"Master!! We must run away!! Huaaagh! This devil hag, her goal was to throw us into the jaws of the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity and kill us all along!"
Golden Shaking Bird begins to have a fit, clinging to Jeon Myeong-hoon while screaming.
Kang Min-hee bites down on her long pipe, as if her head hurts watching the scene.
"Huuu... What's that now? Is that your pet, Jeon Myeong-hoon?"
"...There's a reason we're together."
Jeon Myeong-hoon speaks while pushing the Golden Shaking Bird away.
"That one might be a bit violent, even breaking my leg and all, but still, she is my comrade. She didn't drag us in here just to kill us, so calm down."
"No! Master's leg! This devil hag dares—!"
At Jeon Myeong-hoon's words, Golden Shaking Bird seems to calm down but soon growls at Kang Min-hee with fiery eyes.
"Huuuuu..."
Kang Min-hee clicks her tongue as she exhales a stream of blue smoke.
"Calm down. You're safe as long as you stay with ."
Hwiiiiiiii—
The blue smoke she exhales swirls around us.
And I notice that her smoke draws a circle as it encircles this dark space.
'This is...'
So power operating in this space forms a circle, protecting us.
"Flawless Mantra. It's the essence that composes the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity...and at the sa ti, it's also a direct channel to the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld. I'm using the Flawless Mantra to make us recognized as part of the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity. So as long as the Flawless Mantra is active, we can stay inside here as long as we want."
"...!"
She looks at and continues.
"You could probably walk around here even without . You've learned the Flawless Mantra, after all."
"...Seems like it."
Sohow, this darkness feels familiar.
It feels as though the darkness itself is welcoming , and even if I step outside that circle where Kang Min-hee's power is at work, I feel like I'd be fine.
'It must be because I've learned the Flawless Mantra.'
"Anyway, Kang Min-hee."
After brushing all her hair, I tuck the comb into her hair and ask.
"You're not your main body, are you? Where's your main body?"
"That's right. I sensed you guys coming and sent a temporary clone. My main body is deeper inside the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity. In the place connected to the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, I'm learning sothing special from Them."
It seems she is learning how to draw a taenghwa.
"What exactly are you learning?"
"That...I can't tell you. It's highly confidential."
"I see... In that case, can I ask one favor?"
"What kind of favor?"
"Let et the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld."
At my words, Kang Min-hee's eyes widen.
Jeon Myeong-hoon also looks over, eyes brimming with interest.
"There's sothing I need to request."
I think of Kim Yeon, trapped in Liberation Peach Garden Village.
And Kim Young-hoon, wandering in the Outer Sea.
But Kang Min-hee speaks with a hardened face.
"No."
"Why? Why not?"
"...You, judging by your winged garnt...you're an Upper Immortal, aren't you?"
"That's right."
"At the level of an Upper Immortal, you can't et Them."
A faint fear lingers in her eyes.
"They...want to capture all of us Enders. At your level, you'll definitely be caught and sealed. I absolutely cannot allow it."
"Then why...haven't you been sealed?"
"That's simply because They value my talent highly. There's no greater reason."
Kang Min-hee places a hand on her chest and continues speaking.
"They said all the strength and talent of us Enders...rely flow from sothing called fate. But the talent I possess, excluding my fate, still reaches a level comparable to an Ender's, which is why They are specially nurturing as a candidate for a Judge... No such exception applies to the other Enders. Especially..."
She speaks with a bitter gaze.
"When you advanced to True Immortal...I admired your talent, Seo Eun-hyun, and asked the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld. I asked if They couldn't take you as Their disciple alongside . But They told this. That They 'must not take you as a disciple'..."
"..."
"It probably ans you don't et the criteria. That's why, unless you at least reach the level of Great Net Immortal, I cannot bring you before Them."
Kang Min-hee gestures toward the endlessly stretching world of darkness.
"Currently, all of us Enders are wanted by the beings called Radiance Hall. The reason I brought you all here is because the stomach of the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity is the safest place. From now on, cultivate here.
