Not only the Radiance Eight Immortals, but all of Radiance Hall falls into great chaos.
Heuk Sa!
That is clearly the symbol of the Radiance Supreme Deity.
Yet that sacred symbol is used by the Lord of Devils designated by Radiance Hall.
At that sight, everyone present falls into panic.
Those whose faith in Radiance Hall runs especially deep are even more so.
Because, according to the teachings of Radiance Hall, the symbol of Heuk Sa is permitted only to the Radiance Eight Immortals who stand at the apex of justice.
Only the Eight Immortals who are the most righteous, the wisest in this world, can use the symbol of Heuk Sa.
Yet even the enemy of Radiance Hall, the one called the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, is using that symbol.
That is clearly neither coincidence nor bluff.
:: How can that be...? ::
:: Is that one so...righteous as to receive the seal of the Radiance Supreme Deity...? ::
The fact that the Seat of Radiance permits its symbol to another being means the claim to being the most just being in the world has passed to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord.
There is no coincidence in this world.
Only fate.
Because the Heaven Immortals of Radiance Hall are especially full of fatalists, seeing that sight, the overwhelming majority of True Immortals begin to take a step back.
:: The legitimacy of Radiance has passed to that one. : :
:: We are those who have come for the righteousness () of Radiance Hall. : :
:: For the symbol of that righteousness to have passed to that being...is that not evidence that, by fate, the Sword Mountain Devil Lord holds even greater righteousness...? ::
:: O Radiance Eight Immortals! We do not participate in this fight!! ::
In an instant, the True Immortals who see the symbol of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord begin to leave the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
Seeing this, the Radiance Eight Immortals quickly exchange opinions.
:: We must bring this to a conclusion quickly. ::
The longer the battle with Sword Mountain Devil Lord drags on, the more the legitimacy of the Radiance Supreme Deity will come under doubt... : :
:: But look at that one! Whatever they have done, they possess a mantra that draws power from the Seat of Radiance. That power can suppress the entirety of space-time! ::
:: If the God-Killing Spear were not prophesied to fly when the Radiance Supreme Deity is in danger, we would be finished. Do we even have a chance to prevail against that one? ::
Seeing the Eight Immortals flounder, Sword Spear speaks.
:: First, the most important is to identify the enemy's objective. What the Sword Mountain Devil Lord wants most from us is likely the removal of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag. Do we negotiate with them over the removal of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag, or do we continue the war? ::
:: The release of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag must not be allowed. ::
At Sword Spear's words, the eyes of Eight Immortals all gleam as if to say that alone must not be permitted.
:: Why must it not? ::
:: Pulling it out itself is no problem. But...one factor. There will come a time when we must make the Sword Mountain Devil Lord move according to our will, and the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag will serve as the bargaining chip for that time. : :
The Great Forest Heavenly Lord answers Sword Spear's question.
:: We conducted a full investigation into that one by bringing in even memories of other timelines. The Sword Mountain Devil Lord's deeds, authorities, Immortal Arts...everything. And among such Immortal Arts of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, the Immortal Art of Filling the Heavens Governing View must be extracted by us and made usable only by the Radiance Eight Immortals. : :
The eyes of the Great Forest Heavenly Lord and the many Heavenly Lords flash.
:: An Immortal Art that fixes the outcome value of every being's act to failure... In particular, a power specialized for fixing the results of Immortal Cultivation to failure. That is... : :
:: I see. You intend to place that Immortal Art into the hands of the next Eight Immortals and realize our ideal world. ::
:: Indeed. After the Great Mountain Supreme Deity War, there is a high possibility that the Supreme Deity-rank Immortal Cultivators of this Mount Sumeru will be annihilated. Taking advantage of the gap in which there are no existences above the Radiance Eight Immortals, if we use Filling the Heavens Governing View across all of Mount Sumeru to completely negate the unqualified that crawl up the Immortal Cultivation system...our true utopia shall be achieved. ::
: : ...! ::
At the Great Forest Heavenly Lord's explanation, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's body flinches.
The utopia of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
Even to her, it is an unbearably beautiful ideal.
It is also what she once always dreamed and lived for.
But all the more because of that, she clenches her fist as she recalls the [being with a black mianguan] and the [being with a white mianguan].
::...Understood. Then the release of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag absolutely cannot be given, for the sake of negotiations with the Sword Mountain Devil Lord. : :
There is never a thought of giving the Sword Mountain Devil Lord compensation in exchange for extracting their Immortal Art.
From the start, they are an Ender.
And, as an Ender, they have become both the Immortal Beast King and reached the Ultimate of Martial Arts.
And since they reached the standard of the Underworld and are receiving the full support of the Underworld, there is no price in this world that the Radiance Eight Immortals can offer to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord.
Whatever they give cannot compare to what the Underworld grants, nor to what they already have, so there is no reason for the Sword Mountain Devil Lord to part with their Innate Immortal Art that symbolizes their identity.
Therefore, what remains to them is only coercion through the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord lets out a bitter smile inside at the miserable state of Radiance Hall, to which she once gave her wholehearted loyalty.
:: Then all prepare. I will set the victory plan on the assumption there is no negotiation with the Sword Mountain Devil Lord. ::
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, within her inborn talent and fate, quickly compares and analyzes Seo Eun-hyun's strength against their own.
'The True Immortals of Radiance Hall have all withdrawn. A war of numbers using the prophecies of True Immortals is impossible. Seo Eun-hyun is also drawing power from the Seat of Radiance through the Radiance Mantra, so bombardment with power derived from the Seat of Radiance is also impossible. Then what remains is...'
Only the stockpile of God-Killing Spears they have amassed in preparation for the Great Mountain Supreme Deity War.
'Torch Candle buried countless God-Killing Spears in the Head Realm to stockpile them. If we consume every God- Killing Spear accumulated and sacrifice the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord again to summon the Heavenly Void Furnace for battle, we can defeat Seo Eun-hyun. But that will displease the other Heavenly Lords, and will result in killing Seo Eun-hyun...that won't do.'
She knows that if she pursues victory with the method she considers, Seo Eun-hyun will die, so she alters her plan.
No matter that Seo Eun-hyun surpasses timelines, the God-Killing Spear is the symbolic technique of the Radiance Supreme Deity that kills even Supreme Deities.
Just as Seo Eun-hyun suffered beyond timelines at the power of the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity, if he dies struck by the God-Slaying Spear, the residual power of the God-Slaying Spear will remain and kill Seo Eun- hyun over and over even across the timelines.
Seo Eun-hyun's history rewrite through the Wheel can also be nullified by the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Seo Eun-hyun cannot be killed. Then what is needed is...'
An appropriate compromise.
'Sixty-six God-Killing Spears. And...'
:: We shall use of the Heavenly King Heavenly Treasures (A). : :
At the words of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, all the Heavenly Lords are shocked.
:: You mean to use those monstrosities? ::
:: Then, will you be satisfied only if we squander all sixty-some thousand of the accumulated God-Slaying Spears in this battle and even offer the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord as a sacrifice to summon the Heavenly Void Furnace?
::
:: Th-That is... ::
:: As the wartime commander, I accept no further objections. Any further questioning, and by the authority of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord as the Eul-grade wartime readiness commander, that Eight Immortal will be abolished.
::
In peacetime, when the Radiance Hall is not under threat, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord acts as executor and inspector over the Radiance Eight Immortals. But since the Eul-grade alert has been declared, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord has taken then position of leader of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
:: I order the firing of sixty-six God-Killing Spears, and the use of the Heavenly King Heavenly Treasures to annihilate the Enders. ::
In the end, at Sword Spear's order, all the Eight Immortals each form their seals, looking slightly unsettled.
Immediately after, the entire Heavenly King Heavenly Domain begins to tremble.
The lower reaches of the Palace of Radiance shake as rays of every color burst forth.
Seeing that sight, not only the Radiance Eight Immortals but also Seo Eun-hyun and his comrades flinch in
surprise.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, finding the startled Seo Eun-hyun rather cute, speaks.
:: If they use sorcery to take the symbol of Heuk Sa...we shall show them that we can do something similar. : :
In the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's grasp appears an obsidian spear with dozens of mouths gnashing endlessly, their black fangs tearing into the void.
Into the Great Forest Heavenly Lord's grip comes a lapis lazuli spear with dark-blue eyes that weep blood; into the Flower Plant Heavenly Lord's grip comes a golden spear; into the Great Sun Heavenly Lord's hand comes a pure- gold spear; into the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's hand come a red-pearl spear; into the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord's hand comes a silver spear; into the Great Sea Heavenly Lord's hand comes an agate spear; and into the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's hand comes a pale pink spear made of tridacna.
