Chapter 362: The Empty Treasury

***

Although she had said that taking the jade slips carelessly would cause the pavilion to perish along with the space, he did not hesitate.

Sss…

He repeated his breaths. The moment his sharply forged concentration reached its peak,

he placed the jade slip of the Sun, Moon, and Stars Scripture into the subdimension.

Thud.

He felt as if a thin thread had snapped, and all noise vanished without a trace.

Would it feel like this if the floor suddenly gave way beneath him?

It became muffled, as if he had fallen into the deep sea.

The warning that it would perish along with the space was indeed true.

He felt something shift, and the outside scenery visible through the entrance receded into the far distance.

It was like falling into a giant pit. The outside of the pavilion was dyed in a dense darkness.

Simultaneously with the endless feeling of falling,

he swept up the Profound Text Jade Slips around him as they came to hand.

‘Tsk.’

Unfortunately, however, there was no result.

The moment each jade slip was put into the subdimension, without a single exception, they all turned to dust.

As the connection with the pavilion, or more precisely, the formation installed in the Heavenly Law Palace, was cut off, they were automatically shredded.

The moment he realized this method would not work,

he unfolded the Annihilation Slash.

He reached out his hand amidst the pressure that crushed his mind and body.

Although he failed to pack the jade slips in large quantities, he had no intention of giving up. He did his best to obtain even one more.

Grabbing the nearest Profound Text Jade Slip, he infused his divine sense.

‘Circulating Heaven Starfall…?’

Puzzlingly, it was a jade slip containing a divine ability rather than a cultivation method or a dharma spell.

Hum!

Narrowing his eyes as he felt the energy trying to permeate through his divine sense,

‘If I accept this energy, will I obtain the divine ability?’

He hurriedly blocked the energy that was trying to seep into his soul and take root. Since there might be side effects, he stored it in the Chaos Origin Wheel for now.

Simultaneously with the absorption of the energy containing the divine ability, the state of the Annihilation Slash ended, and,

Rumble!

the ceiling collapsed, and hundreds of Profound Text Jade Slips simultaneously turned to dust.

Pop, pop, pop!

Treasures whose value was difficult to even measure turned to dust in an instant.

Leaving behind the sight that would have driven anyone to tears of grief, he kicked off the air with all his might.

‘This is it.’

If he were any later, he felt he would not even be able to escape.

He dashed toward the scenery outside the pavilion that had already receded far away. If he did not want to perish along with the space, he had to exit through that place.

Crack!

In the world that collapsed by the second, the faintly visible scenery became increasingly blurry.

Was he too late…?

Had he been too greedy? The exit leading to the outside was on the verge of disappearing.

If he was trapped here like this, what would happen?

Would he have to wander aimlessly while searching for an exit?

‘No.’

Brushing away the weak thoughts that arose unconsciously, he kicked off the air once more.

Clang!

Simultaneously with drawing his sword, he thrust it toward the scenery that was on the verge of disappearing.

The moment the tip of the sword pierced the void,

he felt as if he was passing through a thick wall, and,

the scenery, which had been filled only with endless falling and darkness, was dyed in various colors.

Turning his gaze to the gasp heard just in time, the woman he had sent outside the pavilion beforehand was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Ah…”

Looking at her eyes filled with surprise, he was certain. He had safely made it outside.

Around the time he let out a sigh of relief,

Boom!

the formation he had installed on the outskirts of the Heavenly Law Palace shook and was smashed at once.

‘They are already here. Faster than I thought.’

Intuiting that the Dao Sovereigns of the Heavenly Law Palace had returned,

he recalled his clones, who were thoroughly plundering the warehouse and the spiritual herb field, back to the Secret Realm of the Mind.

Just before leaving,

“Ah, by the way, this is in return for showing me the Sun, Moon, and Stars Scripture.”

“Yes?”

Should she be called a librarian?

He threw a few Rank 7 spiritual items, including the Dao Integration Pill, to the woman managing the pavilion.

“Did you not say that you used the contribution points you gathered with great difficulty to show me the Sun, Moon, and Stars Scripture?”

“That…”

“Is it perhaps insufficient? I am sorry, but since I have no time, just be satisfied with that. Well, keep up the good work.”

Leaving behind the woman who awkwardly received the Dao Integration Pill, he concentrated his mind.

Around the time his gaze met with someone approaching at a tremendous speed,

Swoosh!

he resonated with the true blood buried beforehand outside the Heavenly Law Palace and teleported, leaping across a distance of 600,000 kilometers, which was ten times his divine sense range.

