Chapter 365 ·Side Story 1 – An Unintended Journey
Chapter 365: Side Story 1 – An Unintended Journey
After shaking the blood from his sword, the white blade turned into mist and disappeared.
Jang Woo-hyun approached the woman who had been staring at the mysterious sight as though mesmerized and spoke.
“Are you all right?”
Even as he asked, for some reason, he thought they would not be able to communicate.
It was only natural.
The woman, who had been trembling in fear until moments ago, belonged to a race unlike any he had ever seen.
He had met Beastkin, people from the Nation of Ingenious Mechanisms with three eyes, giants larger than most houses, and even people who had inherited the blood of dragons and possessed horns, but the woman before him was fundamentally different from all of them.
Her face had more pronounced contours and sharply defined features.
Green eyes and light brown hair.
She gave off an entirely different impression from the races he had encountered in the Central Plains and the Middle Heaven Martial World.
Moreover, the creature he had just defeated was also unusual.
Wings covered in membranes and scales as hard as steel.
A massive body reminiscent of a gigantic lizard.
Unlike the dragons he knew, which possessed antler-like horns, this creature had horns resembling those of a bull.
Everything was unfamiliar, from the surrounding landscape to the energy permeating the atmosphere.
Amid the incomprehensible situation, Jang Woo-hyun let out a small sigh.
‘Where the hell am I?’
And what exactly had gone wrong?
Was it because of the plan to win over the Young Palace Master for Hwang An?
Or had the Cultivators from the Corpse-Blood Realm who suddenly invaded been the problem?
‘No. That monstrous human was the biggest problem.’
So, if he went back to the beginning, everything had started with a request from his friend.
---
After deciding to travel through the Middle Heaven Martial World, Jang Woo-hyun’s group spent around two years wandering from place to place before stopping by the Northern Heaven Ice Palace.
And that was where the problem began.
“Uuuuuugh.”
Hwang An had already fallen for Seol Ha-rin, the Young Palace Master of the Northern Heaven Ice Palace, after seeing her appearance through a recording artifact.
Once he actually met her, however, he ended up suffering from lovesickness that was practically incurable.
“Aren’t you being a little too obsessed with looks?”
Even when Jang Woo-hyun teased him.
“Brother, try this. This is seriously incredible.”
Even when Jin Ha-un offered him a famous fine liquor.
Hwang An could not pull himself together.
“Even while looking at her, I already wish to see her again. I miss her so terribly. Ah, my beloved. I wish to fly through the skies of Middle Heaven together with you.”
However, contrary to Hwang An’s wishes, it was not easy for the two of them to grow closer.
Even considering nothing but their difference in status, Hwang An was merely an ordinary martial artist belonging to the Taiji Sect, while Seol Ha-rin was the successor of the Northern Heaven Ice Palace, one of the most prominent powers in the Middle Heaven Martial World.
Furthermore, because of the war that had swept through the Middle Heaven Martial World, several factions among the Ten Sects and Three Clans had either disappeared or suffered devastating damage, causing a massive upheaval in the balance of power.
Naturally, Seol Ha-rin, the Young Palace Master of the Northern Heaven Ice Palace, had become even busier than before.
“I shall devote myself to the Northern Heaven Ice Palace.”
“Yeah, sure. Good idea.”
“I think so too, Brother.”
Since Hwang An had been making a spectacle of himself for more than half a month, Jang Woo-hyun and Jin Ha-un could only respond indifferently.
Their reactions sent Hwang An into a rage.
“You bastards! And you still call yourselves my friends and brothers?! I love Young Palace Master Seol this much! How can you treat me like this?!”
“What love? How long has it even been since you first saw her face?”
“Love comes upon you that suddenly!”
“If it came suddenly, couldn’t it leave just as suddenly?”
“Don’t speak lightly of my love! I’m not that kind of man!”
Jang Woo-hyun reluctantly nodded.
“Fine, let’s say I understand how you feel. But we can’t stay here forever, can we?”
“Wait a little longer! Give me time! Can’t you even wait this much for me? Do you have any idea how long I spent in the Lower Realm just so I could meet you bastards?!”
Through Hwang An’s requests, threats, and pleas, the group remained at the Northern Heaven Ice Palace for over a month.
However, the Young Palace Master was someone they could neither see often nor meet easily.
With no other choice, the group eventually returned to the Taiji Sect.
Afterward, Hwang An busily ran around on his own until he finally discovered a method.
“This is a matter between men. This time, I ask for Miss Yong and Miss Gun’s understanding.”
“Yes…….”
