Ziiing—
A strangely eerie sound echoes.
But as soon as I hear that sound, my consciousness surges as if it's about to explode.
'It's distant!'
Like the Black Dragon, or perhaps even more distant than the Black Dragon, it's a being from a far-off dimension.
However, all the True Immortal-level beings I had met until now were either avatars or the lingering thoughts contained within a drop of blood.
Despite being from a distant dimension, the entity that has descended here is undoubtedly the 'true body'!
'I mustn't look!'
Recalling the time I met [Him], I lower my head to the ground, trying my hardest to forget about that entity without looking directly at the True Immortal.
Yet, even without looking directly and stopping my thoughts, that ziiing sound seems to tear through my mind.
I open my eyes wide upon seeing Jin Byuk-ho in front of me.
"…! Krrrgh!"
"…!"
Jin Byuk-ho is becoming lightning.
Not metaphorically, but physically. Starting from his eyes, his entire body is turning into lightning and scattering into the air.
Yet, even as this happened, Jin Byuk-ho is clutching his head and gritting his teeth.
"D-don't listen! That, [that thing] is speaking! You mustn't, you mustn't listen to those words!"
'Words...?'
It seems that the ziiing sound is heard as some form of 'words' by Jin Byuk-ho.
Perhaps, like only those who have mastered the techniques of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect can see and grasp the Heavenly Lightning Banner, they are 'words' that only those who have mastered the lightning path methods can hear.
"Don't speak! No, don't talk to me! Don't look at me! Please! Ahhhhh!"
I try my utmost not to recall the 'eye' of the True Immortal I had just seen, burying my head into the ground and focusing my consciousness on a single pattern of the teleportation array in front of me.
I must think of something else!
As much as possible!
Simultaneously, the Heavenly Lightning Banner Zhengli begins to ascend into the air.
Tsstststst!
After rising a certain distance, the Heavenly Lightning Banner suddenly emits light.
Kwagwagwang!
The next moment.
A golden bolt of lightning strikes the spot from which the Heavenly Lightning Banner rose; that is, between me and Jin Byuk-ho.
I feel as if something is 'unleashed' from the Heavenly Lightning Banner as it is struck by the golden lightning.
At the same time, rays of light bursts from the Heavenly Lightning Banner, and something appears within the rays.
"...?"
It's a small foot.
Sarak...
The edge of a modest attire formed from lightning touches the ground.
And the small, white bare feet visible from within the attire catches my eye.
A beautiful voice begins to echo in all directions.
[My lord, my master. Have you finally come to rescue me?]
Shiver, shiver!
Hearing that voice, chills run down my back.
[O great one, please take me with you.]
The being, clad in modest attire of lightning, kneels down.
Although I can't see the face of the entity, the voice, with its pure white hair flowing down, sounds otherworldly bizarre.
The kneeling entity, as if praying, clasps its hands together and begins to pray towards the sky.
[Please allow me to return to you. Let me go back to you. Allow me to devote myself to you again....]
As 'it' begins to pray, a terrifying event begins to unfold.
"Re… return..."
Jin Byuk-ho, who is disintegrating into lightning, suddenly kneels in the same posture, clasping his hands and bowing his head.
"Return... to thee."
Not just him.
I can sense it.
Across the entire Heavenly Human Island, the same phenomenon is occurring everywhere.
"Return... to thee."
"Return... to thee."
"Return... to thee."
Pedestrians and cultivators passing by, regardless of their cultivation, all begin to kneel down and pray.
Simultaneously, everyone's bodies, which are vaporizing into lightning, begin to ascend into the sky at an even faster rate, becoming lightning itself.
It's as if they are scattered lightning returning to a more magnificent being.
Just then.
———!
The ziiing sound echoes again.
At the same time, the entity with cascading white hair speaks with emotion.
[Ah, I understand. As it resolves the resentment I harbored for 120,000 years being exploited by the descendants of the Golden Deity, I will follow your command.]
The barefoot 'it' begins to ascend to the sky.
Zzzt, zzzt...
'It's dangerous.'
I shouldn't be here.
I need to run.
But...
'If I run, I'll be returning to that being!'
Even the slightest movement on my part makes me feel like I will bizarrely transform into lightning and be absorbed into the sky.