And that is not all.
The seven-colored spears are not only the one held in their hands. Dozens, hundreds, thousands slip out from the dimensional rifts of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain and fill the surrounding space of the Radiance Eight
Immortals.
:: The Radiance Ten Heavenly Lords, over the course of generations, gathered and gathered the legacies and arrangements of you Enders... ::
Each and every one contains powers so bizarre that even imagining them is hard.
:: The grave of the Enders that they buried here...that place is precisely the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain...! : :
Hwoooong-
Together with such words, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord hurls the obsidian spear she holds at Seo Eun-hyun.
'Since it turned out like this...'
She looks at Seo Eun-hyun, Oh Hye-seo, Kim Yeon, and the others and makes up her mind.
'I will help your powers awaken.'
The complete powers of other worlds fly toward the Enders.
The embers of the Bright Sword Grand War begin to ignite in earnest.
Kwagwagwang!
Outside the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
At one of the interdimensional boundaries, one spot seems to twist, and from there 14 Great Immortals are ejected,
entangled.
Countless powers of other worlds and bizarre authorities clash among them.
The Lapis Lazuli Flower Heavenly King Kang Min-hee sets and manipulates laws, and the Great Sun Heavenly Lord
and the Great Sea Heavenly Lord latch onto Kang Min-hee, using the attraction force between Heavenly Domains and the Inner Sea's power to crush those laws one by one.
The Red Pearl Cycling Heavenly King Jeon Myeong-hoon takes up his lightning spear and faces the Great Forest
Heavenly Lord and the Flower Plant Heavenly Lord, who charge at him with dozens of seven-colored spears on their bodies.
The authority of Heavenly Punishment and the authority of Causality Induction are halved by the Great Forest Heavenly Lord who governs wood, and the destructive force is healed by the power of the Flower Plant Heavenly
Lord.
Against the Silver Nameless Heavenly King Oh Hyun-seok, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord rush in.
Of Oh Hyun-seok's Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation, the power of Earth is received by the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, and the cultivation of Heaven is met by the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord as they oppose him.
Because Kim Yeon, the successor of the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King, and Oh Hye-seo have not yet become
Heavenly Kings, the two of them together have to face the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, who intercepts them while holding eleven God-Slaying Spears.
Though the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord is the representative of martial force among Radiance Hall, the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord too, in pure combat strength, is outstanding enough to tie for third among the Radiance Eight Immortals together with the Great Forest Heavenly Lord.
Kim Yeon's attacks, which draw on the power of the Vast Cold Realm, are blocked by the God-Slaying Spears, and
Oh Hye-seo's bizarre authority is blocked by the seven-colored spears forged from the arrangements of previous
Enders.
The laws of other worlds distort their authorities.
And, above them, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, carrying fifty-five God-Slaying Spears alone, engages the Sword Mountain Devil Lord Seo Eun-hyun in a one-on-one duel.
Seo Eun-hyun's sword and the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's spear collide outside the Heavenly King Heavenly
Domain.
'So this is a Heavenly Lord...'
Seo Eun-hyun meets the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's gaze as he receives and deflects the full power of the
Sword Spear Heavenly Lord one by one.
Judging by pure martial skill, Sword Spear cannot match Seo Eun-hyun.
But being the representative of martial force of the Radiance Eight Immortals is a position that even one at the
Ultimate of Martial Arts cannot belittle.
'So this is how you use prophecy... Good.'
Sword Spear swings her spear. The trajectory of that spear strike is at a level that Seo Eun-hyun can read completely, let flow past, and can counter, but before the spear reaches Seo Eun-hyun, [prophecy] is always
imbued in it.
:: It shall hit. ::
A simple, narrow-ranged, powerful prophecy.
Kwaaaang!
The shaft of the God-Slaying Spear, through that prophecy, strikes Seo Eun-hyun's jaw.
The trajectory of the spear strike imbued with prophecy, together with the attraction force of fate, hits Seo Eun- hyun's body directly, and Seo Eun-hyun, watching the peerless skill of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, who blends the power of the Absolute into Martial Arts, stretches out his right arm wrapped in the Five Desires Chain.
:: Beautiful. : :
Immortal Art.
Swallowing Heaven ().
Clench!
By the attraction force of the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity, Sword Spear's face is grabbed right into Seo
Eun-hyun's right hand.
At the same time, Sword Spear links her will to the God-Slaying Spears imbued with prophecy and points them at
Seo Eun-hyun.
:: Pierce! ::
Tukwang, tukwang, tukwang!
Dozens of God-Slaying Spears pierce straight through the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's body and strike directly at
Seo Eun-hyun beyond.
But both of them ignore the pain and shock entirely and do not let out even a single cry.
Seo Eun-hyun's arm grabs the Sword Spear's head and slams it straight into the dimensional boundary of the
Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
Jjeoooooong!
The dimensional boundary collapses, and the two of them step back inside the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain
again.
:: Good.::
Seo Eun-hyun's exclamation rings out, and Sword Spear likewise grips the God-Slaying Spears and wraps Seo
Eun-hyun's body with her winged garment.
Filling the Heavens Sword Rain!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's ultimate technique, Filling the Heavens Sword Rain, is summoned toward Seo
Eun-hyun's body through the winged garment that envelops him.
The great Heaven-Defying technique, Filling the Heavens Sword Rain, normally unleashed to destroy Heavenly Domains, now unfolds aiming at the mere flesh of a single Great Net Immortal.
But after a flash of silver-white light, Seo Eun-hyun tears apart the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's winged garment
and bursts forth, swinging the Impermanence Sword.
Daenggeong!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, along with the nebulae stretched behind her, is severed horizontally.
'Discard the lower body.'
Shwik-
Using prophecy again at the price of her own lower body, Sword Spear points at Seo Eun-hyun.
Shukwang!
Twelve God-Slaying Spears fly and pierce toward her and Seo Eun-hyun.
:: A Certain Hit used at the price of the lower body, is it? ::
Amazed at the accuracy of the God-Slaying Spears, strengthened by the absoluteness that prophecy holds, Seo
Eun-hyun rushes at the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord once more.
:: Show me more, Sword Spear! Make me more delighted! ::
Ji Hwa watches this sight and laughs.
:: Yes, let us dance together. : :
After all, what they are doing now is nothing but mischief between the two.
But even within that mischief, confirming the peak of Martial Arts that they can extend toward each other is, for
those who walk the Martial Dao, the ultimate bliss.
'Come to think of it, the reason I carved a sword mark into your shoulder must have been because I knew a day like this would come.'
She wanted to see an opponent against whom she can cross Martial Arts and Swords with all her strength.
Hyeon Mu refused to face the Radiance Eight Immortals, and aside from Hyeon Mu, the other Severing Heaven
realm True Immortals-
White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus, the Martial Melody Heavenly Lord, the Underworld Ten Kings-are all ones whom the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord herself can crush by sheer output.
In an instant, gathering nebulae and regenerating her lower body, the Sword Spear begins to clash with Seo Eun-
hyun while breathing prophecy of Certain Hit into the God-Slaying Spears.
:: You...make me rejoice...! Sword Mountain Devil Lord! : :
Thus, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord and the Sword Mountain Devil Lord collide their different techniques
together and burst into wild laughter.
And in their duel, the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain begins to step into ruin.
After cleaving apart the glass sword mountain, Wol Ryeong widens her eyes and stares for a long while at the light
spilling out from within.
"Just what...is this? What on earth...?"
For within the light that comes out from inside, she sees...
Seo Gyeong and her master fighting.
-x-X-x-
Kugugugugu-
Light collapses.
And what remains are only the surging foams whirling inside the glass sword mountain.
However, Wol Ryeong cannot forget what she saw inside those foams.
'What was that? Was what I just saw...an illusion?'
But for some reason her instincts speak.
They say that was not a simple illusion.
And so Wol Ryeong cannot help but tremble.
'Master...is alive...?'
If what she just saw is not an illusion, if that scene where her master, Esteemed One Baek Geom, fighting Seo Gyeong is reality...
Wol Ryeong feels as if the hatred she kept deep in her heart is about to be washed away.
Pushing the minion of the Evil God into a corner, and in return, confirming that her master is alive!
It is such a beautiful conclusion.
However, why is it that even as she expects her hatred to be washed away, Wol Ryeong cannot help but feel a strange sense of disharmony.
'What is this? This is like...'
Is this not an ending that befits only the stories of protagonists in fairy tales?
Is reality this beautiful?
'...Let's not get ahead of myself. This is only an illusion. This illusion is not even confirmed as fact, is it?'
