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Chapter 677: Tragic History (1)
Countless monts brush past before my eyes.
And now, I once again arrive at that mont.
Entering Heavens Beyond the Path
"Formless Sword."
A single streak of a sword of formlessness cleaves through the blue lightning and rends apart the thunderclouds of the heavens.
'How splendid...'
I smile at my past self as I recall that mont.
How many tis have I ever felt such excitent for Martial Arts as I did then?
The mont I first obtained the Formless Sword it truly felt as if I had obtained everything in the world.
Surung—
Recalling that scene, I once again refine the Impermanence Sword.
As I watch the who obtained the Formless Sword, the Impermanence Sword becos ever so slightly sharper.
And it is at that mont.
Paaaatt!
'This is...'
Indeed.
The mont when Yang Su-jin's lingering thought drew in!
In a mysterious space where seven-colored lightning rumbles, I face Yang Su-jin's lingering thought.
And I am able to understand a truth I could not grasp before.
'This space...!'
The space of seven-colored lightning where Yang Su-jin's lingering thought appears.
This space is not inside the Head Realm.
'So Shattered Heaven Peak of the Head Realm was rely an entrance to arrive at this place...!'
Becoming aware of this new truth, I perceive my surroundings and identify the nature of this space.
'This is...!'
The space of origin.
The starting point of creation.
It is the place I once reached with the Golden Speed Heavenly King Kim Young-hoon—the outskirts of the Void.
And now, I can read the traces engraved sowhere within this space, traces that I could not decipher before due to my insufficient cultivation.
'Traces of battle...'
Nurous lightning-forged spears, swords, and weapons—shattered as they resisted [soone]—remain here as fragnts.
The remnants of these lightning weapons are so strong that they seem etched into the world itself, but it is clear that the existence who faced these weapons utterly snapped and crushed them as if they were re twigs.
'Are these the traces of a battle between the Future King and Yang Su-jin...? This is like...'
A battlefield where a peak master played with a snot-nosed child.
I get the sense that Yang Su-jin, in all likelihood, was toyed with like a child in front of the Future King.
'I see now...'
I had many doubts about the point in ti when Yang Su-jin left behind this lingering thought, but now, many of them are resolved.
'Yang Su-jin must have, after being defeated by the Future King, barely managed to leave this trace while dying.'
Even that was probably not due to his own power, but rather due to the peculiarity of the authority created by the Absolute he possessed.
As I observe the traces left in this space of origin, I co to understand yet another thing.
'And judging by the aftermath left behind...it is highly likely that the battlefield of Yang Su-jin and the Future King was not rely the Audience Chamber, but the 'entire world'.'
Audience Chamber.
Head Realm.
The whole of Mount Suru.
Outer Sea.
Even the outskirts of the Akashic Records—all these regions must have been thrown into chaos by their battle.
From my analysis as the one closest to the ultimate of Martial Arts, these remnants are just a portion of the massive scars left by a battle that swept through countless regions.
'But then why are the beings of this world unaware of the aftermath of that battle, and why have I also failed to discover it until now? No, that's a foolish question. It's simple. Whether through a revision by the Head Realm or fate manipulation by the Future King, there are many thods that could have been used...'
After analyzing several aspects through the seven-colored space itself, I finally see Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow appear within the depths of the space.
Kurung, kurururung!
[O Ender of the later generation...]
Then, unlike my past self, I appear directly before the lingering shadow of Yang Su-jin, halting the revision of the Head Realm through the [Wheel].
Kugugugugu!
The presence of , who has reached the peak of Heaven-Earth Great Net, causes Yang Su-jin's shadow to flinch for a mont.
"I've been wanting to et you, Yang Su-jin."
Though in terms of tiline, he is technically my senior, our actual age gap is so vast that I discard formalities and ask directly.
"I have many questions. Can you answer them all?"
[...]
At my question, Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow sheds tears of blood and replies.
[The ti allowed for us to et is very short...]
Clank!
In response, I distort spaceti with attraction force through the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag and the Phenona Extinguishing Mantra, making ti flow more slowly.
