Kurung, kururururung!
Vast Cold Realm.
Chaos Realm region.
There, an enormous storm blows in.
Kurung, kururururung!
It is a gigantic storm of Heavenly Tribulation.
Kurung, kurururung!
And inside that Heavenly Tribulation storm, something spherical rises into the sky.
Ururung!
Seeing that sight, someone bursts out in admiration.
"Indeed...! So that is advancement to the Star Shattering stage..."
"As expected, Ryeong-i is remarkable."
Their names are Mu Geom and Seo Gyeong.
With Wol Ryeong's advancement ritual to the Star Shattering stage, she gathered those to serve as Law Protectors for her, and the ones who volunteered are precisely Seo Gyeong and Mu Geom.
In particular, Mu Geom, now at Grand Perfection Integration stage and having gained enlightenment after getting beaten by the Lightning God not long ago, is to some extent a step beyond the Integration stage, so he very much wants to witness a Star Shattering stage advancement scene and has come to this place.
Kurururung!
Additionally, Seo Gyeong records the scene on a recording tablet and is transmitting it in real time to the Human Race Grand Cultivator Association and to Bi Hwa and others, so the Human Race Grand Cultivator Association and Bi Hwa are all gaining enlightenment through Wol Ryeong's advancement ritual.
"Through the Immortal Arts of Rain, Sunlight, Heat, Cold, Wind, and Time, in a state of having become dust, one gathers the dust to make a star and advances to the Star Shattering stage...that is the essence...! Indeed...so that is why the Refining Void Dharma Treasure is needed. So that is why advancement to the Star Shattering stage has not been easy. A being who has not seen a Star Shattering stage advancement even once has no choice but to have a distinct lower probability of success..."
Mu Geom, watching Wol Ryeong's advancement ritual, seems entranced as he gains enlightenments.
But Seo Gyeong watches Wol Ryeong's advancement with a calm face.
After a little while, Seo Gyeong opens his mouth.
"...Senior Brother. Now, Ryeong is gradually grasping the framework."
"Ah, right, right. Got it. Let's activate the formation."
Mu Geom and Seo Gyeong head south and north respectively.
In the north, Seo Gyeong forms hand seals and draws up the dragon vein of the Chaos Realm region, and Mu Geom refines that dragon vein.
The ground's dragon vein resounds up into the sky and begins to form pitch-black thunderclouds.
"It's beginning, Senior Brother."
"Right...now...the true Star Shattering stage Heavenly Tribulation will begin."
Urururung!
At last, the pitch-black thunderclouds made by the two Integration stage cultivators completely cover the sky and fill the heavens with darkness.
Jjeoeoeoeoong!
From the sky, an enormous pillar of light pierces the pitch-black thunderclouds and falls onto Wol Ryeong, who is taking on form.
The Star Tribulation begins.
Kwarururung!
The stars positioned in the sky of the Vast Cold Realm bestow punishment upon the Heaven-Defying One and gradually connect to Wol Ryeong.
Yet, whether fortunately or not, Wol Ryeong is attempting advancement in a region of the Chaos Realm where little starlight shines, and, in addition, asked Seo Gyeong and Mu Geom for a formation that dims the starlight, so the intensity of the Star Tribulation is on the weaker side.
"Th-That is the Star Tribulation..."
Mu Geom breaks into a cold sweat at the brutish strength of the Star Tribulation, and that image transmits in full to the Grand Cultivator Association and Bi Hwa.
Among the Grand Cultivator Association, Gol Maek looks at the Star Tribulation with an expression as if it is nothing special, and Hon Jin chuckles and begins to close his eyes.
All the other Integration stage Grand Cultivators, including Do Ryeok, have slightly tense expressions.
And lastly, Bi Hwa lets out a faint laugh.
"Foolish Wol Ryeong. You still don't know since you never received that one's wisdom. The Star Tribulation is, in essence, to take in all the starlight of the Astral Realm into your body and thereby link the star veins..."
She looks at her own palm with a sneer.
Of course, such a deranged method is by no means easy, but Bi Hwa can now do it.
Because she has the [power] given to her by the great Mountain Divine Spirit.
Uduk...
When Bi Hwa puts strength into her hand, her fingers instantly transform into glass swords.
Since it happens so suddenly, she flinches in surprise and quickly hides the fingers with her other hand.
"...It is still not perfectly under control. But...huhu, I am satisfied. I have accepted the power of a higher race. Now I am not inferior to you."
She mutters as she glares at Wol Ryeong, the half-blood of the Celestial Dog Race, and Mu Geom, the half-blood of the Heavenly Fox Race.