Wol Ryeong shakes her head as she recalls the illusion she saw.
But even as she tries to think it is only an illusion, Wol Ryeong's own intuition whispers far too strongly that the illusion is the truth.
Because her intuition is usually right, Wol Ryeong becomes uneasy about her own intuition for some reason.
'Why? Shouldn't I rather be happy if Master is alive...Is it because that scene looked as if Master and Seo Gyeong are fighting? Is what I saw a different space in the present, or a scene of the future...? Or...!
Wol Ryeong bites her lip hard.
'Is it the key that will reveal this persistent sense of disharmony...?'
Lost in many thoughts, Wol Ryeong turns around.
The colossal body of the hair clone is collapsing.
She goes out beyond the collapsing body of the hair clone and, from afar, looks toward Seo Gyeong and the palanquin of Eun Geom that greet her.
The Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords also send Wol Ryeong friendly looks.
But Wol Ryeong does not relax.
'Right now, I am less than a single hair of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord.'
She would never have defeated even this hair clone made from a single strand of hair if not for the help of others.
'I must go further. From here on...'
Only by going even further and finally standing at a similar eye level to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord can she properly see the world.
'Let's keep going forward.'
After reaching the Entering Nirvana stage, Wol Ryeong decides she will properly temper her own Immortal Art and reach the True Immortal advancement.
It is at that moment.
Flash!
Wol Ryeong suddenly flinches as she sees a great force of light pink spew madly from the collapsing body of the hair clone.
"Th-This, what in the world...?"
She stares at that power in shock.
Because this is clearly...
The Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Vast Cold Realm.
But before she even has a moment to be surprised, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy seems to soar madly, and then it begins to form a 'path' that leads straight to somewhere.
Kugugugugugu!
"Th-This is...?"
Seeing that 'path,' Wol Ryeong cannot help but fall into panic.
For along that straight path that pierces the Heavenly Domain, the very same intent, exactly the same as the intent
Wol Ryeong poured in when she struck down with her halberd, is brimming.
She knows it instinctively.
'Sword Mountain Devil Lord...!'
The evil Mountain Divine Spirit used her.
To complete some unknown wicked plan.
"...Again...are you using me...?"
Wol Ryeong grinds her teeth and summons the radiance halberd.
"This time...I will not be taken advantage of."
It is a path of intent made by her own hand.
She does not know for what purpose it is made, but it is surely a wicked act.
Therefore, that wicked act...she shall sever it with her own hands.
"Please help! O Seven Immortals!"
In order to use everything she can use right now, Wol Ryeong asks the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords.
If they are indeed beings who came to thwart the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit's scheme, they will surely try to erase that 'path' of the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit as well.
But Wol Ryeong suddenly feels something strange.
။ ၇။
::...::
"O...divine spirits...?"
None among the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords answer; they only gaze gloomily at somewhere in the void.
Their gaze reaches the end of the 'path' that appears from the hair clone.
Wol Ryeong cannot see it, but that path of light pink energy pierces the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, pierces the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, pierces the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, and then the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain...
It reaches the far edge of Mount Sumeru, the Head Realm.
And reaching inside the Head Realm's ascension gate is the true identity of that path.
The Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords look at that path and the Head Realm at its end.
And finally, they are wailing at the 'truth' that the path reveals.
Hwaaaaaa-
The light pink energy of the Vast Cold Realm, containing the principle of the Vast Cold Heavenly Circle, denies the principle of Acceptance at Fate's End and shows the cycle of the Four Seasons.
Mortal beings cannot see it, but all the Immortals of this world, the True Immortals, are seeing it.
Beginning at the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain and reaching the Head Realm's Ascension Gate made by Yang Su-jin, that light pink pillar of light reveals the truth.
Immortal Cultivation is repentant enlightenment.
The mantra that begins from that is the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
The Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra is an Immortal Art that brings the End of the universe and at the same time is an Immortal Art to observe Mount Sumeru.
The Vast Cold Heavenly Lord heard that enlightenment from the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, and from there discussed an enlightenment that goes one step further.
Immortal Cultivation is progress.
And what was born from there was...
An Immortal Art that does not end with observing the inside of Mount Sumeru, but an Immortal Art that lets one faintly peek [outside] it.
Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual (R).
Kugugugugugu!
In that far Astral Realm, something enormous begins to be summoned.
"Vast Cold Realm...?"
Wol Ryeong shudders as she sees that something.
The Vast Cold Realm, which should be in the Interdimensional Void of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, is being summoned to this place.
At the same time, from one place in the Vast Cold Realm that is being summoned, something surges upward.
It is the Vast Cold Realm's Heavenly Lotus Mountain.
More precisely, it is the White Jade Pavilion built at the summit of that Heavenly Lotus Mountain.
Shiver-
As she looks at that White Jade Pavilion, Wol Ryeong is seized by an unknown terror.
Chwaaaak!
But before she even has time to feel that terror, she sees the light pink [path] that leads all the way to the end of
the distant universe connect with the White Jade Pavilion that has risen from the Vast Cold Realm.
And seeing that, Wol Ryeong realizes what the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit has done through her.
"Heavenly Lotus Mountain...?"
They made Wol Ryeong smash apart the Vast Cold Realm's Heavenly Lotus Mountain with her own hands.
The illusion of the glass sword mountain she saw was not a glass sword mountain.
It was the Heavenly Lotus Mountain, which the Mountain Divine Spirit altered to show in the shape of a different
mountain.
-0000000
Inside the universe.
Somewhere.
From there, a sound that seems to be made by some ancient being is heard.
As that sound resounds, all the beings fighting in the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain freeze.
To the True Immortals of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, it is the sound of a nightmare.
Because it is the roar of the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King.
After the roar of the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King resounds, the True Immortals in the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain all stare with terrified eyes at the light pink pillar that pierces through the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
For the energy coming from that pillar is exactly the same as that of Vast Cold, who declined several hundred thousand years ago.
:: V-Vast Cold... Vast Cold has revived! ::
:: The Vast Cold Heavenly Lord has come back to life again!!! ::
:: Everyone, flee from the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain!!! ::
:: The monster has opened its eyes again!! ::
Tududududu!
Numerous Heavenly Immortals who survived the Vast Cold Great War start fleeing madly from the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, and those who remain stare at the light pink weapons that begin to resonate with that light pink pillar in the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
They startle in fright as they look at the things the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord summoned under the name of 'Heavenly King Heavenly Treasures'.
The Rain Dew Heavenly Lord lets out a shout as if in a fit.
:: Vast Cold, Vast Cold's Immortal Art...how can Vast Cold's Immortal Art activate again!!?? It cannot be activated even if an Ender with the same fate as Vast Cold presides over it, unlike the Immortal Art of Cause and Connection. Just who, and how did they discover that secret...!? ::
As they speak, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord glares at the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, who is fighting Seo Eun-
hyun.
:: Sword Spear...I see. Sword Spear...!!! You sold the secret of Radiance Hall to the Mountain Divine Spirit!!! ::
Originally, even an executor like the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord does not have the authority to interrogate another Heavenly Lord without complete evidence.
In the current wartime situation where command authority has passed to the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, even more so!
However, as a survivor of the Vast Cold Great War, Rain Dew's reason becomes paralyzed by the terrible authority the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord showed back then, and they shout out.
:: Great Forest!!! Arrest Sword Spear!!! Sword Spear is a traitor!! Sword Spear sold the hidden secret of the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord to the Mountain Divine Spirit!! ::
Jjeooooooong!
The light pink road stretching from the end of Mount Sumeru to the Vast Cold Realm looks as if it supports the inside of Mount Sumeru like a pillar.
While Vast Cold's mantra supports the summit of Mount Sumeru, it spreads horizontally across the upper part of Mount Sumeru, the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, like an upper beam [E].
It even looks like a light pink cross (+).
It appears as if a light pink cross has burst out from the Vast Cold Realm and is supporting the entirety of Mount
Sumeru.
After Vast Cold's death, the Radiance Eight Immortals, in order to annihilate the Immortal Art of Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual, bound the Immortal Art of White Jade Pavilion, the symbol of 'progress', to the mountain that symbolizes 'looking back'.
That mountain bounded the activation of the White Jade Pavilion, and the Radiance Eight Immortals seated the believer of Radiance Hall in that White Jade Pavilion as Sacred Master and defiled the White Jade Pavilion with the name of Radiance Hall.
Afterwards, in the name of Radiance Hall, they changed the [name] of the Vast Cold Realm to one that contains light (), and even turned a blind eye to the secret plan of Blood Yin to seize Vast Cold's flesh.
