A deep, dark valley of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
There, Wol Ryeong was half-forced to undergo repentant enlightenment and saw and gained countless things.
And she pondered.
If the divine providence of the world is pain, is the only way to escape pain death?
In the end, whatever emotions one has, if all returning to pain as returning to one (歸一) is the divine providence of the world, then are all the emotions one has in this world meaningless?
And, to such a Wol Ryeong, someone came.
It was a being that presides over what is called sorrow.
The divinity called the Lapis Lazuli Flower Heavenly King, who governs sorrow, exchanged meaning with her.
And...as a result, the Lapis Lazuli Flower Heavenly King and Wol Ryeong came to a certain conclusion.
Chuaaaaat!
A sword cleaves across the mountain.
Kuedek...
Along the sword's trajectory, a terrifying attraction force arises, and space wildly distorts.
Gigigigik!
The battlefield of Wol Ryeong and Seo Eun-hyun repeatedly widens and narrows, and between those shifts, their fight unfolds.
Kwaaaang!
Seo Eun-hyun is flung away.
From the beginning, he only has power at the Heavenly Being stage, but because he is already mobilizing everything to suppress the Underworld Ten Great Kings within his main body, the full strength he can produce is at best the Qi Refining stage.
Compared to Wol Ryeong, who has reached True Immortality, his level is in effect no different from a mortal's.
However...
Why is it?
Even with such a difference in weight class.
Even though Wol Ryeong is practically no different from a small world unto herself.
Seo Eun-hyun stands against Wol Ryeong without being pushed back at all.
A white strike of radiance that splits Heaven and Earth thrusts down from the sky.
The light of Filling the Heavens Sword Rain falls down aimed at only one being.
Jjjeoong!
Each of the colossal greatswords that would, in a single strike, rip a sun apart falls from the firmament.
But Seo Eun-hyun skillfully unfolds void-stepping, evades the greatswords, and then, in a very gentle posture, lifts his sword and swings upward.
Seo Eun-hyun's small sword and Wol Ryeong's greatswords collide, and a grand brahma bell sound rings out.
Jjjeoeoong!
What collapses is Wol Ryeong's sword.
Regulating his breath, Seo Eun-hyun dug into the grain of 'breath' within a True Immortal's strike and broke through the single strike of True Immortality.
That is only the beginning.
Seo Eun-hyun steps on the void and charges toward Wol Ryeong through the spaces between the greatswords.
The swords begin to collapse.
Kugugung!
The fragments of Filling the Heavens Sword Rain that Wol Ryeong unleashes shatter and scatter.
And through the downpour of those sword fragments, Seo Eun-hyun and Wol Ryeong crash into each other.
Haa...!
Wol Ryeong exhales and lets out a kiai.
At the same time, thousands of glass mountains behind Seo Eun-hyun are smashed to pieces and vanish.
He completely let Wol Ryeong's power flow through and transferred it to the glass mountains behind.
Seeing that divine skill by which he can face a True Immortal with a mortal's body, Wol Ryeong takes one step back and begins to perform a sword dance.
Wol Ryeong's sword energy dyes white and bends flexibly.
That sight looks as if dozens of white snakes are aiming at Seo Eun-hyun's neck.
Shiririk—
But something astonishing happens.
Seo Eun-hyun also begins to perform a sword dance.
And what appears is a sword dance perfectly identical to Wol Ryeong's.
In an instant, he reads Wol Ryeong's movement, acquires the martial art, and reaches exactly the same level as Wol Ryeong.
The two face each other like a mirror and unfold exactly the same sword.
And at some moment,
Flash!
At the end of the white sword dance, Wol Ryeong and Seo Eun-hyun face each other, meeting each other's swords from opposite directions in exactly the same way.
Wol Ryeong thinks.
'So he can see through all lower-grade martial arts and learn them in an instant?'
The opponent is a being who reached the apex of the domain called Martial Combat in the Sumeru Three Thousand Great Thousand World.
She is at True Immortality, yet he lets all of her attacks flow past and perfectly copies and follows that offensive.
And...
Seo Eun-hyun's foot movement.
Wol Ryeong instinctively senses that movement of the foot and raises her sword, but the footwork and the sword's direction come in from completely different places.
A sword art that deceives the opponent with footwork.
With that off-beat attack, Wol Ryeong's left arm is cut off.
Jjeong!
A flash of light flickers.
Even if Wol Ryeong took on a human-shaped Transformation form, her essence is a world itself.
And he, with that mortal's body, cut that body of hers.
'I see...he is cutting away only the necessary parts.'
She can tell instinctively.
He compresses to the utmost the puny power that is only at the Qi Refining stage, and through instantaneous acceleration reaching the domain of Indra's Net, he strikes the principle itself.
If he can thereby affect the principles, then even with the body of a mortal being, he can harm the body of an Immortal!
She looks at the opponent before her and understands.
The one before her is the pinnacle of Martial Arts.
The Immortal Beast King of this era.
The myth who toppled the Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am head-on!
'Are weight classes meaningless?'
Wo-woong!
