Chapter 659: I Shall Teach You Properly
I suddenly hold my breath, caught off guard by the vague connection that surfaces in my mind.
'What is this?'
Why is it that when I combine the faces of Hong Fan and the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld—
Hyeon Rang appears?
It's truly a strange feeling.
It's not like the fragments of truth I know are connecting to form a complete truth. Rather, the more I learn, the deeper I feel I'm sinking into a quagmire.
'So does that mean...in Hong Fan's past life...in other words as the first Radiance Supreme Deity, he and the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld Bong Hwa...had a relationship and the result is Hyeon Rang?'
I really can't tell what's what.'Come to think of it...wasn't there such an incident before?'
Back then, Hong Fan's eyes turned red as he stared at Tae Yeol-jeon who was possessed by the Underworld, and he confessed madly.
'At that time...I just thought he suddenly went into heat or something...'
But maybe that incident was actually the tip of something far beyond imagination.
Such a thought crosses my mind.
With my head now cool, I ask Bong Myeong a question.
"Then we will be on our way now. But before that, there is one thing I'd like to ask."
"Sure, sure... What do you need?"
"It may be a somewhat rude question...but has the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld ever had a child? Or if not that...perhaps a marriage or something along those lines?"
At my question, Bong Myeong gives a baffled look and lets out a hollow laugh.
"That's an amusing question. You must have seen something or someone you believe to be the bloodline of that person?"
"Yes, well...I saw someone who looked quite similar."
"It's an amusing thought, but the Imperial Venerable has never once shared affection or engaged in union with anyone since birth. And I doubt that will change going forward."
"Hmm, is that really so?"
I wonder if that's even possible at that age, but quite surprisingly, Bong Myeong continues with eyes full of certainty.
"Yes. Even among our past comrades, there were Reapers who admired the Imperial Venerable and wished to share affection, but the Imperial Venerable refused. The Imperial Venerable said that until they complete their Dao, they will never give and receive something called 'love' with anyone."
"Hmm..."
Come to think of it, she turned Hong Fan away back then with similar words.
"The Dao of the Imperial Venerable is..."
"If you are under their protection, you must have heard it? The Origin Essence of Life, Omniscience..."
Just as Bong Myeong is about to explain the Dao of the Underworld to me, his eyes suddenly flicker and he changes the subject.
"Mm...no, I see. There must be a reason why this wasn't explained. I will not dare explain it. You will have to hear it directly in time."
"Yes, I understand. Then...just to confirm, there is no one who has shared affection with the Imperial Venerable, nor any child of theirs?"
"Strictly speaking, no one has shared affection with them, but they do have children."
"Pardon...?"
"In this world, every being that has 'reincarnated at least once after death'...are all basically their children. In truth, practically every life that exists in this world...is no different from being the child of the Imperial Venerable."
"...!"
"They are not called Queen Mother for no reason."
At those words, I feel once again the immense power and rank of the Underworld.
'Certainly...she is the root of history. The being who has come closest to the Seat of Life itself...'
"I see...I understand. Thank you for answering..."
"Though of course."
"...?"
"There could be children or descendants. Even a spouse we don't know about."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Is there not such a thing as reincarnation?"
"Mm...!"
"Even the Imperial Venerable, before becoming the Imperial Venerable, must have had a previous life. If you trace back far enough to before they were born...in their previous life, it is possible they were married to someone. Together with someone, they could have borne and raised children."
"...! I see. Thank you."
"Good. I am glad to think I could be of help."
With that, I succeed in retrieving Kim Yeon from the Liberation Supreme Deity Bong Myeong, and gain some unexpected knowledge as well.
'Right. If I consider reincarnation, then I can't ignore the past life of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.'
In that case...
'...Back when the first Radiance Supreme Deity Hong Fan existed, did the past life of the Underworld meet Hong Fan and...become a married couple?'
With my head full of tangled thoughts, I leave the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain to go abduct the last 'comrade'...or more precisely, the one with the 'potential to be a comrade'.
The space between Heavenly Domains.
The Inner Sea.
There, I create a small dimension where I can briefly speak with my companions.
Kigigigigik!
Though I call it creating a small dimension, all I really do is spread attraction force around me and momentarily form the concept of space through powerful attraction force.
Ttak!
Inside the small dimension I created.
When Kim Yeon snaps her fingers, countless particles crash into one another and begin to shape.
At the same time, we instantly find ourselves seated in what looks like a teahouse in Seoul.
"Hmm, a 'gabae(珈琲)'. It's been a while."
[TL Notes: Really old way of saying coffee.]
I let out a sound of admiration as I look around, and Kang Min-hee snaps at me.
"...Why did you forget Earth language?"
"...? They called it gabae on Earth too..."
"Don't say stupid things, Seo Eun-hyun. There's the word 'dabang', so why use such a dumb term?"