It is the sa thing the Liberation Supre Deity Bong Myeong once did to within the Serving Command Ark.
Then, by once again turning the [Wheel] and rewriting part of the principle, I create the conditions for a slow conversation with Yang Su-jin.
"That should do."
[...]
Of course, even with that, Yang Su-jin's shadow continues to gradually fade, but it is clear that we can now converse for a much longer ti than before.
Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow speaks in a tone that seems a bit dumbfounded.
[...Do as you please.]
"First, let ask what I'm most curious about. Have you faced the Future King?"
[...It is only obvious. But there's not much I can say about him. If I speak of him too often, he will notice...]
"I understand. I'll ask only three questions. That should be fine, right?"
[Go ahead.]
"Do you know the true na of the Future King?"
I imdiately ask about the Future King's true na.
If I know that na, I feel that I may be able to deduce sothing about the three faces of the Future King I've encountered.
[■■■■...is what it's said to be...but can you understand it?]
"..."
[...Strange. With the level of authority you have, you should surely be a Heavenly King...yet you cannot comprehend it. Then again...to hear my arrangents, you'd normally have to co before awakening your fate... Hmm...what a contradictory existence you are.]
"...I get it for now. I can't understand it at my current rank...and seeing you ntion Heavenly King, it must an I need, at the very least, the authority related to the Absolute in order to hear it... In other words, I need to reach the Heavenly Venerable level."
Grabbing my throbbing head, I let out a sigh.
"Then, here's the second question. Do you know the purpose of the Future King?"
[...Not in detail. But one thing is certain. He seeks salvation.]
"Salvation...? What do you an by that?"
[Is that the third question...? We are reaching a dangerous point. If I answer this and you continue questioning about the Future King, he will notice. No...perhaps he already has and is simply letting it happen.]
"...Understood. I won't count that as the third question. Here's the final question about him... How does the Future King think of us?"
[...]
At my last question, I can feel Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow glaring at .
[You are courting danger... You are aware that sentence contains 'two questions'. You are cutting it too close...]
That's right.
Through a slight trick, I attempt to ask 'four questions.'
'How does the Future King think of us?' contains two distinct questions: 'How does he view us?' and 'Does he think?'
'If I receive the answer to this question, I can resolve the doubt of whether the Future King is a personality-bearing being or not. And also to so extent, what he intends to do through us.'
What does he think of us?
That very question would reveal whether the Future King is a sentient being or not.
[...Can you handle it? If I answer this, he may imdiately co looking for you...]
"...Don't worry. He won't find . Especially...not in 'this place'."
[...How arrogant... You act like a mountain divine spirit walking the Immortal Dao of the Mountain.]
"..."
Yang Su-jin criticizes , but since I am in a state of confidence, it is sothing I can say.
"Answer . I can bear it."
At those words, Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow looks at as if it's absurd and slowly opens its mouth.
[To the Future King, Enders are...seeds to be sown and fruit to be harvested, toys to play with, chess pieces and setups on a board...and at the sa ti...mass-produced goods that can be recreated again and again, thus he places no great value on us... To him, we are nothing but trash...]
The mont I hear those words, I shoot out from Yang Su-jin's space.
Shiver!
Alongside a foreboding intuition, I feel the sa ominous and repulsive aura in the far distance that I felt when Oh Hye-seo uttered her fate.
'No. Not yet. He hasn't seen yet.'
There's still ti!
The place where Yang Su-jin's space resides is in the outskirts of the Akashic Records.
In other words, it's the very space Kim Young-hoon once used as a foothold to activate the Golden Great Thousand Worlds.
'Found it!'
I fly toward the golden trajectory visible in the distance.
Sure enough, the trajectory through which Kim Young-hoon transcended all spaceti to head toward the future exists in this spaceti as well.
Landing there, I imdiately draw the Impermanence Sword.
'Now!'
And just before the repulsive 'gaze' of so being reaches —
I hide my body within the golden light and grind down my entire form using the Impermanence Sword.
Pasasasak!
Heavenly Escape!
Chwaaak!
My Heavenly Escape, now infused with the enlightennt of Martial Pinnacle, drags into a depth of the domain of purity I've never reached before, completely hiding from every place in the world.