For if Blood Yin reinstated himself in the Underworld by occupying Vast Cold's body, the Immortal Art of White Jade Pavilion, once defiled by light, would have become defiled by Blood Yin a second time and turned completely to dust.
Even if Blood Yin did not bother to occupy Vast Cold's body, it did not matter.
If the mountain gods rampaged and grew stronger, the power of the Heavenly Lotus Mountain would have also grown stronger, and the power of repentant enlightenment would have completely crushed the power of 'progress' and annihilated the Immortal Art called White Jade Pavilion.
Even if the mountain gods did not rampage, even if the White Jade Pavilion remained simply bound to the Heavenly Lotus Mountain, it did not matter.
Since Vast Cold is dead, the Immortal Art of White Jade Pavilion was bound to be annihilated someday.
They also did not worry about the possibility of the Heavenly Lotus Mountain collapsing and White Jade Pavilion being freed.
The Heavenly Lotus Mountain itself is structured so that it can 'never' collapse unless it is by one Seat among the Radiance Eight Immortals.
Flash!
However, piercing through the possibility of all impossibilities...
The Immortal Art of Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual has activated and illuminates the far end of Mount Sumeru, 'beyond' the Head Realm.
:: Sword Spear!! ::
The Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, their reason paralyzed, cries out to the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.
The essence of the Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual is the beyond of the Head Realm.
An Immortal Art that illuminates the 'outside' of Mount Sumeru.
In other words, it is an Immortal Art meant to prove the existence called the 'Owner of the Absolute,' which Radiance Hall most hates and feels uneasy about.
No matter how much Radiance Hall oppresses and annihilates Immortal Cultivators, if there exists an existence that seized fate, history, and the like above all of them, then all their actions are meaningless, hence Radiance Hall repeatedly denied that the Absolute has an owner and continued proving that such a being does not exist.
For the Radiance Eight Immortals, the world is nothing but Mount Sumeru and the Outer Sea, and in their worldview, the Absolute has no owner.
But during the Vast Cold Great War, the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord proved it to the Radiance Eight Immortals.
That even if the Owner of the Absolute is unknown to exist, the [outside] of Mount Sumeru and the Outer Sea
exists.
If an 'outside' exists for Mount Sumeru, then there is clearly the possibility that there also exists a 'different existence' outside Mount Sumeru, and there is also the possibility that said existence is the Owner of the Absolute. The Rain Dew Heavenly Lord recalls the days when they desperately tried to erase the Immortal Art of White Jade Pavilion in order to forget and block that possibility.
:: You!!! You spilled the truth to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord!! What did you do with the half of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's Nascent Soul!? That [wisdom] carries a danger of Eul-grade to Radiance Hall, so if you disclosed it to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord there is no way they would not know. Yes, Sword Spear! After you held half of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's Nascent Soul in your embrace, you gave away that story in your bosom!! Even if the Sword Mountain Devil Lord cannot themselves, if you place half of their Nascent Soul in your bosom, you could have blocked the ripples from the disclosure of that wisdom!! ::
They sob.
Rain Dew, though they may have suspected Sword Spear, also believed in her.
:: You, you truly betrayed Radiance Hall!! Sword Spear!! ::
And the Great Forest Heavenly Lord, looking a bit pityingly at the frenzied Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, speaks.
:: Rain Dew...every word you speak...has not a single piece of evidence. Though I dislike saying this, Rain Dew, your assertions rely entirely on your imagination. To suspect a comrade, swayed by emotion without clear evidence...is that not against the teachings of the Radiance Eight Immortals. : :
The Great Forest Heavenly Lord cannot understand the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord.
Indeed, they also know the danger of the Immortal Art Vast Cold left behind.
From the beginning, even if there was the advice of Rain Dew, seating a Sacred Master named Baek Woon in the
White Jade Pavilion and inserting light into the name of the Vast Cold Realm were all done under the leadership of the Great Forest Heavenly Lord.
They are also aware how dangerous the concept of the 'outside' is to those who think Mount Sumeru and the
Outer Sea are everything.
However...
They cannot understand.
:: Calm yourself, Rain Dew. After we put light into the name of the Vast Cold Realm and seated the devotee named Baek Woon as sacred master and placed them into the White Jade Pavilion, the Immortal Art of White Jade Pavilion has been steadily defiled. Behold, Rain Dew. That Immortal Art does touch the summit of Mount Sumeru...but it is not revealing that Mount Sumeru has an 'outside', is it? ::
Clicking their tongue, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord looks at the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, who is swept up in irrational madness.
:: You are irrational right now, Rain Dew. The one who must be arrested now appears not to be Sword Spear, but
you. ::
:: Great Forest!! Believe my words. ::
Looking at the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, who looks consumed by madness, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord judges
coldly.
'At present...the Immortal Art of White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual is not activating. It must be because it is too contaminated by light...and yet Rain Dew, consumed by excessive worry and suspicion toward Sword Spear, is irrationally denouncing Sword Spear without clear evidence. This is undeniably...proof that Rain Dew has lost qualification...'
:: Rain Dew. In the name of I, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord, representative of the Radiance Eight Immortals...l hereby discard you, who have lost your qualification. ::
Looking at the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, who is self-destructing under excessive suspicion and worry, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord invokes the authority of the representative of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual.
That Immortal Art, which observes the 'outside' of Mount Sumeru, was originally developed by the Vast Cold
Heavenly Lord and created to awaken the True Immortals of Mount Sumeru.
However, after Vast Cold's death, that Immortal Art was thoroughly forgotten by the actions of Radiance Hall.
That this Immortal Art now reveals itself is also because, just as Rain Dew Heavenly Lord suspects, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord secretly sold the secret of Radiance Hall to Seo Eun-hyun.
However, even though Seo Eun-hyun clothed Wol Ryeong with Sword Spear's power and liberated the Immortal Art of Beam-Raising Ritual, the Immortal Art of Beam-Raising Ritual is indeed far too contaminated. Even though the principle of the 'Vast Cold Heavenly Circle,' which means the 'beyond' after reaching Acceptance
at Fate's End that symbolises the end of Mount Sumeru, activated the Immortal Art, it is still not properly
illuminating the outside.
The vast majority of the living beings of Mount Sumeru do not perceive that outside.
However...
A few are different.
:: Aah, aaaaaaaah... : :
The Martial Melody Heavenly Lord sheds tears of blood.
And all of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords, who lived as siblings with the Martial Melody Heavenly Lord
and share spirit and authority, share the sensations sent by the Martial Melody Heavenly Lord and shed bloody
tears
together.
The Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual, weathered by light, does nothing.
Therefore, Seo Eun-hyun had to create a 'medium' to let them sense the outside of Mount Sumeru through the
Immortal Art of Beam-Raising Ritual.
If there exists a clear 'medium' that resonates with the existence outside, then all beings of Mount Sumeru could however faintly, the 'outside'.
sense,
That medium is precisely the True Martial Arts of the Future King.
By resonating the Future King, who exists beyond the summit of Mount Sumeru, with the True Martial Arts of the
Future King, though it is only a few, all who can feel the [True Martial Arts] can sense, however faintly, the
presence of 'some existence' outside Mount Sumeru.
Yes.
'Those who can feel the True Martial Arts.'
In other words, all beings who learned the power of Heart Dao Blooming that Seo Eun-hyun scattered...
Among those who did not learn it, those who learned Triple Divinity...
All beings whose chests bloom with paper flowers come to know, however faintly, that there exists [some
existence] outside Mount Sumeru.
White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus stares at the summit of Mount Sumeru in terror, and the majority of the Underworld Ten Kings pant for breath.
Even as the Martial Melody Heavenly Lord sheds tears of blood, they accept that the God they serve and their homeland, the Source River, are the Absolute One's leftovers.
The higher one's realm is, the more one cannot help but feel the presence of the Future King.
Beings around the fifth stage of Manifestation such as Ham Rak and Jun Eom only feel a distant sense of terror,
and Heart Tribe members below merely realize unconsciously that there exists a 'being who has reached a
frightening realm'.
The more one has bloomed a flower in their chest, the purer the energy of that flower is...
The more vividly it is felt.
:: Sword!!! Spear!!! ::
The Rain Dew Heavenly Lord sobs.
The Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, sensing the paper flower that blooms in their chest...
Denies and raves at this reality that proves true the truth the Radiance Eight Immortals have been denying.
-In the name of Vast Cold, I declare: the executor Rain Dew shall doubt their comrades, but also trust them with a heart as vast as the sky...
The poison that the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord implanted in the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord long ago.
That poison slowly took root in the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's chest, and in the generation of Seo Eun-hyun's
party, was given the environment to sprout by the system called 'Heart Dao Blooming'...
