Instant-Death Cultivation: Surviving in an Immortal World with Instant Kill - Chapter 45

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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 45: Puppet (3)

 

 

‘I can use it about seven more times now.’

 

Cheon Woo-jin put the talisman back inside his robes.

 

Since Talisman Treasures are created by extracting and sealing the power of Magical Treasures, they have limited uses.

Once all the stored power is exhausted, they become nothing more than worthless scraps of paper.

 

Ordinary Talisman Treasures lose their power after about ten uses.

He had used this Talisman Treasure once when he first stole it, and once inside the Dark Soul Secret Realm… so he could probably use it about seven more times.

 

‘Originally, I was the type who couldn’t bear to use items with limited uses because I found them too precious…’

 

Cheon Woo-jin had been conserving this Talisman Treasure as much as possible.

This was partly due to the usage limit, but also because he needed to hide the fact that he had taken the Talisman Treasure.

 

This Talisman Treasure had been prepared by the Dongryu Trading Company for their deal with the Hwangju Neungryeong Sect, with the Taeul Yeokri Sect backing them.

However, Cheon Woo-jin had stolen the Talisman Treasure after accepting Song Pyo’s request to sabotage the deal.

Therefore, if Cheon Woo-jin went around using the Talisman Treasure, he could become a target of the Taeul Yeokri Sect.

Since he had hidden the fact that he took the Talisman Treasure even from Song Pyo, he couldn’t use it in front of others.

 

‘But if I use it while hiding my identity like this, there shouldn’t be any problem.’

 

Right now, Cheon Woo-jin was just an unidentified cultivator using the power of Samadhi True Fire.

 

He was already in a situation where he had to hide his other Dharma Artifacts and magic arts anyway.

Now was the right time to actively utilize the Talisman Treasure.

 

“H-how can he produce such flames…!”

“Is he a Foundation Establishment cultivator?”

 

The cultivators who had been struggling desperately against the puppets and mechanism traps in the valley below were looking at Cheon Woo-jin in shock.

A mysterious being who had suddenly appeared and displayed Foundation Establishment-level firepower.

From their perspective, they couldn’t help but feel awe.

 

“…”

 

Cheon Woo-jin glanced at them briefly before immediately leaving the area.

 

Earlier, Cheon Woo-jin had controlled the direction of the Samadhi True Fire to ensure they wouldn’t get caught up in it.

Because of this, the puppets that had been engaged in close combat with them also remained, having avoided being caught in the Samadhi True Fire.

Since the cultivator responsible for controlling them had died, they could only act autonomously, but it would still take time to shake off those things.

 

Cheon Woo-jin’s plan was to assault the Blood Puppet Sect Branch’s main base during that time.

 

‘After all, the only thing I need is the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl. Those people will take care of the Cheongun Trading Company’s cargo themselves.’

 

He used the talismans he had prepared in advance without reservation to boost his movement speed.

He encountered some guard puppets along the way, but he destroyed them by launching blades with his Fish Sword Talisman.

Since there were only low-grade puppets, he could break through sufficiently without using powerful magic arts.

 

Advancing at such rapid speed, he soon spotted a building.

Cheon Woo-jin didn’t hesitate and rushed toward it.

 

‘Mechanism traps!’

 

The moment he burst through the window, he heard the sound of gears turning.

Cheon Woo-jin reflexively twisted his body while throwing two talismans with both hands.

Protective barriers formed in both directions, deflecting arrows that flew from left and right.

 

“Who the hell are you…!”

 

A human voice came from across the corridor.

A man with scars on his face had spotted Cheon Woo-jin and was charging at him.

From his posture holding a sword in his hand, he appeared to be a Sword Cultivator.

 

[Lee Neuk-gyeol]

* Race: Human

* Age: 172 years

* Realm: Foundation Establishment Greater Perfection

* Constitution: Wood-Metal Spiritual Root, Sword Bone Body

* Faction: Black Gate

* Affiliation: Blood Puppet Sect

* Destiny: Harsh Taxation

 

Foundation Establishment Greater Perfection. A considerably skilled practitioner.

He might even be the person in charge of this branch base.

 

If he was Foundation Establishment, Cheon Woo-jin couldn’t kill him with the talismans he had prepared.

But it would also be wasteful to use the Red Sea True Fire Spear Talisman Treasure just to kill this one guy.

 

So Cheon Woo-jin grabbed the hidden dagger he had concealed in his robes and threw it.

 

“Hmph…!”

 

The Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator Lee Neuk-gyeol snorted and deflected the hidden dagger with his sword.

