Chương 800: Future King (5)

When I come to my senses, I have at some point come out of the story.

And, in the Primordial Chaos in front of my eyes, insects are swarming.

The Blood Insect Demon-Devil Great Method that he scattered throughout the Head Realm is appearing inside the Heavenly Void Furnace in the form of black insects.

The reason I can escape the story is obvious.

It is because the owner of the story permitted it.

In front of my eyes, Hong Fan gathers the bodies of the insects, takes a form, and appears.

Now I can understand why Hong Fan has the bearing of an emperor.

"I ask again."

Following the single utterance of the Fate Supreme Deity, who met my eyes inside the story, Hong Fan continues those words in front of me.

"Is it because you have the qualification to maintain your connection with me that you do not cut it?"

"..."

I make a bitter smile.

Where I am is inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.

And this Heavenly Void Furnace is embedded in Ascension Path.

Yes, the Ascension Path.

It is the place where I cried out Heavens Above the most in my life.

"The memories of the previous life... you seem to have found it all, O Heavens."

"Yes. In fact, it has been set from the moment you brought the Radiance Mantra into contact with me."

"You said you were bathed by the light six times. In the 10th cycle... did you gain reason by contacting me, who possesses the ability of regression, in the state of a mother centipede's egg?"

"Dispense with the courtesy and speak at ease. Since I know your disposition quite well regardless, I can foresee that you will speak comfortably if you reach the level of Heavenly King."

"..."

I am surprised at the insight that sees through even my trivial traits in an instant, but there is no particular way to deny it.

"... Understood. Hong Fan."

With a bitter smile, I summon the body made of the clusters of green light before him and take on a humanoid form.

"To shed the Vestige... does it mean having left the Head Realm?"

Recalling what Hong Fan told me in the early part of this life, I ask.

"What you call the Head Realm is the storage scroll made of the Vestiges of me and Hwe-ah. There, the Absolute of History is stored. Therefore, the power of fate does not easily reach. If even you all, fragments of Miracle, overlap in the same place there, many variables occur that even I cannot control. Yes, because I left the Head Realm, I could gradually find reason."

I think maybe he should have said it a little differently, but it seems that since he just found reason in the state of an insect, his mind wavers a bit.

As if he reads my thoughts in real time, Hong Fan's eyes feel a little colder.

"... The existence called Hwe-ah..."

"Someone like you has no need to know."

In a solemn voice, he forbids me from asking about Yang Hwe.

"Answer my question."

"..."

I...

... resent the Heavens.

Could I have known that Hong Fan is the Heavens?

'No, even if I did not know...'

I cannot deny that I desperately needed someone to blame.

I wanted to try to shift the pain that happened to me as someone else's fault.

I just didn't know that it turned out to be the connection I cherish.

I have been resenting my connection and not letting it go.

'Have I... not been letting go until now in order to resent?'

From Hong Fan's position, how ugly do I look?

Cursing and resenting his face, and yet not being able to let go of his hand...

But...

"... Even so. I... still do not know you."

There is something I have to say.

"Hong Fan. You also do not know me."

Crunch— Before I know it, my body is gone, and only my head rests on Hong Fan's hand.

I cannot know the cause.

Only the result is like this.

"Your past, your present, your future. I know them all. Starting from which ancestors you had in the past to what thoughts you lived with. I also know everything you will do in the future."

"What... becomes of me?"

"There are many futures. From a future where you die right now, to a future where you, as the first among countless Enders, tear your own fate apart. There is no future I do not see."

"Then... why do you try to hear my answer?"

To my words, he does not answer.

"If you can know and decide everything, you can simply apply the future you want to me as you wish. Why do you try to hear my answer?"

"Divine Arts. It is merely one of the conditions to satisfy the power called Great Mantra. Just answer."

"If I do not answer, are the conditions not satisfied?"

"That too is one answer."

"Hahaha."

Amused for a moment by the wise answer to a foolish question, I burst into laughter.

"... Thank you."

And I offer thanks to Hong Fan.

"For what?"

"For following me."

"To an Ender like you, who has an ability that even affects me, I always follow."

"I had an ability!?"

"..."

"... Did you perhaps not know?"

"..."

"... As for your body, it is an ability called the Heavenly Devil Body."

"...!?"

I am startled at the fact that I have such an ability.

"What!? R-Really...? Then why did the Black Ghost Valley or the Devilish Immortal Sect Alliance not take me at first...?"

Hong Fan quietly looks at me.

And he asks a question.

"I ask it once again in the future, but I should ask it once to you now as well. I ask you. Why do you not lay your hands on the power of the Devilish?"

"Huh?"

"The conditions for the Heavenly Devil Body to activate are two. The selfishness that takes others' sacrifice for granted. And learning devilish arts."

