Chapter 78 : The Hunt (3)

Chapter 78: The Hunt (3)

As the energy radiating from Maeng Ye-ju shook the cave, dust from the ceiling rained down.

“There's probably a trap inside too, right?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m just a grunt……”

“Yung.”

When Maeng Ye-ju called, Kang Yung extended his claws and disposed of all the bandits except for one.

“Gahhh!”

“Stand straight, you bastard. I don’t know what the hell you guys are up to, but for now, lead the way.”

“Huh? Where, where to……”

“To where you were running. Or where you were trying to lure us.”

Maeng Ye-ju spoke with overwhelming force. Though human, her voice growled like a beast.

Like prey frozen before a predator, the bandit tensed up and stood hesitantly before walking. He knew it well—one wrong move here and his head would fly.

“Are we really going on like this? The inside might be dangerous.”

When Jang Woo-hyun asked, Maeng Ye-ju nodded and replied.

“We keep going.”

To her, it didn’t matter whether this was a trap or not.

Where there was a trap, there had to be a hunter nearby. Maeng Ye-ju intended to destroy the trap itself and take the hunter’s head.

With the captured bandit in the lead, the group advanced for about a quarter of an hour.

After passing through an area riddled with small tunnels, they arrived at a massive cavern.

A bizarrely large space, with a ceiling over twenty jang high.

The empty chamber held no one inside.

Even before entering the cavern, Jang Woo-hyun had drawn out his qi and surveyed the interior, sensing something odd.

At one end, his qi did not spread but was pushed back.

Naturally, his attention was drawn there. It was unlike the other areas.

Just as he moved closer to inspect—

Rumble.

The wall in the direction that had felt strange to Jang Woo-hyun cracked open, and dozens of people emerged from within.

“Can’t believe you actually came. Gotta give it to beasts for being dumb.”

Jang Woo-hyun scanned everyone, starting with the man speaking at the front.

Until a moment ago, their presence had been suppressed using some special method, making it hard to gauge their strength—but not anymore.

Thirty-two in number. The man at the forefront was a martial artist at the level of Transcendence.

But that was it. The number of top experts, even the overall martial artists, was far fewer than the force mobilized by the Suwang Sect.

Even so, the enemy remained composed.

Whether it was arrogance or confidence was unclear, but they showed no fear toward them.

“Let’s start by hitting first.”

As if conversation was unnecessary, Maeng Ye-ju raised her fist and attempted to strike.

Watching her, the man drew something from his waist.

‘A gourd?’

He opened the gourd’s lid and pointed its opening at the group.

“Blood Bind! Purple Gold Restraint! Target: Transcendence!”

“What kind of bullshit is th—Ugh!”

Whoooom—

As the man uttered strange words, crimson chains materialized around Jang Woo-hyun and bound him.

“Jang Woo-hyun!”

Suddenly, Jang Woo-hyun’s body was being pulled rapidly toward the man. Even when Maeng Ye-ju grabbed him with one hand and anchored herself with both hands and feet to the ground, he was still dragged away.

“What the hell is this…….”

Jang Woo-hyun tried to resist but couldn’t easily shake off the crimson chains coiled around him. Maeng Ye-ju tried to sever the chains, but then she, too, was lifted and drawn toward the gourd.

The two were dragged without resistance, as if pulled by an irresistible force.

“Sister!”

Strangely, Kang Yung and the other martial artists of the Suwang Sect remained completely unaffected.

Leaving Kang Yung’s cry behind, the two were soon sucked into the small opening of the gourd.

The martial artists of the Suwang Sect, who had been watching, could not utter a word at the unbelievable sight before their eyes.

It was only natural. The two strongest had vanished. Even the reckless Kang Yung murmured,

“What the hell is this?” with his mouth agape in shock.

“You bastards, where did you take my sister…….”

The first to regain composure was Kang Yung. He pulled out his claws and was about to leap when he stopped upon seeing the expressions of the enemies across from him.

