Chapter 801: A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation
Kagagagak— Kaang!
The funeral dirge of the Obsidian Devil Heavenly King that has been holding back regression until now bursts forth.
Starting with that, Silver Basket's Divine Art bursts forth.
Divine Arts are stories.
The Future King's story devours the stories of lower grades.
'The activation conditions of the Divine Art are...'
Probably everything that directly opposes all acts by which the Future King raises the Underworld to the position of the Creator God.
All existences that prevent the Future King from enforcing the story!
In other words...
'All of us.'
The conditions are meaningless for now.
For now, right this moment, we have to match at least the minimum grade that can oppose the Future King, who has brought along his full strength along with the Absolute of Fate.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Second Technique.
—Applied Technique.
The applied technique is simple.
It is simply repeating the second move, King, a whole lot.
—Lord (君).
A downpour of slashes comes pouring down.
Black streaks of rain crash down, become a waterfall, and target us.
We scatter and evade, but among the Enders, one of those whose feet are slow and cannot get away in time takes the technique head-on.
Flash!
Within the endlessly descending slashes, the Ender who cannot dodge has their body vanish just like that, and their connection is severed.
The endlessly continuing slashes tear out even history, throws it away as ancient force, erases it, and only leaves behind the Ender's pure soul.
The soul that was originally born by the Absolute of Miracle has even its connection with that Absolute cut, and from the state as a soul it turns into a single strand of the Creator God's will.
That's right.
In a word, the Ender who takes the direct hit has everything about them swept away on the spot and turned into Origin Essence.
Even without authorities like Origin Essence Creation or mantras, it is a vicious technique that simply, cleanly, by bringing down countless slashes, turns the opponent's soul into Origin Essence.
At that vicious power everyone freezes, and I raise my tension.
'He is using it merely as a warm-up because he just got up from meditation.'
It is nothing more than making a stiff body move a little more actively.
He does not even accompany it with the Divine Art.
The effect of his Divine Art is surely very simple.
'The strongest.'
It is simply to become the strongest and the summit that cannot be reached.
'If he starts using the Divine Arts in earnest, we will be annihilated.'
Before that, I have to become, somehow or another, the Owner of Miracles.
'But, I am still one step short...!'
In order to become the Owner of Miracles, to avoid being devoured by the Absolute, I am still one step short.
I need a great feat to fulfill it.
Of course, given the present situation, it is easy to achieve the great feat.
The being who grasped the Origin Essence of Fate.
Because the Future King is here.
If there is even a single True Emperor, it is natural that the Emperors that follow after have it a bit easier to advance.
That is because through a True Emperor it becomes easier to accumulate great feats.
'If, at the present difference in rank, I can at least scratch the Future King...'
Even an achievement of that level is fully enough to be an achievement to seize the Absolute, and enough to advance to a True Emperor.
But to pierce through the Divine Arts and put a scratch on the Future King, the minimum rank is necessary.
Yet to raise the rank, one must advance to True Emperor, and to advance, one must inflict a scratch.
'There is one method, but...'
Because I don't know whether it is right to reveal the hidden move already, I can't help but hesitate for an instant.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Second Move.
—Applied Profundity.
—Emperor (帝).
The Future King's sword sweeps away yet another Ender and turns them into Origin Essence.
The principle that makes the downward cut powerful is receiving the help of gravity.
If one can strengthen the slash through attraction force, then no matter where one swings it, it is a downward cut.
Therefore, he swings the Emptiness Sword horizontally, grants it the attraction force of Fate, lets Origin Essence dwell in the Emptiness Sword, and in a single moment makes that slash into an existence like a Supreme Deity.
Quite literally, a soul dwells in the sword, and it becomes a vicious strike that will once again split apart the entire gestation world and come flying toward us.
'Fine. Let's use it...!'
In any case, in the present situation, if I do not use it, it is annihilation.
It is when I am about to use the move I have kept hidden.
Kuuung!
Spacetime shatters.
At the same time, from that place, a light pink arm appears.
It is the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord, who was sealed by Hyeon Mu through the Heavenly Void Furnace's spell.
Wooo-woooong!
"...Huh?"
And I cannot help but widen my eyes as I see the Vast Cold Heavenly Lord block the Future King's technique with a single arm.
Kugugugung!
The Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King descends into the present world once again.
And...
Across their whole body, what we have not seen before rises up.
They are things that have no connection at all with Vast Cold.
Kiiiiiiiing!
Its name is the Imperial Throne Circuit.
It is the apex of the circuit system that Bong Myeong made.
Kim Yeon did not simply keep Vast Cold's body safe and return it to them.
Naturally, she returned it only after finishing the maximum performance enhancement she could do.
Perhaps they have taken some time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace in order to get used to the Imperial Throne Circuit.
With circuits shining all over their body, Vast Cold grabs the Future King's Emptiness Sword with their bare hand and starts to rise from their position.
Tudududuuk—
When the Future King starts to be pushed back by Vast Cold in terms of physical strength, he begins to regain the advantage by using the attraction force of fate together.
But in the next instant,
I receive Vast Cold's will and provide them with what they need.
Chwaaaaa—
The Imperial Throne Circuit is a circuit that operates on star vein formations.
As the Owner of Myriad Stars, I connect to Vast Cold the star veins of countless stars that are whirling inside my body.
'I am the Owner of Myriad Stars.'
Something like star vein formations, I can draw out in almost infinite amounts.
"Vast Cold! Receive this!"
Kugugugugu!
Countless star vein formations all at once connect to Vast Cold's circuits.
At the same time, Vast Cold uses all their strength to knock away the Future King's Emptiness Sword for a brief moment.
Immediately after, they suddenly kneel.
Then they put their two hands together and bow their head solemnly.
It is a posture of prayer.
Teok—
Seeing this, the Future King activates his Divine Art.
The Divine Art settles into the Emptiness Sword.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Fourth Move.
—Applied Technique.
—Net (羅).
Jjeoooooong!
He scatters slashes that use repulsion force crisscrossing in all directions, and with terrifying repulsion force, he tries to knock Vast Cold away entirely to a different otherworld.
Normally, with even his Divine Art added in, it'd only be natural for Vast Cold to be blown away from this palace.
However, I witness an unbelievable sight.
Cheok, cheok, cheok!
Behind Vast Cold's back.
Three silhouettes appear.
[Hoho...Daoists. We will take it from here on for a short while.]
A man who oddly seems to resemble Seo Hweol, but has a much more peaceful air.
A muscular man with blue hair and strong features.
A being in a purple robe shrouded in black.
Of the symbols of Longevity, Wealth, Health, and Love of Virtue that have been behind Vast Cold's back, the projections of the divine spirits corresponding to Wealth, Health, and Love of Virtue appear in this place.
Perhaps because Yu Soo-ryeon, the Seat Holder of Good, still has her life attached in the Head Realm, her projection does not come.
However, that seems to be enough.
Kikikikikik—
The activation of the Divine Art becomes blurry for a short moment.
Jjeoooooong!
Vast Cold's whole body is torn apart by the technique of [Net].
However, that is purely the power of the Emptiness Sword.
