[Please! Pleaaaase!]
Oh Hye-seo's scream shakes the illusory space, and as the world cracks open, the dreary essence of the Outer Sea reveals itself.
However, to the end.
To the very end.
Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens does not return from the skeletal form of the Sea Dragon.
And finally...
When the essence of the Outer Sea reveals itself, and at last, her Truth Manipulation crumbles,
Oh Hye-seo throws aside the bones of Seo Hweol held in her arms and sobs.
"Seo Hweol! Seo Hweol!!"
The bones of Sea Dragon King Seo Hweol drift somewhere beyond the chaos of the Outer Sea and disintegrate, and Oh Hye-seo, turning her back on that sight, finally collapses into Oh Hyun-seok's arms.
Tststss—
As her illusionary space disappears, Oh Hyun-seok takes on the form of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens and tightly embraces her.
Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, now transformed into violet vapor, whispers while holding her close.
"It's okay. It's okay...Hye-seo-ah. Everything's okay now... And...I'm sorry. For not caring about you..."
Tststststss—
Oh Hyun-seok's Purple Soul Filling the Heavens begins to seep directly into Oh Hye-seo.
What is Oh Hyun-seok's now passes on to her, and it begins to merge with her Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
"Still...please remember just this one thing. Even here...there is someone who truly love you..."
Oh Hyun-seok's warm love flows deep into her heart, and Oh Hye-seo weeps.
"I hate it... I hate it all... I hate all of you. Seo Hweol, I hate you. Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me with nothing but this? I hate you too, Oh Hyun-seok. Why did you leave me alone all this time...? Kim Yeon, I hate you. Why did you become so radiant that I can't even look at you anymore? And...Seo Eun-hyun. I hate you the most..."
"..."
"Why...won't you...just leave me alone...? Why...?"
Tstststststststss—
As Oh Hyun-seok's Purple Soul Filling the Heavens merges with Oh Hye-seo's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, their form transforms.
Oh Hye-seo's shadow shifts in form.
What was once a shadow shaped like Seo Hweol, now transforms into her own shadow bearing the horns of a Sea Dragon.
"I hate everyone... I really hate everyone... But..."
Clutching the chest where Purple Soul Filling the Heavens has seeped into, Oh Hye-seo grits her teeth.
"Because this pain...because this hatred exists...that must be why life is something we can't escape..."
Her enlightenment is conveyed thread by thread through Indra's Net.
—Pain is hatred.
—Hatred is a yoke.
If there is a difference between anger and hatred, anger can be repaid through retribution...
But hatred becomes a lifelong scar and yoke in a person's heart.
—Hatred is a collar and truth you can never escape from.
—But...
—To carry that yoke on one's back and still continue on—that is life.
I gaze into Oh Hye-seo's heart essence.
Rain begins to fall in what had always been a desolate desert.
That rain overflows and overflows, soon becoming a sea.
—Even if I accept the pain, I must live on. Right, Seo Hweol...?
Now bearing in her heart essence a sea of storms vast enough to house a Sea Dragon, she rises to her feet.
—If truth is something you cannot escape no matter how much you manipulate it...then it must mean even if you accept it, you must still live...
I know then that a great change has occurred within her.
Whether on Earth, or here in Mount Sumeru.
She, who once would have embraced death at the slightest opportunity if Seo Hweol was gone—no, even if he was still present, has at last changed.
Seo Hweol's shout.
Oh Hyun-seok's shout.
The cry of all of us together, has led her to finally treasure life, to choose living over suicide.
Now, even if left alone, she will not choose death.
Kiiiiiiiiiing!
At the same moment, a massive taenghwa rises behind her.
Until now, the taenghwa of her comrades resembled the compassionate visages of Bodhisattvas, but hers is different.
Hers is simply, unmistakably, a monster.
Kugugugu!
Six arms, three heads.
Oh Hye-seo's taenghwa, in the form of an Asura with three heads and six arms, begins to overturn something in reality with all six hands.
"I don't need your help anymore. I don't need your empty promise that Seo Hweol can be brought back. I've come to know that it can't be done. But...even if I can't save him, I'll live on carrying the life he passed on to me. So...I no longer need your embrace."
Clang!
At that moment, the Asura's six arms strike fiercely at Oh Hye-seo's back.
Jjeooeong!
Simultaneously, something like a dark-red chain seems to emerge behind her, only to shatter under the Asura's blow.
Kugugugugugu!
"...!"
From somewhere far away, a familiar wave sweeps across the entirety of the Outer Sea.
It is the power of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
'I see...'
Oh Hye-seo, as of this day, has chosen to sever her status as the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's disciple.
And she senses that the Great Mountain Supreme Deity has, in turn, expelled her.
She is no longer my martial niece.
"I'll live with pride. Even if life is nothing but pain...I'll endure... After all..."
Oh Hye-seo moves her arm.
At the same moment, my jade seal of Yin-Yang and Five Elements embedded in her shatters completely, and she relinquishes her Immortal Dao itself.
She chooses no longer to walk the Dao of Repentant Enlightenment.
But as her realm in the Immortal Dao had not been high to begin with, she is merely a Vestige Liberation Immortal.
Now freed from me, from the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, and from Seo Hweol, she utters a single phrase with a lightened heart and weeps.
"Life is...nothing but hatred."
Life is hatred.
It is the moment she speaks those words.
Shiver!
"...!"
An unbearable, revolting filth creeps over me.
'Th-This is...'
And then, I feel the [gaze] of some presence that I could not perceive in my previous realm.
I turn my head to perceive what that [gaze] is, and soon after...
I am able to behold it directly.
Kugugugugu!
Tracing that gaze back to its origin, at the very end lies Mount Sumeru.
A massive world in the form of an inverted cone.
At its edge,
Mount Sumeru.
Thirty-Third Heaven.
The threshold of the Audience Chamber.
The Head Realm that lies in that place (首界)...
There, I...
Iseeititseesmeoureyesmeetit'sagiganticjade...
It is a gigantic jade...
Gigantic jade...
Gigan...
: : Kuaaaaaaaagh!!! : :
I scream desperately.
At my cry, the entire Outer Sea seems to tremble, and behind my back, the [Pure-White Three Great Ultimates] and the [Wheel] begin to fully support me.
Revealing my true body in the Outer Sea, I pour every bit of my mind into 'facing directly' what lies at the edge of that [gaze]!!
And then, across over a thousand lifetimes, across endless time, I finally succeed in 'perceiving' it.
It is...
It is...!
It is a gigantic...
Jade throne upon which the Holy Father sits.
HewatchesoverusfrombehindtheEmptinessSupremeDeityMyeongWoonwhorollsitseyesbackandstaresatusandMyeongWoonissomehowinasemi-transparentstateallowingmetodaredirecrtlybeholdthejadefaceofthatexaltedbeing.
HissacredvisageissomethingalowlybeinglikemecannotdaretodescribebutifImustventuretodepictitinwordsitisasfollowshewearadragonrobeofsuchranknoSurepemDeitydarestoapproachandatophisheadrestsamianguanthatmakeseventheHeavenlyVenerableoftheUnderworldseemsmallthatmianguanitselflookslikethe
[Black Sky]
andsoheappearsasthoughheisholdinguptheskyitself.
Onhisjadebodyforsomereasonthereare
[Three Holes]
piercedthroughhimthefirstholeisattheupperdantianwherehisfaceismakinghisjadefaceappearlikearingandsacredthesecondholeispiercedatthemiddledantianwherehischestisandperhapsbecauseofthisheappearsheartbreakinglyhollowthefinalholeispiercedathisislowerdantianwherehislowerabdomenisandIcan'thelpbutfeelthatwhateveroncefilledthosethreeholeswere
[Faces]
I'vesomehowencounteredbeforeandyeteventhoughI'vemethisfacesbeforewhyisitthatIhaveneveroncerecognizedthatexaltedoneIcanonlyfeelbitterlyresentfulandbitterlyresentfulthisisblasphemnybeyonddescriptionsoIdecidetostranglemyownneckandburnmyselftoseekforgivenessforthatsinasasaburntoffering...