The reason I can stay intact seems to be solely because I was the one who called out the name 'Zhengli'. That is the sole reason.
The voice of the entity ascending into the sky, presumably Zhengli of the Heavenly Lightning Banner, echoes throughout Heavenly Human Island.
[I, the Essence of the Great Heavenly Punishment, summon the Heavenly Tribulation on behalf of my lord....]
Kugugugugu!
I feel an immense ray of light gathering in the sky.
[The judgment shall now begin.]
The next moment.
Fwoooosh!
Rays of light fills Heavenly Human Island, shattering the headquarters of the Human Race Grand Alliance into pieces.
Jeon Myeong-hoon opens his eyes.
"Ugh, where is this...?"
Clearly, he was walking down the street, then he was suddenly dragged into darkness.
His memory cuts off after that.
"My chamber?"
However, he realizes this place is his chamber and training room and looks around.
Then, he finds a woman in a golden robe sleeping beside him.
"So-hae...?"
That's when the woman in the golden robe, Jin So-hae, opens her eyes.
"Oh, junior brother. You're awake?"
"So-hae... What happened?"
"What do you mean, silly! Do you know how shocked I was when you suddenly left?"
"What?"
"Even if you were being manipulated by a villain, how could you leave me behind so decisively without any hesitation? Huh, huhuk…."
Jin So-hae seems about to say something but stops, bursting into tears and hugging Jeon Myeong-hoon, crying.
Jeon Myeong-hoon, not understanding the situation, awkwardly scratches his head and speaks.
"I don't know what happened… but I could never leave you behind, So-hae."
"...Yeah. Good."
"What happened?"
"...Let's go outside. You'll see."
Jeon Myeong-hoon and Jin So-hae leave his chamber together.
Soon, his eyes widen in shock.
The Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect is in ruins as if it had been bombed.
"What in the world..."
"An external villain targeting you and the Heavenly Lightning Banner attacked the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect. You were manipulated by that villain for several days, helping them."
"That's..."
"The Sect Leader has gone to defeat the villain with the Heavenly Lightning Banner. He will return soon."
"That happened...?"
Seeing Jeon Myeong-hoon flustered, Jin So-hae asks seriously.
"...When you were being manipulated by the villain, you didn't hesitate to say you would leave me and the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect."
"...I said that?"
"Yes. So, I have something to ask you."
She looks into Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes with a serious expression.
"If something difficult befalls the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect in the future, something we cannot handle, will you leave the Sect?"
At her question, Jeon Myeong-hoon closes his eyes and recalls his memories of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.
"…That's impossible."
"You promise?"
"Yes, I promise. I, Jeon Myeong-hoon, will never betray the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect or Jin So-hae, no matter what."
Jeon Myeong-hoon extends his pinky to So-hae.
"Is this how you promise in your homeland?"
"Yes."
The two link pinkies to make a promise and then seal it with their thumbs.
"Why would I betray the sect? The person I love most is here. The last time I said we should run away together was just out of frustration."
Jeon Myeong-hoon straightens up and smiles at Jin So-hae, trying to look reliable.
"Do you trust me?"
Kim So-hae, reassured by his words, opens her mouth.
And then, the sky turns yellow.
Cherung!
"…!"
Heavenly Tribulation strikes the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.
No, it isn't Heavenly Tribulation.
It is far too vast and filled with too much malice to be just a Heavenly Tribulation.
Kugugugugung!
It comes from above Thunder Spirit Island, which is just slightly smaller than the continent of the Head Realm.
Above it, the shape of an 'eye' is projected, and a rain of lightning begins to pour down over the entire Thunder Spirit Island.
Kugugugugu!
All sound fades away.
The colors fade too.
All that remains in front of the eyes is a purely white world.
Everyone of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, engulfed in an unbearable Heavenly Tribulation they are powerless to resist, begin to melt along with the ground they stand on, falling downwards.
Everyone melts away.
Except for Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"No, this can't be...!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon's talent is such that, even as he faces Heavenly Tribulation, he absorbs the tribulation itself, veering away from its might.
A talent loved by all lightning, including the Heavenly Tribulation.
This is the Heavenly Golden Thunder Body.
