As Oh Hyun-seok emerges from the world of nothingness, he begins to read the wisdom Silver Basket has passed down to him.
'What in the world?'
They are forty-nine Immortal Arts created by Silver Basket in Mount Sumeru, along with the mantras formed by combining them.
While none of the mantras clearly reach the Supreme Deity rank or stand out as particularly exceptional, when all of them are combined, it seems entirely possible to subdue a Supreme Deity using only Immortal Arts, without relying on the Immortal Dao.
'On top of that...the sequence of combining the Immortal Arts, the methods of combination, the proportions in combination, the surrounding environment during combination... If all these variables are accounted for, wouldn't it be possible to create almost infinite mantras...?'
Though no single transcendent mantra can be made, the secret art that allows one to generate mantras of good enough strength in nearly infinite numbers by combining the forty-nine Immortal Arts.
True Devil Forty-Nine Treading Divine Art (眞魔四十九踐神術).
'This is crazy, Silver Basket... Just how did you manage to create such a secret art? This is practically on the level of creating an entire world...'
Looking at the True Devil Forty-Nine Treading Divine Art, Oh Hyun-seok feels like cold sweat is forming.
Tssaaaah—
But soon, he realizes he doesn't have the leisure to dwell on such thoughts.
'My consciousness is gradually scattering. If I stay inside Master's body like this, I'll truly be annihilated.'
Using the Immortal Arts he obtained from Silver Basket, he begins to perceive his essence even more clearly.
Woo-woooong!
His essence begins to resonate with his will.
The Absolute Fragment of Pleasure gradually begins to reveal itself, and Oh Hyun-seok begins to transform into a Primordial Chaos that mixes everything together.
Soon, he merges with the entire world and identifies what is connected to him through the Immortal Arts.
'I can feel it.'
The Immortal Dao of Seven Stars he has been following.
The peak of that Immortal Dao, where the Origin Essence lies.
'Wait for me, Great Mountain Supreme Deity...!'
Tsuaaaaaaat!
Having become the Absolute itself, he gradually feels as though he is traversing through transcendent worlds and being moved elsewhere.
Not long later, Oh Hyun-seok senses himself being carried somewhere and recognizes that he has reached the end of that flow.
'This place is...'
A familiar suffocation and pressure presses down on him.
Kugugugugu!
Within pain that begins to grind his entire body, Oh Hyun-seok opens his eyes with a groan.
The more he regains his senses, the more the maddening pain surges in.
—It hurts...it hurts...
—Kill me... Enough... I want to stop...
—Where is this place...? Where is this place...?
—Mom...Mom...
"Kuuuuugh...!"
The place he has regained his senses is the inside of Great Mountain, made of countless corpses.
It is the gap within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
'Get a hold of yourself, Oh Hyun-seok...!'
But Oh Hyun-seok clenches his teeth and comes to his senses amidst the overwhelming pain emitted from the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, and soon activates one of the Immortal Arts taught by Silver Basket.
'According to Silver Basket's wisdom...the Great Mountain Supreme Deity is currently completing the Splitting Heaven Mantra, so he can't perceive everything within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea right away. That means he won't notice my intrusion immediately, but...'
Still, a Supreme Deity is a Supreme Deity.
It won't be long before he senses the anomaly in the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
'That's why I have to hide from the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's gaze...!'
Immortal Art.
Avidyā (無明).
Tsuaaaaah!
At once, Oh Hyun-seok becomes darkness itself as if he had activated Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, and naturally blends into the horrific mountain of darkness.
But having become darkness and blended into the mountain of darkness, Oh Hyun-seok now has to endure even more horrific pain.
"Aaagh... Kuaaaaagh...!"
Pain!
This mountain is truly an echo formed of pain.
Countless beings flail in torment, and Oh Hyun-seok, unable to hold his mind together under the pain tearing his mind apart, screams.
"Kuuuaaaaaaagh...!!!"
A colossal whisper reverberates through the entire mountain.
—Undergo repentant enlightenment.
"Aaaaaaaaagh! Kuaaaaaaagh!"
—Immortal cultivation is repentant enlightenment.
Within the pain, Oh Hyun-seok becomes connected to the mountain, and from within its darkness, he is forcibly subjected to repentant enlightenment.
—Like tiny grains of salt gathering to form the sea...
The pain erodes his mind.
Oh Hyun-seok becomes connected to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
And now connected to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, he directly feels the pain of the Supreme Deity's self-mutilation.
—Build mountains through repentant enlightenment.
A certain mantra drills into Oh Hyun-seok's mind.
If he could regain his senses amidst the pain and accept that mantra, he might even be able to obtain it, but...
Oh Hyun-seok fiercely rejects the vile mantra with all his strength, refusing to accept it amid the agony.
