The Lightning I Harbor Is Too Strong - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 54
Jung I-sin followed the fading sunset toward Manmugak.
‘There’s no other way to reach the third floor. I can’t keep attending the academy without a mentor’s instruction.’
Yeon Baek-ha’s ash-gray hair was a side effect of the Thunder Technique. His Demonic Qi had run wild for some reason, nearly incinerating his entire body.
An ordinary person would have been broken long ago by such an ordeal, yet Yeon Baek-ha continued to train and research the Thunder Technique.
Could there be a more suitable mentor than him?
For Jung I-sin, whose martial prowess lacked depth, he was precisely the person needed.
He was still absorbed in this resolve as he gazed toward the distant Gangmudang.
Something vaulted over the roof of the building.
“Ahahaha! We of the Spirit Beast Research Society are claiming this Golden Poison Frog!”
“Kee-yowwww!”
“Tell Professor Poison Tongue! This one’s a victory for our society! Kiki!”
Over Gangmudang, then to the pavilion beside it, and again to the next pavilion beyond.
Three figures wearing bizarre masks raced across the rooftops.
“……What on earth.”
Jung I-sin was left speechless by a sight he could never have imagined.
A student in a crimson uniform passing by clicked his tongue.
“Those lunatics. Here we go again with their nonsense, fresh into the semester.”
“Senior, what in the world is going on?”
“You’re in for it now, junior. You know the academy has many kinds of Exchange Societies, don’t you?”
“……Yes.”
Exchange Societies.
From what Jung I-sin had gleaned, they seemed to be organizations with a structure similar to clubs.
Groups formed across all years by students who shared common interests.
“There’s one insane bunch called the Spirit Beast Research Society. You’ll know them when you see them. If you want a smooth time at the academy, best not to even glance their way.”
“Thank you for the advice, senior.”
All the while, the creature’s shrieking echoed onward and faded into the distance.
After bowing to the senior, Jung I-sin added the Spirit Beast Research Society to his mental list of groups to avoid under the Jianghu Code of Conduct.
When he knocked on the locked door of Manmugak, Baek Elder opened it with a displeased expression.
“You came after all. Stubborn as ever……Tsk. Come in.”
Baek Elder shook his head and headed toward the stairs.
The entrance Jung I-sin had descended through before left no trace.
“Did you think I’d leave it exposed like that? Step back.”
As Baek Elder pressed various points along the wall, a tremor rose from below.
Listening to the sound drawing steadily closer, he spoke.
“In truth, descending this Reverse Tower should be easier than proving yourself to the current Manmugak. So even if you succeed, you’ll only be granted a single volume of secret texts.”
“From what I’ve heard, it sounds quite brutal? There were apparently casualties.”
“Hmph. Ho-gae’s disciple told you that?”
Baek Elder lit a torch and let out a derisive laugh. Jung I-sin nodded as he followed behind.
“Yes, I heard it from Bang Gong-ja.”
“I wonder if you realize how long it’s been since the Demonic Cult fully retreated. In my day, hardly a day passed without people dying in battles against Demon Beings.”
As they descended the spiral staircase, Baek Elder continued speaking.
Most of it was about “in my day,” but every word was meant for Jung I-sin.
“The level of martial arts in this era is far higher than it was immediately after the Righteous-Demonic Great War. It’s because we never stopped restoring and advancing. The same applies to the students here.”
“Do you think I’ll pass safely?”
“A young man whose voice brimmed with confidence asks a useless question.”
Thus they arrived at the Stone Chamber where Hyun-poong’s spirit had once been lost.
Baek Elder handed over a Glass Orb.
“This is a sort of waiting room. Each time you complete a floor, you receive a sphere like this. To proceed to the next level, you simply insert it into the slot in the wall ahead.”
“Simple enough.”
“Remember just one thing: never think of challenging the fourth stage.”
“I haven’t given it a moment’s thought.”
“That’s……right.”
Jung I-sin bowed in gratitude and fitted the orb into the wall.
The seamless wall suddenly split open to left and right, revealing a descending passage.
“More stairs.”
The moment he stepped forward, the surroundings began to shimmer with subtle undulation.
With each step down, that strange sensation grew more pronounced.
Jung I-sin now understood the source of this feeling.
‘A Formation Technique.’
The moment his foot touched the broad floor as the final staircase ended, the space inverted around him.
* * *
A forest glowed with dim, twilight brightness.
“I never expected this, even after passing the Entrance Examination.”
How many Formation Techniques could this academy possibly contain?
Jung I-sin set aside the fleeting question and moved forward.
His destination was the massive tree directly ahead.
“Ughhhh……!”
A man lay collapsed against the trunk, his back pressed against the bark.
He clutched his belly, groaning in pain, blood welling up through the gaps between his fingers in thick, pulsing streams.
Upon spotting Jung I-sin, he reached out a bloodstained hand.
“Please, please, sir! Help me! I’ve been attacked! Ahhh!”
Tears streamed down his face as he poured out his story with such desperate urgency.