With that feeble power at merely the Qi Refining stage, he forms Gang Qi, and compresses that Gang Qi again and again to reach a domain like a string smaller than every particle in this world.
Against sword strikes where each and every strike cuts the principle, it means nothing at all that the authority, the life, and the weight class are greater.
But precisely because of that, Wol Ryeong pours her full strength in even more.
All of her weight class, accumulated to True Immortality, burns.
The enlightenments she gained within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea burst forth from her hands.
'With a half-baked Martial Art, I cannot seize the initiative.'
What she must do is only maximize her own advantageous points.
Spacetime bends under attraction force, and Wol Ryeong's time accelerates even more.
'Stronger. Faster! Sharper!!'
Tsuaaaaat!!
Burning her realm of True Immortality, Wol Ryeong strengthens her own physical capabilities.
It is a combat method like Gwak Am's, yet she is different.
Tsuaaaaaat!
She strengthens the body with the authority and weight class of a True Immortal.
Beyond that strengthening, she strengthens the instinct embedded deep within the body.
Beyond that instinct, she strengthens the talent that leads her from further within!
Something catches in Wol Ryeong's senses.
It is something that seems close to emptiness (空).
At the same time, it is a consciousness that sees the myriad flows.
It is...
What some call Void Perception.
Having obtained Void Perception, Wol Ryeong, through talent, unfolds her sword to reach Seo Eun-hyun.
White sword strikes scatter madly over the top of Salt Mountain.
Wol Ryeong becomes a disaster.
She becomes the fire demon that burns the forest, the tidal wave that covers the earth, and the earthquake that makes Heaven and Earth roar.
At the same time, she is the storm that rips everything up and flings it away, and the waterspout that hurls what is on the ground up into the firmament.
However, Seo Eun-hyun meets and breaks through all those attacks in a form identical to hers, like a mirror.
Wol Ryeong can tell.
'This is still not enough.'
Tsaaaaaat!
Squeezing out all her authority, Wol Ryeong begins to strengthen Void Perception once again.
'More...!'
Wol Ryeong's sword strikes collapse the peak of Salt Mountain and bring down the glass mountains beyond.
But Seo Eun-hyun completely lets that power flow through and takes no damage at all.
'More...!!'
Feigning a kick to pry Seo Eun-hyun off, Wol Ryeong plays with her footwork, then with her right foot, steps on Seo Eun-hyun's left foot to pin him and send a sword strike.
Seo Eun-hyun dodges Wol Ryeong's sword strike by the difference of a few strands of hair, and then, with utter naturalness, slips free by taking off his shoes and socks on the spot.
'More...!!!'
Wol Ryeong's sword curves like a snake and targets Seo Eun-hyun's left ribs.
Seo Eun-hyun's sword seems to draw a circle, then in an instant, spins like a wheel once and flicks that sword away.
'Please, land...!'
Wol Ryeong pours everything of herself in and does her utmost to hit Seo Eun-hyun.
And at some moment, Wol Ryeong, through Void Perception, touches what lies 'beyond'.
'Ah...'
The source of Wol Ryeong's talent.
Her fate!
The mandate of the being called Wol Ryeong, appointed as the next Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, wholly infuses into her sword.
'If it's this...!'
She is a being fated as a victor and a god of war.
Wol Ryeong must be the victor.
The fate of victory dwells in her sword.
As what is called fate dwells in the sword, only then does Wol Ryeong barely, just barely manage to enter Seo Eun-hyun's domain.
Kaang!
She twists her waist from lower left to upper right and cuts the opponent diagonally.
Seo Eun-hyun also tries to let her sword slide off in the exact same posture, but Wol Ryeong's sword accelerates for a moment and, off-beat, enters Seo Eun-hyun's distance.
Huuuu...
Seo Eun-hyun regulates his breathing and takes the defensive, and Wol Ryeong presses the offensive even harder.
Kaang, kaang, kaang!!!
With one attack, one hand-span of distance.
Wol Ryeong's sword is gradually drawing that one hand-span closer to Seo Eun-hyun.
Kaaang!!!
Once again the gazes of Wol Ryeong and Seo Eun-hyun collide in midair.
They look into each other's eyes, but cannot read what the other is thinking.
Wol Ryeong simply lacks the realm, and Seo Eun-hyun intentionally does not read her thoughts for the sake of her dignity.
However...
If it is a duel between martial artists, in the end even without reading thoughts through laws, one has no choice but to infer the other's thinking through the breath, the movement of the muscles, and the tremor of the sword tip.
Though they cannot read each other's thoughts, they can read the faint meanings each holds.
And, upon reading those meanings, the exchange between Wol Ryeong and Seo Gyeong becomes even more intense.
'You...no.'
Wol Ryeong looks at Seo Eun-hyun.
'I...like you.'
Seo Eun-hyun looks at Wol Ryeong.
Those eyes are full of a wavering that does not know what to do.
But the tip of his sword does not waver.
Sword Heaven Annihilation Advancement.
Chwarararak!
From around Wol Ryeong, white sword energy seems to surge then, having drawn a circle to gain rotational force, it explodes in all directions.