No, in truth, the majority of sentient beings inside the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea thrash about desperately to avoid accepting that mantra.
Because that terrifying and brutal mantra is absolutely not one that they can control.
It is a mantra that causes one to instinctively feel primal fear that if they were to obtain it, it would devour its user. Hence, no one in the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea even thinks of mastering the mantra. Rather, they thrash about in madness and scream, trying to forget even its formula.
—Building a mountain of salt is perhaps the fastest way to reach the heavens.
Amidst the resonance of this brutal and fearsome mantra, Oh Hyun-seok sheds tears of blood and wails.
The face of the screaming Oh Hyun-seok, bleeding from his seven orifices and soaked in agony, soon resembles the corpses writhing in pain within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
Gradually, he becomes assimilated into the pain of this world of ignorance (Avidyā).
'How long has it been?'
Suddenly, Oh Hyun-seok regains his senses in the midst of the pain.
'I don't know.'
Within the agony of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, he continued to scream endlessly. At some point, he lost even the strength to scream and he only gasped, like wind escaping his lips.
And the more accustomed he became to the pain, the deeper he was pulled into the depths of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
Before he knew it, he was pulled toward the center of one of the many mountains within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
Merged with the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea and receiving pain that paralyzes the soul, Oh Hyun-seok begins to perceive his surroundings in a half-delirious state.
'Ooooooh...'
The mountain formed of beings like him is not a singular one.
These mountains of corpses and darkness stretch on without end.
So endless are they that the mountain ranges look as though they form a vast plain.
But Oh Hyun-seok realizes that even this plain is merely a single cross-section of a much larger mountain.
These massive great mountains combine to form the finger of some gigantic being, and as Oh Hyun-seok gradually perceives the body beyond the finger, the more overwhelmed and intimidated he becomes.
'Crazy...'
Even the greatest size of Hyeon Rang, who is known as a giant god, feels like a child compared to this monstrous god.
Perhaps the only entities that could compare in size to this being are the Gandhara of the Heavenly Venerables or the projection of the Underworld.
'This is the Great Mountain Supreme Deity...'
Once again feeling the despair, Oh Hyun-seok grits his teeth within the pain.
When he stood before Silver Basket, resolving his will, he brimmed with confidence. But now, properly facing the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, he only feels more and more despair.
'I never even dreamed of defeating him...but would I even be able to escape?'
Even though he is a Great Net Immortal, and his true body is quite massive, before the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, he is no more than dust.
Yet within the agony, Oh Hyun-seok steels his resolve.
'No...I can do this. No, I must...!'
He clenches his teeth and gradually begins to resonate with the Origin Essence of Seven Stars deep within this mountain of darkness.
'Wait for me, Origin Essence. I will make it. I will, no matter what...'
Though simply existing in this place threatens to make him lose his mind from the unbearable pain, Oh Hyun-seok does not give up and continues to resonate with the Origin Essence.
He has no grasp of how many years have passed, but even so, he does not stop his arduous journey and pushes forward.
Because he has lost his [name], if he doesn't maintain his existence with the True Devil Forty-Nine Treading Divine Art, his existence would disperse in an instant. Even while maintaining his existence, the fear that his existence is still slowly scattering away creeps over him, yet he still does not stop.
'I can't stop here. Because...'
For him to stop here, there is already too much resting on his shoulders.
Oh Hyun-seok clenches his teeth as he recalls Seo Eun-hyun saying that he trusts his friend.
'Resonate...O Origin Essence of Seven Stars...! O Seat of the Sea of Nature...!'
Kugugugugu!
Feeling the power of the Origin Essence resonating with his Immortal Dao, Oh Hyun-seok slowly begins to move within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
With a pace and presence subtle enough to avoid the notice of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, he steadily proceeds toward the Seat of Seven Stars.
Endless time passes once more.
'How long...has it been?'
Oh Hyun-seok wants to give up.
Even his will, which he thought would never break, seems useless in the face of this eternal, unending pain.
'It hurts too much... It's painful... It's hard...'
He wants to let it all go.
'I've suffered this much... Isn't it okay to rest a little now...?'
Now, he has lost the will to maintain the True Devil Forty-Nine Treading Divine Art and even forgotten the reason why he is even doing this at all.
Just then, as he is about to accept the pain within the futility...
—Child who reaches the impossible.
'...?'
—Have you ever thought of it to be a privilege...?
Suddenly, Oh Hyun-seok sees something within the pain.
It is bright sunlight.
'A hallucination...?'
—Even if life is pain, to move forward amidst it is surely both a duty and a privilege. Have you ever thought of advancing toward righteousness within it...?
'...'
Beneath that sunlight, Oh Hyun-seok sees someone standing with their back turned to him.