'Ahhhh...'
As I lose consciousness, I feel Heaven and Earth enshrouded by Taiji.
At the sa ti, I sense the disgusting gaze of that entity sweeping just above the golden trajectory into which I lted.
'Just as I thought...'
Just as I anticipated, the gaze only skims above the traces of Kim Young-hoon's Absolute and fails to detect who has dissolved below. Through this I realize another truth about the Future King.
'His current state is not complete... It's another matter if he sees with his main body...but rely overlooking Mount Suru from the Audience Chamber with three faces detached...he cannot...find......'
Tsuaaaaaaaa!
With that final thought, the world is once again revised.
☯
"Hm..."
I return to stand before Yang Su-jin's lingering shadow.
'So I've returned to when I just encountered Yang Su-jin's shadow. Then the mories of just now...'
[You madman...I've seen the arrangents and lingering thoughts of my predecessor Enders and witnessed countless madn, but your level of madness—I've seen only in Silver Basket, Obsidian, and Lapis Lazuli.]
"Impressive. Did you resist the revision?"
[That's impossible... It's rely that the place you escaped to coincidently happened to be a trace of a Golden Body, and due to the resonance between the Golden Body's fate and my power, as one who absorbed the corpse of the Ender of my generation who bore the Golden Body's fate, I just barely managed to rember the monts before the revision...]
"...You ate your comrade's corpse?"
[Do not misunderstand. What I devoured belonged to a soldier who unjustly oppressed and tried to kill . We were never comrades. That bastard was an enemy even back on Earth.]
"...Still, I thought you saw Earthlings as 'humans'... Didn't you ever think of it as cannibalism?"
[What's done is done. What is there to speak about? Do not speak carelessly when you don't know much about . Besides, at the ti I absorbed him, he was a 'true non-human,' so it doesn't matter.]
Unable to follow Yang Su-jin's line of thinking, I ask dumbfoundedly.
"After non-human cos 'true non-human'...? What do you an by that?"
[It's sothing I only realized after reaching the Audience Chamber. Looking at you you've already figured it out too... We didn't have a soul... We were rely fragnts of so law that constitutes this world.]
I nod, and seeing my reaction, Yang Su-jin continues weakly.
[The reason I considered the living beings of this world as 'non-human' was solely because I believed they were ruled by fate... But the truth is, we too were ruled by fate and didn't even possess a soul. Thus, we Enders are actually more wretched than the living beings of Mount Suru. We were the 'true non-humans'...]
"..."
I feel a headache coming on from a way of thinking so twisted I don't even know where to begin pointing it out.
Having a conversation with soone who's already settled on such an extre conclusion feels like talking to the Great Mountain Supre Deity.
'Of course, he's a little different from Gwak Am in direction...but the degree of madness is the sa... And this kind of lunatic dares to call crazy. Ridiculous. If we'd lived in the sa era, I'd have beaten him even more than Jeon Myeong-hoon. No, maybe I should just say he's practically the sa as Oh Hye-seo from 120,000 years ago...'
If we'd lived in the sa ti, it probably would've been regular knife fights between us.
But I shake my head, clearing away the stray thoughts, and ask him another question.
"You just said 'at the ti I absorbed him, he was a true non-human'. Then are you saying there cos a ti when an Ender is not a 'true non-human'?"
[Sharp one, aren't you. If you'd existed in my generation, you'd have been worthy of being a comrade... A pity.]
"..."
[That's right. Because we lack a soul, we are true non-humans...but there exists a [ti when the soul is born].]
"What...!?"
That truth is sothing no one has ever told before, so my eyes widen and I ask.
"Is that true? We, too, can gain souls?"
[Yes... Are you familiar with the beginning, developnt, twist, and conclusion of Enders?]
"I am."
['A new world...' No, that's not quite right.
['Returning to one's hotown and opening one's eyes.'
['eting soone precious in the hotown, and cherishing them.'
['Soday losing that person, and awakening to fate.'
['Then returning to the Head Realm and gaining an audience with the Future King.'