'But...'
Within that explosion, Seo Eun-hyun's shadow is visible.
Wol Ryeong rushes toward that shadow like a bolt and thrusts her sword.
'Is this feeling real? Did you not intervene in my fate and simply infect me...!?'
Wol Ryeong's sword changes.
It is the sword she had back then, before she earned the name Wol Ryeong, when she was Wol Ah.
The sword holds her moment as a child, when she was innocent.
That sword is clean.
Again, the sword changes.
The sword grows.
A sword that contains herself from when she entered the Radiance Spirit Sect.
That sword contains countless possibilities.
The sword changes.
A sword that contains the time when she met Seo Gyeong.
The sword is engulfed in passion.
The sword changes again.
A sword that contains the time when she went with Seo Gyeong to another Heavenly Domain.
The sword...becomes chaotically distorted.
The sword changes again.
'If this heart is nothing but fake...then in this world, would the only thing that has meaning not be fate...!?'
The sword that contains the time when she came to love Seo Gyeong.
That confused sword is restrained based on that heart and returns to a gentle trajectory.
And, the last of all those trajectories.
Again, the sword changes.
'If in this world there is nothing that has meaning besides fate...'
This is...
This is the sword from when, knowing all truth, she was dragged to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.
Tsuaaaaat!!!
Wol Ryeong's white sword light becomes dyed black.
The black sword strike that contains pain itself swallows Seo Eun-hyun.
'Isn't something like the cycle of pain...impossible to sever...!?'
To her, fate is a [circle].
Since she was young, she dreamed.
She dreamed of a [Black Snake Biting Its Tail] drawing a circle and covering her life.
And as she entered the path of Immortal Cultivation and accumulated cultivation, she could understand.
The snake that appeared in her dreams is her fate.
No, not only her fate, but all fates in this world are set to draw a circle.
The closer she got to fate, the more she felt it keenly.
And at last, when she was eaten by Corpse Mountain Blood Sea and came to know the truth of the world—
When she came to know that this world is filled with pain...
Wol Ryeong understood.
'Fate is pain...'
Therefore, if life is only fate, pain cannot be severed.
The ring of hatred, resentment, and pain cannot be severed either.
Because, that life is only fate means that pain, hatred, resentment, and even oneself all belong to fate.
Unless one cuts oneself, the ring of fate cannot be severed.
Yes.
Everything in this world is fake.
To become real, there is nothing but for fate to end.
'Therefore...'
Wol Ryeong raises her sword and unleashes an extreme-speed thrust toward Seo Eun-hyun.
Flash!
A flash flickers, and Wol Ryeong's right leg is cut off.
Because principle is cut, even she who has an Immortal Body cannot regenerate.
But even one-legged, she directly thrusts her sword toward Seo Eun-hyun.
'If I want to know whether the heart between you and me was real...'
Kwaching!
Seo Eun-hyun lifts his sword from below and smashes it against the flat of Wol Ryeong's, blade face meeting blade face.
From that single strike, both Seo Eun-hyun's and Wol Ryeong's swords shatter at the same time.
But she, paying no heed, approaches Seo Eun-hyun and strikes his face with her right arm.
Seo Eun-hyun lets all that force flow away, then he too clenches his fist and drives a punch into Wol Ryeong's face.
Thwak!
Her skull caves in, and an eyeball pops out.
Because he strikes the principle, an enormous pain surges in, yet Wol Ryeong recalls the pain suffered in the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, endures the pain, and lashes a kick at Seo Eun-hyun.
Kwaaaang!
Seo Eun-hyun lets the kick flow past, and the mountains behind collapse.
However, this time he appears not to have diverted it completely, as his ribs seem to crack.
'You're tired.'
Wol Ryeong judges Seo Eun-hyun's condition and rushes at him.
A bare-handed fight begins.
Kwaang, kwaang, kwaaaang!!!
At Wol Ryeong's fists, Heaven and Earth hum. Seo Eun-hyun's fists are quiet, yet every time they dig into her body, Wol Ryeong's body breaks without fail.
To Wol Ryeong, Seo Eun-hyun feels as if he is not a human but like a single sword.
Chwaak!
Wol Ryeong's ribs are cut away by Seo Eun-hyun's knife-hand.
Holes open all over her body.
Since becoming a True Immortal, her authority that seemed infinite starts to dry up.
Seo Eun-hyun is a mortal, and Wol Ryeong becomes a mortal being.
Yet even though their ranks have dropped that far, their exchange of blows does not stop.
However, the match at last reaches its end.
Jjeoeeong!!!
Wol Ryeong flips Seo Eun-hyun over, grabs his neck, and slams him toward the palace gate behind.
Kwaaaang!!!
Completely restrained, Seo Eun-hyun can no longer let anything flow past and coughs blood.
Kugugugu...
"...Now...it is the end."
Wol Ryeong, at last seeing Seo Eun-hyun within her grasp, smiles.
Tsuaaaaat!
Wol Ryeong's face recovers.
