"What lesson shall I give today?"
Glass Peacock still has not caught me.
However, my comrades also have not yet sent a signal that they escaped from the Bearing Tree Heavenly Domain.
They smile slyly and once again impart teachings to shake me.
"Do you want to know the difference between fate and history? Ah, I see. From the look on your face, it seems like you're curious about something else."
Over the past years, Glass Peacock had read portions of my past with eyes that perceive history.
"You...have you not seized both the Plane of Qi and the Plane of Fate? Huhu... You rose to True Immortality through Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation, so why is prophecy so easily performed, while the authority over history requires the special use of Immortal Arts? Are you not curious about that?"
For decades, they read through my history little by little, discerned my doubts, and taught me in an attempt to shake Filling the Heavens Governing View.
Of course, they have not been able to read all of my history hidden behind the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.But without a doubt, they have read my Qi and discerned the actions I have taken.
Even if they do not know the secret of my regression, they have to some extent read the fixed flow of my history caused by it.
"It is simple. Even if you took control of the Plane of Qi and advanced to True Immortality through Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation...Vestige Liberation Immortal is still Vestige Liberation Immortal. It does not clearly control fate or history."
"..."
"The wise True Immortals all say the same thing. Under normal circumstances, a Vestige Liberation Immortal should not be capable of prophecy. They should only be able to practice cultivation using Immortal Arts and only freely wield prophecy after reaching Heaven Upper Immortal. However...strangely enough, all Vestige Liberation Immortals use prophecy."
Hearing their continuing words, I flinch.
"Even those who rose through the Plane of Qi, not the Plane of Fate, those who were Earth Tribe cultivators during their Entering Nirvana stage, are still able to use prophecy. Even if they are entities who transcend planes...isn't that strange? Therefore, the sages of the Immortal Realm have proposed these hypotheses.
"The first hypothesis: fate and history are actually one and the same. While it may seem like only fate can be prophesied, in reality, history can also be touched upon—we just do not know the method.
"The second hypothesis: Fate is the greatest law of the heavens, and so its power surpasses all other absolute laws. That is why prophecy is possible.
"The third hypothesis: Among the existing Supreme Deities, [someone] has obtained the authority over Fate (命運), or at the very least, the authority closest to it. This is why Vestige Liberation Immortals find it [easier] to use prophecy...or so they claim.""
"...!"
"Hrmm... You really are quite the knowledge-hungry one."
Glass Peacock pushes further into my Filling the Heavens Governing View, brushing through its mist.
Once I regain my composure, Glass Peacock's attempts at further intrusion once again end in failure.
"Of course, I have a different perspective. That is why I am forming a fourth hypothesis. Are you curious? If you are, then come within my arms. I shall whisper it to you within my embrace."
"..."
"Hehe, such a feisty one. I will embrace you, no matter what."
Glass Peacock licks their lips before continuing their explanation.
"All three hypotheses have flaws. The first hypothesis—fate and history are one? That doesn't hold up. Heaven Immortals and Immortal Beasts, Radiance Hall and the Underworld. The mere fact that these irreconcilable opposites exist disproves it. Fate is [convergence], while history is [diffusion]. The two can never be the same. They are fundamentally opposing forces."
Slowly, they reveal shocking truths as they come closer to me.
"The second hypothesis—fate is the greatest? That's impossible. If that were the case, Radiance Hall would have long since crushed the Underworld. In the Underworld, the number of Heaven Immortals who cultivate prophecy is so small they can be counted within ten fingers. And the Heavenly Venerables! Even though the Heavenly Venerables, as Heaven Immortals, rose to their positions to pursue the power of history, they still devote themselves to cultivating in the authority of historical observation. The only one who rose to Heavenly Venerable purely from the Earth Tribe or as an Earth Immortal is the Underworld."
I calm my heart and listen to Glass Peacock's words.
"And the last one. Honestly, it is the most nonsensical of them all. Fate, history, and what...the first light? Those three laws are, quite literally, [absolute]."
"..."
"They are in a completely different dimension from the typical Immortal Dao, Seat, or Origin Essence, which require an imperfect interpretation. Fate, history, and the third law are absolutely incapable of possessing a Seat."
I raise a question in response to their words.
"Is it not possible for there to be a Seat?"
"Haha! Absolutely not. That is impossible. It seems you don't understand what a Seat truly is."
Glass Peacock, excited by my question, pushes further into Filling the Heavens Governing View and continues their lecture.
"If I were to explain as someone who has once achieved a Seat myself...a Seat is like a mountain. Reaching the summit of the mountain can be said to be akin to seizing a Seat. It is, in a way, an apex."
