Chapter 76: The Hunt
Jang Woo-hyun returned to the room and took a seat.
The small box handed over by Gwak Yu-chan was made of a wood he had never seen before, and there was an unfamiliar energy embedded within it.
When he opened the box, a strong medicinal scent burst out, instantly filling the room.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps due to some special treatment, the small box concealed not only the smell of the elixirs but also the energy they emitted.
Inside were five blue pills, each about the size of a thumbnail, and one slightly larger golden pill.
These were spiritual pills from the Central Heavens Martial Realm known as Tiger Heaven Pill and Blue Wolf Pill.
Although there were well-known spiritual pills in the Central Plains such as the Great Cycle Pill or the Purple Restoration Pill, these couldn’t even be compared.
The Central Heavens was a world overflowing with Heaven and Earth’s spiritual energy, unlike the Lower Realm.
It was only natural that these pills, crafted by combining spiritual herbs and medicines born and raised in such a place, would yield completely different results.
From the six small pills, a formidable energy could be felt.
Whether due to the characteristics of the sect they came from, even the energy of the pills felt aggressive and fierce.
Following Gwak Yu-chan’s advice, Jang Woo-hyun set aside the Tiger Heaven Pill and picked up one Blue Wolf Pill, placing it into his mouth.
“Ugh!”
The moment it entered his mouth, his face twisted. A mysterious pain that began at the tip of his tongue surged through his entire body.
Though Jang Woo-hyun had endured his fair share of pain throughout his life as a martial artist, the taste of the Blue Wolf Pill shattered even his hardened tolerance.
‘What kind of taste is this…?’
It was seriously awful. No, it wasn’t just tasteless—it was agonizingly painful. One could believe it was made for torture purposes.
Even so, he couldn’t spit it out, so Jang Woo-hyun endured and swallowed the Blue Wolf Pill as it melted in his mouth.
“Urgh!”
His whole body twisted from the tormenting flavor. Had his skills been lacking, the pain might have prevented him from circulating his qi properly, causing him to suffer from Qi Deviation.
It was absurd that one could fall into Qi Deviation not from failing to absorb the pill’s energy, but simply because it tasted so horrendous. Still, he somehow pulled himself together and endured.
“Krrgh…”
A small groan escaped him before he realized.
‘Do I… really have to eat this?’
He had received it in return for his help, and Feng So-bong had clearly confirmed its effects. It wasn’t a pill that would harm the body.
Perhaps it didn’t suit humans since it was crafted by a sect mainly composed of beastkin, but it was driving him mad.
Straightening his twisted body, Jang Woo-hyun forcibly began circulating his qi. It was said to be a renowned spiritual pill even in the Central Heavens Martial Realm. He couldn’t just spit it out because it tasted bad.
Huuu—
As he inhaled and exhaled, the surrounding energy began to gather.
It was a qi so rich it couldn’t even be compared to that of the Central Plains.
Through his breathing, he absorbed the ambient qi and guided it with his internal energy stored in his dantian, steering the energy of the Blue Wolf Pill.
Having stepped into Transcendence, he had already surpassed the limits of the Lower Dantian. Though he didn’t know how it was for other martial artists at this level, in Jang Woo-hyun’s case, an immense reservoir of energy was gathered in his entire lower abdomen.
The amount of energy he could output at once, and the volume of accumulated internal energy, had both grown to a level incomparable to before.
It felt like, with just a little more progress, he might reach the next realm.
Not through the expansion of his intent like in the Boundless Realm, but purely through output and internal energy alone, he felt he could achieve something. And yet, he frustratingly fell short of that threshold.
‘Hm?’
The energy of the Blue Wolf Pill didn’t absorb easily and ran wild inside his body.
He tried to guide it to the dantian with his existing internal energy, but contrary to his will, it refused to merge and instead tried to exit his body.
After struggling for a while, Jang Woo-hyun realized that the energy of the Blue Wolf Pill simply couldn’t fuse with his own internal energy. He then drove its energy to his palm and discharged it.
A tremendous amount of internal energy, exceeding even that of the Destructive Evil Slash, gathered in his hand. If released as it was, it could easily destroy the building, so Jang Woo-hyun took time to safely dissipate the energy in his hand.
