Chương 682: Sword God Dance (2)

1011th cycle.

As I reverse through the river of scenes, I realize something.

'... Come to think of it, the time will increase.'

That's right.

If in the first regression I experienced a hundred million years of life, Then from the second regression, it becomes two hundred million years.

If the lives from the 1st to 1009th cycle total a hundred million years, Then the 1010th cycle alone is also a hundred million years.

If I revisit every life from the 1st to 1010th cycle in the 1011th cycle, I must spend two hundred million years.

'The time... is getting longer.'

It's like adding all the numbers from 1 to 10.

'If this keeps going and I die to Gwak Am a thousand times...'

By the time of the 2010th cycle...

'Fifty trillion and fifty billion years... is it...?'

Seeing this mind-numbing number, I begin to question whether earning this amount of time through the Radiance Mantra was really the right choice.

'... Yeah. It's fine.'

But I suppress my doubts and steel my will.

'Haha, no matter what, surely it's not going to take another thousand cycles like during the Blood Yin incident.'

No matter how deep the heart may be like a great sea, or how lofty the Martial Pinnacle may be...

With this much time, can I truly fail to attain Martial Pinnacle?

'So... even if I take a generous estimate, the actual time should only be about a third of that...'

Thinking that, I finally regress to the first point.

Wo-woong!

Indra's Net activates.

'...'

An enormous sense of ominousness strikes my mind.

The moment I perceive it, overwhelming messages from the Heavenly Venerables flood me through Indra's Net.

It is the Heavenly Venerable of Time, Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, and Hyeon Mu.

—You insane bastard!!! What in the world did you just do!!??

Sal Tree screams.

—... It is good that you bought time... but are you really thinking you can defeat the Great Mountain Supreme Deity by accumulating time?

Time shows a flicker of doubt.

And...

—Including the time that passed unconsciously, it took Kim Young-hoon twenty billion years to complete Golden Great Thousand World. Kukuk... How long do you think it'll take you?

The voice of the Heavenly Venerable of Void, Hyeon Mu, transmits through Indra's Net.

—Kim Young-hoon seized the Absolute of Creation, obtained Manifestation specialized in Creation, and bloomed the Triple Divinity specialized in Creation that is Udumbara, yet even by wringing out all his talent, it still took him twenty billion years.

"..."

—Don't ignore your intuition.

The source of ominousness resounding from within my chest.

I immediately recognize it.

'... Damn it...'

Hyeon Mu is forcibly turning my head to make me see it.

Telling me to not look away, and to look clearly.

For beings who have reached our level, things like [surely not] do not exist.

—There must be a number you thought of at the start. The time that came to you instinctively, intuitively.

One thousand cycles.

Fifty trillion, fifty billion years.

'... Aaah...'

—That is the [minimum time] it will take for you to reach the same eye level as Kim Young-hoon and I. It is not a [maximum].

'Aaaaaaaagh...!'

Before my eyes, the image of a girl with an unpleasant smile brushes past me.

—Let me welcome you again.

Back then, the realm I named Severing Heaven.

What is called Dragon Flower by the Underworld, Third Step Before the Throne by Jang Ik, and Udumbara by Hyeon Mu.

The greeting Hyeon Mu gave me when I reached that realm passes by my eyes again.

—Welcome to hell.

"..."

—In a time equivalent to the Ganges Sands... there have been countless Golden Bodies and martial artists, including you, who have reached Udumbara, but those who have reached this realm are only Kim Young-hoon and I.

Tstststststs— Hyeon Mu's phantom fades before my eyes, mocking me.

—To earn the right to reach the ultimate, you must at minimum endure Eternal Hell. Can you truly endure it? From beyond time... I shall watch your collapse...

With those words, Hyeon Mu disappears, and before my eyes, the beginning of the 1st cycle unfolds.

I linger around the past Seo Eun-hyun and reflect on Hyeon Mu's mantra, letting the tantrums of Time and Sal Tree pass me by.

Chik, chijijijik...

Even that is hard to hear, as both of their voices begin to break apart due to the interference of the Head Realm.

—Lis... ten... carefully... Sal Tree... one of us... will go mad comple... or awaken... but... the chance of awakeni... is far too lo...

—He... hehehehe... hehehahahehehahehahe...

Chijijijik...

Time's voice is barely discernible through Indra's Net, perhaps because the dimension he resides in is too distant. Meanwhile, for some reason, the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable radiates a greatly joyous heart essence, so for now, he seems fine.

'No, he's not fine...'

I'm just convincing myself that he is.

I bury my sympathy for the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable deep in my heart, resolving that I must reach Martial Pinnacle for at least his sake too.

'Even if I worry, there's nothing I can do right now anyway.'

If I can't even grasp a fragment of Martial Pinnacle, I absolutely won't be able to stop Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven Annihilation Advancement Mu.

