***
Lee An-jeong stared at the pattern with his eyes wide open.
Then, he quickly reached out his left hand toward the pattern on the back of his right hand.
However, the moment he touched the pattern, his entire body was sucked into it, starting from his left hand.
"Uwaaaah?"
A startled Lee An-jeong tried to pull his body back, but he had already entered inside.
The moment he opened his eyes, a beautiful world he had never seen before appeared.
There were green fields, high mountains, and a vast sea. A beautiful world stretched out over dozens and hundreds of li.
Lee An-jeong scanned that world from a high vantage point.
As he looked around, he saw a blue flame blooming on one high mountain peak.
It was undoubtedly the blue flame called the Pure Blue True Fire (Cheong-yeom-jin-hwa) that he had absorbed from that old man.
Since the space was not that large, he was able to examine everything in less than a minute.
It was a truly miraculous experience.
However, after a moment, Lee An-jeong felt that there was exactly one thing missing from this mysterious world.
Surprisingly, it was humans. In this place, there were animals, plants, seas, mountains, and fields, but not a single human was visible.
Just as Lee An-jeong was finding this strange, he suddenly heard a sound.
"This Jin Wi-dong has committed a mortal sin by failing to recognize an Immortal (Seon-in). Please, save me just this once!"
When he turned his gaze, he saw that naked old man from before prostrating himself in the middle of the field, bowing toward him.
The old man’s figure looked as small as an ant.
The old man was terrified of Lee An-jeong and could not even properly look up at him.
'What is this?
Why did that old man’s attitude change so suddenly?
And an Immortal?
What does that even mean?'
No matter how much he was trapped in this place, the old man’s sudden change in attitude was strange.
It was incomprehensible that an old man who seemed to possess extraordinary abilities at a glance would become so humble over just this.
Lee An-jeong asked the old man about this.
"An Immortal? What on earth does that mean?"
At that moment, dark clouds gathered in the sky and thunder and lightning struck.
*Urureureung— Kwakwakwakwang—*
Lee An-jeong was startled to realize at that moment that his voice had turned into this sound of thunder.
'What? What on earth is happening?'
It was then that the startled Lee An-jeong discovered something floating on the sea while looking around.
'Th-That is?'
Surprisingly, what was floating gigantically on the sea was his own reflected face. The face of a young ten-year-old boy.
It was floating in the sky like the face of a celestial god, looking down upon the world below.
"U-Uuu... Th-This Jin Wi-dong has committed a mortal sin. Please, at least save my life. Immortal-nim!"
The old man was now flat on the ground as if he were lying down, banging his head against the floor.
Lee An-jeong could not understand this mysterious situation at all.
And it seemed the only person who might know even a part of the reason was Jin Wi-dong before his eyes.
Lee An-jeong asked in the smallest voice possible.
"I understand, so can you explain to me what on earth is happening and where this place is?"
*Urureung—*
He spoke softly, but the sound still resonated like thunder. However, because it was quieter than before, Jin Wi-dong slightly raised his head.
"Ye-Yes? Why is the Immortal-nim asking me that...?"
The old man looked up at Lee An-jeong with a suspicious expression, but then, as if a thought occurred to him, he quickly answered.
"Ah, yes. This place undoubtedly seems to be a world of consciousness, a Consciousness Realm (Sik-gye). I heard that a Consciousness Realm is created within the body of a True Immortal (Jin-seon) who has reached the Immortal Realm. Although, I do not know why an Immortal who should be in the Immortal Realm has descended to the Mortal Realm (Beom-gye) and not even the Spirit Realm (Yeong-gye)."
Lee An-jeong was startled internally by those words.
If that were the case, did it mean that the body of this Lee An-jeong he had possessed was the body of an Immortal?
However, that made no sense at all.
This boy’s body was merely a lowest-grade Mixed Spiritual Root.
It was a far too pathetic talent to be the body of an Immortal.
'Perhaps this kid met an Immortal when he was young and obtained this Consciousness Realm as a fortuitous encounter!'
At least that seemed more likely. After organizing his thoughts like that, Lee An-jeong acted as if he had just remembered.
"Ah— that’s right.
I actually changed my appearance into a young child for a certain reason and lost my memories. It seems my memories are returning a little now."
Before he knew it, he was also acting like an Immortal in his way of speaking.
"Ah, yes, yes. So that was it. I thought it was strange for some reason."
Jin Wi-dong tilted his head slightly, but then he bowed his head and nodded as if trying to curry favor.
"But who are you and why on earth did you come looking for me?"
"Th-That is... I am a person from the Cheok Kingdom on the Western Heaven Continent (Seo-cheon-dae-ryuk) named Jin Wi-dong. I had reached the Great Perfection of the Late Stage of the Soul Transformation Stage (Hwa-sin-gi) and was facing the Heavenly Tribulation (Cheon-geop) to ascend to the Spirit Realm, but at that moment, I was injured by a sudden attack from my arch-enemy. I failed the Heavenly Tribulation and fled all the way here to treat my injuries. That was a thousand years ago."
"Hmm...? Is that so? Soul Transformation Stage?"
Answering nonchalantly, Lee An-jeong was startled internally. He knew the old man was great, but he didn't expect him to be such a formidable expert who had reached the Great Perfection of the Soul Transformation Stage.
The stages of cultivation started with a total of fourteen levels of Qi Condensation at the very bottom.
Once that was achieved, one had to go through the Early, Middle, and Late stages of the Foundation Establishment Stage (Chuk-gi-gi).
After that, one passed through the Early, Middle, and Late stages of the Core Formation Stage (Gyeol-dan-gi).
Then, one had to pass through the three stages of the Nascent Soul Stage (Won-yeong-gi) to reach the Soul Transformation Stage.
