Chapter 324 : Living Spirit Mountain Range
Chapter 324: Living Spirit Mountain Range
The reason the Wind-Passing Great Sage suddenly came to a stop while flying at high speed...
...was because of a school of fish that covered the sky.
Wenyao Fish.
Fish monsters with birds' wings.
Tens of thousands of them were flying before them, yet it was extremely rare for them to gather in such numbers.
【We can't go any farther.】
Gong Ryo's antennae, now twice as long as when they had first met, pointed straight ahead.
Until now, they had flown in a straight line following the direction indicated by his antennae, but this time they would have to make a detour.
“Shouldn't we keep going forward?”
【Judging by the sudden appearance of so many Wenyao Fish, everything ahead belongs to Lord Yuqiang's territory.】
“Who's that?”
It was a name Jang Woo-hyun had never heard before.
“A divine being who settled in the Demonic Spirit Realm, just like Jiao Chong. So his territory was over here? I didn't expect that.”
“Can't we ask for permission to pass through? We don't have to fight, do we?”
At that question, Gong Ryo glanced at the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
Seeing his reaction, Jang Woo-hyun roughly understood the situation.
“You don't get along with him.”
The only thing the Wind-Passing Great Sage ever did was pick fights and brawl wherever he went.
Naturally, if he had become involved with a god like Yuqiang, there was no way they would have a good relationship.
“Still, what's gotten into you? If you don't get along, I thought you'd just charge in.”
With a more serious expression than usual, the Wind-Passing Great Sage shook his head.
“It's not easy inside his territory.”
Coming from someone who always claimed he could win any fight, that answer only made Jang Woo-hyun even more curious about Yuqiang.
“How long would it take to go around?”
【I can't say for certain since I don't know the exact size of his territory.】
The Wind-Passing Great Sage frowned as he sank into thought.
'It'll probably take quite a while to go around.'
Yuqiang was both the God of Wind and the God of the Sea.
His territory was considerably larger than that of the other divine beings.
Taking a detour would cost them a great deal of time.
'And something still feels off.'
The Wind-Passing Great Sage turned around and looked behind him.
It felt as though he had forgotten something, but he couldn't remember what it was.
His instincts simply told him they needed to move as quickly as possible.
'If I were alone, moving along the boundary wouldn't matter. But with Gong Ryo... Hm?'
As his thoughts continued, the Wind-Passing Great Sage realized where he had gone wrong.
He had traveled alone for so long that his way of thinking itself had become flawed.
He wasn't alone anymore.
Moreover, the companion traveling with him now...
...was every bit the fighter that he was.
Thinking the situation might become more entertaining than expected, the Wind-Passing Great Sage grinned from ear to ear.
“If we go inside, can you still keep our bearings?”
【If we don't enter the territory completely and remain along the boundary, I should be able to keep our direction.】
“Heh. Good. Then that's what we'll do.”
【W-What?! That's far too dangerous! Even if it's only the boundary...】
No matter how one looked at it, it was still a place connected to the territory of a divine being.
It wouldn't be easy to pass through.
“What's the boundary?”
“It's where Yuqiang's territory meets the Demonic Spirit Realm. Think of us as people living on land and Yuqiang's territory as the deep sea. Then the boundary is basically the coastline. Even Yuqiang can't use his full power there. We won't enter his territory completely. We'll just move along the boundary and pass through. If I were alone it'd be one thing, but Jang Woo-hyun's with us.”
【But, Great Sage, that's far too—】
“Jang Woo-hyun will be fine. We can just go.”
【......】
Normally, Gong Ryo agreed with the Wind-Passing Great Sage's opinions whenever possible.
This time was different.
It was simply too dangerous.
'They'll come endlessly.'
There was a reason Yuqiang was called a god in the Demonic Spirit Realm.
Inside his territory, he possessed power no different from that of a true deity.
If the fight took place outside his territory?
Then Gong Ryo would have agreed without hesitation.
