For an instant, stillness flows through the Primordial Chaos world.
Before long, the divinity of Torch Candle,
Reading the wisdom contained in their arm, the True Immortal who uses the name 'Torch Candle Heavenly Lord' begins to panic.
:: Wh-What...? How...? The Heavenly Void Furnace and the Emptiness Supreme Deity are surely worlds where the authority of light is maximized. How can the likes of you resist me, one of the Seat Holders of Radiance Hall...? ::
Wo-woooooong-
I follow Hong Fan's story, and at the same time I glare at the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
In Hong Fan's story, Hong Fan slays all the Chief Gods who govern the six universes, joins the six universes together, and creates a new world.
He then gathers into one the souls of the six Chief Gods and the will of the origin of their authority, the Three Daos, and creates a new authority.
Its name is the [First Light].
It is the authority that exists at the apex of the Immortal Cultivation system Hong Fan created, and his Immortal Treasure.
:: I already know...the principle and authority of light. : :
The one who directly observed with his own eyes the making of the First Light is me.
That sort of Heavenly Lord who seems to borrow the power of light.
If it is facing not the main body but only a single strand of split soul, I am confident I will not fall behind at all.
Kuuuuuu-
I, turning into a wave of green light and starting to cover the entire Heavenly Void Furnace, begin to pounce on the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
:: Such authority does not frighten me. ::
:: This cannot be. I have spent my whole life to govern the Heavenly Void Furnace. Connecting to the Heavenly Void Furnace is my fate! ::
I tear off the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, hold it inside me, and, as the voice says, begin to melt it into that story and laugh.
:: How many years did you spend inside the Heavenly Void Furnace. A hundred million years? A billion years? Ten billion years? ::
:: This cannot be! ::
:: I already lived in the Heavenly Void Furnace for trillions of years. ::
Entering the Heavenly Void Furnace every single day, and every single day suffering for a time reaching one hundred million.
Consuming my pained but grown spirit entirely to engrave rules, and within those rules, receiving the transmission of what my previous self left behind. I have already done this so many times I cannot count.
:: Before me, you cannot dare to speak of authority over the Heavenly Void Furnace: :
Tududududuk-
The True Immortal with the name Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
I forcibly rip off the mask worn upon that True Immortal's split soul.
It may have no effect on their main body, but perhaps it is something quite important to this one as they scream and resist me.
It might seem that I am too overbearing toward another personality I have finally met inside the Heavenly Void Furnace at the end of a span of time that reaches eternity, but if I am to read this True Immortal's story and use them as a medium to contact the outside, there is no other way.
They throw a tantrum, but it is only cute.
:: Stay still. ::
Woo-woooooong-
I focus on Hong Fan's story, and toward the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
I gradually dye the story contained within them with my light.
The [power of light] that the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord borrows stands against me, but as I read Hong Fan's story and read the formation process of the [First Light], it is meaningless.
In the story, Hong Fan, before long, stitches together the six universes, gives the name Heavenly Domain to those universes, and names the new world made of the Heavenly Domains Mount Sumeru.
After creating Mount Sumeru, he in earnest begins to scatter the grace of the Immortal Cultivation system across all of Mount Sumeru.
Thus, because of Hong Fan, the very first cultivation method in this world is scattered to living beings.
The first method is a system that divine descents power from the [First Light], which was made by melting the souls and the origin of the authorities of the Chief Gods, and it is a system completely different from the current Heaven and Earth Immortal Cultivation system.
Chuuuuung— Chung—
As I read the content about the primeval Immortal Cultivation system, I begin to divine descent the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord into me.
The [voice] I met in the domain of purity teaches me the method to connect to the 'outside' using the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's story as a medium.
:: At last... : :
Over a long and longer span of time.
I at last begin to head out outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Woong-woong-woong-
Where is this place?
I can't exactly tell, but I realize I am mixed into the mind of some vast divinity, sharing that divinity's sight and senses.
'Ah...I see.'
These are the sight and senses of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
A vast existence that cannot even be compared to the split soul sent down into the Heavenly Void Furnace.
A divinity that borrows power directly from the origin of Light.
This is the perception of the great envoy of light, the Fourth Seat of the Radiance Eight Immortals, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
Wooo-woooooong-
I realize that the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord is communicating with other True Immortals and surveying all the many Heavenly Domains. That is, they are looking over all the regions corresponding to a single universe when compared to Hong Fan's story.
In the midst of that,
The Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's perception reaches a place called the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
The Five Great Middle Realms of the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain!
