Discord:sdsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 697: The Beginning and the End
The first thing we see is a massive chunk of information.
"This is..."
I understand what this is.
This thing, constantly writhing in a dark-red state, is a type of massive computation device.
Oh Hye-seo and I are imrsed in the massive waves of dinsional flow, and the thing closest to us is this dark-red fog-like mass.
Wo-woong!
"..."
Oh Hye-seo, her eyes trembling, brings her hand toward the dark-red mass.
Ttstststsst!
'A virtual world, huh...'
Inside the dark-red mass before my eyes, I see thousands of 'worlds'.
And within those virtual worlds, virtual realities filled with countless possibilities are being processed.
'This must be...
The legacy of a previous Agate.
'The current ti is forty thousand years ago. And this place is...'
Within the Head Realm, the space where the Akashic Records exist.
Located in that space, it seems to be a virtual world computation Immortal Art within the remains of the previous Agate.
'This place is...'
"Seo Hweol's...holand."
Oh Hye-seo smiles bitterly.
Dreamlike mists of every hue cover the surroundings.
At the center is the dark-red mist, and within that mist, thousands of virtual realities are visible.
The ego of the artificial computation device that is the previous Agate's legacy—Agate's persona—seems to have detected our reaction, as it begins to scan the surroundings.
However, perhaps because the rank of Oh Hye-seo, who is currently linked to , and I, is far too high, Agate's persona fails to even perceive us.
'This point in ti is forty thousand years ago. Deep inside the Head Realm's Akashic Records...I guess we can't exit this place.'
I try to look around this point in ti we've reached, but my whole body feels like it's sinking deep into an ocean, unable to move.
'If I get used to it, I might be able to move...but for now, it's difficult. Is it the resistance of a world existing in the past? I suppose I should see it as a kind of corrective force.'
The ancient history ford by the layered webs of Indra's Net, the principle of the world, presses down on us with imnse weight, minimizing our interference.
For now, all we can do within this misty world inside the Head Realm's Akashic Records is observe the traces of Agate.
"Anyway, Seo Hweol can't be seen. Oh Hye-seo, about your predecessor Agate's—"
"He's here..."
"What?"
But Oh Hye-seo seems to have found sothing.
"He's...here..."
Heaven and Earth spiritual energy flows from her eyes.
Reflected in her tears is a single dot of violet mist, mingled with the dark-red legacy of Agate.
"...I see."
I can sense the familiar scent of the Underworld from that violet mist.
The loyal retainer of Bong Hwa who upheld the power of the Underworld, the forr Chief Judge of the Netherworld, the Nether Devil True Lord Yu Hao Te.
His leftover Blood Yin.
The fragnt of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens imbued with Blood Yin's will that subrged into Agate's legacy and was born was—
That ancient Seo Hweol.
In silence, I begin to watch Seo Hweol with Oh Hye-seo from outside the mist.
Countless ti passes.
Oh Hye-seo watches as the fragnt of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, which can be called the essence of Seo Hweol, gradually awakens within Agate's legacy.
I, anwhile, within the past, contemplate the Radiance Mantra and research ways to observe the past more closely, in search of power that transcends ti.
'Even if we go to the past, if we can't escape the Head Realm, it's aningless. We must be able to leave the Head Realm.'
Through Immortal Arts, through mantras, through martial arts, I seek every thod to minimize the resistance imposed by the power of the past within this space.
And, within that ti...
The existence that can be called the essence of Seo Hweol gradually gains more spiritual energy and expands the root of its existence...
Eventually, for the first ti, it cos to possess what is called 'an ego'.
Then, at last, I am able to see the faces of Seo Hweol's [parents].
"Father, Mother. Must I also marry for the purpose of intercourse with a female or male?"
Within Agate's virtual world, Seo Hweol, having obtained an ego for the first ti, asks his parents.
Oh Hye-seo tilts her head, unable to recognize the [parents].
Perhaps, for soone like Oh Hye-seo, they are beings of far too high a rank to perceive.
And...
As I perceive Seo Hweol's [parents], I barely endure the pain that feels as if my eyes are about to burst.
Hong Fan taps my shoulder and speaks with concern.
"Master, please do not overdo it. They seem to be existences beyond rank. You could be hard if you push too hard."
"..."
I glance at Hong Fan, who has at so point succeeding in transforming the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity into an Immortal Treasure and bestowing the Supre Deity's power to the other Immortal Treasures, and has co as one of the five Immortal Treasures, and speak.
