A Supreme Deity raises a hand.
: : In the name of Flood, I declare. : :
Woooo—
Above the Audience Chamber, the chaos of the Outer Sea starts to heave and flood.
The flooding chaos surges forth, and countless Heavenly Domains seem to bubble as if boiling and then explode all at once.
: : Be submerged. : :
An archaic existence called the Flood Supreme Deity (氾濫上帝) Gwae Geon (壞乾) floods annihilation.
Amid the explosions of innumerable Heavenly Domains, another Supreme Deity swings an arm.
: : As the War God of Sunken Speech (沈言), I command. : :
Shioooo!
The Heavenly Domains that ceaselessly explode and drive us back all freeze at once, dropping us into a world of Absolute Zero.
: : Sink. : :
The Silence Supreme Deity (沈默上帝) Heuk Seong (黑聲) presses down a hand made of darkness from within a black robe.
All sound and vibration disappear, and within an endless world of stasis, our very existence itself sinks.
Not stopping there, our existence and history, made into absolute stillness, are torn away and become ancient force.
Judging by the skill in handling ancient force, they are clearly an Immortal Beast King.
: : The winter castle of the firmament. The frosted wall of the North Pole. Snowflake-laden cave of evening. The darkened house of midnight. : :
Hweooooo—
A blizzard blows.
No, it is not a blizzard.
Its name is [Winter].
The concept called 'Winter' itself flies like a blizzard and throws us, who are becoming ancient force, into a domain filled with permafrost data inside the Akashic Records, sealing us away forever.
: : Freeze and be imprisoned. Let none remember... : :
The Owner of Winter, the Extreme Cold Supreme Deity (極寒上帝) Han Cheon (寒天), neutralizes us with their authority.
Hwirurururururu!
The combined assault of numerous Supreme Deities is not the end.
The Future King's Gang Sphere clones, the fifty Gandhara whirl all at once and sever our causality and principle themselves.
—True Martial Arts, Black Heaven Darkness World.
Void Speed is almost sealed, but with only the power of Darkness World that eats and cuts the Law of Causality, it is enough for our very existence to be forgotten eternally.
In an instant, countless Enders and Heavenly Kings seem to be struck.
Kwaching!
Just then, a gigantic hand burning light pink breaks spacetime itself and appears beyond the joint seal of the Supreme Deities and Hyeon Mu.
Some among those Supreme Deities, as if recognizing it, even under control by the Future King, regain their reason and start to scream.
: : H-How...!? : :
: : Surely they died... Even as they died, we saw them challenge the Audience Chamber...! : :
: : Why are you still alive!!?? : :
: : V A S T C O L D!!! : :
Wooooooo—
Supreme Deities who seem to have been Governing Immortals during Vast Cold's era wail as if they are mere mortal beings, and even Hyeon Mu flinches.
: : A V O I D I T !!! : :
: : V A S T C O L D I S U S I N G T H E I R P O W E R !!! : :
Immediately after.
The Vast Cold Heavenly Lord swings an arm.
There is no sound.
There is no shockwave, no visible corpse fragments or phenomena.
Only one thing remains.
It is the Audience Chamber, torn along the trajectory of Vast Cold's arm, illuminating the otherworlds of the other Creation Gods beyond the Vairambha Wind.
And, with no phenomenon at all, dozens of Supreme Deities and thirty Gandhara are [deleted].
Belatedly, Hyeon Mu splits the Gang Extreme clones, but beyond the shards of spacetime, another arm made of light pink flames pops out.
That is the end.
With no sound or forewarning, the Gandhara that are being split by Hyeon Mu's will, except for three bodies, are again [deleted], and afterwards, a corner of the Audience Chamber is torn away again.
Then they begin to pull forth their body.
Kugugugung!
The Supreme Deities on the opposing side who are still intact try to exert their authority, but the moment that gigantic body descends into the battlefield...
No one dares to take action.
The gigantic deity covered in light pink flames.
The Vast Cold Heavenly Lord begins to let out a roar.
Ooooooooooo—!!
Kwaching!!!
Just a roar.
With only that, the entire Audience Chamber shatters to pieces.
All spacetime, except around the jade throne where the Future King sits, fractures unrealistically and flies away,
Mount Sumeru and the chaos of the Outer Sea that are beneath the Audience Chamber start to be [pushed] out.
From the faces of Supreme Deities of Governing Immortal rank, divine blood and Immortal Beast True Blood burst out, and as if internal injuries have occurred to the Middle Realms and Heavenly Domains within their bodies, none can steady themselves.
Huuuuu—
And the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord exhales.
The breath that starts from their mouth becomes a terrifying repulsion force, and just as the Future King's sigh bound us for an instant, it briefly binds the Gandhara of all the Supreme Deities and Hyeon Mu.
Hyeon Mu endures that breath of repulsion force and tries to mount some resistance, but...
In the next moment, Hyeon Mu and the Supreme Deities can eventually no longer withstand Vast Cold's breath and are pushed outside the Audience Chamber.
They are flown away to the otherworlds where the other Creation Gods are.
Having restored their bodies amid the combined assault of the Supreme Deities, Obsidian and Silver Basket look at Vast Cold with slightly dumbfounded eyes, and I also look at them, a bit taken aback by that monstrous power.
I can do something similar, but not like that.
But immediately after,
The one Supreme Deity who remains vomits light.
The Future King's Immortal Treasure.
The Radiance Supreme Deity.
Tsuaaat!
The Seven Heavenly Lords scream, and inside it, a phenomenon that looks as if 'time is turning back' happens again, and the one who had flown away to a separate world jumps out.
It is Hyeon Mu.
Hyeon Mu looks at us with gloomy eyes and places the Origin Essence of Light upon her hand.
"Radiance Mantra. Time Restoration."
Kiririririk!
As I endured the Future King's strike with Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens and brought my comrades back to life,
Hyeon Mu turns time back once more, invites us onto a new timeline, and brings back and restores the Supreme Deities and Gandhara that were just now annihilated back into this world.
"In pure force, the one equal to the main body is you."
With eyes filled with self-loathing and emptiness, Hyeon Mu points to the Heavenly Void Furnace and speaks.
"Then, shall we see if your authority is also to that extent?"
Woo-wooonng!
The Immortal Treasure Radiance Supreme Deity.
From within, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord jumps out and resists.
But unable to resist the authority of Hyeon Mu who regained the Future King's memories, they in the end become a single flame and burrows into the Heavenly Void Furnace.
The Torch Candle Heavenly Lord becomes a single incense flame of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Incense lights up in the Heavenly Void Furnace, and the incense flame changes into mist and chaos, forming some kind of shape.
'That is...'
"O Heavenly Void Furnace. I light incense before you and beseech you: pour forth infinite tales and make the sinner wander through the life of eternal ages."
Immediately after, Hyeon Mu grabs the black handle among the three handles, and she pours toward Vast Cold the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord that burns in that brazier and the something that is welling up inside it.
Vast Cold tries to evade, but at that moment.
Hyeon Mu seems to vanish from before the eyes, then quickly envelopes what is inside the brazier over Vast Cold.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Sixth Form.
—Future.
Kiriririk!
I step forward to stop it, but in the end, Vast Cold is just barely covered by the ashes that are burning in the brazier and disappears from the battlefield.
Judging by what I experienced in the 16th cycle...
They likely got sucked into the countless 'stories' melted into chaos, and for a time close to eternity, they will remain confined while repeating the cycle of reincarnation as a mortal, exhausting the heart and mind to the extreme.
"You also use the Emptiness Sword."
"Because I am his True Martial Arts itself. Why do you think I am called the True Martial Great Emperor?"
Hyeon Mu transforms again into a swirling Gandhara and leads the restored army of Supreme Deities.
"The move of 'Future' is an acceleration technique that surpasses my own limits. The principle of Void Speed is something that cannot be manifested to reach Undying if the heart is not settled. But if I use Future, I can move again at the previous speed as much as I want."
Tsaaaaaaa—
Countless authorities and authorities mix and intertwine, and the powers of innumerable Supreme Deities surge like waves and create a new world close to Mount Sumeru.
Kururururu—
Something in the form of a mountain, almost the same as Mount Sumeru, with dozens of Heavenly Domains woven together, plunges down toward us.
"You cannot surpass even me alone."
Woo-wooong!
And, in front of yet another Mount Sumeru completed under Hyeon Mu's command.
Something small blocks it.
It is a single degenerate star.
That black hole which absorbs all light devours even the very other Mount Sumeru as if drinking down the sky, and transmits the power to somewhere.
Its name is Swallowing Heaven.
The worst mantra evolved from the Flawless Mantra by the God Of Gods.