She, too, has lived well in the Radiance Spirit Sect as an Integration stage cultivator of equal standing...
Yet she has always secretly envied her peers who inherited the true blood of Heaven Immortals and possess special abilities.
If they had been pure Demon Races, she would not even have felt envy.
But half-bloods who can draw on the advantages of the Demon Race when needed and still have the inherent advantages of the Heaven Race...
They progress in cultivation by leaps and bounds, and compared to those at the same realm, they become stronger without much effort...
Bi Hwa has always harbored jealousy toward them.
'But now I have it too. Hmph, so you advanced to the Star Shattering stage? How foolish. To advance through such a shortcut only makes you weaker than those of the same realm... Just wait, Wol Ryeong. I will definitely...surpass you through the orthodox advancement method.'
She looks at the completed descent formation beside her and smiles.
'For, very soon...that person will arrive.'
The realization of her dream is not far away.
Kugugugugu!
Star veins crash down.
Heaven and Earth tremble.
Because it is the Chaos Realm region, especially an area where starlight does not reach well, only ten star veins descend.
Kurururung!
And at last, after receiving all ten star veins, within the cloud of dust, a pure white star appears.
It is a silver-white star.
On the surface of the star drift sharp gaseous-metal clouds, and inside the star, silvery liquid metals like mercury flow, forming a strange ecosystem.
Before long, the circulation of that ecosystem begins in earnest, and within the circulating ecosystem, Heaven and Earth spiritual energy begin to be produced.
Wol Ryeong, who has now properly risen into the producer class of the universe, soon begins to compress the star.
Uduk, ududududuk!
Kugugung!
What then appears is a star compressed to the size of a palm, and Wol Ryeong's Transformation form covering the surface of that star.
"Ryeong-a!"
Seo Gyeong runs to Wol Ryeong, and Wol Ryeong pats Seo Gyeong's head.
"You finally reached the Star Shattering stage! How does it feel, Ryeong-ah?"
"Mm, only now...do I truly feel I have set foot on the path of Immortal Cultivation."
Wol Ryeong mutters as she looks up at the sky.
It feels like she has stepped onto the proper heavenly path.
The cultivation she has done until now feels like mere play, and the harshness of the remaining Immortal Cultivation system pierces her to the bone.
'Just moving beyond the early Star Shattering stage will take hundreds of years.'
It is something she must accumulate slowly, living through countless years she could never have imagined until now.
That is the cultivation of the Star Shattering stage.
What is more, she cannot even fathom what the Sacred Vessel stage will be like.
'From now on, it will be even harsher.'
But she takes Seo Gyeong's hand and makes a vow.
'Even so, it's fine. I will overcome everything and without fail...protect it all.'
Answering Mu Geom's endless questions about the realizations of the Star Shattering stage, Wol Ryeong draws Seo Gyeong and Mu Geom into her attraction force and stomps her foot.
Kuuuuung!
With a single step of her foot, space itself bends.
Her ground-shrinking technique now reached the level of crossing light-years, and Wol Ryeong instantly moves from the Chaos Realm region to the Stable Realm region.
After that, with just a few more uses of the ground-shrinking technique, she reaches the Human Race Grand Alliance's territory.
"Hoh...astonishing. So this is the ground-shrinking technique of the Star Shattering stage. It seems things like teleportation formations are no longer necessary."
"Not entirely so, Senior Brother. For traveling between other Middle Realms or Astral Realms, or between different Heavenly Domains, even I must rely on teleportation formations."
"Haha, well, ordinary Integration cultivators live without even imagining the level of movement you speak of.
Mu Geom chuckles and praises Wol Ryeong's realm, and she approaches Bi Hwa, who is preparing the Descent Formation.
"Senior Sister Bi Hwa, I heard you are ready to summon our masters..."
"Right. The descent formation is now complete. Originally, we would borrow the power of the Grand Cultivator Association to activate it...but now we have you. A single Star Shattering cultivator can wield attraction force greater than the entire Grand Cultivator Association, so you alone can activate the formation."
Bi Hwa points toward the front of the descent formation, and Wol Ryeong nods.
"Thank you for your hard work all this time."
'Hard work? Hah...'
At that phrase, which sounds like praise from a superior to a subordinate, Bi Hwa's eyes twitch, but she only keeps smiling sweetly.
"Yes, thank you for recognizing it, Junior Sister. Let us quickly activate the descent formation and welcome our masters."
"...Senior Sister Bi Hwa."
Wol Ryeong's eyes twitch.
'Since earlier...something's been feeling off.'