Doubting the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord yet having the evidence of doubt erased by the power of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld's [Wheel], and seeing the trustworthy conduct the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord kept
showing, finally caused a paper flower to bloom.
The Rain Dew Heavenly Lord knows that they must be discarded.
The flower of faith that blooms in their chest is proof that they stepped outside the system of the Radiance Eight
Immortals.
But at the same time, they cannot simply be discarded.
For the flower blooming in their chest tells them that the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord is a traitor just like
themselves.
For the Radiance Supreme Deity, for the justice they believe in...
They cannot be discarded alone.
They must expose the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's betrayal and then die.
Thus Rain Dew, at times to an irrational degree, could only obsess over expelling the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord
and pressing them despite lacking decisive evidence.
The driving force behind the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's ceaseless suspicion of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord is,
in the end, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's own betrayal.
:: All of you, look at Sword Spear...look at Sword Spear!! It is Sword Spear, it is Sword Spear who is the traitor of
the Great Radiance Hall, of the Radiance Eight Immortals!!! Sword Spear!! Sword Spear!!! :
The battlefield of the Enders and the Radiance Eight Immortals falls into a lull due to the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's
seizure.
There, the Radiance Eight Immortals all approach the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord with hardened expressions.
In order to discard the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord who has gone mad, without even needing to present evidence.
:: In the name of the Great Forest Heavenly Lord, the First Seat of the Radiance Eight Immortals, I bring forth the emergency agenda of discarding executor Rain Dew Heavenly Lord. All shall state approval or disapproval for the current discarding of the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord. ::
Woo-wooong-
Within the battlefield that falls into a lull, the voice transmissions of the Eight Immortals flow into the Great Forest Heavenly Lord.
The executor Rain Dew can investigate a suspected Eight Immortal and execute immediately, but for the other Eight
Immortals who do not have the executor's authority to execute Rain Dew, they must gather opinions by majority
vote.
Looking at the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord with regretful eyes, the Great Forest Heavenly Lord reveals the gathered
approval and disapproval votes for them.
:: Of the Radiance Ten Heavens, a total of 2 invalid votes. By the unanimous agreement of all other members of the
Radiance
Supreme Deity...it has been decided to discard the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord who has gone mad. We shall
execute you, Rain Dew. ::
Many of the Eight Immortals, feeling at least a little pity, extend their hands toward Rain Dew.
Only the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord rejoices quietly inside at the fact that there is no longer anyone who suspects
Sword
Spear.
'It was long...but it is over. Yang Ji-hwang...your unjust false accusation...shall surely be cleared.'
Thinking that they can at last finish the Sword Spear surveillance duty they have borne, the Pearl Jade Heavenly
Lord smiles from behind their mask.
Chuaaaaat!
Wol Ryeong can only feel taken aback as she watches the pale pink pillar stretch endlessly beyond the Heavenly
Domain after uniting with the Vast Cold Realm.
'Why...is everyone just shedding tears and staying still...?'
Not a single one of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords, even though it is certain they hold a grudge against
the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, moves.
They only sob in place.
'...I cannot receive their help.'
Wol Ryeong quickly analyzes the situation.
'I must, with my strength alone, cut it down.'
Can she do it?
Can a small Human Race Sacred Master like her cut this endlessly unfolding gigantic light?
It is a question.
But Wol Ryeong puts the question away.
Recalling the sacrifices that the Star Shattering Esteemed Ones showed, recalling Jin Wol-ryeong's charge toward
the Martial Arts she showed, Wol Ryeong begins to wring out every bit of a life's worth of concentration.
No, it is rather a resolve to die.
Wol Ryeong, firming her do-or-die resolve, concentrates essence-energy-spirit into the radiance halberd.
'I must cut it down.'
Even if she must stake all of herself!
Her radiance halberd, which is white, begins to be dyed silver-white.
No, it is rather a resolve to die.
Wol Ryeong, firming her do-or-die resolve, concentrates essence-energy-spirit into the radiance halberd.
'I must cut it down.'
Even if she must stake all of herself!
Her radiance halberd, which is white, begins to be dyed silver-white.
Wol Ryeong's hair begins to turn silver.
Woo-woooong-
Wol Ryeong's fate begins to veil her face with silver-white energy.
Among the substances drifting in the universe, iron particles concentrate on Wol Ryeong's face, and a silver mask
similar to those of Baek Geom and Eun Geom covers her face.
Feeling her fate enveloping her, Wol Ryeong feels herself becoming complete iron.
'Yes, to save the world...and to block the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's evil plan...I am fine offering both this heart
and body...'
Wol Ryeong thinks of Seo Gyeong.
'Only you...'
She recalls Seo Gyeong's soft shoulders, Seo Gyeong's clear heart and gentle chest.
'If only you can remain in my dream...'
Clench-
Just then Wol Ryeong suddenly feels someone large wrap their hand with hers.
"Huh...?"
"Hmph, seeing you again, it looks like you plan to die gloriously while indulging in lewd thoughts."
"M-Master...?"
It is Eun Geom.
True Person Eun Geom, who always treated her coldly like Baek Geom, stands behind Wol Ryeong, holding her
hand together and gripping the halberd.
"Is your heart turning to iron?" "H-How did you...? No, why is Master..."
"Hmph, it is natural for a master to step out to save their disciple. You think me a good-for-nothing, you brat. Of course...playing the master of the next the Eight Immortals does require behaving like a degenerate during ones mortal days...but the one who annoyed me is gone, so I can grant you this much favor. Consider it luck."
"...?"
Wol Ryeong wears a puzzled expression, unable to understand what Eun Geom means. "Simply having your heart turn to iron is not your end. Even if the heart and the body turn to iron...what is
contained within does not simply disappear."
"Huh...?"
At the words of Sword Spear whispering behind her, Wol Ryeong widens her eyes.
Sword Spear corrects Wol Ryeong's stance. She teaches the method of circulating energy.
And, body to body, she passes on a warm heart.
"Even if a sword melts in fire and loses its form, it is born in a new form. Martial Arts, the heart, even oneself are
the same. They only lose form; they do not vanish. Remember. Even if there is something called impermanence
that changes unendingly...the essence of that impermanence never changes."
She sees a paper flower.
Together with her master, clutching the silver-white radiance halberd, Wol Ryeong begins to thrust.
A thrust to transcend all realities before her, to reach the utterly unreachable paper flower that lies
beyond...unfolds from Wol Ryeong's hand.
'I am...reaching it...!'
Feeling herself step into the domain of that paper flower she has only ever held before her eyes all her life yet
never reached, Wol Ryeong unfolds the greatest thrust from within Eun Geom's embrace.
Somehow, Seo Gyeong also seems to be close by.
Flash!
Light explodes.
Within the subsiding light, Wol Ryeong can see something.
It is a [hand].
"...Huh?"
Someone's hand is blocking Wol Ryeong's radiance halberd.
"What are you doing...?"
She asks as she looks at the one who blocks them.
The name of the one who blocks their thrust with one hand is Pal Jin.
"Pal Jin...?"
And Pal Jin, with a gloomy face, casts his gaze beyond Wol Ryeong to Eun Geom.
Pal Jin opens his mouth.
It is the exact same question as Wol Ryeong's.
"Right now...what are you...what are you doing...?"
Eun Geom, who until just now seemed about to become Wol Ryeong's absolute support, for some reason is rigidly
frozen.
"I asked...what are you doing right now, Sword Spear."
"I'm asking you. Right now...why are you pushing the next Sword Spear...into the domain of the Sword Mountain
Devil Lord...and why are you strengthening Vast Cold's Immortal Art with the power of the next Sword Spear, Yang
Ji-hwang!!?? ::
The Sixth Seat of the Radiance Eight Immortals, the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord Pal Hwang, who until now hung on
Pal Jin's neck in the form of a dharma treasure and accompanied him while taking on the duty of surveilling the
Sword Spear Heavenly Lord...
Witnessing the scene of their faith being betrayed head-on, they call to the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord in a voice
full of pain.
And, within the preordained catastrophe, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's answer is not what the Pearl Jade
Heavenly Lord desires.
:: My name...is not Yang Ji-hwang. ::
-x-X-x-
Wol Ryeong.
The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord who occupies Pal Jin's body.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.
And everyone present holds some degree of confusion.
'What on earth...are they saying? Pal Jin, and...Master...?'
Wol Ryeong looks at the 'boundary' that differs by only a hair's breadth.
The 'boundary of the paper flower' she can enter if she takes just one more step forward.
The domain the Heart Tribe calls Heart Dao Blooming.
If she takes just one more step...no, if she merely leans her body a little more, she can enter this very close domain of paper flowers.
