Chapter 527: Filling the Heavens (滿天) (1)
"This world...what exactly is it?"
Seo Hweol asked with a serious expression.
Agate laughed at the question.
—Do you want to know?
A laugh that somehow felt mocking.
It was as if Agate knew exactly why Seo Hweol was asking such a question.
Kideuk-kideuk-kideuk-kideuk-kideuk...
It was an unpleasant laugh that made the listener uncomfortable.An ordinary person might have flown into a rage just from hearing that laughter.
But Seo Hweol remained expressionless, his hollow eyes staring into the crimson light.
"Answer me."
—I know what kind of answer you're hoping for.
"..."
—You...have expectations. You're hoping this world is something special. And through the meaning bestowed upon this world, you seek to find meaning for yourself as well; isn't that so?
"Answer me."
—My answer is, 'No, it is not.'
"...If it is a place of trials for someone, doesn't that make it special?"
—What's special is the result of the trial, not the world of the trial.
Kideuk kideuk kideuk kideuk...
—The world of trials serves only to provide a training ground for the successor to wield their fate and, at the end of their training, to grant them the ultimate authority they can wield through their fate. That is all.
—This world itself...was created through a dream that anyone living in the Head Realm could have. Do you seek the specialness of this world? This world is not special. If you are not a successor, it is nothing but a meaningless virtual space; do you understand?
"..."
For a moment, Seo Hweol remained expressionless and silent.
Then, he opened his mouth.
"You're trying to shake me and devour me."
And then...
Purple vapor began to boil around him.
Agate closed its mouth.
—You've noticed. Begone, error.
At those words, dark-red light engulfed Seo Hweol.
Seo Hweol closed their eyes. And opened them again.
With the beams of light came a familiar scene.
'New parents.'
At the same time, their memories began to fade.
Everything that had happened before felt like a dream.
They became a baby.
A baby who could do nothing but eat, excrete, and cry.
They had reincarnated once again.
And this time, they had lost all their memories.
That's how it was supposed to be.
Seo Hweol spoke with a solemn face.
"Life is a series of suffering. That's why living beings have so much they wish to forget. But...I do not forget. I do not suffer. Because I...have already become suffering itself."
It distorted.
It split.
It divided.
And then, it configured itself.
Just like that...
Configurations spread out from Seo Hweol once more.
The entire world was filled with configurations, and once again, the dream distorted, returning the situation to just moments before.
It was the same moment when Seo Hweol and Agate faced each other.
Seo Hweol looked at Agate.
Agate looked at Seo Hweol.
"I will not listen to your explanations. I have no interest in your deceitful words. I know that you are not the true owner of this dream. Therefore...I will devour you and awaken from this dream. I will awaken...and seek my true origin. I will find my origin and discover the meaning of my existence."
—...
Seo Hweol clenched their hand tightly.
Squeeze...
The world around Seo Hweol began to distort.
In response, Agate continued to calculate, trying to find a way to subdue Seo Hweol.
And then, it realized.
Even the administrator of the dream was now facing resistance from a supporting character within the dream.
It could not find a way to suppress Seo Hweol.
This world was a dream.
Not just any dream, but a dream interwoven with the dreams of countless beings.
Among them, Agate's trial ground was simply the most dominant.
But fragments of other beings' dreams were also scattered throughout.
That was the nature of this world.
For example, Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.
That secret art, one of the fragments that constituted the being known as Seo Hweol, was also one of the dreams mixed into this world.
Of course, Seo Hweol was not the central axis of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.
They were merely one fragment among thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions that had ended up mixed into this dream.
To be precise, it was as if a single drop of the purple paint known as Purple Soul Filling the Heavens had fallen into the dark-red paint called Agate and mixed together.
From the painter's perspective, there was no way to separate the paints.
The two paints had already become one.
Agate had simply, out of necessity, selected one random droplet from the mixed paints and repurposed it as a tool of the dream, reincarnating it.
However...
Seo Hweol, despite being used as a tool of the dream, had configured themself and replaced the entirety of this world with themself.
If Seo Hweol had simply replaced the world through reincarnation according to the dream's settings, it might have been manageable. But they had connected to Purple Soul Filling the Heavens through their own power.
Through drugs and hypnosis, Seo Hweol had pushed themself to the extreme within the dream and, even if only a speck, had transformed themself anew.
