Chapter 2347 – 2347. Ascending To The Light
Some quick-witted bandits turned and ran as soon as their leader died. But none of them managed to escape successfully. Before they could get out of the stronghold, I swung my Hwaryeon Flying Blades, sending out a blast of qi that sliced them down.
Then, some of the bandits changed their tactics. They hid inside the chests while I was momentarily distracted.
It was a useless effort. Even without emitting electromagnetic waves, I could sense the presence of everything around me as if I had a map hack.
‘There’s no way a mere bandit could hide their presence from me.’
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流), Thunder Flash (雷光).
I deliberately used Thunder Flash to kill the bandits. It was like using a butcher’s knife to kill a bug, but I was frustrated, too. The conditions were slightly different from when I was training, so I wondered if I might gain something.
‘It’s completely meaningless….’
Killing them by swinging my sword randomly and killing them with Thunder Flash. The only difference between the two was the effort involved. I didn’t feel anything else.
I killed all the bandits I could see. That didn’t mean I killed all the humans. I didn’t kill the people tied up in the shabby huts. It was obvious they weren’t bandits.
Shudder, shudder.
The people sat down and trembled as they looked at me. Even though I had saved them, they were frozen and couldn’t even say thank you. They were rude. I almost killed them, but I held back. An absolute master needed a reputation. If I killed them all, who would spread my fame?
“Rest assured. I, the Absolute Divine Alliance, have dealt with the bandits who captured you. You are now safe.”
“T-thank you…”
“I am the Absolute Divine Alliance. Don’t forget it. If I hadn’t saved you… you would probably have become food for monsters.”
Human trafficking wasn’t easy in cities or towns where people lived. The Emperor had forbidden it. In other words, human trafficking was easy outside of cities and towns.
Especially since there were quite a few types of monsters that grew by eating humans, there was a steady demand.
‘Even the great Emperor can’t control everything since his territory is too vast.’
There was a reason why he entrusted the management of cities and towns to the martial arts sects. It was all because of a lack of administrative power.
I turned around and went out of the stronghold. The people were tied up with ropes, but… they could probably handle that themselves.
‘Someone, I think, said… instead of giving them fish, teach them how to fish?’
I was their savior, so the reputation of the Absolute Divine Alliance would spread far and wide. I left them behind and departed from the stronghold.
Even after walking for a long time, no city or town appeared.
‘Running is vulgar… and I can’t just waste time, so should I walk while training?’
My training method was Sky Walking. But I didn’t necessarily have to walk in the sky. The important thing was to train to handle qi delicately.
1 cm.
I walked with my shoes 1 cm above the ground. At first, I thought it was a trivial exercise, but it became quite difficult as time went on.
‘If I’m careless, I’ll step on the ground, and if I use too much energy, the air will spread or I’ll rise more than 3 cm.’
Breathing was also important. Sky Walking consumed a lot of internal energy. I had to constantly circulate my energy through breathing to replenish it.
After about an hour, a drop of sweat appeared. The training I had impulsively started was quite effective.
Then, I got tired of it and switched to auto-mode.
• • •
I repeated training and auto-mode. As a result, even though a month had passed in [Ascending to the Light], the time I experienced was less than half of that.
When I arrived in the city, I put everything else aside and looked for the Lower Five Gates (下五門) first.
Along with the Beggar Sect, they were one of the most renowned sects for their information gathering in the martial world.
They were a ragtag sect formed by the lower classes, but their information gathering ability was comparable to that of the Beggar Sect. I entered a branch of the Lower Five Gates and made a deal with them.
Information about sects that had mastered lightning-attribute martial arts in this area.
I checked the paper with the information and glanced at the branch manager. The branch manager, who had gathered the information in half a day after the deal, was a one-armed man with only his left arm. I had cut off his right arm. The way he had looked me up and down when I first saw him had annoyed me.
“Hey.”
“Yes! Great Hero of the Absolute Divine Alliance! Speak! I will gladly obey!”
“Is the information accurate? If you’re playing tricks, I’ll kill you. Your family, your friends, your relatives. All of them.”
“I did my best to investigate!”
The branch manager said, sweating profusely. I had paid for the information. I tossed him some silver coins from my pocket.
I skimmed through the information. The closest sect was the Wall Arrow Sect (霹矢門), a cultivation sect. They trained in the Lightning Splitter Divine Bow Technique (裂雷神弓功), a martial art that shot arrows like lightning.
There were other sects listed as well. Compared to the Wall Arrow Sect, they were nothing, not even third-rate sects. The martial arts they practiced were also listed, but other than being lightning-attribute, they were nothing special.
Just as I was about to be disappointed with the information, a sect listed at the end caught my eye. The sect located the furthest away.
‘Thunder Sound Temple (雷音寺).’
I had heard that name before. Wasn’t it one of the outer-world martial arts sects that often appeared in martial arts novels?
‘But this is a cultivation world, so there’s no such thing as outer-world martial arts sects.’
Only the location of the Thunder Sound Temple was listed. There was less information compared to the other sects. Especially, there was no information about the Thunder Sound Temple’s martial arts, which I was most curious about.
“Why is there no information about the Thunder Sound Temple?”
“The Thunder Sound Temple is a very old cultivation sect, but it is a sect famous for rarely engaging in external activities. It is known that they handle thunder qi (雷氣)… but there is no other information.”
It was probably not a lie. Why would the Lower Five Gates play tricks on the Thunder Sound Temple?
“The information is satisfactory.”