The Obsidian Devil Heavenly King, while receiving power from Swallowing Heaven, steps forward and begins to exert power, and seeing that, Hyeon Mu starts stroking the Heavenly Void Furnace again.
Seeing this, I try to squeeze out the dispelling formula of the Heavenly Void Furnace even faster.
A true war of myth begins to unfold.
16th cycle, inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I blink.
"Mm, I dozed off for a moment."
After entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, setting Hong Fan as the law protector, meditating a bit, and growing bored for a while, I dozed for a moment.
'Maybe because I'm using it for the first time...I really don't know what it's helping at all.'
I received Yang Su-jin's blessing and tried using it, but no matter how I look, I can't see the effects that were expected.
"Maybe it's not something that shows effects after one use...but like the Liberation Seal, it draws in fortune and boosts cultivation luck?"
For now, since this is the first use, I don't think I can judge anything.
"Tsk... It seems at least a day has passed, so shall I head out soon..."
Sensing time through my biological clock, I call to the one who should be standing as my law protector outside.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
But for some reason Hong Fan gives no answer.
"By any chance, was there anything unusual outside?"
"..."
No matter how many times I call, there is only silence.
'Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, I can't send consciousness outside, huh...'
On top of that, it seems even sensing through the grain of air, temperature, and vibrations is blocked, so I can't feel anything outside.
'Did something come up? I should go out for now.'
I step out of the Heavenly Void Furnace and look around to find Hong Fan, who should be standing as my law protector outside.
"Hm...shall we first head...out...?"
And I shut my mouth.
"...Huh?"
Kugugugugugu!
My vision reels.
My sense of distance and my sense of time are strange.
Causality, spacetime, rules...
I cannot feel any of them.
Everything is bizarre, it's a terrible sea of chaos like billowing clouds!
Pitch-black Primordial Chaos greets me.
"Keheuk! Kahahak...!"
When I meet this chaos with a body that is merely at the Nascent Soul stage, I realize that my very existence is being distorted.
Instinctively, I look back at the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I do not know why I was suddenly transferred into this bizarre sea of chaos.
However, one thing is certain. Even in this sea of chaos, the Heavenly Void Furnace takes on an intact form, and inside it, I am also fine.
'I must return...to the Heavenly Void Furnace...'
However, no matter how I search, I cannot see the Heavenly Void Furnace.
With no time even to be flustered at the Heavenly Void Furnace suddenly vanishing, my entire body melts in the chaos and turns into something bizarre hundreds of millions of times.
"Guaaaaaaa!!!"
Uwoooong!
One shichen.
For that length of time, I scream, and I barely gather my very existence around the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.
"Keheok... Heok...!"
A pale mist surrounds me from the chaos and protects my Nascent Soul.
But what is protected is only the spirit and the Nascent Soul.
Everything else, my physical body and all that spans the body, has already melted away in the chaos and vanished.
'I can't feel...the Colorless Glass Sword...'
However, the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, which activates based on the Colorless Glass Sword, remains.
It is a strange thing.
'For now, I can endure in this chaos through the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.'
I operate the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections at full power and strain to protect at least my spirit.
'Why did I suddenly get moved from the Heavenly Void Furnace to a world like this? Could this be the Heavenly Void Furnace's true ability? Damn it...'
Startled by this bizarre phenomenon, I first begin to think about a way to escape from within this phenomenon.
'It might be an illusion. Let's stay still and figure out the rules of this strange world.'
Wo-woong!
Maintaining the power of my Nascent Soul, I create a spell in half a day within my Nascent Soul to calculate time on my own behalf and measure the time.
Thus, a day passes.
*
A day.
Within the span of a day, I learn one thing.
"Damn it..."
It is precisely that this world has no rules.
I cannot discover any rules at all.
I can only drift in this sea of chaos like duckweed and barely maintain my existence.
In this world, it is impossible for anything living, anything with rules, to exist.
"Yang Su-jin...why in the world did you send me here...?"
Harboring doubt toward Yang Su-jin, who strongly insisted I enter this place, I continue to observe this world and observe again.
*
A month passes.
"...I see."
During the span called a month, I come to know by feeling this chaos with my very Nascent Soul.
This chaos belongs to none of Qi, Soul, or Fate.
Qi, Soul, Fate.
It feels like all of Heaven, Earth, Heart and the Three Powers are jumbled into one big mess.
And that means...
'If I use this chaos, it might be possible to cultivate and to restore the body...!'
In the midst of chaos, I set a goal.
'First, in this chaos where everything is jumbled together...let's trying dividing it into three.'
If I can extract qi from the chaos, it might be possible to restore the body and accumulate cultivation.
From that day forward, I concentrate my entire mind and attempt to access the chaos.
*
Thus, a year passes.
"Gaaaaaaaah!!! Kuaaaaaaaagh!!! Aaaaaaaagh!!!"
Nothing.
Nothing is achieved.
For the time called a year, I grab at this thing called chaos and do every kind of mad act to extract qi.
However, the chaos does not budge.
It only tosses me about like duckweed, making me drift here and there.
In this severed world of chaos where I cannot talk with anyone...
I scream endlessly and wail in despair.
*
Ten years pass.
"..."
Something...
Begins to change.
Woo-wooong—
I empty my mind into emptiness, become a natural state, and focus my will before my eyes.
And at a certain moment,
Paaatt!
A portion of the chaos before my eyes twists.
'Ahh...'
For the span of ten years, I drifted through chaos.
And in the tenth year.
At last, in regards to how to wield this thing called chaos...
I am able to grasp a faint sense.
'Is this...'
Peok!
'How it's done...?'
Not as if handling spells.
Not as if handling martial arts.
The condition to handle chaos is, quite literally, a do-or-die resolve.
It is the very will to offer everything.
'I must devote my entire self...'
Woo-woooong!
Only then does it move, if only in part.
That is chaos!
Ripple!
Succeeding in making a portion of the chaos before my eyes ripple, I remember the sensation at the moment of success.
A power that moves only when I devote my whole mind, heart, and strength.
'It's like...'
When I cut down Yanguo's Crown Prince Makli Hyeon even after my neck fell.
When I seized Makli Hwang-cheon's hand and, even after dying, gripped it to buy time for my disciples.
When, to bow to my master, I resisted the heavens and made my heart beat just to move my body.
Only by unfolding the do-or-die resolve I felt then does movement become possible.
That is precisely chaos.
I can do it.
I know myself well.
'If I set my mind to it, I can do it as much as it takes!'
Whether one year, ten years, a hundred years, even if it takes a thousand or ten thousand years!
'I will surely regain my body, accumulate cultivation...and return!'
I will not give up.
*
A hundred years pass.
100 years.
Woo-wooooong!
And after the span of a hundred years...
At last, I succeed in handling and separating chaos by will alone.
Woo-wooong!
The chaos splits into the three planes, and qi flows out.
I absorb the qi, replenish the Nascent Soul energy that has been exhausted for a hundred years, and realize.
"It links...with the Star Extinguishing True Chapter."
Indeed.
A technique of handling chaos with pure will alone.
Somehow, this touches something in the content of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.
In the Star Extinguishing True Chapter Hong Fan gave me, it is termed Primordial Origin (始原).
'Originally, whether Cutting Principle, Cutting Self, and Cutting Other...'
The cultivation called 'Cutting People' must be cultivated through the power called [Primordial Origin].
But since I simply did not know what this power of [Primordial Origin] is, I have until now been cultivating by unorthodox methods.
But now,
I realize the method to handle the power of [Primordial Origin].
'I see. In a way...is this chaos not the optimal space to cultivate the Star Extinguishing True Chapter?'
Moreover, I now also know the method to split chaos into the three planes and extract qi.
The Nascent Soul stage, the Heavenly Being stage cultivation are all possible.
'Let's restore the body, accumulate the realm, and cultivate the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.'
If I do so, surely, even if I leave this world of Primordial Chaos, I will be able to take away a great many gains.
'Let's raise the realm!'
Though that is the only thing I can do anyway...
In any case, right now is the optimal situation in which I have no choice but to focus on elevating my realm.
Thus, I decide to raise my realm with all my strength, and from that day I enter relentless tempering.
*
A thousand years pass.
A thousand years.
In that time, I achieve many things.
First, by extracting qi from the three planes, condensing it, and smelting and refining it for a long time,
By referring to Yuan Li's Blood Body creation method, I succeed in cultivating a body within pure qi.
Up to there is exactly a hundred years.
Then, after creating a physical body, I let the Nascent Soul dwell in the body, and to reinforce and recover the Nascent Soul that has left the body and been directly exposed to chaos all that time, I spend another hundred years.
And through eight hundred years...
I at last reach the Grand Perfection Nascent Soul stage, and see immense progress as I cultivate the divine power of Cutting Principle.
