"Do not be mistaken."
Breaking the silence within the scream, the Owner of the Heavens opens his mouth.
"You were only supporting roles in the story from the very beginning. Even that was something I arranged with my own hands. Merely chess pieces and ornaments that make the story richer."
He gently strokes the rainbow-hued birdcage beside him and looks into the inside of the cage.
It looks like there is nothing inside, but it also feels like the emotionless him treasures it most.
"You do not need hope. Who would expect possibility from mere supporting characters?"
Jjjeoooong!
At that shocking line, Jeon Myeong-hoon collapses to the ground.
At the same time, it feels like the Absolute dwelling within Jeon Myeong-hoon is being suppressed, and something is being born.
It is a soul.
Jeon Myeong-hoon, by paying audience to the Future King...
Has all the hope he harbored crushed by that presence and authority, and his spirit birthed.
And, without even giving such Jeon Myeong-hoon a glance, Hong Fan begins to curl his finger.
Woo-woooong—
He raises his hand.
At the same time, our authorities.
No, what we have 'believed to be authorities' begins to squeeze our necks in their true forms.
Truth Attainment.
Causality Induction.
Bridle Creation.
Primal Chaos World.
Paradise Guidance.
Truth Manipulation.
The dharma forms that rise from behind my comrades slip out of their control, and begin to choke their necks from behind.
No one dies from the choking, but everyone's abilities are greatly constrained, and, pressed under the dharma forms that appear behind them, they kneel on the spot.
So it is.
"I see now...the heavenly path."
It was there from the beginning in the Ender's tale.
From the beginning, it was not our authority.
The reason the Underworld showed me that story is, though she herself forgot history so could not know, she knew instinctively.
She tried, by any means, to process the truth of the Future King and the Enders into the form of a fairy tale or a taenghwa to show us the truth.
"The [fate] we have mistaken for authority...is the heavenly path you have laid out for us."
Hong Fan merely looks down at me indifferently and remains silent.
It is a silence of affirmation.
And I begin to move toward such Hong Fan.
He mutters.
"Tell the story."
"...Martial Arts is originally...a story."
Kiririk...
The Turning Wheel Mantra rewrites history and, for a brief moment, lulls the dharma forms that are choking the necks of my comrades to sleep.
Of course, even this does not solve the problem, but merely postpones it.
Like postponing [Hope].
"Having thrown the final decisive move as a greeting, you suggest we just sit and chit-chat. What a boring thing that would be, O Heavens."
I take a step toward those indifferent eyes.
Once again, truth is manipulated.
Oh Hye-seo, who uttered her fate.
Her abilities, authority, and even her very existence, already belong to the Future King.
Therefore, her authority tightens around me.
It tries to revise my very essence.
But I endure through the Turning Wheel Mantra, advance toward him, and level the Impermanence Sword at his throat.
The sword of impermanence filled with starlight touches Hong Fan's chest.
"Now, let us talk."
The talk of martial artists is always not the tongue but something else.
Hong Fan raises his hand.
Something black rises in his hand.
Ego-Preservation.
The shard of the Absolute that clung to me, and my authority.
No, the fate I mistook for authority.
'So that is how it is.'
Only now I understand why I felt such disgust when I looked at the Head Realm and the Future King.
'From the very beginning...the one who granted the power was you.'
In accordance with the fragment of the Absolute, the world bestows authority upon us.
That 'world' is precisely the being before my eyes.
He, with silence, expresses affirmation to my question.
When I think about it, Kim Young-hoon always reached the same eye level as me.
Jeon Myeong-hoon always guided those with ties of grace and resentment through the Heavenly Lightning Banner.
Kang Min-hee always put a bridle on herself.
Oh Hyun-seok was always faint.
Kim Yeon always led others toward an ideal.
Oh Hye-seo manipulated everyone, and even manipulated herself.
I was very stubborn.
When I think about it...
All of this was fate.
'It was not simply something like desire.'
No, perhaps at first it was indeed desire.
Once I obtain the clues to infer the truth, I deduce in an instant with the insight of a Supreme Deity how the Fate Supreme Deity creates the Enders, and how our fates and authorities come to be.
The Owner of Fate splits the Absolute of Miracle within his own hands, then processes it and refines it into the form of fate.
Then he lodges it within seven living beings of another dimension, has them live their lives and accumulate causality, and makes each living being look upon fate by their own standards.
Thus, when the causality in the other dimension ends, he brings them to Mount Sumeru and proceeds with the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion of each fragment of the Absolute.
Through the beginning, development, twist, conclusion, the fragment of the Absolute matures, and gradually, from a simple fragment of the Absolute—the power of joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hate, and desire—it converts into the proper form of fate that the Owner of Fate has set.
Of course, in my case, because the power of the Absolute fragment was maximized as I underwent death, the Absolute fragment evolved to some extent close to fate from the very beginning and seized the Radiance Mantra.
Putting the Absolute fragment into the flesh of a mortal, and as that life proceeds, sublimating the Absolute of Miracle into a power the Owner of Fate can control!
This is the reality of what we call our fate, which I perceive as I face the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju, and watch him wield Truth Manipulation.
That is why, when everyone sees the Future King who allocates fate, they naturally feel longing and peace.
Because, as the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion proceeds, each Absolute fragment 'sublimates' into the form of 'fate', and so it is practically no different from being in a state of unity with the Owner of Fate.
And because only I did not accept my fate.
Because, as I proceeded through the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, I became broken.
Because I did not rashly accept the very origin of desire, I rather remain apart from the subject of fate.
Therefore, I instead see fate most objectively, and I intuitively loathe the filthy essence called desire.
"Am I right?"
When I ask Hong Fan, who in any case already reads all my thoughts, he opens his mouth.
"Right. Only you..."
For the first time, he trails off.
"Stubbornly refuse to accept me."
And for the first time, he goes beyond reacting to our opinions and begins to speak his own.
"It is a dilemma. You are supporting roles and chess pieces. At the same time, you are crucial devices to complete the story. Originally, only when the seven Heavenly Kings are born can one obtain the Miracle. Everything is complete, yet one has gone beyond mere defectiveness and completely went against his fate."
Ssaaaa—
At his emotionless gaze, I feel my chest tighten.
"Whether I should discard all of you here, or, even if I have to forcibly fit the defective piece, take it anyway."
Even as I feel my chest tightening with pressure at those words, I smile slightly.
"Is it not already decided, my friend?"
At my next words, Hong Fan's expressionless eyes twitch for the first time.
"Try to make it fit. Just as you kept trying, and for the first time, managed to get this far, even though you kept trying to guide me and it did not work, maybe you might actually succeed this time."
"..."
Sururururu...
The fate floats above Hong Fan's hand.
The fragments of the Absolute that the Future King Fate Supreme Deity released into Mount Sumeru to process into the shape of fate begins to dye his hand black.
Just as I fought with an obsidian chain wrapped around my right hand, he uses the Absolute fragment almost like an Immortal Treasure and raises his hand toward the sword I extend.
"...If you so wish."
—True Martial Arts.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Third Form.
"I shall face you."
The Emptiness Sword circles.
A black wave draws a blackened Three Great Ultimates around him.
"As the Devil Heavenly King."
The blackened Emptiness Sword transforms into Radiance itself and flies in.