"When you want to leave, you can speak the Flawless Mantra to or Seo Eun-hyun, and you'll be able to exit. If you're bored, you can go out to the Twin Holding Heavenly Domain and wander around. The Twin Holding Heavenly Domain is where various Earth Upper Immortals and True Immortals not affiliated with Radiance Hall gather, so there should be plenty to see. You're free here. But..."
She speaks with a resolute expression.
"Seo Eun-hyun, I cannot introduce you to the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, like you asked. To be introduced to Them, you need to be at least Great Net Immortal, and ideally, you'd have to elevate your realm to the level of Immortal Lord. Otherwise...none of you can et Them."
"..."
I let out a silent sigh.
I can clearly feel her concern for .
But I have a definite reason why I must et the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
"Trust , Kang Min-hee. Even if I et the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, They won't try to taxidermize ."
"..."
She closes her eyes, as if unwilling to hear any more, and lts into the darkness.
"I'll be with my main body. You all stay here and rest. The power of the Flawless Mantra will protect you as long as you don't step outside that blue smoke. Well then..."
Shiriririk!...
"Hm..."
Watching her fully disappear from the space, I scratch my head.
'Well, this is quite...'
Originally, I planned to show her my Three Great Ultimates right in front of her, but now it's gotten a bit tricky.
'Then, there's no helping it.'
I sigh and decide to go find Kang Min-hee's main body.
'Anyway, if it's her current self, she should be directly communing with the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, receiving training. If I go to where her main body is, I should be able to et the Heavenly Venerable.'
I take out Yeo Hwi, Yu Hwi, Ham Jin, Hong Fan, Jun Jae, and those who were inside into this space and ask.
"Hong Fan, you look after Yu Hwi, Ham Jin, Jun Jae, and the others here. They haven't woken up yet, but if they do, explain the situation to them. And Jeon Myeong-hoon, Golden Shaking Bird. I'm going to find Kang Min-hee for a bit, so wait for for a while."
"Mm, got it. But how are you going to find her? This space inside the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity's belly...is a darkness where no attraction force or anything else can be sensed..."
"There's a way to handle that."
I speak as I fling open my internal world.
With that, five-colored light blooms from within my internal world.
Among them, the red light rges into Jeon Myeong-hoon in the blink of an eye, while the color mixed of golden, purple, and silver fly off sowhere.
The light pink light disappears on the spot as if teleporting, and the dark blue light cluster quickly shoots past into the darkness beyond.
That must be where Kang Min-hee's main body is.
Kiririk—
In the past life, the movent speed of the lights were so fast that it was hard to chase after them.
'It's a little different now.'
In an instant,
A Pure-White Three Great Ultimates rises behind .
Triple Divinity awakens my mind.
Triple Divinity is ultimately the extre blossoming of intent's characteristics.
Thus, the thod of operating Triple Divinity is ultimately similar to consciousness.
'Acceleration.'
By the power of Triple Divinity, my mind seems to rise to a new dinsion.
It feels as though a new domain of the mind is being created.
Chwararararak!
In an instant, a phenonon occurs where the world of darkness seems to flatten into two dinsions.
Pabat!
I begin dash through the world narrowed into a two-dinsional plane.
Narayana Nature preserves my mind within this domain.
Shiriririk!
Along with it, Mahesvara Nature erases the 'distance' that has been narrowed, allowing to chase after those lights.
For how long do I run after the cluster of lights, having entered a new dinsion?
Kurururung!
I spot Kang Min-hee's main body in the distance.
The cluster of blue light enters and settles within Kang Min-hee's body.
She seems to be an Upper Immortal who has followed the Earth Upper Immortal pathway, but perhaps because she is only at the level of a True Immortal who learned the Flawless Mantra, even she cannot perceive , who has arrived in this place in a fleeting instant.
In this world where ti seems to have stopped, I gently place my hand on her shoulder and land beside the spot where she is sitting.