"Huuu..."
Now that I have, to some degree, acquired a knack for handling chaos, I create a spherical protective barrier centered on the body, protect the flesh from melting away in the chaos, and open my eyes.
I can see more clearly now.'
For nearly a thousand years, I delved deeper into the power of [Primordial Origin] and studied the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.
Before I knew it, I could see that there is also a [net] within this chaos.
This net is not as stable as the ones I saw inside stable worlds such as the Head Realm or the Bright Cold Realm.
It can in fact be called the only rule that exists in this sea of chaos, where no rules exist.
'But it is still far off.'
I still cannot know everything about this net, and I still cannot perfectly grasp the regularity of the net within the sea of chaos.
There is also another problem.
'Lifespan...'
Clearly, even though I am learning all sorts of powers and growing stronger in the sea of chaos...
I am still at the Nascent Soul stage.
My lifespan is steadily decreasing.
In truth, this is not an immediate problem.
I received the Heavenly Being advancement method from Makli Cheon-sa.
If I advance to the Heavenly Being stage, I will be free from worrying about lifespan for a while.
But the real problem is that I don't know how long I will drift in this space.
'It might not be on the scale of a thousand years...'
I might have to remain another ten thousand, a hundred thousand years.
How much longer I must remain trapped here...?
I cannot even get a sense for it.
'If my lifespan ends during that time...'
I will end up spending this very lifetime entirely within this chaos.
In truth, that does not particularly matter.
Because even if I die, the one who returns is me.
But the biggest problem is...
'Hong Fan...'
The last connection I have not yet severed.
'Hong Fan must be searching for me...'
I must tell him.
That I am alright.
And that there is nothing to worry about...
I feel that only if I convey that one sentence will my heart be at ease.
'Heavens Above...'
I softly call to the heavens.
'I please beseech you thus...if in you also there exists mercy and compassion, please...please...'
Quietly, with all my heart, I pray.
'To my last remaining friend in this lifetime, please plant comfort...'
As I pray so earnestly...
I slowly make plans for what lies ahead.
Thus, as I investigate this chaos, I struggle endlessly to delve into the [net] and to raise my realm.
Since in the sea of chaos there is rather no Heavenly Tribulation, advancing to the Heavenly Being stage poses no problem at all.
But the problem is that I don't know the realm formula after advancing to the Heavenly Being stage.
I can no longer raise my realm to increase my lifespan.
From the day I reach the Heavenly Being stage, I only cultivate the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, waiting slowly for my lifespan to run out.
And at last, that day approaches.
'The flame of life is dying out...'
The body that has reached the Heavenly Being stage declines.
Since a span of two thousand years has passed, it is time for it to go out.
Perhaps because this is the sea of chaos, I can't see the celestial energy, but I can infer it from the life force remaining within my body.
I will soon die.
'Is this how it ends...? Heavens Above...'
I earnestly pray to the heavens.
The Heavens do not give an answer, yet I still earnestly do so.
'Please...let my friend...be able to put his heart at ease...'
So that the one whose fate is to follow me does not worry, trying to seek me...
Praying that my last connection's heart may be at peace...
I thus watch the life of my body go out.
...
.
.
.
.
.
And.
I do not die.
"...?"
The body's vitality is exhausted.
But...
'Uh...?'
My 'will' drifts like duckweed within the chaos, and still 'remains alive'.
Tstststst...
Though a weakened body would melt into the chaos, a body tempered by the power of [Primordial Origin] does not decline.
Only then can I escape one foolish misconception.
'This chaos...is the [outside] of the world where I was in.'
The inside of the world.
The power of the [Heavens] that suppresses and records our lifespan does not fully reach here.
'Ahhhhh...'
Kuuuuuung!
As I gain enlightenment, I separate chaos into three planes through the will of [Primordial Origin], and from the separated three planes I condense qi and create a new body.
Then I fill it with life force, enter once more, and raise my realm.
The Heavenly Being stage is still the limit.
But I can tell.
"Now...is the oppression of the Heavenly Dao...something I don't need to worry about?"
In this world, I now do not die.
As long as I fill in as much life force as I want, I can live as much as I please.
Realizing that, I ponder whether I should be glad about this or not.
'It's good. It's certainly good, and something to be grateful for. But...'
What should I cultivate now?
The realm formulas I know of only go up to the Heavenly Being stage.
For the time being, I don't know the cultivation formulas for the Heavenly Being stage and onwards.
I can ignorantly accumulate energy, but even if I do that, the realm will not rise.
'If the realm does not rise...'
I just have to dig only into the power of [Primordial Origin] endlessly.
But I dislike that.
'If I only do that, I will go mad.'
Raising the realm of Immortal Cultivation is necessary, if only for a ventilation of the mind.
It is necessary to raise the stability of my spirit, to protect my mind.
'But at this rate, it is obvious I will go mad by only digging into the power of Primordial Origin...'
I dislike going mad.
Since I once went mad at Ascension Path to reach Ultimate Pinnacle, I know how painful going mad is.
'What am I to do...?'
I ponder for a long while, and suddenly, while making a Gang Sphere clone to play with, I realize something.
"Ah...!"
The Gang Sphere clone tells me the answer.
"If quality is not enough...then I should do it with quantity...!"
Together with the Gang Sphere clone, just like the Integration stage Grand Cultivator 'Wi Ryeong-seon' I saw in the early days of this life cultivating through countless clones...
I split.
I split and split, and link them endlessly.
Woo-woong!
I apply the divine power of the Three Spirits Art to the energy of the Heavenly Being stage body and chop it into fine parts.
Splitting and splitting, as a result I split it into about three thousand.
The body ultimately falls to the Qi Refining level.
About three thousand bodies at the Qi Refining level.
I, while commanding the Qi Refining level bodies with the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, start to slowly raise the bodies' realms.
If quality is not enough, then with quantity.
Even if I have to split!
Thus, from that day, I have the clones cultivate with the goal of raising them to the Heavenly Being stage.
*
Ten thousand years pass.
Kugugugugugu!
Before I know it, [I] command countless Heavenly Being stage bodies and investigate principle within the chaos.
Through the Three Spirits Art I made three thousand clones.
I raised each and every one of those clones all the way to the Heavenly Being stage.
Then I split those clones that were raised to the Heavenly Being stage into three thousand again.
Then I repeated everything from the very beginning again.
I already repeated that act three times.
An unimaginably large number of Heavenly Being stage clones split again as they accumulate cultivation.
I grow accustomed to handling chaos within chaos, and I gradually become used to seeing and interfering with the 'principle'.
At the same time, the power of Primordial Origin has also matured, so I can wield even more wonders.
Refining chaos to create matter and the like is already something easily accomplished under my hand.
Kugugugugu!
Moreover, when countless Heavenly Being stage clones extend their consciousness all at once to control the chaos, I can, for a time, form a certain 'domain'.
It is the result of combining the Star Extinguishing True Chapter and the power of the Heavenly Being clones.
'They say upon reaching the Integration stage one can form the Integrated Dao Domain... Am I now at a level corresponding to the Integration stage?'
It seems likely so.
Integration stage after ten thousand years.
If it were the outside, it might have been something impossible.
Even so, despite reaching such a hard-to-attain realm, I've recently felt a strong Heart Demon tormenting me.
'I want to die.'
Ten thousand years.
It's been ten thousand years.
I, for ten thousand years, repeatedly created and split clones in this chaos where no one exists.
Unable to even communicate with anyone...
[Guaaaaaaaa!!!]
When I scream, the countless clones scream together.
The scream of a single Heavenly Being is unimpressive, but the roar of clones that easily surpasses ten thousand is itself a powerful force no different from a spiritual energy wave.
The divine power of Cutting Principle is now almost fully completed as well.
If I proceed to the next step and cultivate the first layer of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, I can surely obtain powerful strength and reach a high realm, but I cannot proceed to the next step.
In a state where I cannot proceed to the next step, only the divine power matures.
It's now possible to at times strike precisely, and at times manipulate Indra's Net, this very principle called the Law of Causality.
However...
In this world of chaos, I absolutely cannot escape.
I keenly feel that I am going mad.
[Just how long!? How long!? How long do I have to keep doing this!!??]
Bursting with mad ferocity, I yell.
[Please...let me get out of here...please...]
In truth, I know it too.
There is one way out.
The net of principle in the sea of chaos.
The more I look at the Law of Causality, the more I see one powerful causal law remaining for me.
A very powerful thread of connection left to me in this life.
The connection with Hong Fan.
If I only cut it with Cutting Principle...
I feel that I can attain great completion of the early part of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter's first layer, and enter into some new realm.
The Heart Demon whispers.
