After Flame Emperor reached into the black gate and defeated the strange tentacle monster, Lee Tae-sung immediately exited the Ranking Mission area.
He had originally wanted to investigate the black gate and travel further beyond the monsters blocking his path, but his body could not take the strain.
His face turned pale, cold sweat broke out, and his head throbbed with dizziness.
It was difficult to handle the mana drain while Flame Emperor was summoned.
It wasn’t as if the summon was just standing there; whenever Flame Emperor exerted his strength, the burden fell entirely on Lee Tae-sung.
“Disciple.”
“Yes, Master.”
The two returned home after leaving the Ranking Mission area.
Lee Tae-sung replied with a significantly more respectful tone.
Flame Emperor.
He had only heard of him, but he had no idea he would be this strong.
Tae-sung had recently become strong enough that he wouldn’t be looked down upon anywhere, yet he couldn’t even properly track Flame Emperor’s gestures with his eyes.
“To think my disciple is this weak, what am I to do?”
“…I’m not exactly weak, considering I’m at the first-class level.”
“That is not true at all. You haven’t even entered the Peak Realm! Don’t you ever go around telling people you are my disciple. It’s embarrassing.”
“……”
“Furthermore, it’s not just that you are weak; you have no money either. What is this place, a chicken coop?”
Flame Emperor looked around.
The inside of the studio apartment where Lee Tae-sung lived.
The two were sitting roughly on the floor.
Flame Emperor looked at his disciple, who lived in such a cramped space, with eyes filled with genuine pity.
“Haha….”
Lee Tae-sung scratched his cheek.
He could have moved out long ago if he wanted to.
However, he lacked the time.
He visited the United States and China in sequence, founded a guild, started a business, and spent all his remaining time in the Dream World to increase his specs…
These were schedules enough to make anyone wish they had multiple bodies.
Lately, he barely slept, or only took quick naps in the capsule.
Because of that, moving to a large, nice house had been his goal in the past, but lately, even that desire had faded a little.
‘Still, I should probably move.’
He really needed to make time for it soon.
“And Disciple. That tentacle creature from earlier. I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I can guess what it is.”
Flame Emperor brought it up suddenly.
The monster he had pulled out from inside the black gate.
No matter how he looked at it, it felt a bit different from a normal monster.
If someone were to ask what was different, he couldn’t answer specifically, but…
“What is it?”
“It is likely a creature that came from the outer world.”
“Pardon?”
Lee Tae-sung tilted his head at the unfamiliar term, and Flame Emperor continued.
“I told you earlier, right? Even if you ascend and go up, you are only burdened with endless duties. The most important duty is to prevent such scum from the outer world from daring to covet this place.”
If any race’s power keeps growing, at some point, it radiates into the outer world.
Those who invade other worlds start to emerge.
The duty of those who have ascended is to protect the world from such enemies.
The humans in the lower realms do not know it, but peace is maintained thanks to that.
“But your world must be quite underestimated. It isn’t even an outer god, but to think it’s a place where low-level outer species like that are playing tricks.”
“Are they different from the ones you fought, Master?”
“The outer gods I fought are incomparable to a creature like that. That’s why I didn’t recognize it at first. It seems there isn’t a single ascended being in your world. If there had been, unless a demigod-level entity arrived, low-level trash like that would have been cut down without doing anything. Yet, to have something like that tearing holes in the dimension… tsk tsk.”
Flame Emperor shook his head.
“Then what should I do?”
“What do you mean, what should you do? The invasions will likely get worse from here on out, so you must stop them.”
“There are no ascended beings in our world.”
There might be, but Lee Tae-sung thought there probably weren’t.
The sudden appearance of Hunters and the missions.
They didn’t just appear out of nowhere; he speculated it was linked to an outer invasion.
If there were a true ascended being, they would have blocked it without any changes, so there must be a problem.
When he voiced this speculation, Flame Emperor nodded his head.