"Don't go! Seo Eun-hyun!!"
Kiiiiiiiiiing!
"Keok! Keheok"
At someone's cry, I finally come to my senses and open my eyes on the spot.
"Heok! Heoheok!"
As I come to my senses, I find my entire body bound in light pink threads, with Kim Yeon holding me tightly from behind.
'Th-This is...'
I clearly understand what just happened.
'Crazy...I was about to return to thee.'
Kim Yeon's heart tightly embraces me, and around us quince blossoms bloom in full, revitalizing my mind.
"Heok... Heoook..."
I think of what I just saw.
'Behind...the Head Realm... Did I see the [Audience Chamber]...!?'
Gag!
For some reason, a repulsion and disgust rising from deep in my chest make me clamp my mouth shut.
I try to recall the form of [that being] I saw in the Audience Chamber, but an overwhelming headache surges up, and so I barely manage to calm my heart, fracturing the memory and shattering the knowledge into fragments.
Only then do I become able to recall that being without serious strain.
'I see now... Just now, I perceived...the [Future King].'
There is no other explanation for what I felt.
That being is the one whom even the Supreme Deities and Heavenly Venerables fear.
It is the Future King, the Fate Supreme Deity.
As I recall the times I felt 'revulsion' when I ascended from the Head Realm or encountered pivotal moments, I tremble.
'I see. The moments I felt 'revulsion' were all...the very moments when my comrades fully awakened to their fates.'
I glance at Oh Hye-seo.
She sits in a lotus position, glaring at me.
Having obtained Indra's Net, I can clearly tell.
'Oh Hye-seo has fully awakened to her fate.'
And every time an Ender fully awakened to their fate, the [Future King] had been observing us from the [Audience Chamber].
Clang!
At that moment, I perceive a change in the Radiance Mantra.
'...I see. So the change in the regression point...was because of this.'
I come to understand the principle behind the change in regression point.
'It is when the Future King observes us.'
When our fate is completely observed by the Future King, and my actions are observed together with it by the Future King, then the alteration of the past through the Radiance Mantra or an Ender's fate becomes completely 'impossible'.
If that happens, even if one returns to the past, the Radiance Mantra judges that 'changing the future is absolutely impossible' and thus fixes the regression point.
'If I hadn't directly faced the Future King this time, I never would've known.'
It is truly fortunate that I manage to directly look at the Future King.
'If I hadn't awakened Indra's Net, known the conditions for Martial Pinnacle, and reached the peak of Great Net Immortal, I would never have been able to endure that gaze and trace it back to directly face the Future King...'
And had I not directly faced the Future King, I never would've fully grasped the various knowledge and conditions related to regression.
Regardless, this challenge has brought me considerable gain.
'Damn it... Future King...'
But among the knowledge I gained from the Future King—
I tremble, startled by the fact that I have encountered [three] of the Future King's faces.
'Just what in the world...is that being?'
Seo Hweol is dead, but I recall the time I suffered at his hands.
That suffocating fear when I couldn't tell whether someone around me was Seo Hweol or not.
The terror that every connection I've ever formed might have contained a 'face' of the Future King fills my chest.
'...Let's not get too caught up in it right now.'
Still, I shake my head and open my eyes wide.
"...Thank you, Kim Yeon."
I express my gratitude to Kim Yeon, who helped bring me back to my senses, and rise to my feet.
A welcome guest has arrived.
"Long time no see."
I look behind me.
The presence who appeared like a phantom next to Oh Hye-seo.
I gaze at the Northern Heavenly Venerable, the True Martial Great Emperor Hyeon Mu.
"What brings you so suddenly to the Outer Sea?"
Hyeon Mu stands atop Glass Peacock's clone, who now lies beneath her, showing an expression of 'fear' and 'revulsion' that I have never seen before.
"...Hyeon Mu... You..."
Crunch!
Just as Glass Peacock tries to open their mouth, Hyeon Mu moves her hand and crushes their head like a bug.
Though it's only a clone, they should be able to regenerate.
But perhaps because Hyeon Mu made a move, Glass Peacock's regeneration seems significantly delayed.
"..."
Hyeon Mu's eyes are as empty as before, but they are now also soaked in endless despair and pain.
'As expected...'
Hyeon Mu has perceived and followed along my regression in the state of having recovered her memories from seeing Hong Fan last time.
I look at Hyeon Mu and ask again.
"May I ask what brings you to this desolate Outer Sea?"
"...Isn't it obvious?"
Hyeon Mu rises from her seat, surrendering her body to the chaos of the Outer Sea.
"Upon realizing someone has grasped a clue to Martial Pinnacle, I rushed over immediately."
"Haha, it's an honor. But it's unfortunate. Even if I've grasped a clue to Martial Pinnacle..."
"I know. Even if you miraculously reach Martial Pinnacle, and Kim Young-hoon comes back to life, you won't be able to kill me. I've just gotten used to showing up whenever I sense people like you that I came reflexively."
Hyeon Mu speaks with a hollow expression.
"Now...until my memories are erased again...I have no expectations toward you all, so do not worry. For even if there are a hundred, a thousand Supreme Deities or beings who've reached Martial Pinnacle...I already know I 'cannot' die..."
"...Can you not tell me?"
I ask Hyeon Mu a question.
"Why you try to die yet cannot, what it is you remembered after meeting Hong Fan, and what you meant by 'even if the Seven Brilliance is completed, it is only [half]'. If you could tell me about your relationship with the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld as well, I'd be even more grateful."
At those words, Hyeon Mu coldly glares down at me and speaks.
"It is not something a thing like you needs to know. Do not delude yourself."
"..."
Speaking the exact same words as Hong Fan, Hyeon Mu continues,
"It is unbearably sorrowful and crushingly painful...yet still...the story must be completed. As long as I am aware of that, I can never show you any sympathy."
"...Then...why do you keep ridiculing us here? You could have just looked at us once and disappeared."
"Hmm...that's for another reason. Regardless, it benefits me for you all to grow. I came to encourage you not to lose your will and become annihilated here."
"Pardon...?"
"Do not pretend you don't know. You feel it too."
Hyeon Mu grins cruelly.
I give a bitter smile at those words.
The massive presence being felt together with Hyeon Mu.
It belongs to a familiar being.
"Do you not sense it? That the Great Mountain Supreme Deity who expelled their disciple is now pushing the interpretation that they have 'lost' that disciple?"
I feel it.
Kugugugugugu!
Beyond that sea of chaos.
A crushing pressure surges toward us.
"Although fully completing the Splitting Heaven Mantra is impossible...it should now be possible to disperse the power and fire it in a simplified form. And if the Splitting Heaven Mantra is completed in a simplified version, completing the Splitting Heaven Mantra itself should also become faster. At minimum, ten million years. At most, maybe one hundred million years will be cut from the completion time. And...naturally."
Hyeon Mu melts into the chaos and speaks,
"The simplified Splitting Heaven Mantra won't reach Mount Sumeru, so the only ones to test it on right now are you."
Kururururung!
Kim Yeon and Oh Hye-seo flinch in surprise and look toward somewhere.
An authority of overwhelming violence boils from beyond that chaos.
"Reach it. The ultimate of Martial Arts. If you can manifest even a part of that power...even if through unorthodox methods...then the simplified Splitting Heaven Mantra can be blocked."
With those final words, Hyeon Mu completely dissolves into the chaos, and I suck in a hollow breath.
The sea of chaos boils over.
At the same time, an immeasurably vast authority is felt from afar.
And a familiar will is conveyed to me.
—You've come up. Welcome. Whatever the case, you're come to settle things with me, haven't you?
"..."
—Take it. The simplified Splitting Heaven. At the same time...the stepping stone toward the Splitting Heaven Mantra. This is...
Kururururung!
I place Kim Yeon and Oh Hye-seo on my Flower Soul Filling the Heavens and send them far away as I slowly draw the Impermanence Sword in that spot.
—My power...that even surpasses Master.
Heaven, Earth, and Heavens Above.
Across the world, the will of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am resounds.
—Prove it.
