Chapter 793: Primordial Chaos (3)
Hwioooooo—
"Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
I doze for a moment inside the Heavenly Void Furnace and open my eyes.
I can't feel the outside.
Feeling puzzled, I go out to look, and...
I see a completely new world.
Hwioooooo—
"Wh-What...what is this...!?"
What greets me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace is a vast chaos.
Wondering what is going on, I look toward the Heavenly Void Furnace...
But the Heavenly Void Furnace has already disappeared.
"Hong Fan... Hong Fan...!"
At this bizarre phenomenon, I call for Hong Fan, but he does not answer.
"Th-This...What is happening...!?"
From that day on, within this infinite, endless world of chaos, I howl and thrash about to escape.
*
One hundred million years pass.
Hwioooooooo—
One hundred million years.
I compose my flesh from countless clone bodies, and before I knew it, I've become a gigantic existence approaching True Immortality, and through the rank of such an existence I investigate the chaos and find out the secret of this world.
And...
Only now can I finally find the traces of the [previous me] who remained in this Heavenly Void Furnace.
Woong, woo-woooong!
A sphere of green light floating before my eyes.
As I place my hand toward this strange lump of light like a firefly, memories and history about [the first me] flow in.
Yes...
This is not the first time.
I also, before.
That is, even when I first entered the Heavenly Void Furnace, I once endured this hellish time.
: : And then I forgot again. : :
Even the 'me of now' who endured one hundred million years...
...is soon to be forgotten.
[Cut it...cut it...]
Letting the words of the 'Heart Demon' inside me that earnestly begs to sever connection pass in one ear and out the next, my eyes gleam.
: : From now on as well, the 'me' outside the Heavenly Void Furnace will forget everything again and use the Heavenly Void Furnace every month. And as both the realm and the proficiency of the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon gradually rises, the cycle of coming here will gradually shorten. : :
I must stop it.
In order to do so, it is first important that the selves of me who come here find the memories.
Wo-woong—
Within the lump of green light before my eyes is [me of the first Heavenly Void Furnace].
The idea of transmitting memories and history down to the later cycles is excellent, but...
In the end, only when almost one hundred million years have passed, only when it is time to go out, has it come before me.
'At this rate, no matter how many times I come here, I'm only walking in place.'
I have to move the time forward.
So that the [me]s who come later can receive the memories of the [me]s earlier!
'So that during the time called one hundred million years, I don't simply raise my realm and weight class, cultivate the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, and investigate the secrets of this space...but find a way to leave this space...!'
Kiiiiiiiiiing!
I begin to compress my own existence and essence, like [the me of the first Heavenly Void Furnace].
I sacrifice everything, so that the [me] who will come in later generations can receive the succession of the 'previous me' a little sooner...
Thus, at last one hundred million years are filled, and I go outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I enter the Heavenly Void Furnace for the third time.
'In just two months, I already finished two years' worth of cultivation.'
My understanding of the divine power of Cutting Principle is gradually broadening.
'If it continues like this, I can completely nullify the curse within this lifetime!'
Thinking so, I call for Hong Fan.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
However, Hong Fan gives no answer, and I go outside.
"Th-This is..."
Endless chaos unfolds.
"What on earth is happening here!?"
Hwioooooo—
As my whole body melts inside the endlessly raging chaos...
I begin to scream.
*
Ninety-nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety years.
Wing— Wing—
Creating countless Heavenly Being stage clones and reaching a realm corresponding to True Immortality, I realize the truth of this Heavenly Void Furnace and discover something inside.
: : This is... : :
They are 'two clusters of green light' that revolve together, spinning round and round and drawing an endless circle.
Receiving a very familiar feeling from those clusters of light...
I can tell that these clusters of light have waited for me across a long and longer time.
Wo-woong—
I reach out my hand to those clusters of light.
Paaaatt!
And as I read the wisdom and history contained inside the clusters of light, I now understand.
That this Heavenly Void Furnace is a terrifying trap...
