Instant-Death Cultivation: Surviving in an Immortal World with Instant Kill - Chapter 170
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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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Chapter 170: Nascent Soul (1)
Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace in the snow mountain region of Ghost Head City’s 6th floor.
In the past, there were two geniuses there.
They were the brothers Bai Hua-lian and Baek Gang-ryeon, sons of the palace master.
In terms of pure talent, Bai Hua-lian was superior, but he did not obey rules and showed no respect for his superiors.
This was a temperament that could not be tolerated in Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace.
Eventually, the palace master at the time decided to make Baek Gang-ryeon his successor.
And to eliminate future troubles, he tried to quietly eliminate Bai Hua-lian.
However, Bai Hua-lian killed all the assassins and leisurely left Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace.
He had already been feeling suffocated and disgusted with the stifling Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace anyway.
Bai Hua-lian went outside Ghost Head City and wandered around the world.
He grew rapidly even without Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace’s support, which was possible because Bai Hua-lian killed anyone who got in his way, regardless of whether they were Orthodox Sect or Black Gate, and plundered their resources.
Eventually, Bai Hua-lian reached the Core Formation Great Circle and headed to the outer seas of the continent to obtain Nascent Soul Spirit Material.
But there, Bai Hua-lian encountered a strange group.
It was a heretical cult group whose goal was to open a gate to the Upper Realm and summon transcendent beings.
Bai Hua-lian had no interest in what they pursued, but among the items used in their ritual was Nascent Soul Spirit Material.
Needing the Nascent Soul Spirit Material, Bai Hua-lian began fighting the cult group and turned them all into corpses with his own power.
But something unexpected happened to Bai Hua-lian.
Using the countless corpses as sacrifices, the summoning ritual began on its own.
Of course, since the proper procedures weren’t followed, a truly transcendent being didn’t actually descend.
However, intense waves flowing from the cracks in space-time struck Bai Hua-lian directly.
As a result, Bai Hua-lian was no longer the Bai Hua-lian of the past.
His face, which had been that of a peerless handsome man, transformed bizarrely, and his physique and other aspects completely changed.
Even his spiritual roots changed. Previously, he had single Water Attribute spiritual roots like his parents and siblings, but Wood Attribute was added, making him Wood-Water spiritual roots.
Even his personality changed greatly.
In the past, he was merely an arrogant and selfish person, but after being bathed in the Upper Realm’s waves, he became a madman who pursued bizarre things.
From this time on, he began calling himself Snow Flower True Lord.
The Bai Hua-lian of the past no longer existed anywhere.
Reborn as Snow Flower True Lord, he began wandering the continent and revealing his madness.
He gained infamy by sacrificing many people, but no one could stop him.
This was because he had gained special power through contact with the Upper Realm.
Then fifty years ago, he returned to his hometown of Ghost Head City.
Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace was tense about Bai Hua-lian’s return, but he had no interest in Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace at all.
He was already Snow Flower True Lord, not Bai Hua-lian.
Having become Snow Flower True Lord, he went up Ghost Head City floor by floor, committing countless massacres, and established himself on the 7th layer, the first gateway to the upper levels.
Since then, he had been living quietly… but after fifty years, he came down to the 6th floor again.
* * *
Whooooosh.
A fierce blizzard swept through the snow mountain region of the 6th floor.
Although it snowed most days normally, the wind was particularly strong today.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Walking alone on the snow-covered mountain path was a man with a bizarre appearance.
Half his face was frozen, which had been frozen from the beginning, unrelated to the cold of the snow mountain region.
Most noticeable was the red flower bud in his left eye area.
Looking closely, one could see there was no eyeball and the flower bud was nestled in the eye socket.
Though it was his first time coming down to the 6th floor in fifty years, everyone could recognize who he was because of that distinctive appearance.
“S-Snow Flower True Lord?!”
The cultivators guarding the ancient ruins of Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace discovered the man and were horrified.
They were subordinates of Heavenly Dragon Tower Master Oh Hwi-seong.
They had been guarding the ruins under Oh Hwi-seong’s orders to prevent the ruins from being misused… but suddenly a monster of the Nascent Soul realm had appeared.
“Wh-what brings you here…?”
“Snow Flower True Lord, this place is not somewhere just anyone should enter…”
Snow Flower True Lord didn’t respond and raised one hand.
Immediately after, the bodies of the cultivators guarding the ruin entrance froze.
It wasn’t like Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace’s Ten Thousand Night Ice Snow technique that froze by emitting cold energy.
He had simply manipulated the temperature of the targets themselves to make them freeze.
“Ugh…”
“Ah, ahh…”
Even though they were frozen, they weren’t in a completely solid frozen state.
They still maintained consciousness, and though they couldn’t move their lips, they could make groaning sounds.
When they were looking at Snow Flower True Lord with eyes pleading to be spared.