‘What is this…’
All Jang Woo-hyun gained from the Blue Wolf Pill was a minuscule amount of internal energy. This was an amount he could easily gather through internal cultivation.
Despite having taken a famed spiritual pill from the Central Heavens Martial Realm, nothing remained.
“Shouldn't have eaten it.”
The Blue Wolf Pill didn’t suit Jang Woo-hyun.
He couldn’t return what he had already received, and he had no idea what to do with the rest.
‘What should I do with this?’
Pointless worries continued to occupy Jang Woo-hyun’s mind as he pondered what to do with the spiritual pills before him.
In the end, he couldn’t find a solution, and morning arrived on the day Maeng Ye-ju was scheduled to come.
Jang Woo-hyun briefly greeted Feng So-bong and Gwak Yu-chan before leaving the Azure Dragon Martial Hall.
He had meant to give them a proper farewell.
“It’s not like you’re going off to die, so why the long goodbyes? You’ve ascended, so you’ve still got plenty of days ahead of you. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again, right? Just drop by from time to time and get going already.”
Before the lengthy farewell could begin, Gwak Yu-chan grimaced and cut it off.
To Jang Woo-hyun, the two he met while helping the beastkin were special.
Thanks to them, he had been able to suppress the power of the stigma left behind by the Wind-Passing Great Sage, and learn the fundamentals necessary to wield the power of Transcendence.
Just like Yang Hyo-myung, who helped him when he first began learning martial arts, Feng So-bong and Gwak Yu-chan were benefactors he met in the Central Heavens Martial Realm.
‘Their names are kind of similar, too.’
From the White Tiger Martial Hall to the Azure Dragon Martial Hall—this place had become another starting point for Jang Woo-hyun.
In the end, after offering a brief farewell, Jang Woo-hyun boarded the massive flying apparatus used by the Suwang Sect alongside Maeng Ye-ju. This marked the beginning of his journey in the Central Heavens Martial Realm.
The Suwang Sect, traveling with Jang Woo-hyun, possessed considerable power.
Ten Absolute Masters, thirty Peak Masters, and even Maeng Ye-ju and Kang Yung, both masters at the level of Transcendence.
With just the people on this flying apparatus, they could go up against the entire orthodox faction in the Central Plains.
And that wasn’t all.
“We needed to strike simultaneously, so the Suwang Sect divided the group into three parties.”
That meant there were two other groups with similar strength.
“One of the elders from the main sect, who has reached the Boundless Realm, is also in motion. That’s the real main force.”
“With this much, we could destroy two of the Twelve Strongholds.”
Standing beside Maeng Ye-ju, Kang Yung folded his arms and continued proudly. He spoke as if to showcase the might of the Suwang Sect.
“Where are we headed now?”
“We’re on our way to the floating island of Old Mount Hua. Some of the disciples who moved ahead to track Bi Ik-ryeon contacted us from there. We’re going to handle that first.”
Not long after those words, the group arrived at the enormous floating island.
As the flying apparatus descended toward the forest, three beastkin approached.
They seemed to be feline-type beastkin, with firm and agile bodies—clearly trained for assassination, infiltration, or stealth.
“The targets?”
“About twenty li from here, inside a canyon. There’s a massive cave deeper within, and it seems they’ve made camp there.”
In response to Maeng Ye-ju’s question, one of the three stepped forward and answered.
“Alright, then let’s go. Everyone ready?”
“Yes!”
As one of the beastkin replied, Maeng Ye-ju smiled at the response.
“Let’s go wipe them out.”
At her command, all the beastkin climbed aboard the flying apparatus, which quickly accelerated toward the place described by the feline beastkin.
Since not everyone here was a master of Transcendence, they couldn’t completely conceal their presence.
That was why Maeng Ye-ju planned a frontal assault. They had the strength for it.
In an instant, the flying apparatus passed beyond the forest and arrived at a mountainous region.
Just as they’d heard earlier, there was a great canyon like a wound carved into the mountain range, and deeper within, a massive cave was visible.
And flying above it were three ships.
“Looks like they don’t intend to hide.”
