Chapter 121: Storm Archipelago (5)

Jin Ha-un drew two swords and merged them into one.

As swords with opposite attributes fused, a blade larger and heavier than a typical longsword appeared. Jin Ha-un, unlike usual, emitted fierce Qi and lowered his center of gravity.

The sword style of the Blue Star Sect, when compared to other orthodox sects, had no distinct traits. It was not more splendid than the Mount Hua Sect’s, not heavier than the Kongtong Sect’s, not faster than the Diancang Sect’s, nor more refined than the Wudang Sect’s.

However, it was heavier than the Mount Hua Sect’s, more splendid than the Kongtong Sect’s, more refined than the Diancang Sect’s, and faster than the Wudang Sect’s.

To put it negatively, it was a sword art with no character.

But positively, it was a sword style that could do anything—one that approached perfection. That was the sword art of the Blue Star Sect.

And Jin Ha-un had reached the pinnacle of that sword art.

Everything was near perfect.

With the greatly transformed sword in hand, Jin Ha-un faced the giant's fist.

He was already familiar with the giant's combat style after observing Jang Woo-hyun and Tarun's battle.

When Jin Ha-un's sword collided with the giant's fist, a tremendous roar erupted. While the giant’s attack caused an explosion at the impact point, Jin Ha-un injected overwhelming internal energy and instead pushed the explosion back.

The giant widened its eyes in shock. It hadn’t expected its attack to be repelled by a small humanoid.

Ignoring the giant’s reaction, Jin Ha-un infused his sword with different energies.

Click! With a sound, the sword split into two.

Cheonglingin in his right hand, Hongyeomin in his left.

Holding swords that were one yet two in both hands, he unleashed a sword art that was one yet two.

Cheongun Jeokhagum – Blue Clouds Over Miles.

Hundreds of sword Qi waves rose like tides and struck the armor of Qi enveloping the giant’s body.

Ka-ga-ga-gak—

Trusting its armor, the giant shoved its massive body forward.

Then it immediately threw a punch.

Though its attack targeted Jin Ha-un, this time he did not meet it head-on.

Jin Ha-un used footwork to evade the giant's strike.

Long ago, Jang Woo-hyun had seen and praised the Blue Star Sect’s movement technique, Seoryupyo, as fundamentally sound. Now that Seoryupyo was executed by Jin Ha-un, who had reached the realm of Transcendence, it became something else entirely.

Jin Ha-un dodged the attack and slipped behind the giant.

From his right hand, hundreds of sword Qi slashed forward again.

This time, they concentrated on a single point.

Puh-uhng!

The focused sword Qi finally created a small gap in the giant's armor. The Hongyeomin in Jin Ha-un’s left hand moved like a snake and struck the giant’s flank.

Red Snake Devours Frog – an initial technique of the Red Flame Sword. A completely different sword style than when wielding Cheonglingin. The essence of Cheongun Jeokhagum was wielding two opposing sword arts in harmony.

Suh-geok!

The giant’s waist, thicker than a tree trunk, was half severed, and a scream burst out.

“Kuaaaah!”

With the scream, energy burst in all directions.

Perhaps out of fear, the giant seemed to squeeze out every last ounce of strength—its attacks became fiercer.

There was no need to clash with the strengthened strikes. Jin Ha-un retreated and scattered the erupting explosive Qi with the opening technique of Clear Clouds Begin to Scatter.

Circling around the writhing, pain-crazed giant, Jin Ha-un searched for an opening—and before long, he severed its neck.

Thud!

The massive body collapsed, shaking the ground.

“Is it over?”

Jang Woo-hyun approached.

As Jin Ha-un turned his head, he saw the shattered corpses of three giants. While he had fought one, Jang Woo-hyun had taken down three. It was no longer surprising. For Jang Woo-hyun, such feats were always within reach.

“Let’s head that way.”

Jang Woo-hyun pointed toward the area where Cho-su and Myo Cheon-pung were fighting.

In that place, light continuously exploded, and the dragon’s head moved—a battle reminiscent of a monster clash was raging.

Cho-su was not particularly skilled at fighting and was slowly being pushed back by Myo Cheon-pung. But with Jang Woo-hyun and Jin Ha-un joining the fray after handling the giant, the situation reversed quickly, and before long, Myo Cheon-pung’s body was cleaved apart.

“What’s that?”