His face showed mockery, as if asking whether such an attack would work on him.

 

But that expression instantly contorted.

 

“Guh, urk…!”

 

The moment the hidden dagger received impact, poison liquid sprayed out from within it.

 

If it had been ordinary poison, he could have detoxified it by circulating his spiritual energy.

But he couldn’t do anything and immediately coughed up blood.

Even though a Foundation Establishment Greater Perfection cultivator should be able to withstand most poisons without an antidote.

 

“Wh-what kind of poison is this… Kheuk!”

 

What Cheon Woo-jin had used was none other than the poison liquid of the Dark Dew Great King Centipede.

It was something he had collected when dismantling the Dark Dew Great King Centipede’s corpse in the Dark Soul Secret Realm.

He had made half of it into an antidote using the principle of using poison to control poison, but kept the other half to deploy poison arts like this.

 

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator couldn’t withstand the poison liquid of the Dark Deu Great King Centipede, which had been a Core Formation stage demonic beast.

Lee Neuk-gyeol suffered in agony before meeting his death.

 

“Branch Leader! What on earth happened… Kheok!”

 

Other cultivators rushed over to help Lee Neuk-gyeol, but they coughed up blood after inhaling the poisonous energy that still lingered in the area.

 

Meanwhile, Cheon Woo-jin was perfectly fine.

It was because he had immediately taken the antidote after throwing the hidden dagger.

 

When using poison, one must thoroughly prepare to avoid being poisoned themselves.

Cheon Woo-jin hadn’t forgotten this.

 

‘Now then…’

 

He spread his spiritual energy like a spider web in all directions.

While grasping the internal structure of the building, he searched for places where cargo might be stored.

 

‘It seems to be over there.’

 

Cheon Woo-jin moved in the direction Lee Neuk-gyeol had come from.

Soon, he was able to discover a large warehouse.

 

Looking inside the warehouse, the first thing that caught his eye was wooden blocks of various sizes.

They appeared to be for manufacturing or maintaining puppets.

 

‘Seeing only wooden blocks here… as expected, this place only has low-grade puppets.’

 

The Blood Puppet Sect only uses wood when making low-grade puppets.

Mid-grade puppets and above are supposed to use different materials.

 

‘And…’

 

Beyond the wooden blocks, he could see wood of a different material.

They were wooden boxes used for transporting cargo.

 

‘Seeing that they’re storing puppet materials and goods plundered from trading companies in one place… this doesn’t seem to be a systematically operated location.’

 

This place probably wasn’t a very important branch within the Blood Puppet Sect.

Even in the game, he had never encountered the Blood Puppet Sect in this area.

 

The Blood Puppet Sect that Cheon Woo-jin remembered was a much more powerful, complex, and… madness-filled group.

 

No, calling it a group might not be accurate.

The Blood Puppet Sect was essentially a sect composed only of Blood Puppet Ancestor Gu Do-ryun and his puppets.

The cultivators he had encountered earlier were just tools for managing the puppets.

 

In any case, Gu Do-ryun’s madness wasn’t strongly felt in this place.

This was probably a branch that Gu Do-ryun didn’t pay much attention to.

 

Thinking this way put his mind somewhat at ease.

 

‘But where exactly is the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl?’

 

Before his eyes were piles of wooden boxes from Blue Cloud Trading Company.

Opening them one by one to search for the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl would take too much time.

 

It would be nice if he could find the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl by spreading his spiritual power like a spider web to search, but unfortunately, there was no particular reaction.

Perhaps… the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl wasn’t here at all.

 

‘They might have dropped it somewhere during the plundering process…’

 

Neither Seo Seol-ryeong nor Blue Cloud Trading Company had directly confirmed that the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl was here.

So it was possible that the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl wasn’t here at all.

 

‘Still, I have to search for it.’

 

Cheon Woo-jin first closed his eyes.

The Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl was certainly a valuable item.

So they wouldn’t have stored it in an ordinary box.

 

Instead of looking for the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl, let’s look for a special box.

With that thought, he concentrated his mind.

 

‘Most of the boxes are standard products used by Blue Cloud Trading Company. But…’

 

He got a feeling.

There was one unusual box.

 

Cheon Woo-jin approached where that box was located.

Though it was buried under other boxes, he could tell just by looking from the side.

 

It was a box made of mysterious jet-black wood.

With its subtle luster, it felt similar to ebony.

 

‘When my spiritual energy thread touched it, I felt a sensation as if the spiritual energy was being absorbed.’

 

A feeling of reflecting spiritual energy would be one thing, but this absorbing sensation was a first.

It seemed to be wood with special properties.

