"Azure Cloud Heart Method..."
Wo-woong—
As she cultivates the basic Qi Building method that creates blue clouds around her with each breath, Wol Ryeong feels fascinated.
"Is this a basic Qi Building method...?"
It is fascinating.
She was born as an innate Core Formation.
From childhood, the formulas of the Qi Refining and Qi Building instinctively embedded into her spirit.
She thinks it is truly fascinating that this realm, which she could reach just by breathing, someone else has to gasp for breath from the very beginning to climb up toward.
'How curious...'
Pachijik...
The blue clouds of the Azure Cloud Heart Method form faint lightning.
'After the Azure Cloud Heart Method comes the Lightning Spirit Single Qi Formula.'
It is a method that temporarily turns the whole body into a lightning spirit and provides an enormous affinity with thunder and lightning.
'The method itself...is specialized in summoning what is called the spirit of lightning.'
In an instant, her talent sees through the essence of the method.
'A tool... This Thunder Resonance Valley itself is a vast tool and altar to summon the power of the God that is worshiped here.'
The very thing called Thunder Resonance Valley is no different from a foothold for the power of the Upper Realm to descend into the Vast Cold Realm.
'Do these people know that?'
As she looks toward the other Qi Building and Core Formation disciples who have come to hear the dharma sermon of the Nascent Soul Elder, Divine Power Wondrous Salvation True Lord Heo of Thunder Resonance Valley, she gazes at Thunder Resonance Valley for a long time.
The doctrines of Thunder Resonance Valley, the customs of Thunder Resonance Valley, the very meaning of existence of Thunder Resonance Valley, are thoroughly analyzed by her and become assimilated into her.
Wol Ryeong rapidly absorbs the knowledge and wisdom of Thunder Resonance Valley.
[Look at that, their name is Divine Power Wondrous Salvation True Lord Heo.]
[What kind of Nascent Soul stage cultivator has the name True Lord, puhaha!]
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa laugh through voice transmission while wanting to scratch the belly of the Nascent Soul Elder giving the sermon up front, and Wol Ryeong, seeing the world through the completely new perspective of the Qi Building stage she is now experiencing, feels many things.
"Gyeong-ah, why do you think those people do what's called effort?"
"Hm? What are you talking about?"
"They must already know themselves... Even if they work that hard, their limit is the Core Formation stage...or perhaps the Nascent Soul stage. To reach beyond that, they would need a truly enormous fortuitous encounter. But why do they go that far, to the point of almost dying...even crawling before Elders who are at most at the Nascent Soul stage to do so?"
She asks about things she does not understand.
As one born as an innate Core Formation, instinctively feeling the power of fate and unconsciously realizing the structure of this world and her own future, she cannot understand beings at or below the Qi Building stage wriggling and struggling.
No...
To be honest, she cannot even understand Integration stage cultivators like Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, who are at a realm similar to hers.
"Why do people all strive to escape their own birth station?"
"...You're curious why they try to escape their birth station?"
"...Yes. People all have something called fate given to them. And if you look closely at the circumstances you are in and your own potential...even without learning Immortal Cultivation, you can guess your fate. But...why do people not examine their own fate and instead strive to reach beyond it?"
"Hm..."
Seo Gyeong's eyes shine as he hears the question.
"...Well. Perhaps...the very act of struggling is fate itself."
"The very act of struggling is fate?"
Wol Ryeong frowns at that slightly peculiar remark.
Seeing the beings at or below the Qi Building stage struggling, she does think they are foolish, but she has no intention of denying that free will.
She even thinks that, foolish though it may be, the very act of continuing to struggle is beautiful.
However, Seo Gyeong's words feel somehow unpleasant.
It feels as though he is saying free will does not exist.
Free will.
With the feeling that those words are tightly binding her chest, Wol Ryeong asks Seo Gyeong again.
"If even struggling under fate is fate, does that mean freedom does not exist?"
"..."
