Thump—
I smile at the pulsing sound rising from deep within Hyeon Rang.
'He's awakening.'
Now, as long as Hyeon Rang fully awakens, the advantage will be ours.
[Five Desires Chains!]
At my command, the Five Desires Chains begin tightening around Hyeon Rang even more, and Oh Hyun-seok starts wringing every bit of strength into his fist.
Tudududuk—
Oh Hyun-seok's hair, which had turned ashen gray, begins taking on a purple hue once again and glows.
Then, Oh Hyun-seok's fist extends along a single, very natural path.
Whoooong—
Third Strike!
The third straight punch.
Oh Hyun-seok's heart, embedded in that strike, resonates deeply with the heart of Hyeon Rang.
And I feel Hyeon Rang, bound by the Five Desires Chains, constricting even faster.
'No, he's not just tightening faster. It's more than that...'
Hyeon Rang's is starting to shrink.
Chwararararak!
"D-Did the sealing succeed?"
Yeo Hwi shouts in a voice as if she is taken aback, and Glass Peacock licks their lips as they speak.
[Impossible, descendant of mine. Do not take a Supreme Deity lightly. This is only the beginning.]
Kugugugugu—
Soon, we see Hyeon Rang, having shrunk in size, transform from the shape of an infant into another form.
: : ...Disciple. : :
It is Hyeon Rang in the form of an old man.
A form most similar to Hong Fan's earliest form.
And that elderly Hyeon Rang looks at Oh Hyun-seok with a warm smile, as if possessing reason.
: : You have grown well. : :
The appearance looks so rational and wise that everyone present momentarily believes Hyeon Rang has returned to sanity.
But I instinctively know.
'No.'
That thing over there is not Hyeon Rang.
It's merely 'something' imitating Hyeon Rang's personality.
: : As you have now reached a realm befitting a Heavenly King...as your teacher, I must give you a gift. I shall give you a name. The name I bestow shall dwell in you as strength. : :
Tstststs—
The elderly Hyeon Rang gestures swiftly into the void, then writes an enormous name before us.
That name is Silver-Black Heavenly King (銀玄天王).
: : Receive it. As the Owner of Names, I bestow it upon you... : :
And then,
Tukwang!
Oh Hyun-seok directly strikes the name hurled at him by the Naming Supreme Deity with his fist and sends it flying.
Jjeoooong!
That name made of light is sent hurtling far beyond the sky by Oh Hyun-seok's strike, and I smile at the sight.
[No need.]
Uduk, udududuk!
Clenching his fist tightly, Oh Hyun-seok continues speaking.
[I will find my name through my own strength. Though I appreciate Master's goodwill, I wish to seize my name for myself. Please...forgive this disciple's rudeness.]
: : ...You will regret it. : :
Hyeon Rang's eyes narrow.
However, Oh Hyun-seok shakes his head as if he doesn't care in the slightest, and begins to unfurl wings from his back.
It is a total of thirteen pairs of wings.
Purple Primordial Chaos seems to surge around Oh Hyun-seok before the color of the world begins to vanish from his fist.
It feels as though all of Heaven and Earth has turned silver.
And in this ashen world where color has disappeared, Oh Hyun-seok laughs loudly and shouts.
[Even if I end up regretting it—if we can face each other and laugh...isn't that what life is all about!?]
It feels as if all the attraction force in Heaven and Earth gathers into Oh Hyun-seok's fist.
[Glass Peacock!]
[Hng, don't get impatient.]
Reading Oh Hyun-seok's heart, I send a signal to Glass Peacock, and in the next moment, we all rush at the Naming Supreme Deity at once.
[Moreover...]
: : I prophesize... : :
Hyeon Rang tries to use the power of prophecy and names, but Oh Hyun-seok and we are faster.
Severing Heaven Sword Form.
Third Form, Punishing Heaven!
A Candle Dragon of starlight bursts apart Hyeon Rang's head.
Azure Peng Immortal Art.
Eternal Labyrinth.
Glass Peacock Immortal Art.
Glass Avidyā Advancement Light.
Linked Technique.
Wine Lake Meat Realm Avidyā Labyrinth (酒池肉界無明迷宮).
