Chapter 94: Encounter

‘It was a bit of a shame.’

He wanted to reuse the feeling he had when he cut through Sa Do-woong, to once more wield the Black Full Moon, but it was impossible. It was still a realm he could not yet reach.

‘It’s difficult to face someone in the Boundless Realm.’

As his realm had increased slightly, he could now clearly grasp the level of those who had reached the next stage.

Sa Do-woong had fought alongside others, and his power had been somewhat unbalanced, which made it a fight worth taking. But if the opponent had been Gwak Yu-chan, it would have been hopeless.

Even from seeing only a fragment of Gwak Yu-chan’s power, Jang Woo-hyun had easily drawn a conclusion. If it were a typical master of the Boundless Realm, there was no way he could win at his current level.

‘Still a long way to go.’

Even though he had reached the end of the Transcendence, it was not enough. There were still three stages above the Transcendence Realm.

With a lingering sense of regret, Jang Woo-hyun sheathed his sword and left the training room. His realm would not rise overnight, and there were still things he had to do.

When he left the annex and entered the main building of the inn, the beastkin waiter who had welcomed him earlier quickly approached.

“Master! It's been a while. You must have been busy training. Shall I escort you to a meal?”

“No, I’m fine on food. Do you know where the market is… no, is there a bookstore around here?”

“A bookstore? You mean a place that sells books? What kind are you looking for?”

“Is there a place that sells martial arts books? It doesn’t have to be some amazing secret manual. Ordinary basic martial arts books are fine too.”

“Yes, then please leave the inn. Once you reach the end of this street…”

The sociable waiter kindly explained the directions to the bookstore. Once again, Jang Woo-hyun gave him a small amount of money and left the inn.

The street was crowded with people. It was because of the rumor that the Ten Sects and Three Clans, the representatives of the Central Heavens Realm, were gathering here—an extremely rare event.

‘What does the gathering of great sects have to do with these people?’

From Jang Woo-hyun’s perspective, it didn’t seem to be of much relevance, but strangely enough, the number of people kept increasing.

Pushing through the bustling crowd, Jang Woo-hyun made his way toward his destination.

After walking a bit, he began to hear louder noises than before. The sound of something breaking followed, and then a man flew out through the smashed door of what seemed to be another inn.

‘Trouble at inns happens whether in the Central Plains or here.’

Thinking about it, it was no surprise given how many people had gathered.

He gave a faint chuckle and stepped around the person lying on the ground, continuing on his way.

Apparently, the route the waiter had given him passed through the market. As he turned into another alley, the sound grew even louder.

Vendors shouting from all directions, people haggling with them—it was a lively street.

‘This place is full of life too.’

It wasn’t much different from the Central Plains.

Jang Woo-hyun kept walking until he stopped in front of what appeared to be a smithy. They were clearly crafting something inside, yet the typical noise of a smithy was not present.

‘That’s odd.’

Drawn by this strange sight, he approached the smithy. As he crossed a certain boundary, a strange energy brushed past his body.

Then, standing before the door—

Bang! Bang!

“Raise the temperature!”

“You still haven’t finished mine?”

“Sir, I told you it would take four days. You’re here after only two, how do you expect it to be done?”

The sounds of forging and people talking came to him as if a lie.

Curious, Jang Woo-hyun stepped back again. Once he had retreated a certain distance, the sounds vanished like a lie.

‘Is it some kind of spell formation?’

Puzzled by the phenomenon, he looked around. Two stone lanterns near the entrance were emitting an unusual energy.

It seemed that the two lanterns were functioning as a kind of spell formation, blocking out the sound.

As he left the smithy he had been observing, he resumed walking and soon came upon more curiosities.

Doors that opened automatically, glowing lamps, signboards with flowing light, and carriages moving without horses or oxen.

‘This place really is different from the Central Plains.’

Thanks to tools called spell formations, life here in the Central Heavens Realm was more convenient and lavish than in the Lower Realm.

As he passed another smithy, Jang Woo-hyun thought of Cho-su and Cho-yul.

‘I should visit Cho-su-nim’s home sometime too.’

His gaze briefly shifted to the black sword.

