Kurung, kurururung!
Oh Hyun-seok crosses the sea of chaos, holding his daughter's spirit in his arms.
He senses the aura of Mount Sumeru in the far distance, and it seems he is not far from reaching it.
Oh Hyun-seok's daughter, perhaps due to all the accumulated fatigue from being tortured by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity pouring out at once, has not awakened since their first reunion and remains in a deep sleep.
'How do I wake her?'
Oh Hyun-seok is so worried that perhaps something is wrong with his daughter, or that the Great Mountain Supreme Deity has done something to her, that he cannot bring himself to do anything.
'All I can do now...is take her to my comrades or to where the Underworld is.'
At the very least, if he asks the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, they may demand a price, but they will surely give him a solution.
'...Damn it...'
However, even though he knows it's nothing serious and she is simply exhausted from prolonged torture and has fallen asleep, he still cannot bear it.
No, it feels like his chest is burning.
'I'm...sorry...for not coming sooner...'
Oh Hyun-seok hugs the sleeping child's spirit even more tightly.
Then, as he embraces her, he feels something.
'This is...'
It hurts.
Is it because he has awakened the authority of the Primal Chaos World, an authority closest to chaos?
For some reason, Oh Hyun-seok can feel a faint pain in the chaos of this Outer Sea.
'No...this isn't faint pain...'
[Someone]'s pain is buried beneath this chaos, and it is only because it has pierced through this immeasurable and boundless chaos to reach Oh Hyun-seok that, he perceives it as faint pain.
'What is this? Beneath this chaos...someone's pain is hidden!?'
Oh Hyun-seok, for some reason, feels as though the 'pain' beneath this chaos is resonating with him.
'Just what is this...?'
Just who could have buried such 'suffering' within this immense chaos?
And what could that person have gone through, that it resonates with the pain of Oh Hyun-seok, who suffers from his child's pain?
'Whoever it is...they must have suffered.'
He hugs the child's soul even tighter and feels the pain within the chaos, and soon after—
Tsaaaat!
Oh Hyun-seok finally enters the enormous world shaped like an inverted cone.
'...?'
And suddenly, he feels a sense of déjà vu.
'Something's strange.'
It is dark.
The entire world is shrouded in blackness, as if covered in pitch-black darkness.
'The light disappeared? No, the light hasn't disappeared. This is...'
He soon realizes what the problem is.
'The light...is dim? Yes, this is...the power of light isn't spreading throughout Mount Sumeru!?'
And just as Oh Hyun-seok is confused—
"Two hundred and twenty thousand years."
"...!"
"It has been two hundred and twenty thousand years since we came to this world...as calculated by the standard flow of time."
Oh Hyun-seok flinches in surprise at the white-clad figure who suddenly appears by his side.
But soon, he smiles warmly.
"It seems quite some time has passed since I was abducted."
"For True Immortals, that much is hardly anything. Have you been well?"
"Hahaha, of course. After all..."
Oh Hyun-seok speaks while sensing the sleeping child's spirit in his chest and the paper-flower-shaped cluster of light deep within.
"Haven't you been watching all along, Seo Eun-hyun?"
At Oh Hyun-seok's words, Seo Eun-hyun smiles softly and gently nods.
"Thank you for saving me."
"The matter with Senior Brother is not unrelated to me either."
"You cold-hearted one. If you were watching, you should've saved me from the start."
"It's because you've grown, Hyung-nim, and reached the minimum threshold that could open a 'path' where my power could reach you. Before you awakened on your own, I couldn't help recklessly. In the first place, even though we were together, it was only after you began suffering in the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea. Before that, my power within you was too weak, so I couldn't perceive anything."
"Is that so...? Then there's a lot I need to tell you myself."
"For now...let's talk as we head to the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain. Listening along the way will be just right."
"Heavenly King Heavenly Domain... Right. You formed an alliance with Radiance Hall."
"Pardon? How did you..."
"I'll tell you on the way. First..."
Oh Hyun-seok heads toward the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain with Seo Eun-hyun, and begins to tell him everything that has happened until now.
I listen to everything that has happened to Oh Hyun-seok and cannot hide my astonishment.
'The Creator God of another world was Silver Basket? They stole the Absolute of an Ender? The Absolute Fragment that Hyun-seok Hyung-nim possesses is the authority most similar to the very first chaos at the beginning of the world...? The pain felt deep within the Outer Sea...and what even is the [sprout] mentioned by Silver Basket...?'
Each and every piece of information is enormous and significant enough to leave my mind reeling, and I can't afford to let any of it slip by.
'If that's the case...'
I begin to piece together the information I've heard from Oh Hyun-seok with what I already know.
