Chapter 429: Divine Object (1)

Once upon a time, a bloody disaster occurred in the North Sea.

An existence that couldn’t be stopped with manpower.

As one of the five Spirit Beasts, the Dragon Turtle appeared in the North Sea Ice Palace, putting it on the verge of extinction.

At that time, a warrior decided to risk his life to stop the dragon.

He was the fifth king of the North Sea Ice Palace, Dan Seojung.

Although he was the best warrior of his time, he lacked the ability to kill the dragon, a spirit beast.

In the end, Seojung came up with an extreme method to save the palace.

He frantically slaughtered numerous royals in the palace and lured the dragon, which had devastated the North Sea, into a hidden cave in the North Sea Ice Palace.

The place where the sacred objects of the Ice Palace, the tablets of the previous kings, and the visions of martial arts were kept hidden.

The secret place was made entirely of Adularia stone and was difficult for anyone trapped in it to get out.

Adularia stone, which had the property of becoming harder while absorbing the cold outside, played a major role. Since so much Adularia stone was gathered in one place, the barrier was very strong.

Seojung, who lured the dragon into a trap, succeeded in locking him up with the help of Ice Cold of Heaven.

However, due to using the Ice Cold of Heaven, the technique ended up hibernating for a long time.

Bubble!

In the dark cave, bubbles rose.

Chun Yeowun’s eyes scanned the structure of the Ice Cold of Heaven.

It seemed different for some reason.

‘Is this possible?’

He was shocked to see what was written on the orb of the staff.

The Ice Cold of Heaven could be divided into five forms. It can be made into cold ironstone by injecting cold qi into any hard material such as stone when one reaches the basic third or fourth level.

‘When one reaches the fourth level, would it be possible to make cold iron by injecting cold qi?’

He had heard about cold iron being formed with the help of cold qi, but he never thought that it was actually possible.

It was written that when one reached the fifth level of cold qi, one could create cold iron with an intensity comparable to the coldest season.

‘Cold iron as cold as winter?’

It wasn’t easy to believe that.

Even the ice swords created by cold qi were weak.

And whenever they collided with a weapon inserted with qi, they broke right away.

‘If this is really possible…’

Chun Yeowun would be able to use the ice swords without having to use any other general weapon.

Bubble! Bubble!

He looked at the wall, which reflected the rising bubbles.

If possible, he might be able to climb the wall at high speed and break through the swords to reach the ground.

He had already reached the basic fifth level of cold qi cultivation needed.

When he reached the Divine Master level, he had overcome all the boundaries of cultivation.

But,

[Remaining oxygen 33%]

‘Sigh…’

He was running out of time.

In order to use the Ice Cold of Heaven, he had to raise his cold qi from the first level.

He wasn’t supposed to directly jump to the 5th level.

[Remaining oxygen 30%]

With Nano’s voice, the augmented reality’s field of view turned red.

A sign of danger.

The current was still spinning wildly, sucking everything in. Chun Yeowun was getting impatient.

[Remaining Oxygen 28%]

‘Damn it, I’m running out of time.’

It was the moment when Chun Yeowun turned impatient, looking at the decreasing amount of oxygen.

Nano’s voice echoed in his head.

[Remaining amount of oxygen is supplemented by extracting the dissolved oxygen in the water.]

‘What is this?’

Surprisingly, strong air bubbles were touching the Nano Suit, and the remaining amount of oxygen displayed on the augmented reality screen began to go up.

Bubble! Bubble!

[Oxygen produced 30%

Oxygen produced 32%

Oxygen produced 34%]

As the remaining oxygen level went up, the red warning light disappeared.

Chun Yeowun, who thought it would be difficult to breathe, was shocked.

‘… shocking.’

He didn’t know that the Nano Suit had such a feature.

This meant that Chun Yeowun wouldn’t have trouble breathing anymore.

If he had known this beforehand, he would have reacted to the situation calmer.

‘Nano… if there is a guide to the uses of the Nano Suit, transfer it to my brain.’

[Understood.]

He hurried into the cave, and Chun Yeowun knew that it was due to his negligence that he didn’t fully understand the suit and its uses.

On the other hand, he was amazed at the limitless abilities of Nano.

Just by releasing some locks, amazing functions got unlocked, and he wondered how strong it would be if all the locks were released.

‘Firstly, I need to get out of here. Nano. Transfer the Ice Cold of Heaven technique and theory into my brain.’

[Understood. Would you like it to be done right now?]

‘Yes!’

At a similar time,

“The site of the ruined North Sea Ice Palace! I need to save the Lord!”

“Mun Ku! Calm down! How will you even enter that swirling water!”

Ko Wanghur managed to stop Mun Ku from rushing in.

No one could ever come back alive from a water current swirling that deeply and violently.

“Lord! He was supposed to come out right away!”

Even Hu Bong turned teary-eyed as he looked at the swirling water.

It was unbelievable though. Chun Yeowun should have escaped a lot earlier than them.

‘What could have happened…’

They were unaware of the presence of Sang Dal, the Slaughter Blade Master, who appeared after the Six Swords escaped.

Seeing the broken people of the Demon Cult, Moyong Kang couldn’t hide his joy.

‘Does this mean that the Demon God couldn’t get out of the cave? Ahhh! What great luck!’

From the viewpoint of Yulin, this was the best situation.

If the Lord of the Demonic Cult, who went to get the Dragon Turtle’s core, had failed to escape and died, the Yulin achieved what they wanted.

‘For the sake of the Forces of Justice, heaven has helped us! Since the core of the dragon didn’t get taken by anyone, I can rest easily!’

Unlike Moyong Kang, Jegal Sohi looked at the water with a bewildered expression.