The power of the Divine Art is gone!
Only now do I understand why Vast Cold went out of their way to bring four at the Immortal Lord level into the Audience Chamber.
When the Five Blessings Immortals gather, although only for a short time, they hinder the activation of the Divine Art.
'What is the principle!?'
Through the insight of a Supreme Deity, I grasp that this is not simply a special ability unique to the Five Blessings.
Vast Cold, through some property the Five Blessings possess, precisely pierced one of the weaknesses that the Future King's Divine Art has, and through it, they hindered the effect of the Divine Art!
In other words,
If I know the principle, I can do it too.
'I have to figure out the principle. But the Five Blessings Immortals who are actually helping Vast Cold seem not to know the exact principle...and Vast Cold themselves is currently forbidden from speaking...'
"It is happiness."
But, making my worries meaningless, the Underworld from behind immediately tells me the correct answer.
Come to think of it, there is no way the Underworld, who lent the Five Blessings Immortals to Vast Cold, does not know.
"By means of the happiness that has almost never existed even if you search through his entire life, they nullify the activation condition itself. They momentarily deceive the story into thinking they have come not to oppose him, but to bring him happiness."
Kugugugung!
The stature of the Underworld gradually grows larger.
The Future King has transformed into the very colossal darkness and attraction force that could hold Mount Sumeru in one hand.
As she grows to a size similar to that Fate Supreme Deity, she looks at Hong Fan with eyes in which many emotions are mixed.
"The gods of the otherworlds cannot attempt it even if they bring the happiness of the otherworld, and it is something that can only be attempted with the Origin Essence of the Five Blessings, which symbolizes the very fortune and virtue of the same world. However...in the end, the Origin Essence of Blessings is just a symbol. Since it does not actually give happiness, it will unravel before long. Do what you are trying to do."
"...Yes."
I take my eyes off Vast Cold nullifying the Divine Art and once again take my stance.
I let the Impermanence Sword hang down and grip it with both hands.
I settle the profundity of the dull sword onto the blade and focus power into the sword.
Because they say the profound meaning of the swift sword is speed, people think the profound meaning of the dull sword, its opposite, is slowness.
But that is not so.
The profound meaning of the dull sword is not slowness, but 'precision' and 'concentration of power'.
Because the placement of accuracy and power on the sword is more important than the sword speed, it is called a dull sword as it is slightly slower.
It is by no means a sword whose essence lies is slowness.
I grip the sword with a focus that surpasses all concentration I have ever shown until now and, as I prepare the dull sword, I speak.
"Please, whoever it may be, help so that I can land a single blow."
This is the very ultimate technique that just recently struck down [Hope].
"Even on the Future King, if it can land, it can have an impact."
Kwarurung!
Two bolts of lightning fall down beside me.
One is the Heavenly King Jeon Myeong-hoon.
The other is the Immortal Lord Yang Su-jin.
The two Lightning Immortals, spilling red lightning and golden lightning, meet my eyes and nod.
"I...will try to hold him even for a single instant."
Jeon Myeong-hoon says he will hold the Future King, and Yang Su-jin looks at me with solemn eyes.
"..."
I do not have the focus to read Indra's Net, so I can't tell what he means, but fortunately, a familiar voice interprets for me.
Flap flap—
Golden Shaking Bird, having taken the form of a hummingbird, receives his will and speaks with the happiest face in the world from Yang Su-jin's shoulder.
"'I will bring you forward!' he says!"
I send a signal of thanks with a glance, then once again concentrate my whole mind on the sword.
The joint attacks of countless Enders continue.
One of the former Agates fires countless Seed Plot of Disjunctions at the Future King.
A former Lapis Lazuli, who has learned a splendid derivative Star Extinguishing True Chapter called Black Fall Converging to One, Returning to Dao, Heaven-Breaking Star Extinguishing True Chapter, binds the Future King's feet with an enormous barrage of curses.
Kim Young-hoon borrows Oh Hyun-seok's body and draws the Future King's attention.
And, joining forces with the former Golden Divines, every time he tries to use the Splitting Heaven Mantra, they nullify the Splitting Heaven Mantra right before it activates.
Kang Min-hee sits demurely in place, slices her palm with a silver dagger, and lets blood flow.
Black blood flows out from her palm and stains the surroundings like ink.
She lifts a brush and draws something on the floor.
It is a kind of taenghwa.
And the very moment she completes the taenghwa in an instant,
Swaaaaaa—
With a tranquil tone, something begins to rise up from beneath the ink that has dyed the area around her.
They are pavilions.
At the same time, there are certain statues, and there are certain iron-barred prisons.
There are houses of ordinary villages, and there are also splendid buildings that look like imperial palaces.
And...
Things like modern amusement parks, utterly out of place, also come into view.
Abandoned carousels and abandoned Ferris wheels begin to turn in a bizarre atmosphere.
What it is, is clear.
Kang Min-hee is summoning forth all the legacies of the former Lapis Lazulis that have been used as vessels to hold the Underworld's sorrow.
From a place that looks like a modern school, countless monstrosities pour out.
The former Lapis Lazuli Jeong Shin goes above the school building, shakes their disheveled hair, and lets out a wail.
The monstrosities pouring out of the school carry curses on their backs and rampage even more madly.
Most of the legacies of Lapis Lazulis are gloomy and uncanny, giving the feeling of an eerie ghost city.
At the center of that ghost city, Kang Min-hee opens her mouth.
"Master. And everyone...I will protect you."
Using the Underworld's sorrow as power,
Using the legacies of the former Lapis Lazulis as a medium,
And, using Kang Min-hee's own mantra Falling Flower and her inherent authority, she sweeps her brush through the void.
The Flawless Mantra draws a dark blue circle behind Kang Min-hee and spreads her will.
—I shall protect you.
The next moment, dark blue circles briefly appear and vanish around the bodies of everyone fighting present.
The mantra Falling Flower, which drops the opponent into an otherworld governed by laws she has set, overlaps with the ghost city summoned by Kang Min-hee.
In the next moment, one Ender takes a direct hit from the Future King.
Originally, they should have become Origin Essence, but that Ender remains unscathed.
Tukwaaaang!
Instead, one of the buildings inside the ghost city and the Falling Flower that Kang Min-hee has unfolded collapses completely.
She has taken the ghost city she has called forth and made it into a warding doll, sending the Future King's blows instead into the ghost city overlaid with Falling Flower, where she can weaken them at will.
All the Enders who realize this let their fighting spirits blaze.
As long as Kang Min-hee is here.
Until that ghost city is completely blown away, they are practically no different from undying.
—Fate.
—Truth Manipulation.
Eujiik—
In the end, he summons Oh Hye-seo in an instant and uses her as an Immortal Treasure to briefly revise reality.
We are all sucked at once into an otherworld made of darkness.
But in the next moment.
—Authority.
—Primal Chaos World.
Oh Hyun-seok's authority activates in response and converts the reality the Future King has toyed with into a dream.
'We will win.'
The passion and fervor of countless people burst forth toward the Future King.
Because their fervor is so immense, and because each of them, in their own position, are doing their very best with such passion...