Seo Gyeong stares straight at Wol Ryeong.
"...It doesn't exist. That's what I think."
Wol Ryeong does not understand what Seo Gyeong means and bites her lips hard.
But it is difficult to deny.
For if the heavens hold something called fate, and under that fate all things of all phenomena are decided, then it is true that free will does not exist.
And for some reason, though she does not like Seo Gyeong's answer, she cannot form any logic to deny it.
Life in Thunder Resonance Valley while lowering her realm is an entirely new experience.
As soon as Wol Ryeong, Mu Geom, and Bi Hwa entered the valley, they reached the Qi Building stage, and once they became Qi Building cultivators, they often suffered direct humiliation from countless Core Formation disciples.
"Ahaha, so you're that famous next Sword Spear candidate!"
"...? What is that supposed to..."
"Uhuhu, shut up! As a newcomer, I'm saying you should lick your senior's feet."
"W-Wait..."
"Uugkh...wonderful. One of the next Eight Immortals is...my feet...uhuhu...!"
Bi Hwa gets caught by a Grand Perfection Core Formation disciple called Golden Shaking Bird, and every day she is made to wash her soft feet. Mu Geom, with his fluffy tail fur being popular, is frequently seized by female Core Formation disciples.
At least no special harassment falls upon Wol Ryeong, but even she has to run errands on her own feet, so she constantly experiences new things.
"Wol Ryeong. Install a formation here in this part. You can draw these symbols properly, correct?"
"Yes, Elder Ten Thousand Laws."
She is often caught by the Elder Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord and ordered to do errands like installing formations.
Running around on errands here and there, she gradually senses instinctively that some transcendent existence is taking interest in Thunder Resonance Valley on a metaphysical level.
'Gradually...the God is approaching.'
It is said Thunder Resonance Valley serves two gods.
One is the God of Thunder and Lightning, whom she does not know well but seems famous among the beings here.
The second is a being she knows well, the Devil God of Sword Mountain.
Yet the Devil God of Sword Mountain is not very well known, and only the group called the Colorless Faction seems to mainly worship that devil god.
'I don't know why...but that being, the Devil God of Sword Mountain. I feel like I will face that being again this time.'
She ponders.
'For some reason...I feel like I am standing on top of the plans of transcendent divinities.'
The question she asked Seo Gyeong not long ago about free will is because of these vast wills pressing on her back recently.
'If transcendent beings are arranging my fate, and I only live according to that fate...then do I truly not have free will?'
—Free will doesn't exist. That's what I think.
For some reason, Seo Gyeong's words, spoken with such certainty, continue to bother her in a corner of her heart.
'If free will doesn't exist...then why must I keep struggling to raise my realm? Can't I just sit still in this place...?'
As time passes, her troubles only deepen.
And amid such doubts about her own free will and within her inner Heart Demon, the time arrives.
Kurururung!
Wol Ryeong, along with about one hundred excellent Qi Building and Core Formation disciples of Thunder Resonance Valley, about sixty excellent Nascent Soul stage Elders, around ten Heavenly Being stage Grand Elders, four Great Grand Elders of the Four-Axis stage, and the Sect Leader, the Lightning Sword High Person at the Integration stage, gather and begin the sacrificial ritual.
Though called excellent disciples, in truth they are those who have deeper faith in the gods worshiped by Thunder Resonance Valley than anyone else in the valley, willing to offer their very lives for the gods.
[Today! On this spot, that lord shall descend! All must greet them!]
Wol Ryeong watches the Lightning Sword High Person from afar.
Wearing a red faceless mask, bare-chested with red lower garments, reaching his hands toward the sky, his appearance seems rather grotesque.
'Why is he doing such a thing?'
Why is she, knowing she stands upon the hands of transcendent beings, here to resist their influence?
'Does he do such things by his own free will? If so, am I also doing this by my own free will?'
The Lightning Sword High Person and the four Great Law Protectors of Thunder Resonance Valley activate the formation.
