Chapter 530: Filling the Heavens (滿天) (4)
Seo Hweol's flustered appearance makes me smile faintly.
Pak!
Once again, my fist strikes Seo Hweol's nose bridge.
Pak, pajik, pajijijik!
Then, I begin pummelling Seo Hweol once more.
"Th-This, what is...?"
The words he had been speaking through mental speech are now uttered aloud.
Seo Hweol tries to melt into the darkness to escape, but I headbutt him right in the face.Kwaang!
A dull ringing fills my skull.
A look of shock blooms across Seo Hweol's face.
He reverts from his shadowy form back into his original appearance.
Seeing this, I grin.
"That's a good look."
He is no longer the emotionless Seo Hweol from before.
Now, after dissolving Seo Ran, he has completely regained his heart.
Previously, I had only barely managed to provoke a reaction from him by eroding his empty heart with Filling the Heavens Governing View, but this time it's different.
This time, he's truly flustered.
Seeing the genuine bewilderment on Seo Hweol's face makes me feel strangely satisfied.
How should I put this...
Yes.
It's pure.
The pure, genuine face of this guy is making me smile.
Paaak!
My fist smashes into Seo Hweol's jaw again.
His face seems to cave in for a moment before he hurtles towards a nearby planet.
Paaatt!
I chase after him in an instant and grab his head as I slam him down onto the planet's surface.
Kwaaaang!
In the next moment.
Seo Hweol is glaring up at me with dark-red eyes.
"...How did you do it?"
"What do you mean? Are you asking me to lecture you on 'our' theories and techniques, even though you're neither a martial artist nor a warrior?"
"...I, too."
Seo Hweol looks up at me with dark-red eyes and a hardened expression from beneath my foot.
"Understand the principles of the Heart Tribe's techniques."
"Hahahahaha!"
I let out a hearty laugh.
"The Plane of Soul. That uncertain, indeterminate dimension between the Plane of Qi and the Plane of Fate. Projecting your ideology and thoughts into that uncertainty and fixing it in the direction you desire. That technique, and the beings capable of wielding such a technique. That is what the Heart Tribe is, is it not?"
"Hm..."
From what I hear, it seems he doesn't understand anything from our perspective, but he has his own insights. I nod in acknowledgment.
"For now, let's say that's true. Then what don't you understand? That you're weak?"
"...That's not it. What I'm curious about is..."
Seo Hweol looks up at me with confused eyes.
I smile bitterly at that gaze and remove my foot from his chest.
"...Why...your attacks...'hurt'."
I smile softly.
"...Isn't it obvious, Seo Hweol? Lifeforms, originally...get hurt when hit."
I understand what he's trying to say.
"...Don't...speak bullshit."
Seo Hweol's face contorts.
"It must...be some secret art of yours. Because you've seen my memories. Because that bastard exposed all my truths to you. Did you not cast some secret art on me based on what you saw from my past!?"
"...Unfortunately, I'm not using any special secret art on you."
I look down at the contorted Seo Hweol with a peaceful smile.
"As expected, you're curious. Regarding just how it is that you're able to feel [pain], I mean. Isn't that right, self-proclaimed 'Incarnation of Pain,' Seo Hweol?"
The reason for his confusion is obvious.
He's bewildered by the very fact that he is feeling pain.
At a glance, it might sound like utter nonsense to anyone overhearing.
But having seen Seo Hweol's memories, I immediately understand the reason for his confusion.
'Because he became pain itself. He became Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens precisely to avoid suffering and yet he's feeling pain... It must be bewildering.'
Until now,
Seo Hweol has never felt 'pain'.
Even in the 15th cycle, when he was forced to drink a potion that multiplied pain sixty thousand times, he revealed the essence of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens and overcame it in an instant.
Of course, there were moments when Seo Hweol 'appeared' to feel pain.
For example, when hearing the true names of True Immortals or Governing Immortals, or when failing to withstand the rank of an entity too far above his level.
But even in those moments, he didn't truly experience 'pain'.
He merely received a 'shock'.
