Not only the Radiance Eight Immortals, but all of Radiance Hall falls into great chaos.
Heuk Sa!
That is clearly the symbol of the Radiance Supreme Deity.
Yet that sacred symbol is used by the Lord of Devils designated by Radiance Hall.
At that sight, everyone present falls into panic.
Those whose faith in Radiance Hall runs especially deep are even more so.
Because, according to the teachings of Radiance Hall, the symbol of Heuk Sa is permitted only to the Radiance Eight Immortals who stand at the apex of justice.
Only the Eight Immortals who are the most righteous, the wisest in this world, can use the symbol of Heuk Sa.
Yet even the enemy of Radiance Hall, the one called the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, is using that symbol.
That is clearly neither coincidence nor bluff.
: : How can that be...? : :
: : Is that one so...righteous as to receive the seal of the Radiance Supreme Deity...? : :
The fact that the Seat of Radiance permits its symbol to another being means the claim to being the most just being in the world has passed to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord.
There is no coincidence in this world.
Only fate.
Because the Heaven Immortals of Radiance Hall are especially full of fatalists, seeing that sight, the overwhelming majority of True Immortals begin to take a step back.
: : The legitimacy of Radiance has passed to that one. : :
: : We are those who have come for the righteousness (義) of Radiance Hall. : :
: : For the symbol of that righteousness to have passed to that being...is that not evidence that, by fate, the Sword Mountain Devil Lord holds even greater righteousness...? : :
: : O Radiance Eight Immortals! We do not participate in this fight!! : :
In an instant, the True Immortals who see the symbol of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord begin to leave the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
Seeing this, the Radiance Eight Immortals quickly exchange opinions.
: : We must bring this to a conclusion quickly. : :
: : The longer the battle with Sword Mountain Devil Lord drags on, the more the legitimacy of the Radiance Supreme Deity will come under doubt... : :
: : But look at that one! Whatever they have done, they possess a mantra that draws power from the Seat of Radiance. That power can suppress the entirety of space-time! : :
: : If the God-Killing Spear were not prophesied to fly when the Radiance Supreme Deity is in danger, we would be finished. Do we even have a chance to prevail against that one? : :
Seeing the Eight Immortals flounder, Sword Spear speaks.
: : First, the most important is to identify the enemy's objective. What the Sword Mountain Devil Lord wants most from us is likely the removal of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag. Do we negotiate with them over the removal of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag, or do we continue the war? : :
: : The release of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag must not be allowed. : :
At Sword Spear's words, the eyes of Eight Immortals all gleam as if to say that alone must not be permitted.
: : Why must it not? : :
: : Pulling it out itself is no problem. But...one factor. There will come a time when we must make the Sword Mountain Devil Lord move according to our will, and the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag will serve as the bargaining chip for that time. : :
The Great Forest Heavenly Lord answers Sword Spear's question.
: : We conducted a full investigation into that one by bringing in even memories of other timelines. The Sword Mountain Devil Lord's deeds, authorities, Immortal Arts...everything. And among such Immortal Arts of the Sword Mountain Devil Lord, the Immortal Art of Filling the Heavens Governing View must be extracted by us and made usable only by the Radiance Eight Immortals. : :
The eyes of the Great Forest Heavenly Lord and the many Heavenly Lords flash.
: : An Immortal Art that fixes the outcome value of every being's act to failure... In particular, a power specialized for fixing the results of Immortal Cultivation to failure. That is... : :
: : I see. You intend to place that Immortal Art into the hands of the next Eight Immortals and realize our ideal world. : :
: : Indeed. After the Great Mountain Supreme Deity War, there is a high possibility that the Supreme Deity-rank Immortal Cultivators of this Mount Sumeru will be annihilated. Taking advantage of the gap in which there are no existences above the Radiance Eight Immortals, if we use Filling the Heavens Governing View across all of Mount Sumeru to completely negate the unqualified that crawl up the Immortal Cultivation system...our true utopia shall be achieved. : :
: : ...! : :
At the Great Forest Heavenly Lord's explanation, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's body flinches.
The utopia of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
Even to her, it is an unbearably beautiful ideal.