'How strange.'
Even if the power of the Swallowing Heaven Supre Deity was distributed among the Immortal Treasures so that each reaches the level of a Great Net Immortal and, together, they reach the level of a Supre Deity...
Their own realm, excluding the power granted, is at best that of Vestige Liberation Immortal.
And yet, despite being such beings, though he accelerated for a shorter duration than Hyeon Mu, Hong Fan still managed to follow with the speed of Undying and clung to up to here.
The issue is, I have no way of knowing 'how he managed to do that'.
Even when I read the history, the result is the sa.
He 'simply' followed along.
At this bizarre situation where there is no process, only the result, I feel a chill wash over .
'It's as if...as long as we are inside Mount Suru, there's so kind of law that dictates Hong Fan to be by my side, regardless of causality.'
Just what exactly is Hong Fan?
Is he simply the first Radiance Supre Deity, or...
Is there another secret hidden beyond that?
"...It's fine. You just go over there and eat boiled potatoes or sothing."
Seeing Hong Fan's expression that seems to worry for , I let out a faint chuckle and turn my head away.
"If it's the current ...even if I look directly, it's not enough to make return to thee."
And so, turning away from the worried-looking Hong Fan, I begin to perceive [Seo Hweol's parents].
: : Everything under Heaven and Earth follows the principle of Taiji, pairing as it should. : :
Tingle, tingle...
'I see...'
That is sothing soone like Oh Hye-seo cannot possibly perceive.
Because that being is a monstrosity that transcends all simply through its very existence, one of the fundantal laws that exist in this world.
That being is the one who bears the na Fate.
Kiiiiiiiiing!
Immortal Beast True Blood bursts out from my eyes.
But I look at the phenonon clearly.
Within Seo Hweol's mories, only that one line is heard, but I am able to hear the other words spoken by that being.
: : Guide. Draw forth hatred. And so...through death, complete the new Agate... : :
Kugugugugugu!
I montarily hide Hong Fan within my body, guard Oh Hye-seo from any potential attack, and simultaneously fix my glare on [that] inside the dark-red virtual world and on [that] which reveals itself from deep inside the Head Realm.
The one within the virtual world that is Seo Hweol's holand, is rely a black surface (面/face).
The black wall-like thing erging with the dark-red mist faces Seo Hweol.
And...
That is only a part of it.
I see a massive [black hand] revealed behind the dark-red mist.
That hand is pitch black, and part of its palm protrudes into the dark-red world, appearing as a black wall.
I focus all my senses on that [hand].
Yet the owner of the [hand] seems utterly uninterested in soone like and instead exerts attraction force upon Seo Hweol.
Wo-woong!
Then, on the surface that reveals itself before Seo Hweol, colors begin to appear.
The colors intertwine and tangle together to form a [scene].
—Say! That you love !!!
It is...
A scene where 'sothing' painted in dark-red embraces Seo Hweol's bones and weeps uncontrollably.
As I watch the scene, I grind my teeth.
: : Your existence...shall be for the sole purpose of realizing this future... : :
Tststststststss!
Soon, the black wall that appeared before Seo Hweol and showed him the future scene begins to dissolve and absorb into him.
Ptstststststst—
At the sa ti, the [hand] vanishes in the blink of an eye...and Seo Hweol regains his senses.
Imdiately after...
I can tell that Seo Hweol, who was once nothing more than a small spirit fragnt containing Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, now truly possesses fate.
He now has both soul and fate.
All that remains is Qi to form the physical body.
However...
Even with just that, the existence of the innate Sacred Vessel Seo Hweol is now more than halfway complete.
From that point on, Seo Hweol, now fully possessing fate, begins to walk the path of fate as I know it.
'Is that...the process of a [Guide] being born...?'
Beings born to awaken the fate of Agate, who must internalize everything about Agate's fate through their very flesh.
In order to teach hatred, those who must inscribe hated into their bodies deeper than anyone else.
That is precisely...
Those chosen to beco the Guides of Agate.
Oh Hye-seo continues to observe such a Seo Hweol and trembles.
"Seo Eun-hyun...please...I beg you...save Seo Hweol... With your Wheel...rewrite the past..."
She begins to cry as she watches Seo Hweol in his pain.
"If it's you...you can do it, right...? I can't...I can't watch him...tear his own heart apart like that anymore..."
"..."