*
Time passes, and the time has come for me, [the me of the third Heavenly Void Furnace], to go out.
I sacrifice myself and melt down my entirety like the previous two clusters of light.
: : Starting from the [next]...it will be different. : :
According to the method devised by [the me of the second Heavenly Void Furnace], the later [me]s will gradually inherit [my] memories and history faster.
I fill all the time, and at last, I exit the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Wooo-woooooong!
Recently, my attainment in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon has also increased.
My consciousness has been grievously damaged and restored several times.
Thanks to that, it seems the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon has also begun to evolve.
If it continues like this, the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon will also become quite powerful, and someday the recovery cycle of consciousness might speed up to the level of a single day.
If it becomes like that, I can accumulate cultivation even faster.
I realize that I am gradually entering the Heavenly Void Furnace with an even more excited heart.
'It truly is a tremendous divine artifact. This Heavenly Void Furnace...'
Woo-woong—
Entering the Heavenly Void Furnace and meditating, even dozing for a moment, I complete the meditation.
After that, I call for Hong Fan in a tone that is now becoming habitual.
"Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
There is no reply.
Feeling puzzlement, I go outside the Heavenly Void Furnace and can see an immense world of chaos.
"Wh-What on earth...?"
But without even having time to grasp the situation, I feel my whole body melting away inside the chaos and scream.
"Kuaaaaaaaagh!"
It's melting!
My entire body is transforming into all sorts of bizarre things and disappearing!
At that moment.
Shwoong, shwoong, shwoong!
From beyond that distant chaos, [three green lights] fly in and surround me.
'What on earth...?'
However, although those clusters of light like fireflies coil around my Nascent Soul, that is all.
Other than coiling and revolving around with me as the center, they give no help at all.
'Damn it... This isn't giving any help at all...!'
In the end, without receiving their help, I barely unfold the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections and prevent myself from being annihilated.
As I use the power of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, at least the chaos does not erode me.
I protect my Nascent Soul with a pale mist and contemplate what this bizarre world of chaos is, and what the three clusters of green light revolving with me at the center are.
'For now, they don't seem harmful...'
The green clusters of light do not give me help, but at the same time they also do not harm me.
Watching them there, I faintly feel my heart settle.
'It feels, somehow, similar to the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections itself...'
But that is all.
Other than bringing a little calmness to my heart, there is nothing.
'For now...let's learn about this sea of chaos.'
Thus, I leave those green clusters of light alone for the time being and explore the sea of chaos.
*
Ninety-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred years pass.
Before I know it, I achieve a rank corresponding to True Immortality by using countless clone bodies.
And before I know it,
I realize, after piercing through about one hundred million years of time, that at last I have obtained the authorization to view these 'green clusters of light'.
: : They are lights that one can view only upon reaching True Immortality. What are you? : :
At the end of a long and longer spam, I barely obtain the right to peruse these clusters of light and begin to view them.
And at last, I learn the truth.
: : I see... : :
Kugugugu...
Three light clusters.
About three hundred million years' worth of memories and history surge in all at once, and I spend a little over ten years to accept and arrange them.
: : O [me]s of before. Have you decided to establish, one by one...the rules applied to this space by sacrificing yourselves? : :
The goal of the [me]s is clear.
'By sacrificing the existence of [me]s comparable to True Immortality one by one...we engrave rules into the Heavenly Void Furnace one by one.'
The rule left by [the me of the first Heavenly Void Furnace].
'One can leave traces within the Heavenly Void Furnace by sacrificing oneself.'
With this, including him, the later [me]s could come to sacrifice themselves here and accumulate rules.
The rule left by [the me of the second Heavenly Void Furnace].
'The traces left in the Heavenly Void Furnace gather together.'
With this, from the second me onward, instead of the memories left by [me]s drifting here and there in this Primordial Chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, it only becomes necessary to find the ones that are gathered in one place and are orbiting.
The rule left by [the me of the third Heavenly Void Furnace].