A being born from that error.
That was Seo Hweol.
And Seo Hweol replaced every fragment of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens scattered throughout the world with themself, becoming the 'central axis.'
Yet, even as Agate continued its calculations, it could not easily understand why Seo Hweol could oppose it.
No matter how erroneous, no matter if they had become the axis of something like Purple Soul Filling the Heavens...
Seo Hweol was ultimately a being born within the dream overseen by Agate.
It was only natural that they shouldn't be able to resist.
Seo Hweol's form began to gradually scatter.
And as the scattered Seo Hweol reassembled into configurations, Seo Hweol approached the center of the dark-red light—towards Agate, the administrator of the dream.
A creation of the dream was devouring the administrator of the dream.
Eventually, the two began to overlap and merge into one.
It was only then that Seo Hweol and Agate could understand each other.
Seo Hweol could discern Agate's true nature.
It was not even a true being.
It was merely a collection of configurations constituted through countless numbers and letters to imitate a personality.
Much like Seo Hweol themself.
But even as a configuration, Agate was fundamentally different from Seo Hweol's.
If Seo Hweol had made themself into a configuration because their existence could not endure the pain, Agate had been a meaningless mass of information from the very beginning.
Simply...
From a distant world,
Agate was the most sophisticated artificial personality ever created by the technology of the original owner of that distant world.
Agate also calculated the reason for Seo Hweol's existence.
How could an error not only reach the administrator but also devour it?
Especially from the perspective of a configuration similar to them, how could such a primitive and crude configuration consume something like itself?
The reason for the possibility lay in the essence of the dream.
Hatred.
This dream world, left behind by Agate's original owner, was built upon the concept of [Hatred (憎)].
And layered atop that concept was the information cluster called Agate had been overlaid as its administrator.
But Seo Hweol, born as an error, had connected themself to the very essence of this world.
Through suffering, they had connected to the essence of hatred itself.
If Agate was the mycelium of a mushroom growing on a corpse, then Seo Hweol was a kind of mutated bacterium born at the tip of that mycelium.
Under normal circumstances, Agate would have been able to cut off the nutrients flowing towards Seo Hweol and eliminate the mutation. But Seo Hweol had already reached the corpse before Agate, seizing control of it.
If it had been a living person instead of a corpse, Seo Hweol would have long been disinfected. But this was a corpse.
As such, the corpse had already been completely overtaken by the bacteria that was Seo Hweol.
Seo Hweol had seized control of the corpse from the perspective of bacteria and raised it.
Thus, Agate realized that it could not resist Seo Hweol.
It had no choice but to quietly be devoured by Seo Hweol and become one of the components constituting them.
Seo Hweol had finally devoured the dream in which they were born.
They consumed its administrator, Agate.
Driven solely by the madness that they might be able to find their origin...
They devoured Agate, melted hatred and Purple Soul Filling the Heavens together, and evolved them into a new Immortal Art.
In that way, they began to awaken from the dream.
It took considerable time for Seo Hweol to completely awaken from the dream.
It was the first time a being who had been asleep since birth was opening their eyes.
Time was needed for their consciousness to fully surface.
Yet even as Seo Hweol brought their consciousness to the surface, they interpreted countless pieces of information and prepared to face the world beyond the dream.
First, they consumed the information recorded within Agate.
For example, the fact that the world they were awakening to was called [the Head Realm].
Or the principles behind Agate and the workings of the trial grounds within the dream.
The operating principle of the [dream] was as follows:
While flowing among the ancient forces filling the interior of the Head Realm, the [dream]'s wavelength would connect with the brain of a being who resonated with the wavelength of hatred.
When that connection occurred, Agate would connect to that brain, borrow the brain's power to calculate, and manifest the dream within the brain, causing that being to experience a nightmare.
Within that nightmare, the living being would produce significant power of hatred before being released.
Agate would then drift again through the ancient forces newly formed from that hatred and endlessly repeat the above process.
All the while, waiting for the existence known as the [successor]...
Even after devouring Agate, Seo Hweol could not perceive information about the ###(終命者/Ender).
It seemed as though there was a restriction placed upon the very existence of the being itself.
Seo Hweol realized that even Agate only knew of their existence but not what they truly were.
It was merely set by Agate's original master so that if the [successor] connected to Agate, they would then learn of it.