Before my eyes, Seo Eun-hyun in black clothes comes close with a sneer and mutters in my ear.
[Cut it off. It's a mere damn bug bastard anyway...who cares. You can just store it in the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, then cut it easily like Makli Cheon-sa and go on to the next realm, right?]
He laughs.
[Sever the connection and stand alone. Become the Devil. Awaken the devilish nature within you and quickly reach a high realm. If you do...you can surely leave this damned world quickly.]
Cut it!
Cut!
Cut the last remaining connection!
And then, I speak.
"Stop...spewing bullshit..."
The countless clones bury their faces in both hands and sob in the same posture as me.
"Do you think I will cut it...?"
—If the hearts of people connect.
—Is that not an endless blessing...?
"I won't cut it..."
Even if I can advance to the next stage of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, I cannot sever what is truly precious.
I only grit my teeth, ignore the words of the Heart Demon, and groan within the chaos.
[I am not your Heart Demon. You know that too.]
Forcing myself...
To ignore the words of the Heart Demon...
[I am you. The true you. The true devilish nature hidden within you. Entrust yourself to me. For we...were one from the very beginning.]
*
A hundred thousand years pass.
A hundred thousand years.
A span of time long enough to exhaust the lifespan of the Integration stage.
[Haak... Haaaaaaaaaaaagh...!]
Panting like a madman, I look at the [net].
[Ihik... Ahahakhakhakhakhakhakhakhak...!!!]
Now I can see it.
I can see the shape of the [net]!
The [net] spreads wide across this sea of chaos, tracing a smooth curve.
This sea of chaos does not lack rules.
Along the [net], it is forming [something].
Kugugugugugugu!
Now, leading Heavenly Being stage clones that number in the hundreds of billions...
I drift through chaos like white mist and start to fly to grasp the true nature of that [something].
[Ihikhikhikhikhikhikhikhi-hik...!]
Perhaps now.
My madness may surpass even the Mad Lord.
But even in the midst of that...
Even while the Heart Demon screams at me like crazy, scolds me, and at times even begs me...
I feign madness, and to the very end I do not sever the one thread of connection.
My weight class increases, but the realm of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter remains in the same place.
In this realm where only Cutting Principle continues to mature...
I fly through the chaos.
*
A million years.
A span of a million years passes.
Hwiooooooo—
The chaos is vast.
And although a far too long of a time passed trying to confirm what that [something] is, I still do not recognize what it is.
However, I come to know one new thing.
[See. What did I say?]
The Heart Demon, with a sly face, grabs my shoulder, slings an arm around me, and laughs.
[If you sever the last connection...your true fate will help you.]
I am the Devil.
Deeper and more abominable than being a Heavenly Fiend of the Blood Yin Realm.
The true devilish nature itself.
That is my fate.
As a result of tearing apart principle and causality over and over.
At last, having even torn apart my own causality, that is the conclusion I have reached.
[You can go out! The moment you acknowledge your fate, attraction force will become strong and pull you in! Accept it! Accept it!]
The Heart Demon.
No...
The true me speaks.
I cannot endure it any longer.
I must go out.
Squirmsquirmsquirmsquirmsquirmsquirmsquirmsquirm...
The clones at the Heavenly Being stage that have entered the 'gyeong' (10^16) scale no longer bother to maintain a human form.
The Heavenly Being stage clones, at some point within the chaos, melted into forms similar to the chaos, overlapped with each other, stuck together, and became a huge mass centered on me.
That's right.
Now, things like Heavenly Being stage clones are no more than the level of 'cells' to me.
I've become a monster that is like a huge chunk of flesh, a monstrosity that can swallow and annihilate even stars in a single strike.
I am already mad.
If I am not to go mad any further...
I must leave.
[Make a promise to the future. Recall Hong Fan's words. If you do not go out now and keep holding out here longer...there is no hope.]
Hope.
Hope!
At the word hope, I violently shake the body layered with countless chunks of overlapping flesh.
I am sobbing.
Wooooo!
I want to grasp hope.
But...
"I cannot...cut it..."
I mutter in pain.
I endured for a million years.
On what foundation have I endured?
It is because the cornerstone that supports me...
—Is what I also gave you...
"Because the greatest gift given to my life...is this."
...is a blessing that never collapses.
[Hong Fan is your last connection, and you say you will not follow his words? Hong Fan is surely wishing for you to become happy, yet are you ignoring his will? If it is Hong Fan, he will surely wish for you to become happy even if you sever the connection.]
"Did Hong Fan not say so?"
I smile toward the Heart Demon.
"He said...following the human heart, one seeks the root of the Dao."
The heart of people touches the root of the Dao.
The thread formed by the heart and heart is connection.
"I cannot...in a situation where I know nothing, sever it merely on circumstances!"
Always.
When I severed a connection through Cutting Principle, I faced the other and cut.
Even the Qi Building stage cultivator who became the test subject of the first Cutting Principle.
Even Makli Cheon-sa.
Even the Bright Cold Realm...
All of them I faced with these eyes and severed the connection.
To sever a connection is an act as important as forming a connection.
I cannot cut it without facing them.
"Unless...I meet Hong Fan directly. Unless I directly convey my will to him...I will never, from my side, recklessly sever it."
The Heart Demon.
No, the true me makes a face like he is about to lose my mind and lets out a scream.
[You son of a biiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!! If you cut it, it becomes easy!!! Just why in the world!? What has!? Where!? What part of you has broken down!?]
I begin to grin.
A million years.
It is only a million years.
"Do you know this? In the eyes of one who is broken, only broken things are seen..."
After only a mere million years.
Little by little, the 'Heart Demon' has begun to go mad.
"I am not broken. Only everything other than me is broken."
*
Ten million years.
'Ah...'
The time of ten million years has passed.
At last, I confirm the form of the [something].
'This place...is the inside of the Heavenly Void Furnace.'
At last, I realize.
I am still inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Law of Causality.
Indra's Net and the flow that is called the weaving of principle.
The interior of the Heavenly Void Furnace is woven in a similar flow.
The moment I dozed off in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
My soul fell into this Heavenly Void Furnace and suffered for endless eons.
'I see. From the beginning, [this] was its use.'
It grants endlessly long years to the being that enters the Heavenly Void Furnace, and by the power of time itself, it inflicts pain and drives them mad.
And when a certain period passes, it deletes all the memories of the being that has entered the Heavenly Void Furnace and sends them back to the moment when they first entered the Heavenly Void Furnace and spent a day.
In other words...
I spent ten million years in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
But not even a single day has passed outside.
And at the moment when the certain period that is still not filled even with ten million years ends...
'The me up to now' will have all memories deleted, and the me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace will receive about one year's worth of cultivation experience through the torn-up traces of 'the memories of the me up to now'.
'Was this a vicious devilish monster from the very beginning?'
I let out a silent murmur.
And the 'Heart Demon' that began to go mad and started to shut up from about nine million years ago starts to raise its head again.
[Cut the connection. If not, the ten million years you have walked will become meaningless. If you cut the connection, there is a way to go out while preserving this memory intact. Fate will help you.]
I let its words pass through one ear as I think and ponder.
'Is there no way?'
Can I not preserve the memory with the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections?
Do I really have to follow the Heart Demon's words?
Can I not pierce the Heavenly Void Furnace with my own power and get out?
I repeat countless worries and vexations.
Like so, another ten million years pass.
In that enormous flow of time...
I finally hit upon one method.
"I will not cut the connection."
The 'Heart Demon' now gives no answer, perhaps lacking the strength to respond to my words.
No, perhaps it does answer, but since I kept ignoring it so much, I might not be hearing it.
It doesn't matter much.
"I will also not discard the 'me' of now."
Same for the hope for the future.
And the connections precious to me now as well.
I discard neither.
Because I am greedy.
I will get both in my hands.
Even if...
"Even if I use a method that sacrifices myself...!"
Within the mad obsession tempered over an immeasurably long time, writhing the mass of flesh that now reaches a level comparable to a True Immortal...
I start to make an exit that escapes the rules of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
A long and longer time flows again.
*
Thirty million years.
*
Forty million years.
*
Fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty million years.
*
Ninety million years.
*
Ninety-nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine years...!
: : I see. : :
The time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace has a maximum of one hundred million years.
Of course, it does vary depending on the target or the conditions...
But in any case, when it comes to imprisoning 'the mortal being Seo Eun-hyun', one hundred million years is the maximum.
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, I reach a realm corresponding to True Immortality and keep investigating the Heavenly Void Furnace itself for endless time.
At last, I find one method to aim at a gap in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
: : If time passes like this, the me of now will be deleted. But... : :
The 'me' 'outside' in the end knows nothing.
