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Chapter: 16
The Tower Where the Grand Festival Had Been Held
“Waaah!”
Keeeooong! Kkiiiit!
Kkakang! Pajijik! Pubeok! Pubeok!
“Ah! That hurts! It hurts, you bastard!”
Ukikikik! Kraaang!
“That’s not a fight — that’s a full monster war.”
“Ganghyeon! Is this really the time to joke around?!”
“I am fighting seriously too.”
Pubeobeok! Kwaddeudeuk!
Kikikikik! Ukik!
“Hup!”
While replying to Indeok, Ganghyeon allowed a claw strike from the Black-Furred Ape Demon to hit his chest.
But the claws slid off the thick wooden bark armor protecting his body and failed to pierce it.
Kwaddeuk! Ppudeudeuk! Ppudeuk!
The torn bark regenerated in an instant.
“Let’s end this.”
Ganghyeon decided the test of the Ancient Wood Armor was enough.
The Black-Furred Ape Demon they were fighting was a late Qi Condensation-level demon.
With its race’s powerful physical body and condensed spiritual claws, if even this could not break through the armor, the defense was more than satisfactory.
And the regeneration was even more impressive.
With just a strand of wood energy, the damaged areas restored instantly.
Attacks at the Qi Condensation level were no longer something to fear.
“Hyah!”
Pajijik! Kuuung!
Ukikikiki! Kiiiiiik!
Just as Ganghyeon prepared to finish his opponent, Indeok struck first.
With a lightning-infused punch, he smashed the Black-Furred Ape Demon’s head halfway in.
Lightning energy invaded its body, preventing regeneration, and it collapsed.
“Finish it!”
Puuuuk!
Indeok summoned the Wind-Cloud Golden Halberd in midair and stabbed it deep into the demon’s chest.
Seeing its partner fall, the remaining ape demon tried to retreat cautiously.
“Do you think you can escape?”
Ganghyeon had no intention of letting it go.
Srrrkk… Srrrkk…
Vines sprouted from all directions and filled the area.
At first they looked like faint mist, but in less than a breath they thickened to arm-size, completely covering the ape demon.
Ppudeudeuk! Ppudeudeudeuk!
Kiiii…
Crushing sounds and a weak cry came from within the writhing vines — then silence.
“Ugh… that’s terrifying.”
Indeok shuddered at the thought of what happened inside.
But the vines soon shrank and sank into the ground.
Indeok’s gaze shifted.
Not far away, the treant stood quietly.
The vines had come from it.
And the captured ape demon was already being wrapped by its roots and absorbed rapidly.
“ What about the hide and blood?”
Indeok asked.
“We can just use the one you killed. It’s not like we’re short.”
“Tch. I’m the one doing all the work.”
Grumbling, Indeok began extracting materials from the demon.
Instead of cutting it up, he formed a formation in midair that automatically separated resources.
“Pretty useful, right?”
Ganghyeon smiled slightly.
“Uh… yeah.”
Indeok replied awkwardly, looking away.
That slaughter spell was something Ganghyeon had forced him to learn.
It wasn’t about spiritual energy control — it relied more on the spell’s ritual power, almost like a servant technique.
Some materials were lost during the process, absorbed by the spell itself — as if some unseen system demanded a price for activating it.
Ganghyeon couldn’t fully understand it yet.
But it was extremely useful.
Indeok had tried hard to avoid learning it back then.
Now every time he used it, he was amazed — and embarrassed.
“Still… isn’t it a waste?”
Indeok asked while maintaining the spell.
Ganghyeon chuckled, already knowing what he meant.
“The Yomok King probably noticed the treant. We couldn’t stay there anymore.”
After reaching the seventh layer and obtaining the True Okto Method, Ganghyeon gained divine sense.
To stabilize it properly, he had to summon the treant back and fully restore his spiritual root and mind space.
That sudden change was noticed by the Yomok King.
Even though they were in the Fire Dragon’s domain, it was dangerous to remain.
So they packed up and left immediately.
It had been about half a month since they started traveling.
Along the way, they hunted demons and beasts, gathering resources constantly — making up for their lack of real combat experience.
Like today, testing the Ancient Wood Armor properly for the first time.
“Still… if the treant had stayed in that forest, you might’ve rushed straight to Foundation Establishment.”
“And maybe become the Yomok King’s lunch.”
“If stronger Yomok started disappearing, the king would’ve paid attention.”
“Yeah… still feels like a waste though.”
“Not necessarily. Elder Yanggwang once talked about the Wood Spirit Race.”
“The ones born from trees?”
“Some of them build entire territories. Those places might be far better than the Yomok King’s forest.”
“Still…”
“Our knowledge is short. Sometimes we don’t recognize true fortune, and sometimes we overvalue small things.”
“The forest was good — but greed never ends well.”
Indeok nodded slowly.
“Fair enough.”
Then he suddenly asked,
“Ganghyeon… do you think this place is a secret realm?”
Ganghyeon nodded.
“I think it probably is.”
“Why?”
“The six giant beasts.”
“They’ve been fighting in pairs for years now.”
“If this wasn’t a secret realm, wouldn’t at least one of them have moved away?”
“That makes sense…”
“And when heaven and earth overturned, shouldn’t powerful cultivators have rushed in?”
“True…”
“But no one came.”
“So the space is likely isolated.”
“Exactly. And if we keep traveling, we should reach the boundary someday.”
Indeok pulled out a sword and tossed it into the air.
It expanded and floated — a flying sword artifact taken from Yang Wonchil’s cave abode.
“Let’s go.”
They stepped onto it, and the sword shot through the sky.
Not long after —
“Why is that here?”
“Seriously… unbelievable.”
Below them lay the ruins of the tower where the Grand Festival had been held.
Everything was shattered.
Formations and barriers were dead.
“It must’ve been destroyed by the upheaval of heaven and earth.”
They descended and searched the ruins.
“This wasn’t just collapse,” Ganghyeon said.
“Most of it was dismantled first.”
“They noticed the disaster coming… and evacuated.”
Most of the core parts were gone.
Only broken remnants remained.
“Let’s check Senior Hyeongak’s residence.”
They moved toward it — though the first floor space had been torn and scattered strangely.
Buildings were mixed together chaotically.
Still, the main hall remained mostly intact.
Dust filled the air as they opened the doors.
Then Indeok spotted a jade slip on a low desk.
“Think it still works?”
Ganghyeon injected energy — but shook his head.
“It lost its spiritual energy. The contents are gone.”
“Too bad.”
“Wait… I might still read part of it using divine sense.”
“You can do that now?”
“Think of it as very precise perception.”
Indeok stared with shining eyes.
“Divine sense really is amazing…”
