NOVEL NEXT Chapter 591
Chapter 591 – Dark Heaven Village
“I understand.”
I had received the right to use weapons from the Tower of Muwang from the Prophet. Zhuge Sa’s words were that we should use that power to obliterate Luoyang in advance and enter under the most favorable circumstances. Sure, the humans inside might suffer, but living in that living hell would be more torturous anyway.
Wooong.
As I thought about wanting to use a weapon and quietly recited the incantation embedded in my mind, after a brief moment, my consciousness drifted somewhere else.
I found myself hovering in a blank, white space.
This place felt like a spiritual realm, but in front of me, a pitch-black sky twisted with darkness was filled with countless stars. I knew this was the outside universe, and the blue star in my line of sight was where I lived.
[ User recognition confirmed. ]
With a sound that lacked any humanity, something strange sprung forth from across the space. It had wide, round eyes and resembled a leopard, sporting a third eye embedded in its forehead. The bizarre beast spoke to me.
[ Target confirmed. Please input your target. ]
“I especially want to wipe out the Nine Lotus Bishop and the Nine Lotus Sect around Luoyang.”
[ Inputting target… Please confirm if the target is the annihilation of terrestrial civilization. ]
“No. Just Luoyang… and make sure the surrounding area isn’t harmed. If possible, spare the humans.”
[ Please wait. ]
The leopard-like beast swirled its eyes around as a blue storm circled them. After sitting for a long time, it lifted its head and spoke.
[ Target confirmed as Jun [Master] level. Weapons like orbital bombing and atomic bombs are ineffective against a rank below 16. The amount of damage required for the target’s extermination is measured at 1.98 Rotals. The dimensional reverse field confirms that the chaos retention of the target significantly exceeds civilization standards. Estimated year 1297… Minimum weapon rating required to exterminate the target is measured at rank 18. ]
As the three-eyed leopard muttered some incomprehensible noises, it continued speaking to me.
[ To unlock rank 18, royal approval is required. Please confirm that the activation of the rank 18 weapon signifies a crisis for your clan. ]
“……?”
What the heck does that mean?
So I can only use rank 18 weapons to take down that Nine Lotus Bishop if I get royal approval? I pondered briefly before asking, “How do I get royal approval? Didn’t I already come here with the king’s permission?”
[ No such instance found, analyzing. It is recommended to establish a communication link with royalty for royal approval. ]
“Do it.”
Doo doo doo.
[ Communication link with the King has been established. ]
A repetitive tone echoed briefly, and a hologram flickered in front of the leopard.
Surprisingly, the Prophet stood in that seemingly lively image!
“Prophet!!”
He was amidst a bizarre landscape I couldn’t recognize. It appeared he had already fled to an unknowable otherworldly realm of distant galaxies.
[ Entangled in the God’s scheme… heh heh… ]
The Prophet muttered something profound and then said,
[ Baek Woong… I’m sorry, but I cannot grant you rank 18 weapons… as they are for repelling the [Old Ruler]… you may face backlash from the Law of Cause and Effect… ]
“……!!”
[ Instead, I will grant you the level just below it, rank 17… That alone is a significant burden for me… ]
I quickly asked, “Wait, you didn’t sell my information to Changqie, did you…?”
[ Ah… something urgent seems to have come up… ]
Pa-at!
The Prophet hung up without answering my question. As I stood there, bewildered, the leopard spoke.
[ The 17th-grade weapon has been unlocked under the authority of the King. ]
“Damn it!!”
I felt a bubbling rage boil inside me. It was so suspicious that he hadn’t even answered and just cut me off. If Changqie knew I was a reborn person, it surely meant the Prophet sold my information. That’s why he ignored me when I pressed for answers.
‘ I knew he was a dishonorable guy. ’
Hoping for more from an information broker would be pointless, right?
I finally settled my emotions and commanded the leopard, “Alright. Use the rank 17 weapon to wipe out the Nine Lotus Bishop and the Nine Lotus Sect around Luoyang!”
[ Command approved. ]
Wiiiiiing.