Merely rejoicing that cultivation increased by about a year's worth, I will enter the Heavenly Void Furnace again after some time.
To the me who enters the Heavenly Void Furnace again, no memory will be transmitted...
And I will have to spend another one hundred million years foolishly.
: : I will transmit it... If I do so, surely... : :
Someday, a future that escapes the Heavenly Void Furnace will open.
Kiiiiiiiing!
I begin to compress my true body that has, before I knew it, is no longer a lump made of Heavenly Being stage clones but has become a transcendent existence through breathing in chaos itself.
I infuse my lifelong wish and authority and twist part of the Law of Causality that composes the Heavenly Void Furnace.
And I engrave the traces of the existence called [me] here.
: : O [Myself] who enters [Next]. Someday, please...may you find this...! : :
Gugugugugugu!!
A method that does not cut the connection, nor loses the me up to now.
It is merely to transmit myself.
: : Therefore...do not despair. O Myself... : :
I comfort the me who will come in here again in the future and be flustered...
And change into a small lump of green light and turn into a tiny light-mass that drifts within chaos.
As if...
Changing into the same color as the norigae that Hyang-hwa gave me.
Therefore, dyed in green light, and making a promise with the next...
I thus,
Cross one hundred million years and at last escape from the world of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"Yes, Master."
"Was there anything unusual outside?"
"No."
I come out of the Heavenly Void Furnace and approach Hong Fan, who is standing guard as my law protector outside.
"Hmm...let us go out for now."
To check whether there is anything strange or not, I come out with Hong Fan to the surface of Ascension Path.
And when I read the celestial energy of the sky to check the time...
A day truly has passed without anything happening.
'Time is not particularly twisted...there is no earthshaking change...and the spiritual nature of the Heavenly Void Furnace has not flowed in... Rather...'
I observe a corner of my consciousness.
A portion of my consciousness was torn away, to the point that it must be restored.
'It was torn away by quite a large margin.'
The degree of damage to my consciousness is more severe than I expected, to the point it seems I must operate the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon and recuperate for at least a month.
'My cultivation doesn't seem to have increased in particular either... Did my consciousness just get torn and that's it? What on earth is this...?'
Just when I am clicking my tongue inwardly at the Heavenly Void Furnace and am about to operate the formula of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter to observe the 'net'...
"...Huh?"
Only then do I feel a change.
"Hm? Master, is there some change?"
"Uh, uhhhhh..."
Shiver!
Goosebumps start to rise.
"What on earth is this...?"
I went into the Heavenly Void Furnace and meditated for a day.
After coming out, I immediately try using the divine power of Cutting Principle and realize something.
The cultivation divine power of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter's first layer, Cutting Principle.
A divine power that cuts principle.
The cultivation progress of Cutting Principle has advanced as much as if I cultivated for a year.
Only then do I realize how terrifying a divine artifact the Heavenly Void Furnace is.
'Regardless of the rank of the method, if I simply go inside and meditate for a day...in exchange for consuming consciousness, it simply advances a year's worth of cultivation.'
The common cultivation methods or the Five Surpassing Paths to Cultivation sold in the marketplace.
Even the Immortal Arts of a True Immortal.
As long as I spend about a day, this divine artifact pierces through a year's worth of cultivation progress equally for everything.
That is the ability of the artifact called the Heavenly Void Furnace.
The moment I realize that, I feel my chest swell with hope.
'If, if it is this divine artifact.'
It is possible.
Within this lifetime, it is possible to sever the very connection with the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment and completely escape the curse of lightning transformation!
Thus, after a month's time recovering my consciousness with the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.
I enter the Heavenly Void Furnace again with a joyful heart.
It is the beginning of rapid cultivation.
-x-X-x-
Hwioooooo—
"Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
I doze for a moment inside the Heavenly Void Furnace and open my eyes.
I can't feel the outside.
Feeling puzzled, I go out to look, and...
I see a completely new world.
Hwioooooo—
"Wh-What...what is this...!?"
What greets me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace is a vast chaos.
Wondering what is going on, I look toward the Heavenly Void Furnace...
But the Heavenly Void Furnace has already disappeared.
"Hong Fan... Hong Fan...!"
At this bizarre phenomenon, I call for Hong Fan, but he does not answer.
"Th-This...What is happening...!?"
From that day on, within this infinite, endless world of chaos, I howl and thrash about to escape.
*
One hundred million years pass.
Hwioooooooo—
One hundred million years.
I compose my flesh from countless clone bodies, and before I knew it, I've become a gigantic existence approaching True Immortality, and through the rank of such an existence I investigate the chaos and find out the secret of this world.
And...
Only now can I finally find the traces of the [previous me] who remained in this Heavenly Void Furnace.
Woong, woo-woooong!
A sphere of green light floating before my eyes.
As I place my hand toward this strange lump of light like a firefly, memories and history about [the first me] flow in.
Yes...
This is not the first time.
I also, before.
That is, even when I first entered the Heavenly Void Furnace, I once endured this hellish time.
: : And then I forgot again. : :
Even the 'me of now' who endured one hundred million years...
...is soon to be forgotten.
[Cut it...cut it...]
Letting the words of the 'Heart Demon' inside me that earnestly begs to sever connection pass in one ear and out the next, my eyes gleam.
: : From now on as well, the 'me' outside the Heavenly Void Furnace will forget everything again and use the Heavenly Void Furnace every month. And as both the realm and the proficiency of the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon gradually rises, the cycle of coming here will gradually shorten. : :
I must stop it.
In order to do so, it is first important that the selves of me who come here find the memories.
Wo-woong—
Within the lump of green light before my eyes is [me of the first Heavenly Void Furnace].
The idea of transmitting memories and history down to the later cycles is excellent, but...
In the end, only when almost one hundred million years have passed, only when it is time to go out, has it come before me.
'At this rate, no matter how many times I come here, I'm only walking in place.'
I have to move the time forward.
So that the [me]s who come later can receive the memories of the [me]s earlier!
'So that during the time called one hundred million years, I don't simply raise my realm and weight class, cultivate the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, and investigate the secrets of this space...but find a way to leave this space...!'
Kiiiiiiiiiing!
I begin to compress my own existence and essence, like [the me of the first Heavenly Void Furnace].
I sacrifice everything, so that the [me] who will come in later generations can receive the succession of the 'previous me' a little sooner...
Thus, at last one hundred million years are filled, and I go outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I enter the Heavenly Void Furnace for the third time.
'In just two months, I already finished two years' worth of cultivation.'
My understanding of the divine power of Cutting Principle is gradually broadening.
'If it continues like this, I can completely nullify the curse within this lifetime!'
Thinking so, I call for Hong Fan.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
However, Hong Fan gives no answer, and I go outside.
"Th-This is..."
Endless chaos unfolds.
"What on earth is happening here!?"
Hwioooooo—
As my whole body melts inside the endlessly raging chaos...
I begin to scream.
*
Ninety-nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety years.
Wing— Wing—
Creating countless Heavenly Being stage clones and reaching a realm corresponding to True Immortality, I realize the truth of this Heavenly Void Furnace and discover something inside.
: : This is... : :
They are 'two clusters of green light' that revolve together, spinning round and round and drawing an endless circle.
Receiving a very familiar feeling from those clusters of light...
I can tell that these clusters of light have waited for me across a long and longer time.
Wo-woong—
I reach out my hand to those clusters of light.
Paaaatt!
And as I read the wisdom and history contained inside the clusters of light, I now understand.
That this Heavenly Void Furnace is a terrifying trap...
*
Time passes, and the time has come for me, [the me of the third Heavenly Void Furnace], to go out.
I sacrifice myself and melt down my entirety like the previous two clusters of light.
: : Starting from the [next]...it will be different. : :
According to the method devised by [the me of the second Heavenly Void Furnace], the later [me]s will gradually inherit [my] memories and history faster.
I fill all the time, and at last, I exit the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Wooo-woooooong!
Recently, my attainment in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon has also increased.
My consciousness has been grievously damaged and restored several times.
Thanks to that, it seems the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon has also begun to evolve.
If it continues like this, the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon will also become quite powerful, and someday the recovery cycle of consciousness might speed up to the level of a single day.
If it becomes like that, I can accumulate cultivation even faster.
I realize that I am gradually entering the Heavenly Void Furnace with an even more excited heart.
'It truly is a tremendous divine artifact. This Heavenly Void Furnace...'
Woo-woong—
Entering the Heavenly Void Furnace and meditating, even dozing for a moment, I complete the meditation.
After that, I call for Hong Fan in a tone that is now becoming habitual.
"Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
There is no reply.
Feeling puzzlement, I go outside the Heavenly Void Furnace and can see an immense world of chaos.