The Wind-Passing Great Sage he knew could defeat any god as long as they weren't within their own domain.
'But not this.'
Even if it was only the boundary, it was still connected to a divine territory.
That meant...
Yuqiang's power still reached there to some extent.
Which also meant...
'We'll have to face a god's army.'
His followers, the monsters who worshipped Yuqiang, and countless other races would all come swarming toward them.
There was no telling how many there would be.
With powers comparable to a god's, Yuqiang could resurrect countless races and give birth to new ones.
'We might end up fighting until we die.'
They could collapse from exhaustion beneath an endless tide of enemies.
Gong Ryo was filled with worry.
Unfortunately, his opinion carried the least weight within the group.
In the end, he had no choice but to follow the Wind-Passing Great Sage into Yuqiang's territory.
Several days later...
Gong Ryo realized all of his worries had been completely unnecessary.
【Wind-Passing Great Sage!】
Thousands of monsters with human faces, fish bodies, and birds' wings and talons filled the sky.
Their split mouths were packed with razor-sharp teeth, and they radiated savage killing intent.
Yet Gong Ryo wasn't worried at all.
There was a reason.
'That's all that's left.'
The number that had attacked them at first hadn't been in the thousands.
It had been in the hundreds of thousands.
However, once Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage began rampaging...
...before even a quarter of an hour had passed, they had suffered losses bordering on complete annihilation.
It wasn't only the bird monsters with human heads.
There were monsters with shark heads and serpent bodies, monsters with whale bodies and human limbs, humanoid monsters whose bodies were covered in more than twenty wings...
Regardless of race...
Everything that came at them died.
Even if it was merely the boundary, it was still connected to the territory of a god.
Yuqiang projected his divine power, resurrecting fallen monsters and creating new armies.
Yet his forces were destroyed even faster than he could replenish them.
It was now the fifth day since they had entered the boundary of the divine territory.
The Wind-Passing Great Sage and Jang Woo-hyun continued fighting tirelessly.
“Hahahahaha!”
With a single punch, the Wind-Passing Great Sage annihilated hundreds of bird monsters.
Beside him, every swing of Jang Woo-hyun's sword erased space itself.
No matter what battle they faced...
The two of them would always fight like this.
They genuinely enjoyed combat.
Gong Ryo had already known Jang Woo-hyun was strong.
He had never imagined his disposition would resemble the Wind-Passing Great Sage's as well.
'There are two Great Sages.'
That thought naturally came to mind whenever he watched them.
Just as the human-headed bird monsters were nearly wiped out...
Ten enormous Rocs appeared, blotting out the sky.
Each one was stronger than Gong Ryo.
Their strength rivaled that of the One-Horned Dragon and the Thousand-Year Fox Monster who had managed the village.
Thinking those numbers would finally make things difficult, Gong Ryo prepared to lend his strength.
Before he could even move—
Booooom!
A tremendous roar shook the world.
At the same time, blades filled the sky from every direction...
...and tore the Rocs' wings apart.
“Kyaahahahaha!”
The Wind-Passing Great Sage burst into loud laughter and charged toward the crippled Rocs.
The battle that followed also ended in an overwhelming victory for Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
The only thing Gong Ryo had to do...
...was determine which direction they should continue traveling...
...and stand there in amazement.
Despite the endless fighting, Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage never tired.
Eventually...
Yuqiang himself appeared.
He possessed the body of a bird and the head of a human.
Serpents protruded from his ears, and he rode upon two dragons.
The divine being descended with overwhelming presence, suppressing space itself.
The pressure alone made it difficult for Gong Ryo even to move.
The other two, however...
...were different.
To Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage...
Yuqiang wasn't a god.
He was simply another opponent.
【Do not act recklessly.】
Yuqiang attempted to bind them through the power of divine words.
The Wind-Passing Great Sage simply tore apart the force directed at him.
The silver blades in both his hands flashed repeatedly.
Each swing carved space itself to pieces.
“Hahahahaha! I told you we were just passing through! Why'd you keep sending all those little brats after us?!”