She does not recover her legs or arms, but she squeezes out her energy and recovers only her caved-in head.
The reason she bothers to restore her face is extremely simple.
The last departing appearance.
At the very leash, she does not want to go hideously before him.
"Kill me."
Wol Ryeong presses down on Seo Eun-hyun's body.
At the same time, her will turns into a sword and begins to pierce into Seo Eun-hyun's chest.
If it goes on like this, Seo Eun-hyun will die.
Therefore...
Having become like this, even Seo Eun-hyun has no choice but to use it.
"You have never once used a killing move, have you?"
When fighting Wol Ryeong.
No, even when fighting the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, Wol Ryeong knows that Seo Eun-hyun was hiding his strength.
She knows that, in the end, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity was truly beaten.
Because Seo Eun-hyun truly did not use 'that' technique to the very end.
"That strongest killing art that you used through your hair clone."
Devil Sword.
Zero.
A power created to kill the opponent.
Seo Eun-hyun, to the very end, did not use that power.
Even though he has the skill to copy any martial technique, just as he copied Wol Ryeong's martial arts!
Therefore, she smiles brightly.
"Kill me, Seo Eun-hyun."
Seo Eun-hyun only looks at her and gives a bitter smile.
"Otherwise, you will die."
The Future King's technique has been, by my hand, restored to about the third form.
Even if I face the Future King, the minimum preparation to block about three moves is complete.
And, as Wol Ryeong says, these three forms, in terms of offensive power, are the strongest killing methods that surpasses mine and Kim Young-hoon's.
If I had used the killing method when fighting Gwak Am, I could have handled him a bit more easily.
Uduk, dududuk...
Wol Ryeong's grip tightens more strongly around my neck.
Her will becomes a sword and approaches my heart.
Paaang!
I strike Wol Ryeong's elbow and release the grip choking my neck.
However, she merely grasps the sword of will that stabs my heart with her own hand and thrusts it in even harder.
Kuuuk...
I feel it.
The tip of her sword stands before the surface of my heart.
If the sword pushes in like this, I will die as I am.
My main body as well will be pushed out of balance with the Origin Essence, be devoured by it, and die.
Yes, right now, the power over my life and death belongs to her.
If I do not kill Wol Ryeong, I will die to Wol Ryeong.
"Kill me, Seo Eun-hyun."
Wol Ryeong calls my true name precisely and speaks again.
I look at her and smile.
"Ryeong-ah."
I cannot even twitch a single finger.
"You win."
I cannot kill her.
Wol Ryeong's pupils tremble.
In that trembling, a heart toward me dwells.
"...Are you...deceiving me?"
Wol Ryeong asks with a sad smile.
That smile looks as if at any moment it can turn into a scream filled with pain.
"You can kill me...Seo Gyeong..."
Her voice starts to shake, and the form of address changes.
"...How far...how far are you trying to deceive me...? Why, as if it isn't enough that you deceived my whole life...?"
Wol Ryeong begins to sob.
"Why are you treating me like you are sparing me...? The killing art...if you use the killing art...you can beat me...! From the start, what even are you...what on earth are you to throw me a chance to forgive and to care about trash like me in that way!!?? Just, as you used to...like Gwak Am, you could just use me and throw me away. Like Gwak Am, you should have remained the bad guy to the end and waited arrogantly for me to take revenge...!"
Wol Ryeong wails.
"If you had remained the bad guy to the end...and if you had received my sword...my heart would not have been this tormented...!!! It would not have been this confused! Why...!? Why on earth do you give me the chance for revenge, and why do you not face me sincerely!? I...I'm nothing but a bug...!"
I slowly caress her cheek.
There had been a time like that.
—Descend, All-Heavens.
There was a time when I killed, with my own hands, the person who loved me, and died together...
"How...can I think of the person who loves me...as a bug? Ryeong-ah..."
If I kill and toy with the one who hates me, that is only the principle of the world.
A simple principle of cause-and-effect retribution.
However, if I toy with the life of the one who loves me, what retribution is that?
"Even if it is a speck of dust, it becomes the foundation stone that forms a mountain...If it is a being who throws body and heart to love me, I cannot dare to look down on them as a bug or a speck of dust. However I may have intervened in that life, it is right to devote body and heart to apologize..."
"...I am going to kill you...Seo Gyeong...really...I am going to stab you..."
"If that lets me be forgiven."
"...You...toyed with my life...but you did not make me unhappy..."
Wol Ryeong's tears fall on my cheek.
"I know...that Master is alive...so that is enough...I was originally more attached to her than you anyway..."
I made her undergo the experience of losing Ji Hwa, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord of this era, before her eyes.
No matter how necessary that was for her.
"And I now know my original fate. You...made me, who would have been unhappy, happier, right...?"
Even if that was something that gave her happiness.
"So...I also...want to make you happy..."
Wol Ryeong cries.
"I want you to just kill me as I am...and after you forget me, seize the Origin Essence of the Mountain and seek an answer better than the Great Mountain Supreme Deity...!"
Gik, gigigik...
Kuguguk...