He had escaped from the Heavenly Law Palace through the true blood, which was no different from a clone.

Thus Jin So-myeong disappeared, and the woman left alone blankly muttered,

“No, if you give me this now…”

Did it not make it look as if she had opened the pavilion in exchange for the Dao Integration Pill?

While she stood awkwardly, unable to either pocket or throw away the Dao Integration Pill she had obtained in a daze,

Thud!

the old man who descended from the sky, Gok Man, examined the surroundings and knitted his brows.

“A spatial leap? He went quite far. To think he leaped such a distance without even a transmission array…”

As he muttered inaudibly and looked at the librarian, she snapped out of her daze and immediately bowed her waist.

“Greetings, Elder Gok.”

“The Heaven-Reaching Pavilion has disappeared. Explain what happened.”

“Yes. It is…”

Struggling to regain her composure, she reported everything that had happened up to now without omission.

She did not even hide the fact that she had used her contribution points to show him the Sun, Moon, and Stars Scripture.

“Are you saying you had no choice but to open it because he was trying to break the formation?”

“Yes. I tried to prevent the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion from perishing by using my own wits, but I failed. I am sorry.”

If the formation blocking the entrance was broken, the pavilion would also perish. For her, who was at the Void Refinement stage, she had done her best.

“Also, I judged that if I showed him the Sun, Moon, and Stars Scripture, I could buy time until the Elders arrived.”

Gok Man, who fell silent for a moment, nodded.

The contents contained in the Profound Text Jade Slip could not be easily remembered.

Even a Unity stage Dao Sovereign was no exception.

Since one had to spend a considerable amount of time and effort to completely memorize it, this was also not an incorrect judgment.

“I see. Go to the Deacon’s Office and tell them to refund the contribution points you used. Tell them I permitted it.”

Startled, she bowed her waist to express her gratitude and offered up the treasures Jin So-myeong had handed over.

“Um, but what should I do with these…?”

Glancing at the spiritual items Jin So-myeong was said to have given, Gok Man nodded.

“They are not items on which a trick has been played, so deal with them as you wish.”

“Ah! Thank you, Elder Gok.”

Dismissing her as she bowed even deeper, Gok Man turned his gaze.

He narrowed his eyes as he assessed the damage the Heavenly Law Palace had suffered.

Although the formations and Rank 7 puppets installed to block intruders were all smashed, there were no casualties in particular.

Because Jin So-myeong did not even pay attention to anyone who did not attack him.

“…”

Gok Man, who grasped the situation, wore a peculiar expression.

Staring blankly at the cross-section of the building split with a single slash, he took a drink from his gourd in silence.

How much time had passed?

The other Dao Sovereigns, arriving a step late, realized the havoc that had unfolded in the Heavenly Law Palace, and their eyes flew wide open.

“Heavens…”

“Ha.”

When they faced the empty treasury, their tightly clenched fists trembled,

and when they discovered the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion that had vanished along with the building itself, they even staggered from dizziness.

Ah, and the emptied spiritual herb field was a bonus.

Blankly staring at the Heavenly Law Palace, which was devastated like a field hit by a typhoon, they squeezed their eyes shut.

Although they were Dao Sovereigns who had accumulated substantial self-cultivation, it was no easy task to hold back the curses boiling up from the depths of their hearts.

***

Meanwhile, Jin So-myeong, who had escaped from the Heavenly Law Palace, immediately concealed his presence using the Infinite Void Formless Robe.

Next, he moved once more through the true blood buried 600,000 kilometers away, and while honing his senses, he remained alert to his surroundings.

‘…It is quiet.’

Perhaps because he unfolded the Infinite Void Formless Robe that had reached Minor Success with all his might, no one came looking for him even though he waited for quite a long time.

The tracking had been broken.

This meant that the tracking techniques possessed by the Heavenly Law Palace could not see through the Minor Success-grade Infinite Void Formless Robe.

It was not a strange thing.

When combining the Supreme Great Ability consumed for the Infinite Void Formless Robe to reach Minor Success, it exceeded one hundred trillion, so in a way, it was extremely natural.

‘Does this mean I have gained a little bit of leeway?’

Of course, it was too early to be relieved.

Usually, tracking techniques naturally grew stronger in proportion to one’s senses, and the means to amplify senses were overflowing.

They could use secret arts, dharma treasures, and medicinal pills, or they could mobilize spiritual beasts or spiritual insects specialized in tracking.

