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Chapter 833: Side Story - Being Ban Ta's Disciple (2)
Kugugugu!
A rain of swords falls.
Ahn Geum, within the downpour of sword radiance, draws out countless wandering souls, twists the paths of the sword radiances, and barely avoids them.
"You monster hag...so you really came out like that in the end!"
She bites her lip and looks toward where Makli Hyun-ah is falling.
'It seems Lee Hyun-ah is Lee Seo-ah's reverse scale. If I touch him for no reason, it only puts me at a disadvantage. It can't be helped. Then for now, I have to retreat...'
'Anyway, I obtained the medium to divine my older brother's destination, which was the goal...so today, I should withdraw here. Even if I poke the beehive for no reason, I can't seize any winning chances.'
After making a quick judgment, Ahn Geum brings both hands together and cries out softly.
"Integrated Dao Domain."
Wo-woong—
A sinister aura begins to whip up around her, and the cries of an enormous number of wandering souls fill Heaven and Earth.
"Million Wandering Souls World Perishing Wind Advancement (千萬幽魂一界毁風進)."
Hwiooooooo!
In an instant, the scenery of Heaven and Earth changes.
A world of wandering souls, with countless yin winds blowing, replaces Heaven and Earth.
At the center of that world of wandering souls, Ahn Geum handles a wind of curses that can directly annihilate the civilization of an entire planet, and draws in the Nether Crossing Ship that is far away.
Kugugugu!
The baptism of countless sword radiances tears the wandering souls to shreds, but as much as they are torn, the wandering souls form again and charge toward Lee Seo-ah.
That is not all.
As much as the wandering souls are torn by the sword radiance, yin wind gathers around Ahn Geum and changes into the forms of Ghost Kings.
The clearer the forms of the Ghost Kings become, the more the red flags they hold stand out. Those red flags gradually change into a blue light and spew a sinister and terrifying aura of curses.
And finally, when the flags turn completely blue.
Ahn Geum points a finger toward Lee Seo-ah, who makes sword energy rain down from above the Integrated Dao Domain.
"Curse release."
Flash!
At the same time, the curses that have been accumulated as Lee Seo-ah tears the wandering souls to shreds detonate all at once.
As the curse-filled flags are swung, a mass of blue yin wind begins to surge toward Lee Seo-ah.
Lee Seo-ah only looks at it and snorts.
"Rather, I'm grateful. I've always been getting Qi Deviation when operating my method because my understanding of curses and blessings is lacking...and you're helping my cultivation with your own hands!"
The Three Great Ultimates behind Lee Seo-ah shine brightly, and Lee Seo-ah also presses her palms together.
"Four-Axis Canopy."
Chwararararak!
Around Lee Seo-ah, four masses of light spread out as if they are blooming, and countless clusters of stars and nebulae begin to appear around her in the form of sword radiance.
It is as if the scenery of the universe itself protects Lee Seo-ah's surroundings.
Her Three Great Ultimates absorb the curses as they are, and instead blaze even brighter.
With her fingers held in a sword hand seal, Lee Seo-ah calls something forth from inside her Four-Axis Canopy.
Kugugugu!
It is a giant sword.
Giant swords, each one exceeding a length of three li, enter Ahn Geum's Integrated Dao Domain and tear the wandering souls apart.
That is not the end.
'What...there is no end to the swords?'
Giant swords, each one three li in length, begin to fall in heaps from inside her Four-Axis Canopy.
Before long, each giant sword spews glass-colored flames and begins to rake through Ahn Geum's Integrated Dao Domain itself.
"Ah, no...!"
Ahn Geum tries to move the wandering souls and curses to block her as much as possible, but she cannot stop it.
The giant swords containing glass-colored flames pierce all her means of defense and freely ravage Ahn Geum's Integrated Dao Domain.
To make it worse, Lee Seo-ah, with the Four-Axis Canopy wrapped around her body, begins charging toward Ahn Geum.
'Damn it...!'