Kurururung!
The Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Earth Tribe territory heads toward Thunder Resonance Valley.
Jjeoooooong!
The entirety of Thunder Resonance Valley seems to boil, and according to their formation, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy gathered from the entire Earth Tribe territory rapidly amplifies.
It is the Amplifying Spirits ritual.
Sensing the scale of that enormous power, Wol Ryeong falls into thought.
'Fate...cannot be defeated by strength. Then with what does one prove oneself? To prove one's free will beneath fate...what must one do?'
Kurururung!
The Heaven and Earth spiritual energy amplified by the Amplifying Spirits ritual soon begins to be offered through the Lightning Sword High Person to some existence.
Kwarururung!
Wol Ryeong, trembling under the will of the God of Thunder Resonance Valley, the [God of Heavenly Punishment], who sends part of their split soul to the ritual, thinks.
'Is the only way to become an even greater existence? Is becoming a greater existence, and with that great power, guaranteeing only the free will of those beneath oneself, truly the only way?'
Without even thinking that the self-questioning she asks herself is questioning the essence of Radiance Hall, she continually asks herself and undergo repentant enlightenment.
'Is this path I walk the right one?'
She, recalling the countless moments she has seen and experienced during the ten months she lived as a Qi Building disciple, sinks into agony.
More than the thirty years she lived as a proud disciple of Radiance Spirit Sect, the three hundred days she lived as a Qi Building cultivator are throwing her into confusion.
She is changing from the ten months she spent as a Qi Building disciple of Thunder Resonance Valley.
Kurururung—
Soon the will of the transcendent existence fades, and the third ritual begins.
Kwarurung!
The spirit of lightning begins to descend into the Lightning Sword High Person, who wears a red mask.
Urururung!
The Lightning Sword High Person's flesh begins to undergo lightning transformation.
Wearing the red mask, he receives the spirit of lightning, dyeing his whole body golden.
Red lightning turns golden, and a golden lightning spirit is being summoned to this place.
This lightning spirit, after stabilising inside the Lightning Sword High Person, will again move its dwelling into the bodies of the Four Great Law Protectors of Thunder Resonance Valley.
When thus a total of four spirits are summoned, it is said that the divine artifact of the God of Heavenly Punishment, the Heavenly Lightning Banner, will be summoned.
[Remember well. There is only one chance. Before that lightning spirit enters the bodies of the Four Great Law Protectors, you must ambush the Four Great Law Protectors and kill them in one strike. I will handle the Lightning Sword High Person. Can you do it?]
The ritual of Spirit Summoning that at last begins in earnest.
Within that ritual, the voice transmission of Geuk Gwang enters her ears, and Wol Ryeong nods.
Soon, the voice of the Slaughtering Heaven Esteemed One Geuk Gwang, who exchanges voice transmissions with Seo Gyeong, Mu Geom, and Bi Hwa, resounds.
[When the signal of True Dragon Alliance Lord Gyu Ryeon comes, begin the ambush at once. Now then, all of you, prepare.]
Wol Ryeong closes her eyes and counts inwardly.
The feint operation with Gyu Ryeon, who will attack the main mountain of Thunder Resonance Valley from outside and shake Thunder Resonance Valley, is about to begin.
She tries to calm herself by counting numbers, but even though she counts, is not at ease.
The topic of free will is incessantly reproduced in her head and is driving her into a Heart Demon.
'The answer about free will...what is it?'
Finally, she stomps her foot.
Kwagwagwagwang!
At that same moment, Gyu Ryeon's all-out attack begins to pound Thunder Resonance Valley's main mountain.
[Oooooooooh!]
Kugugugung!
By the attack of the Quasi-Star Shattering stage Dragon King Gyu Ryeon, the entire region, including Thunder Resonance Valley, shakes, and the gazes of everyone in Thunder Resonance Valley scatters at the sudden ambush.
And Wol Ryeong, who stomped her foot in that gap, reaches one of the four Great Law Protectors.