Since they would devise other means before long, the tracking would resume soon.

Now, what should he do in the future?

Tapping the scabbard, he pondered, and first examined the harvest he had obtained this time.

‘Tremendous.’

He quickly scanned only a portion of the harvest his clones had acquired, and the cultivation resources alone were at least fifty years’ worth.

It was a truly massive amount.

For him, who consumed cultivation resources as if drinking water, fifty years’ worth… was equivalent to two thousand years’ worth by the standards of ordinary cultivators.

‘At this rate, I will even be able to cultivate up to the mid Unity stage.’

It was worth the risk to visit the Heavenly Law Palace.

His joy was short-lived.

Recalling the old man he had run into just before leaving the Heavenly Law Palace, he could not help but be deeply worried.

‘As expected, the Dao Sovereigns of the Heavenly Law Palace are stronger than Yu Cheon.’

Although he had only felt the energy from a vast distance, he was far stronger than vaguely anticipated.

Speaking calmly, it was to the extent that it was difficult to guarantee he could win even if they fought one-on-one.

Assuming there were nine experts of the same level as the old man he had just met…

honestly, his chances of winning were slim.

His current strength was insufficient. It seemed he had to become at least five or six times stronger to fight and defeat the Heavenly Law Palace.

Of course, if the worst-case scenario came, he would put aside his chances of winning and fight with his life on the line, but he was not yet pushed to that extent.

At any rate, it meant he had to raise his strength as quickly as possible, but how should he do it?

‘Ordinary cultivation is not enough.’

He needed a fortuitous opportunity. A very grand fortuitous opportunity.

Perhaps that was why.

As he devised ways to break through the situation, a single word naturally came to mind.

Secret Realm.

A place where danger and fortuitous opportunities coexisted.

If it was there, he could achieve tremendous growth in a short period of time.

One saving grace was that he had identified the locations of the secret realms beforehand in preparation for times like this.

However, the problem was that even the secret realm that would open the earliest would only open sixty-eight years later.

It was a span of nearly a hundred years; would he be able to evade the Heavenly Law Palace until then?

‘Well…’

He might be able to manage by strengthening the Infinite Void Formless Robe with his Supreme Great Ability and hiding as much as possible, but he did not want to do that.

Although he could retreat based on strategic judgments, it would be troublesome if it interfered too much with his cultivation.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

‘If I use the Supreme Great Ability, would it not be possible to enter the secret realm beforehand, before it opens?’

After thinking for a moment, he nodded.

If he had the Infinite Void Formless Robe, he could penetrate and enter most restrictions.

In addition, if he added the Rank 7 Boundary-Breaking Talisman, a talisman specialized in breaking restrictions…

it seemed fully possible.

‘Good.’

The task he needed to do became clear.

It seemed he just needed to obtain the Rank 7 Boundary-Breaking Talisman as quickly as possible and head to the Nanya Plains, where the secret realm was located.

***

One day, five years later.

The uncharted territory bordering the Hoam Realm in the southern part of the Xuanhuang Realm.

Jin So-myeong appeared on the plains called the Nanya Plains.

‘I have finally arrived.’

It took five years just to travel here from Dark Heaven Xuan, where the headquarters of the Heavenly Law Palace was located.

The Xuanhuang Realm was so vast that transitioning from one Xuan to another took years.

If he had not utilized transmission arrays while hiding his identity here and there along the way, it would have been far longer.

There were also several times when he had almost been surrounded by the Heavenly Law Palace, but he overcame the situations by strengthening the Infinite Void Formless Robe with his Supreme Great Ability.

‘At any rate, it is fine since I arrived safely.’

And also, on his way here, he had obtained the Rank 7 Boundary-Breaking Talisman.

Since it was an extremely rare talisman, he thought it would be difficult to obtain, but he got it more easily than expected.

‘To think the Bright Soul Unforgetting Pill would be that popular.’

When he offered the Bright Soul Unforgetting Pill, a pill that allowed one to remember their past life after death, as compensation, numerous Dao Sovereigns flocked to him.

In the end, he traded with a Dao Sovereign who offered two Rank 7 Boundary-Breaking Talistmans, and the result of heading straight to the Nanya Plains as soon as the trade finished was today.

‘What kind of secret realm will be here?’

Imagining the upcoming fortuitous opportunity, a smile naturally formed on his face.

Looking down at the endlessly stretching fields from the sky higher than the clouds, he kicked off the air.