Returning Immortal

Chapter 42

Ne Jinja, who was following behind the Raging Fire Divine Lord with the Grand Prince, stopped in front of a high cliff.

The cliff was so steep that there was no place to set foot.

There were hardly any grass or trees...

On one side of such a desolate cliff, numerous insects were now fighting with a life-and-death resolve.

Perhaps because they had been fighting for quite a while, the bottom of the cliff was full of the corpses of insects.

But a peculiar behavior was observed in some of the insects.

Quite a large number of insects were dying by crashing into the cliff.

Observing closely, the reason the insects had died was not because they had directly collided with the cliff.

When the insects approached the cliff, a strange energy flowed out and was causing them to explode.

Even so, the insects continued to rush in.

It was because a temptation greater than death was pulling them.

"Divine Lord! I have found the location where the fragrance is flowing from. But it seems you will have to wait a little longer."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen carefully."

At Ne Jinja's words, the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had blown his internal energy into his ears, tilted his head.

Whoosh!

As Ne Jinja had said, a strange sound was heard from the crack in the cliff where the insects were gathered.

A sound as if the mountain were crying out...

But not only was it hard to hear, but the sound was also getting smaller as time passed.

What was strange was the fact that the smaller the sound became, the thicker the fragrance became.

"This sound is..."

"A restriction is installed on the cliff in front. It is the sound coming from within it."

Ne Jinja, who had finished his answer, looked at a corner of the cliff.

It was the place where the insects were crashing their bodies, risking death.

As the fragrance grew thicker, the number of insects jumping into the cliff increased even more.

Even so, the number of insects that had exploded and died was not that large.

It was because the killing power of the restriction had decreased compared to the beginning.

Woooong.

Now, the sound was almost inaudible.

"Vice Director! Seeing that the sound has stopped, it seems the restriction has been extinguished. Let's hurry."

The moment the Raging Fire Divine Lord's words ended, the space in front of the cliff where the insects had crashed their bodies was greatly distorted.

The space tore as if opening a gap, and suddenly a pitch-black cave revealed its form.

Buzzzzz!

At that, the insects that had been waiting in front rushed inside all at once.

"Let's do that. Huh! Stop for a moment."

Ne Jinja hastily called out to the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was about to run towards the cave.

At that time, a lump of red radiance flew down from the air and disappeared into the cave in an instant.

Whoosh.

Before entering the cave, a flame that seemed to be burning for a moment flowed from the radiance.

And it burned and killed all the nearby insects in an instant.

"Wh-what just passed by?"

Although his eyes were not visible, the Raging Fire Divine Lord could tell that what had just entered the cave was a very dangerous being.

It was a monster similar to the demon they had fought two days ago.

"I don't know either. It seems there are not just one or two who are after the spiritual medicine."

Ne Jinja answered with a voice full of anguish.

It was because he had no confidence in facing the recent demonic beast even if he and the Grand Prince joined forces.

At that time, the Grand Prince, who had been silent, expressed his opinion.

"How can one obtain a precious treasure without risking danger? To think it's an item that has been sealed for so long that the restriction has collapsed... Let's also test our luck."

"Since you, Grand Prince, say so, I will follow. Then I will take the lead."

"Do so."

When Ne Jinja flew up first, the Grand Prince supported the Raging Fire Divine Lord and slowly entered the cave.

* * *

The cave was wider than he had thought.

It was to the extent that three people could walk side by side.

"Wait a moment."

Ne Jinja, who was leading the way in front, sent a palm force at the cave wall.

At that, a mechanism hidden in the crack of the stone was revealed.

It was a hole with an arrowhead.

Careful!

Although the Grand Prince shouted in surprise, fortunately, the arrow did not fly.

Creeeak! Creak!

The sound of machinery turning was heard from within the stone wall, and then it stopped with a thud.

Swish!

Ne Jinja, who had extended his hand to the stone wall, pulled out an arrowhead from the hole.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Looking at the shape and material of the arrowhead, it seems this cave was made more than a few thousand years ago. It's not so strange that the restriction has been extinguished."

"It's that old? No wonder the mechanism didn't activate..."

The Grand Prince, who had let out a chuckle, urged them to hurry.