Flash!
As she exudes the divine might of the Integration stage she has hidden all this time, she bursts and kills in one strike the Grand Perfection Four-Axis stage Great Law Protector assigned to her.
The Four-Axis stage Law Protector's body bursts apart, and their spirit immediately vanishes from the spot, seeking to use the function of the Four-Axis stage to resurrect.
With no time to even be shocked at the instant death of one of the Four-Axis stage cultivators, the other Four-Axis cultivators are likewise ambushed by Seo Gyeong, Mu Geom, and Bi Hwa.
Under the all-out assault of the Integration stage cultivators who hid among the other disciples, they have no choice but to collapse.
The, Esteemed One Geuk Gwang charges at the Lightning Sword High Person.
Lightning Sword High Person is charged by Esteemed One Geukgwang.
"You all disrupt the formation, I will take him!"
Geuk Gwang summons a radiance halberd and rushes at the Lightning Sword High Person, and the Lightning Sword High Person and the Tall Tree Race's Star Shattering Esteemed One, Geuk Gwang, collide.
Jjeoeong, jjeooooeoeong!
Light and lightning explode as the two beings clash.
Lightning Sword High Person may only be at the Integration stage, but within him is a direct apostle of the God of Heavenly Punishment.
A spirit of lightning.
Though not yet stabilized, the lightning spirit endlessly presses Geuk Gwang and blows them away toward the sky of the Vast Cold Realm, and Geuk Gwang grits their teeth and stands against the spirit of lightning.
[Condemn the heretic scum who harm the Valley Lord!!!]
[Kill them!!!]
Kugugugugu!
Countless disciples of Thunder Resonance Valley rush at them.
The eyes of the Thunder Resonance Valley disciples are dyed with fanaticism, and seeing them, Mu Geom and Bi Hwa sneer.
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, who had no choice but to be tormented by them due to the secret operation, have their eyes filled with killing intent. Especially Bi Hwa, who was caught by a disciple named Golden Shaking Bird and, for reasons she cannot understand, treated almost like a plaything, raises her Integrated Dao Domain as if to massacre them all even a moment faster.
It is then,
Kwarururung!
[All of you, be still.]
The attraction force spreading from Wol Ryeong distorts the surrounding space and forces everyone to collapse to the ground.
Kwaaaang!
All existences at or below the Heavenly Being stage are seized by Wol Ryeong's immense power and are pressed to the ground, and Wol Ryeong's calm words sweep across the entirety of Thunder Resonance Valley.
[I am the Integration stage Grand Cultivator of the Human Race, Wol Ryeong. Not only I, but also Mu Geom and Bi Hwa are all at the Grand Perfection Integration stage. Seo Gyeong has also just risen to the very beginning of the Integration stage. You have no chance of victory. Therefore...do not resist and stay still. If you do so, I shall not kill you.]
"Haah, Junior Sister. You are too soft. These are heretics who serve evil gods. Can we not just kill them all?"
"That's right, Junior Sister. These bastards...have you forgotten what that bitch Golden Shaking Bird did to me for ten months!? Even if you stop me, I have to tear at least that one to death!"
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, irritated, vent their complaints to Wol Ryeong.
But in that instant, meeting her gaze, Mu Geom and Bi Hwa freeze completely.
Shiver!
"...Do you truly need to do so?"
Wol Ryeong's gaze is now far different from before.
And only then do Mu Geom and Bi Hwa realize what has happened to Wol Ryeong.
'Insane...Q-Quasi Star Shattering stage...!?'
'In ten months she reached the Quasi–Star Shattering stage...? Has she become a monster!?'
"...J-Junior Sister...we should do as you say. Haha, sorry. I tried to push through too much with my authority as a senior brother, right?"
"I'm sorry, Junior Sister. I'll just be scratching their bellies. Ahaha..."