Only after reaching the Star Shattering stage does she realize it.
She even considers interrogating her about the strange sense of alienness she suddenly feels from Bi Hwa.
'Something... A sense of alienness as if not human...'
But she soon shakes her head.
'She must have cultivated some special divine power. I must just be overly sensitive after reaching the Star Shattering stage.'
In truth, for twenty years now, they have been unable to read the celestial energy.
Because not long ago, the clash of colossal existences severed the celestial energy, and the Heaven Tribe entirely lost their greatest source of their intelligence capability—celestial foresight.
As a result, in the Vast Cold Realm as well as in the vast majority of Middle Realms, Astral Realms, and Decaying Corpse Realms, Heaven Tribe cultivators are being pushed back by the Earth Tribe.
'As soon as possible...I have to reach a level where I can read that distorted celestial energy.'
Wol Ryeong, hoping to reach a level where she can read the celestial energy despite the clash of great beings, begins to activate the descent formation that Bi Hwa has devoted twenty years to making.
The attraction force of a Star Shattering cultivator activates the descent formation, and light bursts forth from the array.
'It's been a long mission.'
Twenty or thirty years is a short time to cultivators...but to Wol Ryeong, who is not even one hundred years old, it is a considerably long time.
It is enough to account for most of her life so far.
'I wonder if Master is well. I want to see her again after so long.'
Wol Ryeong, at the thought of seeing her Master Baek Geom again after a long time, naturally feels her mood brighten.
Chwaaaaaa!
A dimensional gate opens, and the descent formation unfolds.
Is it because she has grown stronger, or is it simply because it's become beautified in memory?
Even Baek Geom, whom she used to just dislike, now feels strangely welcome when she thinks of seeing her again.
The descent formation expands, stretching into a long dimensional passage.
And at the end of that passage—
Wol Ryeong sees three figures standing.
They are Baek Jin, Baek Eun, and Baek Geom.
Both Baek Jin and Baek Eun look at Wol Ryeong with visible disbelief.
"Crazy...Star Shattering stage at that age?"
"Could it be that time flows differently in the Vast Cold Realm...?"
"Does one have to be at that child's level to reach True Immortality in the future...?"
Wol Ryeong, feeling their reactions after such a long time, unconsciously notices her shoulders rising.
'If it is to this extent...at least...'
No matter how indifferent she may have been toward her, her master is still Baek Geom.
If she shows this much growth in such a short time, then even Baek Geom...will give her praise, right? With that hope, Wol Ryeong looks at Baek Geom with shining eyes.
And finally, Baek Geom opens her mouth.
“...You’ve reached the passing line. Well done.”
‘Ahh…’
An extremely trivial line.
Yet, to Wol Ryeong, with that single phrase, feels all the years of neglect she has suffered from Baek Geom somehow compensated.
Because this is the first praise she has ever heard from Baek Geom.
"You may now move on to the next stage."
The three Esteemed Ones including Baek Geom begin crossing over through the dimensional gate, and Wol Ryeong, thinking she will now receive a different kind of treatment from her master than before...
Waits for Baek Geom just like that.
And then, Wol Ryeong suddenly feels as though she hears some kind of whisper from beyond the silver mask that Baek Geom always wears.
'What is this?'
For some reason, the words seem to pass only by her ear, unheard of by Baek Jin, Baek Eun, or anyone else.
Spoken so faintly that it seems not even meant for her to hear.
And in those words, she feels an inexplicable and powerful foreboding.
—It is enough now. Start coming.
Whom is she speaking to?
And why does that tone carry such chill at the end?
Is she not even glad to see her disciple after such a long time?
As countless thoughts flow, it happens.
Flash!
A flash bursts.
And, within that flash...
[An arm] shoots out.
"...Huh?"
For a moment, Wol Ryeong feels that sound disappears from this world.
An arm covered in glass-colored dragon scales crosses the dimensional passage and strikes at the three Esteemed Ones coming through. With power at least of the Sacred Vessel stage, that arm flings Baek Jin and Baek Eun far away to somewhere beyond the dimension and then slices Baek Geom's Transformation form clean in half.
Inside the halved Transformation form of Baek Geom,
Baek Geom's true star.
That star, shining in silver-white light like Wol Ryeong's own, is crushed to pieces at the mere gesture of the arm.
Taking in that sight, Wol Ryeong feels as though time freezes.
"Uh...?"
Kurung, kururururung!
Then,
Jjeoooooong!
The arm that suddenly shoots out from the dimensional passage reaches the place where Wol Ryeong is, stretching toward her as she stands blankly.