It makes me think that maybe, truly, everyone together might be able to defeat him.
Of course, he neither wildly fires Hope nor enforces debts from those who have gained from the Immortal Cultivation system, and perhaps because he is mindful of the Underworld and wants to conserve his strength, he reveals and uses only the attraction force of fate as power, even holding back authorities such as fate manipulation and future rewriting.
On top of that, he has not yet taken out his final Immortal Treasure.
Moreover, the Divine Art is also about to soon return.
However, as I prepare an upward slash with desperate concentration, I believe.
We cannot win without sacrifices.
But...
We will definitely win.
Because there is something we exchanged between us in the 16th cycle.
As long as that exists, I neither lose, nor can I lose.
No, even if I am defeated on the surface, it is fine.
'For as long as that technique exists, you can no longer...be an untouchable absolute one.'
16th cycle.
Flutter, flutter, flutter...
The Primordial Chaos world inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Within it, I finally see all stories come to an end.
Of course, I do not manage to read all of the thirteenth chapter, [A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation].
But from the start, that one signifies the world in which the utopia Hong Fan desires is completed.
It is a future that has not yet arrived.
I come to know the entire truth.
"Now do you understand?"
Hong Fan looks down at me with an expressionless face.
"I am your parent. I am the source that has bestowed all misfortune upon you. You are nothing more than puppets and tools, and no meaningful ending exists for you."
He speaks.
"Yet even so, do you say you can maintain the connection with me? What is this 'middle path' you speak of? What is this 'balance'? I have given you nothing but pure malice. So feel comfortable resenting me."
For a long while, I cannot pull myself together.
It is too enormous a truth.
And yet...
Why is it?
Even amidst that confusion, I somehow can find calm.
Hong Fan is a great madman.
And he is also a great villain.
So immense a being that unless one is a transcendent, one cannot even comprehend that evil and that madness.
That is the existence called Hong Fan Gu Ju.
And I am a small human.
Compared to Hong Fan, I am so small and petty that...
I cannot accept that immense malice as mere malice alone.
I calmly ask him a question.
"...Are you saying that truly everything is your will? Even a single grain of sand?"
"Yes. You merely live inside my malice."
Hong Fan's cold words.
They are too overwhelmingly immense a truth and too bewildering an information.
"...Then..."
So, what I can do right now is not to judge that vast immensity, but only to speak what I feel.
"...Even my house's seed soy sauce and herbal liquor ripening so deliciously?"
"..."
They are words that do not come out after passing through thought, but just come out as I feel in my chest.
Is that why?
As if he could not anticipate them at all despite being able to read my thoughts, he does not answer.
"Even the Ju family's daughter being born safely?"
"..."
"...Even the rice cakes that we ate at my eightieth-birthday feast being unusually delicious?"
"..."
"...Even the smell of the boiled potatoes that the Ju family daughter brought before I died being savory and pleasant to smell?"
People tend to remember only the bad things.
But...
If one looks for them, life is something that has this many things to be grateful for.
In front of me, Hong Fan speaks about great evil.
However, I have nothing to say besides these simple things.
"...Thank you for letting me breathe."
Only today do I begin to confess in front of Lord Heavens that I have, even if only regarding simple things, been thankful.
"Thank you for letting me see the light."
I certainly resent the Heavens.
But it does not end with that.
A person's heart is strange, in that it resents, yet also gives thanks for the good it is given.
"Thank you for sending down rain.
"Thank you for letting me be born with a fuller head of hair than Kim Young-hoon.
"Thank you for letting me be born better-looking than Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"Thank you for letting me be born into a good household.
"Thank you for letting me live a normal life.
"Thank you for letting me tread upon a land full of fun things.
"Thank you for letting me learn martial arts.
"Thank you for gifting me disciples.
"Thank you for letting me meet my master.
"Thank you for letting me meet the people I love.
"Thank you for letting me join good sects.
"Thank you for listening well to my teachings.
"Thank you for giving me countless opportunities.
"Thank you for letting me regress.
"Thank you...for opening up and telling me your story.
"Thank you for letting me speak with you now."
I look into Hong Fan's eyes and smile with clear eyes.
Looking at me like this, Hong Fan, who has only my head left resting on his hand, restores my body and takes his hand off me.
"With such clear eyes. You are mad."
"I am not mad. I have chosen."
Only now do I feel like I understand why Hong Fan did not fix my future but left it so that I can make a choice.
As I speak, my head becomes organized.
Martial Arts as well.
What is called the heart, what is called connection as well.
In the end, all of them are about choosing and advancing while keeping balance between the two extremes.
In front of the Heavens, I proclaim my will.
"From now on as well, I will keep choosing this path, Hong Fan. Surely, as I go on living, there will be times when I resent the heavens, when I resent you. But I will not lose the heart that trusts you. And within that balance...in the end, I will definitely choose the heart that is thankful to you."
"...Even if there comes a time when you must kill me?"
He looks at me and asks.
"I am your ending. Unless you surpass me, you can never continue your life."
"Can't I find a way not to kill you?"
"If I thrust a blade at you right now, do you have the confidence not to kill me?"
He looks at me with black eyes and asks.
"Your ideal is admirable, but realizing it is a different matter. If I seize you and kill you, and tear apart all your comrades and precious connections, can you still dare to say to me that you are thankful?"
"..."
"It is fine for a dog raised for slaughter to wag its tail at its owner, but can it keep that heart all the way until the moment the owner slaughters it? And if it does keep it even as it is slaughtered, just what meaning does that even have?"
"...Right."
"..."
"..."
At my irresponsible answer, Hong Fan seems dumbfounded.
"But whether the dog wags its tail or not, why would the butcher care about that? Do you perhaps remember these things every time you slaughter?"
"..."
"Whether the dog wags its tail is for the dog to decide, not for the one who kills it. You ask what kind of heart I will have if you kill me and rip my comrades to pieces? I don't know either, Hong Fan."
I give a simple and clear answer.
"I will only know when I get there then."
And then, light enters Hong Fan's eyes.
In those eyes that have been expressionless and without feeling, it is an anger that enters for the first time.
"Just why...do you refuse to prepare for the future? Why do you refuse to think of tomorrow?"
It is the same pattern as the conversation I shared with Hong Fan in the early parts of this life.
"Did you not say with your own mouth that you choose the option of being thankful no matter what happens? Just why, despite knowing full well that the ending is you dying by my hand, do you harbor that delusion of choosing such an option and spout such nonsense!? And saying that you will only know what you think once you reach the ending, just what kind of sophistry is that!?"
"I don't know about that kind of stuff. What is certain is that, at least when I think about it right now, there are quite a lot of things I am grateful to you for."
"Are you saying that even when the time comes for you to die by my hand, you can still say such a thing?"
"When you die, do you think only one thought comes to mind? Of course all sorts of thoughts come. You've only died three times, so you don't even really know what kind of thoughts you have when you die, do you!? I've died sixteen times! When I die, I'll have things I'm grateful to you for, and things that are dogshit, and do you think I'll only think of you? Won't I also think of the many people who are meaningful to me!?"