【Foolish monster. It was you who trespassed into my territory.】
“I told you, we were only passing through. We're busy too.”
The Wind-Passing Great Sage combined his twin blades into a long crescent glaive.
Grasping the end of it, he casually swung straight downward.
Part of Yuqiang's territory split apart.
He had literally cleaved space itself.
Keeping a stern expression, Yuqiang blocked the Wind-Passing Great Sage's attack while turning his attention to someone else.
Because there wasn't only one problem.
'What exactly is that man?'
The human was cutting down every giant Roc he saw while charging directly toward him.
The monkey monster was one thing.
But that human...
...was far too strange.
Setting aside his strength...
It felt as though he was using this battle to test something.
He fought not like someone trying to kill...
...but as though he were sparring.
Why had such a human suddenly appeared?
More importantly...
Why was the Wind-Passing Great Sage traveling together with a human?
Even Yuqiang, who had lived for ages, couldn't help but be bewildered.
【Wind-Passing Great Sage, what exactly are you plotting?】
“What plot? We were just trying to pass through, but you attacked us first.”
The so-called god of the Demonic Spirit Realm...
...was pushed back by Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
In the end...
Yuqiang chose to retreat deeper into his territory.
He couldn't defeat the two of them while fighting near the boundary.
【I shall never forget today's humiliation.】
“Oh dear. How terrifying. Says the guy who never even leaves his own house.”
Ignoring the Wind-Passing Great Sage's mockery, Yuqiang stared at the human wielding the white sword.
The one who had fought as though it were merely a spar.
To Yuqiang...
That human was an even greater problem than the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
Humiliatingly...
The human seemed to regard their battle as nothing more than a game.
【Human, I shall remember you.】
“I learned a lot. Let's spar again next time.”
【......】
Yuqiang was left speechless by the calm reply.
Meanwhile, the Wind-Passing Great Sage laughed beside him for quite some time.
To Jang Woo-hyun...
Yuqiang had never been the god of the Demonic Spirit Realm.
He had merely been an opponent for practical combat experience.
Thus...
The human and the monster left the god of the Demonic Spirit Realm with an unforgettable humiliation...
...and resumed their journey.
Three days later...
Jang Woo-hyun arrived at the Living Spirit Mountain Range.
Even though Jang Woo-hyun had fought a god-like existence without much difficulty...
The moment he saw the Living Spirit Mountain Range, he was left speechless.
The scene before him completely surpassed his expectations.
The mountain range was moving.
No...
To be precise...
Countless mountains were moving.
They rose...
Then sank...
Towering peaks became flat plains...
Plains became valleys...
Just like waves rolling across the surface of the sea.
Everything within sight moved.
All the way to the distant horizon.
More importantly...
Despite the ground constantly shifting...
There was almost no sound.
When he had heard the name "Living Spirit Mountain Range,"
Jang Woo-hyun had imagined a long mountain range crawling like an enormous worm.
Instead...
The land before him silently undulated like the surface of the sea.
Faced with such a bizarre sight, he remained speechless for quite some time.
“So where are we supposed to go now? We don't have to search this entire place, do we?”
“Uh... well... they said it was the lowest mountain in the Living Spirit Mountain Range.”
Caught off guard, Jang Woo-hyun answered a little too slowly.
“The lowest mountain? That's all?”
“Yeah. That's everything.”
Even as he answered...
Jang Woo-hyun himself wasn't convinced.
How were they supposed to find the lowest mountain in a place where everything continuously rose and fell throughout the day?
The heights changed every moment.
“Have you ever heard of a place called the Lowest Mountain?”
Receiving only an uncertain answer, the Wind-Passing Great Sage turned toward Gong Ryo.
【I've never heard that name before. However, I do have a few places in mind. Please follow me.】
The Living Spirit Mountain Range resembled a boundless ocean.
There was no way to determine direction here.
Yet somehow...
