"The advancement ritual for the Sacred Vessel stage is like the Ship of Theseus."
"...What?"
I'm momentarily dumbfounded by the absurd phrase that suddenly popped out of Seo Hweol's mouth, but then I realize the reason and nod my head.
"Did you learn that from Oh Hye-seo?"
"Yes. I have learned many things about her homeland from her. Since Daoist Seo and your comrades are clearly the main figures of this generation, it seemed beneficial to study it, if only to communicate better with Daoist Seo."
"...Well, fine. Just keep explaining."
"By the way, is Daoist Seo familiar with the concept of the Ship of Theseus? My wife mentioned that Daoist Seo might be too stupid to know about it."
"...I know, so get to the point."
The Ship of Theseus.You remove an old plank from a large ship and replace it with a new one.
Then, whenever other parts wear out, you repeat the process.
At the end, when every plank has been replaced with new ones, can you still call it the same ship that Theseus sailed on when he slew the Minotaur?
"The Star Shattering stage is the phase where the soul transforms into attraction force. However, from the Sacred Vessel stage onwards, attraction force reaches its peak, and the soul gradually transforms into Immortal Arts itself. Therefore, the advancement ritual from the Star Shattering stage to the Sacred Vessel stage requires replacing one's entire life with Immortal Art."
"What kind of process would make Kang Min-hee reincarnate?"
"Strictly speaking, it's not as though she actually died, crossed the Nether Crossing River, went to the Underworld, faced judgment, and reincarnated. She simply grounded all her accumulated cultivation, mind, soul, and rank into the Astral Realm and scattered them. In other words...it's the concept of clones or leftovers. However, while typical clones or leftovers are created one or two at a time, since one completely shatters oneself during the Star Vessel ritual, thousands, tens of thousands, tens of millions of clones and leftovers are created."
Seo Hweol's explanation continues.
"Let me explain about the Sacred Vessel advancement ritual. If the Star Shattering stage is the realm where one 'explodes' everything of oneself, then the Sacred Vessel stage is the realm where one 'scatters' everything. Cultivation, consciousness, authority...all of it is scattered, leaving fragmented versions of oneself closer to mortal rank in a designated area. Then, using the Immortal Art one has chosen, one begins to integrate these fragments, one by one, centering around that Immortal Art."
"Integrating the fragments around the Immortal Art?"
"The simplest example is right before your eyes."
"Ah..."
As I look at the 'Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens,' I roughly grasp the concept.
One lays down the Immortal Art they aim to attain, then shatters their body into fragments, spreading them beneath that Immortal Art.
Then, they gather those fragments one by one, merging them back together with the Immortal Art as the center.
I ask to confirm if my understanding is correct.
"You've understood well."
"Hold on, there's something I still don't quite get... Doesn't that mean that without something like your Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, advancement to the Sacred Vessel stage is nearly impossible?"
"Haha, there's a misunderstanding. One only becomes slightly vulnerable during the Sacred Vessel advancement, not to the point of it being impossible. Because...typically, one entrusts their personality to the Immortal Art."
"What do you mean by that?"
"For instance, suppose one scatters and spreads everything of themself beneath the Immortal Art Examination of Doubts. In that case, Examination of Doubts doesn't just remain as Examination of Doubts. The Immortal Art Examination of Doubts is also embedded with the personality of the main body, born within the area where the fragments are scattered. This Immortal Art, imbued with the main body's personality, absorbs the other fragments, gradually regaining strength, authority, and memories, and grows before finally rising to the Sacred Vessel stage."
"I understand. Then, this appearance of Kang Min-hee you showed me is..."
I look at her within the crystal orb and speak,
"...Not Kang Min-hee herself, but an 'Immortal Art' with her personality?"
"You could say so."
"..."
'It really is the Ship of Theseus.'
Entrusting one's personality to an Immortal Art, which then becomes their main body.
In that case, does an existence after the Sacred Vessel stage become entirely different from before the Sacred Vessel stage?
"...I understand for now. Thanks...for helping me find Kang Min-hee's location."
"It's nothing. And here are the requested movement records and current position of the Ghost Mother."
I take the data gathered by Seo Hweol and Oh Hye-seo, look over it, and then rise from my seat.
The maximum distance that typical late Star Shattering stage cultivators can travel in a single leap with the ground-shrinking technique is around 1.5 light-years.
Fortunately, the distance between her and me is currently about 15 light-years.
According to Gyu Wol-jin, I'm practically at the Grand Perfection Star Shattering level, so I should be able to reach her in about eight or nine days.