At his words, with only my head remaining, I blink my two eyes blankly.

"Why do you not learn devilish arts?"

I recall Seo Ran's words.

That devilish arts are not simply a method of accepting devilish energy, but a method that sacrifices others.

"Why do you try so hard not to sacrifice others."

"... Mm."

Honestly, it is something I never thought about.

"... Right."

"..."

"..."

For a moment, an awkward silence falls between Hong Fan and me.

Perhaps he cannot read what simply does not exist, as a brief look of absurdity rises in Hong Fan's eyes.

But there is nothing I can do.

If no thought comes to mind, what can I do about it?

I try to think of a reasonable reason.

"Mm... Since there was no chance to encounter something called devilish arts in the first cycle... it just became a habit to not use it, then because of Yuan Li, I became filled with loathing and ended up not learning it, maybe?"

"That cannot be. Even among martial arts, there are many classified as devilish arts. Certainly, in your 0th cycle, there were chances of you discovering the Star Draining Great Method in your house's back yard, or wandering the marketplace and discovering the Berserk Devilish Art. There was also the chance of learning low-grade devilish arts by joining the Tuho Gang."

"Ah..."

At Hong Fan's words, it comes back to me.

In my house's backyard, in the place that touches the Ju family's potato field, I once dug up a wooden box that contained a martial arts manual called the Star Draining Great Method.

"I needed funds for the soap business, so I sold it for a few coins..."

Judging by how he talks, it seems to have been a martial arts manual quite compatible with me.

'I also discovered something called a Berserk Devilish Art while wandering the marketplace...'

But I was busy being squeezed for taxes by a Lianshan City official, so I had no time to pay attention to such things.

Only after regression did opportunities arise and I thought of learning martial arts. How was I supposed to suddenly think of learning devilish arts while old, being shaken down for taxes by an official, and getting slapped?

Lastly, as for something like the Tuho Gang...

Why would I enter the band of thieves who stole all the rice from my house?

They even stole the herbal liquor I carefully brewed and my house's seed soy sauce!

Who would know how bitterly sorrowful I was that day?

'No matter how I think about it, there was no case where I learned devilish arts...'

If I was going to be pushed into learning devilish arts, it seems only right to have at least lowered the taxes a bit.

Perhaps reading my thoughts, Hong Fan lets out a deep sigh.

"How simple."

"Isn't everything precious found in what is simple?"

"Imperfect and self-contradictory."

Recalling the simple life of the 0th cycle, I suddenly think of a suitable answer to say to Hong Fan.

"How can a person be complete, Hong Fan? Small and simple and imperfect and self-contradictory, that is what a person originally is."

You can like some aspects and dislike others.

"The Heavens... I did not only cry out against you."

The creature called a person, by nature, highlights and remembers only the bad memories.

Surely...

There are good memories too.

"There were times I was grateful to you as well."

When I came to this world and first learned to speak and got a home.

When the soap business was acknowledged.

When Mrs. Ju married and safely delivered a daughter.

When the herbal liquor and seed soy sauce fermented safely.

When, before I died, the Ju family held a small eightieth-birthday feast for me.

When I first regressed and dreamed of a new future...

And after regression, I was really, really grateful many times.

"A person's heart originally both hates and likes... I think of it as such a thing. Hong Fan."

So I also have a heart that cherishes Hong Fan as a friend.

And also parts that I hate him as the Heavens.

At the same time, there are also times I want to pull a nasty prank and force-feed him potatoes, and...

There are times I am sincerely grateful to the Heavens.

"So... there are parts where I resent you as well. But at the same time, I also have a heart that cherishes and trusts you. And... this heart will not disappear."

"Then, the heart that resents me will also not disappear."

"Mm... outside, you learned martial arts from me, didn't you? Anyway, the you outside at least pretends to be loyal to me and follows my words."

Hong Fan's memory is very long.

Just coming this far took trillions of years.

Even the hundred million years that pass in one day in the Heavenly Void Furnace is far too long to bear.

Thus, the me outside that does not inherit the Heavenly Void Furnace's memories has by now spent several hundred years before I knew it.

Now the me outside...

Judging by the speed at which the curse of lightning transformation proceeds, there are now only about a hundred years left.

The True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment.

According to what I learned after obtaining the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and becoming able to connect outside, the 'blessing' that the being called the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity Do Gon laid upon me is not something I can sever just by cultivating the divine power of Cutting Principle for a very long time.

Even if I raise my cultivation rapidly thanks to the Heavenly Void Furnace, there is a limit.

'Perhaps unless the me who inherits the memories inside the Heavenly Void Furnace personally goes out and cuts it off... it is impossible.'

The me outside is so weak and trivial that I cannot even cut the connection of Heavenly Punishment.

