Clang, clang—
Seo Gyeong looks at the hunchbacked puppet standing before him for the first time in a long while.
'...Was it the 11th cycle?'
The first puppet the Mad Lord sent to apprehend Seo Eun-hyun.
That puppet was that very hunchbacked puppet resembling the Mad Lord.
[According to the Elder's order, the plan to occupy the Bright Cold Realm shall begin. Commence collecting 'materials' for factory operation. Chijijijik... 'Materials' found. Early Integration stage Grand Cultivator. Begin capture...chijijik...begin...chijik...shishishishishi...youyouyouyouyou...]
The hunchbacked general puppet keeps crackling and staggering, then reaches out a hand toward Seo Eun-hyun, and Seo Eun-hyun reaches out his hand in return and sends a voice transmission.
"Authority, Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress Main Castle's general puppet. Unit name [General Seo]. As a general puppet of the Upper Fortress, I request transfer of administrator authority."
And with Seo Eun-hyun's words, the transparent [circuit] he emits connects to the general puppet.
Soon after, so that the others watching them do not suspect anything, the general puppet and Seo Eun-hyun begin to converse by voice transmission.
[General Seo. This is an unregistered unit name.]
[It is a unit that was rapidly constructed at the Upper Fortress. I also bring the command letter of the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress's main castle.]
Wo-woong—
Through Seo Gyeong's body, Seo Eun-hyun assembles information entities he obtained long ago at the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress and hands them to the general puppet.
[Chijijik... Confirming the unit name and orders of the general puppet [General Seo], possessing acting administrator authority of the Castle Lord [Mad Lord Jo Yeon]. From now on, the administrator authority of the [Wonderfully Mysterious Castle's Mass-Production Integration-Class Puppet Production Factory Branch] is transferred to [General Seo].]
"...Mass-Production Integration-Class Puppet Factory..."
At that terrifying name, Seo Eun-hyun clicks his tongue.
'So after building [Her] to the Star Shattering Stage, he made these and scattered them all over the Vast Cold Realm. If he had been given a few tens of thousands of more years...the Integration stage puppets [mass-produced] under the Mad Lord might have swarmed over the Vast Cold Realm like a cloud of bees.'
Seo Eun-hyun shudders as he imagines hundreds of billions of mass-produced Integration stage puppets blanketing the Vast Cold Realm like a swarm of locusts.
No matter how great the gap between the Star Shattering stage and the Integration stage is, if hundreds of billions of Integration stage puppets are mass-produced, it could be dangerous even for Sacred Vessels.
Moreover, considering the Mad Lord's genius and disposition, there is no way he would command such a huge number of puppets with mere attrition tactics. He would have devised some plan through the puppets without fail.
'If the Mad Lord remained alive, the insane act of pushing aside the Sacred Master through hundreds of billions of Integration stage puppets and installing the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress in the Sacred Master seat might have been possible...'
That is the might of the being called the Mad Lord.
What was always frightening about the Mad Lord was not the powerful puppet [Her], but the [factories] the Mad Lord created.
At first, he mass-produced Heavenly Being stage puppets, then Four-Axis stage puppets, then Integration stage puppets, and after [She] was built, he might have even attempted to mass-produce Star Shattering stage puppets.
If Jo Yeon's goal was not Yeon's Play but rather to confront Seo Hweol, then surely that would have been the case.
'All of that is now just a memory too...'
Seo Eun-hyun, using the administrator authority, cancels the 'Integration stage puppet mass-production plan' of the 'Mass-Production Integration-Class Puppet Factory' eroding the underground.
Now this puppet factory will only operate for the purpose of repairing the approximately fifty Integration stage puppets here.
'If a few tens of millions of years pass like that, just as spirit fruits, spirit woods, and spirit stones develop spiritual nature and become part of the Earth Tribe, these fellows too might join the Earth Tribe.'
Thinking that someday such a day might come, Seo Eun-hyun, leaving out about three Integration-class puppets, embeds a [prophecy] within the remaining puppets so that no one can detect them.
Originally, these puppets were not within calculation, so it wasn't planned, but...
If they are defeated, and the next Enders arrive, perhaps it will become another arrangement to give to them.
The prophecy and command that Seo Eun-hyun embeds in the puppets are as follows.