From the day she first came to know the existence of the Heart Tribe...
Wol Ryeong has wanted to reach the domain called paper flowers.
That domain of paper flowers...cannot possibly be unrelated to Wol Ryeong's fate.
Hearing the words Pal Jin spoke just moments ago, Wol Ryeong trembles.
'The paper flower domain...is the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's...domain...?'
It cannot be.
That beautiful realm of Martial Arts she dreamed of all her life is the domain of the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit who clung around her all her life?
No, even setting that aside...
'Master...tried to push me...into that place...?'
Her master.
Her guide whom she gained after Esteemed One Baek Geom...
Tried to push her into the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's domain.
And True Person Eun Geom's reaction, stiffening and stepping away from Wol Ryeong, is...
'Please say it is not so, Master!'
Proving those words are true.
'Please, tell me... that you are not the minion of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord who killed my former master, Esteemed One Baek Geom...!'
And True Person Eun Geom stretches out her hand.
"Master...?"
With a handful of hope, Wol Ryeong wants Eun Geom to deny Pal Jin's words, who seems to be in an abnormal state for some reason.
"Authority, wartime commander Sword Spear Heavenly Lord. I demand full descent of the over sixty thousand accumulated God-Killing Spears."
Tsuaaaaatt!
And Wol Ryeong's hope shatters to pieces.
For Eun Geom's touch before her eyes strengthens the Immortal Art of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord to the utmost while beginning to summon something.
"Mas...ter..."
Gritting her teeth, Wol Ryeong trembles all over.
Her arm holding the radiance halberd turns toward Een Geom.
"You... You all...killed my master..."
Recalling the day Esteemed One Baek Geom was ruthlessly killed by the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's hair clone, Wol Ryeong takes the stance to unleash the thrust at Eum Geom that was taught by Eun Geom herself.
"All of you! The wicked Mountain Spirit...! Killed my..."
"Ryeong-ah."
And at Eun Geom's voice that follows, Wol Ryeong freezes on the spot.
Why is it?
The voice coming from her mouth now is exactly the same as the voice of the being she remembers.
"I am sorry."
Clank...
True Person Eun Geom begins to remove the iron mask she has never once taken off until now.
The face hidden behind Eun Geom's mask reveals itself.
:: What are you saying...Sword Spear? No, more than that...what are you doing to the next Sword Spear right now...!? ::
With the decision to discard Rain Dew Heavenly Lord made, and with Sword Spear's betrayal right before their eyes, the war clouds of the Second Bright Sword Great War completely die down.
No, perhaps the flames and anger of that warfare are condensing even further.
:: Your name is what the Radiance Supreme Deity bestowed upon you. Although since the day you came to be called Sword Spear, that name lost its meaning...that is the [name] that raised you up to Sword Spear! What on earth are you saying!? Answer me! Sword Spear! ::
The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord's painful outcry reverberates through the entire Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
And, seeing such a pained reaction from the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord...the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord slowly...
...yet surely...treads the void and begins to approach Seo Eun-hyun.
:: I will say it again... My name...is not Yang Ji-hwang. ::
Thus, having at last turned her back on her comrades and come to Seo Eun-hyun's side, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord grips Seo Eun-hyun's wrist hard.
:: My name is Ji Hwa (). ::
Ji Hwa, after removing the mask covering her face, forcibly pulls Seo Eun-hyun's wrist and sets it on her own shoulder, then declares toward the remaining Radiance Eight Immortals.
:: The one who decided...to become the sword of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord Seo Eun-hyun.::
At that declaration, the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, who thinks they have been robbed of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord whom they believed without doubt to be their lifelong friend, begins to howl madly.
:: Let go of that hand...of that dirty, filthy hand!!! ::
From behind the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord's back, a gigantic image of pearl jade that evokes the sun rises up. The light of that pearl jade emits a flash that divides Heaven and Earth and flies toward Seo Eun-hyun, and in that instant, red lightning cuts across between them.
Kwarurung!
It is Jeon Myeong-hoon.
:: Give it up. She now...belongs to Seo Eun-hyun. ::
Kwarururung!
Jeon Myeong-hoon raises a single banner.
:: Just as the Heavenly Lightning Banner in the end fell into my hand, was humiliated, and became loyal to me...just
as it became mine in the end...she too shall become the Sword Mountain Devil Lord's and become loyal only for his sake. ::
:: NO!!! ::
:: Face reality. She belongs to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord. ::
:: Do not speak of Sword Spear...like an object!!! ::
Kwarururung!
Jeon Myeong-hoon laughs as he looks at the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, who has gone mad with rage.
:: It seems your poison has worked quite well. Seo Eun-hyun, Kim Yeon. : :
::... Yes. ::
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, without releasing her fierce grip on Seo Eun-hyun's wrist, who tries to pull his arm away because of the numbness, looks at her 'former' comrades with a bitter gaze.
:: You all...succeeded in learning the heart. In one form or another... : :
Though Vast Cold died, his spiritual successor Seo Eun-hyun germinated the foundation for Vast Cold's curse to sprout the bud of the heart through Heart Dao Blooming.
Although all of the previous generation upon whom the curse was placed perished, the Underworld steadily projected the power of history repetition onto Radiance Hall and has been transplanting the sprouts.
And...Kim Yeon, Vast Cold's authority successor, at last watered those sprouts.
Lastly, with the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord Ji Hwa opening her heart to Seo Eun-hyun for the first time as the trigger, the other Heavenly Lords likewise began to let their hearts grow, like bamboo shoots after the rain.
It is not only the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord.
Great Forest, Flower Plant, Great Sun, Torch Candle, Great Sea, Rain Dew. All of them, knowingly or not, have become poisoned by the venom that Seo Eun-hyun and Kim Yeon deliberately sowed.
Deeeng-
Kuuuuuuung!!
And at last, from the Source River, a sound like a brahma bell resounds through Heaven and Earth.
Flash!
The sky shines bright.
As if the black cosmos brightens, a phenomenon begins in which the entire universe seems to fill with the light pink afterglow of sunset.
The arbiter between Heavenly Domains, the Great Sun Heavenly Lord, and the administrator of the Inner Sea of Mount Sumeru, the Great Sea Heavenly Lord, flare their eyes red and roar with rage.
:: Northern Dipper! ::
:: Have you betrayed us too!? ::
Beyond that Source River. Yeong Seung and, with tears of blood and looks of agony, the North Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords who control the Source River by Yeong Seung's order come into the sight of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
Those who descended to the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, by the Immortal Art Vast Cold left behind...came to recognize at last that they are wrong, agreed with Yeong Seung's view, and are throwing themselves in to help the entire Source River be eroded by something else.
And the name of that something else eroding the Source River is the Artificial Gandhara.
Deeeng-
It is the work of Kim Yeon, the holder of the Liberation Law Talent that was created by the Heavenly Craftsman yet surpasses the Heavenly Craftsman.
Kugugugugugu!
Kim Yeon's whole body seems to blaze with light pink flames, and she steps forward.
Unlike when both Kim Yeon and Oh Hye-seo engaged the single Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, she, receiving the power of the Artificial Gandhara, now looks different.
And at a certain moment,
Hwarurururuk!
Kim Yeon's body, blazing with light pink, rosy flames, begins to grow gigantic.
:: Th-This is...! ::
:: Nonsense... You are saying she...inherited Vast Cold's Seat? You say she reached that Origin Essence!? It cannot
be!::
But whether the Radiance Eight Immortals are aghast or not, Kim Yeon unifies the authority that originates from her own Seat and from her own fate.
Her innate authority.
She could only come to know of it after she directly met the lingering thoughts of Vast Cold.
'So this is my authority.'
Until now, except for the Liberation Law Talent, Kim Yeon has never once ever wielded anything that could be called her own 'authority'.
It is not because Kim Yeon lacks talent as an Ender.
It is because Kim Yeon's authority itself is an authority which cannot be wielded until she completely seizes it.
It is a contradiction.
One must wield an authority and grow accustomed to it to master it, yet this is an authority that she can only wield after mastering it.
But only now, that she completely controls her authority, can she fully accept its meaning.
-My successor. Your authority is...weaker than anyone's, yet is an authority stronger than mine.
The lingering thought of the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord she met in the Peach Blossom Garden marveled at Kim Yeon's authority and spoke such.
-That authority being expressed as a consciousness domain at the Plane of Qi...must be because that authority can be explained only as a broad heart that recognizes others. Remember. Your authority is...solely for others.
'I want you all...to know it too.'
Praying for the Radiance Eight Immortals, Kim Yeon keeps growing vast, goes beyond the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, and assimilates with the whole of Mount Sumeru.
