Chapter 325 : Living Spirit Mountain Range (2)
Chapter 325: Living Spirit Mountain Range (2)
A serpent formed from countless overlapping metallic scales.
Jang Woo-hyun thought that if he separated the Dragon King's Scale, he could probably create something almost identical.
While he was still frozen in surprise...
More than twenty serpents had silently gathered around the group.
Each metallic serpent possessed considerable power.
With so many gathered together, no other monsters in the vicinity would dare approach.
Just as Gong Ryo had said, there was a reason this place was considered such dangerous ground.
“Are those things related to that weapon?”
“I don't know either. No idea why something like this exists. But... I think we've come to the right place.”
This was where Kim Min-su had arrived while following the traces of the True Martial God.
And the True Martial God had once traveled together with the Sighing Heavenly Treasure Dragon, the owner of the Dragon King's Scale.
As they talked...
The number of metallic serpents continued increasing.
There were now well over thirty.
A brief standoff followed.
The metallic serpents moved first.
Tick. Tick.
True to their resemblance to the Dragon King's Scale, their scales began separating one after another...
...before shooting toward Jang Woo-hyun and the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
Every single blade scale carried tremendous power.
Any ordinary monster would have been shredded apart without even managing to block them.
Jang Woo-hyun reacted first to the incoming blades.
The instant he sprang forward and drew the Dragon King's Scale—
Buuuuung!
The Dragon King's Scale emitted a powerful vibration.
A tremendous ripple spread outward, causing even space itself to tremble.
As soon as it reached the flying blade scales...
They stopped in midair as though time itself had frozen.
Then...
They calmly returned to their original positions and reformed into serpents.
Jang Woo-hyun, who had been preparing to intercept the blade scales, also stopped where he stood.
The Dragon King's Scale in his hand was still vibrating.
The metallic serpents turned around...
...and headed deeper inside.
“I think they're telling us to follow them.”
Jang Woo-hyun and the two monsters followed behind the serpents.
At the edge of the black forest...
There stood a pitch-black structure they had somehow failed to notice until now.
“Now I understand why they called it the Lowest Mountain.”
Gong Ryo and Jang Woo-hyun nodded in agreement with the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
The building before them had been constructed in the shape of a mountain.
Compared to the towering peaks that constantly rose and sank throughout the Living Spirit Mountain Range...
Its height was remarkably low.
The metallic serpents approached it...
...then slipped inside through several openings in the structure.
Jang Woo-hyun and the two monsters walked over and examined the building.
Thunk. Thunk.
The Wind-Passing Great Sage knocked on the entrance with his hand.
“It's solid. It won't break easily. We came to the right place, didn't we?”
“Yeah... I think so.”
Jang Woo-hyun reached toward the door, which stood about one zhang tall.
Rumble—
The moment his hand touched it...
Intricate patterns spread across its surface.
The door slowly opened on its own.
Inside lay a vast chamber without a single supporting pillar.
Light poured down from above, making the interior brighter than the world outside.
At the center of the spacious hall...
There was only a single enormous silver sphere.
Nothing else existed.
'That's it.'
No one had to tell him.
There were no inscriptions or explanations.
Even so...
Jang Woo-hyun instinctively knew the silver sphere was the destination he had been searching for.
Step.
He walked toward it slowly, without rushing.
Even when facing Yuqiang, a divine being, Jang Woo-hyun had never been nervous.
Yet now...
Without realizing it...
He clenched his fist tightly.
The sphere measured roughly two zhang in diameter.
Its entire surface was covered with dragon scales.
Something left behind by the True Martial God.
A trace left behind by Kim Min-su.
He didn't know what was inside.
But he felt certain that the moment he touched it...
He would learn everything.
As if confirming that intuition...
The Dragon King's Scale trembled faintly.
“Hoo...”
Standing before the sphere, he took a deep breath.
Then...
He slowly placed his hand upon it.
The instant he touched it...
He immediately understood.
'I can't break this.'
With his current strength...
It was impossible.
Unless he could unleash power comparable to the Unity of Blade Mountain and Sword Forest that he had used against the Boundless Ten Thousand Li Dragon...
He would never destroy it.
The silver sphere had been created solely to preserve and protect what lay within.
That was why it possessed such absurd durability.
“What is this thing? It's unbelievably hard.”
Watching from the side, even the Wind-Passing Great Sage clicked his tongue in amazement.
This was the first time even he had seen something so durable.
“I don't know. I'll have to find out now—”
Before Jang Woo-hyun could finish speaking...