[Someday, if existences from an otherworld come, protect them, and if they possess a certain qualification, serve them as your owner and be loyal.]
Leaving an arrangement so that, at roughly the Core Formation level, one can become the owner of these puppets, Seo Eun-hyun smiles faintly.
The term otherworld does not mean merely another Middle Realm or Heavenly Domain, but a completely different world, so it will one day help the Enders who come from another world.
Memories with the Mad Lord that he never expected to recall flash through his head.
Back then, they were so heartbreakingly painful it felt like death...
But as always, wounds turn into nostalgic memories once time passes.
Now, both the Mad Lord and Seo Hweol are nothing more than one of his nostalgic memories.
[By administrator authority, I command. From this moment...]
After recalling memories for a while, Seo Eun-hyun looks toward Wol Ryeong flying from afar and issues orders to the three puppets remaining.
The hunchbacked puppet.
The Supreme Tiger Race puppet.
The Western Flame Race puppet.
Wol Ryeong grits her teeth.
It is humiliating.
'I let my guard down.'
She should have listened to Seo Gyeong's words.
She never expected such an ability.
Even her short-term foresight through celestial energy failed to read it.
'I was overconfident, without thinking properly about the functions of puppets from the beginning.'
It has only been two months since she repelled the God of Heavenly Punishment, who resides at the apex of the Immortal Cultivation system.
Because of that, her confidence rose too high.
As she quickly returns to where she originally was, she bites her lips hard.
'Please, please let nothing have happened. Please...!'
And then.
Finally returning to her original position, Wol Ryeong feels as if her insides turn upside down.
Bududuk...
"...What are you doing...?"
She growls as she sees puppets placing Seo Gyeong, disciples of Black Ghost Valley, and the Cold Spirit Race natives all into machine-like devices and violently extracting Heaven and Earth spiritual energy from them.
[Can you not see? I am collecting power sources.]
"...Power sources?"
[The life force of Integration stage Grand Cultivators, including Four-Axis stage and Heavenly Being stage cultivators, is in itself an eternal power source for puppets. By extracting power from them, I am going to begin the operation of my [factory].]
"...Let him go."
[What?]
"Release...Seo Gyeong!"
Bo-oong—
In an instant, Wol Ryeong grips the radiance halberd in her hand and charges at the puppet.
The radiance halberd collides with the hunchbacked puppet's arm.
And Wol Ryeong cannot help but be startled.
'Th-This guy...'
Wiiiiiing—
The fifty Integration stage puppets that ambushed her have disappeared, but the hunchbacked puppet is still summoning the power of those fifty Integration stage puppet comrades with one arm.
And that is not the end.
Clang clang clang!
The Supreme Tiger Race puppet, the Western Flame Race puppet.
The hunchbacked puppet draws the Three Powers Formation, each forming a hand seal.
[Heaven (天).]
[Earth (地).]
[Puppet (傀).]
Kugugung!
In that moment, as if the form of the Three Great Ultimates appears within their Three Powers Formation, an overwhelming amplification of power erupts and crashes down upon Wol Ryeong.
[Kkuuuugh!]
Even with her dimensional slash wrapped with her Integrated Dao Domain, Wol Ryeong realizes she cannot resist at all before this [power] so immeasurably massive.
Kwaaang!
Immediately, Wol Ryeong is flung away together with her Integrated Dao Domain again by the force of the puppets.
'The dimensional slash compressed with the Integrated Dao Domain...is advantageous when facing the 'absolute' power of transcendent beings, but against a mass attack of overwhelming numbers beneath that, it is not so useful.'
Then what must she do?
'Unlike the Lightning God Battle, this time I must release my power.'
But she furrows her brows.
'Damn it...Three Great Disasters? Just what kind of bastards are they?'
Even if she releases her full strength as a Quasi-Star Shattering stage cultivator, she does not think she can overcome that amplification of power.
The Mad Lord system puppets possess such absurd performance that even she cannot dare to reach.
'...Not compression.'
That is why she does not release power, but instead once again focuses her consciousness into the dimensional slash.
'This blade mounted on the halberd...'
Kiiiiiing—
She does not spread it wide.
Rather, she hones that sharp energy to the utmost and sheaths it over her own body.
