Chapter 367 ·Side Story 3 – The World of Ascenders
Chapter 367: Side Story 3 – The World of Ascenders
“There are people like me too?”
Lena, who had introduced herself to Jang Woo-hyun, nodded.
She was the heir to a small merchant company and had come to this area in search of rare medicinal herbs when she was attacked by a dragon—or, as they called it here, a Dragon.
“I wouldn’t say they’re exactly the same, but, well, they’re a little different from us…….”
“You can speak freely.”
“Mr. Woo-hyun, you look a little different from us, don’t you? There are occasionally people like that in the Alliance.”
That was why Lena had mentioned the Alliance.
‘Are there others here who aren’t originally from this world, like me?’
If not, it was also possible that people of Eastern appearance had undergone Ascension rather than Flight to the Heavens or Ascension to Immortality.
After all, the original owner of the Six-Horned Demon King Step, the martial art Jang Woo-hyun used, had also been a foreigner, so it was entirely possible.
“I’m not affiliated with that Alliance.”
“Then did you come from somewhere else?”
“I’m not originally from this place. I came from somewhere very far away.”
They exchanged several more conversations afterward, and Jang Woo-hyun decided to travel with Lena’s group for the time being.
Since he had no idea where he was, he needed information.
“Let’s move for now.”
“But are you just going to leave that behind?”
Lena carefully pointed toward the corpse of the Dragon whose neck Jang Woo-hyun had severed.
“A Dragon’s corpse has all sorts of uses. You could make quite a bit of money selling it.”
“I don’t particularly…… Ah, since you said you’re a merchant, could you give me half of whatever you get for selling it?”
Thinking he would need money if he wanted to operate in this place, Jang Woo-hyun changed his mind.
“You’re giving me half? That much?”
Lena’s eyes widened at the unexpectedly generous offer.
“Yes. In exchange, could you help me with a few things? Like I said earlier, I came from far away, so I don’t know anything about this place.”
“If it’s something I can help with, then of course I should. You saved our lives.”
Lena and the rest of her group bowed once more in gratitude before approaching the Dragon and busily getting to work.
Then they opened a small backpack.
‘Is it something like an Inner Robe Dharma Tool?’
Sure enough, the enormous Dragon corpse was sucked straight into the bag.
“Let’s return to the city now. It’s quite far away, so it’ll take some time. Just in case, do you happen to have a Flying Summoned Beast as well, Mr. Woo-hyun?”
“What’s that?”
When Jang Woo-hyun asked about the unfamiliar term, Lena added an explanation while summoning her Flying Summoned Beast.
The bracelet around her wrist began radiating light, and a gigantic bird large enough to carry a fully grown adult suddenly appeared.
It was a blue bird resembling an eagle, though strangely, its body was translucent.
“This is a Summoned Beast.”
“I don’t have a Summoned Beast, but I do have something similar.”
Seeing it with his own eyes made the concept easy enough to understand.
Summoned Beasts were similar in concept to the Flying Apparatuses used in the Central Heavens Realm.
When Jang Woo-hyun took out his Flying Apparatus, a small commotion broke out among the group, but he paid it no mind and rose into the air.
---
“What do you intend to do about this?”
At Zhang Sanfeng’s question, Ak Do-gyeom, who stood beside him, merely scratched his head instead of answering.
“Yeah. What am I supposed to do about this?”
“Is that really what you should be saying right now?”
“Sorry about that. But this isn’t entirely my fault.”
When Zhang Sanfeng looked at him as though asking what nonsense he was talking about, Ak Do-gyeom instead raised his head defiantly.
“He’s the bastard who cut off that snake’s head, so shouldn’t I at least get to see his face? Besides, I heard he even went all the way to the Upper Realm. The Sword Heaven Lord and that black bastard kept hovering around him so much that I could never get anywhere near him. If you people hadn’t overdone it, I wouldn’t have had to meet him all the way out here, and none of this would’ve happened. And this brat was a problem too.”
“Me?”
Jin Ha-un, who stood two or three steps behind the pair, asked in surprise.
“Yeah, you brat. I was only going to hit him once, but you blocked me half-assedly and caused all this. If I’d landed one clean hit the first time, I would’ve wrapped everything up neatly afterward.”
Jin Ha-un had used every ounce of his strength, but he still failed to block Ak Do-gyeom’s attack and was sent flying.
After being hurled far away, he had barely managed to recover and return, and that was when he encountered Zhang Sanfeng’s Avatar.
The two crossed into the Corpse-Blood Realm through the shattered gate.
However, all that remained there was devastated land and Ak Do-gyeom.
