Chapter 235
The second test to climb the mountain.
A trial ground that measured not just raw martial prowess, but overall capability.
It was a comprehensive evaluation that considered everything—how one used or traded the Eight Trigrams, how one recruited talent, and more.
For a proper ascent, and to foster Arahan with upright spirits, a hexagonal genius was needed.
Talent skewed to one side would inevitably hit a limit, stagnating, unable to accept anything new.
However.
‘I heard they were from a Hidden Realm, but…’
Examiner Yula shook her head as she surveyed the state of the testing ground.
Annihilation. No, a massacre.
And done alone, with nothing but martial force.
There was no need for rules, or alliances born of necessity.
Before overwhelming power, everything became equal.
Truly… complete.
Hexagonal talent? A genius mind?
Forget it.
Those two were proving it right now.
‘Pure martial force. That alone is enough.’
The absolute condition for climbing the mountain was martial force.
…Didn’t it feel like a demonstration?
Most Arahan from Hidden Realms were single-minded people who only honed their martial arts.
But no one had ever shown something this thrilling.
‘Whose disciple is he?’
She didn’t know.
No matter how much she watched, she couldn’t grasp it.
If someone learned martial arts from someone, that color always remained.
But he concealed his energy perfectly.
His gestures and movements, the way he used his energy—everything was too ordinary.
In other words.
He wasn’t using martial arts.
It looked like a brawl.
Confidence that he didn’t need elaborate techniques.
Or… proof that he had reached that level.
‘There’s no trace of Demonic Art. I can’t sense any intervention from demons or other private entities. That means he completed his training alone without climbing the mountain.’
Was that even possible?
There were many reasons Arahan tried to climb the mountain, but the most important was study.
Once you passed the mountainside, the energy of Heaven and Earth fluctuated, and you could gain tremendous inner strength just by breathing.
And that wasn’t all.
Above the mountainside, the families—beyond wealth and glory—had mastered the essence of martial arts accumulated over countless years.
If you received their teachings, rapid progress was guaranteed.
No matter how great the martial arts of a Hidden Realm were, they were still only old things.
There was a gap as wide as Heaven and Earth between the old Arahan and the current Arahan.
That was why Arahan from Hidden Realms were desperate to climb.
But.
…Unless they had learned forbidden Demonic Art, or formed a Incarnation contract with demons, how could such completion be possible?
‘Genius.’
If there was an answer, it was that.
A heaven-sent talent so outstanding they could complete even unfinished martial arts.
Such talents appeared once in a while.
Yula decided to watch a little longer.
This entrance to the mountain was also a place to identify the test-takers.
—
“S-save me!”
“You crazy demon bastard!”
Screams rang out.
The Arahan who had rushed in began to flee in panic.
They tried to stop Chiwoo by using the Eight Trigrams that degraded abilities, but it wasn’t enough.
The Twelve Heavenly Kings.
Among them, the strongest—First Heavenly King Chiwoo.
Now he had surpassed even his prime, and there was no Arahan here who could handle him.
“It’s regrettable.”
Chiwoo, having lightly loosened his body, clicked his tongue.
He looked unsatisfied.
It was too futile for a return performance.
“The spirit of the mountain, which valued only pure martial force, has vanished, and only cowards who flock together remain.”
“Was it always strict survival of the fittest?”
“Yes. This is not the mountain I knew.”
In the distant past, when the Twelve Heavenly Kings were still alive, the Mountain of Ascetics was strict survival of the fittest.
The weak were eaten, and only the strong survived.
The weak uniting to fight the strong?
Forget it.
Not that it was wrong, but it couldn’t happen in the Hall of All Gods.
It meant the Arahan’s spirit had fallen to the ground.
Lee Sabek’s test was pleasing in that sense.
That simple, blunt method of enduring a single punch—it was the most Arahan-like test.
But the second test was…
‘It’s nothing but disappointment.’
It was so absurd he couldn’t even laugh.
They weren’t thinking of becoming stronger themselves.
They were flocking together like wolves, handing over the Eight Trigrams to unqualified men and forcing them through.
What was the point of climbing the mountain like that?
They were more obsessed with success than honing themselves.
So.
“Successor. Is it fine to teach them all a lesson?”
The weak were forcibly eliminated, and only the useful ones remained.
That mattered far more than collecting the Eight Trigrams, and it was truly for the sake of the mountain.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
“I should start moving too.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hm. If I move separately, the one hiding another Geon will probably move too.”
There wouldn’t be only one Geon owner.
In the first place, Geon’s ability was different from the other Eight Trigrams.
Name: Eight Trigrams, Geon (Heaven)
Description: Geon can be transformed into all other Eight Trigrams. It is also possible to use the abilities of the transformed Eight Trigrams.
The ability to change into all other Eight Trigrams.
Unless they were complete idiots, they wouldn’t openly reveal Geon.
They would hide it desperately and move in secret.
However, Chiwoo had already been exposed.
It was proven he was an overwhelming powerhouse.
Park Chan-woo, on the other hand, was not.