"What is this...? Why, why do only such short-sighted, brat-like answers come out of you!?"
"...Because you're a brat."
I speak seriously to Hong Fan.
"When you were showing me your memories yourself. When even you, inside your own memories, thought of yourself as a whining little child...just what answer were you expecting from me?"
I continue speaking.
"The Mad Lord has the Mad Lord's logic. Seo Hweol has Seo Hweol's logic. I also have my own logic...so you, a child, must also have a child's own logic. I am only returning it around and showing it to you. To speak of it clearly, right now, I am thankful to you. I want to give you my thanks.
"I don't care about things like the future. When that time comes, all kinds of thoughts will come. But I do not move after deciding in advance what I will think. Where in all the world is there a human who decides their heart while thinking about what kind of heart they will have in the future?
"You, when you were young, did you ever imagine that you would fail to find an answer in the end, decide to become the answer, and become crushed by that weight? Are the thoughts of that time and the thoughts of now, the heart of that time and the heart of now, the same?"
"..."
"I only go on connecting these countless 'now's and feel thankful. Of course, there are many contradictions in my story as well, but you have no right to point out my contradictions. Because you are already a lump of contradictions yourself."
"...Truly...you have nothing decided. You are vague, uncertain, and irrational."
Hong Fan looks at me with eyes that say he finds me repulsive.
"No one can lean on you."
"Why do you talk only about leaning? It's enough if we just lie down together. If we can't lie down, isn't it enough if we just stand holding hands together?"
"Since you have no plan at all, everything you do will fail. Even if you make plans, every one of them will fail, and when the time comes you will comfort yourself, saying you are just pulling your heart together."
"In life, having failures pile up is normal. Only after failures and failures accumulate and accumulate to form a mountain, only then does one thing barely come to fruition...that is life."
"In a life filled only with failure, what can you possibly give to others? Just what can you prove in front of me? Your tongue moves well, but how do you prove that all of it is not just words? What will you do if you only repeat failure until life ends?"
"In that case...I just have to ask. To please help me."
"..."
"Since when do we live in the world alone? If I seem like I am going to die while failing...I can ask someone who doesn't seem like they will die to help me a bit. If I have nothing to give others...then I can just receive a bit? If I can't prove it myself, then I can at least leave some traces behind, and someday someone else might prove it for me?"
Hong Fan clenches his fist.
"How irresponsible."
"It can also be called hopeful."
"...!"
"Cutting off all connections, deciding everything self-righteously, trying to bear responsibility all alone and going insane under that weight...talking about finding some hope that will come in the future, or whatever... Rather than your hope, which seeks hope while you yourself shatter all possibilities with your own hands...my side is closer to real hope, isn't it?"
"..."
"Hong Fan. There is something I thought as I watched your life. You have spent your whole life only giving. There were almost no times when you readily received something from someone. Even in such times, you always repaid with a reward to an excessive degree, so you probably have no debts at all. But, Hong Fan,"
At last, for the first time, Hong Fan avoids meeting my gaze.
"You...when it comes to receiving something from someone. You are afraid of it, aren't you?"
For a moment, Hong Fan falls silent.
Then he turns his back to me.
"...You are good with your tongue. I have not just seen one or two existences like you."
"Among the Enders, am I not the first one who has failed to awaken my fate this far?"
I tease Hong Fan in a friendly way, and Hong Fan only speaks in a dry, emotionless tone without answering.
"Those words, I can hear from anyone. Enough. This generation is all defective because of you alone, so I will just discard it later."
"In that case, I just have to prove it with actions, don't I?"
"Someone like you?"
"Someone like me."
Hong Fan looks back at me.
I smile gently and hold out my hand.
"Because I kept watching and rewatching your story...I did not manage to raise my weight class and rank as a transcendent. But...in the meantime I have polished and polished my heart and have reached the domain of purity. I have endlessly honed the Formless Sword to a clarity."
"..."
"It is a sword I hone while watching your story so that I could reach you. Please, take a hit from it once. With that, I will prove that my words are not just words."
For a while, we keep our eyes locked.
There is no expectation in his eyes.
They are merely eyes that look as if he is looking at a bug.
"If you have spent hundreds of millions of years in the Heavenly Void Furnace, a domain of purity is not all that difficult. At best it is only the realm of Udumbara, so what is so good about it that you boast of it in front of me?"
He turns his head away again and begins to transform into a swarm of insects and scatter.
He is leaving the Heavenly Void Furnace.
"Enough. I have wasted my time. Since my reason has sufficiently recovered, when you die in this life, I will retrieve the Radiance Mantra and then retrieve the fragments of Miracle one by one.
"If you at least showed some sprout, I was thinking of forcing an awakening as a Heavenly King through the clone that replaces your fate...but all I have learned is that you are the worst Obsidian.
"Because you are the one who swallowed my consciousness, I felt a bit of interest, but that is now broken."
Tsuaaaaa—
As he is fading away inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, he merely throws out one quiet line.
"If you have no more miracles to show, be replaced and wither away to death inside the Heavenly Void Furnace."
Shururuk—
With those words, Hong Fan disappears.
I gaze at the Primordial Chaos world from which he has vanished.
And then I grin.
"Those words mean that if [the current me] can go out beyond the Heavenly Void Furnace...you might take at least a little interest, right?"
Woo-woooong—
At my muttering...
The voice of someone that has until now been pressed down at the very bottom of the Heavenly Void Furnace by the presence of the Future King wells up.
"The Heavenly Void Furnace is a relic of the Creator God. If you have seen the memories, you know that, do you not? As you are now, you can never escape it by your own power."
"Hahaha..."
I give a small smile to that Heavenly Venerable of Purity who gives me teachings.
"I know that too. But...if it is not by my own power, it seems there is a way."
"Heh heh heh..."
He laughs.
"A heart that does not give up is good as well. You are what they call a regressor, yes? If you cause a miracle this time, avoid having the Radiance Mantra taken back, and succeed in regressing once more...there is a possibility that you can reach the Audience Chamber, so I will seriously consider taking you as a disciple."
"That is an honor. But...if I become your disciple, elder, what exactly would be good about it?"
I know that they are an amazing person, but because I cannot know exactly what kind of person they are, it is just a bit frustrating.
"My foolish disciple will take care of you."
"Mm..."
For some reason I get an ominous feeling, but in any case, I cannot leave the Heavenly Void Furnace right now and prove anything to Hong Fan, so I decide to think about it later.
"Anyway...what is the way to get out?"
"The Primordial Chaos world of the Heavenly Void Furnace corresponds to the chaos of the Outer Sea."
"This place called the Outer Sea is..."
I learn a bit more in detail about the structure of this gestation world from the Heavenly Venerable of Purity.
I have more or less known by looking at Hong Fan's memories, but when I hear the detailed explanation, I understand it even better.
"So...according to your words, Heavenly Venerable, the inside of this Heavenly Void Furnace is a schematization of the entire gestation world?"
