Kurung, kururururung!
Vast Cold Realm.
Chaos Realm region.
There, an enormous storm blows in.
Kurung, kururururung!
It is a gigantic storm of Heavenly Tribulation.
Kurung, kurururung!
And inside that Heavenly Tribulation storm, something spherical rises into the sky.
Ururung!
Seeing that sight, someone bursts out in admiration.
"Indeed...! So that is advancement to the Star Shattering stage..."
"As expected, Ryeong-i is remarkable."
Their names are Mu Geom and Seo Gyeong.
With Wol Ryeong's advancement ritual to the Star Shattering stage, she gathered those to serve as Law Protectors for her, and the ones who volunteered are precisely Seo Gyeong and Mu Geom.
In particular, Mu Geom, now at Grand Perfection Integration stage and having gained enlightenment after getting beaten by the Lightning God not long ago, is to some extent a step beyond the Integration stage, so he very much wants to witness a Star Shattering stage advancement scene and has come to this place.
Kurururung!
Additionally, Seo Gyeong records the scene on a recording tablet and is transmitting it in real time to the Human Race Grand Cultivator Association and to Bi Hwa and others, so the Human Race Grand Cultivator Association and Bi Hwa are all gaining enlightenment through Wol Ryeong's advancement ritual. "Through the Immortal Arts of Rain, Sunlight, Heat, Cold, Wind, and Time, in a state of having become dust, one gathers the dust to make a star and advances to the Star Shattering stage...that is the essence...! Indeed...so that is why the Refining Void Dharma Treasure is needed. So that is why advancement to the Star Shattering stage has not been easy. A being who has not seen a Star Shattering stage advancement even once has no choice but to have a distinct lower probability of success..."
Mu Geom, watching Wol Ryeong's advancement ritual, seems entranced as he gains enlightenments. But Seo Gyeong watches Wol Ryeong's advancement with a calm face.
After a little while, Seo Gyeong opens his mouth.
"...Senior Brother. Now, Ryeong is gradually grasping the framework."
"Ah, right, right. Got it. Let's activate the formation."
Mu Geom and Seo Gyeong head south and north respectively.
In the north, Seo Gyeong forms hand seals and draws up the dragon vein of the Chaos Realm region, and Mu Geom refines that dragon vein.
The ground's dragon vein resounds up into the sky and begins to form pitch-black thunderclouds.
"It's beginning, Senior Brother."
"Right...now...the true Star Shattering stage Heavenly Tribulation will begin."
Urururung!
At last, the pitch-black thunderclouds made by the two Integration stage cultivators completely cover the sky and fill the heavens with darkness.
Jjeoeoeoeoong!
From the sky, an enormous pillar of light pierces the pitch-black thunderclouds and falls onto Wol Ryeong, who is taking on form.
The Star Tribulation begins.
Kwarururung!
The stars positioned in the sky of the Vast Cold Realm bestow punishment upon the Heaven-Defying One and gradually connect to Wol Ryeong.
Yet, whether fortunately or not, Wol Ryeong is attempting advancement in a region of the Chaos Realm where little starlight shines, and, in addition, asked Seo Gyeong and Mu Geom for a formation that dims the starlight, so the intensity of the Star Tribulation is on the weaker side.
"Th-That is the Star Tribulation..."
Mu Geom breaks into a cold sweat at the brutish strength of the Star Tribulation, and that image transmits in full to the Grand Cultivator Association and Bi Hwa.
Among the Grand Cultivator Association, Gol Maek looks at the Star Tribulation with an expression as if it is nothing special, and Hon Jin chuckles and begins to close his eyes.
All the other Integration stage Grand Cultivators, including Do Ryeok, have slightly tense expressions. And lastly, Bi Hwa lets out a faint laugh.
"Foolish Wol Ryeong. You still don't know since you never received that one's wisdom. The Star Tribulation is, in essence, to take in all the starlight of the Astral Realm into your body and thereby link the star veins..."
She looks at her own palm with a sneer.
Of course, such a deranged method is by no means easy, but Bi Hwa can now do it.
Because she has the [power] given to her by the great Mountain Divine Spirit.
Uduk...
When Bi Hwa puts strength into her hand, her fingers instantly transform into glass swords.
Since it happens so suddenly, she flinches in surprise and quickly hides the fingers with her other hand. "...It is still not perfectly under control. But...huhu, I am satisfied. I have accepted the power of a higher race. Now I am not inferior to you."
She mutters as she glares at Wol Ryeong, the half-blood of the Celestial Dog Race, and Mu Geom, the half-blood of the Heavenly Fox Race.
She, too, has lived well in the Radiance Spirit Sect as an Integration stage cultivator of equal standing... Yet she has always secretly envied her peers who inherited the true blood of Heaven Immortals and possess special abilities.
If they had been pure Demon Races, she would not even have felt envy.
But half-bloods who can draw on the advantages of the Demon Race when needed and still have the inherent advantages of the Heaven Race...
They progress in cultivation by leaps and bounds, and compared to those at the same realm, they become stronger without much effort...
Bi Hwa has always harbored jealousy toward them.
'But now I have it too. Hmph, so you advanced to the Star Shattering stage? How foolish. To advance through such a shortcut only makes you weaker than those of the same realm... Just wait, Wol Ryeong. I will definitely...surpass you through the orthodox advancement method.'
She looks at the completed descent formation beside her and smiles.
'For, very soon...that person will arrive.'
The realization of her dream is not far away.
Kugugugugu!
Star veins crash down.
Heaven and Earth tremble.
Because it is the Chaos Realm region, especially an area where starlight does not reach well, only ten star veins descend.
Kurururung!
And at last, after receiving all ten star veins, within the cloud of dust, a pure white star appears.
It is a silver-white star.
On the surface of the star drift sharp gaseous-metal clouds, and inside the star, silvery liquid metals like mercury flow, forming a strange ecosystem.
Before long, the circulation of that ecosystem begins in earnest, and within the circulating ecosystem, Heaven and Earth spiritual energy begin to be produced.
Wol Ryeong, who has now properly risen into the producer class of the universe, soon begins to
compress the star.
Uduk, ududududuk!
Kugugung!
What then appears is a star compressed to the size of a palm, and Wol Ryeong's Transformation form covering the surface of that star.
"Ryeong-a!"
Seo Gyeong runs to Wol Ryeong, and Wol Ryeong pats Seo Gyeong's head.
"You finally reached the Star Shattering stage! How does it feel, Ryeong-ah?"
"Mm, only now...do I truly feel I have set foot on the path of Immortal Cultivation."
Wol Ryeong mutters as she looks up at the sky.
It feels like she has stepped onto the proper heavenly path.
The cultivation she has done until now feels like mere play, and the harshness of the remaining Immortal
Cultivation system pierces her to the bone.
'Just moving beyond the early Star Shattering stage will take hundreds of years.'
It is something she must accumulate slowly, living through countless years she could never have
imagined until now.
That is the cultivation of the Star Shattering stage.
What is more, she cannot even fathom what the Sacred Vessel stage will be like.
'From now on, it will be even harsher.'
But she takes Seo Gyeong's hand and makes a vow.
'Even so, it's fine. I will overcome everything and without fail...protect it all.'
Answering Mu Geom's endless questions about the realizations of the Star Shattering stage, Wol Ryeong draws Seo Gyeong and Mu Geom into her attraction force and stomps her foot.
Kuuuuung!
With a single step of her foot, space itself bends.
Her ground-shrinking technique now reached the level of crossing light-years, and Wol Ryeong instantly moves from the Chaos Realm region to the Stable Realm region.
After that, with just a few more uses of the ground-shrinking technique, she reaches the Human Race
Grand Alliance's territory.
"Hoh...astonishing. So this is the ground-shrinking technique of the Star Shattering stage. It seems things like teleportation formations are no longer necessary."
"Not entirely so, Senior Brother. For traveling between other Middle Realms or Astral Realms, or between different Heavenly Domains, even I must rely on teleportation formations."
"Haha, well, ordinary Integration cultivators live without even imagining the level of movement you speak
of.
Mu Geom chuckles and praises Wol Ryeong's realm, and she approaches Bi Hwa, who is preparing the Descent Formation.
"Senior Sister Bi Hwa, I heard you are ready to summon our masters..."
"Right. The descent formation is now complete. Originally, we would borrow the power of the Grand Cultivator Association to activate it...but now we have you. A single Star Shattering cultivator can wield attraction force greater than the entire Grand Cultivator Association, so you alone can activate the
formation."
Bi Hwa points toward the front of the descent formation, and Wol Ryeong nods.
"Thank you for your hard work all this time."
'Hard work? Hah...'
At that phrase, which sounds like praise from a superior to a subordinate, Bi Hwa's eyes twitch, but she
only keeps smiling sweetly.
"Yes, thank you for recognizing it, Junior Sister. Let us quickly activate the descent formation and
welcome our masters."
"...Senior Sister Bi Hwa."
Wol Ryeong's eyes twitch.
'Since earlier...something's been feeling off.'
Only after reaching the Star Shattering stage does she realize it.
She even considers interrogating her about the strange sense of alienness she suddenly feels from Bi Hwa.
'Something... A sense of alienness as if not human...'
But she soon shakes her head.
'She must have cultivated some special divine power. I must just be overly sensitive after reaching the
Star Shattering stage.'
In truth, for twenty years now, they have been unable to read the celestial energy. Because not long ago, the clash of colossal existences severed the celestial energy, and the Heaven Tribe entirely lost their greatest source of their intelligence capability-celestial foresight.
