Chapter 364: The Choices Each Made

***

Meanwhile, the Dao Sovereigns of the Heavenly Law Palace, who had narrowly missed Jin So-myeong, were pouring dharma spells toward the entrance of the secret realm.

Boom, boom, boom!

They intended to forcibly widen the gap Jin So-myeong had penetrated and follow him into the secret realm.

That was certainly their plan, but…

“Even with this, it won’t break?”

“Ha.”

The hairline crack that had formed on the restriction vanished in an instant, and instead, it became several times more robust.

The frowning Dao Sovereigns poured out all kinds of dharma spells, but the restriction did not budge, as if it were an impregnable fortress.

“No, what kind of restriction is so robust?”

Common sense-wise, it made no sense. How on earth did Jin So-myeong pierce this?

Could it mean Jin So-myeong’s single blow was stronger than all of them combining their strength?

At the exceedingly bizarre result, a Dao Sovereign who was highly proficient in formations and restrictions waved his hand.

“Everyone, stop for a moment. I will take a look.”

The Dao Sovereign, who was observing the restriction with eyes shimmering with blue light, lamented.

“It is structured so that the restriction becomes harder every time it is broken. It seems like it will be difficult to breach it in a short period.”

“Are you saying it has become harder than when Jin So-myeong broke in?”

“Yes. It has become at least seven or eight times stronger.”

Around the time the Dao Sovereigns groaned.

The dharma spells they poured out were absorbed by the restriction, and the formless barrier became even thicker.

“As you can see, if we cannot break it in one go, it will gradually become harder.”

“How long will it take to breach it?”

Force was not necessarily the only thing used to break a restriction.

As long as they could completely grasp and dominate the structure, they could formally open the entrance without destroying it.

The Dao Sovereign, who was calculating something while observing the restriction, opened his mouth.

“Fifteen years. No, even if we hurry, it seems it will take ten years.”

“Ten years…? Is that not too long?”

It was too slow.

Normally, it would be a time they could manage to wait, but this time their opponent was not easy.

Jin So-myeong’s most terrifying aspect was not his current military strength.

It was his crazy speed of growth.

If they gave ten years of time to Jin So-myeong, who possessed monstrous aptitude, no one knew how strong he would become.

“Still, he won’t become strong enough to face us simultaneously in just ten years.”

“Fhew, it cannot be helped.”

Just as the Dao Sovereigns, wearing bitter smiles, nodded their heads,

Gok Man, who had been listening in silence, opened his mouth.

“Ten years is too long. Since things have turned out this way, let us rather request support from the Profound Desolate Palace.”

“Yes?”

“It would be best to completely blockade the area and request a treasure capable of breaking the formation.”

“…Hmm.”

Although requesting support from the Profound Desolate Palace would be of great help in dealing with Jin So-myeong, they would also have to pay a non-trivial price.

They could not help but hesitate, but Gok Man’s attitude did not change.

“When I first saw Jin So-myeong, he was at almost the same level as Yu Cheon. However, when I ran into him not long ago, he had become half again as strong as that.”

“…”

“Do you still want to give Jin So-myeong time?”

At the explanation delivered in a dry tone, the hesitating Dao Sovereigns frowned.

This was because they realized once again that Jin So-myeong’s growth speed was out of the ordinary.

Becoming about fifty percent stronger at the Unity stage level meant he had become an expert on an entirely different tier.

“Understood. Let’s contact the Profound Desolate Palace. It would be best to deal with him decisively this time.”

Their hesitation was brief. In the end, everyone nodded.

***

At the same time, inside the secret realm.

The Dao Sovereigns of the Law-Decreeing Palace, who were digging through the secret realm named Ghost Mist Valley, grimaced.

While inspecting whether there was a Heaven-Defying Treasure, the restriction suddenly fluctuated, which meant someone had entered the Ghost Mist Valley.

“Could the restriction have been opened already?”

“Hmm… The entrance is not completely open.”

Madame Mi, who was stroking her chin with a fan adorned with white feathers, spoke.

“Judging by the extent to which the restriction shook, it seems they made a tiny gap and slipped in.”

“Heavens, I do not know who it is, but they have good skills.”

“Indeed. I do not know how they pierced the restriction that even we barely managed to breach.”

Before they could even properly verify whether a Heaven-Defying Treasure existed in the secret realm, an intruder had appeared.

Although one could say things had become troublesome, in truth, it was not a major problem.

Being members of the Law-Decreeing Palace, their skills were exceptionally outstanding.