Listening to Glass Peacock's explanation of Seats and the Immortal Dao, I steadily accumulate wisdom.
And so, 300 years pass once more.
"The Immortal Dao is like the path up a mountain. The Immortal Dao that descends from a Seat holds countless paths, and how one reaches the peak of the mountain is what it means to 'interpret the Seat.' Just as one can climb from the south, but also from the north, a Seat can be interpreted in reverse. So long as one pushes through with that interpretation, they will eventually reach the peak."
Before I realize it, only about thirty zhang remain between Glass Peacock and me.
Perhaps in a hundred years, only a barrier as thin as glass will separate us.
Kwa-ching!
Glass Peacock shatters another barrier and takes another step closer to me.
"Your comrades still have not escaped from the spatial labyrinth that this Immortal has cast. Give up. I will embrace you warmly."
"I refuse. I cannot give up. No matter how many times I failed...it is because I never gave up that I stand here now. So...I will not give up."
"..."
Glass Peacock trembles upon hearing my words.
For some reason, they lick the barrier with an even more excited expression.
"Good... That heart, I hope it remains unshaken even after enduring three million years with me. In any case, have you finally grasped why a Seat cannot exist for the Three Great Laws?"
"...I think I understand a little."
Yes.
A typical Seat is like a mountain.
And climbing that mountain is walking the Immortal Dao and the method by which True Immortals cultivate.
However, if a Seat is a mountain, then fate, history, and the third law are akin to [nature] itself.
A person can reach the summit of a mountain, but they cannot reach the summit of the Earth.
Because the Earth is round, and there is no such thing as a summit.
The sun, the moon, the Earth—celestial bodies!
These are the metaphors often used to describe the Three Great Laws.
Since they have no end, one cannot reach their apex—such are the three absolute laws!
"You've only grasped it now? You are more dimwitted than you look."
"I hear that often."
"Well, it does not matter. This Immortal likes people like that too..."
Glass Peacock wears a dangerous expression as they look up at the sky, perhaps reminiscing about the past.
"The Immortal Lord of the Seat of Addiction. The way Azure Peng interpreted the Seat was [being lost]. Within the countless natural order and wisdom of the world, we cannot help but be lost. Perceiving the world as a labyrinth, and navigating that labyrinth was Azure Peng's way of interpretation. When one becomes addicted—to drugs, to relationships, to something else—just as they must wander through an endless abyss, Azure Peng defined [wandering] as addiction."
I listen carefully to Glass Peacock's words.
"But...I didn't like that. So...for fifty million years, I laid a trap and created a cage to imprison Azure Peng. As a result, I caught Azure Peng and was able to form a relationship."
A distant look crosses their face.
"I wanted to show Azure Peng...that one can live in this world not just by wandering, but by forming relationships. That by continuously forging relationships, exchanging knowledge and wisdom with many others...one can also navigate through this world."
"..."
"And so, after twenty million years of forming a relationship with Azure Peng, pushing through this Immortal's interpretation...I finally had Azure Peng lay this Immortal's egg and managed to acquire the Seat."
Glass Peacock looks at me again and continues speaking.
"You...from what I have observed, also seem to cling to relationships; isn't that so?"
"You could say so."
"That is why...I wish to form a relationship with you as well. I want to exchange relationships, and want to contemplate what a relationship means to you."
They extend a hand toward me and speak.
"Form a relationship with me, Crystal Glass Being Seo Eun-hyun. I want to show you the happiness that can be found through relationships. For all the pain, suffering, and failures you have endured, I want to give you compensation even if small."
For three hundred years, we exchanged Filling the Heavens Governing View and other Immortal Arts, conversing all the while.
Before long, they came to learn my name and information to some extent.
And I, too, have come to understand Glass Peacock a little more.
Glass Peacock is one of the Immortal Beasts somewhat close to Radiance Hall.
However, since they are not officially affiliated with Radiance Hall, it seems they have no intention of reporting me even after discovering me.
They extend a hand, speaking with a serious expression.
"If before, I just wanted to form a relationship because I saw a new face, now, I am serious. I sincerely want to give and receive with you."
"If that is the case, would it not be fine to exchange through words?"
"There are things one cannot understand unless flesh meets flesh, unless dimension intertwines with dimension. You know this, do you not? If you have grasped not only Qi and Fate...but the Plane of Soul as well."
"..."
There are indeed things one cannot know without crossing blades, without matching breaths.
One way to understand another is through the clash of Martial Arts.
That is why the Heart Tribe duels their opponents in order to understand them even at the cost of their lives.