Ahn Geum manipulates the space within the Integrated Dao Domain and desperately tries to widen the distance from her, but faster than the speed at which she manipulates the distance, Lee Seo-ah's speed as she rushes at her is even faster.
At this rate, it will become a situation where she is caught in Lee Seo-ah's hands and her whole body and the entire Integrated Dao Domain are hacked to pieces!
Ahn Geum grits her teeth and decides to use her last resort.
"Radiance Seven Lords, Seventh Seat Rain Dew Heavenly Lord (光明七君第七座雨露天君)!"
The [Name] she calls materializes within her Integrated Dao Domain, and an enormous mass of light erupts outward.
Hearing that [Name], Lee Seo-ah's entire body turns into water and begins to flow down, and Lee Seo-ah spits blood and wraps herself in Glass True Fire to stop the mutation.
Kugugugu!
An existence of yin like Ahn Geum sends an apostle, to save their believer from a distant dimension.
Jjeooooeok!
Spacetime opens, and an apostle at the True Immortal level sent by the being called the [Rain Dew Heavenly Lord] rearranges spacetime.
The Apostle of Light moves Lee Seo-ah to the far opposite side of the Purple Gold Realm, and gestures, trying to draw Ahn Geum and Makli Hyun-ah into the dimension where they are.
It is then,
Gigigigigik—
It is as if time stops.
An ultimate instant of time that neither Ahn Geum nor Makli Hyun-ah perceives.
Yes...
Within the perception domain of the True Immortal Realm that only True Immortals can recognize.
Someone walks out between the Apostle of Light and Makli Hyun-ah, and Ahn Geum.
A person with a purple robe and purple eyes.
It is Ban Ta.
: : That is enough. It looks like the mortals' contest is more or less decided, so return to your dimension. : :
The Apostle of Light communicates in a language mortals cannot understand.
It carries, roughly, the intent of refusal.
At that will, Ban Ta's eyes flash purple and smiles white.
: : Is it because you are a True Immortal who rose in a Heavenly Domain entirely unrelated to the Purple Gold Realm? That must be the reason you dare show your teeth to me... : :
Tududuk, tududududuk!
The aura of the Purple Gold Realm and spacetime itself begin to be pushed away around Ban Ta.
: : If you were only saving your believer, I would have allowed it, but since you tried to even take my disciple, and since you dare ignore my advice and oppose me, I will take one of your arms as the price of that sin. : :
Kiiiiiiing!
The spacetime and the dimension of the Purple Gold Realm are pushed away, and only Ban Ta's pure will fills the pushed away space-time.
And Ban Ta's will, which fills all between Heaven and Earth, flows upstream into the dimension of light, and in a transcendent domain, exchanges blows with the True Immortal of Light who was about to lay a hand on his disciple.
Ban Ta's pure willpower and authority, displayed while pushing back the power of the Purple Gold Realm, trades several exchanges with the True Immortal of Light, then tears something off from the dimension of light and returns.
: : Consider it as the price of a lesson. If, the next time we meet, you still blabber on while knowing nothing about me, it will not end with just one arm. Get lost! Never touch my disciple again! : :
After finishing his cold warning, Ban Ta drives away the True Immortal of Light whose arm he tore off, and he forcibly shuts the passage that is temporarily connected to the dimension of light.
Immediately after, in time that is no different from being stopped, Ban Ta lifts Makli Hyun-ah into his arms.
"This works out well. If I make a Decaying Corpse Realm with a True Immortal's body, it will help my disciple's cultivation."
As he returns within the stopped time, he kicks Ahn Geum away, sending her flying into the Chaos Realm region of the Purple Gold Realm, and then returns to Ban Ta Castle.
Thus, the incident that occurred with transcendent beings intervening in the Purple Gold Realm is resolved in an instant.
***
Purple Gold Eight Regions, Tongue Domain.
Lee Seo-ah, who was blown all the way there by the True Immortal of Light, looks around, grits her teeth, and takes out a talisman from her bosom.
