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Bang!
I immediately kick through the hall and rush out.
Pssht!
The blue arm that sprung from the book and had been holding me, now enveloped in a faint aura, scatters into the air.
However, the transformation happening throughout the Sea Dragon Palace does not cease.
‘The lingering will of the Sea Dragon King...!’
In terms of power, it’s far less than the remnant soul of Song Jin, but it’s still the remnant consciousness of the Sea Dragon King.
Such an insignificant thing is now spreading throughout the Sea Dragon Palace, awakening the heaven and earth spiritual energy everywhere.And then.
Boom, boom, boom!
The halls of the Sea Dragon Palace begin to burst open one by one.
Numerous artifacts and dharma treasures from inside the halls burst forth, shining in the air.
Flash!
In an instant, everything around is bathed in the light emitted by the countless treasures of the Sea Dragon Palace.
‘This is…’
“Senior, what’s happening here!”
Seo Ran, transformed into a dragon, flies towards me.
I, sweating profusely, watch the unfolding events.
“Daoist Seo…”
“Yes, Senior.”
“Let's run.”
Kugugugugu!
The blue water attribute dharma treasures gathered together, absorbing Seo Hweol's lingering consciousness.
The lights from the treasures flicker and form a giant blue dragon, resembling Seo Hweol.
Kwagwagwang!
The dragon, formed from the combined dharma treasures, begins to rampage.
‘This is madness…’
Kugugugugu!
The Sea Dragon Palace is swept away by the dragon's thrashing.
The power of the gathered dharma treasures, combined with the remnants of a Heavenly Being’s consciousness, is far stronger than Song Jin without his dharma treasures.
Its power is immensely close to that of a Nascent Soul.
But the real problem isn't that.
“Senior! It’s coming!”
Fweeing!
The dragon swings its tail towards us.
Kwagwagwa!
A tremendous trail of destruction is left, but the real danger comes afterwards.
Click!
From the scales of the dragon’s tail, one of the small dharma treasures remained even after the tail swung away.
“Damn it!”
Flash!
The treasure wrapped in blue light scatters brilliance
Kwaang!
The dharma treasure self-destructed!
I shield Seo Ran from the blast, pushing the explosion away.
My hands tingle.
‘My body's already in bad shape from using Endless Mountains Beyond Mountains to break the seal...’
Each time I block a self-destructing dharma treasure, my arms tremble more.
We need to escape, but…
‘We’re surrounded…’
We are surrounded by the Dragon Palace’s seal, and the hole we used to enter is now blocked by the dragon made of dharma treasures, making approach difficult.
‘As if this isn’t annoying enough, the treasures are self-destructing one by one…’
Seeing that we were not visibly harmed, the dragon started to self-destruct more of its dharma treasures.
“Can’t we do something about those self-destructing treasures?”
“…It's impossible. Besides…”
Seo Ran's face darkened.
“The dragon, as it fights us, is drawing more power from the dharma treasures, turning brighter.”
True to his words, the more the dragon fights us, the more the dharma treasures comprising its body glow with blue light.
“When it becomes completely bright, the entire dragon will self-destruct.”
Crunch…
I grit my teeth at the absurd situation.
"Seo Hweol...!"
Whether his target is Seo Ran or not.
In any case, the plan to confront Yuan Li here and push forward with using dharma treasures has completely fallen apart.
Whoosh!
The figure of the Blue Dragon continues to brighten.
At this rate, it’s uncertain when it will suddenly explode...!
Just then.
Boom!
One side of the seal trembles, and the dark prow of a decayed ship emerges from beyond the formation.
It’s the Nether Crossing Ship.
"Activate!"
The teleportation array starts activating, and we barely manage to escape the Blue Dragon's thrashing, flying up into the Nether Crossing Ship.
Roar!
The Blue Dragon roars, and its body becomes incandescent.
That massive body, it's going to self-destruct!
At the same time, the teleportation array attempts to begin spatial transfer.
The Nether Crossing Ship is engulfed in the void and rushes through space, and we escape from the Sea Dragon Palace as it is enveloped in blue light for the last time.
[...I came because my disciple sent a distress signal... In the end, the dharma treasures in the Sea Dragon Palace all transformed into the shape of the Blue Dragon and self-destructed, is that it?]
