Chapter 533: Severing Heaven (斷天) (1)
—Do you both swear to love each other from now on?
It's an old vow.
Yet, it still remains vividly in my heart.
Because that was the day when my Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections was completed.
—Yes, from now on, I will be Yeon's legs.
—From now on, I will be Su In's eyes.
As they were dying, the two children who had asked me to officiate their union because I had treated them a little kindly are now being toyed with in Seo Hweol's grasp.
I begin to bloom a flower of consolidation filled with sincerity for those children.Pasaasasasak—
Across the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain scattered with the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, the White Orchid Blessing Incantation begins to bloom.
—In the next life as well, may the love between the two of you continue.
—Yes, thank you.
—Really...truly...
The figures of the two lovers who smiled brightly at me.
—Thank you for your kindness.
Then...from that image, light bursts forth.
As the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections trembles, the pain I and those children felt at that moment surges around Seo Hweol.
At the same time.
[I, rewrite.]
Flash!
The reality of that time, when I had blessed the two, once again manifests in this world.
The reality manifested by Yeon's Play covers the sky, and my Wheel turns, twisting history.
At the same time, the two souls extracted by Seo Hweol, one in the Head Realm and the other in Seo Hweol's grasp...
Their misfortune distorts.
Flash!
[You were not caught by Seo Hweol... You lived happily together for a hundred years, and as you lived as such, you died as such. Wasn't that so!?]
Kwagwagwagwang!
A massive explosion erupts in the Plane of Fate.
History is being rewritten.
At the same time, immense pain washes over me, but I endure.
And...
The expression on Seo Hweol's face is quite a sight to behold.
[Seo!! Eun!! Hyun!!!!]
Has there ever been a time when my name burst so urgently from Seo Hweol's mouth?
Probably not.
I see a single light pink clump of light emerging from the center of the explosion.
Wiiiiiing!
One soul from the Head Realm, due to the rewriting of history, is spinning and soaring away from Seo Hweol's grasp.
The reality that has already been 'connected' by me becomes engraved upon the world.
Simultaneiously...
I realize an overwhelming [power] is enveloping the universe.
The souls of Su In and Hong Yeon become one.
As if they had been one from the beginning.
From somewhere distant...
The scent of peach blossoms begins to drift.
In an instant, I arrive at a place resembling a peach garden paradise filled with peach blossom trees.
And from behind a massive peach blossom tree, I hear [someone] laughing.
Sarak—
From behind the peach blossom tree, someone's finger emerges.
Immediately after, I feel chills running across my entire body.
'This is...Vast Cold...!'
In such a situation, the only being likely to appear is the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord.
However, I cannot help but tremble, not at the being itself, but at the authority on an entirely different level emanating from them.
—Someday...let's meet...
I hear something like the voices of children in my ears.
It is a voice that seems to combine the voices of Su In and Hong Yeon.
Is it because their souls have been one from the beginning, or is it because I blessed them this time?
For some reason, I feel as though the next time I meet them, they will be as a 'single' entity.
It's then,
"I shall answer your goodwill with goodwill."
A voice so moving that it stirs my heart just by hearing it flows rapidly into the depths of my chest.
And I perceive an immense power welling up from within my dantian.
'This is...!'
Vast Cold Heavenly Circle!
The Vast Cold Heavenly Circle I acquired before is resonating madly.
The Vast Cold Heavenly Circle, imbued with the enlightenment that all is due to the Four Seasons and Four Cycles, that the Four Seasons and Four Cycles are alive, and that through them, the entire world is alive, envelops me with dazzling rays of light.
'This is...'
Heavenly Circle!
In front of my eyes, I briefly see a sky filled with peach blossom petals.
"Mm, mm-mm!"
I feel Kim Yeon shaking my shoulder urgently.
It seems I momentarily fainted, unable to withstand the blessing of Vast Cold.
I understood the nature of Vast Cold's blessing.
The blessing is simple in its effect.
It's merely...
—I shall answer your goodwill with goodwill.
The goodwill I have shown this world is returned to me in the form of an equivalent 'rank.'
Kurung, Kurururung!
Heavenly Tribulation begins to gather around me.
Not the Earth Tribe pathway, but the cultivation of the Heaven Tribe pathway begins resonating with the power of the Vast Cold Heavenly Circle.
At the same time, I feel the red giant star of the Heaven Tribe pathway being compressed.
In an instant, the star transforms into a white dwarf, and I can feel it continuing to rise in rank.
'To have goodwill returned as equivalent in rank...'
I smile faintly.
'Truly, the strongest Heavenly Lord.'
My plan begins to enter its latter half.
Seo Hweol's brainwashing wave, no longer supported by the attraction force of Vast Cold, visibly weakens and begins to falter.
At this level, awakening the Head Realm seems utterly impossible.
But I can't afford to let my guard down.
'Wait for me. After completing the final ritual...I will save you.'
The Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections illuminates the universe.
The true reason for scattering the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections across the entire universe is not merely to erode Seo Hweol, but this.
To this universe,
To all the living beings of the universe,
To all the pitiful souls who cannot even ascend to the Middle Realms...
To give them a chance.
Woo-woooong!
The universe rising within the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections begins to compress gradually.
—Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
The End of the universe I had once witnessed now begins to unfold before my eyes.
The attraction force of Vast Cold has disappeared, but the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain already stands on the verge of cosmic contraction, saturated with Vast Cold's attraction force.
