Almighty God of War - Chapter 176

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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176

Guyang Cheongang calmly examined the top of the altar.

On the altar of magnificent scale, two objects were enshrined.

One was a massive stone stele that dominated the space.

As expected, the surface of the stone stele recorded the subsequent passages of the Cheonmujinggyeol.

The stone stele was not only much larger than what he had seen in the previous valley, but the number of densely carved characters seemed to be several times more.

Even at a rough estimate, it was easily over four thousand characters.

Guyang Cheongang slightly furrowed his brow and fell into thought.

‘If I combine this with the previous ones, it approaches ten thousand characters. Such a vast amount.’

Though he was curious about the content of the manual, there was no need for him to rack his brains studying it right now.

He had a partner with the greatest computational power in this world.

‘Akasha, you handle this. Record and analyze every single character without omission.’

[Already conducting precision scan. Entered data storage and pattern analysis optimization phase.]

Guyang Cheongang nodded and shifted his gaze to the side.

Next to the stone stele, a jade box sat alone.

It was a small box the size of a palm, but the material composing it was extraordinary.

Rather than simple jade, it was closer to transparent crystal, and through it, the objects inside revealed their mysterious forms.

When he carefully lifted the jade box, a cool chill was transmitted through his fingertips.

A heavier weight than expected pressed down on his palm.

Click-

With a crisp sound, the lid of the jade box opened.

At that moment, Guyang Cheongang’s complexion was colored with indescribable shock upon confirming the contents.

‘This… why is it appearing here?’

Inside the jade box were three objects, and one of them violently shook Guyang Cheongang’s mind and body.

It was a red bone fragment about the size of a finger joint.

From the surface of the fragment, eerie demonic energy was rising like billowing clouds.

That sinister energy writhing like a living creature made one’s entire body break out in goosebumps just from looking at it.

It was an object Guyang Cheongang never imagined he would encounter here – the Bongsinhyeolpyeon.

He picked up the bone fragment as if entranced.

The moment his fingertips touched it, familiar yet vicious demonic energy penetrated into his body like lightning through his meridians.

Whoooosh-!

It was a cold energy that was gloomy and evil, seeming to freeze all life force.

The demonic energy instantly made Guyang Cheongang’s true energy turbid and tried to shake and erode his mind.

But that invasion didn’t last very long.

Wooong-!

The Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art explosively reacted in his dantian.

Taiji Mixed Origin Energy surged up, and the energies of yin and yang created a massive whirlpool that surrounded the demonic energy.

The invading demonic energy was instantly purified and annihilated like dew under the sun.

Guyang Cheongang took out another jade box from his bosom and opened it.

Inside were already two Bongsinhyeolpyeon.

One extracted from the heart of the Heavenly Sea Ark’s Blood Spirit Demon, the other from the Crown Prince’s heart.

He placed the third fragment obtained from the altar alongside them in the jade box.

Three Bongsinhyeolpyeon had gathered in his hands.

‘Just how many of these things exist? And why specifically in the depths of Pungnimgok…’

His mind became complicated.

This was certainly one of the supreme rewards given to those who passed through all Seven Great Gates.

Guyang Cheongang’s eyes, filled with deep suspicion, sank like an abyss.

While passing through Pungnimgok’s Seven Great Gates, over a thousand martial artists lost their lives.

As the gates were repeated, the number of survivors decreased miserably, and only Guyang Cheongang reached the end of that harsh purgatory.

The final reward permitted to one who overcame all those terrifying ordeals.

That was precisely this abominable Bongsinhyeolpyeon.

Guyang Cheongang silently looked down at the jade box.

He couldn’t even fathom how many of these bone fragments existed in the world, or from what abyss they were born.

The only certainty was that this was not something that could be created by human hands.

‘The fact that this was enshrined as the final reward means the designer of Pungnimgok valued the Bongsinhyeolpyeon above all else.’

Recalling the murderous difficulty of the Seven Great Gates, the designer’s intention was clear.

He could feel the intense will that not just anyone should get their hands on this object – no, that this connection should only be passed to one who broke through all trials and grasped destiny.

‘These are questions I cannot find answers to right now.’

Even trying to forcibly fit together the scattered pieces of clues, not even the corners matched.

But it was too bizarre a flow to dismiss as coincidence.

It felt as if an invisible giant hand was using the Bongsinhyeolpyeon as a signpost to drag him toward an unknown destination.

‘Am I truly bound by fate to this cursed object? If so, someday I’ll face its true nature.’

There was no need to desperately seek answers.

In the flowing time, the naked truth of secrets would eventually be revealed, and when that time came, all pieces would form one complete picture.

Guyang Cheongang slowly shifted his gaze to examine the remaining two objects in the jade box.

One was an antique jade plaque that bore the full weathering of time.

On the palm-sized surface, the character ‘Heaven ‘ was carved along with towering pavilions rising above clouds in delicate relief.

The form of cranes playing in all directions was mysterious, as if the legendary Murim Dowon had been transplanted intact.

The other was a key of strange form.

On its surface of about four inches in length, dragons and phoenixes were intricately intertwined with indecipherable hieroglyphs.

Nowhere in the jade box was there any explanation of these objects’ names or purposes.

Guyang Cheongang carefully picked up the jade plaque and key.

The moment they touched his hands, he felt a contradictory sensation of energy that was both cold and warm simultaneously.

An unfamiliarity without rejection. They held a strange feeling as if they were breathing living creatures.

‘Akasha, analyze these too.’

[Conducting precision scan…]

Akasha’s voice that came after a moment was heavily tinged with bewilderment, unlike usual.