"Please! Seo Eun-hyun! I'll beg like this! I'll devote my body and heart to you from now on! I will never betray you again. I'll educate Seo Hweol myself. If you tell to lick your feet, I'll do it. If you tell to shove my head into the toilet, I will. Even if you cut my throat and sip and eat my skull, I'll smile and accept it! Please...please save Seo Hweol!!"
I look at Oh Hye-seo like that, then look at the Seo Hweol suffering in the past.
Seo Hweol is seizing the legacy of Agate in this ti point and is completing Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
What would happen if I intervene at this mont?
If the past is rewritten...
Will the Seo Hweol who had toyed with us until now disappear?
What if...
Seo Hweol could have been a true friend instead of an enemy?
Woo-woooong!
Hong Fan, who has entered my body, shouts.
—Do not over do it, Master. That one was an enemy until very recently. Just because she beca an ally, there is no need to go that far. More than anything...to rewrite the past is to shatter the causality of the present story...
As his explanation continues, my hesitation deepens.
—If you help the Seo Hweol of the past, what becos of us of the present? If he is rewritten, won't our very existence cease to exist?
"..."
I bite my lip at Hong Fan's completely reasonable words.
—For the sake of soone who was our enemy, do not throw away our present, our connections! Master!
"..."
I grit my teeth.
Not a single part of Hong Fan's argunt is wrong.
There is no reason for to sacrifice myself for soone like Seo Hweol.
Therefore, I ask Oh Hye-seo.
"Cut the emotional act. Explain it to ."
I explain to her the fundantal contradiction that Hong Fan has pointed out and ask her.
"What reason do we have to help the Seo Hweol of the past...even at the cost of our present?"
"...That's..."
"You're mad, but you've always been calculative. There's no way soone like you would make such an emotional plea without a reason. The one who possesses the legacy of the previous Agate is the current you. So in the most logical way possible...convince , Oh Hye-seo."
"..."
If it had been soone other than Seo Hweol, I might've at least tried to play along with her emotional act.
But the one I am being asked to help...is Seo Hweol.
Before being my fellow Daoist, the one who was my enemy.
"Why should I make a choice that endangers the of the present for the sake of an ill-connection?"
Upon hearing my question, Oh Hye-seo bites her lip for a mont.
But soon, a firm resolve rises on her face.
"My authority blurs the boundary between the 'truth' present in this place and the 'thoughts' I have. But...'truth' does not change. My uncle, and Seo Hweol taught that. That's right...history can never be changed. If you try to change sothing unchangeable, just like you said, we might all end up in danger. But...you know it too..."
"..."
"The past...cannot be changed...because it is ti that has already passed... No matter how much you try to rewrite it, it won't change."
"..."
"The mont I saw your Wheel, I knew. The power of your rewriting is probably almost the sa as my authority."
Only after reaching this realm and perceiving the Radiance Mantra did I understand how the Wheel rewrites the past.
If I compare it to the form of the [infant] I saw...
The Radiance Mantra is the principle of returning to the ends of the blood vessels and forming new ones,
While the rewriting of the Wheel creates a new, smaller blood vessel next to the existing one.
In other words, the ability of rewriting is a kind of parallel dinsion creation.
It does not change the actual past, but instead transfers the beings that existed in that past into a parallel dinsion that possesses the sa reality as the original past, and lets them live there.
In that sense, the Wheel and the Radiance Mantra are equivalent in that they [possess an ability to form the infant's body].
That is to say, when I dealt with the children of In and Yeon during my battle with Seo Hweol, I did not truly rewrite the past.
I rely sent their spirits into a parallel dinsion and allowed them to live out their lives once more within it.
For the ti that has passed [absolutely] does not disappear.
"But...even if the past never disappears, within that past...I want to insert even a little bit of happiness between those monts. For Seo Hweol...I want him to have not just a history of pure hatred, but also a trace of happy history. So please...please, Seo Eun-hyun. Lend your Wheel. If your power and my authority combine...we can give Seo Hweol even a sliver of happiness..."
"..."
"History...is [absolutely] unchangeable anyway... So what you're afraid of, the danger to our present caused by changing the past, will never happen. So..."
—Absolutely not, Master. What this woman says only applies to a typical case... But now that we've reached the real past through the Akashic Records, this is no longer an ordinary case and could very well lead to the actual rewriting of the past! Therefore...
"Just once...give us a chance...!!"
—If the predetermined fate is twisted, everyone may be destroyed!