Shock is nothing more than a powerful stimulus.
And...
'Pain' and 'stimuli' are fundamentally different things.
Making himself into a configuration and becoming Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens is Seo Hweol.
For someone like him, it's only natural to be unable to feel pain.
Whether he gained Seo Ran, his main body, or his heart, it's still the same.
Even if he's reclaimed his soul, a being arranged into such a configuration shouldn't be capable of feeling pain.
Can letters feel pain?
Can drawings feel pain?
Can this mass of configurations, whose personality has been fragmented into information and configured, feel pain?
It might feel shock, but it cannot feel pain.
And yet...
I clench my fist and continue pummeling Seo Hweol.
My punches gradually become lighter and faster.
And at some point.
'...As expected. I see it.'
A certain illusion begins to form before my eyes.
It is a Mandala.
One of the named realms of the Owner of Void.
The form of the Mandala that I've seen every day on the reverse side of Cedarwood Painting.
But this isn't the Mandala depicting the life of the golden monster.
This is...a Mandala depicting the life of Seo Hweol.
A Mandala is completed through Emptiness (空).
Just as the life of a being is concluded through death.
A Mandala can also be described as an art meant to teach that there is nothing at the end of that life.
The one who draws a Mandala ultimately scatters their Mandala at the end, realizing impermanence.
However, this happens only when the Mandala is 'completed' and then scattered to gain enlightenment on Emptiness.
In other words...
Completing a Mandala means first drawing the most splendid Mandala one can create.
Paaak!
Once again, my fist strikes Seo Hweol's solar plexus.
The sight of Seo Hweol's face contorting into a kaleidoscope of expressions unlike anything seen before is quite an amusing spectacle.
But at the same time, my eyes see another scene.
Within the Mandala named Seo Hweol, sections bearing the name 'Seo Eun-hyun' are being added.
No, it isn't just Seo Eun-hyun.
Everything Seo Eun-hyun experienced throughout his life!
The countless lives of the Heart Tribe perceived in Cedar Wood Grove!
Not just the Heart Tribe, but the Earth Tribe, the Heaven Tribe.
And the lives of humans as well!
With every single strike, those lives are being added one by one.
The 33rd move of Severing Mountain Swordsmanship is named after Mount Sumeru.
And starting from there,
The moves named after Mount Kunlun (崑崙山) and Cedarwood Mountain (杉木山).
Among these moves, Sumeru and Kunlun are, in a sense, techniques that can only be completed with the assistance of Heaven and Earth Tribe methods.
In other words, they are not purely Martial Arts in nature.
However, Cedarwood is different.
'This is...'
The essence of my Martial Arts.
No, to be precise...
The quintessence of my life's martial path!
The principle of Cedarwood is as follows:
Based on the memories of endlessly observing the Mandala in Cedarwood Painting...
I meticulously draw my life.
And through the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections that records my life, I meld everyone within the canvas into my life's Mandala.
At a glance, it might seem as if I'm receiving assistance from Heaven Tribe methods, but this process is not all that important.
It can even be substituted with mere recollections of the past.
The more important part comes next.
Manifestation.
In the 15th cycle, just as I had dragged projections of the past through Yeon's Play and struck Seo Hweol with all the Entering Heavens of those at Entering Heavens and above that I had encountered so far...
I dissolve my All-Heavens Sword to its utmost limit into the Void (虛空), manifesting within my body all the Entering Heavens I have encountered in my life.
In short, this can be described as me manifesting Yeon's Play with my willpower alone.
In other words, countless Entering Heavens reside within my body at this very moment.
Viiiiing!
Gradually, my fist begins to move faster.
Dududududu!
Sparks begin to fly from my body.
The pure white flames, surpassing simple Heaven and Earth spiritual energy or the aftermath of techniques, are the purification of my willpower.
Seo Hweol, continuously pummeled without respite, is savoring 'pain' for the first time in a truly long while.