Seo Hweol also gained knowledge about the world at large.
Unlike the inside of the [dream], this world had existences called martial artists and cultivators.
Unlike the powerless daoists, monks, and shamans Seo Hweol had known, the existences beyond the dream truly possessed power.
Beings of the Immortal Family truly wielded power, demon spirits existed, and beings known as True Immortals roamed the world.
And Seo Hweol understood that their existence, by the standards of cultivators, corresponded to the Sacred Vessel stage.
An existence born from the intertwining of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, Agate's dream, and several ancient forces, transformed into a new Immortal Art.
That was Seo Hweol—a Sacred Vessel.
By the time they realized this, Seo Hweol's consciousness had nearly completed its emergence.
'I want to find my origin.'
At last, Seo Hweol escaped from the dream and opened their [eyes] in the Head Realm.
And...
: :
: :
: :
Heaven (天)
Void (虛空)
Audience (謁見)
: :
: :
: :
They found it.
The origin of everything.
That was the end.
They committed suicide.
Amidst the dark-red light, a voice reached out and pulled 'me' back.
Because of that voice, 'I' resurfaced.
—Seo Hweol.
The 'voice' called my name.
Beneath a blinding Wheel, 'I' heard someone's oath (誓願).
Bubble, bubble, bubble...
Seo Hweol opened their eyes.
The place they awakened was inside a small jar.
The jar was located in an underground laboratory of the main house of the Yuan Clan that is the Black Castle.
Within the jar filled with blood-red liquid, they awakened in the body of a young Sea Dragon Race and recalled what they had just experienced.
They could feel it.
He had just faced [something unbearable] for a moment.
Yet for some reason, they had endured that something, and as a backlash, their Sacred Vessel consciousness was completely shut down, leaving only the natural consciousness of a Sea Dragon Race to think.
'Ah...I see.'
But before Seo Hweol could fully regain their consciousness again, Seo Hweol longed for suicide.
Because they had [witnessed] it.
Though no one had taught them, they had seen through the cause-and-effect relationship of everything.
The truth was this:
Tens of thousands of years ago.
A Star Shattering Esteemed One from the Blood Yin Realm fell into the Head Realm.
In a frenzy, they rampaged, convulsed, and ultimately died within the Head Realm.
And then...
The soul of the Star Shattering Esteemed One from the Blood Yin Realm collapsed, and one of its fragments seeped into the body of a clan that managed the shrine of Golden Divine, the founder of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.
With that, the clan transformed from the bloodline of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect into a lineage inheriting the authority of the Blood Yin Realm.
They became known as the 'Yuan Clan' and were directly connected to the True Immortal of the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, Blood Yin.
And the existence known as Blood Yin sought to interfere with the Head Realm using the Yuan Clan as an intermediary.
That entity descended a fragment of their split soul upon the Yuan Clan.
Rather than a split soul, it was closer to a mindless spirit body, but...
Nevertheless, it was a spirit body originating from Blood Yin and carried their will.
The spirit body delivered a revelation to the Yuan Clan.
That until now, they had sent their authority into the Head Realm several times, carrying out explorations to reclaim their former power.
That the Yuan Clan, too, must assist this Immortal in reclaiming the former power with the authority they had sent down.
After receiving that revelation, the Yuan Clan conducted numerous experiments.
Experiments to understand the world and connect to its unseen layers.
Of course, even those conducting the experiments did not fully understand what they were doing, but they poured all their efforts into it.
At times, they even used Blood Yin's spirit body.
They were even given the power to manipulate Purple Soul Filling the Heavens according to their will, one of the authorities Blood Yin had long sent down.
To be precise, Blood Yin could not directly control his authority and spirit body within the Head Realm, so he delegated that authority to the descendants of the Star Shattering Esteemed One of the Blood Yin Realm that had somehow taken root in the Head Realm—the Yuan Clan.
With the authority granted by Blood Yin, the Yuan Clan obtained power that surpassed even the Black Ghost Valley and the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, even if it was only temporarily.
They grinded the world itself to conduct experiments to fulfill Blood Yin's command.
They kidnapped countless humans and demons for their experiments, as well as disciples from the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect and the Black Ghost Valley.
And among the Demon Race, they captured many of the Sea Dragon Race, who could act as vessels for Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, and struggled to find Blood Yin's former authority said to exist in the Head Realm.
