readbooksol Chapter 265 : Another Step Forward (2)
Chapter 265 : Another Step Forward (2)
Chapter 265: Another Step Forward (2)
Hyeonwol had originally been a spellcaster from the Central Heavens Realm.
His name had been known for a long time, and among spellcasters he was even spoken of as a genius.
The life in which he had been satisfied with his own talent became twisted because of a single encounter.
Dream Illusion Heavenly Lord.
One of the Six Great Heavens and the pinnacle of spellcasters in the Central Heavens Murim.
After meeting the Dream Illusion Heavenly Lord, Hyeonwol realized his own limits.
‘I cannot reach him.’
Hyeonwol had been horrified by that overwhelming skill and power.
The gap between himself and the Dream Illusion Heavenly Lord was far too vast.
So vast it could not even be measured.
Greedy by nature, Hyeonwol fell into despair.
He had believed he would become the greatest, yet through ordinary methods—through training as he was now—he could never catch up to the Dream Illusion Heavenly Lord.
Moreover, the Dream Illusion Heavenly Lord was not the only master in the Central Heavens Murim.
The Six Great Heavens.
The skies of the Central Heavens Murim. Those said to possess power approaching that of gods.
There were five others comparable to the Dream Illusion Heavenly Lord, and Hyeonwol’s despair only deepened.
‘This won’t do.’
From some point onward, Hyeonwol began searching desperately for a new method.
One day, while wandering in search of new cultivation methods and spell arts—
He encountered cultivators who worshipped the True Immortals and found an entirely new path.
‘If my talent is insufficient, then I shall walk another road.’
Even if that road was not the righteous one.
After hardening his resolve, Hyeonwol joined hands with the Ascension Cult, an organization that worshipped the True Immortals.
Something no martial artist would ever do.
Strangely enough, even though the Lower Realms possessed sinister grand arts, sacrificial spell arts, and martial arts similar to those of cultivators, their practitioners could not ascend.
Whether they walked the Demonic Path or belonged to the Unorthodox Faction, only martial artists who grew stronger through their own strength could ascend.
The same applied to spellcasters.
‘I alone shall walk this path.’
Hyeonwol concealed his own power and created a new spell art using the cultivation technique passed down by the Ascension Cult.
Life-Stealing Azure Smoke Art.
Hyeonwol’s unique spell art utilizing azure smoke could attack, defend, and steal the life force of others.
At first, there were no major problems.
But as the number of victims steadily increased, issues began to arise.
No matter how vast the Central Heavens Realm was, not everything could remain secret forever, and eventually someone began tracing Hyeonwol’s movements.
He eliminated those who tracked him down, but his actions became increasingly restricted.
At that time, the Ascension Cult brought him a new proposal.
More precisely, a True Immortal desired Hyeonwol’s power.
“You’ll fully support me if I eliminate an Ascended One?”
The terms greatly favored him, making it suspicious, yet Hyeonwol no longer had any real choice.
More and more pursuers were gathering around him.
In the end, Hyeonwol made a contract with the True Immortal.
Afterward, with the Ascension Cult’s assistance, he absorbed cultivators’ power, and at times borrowed the power of the True Immortal to descend into the Lower Realms and massacre countless people.
Though he could only descend into worlds where Murim existed, he did not particularly care about that.
As time passed, Hyeonwol grew stronger, and naturally his status within the Radiant Light Sect also rose.
Then one thought occurred to him.
‘Rather than descending to the Lower Realms, wouldn’t it be simpler to change the world itself?’
The Corpse-Blood Realm was a world where absorbing others’ power and stealing life was commonplace.
He planned to merge that world of the dead with the Central Heavens Realm.
And around that time, after absorbing enormous amounts of power, Hyeonwol created another new spell art.
Since his talent itself was not lacking, creating new spell arts was not difficult for him.
Dark Blood Vast Soul Art.
A spell art that controlled the lives of those he had absorbed.
The dark crimson blood created by the spell was no ordinary blood.
It was someone’s life force, a fragment of their soul, and the remnants of their life.
With this newly created power, Hyeonwol put his plans into motion.
“I shall assist you. In exchange, Left Warding Master, bring me the Five-Wheel Illusion Diagram.”
Working together with the Ascension Cult, he manipulated the Left Warding Master of the Five Elements Cult into stealing the Five Elements Cult’s sacred relic.
