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Chapter 836: Side Story - Mythical Relic (1)
Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
This Heavenly Domain, known as a distant primordial Heavenly Domain, is also called the battlefield of Governing Immortals of the Mythic Age.
But compared to its fame, not many True Immortals live in this Heavenly Domain.
That is because the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain is a Heavenly Domain without an owner, so it does not have enough fate or blessings for True Immortals to use, and if they rampage carelessly, the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain can easily collapse.
So what exists in the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain are only a few True Immortals, Immortal Lords,
And a few Middle Realms that were the corpses of Great Immortals.
That narrow and impoverished world is the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
And precisely because the Heavenly Domain is narrow,
The Sacred Masters who rule the Middle Realms, and the few True Immortals, can all feel even more clearly the violent collision of powerful forces that is occurring in one place within the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
Countless True Immortals and Sacred Masters shiver at the clash of beings of Upper Immortal level that erupts in one place of the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
***
Hwioooo—
All of Avīci is shaken by an interstellar wind.
Countless dust clouds flow into Avīci and form multicolored clusters of light.
Inside the nebula filled with those clusters of light, a sphere covered in obsidian chains and Ban Ta, who bears a purple Three Great Ultimates, clash.
The two beings seem evenly matched, but the advantage gradually shifts to Ban Ta's side.
However, Ban Ta's expression is grim.
'The Owner of Obsidian Chains...is formidable. If a mere split soul is this much, then the main body is strong enough to be compared even to the Chief Judge of the Underworld, who was the symbol of fear in my childhood...!'
He also knows well the gap between himself and the Owner of Obsidian Chains.
If they had come with their true self, then even if Ban Ta was at his peak, he would have had to step back.
Kwagwagwagwang!
The split soul of the Owner of Obsidian Chains, said to be only Upper Immortal level limited to a short fight.
As the battle drags on, they rapidly exhaust their energy and are pushed back by Ban Ta.
The Owner of Obsidian Chains clicks their tongue as if bitter.
: : Formidable. If you had tried to destroy this Lord's descent body, the match would have ended in an instant, yet you corner this Lord to this extent using only the straightforward orthodox method... If you had even a little vileness and compromise, this Lord would have already been defeated... : :
"Hmph...!"
: : I always send praise to your character... But you too must admit it. This world is not made with goodness alone... Only when good and evil coexist can one advance higher. : :
"Stop with that theory of Taiji. Do you dare to teach me? I was in the Sacred Vessel stage from before your clan's founding ancestor's great-great-grandfather was even born!"
: : ...Is that a boast? : :
Bbududuk!
At the one line the True Immortal spits out, Ban Ta's face turns bright red and he grinds his teeth.
"Are you insulting me?"
: : It is worth insulting. Is it not you who is being greedy? Is it not you who have kicked away the Lord's grace until now and used that opportunity elsewhere? : :
"...You do not know. For enough years to have passed that the era I was born in is called the Mythic Age, this heart that stayed stuck in one place and watched over the lives of True Immortals...how lonely and miserable it is..."
Ban Ta looks at the sphere of chains with a gloomy gaze.
"Isn't it your Lord's principle that if one suffers pain, a reward of that amount returns? Is that not the principle your Lord set up? I only wish for what is natural...so why is even that not permitted to me?"
Kugugugu!
Ban Ta's palm strike, imbued with purple light, flies toward the sphere of chains.
However, dozens of chains that burst out from the sphere of chains tear Ban Ta's palm strike to pieces in an instant.
: : My Lord could still have taken you out, and could also have directly taken over the Sacred Master seat. Yet if He does not do so, then surely it is because there is a proper reason. Oldest Sacred Vessel. Know that, beyond what you imagine, the gods see, hear, and feel far more. : :
Chwararararak.
The chains that tear apart Ban Ta's palm strike instantly bind his whole body.
With his whole body bound in chains, Ban Ta clenches his teeth.
"Are those 'far more' you speak of the principle of that Taiji? You say I am being too greedy? Don't make me laugh."
: : You are only an imoogi that cannot ascend because you have too many wish-fulfilling pearls and cannot bear their weight. : :
"My dreams are that lofty? Fine, then keep cursing me for being greedy like that. You say I am an imoogi that cannot ascend because I have too many wish-fulfilling pearls? Fine, then I will not bother ascending. I will gather wish-fulfilling pearls, and gather them again, and I will drag the heavens down in front of me!"
Kiiiiiiing!
And Ban Ta's purple Three Great Ultimates begins to rotate.
"The Dao I possess, I will never carelessly abandon it!"
Jjeok, jjeojeok!
The Owner of Chains flinches in surprise and looks at Ban Ta.
The chains binding Ban Ta seem to be pushed back, and then they explode as they are.