—To prepare for when you fall into danger, I give you this Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Talisman. It is a kind of talisman treasure, made by partially imitating the power of an Immortal Treasure of a great being. Through this, within the Heavenly Domain you are in, if it is a place you remember, you can move anywhere. But you must use it carefully.
—The number of uses is fixed, and once you use it, consecutive use is not possible. And even if it is a place you remember, you cannot go anywhere at random. Places such as inside the body of a living True Immortal, Penglai Star, Ban Ta Castle of the Purple Gold Realm, the Manas Domain of the Purple Gold Realm, the Araya Domain of the Purple Gold Realm, places where space-time turbulence is severe, Avici, or places like the interior of a degenerate star cannot be reached even through the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Talisman, so use it well.
In a way, it is her life-saving attached talisman.
However, Lee Seo-ah immediately uses the life-saving attached talisman, which does not have many uses left.
'Hyun-ah, I have to save Hyun-ah!'
Paaatt!
The moment she uses the life-saving talisman, Lee Seo-ah returns once again to the battlefield where she was fighting.
But she soon falls into despair.
'I-I can't see him... Did the True Immortal of Light take him to the Radiance Heavenly Domain? No, no...'
Kiiiing!
Lee Seo-ah's eyes draw a Taiji as she reads the lingering resonance of the past.
She cannot directly see the scene where the transcendents exchanged blows, but she can see the traces of energy.
And the traces of energy left in this place are what is most familiar in the Purple Gold Realm.
It is Ban Ta's energy.
"Sacred Master Ban Taaaaaaaa!"
Lee Seo-ah realizes that her younger brother has been dragged to the hellish Ban Ta Castle, where people say one can never raise one's realm, and she wails.
***
Purple Gold Realm, Chaos Realm region.
Above some island in the Black Sea.
There, Ahn Geum, with a blank face, divines the whereabouts of her older brother, Ahn Gyeong, using what she extracted from Makli Hyun-ah.
From what she finds, her older brother Ahn Gyeong has not yet ascended from Penglai Star, so only by using the aura of Penglai Star as a medium can she find his whereabouts.
But as soon as Ahn Geum realizes Ahn Gyeong's whereabouts, she looks up at the sky with a dumb face, as if it is absurd.
"Hah..."
Letting out a sigh that seems steeped in wretchedness, bitterness, and sorrow, Ahn Geum flops down right there on the spot.
"...This is ridiculous."
Somehow, it feels like all her strength drains away.
***
Purple Gold Realm, Ban Ta Castle.
Makli Hyun-ah wakes up there.
"Huh...? This is...my bedroom?"
"You are awake, disciple."
"Master...! Did you save me?"
"Of course. And I even secured a gift to give you. When you raise your realm later, you can carry out your cultivation even more enjoyably through that gift."
"Woah, thank you, Master!"
At Makli Hyun-ah's thanks, Ban Ta makes a stunned expression for a moment.
"Uh...Master? What is wrong?"
Drip...
Then, seeing Ban Ta suddenly shed tears, he wonders if he did something wrong.
And at Ban Ta's next words, Makli Hyun-ah cannot help but be aghast.
"Among the countless parasite trash that entered as my disciples...the one who received a gift that helps cultivation and offered sincere thanks to me...is only you alone..."
"..."
"Thank you, my disciple. As expected, it is only you... Now. Hurry and get up again, and let us begin cultivation."
Makli Hyun-ah wonders what kind of people the ones Ban Ta took in as disciples even are.
Wondering why Ban Ta has had such bad luck with disciples, he begins cultivation again together with Ban Ta.
***
Several months pass.
Makli Hyun-ah studies under Ban Ta and achieves an enormous accomplishment.
Kiiiing—
Makli Hyun-ah succeeds in converting all the ghostly energy within his body into social authority, and he firmly lays the foundation to reach the realm corresponding to the Four-Axis stage.