Just like with the Sub-Heart Sword, this move of Cedarwood engraves me into the opponent's heart essence,
And going beyond that, it engraves all the manifestations I've encountered within my life,
This isn't merely reflecting myself into the opponent's heart essence like the Sub-Heart Sword does.
This is truly, albeit temporarily, 'bestowing' those manifestations upon them.
In other words, if Seo Hweol understands martial arts even slightly, he can now fight me on equal footing.
Because what I'm doing now is bestowing upon him hundreds, thousands of extremes of martial arts.
Cedarwood is ultimately...
To recall the lives of others and all the martial arts in my life, unfolding Yeon's Play limited to 'martial arts' solely through my willpower.
And through such a Yeon's Play, to embody into reality the manifestations I have seen or the 'hearts' with the potential to reach manifestation.
By doing so, after bestowing even a portion of the embodied extremes of martial arts upon the opponent, fighting them honorably on equal footing!
This is the ultimate martial technique I have refined to face people like Seo Hweol, whose heart has been shattered.
Cedarwood, as a formless ultimate technique, is not particularly restricted by movements or forms.
This is the same reason I'm not wielding a sword.
I am not confronting an enemy.
I am merely wielding my heart towards Seo Hweol, and thus, something like a sword is unnecessary.
Seo Hweol tries to counterattack me, but covered in pure white flames, I burn as I unleash an unending barrage of attacks towards him.
Amidst the pure white flames, countless figures of others overlap.
The Entering Heavens of Gyu Baek, the Entering Heavens of Yu Hwa, of Baek Yeom, of Kim Young-hoon, of Hong Fan, of the Mad Lord, of Kim Yeon, of Ryeo Hwa, of Gyeong Chang, of Jang Ik...
The silhouettes of all the Heart Tribe.
They reside in every single one of my punches, driving Seo Hweol back.
The cultivation of the Heaven and Earth Tribes emphasizes breadth.
They gradually expand and stretch themselves outward, becoming an ocean.
In contrast, the cultivation of the Heart Tribe seeks depth.
They become wells, endlessly digging downward until they reach the extreme.
That's why the power of the Heaven and Earth Tribes approach omnipotence as they grow.
However, conversely, the power of the Heart Tribe becomes capable of only one thing as they grow.
Of course, they can still use that 'one thing' to display a variety of techniques, like Jang Ik.
But the essence of the Heart Tribe is depth.
However...
What happens if the Heart Tribe gathers together?
When the ocean meets the well, the well will inevitably lose.
The difference in sheer mass is overwhelmingly one-sided.
But what if the wells gather together?
If the wells cluster and mix in one place, and they expand their breadth purely as wells—what then!
Woooooong!
Starting with Gyeong Chang, Ryeo Hwa, Jang Ik, Yu Hwa, and others, the Entering Heavens of Kim Yeon, Kim Young-hoon, Hong Fan, and the Mad Lord all mix together.
Their powers overlap within me, approaching an omnipotent power not at all inferior to that of the Heaven and Earth Tribes.
This omnipotence is even stronger than the Immortal Cultivation and Immortal Arts of the Heaven and Earth Tribes.
Because when wells gather in one place enough to fill the entire earth, it naturally becomes a deep sea (深海).
Countless manifestations overlap, and Seo Hweol's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens is suffering unprecedented damage.
The entirety of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens is shaken by the Auspicious Exchange of Emotional Expression, is unable to dodge because of the Surpassing Radiant Saber, cannot escape as the heart is bound by the Heart of Love, and is being maddeningly shaken by Collapsing Immortals Annihilating Heavens.
Seo Hweol is gradually crumbling.
Of course, there is still the possibility that he can fight against me.
Cedarwood, after all, is about bestowing the ultimate will I have realized onto my opponent.
However...regardless of whether he understands martial arts or not,
He cannot accept my manifestations.
Because these are not simple manifestations—they are hearts.
If it's someone who has accepted and understood the hearts of others, it might be a different story.
But for an existence that has closed their eyes and ears, turned themself into a configuration, deliberately closed their eyes from pain, and escaped from it for thousands of years...
