Chapter 625: Royal Authority (1)
I die.
I am reborn.
I recall my family.
I offer myself as a sacrificial offering for the sake of my family.
The more I offer, the safer my family becomes.
I repeat the actions above.
And...
The power of the Immortal Art that arises from offering myself as a sacrificial offering is, in itself, akin to an innate True Immortal.Therefore...
This can rightfully be called the cultivation of Yang Pitch.
However, as I continue to offer myself as a sacrifice for my comrades, my cultivation realm gradually falls.
Yet even as my cultivation falls, my heart to sacrifice only grows greater, so no matter how many times I die, the Yang Pitch cultivation is never left undone.
Every time, I offer myself as a sacrificial offering, layering the Immortal Art that protects my family, even going as far as consuming the fortune I've accumulated to create an innate True Immortal.
The stronger the protective power becomes, the more my fortune diminishes, and the more my cultivation drops.
550th cycle.
I reach the Sacred Vessel stage.
But I do not care.
No matter how many times I die and am reborn, what I must do is clear.
Protect my family.
My comrades willingly became my family and protected me.
Now I shall protect them.
Regardless of how many times I die!
The more I die, and the more I layer the power of the Immortal Crown upon them, the weaker the power of the True Immortals coming from outside becomes.
Of course, even with that weakened strength, I die endlessly—but it doesn't matter.
Because now, even if I die and die again, I will only keep strongly protecting my comrades.
I constantly recite the Flawless Mantra,
Protecting what I wish to protect by my own will, not as a component of the world.
And because that goes against the principles of the world, my mastery of the Flawless Mantra continues to rise without end.
600th cycle.
My cultivation falls to the Star Shattering stage.
Before I know it, the attacks of the True Immortals barely reach me anymore.
But why is it?
I keep dying sudden deaths without ever reaching the end of my lifespan.
It is not due to the attacks of True Immortals, nor their prophecies, nor revision.
In every life, I put all my effort to understanding the cause of these sudden deaths.
Time flows and flows.
And finally...
The 666th cycle.
The cultivation of the Flawless Mantra.
Its end draws near.
Tstststststs!
My current cultivation has fallen to the Integration stage.
Originally, I could have gained sufficient authority through this and ended the cultivation of the Flawless Mantra here.
But I do not do so.
666 past lives is, quite literally, the minimum unit.
Through 666 reincarnations, one can gain substantial control over the Flawless Mantra.
However...
It cannot be fully mastered.
Thus, I continue my cultivation in order to completely grasp the Flawless Mantra.
The Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections was absorbed into the Flawless Mantra and became an Immortal Crown.
For the sake of my family, who have received the Immortal Crown from me, I cannot allow myself to leave the Flawless Mantra unmastered.
Kurururung!
Then, when I have reached the end of my 666th life,
'...This is...'
Before I know it, I realize I have arrived at a strange place.
Yet, it is also a familiar place.
This place...yes.
A place filled with a crimson sea of blood and a mountain of corpses.
It's the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
I become aware of the one who summoned me into this world.
"...So it was you. Oh Hye-seo..."
A familiar woman sits before me.
And behind me, I hear the heavy breath of a sinister presence.
"You were the one who pushed them to attack us."
In front of me is Oh Hye-seo, and behind me is the true body of the Immortal Beast Black Dragon.
That's right.
From the very beginning, Black Dragon had not simply attacked us.
They came after joining hands with Oh Hye-seo to kill us.
Oh Hye-seo smiles with gloomy eyes.
"Yeah, that's right. I hate you, Seo Eun-hyun. Because you killed Seo Hweol...and because the Great Mountain Supreme Deity has been constantly making a fit, telling me to shove the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea into your mouth. That's why while you were cultivating the Flawless Mantra, I joined hands with Black Dragon and made them attack you. I tried to shove the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea down your throat while you were reincarnating. Of course, if there was a problem...it's that I didn't expect the others to become that strong."
"..."
I calmly look at Oh Hye-seo.
"...Oh Hye-seo."
"What?"
"I see. So that is your Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens..."
I glance at Oh Hye-seo's shadow and let out a bitter smile.
Her shadow is not her own.