As a result, in the Vast Cold Realm as well as in the vast majority of Middle Realms, Astral Realms, and
Decaying Corpse Realms, Heaven Tribe cultivators are being pushed back by the Earth Tribe. 'As soon as possible...I have to reach a level where I can read that distorted celestial energy.'
'As soon as possible...I have to reach a level where I can read that distorted celestial energy.'
Wol Ryeong, hoping to reach a level where she can read the celestial energy despite the clash of great beings, begins to activate the descent formation that Bi Hwa has devoted twenty years to making.
The attraction force of a Star Shattering cultivator activates the descent formation, and light bursts forth from the array.
'It's been a long mission.'
Twenty or thirty years is a short time to cultivators...but to Wol Ryeong, who is not even one hundred years old, it is a considerably long time.
It is enough to account for most of her life so far.
'I wonder if Master is well. I want to see her again after so long.'
Wol Ryeong, at the thought of seeing her Master Baek Geom again after a long time, naturally feels her mood brighten.
Chwaaaaaa!
A dimensional gate opens, and the descent formation unfolds.
Is it because she has grown stronger, or is it simply because it's become beautified in memory?
Even Baek Geom, whom she used to just dislike, now feels strangely welcome when she thinks of seeing her again.
The descent formation expands, stretching into a long dimensional passage.
And at the end of that passage-
Wol Ryeong sees three figures standing.
They are Baek Jin, Baek Eun, and Baek Geom.
Both Baek Jin and Baek Eun look at Wol Ryeong with visible disbelief.
"Crazy...Star Shattering stage at that age?"
"Could it be that time flows differently in the Vast Cold Realm...?"
"Does one have to be at that child's level to reach True Immortality in the future...?"
Wol Ryeong, feeling their reactions after such a long time, unconsciously notices her shoulders rising.
'If it is to this extent...at least...'
No matter how indifferent she may have been toward her, her master is still Baek Geom.
If she shows this much growth in such a short time, then even Baek Geom...will give her praise, right? With that hope, Wol Ryeong looks at Baek Geom with shining eyes.
And finally, Baek Geom opens her mouth.
"... You've reached the passing line. Well done."
'Ahh...'
An extremely trivial line.
Yet, to Wol Ryeong, with that single phrase, feels all the years of neglect she has suffered from Baek Geom somehow compensated.
Because this is the first praise she has ever heard from Baek Geom.
"You may now move on to the next stage."
The three Esteemed Ones including Baek Geom begin crossing over through the dimensional gate, and Wol Ryeong, thinking she will now receive a different kind of treatment from her master than before... Waits for Baek Geom just like that.
And then, Wol Ryeong suddenly feels as though she hears some kind of whisper from beyond the silver mask that Baek Geom always wears.
'What is this?'
For some reason, the words seem to pass only by her ear, unheard of by Baek Jin, Baek Eun, or anyone else.
Spoken so faintly that it seems not even meant for her to hear.
And in those words, she feels an inexplicable and powerful foreboding.
-It is enough now. Start coming.
Whom is she speaking to?
And why does that tone carry such chill at the end?
Is she not even glad to see her disciple after such a long time?
As countless thoughts flow, it happens.
Flash!
A flash bursts.
And, within that flash...
[An arm] shoots out.
"...Huh?"
For a moment, Wol Ryeong feels that sound disappears from this world.
An arm covered in glass-colored dragon scales crosses the dimensional passage and strikes at the three Esteemed Ones coming through. With power at least of the Sacred Vessel stage, that arm flings Baek Jin and Baek Eun far away to somewhere beyond the dimension and then slices Baek Geom's Transformation form clean in half.
Inside the halved Transformation form of Baek Geom,
Baek Geom's true star.
That star, shining in silver-white light like Wol Ryeong's own, is crushed to pieces at the mere gesture of the arm.
Taking in that sight, Wol Ryeong feels as though time freezes.
"Uh...?"
Kurung, kururururung!
Then,
Jjeoooooong!
The arm that suddenly shoots out from the dimensional passage reaches the place where Wol Ryeong is, stretching toward her as she stands blankly.
"Dodge!"
Seo Gyeong barely manages to grab hold of Wol Ryeong's body and leap away, and thanks to that, Wol Ryeong escapes from the arm that shoots out of the dimensional gate.
Kururung!
And starting from that arm, something begins to emerge from the descent formation.
It is...
A gigantic dragonoid (dragon-human), their whole body shimmering with glass-colored aurora, bearing glass-colored dragon scales.
Kugugugu!
At the appearance of that dragonoid, at least of the Sacred Vessel stage, Wol Ryeong's mind freezes.
Her body moves faster than her mind.
Wol Ryeong suddenly realizes that she is screaming.
'Ah... I...'
Her Master Baek Geom has always been stern and showed favoritism only toward Seo Gyeong.
But she is still her master.
Unknowingly, she has...
Been revering her.
'I actually...liked Master.'
Sound disappears as she feels as if all the colors of the world have disappeared and become black and
white, and...
Wol Ryeong holds the radiance halberd and charges at the dragonoid.
But in an instant,
Clang, clang!
"...!?"
Countless glass-colored chains begin to bind her.
They are Heavenly Being stage disciples of the Radiance Spirit Sect.
The character Supervision () is engraved in each of their eyes, and the chains they summon bind her with a strength so great one cannot believe it is from the Heavenly Being stage.
"They have arrived!!!"
"Bow in worship!!"
"Ahahahahaha!! Now the Vast Cold Realm shall receive Their touch!"
She recognizes that power.
The power of the Mountain God who always extends a hand to her.
Yes, that is the authority of the Mountain God.
At last, she realizes the true identity of that dragonoid.
Realizing where the hateful dragonoid who killed her master Baek Geom in a single blow comes from, she
sheds tears of blood.
"Sword Mountain!!! Sword Mountain!!!"
Kwaaaaaaang!
And, slammed into the ground by the hands of the fanatics who revere the Divine Spirit of Sword
Mountain, Wol Ryeong madly spews hatred.
"I...will not forgive you!!"
And so, gazing at the dragonoid rising into the heavens of the Vast Cold Realm without sparing her the slightest attention, she weeps blood and swears.
If someday, she stands at the same eye level as the being called the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain...
She will surely take revenge for this day.
"Isn't that too much?"
Interdimensional Void.
Inside that Darkness World.
Seeing Baek Geom pulling together her shattered body, a glass-colored ray approaches her and asks a
question.
"If I suffered something like that at her age, it would not be strange if I went mad."
Tsssss...
While casually restoring Baek Geom's body, the someone who is possessing Baek Geom answers.
"...I do feel sorry, but it cannot be helped. Our Eight Immortals have always grown generation after generation through trials like this. And only at the end do we realize that this world is a playground of the True Immortals, and that the life I have lived is nothing but a board game laid down by the Eight Immortals of the past... The process of realizing that the world is a play, and casting away emotions, is the regular
trial course of the Eight Immortals, so it cannot be helped."
"...Cruel. You all are..."
"On the surface, you look the most cruel. You are the one who killed that girl's master, Mountain Divine
Spirit."
"She isn't dead yet..."
The glass-colored light, Seo Eun-hyun's split soul, speaks to the being possessing Baek Geom.
It speaks to the split soul of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord. "That...even if it is cruel, it cannot be helped. We have to become like iron. And as long as True Immortals
and beings with power exist, the world is no different from a play... In order to deeply instill the ideology of the Radiance Eight Immortals, that those who climb the Immortal Cultivation system must be stopped, we always have to experience the death of someone precious in childhood."
"...To Ryeong...I always end up feeling sorry."
"There is no need to feel sorry. From here on, it will only grow more cruel...but what you intend to do for
that child will be salvation for her."
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord looks at Seo Eun-hyun and speaks.
"Do not hesitate and move forward. Move forward...and save another me of the future...just as you saved
the me of now. Teach them that life is not a play."
"...Understood."
Hearing those words, Seo Eun-hyun's split soul flies off somewhere.
"For Ryeong's peace...and...for the future Enders, and the future Eight Immortals who must continue to kill their hearts...and also for the coming battle with Gwak Am, who was a former Radiance..."
He mutters while watching the dragonoid in the distant Vast Cold Realm begin inhaling the Heaven and
Earth spiritual energy of the Vast Cold Realm.
"The Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain...shall come great chaos."
Thus, within the secret pact between the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain and the Heavenly Lord of Sword
Spear.
There, the great chaos of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain is decided.
And...
Amidst the prologue of that great chaos, the echoes of a Star Shattering stage girl who lost her master
begins to spread.
-x-X-x-
Dududududu!
A strange Heaven and Earth spiritual energy fills the surroundings.
Instead of the usual power of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, something peculiar that evokes twilight G/Light and Shadow) completely fills the area.
Due to that peculiar energy, among the cultivators of Heavenly Human Island, the cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage, the Heavenly Being stage, and the Four-Axis stage, who are most affected by Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, collapse in place and can only gag and gasp.
Ururung!
A dragonoid whose body is covered in glass-colored dragon scales rises into the sky and inhales the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Vast Cold Realm, converting it into peculiar twilight true energy. Soon, after devouring a certain amount of power, the dragonoid begins to shine resplendently.
And across the entire Vast Cold Realm.
The 'shadows' of countless existences, struck by the light spewing out from the dragonkin, transform into the dragonoid's form.