However, that weak me is now teaching the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.

I am teaching Martial Arts to the Owner of Mount Sumeru.

"You said it, didn't you, Hong Fan? That Martial Arts is a killing technique, and that repentant enlightenment or self-cultivation can be done through Immortal Cultivation, right?"

"I did."

"There is a saying, do not be too taut, and do not be too loose."

A middle path that balances between two extremes.

Since it is what the Buddha of Earth said, it is probably not wrong.

"It can certainly be a killing art. But... it can also be a way of self-cultivation like Immortal Cultivation. There are definitely values other than killing. And I think that, taking balance among those values and looking back on oneself... is Martial Arts..."

"..."

"So it is the same in my heart toward you. There is a heart that resents you. As you said, that will not disappear. But the heart that cherishes and trusts you will also definitely not disappear. If, between them... we keep balance... and give and receive a heart that is neither too loose nor too taut, is that not a good connection?"

"..."

"I will not let go of the connection. If you cut it from your side, there is nothing I can do, but I will not be the one to cut it first. I am a simple and ordinary human. I cannot easily let go of what I gained simply."

If it is an ill-fated connection like Yuan Li or the Makli Clan, or something like the Tuho Gang, where one side unilaterally treated me badly, that would be another matter.

But if it is a connection where we exchanged good things, I cannot cut it.

A connection where we exchanged both good and bad.

That is the friend called Hong Fan, and the existence called the Heavens.

"What if everything I gave you was nothing but malice?"

Hong Fan looks down at me with expressionless eyes.

In those eyes I can find no light, and they seem filled only with endless emptiness and self-loathing.

"Making you meet the human named Buk Hyang-hwa, and making you fall in love. Making her die on that day at that time is also the fate I ordained. I am the founder who created you 'Enders' as toys. You are nothing but my dolls."

Kugugugugu!

Why is it?

It seems Hong Fan feels displeased at my words.

"Can you truly, after seeing the whole story, still dare to spout things like balance and whatnot before me?"

Woo-woooong— The story unfolds again.

Only, perhaps thinking that if he shows about the Future King's main body as before I will go insane...

He lowers history to the degree I do not go mad and unfolds it in a way a mortal being can understand.

The boy who became the Future King heads to chapter 11 of the story.

Flutterflutterflutter— The pages of countless fairy tale books flip before me, showing me the lowered chronicle of the Future King so that I do not go mad.

The Hong Fan who becomes the Future King seeks to be repaid.

From that day, he begins to carry on proper regression.

He completely seizes the Radiance Mantra and, by the Future King's authority, tears it apart and remakes it anew.

And he creates a mantra that can truly rewrite history.

Tsuaaaaat— He regresses.

Naturally, the timeline splits.

The timelines flow and flow, and they form a certain body.

It is the body of the previous Creator God.

'I see.'

Through that, Hong Fan surmises.

'The predecessor is resurrecting.'

Only, it is not a resurrection as the same absolute being as before.

They are likely to resurrect as an impersonal god.

However, even if they are an impersonal god, they will still be born holding the predecessor's will...

Once again it will force the will of the predecessor upon the Supreme Deities and the True Emperors.

In order to discuss with each other and seek the true answer.

"An answer, huh..."

Now he cannot run away from responsibility.

Hong Fan, who has sought answers from higher beings, has now become the higher being and must create the answer.

Also, just as he promised to the gods of good, he must keep in mind guiding others and promoting them into other True Emperors.

But he comes to know an absurd truth.

"A True Emperor cannot be involved in the advancement of another True Emperor..."

It seems to be a mechanism of the predecessor to prevent someone who holds one ideology, having first risen to a True Emperor, from blindly sponsoring and raising someone of the same ideology.

Of course, Hong Fan sees methods by which he can bypass it as much as he wants.

"I can keep my promise even by bypassing it. But... if so, whom should I support to advance as a True Emperor?"

According to the will of the predecessor, first it must be someone different from himself.

"By whose standard do we judge who is different from me? I do not need it."

At the same time, the will of the predecessor speaks to him.

That it must be someone who has little connection with oneself.

"Who judges whether a connection is little or much, deep or shallow? In this world there is no standard but me alone. That too is an unneeded standard."

The will of the predecessors speaks again.

That it must be a sacred being, holy enough to receive recognition from the Absolute.

"What is it to be sacred?"

A nobility blinding to the eyes, or a vileness sickening to the stomach.

That is the standard of sacredness that Hong Fan confirms.

"Does that mean an ordinary being cannot become noble enough to blind...?"

Hong Fan decides to completely ignore the will of the predecessors.

"Anyone can become vile enough to sicken the stomach. Anyone can become noble enough to dazzle the eyes."