It clearly belongs to a man with deer antlers.
Yes...
Her shadow belongs to Seo Hweol.
"You used Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens as a medium to summon me to this place."
It's ironic.
Oh Hye-seo, who once longed so desperately to revive Seo Hweol...
Has long surpassed Seo Hweol's in terms of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
Even I didn't even realize I was afflicted by Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens until I saw that shadow.
"I see. You tied a piece of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens to Black Dragon and attached it to me when I inherited the bloodline of the Black Dragon Race and became their crown prince in my second life."
"That's right."
"And that Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens has been constantly clinging to me all along and followed me... The recent unexplained sudden deaths I experienced were also..."
"Yeah. Even for you, this would've been impossible to detect. Your sudden deaths were the result of me and Black Dragon combining our strength."
It is no wonder I didn't realize.
Her Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, evolved through Seo Hweol's inheritance...
Moves in a manner extremely similar to the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag.
Once it clings to a target, it fully merges with them.
But once it merges, it no longer listens to the original master's commands.
Instead, the original owner imprints 'a single' command into the Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, and as time passes, that command becomes more deeply etched into the assimilated target.
That is what I uncovered in my past life about Oh Hye-seo's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
While I was trapped in the Crystal Glass Realm by Hyeon Mu, she only embedded Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens into In Ye's family. Because of that, I could not sense its secrecy, but now that I've experienced it firsthand, I understand.
Her Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens has already evolved far beyond Seo Hweol's.
I smile bitterly as I watch her.
"Oh Hye-seo, wasn't your goal to resurrect Seo Hweol?"
"That's right."
"...Then you'll never be able to bring Seo Hweol back to life."
At my words, Oh Hye-seo's eyes twitch.
But this isn't mere spiteful talk.
It is a truth visible to my eyes, who has reached a considerable level in Triple Divinity.
That is...
Seo Hweol, who was Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens itself, has already died and reincarnated somewhere else.
And the Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, which could at least be called a remnant of Seo Hweol, has evolved and become completely different from the original Seo Hweol.
The more Oh Hye-seo runs around trying to resurrect Seo Hweol, the more her Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens evolves and deviates from the original Seo Hweol.
And the more this continues, the exponentially lower the chance becomes that, even if she finds Seo Hweol's spirit someday, she'll be able to restore the Seo Hweol of that time.
"I'm giving you advice, Oh Hye-seo. If you want to resurrect Seo Hweol...let go of your obsession with him. At least for you...letting go of him will help you bring him back."
"...Shut up."
Immediately after.
Oh Hye-seo's Corpse Mountain Blood Sea moves and lashes at me.
My main body is still in the Purple Lotus Realm—now transformed into the White Magnolia Realm—and I've been pulled here in the middle of cultivating the Flawless Mantra, so the power of my spirit is only at the Integration stage. It feels like I'll be shattered to pieces by that immense force.
But it's useless.
I operate Triple Divinity with extreme precision, fully perceiving all the hearts within that immense force, and let the power flow past me completely.
"...!"
"It's useless, Oh Hye-seo. You cannot harm me."
Woo-woong!
At least, within the Immortal Dao of the Mountain, she cannot dare to harm me.
"Enough with the pointless mental warfare... Just tell me what you want."
Swiririk—
I meticulously refine my intent to the utmost and shoot it into Oh Hye-seo's heart.
Her very origin as a True Immortal falls into my grasp in an instant.
"I don't like you. The emotions I feel toward you are, at best, irritation, annoyance, and disgust. Ever since I found out you were the one controlling Black Dragon from behind, all I've felt toward you is the urge to kill you on the spot."
Right now, if I so wished, I could inflict a fatal wound on her.
"So, don't try anything. The only reason I am not attacking you is because you are Hyun-seok Hyung-nim's niece."
"..."
Perhaps realizing that, Oh Hye-seo's face twitches.
"...Yeah, the gap between us just doesn't seem to close... Even though your actual cultivation should only be at the peak of Upper Immortal, to think you are at this level... Fine. I'll tell you my goal."
At her next words, I realize what's been happening in Mount Sumeru.