In an instant, all living beings of the Vast Cold Realm experience the strange sensation that the dragonoid is burrowing into the depths of their heart essence.
Deep within Penglai Palace.
Inside a bedchamber further within, Hon Jin clears his throat.
Outside his window, peculiar glass-colored rays shine on him and are altering Hon Jin's shadow.
Hon Jin looks at his altered shadow.
That shadow has changed into that of a young man familiar to Hon Jin.
[...I am sorry I cannot meet you directly.]
"...Haha...What is there to apologize for? Even if I face Elder's main body, I cannot withstand your rank anyway."
[That is not so. If I control my rank, I can very well come see you.]
"Do not blame yourself. How could I not know you are busy. Heh heh..."
Hon Jin smiles faintly as he looks at the glass-colored rays outside.
"Are you...plotting something that looks wicked on the surface like back during the Wuji Religious Order days."
[...I am preparing to fight the divinity known widely as the Amitayus Buddha...In the course of that preparation, I need this kind of confusion...so I have ended up doing these things.]
"Ahaha, if I had followed along, I would have seen many interesting things. How unfortunate...Is Ham Jin doing well?"
[Were you and Ham Jin acquainted...]
"When Elder was advancing to True Immortality, he once briefly came to Penglai Palace. Are you not a bit too uninterested in your subordinates' pasts? Even though you can read history."
[No...if one goes around reading history just because one can, what about privacy.]
"True. Ham Jin was a bit of a promiscuous fellow. Even though he is younger than me, he didn't discriminate between women, men, elders, and beasts... Hoo...I will stop here."
[Well...it does not matter. I have met many who are far worse anyway...Thinking back, someone like Ham Jin is a gentleman.]
"There are those worse than Ham Jin?"
[Yes. Someone named Yeo Hwi for example... No, to begin with, the Immortal Beast Glass Peacock is...] For a while, Hon Jin and the shadow chat about various miscellaneous topics.
"Hahaha, I see. Is Hong Fan doing well again? If you think about it, Hong Fan and I are in a senior-junior brother relationship."
[Indeed. Come to think of it, you were among those who witnessed when Hong Fan first reached the Transformation stage.]
"Right. In fact, if Hong Fan had at least transformed into a cute woman or man, I planned to pursue him. The ancestor kept nagging inside me, it was hard and also lonely...But I did not expect him to come out as such a shriveled old man."
[...You planned to pursue Hong Fan?]
"Yes. As you know, Hong Fan and I are not on bad terms. From the start, including Ancestor Yeon Wei who switched between male and female, our family is not particularly bound by human, beast, insect, and such categories."
[... You all seem even more outrageous than Ham Jin...]
The two sometimes speak of serious matters, and sometimes chuckle heartily.
Before they know it, what sits in the bedchamber no longer looks like a dying old man and a suspicious shadow...
They look like a youth in white and a young boy with black and white hair.
However, as time passes, Hon Jin's breathing grows rough.
"...So then...where did we leave off?"
Unlike the appearance of an old man, Hon Jin speaks to the shadow before him as if a young boy is asking a question.
The shadow also laughs heartily and responds to Hon Jin's words.
[We were giving each other counsel, were we not. Did you not say you worry over which of your sons or daughters you should pass Penglai Palace on to?]
"Ah...that is right. So...Elder, could you not hand me some Divine Descent Great Method to pass down to one of my children?"
[It is not something I cannot give. Here.]
The shadow takes out something like a jade tablet from its hand and places it beside Hon Jin.
"Good. Then I just need to leave a will that whichever child masters this great method for divine descending Elder's power perfectly shall be the next Palace Lord."
Woo-wooong-
Hon Jin seems to leave some record on the jade tablet through a ritual, and the shadow speaks as it watches.
[...Will you really not rise to the Star Shattering stage?]
"... Yes. I know well enough that living long is not always good."
[...]
"Above all else...I am a descendant of Ancestor Yeon Wei. As a human...I want to close my eyes while feeling pride in that bloodline. To reach the Star Shattering stage and become a divinity regardless of bloodline or race is...something that does not suit me."
[...]
"Do not make such a face. Elder, you should unburden yourself of your troubles."
[I am about to fight the Mountain God who harassed your family.]
"May you win."
[Is that all?]
"What more do you expect?"
For a while, the sound of quiet chuckles passes between them.
[...Before fighting the Mountain God, I may die...so I plan to leave arrangements so my later generations can live in a slightly better situation. It is the work of putting a bridle on the being of light called the Amitayus Buddha. But...in the process, I must toy with the life of one person. Just like the Mountain God who toyed with the lives of Hon Won and Yeon Wei.]
[When I grant that person happy times, I too feel joy. But sometimes, I have to cause misfortune with my own hands. At such times...I feel this is not something I should be doing. I really...do not know what I
should do.]
"...Must you truly do it?"
[...It is the foundation for defeating the Mountain God who toyed with the lives of Yeon Wei and Hon Won...and it is the justification for which I must stake my life. By this, I can make arrangements that are
worth my life.]
"...So you must truly do it. Then, is that the best method?"
[From what we can think of now, yes.]
"...Well..."
Hon Jin faintly moves his lips.
He moves his lips as if to draw in even a little more of the spiritual energy in the room, then speaks in a
weakened voice.
"Then there is no helping it. Do it. When living, and bearing responsibility for others...there are times when one must act even knowing it is not right. I felt that bitterly when I married Hon Wei."
[...! You married Heon Wi?]
"Senior Brother Myeong-hoon even visited me in a dream then to give his congratulations, but Elder, you did not even congratulate me."
[...I am sorry. At that time, I may have been in the Outer Sea and unable to enter a dream...] "Hahaha, it is a joke. It was a political marriage, so I do not mind. In the first place...by genealogy, Hon Wei is practically my ancestor, so it always felt burdensome. I always thought that marriage was not right. But...at that time, it had to be done to unite Penglai Palace. Even beyond that, among the darker affairs of Penglai Palace, there were numerous things I had to handle myself."
[.....]
"To be one who bears responsibility means to permit with one's own hand the dirty and the dark. You say you are toying with one person's life? Seated as the Palace Lord of Palace Penglai, one decides and toys with the lives of tens, hundreds, hundreds of millions of humans. Though not on the level of a True Immortal, the position of an Integration stage Grand Cultivator is fully sufficient for such a thing."
Hon Jin exhales and continues.
Gradually, he begins to close his eyes.
"If it is needed for yourself. And if it is needed for those who follow you...then even plundering and exploiting others is needed. Life, Immortal Cultivation, is not solely plunder, but plunder is certainly a part of it. Even if you do not plunder, someone else will. Someone else will toy with that person's life."
[.....]
"So...if you wish to hold guilt, then hold it. But do not, because of that guilt, let go of the work you are
about to do for yourself and for all."
[...But...]
The shadow's voice trembles.
Clearly, the shadow is a transcendent being and has lived countless lives...
It is an existence far older than the old man before its eyes.
Yet right now, Hon Jin gives off an even more strange dignity.
[...Even so...if the resentment and the screams of the one whose life I try to toy with are too painful to
hear...what should I do?]
Hon Jin hears those words and smiles as he closes his eyes.
"...Even after so much time has passed, you are still truly clear. Clear and pure..."
[...]
"Well...it must be because you are that clear that you saved us. Elder, your way is not wrong. So, if you truly cannot shake off that sense of sin...carry everything through, then go to the one whose life you
toyed with, reveal the whole truth, and ask for forgiveness. Sincerely."
[Ask for forgiveness...]
At those words, the shadow smiles bitterly.
[Would one whose life is toyed with by a True Immortal forgive the True Immortal.]
"Of course they won't. If everything is forgiven with a single bow, why do wars exist? Why is Elder even
fighting that Mountain God in the first place?"
[...]
"So...do not think of being forgiven and just prostrate yourself. Whatever that one does to Elder, whatever resentment and screams they pour upon you...accept it as is. Only that...is the way...for a being toyed
with...by a True Immortal...to feel...even a little...at ease..."
Thump, thump, thump...
Gradually, the sound of Hon Jin's heartbeat weakens.
"Even if the path you now take is mistaken, if it is for everyone, proceed firmly...and later...cast away
everything...apologize and...seek for...give...ness..."
[...Thank you.]
Having listened to the shadow's worries, Hon Jin smiles with a peaceful face.
And right after.
Hon Jin shouts loudly.
"Is anyone there!!"
There is no answer.
Everyone in Penglai Palace is bewildered by the glass-colored rays that suddenly illuminate the world and
by the change in their own shadows.
But amid that chaos, Hon Jin again shouts in a ringing voice that tears his throat.
"Is anyone there!!"
Seeing that, the shadow waves a hand.
At the shadow's touch, the rope beside Hon Jin is pulled, and the bell tied to the cord rings.
Jingle jingle-
"Is anyone there!!"
At that sound, his attendants and maids enter Hon Jin's room.
At that sound, Hon Jin's page and maids come into his room.
"Elder Hon Jin!"
"Palace Lord, did you call?"
Hon Jin smiles at the attendants and maids who come to him.
Lifting the jade plaque the shadow gave with a hand trembling from lack of strength, Hon Jin lets out his
last breath.
"...The next Palace Lord...shall read what is written...inside. It was a good life. Everyone...I am grateful."
Thud-
With those words, the hand holding the jade plaque falls.
And Hon Jin's breath completely stops.
"P-Palace Lord!"
"Penglai Palace Lord!"
"Father! Father!"
"Grandfather!"