Was this now a celestial body floating in space? With a dull sound, a white cannon barrel seemed to aim at the round world.
[ Installing temporal compression on target point [Luoyang]… Capturing 6 units of Jun [Apostles]… Initiating the chaos spectrum device… An anti-matter core has been attached. The leader of the Great Universe’s future intelligence integration sent words of encouragement for a happy hunt! Progressing with anti-Old Ruler thought isolation… Confirmation of complete barrier against the [Old Ruler]’s mental wave. Disabling super regeneration, the immortal ability of Cause and Effect, and temporal reversal… probability of exterminating top-ranked Apostles is confirmed at 99%. Anti-matter field capture complete at celestial latitude. ]
“……”
[ A diplomatic protest letter has arrived for you from the Alliance of the Western Clan. They express strong regret that using hostile [Old Ruler] weaponry on a primitive planet may jeopardize peace. The letter shows profound disappointment toward the [King] regarding the possibility of a 5000-year diplomatic rift. This letter will be retransmitted to the royalty. ]
Some incomprehensible words were exchanged, but anyway, there’s no doubt it was a tremendous weapon beyond what I understood right now.
[ In the year 3839827 of the Western Alliance, in the name of the Great King, I will fire the 17th-grade anti-[Old Ruler] extermination final weapon: the Anti-Particle Spirit Thunder Extreme Bliss Wave Cannon! ]
Piiit—
Zhang!
A tiny, thin line seemed to be launched from the cannon barrel, and that was it. The display seemed far less impressive than I anticipated, leaving me puzzled as to whether it had truly fired. But soon, the leopard flicked its tail and said,
[ Hit confirmed. Returning user’s consciousness. ]
Pa-at!
In the next moment, I escaped the white space and returned to the place where I originally stood. However, I was momentarily mesmerized by the scene before my eyes.
A white pillar!
It silently appeared as if a white pillar had pierced through Luoyang completely. No – in fact, that white beam of light was erasing the entirety of Luoyang.
Biiibiiibiiiing!
A strange, unidentified cacophony echoed like a vibration. It didn’t even feel like an attack until, moments later, the light ceased, leaving only ruins in its wake.
“……”
“Baek Woong… what on earth have you done?”
Zhuge Sa’s lips trembled in shock. He couldn’t hide his astonishment as he murmured.
“I didn’t expect it to be this…”
A complete ruin.
That was the final result. What was once called Luoyang had disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed. With a glimmer of hope, I asked, “Could it be that the Nine Lotus Bishop is also dead?”
“Let’s hope so!”
Everyone seemed to agree with my sentiment. If we could eradicate humanity’s greatest calamity without fighting, nothing would be better than that. We stayed there for a while, watching the spectacle, then stepped forward. But as we walked for about five miles, there were no signs of life whatsoever.
Yet surprisingly, something suddenly emerged from beneath the ground here and there. Coughing, they got up, appearing to be survivors.
“Are you alright?”
“Cough… cough… what happened…?”
They were survivors hiding all over Luoyang, suddenly buried in the faint ground by the bright light. Zhuge Sa spoke to Yeon Jong-hwi.
“You handle the survivors. We need to confirm the fates of the Nine Lotus Bishop and Archbishop.”
“Understood.”
We pressed further ahead. While walking, I sensed something and said, “The power of the Demon has been washed away.”
“It seems that light had some purification ability as well. Only the humans were spared, while everything else was destroyed? Truly impressive. But…”
Zhuge Sa looked at the sky with a grim expression.
“The battle ground remains unchanged.”
“……”
“That’s a barrier even the Great Race’s super civilization cannot deal with.”
It might be. If the Evil Spirit determined to descend couldn’t breach the barrier, it would make sense. But then, what kind of existence is [Master Mangnyang], who maintains this battleground? I could truly sense the remarkable nature of that black cat once again.
Bgrrrr…
“Ah.”
Suddenly, bubbles began to bubble up from all around the void, indicating something was regenerating. The regenerated entities quickly morphed into red-robed monsters, and upon seeing them, Jin So-cheong murmured in a low voice.