She loses her form and becomes a single 'will' that drifts across all of Mount Sumeru.
-Yes...that is a power that guides people to heaven.
Authority.
Paradise Guidance (樂圖引導).
What is called heaven, what is called paradise, is not in some far place.
If one believes a place to be paradise, then that place is heaven, is paradise.
Just as Kim Yeon felt she was saved by Seo Eun-hyun and felt his side to be paradise, arriving at the place one
desires, at the side of the person one desires, at the time one desires-that is paradise.
Her authority does not apply to herself, but exists solely to realize others' ideals.
Those who are by her side someday all arrive at the ideal land they 'truly' desire.
Just as the Mad Lord obtained salvation.
Just as Bong Myeong, the source of her Liberation Law Talent, regained his name...
Under the Artificial Gandhara, feeling that the predecessor Radiance Eight Immortals obtained a seed of the heart
due to Vast Cold's curse, and that the current Radiance Eight Immortals are making it sprout, Kim Yeon prays with all her strength.
'Please, may the peace of heart come to them as well...'
Deeeng-
At last, the sound of the brahma bell rings thrice.
And...at last, not only Pearl Jade but the other Radiance Eight Immortals too begin clutching their chests.
The most primal function of the heart is affection.
That power of love settles fully in the Eight Immortals.
That affection will manifest from each of the Eight Immortals in its own form.
For someone as joy, for someone as anger, for someone as sorrow, for someone as pleasure, for someone as the
same love, for someone as hatred, for someone as desire.
They will become confused, but one thing is clear.
Now that they have come to have a heart...
Compared to up to now when they were used as tools, they will draw much nearer to salvation.
And the moment she plants a heart in the Radiance Eight Immortals, Kim Yeon's consciousness becomes light.
The light pink afterglow of sunset spreads over all of Heaven and Earth.
All Heavenly Domains are dyed by her.
Tsuaaaaaaaat!
Kim Yeon feels the lingering thought of a being from the distant past look at her and smile.
-My successor. Please...you must succeed. I pray for you. Please...obtain freedom.
Deeeeng-
Once more, the great sound of a brahma bell resounds.
It is not a sound from the Artificial Gandhara.
At the base of Mount Sumeru.
The Black Sky.
One among the Heavenly Seats begins to be engraved.
Kim Yeon germinated and brought to sprout the seed left by the predecessor, Vast Cold.
And Kim Yeon, having reached the peak of the Immortal Dao of Acceptance at Fate's End, finds the path she must
take.
'I see.'
She feels, however faintly, how Vast Cold was defeated.
And she feels she knows what Vast Cold desires.
For the sake of granting at least Vast Cold's prayer, Kim Yeon suppresses her own potential.
Until now, she received everything from Vast Cold.
From the position of one who always only received, she suppresses herself to repay Vast Cold's grace.
Her name as a Governing Immortal, which should originally be engraved upon the Heavenly Seat, becomes distorted by that self-suppression.
Originally it should rightly be a name bearing her own symbol, but Kim Yeon forcibly maintains the predecessor's name and puts it upon herself.
Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King (1) Kim Yeon.
'This...is the possibility that can save the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord as well.'
In the state where she has become consciousness itself that blankets Mount Sumeru, Kim Yeon senses beyond the
summit of Mount Sumeru and thinks.
Now that she bears the name of Heavenly King, she sees clearly.
Above the summit of Mount Sumeru.
The being in the Audience Chamber...
And the things that being hides...
'I will fulfill...your deepest wish.'
Thus, having become a Heavenly King by preaching heart to the heartless, Kim Yeon falls into sleep to digest the
memories from other timelines that she obtained upon becoming a Heavenly King.
And those who remain begin to be at a complete loss over the 'blessing' she has given.
Great Forest glares at Sword Spear.
Flower Plant glares at Sword Spear.
Great Sun glares at Sword Spear.
Torch Candle glares at Seo Eun-hyun.
Great Sea glares at the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord.
Rain Dew looks at everyone.
:: What...what is this...what is this pain...!? ::
:: What have you done to us!? You accursed breed...why is it so...::
:: I hate you...Sword Spear. If you had not betrayed us...if you had not sold us to that accursed breed...we would
not even have to suffer such pain...::
:: Sword Mountain Devil Lord...it is you! It is you!!! It is you!!! You are that wanderer in the dream!!! ::
Great Forest, Flower Plant, Great Sun, and Torch Candle howl like mad.
Oh Hye-seo sneers.
"Yeah...cry. You cannot escape from it anyway. You cannot even avert your eyes away. Even I, who was born with
it only faintly by nature...could not get out of it..."
:: Rain Dew...get a hold of yourself, Rain Dew...! I am sorry, we doubted you. I am sorry...! ::
:: Ah, no...do not apologize, do not worry. Do not hate. Do not panic. Do not be angry...aaaah, aaaaaah... ::
Rain Dew, whose life was saved when the falsity of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord was revealed at the moment
they were about to be executed, sobs even more bitterly than when their execution was finalized.
:: So it is in my generation that Radiance Hall perishes!! Aaaaaaah!! O Mountain Divine Spirits! ::
Seeing Great Sea and Rain Dew with panic mixed with rage, Oh Hyun-seok bitterly gives them advice. "Just be honest instead. Doing so is rather the path to be freed from that pain."
:: Shut up!! I do not listen to the likes of you. I hate you! I hate you filthy Ender accursed breed bastards! Among
you I hate you the most, Sword Mountain Devil Lord!! You...you took my Yang Ji-hwang...you took my Gyeong-i
away!! ::
The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord screams like the mad.
::I...I was with Gyeong-i first! From our mortal being days! Until we became Sword Spear and Pearl Jade, until we
took charge of Yang and Yin of Radiance Hall's martial force, we were always together! You who appeared later, you dare...dare...! You dare defile my friend!! ::
Watching Pearl Jade, who loses their mind with rage and goes mad, Jeon Myeong-hoon shakes the Heavenly Lightning Banner and smiles bitterly.
Kwarurung-
"Vent. Other than venting all that rage and releasing your anger...there is no path to salvation."
:: Yooouuuuu!!! : :
Driven mad by the Mountain Divine Spirit's stratagem, the Eight Immortals stagger to their feet and begin to draw
on the power of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
However, immediately after,
Chwararararak!
From the direction of the Vast Cold Realm of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain, summoned rays of light pierce
the sky and appear.
They are sixty thousand-some God-Killing Spears.
Using the Immortal Art of the Vast Cold Hall White Jade Pavilion Beam-Raising Ritual embedded in the Head Realm,
the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord smuggled off all the God-Killing Spears accumulated in the Head Realm.
Kwaching-
And the authorities of those God-Killing Spears so painstakingly smuggled...
Are crushed and turned into powder by Sword Spear's single hand.
Without even a gap to reclaim control over the God-Killing Spears, the Eight Immortals see their efforts of past
days shatter and turn to powder, and once more fly into a rage.
Tsuaaaaaaat-
Because the 'power' of some sixty thousand God-Killing Spears, powdered and returned to the essence of light,
begins to be absorbed into Seo Eun-hyun.
:: Sword Spear...Sword Spear!!! Sword Spear!!! You cannot be forgiven!!! ::
Kugugugugugugu!
In the end, driven completely mad by Sword Spear's provocation, the Eight Immortals rampage and begin to
commit taboos.
The Heavenly King Heavenly Treasures summoned by Sword Spear are absorbed 'into' the bodies of the Eight Immortals and begin to infuse them with bizarre authorities and powers, strengthening them.
Wol Ryeong cannot grasp what is happening right now.
After True Person Eun Geom pulled out sixty thousand some terrifying things called God-Killing Spears from the
Vast Cold Realm, she transported them to another Heavenly Domain.
Immediately after, the suddenly crazed Pal Jin attacked Eun Geom.
Eun Geom and Pal Jin thus perished together.
Wol Ryeong stares blankly at the corpses of her dead master and her dead senior brother, not knowing what to do,
and can only stare vacantly into the void.
And then, when Eun Geom's corpse transforms into a nebula and Seo Gyeong's body emerges from inside it, Wol
Ryeong now cannot understand anything at all. "...Rather, if everything...is all a dream...that would be good. A terrible nightmare. Please..."
Wol Ryeong clutches her head and, with trembling hands, strokes the shell of Seo Gyeong from which no 'soul' is
felt inside.
"Please...someone tell me this is a play. Please..."
Wol Ryeong, in a confused state...
Recalls Eun Geom's bare face.
The face she saw for the first time that day resembled the face of Baek Geom far too much.
Though she has never seen Baek Geom's face, Wol Ryeong can tell instinctively.