Beings similar to himself are not born chosen; rather, anyone likely holds such possibilities...

Hong Fan wants to believe so.

"From now on... I shall begin the selection of other Emperors."

Under the name of the Origin Essence of Radiance, which is emitted from himself and has now become something that borrows power from him, Hong Fan begins to shine upon Mount Sumeru.

And, while supporting the figures of Heuk Sa Hall, he establishes a new group under himself.

The name of that group is Radiance Hall.

It is a gathering of those who have Heuk Sa Hall as their antecedent, and a gathering of good people whom Hong Fan draws together to select the True Emperor.

Having set the foundation of Radiance Hall, Hong Fan turns back time.

Entering a new timeline, he begins to change history itself.

The reason is simple.

'Because I want to build the world together with you...'

What is the answer and the truth?

Hong Fan still cannot know completely, but there is one thing he can know.

What is called the answer, or what is called the truth of life...

It is clearly related to happiness.

Without becoming happy, one cannot draw near.

"Therefore, to know the truth, I must erase the wounds of the heart and receive recompense."

He can now rewrite the very history of his own misfortune and suffering, turn time back as much as he wants, and reset everything.

Hong Fan lets his mother be born in a much better place.

And he has Yang Hwe be born into an affluent household, and he makes it so that the fate of contracting leprosy does not exist.

For Yang Hwe, he personally lays down a fate filled with happiness and success.

He sets Yang Hwe to be born as the young lady of a great noble house served by many maids, who likes peaches and holds a pure side that believes in the legend of the blue bird.

He sets the fate for her to grow up to be a woman who is kind, gentle, and good-hearted to everyone, meet Hong Fan, fall in love, marry, and under everyone's blessings, become a mother.

He sets a future where the child receives a good name at birth, grows up healthy and vigorous, passes the civil service examination to delight the parents, and where someday grandchildren are placed in the arms of Hong Fan and Yang Hwe.

Thus a future in which Hong Fan and Yang Hwe grow old in harmony, hold hands amid the sorrow of many children, and close their eyes on the same day at the same time, is completed by Hong Fan's hand.

"..."

But after deciding the future, Hong Fan feels something is off.

This does not seem right.

However...

"I... must find the answer."

He is the Heavens to which countless people look for answers.

Now he cannot defer the answer to anyone.

He, in order to find the answer, must experience happiness.

Hong Fan causes Yang Hwe to be born again and enjoys a happy life once within the newly changed history.

Then Yang Hwe dies and Hong Fan, once again becoming aware of his identity as the Future King, comes to a realization.

"No. This is not it."

When he lost his memories and played with Yang Hwe, it was briefly good.

But when he became aware of his identity as the Future King, an enormous emptiness pounds his chest.

"I am not happy."

He tried to create a life to wash away the wounds received in the past.

It was good for a short while, but when he became aware of everything again, the wounds instead became deeper.

"With this, I cannot get closer to the answer."

He is not at all happy, and it does not seem that he will obtain the truth of life and the answer.

With this, he cannot bring salvation to people.

"Shall I try changing Hwe-ah's personality a little?"

He seems to feel like he is crossing a line, but he does not stop.

The child who knew nothing but killing through his life, even after becoming a god, does not really know what life is.

Through the power of violence and oppression, he forced his will upon and killed everyone in the world—that is Hong Fan Gu Ju.

Thus, he does not clearly perceive the difference between 'manipulating' a component of life called fate to [rewrite] the other, And 'forcing' his will to [change] those he has met until now.

From the standpoint of one who has reached the peak of slaughter and cannot understand others, both are acts with the same result.

Thus, he begins to cross the line without even realizing that he is crossing it.

Hong Fan adjusts fate and once again tries to weave a lifetime with Yang Hwe.

Time turns back and the future is adjusted.

In this life he changes Yang Hwe into an even more spirited and lively personality.

Not merely kind but as bold as a heroine, she is to become a great woman who breathes hope into the hearts of all who follow her.

Following the guidance of fate and by her own strength she establishes a sect and becomes the Number One Under the Heavens, then she takes a liking to a boy named Hong Fan who enters the sect as a slave, teaches the child martial arts, and gradually they fall in love.

But because of their statuses, they must not love.

Though she is the master of the sect, under that country's law only high officials can pardon a slave.

She does everything she can to pardon Hong Fan from slavery, And in the process between the two, a child is conceived.

In the end, for the sake of the child, they resolve to overturn the country and found a new one.

Hong Fan and Yang Hwe join forces to overturn the country, create a free and happy nation where all are equal, and grow old together for a hundred years.

Hong Fan sets such a future, and once more borrows a mortal body to live that life.

At last, at the end of a hundred years together.

Hong Fan regains his memories again and realizes.

"No. This is... not it. I, I..."