In that instant, Jung I-sin understood precisely what the first layer of the Reverse Tower demanded.
“Your Dantian’s shattered, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes! There are cruel men beyond the mountain! Please…….”
As the man whimpered through his pitiful tale, Jung I-sin extended a finger.
The Heavenly Thunder Technique coiled around his index finger flared outward in an instant.
Whoosh—!
A single streak of thunder split the air and pierced straight through the man’s forehead.
The man didn’t even have time to scream before he toppled sideways.
Jung I-sin gained a startling new understanding.
“There’s nothing ordinary about Demonic Qi. Even from a wretch as weak as this one, it reeks of such malice.”
An instinctive repulsion seized him. Perhaps the word “evil” truly fit.
It was the True Qi flowing from the man’s Dantian that did it.
The sight of him pleading for help with such desperate helplessness made Jung I-sin’s stomach turn.
“Even the Chief of the Cheongwun Express Bureau would recognize you for the Demon Being you are.”
As he clicked his tongue in disgust, the collapsed man began to dissipate into wisps of ash.
Soon he vanished entirely, and a single orb dropped to the ground. The character inside gleamed with clarity.
“One. That was easy.”
At the same moment, the surroundings shifted again.
Instead of the dim twilight, Jung I-sin found himself back in the Stone Chamber where an orb set into the ceiling now glowed with brilliant light.
The structure was identical to before.
Without hesitation, Jung I-sin inserted the orb into the wall socket.
“The Baek Elder was right. It really is simple. I’ll be through this in no time.”
Grinding sound—
The wall swung open, revealing a staircase beyond.
Thus he entered the second layer.
The sensation of the Formation Technique washing over his entire body lasted only a moment before the landscape of Hwajeonmin Village greeted him.
Beyond a ramshackle palisade that scarcely deserved to be called a wall, horrific screams tore through the air.
Though he knew this was not reality, his pace quickened regardless.
“Kahahaha!”
The village center had become a hell unfolded before his eyes.
A blood-drenched man seemed to be orchestrating this carnage.
He wrenched the neck of a screaming woman between his hands.
Crack!
Without a moment’s hesitation, he snapped her neck, then plunged a ghostly blue blade into her chest.
A simple-faced man rushed at him with a shout, but the creature didn’t even spare him a glance before whirling his sword.
Splurt—!
Scarlet blood drenched the earth a dark crimson, and the man’s severed head flew through the air before landing at Jung I-sin’s feet.
“Kehehe! Kyahaha!”
The way he wielded his blade and his body shuddered spoke of anything but sanity.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his neck and face pulsed with sickly blue veins bulging from the skin.
Spittle drooled from the corners of his mouth, and here, at last, was the image of a Demon Being that Jung I-sin had imagined.
What was truly startling was that this man was the very same Demon Being whose forehead Jung I-sin had pierced just moments before.
“I don’t understand his purpose. Is he simply showing me that I killed him well?”
“Kraaaagh!”
The creature was rapidly losing all traces of human speech.
When he spotted Jung I-sin and lunged, the sounds he made were purely bestial.
“Stronger than I expected, though.”
Eon So-ran, too, seemed to struggle as she grasped the flow.
It was the momentum—especially the murderous intent radiating from its entire frame.
Even Jung I-sin had never encountered such blind, all-consuming killing intent, and standing before it made his body stiffen in an unsettling way.
“Keeeeee!”
The creature with the sword clenched in its twisted grip kicked off the ground and shot skyward.
Aerial combat was a poor choice for anyone but the most exceptional masters, since movement became constrained—but the creature showed no such restraint.
It simply descended with the momentum to cleave Jung I-sin in two.
‘The madman’s attacks don’t fit within Wall Heaven Style’s flow at all.’
Perhaps because the creature itself didn’t know where it would strike.
Jung I-sin filed away this new insight about Wall Heaven Style and stepped lightly backward.
Crash!
The blade buried itself in the earth, scattering a cloud of dust.
There was no need to employ Limitless Steps. A single step forward brought the creature within his reach.
As it drooled and struggled to wrench its sword free, Jung I-sin pressed a palm strike smoothly into its chest.
Boom—!
“Cough—”
The creature’s blackened robe fluttered as the shockwave from Wall Breaking swept across it. The dust that had been billowing up was violently forced backward in one breath.
From the creature’s eyes—rolled back in its head—came a bitter, scorched reek.
“Repulsive.”
With that brief comment from Jung I-sin, the creature crumbled to dust and vanished.
A Glass Orb settled near his feet, its character ‘2’ etched clearly upon it.
* * *
Back in the Stone Chamber, Jung I-sin gathered his thoughts.
“I’m getting a sense of it. They said this was created when confronting Demon Beings was the most critical matter.”
Though the banner of Cheonmu Academy still bears that purpose today, one cannot ignore the spirit of the era in which it was forged.
Considering that, he had formed a hypothesis.
“First: Do you have the resolve to kill a Demon Being?”
A Demon Being—helpless in its resistance, naturally evoking pity with its form.