She makes the radiance halberd and herself become one!
Patstststststs!
Wol Ryeong's eyes shine.
'I will force those things into close combat.'
The divine power of this dimensional slash compressed by the Integrated Dao Domain can cut through everything.
But though it can cut everything, it cannot defend against everything.
Therefore, it is useless against puppets that summon such brute force and rain down brute bombardments.
Therefore, she wraps that sharpness around her entire body.
She becomes the halberd itself.
[Huuuu...]
She feels as if her mind itself is becoming a blade, and in that moment, she realizes something.
'From here, if I take just one more step...'
It feels like her mind, her soul, itself will truly become a blade.
It feels like she will become a woman of iron.
But she is afraid to reach that realm.
'If I become iron, will I still be able to hold Seo Gyeong in my arms?'
To become unable to embrace the one she likes.
She is incredibly afraid of that.
'Not yet...I can't reach this domain yet. Instead...'
Chuaaat!
She takes one step closer toward the paper flower flickering before her eyes.
'I will come a little closer to there.'
Woo-woong—
Her consciousness domain, for an instant, becomes a blade.
Kugugugu!
Keeping her consciousness domain turned into a blade as it is, she drops down upon the three puppets below who are drawing the Three Great Ultimates, and at last.
Jjeoeoong!
She directly cancels out all the beams they emit and arrives before the hunchbacked puppet that is extracting energy from Seo Gyeong and the others.
"Hand over Seo Gyeong."
[Crush the intruder...]
Wajijik...
There is resistance from the hunchbacked puppet, but her arm, having become the halberd itself, pierces straight through the puppet's barrier and arm and every defensive motion, into the puppet's interior.
It reaches the place that appears to be the puppet's power core.
Wajijik!
And at last, after she crushes the power core, she grinds up the remaining two puppets in an instant and approaches Seo Gyeong.
Kwaang!
Rescuing Seo Gyeong, who had been briefly contained inside a strange test tube-like device, Wol Ryeong embraces him and speaks.
"It's okay, Gyeong-ah. I'm here."
"...Ryeong-ah."
"...I'm sorry. For not being able to protect you."
Wol Ryeong feels as if her chest is tearing apart.
Why is it?
Why is it that even though it is another who is in pain, her own chest aches.
She does not know the reason.
But she at least knows this much—that it's the heart of a person.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
"...It is okay. You still protect me in the end. Thank you, Ryeong-ah."
She resents her own heart for melting away at that single phrase.
But she can tell.
'As long as Seo Gyeong exists...I can avoid becoming iron.'
As long as Seo Gyeong exists, she can remain human.
That truth leads her into deep relief.
And along with that truth, Wol Ryeong realizes something.
'So that is how it is...'
She discovered someone who will keep her a person.
This is, in a sense, the key to crossing into the Star Shattering stage.
'Thank you, Gyeong-ah.'
As she embraces Seo Gyeong, she knows that even if she finally crosses into the Star Shattering stage, she will not scatter into dust, but can remain human.
Kwarururung!
The ruins of the Mad Lord are, by Wol Ryeong, driven even deeper and eroded into the underground.
Now, no matter how much Light Spirit Water is poured in, those puppets will never emerge again.
"To try excavating something so dangerous without even properly assessing the danger. The Cold Spirit Race quite literally almost faced annihilation!"
"...I am sorry."
Wol Ryeong scolds Wei Jo.
It is the truth.
If fifty at the Integration stage suddenly appeared and swept through the surroundings, the Cold Spirit Race would have literally been destroyed, and even the nearby Heaven Tribes would have been swept in the disaster.
Even more, if those insane puppets had succeeded in activating that thing called a [factory]...
'I don't want to imagine it.'
The fragment of the Three Great Disasters would likely have descended upon the Vast Cold Realm.
"...But I thought I could control the—"
Jjaak!
At Wei Jo's excuse, Wol Ryeong slaps Wei Jo's cheek.
"Enough! If you make any more excuses, I will execute you on the spot as the representative of the Grand Cultivator Association. With that one reckless act, you placed not only the Cold Spirit Race, but the entire Heaven Tribe in danger. However...be grateful that, at Seo Gyeong's request, instead of imposing capital punishment, it will end with only dismissal from the Elder position of Black Ghost Valley!"