It is also what she once always dreamed and lived for.
But all the more because of that, she clenches her fist as she recalls the [being with a black mianguan] and the [being with a white mianguan].
: : ...Understood. Then the release of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag absolutely cannot be given, for the sake of negotiations with the Sword Mountain Devil Lord. : :
There is never a thought of giving the Sword Mountain Devil Lord compensation in exchange for extracting their Immortal Art.
From the start, they are an Ender.
And, as an Ender, they have become both the Immortal Beast King and reached the Ultimate of Martial Arts.
And since they reached the standard of the Underworld and are receiving the full support of the Underworld, there is no price in this world that the Radiance Eight Immortals can offer to the Sword Mountain Devil Lord.
Whatever they give cannot compare to what the Underworld grants, nor to what they already have, so there is no reason for the Sword Mountain Devil Lord to part with their Innate Immortal Art that symbolizes their identity.
Therefore, what remains to them is only coercion through the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord lets out a bitter smile inside at the miserable state of Radiance Hall, to which she once gave her wholehearted loyalty.
: : Then all prepare. I will set the victory plan on the assumption there is no negotiation with the Sword Mountain Devil Lord. : :
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, within her inborn talent and fate, quickly compares and analyzes Seo Eun-hyun's strength against their own.
'The True Immortals of Radiance Hall have all withdrawn. A war of numbers using the prophecies of True Immortals is impossible. Seo Eun-hyun is also drawing power from the Seat of Radiance through the Radiance Mantra, so bombardment with power derived from the Seat of Radiance is also impossible. Then what remains is...'
Only the stockpile of God-Killing Spears they have amassed in preparation for the Great Mountain Supreme Deity War.
'Torch Candle buried countless God-Killing Spears in the Head Realm to stockpile them. If we consume every God-Killing Spear accumulated and sacrifice the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord again to summon the Heavenly Void Furnace for battle, we can defeat Seo Eun-hyun. But that will displease the other Heavenly Lords, and will result in killing Seo Eun-hyun...that won't do.'
She knows that if she pursues victory with the method she considers, Seo Eun-hyun will die, so she alters her plan.
No matter that Seo Eun-hyun surpasses timelines, the God-Killing Spear is the symbolic technique of the Radiance Supreme Deity that kills even Supreme Deities.
Just as Seo Eun-hyun suffered beyond timelines at the power of the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity, if he dies struck by the God-Slaying Spear, the residual power of the God-Slaying Spear will remain and kill Seo Eun-hyun over and over even across the timelines.
Seo Eun-hyun's history rewrite through the Wheel can also be nullified by the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Seo Eun-hyun cannot be killed. Then what is needed is...'
An appropriate compromise.
'Sixty-six God-Killing Spears. And...'
: : We shall use of the Heavenly King Heavenly Treasures (天王天寶). : :
At the words of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, all the Heavenly Lords are shocked.
: : You mean to use those monstrosities? : :
: : Then, will you be satisfied only if we squander all sixty-some thousand of the accumulated God-Slaying Spears in this battle and even offer the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord as a sacrifice to summon the Heavenly Void Furnace? : :
: : Th-That is... : :
: : As the wartime commander, I accept no further objections. Any further questioning, and by the authority of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord as the Eul-grade wartime readiness commander, that Eight Immortal will be abolished. : :
In peacetime, when the Radiance Hall is not under threat, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord acts as executor and inspector over the Radiance Eight Immortals. But since the Eul-grade alert has been declared, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord has taken then position of leader of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
: : I order the firing of sixty-six God-Killing Spears, and the use of the Heavenly King Heavenly Treasures to annihilate the Enders. : :
In the end, at Sword Spear's order, all the Eight Immortals each form their seals, looking slightly unsettled.
Immediately after, the entire Heavenly King Heavenly Domain begins to tremble.
The lower reaches of the Palace of Radiance shake as rays of every color burst forth.
Seeing that sight, not only the Radiance Eight Immortals but also Seo Eun-hyun and his comrades flinch in surprise.
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, finding the startled Seo Eun-hyun rather cute, speaks.