: : Splitting : :
—That you are more suitable for the Dao of the Mountain than I, who have surpassed Master.
: : Emperor : :
—Today. Right here.
: : Splitting : :
—Let us determine the true Mountain God.
: : Heaven : :
Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven (裂帝裂天).
: : Annihilation (滅) Advancement (進) Wu (戊). : :
[Editor: Wu (戊) is the fifth of the Ten Heavenly Stems.]
A golden wave that destroys the entire world surges toward me, infused with the golden light of Wu (戊) of the Ten Heavens, becoming annihilation.
The light of Annihilation Advancement that's meant to tear through the Emperor (帝) and kill the Heavens (天), becomes an authority even more terrifying than the single strike of the Underworld.
And I, refining the enlightenment of Martial Pinnacle with the sensation I felt when I once blocked the single strike of the Underworld, extend the Impermanence Sword.
'Cut.'
The will of the Impermanence Sword and my own will become one, and thus I take my first step toward Martial Pinnacle to block the strike of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
Jjeoooooong!
A significant portion of the Outer Sea's chaos seems to condense into a single point, then immediately fires toward one place along with a massive golden light.
Where that golden light strikes, there stands a human in white.
He, wielding the sword of impermanence that exists nowhere and everywhere, directly confronts the golden annihilation.
But immediately after—
Jjeooooooong!
Where the golden light sweeps through, nothing remains.
The person in white.
Seo Eun-hyun fails to mount any resistance against that will of destruction.
However, the very being who sent forth that will of destruction sits within a world called Penglai Island with a face distorted like an evil spirit.
Is it because Seo Eun-hyun perished too easily?
Or is it because, in that final moment, even as he faded away, he smiled?
No one knows.
But one thing is certain: Seo Eun-hyun is dead.
Seo Eun-hyun is dead, and so the time of the Outer Sea continues to flow on.
That is Seo Eun-hyun's one-thousand-and-sixth return.
Seo Eun-hyun's 10th cycle.
There, Yang Ji-hwang clutches her chest and collapses on the spot.
"...Aaaagh... Aaaaaaaagh..."
Drip...drip...
Yang Ji-hwang, who had at first appeared as a giant god of light, is becoming closer to that of a human woman as time passes.
She perceives her tears to be utterly alien, yet the sensation rising from her chest is something she can no longer endure.
It hasn't been long since she shouted that she would never learn the heart.
Yet, now, she feels shame at her own actions.
She recalls herself frustrated and wondering when Yuan Li would die.
She remembers how she sympathized with Seo Eun-hyun's pain as he reached Treading Heavens Beyond the Path and as the Yin Soul Ghost Incantation turned into the Black Ghost Curse Banner...
And now, reflecting on herself as she sobs at Seo Eun-hyun bidding farewell to Buk Hyang-hwa's final moments—
In the depths of self-loathing and sorrow, Yang Ji-hwang cannot stop her tears.
'Just what is...what is this thing called the heart...? Why does it hurt so much...!?'
At the same time, she realizes that her name itself is melting away.
The fate and name of Ji-hwang, given to her solely to hunt the Mountain Gods, is dissolving.
She does not know why.
But one thing is clear.
The being once known as the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, once known as Yang Ji-hwang, is now melting within Seo Eun-hyun's memories.
Within the records of those hearts,
Will she be reborn as a new existence, or merely be absorbed by Seo Eun-hyun and become a part of him?
Even she does not know.
But now she understands.
'I was ignorant... Even though I am one of the divine ranks governing Martial Arts...I never knew what true Martial Arts were...'
"The true pinnacle of the sword lies in the heart... What in the world...have I been doing until now...?"
She, who reached the pinnacle of sword techniques but never tried to understand the heart, now finally begins to grasp the power of the heart.
And only now does she understand.
'The true ultimate of Martial Arts is...'
"Giving and receiving the heart...to form connections... So that is...the most terrifying thing in this world..."
Unable to take her eyes off the final moment between Seo Eun-hyun and Buk Hyang-hwa,
Feeling an ache in her chest she's never known before, she continues reading Seo Eun-hyun's memories.
Even though she may forget her name entirely, and her existence might vanish if she keeps reading...
She does not stop. She continues to learn about Seo Eun-hyun.
Because she knows—this is the only way to reach the ultimate of Martial Arts she had half given up on until now.
Reviving herself as a martial artist, she thus walks forward.
-x-X-x-
Kiririk!
I die.
At the same time, my mind and the surrounding environment seem to shift slightly, and I instantly return to life.
'This place is...'
—Let us determine the true Mountain God.
Hyeon Mu disintegrates into chaos before my eyes, and from afar, a massive torrent of chaos boils up as a power I know well reveals itself once more.
'So the first day of the 1006th cycle...is here...'
Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven (裂帝裂天).
: : Annihilation (滅) Advancement (進) Mu (戊). : :
Once again, the golden wave crashes toward me.
I understand the situation.
After Oh Hye-seo just recently awakened to her fate, and the Future King observed it,
My regression point has become fixed to this very moment.
I accelerate my consciousness and connect to Indra's Net.
But...
'Astounding. Even connected to Indra's Net, I still can't avoid Annihilation Advancement Mu.'
The authority held by the Salt Sea Supreme Deity as the Castle Wall Heavenly Lord.
The principle of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra learned from the Salt Sea Supreme Deity.
The power of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea accumulated by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
And the enlightenment of Annihilation Advancement (滅進) seemingly obtained through dual cultivation with Hyeon Mu.
All of those combined unfolded with the Mantra of Splitting Heaven, which splits even the Absolute into seven pieces!
That alone is inescapable, and an inevitable death.
'No matter where I flee, I can never escape. There isn't even a place to run to. I have no choice but to face it head-on.'
But having just died from it, I know.
'There's...far too little time.'
Even if I obtained enlightenment of Marital Pinnacle, I still need time to internalize and refine it before I can use it to resist.
But this instantly unfolding simplified Splitting Heaven Mantra.
If I keep dying in front of Annihilation Advancement Mu like this, no matter how many times I try, fully grasping the enlightenment of Martial Pinnacle will be difficult.
'This is troublesome...'
I frown and send a message to Oh Hye-seo, who is blankly zoning out.
—Oh Hye-seo. Right now, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity is trying to kill us. Can't you use your authority to escape all the way to Mount Sumeru in one go or something? If not that, at least slowing down the time it takes for that authority to reach us would be great.
Oh Hye-seo seems slightly surprised by the will I transmit through Indra's Net, but answers immediately.
—Impossible. My authority isn't that kind of power to begin with. Moreover, even if it was, the sheer force condensed by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity is so vast it'd crush my authority. More importantly...
Oh Hye-seo answers me coldly.
—Even if it were possible, I wouldn't use it for you.
'...'
It seems Oh Hye-seo isn't going to be of any help right now.
'Time...is lacking'
It may be the first day of the 1006th cycle, but the actual time I face the Great Mountain Supreme Deity directly is only a few seconds.
Kugugugugu!
I perceive the death that's right in front of my nose.
'I'm not afraid.'
Though it's suffocating just like during Blood Yin, there's clearly an exit even if it is distant, so I only need to aim for it and keep striving.
The problem is the time for those efforts.
'This isn't like the simple Star Shattering advancement. I can't finish it in just a thousand cycles.'
This is the ultimate of Martial Arts.
To manifest even a fragment of that power would take not a thousand, but ten thousand cycles.
No...
At this rate, with only a few seconds given each time, I'd need billions of cycles to have even the slightest chance of success.
Chwaaaaagh!
The power of Annihilation Advancement Mu rips apart my Impermanence Sword and obliterates me.
As I die, I think to myself.
'Good...'
To have even a thousand chances to collide everything I've accumulated in Martial Arts against the Splitting Heaven Mantra is, when I think about it again, a fine opportunity.
That must be why this smile already lingers at the corner of my lips.
But according to the words of the Underworld, if I repeat regression another thousand times, even the Supreme Deities will begin to notice.
'Since Great Mountain is a special case among the Supreme Deities, even nine hundred cycles might be enough for him to realize the regression.'