The surroundings suddenly changed.
The silver sphere disappeared.
So did the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
Instead of the spacious chamber...
He found himself standing somewhere entirely different.
“Huh?”
The unexpected sight made Jang Woo-hyun's eyes widen.
The place before him was strangely familiar.
Yet at the same time...
It had become unfamiliar.
People chatting noisily.
Loud music blaring from somewhere nearby.
The sound of cars driving past on the road.
Towering buildings.
Countless messy shop signs hanging everywhere.
Jang Woo-hyun stood...
Not in the Central Plains.
Nor in the Middle Heaven Realm.
But in the middle of a modern city.
“You have to find the path.”
The words came from a child walking while holding his mother's hand.
Then...
Everyone nearby spoke one sentence each.
“Find the path.”
“Watch the ground and follow the path.”
“Read the green letters.”
After saying those words...
They all simply continued on with their lives as though nothing unusual had happened.
“......”
Still bewildered, Jang Woo-hyun calmed himself after hearing them.
He sensed no malice from anyone around him.
There was no sinister aura.
No trace of mental corruption.
This place wasn't harmful.
It was simply another space.
Following what he had just been told...
Jang Woo-hyun looked down at the ground and began walking.
Whether this was another dimension...
Or merely an illusion...
He couldn't tell.
However...
Within this place, he couldn't use Lightness Skill or Shrinking the Earth.
The only thing he could do...
...was walk a little faster than normal.
Ignoring the blue and red words that occasionally appeared...
He followed only the green ones.
[Straight Ahead]
[Turn Right]
[Turn Left]
[Go Back, Then Turn Right Again]
The path twisted endlessly and forced him to take countless detours...
Yet following it wasn't difficult.
As he continued walking...
Jang Woo-hyun gradually learned several things about this place.
'Someone else created it.'
Its atmosphere and aura were completely different from the traces Kim Min-su had left behind.
Moreover...
The words written on the ground were normal Korean.
There was a high probability that this space had been created not by Kim Min-su...
...but by the True Martial God, Lee Tae-seong.
'It wasn't designed just to make people get lost.'
He kept circling around.
Even nearby destinations required long detours.
But there was a reason for all of it.
The route itself...
And the direction one walked...
Formed a seal and a formation.
Only someone capable of reading the words written on the ground...
And understanding the language spoken by the people here...
Could reach the inside of the seal.
Someone from this world could never accomplish it.
Only someone who originated from Earth...
Like Jang Woo-hyun or Kim Min-su...
Could succeed.
“...?”
Jang Woo-hyun suddenly stopped while weaving through the crowd.
He turned around and looked behind him.
'They're here.'
A tremendous power could be felt outside.
It wasn't something even Jang Woo-hyun could ignore.
Given the current situation...
Only one group possessed such overwhelming presence.
The Seven Great Sages.
The brothers of the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
Jang Woo-hyun closed his eyes.
When he opened them again...
He was standing before the silver sphere once more.
Instead of continuing toward his destination...
He had returned to reality.
Since he already knew reentering that place wouldn't be difficult...
He decided to deal with the immediate problem first.
Turning around...
He saw the Wind-Passing Great Sage walking toward the building's entrance.
He immediately walked over.
“Hm? What's this? Didn't you go inside? Why'd you come back out? Finish what you need to do.”
“It doesn't have to be done right now. Let's deal with what's in front of us first. They got here much sooner than I expected. We never even stopped moving.”
Rumble!
As they stepped outside...
The black forest had completely disappeared.
With the trees that had blocked their vision gone...
Countless mountain peaks could now be seen rising and falling like ocean waves in the distance.
Jang Woo-hyun looked toward those responsible for erasing the forest.
The Roc Demon King, whose bird-headed form constantly shifted.
The Lion Demon King, a gigantic lion-headed monster covered in golden fur.
The Monkey King of Mysteries, a blue monkey monster with enormous eyes dressed in garments so ornate they were almost dizzying to look at.
Three of the Seven Great Sages slowly descended through the air.
Their overwhelming presence crushed the earth itself.
Even distant mountain peaks stopped moving before collapsing.
“I miscalculated. If Third Brother and Sixth Brother worked together, even I couldn't ignore the speed they'd achieve. I never considered that.”
That vague feeling of unease...
Its source had been the Monkey King of Mysteries and the Roc Demon King.
The Roc Demon King possessed speed comparable to the Wind-Passing Great Sage.
Combined with the Monkey King of Mysteries' mystical arts...
Their speed became almost unimaginable.
