Chapter 120: Storm Archipelago (4)

The ground within a radius of twenty jang around Jang Woo-hyun sank with a dull thud. As if crushed by something enormous.

Ku-gu-gu-gu—

To escape the pressure weighing down on him, Jang Woo-hyun summoned all his strength, but it was not easy to move his body.

‘What was that?’

Just moments ago, he hadn’t felt any qi wave or force from Myo Cheon-pung. Which meant, the force pressing down on him wasn’t a spell or supernatural power.

‘Then...’

There was only one conclusion.

That small object Myo Cheon-pung had thrown. It was exerting the force currently pressing him down.

‘Dharma Treasure.’

An object that could exert such power—its identity was not hard to guess.

A mysterious object said to be used by immortals, known as Dharma Treasure or Treasure Artifact.

The small mountain-shaped object Myo Cheon-pung had thrown must have been a Dharma Treasure.

‘He’s just enduring the pressure of the Five Elements Mountain?’

As Jang Woo-hyun was astonished by the power of the Dharma Treasure, Myo Cheon-pung was flustered to see Jang Woo-hyun looking completely unscathed.

The Dharma Treasure Five Elements Mountain.

A Dharma Treasure named after the mountain where the notorious Monkey Monster was said to be sealed. Despite its small size, it harbored immense power.

Myo Cheon-pung had expected the Five Elements Mountain to inflict some degree of damage. But Jang Woo-hyun had merely fallen from the sky without even a scratch. Moreover, he was trying to move while enduring the pressure.

“Hah……”

Staring at Jang Woo-hyun in disbelief, Myo Cheon-pung began preparing his next attack.

Wuuuuuung.

He drew a faintly glowing sword from his Inner Robe.

Even from afar, the power imbued in the sword was palpable.

Feeling the vibration passed into his hand, Myo Cheon-pung swung the sword.

Mountain-Breaking Sword.

A Dharma Treasure said to break mountains with a single swing. True to its name, a massive explosion erupted from the spot where Jang Woo-hyun had been.

Next, Myo Cheon-pung discarded the now-dim Mountain-Breaking Sword and took out a small cylinder. When thrown forward, the cylinder grew larger than a person.

Roaring Explosive Golden Light Needle.

From the now-gigantic cylinder, a large spear-like needle descended upon Jang Woo-hyun, followed by another explosion.

The bombardment-like assault overturned the ground, sending dust clouds billowing in all directions.

After dozens of bombardments, Myo Cheon-pung waved his hand, and the mountain-shaped Dharma Treasure, the Five Elements Mountain, returned to his hand.

Kuuuung—

The aftermath of the explosion still hadn’t subsided.

The earth was tearing apart as if an earthquake had struck, and the lingering qi in the air formed a vortex, pushing away the dust clouds.

Just as Myo Cheon-pung was about to throw the Five Elements Mountain again while staring at the spot—

A massive pillar of light shot up, piercing through the dust.

Myo Cheon-pung twisted his body and raised a small hand mirror in his left hand. Instantly, the light pillar was sucked into the mirror. The mirror, now emitting a dull black light, began to tremble in his hand as if it were alive.

‘The Ink Hole Mirror (墨穴鏡) is shaking this much?’

The Ink Hole Mirror was a Dharma Treasure capable of absorbing attacks. Particularly effective against attacks using internal energy, it was invaluable when dealing with martial artists.

Myo Cheon-pung had used the Ink Hole Mirror many times before. But this was the first time something like this had happened. The mirror, having absorbed the force, was flopping in his hand like a freshly caught fish. That meant the previous attack had been that powerful.

‘He’s definitely remarkable...’

Before Myo Cheon-pung could even finish his thought, Jang Woo-hyun sprang into the air and swung his black sword.

Kwa-de-deuk!

“……!”

But the sword didn’t land. A cracking sound was heard, and the sword stopped mid-air.

A barrier that had gone unnoticed until the attack encased Myo Cheon-pung. Jang Woo-hyun’s sword shattered two layers, but was halted by the third.

‘A defensive measure?’

From the beginning, Myo Cheon-pung had been using a defensive Dharma Treasure to protect himself.

Meeting Jang Woo-hyun’s gaze, Myo Cheon-pung erased his surprise and smiled. At some point, a short staff had appeared in his hand—yet another Dharma Treasure.

As its tip aimed toward Jang Woo-hyun—

“……!”

In an instant, he was pushed back nearly two hundred jang.

He couldn’t react properly. In the blink of an eye, the distance between him and Myo Cheon-pung had widened.

Mountain-Pushing Hundred-Lee Rod.

A Dharma Treasure named for pushing mountains—it forcibly widened the gap between user and opponent.

Unaccustomed to the situation, Jang Woo-hyun couldn’t respond immediately. And that created an opening.