It was because he was worried that the insects that had flown ahead would take all the treasure.

The cave was sloped downwards at an angle.

After walking along that path for about two jiao, a single door appeared before their eyes.

It was a stone door that was opened at an angle.

The stone door, which was presumed to have been originally closed, was partially broken and melted.

It seemed to be the work of the insects and the red light lump that had entered the cave before them.

Ne Jinja's gaze, who was standing in front of the door, was lifted upwards.

Xuan Tian Cave Mansion.

Above the stone door, a stone plate with ancient hieroglyphs engraved on it was hanging.

Creeeak!

When he opened the door and entered, a large cave came into his view.

The first thing that came into his view was the corpses of the dead insects.

Tens of thousands of black grasshoppers were rolling on the ground with their bellies turned up.

Between them, the corpses of frogs and centipedes were also visible.

But that didn't mean all the insects that had entered the door were dead.

Perhaps because so many had come in, there were still far more that were alive.

Kwwwwwaaaaang!

Suddenly, a ferocious roar was heard, and Ne Jinja's gaze turned there.

On one side of the cave, there was a small pond, and on it, two hideous demonic beasts were entangled and were fighting a life-and-death battle.

One was the red radiance that had entered the cave before, and looking at it now, it was an avian demonic beast with red flames flickering on its feathers.

Red eyes, a large nose, a face that looked like a monkey.

If it weren't for its sharp beak and wings, it was a bizarre appearance that would be difficult to even call an avian.

Whoosh!

When the avian demonic beast, covered in crimson-like red feathers, spewed fire from its mouth, the two-headed snake that was fighting entangled with it flew into the air and dodged the flames.

And flipping its body in the air, it tore one of the avian demonic beast's wings with its sharp claws.

When the avian demonic beast rushed in and pecked one of its heads with its beak, the two-headed snake, as if it had been waiting, wrapped its long body around the avian's body.

In response, the two demonic beasts fell into the pond, entangled.

Splash.

The water was an extremely unfavorable battlefield for the avian demonic beast.

But the sight that was revealed after a while was far beyond expectations.

A single shadow shot out from the pond that was boiling like a wave, and it was surprisingly the avian demonic beast.

Next, the two-headed snake also revealed its body.

But one of its heads was dead, and it was hanging down, covered in blood.

Ugh!

The avian demonic beast roared with a triumphant voice.

* * *

"Ugh."

Gwi Seongjin, who had fainted from being hit by the three-headed snake's attack, came to his senses.

Seeing that the three-headed snake and the skull were still fighting in front of him, it seemed the time he had been unconscious was not very long.

Gwi Seongjin, who was about to stand up, made a look of dismay.

It was because his body was not listening to him.

'What's wrong?'

Gwi Seongjin, who was carefully examining his body, found out after a long time that there was a problem with his primordial spirit.

A transparent chain was wrapping around his primordial spirit and was blocking the connection with his physical body.

So not only could he not deploy his legal power, but he also couldn't even move his body.

'What should I do?'

Gwi Seongjin, who had been contemplating for a moment, suddenly rummaged through the memory of the evil ghost he had pushed to one side.

The evil ghost had eaten the primordial spirits of demonic beasts and people with its Soul Swallowing Art and had sucked up all the memories they had.

The number of spells obtained like that was in the hundreds.

But by nature, a ghost beast could not cultivate legal power.

All the spells obtained by killing cultivators were useless.

So he had thrown it to the other side of his memory, but Gwi Seongjin, who was in a crisis, had recalled it.

Gwi Seongjin, who had been rummaging through the evil ghost's memory for a long time, finally discovered a similar spell.

'Evil Spirit Soul Locking Art.'

It was a spell that bound the primordial spirit by materializing consciousness in the shape of a chain.

However, to perform this spell, the minimum realm had to be beyond the Void Refinement stage.

So it was not the Evil Spirit Soul Locking Art.

Other than that, there were a few ways to directly suppress the primordial spirit, but he couldn't find a way to bind it with a chain-shaped restraint.

Gwi Seongjin, who had been rummaging through the evil ghost's memory for a long time, shook his head as if dejected.

It was because he couldn't find a secret plan to break the consciousness chain.