'The traces gathered in the Heavenly Void Furnace fly to the 'me of now' through attraction force.'
Because of that, from the very beginning of entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, the 'three green memories' flew in and clung to me.
'Thanks to that, I could save far more time than wandering around looking for the memories.'
Moreover, the subtle stability the memories gave truly has been a great comfort all that time.
And now...
It is my turn.
'Sacrifice the me of now...and add one more rule.'
Kurururung!
I offer up everything I have accumulated within the Heavenly Void Furnace for roughly one hundred million years.
And, in return, I add one rule.
The fourth rule.
'Lower the qualification of viewing authorization that exists in the green traces.'
Until now, all the [me] had to reach a realm similar to the previous [me] in order to peruse the memories left by the previous [me].
But from now on, that will not be so.
'Even if one reaches a slightly lower realm...from now on, they will be able to peruse the memories and inherit the enlightenment and wisdom left by the previous [me]s.'
Tsuaaaaaaatt!
Sacrificing all that is mine, I thus prepare to leave the Heavenly Void Furnace.
The fifth entry into the Heavenly Void Furnace.
These days, for some reason, the gaze with which Hong Fan looks at me has become odd.
'Is it a bit distasteful to him that I keep relying on artifacts to increase my cultivation?'
But it cannot be helped.
If I am to sever the influence of the Heavenly Punishment True Immortal, there is no other way.
Pachijijik...
Even now, my internal organs here and there are being transformed into lightning, and I feel that influence gradually growing stronger.
'At this rate, even if I regress, I will only get devoured by the Heavenly Punishment True Immortal. It cannot go on like this.'
I must, in this life without fail, sever the influence of the True Immortal.
I steel my resolve and begin meditating in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Still, I gained great attainment in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.'
This time, instead of a month, I spent only about 22 days.
I've come without using a whole month.
'If I keep letting my consciousness be torn away and then recover it on repeat...before long, the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon will advance greatly.'
The Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon is the best method that strengthens consciousness and spirit.
'If it continues like this, it will also help me enter the mid Nascent Soul stage.'
I am already at the early Nascent Soul stage, having formed the Yin Spirit.
If my consciousness now evolves, I will complete the Yang Spirit as well and reach the mid Nascent Soul stage where the Yin-Yang Spirit unifies.
My talent is not that great, but if I accumulate slowly, someday...I will be able to behold the Great Dao.
Thinking so, I meditate in the Heavenly Void Furnace and doze for a moment.
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
I open my eyes and come out of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
And, melting from the chaos, I let out a scream.
"Kuaaaaaaaagh!"
At the same time, four green streaks of light fly in from within the chaos.
Thus...
From that day on, I devote my whole body to unraveling the identity of the four green streaks of light and the secret of this world of chaos.
Blink—
I come out of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Before I know it, about one hundred years have passed since I began cultivating in the Heavenly Void Furnace.
During it all, how many times has my consciousness been torn and ripped?
During it all, how many times have I repeatedly restored my consciousness?
Before I know it, my achievement in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon has leapt far ahead, and at this rate I feel I can rise smoothly to the mid Nascent Soul stage.
Wo-woong—
However, the most important thing is not that.
The time in which I have cultivated the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon is now one hundred years.
Now, even if my consciousness is torn after entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, I can recover and enter again in about a day.
As a result, I go in and out of the Heavenly Void Furnace constantly, and the accumulated cultivation experience in Cutting Principle I have built up has reached an immense level.
Consciousness compresses.
Consciousness compresses into a straight line and becomes, according to my will, Indra's Net.
It reaches the same level as the principle that forms the Law of Causality itself.
'Now...'
Shikagagagak!
'I can lay my hands on it directly!'
It's become possible to truly strike principle itself!
When I strike one of the principles of the Head Realm, a southwesterly wind instantly blows across the entire Head Realm.
When I strike principle again with Cutting Principle, the southwesterly wind blowing through the Head Realm dies down and the course of the wind shifts to the northeast.
"Huuuuu..."
Shikagagagak!