"Yes. You can say it is a reduced form of the entire gestation world. The walls of the Heavenly Void Furnace are the boundary of Cakravāda. The Primordial Chaos world inside the Heavenly Void Furnace is the Outer Sea. And the vortex of Primordial Chaos at the center of the Heavenly Void Furnace can be seen as Mount Sumeru. The fact that the entire world is maintained by the Three Absolutes is expressed as the three legs that support the brazier."
The Heavenly Venerable of Purity continues speaking.
"Back in the days of the Radiance Ten Heavens Heavenly Lords, I worked together with Torch Candle to manipulate the Heavenly Void Furnace in order to hunt Enders, so there are things I know. If you observe the flow of this Heavenly Void Furnace, you can also know the current locations of the Absolutes."
The voice of the Heavenly Venerable of Purity guides me along the flow that corresponds to Mount Sumeru at the center of the Heavenly Void Furnace.
"Hoh..."
When I try operating several formulas following the words of the Heavenly Venerable of Purity, I can see new things.
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, within the vortex that takes the shape of Mount Sumeru, I feel strange vibrations at seven spots of the Indra's Net.
I instinctively can tell that those seven vibrations are the current locations of my comrades.
"The magnitude of the vibration shows what kind of influence your companions are having on the Law of Causality. For now, it seems none of them are doing anything that stands out, so even Radiance Hall will only start pursuing much later."
They continue speaking.
"Anyway, like this, if you use a special secret method, you can sense an outside existence even from the inside."
"Is that so?"
"In that case...if you reverse-use this secret method, would you not also be able to send a signal from the inside to the outside."
"...!"
It is a logical yet amusing idea.
At the same time, I recall that there is someone among the people I know who comes up with ideas like this.
'This is the kind of idea Master would have.'
Master also always tears apart arts and spells, reverse-uses them, or inverts them, and often shows such acts.
"If you just learn this method, you will not merely be at the level of mixing into Torch Candle's mind and exploring the outside. You will not only be able to interfere with the Seat of Torch Candle itself...but perhaps...just maybe, you might even be able to obtain a seed of Divine Arts. And...it will also be possible to contact the most important one."
"By the most important one, you mean..."
"The Heavenly Venerable of Time."
The being that comes from the lips of the Heavenly Venerable of Purity seems, from the name alone, to be an enormous existence.
'So there really exists a Heavenly Venerable who rules over time!? Just how incredible a being are they supposed to be?'
Just from the name, they seem stronger than the Heavenly Venerable of Purity.
"...It is truly fortunate that my disciple cannot hear what you are thinking."
As if my thoughts somehow displease them, they click their tongue and continue explaining.
"That one is currently stuck to the boundary of Cakravāda, trying to disconnect with his main body's Gandhara. Pass on several of my messages to him and receive his help. If it is him, he will certainly help you get out."
"...! Thank you!"
I offer my thanks to the Heavenly Venerable of Purity and receive from them the method of affecting the chaos in the Outer Sea to send out signals.
"It is a technique for seizing control of chaos. I only teach it to my disciples, but since you are someone I like, I will teach it to you specially."
Woo-wooooong—
From that day on, I receive instruction from the Heavenly Venerable of Purity on how to seize the Primordial Chaos of the Primordial Chaos World, and I begin to seize it.
"If you seize the chaos and operate the seized chaos according to the formula I gave you, you will be able to move some of the chaos that corresponds to the Outer Sea and send signals."
Tsuaaaat!
As I seize chaos, I listen to their explanation about chaos.
"What do you think chaos is?"
"When I saw it in his memories...it seems to be the medium of creation, but honestly I do not really know. It just seems like a substance where the three planes are mixed..."
"Chaos is a 'story'."
"A story...you say? This thing where the three planes are mixed together...?"
"Yes. To begin with...what are you made of?"
"Well of course..."
I immediately understand what they are trying to say.
Every existence is made up of the planes of Qi, Soul, and Fate.
In that case, chaos in which the three planes are mixed together can also be seen as a kind of 'existence'.
"Are you saying this too is some kind of existence?"
"Wrong. All existence in truth is chaos. But then why is existence divided into chaos and existence that is not chaos."
Following their words, I operate the chaos according to the formula and can feel many things.
"It is something that has not been refined into a proper story. Something that only changes from moment to moment without any rules or laws. That is chaos. If you compare it to human consciousness, chaos is 'creativity'."
"Hoh..."
"If you polish that creativity and turn it into a story, you can even call it into reality. But until then, creativity is nothing more than delusion or a mere scrap of a dream. Something that has been refined out of chaos, turned into a story, and has acquired reality. That is exactly what 'existence' is."
Woo-wooong—
I handle and seize the chaos according to their words.
Outside the Heavenly Void Furnace, the time I have left is about a hundred years.
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, the time I have left is in the trillions of years.
During time that reaches into the trillions of years, I am able to seize chaos and come to understand it.
"When rules arise in chaos and logic accumulates layer upon layer, that itself is History, and it is Qi which governs the laws of the physical world.
"If, while the workings of chaos are endlessly changing, the shapes of those changes split apart one by one, those split fragments are emotions, and what makes those emotions gather and change into countless forms is exactly Soul.
"Lastly, if the flow of chaos is given a direction, that direction is Fate."
Logic and laws are Qi.
Form and change are Soul.
Direction is Fate.
On the basis of that logic, I treat chaos as unrefined creativity, and I handle it as a story.
"The realm called Supreme Deity is the realm where one inhales chaos, refines it into story, and grants it to the countless living beings and material spirits that come to live within one's consciousness. One grants the countless living spirits the diverse changes of emotion. One grants the countless material spirits bodies made of law. One grants many beings a direction to chase after."
"...I might not be able to reach Governing Immortal anyway, so why are you telling me this?"
"If you reach it in the future, you will end up grateful."
*
A vast amount of time passes.
The me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace, before I know it, is having my very fate itself replaced by Hong Fan, and under the blessing of the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity, my entire body is being transformed into lightning, my life force weakening as I age and die.
And the me inside the Heavenly Void Furnace, before I know it, receives the final teaching from the Heavenly Venerable of Purity and succeeds in seizing all the chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Kururung— Kugung!
In accordance with my breathing, the countless masses of chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace distort.
Countless, unrefined creative powers stir.
'So you stored it down beneath this.'
At the same time, I feel Hong Fan's 'story' hidden beneath those creative powers.
He has hidden information about his own past in the chaos inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
"In the past, that brat scattered his past throughout the vast chaos of the Outer Sea, so I had quite a hard time finding it. Tsk tsk, but after my time, he picked up all the scattered past and put in the inside the Heavenly Void Furnace and hid it away, so be thankful that you are able to read that guy's past at your leisure."
"...They are stories that would not have activated or been readable at all if he had not permitted it anyway."
Kururururur—
I handle the countless masses of chaos according to my will, chatting idly with the Heavenly Venerable of Purity to loosen my tension.
'Now...soon, the me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace will reach the end of his lifespan.'
Perhaps, when I leave the Heavenly Void Furnace this time, I may simply die.
Therefore, I must succeed this time.
I must surely succeed, pass all this consciousness and memory to the me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace, and show Hong Fan the sword I have forged.
"...Do you think you can succeed?"