[TL Notes: Dabang is any place that serves non-alcoholic drinks. Implication is that Jeon Myeong-hoon is also being stupid because dabang is also an old word.]
But from Jeon Myeong-hoon's words, I realize right away that I'm wrong.
It seems ever since the format of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections was restructured, there are some issues with retrieving memories.
"Mm, sorry...I must've momentarily forgotten."
For some reason, Kang Min-hee's eyes seem to sigh, but it's not a big issue.
Humming to herself, Kim Yeon heads to the machine that brews gabae and begins to prepare gabae. We breathe in the aroma of the gabae as we reminisce about old times after so long.
After a while, I sip the gabae and speak with a serious expression.
"There's something I need to say. From here on...I'm going to go capture Oh Hye-seo."
The reason I'm trying to abduct Oh Hye-seo in this current situation is clear.
'I must go to the Outer Sea.'
If I'm in the Outer Sea, even the Splitting Heaven Mantra doesn't scare me...
But the issue lies with those who remain in Mount Sumeru.
'If I go to the Outer Sea, I have no idea when I'll return.'
Looking at Kim Young-hoon's case, time seems to warp strangely in the Outer Sea.
If things go wrong, I could return from the Outer Sea and find that millions of years have passed in Mount Sumeru.
So I absolutely cannot overlook the possibility that, in that fleeting time, Oh Hye-seo could be killed by someone.
'If something goes wrong, everyone could die. I need to act before she's killed. I have to create at least a minimum grace period.'
That's the reason I intend to capture her before heading to the Outer Sea.
"Hmm...that traitorous bitch?"
Kang Min-hee's eyebrow twitches as she raises her teacup.
"Why not just let her live by herself? According to Master, she's already suffering in some place called the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain."
—Is there a reason?
The foam in my cup of gabae moves and forms a sentence.
It seems Kim Yeon has tampered with the brewing device to bypass Bong Myeong's restrictions.
Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes twitch as well.
"To be honest, we were close once...but isn't she a traitor now? It isn't just once or twice that she and that Seo Hweol guy joined forces and nearly wiped us out... Honestly, you could say we lost the Wuji Religious Order because she and Seo Hweol joined forces and pushed us into the Nether Ghost Realm."
"...Yeah, that happened."
I smile bitterly and speak.
"But even if she's a traitor, she must not die."
"Why?"
"...Why...huh?"
I don't know how to explain it.
Saying that I'm saving Oh Hye-seo from Seo Hweol's shadow, or that I'm saving her because she has become my niece, is just an extremely personal reason of mine.
Saying I'm doing it for Oh Hyun-seok is difficult, since he's not here right now.
When Kim Young-hoon said he is headed to the future where 'we' challenge the Audience Chamber, I don't know whether that 'we' included Oh Hye-seo or not. Hence, saying why I have to save her is hard to explain to my comrades who don't know about the regression.
'Moreover, even my fate isn't infinite regression, and regression belongs to someone else...'
I still feel a strong intuition that I must not speak of it.
It's quite difficult to talk about Kim Young-hoon's matter without explaining the regression.
After a while of thinking, I speak up.
In the end, I feel it's best to persuade them using the most straightforward method.
"In order to postpone...the destruction of the world."
"Hmm?"
"Listen carefully. Oh Hye-seo is now...the disciple of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity who wiped out the Wuji Religious Order."
I begin persuading my comrades using the most natural facts.
The Great Mountain Supreme Deity is preparing the terrifying world-destroying mantra called the Splitting Heaven Mantra.
And the fastest way to complete it is by killing their disciple, Oh Hye-seo. Oh Hye-seo is fated to be killed by 'someone' in Mount Sumeru through whatever means.
"That's why...we must capture Oh Hye-seo. The best-case scenario would be convincing her to become a true comrade after bringing her back...but that seems unlikely. So we will capture her and seal her."
At the very least, doing so would delay the completion of the Splitting Heaven Mantra by a minimum of one hundred million years.
At most, by a billion years.
"Emm... O-One hundred million years, huh...?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon, being a baby who has not even lived a mere hundred thousand years in this cycle, seems a bit flustered by the time scale of one hundred million years.
"Everyone, remember this. We are now True Immortals. Since we can set our lifespans as long as we wish...even a hundred million years is well within our viewable timeframe."
"Emm..."
"So listen carefully. No matter what we do going forward. No matter what goals we have...we need this grace period."
I speak seriously to my comrades.
"Oh Hye-seo...due to the arrangements of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, is caught in a fate where we don't know when or where she'll die fighting. Even right now...she could die fighting someone. In other words..."
"If we don't want to experience the end of the world...we need to capture and seal Oh Hye-seo."
