Chapter 80 – Rank 3 Body Tempering

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The moment Jin So-myeong consumed the Steel Body Pill.

The heat that started in his stomach surged up as if exploding.

“Urgh.”

Literally, his blood boiled. A volcanic-hot energy spread through his blood vessels to his limbs and bones.

Just how long did the burning pain from the inside continue?

Thump! Thump!

Centered on the heart, the five viscera began to pulsate.

Like rain falling on a paddy field dried by a long drought, the five viscera, exhausted as the price of using the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration, gained vital energy.

As if sucking up the water of life, they absorbed the energy originating from the Steel Body Pill endlessly.

The moment the blood energy gathered in that way reached its peak,

Rumble!

a giant vortex rotated centered on Jin So-myeong. It greedily sucked in all the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth reaching a radius of ten li.

‘…It is not enough.’

This place was an uninhabited island. Since it was not a spiritual vein, the spiritual power was not sufficient.

There was a limit with only the spiritual power flowing in from the Secret Realm of the Mind.

He realized instinctively what he had to do to advance further.

Shrrrk!

He poured out a heap of mid-grade spirit stones from his sub-space. It was with the heart wishing that it would help even by a speck.

Crack!

Around the time the number of mid-grade spirit stones crumbled from having their spiritual power absorbed surpassed 5,000,

Jin So-myeong’s complexion brightened.

Crack!

Inside his body, a sound of bones twisting was heard from the spine, which could be called the pillar.

Something is about to start.

The joy was brief. In an instant, his ears went deaf and his vision blurred hazily.

‘Keck!’

His mouth gaped wide, but no sound could leak out.

He wanted to scream at the pain that made his hands and feet tremble.

Creak!

Clenching his molars hard enough to make a sound, he endured the moment that felt like eternity…

and the muscles and bones of his entire body were disassembled and assembled again simultaneously.

‘Ah.’

At some point, all the pain vanished as if washed away.

It felt like being born again. A feeling that cooled him to the bone climbed up along his spine.

An evolution achieved at a fundamental level!

With every breath, his body advanced toward the ultimate point called the ideal.

Ascent.

If one crawled out of a narrow well and saw the wide-open world for the first time, would it feel like this?

Just as the ecstatic moment that he would not exchange for whatever he was given continued,

“Impudent! How dare a mere human attempt a breakthrough here? Did you surely not know that this body was chasing you?”

Along with a cold voice filled with killing intent.

Boom!

Something like an iron pillar struck him.

He was struck head-on without even a gap to avoid and was blown away. The clumsy barrier installed with formation dharma treasures did not provide any help.

Beeeee——

Along with tinnitus, a dull pain arrived. It felt as if he had been struck by a massive boulder.

‘Damn it.’

Had there been just a little more time, he would have been able to achieve Rank 3 body tempering.

Along with regret, anger welled up.

Within the shaking world, Jin So-myeong, who stood up with difficulty, shook his head.

He forced his blurry focus to align and confirmed who had launched the surprise attack.

A giant wolf whose height alone was 5 meters was visible. Its mane fluttering in the wind was like a blazing flame.

Merely by standing quietly, a mighty pressure weighed down the earth.

‘A Rank 3 Demonic King… it is the guy who visited the cave dwelling. As expected, it was the Sea Wolf Clan.’

The uneasy premonition was correct.

It had tracked him all the way to this place from the deep sea a hundred li away.

The Demonic King, who was licking his fangs with his thick tongue, paused.

“Wait. Your face is familiar… Oh! You are that sword cultivator fellow who ran wild without fear on Sky Island! Mwahahaha! This is a jackpot!”

“…Do you know me?”

“Naturally! Do you even know how many of our demonic race you have killed? I was worrying about how to lure you out of Sky Island, but to come out on your own, foolish bastard!”

He ignored the Demonic King who burst into laughter without hiding his joy.

Scanning the inside of his body with his Divine Sense, he grasped his body condition first.

‘It is not good.’

The Steel Body Pill energy that was leading him to Rank 3 vanished at some point. His physical body, which was growing stronger through repeating destruction and regeneration, also stopped its evolution.