"Some time ago, the Radiance Hall that returned from the Outer Sea began to go on a rampage. Right now, they are waging war against the entire Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand Worlds, destroying countless True Immortals."
"..."
"Though the Radiance Eight Immortals and Radiance Hall are still allied for now...according to Black Dragon, once Radiance Hall comes into contact with the [truth] of Radiance Hall, even they will eventually turn away from the Radiance Eight Immortals. However, a revelation came from the Great Mountain Supreme Deity..."
She smiles unsettlingly and looks up at the sky.
"Radiance Hall or whatever... All of Mount Sumeru or whatever... They say it is all meaningless against the true power of the Radiance Eight Immortals. If the Heavenly Venerable of Time were still around, there might have been a possibility, but with just the two Heavenly Venerables of Void and Sal Tree, there's no way to stand against the Radiance Eight Immortals."
"So..."
I coldly look at her and ask,
"What are you saying? That my comrades and I should join the war against the Radiance Eight Immortals?"
I speak firmly.
"If that is what you're about to ask, then I refuse. I will never...put my family in danger."
"...Family, huh...?"
Oh Hye-seo makes a gloomy expression at my words and lets out a sneer.
"You're obsessed with something meaningless."
"Think whatever you want."
"Hoho...well, fine. But it's not the kind of request you're worried about. It's something else entirely."
"Hm?"
"The Great Mountain Supreme Deity said this. That if we end up fighting the Radiance Eight Immortals, the reason we would lose is because we only have two Heavenly Venerables. They said that if there were three Heavenly Venerables, we might have a chance, but with just two, it's impossible. Which means...in the end, we just need one more Heavenly Venerable."
"So you're saying...you intend to call upon the Heavenly Venerable of Time? Or involve the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld...?"
"Ahaha... Still such poor imagination. Or rather...should I say it's because of your lack of knowledge that your imagination is so limited...?"
Oh Hye-seo chuckles and speaks.
"We will...exalt a Heavenly Venerable."
"...!"
"And...the candidate has already been decided."
Huarurururuk!
Before I know it, Black Dragon's true body, which had been behind me, flies over to Oh Hye-seo's side and transforms.
Their Transformation form, cloaked in darkness, wraps an arm around Oh Hye-seo's shoulders and lifts her chin.
[She is truly such a lovely child...kukuk. If only she weren't the disciple of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, I would have formed a Dao Companion bond with her right away. What a shame...]
As I read the hearts between the two of them, I understand their thoughts.
[Yes, it is this Immortal. This Immortal shall become a Heavenly Venerable. Thus, we shall win the war ignited by the Radiance Eight Immortals...and together with the power of the other Heavenly Venerables, one day block the Great Mountain Supreme Deity who will invade Mount Sumeru, and rule all of Mount Sumeru under this Immortal's Authority Seat.]
"The glorious enthronement of the great Black Dragon...this girl longs for it with all her heart..."
Oh Hye-seo, with the enraptured expression of a girl in love, seductively caresses the Transformation form enveloped in darkness.
I sneer as I watch the two of them.
Their hearts grip blades, pressing it into the other's mouth, while they speak words of affection with their lips alone.
It isn't even like the relationship between Seo Hweol and Oh Hye-seo.
Between Seo Hweol and her, at the very least they valued each other. Black Dragon, however, sees Oh Hye-seo as nothing more than a pill they plan to consume someday,
And Oh Hye-seo thinks only of using Black Dragon's body as a vessel to one day resurrect Seo Hweol.
"...Enough with the flirting. Just explain."
I turn to Black Dragon and ask,
"O Black Dragon, at best, you seem to be at the level of an Immortal Lord. And you don't seem close to being a Supreme Deity. Yet in that state, how do you expect to become a Heavenly Venerable? Should you not be first preparing for your enthronement as a Supreme Deity? Why are you already making this laughable claim about becoming a Heavenly Venerable?"
[Hahaha. Indeed...to someone who knows nothing, it may look that way.]
"...?"
[Allow me to enlighten you. Heavenly Venerables and Supreme Deities, in truth, are a little different from the usual concept of 'realms.']
From the mouth of Black Dragon, the explanation of the Heavenly Venerable realm begins.