If left alone, the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain will be completely annihilated.
The countless living beings who have not ascended to the Middle Realms will face the ends of their lives here and now.
Yeon's Play manifests the spacetime of that moment.
The manifested spacetime is visible only to me.
Because if ordinary people were to witness this...they would have no choice but to go mad.
The sight of the universe collapsing into a single point and perishing!
I use that sight entirely as the misfortune for the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique, spinning the Wheel furiously.
Though the scene is invisible to everyone but me, perhaps the aura can still be felt.
The Sacred Masters and Esteemed Ones, led by Sacred Master Baek Woon, are unleashing an unprecedentedly fierce attack on Cedarwood Painting.
Kururururung!
Heaven and Earth tremble, and the entire Bright Cold Realm moves, striking Cedarwood Painting.
It's not just the Bright Cold Realm.
Ancient Force Realm, True Devil Realm, and Purple Gold Realm.
The four Middle Realms [themselves] are moving, violently shaking Cedarwood Painting as if driven mad.
Even if it's an artificial Middle Realm, if the real Middle Realms themselves continue to launch attacks, it won't take long before it shatters.
Moreover, I notice a presence infiltrating Cedarwood Painting and brightly bare my white teeth.
"It's been a while, Master."
"Good."
It's Jang Ik.
Jang Ik smiles with eyes blazing like ghost fire.
"The preparations are complete. Come at me."
"Apologies, but right now..."
Without another word, Jang Ik immediately launches an attack.
Kwaaaang!
Collapsing Immortals Annihilating Heavens strikes directly at my head.
But I simply smile and look at Jang Ik.
Jang Ik wears an overwhelmed expression.
"...You blocked that with your teeth? This crazy bastard..."
That's right.
Now, even Jang Ik's greatest decisive technique, Collapsing Immortals Annihilating Heavens, is something I can casually block by biting down with my teeth.
"Well, fine."
Jang Ik's gaze sharpens as he floats four podaos into the void.
"Since petty techniques don’t seem like they’d work, I'll just show you directly."
Kiiiiiiing!
The four podaos merge into one.
In an instant—
Paaaatt!
I understand why Jang Ik hadn't shown this decisive technique until now.
[The End. It was a technique meant to face the End itself.]
Everything in front of me turns green.
Yes.
Jang Ik intended to test his Fighting Spirit against the End of the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
I honor his madness-filled fighting will and face him with the ultimate decisive move I have been perfecting all this time.
In the next moment, a green flash engulfs the entirety of Cedarwood Painting.
The Sacred Masters grit their teeth and continue hammering Cedarwood Painting with the Middle Realms as if driven mad.
"Jang Ik has gone in. Since that one has decided to risk his life, an opening will appear!"
Baek Woon shouts frantically with a pale white face as she continues to strike Cedarwood Painting.
But suddenly,
Flash!
A green light seems to briefly fill Cedarwood Painting, and then silence falls within.
Seeing this, Baek Woon's face lights up.
'Did Jang Ik succeed!?'
"Is it over!"
Immediately after.
The faces of Baek Woon and the Sacred Masters distort once again.
Woo-woooong!
It's because from within Cedarwood Painting, Seo Eun-hyun emerges with a pale and uneasy complexion.
Baek Woon grits her teeth and begins drawing upon the power of the Bright Cold Realm.
[Fine, you monstrous bastard. Since it has come to this, we will stake our lives as well!]
Seo Eun-hyun spreads his arms wide with a mocking smile.
[It's already...too late.]
At that moment—
Paaaatt!
Brilliantly resplendent rays of light erupt from around Seo Eun-hyun's body.
Jang Ik's single strike was truly terrifying.
However, he could not surpass me.
It wasn't purely because of my Martial Arts realm.
But...
This time, I don't feel ashamed to have lost purely in Martial Arts.
Because upon these shoulders rests the entire Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
'Go, go!'
Kugugugugugu!
The Wheel spins faster than ever before.
Drawing upon all the authority of Cedarwood Painting, I shout,
: : I, rewrite: :
At the very moment when the scene of the universe contracting into a single point and perishing appears here in the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain!
With all my strength, I collide with the fate of the End.
: : O fate of the End. Thy coming is already fulfilled! : :
Deeeeng—
From where could it be?
The sound of a brahma bell rings out.
At the same time, an overwhelming light explodes across the entire Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, which had been accelerating towards the End under my Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
The entire world seems to shake violently.
Instinctively, I realize that I have twisted the very providence of the universe itself.
[Ha...hahaha...]
Seo Hweol stares at the result of my efforts with a dumbfounded expression.
My comrades read the celestial energy and wear bright expressions.
The Sacred Masters, in shock, send me transmissions like crazy.
[At last...]
It has been achieved.
The End of the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain has been deferred.
The attraction force that had been contracting the universe reverses as providence has overturned, and expansion begins anew.
Not a single living being in the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain has been sacrificed to the End. We have succeeded in saving them all.
Now, only one task remains.
I look at Seo Hweol, who is clutching the Head Realm and squeezing out every last bit of his strength, and begin the final phase of my plan.
[...I will save you, too. Seo Hweol.]
Woo-woooong!
With that, Seo Hweol's image appears within my Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.
It's the Seo Hweol who, in the past life, charged into the Head Realm, achieved his goal, and turned into a blue earthworm.