he drew a diagonal line.

The half-moon shaped slash rent the void, and the barrier surrounding the building vibrated with a humming sound.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He continued to swing his sword as if striking a training dummy.

The sharp energy that bounced off the barrier gathered in the air and transformed into lightning swords, and the dozen or so lightning swords surrounding the pavilion formed the Boundless Sword Sky.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

The single sword Qi was split by the lightning swords and multiplied frantically.

Before long, it became too numerous to count individually, and a storm of sword Qi battered the barrier.

The sword Qi, which swept in with the momentum to grind rather than slash, rapidly increased in scale, filling the surroundings in no time.

It drew close enough to touch if he simply reached out his hand, but he did not back down.

He continued to swing his sword amidst the sword Qi brushing past his earlobes, and,

Crack!

The barrier surrounding the building cracked. It was an event that occurred after two hours of swinging his sword.

‘It worked.’

While retrieving the lightning swords, he unfolded the Taixu Formless Robe.

Unfolding the stealth technique that allowed him to squeeze through even a speck-sized gap, he kicked off the void.

He squeezed through the newly created hairline crack and came face-to-face with the pavilion covered in golden moss.

Rumble…!

He closely examined the moss where thunder Qi flickered.

Unlike what he had seen from beyond the barrier, he could clearly feel the thunder Qi that had reached the Rank 7 level.

Although he did not know if it was precisely a spiritual object, it was clear that it was a Rank 7 thunder-attribute spiritual object.

‘Geum-cheong would love it if I brought this to her.’

After thoroughly examining it with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye, he reached out his hand.

It was obviously a treasure, so he intended to take all of it, but…

The moss that touched his fingertips popped and dispersed, turning into black fog.

‘What is this?’

Some spiritual plants would die if harvested carelessly; was this moss also of that kind?

That might be the case, but the feeling was slightly different.

After contemplating for a moment, he used his Supreme Great Ability.

He consumed one hundred billion of his Supreme Great Ability and attempted to harvest the moss, but to his surprise, he failed.

Since it looked like moss, he had underestimated it, but it was a spiritual plant far more tricky than he had imagined.

‘Strange. It doesn’t seem like such a precious spiritual object…’

Examining it with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye gave him a general sense.

Although this golden moss was a Rank 7 spiritual object, in terms of grade, it was of the lowest class.

He tried various methods, but all failed.

‘Hmm, let’s leave it for now.’

While it might work if he consumed his Supreme Great Ability in the trillions, he saved it since there were many places to use his Supreme Great Ability in this ruin.

Leaving the moss alone, he examined the outer wall of the building.

The outer wall was as sturdy as a formation, but it did not matter. He had already found a place where the wall was cracked.

Going to the wall with the hairline crack, he injected his divine sense. He examined the interior of the building, and…

‘Huh?’

It was truly an unexpected sight.

Jin So-myeong, who was silent for a moment, entered the interior through the hairline crack, and

was able to capture in his two eyes a brilliantly shining golden sea that stretched endlessly.

Rumble…

Examining the golden sea that rolled fully in his vision, it was not a sea, but a dense forest.

Of course, it was no ordinary forest.

From the weeds scattered carelessly on the ground to every single dense leaf hanging on the trees, all of them.

Every single plant and tree harbored lightning.

A vast forest composed of thunder-attribute spiritual objects. It was a scenery so magnificent that it was hard to believe it was inside a building.

‘Geum-cheong would go absolutely crazy if she saw this.’

Wouldn’t she be shocked like someone witnessing heaven?

He thought of calling out Geum-cheong, but stopped himself. Since he did not know what dangers might be hidden, it was not time yet.

‘I can examine up to about 10 kilometers here.’

Perhaps due to a restriction being installed, his divine sense could not exert its full power, but it was better than the outside covered in fog.

Just then, as he was scanning the surroundings.

A massive stone monument standing tall in the middle of the forest caught his eye.

‘Thunder Light Forest ?’

Exactly four characters were written on it, and it seemed this forest was indeed the Thunder Light Forest.

After wandering around various parts of the forest centered on the monument, he reached a conclusion.

‘It is a perfect environment for a cultivator who has learned a thunder-attribute cultivation method to train.’

Was it like an artificially created training ground?

Because there were no spiritual objects with aggressive temperaments, even cultivators of lower realms could train here.

He had speculated that this entire city might be a single sect, and seeing the Thunder Light Forest made that thought even stronger.

Usually, large sects above a certain scale were bound to create various facilities to make it convenient for their disciples to train.

‘It makes me want to take the entire forest.’

Scanning the forest filled with thunder Qi, he reached out his hand.

He tried plucking a leaf right next to him, but the moment it was detached from the branch, it turned into black fog and dispersed.

Just like the moss on the outer wall of the building, it could not be harvested.

It was not only the leaves.

The grass scattered on the ground, and even ordinary-looking stones or soil. If touched with the intention of taking them away, they turned into black fog and vanished.

He completely sealed the area with his magic power and tried harvesting, but the result was the same.

He could not stop them from vanishing like an illusion.

‘Can one accumulate thunder Qi, but not damage the forest?’