Soon, Hon Jin's children belatedly enter the room and surround Hon Jin, and the shadow, after watching the final moments of his old friend, slowly looks upon his soul as it slowly descends into the black shadow.
[...Go well, my friend.]
Thus...
Sending off his first Human Race cultivator friend, Seo Eun-hyun turns around.
Kurung, kurururung...!
The sky of the Vast Cold Realm ripples.
And beneath that rippling sky...
Wol Ryeong grits her teeth and looks around.
"...Release me."
She mutters while glaring at the Heavenly Being stage cultivators binding her with chains.
Every one of them bears the character Supervision () in their eyes.
What she feels from them is the same fanaticism she felt when fighting the Lightning God in Thunder Resonance Valley.
"Junior Sister Ryeong."
"Junior Sister, don't do this and come join us."
"They will send us to an ideal world where all are equal."
"If you return to Them, you can reach an even higher realm!"
Even if Wol Ryeong was in the Heavenly Being stage and not the Star Shattering stage, she is still young by Heavenly Being standards, so those currently binding her are mostly her senior brothers and senior sisters.
But right now, Wol Ryeong has not the slightest intention of respecting them.
"If you do not release me, I will kill you."
"Ahaha, Junior Sister. Don't be like that. In Junior Sister's current state of being bound by these chains, you can never break free..."
"If you do not release me."
Kwaduk!
The chattering Heavenly Being cultivator bursts apart and dies.
Their spirit does not fall to the Underworld but instead drifts off toward some distant world.
That sight looks similar to the cultivators of Thunder Resonance Valley who returned to the Lightning God.
"I said I would kill you."
And then, the other Heavenly Being stage cultivators burst apart in the same way.
Kwadududuk!
Once all the Heavenly Being disciples of the Radiance Spirit Sect who restrain her are dead, she is able to become free from the chains and rise.
Clang...
With cold eyes, she stares at the chains that once bound her.
Her chest burns hot, but having once been slammed into the ground by those chains, her head is able to remain cool.
Fiercely cool, to the point even she is surprised.
'In the end, breaking the chains with brute force is impossible. Even with my Star Shattering strength...once caught by the chains, using attraction force became impossible, so if I had not rewritten the world through the Immortal Art Various Omens with only my consciousness, it would have been dangerous.'
Normally, Immortal Arts are activated through attraction force.
Rain, Sunlight, Heat, Cold, Wind, Time.
All of these are activated only through a cultivator's mind and attraction force, and all higher Immortal Arts likewise activate in a similar way.
There are some claims that Immortal Arts can be activated purely by the heart alone without attraction force, but as far as she knows, none have been proven.
However, since she has always relied less on attraction force than others, mixing consciousness in, and since she reached the verge of the paper flower when fighting the Lightning God, she could borrow some of its power. With the paper flower's strength and the power of consciousness together, she was able to use Immortal Arts.
'They called it Heart Dao Blooming...I am still far off, but it's fortunate I can borrow at least some power. And it is also fortunate that Immortal Arts can be activated by mixing Heart Dao Blooming and the strength of the consciousness.'
In many ways, her luck is good.
Clatter...
Wol Ryeong presses her foot against the chains and contemplates their properties.
Since childhood, she has strangely been able to discern the substance and abilities of dharma tools and dharma treasures of the Metal attribute.
But...
For some reason, she cannot read the composition or the abilities of these chains at all.
'It is as though...this is not a material that exists in this world.'
It seems like a metal from a completely different otherworld.
It is when Wol Ryeong galres at those metals.
"Ryeong-ah, are you all right?"
Bi Hwa approaches Wol Ryeong with a worried face.
"My goodness, what is going on. Why did those monsters come out of my formation? Do you have any clue...? More than that, those Heavenly Being stage disciples just now...didn't it look like their souls flew off somewhere when they died..."
Cheok-
And Wol Ryeong aims the radiance halberd at Bi Hwa as she approaches her.
"Senior Sister Bi Hwa."
Wol Ryeong's voice is nothing but ice cold.
"It is Senior Sister Bi Hwa who set up the descent formation until now."
"W-Wol Ryeong. Don't tell me...you are suspecting me? Get a hold of yourself! Our Radiance Spirit Sect is not divided merely by realm. No matter that you are now at the Star Shattering stage, I am still your Senior Sister! Mind your manners!"
"And that energy Senior Sister Bi Hwa is hiding...That energy and the energy filling Heaven and Earth right now are the same. It is also the same as the energy coming from that dragonoid."
"W-What...you really..."
"Lastly."
Wol Ryeong's eyes shine an icy blue.
"When I suffered at the hands of the Heavenly Being lower-stage disciples...why did Senior Sister Bi Hwa
not stop them? Why did you not help me?"
"That was because it was too sudden..."
"Why did you not help me...and instead go to Seo Gyeong and subdue him?"
Tsuaaaaat!
Her gaze erodes the surrounding space.
For a moment, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy Wol Ryeong generates pushes out the twilight true energy, overturning the surrounding scenery that seems peaceful.
The illusion formation made by Bi Hwa breaks apart, revealing Seo Gyeong, who is restrained by Bi Hwa's binding art with his body nailed through with a multitude of stakes.
Seo Gyeong has pure-white stakes driven all over his body and is tied with a pure-white rope, tethered to
the ground.
Seeing that, Wol Ryeong's eyes shine even colder.
And at that sight, Bi Hwa gives a faint, helpless smile.
"Amazing. Illusions unfolded through twilight true energy are not easily seen through unless one is familiar with twilight true energy...and you saw through it this quickly? The Star Shattering stage is indeed the Star Shattering stage."
Seeing Bi Hwa, who now even loses the appearance of wanting to make excuses, Mu Geom shouts out
loud.
"Bi Hwa! What on earth are you doing! Are you...betraying the great Radiance Spirit Sect!"
"Betrayal!? I...am only trying to lead the Radiance Spirit Sect to a new beginning."
"What nonsense are you..."
"To you both, it must be nonsense. You are the direct blood descendants of Heaven Immortals. A human like me, with no bloodline at all, who reached the Grand Perfection Integration stage on nothing but my own talent...do you even know how hard I had to struggle to follow after you?"
Budududuk...
Bi Hwa grits her teeth.
"I studied formulas every single day as if my life depended on it. Though Breakthrough before Understanding is our sect's doctrine, to catch up with you I even learned Understanding before Breakthrough as well. But even so...I could not catch up to those of you born with bloodlines. Senior Brother Mu Geom already reached the step beyond the Integration stage, and Wol Ryeong became a Star Shattering Esteemed One before even turning 100, but...I alone, even after living 500 years, am still only at the Grand Perfection Integration stage...!"
Other Integration stage cultivators would snort as if it's absurd if they heard it, but Bi Hwa grits her teeth as if she is truly aggrieved.
"But now I have obtained a way for even an existence like me to head toward a higher realm. Through that being's grace! If you accept that being's grace, you can grow even more. This is a blessing! A blessing!
No, not only you."
She points at Seo Gyeong.
Inside Seo Gyeong's body, the pure-white stakes she stabbed in are slowly sinking deeper.
"Everyone, everyone of the Radiance Spirit Sect can receive that being's blessing and grace. If you receive that being's baptism...everyone can rise together to the highest realm by effort alone, without being bound by things like innate talent! I...have become that being's envoy, and from now on I will arrive at the Radiance Spirit Sect and deliver that being's teaching to all seniors and juniors of the Radiance
Spirit Sect."
In Bi Hwa's eyes, the pure-white character of supervision () is embedded.
"Join hands with me, Senior Brother Mu Geom, Junior Sister Wol Ryeong... Before, I have been jealous of you, but now I no longer am. I only...want you to come along with me. For all of us...to gain salvation
through that being."
"...Junior Sister."
Wol Ryeong stays silent, and Mu Geom lets out a silent exclamation.
After a while, Wol Ryeong opens her mouth.
"I will give you one last chance, Senior Sister. Stop spouting nonsense, throw away the power given by
the Mountain Divine Spirit, and help me. If you do, I will forgive you."
Budududuk...
At those words, veins bulge on Bi Hwa's face.
"....am your senior sister, Wol Ryeong."
"I see that clearly."
"...This bitch...I've never liked that about you since long ago. Because your future is bright, because your
talent is overwhelming...you always smile on the surface, but never care for those inferior to you, and since your master favors only Seo Gyeong, you only try to take Seo Gyeong as if he is some sort of collection piece...That attitude of yours...I have always found it disgusting since long ago...!!"
"I am giving you a chance because you are my senior sister. It's noisy, so decide before I count to three.
One, two."
"Fine, I understand, I surrender. I surrender, and I will do as you sa-"
"Three."
Kwaaaang!
At the count of three, Wol Ryeong mercilessly thrusts the halberd into Bi Hwa's face.
Tukwaaaaang!
With just a single thrust, Bi Hwa's upper body and her Integrated Dao Domain, along with the western part
of Heavenly Human Island, directly collapse.
Wol Ryeong, who killed Bi Hwa in a single blow, frowns.
Hwarurururuk!
It is because glass-colored flames surge, and Bi Hwa's naked body instantly regenerates.
'I tore apart even the Integrated Dao Domain in one strike. Yet she survived unscathed. An anomaly that
surpasses the ordinary domain of the Integration stage...'
"I surrendered, so why attack!!"
"You just approached acting worried while hiding the fact you are driving stakes into Seo Gyeong with an
illusion. How could I believe your words? It's obvious it is a lie, so there is no reason to believe them."