[This...is our beginning, developnt, twist, and conclusion. A fixed result... A fate that cannot be changed.]
At those words, I let out a silent sight.
For even I had not fully understood the final part—the conclusion—of an Ender's fate.
'So gaining an audience with the Future King...is the end of our story.'
I recall the 'Ender's Tale' that the Underworld once showed .
Co to think of it, that was how it was.
It was the sa with the Ender's Tale, and the myth of the Future King explained by Tae Yeol-jeon.
They all end with the Seven Brilliances Kings or the Enders returning to the Supre Deity of Heaven, or the Future King, and living happily or enjoying eternal paradise.
Just like Yang Su-jin says, it's as if...
'A fruit is being harvested.'
[Our soul...is born after we gain an audience with the Future King. That's why so few Enders have left behind split souls or lingering shadows. The detailed principle is that only after the audience, when the Absolute within us is suppressed, can the foundation for the soul's sprouting be ford.]
"...!"
This is also the first ti I'm hearing this.
But I understand.
'From the beginning, all those I gained information about Enders from had never actually entered the Audience Chamber...'
Figures like the lingering thought of the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King or the Obsidian Devil Heavenly King never gave any information about the Audience Chamber, so this post-Audience Chamber information is sothing I'm hearing from Yang Su-jin for the first ti.
"Wait...if our soul only cos into being after the Audience Chamber..."
[Yes. It doesn't really an much... If you don't surpass him, whether you have a soul or not, there's no hope either way...]
Gigigigigik—
I notice the Wheel behind my back gradually overloading.
'Resisting the revision of the Head Realm is putting quite a burden on it.'
Even though I've stretched ti, it seems there isn't as much left as I expected.
"Is the very act of our soul being born after gaining an audience with him...part of our beginning, developnt, twist, and conclusion?"
[That's right.]
"...Then one more thing. If a soul is born...what happens after we are defeated by him...? Can you tell ?"
[...That's information about him. It is his domain, so if I speak of it, he will notice.]
I let out a silent sigh and nod.
"Alright. Then do you...know anything about the Radiance Mantra or Heuk Sa?"
At my words, Yang Su-jin responds with a slightly bewildered tone.
[...? Are you talking about the Radiance Supre Deity? What's the Radiance Mantra? Is it sothing those idiots made after I died?]
"...It's nothing."
It seems Yang Su-jin doesn't know anything about Heuk Sa or the Radiance Mantra.
"One last thing..."
Kigigigigik!
Realizing the Wheel is overheating and on the verge of exploding, I pick one final question.
"Does 'a trustworthy Governing Immortal' refer to a Governing Immortal who has cast off their Immortal Title and wears no leash?"
[Correct. In my era, there was only one such person, but judging by your words, it seems a few more exist in the later generation.]
"...Can the Underworld...be trusted?"
I recall the compassionate and trustworthy image the Underworld once showed .
And also...the subtly suspicious sches I sensed beneath it all.
As the Head Realm revises the world, the power of the Wheel reaches its limit.
[There's only one reason I trusted that one. Though it is partially because that one possesses no Immortal Title, and thus is not re livestock... But the reason I, with power barely at the level of an Immortal Lord, dared to enter the Audience Chamber is...]
Yang Su-jin's figure begins to fade beyond the Taiji.
Even so, his lingering shadow sheds bloody tears and continues to look at .
[Because that person brought their Gandhara and faced the Audience Chamber together with . That person may have their own sches...but they are my comrade-in-arms, and they are truly soone you can trust... Trust them. And..fort them...]
Tststststststss—
As the world is swallowed by the Taiji, Yang Su-jin shouts in a bitter tone.
[As much as all the arrangents left behind by the Lapis Lazuli Heavenly Kings...are always personally retrieved by that one... That one is the saddest being in this world... We...must beco that person's hope... Only that person...must be trusted. Only them...]
At last, Yang Su-jin vanishes into the Taiji, and as I feel the flow of the world's fate returning to normal, I receive Yang Su-jin's final words as a point of topic.
[For only that one...is the being the Fate Supre Deity treasures most dearly...]
With that, I return to the original flow of fate.
☯
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