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Chapter 683: Sword God Dance (3)
Kiriririk—
Time flows.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord Yang Ji-hwang looks through Seo Eun-hyun's memories and gradually learns emotions.
In the 10th cycle, she cries together with Seo Eun-hyun over Buk Hyang-hwa's death.
In the 11th cycle, she recoils together with Seo Eun-hyun at the Mad Lord's tyranny.
In the 12th cycle, she is dumbfounded together with Seo Eun-hyun, who is falsely accused and killed of being a vile Heart Tribe spy.
And at the end of the 13th cycle, as she watches Seo Eun-hyun accept Kim Yeon's feelings, she breaks down sobbing."Aaagh... Aaaagh..."
Pain.
It is a feeling she has never experienced before.
Neither physical pain nor the suffering that torments the mind has ever succeeded in shaking the iron-like divinity of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.
A god of iron and war who severed the heart.
But at the same time, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord was also one who sealed her heart with a mask and suppressed it.
Thus, the pain that arises from the heart is something she cannot easily withstand.
If all the external pressure and violence that has tempered her until now has forged her into a harder sword, a sharper weapon,
Then the emotions boiling up from within are dulling her edge and softening her body.
"Why...do you live in such pain...?"
14th cycle.
There, as she watches Seo Eun-hyun betray humanity for the righteousness he believes in and throw himself to death for his master, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord breaks into tears once again.
"Why...is life so painful?"
Each time she follows Seo Eun-hyun's memories and emotions, tracing the path of his life,
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord feels as if she is running endlessly down a path made of blades.
A path of swords made of glass.
It is, quite literally, the very life that Seo Eun-hyun has lived.
'This is...too much. Too painful. I just want to stop now... I want to get out...of Seo Eun-hyun's memories...'
Unable to endure the final moments of the 14th cycle, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord collapses on the spot.
If it were a life simply filled with pain and cruelty, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord would have perhaps rather welcomed it.
If it had been a life of continuous days like those in the Azure Heaven Creation Sect, she might have found it exhilarating.
But...
Seo Eun-hyun's life constantly inflicts upon the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord a new kind of pain, and she simply cannot dare endure it.
'Even if I were captured by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity and dissolved into the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea to be tortured, I was born to withstand that... That is the fate I was born with. And yet, you...'
Following Seo Eun-hyun as he steps into the first day of the 15th cycle, she lets out a groan.
'How can you cause me this much pain...?'
At first, she thought she could just breeze through Seo Eun-hyun's life.
But while she once rushed through his life quickly, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord now finds herself unable to do so.
She follows his life at a normal pace.
Because if she continues at a fast pace, she fears she will no longer be able to withstand the pain rising within her heart.
"I...want to...stop..."
It is at that moment.
Paaatt!
Suddenly, Sword Spear Heavenly Lord feels as though something is 'blooming' inside her chest.
'What is this?'
She feels something very small within her chest.
'Th-This is...'
And the moment she perceives it, she feels as though she is momentarily freed from the 'pain' that torments her.
'What in the world is this...!?'
Kiriririk!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord hurriedly draws down that feeling from within her chest and urges it to bloom further.
That 'feeling' continues to blossom the more she watches Seo Eun-hyun's life, and finally, at the end of the 15th cycle—
Paaaaatt!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord finally understands what has taken form within her chest.
The thing that had been continuously blooming finally takes on a complete shape.
'A paper flower?'
It is a paper flower made of pure white light.
That paper flower blooms clearly within the heart essence of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord Yang Ji-hwang.
Observing her own heart essence, she, as if entranced, reaches out to touch the paper flower blooming there.
It is at that moment.
She realizes the identity of the paper flower and flinches in shock.
'Madness...! Th-This is...!'
It is not just an abnormal phenomenon, nor is it simply a change within the heart essence.
This is, in itself, a 'new system of power'.
"Apart from Immortal Cultivation and Hyeon Mu's Plane of Soul...a new system of power has been born...?"
It is an absurd notion.
She knows well just how difficult it is to create a new system of power.
In the case of the Immortal Art Immortal Cultivation, according to the inheritance passed down in Radiance Hall, the first Radiance Supreme Deities tore their own spirits apart and scattered them across the Three Heavens Great Thousand Worlds to create it.
Scattering one's own existence across the world—such is the method for creating a new system of power. And now, it seems 'someone' has created this system of power.
'If it's a system of power that even I, trapped inside Seo Eun-hyun's memories, can cultivate...then it must be one of two things. Either the being who scattered this is more powerful than any Supreme Deity, or it's a Great Net Immortal-level existence who scattered their spirit with the resolve to grind down their entire existence and their everything.'
Either way, it is not welcome news to her, who once belonged to Radiance Hall.
The new system of power would surely pose significant threat to the Immortal Art Immortal Cultivation overseen by Radiance Hall.
'As one of the ones who served as the Radiance Supreme Deity, I must immediately expel this power from my body.'