They will never be able to accept these hearts.
Kwaaaang!
A pure white fist strikes Seo Hweol's face once again.
At the same time, as I imbue my manifestation into the Mandala of Seo Hweol, enriching it further, I experience the sensation of seeing myself reflected in Seo Hweol's Mandala for a brief moment.
In that moment, I understand.
Mandala (曼茶羅).
Jang Ik calls it the Second Step Before the Throne, while Kim Young-hoon and I share the name Void Shattering for this realm.
Today, I have finally reached the pinnacle of Void Shattering.
Hwarururuk...
The more I use the ultimate technique of Cedarwood, the more my body seems to transform into white flames.
Seo Hweol is flung far away.
The countless Seo Hweols scattered across the world follow suit.
Overwhelmed by the power of Cedarwood, the overlapping of countless manifestations, they all collapse.
I slowly approach Seo Hweol.
Seo Hweol staggers and barely manages to lift his upper body.
His face is drenched in blood.
"...I see. I should stop trying to understand. It's better to treat you as nothing more than a natural disaster."
Seo Hweol spits blood and glares at me.
Then, pulling at the muscles of his face, he forces a smile.
"But...haven't you forgotten something?"
At Seo Hweol's words, I look around.
Come to think of it, Hon Won and Yeon Wei...
And Oh Hye-seo and others have at some point disappeared from sight.
"You snuck them away; is that it?"
"I couldn't stop you, but you won't be able to stop me either."
"Did you forget that my Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections has spread across the entire universe?"
"That only means your focus is that much scattered and there are that many gaps. Escaping through one of those gaps isn't that difficult."
Seo Hweol smiles as he speaks.
"If you had combined all of your powers of the Heaven and Earth Tribes and even drawn upon the power of Cedarwood Painting, I definitely wouldn't have been able to escape. But...you are foolish, and this is the result. I merely used one of my countless selves as bait to tie down your feet."
"Indeed, as you said, I am foolish."
Seo Hweol is right.
Right now, I cannot immediately chase after Hon Won, Yeon Wei, Oh Hye-seo, and the others who have escaped.
Furthermore, the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections is merely a projection of my history, not my consciousness domain, so it doesn't have any sensing functionality.
Of course, it might gain such a feature if it develops further, but for now, it's impossible.
Thus, even though Seo Hweol is in front of me, it's no different from him being able to escape at any time.
"I've lived my entire life foolishly."
I am not an imbecile.
I am...a fool.
"A dullard with no wit, a clueless stupid retard who only cares about eating. That is the Seo Eun-hyun before your eyes."
But...
Even so, I've survived.
Bearing the weight of life, I've stubbornly climbed my way here.
And because I climbed here as a dullard, I possess strengths that others do not.
Woo-woong!
The world begins to distort.
"It seems it's finally complete."
Seo Hweol's pupils tremble.
He must know what this distortion signifies.
Among the 'me's temporarily split as Heaven, Earth, and Heart, the part of the Earth,
The me of the Earth pathway has successfully completed the Entering Nirvana advancement.
"I knew I would fail from the beginning...because I am foolish, slow-witted, and steeped in failure. So...I have no choice but to always prepare for failure."
Kugugugugu!
: : I, borrowing the power of the End...twist the predetermined fate... : :
The 'me's of the Heaven and Earth Tribes in Cedarwood Painting overlap, and their voices engulf the entire Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
The universe begins to distort.
"I've failed countless times. So...it's only natural that preparing and bracing for failure has become second nature, isn't it?"
At the same time, through the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra and the attraction force of In and Yeon in Seo Hweol's grasp, the endlessly contracting Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain begins to rapidly contract.
The universe begins to heat up.
"This is...the fight of a fool."
In the next moment,
Seo Hweol and I lock eyes, then quickly begin moving towards our respective goals.
Woo-woong!
I, attempting to twist fate through history revision,
And Seo Hweol, trying to move the world to reach the Akashic Records.
The powers we individually possess.
The Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra and the attraction force of In and Yeon begin to collide with ferocity.