Jang Woo-hyun asked while looking at the fist-sized glass orb in Cho-su’s hand. Inside the orb, a faint smoke-like substance moved actively, and what seemed like tiny screams could be heard.

“Cultivators are hard to kill the higher their realm gets. They revive quickly too. This one didn’t have a high realm, but it seemed he learned a unique spell technique to let his soul and consciousness escape.”

“So, what you caught is something like a soul?”

Just after splitting Myo Cheon-pung’s body in two, Cho-su had pulled out that orb and thrown it toward him. Following that, something invisible had been sucked into the orb with a terrible scream.

“Well, more or less. To be precise, it didn’t capture the soul completely. Just a torn fragment. Since the soul got torn, he can be considered completely dead.”

With his prosthetic hand changed, Cho-su held the orb in one hand and pulled a machine-crafted bird out of the Inner Robe. He then inserted the orb into the bird’s belly.

Holding the bird-shaped puppet, Cho-su began manipulating various mechanisms. Jang Woo-hyun observed briefly before turning to Jin Ha-un.

“How did things go where you went?”

“That was where the assassins who fought Ta Wi had gathered.”

“Really?”

“Yes, there were about a dozen of them, but five managed to hide their presence.”

If five had managed to conceal themselves, they were surely formidable. Without a head-on confrontation, neither Jin Ha-un nor Cho-su could have easily dealt with them.

“Thanks to Cho-su-nim’s help, it wasn’t that difficult. And I wasn’t injured either.”

Jin Ha-un, sensing Jang Woo-hyun’s concern, immediately explained.

“They were borrowing someone’s power using artifacts embedded in their bodies.”

When Cho-su fought the assassins, he had sensed a strange energy and pulled out a tool to disrupt the incoming force. Although they hadn’t fully uncovered how the assassins were channeling power, knowing they had tools in their bodies was enough to counter them.

Thanks to Cho-su’s efforts, the assassins failed to hide, and once exposed, they were no match for Jin Ha-un.

“It’s certain that one of the assassin sects is involved. What about the ones here?”

“They were spellcasters from the Bisa Sect. They were the ones who summoned the monsters.”

“A sect consisting of assassins, giants, and spellcasters. And that cultivator?”

“They’re from the Ascension Cult, a Spiritual Realm faction.”

“Even cultivators are involved? No matter how you look at it, this is a massive incident.”

During the Samcheong Tai Chi Sect gathering, there had been speculation that more sects besides the Bi Ik-ryeon were involved. That guess had proven true.

Those who had allied with the Ascension Cult weren’t limited to Bi Ik-ryeon. Assassin sects, giants, and even spellcaster sects—it was impossible to guess how many factions had united.

As Cho-su said, this was indeed a major incident unfolding in the Central Heavens Martial Realm.

But that wasn’t what concerned Jang Woo-hyun.

‘The Ascension Cult has appeared here.’

They were a group that revered True Immortals. Currently, Jang Woo-hyun was searching for traces of Kim Min-soo. The ones targeting the two people from Earth were assumed to be True Immortals from the Upper Realm.

‘Perhaps...’

The True Immortal worshipped by the Ascension Cult might be the same being targeting him.

There was no definitive evidence or clear clue yet, but Jang Woo-hyun was certain—his suspicion wasn’t wrong.

After collecting his thoughts, Jang Woo-hyun searched the surroundings with the other two.

The place where the Bisa Sect had settled was part of the Storm Archipelago, situated in a relatively safe area with only mild winds—but now it was nearly all destroyed due to the battle.

With the surroundings scorched, there was naturally nothing salvageable.

The only fortunate thing was that the dharma treasures of Myo Cheon-pung and his Inner Robe remained intact.

“As expected, it was the Five Elements Mountain.”

Cho-su spoke while retrieving a small model mountain.

“Is that a famous dharma treasure?”

“It’s fairly well-known. It’s reliable in terms of performance. If you throw it with a target in mind, the entire surrounding area gets crushed under immense pressure. Wasn’t it hard to deal with?”

“Moving was difficult.”

Jang Woo-hyun’s reply, as if it were no big deal, made Cho-su furrow his brow slightly.

“…That’s it? No injuries?”

“Moving under pressure was difficult. I did get slammed into the ground from midair, but other than that, nothing was particularly challenging.”

With a baffled expression, Cho-su stared at Jang Woo-hyun.