Moreover, this is not the creation of social authority through the recognition and belief of living beings, but converting energy directly into social authority through the energy that spans the Plane of Soul.
Because of that, Makli Hyun-ah becomes able to gain a deeper understanding of the plane, and of the power of each plane itself.
"Master, I think I can slowly challenge the Four-Axis stage level realm now!"
"Hahahaha, as expected of my disciple! Then now, I will also explain the differences and commonalities between the Immortal Family Method and the Confucian Family Method regarding the Four-Axis stage."
'As expected of Master.'
One thing Makli Hyun-ah learned while studying under Ban Ta is that Ban Ta is an extremely competent teacher.
Through immense experience and seasoned insight, whenever Makli Hyun-ah has something he does not understand, Ban Ta notices immediately and breaks it down and explains it so Makli Hyun-ah can understand easily.
Because of that, over the last few months of cultivation, Makli Hyun-ah did not get stuck even once.
'And whenever there is a moment, he also nourishes my body with spirit medicine, and he opens my blood vessels through channel-pursuing and blood-opening, so he always keeps the balance of my body that practices the Confucian Family Method in good shape.'
Ban Ta is, if you count only teaching methods, the best teacher.
Yes.
Up to that point, 'just' Ban Ta's teaching methods are the best.
Kwagwagwang!
One place in the training grounds of Ban Ta Castle, where Makli Hyun-ah and Ban Ta are in the middle of training.
A corner of the wall there collapses, and from inside it a certain Small Person Race appears, levels a needle-like spear, and shouts.
"Sacred Master Ban Ta! Today is the day I surpass you! Take this, Heavenly Extreme Spear!"
Kwagwagwang!
The Small Person Race grips the needle and drives out a thrust, charging toward Ban Ta and Makli Hyun-ah.
At a glance, the palm-sized Small Person Race looks cute, but the Small Person Race's thrust is everything but cute.
The moment they slash out the needle-spear once, spacetime narrows in an instant and the Small Person Race arrives right in front of their noses. Makli Hyun-ah only barely avoids that blow thanks to Ban Ta.
Kururung!
And Makli Hyun-ah is horrified as he sees the Small Person Race's spear warp spacetime and blur the boundary between planes.
"You Heart Tribe parasites! Are you starting again!? Enough already!"
"Acknowledge me as the Sacred Master! I will become the Sacred Master of the Purple Gold Realm!"
"Don't spout crazy nonsense! For you Heart Tribe bastards, Sacred Master cultivation has no meaning, and you can't even inherit the Sacred Master seat! And even if, by some chance, I raise one of you as a Sacred Master, won't you brats use the position of Sacred Master to turn the Purple Gold Realm into an Asura Realm?"
"An Asura Realm? Everyone is only dreaming of a world where all can contend in the pleasure of Martial Arts!"
"If you really want to take my Sacred Master seat, whether it's the Immortal Family Method or some other Non-Immortal Family method, you should learn one and raise your cultivation up to the Sacred Vessel stage."
"Hmph, I don't learn any methods of those filthy Heaven and Earth Tribe bastards! Under the heavens, only Martial Arts is my friend!"
"This, this...! These Heart Tribe bastards worse than parasites!"
Ban Ta, greatly irritated, sets Makli Hyun-ah down, trades a few exchanges with the Heart Tribe, subdues them, and drives them out of Ban Ta Castle.
Watching that, Makli Hyun-ah cautiously asks Ban Ta.
"Umm, Master...will you look at my cultivation a bit now...?"
But then,
A cultivator belonging to Ban Ta Castle rushes into the training grounds and shouts urgently.
"Sacred Master! The Esteemed Ones have raised a rebellion! They even pulled in the authority of an external True Immortal, so with Ban Ta Castle's formation alone, we cannot respond!"
"Those parasites!!! There is never a peaceful day! I'll hang every last one upside down and force an advancement to the Sacred Vessel stage!"
Ban Ta storms off to suppress the rebel Esteemed Ones, and in the end Makli Hyun-ah is left alone, reviewing the cultivation Ban Ta has taught him and continuing his cultivation on his own.