Just as the martial artists of the Suwang Sect were stunned, so too were the enemy holding the gourd.

“Huh? Huhh? Why is this happening?”

The man at the level of Transcendence glanced between the gourd and Kang Yung. After repeating that a few times, he suddenly shouted.

“Who the hell are you!”

At that shout, Kang Yung finally grasped the situation.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but—”

Grrrr.

Kang Yung let out a beast’s growl and crouched, ready to pounce. Following his lead, the martial artists of the Suwang Sect bared their claws.

“Guess things didn’t go as planned.”

With Kang Yung at the forefront, the Suwang Sect charged.

‘How curious.’

The space inside the gourd was not much different from the outside world.

A vast green field, a towering mountain range, and a sky with floating white clouds.

‘Did we cross into another dimension or world?’

It felt like they had crossed into another world through the gourd, but Jang Woo-hyun quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

There was too little energy around. It felt like an artificially created space.

‘Is this some kind of subspace?’

It appeared to be a vast space created inside the gourd.

Whether for the purpose of restraint or some other reason, they had pulled Jang Woo-hyun and Maeng Ye-ju into it.

As he surveyed the surroundings, two figures descended from a mountain in the distance toward Jang Woo-hyun.

A burly middle-aged man and a thin-faced young man.

The middle-aged one seemed to be a master at the level of Transcendence, while the younger gave off a completely different aura.

It reminded Jang Woo-hyun of Pung So-bong.

‘Cultivator.’

If not a martial artist, then it had to be a cultivator. They had said a cultivator was involved, and this must be the one.

The two tilted their heads as they looked at Jang Woo-hyun.

“What’s this? Why’s it not that big woman or the damn mutt?”

“Why are you asking me? The one working outside is Bi Ik-ryeon. Haah, and we’re supposed to keep this operation going? Can’t even get this basic part right.”

The young cultivator scolded the burly martial artist. Despite appearances, the young man clearly held higher status.

“Weren’t we only supposed to draw in martial artists at the level of Transcendence?”

“Normally, yes. But it seems the Blood Bind caused some kind of side-effect that pulled him in too.”

“Well, guess we’ll just ask him. Hey, you there—who are you?”

At the middle-aged man’s words, Jang Woo-hyun responded by raising the Dragon King’s Scales.

From their conversation, Jang Woo-hyun understood who they meant by “that big woman” and “damn mutt.”

Their original targets had been Maeng Ye-ju and Kang Yung, but something had gone wrong and dragged him inside instead.

—“Target: Transcendence!”

That man outside had shouted it while holding the gourd.

As Jang Woo-hyun suspected, their goal had been to drag the two Transcendence-level experts into the gourd for a fight. But due to some misrecognition by the treasure, the weakest of the three, Kang Yung, was left outside while Jang Woo-hyun and Maeng Ye-ju were pulled in.

‘They knew exactly who was coming.’

Whether it was because of a traitor in their ranks or superior intelligence gathering, the enemy had accurate intel and made their preparations accordingly.

It was a trap from the beginning.

In that case, there was only one thing to do.

‘Quickly take them out and assist Maeng Ye-ju.’

Or find a way to escape.

Resolving his thoughts, Jang Woo-hyun moved without hesitation.

He deactivated the Secret Flowing Body Technique and gathered energy, wrapping himself in the Sacred River Flowing Armor.

The expressions of the two changed.

“Transcendence?”

“Who the hell are you, bastard!”

The middle-aged man drew two axes from his waist.

Meanwhile, Jang Woo-hyun, already stepping into the realm of Transcendence, had closed the distance and was standing right in front of him.

Boom!

The Dragon King’s Scales collided with the man’s axes, sending a thunderous boom through the air and depressing the surrounding ground.

“Khh……”

From that single clash, Jang Woo-hyun could tell the opponent’s level.

‘Weak.’

Though at the level of Transcendence, he was weak.

It sounded contradictory, but it was true.

It didn’t feel like someone who had reached the realm through relentless effort and long cultivation.