When I touch principle once more, dark clouds cover this entire Ascension Path, and rain falls and wind begins to blow.
The true art of calling wind and summoning rain!
This, perhaps, is exactly what should be called a true Immortal Art.
'If it's me now...'
I recall Seo Hweol from the last life.
Seo Hweol's Five Blessings Axes.
If it's now...
'I can defeat Seo Hweol too.'
If I directly strike the domain of principle, Seo Hweol will have no way to endure.
When I recall the bitter life-and-death struggle I waged with that guy in the 15th cycle, a chill runs down my spine on its own.
'As my heart desires, I want to ascend right away and punish Seo Hweol, but...'
I prepare Cutting Principle again upon the surface of Ascension Path.
'For now, this comes first!'
Kiiiiing!
I've become able to strike principle itself.
Now, what remains is...
Kwarururung!
'To cut the connection with Heavenly Punishment!'
Jjeoeoong!
Indra's Net.
Among them, among the threads of connection linked with me, I see a huge and vicious thread of connection.
It is so thick that rather than a thread, it is closer in size to a dock hawser.
The power of that connection is filled with thunder and lightning, and it somehow seems closely related to Indra's Net itself.
It is the curse that the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment gave me.
The divine power of Cutting Principle rushes toward that rope.
Kaaaaaang!
The divine power of disconnection and the will of Heavenly Punishment collide.
Urrung!
Thunder rumbles from the sky.
Thunderclaps fill the surroundings.
Weather shifts, and celestial energy twists.
'From here on, it begins.'
At the same time, the thread of connection with Heavenly Punishment that I lashed with Cutting Principle starts spewing immense lightning and begins to affect reality.
Kwarururung!
From within the black clouds gathered in the sky, lightning falls.
It is not during realm advancement, nor have I done some heaven-defying act.
Even so, Heavenly Tribulation falls.
Kwachijijijijik!
I block the Heavenly Tribulation with the Formless Sword, and I press the divine power of Cutting Principle even harder toward the connection of Heavenly Punishment.
Kurururung!
The more I do so, the stronger the intensity of the Heavenly Tribulation becomes, and I add power by adding Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter and General Seo's beam cannon onto the Formless Sword.
"Don't make me laugh...!"
But even that is only for a moment.
Gradually, the intensity of the Heavenly Tribulation falling from the sky grows stronger, and boasting hideous might, it starts shaving away at the Formless Sword and my other powers.
"I will not lose!"
Kwarururung!
Unlike ordinary lightning, Heavenly Tribulation 'falls' from the sky like rain.
Therefore, unlike other lightning, Heavenly Tribulation possesses 'weight'.
Jjeoeoeoong!
By the weight of the Heavenly Tribulation, my body gradually sinks below the ground.
Udududuk!
When I use earth-element spells to compact and harden the ground, the ground itself collapses.
By the heat of the Heavenly Tribulation, the mounds of earth in the area become glass.
"Guaaaaaaa!"
Gradually, the Formless Sword collapses under the lightning, Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter collapses, and General Seo overloads and breaks.
Heavenly Tribulation drives directly into my flesh.
The body of the Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method, and the puppet circuit of General Seo engraved upon it, receive the power of the lightning.
Modified by me and made into a Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation method, the Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method does not easily crumble even as it meets Heavenly Tribulation.
I grit my teeth, enduring pain as if my entire body burns away by the Heavenly Tribulation.
Lightning energy penetrates and twists the blood vessels throughout my body.
Under the overwhelming lightning, my eyes roll back as if I'm about to lose consciousness, and I barely hold on.
'No matter what, I will cut it!'
Kiiiiiiing!
Cutting Principle slices away the connection of Heavenly Punishment.
And then, at some moment,
Kigigigik!
The thread of Cutting Principle 'digs into' a part of the connection of Heavenly Punishment!
Flash!
But at that moment,
The energy of the Heavenly Tribulation surges madly and crashes down.
The lightning calamity engulfs me, and in the next moment I lose consciousness.