: : Vast Cold Heavenly Circle...!? No, you. You...changed the wisdom of Vast Cold yourself? : :
Only then does the Owner of Chains seem to realize the true nature of the cultivation that forms Ban Ta's Three Great Ultimates, and their eyes open wide.
: : It is not the most stable Heaven, Earth, and Heart...I see. That Three Great Ultimates. Heaven and Earth. And...! : :
Chwaaaaaah!
Ban Ta takes a stance,
And from Ban Ta's Three Great Ultimates, countless palms burst forth.
Ban Ta's Innate Ultimate Technique.
Thousand-Hand Sacred Observer Ban Ta (千手觀聖般陀).
Tududududududu!
One Palm.
Among those countless palm seals, with one palm, a single chain crumbles.
Without even a gap for the Owner of Chains to be startled, Ban Ta's palm seals pour down like rain and begin to crush them.
Tukwagwagwagwang!
A part of Avīci is thrown into disorder.
The chains the Owner of Obsidian Chains summoned crumble all at once.
And in the very moment Ban Ta, who has already reached right before the Owner of Obsidian Chains, thrusts out the final palm.
Jjeooooeong!
Ban Ta's will drives the True Immortal's will out of Lee Seo-ah's body.
"To defeat me, at minimum the Owner of the Antimatter Sea, or the Owner of Black Blades, who is the direct disciple of the Owner of Myriad Stars, or the Wuji Star Lord have to come! Begone, Owner of Obsidian Chains. You cannot do anything to me!"
: : You...the time will come when you must make a choice as soon as possible. Perhaps this is your last dormancy period... Lessen your greed and choose the Lord... : :
The Owner of Obsidian Chains leaves Lee Seo-ah's body and murmurs softly.
: : The Lord has poured onto you more than the goodwill you offered to the Lord... This chance will be the last... Now soon, the two divine ancestors who scattered themselves to create the Yin-Yang Family will revive. Before you meet Glass Peacock again, think carefully...
Tstststst...
Ban Ta looks at Lee Seo-ah, who lies unconscious after the Owner of Obsidian Chains has fully left.
He kicks Lee Seo-ah's body in Avīci and sends it flying to the less dangerous Purple Gold Realm, then clicks his tongue.
"...Glass Peacock..."
The divinity also called the Ignorant One, who mixed with the Immortal Beast called Blue Bird and scattered throughout all of Heaven and Earth in order to create a method system called the Yin-Yang Family.
At the same time...
—Ahahahaha, I heard there is a fellow who spent 10 billion years in the Sacred Vessel stage, died of old age, and revived, so I got interested and came looking...but you are an old-fashioned fellow. I am interested, but right now you stink so I cannot embrace you. Someday, if you advance to True Immortality, then I will violate you then.
Bbudududuk...
That birdbrain insulted him, said he reeks, and just left him behind and went away.
"Glass Peacock..."
Ban Ta also knows the meaning behind Glass Peacock saying, "you stink."
It is talking about his own disposition, and Glass Peacock likely tried to wake up he who is trapped in notions with provocative words and give him enlightenment.
However, even knowing that, Ban Ta cannot forgive Glass Peacock.
"Yeah. I know too...I also know you bastards say my will is wrong...! But...I will not change it. Because this is right!"
He is definitely right.
Although because of that uprightness he still cannot pass down the Purple Gold Realm, and although he still cannot escape the Sacred Vessel stage, he does not think he is wrong.
"Surely my Dao also has a path to move forward. Who dares force right and wrong on me!?"
Ban Ta roars, and senses the energy of the reviving Glass Peacock and Blue Bird.
"Try reviving, Glass Peacock. If only I succeed this time, even you will not dare to follow after me..."
He turns his head to the Purple Gold Realm and sweeps his eyes over the Manas Domain and the Araya domain of the Purple Gold Realm with a complicated gaze.
Amid the mockery and sneers of countless True Immortals, it has already been 20 billion years since he separated the Manas Domain from himself and pierced through the Araya domain.
"...I am not wrong. Surely...I am not wrong..."
Ban Ta disperses the purple Three Great Ultimates and returns to the Purple Gold Realm with a bitter gaze.
Ban Ta's gaze looks even more tired.
"The backlash from forcibly waking during the dormancy period for the New Fates is big... This time...this time, I must...succeed..."
With eyes full of thoughts, Ban Ta suppresses the backlash from facing a True Immortal and returns to Ban Ta Castle in the Purple Gold Realm.
***
Kwagwagwang!
Beyond a distant dimension,
There, the Nether Crossing Ship controlled by Ahn Geum violently pounds a dimension's dimensional veil.
And at the same time, Makli Hyun-ah's Heavenly Tribulation also enters its final stage.
Kurururung!
The clouds that have been pouring black rain now gradually fall down toward Makli Hyun-ah.