: : If they use sorcery to take the symbol of Heuk Sa...we shall show them that we can do something similar. : :
In the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's grasp appears an obsidian spear with dozens of mouths gnashing endlessly, their black fangs tearing into the void.
Into the Great Forest Heavenly Lord's grip comes a lapis lazuli spear with dark-blue eyes that weep blood; into the Flower Plant Heavenly Lord's grip comes a golden spear; into the Great Sun Heavenly Lord's hand comes a pure-gold spear; into the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's hand come a red-pearl spear; into the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord's hand comes a silver spear; into the Great Sea Heavenly Lord's hand comes an agate spear; and into the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord's hand comes a pale pink spear made of tridacna.
And that is not all.
The seven-colored spears are not only the one held in their hands. Dozens, hundreds, thousands slip out from the dimensional rifts of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain and fill the surrounding space of the Radiance Eight Immortals.
: : The Radiance Ten Heavenly Lords, over the course of generations, gathered and gathered the legacies and arrangements of you Enders... : :
Each and every one contains powers so bizarre that even imagining them is hard.
: : The grave of the Enders that they buried here...that place is precisely the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain...! : :
Hwoooong—
Together with such words, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord hurls the obsidian spear she holds at Seo Eun-hyun.
'Since it turned out like this...'
She looks at Seo Eun-hyun, Oh Hye-seo, Kim Yeon, and the others and makes up her mind.
'I will help your powers awaken.'
The complete powers of other worlds fly toward the Enders.
The embers of the Bright Sword Grand War begin to ignite in earnest.
Kwagwagwang!
Outside the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
At one of the interdimensional boundaries, one spot seems to twist, and from there 14 Great Immortals are ejected, entangled.
Countless powers of other worlds and bizarre authorities clash among them.
The Lapis Lazuli Flower Heavenly King Kang Min-hee sets and manipulates laws, and the Great Sun Heavenly Lord and the Great Sea Heavenly Lord latch onto Kang Min-hee, using the attraction force between Heavenly Domains and the Inner Sea's power to crush those laws one by one.
The Red Pearl Cycling Heavenly King Jeon Myeong-hoon takes up his lightning spear and faces the Great Forest Heavenly Lord and the Flower Plant Heavenly Lord, who charge at him with dozens of seven-colored spears on their bodies.
The authority of Heavenly Punishment and the authority of Causality Induction are halved by the Great Forest Heavenly Lord who governs wood, and the destructive force is healed by the power of the Flower Plant Heavenly Lord.
Against the Silver Nameless Heavenly King Oh Hyun-seok, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord rush in.
Of Oh Hyun-seok's Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation, the power of Earth is received by the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, and the cultivation of Heaven is met by the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord as they oppose him.
Because Kim Yeon, the successor of the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King, and Oh Hye-seo have not yet become Heavenly Kings, the two of them together have to face the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, who intercepts them while holding eleven God-Slaying Spears.
Though the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord is the representative of martial force among Radiance Hall, the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord too, in pure combat strength, is outstanding enough to tie for third among the Radiance Eight Immortals together with the Great Forest Heavenly Lord.
Kim Yeon's attacks, which draw on the power of the Vast Cold Realm, are blocked by the God-Slaying Spears, and Oh Hye-seo's bizarre authority is blocked by the seven-colored spears forged from the arrangements of previous Enders.
The laws of other worlds distort their authorities.
And, above them, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, carrying fifty-five God-Slaying Spears alone, engages the Sword Mountain Devil Lord Seo Eun-hyun in a one-on-one duel.
Seo Eun-hyun's sword and the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's spear collide outside the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
'So this is a Heavenly Lord...'
Seo Eun-hyun meets the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's gaze as he receives and deflects the full power of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord one by one.
Judging by pure martial skill, Sword Spear cannot match Seo Eun-hyun.
But being the representative of martial force of the Radiance Eight Immortals is a position that even one at the Ultimate of Martial Arts cannot belittle.
'So this is how you use prophecy... Good.'