Could one kill such a thing?
“Second: Do you have the strength to kill a Demon Being?”
Not merely in words, but the actual power to neutralize a Demon Being committing slaughter.
Then what would a third trial require?
Drawing a parallel to Manmugak, it would likely be the level demanded of third-year students at that time.
“Well, I’ll find out when I see it.”
His deliberation was brief; his pace was swift.
In an instant, the Formation Technique of the third floor enveloped him.
“Hey! Get it together! Come to your senses!!”
“Huh?”
“Tch! Where’d we find such a bloodied mess!”
“Haha! Who volunteers for the Demon Slayer Squad these days? Let’s keep this one alive and in working order!”
A half-dozen men surrounding him each threw in their own comment.
With eyes open while encircled by the men, Jung I-sin quickly surveyed his surroundings.
“Keheee!”
“Kahaha!”
It was a Manor with high walls, and the ear-splitting shrieks of the creatures filled every corner.
More than twenty Demon Beings like those he had killed on this floor were present.
“Thank you. I’m with you now.”
“Ooh! This recruit’s quick on the uptake!”
“Don’t get cocky. Stay put. If you wander off, we won’t be able to save you.”
“There’s Demonic Qi everywhere—keep your wits sharp.”
That was the beginning.
From that day forward, Jung I-sin ranged alongside the Demon Slayer Squad, reducing Manor after Manor swarming with Demon Beings to rubble.
Though the squad members had initially balked at his participation, once Jung I-sin single-handedly slaughtered over ten Demon Beings, they ceased their resistance.
The problem was that ten days had already passed since he’d joined the Demon Slayer Squad.
“What exactly are the completion conditions?”
He’d already killed nearly a hundred Demon Beings. The Qi Auras flowing from them had grown clear enough that he could sense an opponent’s strength from their residual Demonic Qi alone.
This Manor, for instance, was a chapter composed of two Mid-Rank and fifteen Low-Rank Demon Beings.
Mid-Rank specimens required him to deploy the Single Thunder Manifest Technique to kill—and with two of them present, the match had been uncomfortably tight.
“Uncle Ok, shouldn’t we call for reinforcements here?”
“Ugh. The rest have all been dispatched elsewhere.”
Ok Pyeong, the man Jung I-sin had first met in this place, was the squad leader of the Demon Slayer Squad.
All tactical command rested entirely in his hands.
Just as he’d been deliberating for some time and was about to suggest a retreat.
Splash—!
A sound like water being sprayed cleanly through the air rang out.
Jung I-sin and Ok Pyeong’s eyes snapped toward the Manor beyond the earthen wall.
Splash—!
A giant towering over seven feet tall was tearing a man apart.
It drove its fingers into the crown of his head and wrenched him open with raw force.
At the sight of something beyond imagination, both Jung I-sin and Ok Pyeong froze.
Splash—!
“This bastard!! I-sin, you—”
The moment another severed corpse hit the ground and rolled, Ok Pyeong could hold back no longer and vaulted over the earthen wall.
His intention in calling out to Jung I-sin was clear, but it was a plea that would not be heeded.
“Why do you have to show off your strength like that, you mad bastard!”
Jung I-sin was already charging straight at the giant.
All around the creature swirled blood and Demonic Qi.
Over the past ten days of battle, Jung I-sin had learned one thing.
Demonic Qi did not merely foul the mood. The breath exhaled by a Demon Being of sufficient cultivation was… itself capable of corroding the surrounding vital force.
In a place saturated with Demonic Qi, the circulation of True Qi became sluggish, requiring additional effort to resist.
Even those of Mid-Rank typically only wrapped a thin aura around their own bodies, but this one was different.
‘Could it be High-Rank?’
The creature hurled the corpse in its grasp and swung its hand toward Jung I-sin with a bright smile.
Screech—!
At the sound of air splitting as if slashed by a blade, Jung I-sin hastily deployed the Red Thunder Spirit.
Within the slowing flow of time, he could see the black nails descending upon him.
Nails as long as fingers carried more ominous power than any blade.
Hiss—
Jung I-sin twisted his neck to dodge the nails and wrenched his fist, bringing it to his waist.
The giant’s exposed flank gaped wide open.
Crack—!
The Heavenly Thunder Technique surged up from his shoulder, driving straight through to his fist.
Rumble—
He compressed the Heavenly Thunder Technique coiled in his fist, compressing it again and again. And the moment his driven fist touched the creature’s flank.
Following the principle of thunder’s essence, the Heavenly Thunder Technique erupted forth, obliterating the space entirely.
Boom—!
The thunderous roar that shook the Manor faded, and the winds that had been howling died down.
Before Jung I-sin as he withdrew his fist, only the lower half of the giant remained.
“Hah.”
With that long breath, composing himself, at Jung I-sin’s feet.
Thud—
Ok Pyeong’s head rolled in.
The lightning I carry within is too strong
Author |
Woo San-yu
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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© Samyang C&C – The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of Dreambooks.

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