Her sword will digs into my heart.
And only then do I come to understand something.,
'This is...'
I see Gwak Am's shadow behind Wol Ryeong.
How can Wol Ryeong use the power of a True Immortal inside the Origin Essence of the Mountain?
The answer lies in something simpler than I thought.
'Corpse Mountain Blood Sea...!'
Gwak Am's Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, though scattered, was not actually annihilated.
Severing Heaven Sword Form, the Fifth.
Though they gained freedom by All-Heavens, they still cling to Gwak Am's final will.
—Prove it.
That's right...
Wol Ryeong, too, is still inside the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
'My body and heart are so exhausted...I failed to recognize it.'
I waged war against the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, and I lost Hong Fan including my subordinates and friends.
Because I became wrecked on every side, I lost my ability to judge,
She is not stabbing me purely by her own will.
Gwak Am's lingering thoughts.
And the spirits of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, through her, are thrusting the sword at me.
This is also a question.
—If pain is not the greatest teacher, then what is the greatest teacher?
—If beyond pain exists the greatest truth, can the ring of hatred and pain truly be severed?
Tudududu!!!
The sword pierces the heart.
Wol Ryeong sheds even more tears.
And she begins to endure.
Even though she carries the will of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea on her back, the reason she can endure without killing me outright.
It is not only the lingering thought of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am and the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
There is also something that I left behind.
The beginning, development, twist, conclusion I imposed upon Wol Ryeong.
For the Enders, the beginning, development, twist, conclusion is that we reach the Audience Chamber,
But Wol Ryeong's beginning, development, twist, conclusion is different.
The conclusion I lay upon her.
The end where that fate heads is, [Becoming the Ender's friend and protecting them.]
In other words, the lingering thought of Great Mountain and the will of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea clash with the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion I imposed, preventing her from killing me.
But...at the same time, it makes her even more confused and pained.
She must protect me, but at the same time she must kill me and pursue the answer of Gwak Am and the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.
"Kill...me...!"
Wol Ryeong shouts.
"Have you forgotten the sacrifices of your subordinates...!?"
That voice even sounds as if she is scolding me.
"Do you not know what your friends have been enduring for...!?"
My heart is gradually crushed.
"Do you not know what kind of time the God of Death, who fights your friends outside while crying out for you, has been enduring!?"
"I know."
Yet I speak calmly.
"That's why all the more...I must stake my life right here and prove it."
Gwak Am asked me.
Can I sever the chain of hatred?
I answered.
There is something greater than hatred and pain.
"Either way...if I cannot prove it here, there is nothing beyond this."
I would have no face to see Gwak Am and my master.
There would be no possibility at all of winning against the being called the Future King.
"I will not kill you..."
Bududuk...
And then, my heart is completely pierced through.
I rise and begin to approach Wol Ryeong.
"Even if I die...I will no longer kill those who gave me their hearts...!"
Even if my entire story ends here, it does not matter!
Even if everything of the existence called Seo Eun-hyun ends, it does not matter!
"Then..."
With tears falling, Wol Ryeong looks up at me.
"Do you mean...that I, who killed you...should live the rest of my life in hell...?"
She opens her mouth.
"I will forgive you...but instead...live. Kill me...and carry all your grace and resentments on your back...and live...!"
What comes out of her mouth is a scream.
"I want you to be happy. Even if the world is hell...because you...you can surely escape this hell... I, I am just a meager True Immortal who is nothing compared to you...but you are different...! So...in a world that is pain...I want you to live...and become happy... The way...the way to do so...I'm just a fool so I don't know...but if it's you...you will surely find it...! So please...live...! Gyeong-ah...!"
In that wail where a genius calls herself a fool and sobs, I feel my breath grow thin.
I close my eyes.
I feel death.
An extreme ultimatum.
If I live, Wol Ryeong dies, and I, who once more killed the person I love, will live in hell.
If Wol Ryeong lives, I die, and Wol Ryeong will live in the hell where she killed the being she loves.
One of us must die.
Whoever dies, the one left behind must live in hell.
'Gwak Am. This is what you wanted to say, isn't it? That no matter what I choose, it is pain.'
This ring cannot be severed.
Not only the ring, but all those who try to cut the ring are nothing but birds trapped in the cage called 'pain'.
My consciousness scatters.
At the same time, I feel my main body being absorbed into the Origin Essence of the Mountain.
Only then do my comrades begin to show some different reactions.
Their intent and expressions change.
They heard something from Wol Ryeong, but it seems different from what they see.
It is probably different.
Because right now...
I truly think it is fine to die.
'If someone must die, it must be me.'
I separate from Wol Ryeong and gradually collapse.
'Because...only I...'
I see Wol Ryeong sink into hell.
'Only I...'
With that sight as the last, I finally close my eyes.
It was a long life.
In this life, I have not a single regret.
: : You heartless one...! : :
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, the Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa sighs.
Only when she sees the moment Seo Eun-hyun reaches death does she notice his intentions and stops knocking on the door to enter the Mountain Immortal Domain.
Rather, the ones whose bearing changes are Seo Eun-hyun's comrades.