In other words, at worst, I have around eight hundred regressions left. At best, about a thousand.
'I must reach Martial Pinnacle within that time. Can I do it?'
I assess myself with cold clarity.
And I realize.
'I can't.'
With that realization, I am completely killed by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's Annihilation Advancement Mu.
That is my one-thousand-and-seventh return.
1007th cycle.
Kiririk!
Coming back to life again in a fleeting instant, I continue my thoughts.
'This isn't just a matter of confidence. This is...as the Underworld said, a matter of statistics.'
My talent, my comprehension, and my willpower—no one knows them better than I do.
Though I always say the wrong things and every plan I make ends up falling apart, at least when it comes to matters regarding myself, I know myself well enough to say this.
'If I keep repeating death in this state, even after a thousand cycles, it'll only amount to a few hours of actual time. I can't draw out even a fragment of Martial Pinnacle in that time.'
In the end, what I need is time.
'Even if I accelerate to Araya Consciousness and step onto Indra's Net, the speed of that Annihilation Advancement Mu stays the same. To dodge or block that...I need to reach at least the speed of undying like Hyeon Mu or Kim Young-hoon.'
Tiiing—
I move the principles of Indra's Net and send messages to those connected with me.
Particularly to the Underworld and the Heavenly Venerable of Time.
—Please help me. At this rate, the entire world will be trapped inside this timeline.
Each of the Heavenly Venerables replies immediately.
—If I use the power I've accumulated or my Wheel, I could save you, but those are powers that must not be drawn or wielded. As you've proven before me, withstand it with your own strength.
—Did I not tell you to die back then? Even when I offered you mercy, you kicked it away yourself and now you cause this mess? If there had only been even half a gak before meeting the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, I could have intervened...but now it's too late. It is impossible. It'd be faster to just go through regression about a thousand times, let the Great Mountain Supreme Deity perceive the regressions, and then persuade them to our side.
The Underworld refuses, saying she must conserve her strength, and the Heavenly Venerable of Time scolds me and suggests that I persuade the Great Mountain Supreme Deity to join our side instead.
I send a message to the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable as well.
—O Sal Tree Great King, I beg of you, please help me.
And the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable replies with a response full of meaning, yet still declines.
—You are asking me to interfere in a battle between the disciples of Salt Sea while in the Salt Sea? If it were the Inner Sea, perhaps—but to go against a disciple of the Salt Sea within the Salt Sea is a foolish matter... Even without using the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea in that place, they are stronger than us with our descended Gandhara...
'Is there...something in the Outer Sea that allows Master's power to be drawn out well? Is it because of help from Penglai Island? I'm not sure...'
But what is certain is that while the Great Mountain Supreme Deity can harness the power of the Outer Sea well, I cannot.
'To search for a way to harness Master's power while dying a thousand times and simultaneously challenging Martial Pinnacle—that's a stupid act. Right now, I must focus on one thing.'
I recognize that there is no one who can help me in this situation and compose myself.
Flash!
'In that case...what I can do now is refine myself and try everything I possibly can.'
That is the best optimal attitude I can take in the current situation.
Paaaaaaatt!
With that final thought, I die again.
That is my one-thousand-and-eighth return.
'What I possess...'
1008th cycle.
Immediately upon regression, I summon the Pure-White Three Great Ultimates and overlay the Wheel upon it.
And I understand.
Woo-wooong!
'How noble.'
It feels as though the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld is gazing down at me from behind.
That is how noble a mantra the Wheel appearing behind me is.
'It still looks down on me, refusing to completely permit itself.'
It seems to say that I am still not fully qualified.
But it's different from before.
Whereas before, I had 'no' qualification whatsoever, now I am 'not fully' qualified—meaning, I am to some degree. The Wheel permits itself to my will to some extent.
'Then let's unfold it...'
Behind the Wheel, a white circle appears.
It is the Flawless Mantra that allows me to unfold the power of the God of Gods.
And in front of me emerges the attraction force of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
Wheel.
Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
Flawless Mantra.
Impermanence Sword.
'Every mantra I can wield...this time, to the very limit...!'
An overwhelming power explodes throughout my entire body, and I feel that now I could even properly exchange blows with Bong Myeong.
'Right now, I am...practically equivalent to a Supreme Deity!'
All principles feel as though they rest within my grasp.
'If it's this state...'
I draw out the surging power and raise the Impermanence Sword.
Flash!
And then, I am obliterated by Annihilation Advancement Mu.
That is my one-thousand-and-ninth return.
1009th cycle.
'So...strength alone is not enough.'
But it is not meaningless.
Unlike the time of Blood Yin, I coldly analyze the situation without a fragmented mind.
'There's no time to waste. I must quickly find the answer. I've already died several times and drawn several conclusions.'
Just power alone, drawn from mantras, is not enough.
'What's needed is to maximize the abilities of the mantras... To do that...'
It is at that moment.
Among the mantras, I suddenly realize there is a power I have not drawn out yet.
'...Come to think of it, the Wheel, the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, the Flawless Mantra, the Impermanence Sword...these are not the end of the mantras I possess.'
I know of one more mantra.
No, rather than saying I know it, it's more accurate to say it's embedded in my soul.
Radiance Mantra.
I engrave in my mind the authority of the Radiance Mantra that I've recently discovered.
'The Radiance Mantra is the authority to travel through spacetime and bring regression into reality. And through countless regressions, it is a mantra that allows me to draw out the result I desire. And...'
The regression point fixed by the Radiance Mantra is the moment when the Future King observes both an Ender awakening to their fate and 'me'.
Because once the Future King has observed it, it becomes 'meaningless' to regress to a past beyond that point.
'...'
I float the Pure-White Three Great Ultimates and the Wheel behind my back.
And I think.
'It's only that it's meaningless... Then...'
Isn't it still 'possible' to regress to a point even further in the past?
'...This is it.'
I can tell instinctively.
No—this is the instinct of my mind that's entangled with Indra's Net.
This is unmistakably the 'truth'.
'The way to gain time...is the Radiance Mantra!'
If I can become proficient in the Radiance Mantra and regress to a time before the fixed regression point!
'I'll have enough time to embody the enlightenment that reaches Martial Pinnacle!'
Even if I can change nothing in the past...
I can accept that.
Because even if I can't change anything, I can still further repentantly enlighten myself.
'Only my consciousness will be the present me. It's fine even if I can't lift a single finger!'
I cry out internally, toward the foundation of regression embedded deep in my soul.
'Please, I want to return [to an even earlier point in the past]! Turn back time, O Radiance Mantra!'
And then...
Nothing happens.
But it doesn't matter.
'If you won't listen to me, then I'll make you listen!'
Kiriririk!
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld once said this:
The Wheel, under the premise that regression is perceived, is a superior form of regression.
She definitely said so.
And if that's the case...
'I can now, in theory, suppress the Radiance Mantra through the Wheel!'
Kiiiiiiiiing!
As I begin turning the [Wheel], I start to stimulate the Radiance Mantra.
'O Radiance Mantra! Hear me!'
I am your master.
So...
'Regress me!'
To before Oh Hye-seo's hatred!
Kigigigigik!
In that instant, the Wheel grinds and an overwhelming frictional sound bursts forth from deep within my soul.
With a headache that feels like my head is cracking open, I am struck by Annihilation Advancement Mu and die, bursting apart between the clash of the two mantras.
Before my eyes, I see the forms of [Wheel of Starlight] and [Black Snake Biting Its Tail].
They are likely the forms of the Wheel and the Radiance Mantra, respectively.
The two circles spin in reverse directions and crash into one another, and I, amidst the two colliding circles, reach my hand toward the [Black Snake Biting Its Tail].
Soon, the form of [Pure-White Three Great Ultimates] floating behind me pours its strength into the form of [Black Snake Biting Its Tail], and begins to control it.
The Wheel and I, combining our strength, are subduing the Radiance Mantra.
'Please...let it succeed...!'
Kigigigigik!
Kigigigigik!
Kigigigigigigik!
Peoooooooooong!!!