If he moved alone, there was a high chance the owner of another Geon would approach.
Even if not, he couldn’t just let Chiwoo act alone.
‘Points matter.’
Three tests to climb to the mountainside.
If the sum of those scores determined one’s standing on the mountainside, then he had to aim for the highest possible score.
It wasn’t just to spread the Heavenly Demon’s name.
The Mountain of Ascetics stood in opposition to demons.
If he could reach the top and seize the mountain’s power, it would obviously help in the future.
To do that, drawing as much attention as possible was the fastest way.
Besides.
‘There’s no place more perfect than this for me to act.’
Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
By putting Chiwoo forward, he had roughly grasped the abilities of the other Eight Trigrams, and he finally felt like moving.
—
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Gon,’ is being used.]
[All [Base Stats] decrease by 5.]
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Gon,’ is being used.]
[All [Base Stats] decrease by 5.]
Just as expected.
The moment Park Chan-woo began moving alone, Arahans rushed at him like a flood.
They used the Eight Trigrams’ abilities—forcing the opponent to weaken—pressuring him from all sides.
Among them, the most common and most reliable was Gon.
It seemed at least thirty were overlapping.
‘There are no [Base Stats] left to drop besides [Mana].’
Unfortunately, his [Base Stats] were fixed at 1 by [Weakest].
And that value did not fall below that.
His [Mana] had decreased, but there was no problem handling a sword.
“Now’s the time!”
“If he’s weakened this much, he won’t be able to move!”
“Kill him!”
Park Chan-woo gripped [Baal’s Sword].
Then he took a stance.
“W-what!”
“How can he move?”
“We used so many Gon!”
Park Chan-woo began cutting down the incoming group one by one.
As Chiwoo said, they were nothing but a disorganized rabble.
Weaklings gathering together, trying to hunt while relying solely on the Eight Trigrams’ abilities.
But.
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Gan,’ is being used.]
[Strong toxicity penetrates the body.]
[Immune to All Poisons! Poison does not work.]
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Gam,’ is being used.]
[Temporarily reduces the durability of the weapon and makes it unusable.]
[Indestructible! ‘Baal’s Sword’ resists.]
It didn’t work.
None of the Eight Trigrams they had prepared could weaken him.
“Is the Eight Trigrams even working?”
“Why, why is it still the same!”
The Arahans screamed.
Park Chan-woo was like the Eight Trigrams’ natural enemy.
He quickly subdued all the Arahan who rushed him.
‘There’s no other Geon.’
He collected the Eight Trigrams from the ones he subdued, but the Geon he wanted still hadn’t appeared.
There was no way only one Geon existed here.
Because when he reached into the box—
‘There were several Eight Trigrams with similar magical waves.’
He could sense the presence of special Eight Trigrams through their magical waves.
One of them was Geon.
There had been more than three Geon in the box, which meant more than one Geon had been released into the test site.
Were they still afraid, hiding?
It was then.
Just as he shrugged, disappointed—
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Tae,’ is being used.]
[The use of all Eight Trigrams is restricted.]
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Ri,’ is being used.]
[Crowd control effect! Body movement is extremely slowed.]
[The ability of Eight Trigrams, ‘Jin,’ is being used.]
[Enhances the ability of ‘Ri’ to slow down for 30 seconds.]
His entire body froze, as if bound by chains.
“It is still not working?”
He rolled his eyes toward the approaching man.
A man using the abilities of several Eight Trigrams.
He had succeeded in suddenly slowing down physical activity.
But Park Chan-woo was puzzled.
“You seem to have several Geon.”
“That’s right. I hold all the remaining Geon here. Moving alone like an idiot was your downfall.”
The man laughed.
He had sealed the Eight Trigrams and slowed Park Chan-woo’s body, so he was brimming with confidence.
Park Chan-woo asked.
“Why aren’t you moving on to the next test site?”
“I like it here.”
That wasn’t an answer.
The man was deliberately preventing qualified candidates from advancing.
Park Chan-woo had a rough guess.
He slowly reached out and put on [Glasses of the Resplendent Dantalion].
At the same time, he became certain.
“Incarnation.”
That man was an Incarnation who had a contract with a demon lord.
…An Incarnation in the Mountain of Ascetics.
An Incarnation interfering with the Arahan.
It might not be limited to this place.
Perhaps the entire mountain was crawling with Incarnations.
Heh heh.
The man smiled.
“You figured it out. But it’s too late.”
He drew his sword and swung it at Park Chan-woo.
Clang!
“…Hm?”
The sword bounced off.
It couldn’t pierce Park Chan-woo’s defense.
The man tilted his head.
“Adamantine Body?”
His wrist throbbed.
As if he had struck a thick iron plate.
‘There’s an Incarnation in the Mountain of Practitioners. Interesting.’
…That was enough.
If the one holding Geon was a Incarnation, there was no reason to show mercy.
[The Authority applied to Belt of Baal, ‘Roar of the Fierce God,’ is used!]
[All crowd control effects have been lifted.]
[Everyone within the roar’s area is forcibly subdued.]
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!