Kkuuuung!

Once again, he failed to evade properly. Under the pressure crushing from all directions, Jang Woo-hyun was driven into the ground again.

“You idiots! Are you just going to stand there and watch?!”

At Myo Cheon-pung’s shout, the four giants who had merely been observing finally moved.

Amid the pressure closing in from all sides, Jang Woo-hyun raised his sword as he saw the approaching giants.

‘I was foolish.’

He had underestimated Myo Cheon-pung, who fought surrounded by Dharma Treasures.

When he had heard from Jin Ha-un about those who fought encased in numerous Dharma Treasures, he had thought them easy to handle.

“Hyung-nim, he’s stronger than you think. Using a weapon that moves on its own and staying at a distance while using defensive treasure artifacts makes him tricky to deal with.”

Jang Woo-hyun had believed borrowing the power of weapons without training or effort was not true strength.

But that was a mistaken judgment.

There were different ways to become strong. Just as one could become strong by mastering martial arts, or sorcerers by mastering sorcery, there was also a way to become strong by specializing in handling Dharma Treasures.

He had already experienced various appearances of sorcerers in the Central Heavens, like commanding monsters or becoming giants of flame, yet he had held a narrow view.

Creating and manipulating Dharma Treasures.

That was Myo Cheon-pung’s way and his strength.

If he himself couldn’t handle Dharma Qi or Dharma Treasures, he wouldn’t be able to control such Dharma Treasures even if they were given to him. Why had he looked down on them?

It was a foolish and ignorant thought.

‘Learned something new.’

Blocking the punch of a giant closing the distance, Jang Woo-hyun smiled.

Although a martial artist, he didn’t learn everything only from martial arts.

“I don’t understand enlightenment either. I’ve just trained in my own way, just like you’ve become strong in yours. Enlightenment works like that too. Some gain it, some pass by without knowing. Some get it through wall-facing training, some while haggling in the market, some during sparring, some in blood-splattered battlefields.”

Just as Pyo Deuk-won had said.

It wasn’t some great enlightenment, but even today Jang Woo-hyun realized something new and learned something.

What if you made mistakes? What if you thought foolishly?

It was enough to realize that and correct it. And Jang Woo-hyun was fully capable of doing so.

“Huaaaap!”

The pressure that had been pressing down vanished, and fists of giants rained down from all directions.

The more attacks he blocked, the deeper Jang Woo-hyun’s smile became. Today, here, Jang Woo-hyun would grow one step further. As a martial artist and as a person.

When he tried to close in on a giant after blocking its attack, the pressure of the Five Elements Mountain pressed down on Jang Woo-hyun. The giants retreated backward, and immediately the attack from Myo Cheon-pung’s Mountain-Breaking Sword came.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!

The attack using the Mountain-Breaking Sword was not something Jang Woo-hyun could easily see. He raised his internal energy as much as possible to block the attack.

Whenever Myo Cheon-pung’s attack made Jang Woo-hyun stagger, the giants charged again. When he blocked the giants’ attacks and tried to counterattack, Myo Cheon-pung assisted the giants.

Golden spears poured down along with the giants’ fist strikes.

The four giants and Myo Cheon-pung worked together better than expected.

If only one of them were present, it would have been manageable, but since they complemented each other, they were not easy opponents.

Still, the fortunate thing was that neither Myo Cheon-pung nor the giants could overwhelm Jang Woo-hyun.

After a while of dull back-and-forth combat,

Jang Woo-hyun tried to find a strategy, but unexpectedly the solution appeared from the other side.

“Hyung-nim!”

“Woo-hyun!”

Cho-su and Jin Ha-un.

The two who had briefly parted when coming here rapidly approached riding on flying apparatus.

Jang Woo-hyun and his group, riding on San-hwi’s back and moving to find enemies, discovered another group gathered before arriving at the Bisa Sect’s stronghold.

They had intended to attack that place first, but for some reason the monsters disregarded control and moved in one direction. Cho-su and Jin Ha-un reluctantly took charge of them, while Jang Woo-hyun led the monsters to attack Bisa Sect.

Cho-su and Jin Ha-un flew here as soon as they finished their task, but it took some time due to the distance.

Seeing the approaching flying apparatus, Myo Cheon-pung threw the small mountain-shaped Dharma Treasure Five Elements Mountain.

“Cho-su-nim! That’s a Dharma Treasure!”

After blocking a giant’s punch, Jang Woo-hyun kicked off the air.

If things continued as they were, the ship-shaped flying apparatus would have been crushed by Cho-su and Jin Ha-un.

But what Jang Woo-hyun feared did not happen.

At the moment Myo Cheon-pung moved his hand, Cho-su took out a black umbrella from his Inner Robe and opened it.

Kud-deu-deuk!