“T-then, now…”
“I have a personal question. Is the leader of the Lower Five Gates a woman?”
“Huh?”
“I’m asking if she’s a stunning beauty who used to be a courtesan.”
The Lower Five Gates.
It was a famous power along with the Nine Great Sects. If it was a martial arts story, the Lower Five Gates almost always appeared. And the leader of the Lower Five Gates was often a woman. In some of the novels mixed into [Ascending to the Light], the leader of the Lower Five Gates was a woman.
“I don’t know where you heard that information… but the leader of the Lower Five Gates is a man.”
“Did you see him yourself?”
“Yes. Before I became a branch manager, I met the leader in person.”
I lost interest. If the leader of the Lower Five Gates was a woman, I would have considered visiting her.
• • •
The Wall Arrow Sect (霹矢門) was located halfway up a mountain, but the terrain was so rugged that it was difficult for ordinary people to climb.
There was no one at the entrance with the signboard. Instead, there was a barrier set up. Compared to Mireong’s barrier, it was incredibly crude.
‘It’s a barrier that looks like it would break if I just moved my hand.’
I hesitated for a moment before entering.
My goal was the Wall Arrow Sect’s martial art, the Lightning Splitter Divine Bow Technique. I had no other purpose.
Would it be faster to kill all the people of the Wall Arrow Sect and find the secret manual of the Lightning Splitter Divine Bow Technique? Or would it be faster to just ask for it?
‘It’s annoying to search for it myself, so I should go with the latter. If I ask for it, they should give it to me. What can they do?’
I moved forward.
Crackling.
The barrier created using lightning qi rejected me. When I tried to force my way in, sparks flew and penetrated me. It didn’t even tickle. Ignoring the barrier’s resistance, I stepped inside.
Crack!
The barrier, unable to withstand my presence, shattered. The Wall Arrow Sect must have noticed my presence inside as well. I pushed open the gate and went inside. As if they had been waiting, people popped out from all directions.
Wearing white martial arts uniforms, they all held bows and aimed them at me.
There were about 200 of them. They were all weaklings whose cultivation level wasn’t even worth checking.
“Lower your bows.”
I spoke with force. They gasped and trembled. When I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, they quickly lowered their bows.
‘These bastards… they know I’m much stronger than them, but they’re still testing me. Should I kill them all?’
A middle-aged man stepped forward from among them. He held a bow made of jade in his hand. His cultivation level was Five Qi (五氣). The three around him were also barely at the Five Qi level.
Perhaps because they were a cultivation sect, their power was quite strong for a sect buried in the mountains.
“What brings you to our sect, senior?”
“I’m curious about the Lightning Splitter Divine Bow Technique. Bring the secret manual and offer it to me.”
“…The Lightning Splitter Divine Bow Technique (裂雷神功) is everything to our Wall Arrow Sect. No matter how much you desire it, senior, we cannot hand it over to you. Please be considerate of us juniors.”
“Consideration? I’m talking to you without killing you. Isn’t that consideration? What else is it?”
“Senior, you have reached the Three Realms, but you are alone. You have not revealed your name either. We will not ask you about the details, and we will keep silent about you. So please leave our sect.”
The Wall Arrow Sect leader’s eyes shone sharply. Those around him also showed fighting spirit.
They looked down on me because I was alone.
And they seemed to have realized that I hadn’t been in the Three Realms for long.
‘Four at the Five Qi level, 162 at the Foundation Establishment level. The rest are at the Qi Gathering level.’
They seemed to have judged that they could handle me.
“Arrogant fools. You insist on drinking the penalty wine… You will regret your foolishness.”
I drew my Hwaryeon Flying Blades. The Wall Arrow Sect leader aimed his bow at me, pulled the string, and shot an arrow. The arrow, filled with lightning qi, flashed as it flew towards me.
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流), Electromagnetic Barrier (電磁氣幕).
The arrow pierced through the electromagnetic barrier. I quickly swung my Hwaryeon Flying Blades and deflected the arrow.
‘It’s impressive that it pierced the electromagnetic barrier. And did the repulsion of the electromagnetic barrier weaken because it was the same attribute?’
“Shoot!”
The Wall Arrow Sect leader shouted. All the members of the Wall Arrow Sect pulled their bowstrings.
Flash. Flash. The arrows they shot shone with lightning and rushed towards me.
They were different from the arrow shot by the Wall Arrow Sect leader. I couldn’t feel any intent at all. It was just an attack that simply contained lightning qi in the arrows.
I spread my intent. I seized all the lightning qi that entered my domain and slammed it down. The arrows changed direction and crashed into the ground, shattering.
“This is insane… The opponent is a master of lightning techniques! Don’t use lightning qi recklessly!”
“Sect Leader! Then how should we fight him?!”
“Disciples below the Foundation Establishment level, use the Qi Transfer Technique to transfer your lightning qi to me! Only the Lightning Splitter Arrow (裂雷矢), imbued with all of our power, can kill him! Elders, protect me!”
The sect members joined hands around the Wall Arrow Sect leader. They transferred their lightning qi to the sect leader. It was a kind of technique. A technique that was only possible because it was lightning qi.
The three elders at the Five Qi level stood in front of the sect leader and faced me. I didn’t attack and kill them.
“Is the Lightning Splitter Arrow the best you can do? I’m curious how great this move is that you’re making such a fuss about. Go ahead and try it.”
I watched the Wall Arrow Sect leader with sparkling eyes, full of anticipation. If I liked it, a new technique would be added to the Thunder Sky Style today.