“Unnie, let’s stay out of this. I think there’s something wrong with that man.”
Having already grown sick and tired of Hwang An’s behavior at the Northern Heaven Ice Palace, Yong Seo-hee and Gun Yu-hye withdrew from the next journey without complaint.
As a result, the group was reduced to three once again, and they moved according to Hwang An’s plan.
After traveling for more than a month, the three finally left the territory of the Middle Heaven Martial World and reached their destination.
“I don’t even know what we’re doing anymore. Did we really have to come this far?”
“I agree, Brother.”
“You two already have partners, so help me out!”
“Come on, Brother. Yu-hye and I aren’t like that.”
“Whether you are or aren’t! Just help me first!”
“Fine, we’ll help. But if this doesn’t work, you’re giving up, all right?”
“…….”
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Ahem, ahem. Couldn’t I try one or two other methods?”
“I shouldn’t have bothered asking. Anyway, is it really over there?”
Jang Woo-hyun pointed toward the Floating Continent visible in the distance.
What they were searching for was a spiritual treasure known as the Azure Flame Ice-Snow Flower.
The other two had opposed the idea, but Hwang An intended to win Seol Ha-rin’s favor through a gift.
“Brother Jang, who do you think I am?”
“A beggar?”
“A dullard who still hasn’t mastered the Void Movement Technique?”
Hwang An froze at their answers.
His body twitched before he finally spoke a beat later.
“……Have you forgotten where I came from? Even if this is the Middle Heaven Realm, information like this is nothing once it falls into my hands.”
“You paid quite a hefty price for this informa—”
“Enough! Jin Ha-un! Let’s focus on the task! Forget about the past. A man has to live progressively. Why dwell on the past? Let’s go! Toward the future! Forward!”
Seeing Hwang An making such a fuss, the other two could not help but chuckle.
And so, while bickering among themselves as they flew toward the Floating Continent, Jang Woo-hyun’s expression suddenly hardened at the energy he sensed.
“You felt it too, Brother?”
“Something’s wrong. Let’s speed up.”
They quickly advanced across a vast plain and over a gigantic mountain range.
Then a bizarre sight unfolded before them.
“What in the…….”
The ground writhed with masses of flesh.
Trees stood like bundles of tangled blood vessels.
And off to one side was a gigantic ring-shaped structure made from entrails and bones.
Even though they were still quite some distance away, the thick stench of blood assaulted their noses.
More than ten people stood before the gigantic structure.
They also noticed Jang Woo-hyun’s group flying toward them.
“Excellent prey has already appeared!”
The man clearly shouted loudly, yet unlike an ordinary person, there was no vitality in his voice.
Adding to that were the bloody stench and corpse energy spreading throughout the surroundings.
Jang Woo-hyun immediately realized who they were and what was happening.
He stepped off the Flying Apparatus and planted his foot in empty space.
Boom!
A powerful wave of energy spread beneath his feet.
Jang Woo-hyun closed the distance in an instant and severed the necks of the three people standing at the front.
Crack!
However, his sword stopped at the fourth person.
He had intended to take the man’s head with a single strike, but his opponent pulled a bone from his palm and blocked the attack.
Cold and heat surged from behind Jang Woo-hyun.
Jin Ha-un, who had followed him, swung his two swords.
The bodies of the Cultivators whose heads had been severed froze solid before shattering into pieces.
Flames swallowed the remains.
They had been together for so long that words were unnecessary.
“Did you open a gate?”
At Jang Woo-hyun’s question, the enemy who had blocked his sword grinned.
Unlike an ordinary human, the inside of his mouth was packed with fangs.
“Hehehe. You know who we are? Good instincts. And you’re skilled too.”
The man’s eyes flashed.
With a sound like something snapping apart, bones shot from his shoulders, arms, and sides like hidden weapons.
Jang Woo-hyun deflected the attacks and retreated, opening the distance between them.
Crack! Crunch!
The sounds of flesh being crushed and bones breaking erupted one after another.
Before long, the man stood covered in armor made entirely of bone.
An energy completely unlike that of a living person.
The surroundings made from flesh, blood, and bone.
That grotesque cultivation art.
These were not Cultivators who had learned ordinary demonic cultivation arts.
They were fundamentally different from the Cultivators of the Middle Heaven Realm.
“What are bastards from the Corpse-Blood Realm doing here?”
A land of blood and corpses.
The Corpse-Blood Realm(屍血界), one of the Middle Realms and a world that overlapped with the world of Ascenders known as the Western Heaven.
Jang Woo-hyun had visited that place during the battle against the Radiant Light Sect, so he knew its power and energy well.