“You caused all this destruction, and you expect me to believe that?”
Zhang Sanfeng gestured toward the surroundings.
The mountains and structures Jang Woo-hyun and Hwang An had seen were gone.
“I told you, this happened because that two-headed bastard attacked me. But what do we do now? They said that gate didn’t lead to one of our Middle Realms, but to the Western Heaven.”
As expected, what Jang Woo-hyun and Hwang An had seen upon arriving in the Corpse-Blood Realm was a passage leading to another world.
One of those passages had been connected to the Central Heavens Realm, and they had entered the Corpse-Blood Realm through it.
Then, because of Ak Do-gyeom’s second attack, they had been sent flying into another world.
“That is why you should have exercised restraint. How are we supposed to deal with it after you destroyed it this badly?”
A completely shattered Dimensional Gate entered Zhang Sanfeng’s view.
Fortunately, the passage connected to the Central Heavens Realm could still be used, but the other gates could not.
“Well, you see…….”
Ak Do-gyeom paused instead of continuing immediately.
“It probably would’ve broken even if I had held back.”
“What is that supposed to mean now?”
“That technique the guy who supposedly lost his strength used made me put in a little more power without realizing it. That gate probably would’ve shattered from that one exchange anyway.”
“And you’re saying that no—”
“Wait! There’s another reason besides me using a little too much power.”
In an instant, Ak Do-gyeom’s atmosphere completely changed.
Unlike before, all trace of playfulness vanished and his expression hardened.
“Are you pretending not to know just because you haven’t been one of the Six Heavenly Lords for very long? That makes no sense. You were already on our level long ago. You felt it too, didn’t you, Sword Heaven Lord?”
Jin Ha-un, who had been listening to their conversation, tensed and gripped his swords.
The air around them suddenly felt oppressively heavy.
“The limit of the bastard who got sent flying to the Western Heaven increased after he returned from the Upper Realm.”
With the Three Thousand Radiant Silver Treasure Heavenly Venerable as the last, there were no longer any True Immortals or Martial Gods left in the Upper Realm.
The Natural Order had said there would be no Flight to the Heavens by Cultivators or Ascension to Immortality by martial artists for some time.
As a backlash from that, the upper limit of power possessed by those within the Middle Realms had increased.
“I’m getting stronger without even realizing it. If this is happening to me, what do you think is happening to that black bastard who could’ve gone to the Upper Realm long ago without anyone finding it strange? Give him some time, and he’ll probably be able to tear apart ordinary True Immortals or Martial Gods with his bare hands. It’ll be a disaster for the Cultivators.”
Ak Do-gyeom stopped speaking and gave a faint chuckle.
He had said it in a joking tone, but the meaning behind his words was chilling enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
Yet despite the heavy atmosphere, Zhang Sanfeng remained indifferent.
“Stop trying to pull a trick.”
“…….”
“Do not think you can escape responsibility by suddenly pretending to be serious.”
The longer Zhang Sanfeng spoke, the more Ak Do-gyeom’s body flinched.
“So how do you intend to clean up this mess? What are you going to do about the hole you opened in the Central Heavens Realm?”
“The hole…… in the Central Heavens Realm. I can just stay there and guard it for a while.”
“And Woo-hyun?”
“Hmm……. Can’t the Sword Heaven Lord handle that? You’re supposed to be the guardian of the Central Heavens Martial Realm, so something like this should…… Fine, fine. No, no. I was just saying it. Then should we ask the old lady?”
Zhang Sanfeng firmly shook his head.
“This is not merely one of the Middle Realms. It is the Western Heaven. Even the Dream Heavenly Lord would find it difficult.”
“What about the black bastard? He crosses between places all the time.”
“The Demon Heaven Lord is not currently in the Central Heavens Realm.”
“Uh……. Then what do we do?”
“What exactly do you expect me to say when you ask me that?”
Zhang Sanfeng could only let out repeated sighs at Ak Do-gyeom’s utter lack of a plan.
Jin Ha-un, who had been watching the conversation between these great figures from the side, found himself thinking, ‘This man is one of the Six Heavenly Lords?’
Eventually, he joined the conversation.
“Is there no way for them to cross back from that side?”
“Crossing directly from the Western Heaven to the Central Heavens Realm would be difficult even for me.”
“Then they can just come back through the Corpse-Blood Realm the same way they went there.”
“Do you think that would be possible? Even if they opened a gate from the other side, no one here would be available to assist them. Neither the Fist Heaven Lord nor I can remain here for very long.”
