Chapter 299 : A New Heaven
Chapter 299: A New Heaven
To learn the difference between Ascension and Transcendent Flight, Yong Cheon-myeong contacted cultivators and eventually learned one fact.
‘There are no True Immortals?’
The gods who had ascended to the Upper Realm.
Their traces had vanished.
Whether they had been destroyed or merely concealed themselves temporarily was unknown.
But one thing was certain—
The power of the True Immortals could no longer be felt.
‘What is this?’
And it was not only the True Immortals.
Using every means available to him, Yong Cheon-myeong tried communicating with the Martial Gods who had ascended to the Upper Realm.
But he could not feel their power or will either.
They too had disappeared as though erased by a lie.
It seemed the Cultivation World had already noticed the situation, as Great Ascension cultivators had concealed themselves while preparing for Transcendent Flight.
After understanding the situation, Yong Cheon-myeong became consumed by an indescribable unease.
Then a group called the Ascension Cult approached him.
“There is an anomaly in the Upper Realm.”
The Ascension Cult, which followed the Three Thousand Vast Silver Treasure Heavenly Venerable, appeared to know more detailed information than Yong Cheon-myeong.
“It seems a great war occurred. As a result, the great beings disappeared.”
But Yong Cheon-myeong did not trust them.
He immediately captured and tortured the Ascension Cult cultivators.
From the very beginning, he had never intended to cooperate with them.
“W-We do not know the exact reason either. We only heard that something happened in the Upper Realm. The Upper Realm is practically empty now. Because of that, the Great One promised us this—if we followed him, we would be able to achieve Transcendent Flight.”
As expected.
The Ascension Cult knew nothing concrete either.
They merely followed the True Immortal out of their own greed.
After dealing with the Ascension Cult cultivators, Yong Cheon-myeong once more moved alone.
But he soon encountered his limits.
Even though Yong Cheon-myeong was the absolute ruler of the Middle Heavens Murim, there was only so much he could discover within the Middle Realm.
‘I must go to the Upper Realm.’
There was nothing more he could accomplish within the Middle Heaven Realm, so he began preparing for what came next.
Unsure what dangers lay ahead, Yong Cheon-myeong sought a method other than ordinary Ascension.
‘Unify the Middle Heavens Murim and place the entire Middle Heaven Realm beneath my feet through that power.’
He intended to gather all the strength of the Middle Heaven Realm and ascend to the Upper Realm.
The first step of that plan was the Heavenly Sword Family.
A family formed by martial artists who worshipped Lü Dongbin, the first to be called a Sword Immortal.
That place possessed an item capable of increasing Yong Cheon-myeong’s power.
The World-Opening Sword.
A key in the form of a sword.
It was an object capable of allowing one to briefly step into a new realm.
‘To face that man, I need the World-Opening Sword.’
The monster of the Demonic Palace.
The man called the strongest in the Middle Heavens.
Heavenly Demon Lord, Muk Geom-yeong.
To unify the Middle Heavens Murim, Yong Cheon-myeong needed to surpass him.
And for that, the World-Opening Sword was absolutely necessary.
Yong Cheon-myeong’s plans advanced steadily.
He destroyed the Heavenly Sword Family and obtained the World-Opening Sword.
To prevent all attention from focusing on the Divine Dragon Family, he secretly assisted other sects little by little from behind the scenes, worsening the chaos throughout the Middle Heavens Murim.
While expanding his influence, once he fully mastered the World-Opening Sword, his plans would be complete.
But everything collapsed because of Jang Woo-hyun, who had suddenly appeared.
The plan was utterly ruined, and Yong Cheon-myeong now lay within an unnamed floating island with his body severed.
The regenerative power and vitality born from dragon blood were of no help.
Yong Cheon-myeong’s origin and soul had been destroyed by Jang Woo-hyun’s One Sword.
Only because he had reached the realm called the Immortal Realm was he still enduring.
Even now, however, Jang Woo-hyun’s Minor Universe ravaged his origin and soul from within.
In Yong Cheon-myeong’s eyes, he saw Jang Woo-hyun descending from the sky.
Perhaps due to overexerting himself during the final strike, his right arm was missing as well.
“…….”
Though he looked at Jang Woo-hyun, who had ruined all his plans, perhaps because the end had finally come, he felt neither rage nor resentment.
Only regret remained.
Regret that he would be unable to reveal the truth.
Because only he could have done that.
“……You do not know.”
That this world itself was somehow twisted.
“Since you Ascended, you probably never even considered it. Ascension differs from Transcendent Flight. It is not a blessing.”
Jang Woo-hyun likely had never even realized it.
The difference between Ascension and Transcendent Flight.
He probably believed he had risen to the Middle Heavens through heaven’s blessing.
Yong Cheon-myeong already knew how Jang Woo-hyun would react to his words.
‘He’ll be like everyone else.’
But the response he received was completely different from his expectations.
“Huh? How do you know that?”
“……What?”
“The difference between Ascension and Transcendent Flight. Nobody else ever questioned it. Don’t tell me you…….”