She is drawing a taenghwa, but I cannot see what the taenghwa depicts.
The painting itself seems to have so sort of restriction.
However, I soon lose interest in the taenghwa and instead lower my waist, kneeling, and bowing towards the presence I feel before .
A familiar sensation.
But...
A reverence and awe entirely different from before.
'Unlike before...precisely because I've grown, I can feel just how terrifying that deep darkness is...just a little more vividly...'
I swallow hard, then open my mouth towards the presence before Kang Min-hee.
"This lowly Upper Immortal, Crystal Glass Being Seo Eun-hyun...greets the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld..."
And then,
Hwarurureuk...
In this frozen world, a familiar figure appears, holding a candle fla.
A being at tis resembling Tae Yeol-jeon, at tis the village girl from the mountain village, at tis Kang Min-hee, and at tis Kim Yeon.
'...This is insane.'
Just her very existence makes chills run down my back.
This a dinsion reached by accelerating my consciousness, which has arrived at the True Immortal level, to the point of transcendence.
Even for , moving within this dinsion is burdenso, yet she moves so naturally within it.
I realize as I look at her.
'The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld...is the strongest.'
Not a single authority related to ti would work on her.
Aging through ti acceleration would not work because her weight class is far too high, and ti stop is aningless as she, too, possesses the consciousness capable of entering a stopped world.
Moreover, ti reversal directly deals with past, and since the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld seized control of the history pathway, it would be effortlessly blocked.
'The Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable is the sa. Even though They govern birth, considering that the Reincarnation Judge is effectively under the Underworld's jurisdiction, it wouldn't be strange for Their authority domain to be taken away entirely at any ti... And the Martial Arts of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld are also at a level comparable to Hyeon Mu, yet her weight class is even higher...'
No other Heavenly Venerable could reach even the tip of the Underworld Heavenly Venerable's toes.
It's just when I think so.
"Each has their own strengths. When it cos to embarking on far-reaching journeys and finding hidden coordinates, Ti is a step above . Sal Tree as well is superior to in granting birth and fate to life. And Void, as well, I cannot be compared to."
"...!"
Having my thoughts seen through in an instant, I lower my head with a bitter smile.
"Why say such things? I am clearly of the Heavenly Venerable's..."
"If possible, I would prefer not to be called titles containing Heaven (天)."
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld cuts off my words with an unexpected request, and I nod.
'So that's why they all called her Imperial Venerable.'
"...Yes, Imperial Venerable. I have clearly experienced the Heart and Heaven Taenghwa Painting of the Imperial Venerable. And when recalling having crossed swords with Hyeon Mu..."
Indeed, that Heart and Heaven Taenghwa Painting carried a similar feeling to Hyeon Mu's Dance of Emptiness.
The only difference was in how delicately its power was adjusted.
"Aren't the Imperial Venerable's Martial Arts...already in the sa realm as the True Martial Great Emperor Hyeon Mu?"
At my question, the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld only smiles faintly.
Then she opens her mouth.
And at her next words, I cannot help but feel great shock.
"This technique you all call 'martial discipline'...is rely a 'technique' I learned to discern Enders. I have not learned his technique to a high realm. This lowly maiden is, at best by your standards, at the realm you call Seated Detachnt, Entering Hope, or perhaps the First Step Before the Throne."
"...!"
I flinch in surprise.
"L-Lowly maiden, you say? Why act like this towards ? No, more importantly...Seated Detachnt, Entering Hope? But yours is clearly..."
"Through heterodox thods, I rely produced power equivalent to Severing Heaven by your standards. Unlike the versatile other Heavenly Venerables, this lowly maiden is rely...an incompetent being who focused solely on the path of history."
I am taken aback by the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld's sudden extre self-deprecating attitude.
"...Where did he suddenly disappear to?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon sits quietly, gazing off sowhere after Seo Eun-hyun suddenly vanished.