And if I can't stop that, then returning to Mount Sumeru is nothing but a hopeless dream.

'I must reach Martial Pinnacle... block the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's strike, and return to Mount Sumeru. And then...'

'Realistically', the only way to care for the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable is that.

'For now, the only thing I can do... is delve into the ultimate of Martial Arts!'

I cannot comfort the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable right now with some shallow sympathy.

I can think of him, but rather than thinking of him a hundred times, it is better to swing my sword once more for his sake.

Kiriririk— Thus, just like in the previous life, I become a spiraling sword and melt into Seo Eun-hyun's life.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to me.

Fifty trillion, fifty billion years.

If I am to endure that immense span, even I would go mad.

Even if I'm repeating my own life, there's a limit.

If anyone were to preserve all their memories across endless eternal regressions, how could they avoid losing their ego?

'The ego... In the end, the ego is the problem.'

I quickly find a method to protect myself.

The faster I find it, the less pointless pain I must endure.

'All suffering in this world ultimately comes from the ego.'

The authority bestowed by the fate Obsidian, [Ego-Preservation].

An authority befitting the fate of desire, and also the authority of the deepest Heart Demon.

At the same time, it is the authority that pushes its user into the most extreme pain.

'I don't have Ego-Preservation right now... but if I think about it, isn't it like that?'

If the ego is preserved endlessly, would that existence truly be happy?

'They would not be happy.'

As one who has endlessly endured pain, I know that down to the bone.

'The root of all suffering, in the end, is the belief that there exists such a thing as a 'I'...'

If the concept of 'I' is erased, then all pain in this world disappears.

More precisely, 'pain' becomes just one among many 'stimuli' that exist in the world.

This is a truth I realized as someone who has reached the pinnacle of pain.

'The greatest pain, in truth, is the self.'

Why is it that among human emotions, 'pleasure' corresponds to all three aspects of Triple Divinity?

It must be because pleasure is an emotion born from the mingling of people.

People with people, emotions with emotions, and connections with connections mixing and becoming one—that is the emotion of pleasure.

Pleasure is the easiest emotion to escape from pain.

Which means, in other words, that the mingling of people is the method to escape pain.

'Pain breaks a person if endured too long, but pleasure, if one can control it, never breaks oneself.'

Remembering this, I begin shedding my ego in order to escape the hellish pain brought on by eternal time.

'Let me shed the shell that is Seo Eun-hyun...'

What is the way for an Immortal Lord to become a Supreme Deity?

To understand that, one must first understand what the 'Origin Essence' is.

'Origin Essence' is the origin and source of a law that governs an Immortal Dao.

Therefore, an Origin Essence by itself holds the value and mass of an entire Heavenly Domain, of an entire universe.

Thus, in the phrase 'Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World,' the 'Great Thousand' does not merely refer to the nine formal Heavenly Domains in Mount Sumeru and the Decaying Corpse Realms and Astral Realms spread beneath it.

It also refers to the thousands of Origin Essences that compose the Three Heavens Great Thousand World.

A Great Net Immortal who reaches and fuses with the Origin Essence that has such fearsome mass becomes an Immortal Lord.

And, from the moment one becomes an Immortal Lord, every time one draws power from the Origin Essence, their ego is continuously eroded by it.

Just like me now, their ego breaks apart and is gradually devoured by the Origin Essence.

It is said that the devoured mind, ego, and spirit all flow into the Akashic Records, so it is only fitting that the Emptiness Supreme Deity Myeong Woon oversees the realm of Immortal Lord.

'I don't understand why the Radiance Supreme Deity also oversees it, though.'

In any case, in exchange of having settled into the Origin Essence, they must endlessly fear having their ego disintegrated.

To prevent the disintegration of the ego, they can entrust themselves beneath a Supreme Deity or a Heavenly Venerable to slow or nullify the erosion, but it doesn't resolve the fundamental issue.

And...

The one who resolves the fundamental erosion of the ego is the one who truly advances to become a Supreme Deity.

'A being who, even if their ego is completely stolen by an Origin Essence that is no different from a universe, seizes control of the universe with their will and devours the Origin Essence in turn.'

A being whose personal power surpasses the strength borrowed from the Origin Essence.

A being whose very existence has become more massive than the Origin Essence itself, 'placing it beneath' them.

Such beings are called Supreme Deities, and that is the method of advancing to Supreme Deity.

'Of course, the path to becoming a Supreme Deity would differ for each.'

If, in my case, I acknowledge that 'ego is pain' and seek to dismantle it— Then perhaps in Gwak Am's, under the perception that 'pain is the world itself anyway,' he swelled his ego far larger than the Dao of Repentant Enlightenment and seized control that way.