"...Yes, Lord Grand Cultivator."
Perhaps cowed by Wol Ryeong's fierce scolding, Wei Jo lowers his head, and Wol Ryeong turns away from him, intending to return to the Light Spirit Pond.
Meanwhile, Seo Gyeong approaches Wei Jo and asks him a question.
"...By the way, you said your parents are ghostly creatures, correct?"
"...That is correct."
"Are your parents well?"
"Yes, since both of them are ghostly creatures, their lifespans are far longer than those of the Human Race. Their relationship is still strong. Thanks to that, I have many younger siblings."
"Haha, that is a relief. Take this and pass it along when you meet your parents."
"This is..."
Wei Jo receives the pouch handed by Seo Gyeong, and as he checks the contents, he makes a puzzled expression.
What is inside is nothing but a simple lump of salt.
"If you say it is from a connection from the days of the Order, they will understand. It is an elixir fitting for your parents who are ghostly creatures, so just show it to them once."
"Yes...thank you ver...urk..."
As he looks at the salt, Wei Jo suddenly becomes confused about who the being giving him the pouch of salt is.
"By the way...the distinguished one's name is...huh?"
And at last, he scratches his head with a strange feeling.
"...Who did I just meet?"
☯
He forgets that the one he has met is Seo Gyeong.
Information about the being called Seo Gyeong seems pulled out of his mind.
"...Hmm...I don't know. At any rate, though I don't know what it is, judging from the energy it gives, I should bring it to my parents. Their bodies are weak lately, so they will be pleased if it helps replenish their vitality."
Wei Jo looks at the receding Wol Ryeong in the distance and gives a bitter smile.
He does not spare a thought for the boy by Wol Ryeong's side and only feels a pain in his chest.
"...I want to look good to the Grand Cultivator, but...life is not easy..."
Wol Ryeong glances back at Wei Jo and asks Seo Gyeong.
"Why did you go and give an elixir to that punk-like guy?"
She does not know what Seo Gyeong gave him, but judging by the spiritual energy she senses, she guesses it's an elixir.
"...Ah, it's just...because he resembles a friend I knew when I was younger."
"If it's when you were younger, that's when we entered the Radiance Spirit Sect together."
"Even younger than that."
"What, why don't I know about your childhood? Tsk, you rascal, Seo Gyeong."
Wol Ryeong kneads Seo Gyeong's soft cheek, and thus they return to the Human Race territory.
Kurung, kurururung—
A dark Heavenly Escape Realm.
In that Heavenly Escape Realm, some dragon-shaped existence is transforming in front of a descent formation that connects to the distant dimension of the Vast Cold Realm.
Wriggle, squirm...
That existence is one that is influenced by the ideology, emotions, and thoughts of the [Great God] who gave birth to it, and the reason it is transforming now is because the God who gave birth to it is immersed in some particular thought.
Squirm...
At last, that existence transforms into human form.
It is the form that the one who gave it birth believes to be the best for unfolding Martial Arts.
According to the thoughts of the transcendent who gave birth to it, the dragon-shaped existence takes a certain movement.
It is a hand blade.
And then, the voice of the transcendent existence shakes the Heavenly Escape Realm.
: : Through the hand blade, crush the heart and send it down toward the dantian. : :
A certain existence gazes with a transcendent sight toward the Light Spirit Pond in the distant Vast Cold Realm and mutters.
That figure looks as if, by looking at the traces of damage on a corpse, they are thinking about in what manner the opponent killed the corpse.
: : Downward strike. : :
And then, the single strike that smashed Vast Cold's heart in one blow, bunched it up, and sent it down to the dantian.
The existence who traces back along those traces and analyzes them defines the identity of that single strike.
The dragon-shaped existence takes a posture of bringing the hand blade down as if bringing a sword down.
However, the transcendent existence seems dissatisfied, as if thinking something over.
Then, at a certain moment, the transcendent seems to figure something out and their eyes shine.
: : It is not just a downward strike. This is... : :
Woo-woong—
According to the consciousness of the transcendent existence, before the dragon-shaped being that moves like a puppet, a flow of attraction force arises.
Swishak!