The Heavenly Venerable of Purity asks as if worried.
"You only have one chance."
That is true.
In order to escape the Heavenly Void Furnace by the method the Heavenly Venerable of Purity has taught me, I also have to stake my existence.
All the rules I have accumulated while spending time in the Heavenly Void Furnace until now.
The powers and authorities.
I have to throw all of that away, seize a single instant of opportunity, and dash out.
And if I fail, I will simply vanish into nothingness.
Including everything I have built up in the Heavenly Void Furnace until now...
"..."
"..."
I think for a moment at the Heavenly Venerable of Purity's concern.
And then I smile faintly.
"Well. If I fail, I will think about it then. There is no reason to worry beforehand about a result when I have not even tried yet. Before trying, there is nothing to worry about, and if I try and fail and do die, I will not be able to worry anyway."
At my words, there is no answer from the Heavenly Venerable of Purity for a moment.
Only after a while do they burst into a warm, hearty laugh.
"You are better than I. It is a wise answer to a foolish question."
"Hahaha..."
Like that, I begin making preparations while conversing with the Heavenly Venerable of Purity.
Wooo-woooong—
The chaos of the Heavenly Void Furnace moves by my will.
At the same time, before I know it, the very essence of that chaos is caught within my grasp.
'Through this...'
Outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I will send a signal toward the vicinity of the Outer Sea!
Tsuaaaat!
The vicinity of the Outer Sea.
Towards the coordinates that I have heard from the Heavenly Venerable of Purity, where the being called the Heavenly Venerable of Time is said to be residing.
I move the chaos toward that place and send a signal.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
The chaos emits a secret sonic wave that only the Heavenly Venerables, excluding Hyeon Mu, know.
The sound wave changes into a code known only to the Heavenly Venerables, something even I cannot understand, and flows toward the Heavenly Venerable of Time.
The Heavenly Venerable of Purity keeps passing the code to me, and I write out the code just as the Heavenly Venerable of Purity recites it, sending a signal to the Heavenly Venerable of Time through the secret sonic wave.
After some time, the Heavenly Venerable of Purity seems to have said everything they want to convey to the Heavenly Venerable of Time through this code, and they speak no more.
And after a while,
Woo-woooong!
The far edge of the Outer Sea.
From the position inside the Heavenly Void Furnace corresponding to the coordinates of the place where the Heavenly Venerable of Time is, a 'vibration' resounds.
It is the Heavenly Venerable of Time divine descending the power of the Absolute and sending a signal through that power.
The moment they send it, the Heavenly Venerable of Purity shouts.
"Now! Go!"
"...I am grateful for everything."
Tsuaaaaaat!
Using that signal as the starting point, I begin to operate the formula the Heavenly Venerable of Purity has taught me.
"Farewell, Master."
Whether they acknowledge it or not, they are already my master.
Thus, I leave behind the Heavenly Venerable of Purity in the Heavenly Void Furnace, and, with the formula they have taught me,
Through the [Salt Sea Returning Dew Jade], I begin to soar from the center of the Heavenly Void Furnace, drawing a spiral.
Tsuaaaat!
By the formula, my green-glowing body changes, for the briefest instant, into pure white.
I feel my body gradually accelerate and transcend spacetime itself.
'But the level of spacetime alone is not enough.'
Tsuaaaaat!
I clutch the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord that I am holding in my hand.
'For a single instant, I have to become information itself!'
My existence and authority start to be consumed.
The rules I have built up by repeating trillions of years inside the Heavenly Void Furnace also begin to collapse.
Kiiiiiiing—
My body, made of clusters of green light, melts away, and I load myself onto the Formless Sword and transform into a tiny streak of green light itself.
'Into the domain of purity...I enter!'
With a resolve prepared for death, I enter the domain of purity.
At the same time, I use the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, which I have been holding until now, as a medium, fix the coordinates, and begin to fly.
The split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord blazes in my hand and accelerates me one last time, and, committing those coordinates to memory, I soar within the domain of purity toward the coordinates on the side of time that the Heavenly Venerable of Time has sent.
'If there is even a slight error in the coordinates, I will wander in the domain of purity and melt away...!'
Therefore, they absolutely have to be correct.
Hwiooooooo—
And in the next moment,
Peooooong!
I burst out of the domain of purity, push through countless chaos, and realize that I have reached some kind of domain.
Kugugugugugu!
On one side lies a sea of chaos, filled with innumerable chaos.
On the other side lies a world of emptiness made of pure-white nothingness.
This place is the boundary of Cakravāda.
And there, an old man stretches out his hand toward me.
"So the Owner of Salt Mountain still has lingering thoughts left. Yes...yes...!"
Clench!
The Heavenly Venerable's grasp snatches me, and in an instant he reads the information contained in the information body that is me.
"...!!! This...So this...is the truth of the world...!"
He lets out a hollow laugh.
"It is dangerous information... If I keep holding onto it, he will come to kill me. I will seal it as well. And...through my subordinates, I will someday give you a trial. If you someday pass that trial, the seal on this memory will be undone, transcending spacetime.
"If that happens...both you and I will obtain the authority to view this memory. Now, go...! I hope you can receive his recognition, not lose the Radiance Mantra, and be able to cross over to the hereafter."
My meeting with the Heavenly Venerable of Time is brief.
But in that brief meeting, he seems to make and establish countless plans and steel his resolve.
He seals away all the memories he has copied while reading my information body, places a primary seal on me as well, and then sends me flying in the direction of Mount Sumeru.
Honestly, the seal placed on me at this moment has no restrictions at all, so there is no problem in restoring my memories.
However, he seems to be looking toward an even more distant future, so it is not something to belittle.
Woo-woooong—
From the direction of Mount Sumeru, the Immortal Treasure of the Heavenly Venerable of Time pulls me, and the Heavenly Venerable of Time's authority compresses the arrangement of time within the chaos of the Outer Sea to an extreme, letting me reach Mount Sumeru in an instant.
'Here I go. From here on is what is important!'
Remembering the coordinates I obtained from the soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, I fly toward that place while half-stepping into the domain of purity, and connect with it!
Chwaaaaaaak—
Then, at some moment,
I come to see a certain Seat.
That Seat is a Seat with the name Jeong (丁).
At the same time, it is a Seat of a delicate flame like a torch candle.
Tsaaaaaatt!
From the Heavenly Void Furnace, obtaining a transcendent speed through the Salt Sea Returning Dew Jade, and using that speed, the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's control authority over the Heavenly Void Furnace, and the corresponding properties of the Outer Sea and the Heavenly Void Furnace, flying in an instant to the Outer Sea.
From the Outer Sea, by the power of the Heavenly Venerable of Time, flying back to Mount Sumeru, passing through the Seat of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, and then fling again to the Heavenly Void Furnace of the Head Realm where the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's authority and power are concentrated.
That is the method of escaping the Heavenly Void Furnace that I heard from the Heavenly Venerable of Purity.
In a state of being half-overlapped between the domain of purity and the domain of reality, I hide my presence and connect to the authority of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord.
'Aaaaaaah...!'