He had heard that Soul Transformation cultivators were few enough to be counted on one hand, not only on this Dong-cheon Continent but across all continents.
Since one had to ascend to the Spirit Realm upon successfully ascending from the Great Perfection of the Soul Transformation Stage, it was perhaps a natural thing.
So, it meant that the old man before his eyes was once literally one of the strongest beings in this world.
However, the old man was startled for no reason by Lee An-jeong’s response and quickly bowed his head as he continued.
"Th-That is, in truth, my stage has currently dropped to the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul Stage due to my injuries.
As the Immortal-nim surely already knows."
"Hmm... is that so? I asked because it seemed so anyway. Since I lost my memories, my abilities are also sealed, so I could only feel it vaguely."
"Ah! Then does it mean you cannot even take me out of here?"
At Lee An-jeong’s words, the old man asked in surprise. He was so surprised that he even sat up straight from his prostrate position.
"That’s right. If you happen to know a way, tell me."
"Ah, yes, yes. I heard that Immortals can open and close the Consciousness Realm with just their will, or put things and people in and take them out..."
"Is that so? Let's try it once."
Following the words of the suspicious-looking old man, Lee An-jeong concentrated his mind.
And while thinking in his head about taking the old man out of this place, he shouted.
"Take him out!"
*Urureureung—*
Then, Lee An-jeong’s voice once again resonated with the sound of thunder.
However, no change occurred to the old man’s body. At this, the old man muttered to himself with an expression of incomprehension.
"What is this? Is it possible to be unable to do this just because memories are lost or abilities are sealed?"
Then, at a certain moment, something suddenly occurred to him.
"Wait...! It is said that upon reaching the Immortal stage, the spiritual root changes into an Immortal Root (Seon-geun), turning the body into something incomparable even to a top-grade Heavenly Spiritual Root! But wasn't that boy’s body a lowest-grade Mixed Spiritual Root? Oh no! I've been tricked! This isn't a Consciousness Realm, it's just a special Secret Realm (Bi-gyeong)! A Secret Realm connected to the pattern on that fellow's hand!"
Along with those words, the old man’s face turned red and blue with rage.
"You crafty little brat! You were acting as if you were an Immortal to me by using your petty tricks again! You fellow who deserves to be beaten to death!"
*Syu-a-a-a—*
The old man kicked off the ground and flew up in an instant, attacking Lee An-jeong’s face floating in the sky.
"You fellow! Ten Demonic Swords of Heaven (Sim-ma-geom-cheon)!"
*Syu-syu-syu-syuk—*
Then, ten streaks of black light shot out from the old man’s storage bag. They were ten dark, ink-colored longswords.
*Hwi-a-a-ang—*
The ink-colored longswords rotated at regular intervals and then shot straight toward Lee An-jeong’s giant face in the sky.
A massive wind of Spiritual Qi arose from the ten ink-colored longswords and pushed forward like a storm. Lee An-jeong was startled, became terrified, and shouted loudly.
"U-Uh! Uwaaaaaa—"
*Urureureung— Kwakwakwakwang—*
As he let out a grotesque scream, the entire sky was shrouded in dark clouds, and thunder and lightning struck everywhere.
The old man also covered his ears as if they were ringing and spat out a streak of fresh blood from his mouth.
However, he did not stop and continued to launch the ten ink-colored longswords.
"You fellow! Do you think Jin Wi-dong will yield because of that! Die! I will kill you and escape this place!"
*Sswe-e-e-ek—*
The ten ink-colored longswords, shot like arrows, stabbed various places on Lee An-jeong’s face floating in the sky.
*Pu-uk— Pu-syuk—*
"Aaargh—"
Lee An-jeong screamed as his face was pierced by those flying swords, causing wounds and spurting blood.
However, he soon realized that the wounds only felt a very slight sting, as if he had been bitten by a mosquito.
Only then did he look back and see that the flying swords looked smaller and more insignificant than toothpicks.
"What? Is this all? It was nothing. Aish... I was scared for nothing."
Lee An-jeong soon snorted, took a deep breath, and blew it toward the old man.
*Huuuuuu—*
Then, a storm-like wind blew from the sky and sent the old man flying.
"U-Uwaaaakh—"
The old man was swept away by that disaster-like wind and thrown onto the field.
The ten ink-colored longswords also fell from the sky like kites with broken strings.
Seeing that, Lee An-jeong quickly stuck out his tongue and placed them on it.
Then, the ten ink-colored longswords were placed on Lee An-jeong’s giant tongue.
At a glance, those ten ink-colored longswords all seemed to be extraordinary treasures.
'Jackpot! What a windfall!'
Looking at the unconscious old man, Lee An-jeong soon pulled his face back and exited the Consciousness Realm.
*Seu-uu-uk—*
When he opened his eyes, the appearance of his cultivation cave was visible once again.
Lee An-jeong quickly opened his mouth and spat out the things inside.
Then, things that looked like small acupuncture needles shot out from his mouth and embedded themselves in the wall.
*Pu-pu-pu-puk—*
They quickly grew large and turned into ten ink-colored longswords, falling to the floor.
*Tu-ung—*
"Oh! At a glance, they really look like incredible treasures."
Those ten ink-colored longswords possessed an auspicious light, appearing to be high-grade spiritual treasures.
Lee An-jeong quickly put those ten longswords into his storage bag in case someone saw them.
Then, the small wounds on his face began to ache.
The ten longswords put into the storage bag and the stinging wounds on his face made him realize that what happened just now was not a dream.
"Whew, it stings more than I thought. Anyway, that crazy old man... I should go back inside and check on him later when I get stronger."
Lee An-jeong wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve and lay down again to try and sleep.
Because so many things had happened in the middle of the night, his heart was pounding, and Lee An-jeong had to toss and turn for a while.
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