Aiming at that flow of attraction force, as it brings the hand blade down, something astonishing happens.
Kukwagwagwang!
Just like that, a part of the Heavenly Escape Realm's dimension is cut away and a massive scar is made in the void.
: : ...Is this the technique of the Emperor? : :
The transcendent clicks their tongue and closely observes the technique they have reconstructed.
Attraction force that any cultivator at the Middle Boundary or higher can wield.
A decisive technique of adjusting the direction of that attraction force and swinging an attack to match it.
Considering that the downward strike's power is magnified by the addition of attraction force, it is literally the orthodox form of a downward strike.
And the transcendent recalls the traces on Vast Cold's corpse and senses the dangerousness of this technique.
'A technique through attraction force can be resisted with attraction force. But it was impossible for Vast Cold. It was at the level of just taking the hit as it came. If so...'
It means that if one stands before the being they are thinking of, one cannot use attraction force.
'The opponent is the Owner of Fate and Attraction Force. To face them...attraction force alone is not enough to deliver a decisive blow.'
Therefore, their eyes shine as they speak toward the void.
: : Are you prepared? : :
From the distant void, a sinister wind blows in, and the Empress of Ghosts, who leads vast ghostly energies, responds.
[Prepared. Now, if we help Yeon and together with the shadow of the Artificial Gandhara, engrave upon the world...this will forever be the space where Enders can inscribe their arrangements.]
: : I see. : :
They nod at her words, then gazes at the pale pink existence who is constructing the Artificial Gandhara outside Mount Sumeru, gathering the gazes of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
: : She too seems prepared. Then now, let us gradually begin the preparations. : :
Kugugugu!
The transcendent's gaze turns toward the distant Vast Cold Realm.
Toward Wol Ryeong, who, together with the being named Seo Gyeong, has returned to the Human Race territory and is preparing for the Star Shattering advancement.
: : Now...the arrangement of this Immortal has taken its first step. : :
The arrangement that will surely become a help to the distant future existences...
And the key that will be the greatest aid in facing the Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am.
At the same time, while crafting the arrangement that may perhaps become a way to strike at the Owner of Fate, the God of Sword Mountain rises from their seat.
Paaaaaaat!
From the center of the God of Sword Mountain, the silver-white light that resonates with their divinity, brought by the Fifth Seat of the Radiance Eight Immortals, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, bursts forth with light.
At the center of that silver-white light, a faint black shadow appears, and that shadow rather looks like a [Black Snake Biting Its Tail].
Inside the Black Snake Biting Its Tail is a Wheel of Starlight.
And within the Wheel of Starlight rests a white Three Great Ultimates, like a radiant halo.
: : Now then. Before facing Great Mountain, to fully seize the Radiance Mantra...shall we wage war against Radiance Hall? : :
Kugugugugu—
At the declaration of the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain, behind them, red, blue, purple, pale pink, and dark-red lights begin to line up.
Kugugung—
At last, the great Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain, who for years shut themselves away in the Heavenly Escape Realm to leave behind their arrangement, begins to step forth beyond it.
Tstststst—
But why is it?
The being called the wicked Mountain Divine Spirit shows a measure of control over the power of the [Black Snake Biting Its Tail]...
And they even seem as if they are eroding part of the domain of light.
Inheriting the lineage of Salt Mountain and eroding the power of Radiance Hall, that existence looks as if they are transforming into some transcendent being who unites light and salt.
[Let us advance. It is seven days until the end of Radiance Hall.]
The red light cries out in excitement, and the presence of the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain begins to spread outside the Heavenly Escape Realm.
It pervades the entirety of Mount Sumeru.
: : Come, O Light. For now...I am Light and Salt!!! : :
Seeing that declaration, among the lights that follow them, some rejoice, but some voice concern.
It is the purple light.
[But is it right to face them again so soon?]
: : Even if only to unravel the two Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flags embedded within this body... : :
But the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain exudes confidence as they mutter.
: : War must be waged. : :
With the weaving of arrangements stabilized to some degree, the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain declares a proclamation of war toward the forces of light.
Though the mortal being Wol Ryeong does not know, beyond the Vast Cold Realm, in a distant world—
Above the Plane of True Immortals, with the cry of the evil Devil God, war thus begins.