'Aaaah...'
And I am able to learn the recent circumstances of my comrades that I have been wondering about.
The Torch Candle Heavenly Lord does not know who my comrades are, but since their consciousness domain touches my comrades at least once, I come to know all of their situations.
Kim Young-hoon is for some reason in the Ancient Force Realm.
Jeon Myeong-hoon became the Lightning Harbinger.
Kang Min-hee is undergoing the process of gradually transforming into the Ghost Mother.
Oh Hyun-seok is still cultivating in the Azure Heaven Creation Sect...
And Kim Yeon is living while suffering under the Mad Lord.
Oh Hye-seo is in the middle of spending a hot night with Seo Hweol...
And Seo Eun-hyun went back under Makli Cheon-sa to cultivate again, and on Red Moon Island is becoming a devilish cultivator respected by many of those on the Devil path.
'...?'
I feel a strange sense of disharmony and eeriness.
But at that moment, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's consciousness, which blankets the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, focuses only inward upon the Bright Cold Realm and concentrates on Sacred Master Baek Woon at the summit of Heavenly Lotus Mountain.
:: Baek Woon. I have sent my consciousness to the Head Realm to check, and it seems singularities are about to occur. Beings like Yang Su-jin will be born. Among the ones who have recently ascended from the Head Realm, are there any who are special. : :
It seems that in addition to sending a split soul into the Heavenly Void Furnace, they also let another thread of consciousness flow to check something.
Sacred Master Baek Woon reports several incidents to the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, and the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord nods and withdraws their consciousness.
:: Is that so? It seems I must still watch for now. Since there are none who particularly stand out like Yang Su-jin...it is not yet certain whether Enders have been born. : :
Finishing their words, they withdraw their consciousness from the entire Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain and begin to attend to other duties.
Around that time, I find it taxing to continue to hide within the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's consciousness, so I return my consciousness back again to the Heavenly Void Furnace.
If my consciousness recovers, I can at any time make contact with the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's consciousness through the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's split soul.
However, I can't even think of such things and blankly gaze outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Seo Eun-hyun has gone back under Makli Cheon-sa.
But the me outside is still at Ascension Path of the Head Realm.
Yet, by the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's consciousness, the one who went under Makli Cheon-sa is definitely Seo
Eun-hyun.
There is only one way such a thing is possible.
'The connections that I cut with the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, someone attached them to themselves.'
And in the current circumstances there is only one person for whom such a thing is possible.
'Hong Fan...'
The Three Spirits Art clone that Hong Fan ascended under the pretext of gathering information.
It ascended to the Bright Cold Realm and is devouring my causality.
Hong Fan is gradually replacing me.
The moment I realize that.
The 'Heart Demon', who has until now lived half-mad and lied fainted beneath the surface of my consciousness, raises its head and begins to whisper.
"See? Hong Fan is replacing you. If you keep living like this...the existence called Seo Eun-hyun itself might disappear."
The 'Heart Demon' whispers sweet words in my ear.
"Cut it. Cut and receive my power, and confirm Hong Fan's sinister true face. Before the existence called you is replaced and the seat of the Devil Heavenly King is stolen..."
"...Hong Fan..."
I, through the Star Extinguishing True Chapter Cutting Principle, hold in my hand the thread of connection with
Hong Fan and blankly look at it.
"I..."
And then, all too naturally, what Hong Fan gave me comes to mind.
It is difficult to obtain a human's body, and it is difficult still to realize the dao.
"...If it is difficult to obtain a human's body, it must be difficult still to obtain a person's connection."
Because countless coincidences piled upon coincidences...
The connection called Hong Fan came to me.
This connection, too, is one I have built with difficulty.
"Though you replace me and live my life...I too peek at your memories and live your life... The connection has deepened even more."
The Heart Demon's eyes are filled with desire.
It seems to be desire itself.
But the more it listens to my words, the more the joy gradually disappears from the face of desire.
"I will watch your story to the very end. And only at that end can I give you an answer. What you are to me. In what form I must tie off the connection..."
I release the thread of connection I hold in my hand.
I do not cut it now.
All things will be decided only after I see the end of the story.
Thus, recognizing that the connection has grown even deeper, I continue to follow Hong Fan's story.
Following the story, continuing the connection...
I continue to calmly cultivate the Martial Heart.
Though my rank as a True Immortal does not grow, the Formless Sword keeps becoming ever clearer and more transparent.
Where the end of this lies...
I truly want to see it.
And, from the eyes of desire that sees my decision, hope disappears.