It was shocking that the monstrous Demon God couldn’t get out of the cave.

‘In the face of a natural disaster, even you, the Demon God, couldn’t escape.’

As a member of Yulin, she was supposed to be glad, but why did she feel bitter?

The reason why they were all alive was because Chun Yeowun had killed the dragon and dealt with all the members of the Blade God Six Martial clan.

For the benefit of the Forces of Justice, she had turned her eyes away from injustice several times before.

Convincing herself that it was all for the sake of the Forces of Justice’s future.

‘What kind of… faction are we?’

Whoo!

She pursed her lips.

The bitter feeling soon turned into skepticism.

Meanwhile, a group of people approached the place where Dan Jucheon, the deputy king, and the other surviving elders stood.

They were the guards directly under the control of the palace and the council.

‘Council… Dan Baekhyun!’

Anger rose in the eyes of Dan Jucheon, who was looking at Dan Baekhyun.

At first, he thought that Baekhyun moved to kill the dragon.

But when he thought about the current situation of the Ice Palace, where more than half of the people were dead, and the palace turned into ruins, it seemed like everything was the prince’s fault.

‘If my brother didn’t make him the prince!’

This situation would have never happened.

They had entered the cave by breaking down the ice while trying to recover the hidden treasure.

At that time, an elder of the council Sol Am-baek, gave the royal order.

“Catch Dan Jucheon, the instigator of treason, and everyone beside him, detain them right away.”

“Yes!”

The council had been waiting for this very moment.

This was the right moment to subdue the injured Dan Jucheon and the other elders.

Seol Young-gwi, shouted at the sight of guards approaching them.

“On whose orders are you moving right now? Didn’t you people break the rules of the palace and set up an unqualified prince, creating this kind of chaos!”

“Huh! Who was the one who brought in outsiders and drove the king to death! These kinds of words are often heard from people like you, Elder Seol!”

Sol Am-baek responded to those words.

At that 8th elder, Baek Hak asked with a puzzled expression.

“I don’t get this at all. Why bring in the outsiders? Wasn’t it that the prince, whom you supported, brought in the wicked people of the Demonic Cult and caused this situation?”

“Ha! Are you actually blaming the prince for the situation you caused! Stop with your bullshit! Catch them now!”

“What!”

When they tried to subdue them, the elders who supported Dan Jucheon tried to fight back.

This would normally lead to a civil war.

At that time, Dan Jucheon, who had been silent till then, spoke in a voice full of anger while watching the prince, Dan Baekhyun.

“Baekhyun. If you, who isn’t qualified to become the crown prince, were handed the title, do you really think that the council will actually understand and follow you?”

He tried very hard not to hate his nephew.

But he no longer wanted to.

As a response, Baekhyun brought out the words he always kept inside.

“Uncle Dan! If you really thought that I didn’t deserve the title, you should have officially requested it from the royal council. I don’t want to hear this from you, who for your own ambition, brought in outsiders who harmed your own family!”

Baekhyun had been upset too. All the emotions he had kept buried inside him for all this time rose to the surface.

Dan Jucheon, the deputy king, spoke with a twisted expression.

“Elder Seol was right. I should have taken care of you right then. At least now, I will correct it.”

Goo!

With those words, cold qi rushed towards Baekhyun’s body.

No matter how frightened he was of Chun Yeowun, Dan Jucheon was still one of the top warriors in the North.

He had the ability to deal with the council and their guards alone.

“Wh-what are you doing right now! Dan Jucheon!”

At the urgent cry of Sol Am-baek, Dan Jucheon smiled bitterly.

“Elder Sol! I am trying to figure out the situation. Did you think that I wouldn’t act just because we surrendered to the Demonic Cult? I am doing this to prevent the royals from dying in the hands of the Lord of the Demonic Cult. And if he died and Baekhyun dies, we won’t have…”

It was then.

Rumble!

Before he could finish his words, the ground shook.

“Huh!”

“E-earthquake!”

They all wondered if the land they were standing on would collapse.

However, it was different from an earthquake.

‘Strong. This is…’

Something thrilling and intense could be felt beneath the ground.

It was at that moment.

Bang! Kwang!

Intense light erupted from a place not far from where they were standing.

Everyone turned their eyes at the unfamiliar light.

“W-what is that?”

Moyong Kang, who looked at it, mumbled with terrified eyes.

“N-no way…”

He didn’t want it to happen, but the light was energy.

Suddenly, the rays of light which spewed out disappeared, and a column of water sprung up.

However, a black figure appeared above the water.

Swoosh!

The moment the black figure was noticed, the cultists shouted at once.

“Woahhhhh!!!!”

“The Lord!!!”

Chun Yeowun, who was wearing the black armor, no Nano Suit, floated in the air.

Twelve brilliant ice swords were spinning around him.

“N-no, that’s ridiculous!”

“He… he survived?”

Unlike the happy Demonic Cult, the Yulin and the warriors of the Ice Palace were all confused.

Dan Jucheon, who just released his energy, looked at him.

‘Does this mean that he isn’t a human?’

He came back alive from a natural disaster.

It was impossible for him to make it out alive from that water with luck alone.

At a loss for words, he looked at the golden staff in the left hand of Chun Yeowun.

“Th… that?”

Not just him, but the others too.

There was no way that the elders of the palace wouldn’t know about the golden staff.

It was a staff similar to the one the stone statue in the main altar of the Ice Palace held in its hand.

“Ice Cold Staff!”

Ice Cold staff.

It had been lost for a long time, a lost treasure of the Ice Palace.

In a situation where everyone was shocked, Prince Baekhyun spoke with a smile on his face while looking at Dan Jucheon.

“You were saying something about the Lord of the Demonic Cult?”