“You withstood the pressure of the Five Elements Mountain?”

“Yes, it was bearable.”

“That makes no… ah, never mind.”

Cho-su had been about to retort but gave up. Jang Woo-hyun had said it was merely inconvenient to move under a pressure that even giants would struggle to endure.

He just shook his head now. With that guy, was there anything he couldn’t do?

Cho-su shook his head and examined the dharma treasures Myo Cheon-pung had used and the items stored inside his Inner Robe.

“He carried quite a few Mountain-Breaking Swords. This cylinder seems worn out. Is this mirror for absorbing Qi? He was better than expected. And what’s this?”

Holding the Mountain-Pushing Hundred-Lee Rod, Cho-su pointed its end at Jin Ha-un.

In an instant, Jin Ha-un was pushed back nearly two hundred jang, and from far away, a startled scream rang out.

“Does it push enemies away? I get it now, how he fought.”

He suppressed opponents with the Five Elements Mountain, attacked with the Mountain-Breaking Sword and the cylinder, and if the enemy closed in, he used the Mountain-Pushing Hundred-Lee Rod to create distance. A style that avoided close combat.

Finally, Cho-su removed a dharma treasure that had been hanging around Myo Cheon-pung’s neck and tossed it to Jin Ha-un.

“You’re giving this to me?”

“Yeah, it’s a defensive treasure. Probably not much use for Woo-hyun, but you could use it. It should serve you well.”

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, it wasn’t mine anyway. Woo-hyun, you take these.”

What Cho-su handed over were the small hand mirror, Ink Hole Mirror, and the Mountain-Pushing Hundred-Lee Rod.

“Me? But I’m not very good with those.”

“They’re not for use. They’re materials.”

At the word materials, Jang Woo-hyun made a puzzled face.

“I’m going to break them down and feed them to Yongwangrin.”

“You can do that now?”

“If we settle down and I have time, I can do it. I brought all the equipment.”

“Is there anything you need, Cho-su-nim? We fought together—we should share.”

At Jin Ha-un’s words, Cho-su chuckled. It was almost uncanny how neither of them had any greed, just like real brothers.

“There’s still stuff left in the Inner Robe. I’ll take that.”

Inside the Inner Robe were rare materials, six Mountain-Breaking Swords, one Five Elements Mountain, and the bellies of giants—so in truth, Cho-su had gained the most.

“If we’ve gathered everything, let’s move. This won’t be the only place they were using. We need to find the others.”

Myo Cheon-pung and the giants had come from somewhere else. That place was likely the most important location. Jang Woo-hyun intended to find it.

“Don’t worry. I have a way to find it.”

With a confident expression, Cho-su lifted the bird puppet he had touched earlier. After manipulating a few parts, a click! sounded, and the puppet’s eyes lit up.

“It’s an automatic puppet using the soul of that guy. Even a torn soul retains some memories, so it should be able to find their base.”

Setting the bird-shaped puppet on his arm, Cho-su gave it a command.

“Fly to where you came from. We’ll follow behind.”

The mechanical bird creaked, twisted its neck around, spread its wings, and took off.

The three of them boarded the Flying Apparatus and followed behind.

Following the bird puppet, the group flew again through the stormy sky.

Two sijin later.

They arrived at a large Floating Continent.

The bird puppet didn’t fly to the top of the floating landmass, but rather headed beneath the ground base.

At first, they felt nothing unusual, but upon entering a certain area, Jang Woo-hyun sensed something off.

‘Is this a spell formation?’

The location looked no different from its surroundings, but its appearance had been concealed with a formation.

At Cho-su’s signal, Jang Woo-hyun swung his sword and shattered the formation by force. Like a lie, the illusion disappeared, revealing a large cave entrance.

And shortly afterward—

Cultivators came rushing out from within. Various spell techniques filled the sky, but none could match Jang Woo-hyun or Jin Ha-un.

The two quickly subdued the cultivators, who this time neither revived nor escaped as souls—perhaps due to their lack of skill.

After dealing with them, they steered the Flying Apparatus deeper into the cave.

Landing deep inside the enormous cavern, the group cautiously walked forward, ready for any danger. And before long, Jang Woo-hyun discovered what he had been seeking.

Standing before it, he silently read the markings only he could understand.

‘Nineteenth.’

Another trace left behind by Kim Min-soo.

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