Instant-Death Cultivation: Surviving in an Immortal World with Instant Kill - Chapter 180

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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 180: Upper Levels (1)

7th Layer of Ghost Head City, desert region.

Sa Gil-jong, who lives in the parched sandy wasteland where not a drop of water flows, is a Nascent Soul cultivator with the exoskeleton of an insect.

As his appearance suggests, he is not from the human race but from the insect race.

The insect race, being bug-type creatures, has relatively low cultivation potential compared to other races.

Occasionally, a bug born by chance in a place abundant with spiritual energy may acquire spiritual power at the Core Formation or Nascent Soul level, but most cannot escape being mindless demonic beasts.

When various conditions align, they can acquire not only spiritual power but also intelligence, allowing them to walk the path of cultivation, and Sa Gil-jong was also a Demonic Cultivator who gained intelligence in this way.

‘I’m getting hungry.’

Sa Gil-jong, who had been sleeping buried in the sand, felt hunger and opened his eyes.

Having reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul, Sa Gil-jong could survive for over ten years without eating any food at all, but Sa Gil-jong was prone to feeling hungry frequently.

It was probably because his insect instincts still remained.

To grow further as a cultivator, he needed to become free from such physical instincts… but it wasn’t an easy task.

‘I wonder if there’s any prey.’

Swoosh.

Sa Gil-jong emerged from the sand.

Even when a desert beetle measuring 10 feet in length revealed itself, there was no reaction from the surroundings.

This was because not even a single beast, let alone humans, was passing by.

The 7th layer of Ghost Head City was such a place where living creatures were rare.

“….”

Sa Gil-jong took out a hooded robe from subspace and put it on.

With the hood over its head and standing on its hind legs, at first glance it looked just like a 10-foot-tall human.

Even though he had the form of a six-legged insect, he usually tried to act like a human who walked upright.

This was a common trait among demonic beasts who walked the path of cultivation.

This was because standing straight with the upper dantian at the crown pointing toward the sky was the most desirable posture.

If possible, he wanted to change his appearance itself to be like a human.

Yearning for a humanoid body was a phenomenon that appeared commonly not only in Sa Gil-jong but also in Demonic Cultivators from the insect race or demon race.

However, drastically changing one’s appearance was not something just anyone could do.

Disguising with illusion arts was one thing, but completely changing the structure of one’s body was an act that greatly shook one’s self-identity.

There were cultivators who could freely modify their bodies and remain fine, but there were more cultivators who couldn’t accept becoming a different form from when they were born.

Sa Gil-jong had once tried to reconstruct his body structure but eventually gave up.

‘Still, if I keep eating humans, it might become possible someday.’

He felt that eating humans would allow him to reach a higher realm.

Falling into such thoughts was also a phenomenon commonly seen in Demonic Cultivators.

However, if one impulsively went around eating humans, they would easily become a target for subjugation by the Cultivation World and lose their life.

In the end, most Demonic Cultivators who grew beyond a certain level were individuals who either never had such impulses from the beginning or had excellent self-control.

So which type was Sa Gil-jong?

He neither lacked cannibalistic impulses nor was he good at restraining his impulses.

He ate people whenever he was hungry, but he was simply too strong for anyone to subjugate him.

Of course, there were Daoists in the Cultivation World who possessed stronger power than Sa Gil-jong.

However, such individuals mostly didn’t care whether Demonic Cultivators ate people or not.

In the first place, Sa Gil-jong also didn’t attack beings stronger than himself.

Using the excellent senses unique to insect demons, he could quickly tell whether an opponent was someone he could devour or not.

Thanks to this, he was able to survive for a long time and reach the middle stage of Nascent Soul.

‘It seems new ones have come up.’

Sa Gil-jong sensed unfamiliar presences appearing from the direction of the teleportation array.

It seemed cultivators had come up from the 6th floor after a long time.

‘Quite a large number. It seems like there are dozens of them….’

Though there were many of them, Sa Gil-jong wasn’t particularly concerned.

He was only planning to eat one of them anyway.

Sa Gil-jong crawled back into the sand.