Though he suffers, under the responsibility that he is the heavens, he continues life with Yang Hwe.

To find the truth of life called happiness and salvation.

And, within thousands of regressions, as he sets a happy life with Yang Hwe and proceeds to live it, at last he realizes.

"I... Am I... raising Hwe-ah like livestock?"

He places the soul of the human named Yang Hwe upon his hand and comes to a realization.

The child who crossed the line without even knowing that he has crossed it only, after crossing far beyond the line and arriving at a point that is certainly wrong, realizes that such a line existed.

"I see. From the moment I became fate itself..."

What is called human life became no different from a toy to him.

He tries to change this cognition, but having already crossed far beyond the line, he is like one who has crossed an irreversible river.

He spends several lives together with Yang Hwe, and at times is born as Yang Hwe's enemy, and gradually, through such numerous roles, he tries to overturn this cognition, but it is no use.

Because of the one line already crossed, the cognition that Yang Hwe is nothing but a toy— That everything, including Yang Hwe, is nothing but a toy—only grows stronger.

Placing Yang Hwe once more upon his palm, Hong Fan Gu Ju, with eyes growing gradually empty, gazes at the only connection that holds meaning for him.

He eventually acknowledges it.

What lies upon his palm is not the soul of the beloved wife he loved, the one who gave him salvation.

It is a 'modular toy' named Yang Hwe, with which he can assemble story and fate to his taste at any time and draw forth countless epics.

"Whatever I... give and receive with you, is it all meaningless...?"

Only then does he grasp the cause of all the problems that push him into pain.

"Ah... I see."

Hong Fan was too close to completeness from the beginning.

Because the fate and talent and possibility he was born with were at a level surpassing gods, he could not unburden his heart's knots and worries to anyone.

Thus he seized fate in order to become complete and became a legitimate Emperor.

Hong Fan, who was close to completeness yet subtly imperfect, by becoming the True Emperor became truly complete.

And...

Only then does he realize.

"Is it that only the imperfect... can understand one another...?"

He keenly realizes why in this world there is no one who can understand him.

He realizes why there is no being he can rely on.

"How ironic."

The answer.

The truth of life and salvation.

He seeks to find it.

"In order to find happiness and produce an answer... must I finely divide myself and make myself imperfect... or else give Hwe-ah pain and make her grow?"

It is impossible for Hong Fan himself to become imperfect.

He is already the owner of attraction force and attraction force itself.

Even if he is split into several pieces imperfectly, he will before long stick back together through attraction force and return to completeness.

Therefore, what remains is to raise Yang Hwe's rank and make her grow, raise her to a similar eye level to himself, and then, through the clash of complete beings, simultaneously both become imperfect, and only in that interval can they give and receive affection.

And...

In raising the rank, pain surely accompanies it.

Countless adversities and trials are necessary.

Perhaps she may undergo pain that cannot even be compared to how Yang Hwe in her first life miserably burned to death.

Of course, without undergoing any pain, he can let her slowly rise up to the realm of Great Net within the Immortal Cultivation system.

However...

How is that any different from his 'assembling' her fate?

"Must... I give pain?"

To the one who, for the first time in his life, gave what is closest to salvation?

He contemplates for hundreds of millions of years.

For him now, time no longer holds meaning.

It is a long yet short contemplation.

"Hwe-ah... please..."

He gifts to the being called Yang Hwe the same fate he experienced.

"Do not go mad."

At the first attempt, Yang Hwe goes mad.

Hong Fan feels as if his chest is being torn.

However, he cannot give up.

Now, he no longer rewinds time.

Instead, drawing from the origin of miracles, he ladles up Yang Hwe's soul, assembles it, and makes her be born again, continuously reincarnating Yang Hwe.

As information of previous lives accumulate in the soul, he makes resistance to pain arise.

And Hong Fan also finds out to what pains Yang Hwe is more sensitive to and in what manner he must apply adversity and trials so that she can grow quickly.

It is not only Yang Hwe.

By experimenting through countless spirits, he inflicts pain upon all of all phenomena and, through it, accumulates data to raise Yang Hwe.

Thus, as he reincarnates Yang Hwe again and again, inflicts pain, manipulates the growth process, and [rewrite]s fate for thousands of times— Hong Fan gradually feels something fall away from his heart.

The more he does so, the more his feelings disappear as he looks at Yang Hwe.

Yang Hwe too develops resistance to pain, and Hong Fan too loses empathy for such a Yang Hwe and for the living beings of all phenomena.

And at the same time...

He loathes himself for that reason.

Feeling fades, and loathing increases.

And before long.

After spending an uncountably long time, Hong Fan raises Yang Hwe, who was nothing but an ordinary mortal, to rise to an Immortal Lord affiliated with Radiance Hall.