At the same time, inside that strike of radiance, I feel the Absolute fragment of Obsidian flicking its tongue as if trying to make a flower bloom with me as its seedbed.
The purpose of the attack is utterly transparent.
He intends to complete his plan even if he has to forcibly ram into me the fragment of the Absolute that fell away from me and failed to settle.
At the same time, I raise the Impermanence Sword and fly toward the Emptiness Sword.
The Impermanence Sword circles in the exact reverse direction to the Emptiness Sword and begins to emit right.
—Void Sword.
—Third Form, Light.
—————!
His third form, restored by reinterpreting the Radiance Mantra, confronting Radiance Hall, and accelerating time.
Two identical techniques collide and cancel each other out.
Light explodes, and from the impact, a small Heavenly Domain forms and collapses between he and I.
I shout toward him as he sits.
"Let us dance, stand up!"
In his hollow gaze, I am reflected.
He speaks.
"If you so wish."
And at last, he begins to stand.
Kugugugugu!
By the mere act of standing, spacetime distorts and the surroundings warp.
He begins to lift the Emptiness Sword.
"Come, let us talk! Hong Fan!!!"
I shout, calling my friend's name.
At that shout, other friends also begin to rush all at once toward Hong Fan.
From the Underworld, Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, Oh Hyun-seok, Kim Yeon, and Oh Hye-seo, laying out their everything...
They begin to rush to dance with our friend, Hong Fan.
The time we can dance with him is until the power of Hope that I let flow and sent away to another spacetime catches up to us again.
'Exactly 360 days by a mortal's time!'
For us, it is a time limit no different from an instant.
Our dance with him begins.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Fourth Form.
—Heaven (天).
A simple upward slash.
An attack that performs the second form, King (王) in the exact reverse.
Yet that upward slash that comes not by attraction force, but repulsive force, holds in that single strike the power to burn Heaven and Earth.
Thrusting the Impermanence Sword toward that blade, I begin to face Hong Fan even more directly.
With me at the head, my comrades form a formation, gather everyone's strength, and barely deflect Heaven, nullifying it.
He rushes toward us who have formed a formation.
Mount Sumeru, Thirty-Third Heaven, Audience Chamber.
Before the jade throne of the king wearing a black mianguan.
Before that great and sacred imperial presence.
The memories of the 16th cycle vividly sprout up anew between the attacks of us and the Devil Heavenly King.
16th cycle.
Several years have passed since we settled on Red Moon Island.
In that time, the Devilish Immortal Sect Alliance including Makli Cheon-sa completely took root on Red Moon Island and succeeded in absorbing almost all of the existing clans of Red Moon Island.
Since Makli Cheon-sa is also counted as a promising candidate to reach the Heavenly Being stage, all the various clans threw every kind of passes at her, and there are not a few who volunteered as disciples or henchmen and flocked under her cave residence.
So eventually, cultivators who claim to be Makli Cheon-sa's disciples and henchmen flocked together and even formed a group, and...
The Devilish Immortal Sect Alliance now even sends a message saying that she should not simply be the alliance's nominal leader, but should accept them, formally open a sect, and sit as one of the alliance's seats.
Of course,
None of the handling of these events even reaches her, who stands on the verge of advancing to the Heavenly Being stage. I have to take on all of it.
She received reports of such letters and situations the first one or two times, but from then on she threatened that if I bother her again, she would kill me, and told me to handle it as I see fit, so I had to handle everything on my own.
'Am I cultivator or a grad student?'
I am old enough to have lived enough as I want, but because faint nightmares from Earth days start to surface for no reason, I shiver.
Makli Cheon-sa's way of thinking is similar to professors who order around graduate students to the point that it reminds me of my Earth days.
'Damn it, no wonder she accepted a suspicious guy so easily.'
Maybe I should have noticed and ran away when she started with having me take care of demon insects and demon beasts in the beginning and then even this kind of grunt work.
She didn't care whether I was suspicious or gave a bad feeling. She simply needed a fresh, capable slave in the same realm.
"Hey you, did you deliver the gift to Great Person Makli well? What did she say?"
"Hey Seo brat. Did Great Person Makli not say she would send a reply today?"
"Hey, Seo punk. Are you really sure you reported it properly to Great Person Makli!?"
Starting with cultivators from the Grand Perfection Core Formation stage to the half-step Nascent Soul stage who come to find me.
"Great Person Seo, hehe, what do you think about the marriage matter I mentioned?"
"If you enter our clan, we promise every support we can give to Great Person Seo..."
"Seo Hyung, when a sect opens with Great Person Makli at the head, surely Seo Hyung will take a high post in the new sect. Since you are trusted by Great Person Makli to this extent, it is only natural. When that time comes, my sincerity, please remember as..."
I am on the verge of collapse from accepting and sorting out all sorts of solicitations from cultivators reaching even the Qi Building level.
And above all, what drives me mad is...
"Kraaaagh, Seo Hyung! Great Person Makli's demon beasts are on a rampage! My younger brother was already eaten!"
"This fucking...!"
Makli Cheon-sa's pet demon beasts.
It is the incidents between these insane troublemakers and the cultivators who gather following her.
"Kyaooooo!"
A Three-Headed Python (三頭蟒) demon beast at the Grand Perfection Core Formation stage runs wild with bloodshot eyes.
When I check, one or two who look like cultivators at the Qi Building stage are inside its belly.
I activate a beast binding, subdue the three-headed snake demon beast first, and scatter the Formless Sword.
Chwaaaak!
The Treading Heavens Formless Sword spreads out like thornbushes, pierces the entire body of the three-headed python demon beast, and takes position so it can take its life at any time.
Sensing both the restriction and the crisis to its life at the same time, the beast stops and begins to listen to my words.
Gulp, gulp!
After a while, it retches and spits out the Qi Building cultivators it has gobbled up.
"What happened?"
"Keheok! Great Person Seo, thank you. The demon beast suddenly went berserk..."
"That is a lie."
The Qi Building cultivator who escaped death speaks to me with a pale gaze, and from far away, a spirit wave in the Demon Race tongue resonates to me.
"Those Human Race bastards tried to steal and eat the python's eggs. So the python got very angry."
A Demon Race of the Transformation Stage, a cat demon beast.
The demon beast of the Five-Colored Shadow Cat Race that Makli Cheon-sa cherishes.
It is the woman with the common name 'Oh Saek' (Five Colors).
I let out a deep sigh and ignite Yin Soul Ghost Curse Incantation.
Tssaaaa...
Black curses overflow around and begin to flow into the Qi Building thugs.
"Kuaaaaaaagh!"
"Guaaaagh!"
[I already know what you stole. What you stole is not simply an animal's eggs, but my master's precious property. As you are thieves who tried to steal my master's property, I shall cast you into curses as you are and make you rot to death!]
"Great Person!!!"
"Please spare us!!! Please spare us, Great Person!"
[If you want to live...confess your crime yourselves! Proclaim your sins to all and suffer exemplary punishment under my hand!]
"W-We tried to steal and eat the eggs of the demon beast raised by Elder Makli Cheon-sa and..."
And so, another dizzying day passes again.
"Huuu..."
Night has fallen.
A whole day has passed just by mediating between the dog-like Red Moon Island trash and Makli Cheon-sa's ferocious beasts.