It is an immense, muscular giant, whose shoulders seem like a great mountain.
—Holding faith, have you ever thought of reaching the stars?
The figure throws a question toward Oh Hyun-seok.
Oh Hyun-seok, looking at them, trembles with blurred eyes.
Then, he lets out a bitter smile.
"...I have not."
He is a failure.
He could not save Oh Hye-seo, who suffered on Earth.
He could not save his daughter, dying in his wife's womb.
He could not save his comrades who fell into the Head Realm.
He could not save the master who taught him in the Bright Cold Realm.
And now, he cannot even save the master who taught him after he became a True Immortal.
"I was nothing more than trash. Stars? They were far beyond me. Such a grand privilege, I've never dared to enjoy it. I...am nothing."
Within the pain, Oh Hyun-seok, as if entranced, falls into self-reproach and despair.
But the giant figure chuckles softly.
—Then, child. Why is it that you still drag those heavy shoulders forward and take another step?
'Take...a step...?'
Suddenly, Oh Hyun-seok realizes that even though he wishes to give up everything, he is still stepping forward toward something.
'Why am I...still walking?'
Why does he continue walking, suffering in this eternal, undying hell without giving up?
Oh Hyun-seok ponders amidst the agony.
And suddenly, he realizes that the answer is already within him.
'I already know the answer. But...'
However, he cannot explain why he keeps walking.
Yet, regardless of that, he walks.
Perhaps it is because, even back on Earth, he always had a certain grit.
Perhaps it is because he had the grit to study only what he wanted abroad while even knowing that a child named Oh Hye-seo was in danger.
Perhaps it is because he had the grit to stay at work, saying he would leave after just ten more minutes, even when his wife called saying her stomach hurt.
Perhaps it is because he had the grit to not care about those in the Black Ghost Valley and the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, and especially those left to age in the Head Realm, like Kim Young-hoon and Seo Eun-hyun, while he himself endured hellish training in the Azure Heaven Creation Sect.
'My life is one filled with regrets.'
He still does not know the exact reason.
No, he knows—but he does not know how to put it into words.
Thinking simply that it is due to his grit, Oh Hyun-seok keeps walking.
Toward the vaguely felt Seat of Seven Stars, toward that illusion of sunlight wavering before his eyes along with the pain...
And then, at some point—
"Heok...!"
As he climbs the mountain of darkness, Oh Hyun-seok suddenly feels his hand about to slip and panics.
Just then,
Clench!
[Someone]'s hand grabs Oh Hyun-seok's wrist and pulls him up to somewhere.
"Th-This place is...?"
Oh Hyun-seok looks around in confusion.
An endlessly sprawling prairie.
A clear sky.
A vast, clear world where the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea is nowhere to be seen.
Entering such a place, Oh Hyun-seok opens his eyes wide.
'What...is this...?'
Then, he suddenly becomes aware that someone is standing before him.
It is an incredibly massive giant, and perhaps it's because their face is hidden in the backlight, or there was never a face to begin with...it cannot clearly be seen.
But one thing is certain.
"...Who...are you...?"
The being before him is someone Oh Hyun-seok has met before.
"Who exactly are you...to carry the exact same aura as my master...?"
As he recalls feeling the aura of Azure Tiger Saint while crossing the Outer Sea in a previous timeline, Oh Hyun-seok's voice trembles.
And he feels the being with the same aura as Azure Tiger Saint smile.
[I am the Immortal Beast, Mountain-Destroying Demon Ape. At the same time, the Heart Demon of Ra Cheon...and his friend. His pure aspect.]
The giant who introduces himself as Mountain-Destroying Demon Ape extends a hand and lifts Oh Hyun-seok up as he continues speaking.
[Child who wears the armor forged from my hair-clone.]
The giant taps on Oh Hyun-seok's Blue Sky Armor and laughs.
[It seems you've encountered my Buddha-Nature left behind in the Head Realm.]
"Buddha-Nature...?"
[It is the will I left behind, hoping that one day, when Ra Cheon challenges the Audience Chamber, it might become a possibility that moves his heart...the fragment of my pure heart that practiced righteousness. To protect that Buddha-Nature, I sent my hair-clone to the Head Realm, asking it to become a guardian deity for those who inherited the Buddha-Nature... So, how was it? Did my clone protect you well?]
Oh Hyun-seok remains silent for a long while.
Then finally, recalling old memories, he smiles.
[...Yes. It truly...protected me well.]
At those words from Oh Hyun-seok, the giant—
Mountain-Destroying Demon Ape, Cheong Min (淸汶)—smiles gently.
[The final domain preserved by the Origin Essence of the Sea of Nature. Welcome to the realm of Azure Scenery Heavenly Net (蒼景天羅).]