“I shall create a new world where spellcasters stand at the center!”
He expelled the previous Sect Leader, became the Sect Leader of the Radiant Light Sect, and declared he would establish a new order.
But Hyeonwol did not care about the Radiant Light Sect.
Nor about spellcasters.
What he truly desired was the sacred relic of the Radiant Light Sect said to reverse life and death and revive the dead.
The Life-and-Death Reversal Token.
That was the item he needed.
Using the sacred relics of both the Five Elements Cult and the Radiant Light Sect, he intended to create the world he dreamed of.
‘To merge part of the Corpse-Blood Realm and the Central Heavens Realm into one.’
And just like the cultivators of the Corpse-Blood Realm, he intended to absorb the power of others to ascend to the next realm.
Ultimately, he dreamed of rising to the Upper Realms.
Everything had proceeded according to plan.
He obtained both sacred relics and used the Five-Wheel Guardian God to create a pathway connecting the Corpse-Blood Realm and the Central Heavens Realm.
But once Jang Woo-hyun interfered, things gradually began to go wrong.
Because of him, the Lord of Lightning fell, and the affairs of the Radiant Light Sect were obstructed.
Knowing how dangerous Jang Woo-hyun was, Hyeonwol deliberately lured him away and continued his plans.
Yet in the end, he still came to interfere.
He even appeared within the Corpse-Blood Realm.
And what angered him even more—
Was that Jang Woo-hyun was now perfectly imitating the spell art he had just used.
Since Dark Blood Vast Soul Art was Hyeonwol’s unique spell art, he recognized it immediately.
The sea of flames colliding against his spell possessed different energy, yet in structure it was identical to the Sea of Blood Filling the Heavens.
“Cheonrin Sword Alliance!”
Even seeing it before his eyes, it was difficult to believe.
He already knew Jang Woo-hyun was extraordinary.
He had heard the name when descending into the Lower Realms, and the True Immortal had wanted him dead for some reason.
But this was excessive.
No matter how exceptional his talent was, it should have been limited to martial arts.
Yet Jang Woo-hyun, who was not even a spellcaster, was perfectly imitating spell arts.
No—
Could this even be called imitation?
This was not imitation at all.
It was simply an exact copy.
‘I cannot accept this!’
From Hyeonwol’s perspective, the situation made no sense.
He had abandoned everything.
Only after stealing the lives of countless people had he obtained this power.
Yet Jang Woo-hyun was replicating it merely after seeing it once.
Hyeonwol could only deny the reality unfolding before him.
If it were truly this easy, then his entire life and all his efforts would amount to nothing.
“I cannot believe it! I refuse to believe it!”
Hyeonwol raised his power and unleashed another spell art.
From the sea of blood that had been locked in stalemate against the sea of flames, a gigantic creature with a dark crimson body emerged.
Hyeonwol mobilized all his strength.
He no longer had anywhere left to retreat.
No—
He simply refused to retreat.
---
“I refuse to believe it!”
Hyeonwol’s frenzied voice rang out as the sea of blood expanded and pushed back the sea of flames Jang Woo-hyun had created.
At the same time, the center of the sea of blood rose upward.
PUUUUNG!
The dark crimson blood gathered together, forming a giant so massive it seemed nearly ten ri in size.
The giant, towering as though supporting the heavens themselves, stretched out its hand.
GUUUUUNG—
Enormous pressure crushed the surroundings.
Even before the giant’s hand reached him, the sea of flames was being compressed and extinguished.
Within the pressure that crushed everything around him—
Jang Woo-hyun calmly raised Black Wilds Sword.
Black Wilds Sword had remained quiet ever since falling into the Corpse-Blood Realm, but the moment Hyeonwol appeared, it began emitting black smoke like a curse.
Even as the sea of flames was pushed back and erased, Jang Woo-hyun paid it little attention.
The sea of flames had merely been something he imitated once using the Five Elements Energy.
From the beginning, what he excelled at was martial arts, not spell arts.
Looking at the gigantic descending hand, Jang Woo-hyun imagined setting the sky above ablaze.
At that thought, the flames that had been crushed and extinguished by the pressure gathered together once more.
Jang Woo-hyun swung his sword.
Once vertically.
Once horizontally.
Black Wolf Fang Flame Cross Slash.
KWAAAAANG!
Jang Woo-hyun’s Will-Form influenced the world itself, creating a gigantic flaming cross in the sky.
