Chapter 561: Earth Immortal (2)
[If you have reached the Immortal Family on your own strength...surely even the Imperial Venerable will not simply taxidermize you.]
I let out a groan at the imposing presence and words of Great King Qin Guang and contemplate their proposal.
At the same time, a certain afterimage emerges in front of me.
'...I see.'
Wo-woong!
A figure appears before my eyes.
It is Yu Oh, who recently proposed the path of the Immortal Beast to me.
"Sacred Master Yu Oh telling me to walk the path of an Earth Immortal...it was the plan of you all, it seems."[Indeed. You have the potential to become a remarkable Judge, an excellent Reaper.]
Great King Qin Guang's continued words make my body flinch.
[You currently carry a powerful misfortune. That calamity tied to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity...is the gaze of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. If you were to declare that you will walk a path other than the path of repentant enlightenment, the Supreme Deity's retaliation will most likely strike you immediately. However, the Underworld...can protect you. No matter if it is the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, They cannot casually invade the domain of the Imperial Venerable like they could with Radiance Hall.]
I feel a bitter smile rise at their words.
'So, if I don't rise to face Them through the path of repentant enlightenment, I will immediately be killed, huh.'
[Surely you harbor the ambition to one day become an Immortal Lord. Do you intend to oppose the Great Mountain Supreme Deity with the realm of a Great Net Immortal? Yu Soo Ryeon's subordinate, lacking most of their original memories, may have optimistically claimed that there is a chance if you rely on interpretation.
[But I will tell you the truth. That is absolutely impossible. Under the principle that [Immortal Cultivation is repentant enlightenment], do you truly believe that someone like you could defeat the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's enlightenment?]
"..."
[The one who determines the direction of the Seat's interpretation is the owner of the Seat. If the Great Mountain Supreme Deity has determined Their own direction of repentant enlightenment, all beings beneath must adhere to that interpretation.]
Kugugugugu!
Gradually, Great King Qin Guang's momentum begins to press down against me.
[Join the Underworld. Uphold the Imperial Venerable's great will together with us. Transcend the Way of Light and help root the true Way of Salt into the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds. Do not walk the path of impossibility under the Great Mountain Supreme Deity and meet a futile end. Neither this Judge nor the other Judges...want to see someone like you, who has inherited the legacy of Salt Mountain, be wasted in vain.]
They, who have been pressing down on me with their momentum, soften their aura and extends their hand, coaxing me.
[If the Imperial Venerable intends to taxidermize you within the deepest depths of the Underworld, this Judge will plead on your behalf. You are a talent necessary for the Underworld. Please, come to us.]
Then, I ask back.
"I also believe that the Way of Salt is correct. However, I once heard this from the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord: the Way of Salt cannot distinguish between good and evil. And...the greatest evidence of that is my senior brother, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. Am I wrong?"
[...I wonder...]
Regarding the good and evil of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, Great King Qin Guang seems to adopt a somewhat ambiguous attitude for some reason.
However, I speak without hesitation.
"My senior brother's way is...evil and devilish. I undoubtedly support the Way of Salt. But I cannot, under any circumstances, support my senior brother, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. For that reason, I also cannot 'fully' support the Way of Salt that embraces even the Great Mountain Supreme Deity."
[...]
"Your Majesty claims the Imperial Venerable envisions a world beyond light? It is deeply impressive. However...will the world envisioned by the Imperial Venerable be solely just? Will it not simply be a world where Supreme Deities like the Great Mountain Supreme Deity run rampant?"
[How daring.]
Kugugugugu!
Great King Qin Guang's eyes flash with ominous light as they press down on me.
However, I refuse to yield and lift my head high.
"Thank you for offering me a place in the Underworld. However...I will find my own path. This is something I cannot change. I will seek the Seat of Repentant Enlightenment."
[...And if it means your comrade will be eternally taxidermized and never to return?]
Wo-woong!
The fate of Jeon Myeong-hoon flickers before my eyes.
The red fate, like a thread of intent, stretches towards somewhere.
That red thread leads to the deepest depths of the Underworld.
It points directly to the Audience Chamber of the [Oldest One].
Jeon Myeong-hoon is currently having a private meeting with the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
"I see. Now I understand why you are holding me here."
Great King Qin Guang is detaining me to make their recruitment offer while ensuring that Jeon Myeong-hoon's private meeting with the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld remains undisturbed.
And...
I look at Jeon Myeong-hoon's fate—[the straight red thread]—and realize something.
'Follow one's fate, and walk the straight path.'
This is the attitude Yang Su-jin spoke of that one must adopt in the Underworld.
Through this, I grasp something.
"...Since earlier, you have been pressing me down with your overwhelming presence and showing me the scenery of the Blade Mountain, trying to suppress me...but you have not actually been able to touch me."
[...]