"...I truly hate you, Wol Ryeong."
Clang-
In that instant, Bi Hwa's fingers transform like swords.
The breath she exhales turns into glass-colored flames, and above her head sprouts coral-like glass
horns.
"I have evolved into the higher race, the Sword Glass Race()."
Kugugugugu!
Wol Ryeong and Mu Geom frown and step back at the energy bursting out from Bi Hwa.
'She's surpassed the Integration stage. This isn't even the Quasi-Star Shattering stage. This energy is...'
"I will show you the power bestowed by God...!"
'Esteemed One...!'
Thus, Bi Hwa, sponsored by the God of Sword Mountain, and Wol Ryeong, sponsored by the Fate of
Light, begin to clash on the island of Heavenly Humans.
-x-X-x-
Piiing-
The one who makes the preemptive strike is Bi Hwa.
Conventionally, a preemptive strike is the move of a disadvantaged opponent.
It is not some implicit unwritten rule or a formal rule...
It is a method to survive.
If the weak are not allowed to take the initiative against the strong, then the weak have no chance at all.
Even though Bi Hwa obtained such power, she knows her place well.
'Setting aside things like innate talent or constitution, Wol Ryeong's comprehension utterly tramples someone like me.'
Wol Ryeong's innate divine powers, combat ability, senses, and instincts, built upon that very comprehension.
In every aspect, she falls behind Wol Ryeong.
Even if a god permitted her strength at the Star Shattering stage, Wol Ryeong is not an opponent she can defeat.
'Do not get careless. Send the strongest blow as the very first attack.'
Bi Hwa pours all the power she can muster into the first attack, aiming at Wol Ryeong's dantian.
Majestic Flying Scenery (R).
Seventeen Folds of Petals.
It is the strongest move she can create as someone who has pursued blessing, purification, and healing.
Chuaaaat!
Seventeen petals, condensed with the power of healing and purification, touch Wol Ryeong's dantian. At the same time, the power of healing and purification directly converts the material flesh into pure and clear qi and begins to vaporize Wol Ryeong's body.
Chwarararak!
In an instant Wol Ryeong's Transformation form vaporizes, and her true body inside is revealed.
Kurururung!
A silver-white star rises above Heavenly Human Island, and the attraction force emanating from the star distorts the surrounding space.
However, Bi Hwa's attack still does not end.
Her blessing aims to vaporize Wol Ryeong's main star as well.
But immediately after,
She notices that something is wrong.
'Why...does the Star Shattering stage main star not keep growing...but instead shrink...?'
And as soon as she feels the strangeness, she quickly stamps her foot and flees from Heavenly Human Island.
That is the one moment that saves Bi Hwa's lifeline.
Skak!
In the spot Bi Hwa leaves from, thousands of silver weapons are driven in.
And Wol Ryeong's main star gradually compresses and begins to change into a humanoid shape.
'Combat Technique Form!'
Remembering the Star Shattering stage transformation that her masters occasionally showed her, Bi Hwa bites her lips.
Dudududu―
The star compresses and takes on a human form.
It is different from a simple Transformation form.
That is, literally, a form that turns all the star's capabilities toward combat.
It means Wol Ryeong is using her power in earnest.
As a member of the Sword Glass Race, Bi Hwa raises her power to the extreme and assumes a state of alert.
Kururung-
From far away, wrapping herself in a faint glass-colored aurora, Wol Ryeong looks expressionlessly at Bi Hwa, who begins taking out glass soldiers.
"Junior sister, I will go with you too. Let us apprehend Junior Sister Bi Hwa together."
Standing at Wol Ryeong's side, Mu Geom begins to faintly reveal his Integrated Dao Domain.
But Wol Ryeong casts a brief glance at Mu Geom and speaks coldly.
[Senior Brother Mu Geom, please look after Seo Gyeong. Those stakes currently seeping into Seo Gyeong look dangerous. I would like you to go and check it.]
"What? Junior Sister, but..."
[Senior Brother. Senior Sister Bi Hwa is at the Esteemed One level right now. Frankly, at this point Senior Brother will only get in the way.]
At Wol Ryeong's cold words, Mu Geom lets out a silent sigh.
In the end, Mu Geom speaks with a darkened face.
"...If so, Junior Sister Wol...I will leave Bi Hwa...to you."
[Yes.]
Finishing her words, Wol Ryeong charges straight at Bi Hwa through the Flying Escape Technique.
Kugugung!
And the glass soldiers guarding Bi Hwa's surroundings begin to block her.
Wol Ryeong recalls Bi Hwa's combat style.
'Her only methods of real attack are mere divine powers that maximize the power of healing and blessing to vaporize the opponent. Aside from that, she uses puppet soldiers, spirit beasts, contract beasts, or pet beasts as summons, strengthening or healing them while she fights the enemy from the rear. She is probably going to keep summoning whatever she can bring out and keep supporting from the back.'
As Wol Ryeong expects, Bi Hwa unceasingly takes out one thing after another.
"Come forth, Seven-Treasures True-Soul Scrolls."
Seven scrolls she pulls from her bosom spread out in the void, summoning the souls of strange otherworldly beasts.
"Come forth, Reaper Tower."
Kuuung, kuuung, kuuung, kuuung!
Four white glass towers are summoned around Bi Hwa, amplifying and converting the glass flames she exhales, supplying them to her summoned beasts.
"Build a fortress to guard me. White Origin Bees."
A swarm of white bees appear from her Peach Garden Painting and begin constructing a fortress of pure white wax around her.
That white wax fortress instantly encircles Bi Hwa and begins turning the area around her into an impregnable sky fortress.
At the same time, Bi Hwa's divine blessing powers settle throughout the sky fortress, reinforcing it.
At last, perhaps thinking she is prepared enough to face Wol Ryeong, Bi Hwa begins condensing power
inside.
'She is preparing a great divine power.'
It is surely a powerful divine power that draws out all the power of her Integrated Dao Domain to unfold it.
And it is not just any great divine power.
Strengthened to the level of an Esteemed One, even Wol Ryeong will not come out unscathed if hit directly.
'To put it badly, she is a cowardly type, and to put it well, she is pathologically cautious. Even after obtaining Star Shattering stage strength, she does not get swept away by it, but instead attacks me in the
way she does best.'
Bi Hwa's ability is exceptional.
From the start, when facing the Lightning God, if she had not exploded and died from a single strike and had remained to simply provide rear support, Wol Ryeong could have handled the Lightning God alone without Gyo Yeom's aid.
'Against Senior Sister Bi Hwa, direct combat does not work. The best way to deal with her is...a siege battle. I need to prepare siege techniques.'
Kugwagwang!
Wol Ryeong occasionally summons spears or halberds and throws them at the fortress, but even with her strength at the Star Shattering stage, the fortress only cracks slightly and nothing more.
Tststststs-
Wol Ryeong draws up the Heaven Immortal bloodline within her body.
From the Star Shattering stage and beyond, one is no longer bound by race, but the power of a bloodline
at the Immortal level is itself history and qi, so even after reaching the Star Shattering stage, it often remains within the main stars of Esteemed Ones in the form of dragon veins.
The bloodline of Radiance Hall's Law Protector Immortal, Moonlight Immortal Wol Woon, reveals itself.
Wol Ryeong's clan ancestor was the result of the progenitor of the Heavenly Dog Race, Wol Woon, interbreeding with the Human Race.
Because it is such a distant ancestral matter, by Wol Ryeong's generation, the Wol clan is just a Human Race family with faint remnants of Wol Woon's power.
What can be done with the Heavenly Immortal bloodline is specializing in learning moonlight divine powers, and when descendants are born, Heavenly Spiritual Roots often appear.
And occasionally they can sprout a dog's tail and ears just for fun, imitating the Earth Tribe. This is the authority of the Heaven Immortal bloodline that the Wol clan can wield.
But she once faced her family's progenitor Wol Woon directly, received blessing and wisdom from Wol Woon, and through atavism recovered part of that bloodline.
Silver moonlight radiates from her, and yin power fills the surroundings.
The moonlight is not simply sacred, but a symbol of yin.
Through that symbol, Wol Ryeong fills the entire Human Race territory with yin energy and begins cutting
down the power of blessing surrounding Bi Hwa's fortress.
Her fate whispers to her without rest, teaching her how to win this war.
'I am war.'
She instantly thinks of a way to break that fortress of glass soldiers and summoned beasts, and grips the
radiance spear hard enough to crush it.
Immediately after, she starts throwing spears.
Tuuung!
The radiance spear created by the Radiance Spirit Sword Formula slams straight into the wall of Bi Hwa's
fortress.
However, it only rams in and does not pierce through, and the glass soldiers, perhaps knowing this, do not panic and begin intercepting with Wol Ryeong as their main target.
Tukwaaang!
Bi Hwa's bombardment, shrouded in Glass True Fire, grazes Wol Ryeong's back and then buries itself into
one patch of ground in the Human Race Sky Island area, and then explodes with an immense mushroom
cloud.
'It is not originally that powerful, but each and every divine power is growing stronger.'
Thinking it a nuisance, Wol Ryeong keeps circling Bi Hwa's fortress and attempting spear throws.
But at some moment,
Ttuk-
Thinking the sound of the world cuts off, Wol Ryeong shudders,
'This is...'
She feels an instinctive danger.
'She completed the great divine power...!'
Bi Hwa has completed the powerful move she has been preparing inside.