At least from night onward, an island-wide prohibition on Red Moon Island activates, so the use of all spells and divine power becomes extremely restricted, making it comparatively quiet.
From what I heard, in the distant past Red Moon Island was the true homeland of the Devilish Path where war and slaughter never ceased.
Not a day passed without blood drying, and every night, the moonlight looked like a moon soaked in blood, a Red Moon, and thus the name Red Moon Island was given. How severe must the slaughter have been?
In the end, a monk from Red Moon Island wielded a powerful divine power handed down in the Buddhist Family, stripped the Red Moon Island people of the power of [Night], and sealed it under the grounds of a temple beneath Sky Island. Since then, prohibition was born whereby at night the power of all divine power and spells becomes extremely weakened regardless of race.
"Perhaps only the Immortal Arts of legends or a cultivator at the Star Shattering stage has power to that degree."
I feed the demon beasts, and I look after their sleeping places.
At the edge of the demon beast cave, I come to my cave residence and, looking at the centipede being raised inside, I mutter.
Hong Fan is growing quite well.
Recently, he readily takes the elixirs I give, and with my help, he has been growing quickly through the demonic power training method written in Makli Cheon-sa's beast taming secret manual.
Makli Cheon-sa laughed at Hong Fan, but Hong Fan, who has been growing to the point that such mockery is meaningless, has already reached the 4th Star of Qi Refining before I knew it.
'As long as he reaches the Qi Building level, his spiritual nature will open up considerably, so communication should become possible. When that time comes, he should show the same genius as in the previous life.'
Once he reaches that level, I plan to leave Red Moon Island with Hong Fan.
'The curse of lightning transformation...'
This accursed curse left by the Immortal of Heavenly Punishment gnaws at my body.
Even though I recovered my realm up to the Core Formation stage before I knew it, in reality thunder and lightning has replaced parts of my organs, and I am dying.
"Grow up fast and strong, Hong Fan."
I feed Hong Fan a realm-advancing pill and steady my heart that wants to resolve this curse as soon as possible.
"Grrrk..."
And Hong Fan lets out a burp-like sound.
"...Huh...?"
Tududududuk!
At the same time, Hong Fan suddenly molts, and his body that was only the size of a palm becomes more than twice as large.
At that bizarre phenomenon, I only stare wide-eyed at the guy.
"Uh, uhh..."
Hong Fan, in an instant, has reached the 7th Star of Qi Refining.
And then,
"Mmm, are you my master?"
"Uh, uhhh..."
He starts to talk.
"My spiritual nature was lacking, so speaking was a bit difficult, but now communication should be a bit smoother. Haw haw."
Not only can I not understand how a demon beast at the Qi Refining 4th Star jumped its realm just by eating a few pills,
I also cannot understand how a demon beast of the insect lineage without any special bloodline has its intellect awakened and speaks just at the Qi Refining 7th Star.
Not knowing what on earth this situation is, I can only blink.
'Was it like this in my previous life too?'
It does not seem so.
It is when I blink my eyes.
"Do not be surprised, Master. The essence of Qi is explosion, and explosion is a phenomenon that occurs as something called Fate descends from a higher dimensional layer to a lower dimensional layer. That is, if one understands one's fate, it is easy to draw the power of fate down to a lower dimensional layer and amplify the power of explosion. All the more so if one is a Demon Race that mainly cultivates the power of explosion. Therefore, with the minimum spiritual energy to trigger fate, which is about the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the 3rd Star of Qi Refining, you can draw power from fate in the higher dimensional layer as much as you like, amplify your energy, and you can easily pull up and raise lower cultivation realms. However, due to lacking spiritual nature and intelligence and to tolerate several errors, I made the attempt at around the Qi Refining 4th Star level."
"...?"
Hong Fan starts to make sounds from start to finish that I cannot understand at all.
"Anyway, from breaking away from the vestige and layering the mantra six times, I have bathed in light sufficiently. I have also recovered my memory and intellect to some extent, so from now on, I will protect Master."
"...?"
He did get bigger than before, but still, this tiny centipede flailing his antennae and saying he will protect me is...
A fluttering feeling I will never forget.
Present.
With me at the head, the formation my comrades arranged begins to be completed.
It is the Six Harmonies formation that suppresses Heaven and Earth and Four Directions.
Clang!
Kang Min-hee sits at the earth bearing and, using shadow as ink, begins to paint something.
With the motion of her hands, the rank of existence we possess becomes further sealed.
Our forms, which are metaphysical in existence, become more distinct and are fixed into even more physical shapes.
Our appearances become defined according to the taenghwa she paints.
However, even though the rank continues to be sealed, Hong Fan's expression is indifferent.
Rather, he overwhelms all of us single-handedly and shows us despair with only the pure power of Martial Arts.
Tsuaaaat!
—Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.
—Sixth Form.
—Golden Speed Heavenly King.
Kim Young-hoon's head shines gold, and he becomes a Peng Bird.
He becomes the very heart itself, transcending all divine providence and causality, space and time.
And the next moment,
—Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.
—Final Form.
Tststststs...!
From that state, Kim Young-hoon begins to accelerate even more.
—Golden Great Thousand World.
In an instant he marks Hong Fan's rear and he explodes.
A true speed of Undying that surpasses Hyeon Mu.
The true light of Surpassing Radiance that nothing can catch up to intends to arrive to this place.
Or so we thought.
"Is that all?"
—Apex of Movement Techniques.
—True Martial Arts, Black Heaven (眞武玄天).
Perception cuts off.
In an instant, Kim Young-hoon's rear is again marked by Hong Fan.
Void Speed.
It is Hyeon Mu's method for reaching Undying, a reverse law whereby the more one empties power, the faster one becomes.
If power is infinite, speed decelerates to the speed of light, and if power approaches zero, speed accelerates to infinity and reaches Undying.
The opponent before my eyes is the Zero King in whose heart nothing exists.
The God of Emptiness!
'Ah...'
I realize in an instant.
The Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.
He is the original owner of all the martial arts Hyeon Mu has.
He is the original protagonist of the achievement Hyeon Mu used for Heavenly Venerable advancement.
Restrictions like the four steps that apply to a fabricated Heavenly Venerable like Hyeon Mu do not exist.
For he is a being of emptiness that is always emptied to the value of zero.
That is to say...
The Undying that Kim Young-hoon reaches by using Golden Great Thousand World is, for him, merely basic speed.
Tukwagwang!
—Apex of Killing Techniques.
—Heuk Sa (Black Snake).
I can tell.
That technique, for Hong Fan, is not even worthy to be called True Martial Arts.
If I must categorize it, it is a martial technique with the kind of weight that the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts has for me and Kim Young-hoon.
Countless snakes hiss and sweep over Kim Young-hoon like a waterfall.
Hyeon Mu's True Martial Arts, the martial techniques of the Dance of Emptiness, explode in a single instant.
Through that single martial technique Kim Young-hoon's whole body cannot even react and is torn away, scattered like trash.
: : Guaaaaaaaa! : :
Oh Hyun-seok, with a pale face, completes the charging of Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter through the gap Kim Young-hoon creates, and unleashes power.
Jeon Myeong-hoon lifts his spear, barely overcomes fear, and prepares a full-power thrust.
—Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation Ultimate Will.
—Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.
—Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear.
—Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter.
—Zero Wing.
—Nameless One Fist.
And then, Hong Fan begins to inhale.
—Apex of Internal Energy Methods.
—Darkness World.
It is the end.
Likewise, it is something not even worth to be called True Martial Arts.
If I compare it to myself, it is not even the Impermanence Sword, but a method at the level of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea.
At that single method, Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok, as if bewitched, gaze at the tip of their spear and the end of their fist.
The energy, the will, the strength that gathers in their hands...
And the very history of those techniques itself wither away powerlessly.
Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok instantly forget what they are about to do and, like fools, just stand there stupidly staring at the opponent before their eyes.
Causality.
No, the colossal law called the Law of Causality itself, with a single breath of Hong Fan, is sucked toward him.
The Heaven, Earth, and Heavens Above transform into a Heaven and Earth of Avidyā, and I can feel the restraints imposed upon by Kang Min-hee and my Great Mountain Pressing Down unravel layer by layer.
Kang Min-hee, struck by backlash from the taenghwa painting method, spits blood, rolls up her eyes, and heads toward death.
His existence that was pinned down to the realm of the physical begins to loosen again into the metaphysical.
An internal energy method that sucks in the Law of Causality without limit and devours it!
It is the most terrifying internal energy method, one I have never even conceived of, and one I must not even imagine.
The enemies who face him forget why they must fight him.
They even forget the techniques they accumulated to fight him.
Since causality itself is being sucked away, there is nothing to be done.
—Emptiness Sword Third Form, Applied Technique.
Kiririk...!
Converting the devoured Law of Causality into power, the Emptiness Sword begins to circle centered on Hong Fan.
—Black (玄).
It is black.
Everything is black.
And the moment that pitch-black darkness ends, I gaze at the true bodies of Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok flung away with their limbs wildly twisted and snapped.
An instant after arranging the Six Harmonies Formation to pressure Hong Fan.
Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, and Oh Hyun-seok are annihilated in an instant before I have any chance to do anything.
The ones left are Kim Yeon and Oh Hye-seo.
Kim Yeon joins both hands and forms a unique hand seal that draws a small circle, doing something, and before long Hong Fan reaches the front of her and, with an emotionless face, extends the Emptiness Sword.
—Emptiness Sword First Form.
—Zero.
Before I have any chance to step in and block, countless black claws and fangs appear from within the Emptiness Sword.
However, unlike when I used it, those countless irregular-looking claws, fangs, and murderous auras are perfectly disciplined under Hong Fan's will.
That decisive technique, which in my hands only ever ripped and tore the opponent to shreds, cleanly severs Kim Yeon's neck and decapitates her.
Not even a single drop of blood flows from her neck.
Her head tumbles far away like garbage.
Oh Hye-seo tries to do something, but Hong Fan acts as though he does not even care about her.
In an instant he appears while stomping her head, and he slams Oh Hye-seo into the floor of the Audience Chamber and crushes her in.
Not even a proper technique is used on her.
Having subdued everyone, Hong Fan looks at me.
"You stayed still until everyone was slaughtered."
"Th—"
"Do you trust Hwe-ah?"
Realizing my intention in an instant, Hong Fan looks at me with emotionless eyes.
I make a bitter smile and perceive the Underworld preparing something behind me.
The moment the Future King rose, the Underworld prepared only one thing.
—I will advance. Guard me.
There is only one existence a Heavenly Venerable can advance to.
The position of True Emperor, like the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.
The Western Heavenly Venerable, Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa thought that only that would create a possibility and has been aiming for it.
Step—
Hong Fan takes one step closer to me.
Just that one action.
With that, what I hid and was guarding with Heavenly Escape is revealed.
Kugugugugugu!
Centered on Bong Hwa, down below the Audience Chamber.
Thousands and hundreds of millions of [history] pour out from the Emptiness Supreme Deity Myeong Woon and whirl in a frenzy.
The fact that the tiny lifeform that said it will protect me at the Qi Refining 7th Star and the extremity of slaughter right before my eyes are the same existence...
I still cannot believe it.
Staring at that face, it feels like even now everything is a prank, only a test, and he is going to crack a silly joke about going to boil some potatoes.
But...
"Sure enough, that won't happen, will it?"
In those eyes, the Hong Fan I know is not there.
No, even if he is, it is only a speck.
I know nothing about the true Hong Fan.
So...
"From now on, let's find out."
I make up my mind to have a sincere conversation with Hong Fan.
"Come, Hong Fan."
My friends were massacred.
But without being swept up by that hatred, resentment, and madness, I look only at Hong Fan and focus all will at the tip of my sword.
The one behind me is the God of Life and Death, of History.
If the Underworld becomes the Owner of Life, death has no meaning.
No, even if the Underworld fails, there still remains a possibility to save my comrades.
And, looking into my resolute eyes, Hong Fan raises his left hand.
In his left hand, he holds the birdcage he has stroked.
In the next moment,
Clang—
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
Bong Hwa is confined inside the birdcage.
The power of the Akashic Records she was drawing up.
The Origin Essence of Life, Omniscience.
The Emptiness Supreme Deity Myeong Woon, in whom it is embedded, gives up keeping the Akashic Records and becomes shackles that tighten around Bong Hwa's neck, suppressing her power.
Kugugugugu!
Bong Hwa musters all her strength to escape those shackles, but her power is perfectly offset by the shackles made of the Emptiness Supreme Deity and she cannot even pierce the birdcage.
The birdcage and the power of the Emptiness Supreme Deity amplify from within and completely press down the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
The Future King Fate Supreme Deity, with eyes whose meaning I can by no means read, looks down and mutters at the shrunken form of the sealed Bong Hwa.
"Good. Resist. Struggle."
Woo-woooooong!
He gradually floats the birdcage into the void.
"For only resisting fate...is your reason for existence, Hwe-ah."
The Absolute of History.
The Akashic Records depart from the embrace of the Emptiness Supreme Deity and also slip out of the advancement ritual of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
The authority of Omniscience, inside that Mount Sumeru, shines purely in golden radiance, under no one's control.
"I speak again."
And, before my eyes.
The Heavenly God who seized the Absolute of Heaven opens his mouth again.
"You do not need something like hope."
Kugugugugu—
The God of Light and Hope wearing that black mianguan coldly takes hope from me and prophesizes.
"I see all your moves. Do you intend to turn back time with Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens and save your friends? I prophesize. You will not complete three thousand regressions, and I will seize the entire Severing Heaven Sword Form whole from you, and you will be killed by your own Martial Arts."
Grasping every last possibility I have hidden, he calmly prophesied.
His prophecy is neither grave nor numinous like other True Immortals.
It is merely one of those words tossed out as if speaking ordinarily.
From the start, there is no need to be sacred.
For the very standard of all sacredness is the heavens itself.
"I speak again, do not be mistaken. No matter what you all do, you are only supporting roles."
Wooooooo—
Freed completely from Kang Min-hee's constraint and my Great Mountain Pressing Down, he slowly expands once more.
A divinity so transcendent that I feel nothing at all.
That is precisely the Heavens.
"The true protagonist of the story is not you."
An existence who attained the highest Dao.
Author's Note:
Protagonist (主人公).
