Chapter 333: Palm Print

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Jin So-myeong, who discovered the Ink Lotus Flower, held his breath.

Instead of rashly drawing close, he observed it from a distance.

Three petals as thin as silk enveloped the pistil, and every part of it was black like pitch darkness.

If he tried to look at it with focus, it blurred from the edges, making it difficult to grasp the exact shape.

After examining it while deploying both the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye and his Supreme Great Ability, he grew certain.

‘It is definitely the Ink Lotus Flower.’

He checked repeatedly, but the result did not change. It was clearly the Unity stage spiritual object he had searched and wandered for so much.

And fortunately, the Ink Lotus Flower was not tricky to harvest.

If he only installed the Heaven-Severing Origin-Sealing Formation , a formation he had learned while researching Unity stage spiritual objects, he could harvest it.

Staring at the lotus flower blooming from the mud, he opened his spatial pocket and took out various formation instruments.

Over the course of a month, he installed the Heaven-Severing Origin-Sealing Formation, and to prevent any potential mishaps, he even consumed his Supreme Great Ability to reinforce the formation.

The moment all preparations were complete.

He poured high-grade immortal stones in heaps to supply power to the formation, and the surrounding world Qi froze in an instant.

‘Now.’

He reached out his hand toward the loftily blooming lotus flower.

To prevent the roots from being damaged, he lifted it together with the mud entirely, and transplanted it into the Secret Realm of the Mind.

Was it thanks to preparing meticulously?

‘It worked!’

He succeeded so smoothly that a laugh escaped him. There were no issues whatsoever.

A full sense of joy surged.

It was a feeling of being liberated from a burden that had weighed down his shoulders. He felt refreshed as if his chest had been cleared.

It had been twenty years since he entered the Ancient Wilderness, this unpioneered land.

Finally, he had secured an Unity stage spiritual object.

‘Now all that remains is to train until the Void Refinement stage Great Circle.’

Since the obstacles blocking his path had vanished, he only had to run forward now.

Jin So-myeong, who nodded his head, circled the surroundings once.

He thoroughly secured even the mud scattered in small bits here and there, and when he went out of the water, a rough sound of wind was heard.

Whoosh!

The scenery outside the water he faced after a month was the same.

The stone monument, whose upper portion had vanished leaving only the base, was sucking in the surrounding fog.

‘Hmm.’

Was it because a leeway had formed in his mind?

His interest went to the monument which he had only glanced at and passed by a month ago.

Come to think of it, this monument was also unusual.

Just what kind of monument was it that it constantly sucked in the Black Cloud?

‘This… seems to have grown slightly larger than a month ago?’

Should he call it the broken part?

The upper portion of the monument had grown very slightly higher.

Although it was a microscopic difference difficult to even express in numbers, it did not seem like an illusion.

In all likelihood, this monument seemed to revert to its original appearance the more it absorbed the surrounding Black Cloud.

‘Should I try to restore it?’

The things discovered at the Dark Heaven Academy were useful without exception.

It was so for the Time-Flows-Like-Water Formation, which was a formation that coordinated the flow of time, and the same went for the Black Cloud Scripture.

What about this monument located in the center of the city?

Wouldn’t it be something extremely precious?

‘Perhaps… this monument might be the most precious thing among those in the Dark Heaven Academy.’

Once his thoughts reached this point, his mind was made up. To secure and restore the monument.

‘But can I move it?’

Examining it with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye, it seemed both possible and impossible.

Circling the monument and examining it closely, he carefully reached out his hand.

The moment his fingertips touched the surface.

Psssssh!

An immense amount of black fog spewed out, as if compressed gas had burst forth.

Although it was a disconcerting event enough to narrow his brow, he first calmed down and focused on observation.

Examining various possibilities with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye gave him a sense of how to cope.

He unfolded the Black Cloud Scripture.

As if patching up a hole in a balloon, he covered the portion where the fog was spewing, and the constantly pouring fog came to a sudden halt.

He vaguely felt it.

To move the monument, it seemed he had to master the Black Cloud Scripture properly. Being at the master stage was not enough.

Mastering a spell.

