Chương 518: Festival of the Eve (前夜祭) (4)

If the battles of Star Shattering stage cultivators are considered cosmic in scale, Then the battles of Sacred Vessel stage beings are no longer mere 'battles' but closer to 'wars.'

As each individual has become akin to an entire world, their battles can no longer unfold in ordinary ways.

Kigigiging— One True Person detonates cosmic radiation, bombarding Cedarwood Painting for 60 years.

Another True Person transforms the very nature of nearby Heaven and Earth spiritual energy into poison.

It seems to be a secret art that changes the properties, concentrations, and combinations of the poison every second. Yet even after 60 years, it does not stop.

Beyond this, there are other attacks as well, such as covering the sky of Cedarwood Painting with an unavoidable eternal morning sunlight.

Or erasing all starlight shining down on Cedarwood Painting so that the Heaven Tribe of Cedarwood Painting cannot surpass Qi Refining 7th star.

Some even unleash curses that penetrate the Clear Scale Armor and Karmic Fire, relentlessly striking this place for decades.

Of course, none of this has posed a significant problem so far.

The morning sunlight, which even the Sacred Master's authority could not block, was resolved when Kim Yeon created a canopy that covers the entire world.

The poison was dealt with by Hong Fan, while the curses were devoured by me.

The radiation was absorbed by Oh Hyun-seok.

Beyond this, the True Persons, just as they had done in the Nether Ghost Realm, extended their devilish arts into Cedarwood Painting, attempting to create devotees that they can manipulate within.

They even managed to seize a certain level of authority over the heavens, delivering Heavenly Tribulation on the cultivators instead of Cedarwood Painting. Whenever a Qi Refining cultivator broke through to the Qi Building stage, they would launch Star Tribulations.

Although these were not genuine Heavenly Tribulations and I was thus able to block them myself without much trouble, the protective barriers of Clear Scale Armor and Karmic Fire were gradually being shaken more violently.

'There's no major issue.'

That's the truth.

Up until now, no significant problem has arisen.

Every ten years, I continued pulling in Decaying Corpse Realms and integrating them into Cedarwood Painting, steadily expanding its size.

But... fate is the problem.

Wo-woong!

The star of fate, which appeared in the nearby space of Cedarwood Painting, continues to ominously shine as it shows me a distant future.

The scene of 340 years from now.

As time passed, the vision of [Cedarwood Painting developing a flaw] continues to drag Cedarwood Painting closer to that future.

The future is drawing us into itself.

At the level of the Sacred Vessel stage, one's vision undergoes many transformations.

The eyes of the Earth Tribe, which in the Star Shattering stage could only see into the past, now allow us to 'connect' with beings through the past.

It becomes possible to communicate with beings of the past and draw upon their powers.

It allows one to gain abilities not inferior to Oh Hye-seo's authority merely through one's vision.

Simultaneously, the vision of the Heaven Tribe extends beyond mere foresight.

The path of the future!

It becomes possible to read countless possibilities of the future, like countless grains of sand scattered on the ground.

And among those countless possibilities, it becomes possible to gradually approach the 'desired' future.

The ability to move towards the future one desires.

That is the vision of a Heaven Tribe Sacred Vessel.

It is because of this vision that cultivators at the Sacred Vessel stage have an astonishingly high average success rate of 40 percent when advancing to the Entering Nirvana stage.

Unless one lacks willpower, has been kidnapped and enslaved by an entity like Yeo Hwi, or is 'bound to the world' like the Sacred Masters of the Middle Realms, most Sacred Vessel Sacred Masters find it easy to advance to the True Person stage.

Wo-woong, wo-woong, wo-woong— However...

I sense the twisting of history and future as seen through the visions of the Heaven and Earth Tribes.

Space and time bends under the influence of attraction force, and the future scenes that I am 'able to approach' are becoming fixed into one.

The scene of [Cedarwood Painting developing a flaw]!

This scene, prophesied by the combined efforts of the True Persons, is the only future I am now able to approach.

But this isn't even the end.

Wo-woong!

The True Persons are already overlapping their domains again, weaving some new symbol within the combined domain.

They are preparing another prophecy.