But he couldn't just stand by and wait for death.

In any case, he had to devise a way and break the chain that was binding his primordial spirit.

Gwi Seongjin's only hope was that the transparent chain the flood dragon had performed would not be hard.

This was a conclusion he had inferred from the fact that the flood dragon that had performed the spell was not a Void Refinement stage immortal, but a mere spiritual beast.

And it was a hybrid, not a pure bloodline.

The method Gwi Seongjin had attempted to remove the consciousness chain was not very complicated.

It was to apply force from outside the primordial spirit and break the chain.

But it was a failure.

Since his primordial spirit was bound, there were almost no attack methods he could use.

Not only the legal power and consciousness his primordial spirit possessed, but also the energy stored in his three dantians could not be used at all.

At best, it was to the extent of moving his mind.

Still, it was fortunate that he could examine his spirit platform with his spiritual sense.

Although it didn't seem very helpful, it was fortunate that he could at least do this.

What could he do with this ability?

The easiest thing that came to mind was to extract the crystal thread in the pond of consciousness by earnestly wishing with his mind.

But perhaps because his primordial spirit was bound, this too was not easy.

Although he had tried hard, at best, it was only a single strand of crystal thread.

Having no choice, Gwi Seongjin moved it and attacked the transparent chain.

Wobble, wobble.

It seemed something was happening.

But with just this much consciousness, he could not break the chain.

In the end, Gwi Seongjin stopped his attack.

And after thinking for a long time, he sent his will to the ghost qi floating in the sky.

Fortunately, thanks to having refined it several times, the ghost qi moved as his will commanded.

The ghost qi that had come down near the primordial spirit turned into an axe and fiercely struck the chain that was binding him.

Even so, the chain did not break.

It was because as his primordial spirit was bound, even his will had weakened, so the axe blade had been made blunt.

Still, when he struck it several times, a small scratch was made on the chain.

Although a transparent radiance flashed and restored the damaged part, it was a moment when hope was born.

Clang! Clang!

Gwi Seongjin attacked the chain without resting.

Was it because of that?

The chain that was binding Gwi Seongjin's primordial spirit loosened a little.

Now, he could also move his neck a little.

But it was not to the extent that he could stand up.

Having no choice, Gwi Seongjin watched the scene of the two demons fighting while swinging the axe.

The fight between the skull and the three-headed snake was truly a close match.

Because of that, the demons fought with all their strength, and thanks to that, Gwi Seongjin was able to learn quite a lot about the knack of fighting with legal power.

The demons were performing the tricks, and Gwi Seongjin was taking the money.

After fighting for a long time, the skull finally took off one of the three-headed snake's heads from its neck.

It had turned the three-headed snake into a two-headed snake.

In the meantime, the skull's legal power had also been greatly exhausted, and its skin, which had been shining gold, had turned white.

Although both had suffered great damage, the two demons did not stop fighting easily.

It seemed they were trying to see the end this time.

Then they suddenly stopped fighting, and the reason was because of the insects that had entered the cave.

Buzzzzz!

When the insects suddenly flew into the cave, the skull split its spiritual sense into two and guarded against the danger coming from outside with one.

It was because the atmosphere was unusual.

When the skull slowed down its attack, the three-headed snake also sensed the danger and pulled the head it had stuck out of the barrier back into the pond.

And it spewed a black poison mist at the insects.

Thud.

The black grasshoppers, enveloped in the poison mist, fell to the ground in countless numbers.

However, only a few of the five-colored frogs and centipedes, which were highly poisonous, died.

In the midst of that, an avian demonic beast that seemed to have a high cultivation flew into the cave, flashing a red radiance.

The avian demonic beast's target was the source of the fragrance.

It was the yellow flower planted in the center of the pond.

The three-headed snake had lost one of its heads while fighting the golden skull, and its primordial qi had also been considerably exhausted.

But the three-headed snake was not one to obediently give up its treasure.

Kwwwwwaaaaang!

The three-headed snake rushed at the avian demonic beast, letting out a roar that seemed to shake the heavens.

It was a sound imbued with the strong will that it was the ruler of this area.

But despite the ferocious roar, the three-headed snake had lost another head.

(End of Chapter)