Inside the Primordial Chaos, the story begins to grow longer and longer.
The units of time inside the story jump to a transcendent degree.
And not watching the story or escaping from the flow of the story is impossible.
:: Hong Fan... ::
Hong Fan's stories have activated within Primordial Chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace by his will.
And now, inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, it has become impossible for me to add rules, and I can do nothing but follow the story.
Unlike before, I no longer worry of melting away in the chaos, but instead, because I am dragged by the story's flow, I lose the time to cultivate inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Extracting qi from the chaos as before and raising my rank to the True Immortal level is impossible.'
In this story, there is only one thing I can cultivate.
Kiiiiiing-
The cultivation of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, called the Primordial Origin Immortal Art.
Cutting Principle that cuts the thread of connection.
And the sword cultivated with the heart.
It is only the Formless Sword.
From that day on, I follow Hong Fan's story and begin to cultivate Cutting Principle and the Formless Sword at the same time.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
I come out of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
"Ah, Master. Are you awake?"
Hong Fan is leaning his back against the outer wall of the Heavenly Void Furnace, and when I come out, he greets me.
"Are your internal injuries healed?"
"Yeah. Indeed, it is treated as having recuperated for a whole year. Now there is no problem with my body."
But there is also something a little embarrassing.
"By the way, Hong Fan...the story you were telling me yesterday...I am sorry about that. I fell asleep and did not properly hear it."
Strangely, even though there is the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, what happened yesterday was not properly recorded.
It seems it was because I passed out early and lost consciousness.
'Considering I took on the Heavenly Tribulation like that, it would be weird to not lose consciousness...'
From Hong Fan's perspective, he brought up the story because I asked him to, so it would be natural to feel bad if I say I didn't hear any of it.
However, Hong Fan shakes his head.
"I am fine. I have already laid out everything anyway, and you must have heard plenty inside the Heavenly Void Furnace."
"...Sometimes when I talk with you, I feel like something is misaligned."
"Haw haw, it seems to be a racial difference."
"Is that so...?"
I go up with Hong Fan to the surface of Ascension Path and look at the sky.
The weather is clear.
Looking up at the clear sky, I suddenly say to him.
"Hong Fan, by any chance..."
"Yes, Master."
"Would you like to learn martial arts?"
"...? Pardon?"
As if my words are unexpected, Hong Fan looks at me with slightly surprised eyes.
"By all means...why does Master have such a thought?"
"Hm? No, it is nothing special...it's just because I thought you would learn it well. Since you already entered Transformation, you can learn human martial arts too, can't you?"
For some reason, Hong Fan peacefully stares at me.
"...The martial arts that Master practices...I do not know if I can learn them. What I know is...only killing arts."
"Haha, what does that matter? If you control and refine killing arts, that is martial arts."
"Then, martial arts is, in a sense, killing arts?"
"Hm...not necessarily."
At Hong Fan's question, I shake my head.
What is called Martial Arts has many meanings besides killing the opponent.
"If I have to put it, killing arts is one category within the system called Martial Arts. You can say Martial Arts is a larger classification than killing arts."
"Mm...even so, is not the most important thing in what is called Martial Arts killing?"
As if puzzled, Hong Fan discusses the definition of Martial Arts in front of me.
"What meaning does Martial Arts have if it does not kill the enemy?"
"Certainly...that may be so. But there is another aspect."
"Do you mean self-cultivation?"
He continues as if it does not resonate much.
"Rather, if it is the aspect of self-cultivation, is not Immortal Cultivation better? There are far more chances to sit still and enter repentant enlightenment. In my view, it is more specialized with Martial Arts being for killing and Immortal Cultivation being for self-cultivation."
"Well...that may be so."
I readily nod and make Hong Fan take a stance.
"For now, let's try learning it once and define it as we go."
As of yet, Hong Fan is a pure beginner who has learned no martial arts at all.
Before me of Treading Heavens, he should at least reach the peak to dare discuss Martial Arts.
Until then, whatever he says, there is no reason to debate it so seriously.
Whether he knows my thoughts or not,
Hong Fan only looks at me with slightly sullen eyes.
"For now...since things like my internal energy can be replaced with demonic power, shall we start by learning
basic external arts and combat? Now, first, take the horse stance."
From that day on, I begin to teach Hong Fan martial arts.
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
An uncountably long time repeats.
Dragged along by Hong Fan's story, I gradually come to understand why Hong Fan suddenly began telling me his story.
'There is no time to cultivate.'