The three ships floating above the canyon boldly flew flags bearing the insignia of Bi Ik-ryeon.
“Let’s each take one. I’ll take the center, Yung will go right, and you take the left.”
With assignments given, Maeng Ye-ju kicked off into the air. Kang Yung followed, dashing through the air on four legs just as he did when fighting alongside Jang Woo-hyun.
Jang Woo-hyun considered using movement techniques to dash through the air like them, but instead reached for the hilt of Dragon King’s Scales, shaped like a sword.
Dragon King’s Scales, which had been modified by the Gi Gyeong-guk father and son.
It had fully assimilated what it had received and could now be used for flight, and it had conveyed that method to Jang Woo-hyun.
Just by gripping the hilt, he understood how to use it.
He drew Dragon King’s Scales from its sheath and deployed its mechanism.
When he conveyed the desire to fly, Dragon King’s Scales unfolded and took position behind him.
Dozens of blades moved into place beneath his feet, and the blades that positioned themselves behind him formed a pair of wings.
With wings forged from steel scales spread wide, Jang Woo-hyun took to the skies.
He wasn’t using the flying apparatus. Dragon King’s Scales itself allowed him to fly.
Clack—
As the wings moved, the sound of metal blades clashing rang out, and with a single flap, Jang Woo-hyun swiftly closed the distance to his target ship.
Seeing the ship turn to aim its bow at him, Jang Woo-hyun flicked his hand.
From Dragon King’s Scales, now his wings, dozens of blades detached and rained down as a barrage of qi projection.
Boom!
A hole burst open in the side of the ship as Jang Woo-hyun broke into the interior.
“……!”
The bewildered faces of the enemies.
Caught off guard by the sudden assault, they were unable to mount a proper defense and couldn’t stop Jang Woo-hyun’s rampage.
Boom! Thud! Crash!
Explosions and crashing sounds erupted as the three ships floating above the canyon shattered almost simultaneously and fell to the ground.
Kwaaaang!
The side of the ship Maeng Ye-ju had charged at burst open, and she appeared.
“Breach!”
At her command, the disciples of the Suwang Sect leapt from the flying apparatus and charged toward the entrance of the cave.
“It’s an ambush!”
“It’s the beasts of the Suwang Sect!”
“Alert the inside! Call for reinforcements!”
The bandits guarding the cave entrance scrambled into action.
The first to move at the sight was Kang Yung.
The wolf beastkin sprinted vertically through the air.
Boom!
A thunderous impact echoed just from his landing. It was caused by his immense speed.
The mere motion crushed three martial artists to death.
“Die, you bastards!”
From Kang Yung’s fingertips, ten blades sprang forth and ravaged the enemies.
“Aaaargh!”
“Block him!”
“Don’t retreat!”
One against a hundred. A wild beast thrown into a herd of sheep.
Dozens of bodies were shredded and fell to the ground.
Before anyone else even landed, Kang Yung had already dealt with every bandit at the entrance.
He shook off the blood on his claw-like blades and surveyed the area.
“Big Sis, this cave is bigger than I expected.”
Just as he said, the cave they had reached was larger than anticipated. It seemed more artificially created than naturally formed.
It was so deep the end couldn’t be seen, and its diameter alone exceeded ten jang. One could build an underground city in here.
“Is this why they hid here? Crafty bastards. Yeo Sang.”
“Yes!”
At Maeng Ye-ju’s call, a canine beastkin stepped forward, raised his head, and sniffed the air. Utilizing the traits of a beastkin, he was tracking someone by scent.
After sniffing for quite a while, the beastkin named Yeo Sang scowled.
“This… is difficult. It seems they were well-prepared. The air is filled with mixed scents.”
“Ha, did they know we were coming and prepare in advance? We’re going in anyway. Let’s go.”
Maeng Ye-ju took the lead, and the others followed behind.
Jang Woo-hyun expanded the mechanism and scanned the inner part of the cave.
Then he realized—
‘It’s far bigger than I thought.’
What they could see wasn’t everything.
The cave was enormous, and the further they went, the more it sloped downward.
Finding anything in this place wouldn’t be easy.