A Buddhist term for a person who has attained the Dao.
The fundamental and absolute subjecthood of all sentient beings.
-x-X-x-
I look up at that transcendent, immeasurably distant God of Light and Hope, and open my mouth.
"Then, O Heavens. I ask you."
He does not answer my question.
He only looks down at me in silence.
"If there is no such thing as hope for us, then why...when you greet us, do you tell us not to lose hope?"
No answer comes, but I also know this time.
This silence, too, is an affirmation.
"Perhaps that is how it was. You...while acting as my friend through dreaming, separated your main body, qi, soul, and fate, and stuck to us."
Why are the fairy tales twisted into happy endings unlike the originals?
From the insight of a Supreme Deity.
It is because the qi, soul, and fate that separated from the Future King's main body all manifested while the Future King dreamed, from within his unconscious, as what he hoped for the most.
Unhappy tales became happy tales.
The invincible divinity who has no rival became a Heavenly Venerable called Hyeon Mu, who has much to surpass and much to overcome.
The monster who loathes himself became the light that loathes fate...
Each aspect he hoped for became the form he desired. The pieces that fell away in his dream were precisely the Future King's three faces we have been seeing.
"...Therefore, the instant you awoke from the dream, half-asleep and dazed, your true heart slipped out; was that not so?"
Silence.
"O God of Hope. You pretend to strip away hope, yet instead you bolster our hope. You pretend to plunge us into despair, yet you show only adversity we can bear, so we do not give up entirely.
"You clearly want us to have hope. You are guiding us so. I do not know the reason. But there is one thing I do know."
Kugugugugu—
As I see that vast darkness swell enormously before my eyes and looking down on me like a bug, I raise my sword.
"If I do not hold hope, something becomes troublesome for you, doesn't it?"
"..."
"I will not have hope."
Kiriririk...!
Time turns back.
Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens subdues spacetime, and we cross over to the 2015th cycle.
Within the reversal of time, the comrades who died live again, and we arrive at that moment when we reached the Audience Chamber.
We return to that time when we succeeded in pressing down the Future King's main body with Great Mountain Pressing Down.
And, within the regression I achieved by my own power, I deny head-on the fate of the Fate Supreme Deity and declare.
"In the name of the myriad stars, I prophesize. I shall awaken in the 3001st cycle and prove that you are wrong!"
Hong Fan's prophecy says I will die without completing three thousand regressions.
I, in reverse, prophesize that I will achieve regressions surpassing three thousand, and I directly deny the prophecy of the Future King.
Kuwung!
Seated again upon the jade throne, he mutters with expressionless eyes.
"To face fate without hope. A good hopeful wish."
Sururu—
He raises his hand.
At the same time, I realize something.
"...!"
Though time turned back, there are three things that did not.
First is the Emptiness Sword's Final Profundity, Hope.
It still chases me from the far side of time.
At the same time, the time it takes to reach me has not changed.
It has shortened slightly from 360 days.
Second is the black Absolute fragment covering the right hand of the Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.
The power that fixes him in the character not of the Owner of Fate but of the Devil Heavenly King remains unchanged from before the regression.
And third...
Clang, clang...!
Still within the Fate Supreme Deity's birdcage, with eyes closed, gathering power and resisting, is the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, the Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa.
"A hopeful wish is fine, but I am already beginning to adapt to your Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens."
Woo-wooong!
Through the Radiance Mantra, I feel him gradually recovering his grip on spacetime.
As he learns the nature of my regression, I see the wicked scheme to steadily increase the things that do not apply to the regression of Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens.
"It seems you hope that only when [Hope] arrives will you be annihilated. But you will die by my hand before [Hope] arrives."
"What is long and short is always..."
—Emptiness Sword
—Sixth Form.
Before I even finish speaking.
I die.
All links with the myriad stars are cut, I am miserably murdered, and I feel my main body and the Heavenly Domain that belongs to me tear apart and get slammed into the domain of purity.
—Future (未來).
From the First Form to the Fourth Form of the Emptiness Sword, at least their shapes are recognizable...
But the Sixth Form, Future, like Hope, has its principle, its form, and even the moment it was used all beyond my ability to perceive.
About ten seconds after crossing into the 2015th cycle.
Just before I am torn by Future and completely annihilated, I turn time again, cross over to the 2016th cycle to preserve my life, and I grip my sword even tighter.
Because what that guy in the 16th cycle told me...
If it is now, I think I can use it.
16th cycle.
Inside the demon beast cave, I stare blankly at Hong Fan, who grew to the Qi Building level in a month by sucking down pills and spiritual elixirs.
Thanks to the Colorless Glass Sword and the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, I too at some point recovered to the early Nascent Soul stage, but Hong Fan is not on the same level.
His is a rise in realm far more overwhelming than mine.
This does not feel like a genius.
Before I know it, I look at the centipede that has grown taller than me and is approaching the peak of the Qi Refining stage, and I ask.
"Hong Fan, I have something I am curious about..."
"Yes, please speak."
"No matter how I look at it...it feels like you are not raising your realm, but 'recovering' your original realm."
"..."
"Hong Fan...please tell me. Are you by any chance...a True Immortal who lowered his realm on purpose and appeared before me?"
"Mm...in truth, Master. I was about to tell you about that anyway."
With solemn eyes, Hong Fan speaks to me.
"In my previous life, it seems I was some quite powerful being."
"Previous life...?"
"Yes. Something black covers it so I do not remember clearly...but perhaps I might have been the True Immortal Master speaks of."
"...!"
At those words, I flinch and look at Hong Fan.
Pajik, pajijik...
I vividly feel the curse of lightning that changes me from within.
True Immortal!
If he is a being of that degree, he is a high and terrifying existence to the point of affecting my regression.
Hearing that Hong Fan is such a being, I naturally cannot help but fear him.
"...If so, Hong Fan."
I ask him.
Perhaps...
A True Immortal, claiming I disturbed his amusement, might kill me in a single blow and place on a curse at a level similar to the lightning curse, but...
Even so, I must ask.
"For a being like you, what is the reason you serve me as your master?"
"Mmm..."
"Of course, you still do not know your previous life's memories, but you clearly explained to me, through that Qi is explosion or whatever, that [you know your own fate]. Tell me. What is your fate...?"
Hong Fan scratches his head with an antenna.
And after a short while, he answers.
"My fate is...to assist you."
"To...assist me?"
"Yes. So that you, Master, walk the right path, walk the right fate. So that under the heavens you can be upright and not ashamed... Following you is my fate."
I look at Hong Fan's intent and heart essence.
His heart essence is truly bright.
It is a bright world filled entirely with light.
Seeing that clear, pure, and beautiful heart essence...
I cannot dare think he speaks lies.
'A light so bright and pure that my eyes hurt and it is hard to look directly...'
If it is a heart essence like this, can I not trust him?
Of course, even this could be a trap.
At the time when Zhengli and the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment, suspected to be the owner of Zhengli, descended, I could not read anything from them.
It can simply be that even the heart essence is recreated and everything is fabricated.
Gulp...
Should I trust this being who has such a clear heart essence.
Or should I doubt him to the end...
"...Hong Fan."
"Yes...?"
I look at Hong Fan and speak.
I am suspicious.
Right in the previous life, I got burned by a True Immortal and it even affected my regression.