Even with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye, he could not find a way to crack it. It was an exceptionally high-level restriction.

How should he make use of this place…

While thinking of various methods, he first operated the Primordial One Qi Art.

He estimated how long it would take to train here to reach the Void Refinement stage Great Circle, and a very satisfying result came out.

‘Twenty years at the fastest, and thirty years at the slowest.’

It was so excellent that he wondered if he could ever find a better training ground.

He liked it enough to want to devote himself to training right away, but…

Unfortunately, finding an Integration spiritual object was the priority now.

‘It would be perfect to return here and train until the Void Refinement stage Great Circle after finding the Integration spiritual object.’

Leaving his regrets behind, he was about to go outside when he paused.

It felt like a bit of a waste to leave just like this.

Since he did not know how many years it would take to find the Integration spiritual object, he wanted to utilize his time as efficiently as possible.

‘I wish I could get something out of this.’

After pondering for a moment, he summoned the Golden Body Dharma Aspect.

He reduced the size of the giant that appeared like an illusion, making it similar to an ordinary human.

Then, he called Baek Gwang-il, the first clone he had created, and let him dwell inside the Golden Body Dharma Aspect.

“Train here until I return.”

“Understood.”

Normally, the bodies used by the clones were made with the Blood Spirit Clone divine ability derived from the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art.

That was why it was difficult for them to act outside his divine sense range, but in truth, that was a restriction of the Blood Spirit Clone, not a restriction of the Hundred Battles Mind-Splitting Art.

If they used a different body like the Golden Body Dharma Aspect, they could move freely even in a state far away from the main body.

Although they could roam around solely in a soul state without any physical body, that was too dangerous an action.

At any rate.

Looking at Baek Gwang-il who was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the Thunder Light Forest, he gave him a spare suit of the Taixu Formless Robe.

With the Taixu Formless Robe that had reached the Orthodox stage, he would be able to get through most ordinary dangers.

“If anyone comes looking, handle it appropriately on your own.”

“Understood.”

Having finished his final instructions, he was about to leave when he paused.

Since he was leaving a clone anyway, he thought it would be good to have Geum-cheong train here as well.

“Geum-cheong. Come out for a moment.”

The sparrow with blue wings that popped out of the void paused.

“Peep?”

After freezing upon seeing the Thunder Light Forest, she blinked her black bean-like eyes and tilted her head.

“Where is this? You sure did well to find such a bizarre place.”

He had thought she would like it so much that she would be shocked, so her unexpectedly calm reaction puzzled him.

“You don’t like it?”

“Peep! It’s good that the thunder Qi is abundant, but it seems the grass here cannot be used to decorate my nest.”

Geum-cheong hopped around and tapped a blade of grass where lightning flickered with her claw, but the grass turned into black smoke and vanished.

“How did you know that?”

“I don’t know. I just felt like it would be so for some reason.”

Geum-cheong possessed a mysterious talent to extract and transfer the essence contained in thunder-attribute spiritual objects.

It seemed that thanks to that ability, she had realized there was a problem with the Thunder Light Forest.

“That aside, do you want to train here?”

“Peep?”

“I have to roam around to find something, so I thought it would be good for you to train in the meantime.”

The fellow, who contemplated for a moment, shook her head.

“I like our nest better than this forest. Besides, I have to cross a major realm soon, and this place doesn’t put my mind at ease.”

Come to think of it, Geum-cheong’s cultivation realm had risen to the peak of Rank 5.

Since she had to challenge the Void Refinement stage soon, a safe environment like the Secret Realm of the Mind might be advantageous.

“Alright. Is there anything you need when crossing the major realm?”

“Tasty lightning! I need a lot of that.”

The tasty lightning referred to the Five Elements Divine Thunder permeated with his Supreme Great Ability.

It was something he had occasionally given as a snack, and it seemed that the secret to Geum-cheong easily raising her realm was indeed his Supreme Great Ability.

“How much do you need?”

“The more, the better!”

Looking at the fellow who was gazing up with eyes full of anticipation, he snapped his fingers.

Crackle!

While pouring out the Five Elements Divine Thunder, he consumed five hundred billion of his Supreme Great Ability.

The moment he solidified the thunder Qi into a finger-sized stick shape and offered it.

“Peeeeeep! Good! Good!”

The fellow, who snapped up the stick, flapped her wings and poured out blue lightning.

Rumble!

She flew around noisily as if setting off celebratory fireworks, but even in the midst of that tremendous fuss, Baek Gwang-il was still silently sitting cross-legged.

“…”

Geum-cheong, who had been running wild in excitement, returned to the Secret Realm of the Mind, saying she would go to break through the major realm, and

Jin So-myeong, who wore a wry smile, shook his head.

He left the Thunder Light Forest just like that and headed toward the center of the city.

Anyway, he had finished what he needed to do, so it was fine. Now it was time to find the Integration spiritual object.

***

One day, after some time had passed.

In the ruin where Jin So-myeong was. A giant centipede appeared in the traces of the nameless civilization.

The Unity stage Dao Sovereigns belonging to the Sacred Scale Alliance had arrived.