After Seo Eun-hyun disappeared, saying he is going to find Kang Min-hee,
Jeon Myeong-hoon felt an imnse power welling up within his body and is currently calming that power.
Because of the sudden surge in power, his mind temporarily awakened to the point of connecting to a strange spaceti.
"Anyway..."
Jeon Myeong-hoon looks at Hong Fan in this world where everything has stopped and where the world feels as if it has turned two-dinsional.
"That guy just now... It looked like he moved. Or was it just my imagination?"
It was probably just his imagination.
"Man, what an odd expression."
Jeon Myeong-hoon stares at Hong Fan, who is gazing fixedly at sowhere with an ambiguous expression.
"Where is he staring so intently like that with that face...?"
As he steadies his power in the stopped world, Jeon Myeong-hoon glances towards the spot Hong Fan is fixated on, looking slightly bored.
There is only darkness there.
I look at the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, who assus a lower posture before , and ask.
"May I know why you are suddenly doing this to ?"
"Hoho..."
But the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld simply smiles aningfully and lowers her head even more in her Transformation form.
'Sothing feels odd...'
It almost feels as though the one she is lowering herself to isn't .
'Seeing as she's not telling , she probably won't answer.'
"...Understood. I will not inquire about this matter. In that case, allow to ask about one matter."
"What is it?"
"I once heard from Yang Su-jin. Strictly speaking, it was from a remnant thought of his. I heard that the Imperial Venerable...tends to capture and taxidermy beings like us up to a certain standard, but if we surpass that standard, you provide support."
"Hoo..."
"I would like to ask."
Woo-wooong!
I raise the Pure-White Three Great Ultimates as I speak.
A force that seems capable of annihilating Heaven and Earth surges from the Pure-White Three Great Ultimates.
"Do I, as I am now...et the Imperial Venerable's standard?"
"..."
She stares at silently for a mont.
'...Damn it...'
Just from her 'gaze', I feel as if I am falling into a bottomless pit.
"...At your current level..."
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld speaks after seeming to deliberate for a mont.
"You are exactly at the level of Yang Su-jin, right before his advancent to Immortal Lord."
"...! Th-That ans..."
"It ans you do not et the standard."
"..."
I almost smile but instead break out into a cold sweat.
'Damn it all...'
For a mont, I even wonder if I am about to be taxidermized.
But I quickly pull myself together.
'No. The fact that she is speaking calmly with ans there is still room left.'
"If it's the level of Yang Su-jin before advancing to Immortal Lord...may I take that to an I am almost at the threshold?"
After all, Yang Su-jin died when he was an Immortal Lord!
"Yes, well, that is correct. But rather than almost, let's say so-so. Therefore...it is because you are in an ambiguous state that I am leaving you be. If I see no further potential, I will taxidermize you imdiately. But since there is still a sprout to be seen, I am allowing you ti to grow."
"...So full support is still difficult for now."
"That is correct."
I bite my lip.
'...So full support is out, huh... But that's fine.'
I have sothing prepared precisely for a situation like this.
"In that case, even if support is not possible...would a 'transaction' be acceptable?"
"Hm... A transaction is fine. However, I wonder if you possess sothing that would satisfy this maiden."
"It is not an object, but...perhaps this will interest you."
Confidently, I pull out the card that I've kept.
"The true will of Radiance Hall and the Radiance Supre Deity...and their ultimate goal. Would you care to hear it?"
"...Go ahead and recite it."
She smiles aningfully with an oddly languid expression.
'So bargaining won't work.'
Seeing that smile, I think.
'First...let's lay out the information, then state what I want.'
The starting point to saving Kim Young-hoon, Kim Yeon, and Oh Hyun-seok lies solely with the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld!
"Then, I will speak."
Of course, there is the possibility that the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld already knows.
'Even so, what I intend to propose...should be of use even to her... And if not, she'll just tell to stop halfway.'
With that, I begin to reveal the ultimate goal of Radiance Hall and the true will of the Radiance Supre Deity.
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