"Wh-What on earth...?"
But without even having time to grasp the situation, I feel my whole body melting away inside the chaos and scream.
"Kuaaaaaaaagh!"
It's melting!
My entire body is transforming into all sorts of bizarre things and disappearing!
At that moment.
Shwoong, shwoong, shwoong!
From beyond that distant chaos, [three green lights] fly in and surround me.
'What on earth...?'
However, although those clusters of light like fireflies coil around my Nascent Soul, that is all.
Other than coiling and revolving around with me as the center, they give no help at all.
'Damn it... This isn't giving any help at all...!'
In the end, without receiving their help, I barely unfold the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections and prevent myself from being annihilated.
As I use the power of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, at least the chaos does not erode me.
I protect my Nascent Soul with a pale mist and contemplate what this bizarre world of chaos is, and what the three clusters of green light revolving with me at the center are.
'For now, they don't seem harmful...'
The green clusters of light do not give me help, but at the same time they also do not harm me.
Watching them there, I faintly feel my heart settle.
'It feels, somehow, similar to the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections itself...'
But that is all.
Other than bringing a little calmness to my heart, there is nothing.
'For now...let's learn about this sea of chaos.'
Thus, I leave those green clusters of light alone for the time being and explore the sea of chaos.
*
Ninety-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred years pass.
Before I know it, I achieve a rank corresponding to True Immortality by using countless clone bodies.
And before I know it,
I realize, after piercing through about one hundred million years of time, that at last I have obtained the authorization to view these 'green clusters of light'.
: : They are lights that one can view only upon reaching True Immortality. What are you? : :
At the end of a long and longer spam, I barely obtain the right to peruse these clusters of light and begin to view them.
And at last, I learn the truth.
: : I see... : :
Kugugugu...
Three light clusters.
About three hundred million years' worth of memories and history surge in all at once, and I spend a little over ten years to accept and arrange them.
: : O [me]s of before. Have you decided to establish, one by one...the rules applied to this space by sacrificing yourselves? : :
The goal of the [me]s is clear.
'By sacrificing the existence of [me]s comparable to True Immortality one by one...we engrave rules into the Heavenly Void Furnace one by one.'
The rule left by [the me of the first Heavenly Void Furnace].
'One can leave traces within the Heavenly Void Furnace by sacrificing oneself.'
With this, including him, the later [me]s could come to sacrifice themselves here and accumulate rules.
The rule left by [the me of the second Heavenly Void Furnace].
'The traces left in the Heavenly Void Furnace gather together.'
With this, from the second me onward, instead of the memories left by [me]s drifting here and there in this Primordial Chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, it only becomes necessary to find the ones that are gathered in one place and are orbiting.
The rule left by [the me of the third Heavenly Void Furnace].
'The traces gathered in the Heavenly Void Furnace fly to the 'me of now' through attraction force.'
Because of that, from the very beginning of entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, the 'three green memories' flew in and clung to me.
'Thanks to that, I could save far more time than wandering around looking for the memories.'
Moreover, the subtle stability the memories gave truly has been a great comfort all that time.
And now...
It is my turn.
'Sacrifice the me of now...and add one more rule.'
Kurururung!
I offer up everything I have accumulated within the Heavenly Void Furnace for roughly one hundred million years.
And, in return, I add one rule.
The fourth rule.
'Lower the qualification of viewing authorization that exists in the green traces.'
Until now, all the [me] had to reach a realm similar to the previous [me] in order to peruse the memories left by the previous [me].
But from now on, that will not be so.
'Even if one reaches a slightly lower realm...from now on, they will be able to peruse the memories and inherit the enlightenment and wisdom left by the previous [me]s.'
Tsuaaaaaaatt!
Sacrificing all that is mine, I thus prepare to leave the Heavenly Void Furnace.
The fifth entry into the Heavenly Void Furnace.
These days, for some reason, the gaze with which Hong Fan looks at me has become odd.
'Is it a bit distasteful to him that I keep relying on artifacts to increase my cultivation?'
But it cannot be helped.
If I am to sever the influence of the Heavenly Punishment True Immortal, there is no other way.
Pachijijik...
Even now, my internal organs here and there are being transformed into lightning, and I feel that influence gradually growing stronger.
'At this rate, even if I regress, I will only get devoured by the Heavenly Punishment True Immortal. It cannot go on like this.'
I must, in this life without fail, sever the influence of the True Immortal.
I steel my resolve and begin meditating in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Still, I gained great attainment in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.'
This time, instead of a month, I spent only about 22 days.
I've come without using a whole month.
'If I keep letting my consciousness be torn away and then recover it on repeat...before long, the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon will advance greatly.'
The Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon is the best method that strengthens consciousness and spirit.
'If it continues like this, it will also help me enter the mid Nascent Soul stage.'
I am already at the early Nascent Soul stage, having formed the Yin Spirit.
If my consciousness now evolves, I will complete the Yang Spirit as well and reach the mid Nascent Soul stage where the Yin-Yang Spirit unifies.
My talent is not that great, but if I accumulate slowly, someday...I will be able to behold the Great Dao.
Thinking so, I meditate in the Heavenly Void Furnace and doze for a moment.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
I open my eyes and come out of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
And, melting from the chaos, I let out a scream.
"Kuaaaaaaaagh!"
At the same time, four green streaks of light fly in from within the chaos.
Thus...
From that day on, I devote my whole body to unraveling the identity of the four green streaks of light and the secret of this world of chaos.
Blink—
I come out of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Before I know it, about one hundred years have passed since I began cultivating in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
During it all, how many times has my consciousness been torn and ripped?
During it all, how many times have I repeatedly restored my consciousness?
Before I know it, my achievement in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon has leapt far ahead, and at this rate I feel I can rise smoothly to the mid Nascent Soul stage.
Wo-woong—
However, the most important thing is not that.
The time in which I have cultivated the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon is now one hundred years.
Now, even if my consciousness is torn after entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, I can recover and enter again in about a day.
As a result, I go in and out of the Heavenly Void Furnace constantly, and the accumulated cultivation experience in Cutting Principle I have built up has reached an immense level.
Consciousness compresses.
Consciousness compresses into a straight line and becomes, according to my will, Indra's Net.
It reaches the same level as the principle that forms the Law of Causality itself.
'Now...'
Shikagagagak!
'I can lay my hands on it directly!'
It's become possible to truly strike principle itself!
When I strike one of the principles of the Head Realm, a southwesterly wind instantly blows across the entire Head Realm.
When I strike principle again with Cutting Principle, the southwesterly wind blowing through the Head Realm dies down and the course of the wind shifts to the northeast.
"Huuuuu..."
Shikagagagak!
When I touch principle once more, dark clouds cover this entire Ascension Path, and rain falls and wind begins to blow.
The true art of calling wind and summoning rain!
This, perhaps, is exactly what should be called a true Immortal Art.
'If it's me now...'
I recall Seo Hweol from the last life.
Seo Hweol's Five Blessings Axes.
If it's now...
'I can defeat Seo Hweol too.'
If I directly strike the domain of principle, Seo Hweol will have no way to endure.
When I recall the bitter life-and-death struggle I waged with that guy in the 15th cycle, a chill runs down my spine on its own.
'As my heart desires, I want to ascend right away and punish Seo Hweol, but...'
I prepare Cutting Principle again upon the surface of Ascension Path.
'For now, this comes first!'
Kiiiiing!
I've become able to strike principle itself.
Now, what remains is...
Kwarururung!
'To cut the connection with Heavenly Punishment!'
Jjeoeoong!
Indra's Net.
Among them, among the threads of connection linked with me, I see a huge and vicious thread of connection.
It is so thick that rather than a thread, it is closer in size to a dock hawser.
The power of that connection is filled with thunder and lightning, and it somehow seems closely related to Indra's Net itself.
It is the curse that the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment gave me.
The divine power of Cutting Principle rushes toward that rope.
Kaaaaaang!
The divine power of disconnection and the will of Heavenly Punishment collide.
Urrung!
Thunder rumbles from the sky.
Thunderclaps fill the surroundings.
Weather shifts, and celestial energy twists.
'From here on, it begins.'
At the same time, the thread of connection with Heavenly Punishment that I lashed with Cutting Principle starts spewing immense lightning and begins to affect reality.
Kwarururung!
From within the black clouds gathered in the sky, lightning falls.
It is not during realm advancement, nor have I done some heaven-defying act.
Even so, Heavenly Tribulation falls.
Kwachijijijijik!
I block the Heavenly Tribulation with the Formless Sword, and I press the divine power of Cutting Principle even harder toward the connection of Heavenly Punishment.
Kurururung!