If two great figures of their caliber remained in the Corpse-Blood Realm, a single mistake could easily spark a war.
“Even if everything somehow works out and they manage to cross into the Corpse-Blood Realm, that would still be a problem. They would then need to open another gate from here to the Central Heavens Realm.”
“I’ll capture a few bastards and ask them to cooperate. Hell, I’ll just capture whoever’s in charge here. The Eight Kings, was it? I’ll grab one of those bastards and—”
“Huh? There is someone! There’s someone who can help!”
The moment the Eight Kings were mentioned, Jin Ha-un unconsciously interrupted him.
Normally, Ak Do-gyeom would have smacked anyone who cut him off, but the unexpected statement merely made his eyes widen.
“There is?”
“Yes. There’s someone called Lee Ahn who has a connection with Brother. She’s a mage? Anyway, someone like that. She helped us last time too. She said she was the Skeleton King and one of the Eight Kings here.”
“What!?”
“Is that true?”
Looking at the two startled men, Jin Ha-un nodded vigorously instead of answering.
“Khh, wahahahahaha!”
Ak Do-gyeom burst into loud laughter at the completely unexpected development.
“That bastard really is something! No wonder the Sword Heaven Lord and that black bastard keep protecting him. A martial artist from the Central Heavens Realm actually has ties to one of the Eight Kings of the Corpse-Blood Realm. Good. I’ll meet her and ask for her help.”
“You absolutely must not fight her.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it somehow. Besides, I want to see that bastard Jang Woo-hyun again.”
Ak Do-gyeom thumped his chest repeatedly, telling them to trust him.
The other two could only stare at him with eyes full of concern.
---
Ten days after saving Lena’s group.
Jang Woo-hyun arrived at the city where she lived.
He had wanted to arrive sooner, but the Summoned Beasts were slower than his Flying Apparatus, so the journey took longer than expected.
During the trip, whenever he had time, Jang Woo-hyun spoke with Lena’s group and gradually gathered information about this place.
The name of this world was Certámen(Certámen).
Just as its name meant ‘struggle,’ it was a place where numerous factions competed fiercely against one another.
Among the famous powers in the surrounding region were four organizations: the Chimera Alliance, Heavenly Wing Knights, Gray Magic Tower, and Warriors of Struggle(Kampens krigere).
‘This isn’t a Lower Realm.’
When entering the city, Jang Woo-hyun had happened to encounter the city’s ruler, whose strength was at the level of an Absolute Master.
He had been told that vastly stronger individuals could be found in larger cities.
That meant this place was likely a world similar to a Middle Realm, where those who had Ascended from Lower Realms gathered.
As Jang Woo-hyun organized his thoughts while walking, they soon reached their destination.
“This is our merchant company.”
Upon arriving at the merchant company’s building, Lena guided Jang Woo-hyun to a guest room before leaving briefly.
A short while later, she returned carrying a wide box roughly the size of three palms placed side by side.
“My father happens to be away at the moment. Please take this first.”
Inside the box were a pair of earrings and a necklace that appeared to form a set.
“What are these?”
“They’re similar to what you’re using now. You can think of them as a kind of translator.”
Lena explained that because Certámen had many different races and species that spoke different languages, items of this kind had become highly developed.
Jang Woo-hyun took out a small metal box from his Inner Robe Dharma Tool, then placed the items Lena had given him inside.
The box had been given to him by the Master Craftsman.
It was a special Dharma Treasure capable of assessing the danger posed by Dharma Treasures and Dharma Tools.
It was hardly polite to do such a thing openly in front of the person who had just given him a gift, but after what he had experienced in the territory of the Cultivators, Jang Woo-hyun did not care.
Before long, Jang Woo-hyun confirmed that there was nothing particularly wrong with the items.
He then put on the earrings and necklace Lena had given him before returning the translation Dharma Tool from the Master Craftsman to his Inner Robe Dharma Tool.
“Mr. Woo-hyun, can you hear me clearly?”
“Yes, perfectly.”
After testing them through a brief conversation, Jang Woo-hyun found that the items Lena had given him performed better than the Master Craftsman’s translation Dharma Tool.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Compared to what you did for us, this is nothing. You said there was something you wanted to investigate, right? Allen!”
“Yes!”
At Lena’s call, a green-haired young man who looked as though he had only recently reached adulthood entered the guest room with an energetic response.
“Guide him to one of the mages staying in the city. We’ll cover the cost.”
“Understood. Please follow me.”
Jang Woo-hyun bowed his head slightly in thanks and followed Allen.
It was time to begin preparing for his return to the Central Heavens.
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