They look at Kang Min-hee and, as if flustered, they shout.
Kang Min-hee only endures and, to the very end as Wol Ryeong asked, blocks the main bodies of the Enders from approaching Seo Eun-hyun.
At least Kim Yeon, who learned the Immortal Art of Primordial Origin, seems to notice something, and, shedding tears, stops in place.
The Underworld looks at them and smiles bitterly.
: : Even if that is a method of certain victory...is it not too great a shock to the hearts of those who love you? : :
She, bitterly...
And with eyes as if looking at a beloved child, gazes at the dead Seo Eun-hyun.
: : ...I...will remember you. : :
"Eun-hyun-ah!"
"Hey, Seo Eun-hyun!"
"...Seo Eun-hyun..."
"Eun-hyun-ahhhhh!!!!!"
"Eun-hyun...O...ppa..."
"...Seo Eun-hyun."
Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, Oh Hyun-seok, Kim Yeon, and Oh Hye-seo call out to Seo Eun-hyun.
But Seo Eun-hyun does not revive.
He only lies there as a lone corpse, placed in front of Wol Ryeong, whose left arm and right leg are cut off.
Wol Ryeong closes her eyes.
"...Yeah. I respect your choice. But...I do not forgive you."
She asked him to live even if he must kill her.
Yet to the end. To the very end...
He toyed with her and died.
So, she too decides not to forgive Seo Eun-hyun.
Surung—
Drawing a nearby glass sword and bringing it to her own neck and chest, Wol Ryeong closes her eyes.
"It was good to be with you. Thank you, Seo Eun-hyun. Then...let us meet again."
She loved him her entire life.
Though her whole life was toyed with.
Within the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, she learned the truth.
That the world is made of pain, and that Seo Eun-hyun tried to lead her, even a little, to the right place within pain...
Therefore, when she heard him say he will give his life, and when she saw his resolve to actually give his life, forgiveness ended.
She truly had no thought of taking his life.
Though she was toyed with again by the Mountain Divine Spirit called the Great Mountain Supreme Deity and was forced to choose one of two, she liked him enough to think that even if she dies, she wants Seo Eun-hyun to live.
However, he gave her his life, and in the end toyed with her life, and died embracing the entangled grace and resentment.
A God sacrificed their life for a bug.
And the bug who lost the God has no confidence to live in the world that has become hell.
Wol Ryeong looks at Seo Eun-hyun's corpse...and smiles one last time.
"Farewell. My God."
Puuuk!
With that, it is the end.
No, she thought it was the end.
Kuung!
"...You are..."
Until a silver sword falls between Wol Ryeong and Seo Eun-hyun's corpse.
"...Mas...ter...?"
Wol Ryeong recognizes that very sword at once.
There is no way she does not know it.
For the wave of soul she feels from that sword is perfectly the same as a being she knows.
Woong, wo-woong!!
"..."
Her master appears to her in the form of a sword and is ringing out a sword cry.
And...
She suddenly notices that this sword's wave is creating something.
"This is..."
Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.
Mountain Echoes Valley Responds (山鳴谷應).
A move that treats the wave of the sword cry like a voice transmission and sends sword energy in the form of a wave as if sending a voice transmission to the opponent.
And Seo Eun-hyun placed his own voice transmission into Mountain Echoes Valley Responds.
In preparation for when he dies...
The Sword Extreme Heavenly Sword begins to spit out Seo Eun-hyun's last will.
No, she thinks it is his last will.
Wooong, woo-wooooong!!!
The waves grow larger and larger.
And by those waves, something enters Wol Ryeong's eyes.
It is mist.
A pale mist.
It is the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections within Gracious Soul Filling the Heavens.
Wiiiiing!
Within the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, the entire life of the being named Seo Eun-hyun flashes past.
And within that life, Wol Ryeong can hear someone's voice.
—...will...not...
Woo-oooong!!!
The world within the Origin Essence of the Mountain.
The Mountain Immortal Domain is condensing.
As if struck by the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, centered on Seo Eun-hyun's mist at the summit of Salt Mountain.
And, feeling the world fill with light and heat amid that strange compression of the universe, Wol Ryeong can hear that voice clearly.
—I will not put you into hell...I will not fall into hell either.
Tssaaaaa—
It is Seo Eun-hyun, coming out of the mist.
Seeing that which somehow appears translucent, Wol Ryeong can tell what it is.
Seo Eun-hyun approaches.
Heaven and Earth gradually condense, the Immortal Domain narrows and brightens.
From the center of that light, Seo Eun-hyun, who comes to Wol Ryeong, tightly holds Wol Ryeong's two hands.
Before she knows it, the limbs of hers that he has cut off are back.
—Because I am greedy...I will not let go of either.
Kugugugu!!!
Clench...
Strength enters Seo Eun-hyun's hands that hold her.
For some reason, Wol Ryeong feels as if she sees someone next to Seo Eun-hyun.
That one wears white garments similar to Wol Ryeong.
She gives off a feeling that evokes a white magnolia flower.