The more I do so, the stronger the intensity of the Heavenly Tribulation becomes, and I add power by adding Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter and General Seo's beam cannon onto the Formless Sword.
"Don't make me laugh...!"
But even that is only for a moment.
Gradually, the intensity of the Heavenly Tribulation falling from the sky grows stronger, and boasting hideous might, it starts shaving away at the Formless Sword and my other powers.
"I will not lose!"
Kwarururung!
Unlike ordinary lightning, Heavenly Tribulation 'falls' from the sky like rain.
Therefore, unlike other lightning, Heavenly Tribulation possesses 'weight'.
Jjeoeoeoong!
By the weight of the Heavenly Tribulation, my body gradually sinks below the ground.
Udududuk!
When I use earth-element spells to compact and harden the ground, the ground itself collapses.
By the heat of the Heavenly Tribulation, the mounds of earth in the area become glass.
"Guaaaaaaa!"
Gradually, the Formless Sword collapses under the lightning, Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter collapses, and General Seo overloads and breaks.
Heavenly Tribulation drives directly into my flesh.
The body of the Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method, and the puppet circuit of General Seo engraved upon it, receive the power of the lightning.
Modified by me and made into a Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation method, the Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method does not easily crumble even as it meets Heavenly Tribulation.
I grit my teeth, enduring pain as if my entire body burns away by the Heavenly Tribulation.
Lightning energy penetrates and twists the blood vessels throughout my body.
Under the overwhelming lightning, my eyes roll back as if I'm about to lose consciousness, and I barely hold on.
'No matter what, I will cut it!'
Kiiiiiiing!
Cutting Principle slices away the connection of Heavenly Punishment.
And then, at some moment,
Kigigigik!
The thread of Cutting Principle 'digs into' a part of the connection of Heavenly Punishment!
Flash!
But at that moment,
The energy of the Heavenly Tribulation surges madly and crashes down.
The lightning calamity engulfs me, and in the next moment I lose consciousness.
Chiiiiiiik—
At the same time as I lose consciousness, the divine power of Cutting Principle scatters as-is.
Only after the divine power of disconnection disperses do I feel the Heavenly Tribulation stop.
'Did I fail to cut it...?'
Even as I grow faint, I check Indra's Net and close my eyes.
'But...'
I definitely failed to cut it.
However, the connection with the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment engraved upon Indra's Net...
It definitely bears a faint scratch.
'I can cut it.'
If I use the Heavenly Void Furnace, I will definitely be able to cut it.
Holding onto that hope, I close my eyes and pass out.
"...Hong Fan...is that you?"
I open my eyes and ask the one carrying me on his back.
My internal injuries from the Heavenly Punishment still have not healed, and my mind is hazy.
"Yes, Master."
"Where...are we going?"
"We are on the way to the Heavenly Void Furnace. Please also heal your internal injuries inside it."
"Internal...injuries...?"
"Yes. The Heavenly Void Furnace is a divine artifact that, when one enters and sleeps for a day, guarantees a year of cultivation. In that case...if Master operates a spell to heal your internal injuries and takes a short sleep, would it not naturally be regarded as having recuperated for a year?"
Before long, Hong Fan enters the cave chamber at the center of Ascension Path and stands before the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Certainly, that makes sense.'
I nod and, swaying, climb down from Hong Fan's back.
"Certainly...it is good for healing as well. Thank you. Then I shall heal inside."
"That is a good idea. And Master, there is one thing I wish to ask..."
"Mm?"
"Master."
Hong Fan draws a breath for a moment and, with a subtle weight in his tone, asks.
"Master...you are cultivating Cutting Principle, are you not?"
"That is right."
"Even if your cultivation experience increases through the Heavenly Void Furnace, to go properly to the next stage of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter...is there not one last thing to cut?"
"..."
I realize what Hong Fan is trying to say and come to my senses.
"Why have you still...not cut the connection with me?"
"...You are asking the obvious. Is that not because you...before being anything like my demon beast or subordinate...are no different from my friend?"
"..."
At my words, Hong Fan seems to let out a faint sigh.
"Is it only for that? Just for that...are you saying you have not even once tried to sever it during all that time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace?"
I don't understand what he means by all that time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
But I have something to say to the claim that it is only for that.
"Only, you say...? Haha. The world is made of countless 'only's."
I recall the principle of Understanding before Breakthrough that I learned from Cheongmun Ryeong.
With countless efforts, barely threading together a single principle of a spell, and with that, accumulating your skill one by one.
That is Understanding before Breakthrough.
Effort, at first, is nothing.
But as time passes, it accumulates, and its size and value swell.
From the many teachers of my life...
I have learned that the connections of people are likewise made of 'only's.
"Even after discovering the tool called the Heavenly Void Furnace, there is no need to sever a precious connection just to cultivate. I will cultivate in my own way."
"..."
For some reason, Hong Fan lets out a sigh.
"You...have cut, yet have not cut. Even if I tell you to cut the thread of connection and you do cut it, by storing it in the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, you will make it no different from not being cut."
"...?"
"Then, Master. If my putting Master into the Heavenly Void Furnace is for some stratagem...at that time, will Master cut the connection with me? For it means having an ill-connection between us."
I don't understand the words, so I look at Hong Fan.
"What does that mean, that putting me into the Heavenly Void Furnace is a stratagem...? Is it not instead a favor?"
"Haw haw... Perhaps if Master goes inside and meditates, you will come to understand."
"Mm...I do not quite know, though."
"In any case, if we suppose that that Heavenly Void Furnace is a kind of trap and that the one who dug that trap is me, what would Master do?"
"Uhm...a trap you say...?"
But the one who told me to enter that Heavenly Void Furnace is the lingering thought of Yang Su-jin.
If we suppose that is Hong Fan's stratagem, does it not mean Hong Fan is a transcendent being who can even manipulate the lingering thought of Yang Su-jin at will?
'If such a transcendent being is Hong Fan, and Hong Fan has been toying with me...'
I think hard over it and open my mouth.
"Hearing only that, I cannot make a judgment. I need to know what circumstances you have, and for what cause you intend to betray me, in order to judge anything."
"Hmmm..."
At my words, Hong Fan seems to stroke his beard, then nods.
"Then, if you come to know my situation well, do you mean you would be able to judge my ruse?"
"It would seem so, would it not?"
"...I see."
Hong Fan seems to nod.
And then, he opens his mouth again.
"As expected, it is best that I tell you now."
"Mm?"
"Just one thing. Will you hear a story?"
"A story...?"
"Yes."
I slowly enter the Heavenly Void Furnace, lean my body against the inner wall of the Heavenly Void Furnace, and hear the voice of Hong Fan who begins the story from outside
"It is a story about the fairy tales spread throughout this world. Master must have seen them a few times as well."
"Ah...I know them. Are you speaking of those tales that contain the lesson that sincerity moves the heavens?"
I immediately recall those tales I saw in the Cheongmun Clan's archives and ask.
"Yes. That is right."
"Yes, they are things I read with some enjoyment. They are didactic, and do they not all end with good endings."
"...Good ending, huh...?"
Hong Fan somehow seems to laugh self-mockingly.
"...Old stories are originally cruel. But reality can be even more cruel... By any chance, have you ever looked up the original text?"
"Original text? Are the ones I saw not the original text...? Hm..."
I feel puzzled, but at Hong Fan's words that 'old stories are originally cruel' I recall the stories I saw.
'Even if the middle has cruel parts...the endings are not cruel.'
If so, what I saw is not the original text that Hong Fan speaks of.
"It seems I have not."
"You have not, you say? Haw haw..."
He chuckles heartily, then opens his mouth in a voice like a grandfather telling old tales.
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, Hong Fan's voice resounds.
"Then I shall tell you. The original text I know...goes like this. First...the protagonists of those stories are all one person."
"Hoh...?"
From Hong Fan's mouth, the story about the original text of the tales I saw flows out.
Chapter 1.
The story of a boy who brings a carp in winter for his mother.
"They say the boy did not save his mother. When he got the carp and returned home, his mother was already dead, whether frozen to death in the cold winter or starved to death, no one knows."
Chapter 2.
The story of a blind man who prays to the heavens again and again and regains his sight.
"The boy who lost his mother, even in that situation, was hungry, and ate the carp, fell ill, and his eyes rotted away. Though he prayed to the heavens, the heavens did not answer."
The heavens did not answer.
Because there is a part I empathise with...
My chest feels tight.
"So he tried to live by joining forces with his leg-crippled friend, but the leg-crippled friend betrayed the eye-crippled boy, stole the mother's keepsakes, and, caught trying to sell them to a merchant, was killed by the eye-crippled boy.