And he began underground movement beneath the desert.

He started moving through the sand as if swimming through water.

This wasn’t a magic art he learned from someone but an ability Sa Gil-jong had mastered on his own.

‘There are some quite dangerous ones.’

Approaching near the teleportation array, Sa Gil-jong confirmed that there were several cultivators who were stronger than him or at the same level.

There even seemed to be one powerful Demonic Cultivator.

However, only some of the cultivators were that strong, and the rest were Core Formation cultivators weaker than Sa Gil-jong.

‘I don’t really want to eat Core Formation cultivators….’

If possible, he wanted to devour a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Eating Core Formation cultivators didn’t make him feel very full.

Of course, since Sa Gil-jong had difficulty subduing those at middle Nascent Soul stage or above, the only ones he could eat were early Nascent Soul stage cultivators.

‘Hmm? Is that one early Nascent Soul stage?’

Sa Gil-jong moved his antennae in the sand.

There was one human man who seemed to have reached Nascent Soul stage not long ago.

‘I should eat that one.’

He wouldn’t approach right now.

He planned to keep circling around and wait for an opportunity to drag only that one into the sand and devour him.

Even if other companions tried to rescue him, it would be impossible to catch Sa Gil-jong escaping through the sand.

‘If I wait patiently… hm?’

The target began moving alone.

Breaking away from the group, it was heading somewhere else by itself.

Sometimes there are those who show such behavior.

Mainly to relieve themselves.

For beings like Sa Gil-jong, this becomes a very good opportunity.

‘Now’s the time.’

Sa Gil-jong swam through the sand to approach the target.

And extended one of its hook-like front legs toward the ankle of the target standing alone blankly.

It planned to snatch it like this and drag it into the sand.

But at that moment.

Something that suddenly fell from the target’s sleeve severed Sa Gil-jong’s front leg.

“Huh?”

It was difficult to understand what had happened.

Sa Gil-jong possessed a very hard exoskeleton.

Ordinary attacks couldn’t even leave a scratch.

Yet its front leg was severed in an instant, almost pathetically.

By the metal that had fallen from the target’s sleeve.

‘A shield…?’

It resembled the metal shields that humans carry around.

But the edge part was sharp like a blade.

It had severed Sa Gil-jong’s front leg with that blade-like edge.

‘It’s a magical treasure!’

This guy has a very powerful magical treasure.

Realizing this fact, Sa Gil-jong urgently moved its body.

It wasn’t trying to escape into the sand. Rather, it burst out of the sand to pounce on the target.

Sa Gil-jong knew that powerful magical treasures were traded at high prices.

Especially if brought to the witch at the ancient ruins located far away, they could be exchanged for useful resources.

The reason Sa Gil-jong had been able to rise to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul was because it had received essential cultivation resources from that witch each time.

‘A powerful magical treasure that can sever my front leg in one strike! If I hand this over to that witch, I should be able to obtain resources to advance to the next stage!’

Thinking this, when Sa Gil-jong extended its opposite front leg toward the target.

The target’s sleeve fluttered, and three more identical shields burst out.

* * *

[Sa Gil-jong ]

* Race: Insect

* Age: 625 years

* Realm: Nascent Soul mid-stage

* Constitution: Earth Spirit Root

* Faction: Neutral Path

* Affiliation: Ghost Head City

* Destiny: Gluttony

Cheon Woo-jin had noticed that this insect bastard was eyeing him covetously from beneath the sand.

Because a status window was floating above the empty desert surface.

Sa Gil-jong is an enemy encountered when ascending to the 7th Layer in the game.

Since it lurks around teleportation arrays and ambushes, it could be called an enemy that serves as the gatekeeper of the 7th Layer.

‘Moreover, even when defeated once, it doesn’t die and escapes into the sand. After that, it frequently attacks while receiving orders from North Palace Annihilation, so it was annoying.’

In the game, it couldn’t be killed even when its health was reduced to 0.

Because it was systematically set up that way, killing it was impossible no matter what methods were used.

But this place now is not a game.