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, seeing Wol Ryeong's gaze, awkwardly lay down Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord and Eastern Brilliance Spiritual Lord, who are kneeling nearby, and begin scratching their bellies.
"...You, do you even know whose bellies you are scratching right now?"
Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord and Eastern Brilliance Spiritual Lord only look at the two with dumbfounded faces.
"Of course, you would be dumbfounded. But the truth is, we were not Qi Building disciples, but at the Integration stage, you see?"
"Hahaha, how cute. It's so sudden you still can't grasp the situation, huh. Do you know how funny it was every time we saw you acting lofty about being a Nascent Soul?"
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, to avoid Wol Ryeong's gaze, treat the two Nascent Soul Elders who find the absurd situation as if they are cute and scratch their bellies, and Wol Ryeong turns her eyes and surveys the surroundings.
"...."
Wol Ryeong uses her Integration stage attraction force to make everyone in the area kneel, suppressing them so they cannot perform any spells, divine powers, or actions.
However...
Among those gathered here, not a single one yields to her attraction force, and they keep trying to rise without stopping.
"...I believe I said it already. If you resist, I will kill you."
Kugugung!
She releases an even stronger attraction force.
All around, low-level disciples cough up blood.
Yet, even though she now emits an attraction force as if to soon kill them...
No one here stops resisting.
Wol Ryeong opens her mouth.
[...The difference in strength is immense.]
Her mental speech spreads throughout the area.
[With the Four-Axis stage cultivators dead, even if all of you at or below the Heavenly Being stage rush in...you cannot even defeat Seo Gyeong, who is the weakest among us.]
At Wol Ryeong's words, Seo Gyeong's expression briefly turns strange, but it soon vanishes.
[If you resist, you only die. I am seeking a way for you to live. Do not make a foolish choice. Do not force yourselves to rise while bleeding, just to chase some clumsy freedom.]
And then, she sees it.
The fanatics gathered for this ritual are all, in unison, straining with all their might to resist.
Kwarung, kwarururung!
In the sky, Gyu Ryeon and Geuk Gwang are pressing the spirit of lightning and the Lightning Sword High Person whom it possesses.
The spirit of lightning, a direct apostle of the God of Heavenly Punishment, is powerful, but now faced with a many-against-one situation, it seems to be overmatched as it begins to concede attacks.
[The lightning spirit you summoned cannot defeat the Star Shattering Esteemed One who have come with us. Even so, will you keep resisting? Will you die a meaningless dog's death?]
At Wol Ryeong's question, someone opens their mouth.
"...It is not...meaningless."
[...What?]
It is the head of the Colorless Faction of Thunder Resonance Valley, a person named Tae Ryeok.
"...My ancestor...was a Buddhist nun. She reached only about the Heavenly Being stage at a hall called Grand Nirvana Temple and lived leisurely, met a suitable connection, and lived suitably."
Dudududu—
They try to rise, and Wol Ryeong presses them down even harder.
But she does not silence their mouth.
"She was abandoned by her parents. But as she studied Buddhism at the Grand Nirvana Temple, she said she had such thoughts. That if she is one abandoned by her parents, and if such is her fate, then where does the meaning of her existence lie? She said she agonized over such thoughts."
Seo Gyeong, as if recalling something, focuses on their story and wears an expression sunk in reminiscence,
And Wol Ryeong perceives that something is changing within Tae Ryeok.
'What is this?'
Something is strange.
From the person called Tae Ryeok, she feels an alienness that cannot even be put into words.
"And...as she passed away, though it is not some grand answer, she found an answer of her own. If fate has abandoned me, has the Buddhism I polished also abandoned me?"
Uduk, udududuk!
"...!?"
Wol Ryeong shivers in shock.
Tae Ryeok, who is merely at the Heavenly Being stage, is resisting the attraction force of the Perfection Integration stage Wol Ryeong and is slowly...
Standing up from their place.
"If the heavens have abandoned me...have the taenghwa I have drawn also abandoned me? Has the building called Grand Nirvana Temple where I have lived also abandoned me...!?"