Chiiiiiiik—
At the same time as I lose consciousness, the divine power of Cutting Principle scatters as-is.
Only after the divine power of disconnection disperses do I feel the Heavenly Tribulation stop.
'Did I fail to cut it...?'
Even as I grow faint, I check Indra's Net and close my eyes.
'But...'
I definitely failed to cut it.
However, the connection with the True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment engraved upon Indra's Net...
It definitely bears a faint scratch.
'I can cut it.'
If I use the Heavenly Void Furnace, I will definitely be able to cut it.
Holding onto that hope, I close my eyes and pass out.
"...Hong Fan...is that you?"
I open my eyes and ask the one carrying me on his back.
My internal injuries from the Heavenly Punishment still have not healed, and my mind is hazy.
"Yes, Master."
"Where...are we going?"
"We are on the way to the Heavenly Void Furnace. Please also heal your internal injuries inside it."
"Internal...injuries...?"
"Yes. The Heavenly Void Furnace is a divine artifact that, when one enters and sleeps for a day, guarantees a year of cultivation. In that case...if Master operates a spell to heal your internal injuries and takes a short sleep, would it not naturally be regarded as having recuperated for a year?"
Before long, Hong Fan enters the cave chamber at the center of Ascension Path and stands before the Heavenly Void Furnace.
'Certainly, that makes sense.'
I nod and, swaying, climb down from Hong Fan's back.
"Certainly...it is good for healing as well. Thank you. Then I shall heal inside."
"That is a good idea. And Master, there is one thing I wish to ask..."
"Mm?"
"Master."
Hong Fan draws a breath for a moment and, with a subtle weight in his tone, asks.
"Master...you are cultivating Cutting Principle, are you not?"
"That is right."
"Even if your cultivation experience increases through the Heavenly Void Furnace, to go properly to the next stage of the Star Extinguishing True Chapter...is there not one last thing to cut?"
"..."
I realize what Hong Fan is trying to say and come to my senses.
"Why have you still...not cut the connection with me?"
"...You are asking the obvious. Is that not because you...before being anything like my demon beast or subordinate...are no different from my friend?"
"..."
At my words, Hong Fan seems to let out a faint sigh.
"Is it only for that? Just for that...are you saying you have not even once tried to sever it during all that time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace?"
I don't understand what he means by all that time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
But I have something to say to the claim that it is only for that.
"Only, you say...? Haha. The world is made of countless 'only's."
I recall the principle of Understanding before Breakthrough that I learned from Cheongmun Ryeong.
With countless efforts, barely threading together a single principle of a spell, and with that, accumulating your skill one by one.
That is Understanding before Breakthrough.
Effort, at first, is nothing.
But as time passes, it accumulates, and its size and value swell.
From the many teachers of my life...
I have learned that the connections of people are likewise made of 'only's.
"Even after discovering the tool called the Heavenly Void Furnace, there is no need to sever a precious connection just to cultivate. I will cultivate in my own way."
"..."
For some reason, Hong Fan lets out a sigh.
"You...have cut, yet have not cut. Even if I tell you to cut the thread of connection and you do cut it, by storing it in the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, you will make it no different from not being cut."
"...?"
"Then, Master. If my putting Master into the Heavenly Void Furnace is for some stratagem...at that time, will Master cut the connection with me? For it means having an ill-connection between us."
I don't understand the words, so I look at Hong Fan.
"What does that mean, that putting me into the Heavenly Void Furnace is a stratagem...? Is it not instead a favor?"
"Haw haw... Perhaps if Master goes inside and meditates, you will come to understand."
"Mm...I do not quite know, though."
"In any case, if we suppose that that Heavenly Void Furnace is a kind of trap and that the one who dug that trap is me, what would Master do?"
"Uhm...a trap you say...?"
But the one who told me to enter that Heavenly Void Furnace is the lingering thought of Yang Su-jin.
If we suppose that is Hong Fan's stratagem, does it not mean Hong Fan is a transcendent being who can even manipulate the lingering thought of Yang Su-jin at will?