Perhaps in about 40 years, around 100 years after they uttered their last prophecy, they will issue their next one.

If this continues, layer upon layer of prophecies filled with my defeat will pile up, and in the end, I will be torn apart into pieces by the True Persons.

The Sacred Masters of the Middle Realms might be able to mount some level of defense against all the True Persons in the Heavenly Domain, but I am merely a Sacred Master of a Decaying Corpse Realm.

My own power is enough to suppress a single True Person in a one-on-one fight. Moreover, by recently capturing Yeo Hwi and putting her on a leash, I have gained the ability to utilize her power as well, giving us the equivalent of two Entering Nirvana-level forces.

Adding in Kang Min-hee, Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, and our other comrades, our combined power equals that of three Entering Nirvana True Persons.

However...

That's all there is.

Just within the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain alone, there are over 100 Entering Nirvana True Persons.

There is no way we can defeat them all.

Moreover, the four Sacred Masters of the Middle Realms essentially possess the power equivalent to four True Immortals.

The only reason I have been able to hold out this long is thanks to the Clear Scale Armor and the authority of the Karmic Fire that judges sins.

The Karmic Fire is so overwhelming that even Entering Nirvana True Persons struggle to withstand it.

But if those prophecies are fulfilled, even I will soon fall.

There is only one way to nullify their prophecies.

'Just like that time when I advanced to Void Shattering, I must do it.'

Just like that time when I shattered the star created by the combined authority of fifty Entering Nirvana True Persons with Accumulating Dust Forms a Mountain!

I must destroy the star they have created.

'But that's impossible.'

The reason I can hold out against these countless enemies is because I'm on the defensive.

If I were to launch an offensive and try to advance toward the star they are protecting to destroy it, I would be utterly defeated.

'... Then, what should I do...?'

Of course, I could use the method the Great Mountain Supreme Deity taught me to desecrate fate.

If I create a model similar to Cedarwood Painting, declare it as Cedarwood Painting through my authority as Sacred Master, and then create a flaw in it, I could resolve the issue easily.

But Entering Nirvanas are no fools.

'This method... must not be revealed yet.'

It is a method that must remain hidden until the very end of ends, to be unveiled only during the End.

'Thus, I will conceal it.'

If I reveal it too soon, they could devise a way to counter it.

'Then, there is only one way to overcome the current situation.'

[Yeon-ah, is everything going well with the preparations?] [Mm-mmm!] A response comes through her voice transmission.

I nod and lift my head towards the fate that is soon to arrive.

'I will not avoid it. Watch, oh heavens above.'

This time, I will show you how I overcome fate.

And so, 340 years pass swiftly.

Over the course of 400 years, the True Persons uttered three more prophecies in total.

Each one is a prophecy that foretold 100 or 200 years in the future, so the prophecy that must be confronted right now is only one.

The prophecy that states [a flaw will appear] on this very day in Cedarwood Painting!

At last, as their prophecy comes true.

Kiiiing!

I feel the fate of Cedarwood Painting being entirely drawn into the [scene] the True Persons have decreed.

Simultaneously, one of the many cracks in Cedarwood Painting, formed over the past 400 years as countless Middle Realms were integrated, erupts.

Kwaaang!

The sensation of my insides shaking causes my concentration to waver.

Simultaneously, a storm 'coincidentally' sweeps through Cedarwood Painting.

The storm 'coincidentally' gathers Heaven and Earth spiritual energy and channels it into the weak point of the barrier.

The explosion from the crack and the excessive infusion of spiritual energy into the barrier's weak point 'coincidentally' resonate in perfect harmony, shaking the weak point entirely.

And in that moment!

Kwaaang!

'Coincidentally,' one of the True Persons' attacks strikes the trembling weak point.

Chwaak!

Finally, a [flaw] forms in the barrier of Clear Scale Armor and Karmic Fire.

Fate has been realized.

The eyes of the True Persons turn upside down.

Baek Woon, smirking while drawing forth the full power of the Bright Cold Realm, shouts.

:: I T I S D O N E!:: The Sacred Masters simultaneously unleash attacks toward the flaw in the Karmic Fire.

At the same time...

I snap my fingers.