Song Jin presses his temples with his fingers.
[So, there's no gain at all....]
Both Seo Ran and Song Jin look downcast.
I show them the diary of Jeon Hyang that I managed to save in the chaos.
"During the chaos, I managed to save this. When the diary was closed, the residual consciousness left by Seo Hweol in the diary activated, causing that commotion."
[Hmm, indeed, I can feel Seo Hweol's consciousness embedded in it. If certain conditions are met, his consciousness activates and delivers predetermined instructions.]
He is indeed a meticulous man.
In the case of Seo Ran destroying the Nether Crossing Ship and accidently surviving, reaching the Sea Dragon Palace.
Even then, Seo Hweol made sure Seo Ran would be killed.
'Is there a reason why Seo Ran must be killed to this extent?'
"Then, is there anything else left in this book?"
I ask Song Jin if there are any traps or backhands left..
[From my perspective, there doesn't seem to be anything else.]
I nod and hand it over to Seo Ran.
'For future cycles, it's better to bring the diary to Song Jin first before casually opening it.'
Whether it's Seo Hweol's consciousness or whatever, what's the harm in feeding the remaining remnant consciousness to the Nether Crossing Ship?
"This is the diary of Jeon Hyang, an astronomer of the Sea Dragon Tribe. Take a look, it seems that they left it for you to read, Daoist Seo."
"Ah, the diary of the elder...!"
Seo Ran was startled and quickly received the diary. While he was reading the diary, the Nether Crossing Ship already returned to its original place in the Black Wind Sea.
'This must be the extent of our gains this time...'
With an explosion of that magnitude, not only the other pavilions but also the spiritual elixirs and plants remaining in the Sea Dragon Palace would have turned into dust.
'Right, now that I think about it...'
I asked Song Jin about the structure of the Sea Dragon Palace and the ritualistic formation I had seen.
"So, do you know anything about the spell formation that’s in the Sea Dragon Palace?"
[Hmm, I'm not sure exactly what formation you're talking about.]
Song Jin strokes his chin and tilts his head.
At his question, Seo Ran, who had been frantically reading the diary, momentarily looks up and forms a hand seal.
Whoosh!
In front of us, spiritual energy forms and takes the shape of the spell formation I saw.
When Seo Ran infuses his power into it, the spell formation activates, and I feel my consciousness clear and awake.
"This is the formation senior Seo is talking about, Master."
[Ah, this one! It's different from the Black Ghost Valley, so I wondered what it was...]
Song Jin seems to recognize it. Seo Ran focuses back on the diary, and Song Jin observes the spell formation in front of him.
[A spell that awakens the upper dantian, expressed using the demon race’s spell formation, that is what this formation is."]
"Upper dantian... awakening...?"
["The Sea Dragon Tribe and the Black Ghost Valley have been competing for dominance over the great sea for tens of thousands of years, influencing each other's spells to some extent. And one of them is..."]
Whoosh!
Energy emits from the tips of Song Jin’s fingers, heading towards his Baihui point.
[This 'Spell of Awakening' here.]
The energy entering the Baihui point seems to rotate inside Song Jin’s skull, and after a while, it shoots out from his forehead.
"What is this...?"
I have seen this spell before.
Previously, when White Bone Ghost Devil Heo Gwak forced Team Leader Kim's consciousness to awaken, they used this technique.
It was also very similar to the technique used by the Jin Clan to amplify talent by infusing souls into the upper dantian.
'I remember, even Kim Hyung used the ignition of the upper dantian, starting from the Baihui and leading the flow of Pure Spiritual Force through the forehead, burning it up...'
The flow is exactly the same.
[I don't know Seo Hweol's true intentions, but outwardly, he was always a gentle and righteous leader, always wanting the Sea Dragon Tribe to maintain a clear mind. So, using the structure of the Sea Dragon Palace itself to spread the Spell of Awakening wouldn't be strange.]
"..."
Then why did he spread that ‘Awakening Spell' in the hidden layers of the Serving Command Palace?
I also told Song Jin about what Seo Hweol had done.
Maybe if it’s him, he might think of something.