He activated the story in order to block me inside the Heavenly Void Furnace from cultivating for a hundred million years at a time, adding rules one by one and accumulating authority.
'Because the training of the heart is possible, I can repeat cultivation endlessly and hone the Formless Sword and Cutting Principle...but that's all.'
Not much improved.
Only recently, beyond the Plane of Soul from among the three planes intermingled within the chaos,
I merely discovered three certain properties in the domain of purity where nothing exists.
'Creation, Preservation, Destruction...'
For hundreds of millions of years, the Formless Sword developed and developed and touched upon those three properties.
'But nothing changes in terms of might.'
Honestly, I cannot grasp how I should further cultivate here.
I only dissolve the Formless Sword even more into that domain of purity, making it infinitely close to
nothingness...and that is the end.
'Offensive power or destructive power does not increase at all.'
It only grows more transparent and closer to emptiness.
'Must I be satisfied with only this?'
I let out a sigh.
Just as I let out that sigh.
"You have touched the domain of purity."
"Yes, but I cannot tell what more I should..."
Then, before I know it, inside the domain of purity of the Primordial Chaos world inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I hear the voice of [someone].
"What amazing willpower. If I were alive, I would have taken you as a disciple."
"...Who are you...sir?"
I try to sense the owner of that voice in a tense state.
But as if they know everything I am thinking.
They laugh heartily and speak.
"Do not be surprised. You are not hearing hallucinations because you are mad, and I do not hold malice toward you. I am already a dead being, so I do not possess power strong enough to desecrate your fate. I am only at the level of keeping you company in conversation."
"...Who...are you?"
"I am..."
At the words that follow, for some reason I feel a warm comfort.
Clearly, they must be an existence high in rank like a lofty True Immortal, yet it feels like I met someone very familiar.
"The Heavenly Venerable of Purity. A being no different from you, Ender."
I feel like their voice is smiling.
"I shall help you. I will teach you a way to communicate with the Salt Sea... that is the chaos of the Outer Sea from the Heavenly Void Furnace."
"Do you...have something you desire from me?"
"There are a few. My idiot disciple, the crybaby old hag. And...a child seized by the past. Please pass some words to them."
I don't know why.
That voice refers to those beings casually and playfully, but I can instinctively tell that the beings the voice speaks of are without exception extraordinary beings.
"What words should I pass along? And...if the beings you mention are beings too mighty...even if I spend a lifetime, my words might not even reach them."
"That may be so. But do not worry. One is already close to you. It is fine if you pass it only to him."
"...Where the place called the Outer Sea you speak of is...I cannot know. But clearly, if I go out to the place called the Outer Sea..."
"No, there is no need to do that. In any case...you are already conveying it to that one."
"...?"
I cannot make sense of what they are saying.
"Your outside self. Are you not trying to teach that one the Martial Heart?"
"...That one...could it be..."
I realize who the being the voice speaks of is and flinch in surprise.
"Do not speak the name. He is needlessly sinister and also terribly voyeuristic, so he will quickly notice that you and I are talking."
"As you follow his story, you temper your own Martial Heart. In that process, before you know it, your outside self
is trying to teach that one the Martial Heart. You are already...through what is called Martial Arts, influencing your outside self. Therefore, you can quickly pass on my words as well."
That is right.
Starting from some moment, my outside self began teaching Hong Fan martial arts, and I also do not know why I came to think of doing that.
Hong Fan also does not understand at all why I am suddenly trying to teach such a thing.
However, according to this voice's explanation...
Because here I am dragged along by Hong Fan's story and am endlessly cultivating the Formless Sword and the
Martial Heart, it seems to even affect my outside self.
Hearing those words, my voice trembles.
"Do you mean...that through martial arts, I can...give influence outside the Heavenly Void Furnace...?"
It feels like I see a hope I can advance toward.
"Do not lean too much on a promiseless hope. With only that, you absolutely cannot get out. Rather, if you wish to get out, it is better to grasp the variables on the outside."
"Variables...on the outside...?"
"Yes. For it is about time for a being to come to set down incense fire."
Woo-woooong-
It is at that moment,
Before the tone of the voice even ends,
Within the Primordial Chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, where only Hong Fan's story is activated, another story activates.
"Seize and subdue."
Tzaaaaaa-
In the ashen Primordial Chaos world where no colors are even discernable, a deep scarlet appears and warmly illuminates the world.
That is a torch candle that illuminates the inside of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
"That is a split soul sent down by the snake to reassert the usage authority of the Heavenly Void Furnace. If you subdue that, and use that being as a medium...you can perceive the [outside]."