Suppressing a rebellion usually ends in one or two hours, but if it is a rebellion that borrows the power of external True Immortals, suppression takes days, so this time too he seems to have to live alone for a while.
'Now being alone feels more familiar.'
Makli Hyun-ah lets out a sigh.
His master, Ban Ta, is very dependable and trustworthy, and the finest, most excellent teacher.
But Ban Ta's surroundings are chaotic and noisy every single day, and incidents and accidents never stop.
'At this point, isn't there something wrong with his fate itself?'
In the past few months, the Esteemed Ones under Ban Ta have already raised rebellions thirteen times.
Among them, five cases are rebellions raised with the intervention of external True Immortals.
That is not all.
Not only attacks by the Heart Tribe like just now, but cases where the One Qi of the Primordial Chaos Religious Order and the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order fiercely protest Ban Ta, saying they dislike Ban Ta's rule, are also frequent.
When that happens, Ban Ta always meets the representatives of the One Qi of the Primordial Chaos Religious Order and the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order and continues a heated war of words for days.
Even that is not the end.
"...It's about time for it to happen..."
As Makli Hyun-ah mutters, one corner of the training ground wall collapses again, and a group of cultivators in unfamiliar clothes point at Makli Hyun-ah and shout.
"There he is! Ban Ta's disciple!"
"Kidnap him!!"
"Let's show the Sacred Master our will!!"
Makli Hyun-ah tries to resist them, but they are all at the Integration stage level, so once again he has no choice but to be caught in their hands and get kidnapped without resisting.
'Being kidnapped just for the single reason that I am Master's disciple is already the seventy-second time...'
"If we brainwash Ban Ta's disciple to make him believe in the God of our Vertical-Horizontal Family, and Ban Ta also recognizes our religious order as the official religious order of the Purple Gold Realm, we can press the noses of those Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order bastards who oppressed us...huaaaaaaah!!!"
While Makli Hyun-ah is being bundled up and carried off by these Vertical-Horizontal Family cultivators, he senses someone moving Ban Ta Castle's formation and sweeping them away, and he comes out of the bundle.
The one who saved Makli Hyun-ah is Makli Cheon-sa.
"Ancestor! Thank you for saving me!"
"You really... After you became the Sacred Master's disciple, you really are going through every kind of hardship..."
"..."
That is so.
Ban Ta is the perfect teacher.
But, maybe because Ban Ta's own fortune is badly tangled right now...
Because Makli Hyun-ah, his disciple, always gets caught up in all kinds of incidents, accidents, and problems that happen around Ban Ta...he is gradually realizing what it means to become Ban Ta's disciple.
"Have you learned about history repetition? No...seeing as you are still at the Heavenly Being stage, he must not have taught you yet... Later, when you raise your realm higher and learn some concepts about fate and history, and about miracles, you will be able to understand exactly why everyone aggressively refuses to become Sacred Master Ban Ta's disciple."
"...Emm..."
Makli Hyun-ah listens to Makli Cheon-sa and lets out a faint sigh.
It feels like he can understand something.
He has not learned what history repetition is yet, but he feels like he roughly knows what it is.
But at the same time, Makli Hyun-ah still has no dissatisfaction about becoming Ban Ta's disciple.
"What can I do? Still, if it is Master, he surely has a way."
"Well...hah, I suppose that is true, but...fine. When your realm rises later, think about it more. I need to start preparing for my Integration stage advancement, so from now on I might not be able to come save you in time. If the Sacred Master is not by your side, practice evacuating quickly to a safe place on your own, too."
"Yes, Ancestor!"
Makli Hyun-ah nods his head vigorously at Makli Cheon-sa's words.
***
He became Ban Ta's disciple, got swept up in all kinds of incidents and accidents, and ran into problems.
But Makli Hyun-ah did not have complaints to a great extent about that.
At least, he's been thinking that way up to now.