For an instant, I shudder within an immense sense of omnipotence and the warmth of light.
Right now, I am connected to the core of authority of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's main body.
If I use the Formless Sword, Cutting Principle, and mental strength that I have honed in the Heavenly Void Furnace, I feel that I could directly take control of the mind of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and replace them.
But I recall the advice of the Heavenly Venerable of Purity.
Light is the eyes and ears of the Future King.
I absolutely must not stay long.
I slip free of the temptation of the light, and, through the authority of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord, I start once more heading toward the Heavenly Void Furnace.
In that process, I see numerous Torch Candle candidates who received from the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord the fate of the next Torch Candle.
Because I am in the middle of passing through the core of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord's authority, it seems that I can see fragments of the power that is derived from Torch Candle.
Flinch, flinch...
Perhaps affected by me, who is passing through the domain of purity, most of them unconsciously shiver.
According to the words of the Heavenly Venerable of Purity, Torch Candle's main body, who wears a mask and suppresses soul and emotions, will instead be dull to such things, but the next Torch Candle candidates, who do not wear masks, might notice, so I was told to be careful.
But fortunately, there is no major problem.
Most of the next Torch Candle candidates will probably regard it as merely an illusion they saw in a dream.
Even that will be meaningless if I succeed in going to the next cycle as the timeline will change.
'No, that's not it. Didn't they say that a Supreme Deity is not affected by the timeline. Then should I see the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord as a Radiance Supreme Deity? I don't know.'
Letting my idle thoughts flow away, I finally reach the authority of the Torch Candle.
And finally...
I succeed in dropping into the Heavenly Void Furnace of the Head Realm where the authority of Torch Candle is concentrated.
Central area of the Head Realm's Ascension Path.
The center of the Heavenly Void Furnace that lies inside!
There, to the old me of this life who is dozing soundly!
Paaaatt!
And at last,
I cross over a long and longer time...
The me inside the Heavenly Void Furnace succeeds in transmitting all the history inside the Heavenly Void Furnace to the me outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
*
"...!"
Hong Fan feels something strange and turns his head back.
And in that moment,
Clench—
Hong Fan startles at the touch of the silently approaching hand that grips his shoulder.
No matter that he is only one face out of three, and even that is in a twisted, improper state because of this generation's Ender, as far as he knows, the only opponents he cannot sense at all are martial artists of Udumbara level!
And at the present point, there are no martial artists at the Udumbara realm who can access the Head Realm.
Cheok!
However, the moment he hears the voice that follows, he finally realizes.
"I have proved it, Hong Fan. This is...the answer I have forged for you while watching your story..."
'Did he escape? The number of cases where such a thing is possible is two. Either he looked at my memories and, brainwashed into thinking he is me, had his talent improved to the point it came close to my level and he escaped by his own power. Or...he received the help of Salt Sea. It is not the former. Then has he received the help of Salt Sea? Even though I embedded them in the very deepest part of the domain of purity in the inside of the Heavenly Void Furnace.'
The main personality of the Future King Fate Supreme Deity.
Hong Fan has to admit that he has looked down on the existence called Seo Eun-hyun.
'So he has, by his own power, reached the deep part of the domain of purity where Salt Sea is sealed, and received his help?'
Cheok!
With the hand holding his shoulder, he pulls Hong Fan toward him, and with the other hand he places his palm on Hong Fan's chest.
"Is this what you spoke about in the Heavenly Void Furnace...? Fine. In respect for the fact that you have, in the end, escaped from the Heavenly Void Furnace, I will give you a chance."
Seeing Seo Eun-hyun, who is about to send something flying toward him with blazing eyes, he honors that resolve and decides to take that strike.
"Prove it. That you truly are not a bug."
From Seo Eun-hyun's hand placed on Hong Fan's chest, a cluster of green light begins to burst forth.
Present.
As I read through the end of the memories of the 16th cycle, I pour with all my strength the feelings and memories of that time into the tip of my sword.
And the moment that heart fills this sword completely.
"Yang Su-jin!"
Kwarururung!
Yang Su-jin grabs me and transforms into lightning.
Receiving that signal, Jeon Myeong-hoon steps forward.
He looks at the Future King and trembles.
It is only natural.
Because he is one whose soul generated when, upon entering the Audience Chamber, his presence was suppressed by the aura of the Future King.
However, despite trembling in fear, he looks at the Future King.
"I am afraid of you...but...precisely because I am a coward, I know it well."
Kurung, Kurururururung!
Centered on Jeon Myeong-hoon, the Origin Essence of Heavenly Punishment howls.
At the same time, centered on him, Indra's Net becomes dyed with thunder and lightning.
"You too... Just as I am afraid of you, there is something you fear."
The Future King looks down at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Under that distant gaze, even while trembling in fear, he opens his mouth, grips the Lightning-Tipped Spear in his hand, and shouts.
"Immortal Cultivation takes Indra's Net, that is, the threads of connection, as Heavenly Tribulation. And as one becomes a transcendent, it is completed by making it so that the heart is no longer needed. In that case, O Owner of Immortal Cultivation, are you not seeing connection as a punishment, as a Heavenly Tribulation that must be overcome!?"
Even while trembling, he moves forward.
In order to keep the words he has said to Seo Eun-hyun.
"You...are afraid of connection. Am I wrong!?"
Seo Eun-hyun has Seo Eun-hyun's logic.
Just as a child has a child's logic,
A petty man and a coward has a coward's logic.
Jeon Myeong-hoon knows that his own vessel is not that large.
He knows that he is afraid of more things than expected, and that he has many weak sides.
And precisely because of that...
He can faintly feel that the giant of darkness before his eyes in fact has a childlike side similar to his own.
"Take it to your heart's content! This is the connection you are afraid of!"
Kwarurururung!
Toward the Owner of Immortal Cultivation, Heavenly Tribulations begin to crash down like mad.
Innumerable Heavenly Tribulations crash down towards the Owner of Immortal Cultivation, and his movements are sealed for the span of an instant.
Then, in front of the Future King whose movements are sealed, lightning flashes as Yang Su-jin transmits Seo Eun-hyun over.
Kwarururung!
Seo Eun-hyun, having finished preparing his upward slash, begins to swing the Impermanence Sword upward.
It is at that moment,
Kigigigigik—
Praying at the Future King's side and wishing for his happiness with the power of the Five Blessings, Vast Cold's body starts to burst apart.
It is because Yu Hao Te's projection, forgetting to help Vast Cold, looks instead at Emptiness Supreme Deity Myeon Woon, who is floating in a far-off place.
A certain woman's scream that arises from deep inside the Head Realm as if tearing apart.
It is because the sound of pain of Yu Hao Te's only blood relative tugs at his concentration.
"Connection truly is a cumbersome thing. Look at that. Even that sacred devotion that holds back a great story, because of a single connection, gains a gap."
Vast Cold is swept away by the energy of the Divine Art.
Jjeooong!
The Heavenly Tribulations and the restraints of countless Enders that surround the Future King burst apart all at once.
Sarak—
With a gentle movement, he takes his stance to respond to Seo Eun-hyun.