“The truth will require more digging, but that is likely correct. An ascended being wouldn’t just sit by and watch such things happen in their own world. Still, you have people with decent talent in your world, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Raise them well. If you don’t have teeth, you have to block it with your gums. Since the scale of the invasion isn’t that large yet, you should be able to hold them off.”
The plan was to keep strengthening the Hunters to prepare for the invasion.
Unless it was a transcendental powerhouse like Flame Emperor, ranker-level Hunters could actually handle the defense.
Even the tentacle monster from earlier was something Lee Tae-sung could have fought against.
He had been planning to sell elixirs continuously anyway, so he would quickly scale that up to supply elixirs to Hunters worldwide.
Then, he would naturally make money and increase his guild’s influence, and the Hunters’ combat power would increase as well!
‘And if a monster appears that truly cannot be stopped, I can just summon Master.’
He didn’t know how long he could maintain the summon if Flame Emperor exerted his full power, but there was no denying he was the ultimate trump card.
Then, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
‘Wait… this feels somewhat similar to the Hunter missions.’
The missions also constantly provided appropriate levels of hardship and rewards, as if they were trying to strengthen the Hunters.
There might be some connection.
He was pondering this and that when his head suddenly spun.
“Um… but Master.”
“I know. I am leaving now.”
Flame Emperor said this as Lee Tae-sung’s complexion turned even paler than before.
Tae-sung could no longer withstand maintaining the summon.
“Hurry up and raise your cultivation realm higher. Once you reach the Peak Realm, the burden will decrease a little.”
“Yes. I will try my best.”
“And since I didn’t have a disciple before, I’m sorry to leave without anything, but I have a few hideouts I made. They are places where I left my traces and some useful things, so I will let you know where they are. Visit them when you have time.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, and expand more. There is something called the Golden Altar of Alchemy; try robbing it. If you look at their warehouse, they have many good things even though they don’t consume much mana. They are greedy people.”
“……I am on good terms with that Golden Altar of Alchemy, Master.”
“Oh, really? That’s even better.”
“?”
“You can just pretend to be friendly, look for a chance to go to the warehouse, and secretly spirit things away. That’s much easier and better than just jumping over the wall.”
“……”
—
[Celestial Boundary]
The place where those who have ascended stay when they go above the heavens, a place burdened with the duty of protecting the world.
From the first ascended ones who existed since the distant ancient times to the most recent ones, they all stayed in this Celestial Boundary.
Although Flame Emperor had swaggered around in the lower realms, he was a newcomer who had just joined the Celestial Boundary.
In other words, he was the youngest.
-What? I’m the youngest? Don’t make me laugh, you bastards!
Naturally, Flame Emperor didn’t like that, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do.
It wasn’t that those who ascended earlier were necessarily stronger, but generally, the longer they lived, the stronger they were.
Unless they fought a life-or-death battle, even Flame Emperor couldn’t just beat up the other ascended beings like he did in the lower realms.
So, he was full of annoyance every day, but today, his face was full of smiles.
He was passing through a grassy field on the way to his home.
“What is this. Have you finally gone mad? Why are you grinning out of nowhere?”
Flame Emperor furrowed his brows at the voice heard from the side.
A small Buddhist temple stood in the forest.
A monk wearing an old kasaya walked out from there with a benevolent expression.
However, Flame Emperor was not deceived by that face.
Although he didn’t know much because the monk was from several hundred years before his time, he was someone who had shaken the continent with the title of ‘Weird Monk.’
Naturally, he had committed all sorts of strange deeds, and some were comparable to Flame Emperor’s own.
His appearance and personality were completely different.
“Don’t pick a fight, you bald monk.”
“Hehe. You couldn’t go out to play in the lower realms, so your temper has gotten worse. You should have practiced more self-restraint.”
“Ha! Self-restraint. That doesn’t seem like something you should be saying to me, monk.”
Most ascended beings were kind because they had reached the Celestial Boundary based on long realization and cultivation.
Those like Flame Emperor were the irregularities.
Naturally, the existing ascended beings didn’t get very close to Flame Emperor, and at most, he got a little friendly with people like the Weird Monk.