'If such a transcendent being is Hong Fan, and Hong Fan has been toying with me...'
I think hard over it and open my mouth.
"Hearing only that, I cannot make a judgment. I need to know what circumstances you have, and for what cause you intend to betray me, in order to judge anything."
"Hmmm..."
At my words, Hong Fan seems to stroke his beard, then nods.
"Then, if you come to know my situation well, do you mean you would be able to judge my ruse?"
"It would seem so, would it not?"
"...I see."
Hong Fan seems to nod.
And then, he opens his mouth again.
"As expected, it is best that I tell you now."
"Mm?"
"Just one thing. Will you hear a story?"
"A story...?"
"Yes."
I slowly enter the Heavenly Void Furnace, lean my body against the inner wall of the Heavenly Void Furnace, and hear the voice of Hong Fan who begins the story from outside
"It is a story about the fairy tales spread throughout this world. Master must have seen them a few times as well."
"Ah...I know them. Are you speaking of those tales that contain the lesson that sincerity moves the heavens?"
I immediately recall those tales I saw in the Cheongmun Clan's archives and ask.
"Yes. That is right."
"Yes, they are things I read with some enjoyment. They are didactic, and do they not all end with good endings."
"...Good ending, huh...?"
Hong Fan somehow seems to laugh self-mockingly.
"...Old stories are originally cruel. But reality can be even more cruel... By any chance, have you ever looked up the original text?"
"Original text? Are the ones I saw not the original text...? Hm..."
I feel puzzled, but at Hong Fan's words that 'old stories are originally cruel' I recall the stories I saw.
'Even if the middle has cruel parts...the endings are not cruel.'
If so, what I saw is not the original text that Hong Fan speaks of.
"It seems I have not."
"You have not, you say? Haw haw..."
He chuckles heartily, then opens his mouth in a voice like a grandfather telling old tales.
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, Hong Fan's voice resounds.
"Then I shall tell you. The original text I know...goes like this. First...the protagonists of those stories are all one person."
"Hoh...?"
From Hong Fan's mouth, the story about the original text of the tales I saw flows out.
Chapter 1.
The story of a boy who brings a carp in winter for his mother.
"They say the boy did not save his mother. When he got the carp and returned home, his mother was already dead, whether frozen to death in the cold winter or starved to death, no one knows."
Chapter 2.
The story of a blind man who prays to the heavens again and again and regains his sight.
"The boy who lost his mother, even in that situation, was hungry, and ate the carp, fell ill, and his eyes rotted away. Though he prayed to the heavens, the heavens did not answer."
The heavens did not answer.
Because there is a part I empathise with...
My chest feels tight.
"So he tried to live by joining forces with his leg-crippled friend, but the leg-crippled friend betrayed the eye-crippled boy, stole the mother's keepsakes, and, caught trying to sell them to a merchant, was killed by the eye-crippled boy.
"In the end, not receiving an answer from the heavens, the eye-crippled learned, by his own talent, the way to feel the flow of Heaven and Earth and to sense people's hostility, coming to know the world."
"...?"
As I listen to the explanation of the original text of those fairy tales, I feel a strange sensation.
'Did he become a peak master...?'
It is a fairy tale that is more realistic than I expected.
As I listen to Hong Fan, it feels as if this is not merely a fairy tale but someone's written account.
Chapter 3.
The story of a husband who, when his wife falls ill with a fatal disease, lights fire on the tip of his finger to cure her illness.
"The eye-crippled also became an adult. Wandering from village to village holding the knife with which he had killed his friend, he met a woman driven out for having leprosy, had his heart...stolen...was loved...and...married...
"Wanting to cure the leprosy...he roamed all the mountains and rivers...sought a way to cure leprosy, heard that if one lights fire beacons (烽火/Bong Hwa) on five mountain peaks the disease would be cured, searched and searched for the mountain peaks but could not find them, and returned home.