At the level of an Immortal Lord, she is now a being who can to some extent perceive and resist him, the Future King.

He hopes that Yang Hwe escapes from the hand of fate.

And, she does not do so.

"O Fate. I know that I have lived many lives. And each time... I also know that you tormented me, yet at the same time guided me."

Yang Hwe offers a prayer toward the heavens from the depths of Radiance Hall.

"After countless adversities and trials bestowed by you, I have come to this seat. And upon coming to this seat, I see and now know. That you raised me to this seat surely all for a reason. To you... I return to thee."

Yang Hwe returns to fate.

She continued to suffer according to the fate Hong Fan manipulated, lived her whole life like a machine belonging to Radiance Hall, and died.

"I see."

Hong Fan recognizes again what is wrong.

"I must make her oppose me."

She must not become a toy.

She absolutely must not be left to return to Hong Fan.

He must make her regard fate, the heavens, as evil.

Even if his true body comes to be truly hated by her...

"Once more."

He turns back time.

He decides to start again from the beginning.

Hong Fan causes Yang Hwe to be reborn again and designs fate.

This time, Hong Fan is born beside Yang Hwe, and he endures adversity and trials together with her.

Together with her he becomes husband-and-wife gods, defeats countless divine seats, and together seizes the Origin Essence of Radiance that has swelled receiving the power of the Fate Supreme Deity, making her become an Immortal Lord.

Thus, Hong Fan becomes the Radiance Supreme Deity together with Yang Hwe.

"You give your opinion too, Yang Hwe. I say it again, but without you, there is no Radiance Hall."

The result of going against time once more and starting again from the beginning.

Hong Fan comes to sit, together with Yang Hwe, in the seat of the First Radiance Ten Heavens Heavenly Lords.

He holds Yang Hwe's hand and warmly asks for her opinion.

And...

He, with the Radiance Ten Heavens Heavenly Lords and Yang Hwe, must oppose himself.

"We, as the Radiance Hall that guards the Immortal Cultivation system and protects the weak... will become those who resist the one seated in the position of fate."

He has to deny all of himself.

"To keep the weak from being oppressed... let us make a world where only the Ten Heavenly Lords climb in the Immortal Cultivation system."

He has to overturn and deny all the values from when he first established the Immortal Cultivation system, created the Radiance Hall following the Heuk Sa Hall, and fabricate a doctrine woven of sophistry.

So that Yang Hwe...

Resists fate.

So that, in doing so, Yang Hwe grows as a being different from himself, shares affection with him...

Finds happiness and salvation and is able to give an answer to this world.

If he does this, surely, He can come closer to salvation...

So he thinks.

A long time passes.

Being born together with Yang Hwe and raising her to the top of the Radiance Ten Heavenly Lords, he has repeated it hundreds of millions of times.

At some moment, Hong Fan realizes.

This business as well...

... is no different from assembling a modular toy with Yang Hwe's fate and emotions.

"Ah..."

He notices that, before he knows it, his chest has become hollow.

It is empty.

He has repeated raising the person he loves to Immortal Lord, Supreme Deity, and Heavenly Venerable more times than he can count.

He is sick of it.

The moment he realizes this, he is engulfed in intense self-loathing and emptiness.

And he finally decides to admit it.

"I cannot be saved."

There is [no answer] in this world!

The truth of life is nothing but an illusion or a delusion.

Such a thing does not exist.

He realizes the true truth of life.

"Life is..."

He tries to declare 'nothing'.

"..."

But suddenly, he recalls how many beings died by his hand.

He recalls how many he made unhappy and plunged into pain to climb to this place.

He thinks of how many times he threw Yang Hwe into hell to find an answer after rising to this seat.

"Life is..."

He is the Heavens.

He cannot run away.

He must find the answer no matter what.

Therefore...

It is only that an answer does not exist in this world.

In another space, at another time...

Perhaps in the far future, there is a possibility that something called an answer exists.

"Life is... hope."

It is not that he failed to find the answer.

In the world the former Creator God desired, something like an answer simply does not exist.

"... The method was wrong from the start."

Though he governed fate and watched living beings for a long time, not a single one reached the position of True Emperor like himself.

He has tried granting the same pain and fate as his own, but all failed.

Even Yang Hwe, whom he supported from the closest distance, is still far, far from becoming a True Emperor.

And...

Now he too no longer holds any expectation for the position called True Emperor.

"Standing in a position where one can regard the world as a toy, what on earth does one discuss, and what Heaven does one dare to dream of."

Just...

Everything is wrong.

"From a position where one cannot give and receive affection with anyone in this world and cannot feel value in anything, what is one supposed to hope for and dream of?"

Even if he becomes the Owner of History or the Owner of Miracles, he does not think it will be any different.