Most likely in Gwak Am's case, by having inflated his ego in such a way, he could probably crush an entire universe with nothing but Immortal Arts driven by his own will, without even needing the Origin Essence of Repentant Enlightenment.

'In fact, he's already done it once.'

But I haven't yet enlarged my ego to that level.

'It's laughable. For Gwak Am of Mount Sumeru to have an ego greater than an Ender who held the authority of [Ego-Preservation] bestowed by an Absolute.'

That is why, my ego brings nothing but pain as long as I keep holding onto it.

'Letting go of it now will help me endure eternity.'

—Kukuk...

And just as I attempt to dismantle my ego with that thought in mind— —Is it the same conclusion that the Seo Hweol fellow reached?

Through Indra's Net, Hyeon Mu mocks me.

"... Not at all. That guy dismantled himself because he couldn't withstand the pain and wanted to 'escape' from it. I am the opposite."

My reason for dismantling my ego in the face of eternal time is the opposite of Seo Hweol's.

"I acknowledge pain. Therefore... now that it is no longer necessary, I dismantle my ego in order to savor emotions other than pain."

—If you have no ego, then how will you reach Martial Pinnacle?

Hyeon Mu strikes at the weakness in my plan.

—If you have no ego, what difference is there between you and a 'lump of power' called Seo Eun-hyun? Are you trying to become a mechanical apparatus? With the identity of a machine... you dare think you can reach Martial Pinnacle?

She's right.

Without an ego, is such a being still a sentient entity, or merely a machine?

Am I not trying to become nothing more than a cold sword?

Hyeon Mu strikes directly at that weakness.

But I answer without wavering.

"... I may lose my ego, but I will not lose my heart."

—... Hooh...

My sword holds no color.

But even if it lacks color, it does not lack a heart.

"I have people I love."

Kim Yeon and Buk Hyang-hwa.

Then Hong Su-ryeong, Kang Min-hee, and Gyeong-i flash through my mind.

Next come my comrades.

And then, all of my connections pass through my mind.

Tstststststststs— I begin to scatter bit by bit.

"Even if the personality known as 'me' disappears... the hearts they gave me are still here, and that truth cannot be erased. Even if someone mocks the truth, it can never be erased. And... the heart that wishes to return the hearts I received from them... that too, can never be erased."

However, the existence called 'me' is not disappearing.

Rather, I am expanding.

"Therefore... even if the ego disappears... only the pain will disappear. The existence called Seo Eun-hyun will never vanish!"

Paaaaaaat!

I have already grasped the clue to Martial Pinnacle and Undying.

I will not fall for Hyeon Mu's sly persuasion.

'Ego, let's go.'

[TL/N: Could be Tremendous making a pun.'Now then' is very similar to 'ego'.] In the face of eternal time, I begin to melt all of my 'ego,' dissolve all of my spirit, and begin to dwell within all my connections across the entirety of Mount Sumeru.

—... Congratulations. That's the correct answer.

I faintly hear Hyeon Mu's clapping from somewhere, and within that sound, I begin to become one with this entire world.

'From here on... it begins.'

As the true will toward Martial Pinnacle that started from the Sword God Dance spreads from me, Mount Sumeru begins to tremble.

The Northern Heavenly Venerable True Martial Great Emperor, the Heavenly Venerable of Void, Hyeon Mu, clicks her tongue.

"Excellent. The Enders of this generation... are truly the best. Perhaps... [half] might be completed. Truly..."

Hyeon Mu faintly smiles as she sees pure white paper flowers blooming in the Interdimensional Void that is softly tinged in gold.

"You all... make me want to show my respects."

Seo Eun-hyun, standing before eternity, chooses to melt himself and scatter among all the beings connected to him in order to not collapse.

Someone— For instance, the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, whose mind is half gone, might curse this as a reckless act of madness, but Hyeon Mu alone understands.

It is the perfect answer.

To scatter oneself and assimilate into the world.

That is the same method that the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King used to create a new Immortal Cultivation system.

And also the same method by which Hyeon Mu's 'Plane of Soul' was formed.

And it is also the way [someone] once scattered the 'Immortal Art Immortal Cultivation' into the world.

Scattering one's existence into the world to create a 'new cultivation system'.

This is the method directly linked to the method of advancing to Supreme Deity, and the true way to reach Martial Pinnacle.

'... I will be watching, Seo Eun-hyun.'

Will Seo Eun-hyun truly not fall into corruption, will his initial will not fade, and will he maintain the system he just created...?

For fifty trillion, fifty billion years?

As Hyeon Mu ponders the possibility, she lies down within the Interdimensional Void that is newly changing again.

'I give you my support. Come up. Rise and... kill fate.'

Thus, as Hyeon Mu prays for Seo Eun-hyun's Sword God Dance to truly reach completion, she falls into a dream of endless regression that will continue for a long and longer time.