"..."
I rise from my seat and gently close my eyes.
And then, I realize sothing.
No, more precisely, it would be accurate to say that the 'enlightennt ca to ' through Oh Hye-seo's desperate 'wish.'
[If you were to realize that you've already died in the future, and that your current self is nothing but a reenactnt of the past, what would you do?]
"...Are you asking what I'd do if I'm just a mory or a lingering thought?"
I hear Oh Hye-seo's shout, and I turn to look at the person in white who has co to .
Co to think of it, this person, too, has experienced the exact sa thing through in the past.
"You accepted it with such calm composure. How were you able to do that, exactly?"
[I was the one who asked first. You dare turn it around with a question of your own, you brat? Do you want to taste the club?]
"Kugh..."
If I am nothing more than a remnant of the past, and all I'm doing is repeating my history, and if my end is a pitiful defeat, making everything I do from now on aningless—then what would I do?
"If that's the case...then I must struggle harder."
Though I ponder the question for a mont, the answer is simple.
From the very beginning...
It is sothing I've embodied again and again with my own flesh and body after all.
If I were to regress multiple tis and face enemies I cannot resist, making everything aningless—then what would I do?
Struggle harder.
That is the only answer I can give.
"Even if the future is aningless...as long as the who struggles exists, my 'present' is still alive."
If I were to die tomorrow, and if that can never be changed—then what would I do?
Struggle.
Keep struggling.
Struggle like mad.
That is all there is to it.
Because even if I were to die tomorrow, if I struggle more, then that struggle will be rembered by soone.
"If this mont is nothing more than a reenactnt of the past, and my ending is already determined...then isn't that all the more to live like mad? Only then, will those who one day read my past be able to gain sothing from ."
As I answer my own questions while looking at the presence before ,
I find the answer to the question I asked the Salt Sea Supre Deity.
Just why and how did the lingering thought of the Salt Sea Supre Deity so calmly accept that it is a being of the past and that its end is only defeat?
It is simple.
Even if the future is set, the past, in itself, conveys the heart to those who will exist in that future.
As long as those of the future fumble through and try to read the past...
No matter how fixed the future may be, the things we do are not aningless.
The heart never disappears.
Even if I die, soday those who follow after ...
They will surely receive that heart, and understand it.
That is enough.
"...Take your stance, Oh Hye-seo."
—M-Master?
I stand beside Oh Hye-seo and take the stance of the Sword God Dance.
"I absolutely don't expect you to follow along. Just try to clumsily mimic the movents. You're insane...but since you're a genius too, you should at least be able to imitate the form, right?"
Perhaps sensing so kind of will in my words, Oh Hye-seo follows my stance.
"Activate your authority at full power."
—Master!!!
"Originally, it's a dance ant to 'borrow'...but this ti, I'm going to activate it as one that 'lends.' I will lend you everything of mine, and everything of the Wheel...so try mixing it with your authority, and rewrite with your own hands."
—You mustn't!!! The Wheel will be hard!!
Hong Fan begins to panic.
It might seem suspicious at a glance, but Hong Fan's heart is filled with genuine concern for , so I accept his shouting and nod.
"Do not worry."
This is a story of the past.
Therefore, if the fate of the past is twisted, the fate of the present may also be twisted and affect us all.
If so, then why am I trying to influence a story of the past?
"Fate cannot be changed anyway."
I, who had set my goal on shattering fate, now paradoxically acknowledge it.
The Absolute of Fate cannot be overturned.
Because this is a story that has already passed.
Because we cannot rewrite a story that has already passed.
"However...I can assign a different aning to it."
What I can do is simply try to give a different aning to the past.
Even if I try editing the past as Oh Hye-seo says, the past itself never changes.
And fate twisting and bringing harm to us of the present, like Hong Fan fears, will not happen.
Because no matter how much the past is rewritten, no matter how many parallel worlds are created...what originally existed will never disappear.
If the Radiance Mantra creates an additional 'crosswalk,'
Then the rewriting the Wheel is like creating a 'skywalk' or 'underground passage' above or below that crosswalk.
No matter how large the temporarily-created underground path becos, the original crosswalk never vanishes.
But...to those who had always used that road, a different possibility may arise.
What Hong Fan fears is that the side road created by the Wheel will erase the original path, and a completely different path will extend from that side road.
But as I co to understand the power and aning of the Immortal Beast King...
I realize that such a thing can never happen.