At the final moment, an overwhelming radiance engulfs my vision, and I lose consciousness as I am swallowed by that radiance.
Hiss—
Hiss hiss hiss—
Hiss hiss—
As I lose consciousness, I hear the hissing of countless snakes.
That is my one-thousand-and-tenth return.
Hiss—
Hiss hiss hiss hiss—
"...?"
'I' regain awareness.
"...Where is this...?"
It is then,
Slaaap!
Someone smacks me hard across the face.
"Deputy Seo, you son of a bitch, drive the car properly!!"
It's Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"What kind of joke is this now?"
Annoyed at the guy who can't grasp the situation, I swing my finger to flick Jeon Myeong-hoon's forehead.
Hwooong!
Ascension Path is split in half, the entire continent of the Head Realm is cleaved apart, and the world is destroyed.
"...Huh?"
I hurriedly avert my gaze from the sky and stare blankly at the ground with a dumbfounded expression.
"...Huh? Huuuuuh?"
It's when I'm so flustered, I can't even form words.
☯
Slaaap!
"Deputy Seo, you son of a bitch, drive the car properly!!"
I am back to just before.
No—more precisely, the Head Realm has nullified the anomaly that just occurred.
'Th-This is...'
I realize the situation I'm now in.
Through the Wheel, I've subdued the Radiance Mantra.
And...
I have returned to the very first regression point.
Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss—
"Hm?"
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, Yang Ji-hwang, frowns at the hissing of snakes near her ear.
'Just now, what was that?'
For some reason...
It feels like someone other than her has entered the memory of Seo Eun-hyun she is reading.
'Only the Radiance Supreme Deity can access the Celestial Lord Incense Burning spell... Could it be another of the Radiance Eight Immortals has entered? Did they come to save me?'
Confusion flickers in Yang Ji-hwang's eyes.
'...If I meet another of the Radiance Eight Immortals...how should I face them...?'
I grasp the situation.
'Radiance Mantra...ended up activating at full power.'
My wish to return to a time before Oh Hye-seo awakens her fate has caused a massive butterfly effect.
'First...I need to gather information.'
Carefully avoiding looking up at the sky, I begin to speak to Jeon Myeong-hoon and the other comrades.
"First of all, everyone. There's something I need to say."
It happens then.
It is at that moment.
☯
Slaaap!
"Deputy Seo, you son of a bitch!"
"..."
I realize that the situation just now has been nullified.
And I quickly analyze the situation to figure out what's going on.
'I see. The fact that [fate is already fixed, so it's meaningless] means...'
Any actions that deviate from fate are not permitted.
'It really is...meaningless.'
Time that has passed can never return.
This is the first law that anyone dealing with history must know.
Once a timeline is observed by the Future King, it becomes history that absolutely cannot be reversed.
Though I have returned to the past, this regression is nothing more than a complete recollection of memories, no different from glancing over the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.
'Any attempt to rewrite the past is stopped and nullified by the Head Realm.'
Still, I am satisfied even with just this.
'With this amount of time...yes. It's not bad. With this much, I should be able to grasp the enlightenment needed to block Great Mountain Supreme Deity's strike.'
Good.
If it's come to this, then rather...
Let's enjoy it.
Resolving so, I hide the entirety of [myself up to now] deep inside the 'human Seo Eun-hyun', leaving behind only the memories of 'Seo Eun-hyun from the Earth era', and bury myself within Seo Eun-hyun.
Thus, the story unfolds exactly the same.
Shi Ho emerges and tears our limbs apart, the two-headed snake comes and drains our blood, and the trio at the Heavenly Being stage appears and heals us.
And I, seeing Azure Tiger Saint while watching the three, suddenly feel a surge of emotion I can't suppress.
It is at that moment.
"Huaaaaaagh! Wh-What is thisaaaaaah!"
"Kuaaaaagh! S-Save me! Hggkuaaaaagh!"
"Kuuughh!"
From the bodies of Jin Byeok-ho and Heo Gwak, swords of glass erupt and protrude uncontrollably, and their bodies transform into Glass True Fire, returning to me.
Azure Tiger Saint holds out the longest, but even he seems about to return to thee.
However, just around that time, the Head Realm fortunately initiates normalization.
☯
'...Huuu.'
Just the fragment of emotion I felt seeing Azure Tiger Saint caused a fragment of power to leak, nearly leading to their total return and annihilation.
'For once, this restriction is actually welcome.'
I calm my startled heart, realizing I nearly killed my old master by making him return to me, and continue observing the story.
Some time later, I encounter another familiar face.
"Hoho..."
'Hoho...'
It's Seo Hweol.
He takes Oh Hye-seo in his arms and carries her away.
At the end, the Mad Lord, Kim Yeon's guide, appears.
'Mad Lord...'
Remembering his painful past, I bitterly smile to myself.
The Mad Lord takes Kim Yeon and casts me into Yanguo.
It is at that moment.
Only then do I notice something strange.
'Hm? This is...?'
Only then do I realize that Kim Young-hoon is 'not visible'.
It's strange.
I haven't seen Kim Young-hoon anywhere up until now, and yet I've been treating him all this time as if he's a 'real, present existence'.
'What in the world is going on?'
However, before I can even feel the strangeness, 'Seo Eun-hyun', who has been stripped of all memories except those from Earth, speaks as if Kim Young-hoon is right beside him and continues the story.
: : Wait. I'm sorry about this. : :
Saying such, I fail to suppress the strangeness and reveal my presence, sweeping over all the living beings in the Head Realm with my consciousness at once.
Feeling even my extremely weakened presence, all living being faint on the spot, foaming at the mouth.
Microorganisms and weak insects die instantly.
Even after going that far, I still cannot find Kim Young-hoon anywhere in the Head Realm.
'I see... This must be how a future leap achieved through True Attainment appears.'
The past can no longer change.
But Kim Young-hoon has vanished into the future, and thus until that future is reached, no matter how many regressions occur, he does not exist in any timeline.
Yet because the past cannot be changed, everyone in this world, 'myself' included, continues to behave as if Kim Young-hoon exists.
And it is at that moment.
I discover one more strange truth.
'Wait...why does this flow feel...'
'I' go with Kim Young-hoon to an herb shop to earn money, buy a manor, and have Kim Young-hoon join the Demon Slaying Sect of Seokyung City's Four Stars Three Demons.
Then I follow Kim Young-hoon, working as a strategist for the Wulin Alliance, amass wealth, and grow old.
'Th-This is...'
The first cycle.
These are events from my first regression.
'What is this? It's not the zeroth cycle...but why am I acting as I did in the first?'
It's strange.
If I had returned simply to the first regression point, I should be following the behavior of the twelfth cycle.
Next, I should be enveloping myself in the Formless Sword and ascending.
After that, I would spend over ten thousand years to become a True Immortal, reach the Outer Sea, and challenge the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. Such would be the normal flow of time...
'...No way...if this is how it is...'
With a pounding heart, I slowly look back on my past life.
And finally, at the end of the first cycle.
I die at around the age of eighty.
And then...
Kiriririk!
I return to Ascension Path once more.
This time, it doesn't feel like the vivid regression triggered by death at the hands of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, but more like rewinding a video or flipping a storybook backward.
Regardless, I understand through this.
'...If the point I've returned to is the first cycle, and I continue to look back through the second, third, and on until I reach the 1005th cycle to meet the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, and if dying 1009 times is all included in this [1010th regression]...'
I instantly realize how much time I've gained.
'A-A hundred million years...? Hahaha...'
: : Ahahahahahaha! : :
I have, in effect, been given the chance to reflect on the entirety of my life spanning a hundred million years.
"Hoho...huh? Wh-What is th—"
Pukwak!
As I laugh, the Seo Hweol from the third cycle who tries to take Oh Hye-seo explodes and died, and by the principle of my existence, Glass True Fire spreads through Indra's Net and sets abalze Seo Hweol's main body along with all versions of him in this cycle.
"Kkuuuuaaaaaaaaagh!!"
Seo Hweol screams in genuine agony as he begins to suffer.
Soon after, a Taiji covers the world, and the world is restored to normal again, but I cannot suppress the surging sense of relief and continue to laugh.