In that sense, though Glass Peacock does not belong to the Heart Tribe, they display aspects of one.
With this level of dedication, perhaps it would be fine to form a relationship with them.
I might even be able to properly explain the matter regarding the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, move to a safer location, and then engage with them.
However...
"I have lived while going through countless failures. Yet, even as I experienced failure, there is something I never let go of."
"And that is?"
"That in this world, there are many things that cannot be undone. Time will never turn back."
Woo-woooong!
A clear light bursts forth from my body.
The attraction force of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra intensifies, and something resembling salt begins to accumulate around me.
It is Salt Crystal.
"That is why...I cannot engage with you without deep resolve. I do not want to form a relationship for mere pleasure. Because...I do not want to regret it."
"..."
"I have failed endlessly. But without a doubt, it is because I refused to choose the choices forced upon me that I deemed wrong. Even if it meant failing, I chose not to walk that path. Senior Glass Peacock. I respect and admire you. However, I do not love you. That is why...I cannot form a relationship with you. My apologies."
"..."
At my words, Glass Peacock's face shifts strangely.
I feel an eerie sensation creeping in.
Chiiiiii—
Glass Peacock's form changes once more.
It is that of a white-haired woman.
"What an insolent brat... Spouting such irritating words...and yet, amusingly enough, you brush against the enlightenment of history."
Kuguguguk!
"...!"
Glass Peacock glares at me with a woman's face, generating Salt Crystal around them.
"...Until now, I refrained because I did not want to form a relationship with your body injured. But...I have changed my mind. Even if I have to hurt you, I will seize and copulate with you."
"...!"
Kurururung!
"I've taught you many things so far. From now on, I will teach you properly, so learn well."
Kiiiiiiiing!
Glass Peacock begins revising history in earnest.
And so, time flows once more like a rushing stream.
Chiiiiiiii!
Once again, Glass Peacock bombards the barrier today.
'How many years has it been now?'
Why is there still no news from Jeon Myeong-hoon?
Could it be that he was already captured by Glass Peacock, left without even the chance to send a signal, and is now being relentlessly violated?
I shake my head, dispelling the ominous thoughts.
'He wouldn't go down so easily. He's...grown. Right now, all I need to do is withstand Glass Peacock's assault.'
For the past several hundred years,
I have received countless teachings from Glass Peacock firsthand.
"What lesson shall I give you today?"
Kugugugung!
Glass Peacock shifts into their Immortal Beast true form, sweeping their massive wings and breaking apart the barrier.
"It seems you've finally started to realize, judging by the accumulation of Salt Crystal..."
Before I know it, the Salt Crystals originating from the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections have grown in number around me.
That's right.
As I resist Glass Peacock's history revision, my talents and traits as an Immortal Beast are awakening even more powerfully.
"Now, try resisting me."
Kwaaaaaa!
As Glass Peacock beats their wings, countless Salt Crystals explode, spreading history across the star veins.
Within that history is a scene where I have long since suffered a mental defeat at the hands of Glass Peacock.
'I will not give up.'
But I enshroud myself further in the mist of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, rejecting the [truth] Glass Peacock attempts to impose.
"I have not been defeated. That is a [false history]!"
Kwaching!
The false history before me shatters at my declaration, crumbling away.
Yet, Glass Peacock flaps their wings and questions me.
"Is that truly so? Are there no hidden emotions that you yourself are unaware of within you? Can you truly make that claim with certainty?"
"...Yes."
I declare with a hardened expression.
"I have spent my entire life in repentant enlightenment."
Kiiiiiiiing!
Through my resistance against Glass Peacock, I have learned much.
I have come to understand how to oppose history with fate, and at the same time, I have fused my own Immortal Dao—the Immortal Dao of Repentant Enlightenment—into both history and fate, allowing me to fight back.
A vision of a Salt Mountain accumulating within me appears before my eyes.
"With my repentant enlightenment—!"
Kurururung!
It accumulates.
Everything I have done, every connection I have formed—
Every step I have retraced!
"There has been no defeat!!"
Kwachangjang.
Glass Peacock's history revision shatters.
At the same time, a powerful shock ripples through their body, and a torrent of Immortal Blood erupts forth.
It is Immortal Beast True Blood.
Now, only a single barrier remains between Glass Peacock and me.
The distance between us—one zhang.
But at last, after a thousand years, I have succeeded in shattering Glass Peacock's history revision head-on.
Paaaaatt!
Glass Peacock shifts into their female Transformation form, gazing at me with sorrowful eyes.
"...You have won."