"But the moment he returned home, the house where the wife with leprosy lived was burned by thieves, and even as he burned his own hands he failed to save his wife and went mad."
"..."
'Why is it?'
Why is it?
The moment I hear Hong Fan's words, Seoak Village rises powerfully in my mind.
The older sister of the girl from Seoak Village.
'The woman who went to work at a noble house' keeps circling in my head for some reason.
'Why?'
But no matter how much I think, I cannot find the reason, and Hong Fan's story continues.
Chapter 4.
The story of a poor old man who gets a goblin cap and becomes rich.
"Thus he went mad, and at the same time gained the enlightenment of being forgotten by the world. In a state unseen by anyone, he went around killing people.
"Even people, monsters, spirits, and goblins...
"Whatever stood before him, all of them..."
'Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts?'
Somehow, what the protagonist of Hong Fan's story obtained seems like a principle similar to the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
But as I think, I realize there is a method even more similar than the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
'Star Extinguishing True Chapter?'
The Star Extinguishing True also a method of cutting connections with everyone and being forgotten.
In a way, it seems closer to the boy's way in the original text of that story than the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
No, not just seems close...
If it is that boy, he surely learned the Star Extinguishing True Chapter.
Chapter 5.
The story of a child who, driven from his hometown by schemes of a fox sister, met the Dragon King, heard the method to appease the fox sister, returned, and reconciled with the fox sister.
"The man who began to grow old met a fox.
"When the fox disguised herself as his wife and appeared before him, he thought, for the first time, that a miracle descended and rejoiced.
"Though he himself knew it was not real, even so he soothed his madness by believing it to be real.
"To the point that even if the fox set him up as her henchman and destroyed a nation, a continent, a star, he followed...
"There was no problem until the sacred Dragon King told him the truth. Even when the Dragon King told him the truth, if only the fox, suspicious of the eye-crippled, had not dug up the wife's grave and threatened him...
"It could have been a good ending. The eye-crippled split the fox apart into pieces and tore the body to shreds."
"Star...?"
At the depiction that the martial arts of the protagonist in the original text of the fairy tale seems to become ever more unfathomably high, I feel something strange.
And, for some reason.
At the same time as I hear the words about the 'fox,' the image of the girl in Seoak Village holding a storybook rises strongly before my eyes.
'What is this...?'
Chapter 6.
The story of an old man at the end of his lifespan who offers rituals to the heavens a thousand times and extends his lifespan.
"Before long, the old man's lifespan also ran out, and he offered a ritual to the heavens. He linked countless stars to stars, and with that he drew a formation and performed a ritual."
By the time I hear the sixth story,
For some reason I feel unbearably sleepy.
Hong Fan's voice buzzes and hums, as if it rings from some far-off place.
—It was not a ritual to extend lifespan.
—Just a ritual begging, and begging...
—For his next life to stop making him miserable.
—The ritual did not come true.
—Why would the lofty heavens have any interest in such a mere bug?
—The eye-crippled only wasted his time for nothing, and ended up croaking like that.
—This...is the original text of the story.
I hear all the originals of the stories up to Chapter 6.
However, I remember that the story has about one more chapter.
'Chapter 7...The story where the luckless child meets the Jade Emperor and goes to ask why he is without luck...'
I'm sleepy, so let's hear about it tomorrow outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
That's what I try to say...
But my mouth does not open.
In the end, I cannot even part my lips inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, and I pass out and enter meditation.
And into my ear as I lose consciousness, Hong Fan's voice comes.
—Chapter 7. The eye-crippled thus...performed the ritual and died. And. The eye-crippled opened his eyes again. On the very morning of the day his mother passed away. That is right. That was...
The eye-crippled's first return (回歸).
"...Hong Fan, are you there?"
"..."
I open my eyes inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
For some reason, the upper opening of the Heavenly Void Furnace looks bright.
No answer comes, and I go outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
At that moment,
Hwioooooooo—
"Heok...!"
It is cold!
Countless cold waves are raging.