It was a sword he had acquired by chance due to Cho-su and Cho-yul. Windstorm Great Saint had said that if not for fate, he would never have been able to wield the black sword.

‘He didn’t say much at first, so maybe they really didn’t know anything…’

The Windstorm Great Saint was of a level so high that he might have seen something they hadn’t. Still, he resolved to visit once more. Unlike before, the curse emitted by the black sword was now largely sealed. Perhaps those master craftsmen might be able to discern something.

“Hey! You think this is Phoenix Feather or something?”

“Ah, sir, here, take a look. See how it shows multiple colors at once?”

“Well, yes… I suppose.”

“Did you think there was only one kind of phoenix? There are several, you know.”

“Still, I can’t feel any special power from it…”

“I think you’ve seen one somewhere before, maybe a top-grade one. Now, take a look at this rainbow shimmer. All phoenixes, regardless of type, share one thing in common—this very shimmer.”

As Jang Woo-hyun walked by, his attention was caught by the intriguing conversation.

In one corner of the market, a man who looked every bit the swindler was explaining something to a clueless customer.

Even to Jang Woo-hyun’s eyes, the feather didn’t seem special. But the vendor had clearly charmed the fool—before he knew it, the man had opened his pouch and was paying.

‘Looks like a scam. Now that I think about it, Yongwangrin was said to have used Phoenix Feather too.’

They had explained how to grow it, and Cho-yul and Cho-su had once modified Yongwangrin for him. Back then, since he had received their help for free, Jang Woo-hyun had decided to pay for their services this time if he visited them again.

Though he was currently low on money due to staying at an expensive inn, Jang Woo-hyun had something to settle.

The unidentified gourd and the items he had looted from Sa Do-woong’s stronghold—Maeng Ye-ju had said they would settle accounts later. Given her personality, she would not simply let that part slide.

If he met Cho-yul this time, Jang Woo-hyun intended to pay what he owed from what he would receive in settlement, and if possible, try feeding Yongwangrin more items to help it grow.

Since it was clearly referred to as a Divine Weapon that could grow, feeding it different things would surely improve it further.

Tap.

Lost in thought while walking, Jang Woo-hyun soon arrived at his destination.

A corner of the market street.

Unlike the places he had passed so far, this was a quiet alley.

There stood an old wooden building on one side. Jang Woo-hyun stood before it and knocked on the door a few times.

“Is anyone there?”

After a brief wait, a voice came from inside.

“It’s open, come in.”

Creak.

Opening the old wooden door, he found something different from what he had imagined.

It was a spacious area. The space spanned the height of roughly three floors below, all opened into a single open space, allowing a clear view downward.

Below his feet stood rows of bookshelves about the height of an adult man, and in front of Jang Woo-hyun were stairs descending downward. At the bottom sat a small old man in a rocking chair.

Thud.

As the door closed behind him, Jang Woo-hyun stepped into the mysterious space.

‘There’s no special spell formation cast here.’

There was nothing special about the surrounding energy. It didn’t feel like the space had been forcibly expanded. It was physically just a large space.

He could sense some faint energies here and there, but none of them were from space-expanding spell formations. Judging from the state of the interior, it seemed to be managed with tools or spell formations for temperature, humidity, or odor control.

Jang Woo-hyun descended the stairs and stood before the old man.

“So, what brings you here? What do you need?”

The old man in white looked at Jang Woo-hyun.

A face full of wrinkles. His sagging eyelids, weakened by time, made even his pupils hard to see.

White hair, long white eyebrows, and a white beard. Add to that his white clothes and short stature, he looked like an immortal depicted in an old scroll.

‘He’s not a martial artist.’

There was no special energy to sense, and he didn’t seem to have trained in martial arts. However, the aura surrounding him and his presence were anything but ordinary.

Jang Woo-hyun guessed that the old man must have attained mastery in a different field, even if not in martial arts.

“Greetings, Elder. I’m here because I need a martial arts book.”

Jang Woo-hyun bowed politely and stated his purpose. The old man's eyebrow rose slightly at the gesture.

“What kind of martial arts book? Are you here to find a hidden secret manual?”

The old man joked with a smile, and Jang Woo-hyun, understanding the joke, smiled back.

“I’m short on money right now, so I’ll come looking for that next time. Not that I really need it either.”