[Begin, Yeon-ah.] [Mm] Then...

The puppets crafted by Kim Yeon over 400 years all begin moving in unison.

Click-click-click-click...

Song Jin had once told me during the fight against Yuan Li, The only thing that can oppose fate is history.

The Mad Lord, when I sought guidance on fate, told me, The only way to overcome fate is to leap toward 'another future' through greater strength.

[Leap forward!!] Thus, from the advice of Song Jin and the Mad Lord begins my leap of fate.

Twenty-eight artificial stars form a [heavens] and emit a powerful attraction force.

At the same time, the puppets located throughout Cedarwood Painting begin to move, mimicking the appearances of its inhabitants.

The artificial souls of the puppets flock toward the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress hovering at the center of the artificial stars.

And simultaneously...

The Mad Lord's final act.

The ultimate mechanism of the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress.

[Yeon's Play] activates.

The artificial souls emit attraction force.

Through the attraction force, they twist fate, and through fate, they further distort history and spacetime!

Gigigigigik!

The entirety of Cedarwood Painting becomes overlaid with the [spacetime of the past] through Yeon's Play!

The puppets manifest the history of Cedarwood Painting spanning 400 years.

What stands here at this moment is not the [Cedarwood Painting, flawed after 400 years under the prophecy of the True Persons].

It is the [Cedarwood Painting over the span of 400 years that has yet to have a flaw appear]!

The True Persons that are attempting to exploit the flaws of Cedarwood Painting strike against its overlaid spacetime version and are either immediately repelled, or they are engulfed in Karmic Fire and scream in madness, eventually losing consciousness and entering a dormant state.

Meanwhile, while the Immortal Art Yeon's Play is active, I repair the flaw of the 'true' Cedarwood Painting hidden beneath the overlaid spacetime.

When the overlaid spacetime finally fades away and the real Cedarwood Painting is revealed, The True Persons can only rage in madness.

Because their prophecy has been rendered entirely useless.

I smile faintly and speak.

[Prophesize as many times as you like. I will counter it every time.] With only my own strength, I would undoubtedly fail.

But I have my comrades, the wisdom and experience accumulated over 400, 000 years, and secret arts.

What I have accumulated is not so fragile as to crumble in just 10, 000 years.

[Now then. As I have defended, it is my turn.] I signal to Kim Yeon with a grin.

In the next moment, Kim Yeon activates [Yeon's Play] once again.

At the same time, I draw upon the authority of Oh Hye-seo and, through the authority of a Sacred Master, summon the [power of the past].

The scene Kim Yeon showed just a moment ago was [the past Cedarwood Painting], and if the Mad Lord's original plan for Yeon's Play was to show [his own happiest moment from the past], the moment I intend to [summon] is something entirely different.

[Until now, let me show you just how many beings I have been entangled with.] The next moment.

[Yeon's Play], Oh Hye-seo's authority, my Earth Tribe Sacred Vessel vision, and the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections all combine, manifesting a [scene from my memory], if only for a fleeting instant.

Kwa-kijijijijik!

The day of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect's annihilation.

It is the very scene of the sky 'opening' as the [eye] of the [Owner of Heavenly Punishment] gazes down upon the Bright Cold realm.

The moment the Owner of Heavenly Punishment's gaze lands, the Entering Nirvana True Persons simultaneously scream in agony.

'Try taking it.'

It is the gaze of a Governing Immortal!

[... Even I, who was only in the Nascent Soul stage at the time, withstood it. Wouldn't it be shameful if you all couldn't?] I have no concerns about Zhengli or the Owner of Heavenly Punishment becoming connected to me.

Even in the Lightning Sacred Sea, Zhengli ignored me and spoke only to Golden Shaking Bird.

There is no reason for them to seek me out in this life either.

Moreover, I already used the Heaven Tribe vision to confirm this operation in advance... there are no issues whatsoever!

[KUAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!] Led by Baek Woon, the screams of the True Persons echo resoundingly.

Lightning surges from their bodies, and all of them, without exception, are cursed with the same lightning transformation as mine!

In the next moment, the entirety of Heaven and Earth is consumed by the explosive clapping of lightning and thunder (雷聲霹靂).