It was not a simple task like it sounded. Although it was an arduous task that would take at least several hundred years…

he did not need to worry since he had the proficiency system.

He used the Supreme Great Ability he had accumulated over a month to raise his proficiency in the Black Cloud Scripture, and

【Spell】

Black Cloud Scripture (Orthodox 1 / 200T)

the Black Cloud Scripture, which had been at the master stage, rose to the orthodox stage.

Sensing that handling the Black Cloud had become clearly more convenient, he focused.

The monument fragment, which had burst at a mere touch until just now, trembled.

The moment it floated very slightly in the air.

He quickly opened his spatial pocket and put the monument fragment inside.

‘It worked.’

Since he had safely moved the monument fragment, now all that remained was the work of restoring the monument.

Pondering on how to go about it, he first summoned clones.

“Go gather the surrounding Black Cloud.”

Beginning with Baek Gwang-il, he summoned about a hundred clones and scattered them in all directions.

While letting the monument absorb the Black Cloud gathered by the clones, he used the Myriad Flows Restoration divine ability to restore the monument whenever his Supreme Great Ability recovered.

The time that passed in such a manner was already half a year.

The monument, which had only its base left, was now about half-restored, and the sky that had been thickly covered in fog became clean.

The Black Cloud that obstructed his divine sense had vanished.

Thanks to that, he became capable of scanning the ocean that was so wide as to show no end at a single glance…

the shape of the ocean he learned in that manner was a bit. No, extremely strange.

It was not a bizarre or unfamiliar shape.

Rather, it was familiar as it was something he saw often. To the point where he could recall it even with his eyes closed.

However, this was not something that should be the shape of an ocean.

A palm.

What he had mistaken for an ocean until now was water pooled in a print stamped in the shape of a palm.

“…Huh.”

He was dumbfounded.

Various sceneries he had seen while coming to the center flashed past.

The ruined appearance of the Profound Glyph Jade Slips that were intact even when hit by the lightning summoned by the Genesis divine ability,

the city that turned into a wasteland the closer he drew to the center,

and the strangely flat bottom.

Everything pointed to one thing.

Intuiting that the Dark Heaven Academy had been ruined because of that palm print, he felt his mind go blank.

Just who on earth delivered that palm strike?

Probably…

‘It was the Great Ascension stage.’

Standing blankly and looking at the ocean. No, the palm print, he narrowed his eyes.

How much time had passed?

“Whew.”

He, who had frozen at the shocking sight, let out a short breath.

His thought that he must restore the monument grew even stronger.

Although he did not know what was contained in the monument, it was almost certain that the Dark Heaven Academy was ruined because of this.

To catch the eye of the Great Ascension stage?

To put it differently, it meant it was a threat in some way.

And since that meant it was an extremely useful treasure, he absolutely had to obtain it.

‘Alright.’

Jin So-myeong, who nodded his head, scanned the surroundings, but there was no longer any Black Cloud in this vicinity.

Because he had let the monument absorb all the Black Cloud within his vision.

‘It is time to return to the Thunder Light Forest.’

He did not necessarily have to restore the monument here.

While accumulating magic power in the Thunder Light Forest which was abundant in thunder Qi, he just had to order his clones to gather the Black Cloud.

Before leaving, he glanced down and looked at the water pooled in the palm print.

In truth, this water was also not ordinary.

Because black fog spewed from the water surface, just like steam rising from a hot spring.

Although the amount generated was a bit small, it was a treasure that periodically produced the Black Cloud.

‘I should take this as well.’

The moment he reached out his hand toward the black ocean unfolding beneath his feet.

Rumble!

The black water that gathered like a whirlwind was sucked into his spatial pocket.

A black ocean arose in a space created by dividing a portion of his spatial pocket.

Seeing the ultra-large pit he had prepared beforehand filled to the brim made him satisfied.

‘It worked.’

He was about to leave just like that, when he paused.

As the black water vanished, the palm print stamped in the middle of the Dark Heaven Academy was revealed even more clearly.

‘…It is indeed amazing.’

When was that palm print stamped?

It must have been at least several million years, yet for it to still be so clear. He could not even grasp just how strong a divine ability it possessed.