In response to Jang Woo-hyun’s deflection, the old man’s eyebrow rose slightly again.

Martial artists were usually obsessed with secret manuals, yet Jang Woo-hyun had declined even in jest.

The old man, who had guarded this bookstore for a long time, found Jang Woo-hyun to be an amusing young man.

“I’m looking for a basic introductory martial arts book. I recently ascended and don’t know much about the Central Heavens Martial Realm.”

“An ascended one, huh… It’s been a while since such an interesting customer came.”

Chuckling to himself, the old man stood up from his seat.

“Follow me.”

He grabbed the cane leaning against his chair and walked forward.

Though he walked slowly, Jang Woo-hyun didn’t rush him and followed at a leisurely pace.

“How did you find this place?”

“A waiter from the inn told me.”

“A waiter?”

“Yes.”

“You must have treated the waiter kindly then. For them to tell you about this place.”

This place wasn’t well-known. Even among locals in the city, many didn’t know it existed. So the old man had asked how Jang Woo-hyun, an outsider, had found it.

After slowly passing several bookshelves, the old man stopped and tapped a nearby shelf with his cane.

“The third row from the top here has some useful ones. Take one and see if you like it.”

Jang Woo-hyun approached the bookshelf. Strangely, there were no books. Only scrolls in the form of old paper rolls.

‘No way…’

Before coming here, he remembered the scroll that Maeng Ye-ju had used at Geonmok, and a sense of unease crept in.

He unrolled a scroll.

“Ah…”

A sigh escaped Jang Woo-hyun’s lips.

As expected, it wasn’t an ordinary scroll. There was a lot of text written on it, but the bottom part was cut off—as if more text would appear when scrolled upward.

Each of these was a spell formation, crafted for recording.

Jang Woo-hyun didn’t know how to use these. Even if he did, the chances were he wouldn’t be able to operate them. His ability to handle spell formations wasn’t even at the level of an ordinary person—it was worse than that of a child.

“Um… Elder. Do you have any books instead of scrolls?”

“Books? Can’t use the scrolls, huh? Even for an ascendant, it shouldn’t be that difficult.”

The old man’s eyebrow lifted and lowered again. In that short time, he had already been surprised several times.

“Well… I seem to have an unusual constitution, so I can’t handle spell formations very well.”

“There’s a constitution like that? I’ve lived a long life, but this is the first I’ve heard of such a thing. Go on, give it a try. If you infuse energy into your hand and sweep it upward like this, the writing inside should scroll up, and you’ll see the content below.”

Following the explanation, Jang Woo-hyun tried several times to check the contents of the scroll. No matter how hard he tried, the writing in the scroll wouldn’t move upward.

“Haha, that’s enough now. If you force it any more, the item might break. Seems like it really won’t work. Never thought I’d see something like this in my life.”

Shaking his head, the old man began walking again.

This time, he walked quite far inward. As they continued, the scroll-filled shelves began to transition into books made of paper.

“Let’s see… No one really comes looking for books these days.”

Unlike before, he didn’t point one out immediately. Instead, the old man leaned into the shelf and searched.

“Ah, here’s one. Will this do?”

Taking the book titled [Introduction to Central Heavens Martial Arts], Jang Woo-hyun flipped through its contents. The front portion contained a general overview of the prominent sects of the Central Heavens Martial Realm, and the back detailed martial arts and their corresponding realms.

“This will do.”

“Then take that one.”

Because it was a rare book, Jang Woo-hyun paid a considerably high price.

“You’re not going to haggle? What if I charged you more than it’s worth?”

“I have a decent eye for people. You don’t seem like someone who would do that, Elder.”

“Haha, you’re the perfect type to get scammed.”

Despite his words, the corners of the old man’s mouth lifted slightly.

“Come again sometime. I’ll make sure to scam you again.”

“Yes, I’ll come back once I’ve saved enough to buy a hidden secret manual.”

“Alright then, be sure to visit if you make a lot of money. I’ll prepare something good for you.”

After exchanging jokes with the old man, Jang Woo-hyun climbed the stairs.

The old man silently watched Jang Woo-hyun’s back as he left, thinking it had been a long time since he’d encountered such an amusing youth.

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