"Predecessor. What you wish for is nothing but an illusion."

The predecessor's method is wrong.

However...

Even so, he is now the Heavens.

Even if he became a god in a twisted world made of a wrong answer, it is still the seat of the Heavens that he chose with his own hands.

"Therefore, I will reach the true answer."

A Creator God is omniscient and omnipotent.

That means they also know what the truth of life is.

Creator God.

For the answer, the Creator God is necessary.

"A utopia dreamed by three absolute beings? Such a thing does not exist. Three monsters who cannot feel any value in the world only make a hell."

He must revive the true Creator God who is omniscient and omnipotent and knows the truth.

But he must not let the predecessor be revived as is.

If he does so, it will only be an infinite repetition again.

"Let's make a new Creator God."

All the materials are there.

Fate, History, Miracle.

And the gestation world that can serve as the cradle.

"If no one can save me. I will manufacture a savior with my own hand."

Then with what kind of personality should the new Creator God be made?

That material, too, is already decided.

"Hwe-ah..."

The one who first made him feel a heart close to salvation.

A being who has never intentionally harmed anyone.

Unlike himself, whose hands are smeared through and through with blood, karmic retribution, and the path of killing, the sacrificial lamb who has only ever been sacrificed by him.

"Only you... have the qualification to become my savior."

The personality of the newly made Creator God is set as Yang Hwe.

By today's decision, Yang Hwe is to suffer for eternal kalpas in a fate close to Avici Hell.

Even just raising the rank of the existence called her requires granting innumerable pains, so to promote her to Life Supreme Deity would require inflicting pain that even Hong Fan can hardly imagine.

Even if she becomes the Creator God, the new Absolute One, he cannot know how much she will hate Hong Fan.

However, he resolves himself.

Yang Hwe, now at the level of a toy yet an attached doll, is set to truly become his equal, turn from doll into connection, and then become an absolute being whom even Hong Fan would have to look up to, yet he resolves himself.

"Even if I am hated, it does not matter. Even if the existence that is me becomes the hatred and pain of the new Absolute One, I will endure it."

For the seat he rose to for that very reason is the seat of the Heavens.

"I am an existence that can only look upon hope, but you surely can reach it. Unlike me, you can move forward... Therefore, if only I can let you move forward, it is fine even if I remain forever unforgiven in your heart."

Even if he stains the new Creator God with pain and as the price is to be tortured forever, he firms his resolve and makes a vow.

"If you have become a modular toy handled by me and moved by me, then I will manufacture an answer that surpasses both me and the predecessor with you as the parts...! No matter what punishment I face at the end of it all, no matter how many ages and pains I must endure. I will surely accomplish it."

Notions like one must not toy with souls, or that manufacturing a god is blasphemous, wore out and vanished long ago.

The young child king whose humaneness was faint from the very beginning due to the world being little different from a scrap of paper...

Upon reaching the authority to truly reassemble the world at his own whim, even that faint humaneness turns to powder...

And he becomes a Devil King who desires a thoroughly twisted hope.

That is the conclusion of the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju, who bears the responsibility of seeking the answer of salvation and truth of this world.

Chapter 11 of the story ends.

Only after I see the entire story do I realize the story has a title.

The title of Chapter 11 is [Life Is Hope].

The story that begins with hope ends, and the story moves to Chapter 12.

The story of Chapter 12...

... is a story I have seen before.

This story also has a title.

The title of the story is the [Ender's Tale].

It is the story of a young king who becomes a devil king and manufactures the Creator God.

And...

Only then can I know all the truth.

The Future King who comes to hold a twisted hope tears apart all the timelines he has made through countless regressions.

For the timelines of regression create the body of the Creator God, and that body keeps whispering to him to follow the will of the predecessor.

Leaving only a single timeline that suits his own preference, he modifies the Radiance Mantra so that no one can create another timeline.

And he begins in earnest the preparations to make the Creator God.

The method to become the Creator God is simple.

Gather the three Absolutes into one, into the Origin Essence of Omnipotence.

In other words, transform them into the authority of the Creator God.

Then, by pervading the entirety of Mount Sumeru and taking it as the flesh, there is nothing more than breaking the egg in the gestation world and creating a new world.

But the problem is the law engraved by the previous Creator God.

A True Emperor cannot concurrently hold other Absolutes.

And they cannot interfere in the advancement of another True Emperor.

'That kind of thing is not a problem.'

The stale laws that a dead Creator God has engraved.

There are as many ways to bypass them as needed.

"It can be done through sacrifice."

Self-sacrifice.

He creates a ritual in which a True Emperor abandons all of their own existence and transfers all their authority and dominion to another True Emperor.

It is not even difficult.