The exterior seemed proper, but the interior was hollow.

Jang Woo-hyun had experienced something similar in the Central Heavens Martial Realm.

The Blood Sword King, one of the Three Sword Kings of the Asura Sword Sect and a master at the Supreme Peak, had also reached that level but lacked substance, like someone wearing ill-fitting clothes.

The man before him now was the same.

He had blocked Jang Woo-hyun’s strike—but that was all.

“You, are you from the Central Heavens?”

In Jang Woo-hyun’s judgment, no one who had steadily cultivated their strength and ascended from the Lower Realm would be this sloppy.

The man before him felt like someone whose strength had been forcefully inflated.

“That’s not important right now!”

Though he was bigger, the man, overwhelmed by strength, swung his axes with all his might to push Jang Woo-hyun back.

He then immediately raised his aura.

Boom!

Explosive energy coursed through the man's arms and into his axes. A massive Qi Projection flared like fire, enveloping the axe blades.

“Just because you have one trick up your sleeve—ugh!”

Before the man could finish speaking, Jang Woo-hyun swiftly aimed for his neck.

Slice—

“Kegh!”

Jang Woo-hyun’s sword cut the man’s neck, but he did not die.

After all, he had entered the realm of Transcendence. In a state beyond human, an injury of this

level would not be fatal.

Blood flowed, but when the man retreated, his severed neck quickly regenerated.

Jang Woo-hyun was about to finish him off, but had to retreat due to an incoming attack.

Crash!

Dozens of wind-forged blades poured down into the space before him, shattering the ground.

When he looked up, he saw a young man floating in mid-air.

From within a massive whirlwind, he gazed down at Jang Woo-hyun.

‘Cultivator.’

Those who trained in a manner completely different from martial artists, and who did not use martial arts but other forms of power.

Feeling the immense energy radiating from him, Jang Woo-hyun subtly tensed his body.

Compared to the burly middle-aged man at the level of Transcendence, the young Cultivator was much stronger.

“Hehehe. Never seen you before, but you’re pretty impressive.”

The young Cultivator’s eyes glinted with greed as he stared at Jang Woo-hyun.

“Yeong-gok senior! He’s stronger than expected. We need to take care of him quickly and go help the others!”

The burly man called from below, lifting his axes, but Yeong-gok wasn’t listening.

“Silence! Useless fools! You mess everything up because you can’t even handle basic tasks. I’ll deal with this. You go help the others.”

“You sure about this? He’s stronger than we thought.”

“You think I can’t handle one martial artist? Just go.”

“Are you really sure?”

When the burly man asked once more, Yeong-gok frowned.

“Fine then. I’ll go.”

The middle-aged martial artist, glancing between Yeong-gok and Jang Woo-hyun, stepped back and activated something from within his robe.

Then, like paper being sliced, the space beside him split open, and he stepped inside.

Now, only Jang Woo-hyun and the Cultivator Yeong-gok remained.

“Judging by your question about the Central Heavens, you must be one of the ascended?”

Yeong-gok’s massive whirlwind rampaged, destroying everything around him.

“My name is Yeong-gok. I belong to the Ascension Cult. And you?”

Everything nearby was being sucked into the whirlwind.

Though the noise from the wind and destruction would normally make conversation impossible, it hardly disturbed the two of them.

“Jang Woo-hyun.”

Just giving his name without an affiliation told Yeong-gok that Jang Woo-hyun wasn’t from the Suwang Sect.

“I don’t know why you ended up here, but this place will be your grave.”

“So much talk. When are we fighting?”

Yeong-gok grinned as he saw Jang Woo-hyun raise the Dragon King’s Scales.

“That was my final courtesy. You’ll soon become a pill and join me.”

“Lunatic.”

The insult was the signal. The two, facing each other, moved.

Yeong-gok struck first.

Rumble—

The surrounding air trembled, and in an instant, a massive storm surged.

‘Unbelievable.’

Seeing how the environment reacted to a single gesture from the opponent, Jang Woo-hyun frowned.