At those words, I, while watching Hong Fan's story, simultaneously start approaching those bright, warm stories that are someone's split soul.
Kugugugugu!
Formed of green light, creating a body with innumerable True Immortal-level laws, I rush at that split soul and take a big mouthful out of its story.
:: Who are you? ::
Kugugugugu!
The inside of the Heavenly Void Furnace, by that split soul, begins to heat up fiercely and fill with anger.
:: This power that reaches tens of thousands of True Immortals...are you Great Net devoured by Myeong Woon? ::
Kugugugugugu!
The center of the Heavenly Void Furnace grows hot.
In the endless Primordial Chaos world, someone's split soul begins to take shape.
That split soul, taking a human form, joins their palms and begins to summon the [scarlet snake biting its tail] behind their back.
:: Do you dare oppose the messenger of Light? O pitiful Great Immortal. Quietly sleep within Myeong... ::
Crunch-
The next moment, I move the body made of countless clusters of green light and tear off the arm of the divinity of Torch Candle.
-x-X-x-
I hold the torch candle in my hand and follow the tale.
And, I finally see the [First Light] fully take its place in Mount Sumeru.
"First Light..."
Hong Fan looks at the gathering of the souls of the Chief Gods that he caught and killed.
Refining the soul across immeasurable ages, he continued completing the mantra called Immortal Cultivation, and he chose the First Light as the power source that drives the Immortal Cultivation system.
And as a result, he came to know the truth of this world through the First Light.
'This world is a tomb, and a cradle.'
In this world, there exist beings called Creator Gods.
Those beings are omniscient and omnipotent in their respective worlds, create countless worlds, and can do and become anything within them. They are the very truth that knows every conclusion and causality of what happens in those worlds.
They create their own separate worlds and live in those worlds.
Those separate worlds can influence one another and be similar, or can be completely different worlds.
And...
For such Creator Gods, death does not exist. It is only a change in form.
Because death does not exist, there also do not exist parents or a source-like being that gives birth to them.
There is effect but no cause.
At some moment they simply are born, and at some moment they create worlds and exist.
However, though birth does not exist, the basis on which they are born exists.
Cradle of Chaos, Conception Palace of Omnipotence, Gestation world of the Creator Gods-there are numerous names, but one thing is certain.
There exists something like a cradle in the shape of an egg, filled with the medium of creation, chaos, and the Creator Gods always are born within it and make worlds of their own.
And...
The worlds within this chaos where Hong Fan and the Chief Gods are born are also such a place.
However, unlike other gestation worlds, this gestation world has something that can be called 'causality'.
'A predecessor Creator God...exists.'
Of course, if one retraces the causality of the birth of that predecessor Creator God, there is nothing before them, but at least the world as it is now is thus.
Woo-wooooong-
With the First Light before his eyes, Hong Fan reads the remnant thoughts of the predecessor through the wisdom, history, and will that he can access through the First Light.
'Did the predecessor...want to make a utopia?'
Looking at the other worlds of other Creator Gods, wandering countless worlds...
They intended to make a different Heaven and Earth.
A separate world where any being can become complete.
A place where there exists a true answer to what life is.
In all cases, each world takes what its Creator God determines as its truth and answer.
Whether that Creator God has personality or not does not matter. Because the creator is omnipotent, whatever answer they set, the world acknowledges it.
But in the end, that is only the Creator God's own answer.
The Creator God sought a fundamental truth that holds no matter what world they go to.
Therefore, they sacrificed themselves.
They collapsed their own body and authority and turned this world back to the gestation-world period.
They refined their own soul through a brazier that a great divinity among their creations, comparable to themselves, made and dedicated when leaving the world.
Through the three legs of the brazier, the soul was split into three parts.
Thus, the Creator God made with their own soul the Three Daos.
The great Daos called Fate, History, and Miracle.
And through those Daos, worlds were born even in the primeval gestation period, and living beings were born and able to live.
They refined their soul into three parts and perished, leaving a single strand of continuance.
By present standards, one would say they cut off and left behind a single thread of consciousness.
-Find the answer.
They do not want to believe that what they dictate is the answer.
An answer that holds wherever one goes.
To find it, they thought absolute beings of the same rank must constantly put their heads together and debate and discuss, sometimes opposing one another and sometimes embracing one another as they wrestle.
Something that blossoms within the dialogues and stories between one another.
They believed that is greater than a truth that a single absolute being determines.