As Jang Woo-hyun continued speaking, Yong Cheon-myeong’s eyes widened.
For the first time, he had met someone who shared the same thoughts as him.
---
Jang Woo-hyun carefully observed Yong Cheon-myeong’s reaction without voicing the words, ‘Are you not originally from the Middle Heaven Realm?’
Judging from the reaction, Yong Cheon-myeong was not someone from another world like him.
‘Did he simply figure it out on his own?’
“……You truly questioned the difference between Transcendent Flight and Ascension? A human? You truly know a truth nobody else understood……?”
“How else? It just felt strange. Martial artists ascend to the Middle Realm without difficulty, but cultivators don’t. That force called providence—or the will called heaven—favoring only martial artists felt weird somehow. And you noticed it too, didn’t you? Whenever you bring up this topic, everyone looks at you like you’re saying nonsense.”
Without realizing it, Yong Cheon-myeong nodded.
He too had experienced it countless times already.
“How…… how do you know such things?”
“What do you mean how? I just happened to think about it.”
As Yong Cheon-myeong looked at Jang Woo-hyun, he recalled the voice of the True Immortal he had heard before.
-The insects who obtained fragments of one from another world.
The will of the True Immortal transmitted through the silver awl Jang Woo-hyun had used during their previous encounter.
Yong Cheon-myeong had clearly felt that will.
The “insect” it spoke of was likely referring to Jang Woo-hyun.
“So…… you were connected to the Closed World.”
Jang Woo-hyun’s brows furrowed.
It was a term he had never heard before, and Yong Cheon-myeong seemed to know something.
“Closed World? What’s that? What do you know?”
Jang Woo-hyun asked with a hardened expression.
“A Closed World refers to another world separate from this place, bu—there is no time.”
Yong Cheon-myeong stopped speaking and raised his hand.
Light gathered above his palm, forming a fist-sized orb radiating golden light.
“Take this.”
“What?”
“Hurry. I do not have much time left. If you take this to the Shrine of the White Eyes, you will understand what I meant.”
“…….”
Looking at the golden orb, Jang Woo-hyun hesitated briefly.
He had no idea what tricks Yong Cheon-myeong might attempt, so he could not readily accept something handed over by him.
While he hesitated, Yong Cheon-myeong’s body gradually grew faint.
His arm transformed into smoke and vanished, while the golden orb in his hand fell to the ground.
Whether Jang Woo-hyun took the orb or not, Yong Cheon-myeong continued speaking.
Because now, he truly had little time remaining.
“……If we had met differently, could we have become friends?”
Was it because he stood at death’s door?
Or because he had finally met someone he could truly converse with?
Words Yong Cheon-myeong normally never would have spoken escaped his lips.
Had they not met as enemies, they might have spoken through the entire night about the truths and theories he had uncovered.
Until now, he had always judged and thought through everything alone.
Nobody had ever listened to him.
“No.”
“…….”
“If you don’t change your mindset, who would ever be friends with you? You think anyone without dragon blood is an insect. You’re basically a racist—no, a species supremacist. Who’d want to be your friend? I’m even pretty close with some yokai, and even they don’t treat humans like that.”
“What? Khuhuhu, hahahahahaha!”
Yong Cheon-myeong had never believed the life he lived was wrong.
Nor did he regret it.
But Jang Woo-hyun’s brutally honest words at the edge of death changed his thinking, even if only slightly.
Since childhood, nobody had ever contradicted him.
Everyone always told him his words were correct.
If someone had spoken honestly to him like Jang Woo-hyun had, perhaps he might have lived differently.
After stopping his laughter, Yong Cheon-myeong looked at Jang Woo-hyun.
“I have one request.”
His body had nearly vanished entirely now.
Only smoke shaped like a human remained where Yong Cheon-myeong once stood.
“Protect the members of my clan who did not participate in the war.”
With those words, the smoke that had been Yong Cheon-myeong scattered away.
The Divine Dragon who treasured his dragon-blooded clan more than anyone else disappeared just like that.
-A new wind will blow.
‘So it was you.’
Within his fading consciousness, Yong Cheon-myeong finally realized the identity of the wind the previous Sword Heavenly Lord’s incarnation had spoken of.
With that final thought, the person called Yong Cheon-myeong vanished.
“…….”
After staring at the smoke drifting across the sky for a long while, Jang Woo-hyun lowered his gaze.
His eyes landed upon the golden orb rolling on the ground.
The final item left behind by Yong Cheon-myeong.
Even though he had reached the Immortal Realm, it was still something left behind by another martial artist of the same realm at the moment of death.
He could not recklessly touch it.
‘What should I do with this?’
While he pondered alone—
Dragon King Scale hanging at his waist suddenly trembled on its own.
“What’s wrong with you now?”
When Jang Woo-hyun drew the noisy Dragon King Scale, it suddenly moved by itself and lightly tapped the golden orb several times.