Chwarararara-
Snow-white petals begin to surge above Bi Hwa's fortress.
Soon the wave of petals descends and crashes over Wol Ryeong.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
"...!!"
The apex of blessing that vaporizes the opponent upon mere touch.
Recalling the time she faced the Star Tribulation, Wol Ryeong emits repulsive force toward that waterfall
of petals.
However, as petals scatter through the world, the surroundings gradually begin to transform into the
strange twilight true energy that disadvantages Wol Ryeong.
'If I keep enduring like this, I will ultimately lose.'
She must escape the waterfall of petals.
Yet because of the very waterfall of petals, the surroundings fill with twilight true energy.
That, too, twilight true energies heavily mixed with Bi Hwa's will.
'In places where these strange true energies are present, the combat strength of Bi Hwa's summoned
beasts will probably leap by a hundredfold...'
Escaping the waterfall is no different from falling straight into Bi Hwa's grasp.
'I have to pierce through head-on.'
Wol Ryeong takes up her spear.
She normally uses the halberd, but for this battle the spear suits better.
She grips the spear and recalls the finest spearman she knows.
Lightning God.
The red god of lightning who fought her is truly the strongest spearman.
'Let's recall that being's thrust.'
The thrust of lightning, where the body and spear are one.
Wol Ryeong assumes the same stance as the Lightning God.
In that moment, a paper flower shimmers before her eyes.
'Here I go.'
Wol Ryeong Style.
Imitation.
Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear.
For an instant, Wol Ryeong becomes light.
Though for a very brief instant, she feels as though she becomes iron itself.
And in that fleeting moment-
Jjeoooooong!
She thrusts, piercing straight through the waterfall of petals, and arrives atop Bi Hwa's fortress.
Tremble-
'Still, in terms of completeness of the thrust, I fall behind the Lightning God.'
Wol Ryeong calmly suppresses the trembling Combat Technique Form caused by the strain and looks around.
Bi Hwa's summoned beasts charge.
The otherworldly beasts who emerged from the scrolls, and the strange beings with faces made of candle flames swarm over Wol Ryeong.
Tukwaang!
Through the attraction force of the Star Shattering stage and her spear techniques, she tears them apart, but receiving Bi Hwa's blessing and healing, they revive instantly and cling to her again.
Glass soldiers and swarms of white bees latch onto her.
Each one is merely on the level of being a nuisance, but with Bi Hwa's support, they do not die, and they keep coming at her like berserkers without end, sometimes even putting her in a difficult spot.
But Wol Ryeong calmly deflects the glass soldiers, rips through the bee swarms, and moves toward somewhere.
And at last, the place Wol Ryeong arrives is the wall of the fortress where earlier she had thrown her spear, where her radiance spear is embedded.
'I have thrown enough spears. And by attaching to the fortress and listening to the sounds it makes, I have roughly grasped its structure and composition.'
Preparation is complete, and sufficient information is in her hand.
Though Bi Hwa is casting blessings on the summoned beasts and once again completing a great divine power, Wol Ryeong is not impatient.
For victory is already in her hands.
'It is my win.'
Tuuung-
Wol Ryeong kicks the spear embedded before her eyes.
The spear, formed through the Radiance Spirit Sword Formula and mixed with the liquid metal of Wol Ryeong's main star, begins to hum as it remains lodged in Bi Hwa's fortress.
Wooooooong-
Woong-
Wooooooong!
That hum begins to resonate with the other spears embedded elsewhere.
That resonance gradually grows, and little by little it begins to cover the entire fortress.
Like tuning forks resonating with each other, emitting strange buzzing tones, those spears cause the inside of the fortress to ring.
"You must have thought hiding inside makes you safe. Wrong..."
Analyzing the nature of the twilight true energy filling the fortress, Wol Ryeong vibrates the spears according to its frequencies.
The twilight true energy vibrates in resonance with the hum of her spears, spreading immense tremors throughout the interior of the fortress.
"Have a taste at a concentrated barrage of sonic attacks inside that cramped place."
Wiiiiiiiiiiing-
The structure of the fortress, designed to amplify the power of twilight true energy, and the Reaper Towers attached to the fortress that magnify the twilight true energy, amplify even that resonance, vibrating madly until, at some moment-
Wol Ryeong breathes her own sharp energy into the resonance.
With sharp energy infused into the wave that is amplified to the peak, the entire fortress suddenly begins to split as though struck by countless slashes.
Jjeoooooooong!
"Fortress capture, complete."
Within the fortress that collapses in an instant, Bi Hwa finally appears, having once again completed her divine power.
Tsuaaaa!
This time, Bi Hwa's petals take the shape of a dragon whose face is of candle flame.
[Ten Billion Petals Dragon Flower.]
The cluster of petals in the form of a dragon fly towards Wol Ryeong, and Wol Ryeong once more recalls the knowledge she obtained from the Lightning God.
She steadies her breath, sets up a foundation that will not cause her to return to thee, concentrates the entirety of her will, and utters a single phrase.
[Red Pearl Cycling Heavenly King Jeon Myeong-hoon!]
Flash!
An attack through the [Name] of a Governing Immortal!
At those words, Bi Hwa fails to endure the true name of a True Immortal, and the divine ability she is about to reveal collapses entirely as she lets out a scream.
"Kyaaaaaaagh!"
Seizing that instant, Wol Ryeong's thrust once again descends from the sky toward Bi Hwa.
Jjeooook!
Starting from the wax platform upon which Bi Hwa stands, her Integrated Dao Domain tears apart, and Bi Hwa's body begins to scatter.
"It's over, Senior Sister."
Wol Ryeong mutters as she looks down at Bi Hwa's crumbling flesh.
Memories with Bi Hwa momentarily brush past her, but strangely, Wol Ryeong feels no stir.
'Emotion itself...seems to be becoming attraction force.'
It is a strange feeling.
At the same time, the closeness she felt from the paper flower she just received seems to recede endlessly again.
Chwarak, chwararararak!
Bi Hwa's body regenerates.
Amid the regeneration, she laughs, exuding an even more powerful momentum.
Huarurururuk!
Now, having become a very spirt of Glass True Fire, Bi Hwa cackles.
[Kukuk... How am I to repay this grace that led me into Sword Glass Reincarnation()...?]
An even stronger spiritual energy and attraction force.
'So is it a structure where when one receives a great shock, the power of god condensed inside is released, leading one to obtain it?'
Wol Ryeong grasps that structure at once.
It is a formidable power.
However, Wol Ryeong looks back and mutters coldly.
"Rather than blindly pursuing upward, it would have been better if you had reflected upon yourself and practised repentant enlightenment."
[Hahaha, what are you spouting now? I now have the power of go-hu, heheok...!]
Kugugugugu!
However, from Bi Hwa's body, which has strengthened in an instant, bizarre lightning begins to spew out.
[Wh-What is this... Heavenly King...? Je, Jeon*&&&&&(Myeong****-hoon*&%*...!!??]
"Did you not just hear the true name of a god? That is not a power one can digest at once with strength accumulated without repentant enlightenment."
[Wh-What...? N-No! Power is overflowing...! S-Stop...no...!]
"You may have thought that you yourself worked hard, and we are those who relied on talent without effort, bearing inferiority...but in truth, the one who neither practised repentant enlightenment nor worked hard was you alone. Disappear."
Kugugugugu!
As lightning and Glass True Fire boil simultaneously across her whole body more and more, Bi Hwa soon cannot contain that power and shines brightly.
And what follows is an explosion.
Kwaaaaang!
An enormous blast sweeps the surroundings and even wipes out all of Bi Hwa's summoned beasts.
In that explosion, Wol Ryeong watches the end of Bi Hwa who has turned to dust, and feels a complicated mood at her own lack of any emotion.
...Enough. Now is not the time to bother with that.'
What Wol Ryeong needs to care about right now lies even higher above.
Wol Ryeong watches with gleaming eyes as the dragonoid, after transforming the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Vast Cold Realm into twilight true energy and piercing a great [hole] in its sky,
passes through to depart for the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain.
'Wait for me, God of Sword Mountain. I...will reach you without fail.'
Wol Ryeong vows that she will with her own hands tear apart and kill that apostle of the evil god who will bring great chaos to this Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, and begins returning to Seo Gyeong on
Heavenly Human Island.
Kurung, kurururung!
Within the battlefield of myth where countless divine spirits burst apart and die.
There, countless ropes of light bind a single existence.
And to that bound being, the seals of eight existences fly in like arrows and embed themselves.
Jjeoeong, jjeoeoeoeong!
Each seal carries a certain meaning, and those meanings link together to form a [Name].
That name is Devil ().
:: In the name of the Radiance Supreme Deity, in praise of your great feats as the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain and the Immortal Beast King Seo Eun-hyun, you are hereby enfeoffed as the envoy of Radiance Hall, conferred the name Devil Lord. : :
The attribute and status carried by that name are bestowed upon the faceless divine spirit bound in ropes. As the attribute of Devil () attaches in full, the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain begins to have their strength helplessly suppressed by the power of radiance unleashed by the eight Divine Spirits of
Light.
At last, even the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain, who seemed to boast of endless strength, kneels down before the power of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
:: All the comrades of this devil have fled. ::
:: Somewhat surprising. That this one would be captured so easily. ::
:: The merit lies largely with the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord. ::
:: Even though we have not yet granted them the full Immortal Title of Sword Mountain Devil Lord, and
only attached the designation of Devil, to think they would be captured so easily... ::
:: Could it be that they allowed themselves to be captured on purpose? ::
Yet, at that strangely helpless sight, the Radiance Eight Immortals only feel worry.