-Refine your rank, grow your existence, and reach the Three Daos.
The consciousness of the great being thus issued a decree.
All living beings of this world were to become stronger and stronger, gain divinity, become transcendents, and obtain the qualification to challenge the Three Daos.
However, obtaining all Three Daos and becoming a Creator God-
That is, becoming a true absolute being and an omnipotent one was forbidden.
-Let a single existence grasp only one Dao and become an absolute being of Quasi-Creator rank, so that the three absolute ones forever embrace each other and at times oppose one another...thus, someday within the stories of the three beings, the truth will be brought forth.
The true truth that blossoms within the stories of three equal absolute beings.
That is what the predecessor Creator God hoped and planned for.
The answer of a true truth that holds no matter what world one goes to.
That single strand of the Creator God's consciousness, engraved deep within the spirits of all beings born henceforth, gained power and body and authority within the working of the Three Daos and became vast existences.
Starting with the first Chief God, Brightness, the Chief Gods of Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and Metal were born within the single strand of consciousness left by the Creator God.
In other words, the Chief Gods who governed the universe were in effect the direct children of the Creator God.
They, bearing the Creator God's will on their backs, devoted each of their lives to seize an even more exalted rank, grasp the Three Daos, and manifest a Heaven that puts forth their own answers.
Even afterwards, the consciousness of the Creator God kept weaving transcendental laws to endlessly bring forth yet more Chief Gods.
Surely...
It would be so, if not for one single existence.
"Is that it...? Three Daos...!?"
Hong Fan, as he reads the will of the predecessor Creator God within the First Light he made, laughs.
"If I reach the Three Daos...can I find the answer...?"
The answer.
The answer to why he must be unhappy and suffer.
The answer to why all beings of this world are born to live such feeble and miserable fates.
He wants to know it.
"It is not the Chief Gods...but the Three Daos that design fate, is that it...!?"
What is refined by the First Light in his hand is the predecessor Creator God's single strand of consciousness, the
will.
"O Three Daos, if I reach you, are you saying I can find the answer...!?"
Hong Fan wants to know the exact causality.
Why must he suffer?
Why must his connections also be swept up into suffering?
Why does something called suffering exist in this world?
"If so, I will reach it. I will surely reach it...and I will receive recompense for my pain..."
Why must this world have both light and shadow...!?
It could have sufficed to have only light.
Hong Fan, to reach the Three Daos and to carry through his will, further refines the Immortal Cultivation system
from that day on.
Not a world where a Chief God is born from birth, and where a divinity is born by receiving a Seat from such a
Chief God...
A system where if a mortal being strives, they become strong, gains rank, and can become a transcendent equal to
a Chief God.
"A world...where all can reach the light equally..."
He places the First Light at the end of the Immortal Cultivation system, and makes it so that any mortal being who
follows the Immortal Cultivation system made using Fuxi as material can obtain authority.
"Never again..."
He takes something out of his embrace.
A mother-of-pearl hairpin, a keepsake of his mother.
At the same time, also the gift he gave to Yang Hwe in the first life.
To add a leopard-like pattern to the ornament to hear Yang Hwe's laughter, he once entrusted it to a merchant and
asked for a bit more carving and lacquer.
If he had run to Yang Hwe in the time used to add that decoration, Yang Hwe in the first life might not have died.
"Never again...a world where a person of mine...never again has to die miserably..."
She did not die in a mythic way.
She did not die in a heroic way.
She did not die entangled in the schemes of tremendous divinities.
With no way to cure leprosy, her body rotted inside the house, then while her husband was out, the house was set
on fire by thieves...
With even the legs to flee rotting away so she could not even run, she died miserably, burning in her home-that
was Yang Hwe in his first life.
Because a Chief God personally bestowed a name, he thought she died entangled in the Chief God's scheme, but
as it turns out, the Chief God's naming was only to awaken within Hong Fan the God of Light dwelling within him.
Yang Hwe simply died miserably.
There was no grand reason.
Just because.
Hong Fan finds that truth of 'just because' so piercing that it is unbearable.
"If she is born again..."
Therefore, he decides to make a world where all can become myth.
"And if she meets me and becomes unhappy again..."
He wanted to protect, but failed to protect.
Therefore, if he dares to say there is a next life, he cannot make the promise, 'I will protect you'.
However...at the very least, he will give her the strength to protect herself.
"At the very least...so that it is not a wretched ending where her legs for running away are rotten, that she cannot
even flee...."
He wants even the people she needs to care about to not be mere ordinary village folk and a band of thieves who learned a bit of martial arts...