"Even if a new past is created and rewritten...fate cannot be changed. Only now do I understand that."
Woo-woooong!
Mimicking the form of my Sword God Dance, Oh Hye-seo becos connected to .
And to her, my power is lent.
At the sa ti, the Wheel shifts montarily—not behind , but behind her.
"Keheok!"
Oh Hye-seo vomits a mouthful of blood under the pressure and weight of the wheel.
She doesn't even draw power from it properly. rely having the Wheel placed upon her back, which I am turning for her, causes her to suffer a fatal wound.
She likely won't recover anyti soon.
But she, as if it doesn't matter, fuses the Wheel with the authority of Truth Manipulation and creates a new side road—
A new 'blood vessel.'
A small-scale parallel dinsion is created.
And then...
Oh Hye-seo descends into the world of Agate that exists within it, and approaches the newly born Seo Hweol there.
She crushes all of Agate's rules, and becos one of Seo Hweol's connections of that ti.
She becos Seo Hweol's wife.
As Seo Hweol's life continues and he dies, she even becos Seo Hweol's husband.
At tis, she becos the madam of the brothel where Seo Hweol lives, or becos Seo Hweol's disciple.
Sotis she becos Seo Hweol's friend, and even Seo Hweol's superior.
But in all those lives, she becos soone who understands Seo Hweol.
Dudududududuk!
Is it because she is touching the past of an Ender's Guide?
Is it because she is directly rewriting the Akashic Records of the Head Realm?
I can feel an overwhelming burden being pressed upon the Wheel.
However, it does not collapse.
Even as she shares a portion of the Wheel's burden, Oh Hye-seo never gives up.
She helps Seo Hweol's past, aiding the young Seo Hweol to acquire an Immortal Art similar to Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens with his own strength, and take control of the world of Agate.
Kugugugugung!
And within the collapsing world...
Seo Hweol, having at last fully realized his identity as an innate Sacred Vessel, recognizes Oh Hye-seo's identity.
And perhaps it is because they are inside the Akashic Records.
He receives his 'circumstance' from the Akashic Records and speaks to her.
[Who are you?]
Dudududu!
The Wheel overheats.
[Only now do I rember...]
Seo Hweol gives a bitter smile.
[I had...another reality. In that reality, I repeated a painful life according to the calculations of 'Agate', completely fragnted myself to complete Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, and seized Agate. And when I ca to my senses...I had repeated a happy life with you once more. Who are you, to give this kind of happiness?]
This is the true nature of the power that rewrites the past.
Not actually editing the past, but creating a small-scale parallel dinsion and throwing the target one wishes to edit into it, gifting them another life.
Rather than history rewrite, it's more accurate to say it provides 'a chance to live one more life in a parallel world'.
The Underworld likely amplified this ability to the peak and developed it into the power of 'reincarnation'.
And Seo Hweol, in the process of having transford himself into an Immortal Art, awakened the past of the being called [Seo Hweol of the original history], who was also his past life.
[Who are you to have gifted this life?]
Dudududuk!
Beneath the overburdened Wheel, Oh Hye-seo hears Seo Hweol's question and smiles sadly.
"...The one who will,"
Kwadududududuk!!!!
The Wheel undergoes insane pressure.
"Continue to love you."
Jjeojeojeojeok!
And finally, cracks begin to form in the world.
"I will not forget you."
C-C-C-Crack!
At the sa ti, the parallel dinsion that Oh Hye-seo and I created begins to collapse.
The correct flow of fate extracts the world that was falsely rewritten.
The history rewrite for In and Yeon, the parallel dinsion created for them, was not a large rewrite and it was carried out in the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.
But this ti, the history rewrite involves the Guide of an Ender and takes place inside the Head Realm.
Perhaps that is why history is being [extracted].
"So..."
As I witness the process, a question embedded deep in my mind becos resolved.
Kududududuk!
The parallel world Oh Hye-seo and I created for Seo Hweol.
That side path gets extracted and shattered, turning into fragnts of ancient force.
"You too...don't forget ."
The fabricated world of history vanishes, and the original history of Seo Hweol is revealed.
Suffering for lifetis within the calculation device of Agate, devouring Agate through Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens...
The history of Seo Hweol's spirit collapsing after perceiving the Akashic Records of the Head Realm and eting the [being bearing the Wheel on their back] unfolds before us.