"In the end, not receiving an answer from the heavens, the eye-crippled learned, by his own talent, the way to feel the flow of Heaven and Earth and to sense people's hostility, coming to know the world."
"...?"
As I listen to the explanation of the original text of those fairy tales, I feel a strange sensation.
'Did he become a peak master...?'
It is a fairy tale that is more realistic than I expected.
As I listen to Hong Fan, it feels as if this is not merely a fairy tale but someone's written account.
Chapter 3.
The story of a husband who, when his wife falls ill with a fatal disease, lights fire on the tip of his finger to cure her illness.
"The eye-crippled also became an adult. Wandering from village to village holding the knife with which he had killed his friend, he met a woman driven out for having leprosy, had his heart...stolen...was loved...and...married...
"Wanting to cure the leprosy...he roamed all the mountains and rivers...sought a way to cure leprosy, heard that if one lights fire beacons (烽火/Bong Hwa) on five mountain peaks the disease would be cured, searched and searched for the mountain peaks but could not find them, and returned home.
"But the moment he returned home, the house where the wife with leprosy lived was burned by thieves, and even as he burned his own hands he failed to save his wife and went mad."
"..."
'Why is it?'
Why is it?
The moment I hear Hong Fan's words, Seoak Village rises powerfully in my mind.
The older sister of the girl from Seoak Village.
'The woman who went to work at a noble house' keeps circling in my head for some reason.
'Why?'
But no matter how much I think, I cannot find the reason, and Hong Fan's story continues.
Chapter 4.
The story of a poor old man who gets a goblin cap and becomes rich.
"Thus he went mad, and at the same time gained the enlightenment of being forgotten by the world. In a state unseen by anyone, he went around killing people.
"Even people, monsters, spirits, and goblins...
"Whatever stood before him, all of them..."
'Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts?'
Somehow, what the protagonist of Hong Fan's story obtained seems like a principle similar to the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
But as I think, I realize there is a method even more similar than the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
'Star Extinguishing True Chapter?'
The Star Extinguishing True Chapter is also a method of cutting connections with everyone and being forgotten.
In a way, it seems closer to the boy's way in the original text of that story than the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
No, not just seems close...
If it is that boy, he surely learned the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.
Chapter 5.
The story of a child who, driven from his hometown by schemes of a fox sister, met the Dragon King, heard the method to appease the fox sister, returned, and reconciled with the fox sister.
"The man who began to grow old met a fox.
"When the fox disguised herself as his wife and appeared before him, he thought, for the first time, that a miracle descended and rejoiced.
"Though he himself knew it was not real, even so he soothed his madness by believing it to be real.
"To the point that even if the fox set him up as her henchman and destroyed a nation, a continent, a star, he followed...
"There was no problem until the sacred Dragon King told him the truth. Even when the Dragon King told him the truth, if only the fox, suspicious of the eye-crippled, had not dug up the wife's grave and threatened him...
"It could have been a good ending. The eye-crippled split the fox apart into pieces and tore the body to shreds."
"Star...?"
At the depiction that the martial arts of the protagonist in the original text of the fairy tale seems to become ever more unfathomably high, I feel something strange.
And, for some reason.
At the same time as I hear the words about the 'fox,' the image of the girl in Seoak Village holding a storybook rises strongly before my eyes.
'What is this...?'
Chapter 6.
The story of an old man at the end of his lifespan who offers rituals to the heavens a thousand times and extends his lifespan.
"Before long, the old man's lifespan also ran out, and he offered a ritual to the heavens. He linked countless stars to stars, and with that he drew a formation and performed a ritual."
By the time I hear the sixth story,
For some reason I feel unbearably sleepy.
Hong Fan's voice buzzes and hums, as if it rings from some far-off place.
—It was not a ritual to extend lifespan.
—Just a ritual begging, and begging...
—For his next life to stop making him miserable.
—The ritual did not come true.
—Why would the lofty heavens have any interest in such a mere bug?
—The eye-crippled only wasted his time for nothing, and ended up croaking like that.
—This...is the original text of the story.
I hear all the originals of the stories up to Chapter 6.
However, I remember that the story has about one more chapter.
'Chapter 7...The story where the luckless child meets the Jade Emperor and goes to ask why he is without luck...'
I'm sleepy, so let's hear about it tomorrow outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
That's what I try to say...
But my mouth does not open.
In the end, I cannot even part my lips inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, and I pass out and enter meditation.
And into my ear as I lose consciousness, Hong Fan's voice comes.
—Chapter 7. The eye-crippled thus...performed the ritual and died. And. The eye-crippled opened his eyes again. On the very morning of the day his mother passed away. That is right. That was...
The eye-crippled's first return (回歸).
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
I open my eyes inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
For some reason, the upper opening of the Heavenly Void Furnace looks bright.
No answer comes, and I go outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
At that moment,
Hwioooooooo—
"Heok...!"
It is cold!
Countless cold waves are raging.
I am wearing worn-out straw shoes and frayed clothes, in the middle of leaving the house.
"Hat...!"
When I look back, inside the house that is about to collapse, Mother is coughing.
"Fish...I want...to eat fish..."
"Yes, Mother. I will bring it to you. Please endure just a little."
I close the door and, piercing through the blizzard, go to the riverside.
Huuuk...huk...
My breath puffs out.
'What was that just now?'
Just now it felt like I had a strange dream.
Ping—
"...?"
In that instant, a light like a green firefly flies before my eyes, then enters into my chest.
I blink, and soon I realize I saw wrong.
'I've gone so long without eating that I'm seeing things.'
Throb—
For some reason...
After I see that green light, odd words like [Heavenly Void Furnace], [chaos], [the me of before] flicker and fade from my head.
But that is not important now.
I hurriedly rush to the riverside.
'Fish...fish...'
But even if I try to catch fish, the river is frozen solid, so I cannot catch anything.
'Decide quickly.'
I don't fidget my feet foolishly.
If there is no method, I have to make one.
"Huuuuuk!"
I draw in a full breath, then take off my clothes and, with my bare body, cling to the ice at the riverside and start melting the ice.
"Huuuuuk, huuuuuuup... Huuuuuk!"
I widen the interval between inhalation and exhalation.
I lead my breathing to the dantian, and I send the strength carried in the breath through the four limbs and hundred joints to make heat.
From long ago, I became adept at methods of controlling breath and making the body healthy or raising heat through it.
It is cold enough to die, but when I regulate my breathing and make heat in my body, it changes from 'so cold I could die' to 'so cold I could go crazy', so it is fine.
I plan to melt the ice as is, catch fish, and give it to Mother.
But at that moment,
Kwagwagwang!
Suddenly the ice in the area I am melting splits.
I let out a short scream and fall into the icy water, and in that instant, the cold ice water enters my nose and mouth and blocks my breathing.
With my breathing blocked I fall into panic, and heat does not get generated in my body.
As a result, I lose consciousness for a very brief moment.
*
It feels like I am dreaming.
In the dream, I feel countless green lights fly and cling to me.
The green lights each carry a rule and memories.
Countless rules tangle roughly together...
And at last, they complete the memories of the existence called [me], and succeed in transmission.
[I] finally find my memories again.
'Ah...!'
Not only the memories, but the energy and authority contained in the countless green lights are all absorbed...
And they make me into an existence like a True Immortal.
'This place is...'
This place is the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I realize that the chaos in this prison changed into some 'story' and dragged my mind into the story.
'Why did such 'stories' suddenly appear inside the Heavenly Void Furnace...?'
In an instant, by the transmission of the swarm of green lights, I recover all the memories and authority of [the me until now], and before long I gain insight into what situation this is.
: : I see. Hong Fan... : :
It is Hong Fan.
By telling me a story, he activated the 'stories' dissolved in the chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Through the words Hong Fan spoke before I entered the Heavenly Void Furnace...
At last, I realize who is the true culprit who made me enter this Heavenly Void Furnace.
: : You... Are you the one who pushed me into this place and gave me pain? : :
If so, the reason this story suddenly appeared before me.
And who the protagonist of this story is can also be inferred through Hong Fan.
The protagonist of that story is Hong Fan.
: : Hong Fan... : :
At first, I feel a sense of betrayal, but recalling the words I myself said to Hong Fan before entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, I close my eyes.
: : I understand. Then...I will watch your story. : :
Just why did Hong Fan push me into this place?
Just what kind of life has Hong Fan lived?
If I know that...
Will I forgive Hong Fan, or fail to forgive him and cut my connection with him?
I myself do not know.
All I can do is only...
Immerse myself in Hong Fan's story, activated within the chaos of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
One hundred years in real time since I began using the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Hundreds of billions of years of suffering inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
At the end of that time that seems like eternity,
I begin for the first time to view the story about Hong Fan's previous life...
And I am drawn into his story.