Since they could not even be compared with ordinary cultivators, they could easily deal with a few intruders.

“Old Master Huang. Can you track them? It would be better to deal with them cleanly if possible.”

At the words of the boy dressed in multi-colored clothes, the old man, whose entire body was covered in thick hair like a monkey, stepped forward.

But why?

“Hmm…?”

His expression, which had been indifferent as if handling routine business, gradually became dyed with embarrassment.

“What is the matter?”

“Wait a moment.”

Sniffing his nose and staring intently into the empty air, the old man let out a groan.

“It is not easy.”

“Yes?”

As Old Master Huang grew perplexed, everyone watching was startled.

Not only was the old man naturally born with senses hundreds of times more sensitive than others, but he had also trained in tracking techniques for a long time.

It was no exaggeration to say his tracking technique had already reached the domain of divine abilities.

Yet, to think he could not sense the opponent…

“Ha. Although this is a place where divine sense is restricted, to think they evaded Old Master Huang’s tracking.”

This meant the entity that had entered the secret realm just now was a considerable expert.

Around the time the expressions of the Dao Sovereigns stiffened hard, the boy dressed in multi-colored clothes spoke.

“How about just leaving them alone without bothering them?”

Madame Mi, holding her fan, knitted her brows.

“Leave them alone? What do you mean by that?”

“No matter what method they used, evading Old Master Huang’s tracking means they are a great expert, does it not?”

“That is true, but…”

“There is a high possibility they possess a formidable background. Is there any reason to conflict with such an entity?”

“…Hmm.”

“Although our identities might be revealed, it is not particularly problematic, is it? In the first place, entering a secret realm beforehand using one’s capability is not a wrong thing either.”

The hesitating Madame Mi parted her lips.

“What if a Heaven-Defying Treasure remains in the Ghost Mist Valley?”

“Ahem. Since it is just us, honestly, there is no way a Heaven-Defying Treasure exists, right?”

The only time it would be problematic is if a real Heaven-Defying Treasure exists…

but the possibility of that was slim.

No, it was non-existent.

In this day and age, inspecting secret realms was close to a mere formality.

Since the birth of the last Grand Unity stage expert three million years ago, a real Heaven-Defying Treasure had never been discovered once.

As he openly mentioned the fact that everyone kept quiet about, a bitter smile was bound to form.

“Old Master Huang. How many regions do we have left to inspect?”

When the old man performed divination, the swirling and gathering worldly energy turned into a dozen arrowheads.

“We only need to inspect fifteen more regions.”

“If we hurry, it will take about three years.”

Confirming the arrowheads pointing in different directions, the Dao Sovereigns nodded.

“If it is three years… rather than quarreling with a powerhouse whose identity we don’t even know, it wouldn’t be bad to finish as quickly as possible and leave.”

“Let’s do that. But since the restriction must have become harder, I don’t know if we’ll be able to leave.”

“At any rate, won’t the secret realm formally open once sixty-three years pass? Let’s first make absolutely sure whether a Heaven-Defying Treasure exists or not.”

“Understood.”

Having decided to ignore the intruder, the Dao Sovereigns departed, traversing the sky.

In the place where everyone had vanished,

the void fluctuated, and Jin So-myeong, clad in the Infinite Void Formless Robe, appeared.

‘Suspicious bastards.’

Because he had just arrived, he could not hear the conversation properly, but he definitely heard them speaking about the restriction.

Seeing that they were pondering how to leave the secret realm, they did not seem like natives.

‘Did they enter from the outside just like me?’

By the way, everyone’s skills were considerable.

For ten experts of Yu Cheon’s level to be roaming around together was truly suspicious.

No matter how he looked at it, they were not a normal force, but seemed to be a force similar to the Heavenly Law Palace.

Moreover…

‘Inspecting whether a Heaven-Defying Treasure exists or not?’

The remark mentioned by one of the Dao Sovereigns was indeed interesting.

Did it mean a Heaven-Defying Treasure might exist in this secret realm?

Engaging in various speculations, he quietly followed the Dao Sovereigns who departed beyond the horizon.

After a moment,

a loud explosion was heard, and Dao Sovereigns pouring dharma spells toward a mountain were seen.

What on earth were they doing suddenly?

As he watched quietly, he got a rough idea.

‘Are they checking if a Heaven-Defying Treasure is hidden under that mountain?’

They were digging up a rocky mountain made of Fixed Dark Grotesque Rocks, famous for its hard ore, which felt like uncovering something hidden underground.