If Hong Fan truly is the incarnation of a suspicious True Immortal...I may once again be toyed with and suffer immense harm.
However...
At the same time, in the previous life I got burned by Seo Hweol.
—Emotion is merely the amount of air coming from the lungs. Ah, since the lungs correspond to metal in the Five Elements, perhaps emotion is of the metal attribute. Hoho.
The sophistry that emotions are nothing but of the metal attribute.
An illusion that can be forged at will and fabricated.
That was his logic.
"..."
I cannot trust Hong Fan.
But I cannot accept Seo Hweol's words.
"...I..."
A person's heart cannot be forged.
It cannot be replaced with breath.
I recall Jang Ik's words that if a person's heart is Metal, Metal corresponds to Qian in the Eight Trigrams, thus it is the same as the heavens.
Yes, the heart is like what the heavens grant.
If not the heavens, then at least the heart cannot be forged.
"I...will trust you."
It is partly to deny Seo Hweol and partly to accept Jang Ik's words.
But the biggest reason is...because Hong Fan is my connection.
In every previous life, it was Hong Fan who helped me.
Even if they are not the same existence, since I cannot repay the grace I received from them, it is only humaneness to repay it at least to this Hong Fan.
I, from deep in my chest.
Even if in this life Hong Fan truly is a True Immortal, I decide never to betray his trust and to believe in him.
"Even if you are a True Immortal, it does not matter. I will believe your words and your heart."
I look at Hong Fan with straight eyes.
Seeing his heart essence like light, I declare that I will trust him.
And, receiving my gaze, Hong Fan lowers his head.
"Then...for this life, I ask for your care. Master."
"Right. Let us do well from here on."
Thus, in that way, we succeed in cementing a bond of trust that is a bit comical and also a bit serious.
"Star Extinguishing True Chapter?"
"Yes, Master. It is the method that first came to mind when I thought to protect you. It will suit you very well."
"Is that the method you say you obtained in your previous life?"
"Yes. I do not know for certain...but for now, as a method to break through the situation Master currently faces, namely the curse of lightning transformation, it is the most suitable."
"Hmm..."
I ponder whether I can block the curse of lightning transformation through the method that Hong Fan says he obtained in his previous life.
"For now, can I see the formula first before making a judgement?"
"Yes. First, the early section of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter is...uuugh...!"
"...! What's wrong?"
"As it is a slightly powerful knowledge, trying to hold it in a body at the Qi Refining stage seems to put a strain. For now, the early section. Among that, I will tell you only about the 1st star."
"Mm, it is fine, it is fine! As much as you can!"
Hong Fan writes down, upon the shed shell he molted, the formula and cultivation method of the method called Star Extinguishing True Chapter that he says came up in his head.
The first layer of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter is a cultivation method by which one can obtain power at the Qi Refining level.
However, the important thing is not the level of authority gained through the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.
'The cultivation method...! The method itself is what is important...'
The cultivation method of the first layer of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter is called by one term.
Cutting People (斬徒).
" A cultivation that...cuts connections...?"
"That is correct. For the Master to be under the curse of a True Immortal means, at present, there is a connection between the Master and that True Immortal."
"In that case..."
"Yes. If Master wishes to escape the curse, you must sever the connection with the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment."
With Hong Fan's help, I am able to find in an instant a way to escape the curse laid by the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment.
However, the problem is the method.
"...Hong Fan, it is written like this in the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, but...am I understanding it correctly?"
Cutting People.
There are three ways in total to cut connections, which are as follows.
Cutting Other (斬他).
Kill the other with whom the connection is tied.
Cutting Self (斬我).
Kill the self and become emptiness.
Cutting Principle (斬理).
Strike and cut the very principle of causality that is the connection between me and the other, thereby severing the connection.
That is right.
The methods are:
I kill the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment.
I commit suicide.
Or I strike what is called the principle.
"Of course...you recommend the last method, right? But what is that 'principle,' and how am I supposed to strike and cut it?"
"Pardon? No, I recommend the first method... Can Master not do Godslaying?"
"...?"
"...?"
"Ah..."
For a moment I am dumbfounded by the difference in perception between Hong Fan and me, but I soon understand.
"Right, you said memories arose that you were True Immortal in a previous life, right...? So you must be briefly confused. I apologize...that your master's realm is still shallow. But generally, it is normal that a mortal being cannot kill a transcendent such as a True Immortal."
It seems Hong Fan, as a True Immortal, has killed fellow True Immortals a few times.
At my words, Hong Fan scratches his head with an antenna with slightly dazed eyes.
"Ah...I see. I was not particularly criticizing Master's low realm. It is just...since my memories have not fully returned, there seems to have been a difference in perception."
"Haha, very well, I understand. In any case, I should be grateful that an existence like you is sincerely helping me.
"Haw haw, Master flatters me. Master is a person with far greater potential and talent than I...soon you will soar at a speed that someone like me cannot follow."
"..."
I almost grow ashamed at Hong Fan's excessive expectations, but I clear my throat and ask back.
"So...in any case, I cannot use the method of Cutting Other. So I seem to have to use the method of Cutting Principle...but how does one carry out this Cutting Principle.?"
"I understand that Master possesses a sword; is that not so?"
"That is correct."
"What does Master think is the use of a sword?"
"The use of a sword... A sword cuts. At the same time, it is a weapon that can harm others. To cut, slice, and divide something with it—that is the purpose and meaning for the existence of what is called a sword."
"Yes, you just cut it with that."
"...? The principle...?"
"Yes."
"..."
I, in any case, feel a need to help a bit more with finding Hong Fan's memories first.
Recovering them only roughly and not completely instead seems to poison our communication.
Kururung!
Two more months pass.
I undergo Heavenly Tribulation and rise to the Nascent Soul stage.
And...
Within that short time.
Hong Fan also rises to the Core Formation stage.
Even that speed is because Hong Fan prioritized recovering memories over raising his realm. If he had focused on raising his realm, I judge he would have reached the Nascent Soul stage at the same time as me.
'At this rate...I am not going to be raised by Hong Fan like livestock, am I?'
If Hong Fan overtakes me and directly reaches the Heavenly Being stage...
I worry the master-servant relationship will reverse at that time.
'...Let's trust Hong Fan.'
One way or another, he said he will assist me.
Having forged mutual trust with him, I decide to believe that even if he surpasses my realm, he will respect me.
"Master, congratulations! Haw haw... To think you have already become a Nascent Soul stage cultivator."
"...That's excessive praise. Your cultivation speed is faster, isn't it?"
"I cannot be compared to Master."
"...Thank you. So...upon reaching Core Formation, have you recovered your memories a little more?"
"Mmm...there are still vague parts, but I found parts that are likely to help Master. Haw haw...I liked that the early realms can be raised quickly because I am of the Demon Race, but...I think recovering memories would be faster with Heaven Tribe cultivation."
"I see...that is unfortunate."
In my heart, I want to find even a ritual method for Hong Fan, but such a thing is not an easy matter.
Yet even though I cannot give the fellow anything, he laughs and hands me his shed shell on which he wrote a certain formula.
His shed shell, now as grown as big as a house, flies to me, and I can read the densely written 'Cutting Principle' cultivation formula on that shell.