Makli Hyun-ah feels a shock as if a black sky is falling onto him, and with all his strength he uses the Confucian Family Method to [negate] that bizarre phenomenon.
Whenever Makli Hyun-ah's negation divine power unfolds, the black raindrops and the sky grow gradually faint and vanish.
And at last, the entire [Black Sky] that pours black rain onto him falls down onto Makli Hyun-ah as if it is being compressed.
Kwagwagwang!
Makli Hyun-ah negates that strange power and chaotic spirit with all his strength, and in the end, he survives through the entire Heavenly Tribulation.
"Heok...heok..."
At the same time, Ahn Geum's Nether Crossing Ship tears open the dimensional veil of another Middle Realm and enters that other Middle Realm.
Shioooooo—
Through the social authority he has accumulated until now, Makli Hyun-ah grows to the level of Four-Axis stage and lets out a breath.
Woo-wooong—
Makli Hyun-ah raises his hand and looks at it.
This is...
Tsuaaaat!
The Lower Realm (Lower Boundary) to the Middle Realm (Middle Boundary) is also called a dimensional interface, but it can also refer to the boundary of realms.
And the realm that truly crosses from the Heavenly Being stage of the Lower Boundary into the Middle Realm is precisely the Four-Axis stage realm.
Starting from the Four-Axis stage, the Heaven Tribe begins to transform into all kinds of bizarre appearances according to the methods they have learned, and begins to change to the level of minor divinity.
The Earth Tribe, that is, the Demon Race, fuse themselves ever more firmly with their dharma form and evolve further toward the appearance they consider ideal.
Such an essential change of the Heaven and Earth tribes is also called Immortalization, or Ascending Metamorphosis.
So the Hundred Schools and the like, which still do not have realm names such as Four-Axis, Integration, Star Shattering, Sacred Vessel, and Entering Nirvana of the Immortal Family Method, also sometimes collectively call their realms from this stage the 'Ascending Metamorphosis stage'.
The Four-Axis stage is Ascending Metamorphosis 1st tribulation. The Integration stage is Ascending Metamorphosis 2nd tribulation. Star Shattering stage is Ascending Metamorphosis 3rd tribulation.
The Sacred Vessel stage is called Ascending Metamorphosis 4th tribulation, and so on.
When the Hundred Schools who pass through the four tribulations of Ascending Metamorphosis reach the realm that corresponds to Entering Nirvana stage, it is called the Ascending Immortal stage, or the Ascending Heaven stage.
"At last, Ascending Metamorphosis 1st tribulation..."
A realm that divides the Lower Boundary and the Middle Boundary, and a stage where existence itself changes essentially,
And Makli Hyun-ah's Confucian Family Method also changes him in essence.
Tsuaaaat!
Makli Hyun-ah sees that when he relaxes his strength a little, his hand instantly slips into the Nether Crossing Ship in the form of a painting.
It feels like an object stored in the storage scroll in the form of a picture,
But it is essentially different.
A storage scroll works by creating a storage space inside the storage hanging scroll and unifying it with an illusion barrier, so that whatever enters inside rises up like a painting.
On the other hand, Makli Hyun-ah's body truly becomes a surface that belongs to the second dimension.
"Fascinating..."
That is not all.
When Makli Hyun-ah concentrates, the physical body that goes into picture form scatters not only as a picture, but into things like 'letters' or 'symbols'.
Tsuaaaat!
With a strange feeling, Makli Hyun-ah turns the body scattered into letters and symbols back into a picture, and he peels off his arm, which has become a picture and is stuck onto the Nether Crossing Ship.
Makli Hyun-ah's arm returns to its original state again.
'The Confucian Family Method's ascension method is to treat even oneself as among the strange powers and chaotic spirits to the very end, and expel it from their world. Yeah...I became the strange powers and chaotic spirits of a cultivation system that negates strange powers and chaotic spirits.'
Makli Hyun-ah's cultivation treats Makli Hyun-ah's existence itself as strange powers and chaotic spirits, and constantly tries to seal and expel that very existence.
In that process, Makli Hyun-ah can seal himself in forms such as a 'doll', a picture, or a 'canon'.
It becomes easy to dismantle his own existence itself and substitute it with another form.
That is the Ascending Metamorphosis of the Confucian Family Method.
Makli Hyun-ah feels as if he understands what meaning the Confucian Family Method, which has the Mountain Divine Spirit as its foundation, contains.
'A power that conveys will not as violence, conflict, and force, but as canon...is this the Confucian Family Method?'
Makli Hyun-ah examines his newly gained divine power and sinks into thought.
The Confucian Family Method's 'sealing' and 'oppression' ability has developed to the point that he can even seal and suppress himself into a lower dimension and change his form.