The combined powers of Azure Peng and Glass Peacock draw a Taiji, and waterfall of fragment liquid melts away Hyeon Rang's lower dantian.
Whooong—
Oh Hyun-seok's straight punch digs into Hyeon Rang's chest.
With our simultaneous strikes, Hyeon Rang's three dantians shatter, and he dies.
At that very moment, something soft and formless surges from Hyeon Rang's blood and scatters into the surroundings.
It is fog.
Within the fog, we are able to see something.
It is the days of Oh Hyun-seok and Hyeon Rang.
—Master, how long are you going to fish? When is the Immortal Arts lesson...?
—You fool, this is Immortal Arts. Hup!
—You haven't caught anything though...
—I caught you, so I landed a big one. Tsk tsk, don't make that face. The essence of Immortal Arts isn't something described with grand words like attraction force or whatever... It's when a being with will acts toward a goal and achieves it. That is the essence of Immortal Arts. Immortal Arts is...
Tsuaaaaaa—
The time Hyeon Rang fished with Oh Hyun-seok, the time Hyeon Rang played Go with Oh Hyun-seok.
The time Hyeon Rang made Oh Hyun-seok steal, the time he threw Oh Hyun-seok into the domain authority of Glass Peacock's clone and forced him to escape, the time he turned into a younger form and beat Oh Hyun-seok senseless...
—Immortal Arts is simply the power to fulfill dreams.
All those memories rise around Oh Hyun-seok like a dream and then vanish.
And within that dreamlike fog, Hyeon Rang, whose three dantians have been damaged, begins to regenerate them.
Tsuaaaat—
The elderly Hyeon Rang transforms, reviving into a form resembling the middle-aged Hong Fan.
: : I am the God of Names. As long as the concept of names exists in this world, I am undying. : :
'As expected. When one reaches the level of a Supreme Deity, there certainly are many ways to resurrect.'
Wooo-wooooong—
I feel it.
As long as the concept of [names] exists in this world, Hyeon Rang will continue to resurrect.
'So a mere strike to the three dantians is not enough.'
But it doesn't matter.
We quickly exchange thoughts and once again form the Three Powers Formation.
Shukwak!
In the instant of Araya Consciousness, I slice through Hyeon Rang's neck.
But Hyeon Rang only smiles faintly and regenerates swiftly.
: : A name, to me, is a star of prophecy. If you wish to kill me, you must erase all names from this world. Can you do that? : :
I see it.
Through Indra's Net, the innumerable life threads connected to him.
As long as even one of those lifelines remains, killing him is impossible.
But it doesn't matter.
[To be a Supreme Deity, and yet be so complacent.]
I sneer as I gulp down a single drop of his Immortal Beast True Blood, which I collected as I sliced Hyeon Rang's neck with the Impermanence Sword.
[Well, it figures. A Supreme Deity probably wouldn't have much occasion to fight a curse sorcerer.]
I am not someone like Kim Young-hoon, a true martial artist who stakes everything on Martial Arts.
I am both a martial artist and a cultivator, and also a sorcerer.
Even among those, a being who specialized in spells of pain and curses.
The color of the Impermanence Sword turns black.
Through Hyeon Rang's blood, I connect to the countless lifelines linked to him.
Every [name] that exists in this world falls within the range of my curse.
: : Poison, is it? : :
[That just happens to be the area of expertise I was always good at, you see.]
Since my days as the Infinite Fighting Monster, endlessly repeating duels to reach the peak, I've never had the nature of someone who insists on fighting fair and square.
I'm more like those unorthodox martial artists who, after battling with unorthodox sects, learned to be capable of using underhanded tricks when needed.
That's who I am.
And Hyeon Rang, smiling as always, responds.
: : What I mean is, you have swallowed poison. Do you not understand why no curse sorcerers at the level of True Immortal ever use the opponent's body as a medium for curses? : :
Thump—
The Immortal Beast True Blood I swallowed begins to corrode me from within.
My [name] connects directly with Hyeon Rang, and it feels like my very existence is being transferred to him.
But I smile back and activate an Immortal Art.
Impermanence Sword.
Ghost-Face Killed Heaven.