A short voice flowed from Snow Flower True Lord’s mouth.
“Bloom.”
Bloom means flowers blooming.
As soon as Snow Flower True Lord spoke those words, something terrible happened.
Pop!
The bodies of the frozen cultivators burst.
Like cracking open a ripe watermelon, scattering red contents that were half-frozen and crunchy.
Watching this scene, Snow Flower True Lord made a pleased expression.
“What a simply beautiful flower.”
In Snow Flower True Lord’s eyes, this sight wasn’t horrific at all.
It appeared as a beautiful scene of red flowers blooming.
After contacting the Upper Realm’s waves in the outer seas, Snow Flower True Lord’s senses had been ruined.
Even putting exquisite cuisine in his mouth, he felt no taste, and even with an alluring beauty before his eyes, his heart wouldn’t stir.
He had become unable to feel joy or emotion from anything.
There was only one thing that made Snow Flower True Lord feel joy.
Making people freeze and then bursting them to bloom red flowers… he had come to feel ecstasy and emotion only from that.
Even Snow Flower True Lord didn’t know why he had come to feel pleasure only from such acts.
He could only speculate that it was related to the transcendent being from the Upper Realm he had contacted.
“…”
Snow Flower True Lord stared down at the corpse fragments scattered and sticky on the ground.
Just moments ago he had been feeling ecstasy, but now he was merely indifferent.
What Snow Flower True Lord found beautiful was only that moment when frozen flesh burst and bloomed red flowers.
He felt no attraction to the sticky blood pooled on the ground or the flesh.
Eventually, Snow Flower True Lord crossed over the sticky blood and headed into the ruins.
And he reached the place where there was a square altar.
Snow Flower True Lord narrowed his right eye and looked around.
“Baek Gang-ryeon died here.”
Baek Gang-ryeon, the former palace master of Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace, had abandoned his human body and was hiding in a snow leopard’s body.
Then he tried to use the Ghost Spirit Summoning Banner to summon the Suppressing Sea Demon Lord from the Upper Realm and gain that power.
But it was impossible to gain power from the Suppressing Sea Demon Lord with a snow leopard’s body.
Snow leopards belonged to the Earth Tribe among the three lineages of Heaven, Earth, and Human, and only the Human Tribe could accept the power of beings like the Suppressing Sea Demon Lord.
“Baek Gang-ryeon would have tried to abandon the snow leopard’s body and steal another human body nearby to continue the ritual. But… some problem occurred during that process and he was ultimately destroyed.”
After deducing that much from just the traces remaining around.
Snow Flower True Lord slowly nodded.
“That’s something I should take note of too.”
Snow Flower True Lord had the blood of Guye True Person, who belonged to the Heaven Tribe, flowing in him.
Since only one of his ancestors was Guye True Person, he was classified as Human Tribe, but that didn’t make him pure Human Tribe either.
Because he was Human Tribe mixed with Heaven Tribe characteristics, problems arose when he accepted Upper Realm energy.
“That’s also why I need to undergo body transformation.”
Snow Flower True Lord is currently 712 years old.
Won Yeong-gyeong cultivators generally live for a thousand years, so he should still have plenty of lifespan remaining.
However, Snow Flower True Lord predicted that he only had about 50 years of life left.
After being struck by the waves from the Upper Realm, Snow Flower True Lord realized that his remaining days were decreasing at an abnormally fast rate.
Through various research to find the cause, he was able to discover that the celestial race traits mixed in his body were the reason.
The waves that Snow Flower True Lord was struck by could only be accepted by pure human race, just like the energy of the Suppressing Demon Lord.
But Snow Flower True Lord was a human with celestial race traits mixed in, which caused the problem.
He didn’t lose his life immediately, but he was destined to die faster than others.
To solve this issue, Snow Flower True Lord conducted various research.
His return to Ghost Head City was also to find a solution by studying the legacy of the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace.
But no matter how much he researched, there was no method other than body possession – transferring to another body.
“Bodies more valuable than this one mixed with true human blood are rare. But… if it’s Cheon Woo-jin, he would be worth transferring to.”
If North Palace Annihilation’s words were true, he could extend his lifespan by stealing Cheon Woo-jin’s body.
It would also make challenging the Fire God realm possible.
He had to secure Cheon Woo-jin by any means necessary.
“So then…”
Snow Flower True Lord retraced his path back.
After arriving at the ruin entrance where a blizzard was raging, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Rise.”
Rumble!
Suddenly, avalanches occurred on the surrounding mountains.
But those avalanches didn’t swallow the ruins.
The snow naturally clumped together to take the form of giant human shapes.
“As expected, I can create powerful snow men in this place.”
Snow Flower True Lord didn’t come to this ruin to investigate traces of Baek Gang-ryeon.
He came here because this was the true spiritual center of the snow mountain region.