Jin So-myeong, who had been lost in thought for quite a long time, smirked.

Taking his eyes off the palm print, he departed for the Thunder Light Forest.

Whether the goal was far or near, the action he had to do now did not change.

Advancing forward step-by-step.

That was sufficient.

*

After some time, Jin So-myeong, who returned to the building where the Thunder Light Forest was located, paused.

Because the outer wall of the building where the Thunder Light Forest was located was covered in golden moss, but that appearance looked different from the past.

Crackle!

Staring blankly at the golden moss spewing thunder Qi, he reached out his hand.

Tap, seeing it disperse into black fog the moment it touched his fingertips, he suddenly realized.

‘Could this moss… be made with the Black Cloud Scripture?’

At the sudden doubt,

the thought that it was absurd and the thought that it might be so arose simultaneously.

Although objects made with the Black Cloud Scripture were basically very sturdy, they could also be made to disperse if touched carelessly.

Therefore, if his proficiency in the Black Cloud Scripture grew extremely high, wouldn’t he be able to make moss that looked alive like this?

‘I will know once I confirm.’

He unfolded the Black Cloud Scripture.

He moved the moss with the sensation of manipulating the black fog, and

Rustle.

He was able to tear off a handful of the moss that clung to the wall.

As he actually succeeded, a laugh escaped him naturally. Because it meant it was indeed fashioned with the Black Cloud Scripture.

Leaving the moss behind and entering the building, he saw the forest where trees grew densely.

Leaves that swayed gently whenever the wind blew continued beyond the horizon.

‘To think all of this was made with the Black Cloud Scripture…’

Looking at the plants and trees spewing lightning, nothing but admiration came out.

Letting out a wry laugh, he found a suitable empty lot and sat cross-legged.

Surprises were surprises, but at any rate, now was the time to focus on training.

While instructing his clones to gather the Black Cloud, he absorbed the thunder Qi filling the Thunder Light Forest to accumulate magic power.

The time that passed in such a manner was already three months.

“Whew…”

Jin So-myeong, who was concentrating on training to rise to the 9th layer of the Void Refinement stage and then to the Great Circle, fell into thought.

‘It will take about fifteen to twenty years to reach the Great Circle.’

It was an extremely short time.

Even to him who had risen to the 8th layer of the Void Refinement stage in three hundred years, it was a time so short that it was hard to harbor any complaints.

Was that why?

Currently, what he was pondering was a slightly different issue.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to use my lifespan before my realm rises?’

If he consumed his lifespan when using his Supreme Great Ability, he could fulfill wishes that exceeded limits.

And the lifespan consumed at that time was based on his remaining lifespan.

Therefore, for example.

【Lifespan】: 313 / 6301

If he made a wish that consumed half his lifespan in the current situation, roughly three thousand years of lifespan would be consumed.

But what would happen if he consumed half his lifespan after rising to the Unity stage?

No matter how low he estimated, tens of thousands of years would fly away.

Therefore, to make a powerful wish by consuming his lifespan, now, before breaking through his realm, was the perfect time.

‘What kind of wish would be good… Should I try to obtain a powerful divine ability?’

First of all, he wanted to increase his training speed.

Once he became an Unity stage cultivator, the time required for training would multiply by dozens or hundreds of times. He wanted to prepare for that.

It would also be good if it helped in battle, and also…

Just then, as he was continuing all sorts of imaginations.

“Hmm?”

One of the clones he had sent to harvest the Black Cloud died.

Frowning, he checked the last memories of the clone.

Its neck was pierced by a dark green arrow that flew from beyond the fog where his senses did not reach, and it melted just like that without even having time to resist.

Looking at the way it was defeated futilely by a single spell, it was clear that an Unity stage Dao Sovereign had taken action.

“Well, look at that.”

Although it was a clone he had made roughly to harvest the Black Cloud, it was not pleasant when it actually died.

Jin So-myeong, who let out a chuckled laugh, brushed off his seat and stood up.

He exchanged locations with another clone that was closest to the place where the connection had just been severed, and immediately moved his steps.

It was to confirm just which deceased person had killed his clone without even a greeting.