"Then I shall take my leave now. I need to start preparing for my wife's Star Shattering advancement soon, and above all, she gets fussy if I'm away too long. The next time we meet...will be in ten thousand years, at the Lightning Sacred Sea."
After finishing his words, Seo Hweol melts into the darkness of the universe and disappears.
I watch him for a moment, then use the ground-shrinking technique towards a distant point in the cosmos.
Flash!
I muster all my strength and leap across the vast expanse of space.
I cover an immense distance in an instant, and as a result, I find myself temporarily drained and need to take a brief rest at that spot.
I should fully recover in just one day.
In a little over a week, I should be able to reach her.
'Just wait a little longer. I'm coming to help you.'
The place I arrive at is familiar.
Mengyun Continent.
Once, during my Four-Axis stage cultivation while running the Wuji Religious Order, this was the world where I first stopped by and forged a contract.
'Since the people of this world haven't named the star itself...I suppose I'll call it Mengyun Star for convenience.'
Mengyun Star is shrouded in ghostly energy everywhere.
A few hundred years ago,
While conducting my Axis Foundation Practice, I lent my power as the Wuji Ghost King to a Mengyun Star cultivator named 'Yu Hui'.
After that, Yu Hui served me and cultivated the Ghost Path Method, supposedly becoming a well-known cultivator on Mengyun Star.
'Is it because of that? It seems that thanks to Yu Hui, the Ghost Path Method is popular across Mengyun Star.'
Perhaps Kang Min-hee chose to scatter her cultivation on this Mengyun Star for that very reason.
'Should I search for Yu Hui?'
I sweep my consciousness domain across the entire Mengyun Star, and soon I find him, secluded and facing a critical juncture as he advances from the Core Formation stage to the Nascent Soul stage.
'Hmm, I could help him, but it's probably better for him to overcome something like this on his own. Besides, it doesn't look like he's in danger of dying yet.'
I decide not to interfere with Yu Hui unnecessarily and instead survey the entire star system where the Mengyun Star is located.
'Since I'll be watching over Kang Min-hee for a long time anyway...I might as well conduct my Star Shattering stage cultivation here in this star system.'
It would be best to prepare for cultivation by finding a reasonably large planet that I could orbit around.
However, after scanning the entire star system, I realize that there's no planet large enough to bear the size of my main body.
'This...the main body being big is also a problem.'
After spending several days examining nearby neighboring star systems, I finally come to a realization.
'My body is too large...so I can't conduct Star Shattering cultivation on a typical planet. What should I do...?'
After much contemplation, I eventually extend my gaze towards the fixed star.
Fixed star.
The massive lump of light also known as a sun.
'Hmm...'
After pondering for a long while, I finally make a decision.
'I should be able to use a fixed star...right?'
I discreetly choose one of the orbits in this star system and settle my main body there.
Fortunately, my main body naturally integrates into the star system, and the star veins flowing from the fixed star don't reject me.
For now, it doesn't seem like conducting my Star Shattering cultivation here will be impossible.
I retrieve Seo Ran and Hong Fan from the alternate space and explain the situation to them.
"Hmm, I see."
"That's right. That's why I need a bit of your help, Seo Ran."
"No problem. I can lend it as much as Senior needs it."
"Thank you!"
I place Seo Ran, Hong Fan, and one of my incarnations on Seo Ran's Nether Crossing Ship and send them towards the Mengyun Star.
East of Mengyun Continent.
In a corner of Baekju City, part of the subordinate nation under the Commanding Spirit School.
In that place, where an unusually heavy yin energy flows, a ghost with disheveled hair cradles a baby and sings a lullaby.
[Hush little baby, don't say a word. The stars and moon are quiet, too. Hush little baby...]
Then, a young man emitting spirit energy appears in the place where the ghost resides.
He is a Qi Building cultivator from the Commanding Spirit School, sent to exterminate the ghosts that have been recently appearing frequently in Baekju City.
Holding a talisman, the man approaches the ghost and bursts in anger.
"Wicked ghost. Are you from an evil Ghost Path Sect? This is the territory of the subordinate nation under the Commanding Spirit School. If you don't scram immediately, I'll exterminate you!"
But the ghost pays him no mind and only hums to the baby in its arms.
The man frowns.
"...Hmm, is it a mindless minor spirit? So it's not from another Ghost Path Sect, but a naturally occurring vengeful ghost. But how could such a minor spirit enter Baekju City, where the Commanding Spirit School's barrier is active...?"