[Doctor, the analysis results are peculiar. These objects have molecular structures that exactly match the bracelet currently on your wrist.]

‘What?’

Guyang Cheongang reflexively looked down at his own wrist.

The dark blue bracelet filled with seven orbs while passing through the Seven Great Gates.

To think that it and this jade plaque and key were made of the same material.

[Yes, I’m certain. The energy patterns and bonding structures observed at the nano level are identical. The bracelet, jade plaque, and key. These three share the same origin. There’s a very high possibility they were made in the same era, by the same creator, for one purpose.]

‘This keeps getting more complicated. I broke through all the gates but instead of answers, questions are piling up like mountains. The designer is terribly unfriendly.’

[I apologize. I’d like to give you answers, but further inference is impossible with current data alone.]

‘Sigh, what fault is it of yours? The problem is that the human who made this place is a nasty pervert.’

Doubt rose like billowing clouds in Guyang Cheongang’s heart.

The question he harbored when first encountering Pungnimgok had now transformed into curiosity mixed with massive conviction that stimulated him.

‘Just who, for what purpose, designed this massive Pungnimgok and the Bongsinhyeolpyeon?’

Now that he had broken through all Seven Great Gates, Guyang Cheongang could be certain.

This place was definitely not constructed by an individual for private purposes.

The Gimun Daejin alone was of unimaginable scale.

A formation that distorted space-time, made one forget hunger even when cutting off valley energy, and rendered even the flow of time meaningless.

He wondered if such a mysterious region could be created no matter how outstanding an individual’s capabilities.

The mechanical devices were also wonders in themselves.

From Hongnyeom-ro’s flames, Absolute Ice Valley’s cold energy, Pungdo Gate’s blade winds, to Budokrim’s lethal poison energy.

All these extreme energies had been operating under perfect control for hundreds, no, thousands of years.

It was precision that made even him, possessing super-intelligence at the pinnacle of modern science, stick out his tongue.

And what about the martial arts left behind?

The supreme arts of each gate, including the Cheonmujinggyeol, were essences that could establish and rule sects commanding all under heaven with just one of them.

‘Tremendous wealth, martial arts to dominate all under heaven, wisdom mastering formations and mechanisms…’

Only those who possessed all these conditions simultaneously, or such forces, could have created Pungnimgok.

But what truly made Guyang Cheongang tremble was the weight of ‘time’ hidden behind it all.

Who on earth, and for what purpose, had created this massive testing ground that had been opening every hundred years for a thousand years?

Guyang Cheongang slowly surveyed the cliffs surrounding like a folding screen and the now-empty altar.

Despite a thousand years having passed, the stone gate was as smooth as if carved yesterday.

‘Just what kind of perverted human would do such a thing…’

[Doctor, may I share my speculation?]

Akasha, who had been silent, cautiously spoke up.

‘Go ahead.’

[Pungnimgok doesn’t seem to be simply a place of trials. I sense a clear purpose. Perhaps selecting someone, passing something down… or maybe desperately searching for ‘someone.’]

Guyang Cheongang’s eyes sank deeply.

‘Searching, you say?’

[Yes. Look at the bracelet you obtained, Doctor. Though you acquired it by chance, it was organically connected to Pungnimgok. You filled the orbs while passing through the Seven Great Gates, and now you’ve even obtained the token and key of the same material. All arrangements are aligning toward you as the ‘answer.’]

Guyang Cheongang looked down at the jade box in his arms and asked.

‘The fact that these items have been here all this time means no one has reached the end during all those long years, right?’

[That’s correct. If it weren’t for you, Doctor, there would have been no one to pass through this time either.]

Akasha’s words were no exaggeration.

Jegal Ryong, called the greatest genius of the Jegal Family in a hundred years, died miserably at the third gate, and even seasoned masters who had experienced countless battles couldn’t overcome the wall of the second gate and returned.

Genius-level intellect, martial arts of Transformation Realm or higher, indomitable will, and superhuman adaptability and insight.

A path that required ‘heavenly fortune’ even after possessing all of these.

The Seven Great Gates were a hellish testing ground designed to select only near-perfect humans, and a merciless point of no return for those who fell short of the standards.

Guyang Cheongang murmured quietly.

‘Akasha, without you, I wouldn’t have been able to pass through either.’

[I’d like to say you’re being modest, but unfortunately, it’s true. I can’t deny that my abilities were decisive.]

Pleasant pride tinged Akasha’s voice.

Guyang Cheongang burst into laughter.

‘Yes, you’re amazing.’

[I know.]

‘…Thank you.’

At the unexpected gratitude, Akasha’s voice became even softer.

[Don’t mention it. I was fortunate to be able to accompany you as well, Doctor.]

‘Me too.’

Guyang Cheongang raised his head to look up at the blue sky without a single cloud.

Though it was a fake ceiling created by the Gimun Daejin, its color was blindingly beautiful.

‘You perverted designer… just who are you?’

Instead of an answer, a cool breeze swept past, fluttering the hem of his long robe.

Guyang Cheongang clicked his tongue and turned around.

‘The one who told me to come here said he was Cheon Ungi’s servant. I’ll have something to ask Elder Brother Cheon when I meet him.’

[He enjoys acting mysterious, so you might not get a clear answer.]

‘I’ll think about that when the time comes.’

Having secured the token, key, and jade box, Guyang Cheongang stepped toward the return path.

Though his questions were as deep as an abyss, what mattered right now was escaping Pungnimgok and returning.

Standing before the stone gate, he pushed the massive door with all his strength.

Rumble-!

With a heavy sound, the tightly closed door opened, and a brilliant waterfall of light poured through the gap.

Guyang Cheongang walked into that light without hesitation.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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