Eun Geom and Baek Geom have been one and the same from the very beginning.
"Aaah... Aaaaaagh..."
What is truth, and what is falsehood.
Wol Ryeong, unable to know anything, buries her face in Seo Gyeong's body that has become a shell with the split
soul gone out.
It is then,
Woo-ooong-
Something familiar shimmers behind her.
It is the apparition of Sword Mountain.
::...want it? ::
And at last Wol Ryeong explodes at that one sentence.
"I do not want it... Even if you give that filthy power of yours for a hundred days I absolutely do not, want it!! Just disappear!! Please disappear!! Please, please leave me alone!!! Please!!! You! I hate you!!! You took away everything of mine, you kept toying with my life using your subordinates, and now you even took Seo Gyeong's soul, didn't you!? I hate it! I hate it now!! Please get lost! Please, please just leave me alone!!!"
Wol Ryeong turns around and pours all her pain into a scream toward that apparition of Sword Mountain.
"Please, disappear!!"
And the apparition of Sword Mountain speaks.
:: If you do not want power...then how about this? ::
The apparition of Sword Mountain begins to change.
Wol Ryeong suddenly realizes something.
"You are..."
:: Do you want...the truth? ::
It is a colossal and tyrannical black mountain that seems to crush the entire universe.
That mountain is piled up with countless corpses, and the corpses accumulated up in that place weep tears of
blood with faces stained with pain and resentment.
Those tears of blood gather and gather and fall as red waterfalls in places all over the black mountain.
Wol Ryeong realizes that the being that truly reveals its essence before her eyes...
...is the one who all this time pretended to be the Sword Mountain Devil Lord while asking whether to lend her
power.
"...The...truth...?"
Wol Ryeong, even though she is relieved that the being before her eyes is not the Sword Mountain Devil Lord,
shakes her head.
"I hate it...I know who you are. You are the God of Great Mountain, aren't you...? You are an evil god too. There is
no guarantee you will not toy with me as well. You too...will tease and toy with me!!"
::... Why would I further toy with a pitiful plaything...whose entire life is already toyed with and ruined by that
fellow? O defective Sword Spear who does not even know you are broken. Whether being told the truth will be
greater pain for you...decide. Will you accept pain and truth, or...will you keep spacing out here knowing nothing at
all? ::
Pain and truth.
Wol Ryeong feels as if she is being bewitched by those words.
It is as if those words are drawing her in.
:: This is the last time. With today as the last, I will no longer ask you whether you want power. So...answer. Will
you know pain, or will you turn away. ::
And to the question from the being on the summit of that mountain of corpses, Wol Ryeong slowly opens her
mouth.
"...The price...is...?"
:: None. Nothing at all. : :
"Lies...!"
::... ::
Flash!
However, Wol Ryeong cannot help but freeze before the golden radiance standing before her eyes.
:: The former Fifth Seat of the Radiance Nine Heavens Heavenly Lords, swear before the name of the Field Garden
Heavenly Lord. Unless you desire it...I will take no price from you. : :
It is light.
A light so very similar to the light that came from her master.
Before that light so very similar to the light she followed all her life... Wol Ryeong at last completely collapses.
For even if the being before her eyes is false, this light at least seems true.
For at least the warmth and comfort this light gives seem true...
"Tell me...the truth...!"
At those words, beyond the golden light, figures she sees for the first time, other than 'Seo Gyeong' and 'Baek
Geom', are confronting each other.
The Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am carefully adjusts the rank of wisdom so that their far distant junior
does not go mad, and begins to pass on cruel truths to Wol Ryeong.
The transmission of wisdom is instantaneous.
And...
Paaat!
"Ah...aaah..."
Receiving all the wisdom and truth, Wol Ryeong looks up at the sky.
"Aah... Aaaaaaaagh...!!!"
A scream begins to burst out of Wol Ryeong's mouth.
She wants to have that truth confirmed by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, but the Great Mountain Supreme
Deity who approached her has already disappeared.
No, so are the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords.
At some moment, the beings of the True Immortal Realm can no longer be felt.
Survivors among the Entering Nirvana Quasi-Immortals who were used for the subjugation of the hair clone begin
to awaken and panic.
[The connection with the Immortal Realm...is cut...!?]
The connection between the True Immortal Realm and the Saha World is severed.
All demigods at the Star Shattering stage and above feel that abnormal phenomenon, and Wol Ryeong resolves
herself.
This world is all false.
Therefore...
"...I cannot trust even this that Great Mountain has given...I will, with my own hands...verify it directly..."
She sheds tears of blood, rises from her place, and looks to the sky.
Looking up at the True Immortal Realm whose connection is suddenly cut, Wol Ryeong grinds her teeth.
"I will become a True Immortal...and come to you. So...wait. I will surely...surely reach the truth. Surely...!"
Thus, even after confirming all truths, Wol Ryeong denies the last possibility and vows to herself that she will become a True Immortal and verify all the truths herself.
Kugugugugugugu!
Abnormal phenomena appear all across Mount Sumeru.
The Planes of Qi, Soul, and Fate.
And the Plane of True Immortality that transcends all of them.
The True Immortal Realm is cut off from the lower realms.
For mortal beings at the Integration stage and below, it is of no concern that a little bit of celestial energy is severed, but all those at the Star Shattering stage and above who aim for True Immortality fall into despair.
"What is going on!? The True Immortal Realm...the True Immortal Realm...! The True Immortal Realm is severed!"
"How are we supposed to advance to True Immortality!? Aaaaah!" Countless beings of demigod rank and above sob and wail.
However, the True Immortals are just as taken aback.
Kugugugugugugu!
The Radiance Eight Immortals, feeling the sudden disconnection from the Saha World, glare at the ferocious Sword
Mountain Devil Lord who ravenously devours the God-Killing Spear fragments.
:: Sword Mountain Devil Lord. What wicked deed is this...!? ::
Woo-wooooong!
Their eyes fix on the emblem of the [Black Snake Biting Its Tail] that rises proudly behind the Sword Mountain Devil
Lord's back and intensifies the Heart Demon of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
:: I asked, what you are plotting!!? ::
The seven Heavenly Lords, having absorbed the remnants of former Enders to strengthen themselves, vomit rage
at the Enders and likewise summon the emblem of Heuk Sa.
The two symbols of the [Black Snake] begin to face off against each other.
And then...
Seo Eun-hyun, from within the Three Circles of the White Three Great Ultimates, the Wheel of Starlight, and the
[Black Snake Biting Its Tail], raises a hand wrapped around the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity.
Attraction force begins to converge into his hand.
:: The great plan is already complete. ::
:: Yooouuu! ::
The Artificial Gandhara, which until now did nothing but amplify Kim Yeon's power, finally begins to move.
The Artificial Gandhara that eroded the Source River that is the domain of time and the Radiance Mantra that
suppresses space-time resonate.
And only then do the Radiance Eight Immortals suddenly notice [how] the world has become strange.
:: Th-This is... ::
The galaxies belonging to the Saha World, excluding the True Immortal Realm.
All the 'phenomena' of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain begin to [speed up].
I notice the Great Mountain Supreme Deity interfering with the arrangement of Wol Ryeong in the Earth Boundary
Heavenly Domain.
'The sinister light might have been pointing to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. A Sinister Mountain God
indeed...'
But it does not matter.
The arrangement of Wol Ryeong is already complete whether the Great Mountain Supreme Deity interferes or not.
With his power alone he cannot twist it now.
He too must have only realized that after intervening.
I only ended up feeling sorry to Wol Ryeong.
'I am sorry. But I too...have something I must accomplish even if I must use you. When everything is over...I will
reveal the entire truth to you and apologize.'
I turn my gaze back to the flustered Eight Immortals and begin to properly activate the power of the Radiance
Mantra.
The Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords of the Source River, whom I pre-emptively won over through Yeong
Seung and who completely submitted with the proof I showed this time, and everyone else begin to help me.
Kugugugugugugu!
The movement speed of galaxies to galaxies accelerates.
Attraction force gradually strengthens and the world contracts.
The Heavenly King Heavenly Domain draws ever faster toward the End.
The important point here is that I do not use the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
Time...
...speeds up.
And the world becomes the optimal state for Mountain Divine Spirits to exert their greatest power.
All of this...
...is for the decisive battle with my senior brother.
Radiance Mantra.
Authority.
True Immortal Realm Deceleration().
Kiiiiiiiiing!
As I madly accelerate the time of the Saha World, I slightly twist the explanation of the power of the Radiance
Mantra that affects the entirety of Mount Sumeru for the Radiance Eight Immortals.
:: From now on...'time shall accelerate'. : :