Avīci Hell.
The Immortal Art of the Impermanence Sword, specialized in curses and pain, activates, and I begin to mutilate myself.
[Pain is indeed a truth that precedes any other truth.]
From all over my body, thousands, hundreds of millions of faces of 'me' erupt, struggling to escape from within me.
Though I've suppressed them through merging them with Crystal Glass to Treading Sea, an uncountable number of Heart Demons still exist within me, and they squirm madly in desperation to flee from the pain.
And as a result, the presence of Hyeon Rang, which was trying to consume me from within, melts away in that pain and vanishes.
: : ...Vile mountain spirits, the lot of you. : :
Hyeon Rang clicks his tongue as if it's absurd, and that is the end of it.
Boo-oong—
My Impermanence Sword, now dyed black, severs my neck, Oh Hyun-seok's arm penetrates through my chest, and Glass Peacock's feather pierces my lower dantian.
At the same time, Hyeon Rang's neck, chest, and lower dantian—connected to me by attraction force through the curse—are all simultaneously torn apart. Furthermore, all the [names] linked to Hyeon Rang and the prophetic stars he possesses are ripped away as well.
I, having long since discarded the Immortal Title of Crystal Glass Being bestowed by Hyeon Rang, and Oh Hyun-seok, who never received one in the first place, suffer no shock at all. But the Ignorant One Glass Peacock, suffering the most, collapses on the spot with their eyes rolling back and frothing at the mouth.
Though the Glass Peacock is a being who can accept even considerable pain as pleasure, the shock from the loss of a fundamental [name] seems to exceed even their limits.
And then, Hyeon Rang's three dantians, which had been pierced, are filled once more.
[You just keep coming back. Is your hidden name perhaps something like Hyeon Li or the like?]
: : That name drips with malice. It seems 'Li' is the name of someone you hate? : :
Chwaaaaagh!
Hyeon Rang's body regenerates again, and his appearance changes.
It is the form of Hyeon Rang as a beautiful young man.
[I don't necessarily hate him.]
'I strike down every means of resurrection in one go, and yet he revives again. Judging by how his face changes each time...'
The number of times Hyeon Rang can revive is four.
In other words...
'The next is the last.'
But perhaps Hyeon Rang catches on to my thoughts. He smiles with a beautiful face and speaks.
: : Glass Peacock is in no condition to join the fight, and you will not be able to even strike the three dantians. How do you plan to bring me down? : :
Tsuaaaat—
From around Hyeon Rang, color begins to reappear in the world.
: : As I am now, apart from prophecy or revision, unless you directly attack the three dantians, I am undying and unperishing. : :
The ashen world that had unfolded around Oh Hyun-seok is pushed away.
I glance toward Glass Peacock.
Behind the unconscious Glass Peacock, a woman in blue robes—carried in a bundle by Glass Peacock—emerges and trembles as she breathes something into them.
"Get up, get up, you vulgar thing... I-It's not like I'm doing this because I like you. The Imperial Venerable commanded it... I can't let the Imperial Venerable be disappointed. So get up...! You vulgar thing...!"
Azure Peng pours all their strength into healing Glass Peacock, and I smile faintly as I watch.
[With the Imperial Venerable's attendant being so devoted in healing them, it seems they will wake up soon enough.]
: : Ahaha, do you truly believe that? They received the shock of names, yet do you really think they will rise so easily? A mountain spirit like you might manage, but for Glass Peacock, it is impossible. Do you speak so confidently because you know when they will awaken? : :
[Because it doesn't matter when they wake up.]
I respond briefly, then lower my sword for a moment and tie back the hair that has grown a bit long recently.
In my true form it wouldn't matter, but now that I'm in my Transformation form, it's just in the way.
With my hair tied in a ponytail, I grip the Impermanence Sword again and smirk.
[It seems like you're misunderstanding something, Hyeon Rang. The only reason I've let you run around this long is out of respect for Hyun-seok Hyung-nim...not because I can't handle the likes of you.]
: : ... : :
Tsaaaaaa—
The world created by Kang Min-hee's mantra of Fallen Flower becomes stained by my killing intent.