All that remained was spiritual power that was about half-recovered and a physical body on the verge of vomiting blood.

“By the way, where did Hyeok Cheon-ung disappear to, and you were in that cave dwelling?”

“…”

“Do not say you do not know. Because the smell of blood coming from you right now vibrated in the cave dwelling.”

Pondering for a moment, he decided to respond to the conversation. Currently, he had to buy even a little time to recover.

He admitted it cleanly.

“I killed him.”

“A mere bastard like you killed Hyeok Cheon-ung? You are telling me to believe that?”

“Heh… if you are truly curious, wait. I will show you directly how I killed him.”

“Mwahahaha! You want me to foolishly give my enemy time to recover? It is a type of begging for life I am hearing for the first time!”

“If you are afraid, it cannot be helped.”

The Wolf Demonic King, who curled up the corners of his mouth, snorted.

“Hmph. Do you think I will be swayed by the words of a despicable human? Forget it. Once I kill you, I just need to search for Hyeok Cheon-ung again.”

A bitter smile emerged inwardly. He tried to provoke him openly, but it did not work.

It seemed he had looked down on him too much as a beast.

Phew.

Just as he caught his breath briefly and gripped the hilt of his sword,

the demonic Qi condensed in the empty air transformed like a spear, and appeared right before his nose in the blink of an eye.

‘Hup!’

Action was faster than judgment. Bending his waist backward, he barely avoided the spearhead that stabbed to enter his forehead.

A few strands of hair scattered in the empty air at the spearhead that narrowly brushed past his forehead.

The relief was brief.

The spear wriggled as if alive, then transformed into a rope shape and wrapped his upper body.

It connected with the ground and became a shackle. It made it so he could not leave his spot.

“Quite agile. Let’s see you avoid this too!”

Rumble!

The sun was covered, and the entire uninhabited island turned dark. It was because an immense amount of seawater rose into the empty air.

At the overwhelming scale of the spell caused by a true Rank 3 existence, the pupils of Jin So-myeong, who rarely lost his composure, shook.

Creak!

Water enough to cover the sky was compressed to a single point.

It became a bead barely the size of a fist, spreading a hair-raising pressure.

The moment the water sphere created within the lie-like scene vibrated violently,

Swish!

it rushed in along with a streak of breaking-the-air sound.

He realized instinctively at it flying in a straight line toward his heart.

If struck, he dies.

Therefore.

‘I must deflect it.’

As his life was placed on the deathline, his concentration reached a level never seen before.

For an instant. All noise vanished.

Each scattering speck of dust was visible clearly.

In this place where even the clouds in the sky had stopped, he thrust his sword toward the water sphere that approached rapidly as if receiving no influence.

‘Not head-on.’

He twisted the tip of his blade minutely. The moment the water sphere contacted the obliquely held sword surface,

an immense mass and condensed colossal force were felt.

His premonition was correct. Had he met such an ignorant spell head-on, that day would be his path to the Yellow Springs.

Creak!

The straight sword blade bent.

The Five Elements Sword, which had sliced numerous enemies, could not bear the force contained in the water sphere and was about to break.

‘No!’

He forcibly squeezed all his energy.

Urging his empty dantian, he gathered even a tiny amount of spiritual power, and forcibly awakened his five viscera that did not operate as if broken.

Barely an inch.

The sword he swung with difficulty distorted the trajectory of the water sphere.

At it narrowly brushing past his shoulder, the skin that had not even touched burst with a pop.

Boom!

A gale raged right behind him. The ground struck directly by the deflected water sphere turned to powder, and half of the uninhabited island was blown away.

“Cough…”

Jin So-myeong’s complexion, who endured the blow, turned pale.

Although he was not hit properly, his arm bones were crushed merely by the aftermath.

Just as he gripped his sword with difficulty with his limp hand,

a hot energy surged from deep inside his body.

Was it because he had half-immersed his body in death? Something awakened within the extreme concentration.

‘The Steel Body Pill?’

The energy of the medicinal pill, which he had thought already vanished, recovered his crushed arm bones.

Tight!