"Yo, Lee Hyun-ah...no, did you say you changed your name to Makli Hyun-ah?"
"Wh-What, how do you get in here?"
That is, until Ahn Geum came into his bedroom while his master Ban Ta went out to suppress the Esteemed Ones' rebellion.
"Because I, like the Esteemed Ones staging a rebellion outside, am also under the protection of a True Immortal."
"T-True Immortal...?"
"Yeah, a True Immortal. They are True Immortals of Light...didn't you also get possessed while you ascended?"
'...'
"Anyway, if you receive a True Immortal's blessing or protection, you can avoid Ban Ta's eyes for a moment, so I could come in."
"Are you here to kidnap me again...!?"
Makli Hyun-ah becomes wary of Ahn Geum, recalling the incident where he almost got kidnapped last time.
The other side is at the Grand Perfection Integration stage.
Someone like him, only at the Grand Perfection Heavenly Being stage, is an opponent she can drag off and kidnap whenever she wants.
However, Ahn Geum's next words are shocking.
"No. After I failed to kidnap you last time, the True Immortal who backed me suddenly took a stance of stepping back from the affairs of the Purple Gold Realm, so until they roll up their sleeves again and back me properly, I can't kidnap you."
"Then why did you come?"
"...You. You said you stayed in Penglai Star for about two hundred years."
"...Yeah?"
"Have you seen my older brother?"
"Your older brother...?"
Makli Hyun-ah recalls Ahn Gyeong, Ahn Geum's biological older brother.
'Come to think of it, I didn't see him after we separated at Ascension Path.'
"...I don't know. I didn't meet him after we separated. Really."
"Ha...is that so? Well, I guess..."
With a drained face, Ahn Geum sits on one of the chairs in Makli Hyun-ah's bedroom and looks up at the ceiling.
"My older brother...he didn't ascend, so to find his whereabouts, I had to cast a divination using the aura of Penglai Star as a medium. But when I cast a divination with the aura of Penglai Castle extracted from you...it said he fell into a place called the Eastern Tribal State."
"Ah...I started from a place called the Makli Clan in the west of the continent...so I guess we never had a chance to meet."
"Probably...and do you know what happened to my older brother?"
"What...happened to him?"
Ahn Geum clicks her tongue as if it is ridiculous and continues speaking.
"In that tribal state, he made curry with spices that grow there, opened a curry shop, made a huge fortune with it, lived with three wives and four concubines until seventy, and died of natural causes."
"..."
"Ah, damn...do I call this a happy death, or do I call it a sudden death because he died unbelievably earlier than me...? I was restless the whole time, worried that bastard might run into some big trouble."
At Ahn Geum's words, Makli Hyun-ah cannot tell whether he should comfort her or congratulate her.
"S-So...then why are you looking for me?"
"Ah, right. Anyway, I cast a divination, and my older brother died of natural causes. But strangely, the divination result kept coming out as 'the number of Earthlings alive in this world is four,' over and over."
"Uh...?"
"Back then we definitely fell as seven people. And three men, including Jegal Mikhail, got eaten by a bear. My older brother died of natural causes at seventy, but the divination result keeps showing as 'Four people are alive,' I mean. And...I divined the rough location of that fourth person, and it overlaps with your location."
Ahn Geum walks up to Makli Hyun-ah and speaks.
"We each gained strange talents and abilities as we fell into this world, and according to the results of research with my master at Black Ghost Valley, our abilities manifesting more strongly the closer we get to death. And maybe my older brother, too, could be a case where his ability or talent manifested together with death. If so, then maybe Oppa manifested a special ability as he died of natural causes, and with that ability, there is also a possibility he is still alive and stuck together with you, right?"
"W-Wait, what are you trying to do to me!?"
"I need to examine your body a bit."
Horrified by Ahn Geum's dangerous gaze, Makli Hyun-ah tries to run away, but the entire space of the bedroom is sealed off by Ahn Geum, so he can't run anywhere.
"So take off your clothes."