"It seems that Judges surprisingly cannot interfere with spirits freely. Is that not right?"
Wo-woong!
I take a step towards Great King Qin Guang.
'I now understand...what it means to walk a straight path and what it means to walk a crooked one.'
"I will retrieve my comrade and return. Please forgive my rudeness."
Step, step...
Resolving not to listen to Great King Qin Guang any further, I walk forward without hesitation.
Great King Qin Guang fades from my sight like an illusion.
At the same time, a certain [wisdom] strikes my mind.
'I see. The judgment method of the Underworld is...'
Pain.
It is making those who caused pain to others realize that pain themselves.
Like the flashback I saw earlier, sinners are shown their own flashbacks.
Within it, scenes of regret and moments of wrongdoing to others are replayed endlessly until they themselves come to repent!
Crunch, crunch, crunch...
This is the judgment method of the Underworld.
The Blade Mountain Hell I saw behind Great King Qin Guang earlier...
The wandering spirits in that Blade Mountain Hell are all trapped in the cycle of their murderous karma, punishing themselves with the blade of their own conscience until they repent.
Even those who lacked a heart in life and felt no guilt would gradually awaken to pain through endless repetition, leading them to repentance.
But...
'It has no effect on me.'
I walk through a world made of blades.
A world that seems similar to the Blade Mountain Hell.
The name of this world is the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.
'The ones I killed, the ones I caused pain to...I remember them all."
The Glass True Fire forged from their pain endlessly scorches my heart.
I have reflected and repented countless times.
The Hell others only experience after death, I have repeatedly recreated with my own hands while alive.
Because that is my life, my cause and connection.
"Life is repentant enlightenment."
I have reached this point by constantly reflecting on myself.
Therefore, I have no intention of abandoning the path of repentant enlightenment.
This is already my life.
Thus, the Underworld cannot do anything to me.
Their role is to force unrepentant sinners to repeat their wrongs.
But I am no longer one of their sinners, for I have already repented countless times.
And to those who are not sinners, they are fair and kind above all else.
I keep walking forward.
Yang Su-jin clearly instructed me to go directly along the 'narrow and straight path'.
Perhaps it means to follow one's fate without looking back on the history of one's life.
Because, after all, to look back on the history of one's life is to acknowledge one's death.
So, it seems to mean to experience death but not accept it, and to walk into the domain of life by following one's fate.
However, I act contrary to Yang Su-jin's advice.
I do not take the narrow path.
I do not take the straight path.
Instead, I choose the winding and most circuitous path.
Countless pasts and flashbacks brush past me.
The Hells overseen by the Great Kings—Qin Guang (初江), Chu Jiang (初江), Song Di (宋帝), Wu Guan (五官), Yan Luo (閻羅), Bian Cheng (變成), Tai Shan (泰山), Ping Deng (平等), Du Shi (都市王), Wudao Zhuanlun (五道轉輪)—welcome me.
[TL: Changing the name Yama to Yan Luo. So, the full title and name would be the Yama True Lord Yan Luo.]
[Editor: These are the Ten Kings of the Underworld in Chinese mythology, each the magistrate of one of the ten courts (not in the above order though, Ping Deng and Du Shi have been swapped).]
The Hells of the Underworld are none other than the repetition of one's own sins.
'I endlessly repeated.'
I see their Hells, reflect my life upon those Hells, and let out a bitter smile.
They are all Hells I have already experienced.
They cannot judge me.
For I am already being judged.
The pain that even beings devoid of hearts are forced to feel under the hands of Rakshasas, Yakshas, and Asuras is the endless regression that is the Underworld.
Within each person's flashback and eternal regression, those who understand the pain overseen by the Underworld Ten Kings and repent for their wrongs are released—that is the law of the Underworld.
But eternal regression? I have done it countless times.
I enter the final Hell.
Crossing the world of black darkness overseen by Great King Wudao Zhuanlun, I contemplate the shadows of my life.
And so, I pass through the Darkness Hell, traversing all the Hells.
Step, step—
Thus, I finally arrive beyond all the Hells and reach the deepest place of the Underworld.
I once again arrive at the deepest depths where the [Oldest One] resides.
Kugugugugu!
Previously, I had to approach quite close to see it, but now, I can see it even from afar.
Perhaps it is designed to become visible from a distance only to those who have experienced every Hell.
[White Wheel]!
Now that I have experienced every Hell, this Wheel asks me where I wish to reincarnate.
However, I ignore the question and approach the [Wheel].
Having drawn nearer, I finally see the [red light cluster], presumed to be Jeon Myeong-hoon.
The light cluster is suppressed by the presence of the deep darkness beneath the Wheel, unable to move.
If it were Yang Su-jin, he would likely have followed his fate and simply left after seeing the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld. But Jeon Myeong-hoon doesn't seem to have the capability to withstand the presence of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
Kwaak!