Among the Yuan Clan's experiments was the body of a young Sea Dragon Race infused with Blood Yin's spirit body.
That Sea Dragon Race's brain, influenced by Blood Yin's spirit body, coincidently connected to the 'Dream of Agate' flowing deep within the Head Realm. That was the origin of Seo Hweol's world.
Seo Hweol's homeland.
Seo Hweol's everything.
Seo Hweol's connections and Seo Hweol's childhood happiness.
All of it was merely...
A fleeting spring dream (一場春夢) within the brain of a baby Sea Dragon Race, a product of the Yuan Clan's experiments.
No, it was nothing more than a fleeting nightmare.
It was just as Agate had said.
They were not born from the dream of some special existence.
No, they weren't even born from the dream of an ordinary mortal.
Inside the brain of a wretched test subject.
Amid accidental interactions, they were merely a fragment of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens that had malfunctioned.
An existence utterly lowly and insignificant.
That was Seo Hweol.
A failed experiment, completely removed from its original purpose.
A life that had never been blessed by anyone from the moment of its birth.
The mistaken belief that they had once been blessed was merely part of a dream unfolding in the brain of a test subject.
A meaningless existence.
That was what Seo Hweol was.
The moment they realized this, Seo Hweol's heart completely shattered.
It could be said that the faint hope they had clung to even within the dream had been crushed.
They genuinely longed for suicide.
If they had been born without meaning, it was only right to disappear without meaning.
Having lost all purpose in life, Seo Hweol yearned for death.
Thus, the Dream Devil who was born in a dream, devoured every connection in the dream, consumed even the dream's administrator, and emerged outside the dream—Seo Hweol,
Resolved to return once more to nothingness and destroy their entire being.
Thus, Seo Hweol began to collapse themself.
'...'
They tried to collapse.
'...No.'
Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling...
Seo Hweol opened their eyes as they inhabited the flesh of the Sea Dragon Race amidst the blood-red liquid.
Seo Hweol's Immortal Art.
Their configuration began seizing control of 'Blood Yin's spirit body fragment' embedded within the Sea Dragon Race.
At the same time, as their consciousness gradually became clearer, they remembered the [voice].
The [Heaven] they had seen as they awoke from the dream!
Seo Hweol had gazed upon the [truth] beyond that Heaven and believed they had understood all the cause-and-effect relationship of their birth stemming from Blood Yin.
However, at the very moment they had comprehended that cause-and-effect relationship and resolved to commit suicide by being absorbed into the [truth],
There was a [voice].
—Seo Hweol.
It was a voice more powerful than anything in the world.
The owner of that voice had called Seo Hweol's name.
They recalled the owner of the voice they had heard beneath the Wheel.
Seo Hweol's eyes snapped open!
'...No!'
They had 'not' been born without meaning.
[Someone] undoubtedly knew the meaning of Seo Hweol.
Seo Hweol was certain.
[That someone] was their 'true' origin.
The moment they realized that fact, Seo Hweol temporarily set aside their suicidal intent.
Instead, they formed a goal.
They swore to dedicate every moment of their life to achieving that goal.
'...I vow.'
Seo Hweol recalled it all.
Their entire life, where they had mistakenly believed they were happy, where they had mistakenly thought themself blessed, but in truth, had never been blessed even once.
The pain of having their entire existence denied.
The hatred from the pain so excruciating that they had to shatter their own soul and reassemble it into a configuration.
'I will make the one who birthed me...hear every pain I endured in life...'
Seo Hweol moved the face of the Sea Dragon Race within the blood-red liquid.
The eyes of the young Sea Dragon Tribe curved like crescent moons.
To the being who had granted them life, after conveying their painful life.
After delivering all that pain, hatred, resentment, and malice,
Even if it was merely in the form of a story—they would allow themself to be absorbed into the one who birthed them to influence them.
That became Seo Hweol's wish.
Seo Hweol laughed.
'Hoho...'
Just as Agate had been 'wrapped' in light,
Seo Hweol wrapped their pain in laughter.
So that one day, when their story reached the one who birthed them, they could listen to Seo Hweol's pain without suspicion, while expecting happiness.
They altered the structure of the Immortal Art that made up their being.
From a simple configuration of hatred, they built their essence centered around 'the emotion they had learned in their first life.'