If Wol Ryeong is a sword, she looks like a swordsmith.
—Ryeong-ah...
Seo Eun-hyun's will comes close to Wol Ryeong.
—If the world is hell...
He kisses her forehead.
—Then is what I just gave you also of hell?
An enlightenment that Seo Eun-hyun received from someone in the past.
Returning that enlightenment to the one who loved him...
Seo Eun-hyun smiles warmly.
—I will not die.
Flutter—
Suddenly, Wol Ryeong sees a slip of paper fly to her side.
It is a part of a book.
She cannot see the title, but certainly...
It is a story about a mountain spirit who resisted fate and went forward.
Flutter, flutter, flutter...
And led by that, countless sheets of paper begin to fly around her.
Those sheets depict different scenes, but all of them draw the story of a single being.
The Celestial Lord Incense Burning that Seo Eun-hyun left behind before going to the Outer Sea.
The story received from Sword Spear and spread by Kang Min-hee begins to fill all of Heaven and Earth.
—Only the form that I exist in changes...I will not truly die. Only the flesh has withered...I absolutely will not die.
Tssaaaaaat!
Seo Eun-hyun's body becomes even whiter.
Gradually he transforms into white and scatters outward.
The Mountain Immortal Domain completely compresses and becomes a single point, and outside that point, Seo Eun-hyun's voice begins to spread even wider.
— This form is...truly the form to uphold Master's robe and alms bowl.
[By whatever means, make everyone in this world come to repentant enlightenment.]
Only that...is truly the way to guarantee victory.
That is precisely the last will of the Salt Sea Supreme Deity that Great Mountain heard!
Hearing that last will, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am decided to force everyone to come to repentant enlightenment.
And Seo Eun-hyun decided that even if it requires endless kalpas, he will melt himself down and become the path of repentant enlightenment that is passed down forever to later generations.
He is to become the classics (經傳/core canonical texts).
Thus, continuing on forever to later generations, someday enlightening all beings of all phenomena to repentant enlightenment.
He is to become the Book of Documents (Seo Gyeong) that embraces the Great Plan Nine Categories (洪範九疇).
[TL/N: The Great Plan Nine Categories, or particularly the Hongfan/Great Plan and Gu Ju/Nine Categories is a chapter of the Book of Documents. The name Seo Gyeong uses the same Hangul as the Book of Documents and can mean Book of Documents.]
—A teacher greater than pain...is always...
Tuk—
The scattering forehead of Seo Eun-hyun and Wol Ryeong's forehead touch.
Feeling that warmth, Wol Ryeong at last stops her tears.
—The warmth that a person conveys to a person. That story...
Story.
The warmth contained within it.
A person can change with only that.
Pain is a good teacher, but the best teacher is always a story.
A country that used to eat salted human flesh, on hearing the story of a person who transmitted benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, stopped eating people and attempted rule by virtue.
A land where beings once practiced human sacrifice, on hearing the story that transmitted the word of the sole God who saved a people, saw human sacrifice cease.
A great land that was nothing but a place of mere barbarism, on hearing the story that transmitted the saying to benefit mankind widely, became a place where a nation was founded.
The warmth that a person conveys to a person.
The story that contains it.
The history of people always took that as its teacher.
No, it is the same even for what is not a person.
Flapflapflapflapflap...
Wol Ryeong looks at the last page of the endlessly whirling sheets of paper.
There, the end of a mountain divine spirit is written.
That mountain divine spirit throws off the body of a divine spirit and thinks thus.
—Thank you for everything until now.
For letting me live a person's life.
For gifting me this precious life...
For being with me, thank you.
Seeing that, Wol Ryeong feels the Origin Essence of the Mountain that has come to her, compressed to a single point, bestowing limitless strength upon her.
It is Seo Eun-hyun's authority.
All the authority, enlightenment, memories, divine powers, and martial arts he has accumulated until now.
He intends to transmit all of it to all comrades with her as the medium.
With this, it is sufficient to attack the Audience Chamber even without the existence called Seo Eun-hyun.
Yes.
Seo Eun-hyun thus...
Across a long and longer life, doing his utmost in all he can do, presented the best answer and closed his eyes.
Wol Ryeong looks at the Seat of the Mountain held in her hand.
From there, a faint Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra resounds.
[Immortal Cultivation is repentant enlightenment.]
Wol Ryeong smiles at the sight.
As if...
As if all her lingering regrets are resolved.
And...
Inside her.
Within all the Corpse Mountain Blood Seas that exist who have found freedom led by her, a certain voice flows out.
: : ...Yes. You are...better than me. : :
In Wol Ryeong's eyes, in that distant white space, a faint vision is reflected of someone in a blood robe turning back to glance behind.
Their gaze is directed at the Origin Essence of the Mountain in her hand.
: : ...You win. : :
They look forward again and disappear somewhere.
Leaving a single remark.
: : Junior Brother. : :
Wooooo-woong!!!
With those words as the end, the Origin Essence of the Mountain held in Wol Ryeong's hand gradually begins to rise upward.
Clang!!!