He wants to make them divine beings who can wield mythic power and resist to the very end.
"May it become such a world..."
The first Yang Hwe burned to death because her legs to flee were rotted.
The second Yang Hwe burned to death because the Heuk Sa Society and the village that should flee together were
so pitifully weak that they held her back.
The Yang Hwe of the third cycle now...as Hong Fan now learns,
Because Hong Fan spent a long time going to meet the Chief God, she, as in the original history, contracted leprosy, was driven out beyond the village by the elders of the noble household, the young master who tried to help her was sent to study abroad in a far-off country by his elders, and in that time she could not obtain food and
starved to death.
It was not as painful as burning pain, but it was long and wretched.
"Whoever it is, it does not matter... Whoever it is, instead of just sitting still and crying out only to the heavens, whoever it is, I will make a world where one can ascend to the heavens by oneself...!"
That will resounds through the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World he creates.
Dreaming of a world where people can at least become as strong as he is...
He at the same time holds another hope.
'It must be repaid.'
It is not only Hong Fan himself.
All who have suffered must be repaid.
The tale of the boy who stitches together six Heavenly Domains and creates Mount Sumeru comes to an end.
And the story reaches Chapter 9.
The very beginning is a means to call back connections such as Yang Hwe and his mother, the Heuk Sa Society, and others who suffered.
Through the Immortal Art of Light, Radiance, that was made by himself, if he wants, he can return to the past as much as he wishes, but now he does not turn back time.
For even if he turns back time, history repeats.
To have the strength to prevent history from repeating, one must at least become equal to History itself, one of the Three Daos.
Until then, he has no intention to turn time back on purpose.
Therefore, through the power of the First Light, he ladles up information from within history, and through that information, he ladles up, one by one, the hearts that are fused within Miracle.
They say water spilled into the sea cannot be returned, but if one backtraces each particle, finds it, and brings it back, one can scoop it up again as much as one likes.
And Hong Fan has the ability to do so.
He brings back the spirits of Yang Hwe and his mother in an instant, but he does not immediately revive them and repay them.
Because if revived wrongly, they might end up in a strange state.
Therefore Hong Fan chooses as test subjects the Heuk Sa Society and the villagers of Yang Hwe.
From the Heuk Sa Society to everyone who lives in that village are ladled up within Miracle by Hong Fan, with history as coordinates.
They are precious beings, but at the same time they are those who failed to protect Yang Hwe and became the burden that prevented her from fleeing.
Making them test subjects is also punishment for being a burden.
Of course, to call it punishment, it is far too blissful and luxurious...
In any case, Hong Fan intervenes in the second cycle's timeline by pulling out the spirits of those who died in the timeline and brings them back to life.
Chosen by Hong Fan's Immortal Cultivation system, they instantly reach the end of the Immortal Cultivation system when they are revived.
They again swear loyalty to Hong Fan, and Hong Fan selects ten of the outstanding ones among them and makes them guardians who protect the Immortal Cultivation system.
The Heuk Sa Society is reorganized as Heuk Sa Hall() under Hong Fan's will.
Hong Fan, together with them, continues research through scooping up old information from history on reviving spirits.
In order to not only revive his wife's spirit, but in order to confirm whether they themselves came back properly...
In that process, they also come to know about Hong Fan's past.
They also come to know about the timelines that flew away because of regression.
They all sympathize with Hong Fan and speak in one voice.
"Honored Seat, you truly live an ill-starred life."
"Do not pity me. It feels bad."
"Haha, understood. But...in any case, we hope that the Honored Seat can escape even from those ill-fated memories."
They make a symbol of Heuk Sa Hall for Hong Fan.
[Black Snake Biting Its Tail]
It is not only the symbol of Heuk Sa Hall, which conducts research digging up the past.
It is also a symbol of Hong Fan, who is held by the pain of the past.
Of course, it also becomes a symbol of the Immortal Art of Radiance that has the ability to go back to the past.
In many ways, it is a symbol befitting the very existence named Hong Fan.
"...To say I am caught by the past, it is not a pleasant thing to hear. Also...its appearance is ugly, so it is a symbol I do not like..."
Hong Fan does not like it, but as he hears the following words of the subordinates of Heuk Sa Hall, he finally nods.
"It is a symbol we purposely made ugly so that the Honored Seat does not like it. Please quickly escape from the ugly memories. And...later, you can change the symbol."
"A symbol made so that I quickly change it...?"