“That thing could be dangerous, so don’t recklessly—”
Before Jang Woo-hyun could finish speaking, Dragon King Scale swallowed the golden orb as though devouring a magical treasure.
“Uh…….”
This was exactly the kind of thing it would do.
But because he had not seen it devour magical treasures for a while, he had let his guard down.
Jang Woo-hyun grabbed Dragon King Scale and shook it roughly, but there was no way it would spit the orb back out.
Staring at Dragon King Scale in his hand, Jang Woo-hyun sighed softly.
“Hey, I need to go to that Shrine of the White Eyes place. What am I supposed to do if you eat it?”
At his scolding, Dragon King Scale trembled.
It almost looked like it was telling him not to worry.
“It doesn’t matter?”
Brrrr.
“You can handle it?”
Brrrr.
Dragon King Scale had never harmed him before, only helped him, so Jang Woo-hyun decided to trust it.
‘Honestly, this might be better.’
The situation had improved instead.
If Dragon King Scale could consume the troublesome orb while still retaining its function, there could hardly be a better outcome.
Having dealt with the Dragon Emperor Heavenly Lord, Jang Woo-hyun turned to return to his companions.
Now it was time to end the war and clean up the chaos the Divine Dragon Family had caused.
---
Far from the territory of the Divine Dragon Family—
Martial artists of the Three Pure Taiji Sect had gathered there.
Including the current Sect Leader Heavenly Void True Man, all Five Pines who represented the Taiji Sect were present, along with the skinny old man and fat old man Jang Woo-hyun had met before.
Toward the place where they gathered, a young man in black robes and an old man in red robes approached.
Neither bothered concealing their power, openly releasing tyrannical energy.
The young man in black looked at the Taiji Sect’s skinny and fat elders and smiled faintly.
“So the old monsters of the Taiji Sect are still alive?”
“How rude. When seeing your elders, you should greet them first.”
The old man resembling a dried branch clicked his tongue as he replied.
The skinny old man Jang Woo-hyun had previously met, together with his chubby junior brother, were ancient experts known as the Taiji Twin Monsters.
White Long Monster and Black Short Monster.
Simple titles, yet nobody in the Middle Heavens Murim dared underestimate them.
As evidenced by the word “Monster” within the titles of righteous martial artists, the two were infamous in a rather negative sense.
Even the notorious Three Fierce Beasts of the Beast King Sect lacked weight before the Taiji Twin Monsters.
Naturally, their strength was also incomparable.
“It has been a long time.”
Heavenly Void spoke warmly toward the two men openly releasing tyrannical energy.
“How surprising. Truly surprising. To think you have grown even more in such a short time.”
The old man in red robes accepted Heavenly Void’s greeting while speaking in admiration.
“Surprising my ass. Shut up and get lost before I rip your head off, you filthy demonic bastards.”
When the Taiji Sect’s Black Short Monster glared at him, the red-robed old man laughed.
“How are these monsters still so lively instead of dead already?”
“You demonic bastards sure talk a lot. If you want to fight, stop flapping your mouths and come at us.”
The middle-aged man standing behind Heavenly Void and the Taiji Twin Monsters stepped forward.
Red Pine, famous among the Five Pines for his fiery temper, disliked the young man and old man before him immensely.
Normally, he would have already swung his sword instead of talking.
“When elders are speaking, you should learn to wait. To think someone of your age still lacks such manners. How can someone from a Daoist sect possess such a violent temper?”
“What nonsense are you spouting? We’ve both already lived several hundred years. Our personalities aren’t changing now. We’ve lived like this our entire lives. Shut your mouth and fight already.”
“Enough. These two aren’t the only problem.”
Just as Red Pine was about to draw his sword, he bowed his head at White Long Monster’s words and stepped back.
His gaze shifted toward the sky White Long Monster pointed at.
Pitch-black clouds floated above.
Inside those clouds created through sorcery, the great demons of the Demonic Palace silently observed everything.
“Mad Sword, Blood Shadow. If you two aren’t going to fight either, then stay quiet.”
Through White Long Monster’s words, the identities of the black-robed youth and red-robed elder were revealed.
First Heavenly Demon of the Demonic Palace, Mad Sword Demon Emperor.
Second Heavenly Demon of the Demonic Palace, Blood Shadow Demon Emperor.
Both were supreme experts of the Demonic Palace and members of the Seventeen Emperors.
There was only one reason these two and the experts of the Taiji Sect had gathered here today.
After exchanging greetings that barely resembled greetings, everyone turned their gaze toward one location.
There stood a young man in black martial robes facing an old man with a sturdy build.
The young man’s name was Muk Geom-yeong.
The old man’s name was Jang Sam-bong.
Far from the territory of the Divine Dragon Family, two of the Six Great Heavens stood facing one another.
“A new heaven has appeared.”
A voice devoid of emotion or fluctuation.
Yet Jang Sam-bong sensed faint excitement and anticipation within it.
‘The one those emotions are directed toward is probably that young friend.’
If so, then for the sake of that outstanding junior—
He would have to stop Muk Geom-yeong here.