"Dodge!"
Seo Gyeong barely manages to grab hold of Wol Ryeong's body and leap away, and thanks to that, Wol Ryeong escapes from the arm that shoots out of the dimensional gate.
Kururung!
And starting from that arm, something begins to emerge from the descent formation.
It is...
A gigantic dragonoid (dragon-human), their whole body shimmering with glass-colored aurora, bearing glass-colored dragon scales.
Kugugugu!
At the appearance of that dragonoid, at least of the Sacred Vessel stage, Wol Ryeong's mind freezes.
Her body moves faster than her mind.
Wol Ryeong suddenly realizes that she is screaming.
'Ah... I...'
Her Master Baek Geom has always been stern and showed favoritism only toward Seo Gyeong.
But she is still her master.
Unknowingly, she has...
Been revering her.
'I actually...liked Master.'
Sound disappears as she feels as if all the colors of the world have disappeared and become black and white, and...
Wol Ryeong holds the radiance halberd and charges at the dragonoid.
But in an instant,
Clang, clang!
"...!?"
Countless glass-colored chains begin to bind her.
They are Heavenly Being stage disciples of the Radiance Spirit Sect.
The character Supervision (監) is engraved in each of their eyes, and the chains they summon bind her with a strength so great one cannot believe it is from the Heavenly Being stage.
"They have arrived!!!"
"Bow in worship!!"
"Ahahahahaha!! Now the Vast Cold Realm shall receive Their touch!"
She recognizes that power.
The power of the Mountain God who always extends a hand to her.
Yes, that is the authority of the Mountain God.
At last, she realizes the true identity of that dragonoid.
Realizing where the hateful dragonoid who killed her master Baek Geom in a single blow comes from, she sheds tears of blood.
"Sword Mountain!!! Sword Mountain!!!"
Kwaaaaaaang!
And, slammed into the ground by the hands of the fanatics who revere the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain, Wol Ryeong madly spews hatred.
"I...will not forgive you!!"
And so, gazing at the dragonoid rising into the heavens of the Vast Cold Realm without sparing her the slightest attention, she weeps blood and swears.
If someday, she stands at the same eye level as the being called the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain...
She will surely take revenge for this day.
"Isn't that too much?"
Interdimensional Void.
Inside that Darkness World.
Seeing Baek Geom pulling together her shattered body, a glass-colored ray approaches her and asks a question.
"If I suffered something like that at her age, it would not be strange if I went mad."
Tsssss...
While casually restoring Baek Geom's body, the someone who is possessing Baek Geom answers.
"...I do feel sorry, but it cannot be helped. Our Eight Immortals have always grown generation after generation through trials like this. And only at the end do we realize that this world is a playground of the True Immortals, and that the life I have lived is nothing but a board game laid down by the Eight Immortals of the past... The process of realizing that the world is a play, and casting away emotions, is the regular trial course of the Eight Immortals, so it cannot be helped."
"...Cruel. You all are..."
"On the surface, you look the most cruel. You are the one who killed that girl's master, Mountain Divine Spirit."
"She isn't dead yet..."
The glass-colored light, Seo Eun-hyun's split soul, speaks to the being possessing Baek Geom.
It speaks to the split soul of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.
"That...even if it is cruel, it cannot be helped. We have to become like iron. And as long as True Immortals and beings with power exist, the world is no different from a play... In order to deeply instill the ideology of the Radiance Eight Immortals, that those who climb the Immortal Cultivation system must be stopped, we always have to experience the death of someone precious in childhood."
"...To Ryeong...I always end up feeling sorry."
"There is no need to feel sorry. From here on, it will only grow more cruel...but what you intend to do for that child will be salvation for her."
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord looks at Seo Eun-hyun and speaks.
"Do not hesitate and move forward. Move forward...and save another me of the future...just as you saved the me of now. Teach them that life is not a play."
"...Understood."
Hearing those words, Seo Eun-hyun's split soul flies off somewhere.
"For Ryeong's peace...and...for the future Enders, and the future Eight Immortals who must continue to kill their hearts...and also for the coming battle with Gwak Am, who was a former Radiance..."
He mutters while watching the dragonoid in the distant Vast Cold Realm begin inhaling the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the Vast Cold Realm.
"The Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain...shall come great chaos."
Thus, within the secret pact between the Divine Spirit of Sword Mountain and the Heavenly Lord of Sword Spear.
There, the great chaos of the Earth Boundary Heavenly Domain is decided.
And...
Amidst the prologue of that great chaos, the echoes of a Star Shattering stage girl who lost her master begins to spread.