'Huhahahaha! Excellent. Until I reorganize the enlightenment of Martial Pinnacle...I've gained a hundred million years. Moreover with this much time, I can even think about the secrets in the Salt Sea...and I can dig deeper into the secrets of the world I didn't notice before.'
Delighted by this unexpected gain, I begin to look back on the lives I've lived.
Thus, the 1010th regression, the reviewing of past lives through the Radiance Mantra, truly begins.
"Huu...how irritating. Those Makli Clan bastards."
I burst apart and kill the entire Makli Clan, who in the third cycle tries to kill the third cycle Young-hoon Hyung-nim, with a press of my pinky finger.
☯
Eventually, the Taiji once again blankets the world, rendering everything as if it never happened, but I continue exploring the past while feeling a refreshing clarity I have never felt before.
'Still, it's a bit regrettable. If only I weren't swept away by the power of the Head Realm...could I truly rewrite the past?'
They say time that has passed cannot return, yet while I look back on it, such thoughts sometimes occur to me.
Especially in the sixth cycle, in the past where I meet Cheongmun Ryeong again, those thoughts become even more prominent.
"...Master. This book of folktales seems to have a slightly different number of stories compared to when I saw it before. Do you know anything about that?"
I ask Cheongmun Ryeong this question as I look at the book of folktales, which includes stories like 'the young man who melted ice with his bare body to serve fish to his mother'.
My master.
Yellow Snake Cheongmun Ryeong strokes his goatee and shouts.
"You fool! Is now the time to be worrying about some storybook? Even just searching for ways to overcome your Heavenly Rejection Phenomenon is already making my head throb! If you don't go and dig through the archive right now, I'll thrash you with a six-sided club!"
I flinch as I recall the six-sided club of the Salt Sea Supreme Deity, but soon smile warmly and say,
"Please don't be like that. Just tell me once, Master. Your disciple is curious."
"Hmph, you impudent brat. You don't even understand your master's heart..."
Cheongmun Ryeong grumbles, but still opens the folktale book with me and furrows his brows.
"Stories with the theme of 'sincerity moves the heavens' number around seven in total... Sometimes, a few more are added depending on the region, and there are places with as many as thirteen, but these seven tales never change.
"'The story of the boy who catches a carp in winter for his mother.'
"'The story of a blind man praying to the heavens and regaining his sight.'
"'The story of a husband who lights a fire on the tip of his finger to cure his wife's fatal illness.'
"'The story of a poor old man who becomes wealthy after obtaining a goblin's hat.'
"'The story of a child driven from home by the schemes of a fox sister, who meets the Dragon King and learns how to appease her, then returns and reconciles with her.'
"'The story of an old man at the end of his lifespan who performs a thousand rites toward the heavens to extend his life.'
"'The story of a child born without fortune who goes to ask the Jade Emperor why he has no fortune.'
"These seven stories are found in every region, and their original forms hardly change."
"Haha, is that so?"
"Hm, but hold on...the story of the old man performing rites to the heavens to extend his lifespan... Let's find a book about that. There might be a way to block your Heavenly Rejection Phenomenon..."
While telling the stories, Cheongmun Ryeong seems to recall something and begins rummaging through the archive.
Wo-woong!
The world begins to be engulfed once more by the Taiji.
It must be because I brought up something that wasn't truly a story from the past.
"There's something I'm curious about, Master."
Before the Taiji fully nullifies the world, I ask Cheongmun Ryeong a question.
"What is it? Something about the folktales? Admittedly, those stories have become so ridiculously widespread that even cultivators sometimes study them. For example, 'the genders of the folk tale protagonists are always consistent' or something like that... Well, there's plenty to say about that. In some regions, if the main character in the first story is a girl, all the protagonists in the following stories are women or old ladies. If the first one's a boy, then the rest are all men or old men... No, more importantly, you rascal, aren't you supposed to be looking for the documents I told you to find...?"
"Master, if fate truly exists, and no matter what we do we cannot overcome it...then what would you do?"
At my question, Cheongmun Ryeong scrunches his face as if wondering why I'm asking such pointless nonsense.
"You're speaking nonsense. Even if fate does exist, does fate live my life for me?"
"..."
"If I just sit around doing nothing and stupidly scratch my belly, does fate advance my life on its own for me? Don't make me laugh! Even if fate has determined my life, we are the ones who live it! As long as my heart is still beating...how I live that life and how I accept fate is entirely my own domain."
"..."
"That is why...even if fate has fixed my future, I will live to the best of my ability within it.
"If I cannot overcome the mountain of fate, I will have a son or disciple and make them dig through that mountain. If they cannot, then their children will. As long as I create the foundation to pass down the will from generation to generation...then one day, that mountain will be thrown into the sea. Some may laugh and call me the Foolish Old Man, but what of it! Fate does not determine us. It is those who live life who determine fate!"
"..."
For some reason, my chest swells with emotion at Cheongmun Ryeong's words.
I take out the [Wheel] and slow the nullification process of the Head Realm as much as possible, then ask.
"...What if that son or disciple inherits the will in a twisted way? What if they misunderstand the will to move the mountain, and instead use tyranny and oppression to force it upon those around them, passing down the will in a clearly evil way... What then?"
"Hmmm..."
At my words, Cheongmun Ryeong seems to ponder for a moment, then speaks without hesitation.
"If that happens, it means the master taught them wrong. If you raise someone by beating them too much when they're young, then all they learn is violence. That's probably why they turned out that way."
"..."
"But...if the master embraces them with the right amount of discipline, advice, and love, and they still grow into someone who distorts and transmits the will like that...then perhaps that's no longer their own will."
"It's not their own will?"
"In this case, it's fate. Fate endlessly lashes at the successor and twists the will into something distorted. Accumulating and accumulating the bridle of karmic retribution and resentment and gratitude...until the person can no longer control even themselves... Yes. Just like a wheel rolling down a slope is unable to control its own body to stop, the world refuses to let them be and drives them into the abyss. There's no other way to put it."
"...Then...in that case, hasn't the person ultimately lost to fate?"
"Well...that would only be the case if there's no one else in the world except for that Foolish Old Man and his disciple, or his son. But the world has far more kinds of people and beings than that."
Cheongmun Ryeong gives a small chuckle as he speaks.
"If one's successor turns strange, then one can ask someone else for help, or they can find a new successor. Maybe a close friend of the Foolish Old Man might one day correct that successor. If there's only one person in the world, they might never be able to defy fate... But if there are as many people under the heavens as stars in the sky...if those connections are as vast and diverse as clouds...then even the heavens can be surpassed and flown beyond; don't you think so?"
"..."
"If one day you meet someone who's like a wheel rolling down the slope, then help them. Surely, deep inside, they themselves know they've gone wrong and want to stop...but even if they want to stop, they probably can't on their own. They are surely hoping someone will stop them."
"..."
"That is why, if you too want to overcome fate, then always give and receive the ties between people, and be generous and help others. For only that is the way to surpass the heavens, and only that is the way to overcome Heavenly Rejection, Seo Eun-hyun (瑞恩現)."
'...!'
Paaaatt!
At the very moment the world is nullified again by the Head Realm, I open my eyes wide.
The one who called out to me in the final moment is surely...
'Master...?'
It is the personality of the Salt Sea Supreme Deity, dwelling within Cheongmun Ryeong.
That's the only way I can feel it.
Perhaps it is the influence of the [Wheel].
I don't know the exact cause, but the result is left imprinted in my heart.
'Master...'
I close my eyes and let the stories of the past continue to flow.
I tried to reach enlightenment of Marital Pinnacle through slow, repentant enlightenment.
But Cheongmun Ryeong.
No...
With just a single line of words from the Salt Sea Supreme Deity, the enlightenment of Martial Pinnacle—
The enlightenment of connection—feels as though it is becoming one with me.
'Thank you.'
Only now do I begin to truly understand what it means to embrace connection in my heart, and I begin to move forward, stepping steadily on the enlightenments of the past.
Time that has passed cannot return.
But...
Time that has passed can still be looked back upon.