They divided their memories among countless 'personalities of pain'.
So that though their core might remain pure, once the memories were linked, the pain and hatred would inevitably resurface.
Even if they had to delay reaching their origin in their purest form—
It was set up so that in the end, their true nature would be revealed.
Seo Hweol recalled the [truth] they had seen in the Heaven.
It was [wisdom of all things].
Indeed.
Within the Head Realm, something about [wisdom of all things] was hidden.
It was a truth known only to beings at the Star Shattering stage or higher, who risked their lives to observe the interior of the Head Realm, regardless of their cultivation stage.
As it was described in Buddhism,
A library that contains all the wisdom of the world and bestows wisdom upon all beings.
Akashic Records (虛空錄/Void Record).
Someone had hidden the Akashic Records deep within the Head Realm.
Seo Hweol's plan was formed that day.
Someday.
No matter what it took, they would awaken the Akashic Records deep within the Head Realm.
Through the Akashic Records, they would find their origin.
And...
Through the Akashic Records, they would deliver their story to the being of their origin.
That was Seo Hweol's true purpose.
I understand everything.
Why did Seo Ran feel a sense of kinship with Yuk Yo?
At the same time, why did he feel an uncontrollable jealousy and hatred towards her?
Why couldn't he bear to see her happy in the dream of Penglai Island?
It was because compared to the high-ranking world of Penglai Island, where it is impossible to discern reality from illusion, Seo Ran was born in a [clear illusion].
And why must Seo Ran, the purest aspect of Seo Hweol, remain within the Head Realm?
It is so he would be the first to enter the Akashic Records hidden with the Head Realm, and through the Akashic Records, be delivered to [someone] in the cleanest state and spread Seo Hweol's poison from the deepest part of that [someone].
"...You said your goal is to reunite with your family."
I open my eyes within Seo Hweol's memories and let out a bitter smile.
A reunion with family.
A reunion with one's origin.
He wasn't referring to Seo Ran.
He genuinely desires that.
It isn't about revenge for his birth.
It is simply...because he found a purpose in a life stained entirely with falsehood and hatred.
He is merely pursuing a value built entirely upon lies and hatred.
That is Seo Hweol.
"...But my suffering...is no less than yours."
I follow Seo Hweol with sorrowful eyes.
"Your suffering is, in some ways, similar to mine."
Of course, while parts of our suffering may overlap, they are undeniably different.
However...
Even so, because there are overlapping parts, I dare to say this.
"What you need...is someone who understands you."
Originally, my plan was to liberate my dear friend Yeon Wei and her beloved, Hon Won, from the Great Mountain Supreme Deity and secure my own safety in the future.
But...
Having learned of Seo Hweol's past, his purpose, and his means, I decide to advance my plan.
Chijijijik...
I reveal something I had hidden, slightly earlier than originally planned.
[Ignite the light, Torch of Myriad Forms and Connections.]
Huarurururuk!
A transparent flame, burning deep within Glass Cedarwood Mountain, flares up with such brilliance that it illuminates the entirety of Cedarwood Painting.
At the same time, my Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections scattered across the universe reveals itself.
A plan I was so deeply immersed in that I committed the painful act of temporarily forgetting some of my connections, including Su In and Hong Yeon.
The true reason I insisted on advancing to Entering Nirvana through the Earth Tribe pathway that symbolizes history.
The unique authority of Immortal Beasts, capable of opposing the fate prophecies of Heavenly Immortals.
History Revision.
This—achieved through borrowing the power of the End through the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra—is my true plan.
The history where Su In and Hong Yeon died.
The history where Hon Won and Yeon Wei met a tragic end.
The history where the world faced the End due the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra and was completely annihilated.
Even the history where Seo Ran was sacrificed in Seo Hweol's plan, and Seo Hweol turned into a blue earthworm.
All of them exist within me.
Wiiiiiiiing!
The [Wheel] possessing the power of rewriting, rises behind my back.
"This time, I will rewrite all those fates."
Though it is a little early, I begin to unfold this grand comedy against the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
Translator Notes: The Void (虛空) here is the Void/허공 in Void Shattering. The Void in Heavenly Venerable of Void and Interdimensional Void is 공허 which leans more towards Emptiness/Hollow as an emotional and mental state. It's pretty late to change the terms so just keep it in mind going forward.