'Hyung-nim realized that when Qi, Soul, and Fate are united, it becomes the spirit, and when all connections to the spirit are severed, that power becomes Origin Essence. And when all three Absolutes are combined, it will become someone's soul.'
From that, I can infer one thing.
'[The baby]... The owner of the body whose blood vessels are being created using an entire timeline each time I regress... The one Hong Fan called a [being undergoing resurrection]...'
If there exists a body that uses the whole world as a single blood vein,
And if the Three Absolute Laws that transcend the world unite to become someone's soul, then the correlation is clear.
'Long ago...there was [someone]. The owner of the spirit composed of Fate, History, and the Third Absolute. And at some point, that being's spirit was split into three, and that being died.'
Otherwise, there's no way Hong Fan would have said, upon first seeing it, that it was 'resurrecting'.
If they haven't died, then there would be no need to speak of resurrection at all.
'And...if I compare it to the being called Silver Basket, who is the Creator God of another world...perhaps that being...is the Creator God.'
The one who created this world.
Not merely the Future King who created Mount Sumeru, but the absolute being who created the six Heavenly Domains that became materials for Mount Sumeru, and even chaos itself.
'And the Future King is said to have an obligation to find a certain [answer]. But it's also said that the Future King has arbitrarily chosen a different answer. If there's a being who could have predetermined the answer the Future King must seek, then it can only be the Creator God.'
If that's the case, then the Creator God and the Future King are separate individuals. The Creator God once existed but died, and upon death, their soul was split into three Absolutes, and they set a directive for the inheritors of their soul to find a certain answer.
As I form various hypotheses from the information Oh Hyun-seok has brought, I guide him toward the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
"...I've listened well. I, too, would like to meet that being called Silver Basket."
"Well...they seem to view you quite favorably. So if you delve into Purple Soul Filling the Heavens deeply someday, you might get to meet them as well."
"Hmm...I'm not so sure. I don't want to meet them through Purple Soul Filling the Heavens."
"Hm? Is there a reason?"
"...Well, for one, my current altered 'Gracious Soul Filling the Heavens' has become entirely separate from the original. It's something completely different now."
"I see..."
Oh Hyun-seok seems to accept that easily enough, but in truth, even if Gracious Soul Filling the Heavens had completely retained the original attributes of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, I never had any thoughts of using this Immortal Art to contact Silver Basket.
'Silver Basket...'
The first time I encountered Purple Soul Filling the Heavens was within the throne of Penglai Kingdom in the Ancient Force Realm.
It was when Yuk Rin seized control of my body.
It is through Yuk Rin taking my body that I came into contact with Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.
'In the end, the essence of it is an Immortal Art that steals the body.'
Though it is also an Immortal Art that symbolizes the [will] passed from past to future, there is no denying that it is specialized in stealing bodies.
There's no need to look too deep into it. After all, the Immortal Art used by Blood Yin to seize Vast Cold's body was Purple Soul Filling the Heavens.
Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, which originated from Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, is also an Immortal Art that replaces others with oneself.
The Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, which evolved after being passed to Oh Hye-seo, is an Immortal Art that makes others into one's slaves.
Even Flower Soul Filling the Heavens, which evolved after combined with Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, is an Immortal Art that transmits one's emotions to another.
Although it is called transmission, if abused, it is an Immortal Art extremely convenient for brainwashing others.
Only when Oh Hye-seo's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens and my Flower Soul Filling the Heavens met and evolved, gaining entirely different attributes, did it become an Immortal Art that transcends space and time to reach a chosen coordinate. But the original Purple Soul Filling the Heavens is a power specialized in enslaving others and seizing their bodies.
Above all, the strongest evidence is...
'...Only now when I hear Oh Hyun-seok's words and try to perceive it do I finally notice it.'
It is the desire of Silver Basket that I sense through Oh Hyun-seok as a medium.
Is it because I can reach even into the domain of Undying beyond Araya Consciousness through Martial Pinnacle?
I can sense the faint desire of [some being] emanating from Oh Hyun-seok as a medium.
It is so faint that, if I hadn't deliberately focused my mind after hearing Oh Hyun-seok explain Silver Basket in detail to detect this being, I might have missed them at all. That is how faint the presence is.
Even then, had that being not held some kind of desire toward me, I might not have sensed it at all, and even now, I have no idea where that being actually is.
'Silver Basket...is perhaps a being who desires the bodies of those who have developed what they call a [sprout].'
I grow wary of Silver Basket's goals.
However, since Oh Hyun-seok seems to have received grace from Silver Basket, I refrain from speaking ill of them in front of Oh Hyun-seok and instead explain the current situation.
"...Currently in Mount Sumeru...we have barely succeeded in sealing the Naming Supreme Deity inside the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain. Right at the center of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, in the Palace of Radiance."