“Archbishop troops.”
The bishops of the Nine Lotus Sect!
There were a total of six of them. While I couldn’t see their faces well, I noticed tentacles oozing out from some of their robes, indicating that they didn’t have pleasant appearances. They were already beyond human, becoming monsters intertwined with tentacles. As I swallowed, Mangnyang spoke.
“There’s something off about their condition. Normally, each of those beings would boast power enough to challenge even a Dharma Guardian; their strength feels almost nonexistent.”
“……?”
Poison King Tang San grinned.
“After taking that beam, they must’ve successfully recovered their bodies, but their strength has depleted! That makes it a piece of cake!”
Sssss.
With the Mind Control Technique, the Formless Poison enveloped the bishops. In an instant, their bodies began to dissolve as if melting, and to my astonishment, they turned into pools of blood in a matter of moments.
“……!!”
Is there even such a poison? No matter how strong a toxin is, this is just absurd! Even the best antidotes I’ve seen would dissolve skin but not melt bones and flesh in an instant like this. I could only be in awe of the power of the Formless Poison wielded by a master of the Absolute Realm.
‘ If that were to hit me… ’
There’d be no way to survive. I could resist once or twice by raising my toxicity levels with the Thunder Spirit, but as the fight dragged on, I’d eventually succumb to the poison and perish.
Tang San, looking bewildered after annihilating the bishops, asked, “What? Is it over already? Normally, they would spew out tentacles even after getting hit by Formless Poison. Handling just one was already tough, so why have they weakened so much?”
Jin So-cheong responded, “It seems that the weapon from the Tower of Muwang you used has interfered with their regeneration and eliminated their immortality. Truly a miraculous thing.”
“Wow… what kind of trick did you use? You’re quite amazing.”
Tang San looked at me with genuine admiration. I could see from his expression that these bishops were, in fact, powerful monsters treated as stronger than Dharma Guardians and that they weren’t the sort to easily die. It was also clear that even the masters of the Absolute Realm had been struggling against their infinite regeneration and immortality.
How much longer did we walk?
In the midst of the ruins stood a figure cloaked in a black robe. That being stared at us blankly, but the moment I saw it, Jin So-cheong’s complexion changed for the worse. Likewise, Mangnyang and Zhuge Sa clenched their teeth simultaneously.
“The Nine Lotus Bishop.”
Unlike the bishops, the being called the Nine Lotus Bishop did not revive in the air. Instead, it stood quietly as if it had always been there. Yet it felt as if the surrounding space had been consumed by this person’s presence, and even though we had two masters of the Absolute Realm here, I couldn’t shake the feeling of shrinking back.
But something seemed off. The face behind the Nine Lotus Bishop’s dark robe looked strangely familiar. As I pondered this, Jin So-cheong said, “Baek Woong, it seems we are fortunate amid misfortune. The Nine Lotus Bishop’s power, which was once insurmountable, seems to have dropped below half now.”
“Does that mean we can win?”
“… I don’t know. We might not be able to.”
“……”
I couldn’t understand why Jin So-cheong spoke so weakly about an opponent, even if their power had fallen below half.
Just then, the Nine Lotus Bishop looked at me and opened its mouth.
“I shall spare you.”
“Pardon?”
I understood the ridiculousness of that statement but was at a loss for what it meant. The Nine Lotus Bishop, a super master who had single-handedly annihilated the peerless masters of the White Lotus Sect, including Jin So-cheong, had survived the weapon from the Tower of Muwang. Why would such a being want to spare me?
Moreover, the voice of the Nine Lotus Bishop sounded feminine, and I recognized it quite well, causing a hint of suspicion to flare within me.
“Don’t tell me you’re…?”
The Nine Lotus Bishop slowly revealed her dark robe, uncovering her head, and said, “My master desires it.”
“?!”
In that instant, my mouth dropped open.
That white-haired woman – I was absolutely sure I recognized her.
A heavy shock surged through my mind as I trembled.
“Seo Mun-hye…”