Jjeoeong!
And at last, Tae Ryeok stands up from their place.
And an anomaly occurs.
Uduk, ududududeuk!
Heavenly Being stage cultivators.
Especially those who reached the Grand Perfection Heavenly Being stage begin to rise one by one, resisting Wol Ryeong's attraction force.
"There may be an absolute difference... We may absolutely not be able to defeat you… But! Even so, we will struggle."
[...Even though you cannot win?]
"Even if we cannot win, we can still wear away a tiny bit of your energy."
[It will be nothing more than a speck of energy.]
"Is not a great mountain...born from just such specks gathering together?"
[...]
"Even if I fall here and die, the things I have done will not abandon me. The ones I hold precious...the Thunder Resonance Valley which I have cherished will care for the ones left behind and pray for me who has died. That alone...is enough."
Kwaaaang!
At those words, a strange rotational force felt around them completely pushes away Wol Ryeong's attraction force.
The Grand Perfection Heavenly Being cultivators, including Tae Ryeok, rise fully to their feet.
Wol Ryeong sees in their dantians a strange formula revolving in cycles.
It is a Heavenly Circle.
'What is that? Is that not...the formula of Acceptance at Fate's End...? How in the world did they reach the Grand Perfection Heavenly Being stage with another formula...? No, more than that, how are Grand Perfection Heavenly Being cultivators emitting this level of attraction force...?'
Wol Ryeong stares at them taken aback, and the Grand Perfection Heavenly Being cultivators, including Tae Ryeok, all simultaneously form a hand seal.
It happens at that moment.
Flash!
Heaven and Earth rumble, and Tae Ryeok and all of the Colorless Faction summon their swords and charge Wol Ryeong in unison.
Heavenly Being stage, Nascent Soul stage, Core Formation stage—it does not matter. Every Colorless Faction cultivator connects with Tae Ryeok, sharing his Heavenly Circle formula, and rushes Wol Ryeong together. At that sight...
Wol Ryeong opens her mouth.
'Beau...tiful.'
Why is it so?
To Wol Ryeong, their sight is more beautiful than any rare jewel in this world, more beautiful than any fine elixir or dharma treasure.
And, Wol Ryeong stretches out her hand toward the disciples of the Colorless Faction radiating such beauty.
'With my own hands...I must kill it. This beauty...'
There is no joy in it.
Only deep regret fills her.
And so, at the very moment countless disciples of the Colorless Faction are about to be massacred by her hand—
"I offer it."
[...!?]
Kururururung!
A thunderous clap of lightning strikes her ears.
Wol Ryeong, along with Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, realizes what has happened and is aghast.
The Four Great Law Protectors of Thunder Resonance Valley, who died in their ambush and went to resurrect through the soul passage, have returned and offered a 'sacrifice'.
And that sacrifice is none other than...
[You insane cultist bastards...!!!]
The lives of the vast majority of the hundreds of Thunder Resonance Valley disciples gathered here.
From the Four Directions, the barrier of the Four Great Law Protectors, tearing out their own hearts and offering them toward the sky, unfolds, and all the fanatics within the area, filled with sincere devotion toward the God of Heavenly Punishment, are simultaneously being [offered].
Kururururung!
Thunderclaps and heavenly lightning sweep the surroundings wildly.
Wol Ryeong widens her eyes.
'They...they are transforming into lightning...?'
Countless disciples of Thunder Resonance Valley all at once begin transforming into lightning and are being transmitted somewhere.
The disciples of Thunder Resonance Valley do not seem surprised by this sudden situation. They only kneel, clasping their hands together in prayer.
[Return to thee.]
[Return to thee.]
[Return to thee...]
All the fanatics, except for the forty-eight Nascent Soul Elders who seem lacking in faith, undergo lightning transformation and are transmitted somewhere.
Sensing an immense threat, Wol Ryeong looks up to the sky.
'Something...is coming...!'