Grasping Jeon Myeong-hoon's soul, I speak.
"It has been a while. I have come to fetch my friend. Now that I have found him, I will take my leave."
At my words, the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld—
The [Oldest One] seems to smile.
Huarurururuk!
Then, a candle scattering the light of salt appears before me, and a shadow emerges once more.
The shadow opens its mouth and speaks in a voice I can comprehend.
"To dive into the Underworld without hesitation to rescue a friend...it reminds me of the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord in their youth."
Now taking the face of Kang Min-hee, the shadow smiles and gestures towards Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"Come. Give it a try."
At those words, I look at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
The one who had been a red cluster of light has regained a somewhat human form as I grasped him.
Jeon Myeong-hoon sits on a chair of black light, his face blank as though devoid of all will.
I look between him and the shadow before speaking.
"Since you have granted permission, I will take him with me."
Woo-wooooong!
Behind me, the Three Great Ultimates emerges.
Simultaneously, the [Wheel] overlaps with the Three Great Ultimates.
"Please forgive my rudeness."
Kugugugugu!
So long as I have repented for my sins, the beings of the Underworld cannot interfere with me.
If that's the case, all that remains is...
To bring my friend back!
The immense force amplified by the Three Great Ultimates and the Wheel begins to forcibly lift Jeon Myeong-hoon from the chair.
[Arise...Jeon Myeong-hoon!]
Kwadududuk.
Jeon Myeong-hoon does not rise easily.
I realize that he is trapped in some kind of cycle of reincarnation.
Just like the Hells I recently passed through.
Jeon Myeong-hoon is endlessly repeating the past within his flashback.
But this is different from Hell.
No, that...
Is more akin to Heaven (天國).
Towards the man, endlessly repeating the days of happiness with Jin So-hae, I shout loudly.
[Arise! Jeon Myeong-hoon!]
With that, Jeon Myeong-hoon begins to rise from the chair, driven by my brute strength.
His buttocks are stuck to the chair, but I pay no mind and start tearing him away from it.
Bbududududuk!
Jeon Myeong-hoon's buttocks begin to rip away.
And finally!
Jjeoong!
With part of his buttocks ripped off, Jeon Myeong-hoon is pulled off the chair by my hand.
[KUAAAAAAAAH!!!]
Jeon Myeong-hoon's spirit sheds bloody tears, but I pay no mind and sling his spirit over my shoulder.
Turning to the shadow of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, I speak.
[I will be taking him. Farewell. Until we meet again.]
"Hohoho..."
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, wearing Kang Min-hee's face, laughs brightly.
"You are just like the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord. They, too, crudely ripped their companion free and took them away."
Wo-woong!
Before long, Jeon Myeong-hoon has returned back to his spirit form.
The chair where Jeon Myeong-hoon sat on also turns into a fragment of darkness, and attached to that darkness is what appears to be a piece of the flesh of Jeon Myeong-hoon's buttocks.
The piece of flesh seems to have been torn off and stuck there.
Soon, that piece of flesh also transforms into a form of light and shines within the darkness.
"What remains there is his lingering attachment. Keep that in mind. I will let him go for now, but as long as his attachment remains in this place, he can return here at any time."
"...I will remember."
I carry Jeon Myeong-hoon and walk forward.
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld and the White Wheel also disappear like illusions.
I experienced Hell, while Jeon Myeong-hoon experienced Heaven.
What is clear is that both of us have experienced the Underworld.
Paaaatt!
In the distance, I see [light].
It is the domain of life.
Hwiiiiii!
Jeon Myeong-hoon flies towards the domain of light even faster than I do.
He will now embrace life and death within the domain of light and, with a high probability, successfully advance to True Immortality.
As for me, I turn to look behind me.
Countless illusions and worldly concerns seize me.
It occurs to me that if I remain here, I too can experience the Heaven that Jeon Myeong-hoon just encountered.
As I look back, I embrace the countless illusions.
"Thank you."
All of my worldly concerns and heart demons.
All of my...connections.
"Let us go together."
All of them...I will carry on my back.
And so, with them in my embrace, I leave the domain of the Underworld.
As I exit the domain of the Underworld, a certain [wisdom] is instilled within me.
It seems to be a reward from the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld for experiencing all the Hells.
It shows me a certain scene.
'That is...'
It is a transmission sent by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity to the domain of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
Upon reading the transmission, I flinch in surprise.
: : T H E A L L I A N C E S H A L L B E T E R M I N A T E D : :
Three thousand years ago.
That is, the time when I faced Seo Hweol using Filling the Heavens Governing View and shattered the fates of Yeon Wei and Hon Won.
At that point in time, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am broke a certain alliance that had existed with the forces of the Underworld.
The truth of that time unfolds before my eyes.