"This is..."
"It is a formula by which a mortal being can reach Cutting Principle."
"Hoh..."
'This seems like...'
I look at what is called 'Cutting Principle,' the cultivation that comes close to a method of striking the principle itself.
'A combination of the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts, and the Formless Sword...?'
The Cutting Principle cultivation method is simple.
First, it is to practice the method of severing connections.
The first stage of the cultivation of Cutting Principle is to cut the weakest connections.
Kururururung!
The clouds of the Heavenly Tribulation that struck down on me scatter, and seeing that, the followers of Makli Cheon-sa swarm this way like a cloud.
At the birth of a new Nascent Soul stage cultivator, they rush to forge a connection by any means.
Chak!
Following the formula Hong Fan taught me, I gather energy and bring my hands together in prayer.
After taking a pure praying posture, I focus consciousness, intent, and energy between my joined hands.
As consciousness gathers between my palms, I feel it condense like a thin thread-line.
And in an instant,
Shikagak!
I fire that thread-line at the Grand Perfection Core Formation stage cultivator at the very front who rushes to me to make a connection.
The line becomes a slashing strike that cuts through everything and shoots at the cultivator.
And the moment it touches them!
Paatt!
The slashing strike that flows straight into the cultivator's body cuts the cultivator's intent, flows inside of their heart essence, and cuts the very heart that says they [want to meet] me.
Wuduk!
"Mm...?"
They, in the middle of coming to meet me, stops and stands there, looking around with a puzzled face.
As if they find it puzzling why they are here.
I did not cut their memories, nor did I twist their personality.
I merely made the very heart that wants to meet me a little faint.
With just that, they no longer bother me and simply leave.
I cut the heart.
"Huu..."
A severing strike that does not kill a person, but scatters a person's heart.
Because it requires an enormous, extreme degree of concentration, the moment I succeed at it for the first time, I feel my energy drain right out.
"Let us end today's cultivation here."
"...Yes, let us...do that."
Feeling an overwhelming tiredness, I roar toward the lower realm cultivators who rush at me to form ties.
[All of you, go back! If you trouble me, I will not forgive you!]
At my threat, the Qi Building cultivators hesitate then soon flee. The Core Formation cultivators try to hold out a bit, but when I put Formless Sword's momentum into the threat, unable to overcome the fear, they too run away.
I enter the cave residence and catch my breath.
"Huu..."
The Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts that attacks intent, Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon that erodes consciousness, and the Formless Sword that is made of will.
It feels as if I unfold all of them at once, yet at the same time it feels like a far higher supreme art.
Perhaps it is because I already learned the three techniques that I can at least grasp the cultivation method of Cutting Principle.
'To directly strike the opponent's heart itself...'
In a sense, it is a true Heart Sword.
'It is a terrifying divine power.'
At the same time, I consider whether, with this, it might even prove effective on someone with a monster's heart like Seo Hweol.
'...This is not the time to be pondering about that.'
At the same time, I realize the cultivation of this Cutting Principle is nothing more than the 'basics' to proceed to Cutting People, and I sigh.
I have not even properly initiated into the first layer of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.
"Hong Fan...for now, I do understand well the power of this thing called Cutting Principle."
"Haw haw, it is powerful as expected, is it not?"
"However...if I truly continue this cultivation that severs the opponent's heart in this manner, can I truly sever what is called principle?"
Honestly, I feel a bit uncomfortable with this cultivation method itself.
In a way, it is a cultivation that directly denies the enlightenment of my Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.
Therefore, if I cannot truly sever the curse of the True Immortal with this cultivation...
I am directly denying my enlightenment and have no choice but to be captured by a powerful Heart Demon.
"What relation does the heart and principle have, that by repeating the severing of the heart, one can come to sever the principle?"
At my words, Hong Fan nods and explains.
"Heavenly mandate is what the heavens set. Life is what the earth bestows."
"That is right."
"Then, Master. Is connection something bestowed by the heavens, or bestowed by the earth?"
"..."
I ponder that topic, then I answer, aligning it to the enlightenment Jang Ik gave me.
"The heavens and the earth...I think it is bestowed by both."
"Correct. What everyone holds is connection. But if so, at the same time, does it not mean that connection is also nowhere in particular?"
"Hmm..."
"In the end, what makes connections form is neither the heavens nor the earth, but merely the recognition and hearts of those who will form them. It is the hearts of people who live between the heavens and earth who decide connections."
Hong Fan draws something on the ground.
It is a net.
"Thus, the connections that begin from the heart of people soon come to hold even the heavens and earth within its embrace, making everything connect. The cognition and recognition of people, their wishes, become the net of connections and becomes the Law of Causality that entangles all phenomena. Some...call this Indra's Net."
"Indra's Net..."
I have seen it once in a scripture of the Cheongmun Clan long ago.
They say there is a God called Indra.
It is said that the God's net has a jewel attached on every mesh, and because one jewel reflects all the other jewels, it is a net that shows everything in this world is related to each other.
Everything in this world is connected.
"Qi, soul, and fate...in truth, are all one, are they not? In fact, everything is joined as one. So, by starting from cutting people's hearts, if you can come to see a more and more deepened world...perhaps someday you can sever the very thread of connection itself."
"To sever connections..."
I feel a strange sensation at those immense words, and I ask a question.
"Are you saying that simply by practicing the workings of the heart, one can sever the principle of the world that is called connection?"
At my doubt, Hong Fan's antennae twitch.
Somehow, that sight looks like a faint smile.
"It is difficult to obtain a human's body, and it is difficult still to realize the Dao."
From his mouth, an aphorism flows out.
Why is it?
"Following the human heart, one seeks the root of the Dao."
It feels like something I have heard before and yet also something I have never heard.
But at the same time, it is an aphorism that bears a distant, dizzying profundity.
"The root of every Dao lies in the person's heart. It means that if one gains a person's body, if one gropes forward along that heart, one can someday obtain the Dao."
"..."
"Let us polish the heart together as you go. If you do so, someday you will be able to reach even the realm that is called principle."
Hearing those words, I feel as if some sediment that sits in a corner of my heart washes away.
'Right...the heart touches principle.'
It is a path by which one can grope along the root of the Dao.
The powerful pressure Seo Hweol gave me, and that sophistry that discussed the emptiness of the heart.
Even if Jang Ik's enlightenment washed away part of that sediment and frustration, it could not completely shake off the lingering discomfort.
But upon hearing Hong Fan's aphorisms and his interpretation, I naturally come to shake off Seo Hweol's logic that remains in my heart.
"...Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to blow away the Heart Demon that remained in a corner of my heart."
"I am glad it could be of help. If someday Master succeeds in severing connections through the heart, Master will be able to sever the curse of the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment and become free."
"Freedom..."
Hearing the words of freedom, and the words of severing connections, I ponder whether the freedom found by severing connections is truly right.
"Please do not think too complicatedly. Just think of it as another way of cultivating the heart."
"To sever connections...you say?"
When I look at him with a slightly worried gaze, Hong Fan once again expresses a smile with his antennae.
"This is the latter half of the aphorism I just recited to Master. I think it will be of help, so I will recite it."
Then, he once again lets out that dizzying aphorism.
"If this body cannot achieve transcendence in this life, when shall I wait again to transcend this existence?"