All of Oh Hye-seo's history that until just monts ago gave Seo Hweol happiness vanishes, and every word and heart she had conveyed to him turns into chunks of ancient force and disappears.
The current Seo Hweol is simply the Seo Hweol eting [Oh Hye-seo bearing the Wheel on her back] for the first ti.
"Seo Hweol (瑞鷸)."
Seo Hweol simply stares blankly at her, as he is dragged by the flow of fate into the body of a Sea Dragon in the Head Realm.
Originally, that is as far as the fate I rember goes.
However, for so reason, I give the Wheel one more push of power.
—Seo Eun-hyun!!!
Hong Fan cries out madly within heartache and anguish.
By my strength and the pressure of the past...
C-C-C-C-Crack!
A crack forms on the Wheel.
But because of that single decision, Oh Hye-seo gains just a fleeting mont more to say her final farewell to Seo Hweol.
She approaches Seo Hweol's spirit and quietly presses her forehead to his.
That brief warmth passes onto Seo Hweol.
Paaaatt!
That is the end.
Oh Hye-seo and I are ejected from this reality.
The Wheel no longer bears any pressure, and Oh Hye-seo, with a wistful expression, reaches out toward the ti Seo Hweol existed in.
Whether the warmth Oh Hye-seo passed in that final mont is part of the original flow of fate or not, I do not know.
Perhaps even that final warmth may be 'extracted'.
But even if history is plucked out by fate...
Even if that 'truth' becos ancient force!
It will never disappear!
Pasasasasasa!
The ti of Oh Hye-seo and Seo Hweol becos ancient force and flies toward Oh Hye-seo.
"Thank you...thank you..."
Oh Hye-seo sobs, accepting the shards of ancient force flying into her.
Those fragnts of ancient force are absorbed into her, beginning to rge with Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
Her Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, once black, begins to turn white as it accepts the power of the pure white ancient force.
"Thank you...Seo Hweol... Thank you...! Seo Eun-hyun...! Thank you... Truly, thank you...!"
The mont I realized that we were 'intervening' in Seo Hweol's past, I understood that fate does not necessarily flow from past to future—its reverse can also hold true.
That is why I deeply felt the power of the Future King.
And that is why I acknowledged that fate is absolute.
And...
Precisely because I know it is absolute, I acknowledged it and granted Oh Hye-seo's plea.
For no matter how fixed fate may be,
That desperate struggle to seek even a sliver of happiness within it...
I simply cannot ignore it.
In that process, I also ca to understand one of the ways in which fate asserts its absoluteness.
'When a tiline of the future interferes with the past...and if the past is rewritten by the future that interferes with ti, then the history that hinders the narrative of fate is [extracted].'
It is extracted, and becos ancient force.
Seo Hweol, through this history extraction, will rember only the 'original history' that exists in my mories.
And...
If one day, we return to the present ti and Oh Hye-seo gets Seo Hweol's reincarnation to rember his past life and returns the extracted crystallized lump of ancient force...
Seo Hweol will be able to rember even the history that was extracted.
In other words—
'My 16th cycle...was [extracted] by the flow of absoluteness due to a [being of the future] interfering with the past. And the history that was extracted in such a way...'
Sowhere in this world—
Exists in the form of ancient force.
In other words, if I can find that ancient force, I can reclaim the mories of my 16th cycle.
"From now on...I am your follower."
As I organize this truth, Oh Hye-seo bows before .
Leaving Seo Hweol's ti point and returning to the present, to the ti we were originally in, I flinch as I see Oh Hye-seo bowing to .
Her Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, which was once in the form of a [shadow with Seo Hweol's horns], now shines pure white.
And...
I vividly feel her heart, which I hadn't been able to before.
Among the Enders, beings that originally have no soul and thus no true heart, Oh Hye-seo and I have found ours.
However, Oh Hye-seo's soul was so faint that I never felt a real 'heart' from her.
But at this very mont, her soul grows wildly, and her 'heart' can be properly felt.
The ripple of that heart is one I know all too well.
"From now on, use as your tool. In return...if one day you find Seo Hweol's reincarnation, let this heart be conveyed to him. If you promise this...I will obey your command...and entrust everything to you. Without any resistance, my body and heart...all of it...I will give to you. So please...promise . That you will deliver this past and this heart...to him...!"
'...Because it is the heart of one who never had a heart, is that why it feels so new...?'
I nod.
At the sa ti, I realize why the Great Mountain Supre Deity spoke such hollow words to .