 

‘In that case…’

 

Cheon Woo-jin moved the boxes that were on top.

Then he opened the lid of the black wooden box.

 

“…!”

 

The moment he opened the lid, a dense aura surged upward.

That alone was enough for Cheon Woo-jin to know his prediction had been correct.

 

‘As expected, this box was meant to hide the presence of something important.’

 

Inside the box, something wrapped in white cloth was stored.

When he unwrapped the cloth, an orb with white and black colors intertwined like a yin-yang symbol revealed itself.

 

‘Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl!’

 

An orb where the principles of yin and yang were cleverly harmonized.

Even in the game, this rare spirit material that could only be obtained by thoroughly searching auction houses everywhere was right before his eyes.

 

‘With this, I’ve gathered all six Foundation Spirit Materials!’

 

Blue Tear Spring Leaf Grass.

Red Root Fire Dragon Ginseng.

Yellow Earth Mountain Spirit Mushroom.

White Leaf Autumn Spirit Grass.

The Golden Core of the Dark Dew Great King Centipede.

He had already secured the five Five Elements spirit materials: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

 

And now… the foundation spirit material, the Yin-Yang Mystic Pearl, had come into his hands.

 

By securing all six Foundation Spirit Materials, he could now create a Foundation Building Pill.

 

‘All other preparations are complete too, so I can challenge the Foundation Building stage as soon as I return to the Cave Dwelling.’

 

Only about a year and a half had passed since he entered the path of cultivation.

He had reached a place that originally would have required decades of frantic effort in just a year and a half.

 

Strength naturally entered Cheon Woo-jin’s fist.

He just needed to continue climbing the stairs like this. That conviction became even more solid.

 

‘So…’

 

He had to survive here.

With that thought, Cheon Woo-jin turned his head.

 

“What an interesting fellow.”

 

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of wood hitting the floor had been continuously echoing from earlier.

 

The warehouse entrance was completely blocked by a large number of puppets that had gathered from the surrounding area.

Among them, the puppet at the very front had a face on its head.

It wasn’t drawn with a brush or carved with a knife, but spiritual power surged from within the puppet to form facial features.

 

“No matter how I look at it, this seems to be only Qi Condensation… at most around the mid-stage of Qi Condensation. Is he thoroughly concealing his true power?”

 

A voice was flowing from the puppet’s mouth.

It was a hoarse and rough voice coming from aged vocal cords.

 

“Tsk tsk, as expected, it’s difficult to create sensory organs with low-grade puppets. I can’t see anything properly. If I had mid-grade puppets, I could have obtained more information.”

“…”

 

Cheon Woo-jin bit his lips.

 

What Cheon Woo-jin was looking at now was just a simple face that had appeared on a piece of wood, but he felt as if he could see a real human face within it.

 

The mad face of Blood Puppet Ancestor Gu Do-ryun that he had seen countless times in the game.

 

Right now, Cheon Woo-jin was having a conversation with Gu Do-ryun, who would be at the distant Blood Puppet Sect Headquarters.

 

“Young one.”

 

Gu Do-ryun, borrowing the puppet’s body, suddenly called Cheon Woo-jin a young one.

 

“What is your name?”

“Name?”

 

Cheon Woo-jin hesitated for a moment.

He had thought about pretending to be someone else, but he hadn’t thought of a name.

But since it had come to this, it seemed better to reveal a fake name other than Cheon Woo-jin.

 

“My name is…”

 

Suddenly, the clothes he was wearing caught his eye.

They had a reddish tint because he had used medicine to color them earlier.

 

“Hyeok.”

“Hyeok? The Hyeok from brilliant ?”

 

The character for radiance.

It was a character formed by combining two red characters, expressing a reddish light.

 

“Is that a name? Or perhaps your surname is Hyeok?”

“Well, both my surname and given name might be Hyeok.”

“Ehehehehehe hahahahaha!”

 

Suddenly, Gu Do-ryun burst into laughter.

Even the puppet’s shoulders were shaking.

 

Gu Do-ryun had been laughing for quite a while, but then suddenly stopped laughing abruptly.

 

“Young one, let me take a look inside your head.”

 

Did he mean he wanted to know how his brain was structured to act so arrogantly?

Or did he mean he would examine his Upper Dantian to check his cultivation level?

Either way, Gu Do-ryun was genuinely planning to crack open Cheon Woo-jin’s skull and check its contents.

 

Thud, thud, thoom!

Hundreds of puppets that had been blocking the entrance all rushed toward Cheon Woo-jin at once.

 

It was a mad wave of puppets.

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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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