Once the Naming Supreme Deity awakened and realized that Oh Hyun-seok, who he tried to use as his hostage, had vanished from his body, he immediately tried to head to the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, to the Head Realm.
It was only natural.
As nothing more than an ordinary Supreme Deity, the Naming Supreme Deity would have known that without a hostage, he would be instantly killed by me, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, and the Radiance Eight Immortals, beings of Heavenly Venerable rank.
'He must have intended to obtain the Heavenly Void Furnace in the Head Realm that he used in his past life as well to subdue the Radiance Eight Immortals, and then borrow the power of the Head Realm to endure against us as long as possible.'
And in the end, while attempting to pass through the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain in pursuit of the Heavenly Void Furnace, he was captured by the Radiance Eight Immortals.
In truth, if it's the Radiance Eight Immortals in their original state, they would be able to subdue someone like Hyeon Rang in an instant, but...
"It turns out, the authority Hyeon Rang wields as the rightful heir of the Head Realm is something not even one of the Heavenly Venerable rank can stop. In the end, to seal the power of history revision that Hyeon Rang uses as the heir of the Head Realm, the Radiance Eight Immortals imprisoned him where the power of fate is most potent, in the Palace of Radiance within the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain. Then they formed a formation gathering the light of the entire Heavenly Domain to seal him."
"...If it were you, you could've stopped Master before the damage became that severe..."
"Well...that is certainly true."
However, I shake my head.
"If it had been before he was confined in the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, then maybe so. But after he entered the Palace of Radiance...after he began using history revision like mad to escape from within the palace...from that point on, even I could no longer kill him."
"What...?"
Taking the confused Oh Hyun-seok with me, I arrive at the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
In an instant, we reach the center of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, where the Palace of Radiance stands. There, we witness the Eight Immortals applying pressure from eight directions, forming hand seals and binding the palace tightly with the power of prophecy.
Tens, hundreds, thousands of prophetic stars form constellations, sealing the center of the palace.
And at the very center of the palace, something familiar comes into view.
It is a Taiji.
"That's..."
Oh Hyun-seok's eyes tremble.
I gaze at the Taiji and let out a bitter smile.
That Taiji resembles the form of a fetus.
"Continuously drawing on the power of the Head Realm...he lost his reason and became such a bizarre being. Should we call it a second awakening? No, perhaps it's not an awakening at all but that he simply returned to his essence"
"..."
"Kang Min-hee, the Radiance Eight Immortals, and I...we've found a way to defeat that thing."
Kang Min-hee reads its laws, I read the flow and heart emanating from it, and the Radiance Eight Immortals read the histories recorded in Radiance Hall to discover a way to kill Hyeon Rang who has transformed into that form.
"In the end, the conclusion is this: to kill Hyeon Rang, we must draw out the [human heart] he holds."
And the most important part is my regression.
Even if we kill Hyeon Rang, he could come back to life if I regress, so after killing him, we must completely seal his Origin Essence.
'And the sealing method...is History Repetition.'
While observing the Hyeon Rang who has turned into that form, we arrived at one conclusion.
Hyeon Rang is the spirit of a being who, in the distant past, was miscarried by [a certain existence], lost all connections, and became an Origin Essence.
Therefore, the only way to kill Hyeon Rang who became a monster that recklessly borrows the power of the Absolute of History is but one.
It is to use the absolute law exercised by that same Absolute of History to kill him.
"To kill Hyeon Rang..."
Just as we killed the awakened Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, we must simultaneously extinguish the three dantians.
And in Hyeon Rang's case, two additional conditions are required to annihilate him using the power of History Repetition.
First,
Draw out Hyeon Rang's humanness from within that monstrous form.
Second,
In the state where his humanity has been awakened, the one to kill Hyeon Rang and the method used must resemble the manner in which the very first Hyeon Rang was miscarried.
Upon hearing my following words, Oh Hyun-seok's expression twists into bitterness.
"...Hyeon Rang...must be burned to death by the hands of his [Father]."
More precisely, by the hands of a [Father who carries the pain of losing his child].
This is something we learned from the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, who serves as the archivist recording the histories of Radiance Hall.
Even they do not fully understand the reason, but the original Hyeon Rang was aborted by the hands of his father and was born as Origin Essence.
And among all True Immortals, those strong enough to face Hyeon Rang,
Those whose enlightenment is deep enough to maintain consciousness within the history revision he wields,
And those who carry the history of being a [father who carries the pain of losing a child], can be counted in one hand.
Me.
Oh Hyun-seok.
Glass Peacock.
Only the three of us among the True Immortals carry the identity of a parent, the grief of having lost a child, as well as the strength and enlightenment to face Hyeon Rang.
The method to kill the maddened Hyeon Rang.
It is for us, in the role of a father, to burn to death the Hyeon Rang who has become an infant.