As I look back upon time, I steadily step on the footholds leading to the ultimate of the heart.
-x-X-x-
Countless moments brush past before my eyes.
And now, I once again arrive at that moment.
Entering Heavens Beyond the Path
"Formless Sword."
A single streak of a sword of formlessness cleaves through the blue lightning and rends apart the thunderclouds of the heavens.
'How splendid...'
I smile at my past self as I recall that moment.
How many times have I ever felt such excitement for Martial Arts as I did then?
The moment I first obtained the Formless Sword it truly felt as if I had obtained everything in the world.
Surung—
Recalling that scene, I once again refine the Impermanence Sword.
As I watch the me who obtained the Formless Sword, the Impermanence Sword becomes ever so slightly sharper.
And it is at that moment.
Paaaatt!
'This is...'
Indeed.
The moment when Yang Su-jin's lingering thought drew me in!
In a mysterious space where seven-colored lightning rumbles, I face Yang Su-jin's lingering thought.
And I am able to understand a truth I could not grasp before.
'This space...!'
The space of seven-colored lightning where Yang Su-jin's lingering thought appears.
This space is not inside the Head Realm.
'So Shattered Heaven Peak of the Head Realm was merely an entrance to arrive at this place...!'
Becoming aware of this new truth, I perceive my surroundings and identify the nature of this space.
'This is...!'
The space of origin.
The starting point of creation.
It is the place I once reached with the Golden Speed Heavenly King Kim Young-hoon—the outskirts of the Void.
And now, I can read the traces engraved somewhere within this space, traces that I could not decipher before due to my insufficient cultivation.
'Traces of battle...'
Numerous lightning-forged spears, swords, and weapons—shattered as they resisted [someone]—remain here as fragments.
The remnants of these lightning weapons are so strong that they seem etched into the world itself, but it is clear that the existence who faced these weapons utterly snapped and crushed them as if they were mere twigs.
'Are these the traces of a battle between the Future King and Yang Su-jin...? This is like...'
A battlefield where a peak master played with a snot-nosed child.
I get the sense that Yang Su-jin, in all likelihood, was toyed with like a child in front of the Future King.
'I see now...'
I had many doubts about the point in time when Yang Su-jin left behind this lingering thought, but now, many of them are resolved.
'Yang Su-jin must have, after being defeated by the Future King, barely managed to leave this trace while dying.'
Even that was probably not due to his own power, but rather due to the peculiarity of the authority created by the Absolute he possessed.
As I observe the traces left in this space of origin, I come to understand yet another thing.
'And judging by the aftermath left behind...it is highly likely that the battlefield of Yang Su-jin and the Future King was not merely the Audience Chamber, but the 'entire world'.'
Audience Chamber.
Head Realm.
The whole of Mount Sumeru.
Outer Sea.
Even the outskirts of the Akashic Records—all these regions must have been thrown into chaos by their battle.
From my analysis as the one closest to the ultimate of Martial Arts, these remnants are just a portion of the massive scars left by a battle that swept through countless regions.
'But then why are the beings of this world unaware of the aftermath of that battle, and why have I also failed to discover it until now? No, that's a foolish question. It's simple. Whether through a revision by the Head Realm or fate manipulation by the Future King, there are many methods that could have been used...'
After analyzing several aspects through the seven-colored space itself, I finally see Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow appear within the depths of the space.
Kurung, kurururung!
[O Ender of the later generation...]
Then, unlike my past self, I appear directly before the lingering shadow of Yang Su-jin, halting the revision of the Head Realm through the [Wheel].
Kugugugugu!
The presence of me, who has reached the peak of Heaven-Earth Great Net, causes Yang Su-jin's shadow to flinch for a moment.
"I've been wanting to meet you, Yang Su-jin."
Though in terms of timeline, he is technically my senior, our actual age gap is so vast that I discard formalities and ask directly.
"I have many questions. Can you answer them all?"
[...]
At my question, Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow sheds tears of blood and replies.
[The time allowed for us to meet is very short...]
Clank!
In response, I distort spacetime with attraction force through the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag and the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, making time flow more slowly.
It is the same thing the Liberation Supreme Deity Bong Myeong once did to me within the Serving Command Ark.
Then, by once again turning the [Wheel] and rewriting part of the principle, I create the conditions for a slow conversation with Yang Su-jin.
"That should do."
[...]
Of course, even with that, Yang Su-jin's shadow continues to gradually fade, but it is clear that we can now converse for a much longer time than before.
Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow speaks in a tone that seems a bit dumbfounded.
[...Do as you please.]
"First, let me ask what I'm most curious about. Have you faced the Future King?"
[...It is only obvious. But there's not much I can say about him. If I speak of him too often, he will notice...]
"I understand. I'll ask only three questions. That should be fine, right?"
[Go ahead.]
"Do you know the true name of the Future King?"
I immediately ask about the Future King's true name.
If I know that name, I feel that I may be able to deduce something about the three faces of the Future King I've encountered.
[■■■■...is what it's said to be...but can you understand it?]
"..."
[...Strange. With the level of authority you have, you should surely be a Heavenly King...yet you cannot comprehend it. Then again...to hear my arrangements, you'd normally have to come before awakening your fate... Hmm...what a contradictory existence you are.]
"...I get it for now. I can't understand it at my current rank...and seeing you mention Heavenly King, it must mean I need, at the very least, the authority related to the Absolute in order to hear it... In other words, I need to reach the Heavenly Venerable level."
Grabbing my throbbing head, I let out a sigh.
"Then, here's the second question. Do you know the purpose of the Future King?"
[...Not in detail. But one thing is certain. He seeks salvation.]
"Salvation...? What do you mean by that?"
[Is that the third question...? We are reaching a dangerous point. If I answer this and you continue questioning about the Future King, he will notice. No...perhaps he already has and is simply letting it happen.]
"...Understood. I won't count that as the third question. Here's the final question about him... How does the Future King think of us?"
[...]
At my last question, I can feel Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow glaring at me.
[You are courting danger... You are aware that sentence contains 'two questions'. You are cutting it too close...]
That's right.
Through a slight trick, I attempt to ask 'four questions.'
'How does the Future King think of us?' contains two distinct questions: 'How does he view us?' and 'Does he think?'
'If I receive the answer to this question, I can resolve the doubt of whether the Future King is a personality-bearing being or not. And also to some extent, what he intends to do through us.'
What does he think of us?
That very question would reveal whether the Future King is a sentient being or not.
[...Can you handle it? If I answer this, he may immediately come looking for you...]
"...Don't worry. He won't find me. Especially...not in 'this place'."
[...How arrogant... You act like a mountain divine spirit walking the Immortal Dao of the Mountain.]
"..."
Yang Su-jin criticizes me, but since I am in a state of confidence, it is something I can say.
"Answer me. I can bear it."
At those words, Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow looks at me as if it's absurd and slowly opens its mouth.
[To the Future King, Enders are...seeds to be sown and fruit to be harvested, toys to play with, chess pieces and setups on a board...and at the same time...mass-produced goods that can be recreated again and again, thus he places no great value on us... To him, we are nothing but trash...]
The moment I hear those words, I shoot out from Yang Su-jin's space.
Shiver!
Alongside a foreboding intuition, I feel the same ominous and repulsive aura in the far distance that I felt when Oh Hye-seo uttered her fate.
'No. Not yet. He hasn't seen me yet.'
There's still time!
The place where Yang Su-jin's space resides is in the outskirts of the Akashic Records.
In other words, it's the very space Kim Young-hoon once used as a foothold to activate the Golden Great Thousand Worlds.
'Found it!'
I fly toward the golden trajectory visible in the distance.
Sure enough, the trajectory through which Kim Young-hoon transcended all spacetime to head toward the future exists in this spacetime as well.
Landing there, I immediately draw the Impermanence Sword.
'Now!'
And just before the repulsive 'gaze' of some being reaches me—
I hide my body within the golden light and grind down my entire form using the Impermanence Sword.
Pasasasak!
Heavenly Escape!
Chwaaak!