Gong Ryo successfully guided Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
【Let me explain under the assumption that someone hid something here without wanting it to be noticed.】
After Jang Woo-hyun nodded, Gong Ryo continued.
【The Living Spirit Mountain Range has both clear advantages and disadvantages when it comes to hiding something.】
Because it was unstable and constantly shifting...
Anything hidden here would be extremely difficult to find.
However...
That same instability was also a disadvantage.
If something went wrong, the hidden object itself could be damaged.
【If someone deliberately chose to hide something here, they would naturally select a place that compensated for those disadvantages.】
A location that remained largely unchanged over time.
【Otherwise, they would need something extremely durable. If they built a sturdy structure, it would also need to remain unnoticed, meaning they would place it somewhere dangerous that monsters rarely visited.】
According to Gong Ryo's reasoning...
One of those places was likely what people referred to as the Lowest Mountain.
As they flew onward while listening to his explanation...
They soon reached an area whose movements were noticeably gentler than the surrounding terrain.
The rises and falls there were relatively small.
Compared to the surrounding landscape...
It really did resemble a low mountain.
【The first location is over there.】
The three descended and searched the area thoroughly.
Several monsters attacked them...
But they quickly met their deaths at the hands of Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
“There's nothing here.”
They immediately moved on to the next location.
At the bottom of an enormous lake vast enough to be mistaken for the sea...
A mountain range stretched beneath the water.
The moment they descended to the lakebed...
Aquatic monsters attacked.
“Come out already. You're annoying.”
As weaker monsters continued charging at them one after another...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage finally released the power he had been concealing to avoid being tracked.
Now that they had reached their destination...
There was no longer any need to hide it.
After that...
No monsters dared attack them so recklessly.
With their surroundings considerably quieter...
Jang Woo-hyun and the two monsters continued searching.
After completely searching the lake...
They moved on to the next region.
Strangely...
Even after flying hundreds of thousands of li...
The Living Spirit Mountain Range showed no sign of ending.
It almost felt as though the entire Demonic Spirit Realm was the Living Spirit Mountain Range.
The search continued for nearly two days.
During that time...
They searched eleven different locations.
While heading toward the twelfth...
Having found absolutely nothing...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage finally began losing his patience.
“Let's just blow everything away and search afterward.”
“And what if you destroy what we're looking for too? If you're tired, then rest. The two of us will keep searching.”
Even while grumbling...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage stayed with them until the very end.
He truly had changed.
【Over there.】
Gong Ryo pointed with one of his antennae.
Unlike the constantly shifting peaks...
That direction contained a forest filled with black trees.
“That's a forest, not a mountain.”
【Those trees move on their own, and they vary greatly in size. There may be small hills or ridges hidden among them. Moreover, that place has existed since before I was born. Even within the Living Spirit Mountain Range, it's famous as a dangerous region.】
“A dangerous region?”
【Yes. The interior is the territory of serpents with metallic scales. They're infamous for their ferocity.】
The two monsters and Jang Woo-hyun descended into the forest of black trees.
Just as Gong Ryo had described...
Every black tree had roots protruding from the ground like legs...
Walking about on their own.
“This place is strange.”
Space itself was distorted.
A peculiar aura interfered with both vision and perception.
Unlike what they had seen from above...
Searching for anything inside looked considerably more difficult.
“This is going to take forever. Should I just blow the whole forest away?”
“I told you, if you're tired, step aside.”
“After coming all this way? As if I'd do that.”
Though he continued grumbling...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage began searching the area.
About half a shichen later...
Just as they were beginning to think this place would also be fruitless...
The metallic-scaled serpent Gong Ryo had mentioned finally appeared.
The moment they saw it...
Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage both widened their eyes.
It wasn't a real serpent.
It merely had the shape of one.
Its body had been assembled from countless tiny metallic scales.
The moment they saw it...
The same weapon came to both of their minds.
“That... isn't that your sword?”
Just as the Wind-Passing Great Sage had said...
The metallic serpent appeared to have been made from the blade scales of the Dragon King's Scale.