According to the rules of Radiance Hall, a Radiance Supreme Deity must advance to Immortal Lord solely through the Immortal Cultivation system of the Heaven Tribe pathway.
In other words, using the power of the Plane of Soul or the power of the history pathway is strictly forbidden.
However, the Yang Ji-hwang of now finds herself thinking differently.
'But this is an unseen power. The powers of the Plane of Soul and the history pathway have already been heavily researched within Radiance Hall and can be sufficiently countered, but this is a power that has appeared for the first time. Therefore...in order for Radiance Hall to better respond to it, someone must study it.'
Thus, she decides to cultivate this new system of power.
'Let's cultivate it to a sufficient degree, develop some research results, and offer them in service to Radiance Hall. Since I can abandon cultivation at any time, it should be fine to learn just a bit.'
Just a bit.
Surely, that much should be acceptable. With that belief, she begins cultivating the power that originates from the paper flower.
And it is when she contemplated the paper flower and tries to view Seo Eun-hyun's 16th cycle.
'...?'
Paaatt!
The surroundings go dark, and nothing can be seen.
Feeling as though she has entered a pitch-black Darkness World, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord looks around in confusion.
But it is the same.
'What is this? Seo Eun-hyun's 16th cycle...I'm definitely still within his memories, but why can I not see anything? This is...'
Soon after, she realizes something.
'I see. I've heard of this before. A secret art sometimes used by beings at the level of the Underworld, drawing upon the power of the history pathway...'
One of the secret arts that 'tears out' history.
It is a secret art that forcibly rips away a person's history, preventing them from ever remembering it again.
Because it involves literally extracting a strand of one's history, it goes far beyond mere memory loss, and is characterized by being completely unreadable even through history induction.
'Those afflicted by it are said to lose their very history, losing their foundation of existence and becoming wandering souls adrift in the void dimension... But in Seo Eun-hyun's case, perhaps because he has so much life and history, it doesn't affect him the same way. And...for history to be torn out like this, unless it's done by someone on the level of the Underworld or an Immortal Beast King, it should be impossible. Even then, the amount of history they can tear is very limited. Yet this vast emptiness... Judging by its depth, the history Seo Eun-hyun experienced in the 16th cycle must have been overwhelmingly immense...'
She shudders behind her mask as she beholds the vast emptiness that exists within Seo Eun-hyun's history.
'To tear away this much history at once...just what kind of being would one have to be...? Could it really be...that the so-called Future King the Underworld speaks of had a hand in this!?'
Kiririririk!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord quickly passes through the hollow emptiness of the 16th cycle, where there is nothing to see, and moves on to the next cycle.
It is then,
Chijik, chijijijik...
She suddenly sees something reflecting through the void.
It is a bizarre sight.
"Huh...?"
A being wearing a black mianguan and black dragon robe.
And a being wearing a white mianguan and white dragon robe.
The two beings are exchanging something within a surreal space.
Suddenly, the being in the white mianguan meets eyes with the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.
Grin—
The being in the white mianguan smiles at the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.
Seeing this, she is instantly engulfed in an indescribable terror.
"Kuh, keoheok...!"
It is a feeling akin to a bug facing a giant.
One of the Owners of Light, of the Radiance Supreme Deity,
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, one of the eight leaders of the great Radiance Hall, experiences for the first time a reverence and fear she has never felt before toward an unfathomable existence!
: : Just wait a little. : :
And as the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord watches that [white being] speak to her, she completely loses her mind.
Because despite being a Heavenly Lord, she has no confidence she can withstand the presence exuded by that being.
However, that one sentence from the being echoes endlessly in the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's mind.
Just wait a little.
'Wait...for what...?'
Harboring that question, she sinks into unconsciousness.
And she is able to realize one thing.
'...The words of the Underworld...were true. That existence does exist. The one called the Future King...and...'
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord trembles as she recalls the [two beings wearing black and white mianguan].
'Seo Eun-hyun's 16th cycle... Was it one of the two who...[ripped it out]...?'
Beings who might as well be referred to as absolutes.
Beings before whom no Governing Immortal would dare make a false claim.
True Emperors.
As the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord feels all the common sense and history she had ever known collapsing, she thus moves into the 17th cycle.
Seo Eun-hyun's 17th cycle.
Blink—
Yang Ji-hwang regains awareness and looks around.
'The 17th cycle...? The beings I saw... Just what...'
Recalling the two gods of such terrifying rank, Yang Ji-hwang hugs her shoulders with both arms and trembles helplessly.
She realizes that beings capable of crushing Immortal Lords like bugs, and needing to become a Supreme Deity to even be qualified as livestock, are none other than those True Emperors from just moments ago.
'I understand now...'
Only now does she truly grasp why so many Governing Immortals and Enders have lashed out in desperation.
'It was Radiance Hall that was wrong...'
Watching as the Seo Eun-hyun of the 17th cycle enters the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect and becomes Jin Eun-hyun, and becomes Dao Companions with Hong Su-ryeong, she finally understands the original sin of Radiance Hall.