The Great Mountain Supre Deity must have known that everything is within the ring of fate, and in order to desecrate fate, declared himself as the owner of it.
The mont I nod, Oh Hye-seo's white Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens begins to connect with my Flower Soul Filling the Heavens.
She splits her spirit in half and breathes the divided Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens into my Flower Soul Filling the Heavens.
Purple Soul Filling the Heavens is inherited as a heart is passed down to another heart.
That is the nature of both Flower Soul Filling the Heavens and Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
And...
As the gratitude within Oh Hye-seo's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens is passed down to , a change occurs in my Flower Soul Filling the Heavens.
Upon the head of the [White Deer Without Antlers], the whitened [Horns of Seo Hweol] sprout, illuminating the cradle of history.
The horns of the Sea Dragon King magnificently adorn the head of the Flower Soul Filling the Heavens, transforming the Flower Soul Filling the Heavens into an entirely different power and reshaping its form.
At last...
My Flower Soul Filling the Heavens becos the [White Deer With Antlers], and begins dashing through the Akashic Records once more.
On the verge of being ejected into the original ti point, I gradually realize that the new Flower Soul Filling the Heavens is rolling its hooves.
The [White Deer] stamps its hooves and pierces through the force trying to eject us with its antlers, beginning to go against ti again.
Oh Hye-seo, seemingly lacking the power to follow the reversal, gradually begins to be pushed out into reality. But even as she returns to the original tiline outside the Head Realm, she does not rise from her bowed posture before .
"...Your heart."
Feeling the half of Oh Hye-seo's spirit contained within the new Flower Soul Filling the Heavens, I nod.
"I have received it, without a doubt."
—This grace...I shall never forget it... I will honor you not as the yoke of hatred, but as the yoke of gratitude...
To the new Flower Soul Filling the Heavens,
To the one that has now inherited the power of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens,
I give a new na.
"Run forth, Gracious Soul Filling the Heavens."
Gracious Soul Filling the Heavens, carrying the heart of grace Oh Hye-seo has given, leads into a new domain...
And so, we are taken far into the past, into a deep, ancient ti no one knows.
The Interdinsional Void.
Now a deep darkness where a few paper flowers drift, and faint golden energy shimrs
There, a girl dressed in black martial attire smiles bitterly as she gazes toward sowhere.
"Because he acknowledged the absoluteness of fate...he managed to seize the starting point to defeating it... It's as if I am seeing Salt Sea...haha. Gwak Am may insist without doubt that denying fate is the condition for victory...but what now? It is rather Seo Eun-hyun who has discovered the dagger that can defeat fate."
The girl in black martial attire who endlessly sheds black tears, Hyeon Mu, lets out a pained laugh.
"If the unchangeable fate and heavens are [absolute]...then the traces of struggling that never vanish, and the will to struggle, are also [absolute]... Haha, Hong Fan... Even if you convulse in disgust without understanding anything...with your mories sealed, there is nothing you can do... Either retrieve your mories and ruin this round, or suffer in disgust with your mories sealed..."
Still gazing off sowhere, Hyeon Mu strangles herself again, cackling as she kills herself.
"Until the Enders you've cherished so much...grow to the point they can completely overco that disgust...until they reach the level where they can sink their teeth into fate..."
Wududuk.
Hyeon Mu strangles and breaks her own neck in suicide, closing her eyes with a face mixed in pain and madness.
"Grow well...Seo Eun-hyun...and I pray...that you may reach the point where you can read the greatest ancient force... Push aside Sal Tree, who awakened to his essence while unable to endure suffering...and go forth..."
Pustststss—
The dying Hyeon Mu dissolves into the Interdinsional Void and disappears.
At the sa mont, in the Inner Sea of Mount Suru.
There, White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus, who had been knocking on the dinsional gate to enter the Eastern Heaven Flower Field, finally succeeds in shattering the gate.
[Old Man!!!]
Kugugugugu!
Flapping their wings, White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus charges into the Eastern Heaven Flower Field.
Then their eyes widen.
[O-Old Man...?]
Hwioooooooo—
[What is this...? Old Man...?]
In the space White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus reaches, there is no Eastern Heaven Flower Field—only a vast emptiness remains.
The Eastern Heaven Flower Field, which should have existed beyond the dinsional gate, has vanished sowhere.
The Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, with their Gandhara...
Has gone off sowhere.
[Did it...sink into the ground or sothing...?]
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