Despite the pressure pressing down, the flying apparatus carrying Cho-su and Jin Ha-un remained intact. Instead, the black umbrella was half broken.

“Huh?”

Surprised by the unexpected situation, Jang Woo-hyun stopped moving.

Myo Cheon-pung’s brows furrowed as well. Only then did he properly look at Cho-su and Jin Ha-un riding the flying apparatus.

A race different from typical humans, with white skin and a third eye.

“Nation of Mechanical Marvels natives? Why……”

Myo Cheon-pung, surprised by the unexpected appearance, forgot to attack and stared at Cho-su. Meanwhile, the flying apparatus came alongside Jang Woo-hyun, who was floating in the air, and stopped.

Jin Ha-un disembarked from the ship-shaped flying apparatus and stood beside Jang Woo-hyun, while Cho-su stored the ship and boarded a smaller sword-shaped flying apparatus.

“Are they Spiritual Ascendants from the Spiritual Realm? Talented in creating Dharma Qi. I’ve heard of them.”

Among the Spiritual Ascendants, some had a special talent for making Dharma Qi or Dharma Treasures.

Their skills were recognized even by Nation of Mechanical Marvels native Cho-su.

But they were excellent only as Spiritual Ascendants, not comparable to Nation of Mechanical Marvels natives.

Cho-su smiled at Myo Cheon-pung.

He threw a bracelet fastened on his arm.

The two bracelets spun around, growing larger until their diameter exceeded one jang. The inside was engulfed in white light, and from there, automatic puppets with insect wings attached to human bodies poured out.

Buuuuuung!

The sound of the puppets’ wings flapped echoed in all directions.

“Ah.”

Watching the automatic puppets arrange themselves in perfect formation, Jang Woo-hyun realized.

That the person who wielded Dharma Treasures and Dharma Qi better than anyone else was one of his comrades.

Leading the automatic puppets, Cho-su removed the prosthetic arm on one side and replaced it with another.

Myo Cheon-pung, distracted by the sudden appearance of the Nation of Mechanical Marvels natives, regained focus and attacked the group again.

He swung the Mountain-Breaking Sword, and golden spears poured out from a large cylinder.

In response, the automatic puppets moved.

When Cho-su used his black umbrella to block the Mountain-Breaking Sword’s attack, the umbrella was completely shattered. As the massive golden spears fell, the puppets threw their bodies to block the assault.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!

The air exploded with a loud roar.

More than half of the automatic puppets were destroyed in one attack, but with that sacrifice, Cho-su finished preparing.

‘I don’t particularly like fighting, but there’s no choice.’

The Nation of Mechanical Marvels natives, called Machinists because they produced many strange devices, were born engineers who originally disliked fighting or war.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t fight. There were those who targeted their excellent craftsmanship and coveted the weapons and mysterious devices Machinists created, so they fought in their own unique way.

The Machinists’ style of combat was different from martial artists or sorcerers.

As Myo Cheon-pung was demonstrating, their method was to use the Dharma Qi and Dharma Treasures they created.

‘I’m fighting the right way.’

The opponent was a cultivator who controlled multiple Dharma Treasures.

Jang Woo-hyun and Jin Ha-un had only recently ascended. They were likely unfamiliar with facing Dharma Treasures.

“Hoo.”

Exhaling once, Cho-su activated the whip made of chains attached to his arm.

At the same time, Cho-su’s third eye glowed golden.

Bwaaaang!

The remaining automatic puppets flew into the sky, and the whip attached instead of the prosthetic moved accordingly.

Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu.

The whip grew unbelievably large. The whip on his shoulder was as thick as a thumb, but it lengthened and changed size as it extended away from the shoulder.

The middle part was the size of a human torso, and the end transformed into a dragon’s head large enough to swallow a person whole.

Nine Dragons Whip.

Nine dragons, along with the automatic puppets, targeted Myo Cheon-pung.

“Huh……”

The use of Dharma Treasures beyond common sense absorbed the attention of Jang Woo-hyun, Jin Ha-un, and even the giants.

The fight of those who mainly used Dharma Treasures was completely different from the way of martial artists.

Golden spears poured toward the nine dragons, and attacks that could blow away mountains split the sky.

Machines with insect wings. The automatic puppets were crushed by an unknown force and fell to the ground.

Five long cylindrical rods that Cho-su took out breathed fire and struck the protective barrier surrounding Myo Cheon-pung. The sky was engulfed in explosions in an instant.

Watching the scene close to a monster battle, Jang Woo-hyun regained his composure. With Myo Cheon-pung gone, only the giants remained to fight. Moreover, now they were not alone but two.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

At Jang Woo-hyun’s words, Jin Ha-un steadied himself and gripped his sword tightly.

“Don’t let your guard down. They’re not much different from Tarun.”

The two brothers simultaneously kicked off the air and stood before the giants.

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