There must be some scheme.
Such a thought is all that comes to them.
: : ...If concern remains, let us first bring them into the inner grounds of Radiance Hall, grant the complete
Immortal Title, and perform the Ten Heavens Seal. Once the Heavenly Domain Sealing is finished thereafter, even the Sword Mountain Devil Lord will be sealed entirely. : :
At the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's proposal, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord and the Great Forest Heavenly
Lord hesitate.
'As the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord says, if we take them to the inner hall, grant the Immortal Title in full, perform the Ten Heavens Seal, and even place the Heavenly Domain Seal, there will be no problem.' However, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord senses a subtle ominousness that even celestial energy cannot reveal, and gazes at the Sword Mountain Devil Lord caught by them.
'With what intention do you so obediently allow yourself to be caught...you wretched devil...!?'
-x-X-x-
:: Dimensional confinement complete. ::
:: Ten Heavens sealing complete. ::
:: Radiance Rope binding complete. : :
:: Heavenly Domain imprisonment, five parts complete. : :
:: How ready is the conferment of the Immortal Title? ::
:: We can start right now. : :
Where the communication of countless beings come and go, the brightest place in the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World.
Within the Radiance Hall.
Farther inside.
In a cavern there, a gigantic existence is bound by sealing arts and Immortal Treasures numbering in the thousands and hundreds of millions.
That existence, whose whole body is impaled with innumerable spears of light, swords, and other weapons, is what the Immortals of Light call the Devil God of Sword Mountain, or a wicked Mountain Divine Spirit.
:: While we do this, the Underworld is not going to run rampant again, will they? ::
:: Impossible. Even the Underworld is currently accumulating strength to prepare against the power of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. They cannot intervene. : :
The wills of countless great existences go back and forth.
Having succeeded in shackling the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit, Seo Eun-hyun, the Radiance Eight Immortals stand at the center and look down on him.
:: Your merit is great, Sword Spear. : :
:: I only did what was natural. : :
:: No, if you had not taken the lead, accepted sacrifice, and driven the sealing ritual into their Immortal Body...we would not have been able to capture them. : :
: : ...Thanks for thinking kindly of me, Pearl Jade. ::
The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord keeps praising the merit of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, and the other Eight Immortals look indifferently at that Pearl Jade, then turn their gaze back to the Mountain Divine Spirit below.
: : ...We acknowledge that Sword Spear's merit is great. Above all, from now we will confer the Immortal Title that suppresses their rank, so the merit will only grow further. : :
The Great Forest Heavenly Lord speaks calmly and forms hand seals, and the Eight Immortals, including the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, begin to form a ring around the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain.
:: Then from now, we shall enfeoff the Mountain Divine Spirit, the Immortal Beast King Seo Eun-hyun, who has been the great adversary of our Radiance Hall, as our Radiance Hall's Envoy of the Final Age of Dharma and faithful subordinate, as a Lord () who bows to us. : :
Wooooooong!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord begins to pour out their power.
And toward the power poured out by the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, the faces of other powers begin to gather.
Before long, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and the Great Sun Heavenly Lord each raise their left and right hands.
Between their palms, something like a small universe rises.
Within that universe, instead of stars, [names] whirl and surge, forming galaxies and milky ways.
The Seat of Naming.
The Origin of the Immortal Dao, also called the Origin Essence of Names.
As the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and the Great Sun Heavenly Lord draw power from the Origin of Names, the authorities clustered around the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's power begin to take shape one by one.
They are certain characters.
Sword (J).
Mountain (LI).
Lord (君).
As the three characters are born within the light, they become sharp stakes by the will of the Eight Immortals.
:: Go. ::
At the same time, those three stakes fall toward the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain.
Puk, puk, pukwak!
At last, the stakes driven into the Divine Spirit's body melt straight into them and bind their spirit and flesh.
Now, in addition to the character of Devil () they have previously driven into them, the characters Sword, Mountain, and Lord are added, and thus they become the Sword Mountain Devil Lord (U).
Kuguguguk-
An Immortal Lord-level Immortal Title that is affixed to a Governing Immortal-level existence forcibly suppresses their rank and authority, and combined with the seals the Eight Immortals have so far attached to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, drops their grade and authority down to the level of a Vestige Liberation Immortal.
Moreover, those seals are gradually becoming stronger as they assimilate with them over time.
:: It is done. As long as ten thousand years pass like this, all seals and the Immortal Title will assimilate into them, and that one will lose even their Immortal Rank, becoming an imbecile whose every memory and authority are sealed. If only the ten-thousand-year seal is completed... : :
: If it comes to pass, their very personality will change, so even if they accumulate strength again, they absolutely cannot rise above Immortal Lord-level, bound by the Immortal Title of Devil Lord we have attached. ::
:: Gradually, even their rationality will thin out by the seal, and they will become a beast. When that time comes, we will be able to educate them to have us as masters. : :
:: Now the Sword Mountain Devil Lord is our slave. : :
: : ...What we must be wary of now are the other comrades of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord. They and the Sword Mountain Devil Lord will surely plot yet another scheme. There is no way they will leave the Sword Mountain Devil Lord alone for ten thousand years without incident. : :
At the words of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, all the Heavenly Lords look at her.
:: ...Sword Spear, that is not a matter for you to concern yourself with. According to the decision of Great Forest and Rain Dew, a perfect grand stratagem to capture them is prepared, so you must devote yourself to fostering the next Sword Spear. : :
:: Is it a grand stratagem that only Great Forest and Rain Dew must know? ::
:: That is so. ::
: : ...I understand. I accept. Then I will take my leave... : :
As the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord finishes speaking, she disappears somewhere, and the other Eight Immortals mutter as they look at the place she stood.
:: They sensed something strange. ::
:: It seems they realized they are under suspicion. : :
:: If truly they have done nothing worthy of suspicion, they will obediently accept it and retrain themselves, but if not, then they will surely plot something. They may not reveal it openly, but Sword Spear knows they are in a situation where they are suspected, so they may indeed scheme something. At such a time, we must expand surveillance thoroughly, for their sake and for ours. ::
At the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's words, all the other Eight Immortals nod.
After Rain Dew Heavenly Lord finishes speaking, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord looks down below.
That aside, can we truly not fathom the scheme of that Sword Mountain Devil Lord? ::
:: It is impossible. But...it does not matter what scheme they are plotting. So long as they are sealed inside Radiance Hall's inner sanctum, escape by their own power is absolutely impossible. ::
The Flower Plant Heavenly Lord, who is in charge of the sealing within the Radiance Hall, shakes their head.
:: Innumerable Envoys of the Final Age of Dharma are on constant standby to suppress the Sword Mountain Devil Lord should they attempt to escape, and until the ten-thousand-year seal is complete, all thirty-two Envoys of the Final Age of Dharma are forbidden from leaving. : :
:: Moreover, Sword Spear, who might possibly aid in the escape of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, has been sent outside Radiance Hall for the time being. ::
:: Our Seven Immortals will guard this place for ten thousand years while watching over the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's compatriot, so there is no problem. : :
:: Furthermore, once the exclusive Heavenly Domain for sealing them is completed, and the Heavenly Domain sealing is finished... : :
:: It will be the end. : :
The stern gaze of the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord looks toward the center of Radiance Hall.
:: Even the power of the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity, which in theory can move anywhere inside Mount Sumeru. Even the power and revisions of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, the Wheel, and even the power of the Heavenly Venerable of Time who governs space-time and dimensions...none of them can ever take them away. ::
:: Beneath the glory of the Radiance Supreme Deity, they will never escape. ::
There, beneath the Radiance Seat's power that directly beams down and strengthens the seal in the Radiance Hall, they all raise their hands in prayer while gazing upward at the Radiance Seat.
:: Glory to the Radiance Supreme Deity! ::
Thus, shouting the slogan of the Radiance Eight Immortals, they continue to strengthen the seal of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord and begin to surround them with countless prophecies.
They never think to let down their guard, even though they have captured them once.
Perhaps after ten thousand years, they might, but not yet. For the Sword Mountain Devil Lord has not yet sunk into complete sealing.
Especially the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, who is both the quartermaster and strategist, together with the Flower Plant Heavenly Lord, searches for methods to strengthen the seal, and unceasingly keeps their gaze fixed upon the bound Sword Mountain Devil Lord.
Even though the Radiance Eight Immortals have found a way to capture and enslave the Sword Mountain Devil Lord and are executing that plan, the being sits in a lotus position with their main body without the slightest movement.
Somehow, that sight looks as if they are asleep.
'It must be because they have leisure that they can sleep. We must not let our guard down for even a moment. Whether it is the bizarre authority unique to an Ender, or whatever else...we must bind them so they cannot flee into another timeline or parallel dimension, into a dream world or a painting, or into a
story.'
Looking at that figure, the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord makes such a resolve.
It seems like an absurd imagination, but all the Enders whose records the Radiance Eight Immortals have read are all bizarre beings for whom such things are possible.
Yet somehow, the figure of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord sitting in a lotus position and sleeping...
It keeps drawing the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord's gaze.
'What dream does that one dream, to look so peaceful...?'
The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord glares at the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, who is suspected of having connections with the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, and prays inwardly that the dream that being dreams...
Becomes the most wretched nightmare possible.
Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain.