'We were truly...turning our eyes away from the truth...'
She averts her eyes from the scene of Hong Su-ryeong clinging to Seo Eun-hyun and grinds her teeth.
"How wretched it is..."
Seeing Hong Su-ryeong caress Seo Eun-hyun, she sheds tears.
"What we have been protecting all this time...is most likely just a lie and pretense determined by the True Emperors...!"
Watching Hong Su-ryeong propose human experimentation and dual cultivation to Seo Eun-hyun, she wails uncontrollably.
"Where, then, did our identity ever reside!!??"
Feeling all the values she believed in shattering to pieces, she collapses in place and weeps.
"...Who...was I, really...?"
And just when she is utterly broken.
Paaaatt!
Once again, paper flowers bloom within her.
'...Three?'
Before she knows it, three paper flowers have bloomed within her chest.
And at the very moment those paper flowers take up three positions and form the Three Powers Formation—
Tsuat!
"...!"
Yang Ji-hwang suddenly perceives that she has entered a pure white space.
And within that space, she feels as if someone is embracing her.
That someone speaks.
—You don't need to try so hard...to become something.
"...What?"
—Don't suffer...
"...What are you talking about. I am the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord of the Radiance Eight Immortals who protects justice. I am the Owner of Light, the Radiance Supreme Deity! Don't try to delude me with such sly..."
However, just as she tries to refute that voice, Yang Ji-hwang—
No, the one called Yang Ji-hwang, once hailed as the greatest prodigy of the Yang Clan of the Heaven Wing Race, recalls the embrace of the mother who once held her in a distant past.
Before becoming a Heavenly Lord, back when she was still mortal.
She had parents back then.
She remembers the childhood name her parents gave her.
—Hwi-ah. Hwi-ah. Our pretty Hwi-ah.
Hwi (輝/Shining).
It is the character used for her childhood name in those long distant days.
Even that name, imbued with light, had been determined in accordance with the fate Radiance Hall ordained for her. But regardless, it was the one name she had truly liked.
"Don't...try to delude me..."
Within the pure white space, she clenches her teeth as she feels some force drawing forth her old memories.
Thump, thump—
Why is it?
She feels her heart pounding.
This, too, is a sensation she hasn't felt since reaching the Star Shattering stage.
—Raise a bird within your chest, and take flight together.
A traditional song of the Heaven Wing Race, sung by her parents long ago, brushes past her ears.
—Soar through the sky, and with the bird, gaze down upon the wide world below.
"Do...not..."
—Fly across every place, and together, give the bird its name.
"Delude..."
—The bird's name is...
"..."
At last, she stops where she stands and covers her eyes.
And then, from her lips comes the final line of the song she once sang with her parents in a soft whisper.
"The bird's name is...Biyiniao (Paired Wings Bird)."
Biyiniao.
A bird with only one wing.
Therefore, having the fate that must always be with its counterpart.
One of the birds in the legends of the Heaven Wing Race, and the song she always recalled when paired with the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord as part of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
She always believed that her fated counterpart was the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord.
She thought it symbolized the fate assigned to her by the previous Radiance Eight Immortals.
—But...you understand now, don't you? What Biyiniao means is not fate.
"...Then what is it?"
And then, she feels the [voice] within the white space smile faintly.
—Whoever your heart desires. That is your Biyiniao. Something like fate...never mattered from the start, did it?
Hearing those words, she clenches her teeth.
"...Who are you?"
The words spoken by the [voice] are not mere words.
For within her memories, they are the same words her parents had said to her after singing that song.
That anyone her heart leans toward is her Biyiniao, so she should live without worrying about fate.
Her parents had surely said those very words.
"Just who are you...to read my memories without permission and judge me however you please!?"
Then, from within the white space, the someone responds.
—Do you want to know?
Kiiiiiiiing!
The white space wavers, and the 'owner of the voice' enters the 17th cycle's Seo Eun-hyun and speaks to her.
"If you want to know...then follow."
Boo-oong!
Soon after, Seo Eun-hyun and Hong Su-ryeong begin their duel within the final moment of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord sees this, clenches her teeth, and possesses Hong Su-ryeong's body.
'If it's a sword cultivator from the Head Realm...then there's a high chance it's a remnant of that person. I apologize. I will borrow your body for a moment...!'
She conveys a heart of apology toward Hong Su-ryeong and, possessing her body, draws her sword against the one who now possesses the Seo Eun-hyun of this timeline.
"Who are you? Answer me!"
For some reason, she doesn't feel the strangeness that an entity is interfering with Seo Eun-hyun's past, which shouldn't be able to be interfered with, and shouts at the being possessing Seo Eun-hyun.
The one possessing Seo Eun-hyun smiles.
"If you win, I'll tell you."
"..."
Seeing this, she stirs her rage and manipulates Hong Su-ryeong's body to raise flying swords.
"Don't regret this."
Thus begins the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's fight to drive out the impudent being possessing Seo Eun-hyun's body.