But Song Jin shook his head, indicating he couldn't recall anything after hearing my words.
[Strange, why in the Serving Command Palace's control room...?]
"Control room?"
[Yes. The hidden layer your group entered is the Serving Command Palace's control room. If you place the Serving Command Seal on the platform made for it, it allows control over the Serving Command Palace through that seal]
This is new information.
'So, he spread the Spell of Awakening in the control room because...?'
I can't even guess his intentions.
What was his goal...
While I ponder, Seo Ran, having finished reading the diary of Jeon Hyang, wears a bitter smile on his extremely darkened face.
Fortunately, no more blue hands sprang out of the diary after the previous incident, suggesting Seo Hweol's tricks had ended.
"...I really grew up abandoned by everyone. Except for Elder Jeon Hyang, who finally opened his heart to me..."
His face is a mix of unmistakable pain.
That expression resembles...
'Was it when he committed suicide using the space-breaking bead...?'
"I... don't know what my purpose in living is anymore."
I look at him with pained eyes.
In the past, I would have tried to comfort him or consider his feelings to lessen his pain.
But honestly, I don't feel much of anything now.
Only a slight sense of shared misery arose when he showed his painful thoughts.
'How did I used to comfort others...?'
I can't remember how to do anything with a warm heart.
I can't recall what my heart used to feel like.
‘Maybe, I did it like this.’
But still, knowing that Seo Ran's suicide would make things even more depressing, I managed to recall enough to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Daoist Seo. You have... truly formed a master-disciple bond now, haven't you? There's still someone who cares about you, find your meaning in that..."
"...Is that so..."
My words seem to lift some of the shadows from Seo Ran's face.
"Thank you..."
I receive his thanks and look back at Song Jin with dull eyes.
In any case, we are back to square one.
"So... in the end we got nothing, but could you help me using my last favor?"
[Haaaaah....]
Song Jin sighs deeply.
[Alright. I didn't want to put my disciple in danger, but in 200 years... I'll make him reach Core Formation and help you. Of course, I'll help too.]
"...Thank you."
Thus, while we didn't gain much material aid from the Sea Dragon Palace, I obtained a lot of precious information and a firm promise of assistance from Song Jin.
After receiving his promise, I left the Black Wind Sea.
And then, 10 years passed.
In that time, with the Cheongmun Clan, I collected both the formation artifacts and the Longevity Fruits. Now, the day of the great conference with all the Core Formation cultivators of the continent gathering is approaching.
Swoosh!
I fly rapidly across the Northern Grasslands.
'It should be around here...'
Holding the invitation plaque, I sense the spiritual energy around me.
And then, after a while.
Whoosh!
I sense an area hidden behind a formation in the distance.
Thump!
It’s a place covered by an illusion formation, invisible to the eye.
But when I bring the plaque near it, the formation shines, opening a path for me.
I enter through the path through the formation.
'This place is...'
True to the Northern Grasslands, there are numerous white tents set up inside formation
These tents, befitting cultivators, are adorned with many spell runes, and I can feel the presence of Core Formation cultivators inside.
"Ah, you've arrived, Cultivator Seo?"
From a distance, Cheongmun Jung-jin approaches me with a welcoming expression.
I nod in response.
"You're as you were."
"..."
He looks at my expression and his face turns bitter.
I can't help it.
I can't remember how to smile, and my eyes remain dull.
I have forgotten how to wear any expression other than this vacant one.
Just then, another person crosses over the formation.
An old man in gray robes.
It’s Wolryang.
He, too, has the same face as 10 years ago, although different from mine.
A deeply angry expression.
We make eye contact and nod to each other in simple greetings.
As we are about to enter the largest tent, designated as the conference hall.
"Wait, you..."
Wolryang points at me and speaks.
His voice seems to tremble.
"That thing at your waist, why do you have it...?"
"...?"
I look at Hyang-hwa’s remnant at my waist, the jade norigae.
"It's the heirloom of my beloved."
"What...? That's... my great-grandson used to wear that..."
"Ah..."
I suddenly realize, absurdly, the fate of Buk Hyang-hwa.
Her fated partner was…
Wolryang's great-grandson.
Already devoured by Yuan Li before my point of return.
***
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