My Heavenly Escape, now infused with the enlightenment of Martial Pinnacle, drags me into a depth of the domain of purity I've never reached before, completely hiding me from every place in the world.
'Ahhhh...'
As I lose consciousness, I feel Heaven and Earth enshrouded by Taiji.
At the same time, I sense the disgusting gaze of that entity sweeping just above the golden trajectory into which I melted.
'Just as I thought...'
Just as I anticipated, the gaze only skims above the traces of Kim Young-hoon's Absolute and fails to detect me who has dissolved below. Through this I realize another truth about the Future King.
'His current state is not complete... It's another matter if he sees me with his main body...but merely overlooking Mount Sumeru from the Audience Chamber with three faces detached...he cannot...find...me...'
Tsuaaaaaaaa!
With that final thought, the world is once again revised.
☯
"Hm..."
I return to stand before Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow.
'So I've returned to when I just encountered Yang Su-jin's shadow. Then the memories of just now...'
[You madman...I've seen the arrangements and lingering thoughts of my predecessor Enders and witnessed countless madmen, but your level of madness—I've seen only in Silver Basket, Obsidian, and Lapis Lazuli.]
"Impressive. Did you resist the revision?"
[That's impossible... It's merely that the place you escaped to coincidently happened to be a trace of a Golden Body, and due to the resonance between the Golden Body's fate and my power, as one who absorbed the corpse of the Ender of my generation who bore the Golden Body's fate, I just barely managed to remember the moments before the revision...]
"...You ate your comrade's corpse?"
[Do not misunderstand. What I devoured belonged to a soldier who unjustly oppressed and tried to kill me. We were never comrades. That bastard was an enemy even back on Earth.]
"...Still, I thought you saw Earthlings as 'humans'... Didn't you ever think of it as cannibalism?"
[What's done is done. What is there to speak about? Do not speak carelessly when you don't know much about me. Besides, at the time I absorbed him, he was a 'true non-human,' so it doesn't matter.]
Unable to follow Yang Su-jin's line of thinking, I ask dumbfoundedly.
"After non-human comes 'true non-human'...? What do you mean by that?"
[It's something I only realized after reaching the Audience Chamber. Looking at you you've already figured it out too... We didn't have a soul... We were merely fragments of some law that constitutes this world.]
I nod, and seeing my reaction, Yang Su-jin continues weakly.
[The reason I considered the living beings of this world as 'non-human' was solely because I believed they were ruled by fate... But the truth is, we too were ruled by fate and didn't even possess a soul. Thus, we Enders are actually more wretched than the living beings of Mount Sumeru. We were the 'true non-humans'...]
"..."
I feel a headache coming on from a way of thinking so twisted I don't even know where to begin pointing it out.
Having a conversation with someone who's already settled on such an extreme conclusion feels like talking to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
'Of course, he's a little different from Gwak Am in direction...but the degree of madness is the same... And this kind of lunatic dares to call me crazy. Ridiculous. If we'd lived in the same era, I'd have beaten him even more than Jeon Myeong-hoon. No, maybe I should just say he's practically the same as Oh Hye-seo from 120,000 years ago...'
If we'd lived in the same time, it probably would've been regular knife fights between us.
But I shake my head, clearing away the stray thoughts, and ask him another question.
"You just said 'at the time I absorbed him, he was a true non-human'. Then are you saying there comes a time when an Ender is not a 'true non-human'?"
[Sharp one, aren't you. If you'd existed in my generation, you'd have been worthy of being a comrade... A pity.]
"..."
[That's right. Because we lack a soul, we are true non-humans...but there exists a [time when the soul is born].]
"What...!?"
That truth is something no one has ever told me before, so my eyes widen and I ask.
"Is that true? We, too, can gain souls?"
[Yes... Are you familiar with the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion of Enders?]
"I am."
['A new world...' No, that's not quite right.
['Returning to one's hometown and opening one's eyes.'
['Meeting someone precious in the hometown, and cherishing them.'
['Someday losing that person, and awakening to fate.'
['Then returning to the Head Realm and gaining an audience with the Future King.'
[This...is our beginning, development, twist, and conclusion. A fixed result... A fate that cannot be changed.]
At those words, I let out a silent sight.
For even I had not fully understood the final part—the conclusion—of an Ender's fate.
'So gaining an audience with the Future King...is the end of our story.'
I recall the 'Ender's Tale' that the Underworld once showed me.
Come to think of it, that was how it was.
It was the same with the Ender's Tale, and the myth of the Future King explained by Tae Yeol-jeon.
They all end with the Seven Brilliances Kings or the Enders returning to the Supreme Deity of Heaven, or the Future King, and living happily or enjoying eternal paradise.
Just like Yang Su-jin says, it's as if...
'A fruit is being harvested.'
[Our soul...is born after we gain an audience with the Future King. That's why so few Enders have left behind split souls or lingering shadows. The detailed principle is that only after the audience, when the Absolute within us is suppressed, can the foundation for the soul's sprouting be formed.]
"...!"
This is also the first time I'm hearing this.
But I understand.
'From the beginning, all those I gained information about Enders from had never actually entered the Audience Chamber...'
Figures like the lingering thought of the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King or the Obsidian Devil Heavenly King never gave me any information about the Audience Chamber, so this post-Audience Chamber information is something I'm hearing from Yang Su-jin for the first time.
"Wait...if our soul only comes into being after the Audience Chamber..."
[Yes. It doesn't really mean much... If you don't surpass him, whether you have a soul or not, there's no hope either way...]
Gigigigigik—
I notice the Wheel behind my back gradually overloading.
'Resisting the revision of the Head Realm is putting quite a burden on it.'
Even though I've stretched time, it seems there isn't as much left as I expected.
"Is the very act of our soul being born after gaining an audience with him...part of our beginning, development, twist, and conclusion?"
[That's right.]
"...Then one more thing. If a soul is born...what happens after we are defeated by him...? Can you tell me?"
[...That's information about him. It is his domain, so if I speak of it, he will notice.]
I let out a silent sigh and nod.
"Alright. Then do you...know anything about the Radiance Mantra or Heuk Sa?"
At my words, Yang Su-jin responds with a slightly bewildered tone.
[...? Are you talking about the Radiance Supreme Deity? What's the Radiance Mantra? Is it something those idiots made after I died?]
"...It's nothing."
It seems Yang Su-jin doesn't know anything about Heuk Sa or the Radiance Mantra.
"One last thing..."
Kigigigigik!
Realizing the Wheel is overheating and on the verge of exploding, I pick one final question.
"Does 'a trustworthy Governing Immortal' refer to a Governing Immortal who has cast off their Immortal Title and wears no leash?"
[Correct. In my era, there was only one such person, but judging by your words, it seems a few more exist in the later generation.]
"...Can the Underworld...be trusted?"
I recall the compassionate and trustworthy image the Underworld once showed me.
And also...the subtly suspicious schemes I sensed beneath it all.
As the Head Realm revises the world, the power of the Wheel reaches its limit.
[There's only one reason I trusted that one. Though it is partially because that one possesses no Immortal Title, and thus is not mere livestock... But the reason I, with power barely at the level of an Immortal Lord, dared to enter the Audience Chamber is...]
Yang Su-jin's figure begins to fade beyond the Taiji.
Even so, his lingering shadow sheds bloody tears and continues to look at me.
[Because that person brought their Gandhara and faced the Audience Chamber together with me. That person may have their own schemes...but they are my comrade-in-arms, and they are truly someone you can trust... Trust them. And...comfort them...]
Tststststststss—
As the world is swallowed by the Taiji, Yang Su-jin shouts in a bitter tone.
[As much as all the arrangements left behind by the Lapis Lazuli Heavenly Kings...are always personally retrieved by that one... That one is the saddest being in this world... We...must become that person's hope... Only that person...must be trusted. Only them...]
At last, Yang Su-jin vanishes into the Taiji, and as I feel the flow of the world's fate returning to normal, I receive Yang Su-jin's final words as a point of topic.
[For only that one...is the being the Fate Supreme Deity treasures most dearly...]
With that, I return to the original flow of fate.
☯