"Yes. And we need to extend her lifespan through continuous prophecies, so that even death by natural causes is prevented. If she dies of old age while in our custody, it could still be interpreted as murder."
In the end, regardless of how she dies, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity will force the interpretation into murder, so we must never let her die.
"That's why, if we capture Oh Hye-seo, make sure she never dies, and seal her so she can do nothing...we secure at least a hundred million years."
"Hm, got it."
"Good."
—In that case...it can't be helped.
And so, we all agree on the plan to abduct Oh Hye-seo and begin moving to capture her.
Kugugugugu!
Earth Axis Heavenly Domain.
In an Inner Sea near that Heavenly Domain, a single peacock of light is flying.
The Immortal Beast Glass Peacock.
It is the late stage Great Net Immortal, the Ignorant One.
[The Corpse Mountain Blood Sea of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity is the problem. There's almost no opening, is there? And to pierce through what little openings there are, I lack enough firepower alone... If I just force my way through, and the Great Mountain Holy Mother moves the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea borrowing the power of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, I might end up becoming part of it.]
Glass Peacock soars frantically around the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain, recording its gaps with a serious gaze.
That's when it happens.
[Hmm?]
From the distant abyss of the Inner Sea, four clusters of light begin flying in.
[Hmm!]
They are four True Immortals.
Heaven-Destroying One Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Madam Ghost Mother Kang Min-hee.
Madam Full Blossom Kim Yeon.
And...
The return of Vast Cold, Seo Eun-hyun.
[Th-That one is...!]
Glass Peacock's eyes flush red.
Seo Eun-hyun, the powerful Immortal Lord-level Great Net Immortal whom Glass Peacock had been unable to devour, is approaching them of his own accord.
However, after glancing at the Heaven-Destroying One and Madam Ghost Mother, Glass Peacock then turns to Kim Yeon.
'Aside from Madam Ghost Mother, the rest are unfamiliar.'
Even so, the fact that Glass Peacock knows of their Immortal Titles and names is thanks to their clone sealed within Seo Eun-hyun's body.
That clone has been interpreting their wisdom and transmitting it to the main body.
'One seems to be of Do Gon's Immortal Dao lineage? And the other...carries the scent of the Liberation Supreme Deity and also of Vast Cold... Seems like a True Immortal under the Liberation Supreme Deity. Hmm, with those three and the Madam Ghost Mother together, I won't be able to eat Seo Eun-hyun now. A pity, but I'll have to wait for another chance.'
Quickly finishing their calculations, Glass Peacock suppresses their lust and speaks.
[What matters do you have with me, Seo Eun-hyun?]
[We have matters not with you, but with the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain.]
[Hngh, such a shame... Since you've come all this way to the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain, can't you copulate with me for just a million years?]
[...Not necessary.]
[So cold. Then, while it's regrettable, let us meet again next time.]
Smacking their lips, Glass Peacock spreads their wings to distance themself from Seo Eun-hyun's group.
But then, an unbelievable voice reaches Glass Peacock's ears.
[I want to join hands with you.]
[What...!? You want to do it with my hand!?]
Glass Peacock trembles and turns back to Seo Eun-hyun.
[...We also have to enter the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain and meet the Great Mountain Holy Mother. Because of that, we want to join forces with you, who is trying to enter the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain. Well? Will you accept the proposal?]
[Uuuwu, you want to join with me... Fine...]
Outwardly acting like a crazed sex demon, Glass Peacock begins a cold calculation inside.
'They want to cooperate with me to do something involving the Great Mountain Holy Mother inside the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain? Good. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The odds of safely abducting the Great Mountain Holy Mother have increased, and while they're distracted by her, if I backstab them with Glass Avidyā Advancement Light, I might be able to take a chance at them too.'
Their eyes blaze.
'Of course, I won't be able to kill them in a single strike...but that much is enough. My goal isn't to barbarically kill and be killed anyway. Even if I can just turn them into fools for a bit, say, a thousand years, that's more than enough to enjoy copulation. All of them are True Immortals I have no acquaintance with. Which means none of them will understand my Glass Avidyā Advancement Light or my behavioral patterns.'
Of course, the fact that they are a 'mad sex demon' is known across the entire universe.
But very few know that the true nature of Glass Peacock is that of a 'cold-blooded lust maniac merely acting the role of a mad sex demon'.
It is a truth known only to those strong and resilient enough to maintain their reason while copulating with Glass Peacock for over a hundred thousand years.
'So...this is actually a good opportunity.'
[Alright! I'll do it! If I can become one with you, I'll do anything! Do you need my help? What should I do?]
[It seemed you were investigating a way to enter the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain?]
[Yes. Right now, the Great Mountain Holy Mother is sealing off the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain through the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, making it impossible for outsiders to intrude. But I've been looking for a gap in that watertight barrier.]