A gathering of trouble-makers, so to speak!
Though in reality, they were the type to curse at each other constantly.
“Hehe. Look at me. I built up a reputation in my youth, so I still get to go down and play.”
The ascended beings of the Celestial Boundary could go down to the lower realms, though it was rare.
If they had a descendant or someone they had a deep connection with, or if there was a believer who deeply trusted and followed them, it was possible to exert influence in a limited way.
They could guide them or deliver revelations through dreams, and give teachings to help them walk the right path.
Of course, in return, the ascended beings could see the lower realms they hadn’t seen for a while through the eyes of their descendants and enjoy sightseeing.
Although the Weird Monk had caused many troubles, he had shown a lot of mercy befitting a Buddhist in his later years, so there were still many who served him among the martial artists.
Unlike Flame Emperor, who only had notoriety and no connections, he was able to occasionally enjoy the lower realms.
“Hehe. Good for you, you bald monk. Have fun on your little trip.”
“?”
However, the Weird Monk was startled to see Flame Emperor’s strange smile.
Normally, being green with envy would be normal, so what was that look of satisfaction?
He had heard that Flame Emperor had recently communicated just by talking using items left in the lower realms, but was it that good?
“Did something good happen?”
“Something good? Pu-hehe-heh. You bet it did!”
From then on, Flame Emperor began to spit as he talked, telling him that he had a new disciple and how well they hit it off that he even went down while maintaining his physical body.
“It wasn’t the lower realm we used to know! Tall buildings that pierced the sky, steel carriages that moved incredibly fast, people in strange clothes. It was a completely new world! Hahaha!”
Before reverse-summoning from Lee Tae-sung’s studio apartment, Flame Emperor had made one request.
-I don’t know when I’ll be back, could I look around outside?
The Ranking Mission area was a wasteland with only monsters, and Lee Tae-sung’s house was too narrow.
Since he had come to a different world, Flame Emperor wanted to look around outside for at least a little while.
Lee Tae-sung nodded at Flame Emperor’s desperate request, and in the end, he maintained the summon until he was on the verge of spitting blood.
“Then, that clothing…!?”
“My disciple gave it to me as a gift.”
Only then did the Weird Monk notice that Flame Emperor’s attire was different from before.
Lee Tae-sung had him put on a hoodie so he would stand out less to others, and when the summon was canceled, it came along with him.
It happened to be reverse-summoned together, but Flame Emperor shamelessly claimed it was a gift.
“My disciple is truly excellent. He wanted to see my face so badly that he called me like that. Huhu. You don’t have a disciple like that, do you?”
“……”
There was no way he did.
The Weird Monk’s disciple had died of old age about 900 years ago.
The situation was similar for the other ascended beings.
Therefore, if someone appeared later on with a deep connection, they only experienced the lower realm indirectly.
“You can even descend directly, even if it is a disciple? How is that possible? It makes no sense…”
“Heh-heh-heh. Maybe my disciple is a genius.”
It was possible because of Lee Tae-sung’s skill, but in truth, Flame Emperor had noticed that this was strange.
Even for a descendant with a deep connection, seeing them in a dream was all one could do, but to be summoned directly.
‘The disciple said he had a special power in his world. Maybe it’s because of that.’
It didn’t matter what the reason was.
It was fine as long as he was summoned without any issues.
And from then on, the Weird Monk’s attitude became polite.
“Listen here, Venerable Flame Emperor.”
“Oh, look at that. What is with that tone that doesn’t fit you?”
“That clothing. Please offer it to me.”
“This? Why?”
Was he greedy because it was an item from another world?
“Didn’t you say your disciple could summon those with a connection? If I obtain that clothing, wouldn’t a connection created by the Buddha be formed between me and that disciple? Hehehe.”
The Weird Monk spoke generously, but an undeniable excitement flashed in his eyes.
Another world!
‘It’s a pity to let only that blockhead Flame Emperor go.’
It had been a boring life in the Celestial Boundary, so it was interesting news for the first time in a while.