I gaze down coldly at Hyeon Rang and twist my grip on the Impermanence Sword.
[If you won't die no matter how many times I kill you, well, that's fine too. Then...that just means I'll kill you again and again until Glass Peacock wakes up.]
: : ... : :
After meeting my eyes in silence for a moment, Hyeon Rang immediately raises his hand toward the sky.
: : Descend unto me. : :
Pukwak!
I sever Hyeon Rang's neck.
The killing intent blanketing all of Heaven and Earth condenses into the Impermanence Sword.
Pouring all my strength into the sword, I begin the hunt for Hyeon Rang.
"Shall we begin...the Supreme Deity hunt?"
I am not a martial artist.
But I am a swordsman.
And because I am a swordsman, even if I have just this one sword...
I have the confidence to kill a god.
Hyeon Rang and I begin to clash.
Kugugugugugu!
Hyeon Rang reveals his true body.
Even now, his true form remains bound by my Five Desires Chain and is burning in the flames of the Great Sun and Torch Candle Heavenly Lords.
But even so, he is massive.
Kurururung!
: : Descend unto me. : :
With one hand, Hyeon Rang endlessly summons something forth, while swinging his fist at me.
Hwoong!
With just a single punch, reality distorts, and the boundary between illusion and reality blurs.
'This is the power of Go (古/Ancient).'
When a Human Race Immortal Beast ascends, they are called by the name Go.
In Kang Min-hee's case, she accepted the Immortal Beast True Blood of the Underworld and became another kind of Immortal Beast known as Mother (母), so she isn't a Go. But surprisingly, I, the Immortal Beast Candle Shadow, am a kind of 'mutated Go,' thus I am well aware of the abilities of Go.
Immortal Beasts of the bird type, like Pengs or Peacocks, command storms with their wings.
Glass Peacock commands the storms of the mind, and Azure Peng commands the storms of space.
Immortal Beasts of the reptilian type, like Dragons or Snakes, command the power of rivers with their scales.
Lofty Dragon commands the river of Health, and Black Dragon commands the river of Taiyin.
In this way, all Immortal Beasts have their respective domains, and among them, the domain that Human Race Immortal Beasts control is this—
Dreams.
Distorted by Hyeon Rang, reality and illusion twist and entangle, warping the surroundings into chaos.
The Owner of Names Hyeon Rang, ironically drives us into a world where names mean the least—dreams.
The entire world changes into Hyeon Rang's chaos, and all of Heaven and Earth becomes dyed in nightmares.
And, I slice through the nightmare.
Tsaaaaaat!
Hyeon Rang's fist comes flying at me.
Transcending all, his fist destroys dream and reality in a single strike. As I witness his punch, I thrust my sword forward to meet it.
Pukwaang!
Hyeon Rang's arm explodes.
Kugugugu!
The power of the Immortal Beast Pangu meets the Immortal Dao of the Owner of Names, and within the dream of chaos, a name is affixed, and definition is set.
Kurung, kurururung!
Within Hyeon Rang's hand, a Heavenly Domain is being born.
I see thousands, hundreds of millions of galaxy clusters being formed inside a black sphere.
: : Pangu's Genesis. : :
The ultimate technique of the Immortal Beast Pangu unfolds, and an entire universe begins to pour forth from Hyeon Rang's hand.
Billions of galaxy clusters forming inside the black waterfall rush toward me.
And I, focusing my mind, let my sword cry ring out.
Too-wooong—
That sword cry resonates with the new universe, and within that resonance, I find a gap in the Heavenly Domain and narrow my eyes.
Then, I cleave.
Jjeooook!
The Heavenly Domain splits in half, and I open my mouth.
[It's useless.]
Uduk, udududuk!
The Five Desires Chain, empowered by my strength, tighten around Hyeon Rang even more, and he only glares at me.
[The power of a mere inferior Supreme Deity...cannot reach me.]
Cheok—
Sensing Oh Hyun-seok and Glass Peacock gathering strength behind me, I raise my sword.
[Undying, you say? Be undying as much as you want. I'll kill you over and over again. I shall show you...the power of a mountain spirit.]
Thus, the true Supreme Deity hunt begins.