How much time had passed?

Even though the sun floating in the middle of the sky had tilted significantly, there was no sign of the work ending.

It seemed it would take far longer than expected.

‘Come to think of it, they said it takes three years to inspect fifteen regions.’

It meant just digging up that rocky mountain would take two months.

Once he grasped the situation, any thought of waiting vanished completely.

After quietly stepping back, he summoned Baek Gwang-il.

Lending him a portion of the Infinite Void Formless Robe and the Golden Body Dharma Image, he entrusted him with the surveillance.

“Watch quietly from afar, and call me if a problem arises.”

“Understood.”

Leaving the task of watching the Dao Sovereigns to his clone,

he looked around the endlessly stretching mountain range to find fortuitous opportunities.

‘Something is strange…’

This secret realm became increasingly bizarre the closer he inspected it.

Although there were spiritual herbs scattered here and there in the mountain range, their age was not very high.

Normally, shouldn’t a secret realm like this be littered with spiritual herbs millions of years old?

Even though he wandered around for quite a long time, he only saw ones tens of thousands of years old.

Around the time he knitted his brows,

the sun hanging on the horizon completely set.

The moment the golden twilight vanished and darkness descended, a thick mist rose from the entire mountain range.

At a glance, it looked like a mist that commonly occurred at dawn, but it was entirely different.

It was incredibly cold.

It contained a chill so powerful that even a decent ice-attribute spiritual item could not compare, to the extent that his skin, trained through body-tempering, tingled.

‘Was the chill felt outside the secret realm this?’

Observing closely, he stretched out his hand.

He pulled in and absorbed an extremely small amount of the mist, and since it contained dense worldly energy, it seemed he could use it to accumulate dharma power.

‘At this rate, it can be viewed as a spiritual medicine floating in the air.’

Pondering for a moment, he lowered his altitude. He went down near the ground completely submerged in the mist.

To verify how much his physical body could endure the chill, he absorbed the mist more actively.

Sss…

Searing cool energy permeated through his breath and skin.

The energy flowing along his meridians was absorbed into the Chaos Origin Wheel, and was refined step by step to turn into dharma power.

The speed at which dharma power accumulated was considerably fast.

At this rate, the efficiency was twice as good as cultivating during the day.

‘It will take just five years to reach the 3rd layer of the Unity stage.’

It was beyond excellent. This mist alone made entering the secret realm worthwhile.

Furthermore, since he was coincidentally looking for such a chill, he liked it even more.

‘If I have this chill…’

He might be able to refine the Silver Lightning Tribulation stored in the Chaos Origin Wheel.

Once he completely digested the Silver Lightning Tribulation, his Lightning Escape Art would develop to another dimension.

He would be able to achieve tremendous growth in terms of mobility.

Just as he was about to smile at the endlessly gathering chill,

‘Hmm?’

The corners of his mouth did not move. Snapping out of his daze in startlement, he found his entire body frozen solid before he knew it.

He was dumbfounded.

It was not that he had particularly lowered his guard.

Without even perceiving it, he had turned into a living ice statue.

Crackle!

He generated lightning. Pushing away the chill permeating his mind and body, he marveled.

A chill that even paralyzed the senses.

The coldness contained in the mist was unusually strong.

‘Where did the mist come from?’

Clearly, as soon as the sun set, the entire mountain range was submerged in mist.

Judging by the speed at which the mist spread, it did not seem to be a natural phenomenon caused by temperature differences.

If so, there should be a source of the mist somewhere, but nothing particularly stood out.

‘…Is it underground?’

Come to think of it, the mist rose simultaneously from the entire mountain range.

In the unlikely event a source existed, it was highly likely to be underground.

Looking around at the mountain range filling all directions, he chose any mountain and poured out dharma power.

Rumble!

Lifting the entire ground, he dug up the earth.

Because it was an ordinary mountain rather than a hard rocky mountain, he could easily dig it up, but there was nothing in particular underground.

Without being disappointed, he dug up another mountain, and…

exactly when he overturned the fifth mountain, he was able to discover a structure buried deep underground.

‘A building?’

It was a pavilion commonly seen, but the shape of the building was slightly strange.

Curiously, the first parts revealed while digging were the floor and the main entrance.

‘…’

Staring while narrowing his eyes, as he dug the earth further, the outer wall emerged, and finally, the roof was revealed.

Bizarrely, the building was upside down.

Just as if someone had pulled up the entire building and plunged it into the ground.