I am wearing worn-out straw shoes and frayed clothes, in the middle of leaving the house.
"Hat...!"
When I look back, inside the house that is about to collapse, Mother is coughing.
"Fish...I want...to eat fish..."
"Yes, Mother. I will bring it to you. Please endure just a little."
I close the door and, piercing through the blizzard, go to the riverside.
Huuuk...huk...
My breath puffs out.
'What was that just now?'
Just now it felt like I had a strange dream.
Ping—
"...?"
In that instant, a light like a green firefly flies before my eyes, then enters into my chest.
I blink, and soon I realize I saw wrong.
'I've gone so long without eating that I'm seeing things.'
Throb—
For some reason...
After I see that green light, odd words like [Heavenly Void Furnace], [chaos], [the me of before] flicker and fade from my head.
But that is not important now.
I hurriedly rush to the riverside.
'Fish...fish...'
But even if I try to catch fish, the river is frozen solid, so I cannot catch anything.
'Decide quickly.'
I don't fidget my feet foolishly.
If there is no method, I have to make one.
"Huuuuuk!"
I draw in a full breath, then take off my clothes and, with my bare body, cling to the ice at the riverside and start melting the ice.
"Huuuuuk, huuuuuuup... Huuuuuk!"
I widen the interval between inhalation and exhalation.
I lead my breathing to the dantian, and I send the strength carried in the breath through the four limbs and hundred joints to make heat.
From long ago, I became adept at methods of controlling breath and making the body healthy or raising heat through it.
It is cold enough to die, but when I regulate my breathing and make heat in my body, it changes from 'so cold I could die' to 'so cold I could go crazy', so it is fine.
I plan to melt the ice as is, catch fish, and give it to Mother.
But at that moment,
Kwagwagwang!
Suddenly the ice in the area I am melting splits.
I let out a short scream and fall into the icy water, and in that instant, the cold ice water enters my nose and mouth and blocks my breathing.
With my breathing blocked I fall into panic, and heat does not get generated in my body.
As a result, I lose consciousness for a very brief moment.
*
It feels like I am dreaming.
In the dream, I feel countless green lights fly and cling to me.
The green lights each carry a rule and memories.
Countless rules tangle roughly together...
And at last, they complete the memories of the existence called [me], and succeed in transmission.
[I] finally find my memories again.
'Ah...!'
Not only the memories, but the energy and authority contained in the countless green lights are all absorbed...
And they make me into an existence like a True Immortal.
'This place is...'
This place is the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I realize that the chaos in this prison changed into some 'story' and dragged my mind into the story.
'Why did such 'stories' suddenly appear inside the Heavenly Void Furnace...?'
In an instant, by the transmission of the swarm of green lights, I recover all the memories and authority of [the me until now], and before long I gain insight into what situation this is.
: : I see. Hong Fan... : :
It is Hong Fan.
By telling me a story, he activated the 'stories' dissolved in the chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Through the words Hong Fan spoke before I entered the Heavenly Void Furnace...
At last, I realize who is the true culprit who made me enter this Heavenly Void Furnace.
: : You... Are you the one who pushed me into this place and gave me pain? : :
If so, the reason this story suddenly appeared before me.
And who the protagonist of this story is can also be inferred through Hong Fan.
The protagonist of that story is Hong Fan.
: : Hong Fan... : :
At first, I feel a sense of betrayal, but recalling the words I myself said to Hong Fan before entering the Heavenly Void Furnace, I close my eyes.
: : I understand. Then...I will watch your story. : :
Just why did Hong Fan push me into this place?
Just what kind of life has Hong Fan lived?
If I know that...
Will I forgive Hong Fan, or fail to forgive him and cut my connection with him?
I myself do not know.
All I can do is only...
Immerse myself in Hong Fan's story, activated within the chaos of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
One hundred years in real time since I began using the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Hundreds of billions of years of suffering inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
At the end of that time that seems like eternity,
I begin for the first time to view the story about Hong Fan's previous life...
And I am drawn into his story.