I tremble as I hear that aphorism.
"When shall I wait again...to transcend this existence...?"
The final aphorism strikes me far more directly than the earlier ones.
'How many things have I lost by missing the time?'
Even when I rose to peak master, I missed the enlightenment of that time and blew away an entire life.
Even in the life with Hyang-hwa, I blew away several years because I did not say a single word of love, and let her be murdered.
"...Right, I understand what you mean."
I speak while I feel the curse of lightning transformation.
"As one lives life, there are surely things that must be cut off."
If anything, there are things that become all the more grueling if one misses the time.
By failing to decisively cut off what must be cut off, the curse could even pass on suffering to others.
"'If this body cannot achieve transcendence in this life, when shall I wait again to transcend this existence'...I will engrave it deep in my heart."
"Haw haw, it is an honor for Master to lend an ear to my counsel."
"...But..."
I suddenly tilt my head, feeling that the aphorism Hong Fan recited is uncomfortably familiar.
'No matter how I think about it...I feel like I have heard this aphorism somewhere...'
Jeon Myeong-hoon or Kim Young-hoon, I think I have once glimpsed it in media they occasionally saw on Earth.
"Hong Fan, do you by any chance know where you have heard this aphorism?"
At those words, Hong Fan laughs heartily.
"In my previous life, I seem to have wandered a bit through several worlds. I think I heard it in one of those places. Because they are words that profoundly resonated with me, I remember them. But I do not quite remember where."
"I see..."
I tilt my head and nod.
'Indeed, there are various worlds including the Middle Realms. It wouldn't be strange even if there is an aphorism similar to Earth's in one of those worlds.'
It is merely a coincidence that came up by probability.
"Anyway, I understand. I appreciate the good counsel. And I will continue the cultivation of Cutting Principle as well."
I press my palms together and begin to continue the cultivation of Cutting Principle.
For now, it is only a cultivation that just makes the heart a little hazy.
But someday, with this single cultivation method, I will be able to sever principle itself.
"...By the way, Hong Fan. Have you perhaps..."
The present.
I put my palms together and half-open my eyes.
"Cutting."
Kiiiiiiiiing!
The Heavenly Domain concentrates and compresses in my hand like a line.
Soon, the compressed line shoots straight forward.
"Principle."
In the 16th cycle, I asked him that question.
—By the way, Hong Fan. Have you perhaps...learned the Star Extinguishing True Chapter? As I see it, this seems completely different from the Heaven and Earth Immortal Cultivation system, so if you also learn it, would it not help you find your memories?
—The Star Extinguishing True Chapter is also a method I discovered somewhere during my previous life. It is an excellent method...but personally, I did not like its offensive power.
—Offensive power?
—Yes. Therefore, I did not bother to learn the Star Extinguishing True Chapter. Instead, I modified the Star Extinguishing True Chapter and, in exchange for abandoning its stability and senses to the extreme, I created and used another method that maximizes killing power and offensive power.
—Huh, if you extremely abandon stability and senses, does it not rather become harmful?
—Haw haw, that is correct. But...I think of it like this. No matter how unstable and indistinct in sense a method may be, if the wielder perfectly grasps the principle of that method and seizes all the structures that constitute its instability, then side effects such as being unstable or losing one's sense are in fact as good as not existing, are they not?
—Is...that so...? Well, fine. If you have the talent to handle it, it should be no problem. Then, what is the name of that method?
—I named it thus.
—Apex of Internal Energy Methods.
—Darkness World.
Shikagak!
The technique of Cutting Principle seems to get sucked straight into the darkness, and as if nothing exists, it passes straight through Hong Fan at the center of the darkness and flies on.
"What do you intend to do by attacking me with what I taught you?"
"..."
I simply smile.
The strike of Cutting Principle is used only to prove something.
What do I prove?
"You may be endlessly close to omnipotence...but you are not omniscient, are you?"
Hong Fan looks at me expressionlessly.
"If I hide the true intent with Heavenly Escape and fire it, even you cannot know everything."
The strike just now was one fired by mixing Heavenly Escape into the technique of Cutting Principle.
Only then does Hong Fan, realizing something, look back.
Bong Hwa, imprisoned behind Hong Fan.
On the surface of the cage that imprisons her, a faint slash mark is drawn.
"You sneered that not holding hope and opposing fate is merely my hopeful wish, did you not, Hong Fan?
"You taught me.
"If this body cannot achieve transcendence in this life, when shall I wait again to transcend this existence...?"
Wooo-wooooong—
Strength enters the hand gripping the sword.
The consciousness domain that has become Heavenly Domain stabilizes around me.
"Hope that may or may not come someday...I do not need it. Right now. Right now, at this moment, if I can achieve transcendence...that alone is enough."
Through the teaching Hong Fan taught me, I shout as I directly deny Hong Fan's enlightenment.
"Did you tell me to have hope? I do not need it. For I...in this very moment! Am saved, and am being saved!"
Nothing is taken for granted.
Time that has passed does not return.
Therefore...
This very now, which is never taken for granted, is the greatest miracle to me.
Twitch—
At my declaration, for the first time a reaction finally appears on the face of expressionless Hong Fan.
I cannot read all the workings of that heart, but with the insight and intuition of a Supreme Deity, I can discover something.
The Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju is, for the first time, displeased.
"Is the enlightenment of hope something that does not get through to you?"
"Yeah, I am..."
"Then that is enough. Let us stop playing."
And Hong Fan raises his hand dyed black.
Tsuaaaaat!
The black-dyed hand returns to its original state.
"I will show a bit of sincerity."
He throws off the rank of the Devil Heavenly King.
Only then can I tell that it was, rather, nothing but a restriction upon him.
Greeting us truly as the Future King, he begins to exert his power.
"Descend upon my hand. Immortal Treasure Radiance Supreme Deity."
The Emptiness Sword elongates, and the entire Emptiness Sword begins to be covered in radiance.
'That is...!'
Great Forest.
Flower Plant.
Great Sun.
Torch Candle.
Pearl Jade.
Great Sea.
Rain Dew.
The spirits of the Radiance Seven Immortals, whom I revived, get sucked into his hand without even being able to resist and wail.
Amidst the screams of the Heavenly Lords who once reigned as the guardians and rulers of Mount Sumeru, he takes his stance.
A throwing stance!
'That is...!'
In Silver Basket's memories, the strike with which the Future King skewered and killed Silver Basket!
—True Martial Arts Emptiness Sword.
—Fifth Form.
Paaaaatt!
'I have to dod—'
—Upper.
Jjeoooooong!
One strike.
By that one strike, my body is pierced through and I die.
—Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens!
Kiririririk...
Right before I completely perish, I once again narrowly turn back time with Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens.
The 2017th cycle once again...
Pukwak!
"...!?"
The moment I think so, I am pierced and killed again by the Fifth Form of the Emptiness Sword, Upper.
Kiririlik!
Once more, I turn time back with Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens.
And then,
Pukwak!
Once again, I get skewered and killed by that spear of light.
Only then do I realize.
'Th-This attack...!'
The Fifth Form of the Emptiness Sword.
This technique is thrown beyond regression itself.
Pukwagwagwagwak!
Thus, in an instant, the cycle count of regression through Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens begins to shoot up like mad.
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