“Hehehe. You’re not even surprised. A martial artist like you shouldn’t have ever seen something like this.”
The moment he finished speaking, writhing masses of flesh poured from the ring-shaped structure behind him.
The stench of rot spread through the air, and black maggots fell from the masses of flesh.
The instant the maggots touched the ground, they burst apart, staining the earth black.
“What the hell is this…….”
Hwang An’s face twisted at the sight, something he had never witnessed before in his life.
“They’re Cultivators from another world. They opened a gate into Middle Heaven. Think of it as an invasion.”
Jang Woo-hyun did not know how they had done it or why they had come here.
However, judging from the power he could sense, the situation had not yet reached a serious level.
‘I’ll clean this up before it gets worse.’
Jang Woo-hyun was someone who thought about cutting off a Cultivator’s head even when encountering an ordinary one.
There was even less reason to hesitate when dealing with Cultivators of the Corpse-Blood Realm who were plotting something like this.
Hesitation was a luxury.
Just as he gripped his sword and prepared to move again.
“……!”
A chilling sensation ran down his spine.
Without even having time to think, Jang Woo-hyun instinctively grabbed Hwang An’s arm beside him.
“Ha-un!”
He shouted loudly and kicked off the ground.
Jin Ha-un immediately understood the situation and reacted.
This movement was not meant for an attack.
They rushed past the Cultivators before them and hurriedly turned around.
“What is this now…….”
The Cultivator, who had thought their actions strange, stopped speaking and looked behind where Jang Woo-hyun’s group had originally been standing.
The energy he sensed prevented him from looking away.
Beyond the contaminated earth where bloodstained masses of flesh writhed, a man walked toward them from a place where the forest still retained its original appearance.
The Middle Heaven Realm was a place filled with bizarre martial arts, sorcery, all manner of cultivation arts, and Dharma Treasures.
Yet the man used none of them.
He simply walked forward slowly.
Even so, no one could take their eyes off him.
An overwhelming presence.
Pressure that crushed everything in all directions.
Merely looking at the approaching man caused Hwang An to retch and collapse to the ground.
“Mon-Monst—”
Crack!
Before one of the Cultivators could finish speaking.
The approaching man put slightly more force into his step.
It was not a powerful stomp.
He had merely taken a step slightly longer than the ones before it.
With that single step, half of the Cultivators beside Jang Woo-hyun’s group were crushed on the spot and reduced to pools of blood.
“Everyone, defend yourselves!”
The Cultivator they had been fighting moments earlier shouted and cast a spell, but Jang Woo-hyun’s gaze never left the approaching man.
His hair had been swept cleanly back, leaving his face clearly visible.
A middle-aged man.
Rugged, sharply defined features that looked as though they had been carved with a sculptor’s knife.
His eyes emitted a calm gleam, and a faint smile rested on his face.
He wore a sleeveless white martial arts uniform that had yellowed with age.
Rather than making it appear dirty, the discoloration instead brought to mind the countless years he had devoted to training.
‘We can’t escape.’
The moment Jang Woo-hyun met the man’s eyes, he understood.
No one here would be able to flee or even move without the approaching man’s permission.
They had probably only been able to move earlier because he had allowed it.
In that case, Jang Woo-hyun would simply do what he could.
He walked several steps forward and positioned himself in front of his companions.
“Oho.”
Whatever had pleased him, a smile spread across the approaching man’s face.
“Not bad.”
Before his words had even finished, the man appeared as if by magic five jang away.
“W-Why are you here—”
“Quiet.”
Cutting off the Cultivator, the man clenched his fist.
Bang!
With that sound, the upper bodies of every remaining Cultivator exploded, leaving only their lower halves to collapse onto the ground.
“Corpse bastards dare come here of all places.”
Even while annihilating Cultivators of considerable strength, the man’s gaze remained fixed on Jang Woo-hyun.
“…….”
Merely being subjected to that gaze made Jang Woo-hyun feel as though his heart would burst.
The pressure felt like Mount Tai had been placed upon his shoulders.
Nevertheless, Jang Woo-hyun calmly endured the man’s gaze and tightened his grip on his sword.
“Phew.”
He exhaled softly and spoke the man’s identity aloud.
Overwhelming power and a presence that seemed capable of crushing the entire world.
Jang Woo-hyun knew very well of an existence possessing power of this magnitude.
“What brings the Fist Heaven Lord here?”
An absolute ruler of the Middle Heaven Martial World.
One of them had appeared before his eyes.
RelatedRelatedRelated