"Yes. Someday, please surely escape from the painful past and change it to a new symbol. Perhaps...a symbol of a snake that is not biting its tail, or a symbol of a dragon... Well, there are many cool ones. Therefore...this symbol is...yes."
The people of Heuk Sa Hall all look at Hong Fan and speak with a smile.
"Hope. It is a symbol that symbolizes hope. Though the Honored Seat is still seized by the pains of the past...it is a symbol that contains the hope that someday the Honored Seat will escape that pain and receive salvation."
"Hope..."
Hope.
Hong Fan smiles at that one word.
"Hope to come in the future, huh..."
A snake that, though now seized and suffering, will someday escape from biting its tail.
"Good. I want to see that hope as soon as possible."
Hong Fan engraves the word hope deep in his heart.
Hope also explains himself.
'Hope...yes. I want to give hope to everyone.'
Is this Immortal Cultivation system not also made by such logic?
He wants the miserable mortal beings to have the hope to cast off mortality and wish for a better life.
'I also want to give it to those past existences who died early and now sleep.'
He wants to give hope.
With that single intent, Hong Fan, together with the people of Heuk Sa Hall, finds out that past information also contains something like grudges, and he finds a way to untie them.
He gives hope to the beings of today through Immortal Cultivation, and he releases also the resentment of the beings of yesterday, giving hope to the beings of the past.
Through such achievements, Hong Fan realizes that he has reached some new realm.
Beginning with Heuk Sa Hall, to the beings who gain divinity through Hong Fan's Immortal Cultivation system, to those empty beings with no possibilities at all, the ones who were forgotten into the past and fell into oblivion.
They all look at Hong Fan as the one who gives hope and loudly praise him as the Zero King.
'What remains is the beings of the future...'
Beings who will someday be born.
The 'answer' was for them
"...I must reach the Three Daos."
To give hope even to the existences who will come in the future.
For the hope that will come in the future as well.
For Yang Hwe, who will someday be reborn by his own hand and receive recompense.
For himself as well, whose wounded heart still cannot be healed...
He reaches for the Three Daos and seeks the answer.
Although the will of the Creator God says that the true answer comes from discussion among the three absolute beings, Hong Fan thinks thus.
If one absolute being is born first, then through their own power they can bring the other absolute beings into being more quickly.
He begins to cultivate the cultivation system he himself made.
Just because he created it in the first place does not mean he obtained everything of the cultivation system. He
only possesses authority over the system.
Cultivation proceeds over a long time.
During that time, all the comrades of Heuk Sa Hall fail to endure the passage of time and die.
They melt back into Miracle, are newly born, and become different people.
It does not really matter.
However, a problem arises.
Even after being born again, those who still hold the blessing of the Immortal Cultivation system proceed at a
speed similar to Hong Fan...
No, some, combined with their unique aptitudes, reach the peak of the Immortal Cultivation system again at a
speed even faster than Hong Fan.
Hong Fan does not particularly mind.
However...
What comes next is the problem.
Jjeoooooong-
"What is this...?"
Hong Fan sees the First Light shatter and split into many Origins.
It is the doing of one of the reincarnators who was a member of Heuk Sa Hall.
Within Miracle of the Three Daos, the spirit is melted and mixed here and there, and although they are not a complete Heuk Sa Hall being, they are clearly a being who has a very intimate connection with Hong Fan and, even
going back to the second cycle of life, with Yang Hwe.
He had thought wrongly.
Because it was a wonderful connection, he gave a blessing.
However, the connection who was newly born and became a divinity shattered the First Light, split it into many
Origins, and applied modifications to the Immortal Cultivation system to find a new answer.
The apex of the Immortal Cultivation system.
A realm called Supreme Deity was brought forth by them.
Seeing this, Hong Fan thinks.
If it goes like this, great chaos will arise.
His plan to challenge the Three Daos first for everyone's hope will be thrown into disarray...!
"I...must see hope."
At least to gift hope to everyone.
The one who reaches it first has to be him.
Though, under the First Light they are able to equally reach the peak of the Immortal Cultivation, they are under
Hong Fan's control within the Immortal Cultivation system. Yet, seeing the possibility of devouring the Origin and becoming an entity like a Chief God...
No...in some aspects becoming far superior beings and seeing a path to reach the Three Daos...
They become steeped in greed and ambition, and they begin to prepare to challenge the Three Daos.
Hong Fan cannot acknowledge them.
"Those who do not become transcendents for Good ()...shall all die."
Hong Fan draws his blade once more, and the slaughter thus begins.
-x-X-x-