Of course, he can seal himself, but the subject that seals is also himself, so he can release the sealing and oppression as much as he wants and return to his original form.
'The Confucian Family Method gets more interesting the deeper I dig into it.'
Tsuaat.
Makli Hyun-ah changes into the form of letters for a moment and tries moving.
Instantly changed into the form of letters, he quickly comes to stand beside Ahn Geum.
Ahn Geum glances at Makli Hyun-ah and speaks.
"You entered Ascending Metamorphosis 1st tribulation without trouble. Congratulations."
"Hmph, this much is nothing. So where exactly is this? I didn't hear about the destination in detail..."
"This place is...the Vast Cold Realm. It is where you begin Axis Foundation Practice...and it is a world where the influence of the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order and the One Qi of the Primordial Chaos Religious Order is evenly distributed, like the Purple Gold Realm."
"By the way...this place feels like something is different..."
Makli Hyun-ah feels a strange sense of incongruity in the Vast Cold Realm, and Ahn Geum strokes Makli Hyun-ah's head.
"Mm, good boy. Very sharp, aren't you? It is different. They say the Vast Cold Realm, after the war of the gods in the Mythic Age, is not inside an ordinary world, but is floating around in a strange space called the Outer Sea. Still, because many gods, including the God of Time, connected the attraction force of the Vast Cold Realm to this world, it isn't that hard for any being to ascend to the Vast Cold Realm or be transported here. The flow of time also isn't very different from other places."
"Eek...don't treat me like a puppy!"
"Hm...right, good-good-good-good-good-good-good-good-good-go~ood!!"
Makli Hyun-ah slaps Ahn Geum's hand away, but as if that resistance is amusing, Ahn Geum instead hugs Makli Hyun-ah and starts rubbing his head over and over.
"Kuaaak! Stop it."
"Mm..."
When Makli Hyun-ah throws a tantrum, Ahn Geum stops stroking for a moment and looks toward Makli Cheon-sa.
However, Makli Cheon-sa only approaches Ahn Geum with an expression that looks rather amused and only says,
"Can I try too?"
"Do as you please."
"Thanks. Come here, Hyun-ah. Hehe...good boy, good-good-good-good..."
Makli Cheon-sa slips Makli Hyun-ah out of Ahn Geum's arms and torments him by stroking him the same way.
Ahn Geum watches the two of them for a moment, then looks around.
"Hm... Anyway, we came to the Human Race territory, and among it, the territory ruled by the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order...but why...is it so desolate?"
The place she took as her coordinates is the Sky Island archipelago of the Vast Cold Realm Human Race territory.
It is the place where the temple of the Immeasurable Life Buddha is located.
Yet strangely, in the spot where the temple of the Immeasurable Life Buddha should be, nothing but an endless wasteland is visible.
As if...
A swarm of locusts swept through.
It is just when Ahn Geum is sweeping her eyes around with a strange look.
Clunk!
From beneath the wasteland, someone pops out with an Earth Escape Technique and shouts toward Ahn Geum.
"Hey! What are you doing!? Do you want to become a target!? A flying magic artifact that big, hurry and shrink it, put it away, and come in here! You could die!"
"Hm..."
Sensing there is something in that urgent voice, Ahn Geum quickly shrinks the Nether Crossing Ship and puts it into the storage scroll, then, along with the others, descends to the cultivator who is urgently calling her.
"What in the world is going on? I am a cultivator who just arrived from the Purple Gold Realm, but...isn't this originally the place where the temple of the Immeasurable Life Buddha is?"
"The Purple Gold Realm! Looks like you don't know the outside news because you were trapped inside that prison. First, follow me with the Earth Escape Technique. It is safe only if we hide inside the array formation I hid underground."
"Just what...? Yes. For now, let's go together."
Ahn Geum follows the man through the Earth Escape Technique, and after passing through some barrier with him, she reaches a small underground burrow-like place.
Only after arriving at the burrow does the man finally relax his tension and let out a breath.
"Luckily, it seems those evil-ghost-like bastards didn't notice. But because of the spiritual energy fluctuations your flying magic artifact gave off, before long, those locust-like bastards are going to fly around this entire Sky Island area like crazy!"
"What in the world are they?"
"Do not even mention it!"
At Ahn Geum's question, the man's face turns deathly pale and he shouts.
"Twenty thousand years ago. Because some idiot touched a relic of the Mythic Age sleeping in the Vast Cold Realm, those terrible nightmares were released!"
At the man's words, Ahn Geum and Makli Hyun-ah look at him with puzzled eyes.
Nightmares of the Mythic Age?
And as if answering those eyes, the man speaks while trembling with a fit.
"The monster called one of the Three Calamities in the Mythic Age. The swarms of puppets of the Mad Lord are multiplying like locusts and are covering the Vast Cold Realm!"