As the man draws closer to the ghost, he flinches in surprise.
"What? This child is emitting yin energy? So it's a constitution that attracts ghosts! A constitution that draws vengeful ghosts into Baekju City, which is protected by a vengeful ghost barrier...how evil!"
Kwajijijik!
The man swings his talisman, scattering the ghost.
As a result, the baby that was in the embrace of the ghost falls to the ground, crying loudly.
"Forgive me...but with such an evil constitution. Especially in the current situation where the influence of the Ghost Path Sects are growing under the Death Spirit King, Yu Hui...a being like you cannot be allowed to live. Just disappear and attain Buddhahood...!"
He raises the lightning scattering talisman.
Clench.
Someone grabs the man's wrist.
"Who are you!?"
[Do not gaze directly upon this Esteemed One.]
"Kaaaaagh!"
The Qi Building stage man's eyeballs burst, and glass-colored flames begin to burn from where his eyes once were.
No, the man's entire body begins to ignite in glass-colored flames.
"Kuaagaaagh! Hukeooook...! Guheeoook...! Kuheeoook!"
[Oh dear, you looked directly. But do not worry. This is not even this Esteemed One's Glass True Fire, just a mere shadow with less than a millionth of its full power. You will neither go mad nor suffer any aftereffects. In fact, your chances of reaching Core Formation in this lifetime have increased by seven tenths, so consider it a blessing.]
The being who finished speaking grabs the man burning with flames and hurls him towards the sky.
As the man flies through the air, the flames extinguish, and he becomes trapped inside a large glass crystal. He then falls back down, landing at his own Commanding Spirit School.
The being who threw the man away.
The man dressed in white looks at the baby who is crying loudly and gestures somewhere.
Then, the ghost that had just been scattered re-forms and gently cradles the baby, soothing it.
After a short while, the baby falls asleep again.
The man in white lowers his rank and gazes at the baby.
"...It's been a while, Kang Min-hee. Now...for a long while, I'll stay by your side."
He strokes the child's head and speaks.
"I'll find a way to save you, so...just wait a little longer."
The man in white, Seo Eun-hyun, sits next to his former lover who turned into a baby, and looks up at the sky.
In the sky of Mengyun Continent, a new star appears.
The Core Formation Esteemed Ones of the continent observe the new star, recognizing it as an ominous star symbolizing immense suffering, and predict that great calamities will soon sweep over the entire continent.
No, over the entire world.
Amidst the turbulent era on the chaotic Mengyun Star, ten years pass.
"Min-hee-ah, come eat."
It has already been ten years since I arrived on Mengyun Star.
I built a house in the mountains of a subordinate nation east of the Mengyun Continent and raised Kang Min-hee.
Dudududu—
I hear the sound of Kang Min-hee running from a distance.
"...Min-hee-ah, I told you to please not run upside down on your hands before meals."
"...Uuuu..."
With a slightly downcast expression, she jumps up while in a handstand position.
Then, ghost-like beings appear around her, supporting her, and she floats over to the dining table in their arms.
"Uu-uu, uu-uu-uu."
As soon as Kang Min-hee mumbles something, the ghosts each bring her water and wash her hands.
"Alright, let's eat."
"Uuu!"
With her small hands, she wraps up food and chews it slowly.
Over the past ten years,
I've observed Kang Min-hee and came to know something.
She is unable to speak.
And she cannot walk on her two legs.
Instead, she walks upside down on her hands or is carried by ghosts, and occasionally mutters something in an incomprehensible, strange language.
'I didn't understand at first, but I recently found out that the language she speaks is used only by the upper echelon of the Netherworld.'
While chewing her food, Min-hee mumbles something softly in her small voice.
As she mumbles, the celestial energy changes drastically.
Even though she cannot use any spiritual power, authority, or attraction force, her muttering causes the attraction force throughout the entire star system to tremble.
"...Min-hee-ah, I told you to be quiet while eating."
"Uuu..."
Kang Min-hee sighs as if annoyed that I don't understand her meaning, then puts more food in her mouth.
'...Is that her Immortal Art which forms the core of her Sacred Vessel advancement ritual?'
Only recently, by interpreting her language, have I been able to learn what her Immortal Art is.
The name of the Immortal Art is the Flawless Mantra.
It is not something Kang Min-hee originally learned, but rather, I believe it is a mantra imparted to her by the forces of the Underworld through her Ghostly Yin Transformation Immortal Root.