However, even as Jeon Myeong-hoon faces the tribulation, he fails to find it in himself to feel joy as his cultivation wildly fluctuates.
Instead, he goes into a state of panic.
Before his eyes, his lover is being fried alive.
Without even a chance to scream!
"No!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon desperately hugs Jin So-hae, trying to reduce the area of Heavenly Lightning striking her.
He also tries to block the Heavenly Tribulation with spells.
But the Heavenly Tribulation that covers the entire continent, splitting the world as it strikes, simply cannot be blocked.
In his arms, Jin So-hae dies.
"No, no, no! Don't die! Don't die!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon screams, holding Jin So-hae's hand, half out of his mind.
But the lover he holds in his arms is turning into ash, and all Jeon Myeong-hoon can do is cry out miserably.
"No! No..."
And then, Jeon Myeong-hoon hears his lover's last words in his embrace.
"Golden Divine... Heavenly Thunder Sect..."
The person Jeon Myeong-hoon loves.
Jin So-hae, the great-granddaughter of Jin Byuk-ho and one of the promising talents of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, trembles and manages to utter her last words to Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"Don't leave... please..."
With that, she turns into ash and begins to disperse.
Jeon Myeong-hoon screams, trying to grasp Jin So-hae.
But it is futile.
Her body scatters as dust and Jeon Myeong-hoon can only clutch at what remains and wails.
And then, Jeon Myeong-hoon hears a voice amidst the rain of lightning.
Whisper, whisper, whisper...
It's the voice of the Heavenly Tribulation.
The lightning is whispering to him.
—Repent....
—Return....
—Repent....
What should he repent for?
To whom should he return?
He doesn't know.
But in his pain and despair, Jeon Myeong-hoon listens to the lightning's whispers, his eyes wide open.
Whisper, whisper, whisper...
Among the 'words' whispered by the lightning, something is giving him information.
"Ah... Ahh..."
He hears the voice of the tribulation.
Absorbing the tribulation and listening to the truths whispered by the tribulation.
About the being that suddenly robbed him of his everyday life, the True Immortal.
"Aaaaaah...!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon despairs.
He realizes what kind of being suddenly took everything from him.
It will take all that he has, yet even if he gambles everything, it is something he can never reach.
He is powerless.
Receiving information about the True Immortal through the lightning, he is also subjected to the gaze of the True Immortal.
Facing the malicious gaze of the True Immortal, Jeon Myeong-hoon goes mad.
In rage and despair, under the pain and the gaze of that great being.
He loses his mind and screams.
"Aaaaaaah!!!"
And finally, the seemingly eternal time of the Heavenly Tribulation ends.
"...Huh?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon opens his eyes atop the ashes.
"...This is..."
He looks around with hollow eyes.
"Ah, I see."
He finally realizes.
"It must be a dream. Ha, haha… To think, being betrothed to the daughter of an Integration stage Grand Cultivator, what a ridiculous nightmare…."
But he discovers something in his hand.
"Ah..."
It's a 'hand'.
Severely shriveled and twisted, a hand fried by lightning!
Jeon Myeong-hoon recognizes whose hand it is.
"Ah, ahh… Aaaaaah!"
And he finally realizes once again this place is not a dream.
It is reality.
"Aaaaaah!"
Shivering…
He cries, trembling, looking down at the shriveled and fried hand grasped in his own.
It is Jin So-hae's hand.
The lover he so cherished had vanished from this world, turning into ash and leaving behind only a single hand in his grasp.
"Ah, ahah... Aaaaaack!"
Screaming in agony, Jeon Myeong-hoon clutches his lover's hand to his chest, his eyes bloodshot.
In the madness and pain of seeing the great being, he awakens anew.
"Ah, yes... I understand..."
He can clearly grasp one thing.
"I think I know what my fate is..."
Tears of blood streaming down, Jeon Myeong-hoon rises from the ashes and glares at the sky.
"…Revenge… I must quench this fury. I have to…!"
Having devoured the Heavenly Tribulation sent by the True Immortal, he rapidly advanced from Core Formation to the Heavenly Being stage.
Jeon Myeong-hoon laughs sinisterly.
"Anyone who interferes... can be killed, right?"
Thus, Jeon Myeong-hoon, the Lightning Harbinger, was born atop the ashes.