Strength entered his limp arm. His grip strength also became minutely stronger.

It was thanks to the training method unique to the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art, which raised its realm by repeating destruction and regeneration.

If it is this method…

Simultaneously with Jin So-myeong’s eyes shining,

“…Perhaps you really did kill Hyeok Cheon-ung.”

The somewhat serious voice handed down a death sentence to him.

Rumble!

The ground surged up and became a cliff. Blocking all directions to block the path of escape, and at the same time,

the single water sphere that he had barely passed just now multiplied by dozens and poured down.

Looking at that despairing scene,

Jin So-myeong just swung his sword.

First of all. He severed the rope-shaped spell wrapping his upper body.

Although he regained freedom, he had no intention of fleeing.

‘Even if I try, I cannot avoid it.’

As the approaching death grew clearer, his instinct awakened. Clearing away all idle thoughts, he focused only on the battle.

The way to live? No, to win?

‘I must advance forward.’

He took a step. Merely by that, the trajectory of the pouring water spheres simplified.

He swung his sword at the first water sphere that flew in.

The Five Elements Sword vibrated as if it would break, but he barely held out. The deflected water sphere collided with another water sphere.

Boom!

The shockwave generated as the two spheres clashed swept in all directions. At the destructive power that would change even the terrain, the meridians of his entire body severed strand by strand.

“Cough.”

It was bitter. So this was what coughing mixed with pieces of internal organs tasted like. Dark red flesh was visible in the vomited blood.

Although he suffered a fatal injury under which it would not be strange to die right away, there was also a good thing.

It was that dozens of water spheres collided among themselves and exploded.

The water spheres that actually hit Jin So-myeong were not many. Of course, that alone was sufficient to drive him to the verge of death.

But he survived in the end. That was important.

“Hehehe…”

Jin So-myeong, who was vomiting blood enough to wet his front collar, laughed.

It was because as his messed-up body recovered, he felt it evolving beyond the limit.

Would the Demonic King not know that?

“…I am tired of this now. Just die.”

“You speak as if you had been going easy on me.”

“We will see.”

Killing intent rolled in his eyes. Despite being a wolf, it was vivid enough that his expression could be read.

– Awoooo!

The wind blew.

The airflow starting from between his claws climbed up his legs and wrapped his entire body.

It was like a colorful dragon robe worn by an emperor. The moment the wolf figure standing proudly while wrapped in wind vanished,

Boom!

A powerful impact was felt at his flank.

Had he not lowered his arm reflexively to block, his upper body including his ribs would have been entirely crushed.

“Cough.”

Jin So-myeong, who was blown away in a miserable state, stood up stumblingly. Although blood flowed in torrents from his flank pierced by claws, he laughed.

As long as he did not die, it did not matter.

The wound serious enough that his internal organs were visible vanished in a few breaths.

Faced with the threat of death, he felt his body tempering realm heading toward an unprecedented place.

“You are a fellow with a tough lifeline…”

The Demonic King, who spoke in a tone mixed with admiration and annoyance, vanished again.

Appearing as if teleporting, he tried to cleave the crown of his head. He barely avoided it, but blood burst from his chest.

His upper body split wide open merely by being grazed by the wind wrapped around the claws.

Boom!

He was blown away by the wind pressure and crashed into the ground, but he rolled around to resolve the impact.

Just how many times did he endure?

Life and death repeated without rest, and the realm called Rank 3 grew close enough to grab.

Thump… Thump…!

Around the time his faint heartbeat grew as loud as thunder and struck his eardrums,

his physical body, which had been screaming that it was at its limit, grew quiet before he knew it.

From a single drop of blood at the tips of his limbs, from every single strand of muscle, blood energy welled up.

The spiritual organs that had stopped as if dead. His five viscera revived and began to pulsate.

Now, he saw it.

Every movement of the Demonic King moving by riding the wind and swinging his claws was vivid from beginning to end.

Because he had reached.

Rank 3 body tempering.

Thud!

He stomped his foot for the first time since the Demonic King set out in earnest.

Avoiding the claws trying to pierce his face by a hair’s breadth, he thrust his sword toward the fully exposed heart.