Sword Spear swings her spear. The trajectory of that spear strike is at a level that Seo Eun-hyun can read completely, let flow past, and can counter, but before the spear reaches Seo Eun-hyun, [prophecy] is always imbued in it.
: : It shall hit. : :
A simple, narrow-ranged, powerful prophecy.
Kwaaaang!
The shaft of the God-Slaying Spear, through that prophecy, strikes Seo Eun-hyun's jaw.
The trajectory of the spear strike imbued with prophecy, together with the attraction force of fate, hits Seo Eun-hyun's body directly, and Seo Eun-hyun, watching the peerless skill of the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, who blends the power of the Absolute into Martial Arts, stretches out his right arm wrapped in the Five Desires Chain.
: : Beautiful. : :
Immortal Art.
Swallowing Heaven (呑天).
Clench!
By the attraction force of the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity, Sword Spear's face is grabbed right into Seo Eun-hyun's right hand.
At the same time, Sword Spear links her will to the God-Slaying Spears imbued with prophecy and points them at Seo Eun-hyun.
: : Pierce! : :
Tukwang, tukwang, tukwang!
Dozens of God-Slaying Spears pierce straight through the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's body and strike directly at Seo Eun-hyun beyond.
But both of them ignore the pain and shock entirely and do not let out even a single cry.
Seo Eun-hyun's arm grabs the Sword Spear's head and slams it straight into the dimensional boundary of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain.
Jjeoooooong!
The dimensional boundary collapses, and the two of them step back inside the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain again.
: : Good. : :
Seo Eun-hyun's exclamation rings out, and Sword Spear likewise grips the God-Slaying Spears and wraps Seo Eun-hyun's body with her winged garment.
Filling the Heavens Sword Rain!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's ultimate technique, Filling the Heavens Sword Rain, is summoned toward Seo Eun-hyun's body through the winged garment that envelops him.
The great Heaven-Defying technique, Filling the Heavens Sword Rain, normally unleashed to destroy Heavenly Domains, now unfolds aiming at the mere flesh of a single Great Net Immortal.
But after a flash of silver-white light, Seo Eun-hyun tears apart the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord's winged garment and bursts forth, swinging the Impermanence Sword.
Daenggeong!
The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, along with the nebulae stretched behind her, is severed horizontally.
'Discard the lower body.'
Shwik—
Using prophecy again at the price of her own lower body, Sword Spear points at Seo Eun-hyun.
Shukwang!
Twelve God-Slaying Spears fly and pierce toward her and Seo Eun-hyun.
: : A Certain Hit used at the price of the lower body, is it? : :
Amazed at the accuracy of the God-Slaying Spears, strengthened by the absoluteness that prophecy holds, Seo Eun-hyun rushes at the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord once more.
: : Show me more, Sword Spear! Make me more delighted! : :
Ji Hwa watches this sight and laughs.
: : Yes, let us dance together. : :
After all, what they are doing now is nothing but mischief between the two.
But even within that mischief, confirming the peak of Martial Arts that they can extend toward each other is, for those who walk the Martial Dao, the ultimate bliss.
'Come to think of it, the reason I carved a sword mark into your shoulder must have been because I knew a day like this would come.'
She wanted to see an opponent against whom she can cross Martial Arts and Swords with all her strength.
Hyeon Mu refused to face the Radiance Eight Immortals, and aside from Hyeon Mu, the other Severing Heaven realm True Immortals—
White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus, the Martial Melody Heavenly Lord, the Underworld Ten Kings—are all ones whom the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord herself can crush by sheer output.
In an instant, gathering nebulae and regenerating her lower body, the Sword Spear begins to clash with Seo Eun-hyun while breathing prophecy of Certain Hit into the God-Slaying Spears.
: : You...make me rejoice...! Sword Mountain Devil Lord! : :
Thus, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord and the Sword Mountain Devil Lord collide their different techniques together and burst into wild laughter.
And in their duel, the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain begins to step into ruin.
After cleaving apart the glass sword mountain, Wol Ryeong widens her eyes and stares for a long while at the light spilling out from within.
"Just what...is this? What on earth...?"
For within the light that comes out from inside, she sees...
Seo Gyeong and her master fighting.