That possibility had never crossed his mind.
As a result...
Even after traveling at top speed without rest...
His brothers had caught up astonishingly quickly.
“What do you want to do? Should I handle two of them?”
Even with three of the Seven Great Sages standing before him...
Jang Woo-hyun wasn't nervous.
He asked the question as casually as though it were nothing.
The Wind-Passing Great Sage laughed.
This was exactly why he couldn't help liking the man.
He loved fighting just as much.
He never backed down.
Their appearances and races were completely different...
Yet somehow...
They were alike.
“No. I'll take all three.”
The Wind-Passing Great Sage answered without losing his smile.
“What? Stop talking nonsense.”
“You have to undo whatever seal's inside there, don't you? It'll take quite a while.”
Having watched everything unfold...
He understood the situation immediately.
“Go finish it. I'll handle this.”
“By yourself? Even you can't take all three alone—”
“Now, now. Don't worry. We're just going to strengthen some brotherly bonds. Go do what you need to do. This is our problem.”
Originally...
He had intended to help Jang Woo-hyun and fight beside him.
But because of an unexpected mistake...
Their task remained unfinished.
Jang Woo-hyun needed more time.
And now that he was face-to-face with his brothers...
A surge of irritation welled up inside him.
'You all gathered here just to clean up after the True Immortals?'
The sight disgusted him.
Yet strangely...
That irritation only made him more excited.
Fighting three of his brothers simultaneously...
Such an opportunity would probably never come again.
Ordinarily...
Their pride alone would have prevented the three of them from ever traveling together.
“Go back inside. From here on, this is a matter between brothers.”
“But even you alone—”
“Don't worry. I have my own plans.”
The Wind-Passing Great Sage lightly pushed Jang Woo-hyun's shoulder.
A gust of wind carried him back inside the building.
After telling Gong Ryo to close the door...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage strolled toward his brothers.
“Well, Brother? Just what are you doing?”
“Hand over the human. We have matters to discuss with the True Immortals.”
The Wind-Passing Great Sage merely snorted.
“So you all came to have a conversation with me? Then why bother coming at all?”
“...Even you can't handle us now. Don't tell me you intend to face all three of us alone?”
“That's exactly why I stayed behind alone. Did you think I remained here to argue?”
“Fifth Brother, your reckless behavior ends here. Eldest Brother has already granted permission. Hand over the human and—”
“Ah, you're awfully talkative. Elder Brother, did you become a Great Monster with your mouth?”
At some point...
A silver spear had appeared in the Wind-Passing Great Sage's hand.
He pointed its tip toward his brothers.
“The Great Monsters said to move mountains, throw the heavens into chaos, and drive away immortals...”
The spear tip slowly swept across the Lion Demon King...
The Roc Demon King...
And the Monkey King of Mysteries.
“So where have they gone?”
“Why is it that all I see standing before me... are the True Immortals' dogs?”
The Wind-Passing Great Sage thoroughly disliked the fact that his brothers had all gathered because of a contract with the True Immortals.
Yet despite his irritation...
The prospect of fighting all three simultaneously thrilled him.
An opportunity like this would never come again.
“As far as I know, none of my brothers is the Dog Demon King. So I really can't understand what's happened.”
“So... today you truly wish to die.”
The Lion Demon King, who had remained silent until now, finally erupted in anger at the provocation.
The earth beneath his feet exploded.
The ground shook as though struck by a massive earthquake.
The Roc Demon King spread his wings...
Darkening the heavens.
Around the Monkey King of Mysteries...
Countless translucent skulls floated into existence.
Each skull contained hundreds of horrifying curses and plagues compressed within it.
Watching his brothers unleash their power...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage slightly lowered his stance.
His entire body tingled...
As though struck by lightning.
His blood boiled.
Perhaps today...
He would experience the greatest battle of his life.
His excitement stretched his grin from ear to ear.
He opened his mouth wide, preparing to let out a mighty roar.
Then...
Something suddenly came to mind.
'Now I finally understand why that rat shouted like that.'
It felt unsatisfying to simply charge in.
After spending time with the Immortal-Slaying Division...
After learning martial arts...
The monkey monster had changed.
Before rushing forward...
The Wind-Passing Great Sage threw his mouth wide open and shouted.
He poured every thought in his mind...
And every emotion in his heart...
Into a single declaration.
“I am the vanguard of the Immortal-Slaying Division—the Wind-Passing Great Sage, Monkey King!!”
A colossal tempest erupted...
...and crashed directly into the three Great Monsters.