"Return to thee..."
"Return to thee..."
Countless beings raise their prayers toward the sky, and at last, when all the disciples of Thunder Resonance Valley are made to return (歸依) to some existence—
Kurururururung!
Flash!
Geuk Gwang and Gyu Ryeon, who are pressing the lightning spirit while fighting against it in the sky, are suddenly flung away.
'Strengthening the lighting spirit? No, this ritual is...'
Wol Ryeong clenches her teeth as cold sweat flows.
'It is a ritual that summons the spirits of lightning all at once...!'
A method that, in exchange for human sacrifice, summons countless spirits at once to hasten the ritual.
"You vile cult bastards!"
"How could you do such a thing!?"
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa shout in rage and confusion at the wicked deeds of the fanatics.
Wol Ryeong too does not know what to do, shaken by the ominous intuition pounding against her head.
"...Ryeong-ah, let's move."
"...Wh-What are you saying, Seo Gyeong...?"
Her body trembles.
"Can you not...feel it? Right now...it's not just three more lightning spirits that are about to be summoned. This is..."
Shiver!
She feels a [Gaze] looking at her from beyond the sky.
That [Gaze] is the same as when she, as a child, once received the gaze of the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain.
"It is a God...the Evil God of Thunder Resonance Valley...is trying to interfere with us...!!! If that being just breathes a little more power into the spirits of lightning that are being summoned...we're...finished...!"
"It's not the end, Ryeong."
"What are you saying, Seo Gyeong! You said it yourself! There is no free will. Everything in this world...is fate. It is already fixed."
Sensing the presence of the Owner of Heavenly Punishment distorting the fate of the heavens and beginning to interfere with the Vast Cold Realm, Wol Ryeong lets out tears as she feels her brain go numb.
"You said it yourself... So then...how can mortal beings resist existences beyond fate...!"
"...Ryeong-ah."
Then, Seo Gyeong takes her hand.
"...It's okay. Even if the God of Heavenly Punishment descends, the fact that I am by your side does not change. The fact that I am holding your hand does not change."
"...?"
"It is said only what the heavens bestow is fate, but in truth, we also carry our own fate."
Seo Gyeong brings a hand to his chest and speaks.
"If our being born is fate, and our end is fate...then our struggle is also fate."
"What...?"
"There is no free will. We cannot live as we wish. But...within absolute fate, we can still choose what shape we take...we can choose at least that much."
"...What do you mean by taking shape? Even if you change shape, you can't escape the situation. At best, it might not make even a speck of difference."
"But we can change at least a speck."
"What meaning does that even have!?"
"All change originally begins from such a speck. At the very least...we can announce the beginning of change."
"..."
Wol Ryeong looks at Seo Gyeong.
Is it because of his youthful form?
Or is it because of her genius talent?
Or is it because of their master's favoritism?
All this time, she has unconsciously thought of Seo Gyeong as younger than herself.
But in this moment, for some reason, Seo Gyeong looks like an existence older than anyone else.
"Even if nothing changes right away...the single trajectory I swing may become the cornerstone of change. Just as the beginning of Immortal Cultivation starts from the most basic act of creating the field of the heart (丹田/dantian) through the power of Yin-Yang and Five Elements."
"...I was born at the Core Formation stage, so I do not know such things."
"This time you came to understand the perspectives of those of Qi Refining and Qi Building. As you live, you will come to understand such things too. So, Ryeong-ah. Let's live."
Clench—
As Wol Ryeong unconsciously senses the transcendent divine presence and falls into despair, Seo Gyeong takes her hand and raises her up.
"Let's live, struggling. Then, maybe, we'll be able to know more."
"...What if, no matter what we do, there's no hope, and no matter what we do, there's no chance of living?"
"Then...at the very least, we should try so that we can die in the shape we want."
At those words, Wol Ryeong suddenly becomes curious.
"...Who did you learn such words from?"
"..."