The technique the Future King unfolds to counter Seo Eun-hyun's technique.
—Emptiness Sword.
—Linked Profundity.
—Future Radiance
In a single moment, he re-accelerates with the speed of Undying and counters his upward slash with a Reversing Heaven (回天) attack.
And, as a matter of course, that counterattack is imbued with Divine Art.
It is gentle.
It is archaic and refined.
At the same time, it is an iron wall that absolutely will not collapse.
That is the Future King.
However, Seo Eun-hyun simply recalls one scene from the 16th cycle and just as gently swings his sword upward.
16th cycle.
While watching Hong Fan's story, I refined the Formless Sword and Cutting Principle.
At first, it was simply something I did because I couldn't cultivate authority while being dragged along by the story.
However, as time passed, as I watched Hong Fan's past and pain, I came to know clearly what I must do.
The divine power of Cutting Principle, which cuts connection, and the Formless Sword begin to unite.
Cutting Principle, which is originally a kind of Heart Sword that cuts the heart, and through it, cuts principle.
And the sword for freedom that the human named Seo Eun-hyun has honed.
Formless Sword.
Both are clearly powers meant to cut, and if the two are combined, they ought to become a power that can cut anything.
However, the united power formed all this time by the me inside the Heavenly Void Furnace is different.
'Teacher Jang Ik. Please look.'
Inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
I was a green cluster of light.
Because I was the intent of consolation to comfort the me who will enter the Heavenly Void Furnace later, I was a green light.
However, as I watched Hong Fan's memories, I came to know that the person who truly must be comforted is someone else.
'Just as you, while commemorating countless Heart Tribe, pursued the ultimate meaning of destruction in green light in order to console them.'
Tsuaaaaat!
The Formless Sword is dyed green.
'I too...must give a little consolation to one person steeped in pain. Your teaching...'
I will pour it out here.
A technique not for killing people, but for comforting people.
At the same time, the teaching I have learned from the greatest teacher of the person called me.
—If the hearts of people connect one another, maybe that can be an endless blessing.
A technique meant to soothe a child who has never once received proper comfort from anyone.
The Highest (最高) True (眞) Heart Sword (心劍) that breathes the desire to live into one who wants to die.
—Apex of Life-Saving Arts (活人技頂點).
—Formless (無形).
At that single strike, liveliness and astonishment begin to rise for the first time in Hong Fan's eyes, which have been expressionless all this time.
In the next moment, the cluster of light that blooms from my hand splits Hong Fan Gu Ju in two.
Present.
Everyone freezes.
In this world, only two beings move.
They are the Future King and Seo Eun-hyun.
—Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven.
Seo Eun-hyun's sword slashes upward toward the heavens and, bearing the will his senior brother has entrusted to him, soars.
For an instant, the Future King sees the illusions of two mountain divine spirits standing behind Seo Eun-hyun.
They are clearly the same illusions that also appeared when Seo Eun-hyun struck Hope head-on.
And this time, that is not all.
Mountain Divine Spirits stand behind Seo Eun-hyun.
His comrades are also visible.
All the Enders in this Audience Chamber,
Including Silver Basket, Obsidian, and Vast Cold,
To Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, Oh Hyun-seok, Kim Yeon, Oh Hye-seo...
And...even the Western Heavenly Venerable, Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa.
With all of them on his back, Seo Eun-hyun slightly parts his lips and breathes out the incantation of the technique.
"...Heaven Martial Arts."
Perhaps because he is naturally applying Heavenly Escape, even the Future King does not hear it properly.
However, he can guess.
'Is he saying he will gather everyone's hearts together and oppose me?'
He evaluates while looking at the Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens mixed together with Annihilation Advancement Mu.
'Still, it cannot compare to the story I have built up. That is clearly Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts. It is a good story, but that is all.'
[TL/N: Hong Fan thinks MC said Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts. In the raw Korean, it is translated as Beyond the Path Entering Heavens Marital Arts I switched the order in English.]
The world does not move by heart alone.
The gap between the stories that have been accumulated is far too great.
He will directly grind Seo Eun-hyun down, tear apart Bong Hwa behind him. and nullify the advancement ritual.
Until the story is complete...
He is the pinnacle.
Deeeeng—
And Seo Eun-hyun's sword goes straight through the story of the Divine Art called A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation and, directly clashing with the move of Future Radiance, knocks it away.
'This is...'
The Future King recalls the poison he received in the 16th cycle.
The worst extreme poison left behind by that stubborn Heart Demon called Seo Eun-hyun.
The horrifying curse poison that the curse sorcerer Seo Eun-hyun handed to him, which even after thousands of cycles he still could not expel, and which became the root of his heart wavering at the sympathy of the Creator Gods!
That and Seo Eun-hyun's sword resonate, and just like that, the sword naturally slides its head straight into the Divine Art.
His Divine Art is one that rejects and tramples anything that goes against him...
But Seo Eun-hyun's sword, formed of the same nature as this poison, is something that the Divine Art cannot reject and trample.
Shikagagak!
From the area corresponding to Hong Fan's perineum up to the area corresponding to his pit of the stomach, he is lightly grazed by the Impermanence Sword and a bit of his clothes are cut away.
For the first time, a blemish appears on Future King's sacred body.
Hong Fan looks at the man in front of him.
And he looks at Bong Hwa standing behind him.
'Everything...'
Everything is collapsing to pieces.
'Is everything slipping out of my will?'
The man who has achieved the feat of cutting away a part of Future King's Divine Art and knocking away that decisive technique succeeds in completing all the feats that will let him reach the Absolute, and succeeds in gaining an opening from Future King.
At the same time, the Western Heavenly Venerable, Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa, who has been ceaselessly watching for a chance.
She now begins to completely unravel all the authorities she has been accumulating through the reincarnation system from the very moment she was born, in order to advance to Life Supreme Deity.
As if only now is the chance.
Wooo-wooooong!
A colossal history covers all of Heaven and Earth.
Immediately after, the sound of a bell tolling rings out, and a powerful wave sweeps through the Audience Chamber and the entire gestation world.
Deeeeeeng!
It is something sacred.
It is effort, built up to a dazzling magnitude over years of enduring hardship.
Hwarurururuk—
The Gandhara of death changes into a living body that explodes with life.
She becomes an Emperor wearing a blazing dragon robe of golden light.
The Gandhara that has until now played the role of her body becomes a Vestige and transforms into yet another golden jade throne in this Audience Chamber.
The Western Heavenly Venerable, Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa.
That divinity, which has been raised by the Future King Fate Supreme Deity over long ages, after a time close to eternity, finally succeeds in their enthronement.
A being older than any other life, who holds the first memories from when the world was created.
The First King (最初王) Life Supreme Deity (生命上帝) Bong Hwa (烽火).
The Owner of History is born.
As he watches all his plans fall apart, a faint smile appears for the first time on the face of the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.
It is a smile so faint and thin that no one here, including Hong Fan himself, can even realize it is a smile.
"Good."
Clearly it is the worst possible situation, and yet, without even he himself knowing what it is that he finds good...
Hong Fan takes all the situations unfolding before his eyes deep into his gaze.