Since Wol Ryeong has become a Star Shattering Esteemed One, one thousand and five hundred years
have already passed.
Kurung, kururururung!
On the outskirts of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, while receiving the baptism of countless Heavenly Tribulations, the one who stabilizes their final stage-
Wol Ryeong half-opens her eyes.
[Huuuu...]
Before she knows it, by spending a mere one thousand five hundred years, she has reached the Grand Perfection Star Shattering stage.
And then, Wol Ryeong looks at her same-sect fellow disciple who, right before her eyes, has reached the Grand Perfection Integration stage.
[Ryeong-ah! You finally reached it!]
Kugugugugu!
She compresses the true bodies of the Grand Perfection Star Shattering stage and transforms.
Soon, he and Wol Ryeong face each other.
"Yeah, Seo Gyeong. You are also Grand Perfection now."
"Ahaha... Unlike you, my aptitude isn't that outstanding. It took me as long as one thousand five hundred
years for me to barely reach Grand Perfection..."
"Don't worry too much. In fact, that pace is considered normal among ordinary beings."
"But..."
Seo Gyeong, looking a bit dejected, gazes somewhere.
At one side of that far-off galaxy.
From there, someone flies over.
"Wol Ryeong, Seo Gyeong!"
It is Pal Jin, who entered the sect alongside Wol Ryeong and Seo Gyeong.
Pal Jin's Refining Void Dharma Treasure gave enormous help for the Star Shattering stage advancement,
so he has already advanced to become an Esteemed One like Wol Ryeong.
Although Pal Jin is only at the early Star Shattering stage rather than Grand Perfection.
"Just in time, you two also finished your advancement. Unfortunately, Senior Brother Mu Geom...once again failed to advance from the Quasi-Star Shattering stage and resurrected, and is now re- accumulating his cultivation again starting from the early Integration stage."
"Well...stopping a Star Tribulation isn't easy."
Clicking her tongue, Wol Ryeong looks toward the star system Mu Geom went to.
Pal Jin also speaks with a regretful expression.
"That aside, the elders are calling us now. Let's go."
"...Alright."
With those words, Wol Ryeong starts moving through outer space together with Seo Gyeong.
Before long they arrive at a large nebula.
And above that nebula-
Countless beings have gathered and are holding council.
Paaaatt!
As Wol Ryeong and her party appear in the hall, those in conference look toward them.
Pal Jin steps forward before them and speaks.
"Radiance Spirit Sect disciple Pal Jin brings the Radiance Spirit Sect disciple Wol Ryeong as requested."
They are the Entering Nirvana stage and Sacred Vessel stage beings of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, the Radiance Spirit Sect Master Baek Yeong, and the Radiance Spirit Sect's elders at the Sacred Vessel stage and above.
"You have come at just the right time. I apologize for summoning you so urgently right after you advanced
to the Grand Perfection Star Shattering stage."
"It is nothing."
The Radiance Spirit Sect Master Baek Yeong pats Wol Ryeong on the shoulder and speaks. "However, as you know as well, this incident is one that befell our Radiance Spirit Sect's Esteemed Ones.
It is also a major affair that can affect not only the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain but other Heavenly
Domains as well. Therefore...your testimony is indispensable."
"I understand."
"Then...show us the memory of that day."
Wo-woong-
At Baek Yeong's words, Wol Ryeong directly uses a basic illusion art and shows what happened that day.
Within the illusion, seeing the moment when the nightmare of that day reappears through Bi Hwa's descent formation, Wol Ryeong breathes heavily.
Although she no longer needs air, it is behavior that remains because of the lingering habit from her
mortal beings.
At that moment, Seo Gyeong grasps Wol Ryeong's hand.
Only then does Wol Ryeong's breathing return to normal.
Wol Ryeong looks at Seo Gyeong for a moment.
'You really are...a mysterious child.'
From the early Star Shattering stage to reaching Grand Perfection, one thousand five hundred years of
time have passed.
During those years, Wol Ryeong experienced the heart's transformation into attraction force.
What tormented her the most as she underwent that conversion was...
The emptiness that made it feel as if everything was losing its meaning.
In that emptiness, where even the pain, the hatred, and the anger from losing her master Baek Geom
seemed to be forgotten, Wol Ryeong even harmed herself, trying to remember those feelings.
If Seo Gyeong had not been there, Wol Ryeong's self-harm would likely have continued until the late Star
Shattering stage.
'You held onto me.'
Strangely, even as her heart converts into attraction force, she experiences the bizarre phenomenon in
which only her feelings toward Seo Gyeong do not convert.
She does not know why.
But whenever she thinks of Seo Gyeong, she feels as if the paper flower is drawing closer within her For more chapters visit novel★fire.net
heart, letting her endure.
Because Seo Gyeong is there, Wol Ryeong can preserve the feelings and memories of that day without
having to abuse herself.
And...
Having leapt beyond the heart's conversion into attraction force and now being able to control that
phenomenon, even when the nightmare of that day drove Wol Ryeong toward Qi Deviation, Seo Gyeong let her endure.
Now, Seo Gyeong is no longer a mere friend or fellow disciple to her.
He is a pillar that firmly supports her heart.
She grips Seo Gyeong's hand tightly as she once again faces that day's nightmare.
The nightmare of the dragonoid ripping Baek Geom apart, swallowing the Heaven and Earth spiritual
energy of the Vast Cold Realm, and then leaving for the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain.
After some time, at last, the memory of that day ends.
Tstststststs-
The illusion disappears, and the Entering Nirvanas and Sacred Vessels, as well as the Star Shattering
Esteemed Ones in the hall stir noisily.
[...Quiet, quiet.]
Then, the Entering Nirvana Quasi-Immortal of Entering Nirvana stage who presides over this council, Dae
Jin-wook opens their mouth.
[Now...we can finally grasp the outline of that existence. The identity of that devil, who since a thousand years ago, appeared in the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, spread their wicked energy throughout, bestowed wicked wisdom, plundered the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, and even coiled itself within the palace of the God and Lord of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain...the [Owner of Liberation], feeding off that power while preparing to advance to True Immortality. The identity of that fiend.] [Ooooh...as expected of Dae Jin-wook.]
[Truly fitting of the Quasi-Immortal closest to True Immortality.]
At Dae Jin-wook's words, countless Quasi-Immortals and Sacred Masters let out silent sighs and
exclamations.
Then their words continue.
[Judging by its power, its form, and the scenes and techniques drawn from this child's memory...that one
is the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit. The God of Sword Mountain, whom the recent Gods of Light named as the Sword Mountain Devil Lord...!]
[.....!]
[...!!]
Each time words like Owner of Liberation, Gods of Light, or Sword Mountain Devil Lord leave Dae Jin-
wook's mouth, many beings flinch.
No matter how much Quasi-Immortals try to strip the 'power' from the words, a part of the fundamental energy contained in them cannot be restrained.
The only ones who remain unaffected in that place are Seo Gyeong, who arrived here hand in hand with
Wol Ryeong in the body of the Integration stage—
And Wol Ryeong herself, who has some resistance after hearing the true name of Jeon Myeong-hoon, a
holder of one Heavenly Seat.
[You mean the main body of that God of Sword Mountain!?]
[If that evil god who compressed the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain, exterminated all beings inside, recreated it, and renamed it as the Axle Heavenly Domain has descended directly...!] [Calm yourselves! Surely that is not the case. Surely it is but the evil god's Immortal Treasure.]
[Do not spout nonsense! For an evil god of that level, even their Immortal Treasure would still be of Upper
Immortal level at minimum. What calmness are you telling us to have!?]
Shouts and uproars ring from all sides, and watching this, Dae Jin-wook, the eldest Entering Nirvana of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, lets out a thunderous roar.
[Gal! Enough already. The true nature of that devil spirit is nothing more than a terminal part of the Sword
Mountain Devil Lord's divine body. It appears to be their body.] [If it is a terminal part of the divine body...is that fortunate...?]
As a Sacred Vessel Sacred Master still fails to grasp the situation and tilts their head, the Radiance Spirit
Sect Master Baek Yeong steps forward.
[...As you know, those in the Radiance Spirit Sect who bear the surname Baek (Ė) are directly supported
by the Gods of Light. Because of this, we can closely contact the Baek surnames of other Heavenly Domains, borrowing the power of Immortals. I myself...have a sworn sister who bears the Baek surname, named Sacred Master Baek Woon.]
At Baek Yeong's words, everyone's gaze turns to her.
[All of you present here surely know of that Lightning Immortal of the Yang surname.]
At those words, the faces of all the Entering Nirvana Quasi-Immortals present simultaneously turn rotten.
[That dog fucking insane dege—no, that lunatic, you mean?]
[The madman who refined my children into pills and ate them!]
[Why bring up that one!?]
[My sworn sister Baek Woon said that with just that one's ring finger, all the Quasi-Immortals of her
Heavenly Domain combined nearly suffered defeat. Therefore, even if it is only a terminal part of the
divine body, it must not be underestimated.]
At those words, Dae Jin-wook speaks in a troubled tone.
[... Yet, from this Immortal's perspective, that dragonoid, that devil spirit's identity...is not something like a
pinky.]
[Then what is it?]
[...A strand of hair.]
[...?]
[That devil spirit is...understood to be just a single strand of the Mountain Divine Spirit's hair.]
At those words, much of the tension among the Entering Nirvanas and Sacred Vessels present begins to
relax.
[Hahaha, then it is nothing much.]