At last, by Seo Eun-hyun and the Underworld, and by Time, the regression of Mount Sumeru is completed, and at the center of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain of the regressed Mount Sumeru.
There, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord, left alone, raises a God-Killing Spear in their hand and aims it at Wol Ryeong.
However, Wol Ryeong's body begins to shine.
And starting with it, some shining things begin to draw a spiral and soar from the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain to the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, beginning to surround something that begins to rise.
[Like tiny grains of salt gathering to form the sea.]
Those shining existences, who refuse even the control of the Underworld, shine in all of Heaven's natural colors and are chanting something.
[Build mountains through repentant enlightenment.]
It is the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
[Building a mountain of salt is perhaps the fastest way to reach the heavens.]
They are the very beings of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea who, until just a moment ago, had shed bloody tears and sung of pain.
[Each to one another holding hands.]
But now.
No one among them, not a single existence, sheds tears of blood or suffers.
[With everyone at the sea, drink salt, and with the wind, soar.]
The Origin Essence of the Mountain leaves Wol Ryeong's hand and gradually begins to fly higher, and, centered on it, white spirits whose number is almost immeasurable draw a spiral as they ascend, singing without end.
[Like combining all intents turns them colorless.]
A certain someone's hand overlaps beneath Wol Ryeong's hand, and together they raise their arms toward the sky.
She wears a silver dragon robe and, somehow, scatters a sword aura similar to Wol Ryeong's.
Looking down at that woman, the Rain Dew Heavenly Lord lets out a soundless roar.
Beginning with that woman, a blond man braces his hand beneath that hand again.
[Embrace all connections and become impermanence.]
A red-haired man also extends his hand.
A blue-haired woman, a silver-haired man, and a woman with light pink hair as well.
Even a woman with her original hair that carries a faintly tinged red...
All of them brace their hands beneath Wol Ryeong.
By their hands, the Seat that is rising upward toward the Heavenly King Heaven finally leaves the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain, and begins to float ever higher and ever farther.
"...Thank you. You were right."
Kim Yeon sends a warm gaze to Wol Ryeong.
"That if he could find the answer...he could obtain another chance through Gwak Am..."
Wol Ryeong shakes her head.
"It is not through Gwak Am."
The souls who were the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea speak the final verse of the mantra.
[For that...]
"You always...get back what you give."
Tssaaaat!
With those words as the end, Wol Ryeong, together with the other spirits, becomes a pure white light and joins the spiral that covers the Origin Essence of the Mountain.
She stands at the top of the spiral, at the very forefront, becoming the brightest soul.
Flash!!!
Someone is born.
By their birth alone, an enormous explosion occurs, and the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World begins to shake.
By the interpretation of the newly born Owner of the Seat, the essence of what had been the Seat of the Mountain reverses.
[...is how one reaches the stars.]
What is made by accumulating specks of dust is a Great Mountain.
And what is made by gathering the dust of the universe...is the Star.
The Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World.
The symbol of all mountains begins to transform into the symbol of stars.
The Gan of the Eight Trigrams changes in an instant, its character turning into star (星).
[TL/N: The character for Gan of the Eight Trigrams means Mountain.]
With a change so vivid that all cultivators who are practicing Immortal Cultivation notice, countless Milky Ways begin to pour out from the [Origin Essence of the Star].
Seeing that sight, Oh Hyun-seok's arm begins to move on its own.
The existence that dwells as a lingering thought in Oh Hyun-seok's body fully expends that lingering thought and, through the portion of Seo Eun-hyun's soul they previously received as a gift from Seo Eun-hyun, begins to draw forth a new [Name].
Their essence whispers to put Heaven (天) into that [Name].
But the moment they see the dance of the Milky Ways unfurling in that sky,
Through self repentant enlightenment, with the pure desire of a namer, with the pure heart that wants to give a name, they manage to reject that essence.
The name of the existence newly rising in that sky is...
: : Star Genesis Supreme Deity (創星上帝) : :
They are the owner of the story that has at last become a star.
—The Star Creating Supreme Deity is arriving!!!
The stars of every Heavenly Domain, which gain personhood by the advent of their master, welcome their lord and unanimously pray for his descent.
—The Star Genesis Supreme Deity is arriving!!!
—The Star Genesis Supreme Deity is arriving!!!
—The Star Genesis Supreme Deity is arriving!!!
Kugugugugugu!!!
Within innumerable seas of stars, as a vast Heavenly Domain is newly born, an existence wearing a dragon robe made of Milky Ways begins to open their eyes.
Seated upon the jade throne of the galaxy, they awaken again and, with a warm smile, sweep their gaze over all of all phenomena.
The last master of the Heavenly King Heavenly Domain, touched by that existence's gaze, opens their mouth in panic.
: : Let the Radiance Eight Immortals...hear... : :
However, the Radiance Eight Immortals, already all gone, cannot answer.
And the newly born God of Starlight opens their mouth.
: : Let the myriad stars hear. : :
The stars of the nations, to receive their master's decree, answer in a resounding voice.
—By your command!!!