It was as though a cross-shaped sun had suddenly risen overhead.
The flaming cross burned both the void and Hyeonwol’s spell art.
And it did not end there.
Jang Woo-hyun immediately followed with another attack.
Hyeonwol had also been preparing his own attack.
From the dark crimson sea boiling beneath the heat of the flaming cross, countless human silhouettes rose.
An army made of blood charged through the sky.
Meanwhile, Dragon King Scales were already flying in every direction around Jang Woo-hyun.
Because he had created a new space separate from the Corpse-Blood Realm, he could now control Dragon King Scales perfectly.
He prepared his strongest attack.
Hundreds of blade-like scales unleashed countless martial techniques, drawing a single grand pattern.
The rapidly completed mandala pattern erupted with brilliant light.
Within that light, hundreds of thousands of techniques poured forth.
The wave of techniques collided against the blood army rushing through the sky and swept them away.
The army created by spell arts could not endure even for a moment.
They simply vanished.
KWAAAAAAANG!
The attacks pouring from the mandala pattern did not stop there and completely erased part of the dark crimson sea.
Beneath the gigantic flaming cross burning the heavens—
Jang Woo-hyun ran through the air.
Countless attacks poured from the sea of blood, yet the moment they crossed a certain boundary, they all vanished.
There was no need to swing his sword.
No need to release internal energy.
Merely by thinking, the incoming spell arts and Hyeonwol’s summons were instantly severed and erased.
Barriers blocking his path exploded apart with a single glance.
“KUAAAAAAK!”
Hyeonwol, who revealed himself from one side of the dark crimson sea, vomited blood.
An enormous amount of blood poured from his mouth and nose alike.
It was bright scarlet blood, unlike the dark crimson sea surrounding him.
“Resent! Grieve! Seek vengeance!”
Like light illuminating a dark world, the scarlet blood spread through the dark crimson sea.
Then the scarlet blood rose into a barrier before Jang Woo-hyun.
PUUUUNG!
With a simple gesture, Jang Woo-hyun shattered the barrier without difficulty.
At that moment, voices suddenly echoed from within.
【Save me.】
【I don’t want to die.】
【It’s unfair.】
【It wasn’t me.】
【Please save us.】
【At least my child. Please save my child.】
【No! Nooooo!】
Resignation, rage, sorrow, resentment—
Negative emotions flooded outward.
From within the shattered barrier, blood figures shaped like humans poured forth.
Like drowning people flailing desperately, the blood figures rushed toward him with wildly swinging arms.
They had no intent to attack.
They simply approached him.
“…….”
Jang Woo-hyun quickly realized what they were.
These were the dead consumed by Hyeonwol.
Fragments of memory and pieces of souls manifested from the life force he had absorbed.
And the approaching blood figures were a type of curse spell created using the victims’ negative emotions.
Because of the ominous and negative energy radiating from them, Jang Woo-hyun was forced to retreat for the first time.
It was not easy to respond to curse spell arts, but there was another reason as well.
Jang Woo-hyun leapt backward and gazed at the approaching blood figures.
Before he realized it, their numbers had grown until they were beyond counting.
Slowly, Jang Woo-hyun raised his sword.
In the past, he would have simply severed the incoming spell art and targeted Hyeonwol directly.
But now things were different.
Though incomplete, he had stepped into the Infinite Realm.
Rather than destroying everything recklessly, he wanted to save their souls.
He did not ask himself, ‘Can I do it?’
Because right now, it felt as though he could do anything.
Infinite Wish.
To accomplish all things according to one’s will.
The Infinite Realm was a stage where one twisted the laws of the world and manipulated reality according to one’s own will.
Jang Woo-hyun no longer sought to sever everything.
He intended to target the part of the spell art binding the victims’ souls.
Previously, to cut meant breaking an opponent’s sword or directly striking the opponent themselves.
But now it was neither.
The sword itself was innocent.
To free the sword, one no longer cut the blade, but the wrist holding it.
One severed that which restrained the sword.
‘Sever everything binding them.’
Those sacrificed without any wrongdoing, merely because someone stronger preyed upon them.
To save them, Jang Woo-hyun swung his sword.
A lightly moving blade.
The advancing blood figures suddenly froze as though time itself had stopped.
Ssshhh—
Then the scarlet figures dissolved into crimson mist and scattered away.