At that, Seo Gyeong smiles faintly, summons a radiance sword, and flies toward the corpses of the Four Great Law Protectors who lift their hearts to the sky and form the formation.
And he lets out a single line.
"...From Ryeong."
"..."
Wol Ryeong is confused by those words.
Has she ever said such a thing?
She hasn't.
The Ryeong Seo Gyeong speaks of must be another Ryeong.
Suddenly, Wol Ryeong thinks.
She feels unbearably envious.
The existence of another 'Ryeong' who received Seo Gyeong's gaze makes her feel ridiculously jealous.
"...I can do it, too."
That jealousy, and that anger.
Within them, she finally rises to her feet.
She thinks she knows what Seo Gyeong intends to do.
'You're going to smash the foothold for the God's descent, aren't you? Fine. I'll do it!'
Tsuaaat!
She pushes her talent to the extreme.
She mobilizes all her senses, recalling that moment when she once received the call of the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain when she severed the connection between her disciple and the God.
'I will sever the connection between the God of Heavenly Punishment and this altar.'
She enters into the domain of Void.
The other side of the Plane of Soul.
The Darkness World where everything is empty.
There, she senses innumerable weaves of results.
'This is...the thread of the God of Heavenly Punishment.'
That thread is unimaginably violent, as though endlessly transforming.
It seems impossible that she could sever it.
But she stirs her anger.
Anger at the situation surrounding her.
Anger at Seo Gyeong who admonishes her.
Anger at that other 'Ryeong' who received Seo Gyeong's gaze.
And anger at herself.
Within that anger, she grasps the radiance halberd and draws a circle.
Shikagagagak!
The circle she draws expands toward the four directions, and thus cleaves the bodies of the Four Great Law Protectors positioned in the four directions.
Jjeooooooong!
The bodies of the Four Great Law Protectors, who are the foothold for the descent of the existence called the Heavenly Lightning Banner.
The altar, spread out with their bodies as its axes, collapses.
The phenomenon of the whole world being covered in thunder and lightning subsides, and Wol Ryeong gasps for breath.
Mu Geom and Bi Hwa smile brightly.
"Is it defeated!?"
"It's a success!"
And Wol Ryeong too hears their cheers and smiles.
Somehow she feels as though she has taken one step further.
Kururung!
The body of the Lightning Sword High Person, who presses Geuk Gwang and Gyu Eyeon in the sky, falls miserably to the ground.
Though Geuk Gwang and Gyu Ryeon are flung away, she knows.
'We...succeeded...!?'
They have driven out the will of a God!
An achievement that seems impossible, she has accomplished with her own hands!
"Junior Sister!!!"
"As expected of Junior Sister! I believed in you!"
Amid the cheers of Mu Geom and Bi Hwa, she controls her exhausted body and smiles.
'...Seo Gyeong, your words...were not wrong...'
She thinks all is thus resolved.
Eujik!
Bi Hwa bursts apart and dies.
"...Huh?"
Kwaaang!
Without even time to regain her senses, Mu Geom is flung away by something and vanishes into some distant domain, and immediately after, Wol Ryeong barely dodges a kick from some being.
Kwaaang!
And that kick turns directly into a slash, grazing her and carving a massive scar into the cavern where the ritual began.
She looks up at the existence before her eyes.
That being wears a red mask and bears the body of a spirit shining with golden lightning.
"Lightning Sword...High Person...?"
It is the state of the Lightning Sword High Person when accepting the spirit of lightning.
Looking at that faceless strange existence, she realizes the being before her is not simply the Lightning Sword High Person.
"No...you are...who...?"
And then, that existence utters a 'voice'.
[My^%^*%name^%&%^...]
And Wol Ryeong's ears explode.
The true name of a transcendent...
[Jeon■■■■Myeong■■■■■■(&%*■Hoon.]
...is a wisdom mortals cannot withstand.
At the following voice, she has no choice but to abandon all hope.
[I am the God of Heavenly Punishment.]