If there were no ruins, Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace would have established their main hall at this location.
“About 10 should be sufficient.”
Thud, thud, rumble!
Giant snow men rose one after another.
Snow Flower True Lord led them and began his full-scale advance.
“Cheon Woo-jin and Seo Seol-ryeong… I must secure them without fail.”
Muttering this, Snow Flower True Lord headed toward the mountain region.
* * *
“Multiple snow giants have been detected from the snow mountain region!”
An urgent voice echoed through the Azure Wind Valley main hall located in the mountain region.
“Snow giants… could it be Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace?”
“No, the current Ten Thousand Night Ice Palace couldn’t mobilize such forces…”
Among the agitated people, a demonic cultivator wearing a gray hood spoke up.
“It’s Snow Flower True Lord. He’s probably planning to use snow men he created himself as his forces.”
“…!”
Everyone held their breath at Elder Ancestor Yowon Gyeon’s statement.
They had already heard that Snow Flower True Lord might appear, but now that it was confirmed as fact, everyone couldn’t help but be frightened.
“If they’re snow men that Snow Flower True Lord deliberately went to the snow mountain region to create, they’ll be stronger than most sect masters. We should consider them to have power surpassing Jeodan Gorge members.”
“T-that much?”
“The troublesome thing is that we can’t just deal with the snow men separately. Snow Flower True Lord won’t just send the snow men forward first – he’ll lead the charge himself.”
Other Won Yeong-gyeong Daoists would first send out their subordinates and watch from behind.
But Snow Flower True Lord wasn’t that type of person.
“Sect Master, then what should we do…”
“What else can we do.”
Saying this, Yowon Gyeon glanced around.
Around him were gathered the key cultivators of Shadow Scale Sunken Sect, including Yowon Gyeon’s daughter Yo Eun-hui and the lizard demon Na Chwi-ryang.
Moreover, there were also skilled individuals from Ghost Head City’s middle section who owed debts to Cheon Woo-jin and Seo Seol-ryeong, such as Ho Yeon-rin from Heavenly Dragon Tower and Gwak Gyeong-in from Golden Hour Bell.
They had all gathered here after receiving contact from Seo Seol-ryeong.
Though time was short and they couldn’t participate in the battle against Azure Wind Valley, they had all arrived late to lend their strength to Cheon Woo-jin and Seo Seol-ryeong.
“You’ve all been promised sufficient compensation. Some have even received advance payment. So you need to fulfill your roles.”
Yowon Gyeon said while flicking his red tongue.
“We hold back Snow Flower True Lord until Cheon Woo-jin and Seo Seol-ryeong finish their preparations. That’s our role.”
* * *
“Snow Flower True Lord should be moving in earnest by now.”
In a corner of the mountain region.
In a space protected by solid and complex barriers, Seo Seol-ryeong spoke in a calm voice.
“Elder Ancestor Yowon Gyeon and various others will buy us time. Since we’ve promised sufficient compensation, they’ll do their best to block Snow Flower True Lord.”
“…”
“But even they won’t buy time by sacrificing their lives. If things look hopeless, they’ll retreat. Elder Ancestor Yowon Gyeon has no intention of fighting Snow Flower True Lord to the death.”
They couldn’t expect help from Baekwha-pa and Ghost Extreme Jade Gate.
They had suffered major damage in the fight against Azure Wind Valley.
Currently, Baekwha-pa was recovering their strength at Spirit Mountain on the 5th layer, and Ghost Extreme Jade Gate had returned underground to Central Mirror Town.
So they had to think only about the people currently gathered.
“When they retreat, Snow Flower True Lord will quickly find our location. Then he’ll come straight for us.”
“…”
“So we must finish before then.”
Seo Seol-ryeong reached out toward Cheon Woo-jin, who was sitting cross-legged.
“Of course, it would be impossible for an ordinary person. Normally, condensing a Won Yeong takes more than two weeks.”
“…”
“But it’s possible for us, Cheon Daoist.”
Seo Seol-ryeong’s fingertips overlapped with the back of Cheon Woo-jin’s hand.
Immediately after, a cold energy flowed in through the meridians in his hand.
“If I help and you do it, it’s possible.”
“…”
Cheon Woo-jin silently nodded.
He had the same thoughts as Seo Seol-ryeong.
“While the others buy time, let’s reach Won Yeong-gyeong through the Bright Moon Clear Truth technique.”
This was the path that Cheon Woo-jin and Seo Seol-ryeong had chosen to counter Snow Flower True Lord.
“You, having reached Won Yeong-gyeong, will defeat Snow Flower True Lord, Cheon Daoist.”
To defeat the Won Yeong-gyeong old monster with their own power, not anyone else’s.
Cheon Woo-jin and Seo Seol-ryeong began the ritual for Won Yeong advancement.
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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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