If he cuts off its breath for certain here, there won’t be any future annoyances either.

‘Slice it up, Celestial Blade.’

Celestial Blade.

This is the name of the newly obtained flying spirit.

It has the appearance of a metal shield, but the edge parts of the shield are like sharp blades.

Because it used the external armor of the mid-grade puppet created by Blood Puppet Ancestor Gu Do-ryun, it possesses overwhelming defensive power, and with cutting enhancement spells engraved on the blade parts, its attack power is also excellent.

It was an automatic magical treasure with integrated offense and defense, possessing far superior performance than the previously used Heavenly Armor Flying Spirit.

“Keueh…!”

Sa Gil-jong let out a bizarre scream.

Because four Celestial Blades fired from Cheon Woo-jin’s sleeve had slashed its entire body.

Originally, Sa Gil-jong is a beetle monster with a very solid exoskeleton.

But the blades of the Celestial Blade, enhanced to their limits with massive resources, could split even Sa Gil-jong’s exoskeleton.

It tried to counterattack somehow by extending its hook-like front legs toward Cheon Woo-jin, but even those front legs were severed by the Celestial Blade.

“Kaeek…!”

Finally, Sa Gil-jong’s head, chest, and abdomen were all severed.

As the dismembered corpse of Sa Gil-jong rolled on the sand, whitish maggot-like things emerged.

[You, I will definitely kill you!]

It was Sa Gil-jong’s Nascent Soul.

Perhaps because it was the Nascent Soul of an insect race, the Nascent Soul also had a larva shape.

[Just you wait!]

Shouting like that, Sa Gil-jong’s Nascent Soul tried to escape into the sand.

While ordinary Nascent Souls fly through the sky to escape, Sa Gil-jong was rather unique.

Catching a Nascent Soul escaping into sand is more difficult than catching one flying through the sky.

However, Cheon Woo-jin wasn’t concerned.

He already knew that an ally was launching an attack from behind.

Ding.

Right after a sound like ringing a bell was heard.

Intense sound waves spread out over the sand.

[What is this resonance!]

[I’m, I’m bursting…!]

After a desperate scream echoed.

Sa Gil-jong’s status window disappeared from above the sand.

The sound wave attack that spread faster than Sa Gil-jong’s escape speed had annihilated the Nascent Soul itself.

“Thank you, Elder Ancestor.”

Cheon Woo-jin turned around and expressed his gratitude.

There, Yowon Gyeon of the Shadow Scale Sunken Sect was smiling while wagging his bell-adorned tail.

“As expected, the Musk Tremor Rain Technique is effective when catching Nascent Souls.”

Yowon Gyeon’s Musk Tremor Rain Technique is a cultivation method that uses sound waves.

No matter how quickly a Nascent Soul escapes, it’s not easy to get away from sound waves that spread widely in a fan shape.

Of course, it would be fine to deploy defensive magic in Nascent Soul state to block the sound waves… but when suddenly hit by sound waves in a defenseless state while fleeing without looking back, one can’t help but take fatal damage.

‘To catch an escaping Nascent Soul, you really need ultra-high-speed wide-area attacks.’

Engraving the future task in his mind, Cheon Woo-jin clasped his hands together in front of Yowon Gyeon.

“Thanks to you, I was able to completely annihilate the insect investigator that ambushed us. Having Elder Ancestor come with me is truly reassuring.”

“Hehe, this much is nothing.”

Yowon Gyeon laughed while flicking his tongue.

“Since we’ll be one family later, I should help as much as possible.”

“Pardon?”

What’s this about now?

Hearing unexpected words, Cheon Woo-jin blinked his eyes.

“Elder Ancestor, what exactly do you mean…?”

Right at that moment.

From over Yowon Gyeon’s shoulder, Seo Seol-ryeong muttered in a cold voice.

“Oh my, it seems Cheon Daoist has somehow made a promise to become the Shadow Scale Sunken Sect’s son-in-law. How impressive.”

At Seo Seol-ryeong’s remark that shot out cold as ice, Mujung Soma, who had been watching from the side, shook his head back and forth.

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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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