[I see. Lead us to the largest of those gaps.]
[Alright!]
Glass Peacock, concealing their sly intentions, guides Seo Eun-hyun's group to one of the gaps they previously observed.
'My firepower may be lacking, but with the five of us, we can definitely break through.'
Then, upon arriving at the gap, Glass Peacock explains how to penetrate it, and thus Seo Eun-hyun, Glass Peacock, and the rest begin launching attacks toward the gap.
Kwagwgwgwang!
The dimensional veil of the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain.
Reinforced by the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea infused by Oh Hye-seo, that dimensional veil finally collapses, and Seo Eun-hyun and Glass Peacock's party gain entry into the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain.
'At last!'
Glass Peacock lets out a cry of joy and immediately begins guiding Seo Eun-hyun's group.
[Let's go that way. That direction leads straight to the Great Mountain Holy Mother.]
Kugugugugu!
The five True Immortals move toward the location of the Great Mountain Holy Mother Oh Hye-seo.
How long do they traverse through the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain, where ominous devilish energy runs rampant?
At last, they arrive in front of a massive palace.
[It's the palace of the Great Mountain Holy Mother! She should be inside.]
[Is that so? Thank you for guiding us.]
[Well then, I'll let you handle your matters with the Great Mountain Holy Mother first. Go ahead, Seo Eun-hyun.]
Glass Peacock takes a step back as if offering a favor, smiling at Seo Eun-hyun's group.
Seo Eun-hyun looks at them and nods.
[Come out Oh Hye-seo!]
At Seo Eun-hyun's call, a familiar figure rises above the palace.
The one Glass Peacock has dreamed of all this time, and the key component needed to carry out their Azure Peng kidnapping plan.
It is Oh Hye-seo.
"Ahaha, hello Seo Eun-hyun? And who are all these people? What nostalgic faces!"
She forces a laugh.
In truth, she is suffering, using that exaggerated smile to mislead those around her.
Glass Peacock sees through her.
The wounds she carries are different from Azure Peng's, yet she too bears deep scars.
'I, I want to heal her. Through sensual pleasure, I want to show her how vast and beautiful the world truly is!'
Looking at her, Glass Peacock drools sticky spiritual energy from their mouth.
Kuuuung!
And around Oh Hye-seo, a mountain of corpses begins to emerge.
The remnant of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
Yet even the mere presence of the remnant fills the space, and ghostly wails begin dividing Heaven and Earth.
"It's so good to see you...and yet, so foolish. Seo Eun-hyun...I don't know what you were thinking coming here."
As more Corpse Mountain Blood Seas gather, Oh Hye-seo's aura begins to surge.
Glass Peacock breaks out in cold sweat.
'As expected...'
Her realm remains merely at the early stage of True Immortality, but within the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain, filled with the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, she becomes strong enough to threaten even Glass Peacock, who is at the level of Immortal Lord.
Strictly speaking, it is the remnant of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity that possesses such power.
"Today, I will incapacitate you and carry out the orders of my master, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity. Do you understand?"
Wiiiiiing!
Countless Corpse Mountain Blood Seas wail as they emit ghostly cries.
At the same time, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Earth Axis Heavenly Domain begins to gather before her.
[Now, let me show you. What I've been taught by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity...]
Immediately after,
Blink—
Everyone except Glass Peacock blinks.
'Huh...?'
Glass Peacock and Oh Hye-seo stare blankly at the [something] that appears before them.
It is a Wheel.
A Wheel of starlight.
And the [being] carrying that wheel on its back begins to reveal itself.
The being's body blazes with fire of glass.
It wears a white round collared robe, each thread of which is forged from glass swords.
Horns sprout from the being's head, a tail like a dragon's at its feet, its hands and feet jagged like those of a vicious beast.
Within the Wheel on its back, a Pure-White Three Great Ultimates rotates.
It is...
Seo Eun-hyun's main body.
Seo Eun-hyun, revealing his main body while trampling across countless star clusters, opens his mouth.
: : H A V E Y O U B E E N T A U G H T T H E <PHENOMENA EXTINGUISHING MANTRA> ? : :
So overwhelming is his rank, even Glass Peacock cannot properly hear Seo Eun-hyun's voice.
And upon hearing what follows, Glass Peacock's eyes fill with horror.
'Wh-What...!?'
Seo Eun-hyun raises both hands.
Within his palms, the jade of Yin-Yang and Five Elements begins to gather.
The moment they see it, Glass Peacock instinctively starts to retreat.
Heaven and Earth and all Above.
: : I S H A L L T E A C H Y O U P R O P E R L Y : :
The will of the mountain spirit clothed in a white round collar robe of sword mountains begins to spread throughout the world.
: : P H E N O M E N A E X T I N G U I S H I N G M A N T R A !!! : :