It is just the manner of blowing away his own personality and returning to thee to another True Emperor.

Of course, at the level of a True Emperor, even the personality would be restored, but before then they would advance into the Creator God, so it does not matter.

Before the birth of an omniscient and omnipotent being, the stale laws engraved by the previous Creator God will volatilize away, and even the law that a True Emperor would be restored will disappear.

If the Creator God is born, they can at any time pull out the being called Hong Fan from history again, demote him, revive him, and pass judgment, so he does not worry about his own end either.

Even if they do not revive him, if that is the will of the Creator God, he can accept it and understand it as another conclusion.

After raising Yang Hwe to Life Supreme Deity, Hong Fan plans to make her the Creator God by causing her to absorb two Absolutes through his self-sacrifice.

The reason for Life Supreme Deity is as follows.

'The advancement ritual of the Life Supreme Deity is the most intuitive, the easiest to resist me, the God of Fate, and the easiest for Yang Hwe to control.'

One just needs to draw in innumerable information in the state of being the oldest.

It is intuitive and convenient.

On top of that, it is incredibly easy to help indirectly.

It is only a matter of killing everything older than Yang Hwe.

Of course, he cannot kill directly, so he would have to use groups that follow his command, such as Radiance Hall.

'And... Miracle... cannot be controlled.'

Miracle is the pinnacle of uncertainty and irrationality.

It is a bizarre monster that resists the determinism called fate in this world.

Since he cannot know what variables it will show, he is averse to guiding Yang Hwe to become the Owner of Miracles.

For those reasons, it is decided by the Heavens for Yang Hwe to become the candidate for Life Supreme Deity.

And, the Heavens have one more thing to mind besides Yang Hwe.

"O Absolute of Miracle."

Fate can be given to Yang Hwe through self-sacrifice.

Then what of Miracle?

"I have suffered all my life because of you."

He decides to demote Miracle into a range that Fate can control.

"So... pay the price."

Through Splitting Heaven, he tears apart the Absolute of Miracle.

Though Miracle is not something one can dare to name and control...

He refines it to demote it into concepts he can control and name.

Joy (喜), Anger (怒), Sorrow (哀), Pleasure (樂), Love (愛), Hatred (惡), Desire (欲).

He grants personalities within the world to the seven Absolute fragments thus created, and he grants those persons fate.

That fate is none other than the very same fate Hong Fan has imposed upon Yang Hwe and the living beings of Mount Sumeru until now.

He adjusts the fate he created to raise Yang Hwe into a fate that gives only the level of pain that mortal being can endure, and by adding various inflection points, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

He makes it the fate of beginning, development, twist, and conclusion.

A fate that is a simplified version of Hong Fan's own fate.

In a way, it is also a work to brainwash the Absolute fragments.

At the end of the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, they will define life while receiving pain similar to Hong Fan's.

And in their lives filled with pain, as an answer to escape pain, he fixes a fate that they must define life with the concepts of emotion set by the Future King.

Their answers will not possibly be able to surpass the Future King's answer that life is hope, and they will have no choice but to kneel before the Future King and accept sacrifice for a better answer and future.

Whether they want it or not.

Since there may be existences that refuse to the end, he engraves a fate that at the end of that life they must arrive before himself.

If they end up refusing to the very end, they will be 'persuaded'.

By whatever method, he will make them convinced.

Even so, Miracle can create variables that slip out of his hand.

Therefore, if they form personality within the world and stand before him prepared to accept the fate of beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, He will explain to them that their essence is only a personality and that they are beings without a soul, and he will make a contract with them as the price of founding their existence [generating their soul].

At the end of the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, he will help them generate a soul with his attraction force, so if they generate a soul through his help, then even if they do not want it and refuse to the end, it will be a contract, a leash, that makes them follow his decree.

'All variables are controlled.'

Even if Miracle dares to refuse his touch and escape, now it cannot resist.

It naturally cannot generate souls by its own power, and even with external help, unless it is a Creator God or a great divinity on that level, bestowing souls upon the Enders is impossible.

The condition for Enders to be able to create souls is one.

They must prove that they have a value superior to the Absolute fragment they possess.

Yet there cannot be a value superior to one's own existence.

All the more so when they are an Absolute fragment formed from the pillar that constitutes this world.

Of course, if a being that can prove such a thing appears, influenced by that being and following after that being, the souls of Enders could spring up like bamboo shoots after the rain, but he does not worry about such a thing.

For such a possibility means that the meaning that existence bears might surpass his hope.

Within the Mount Sumeru he has birthed, there is no way a being with the possibility to surpass his ambition can appear.

'Of course, even so, one must not be careless.'

To prepare for the emergence of such an existence, he leaves a prophecy so that if an existence appears that possesses even a speck of such 'possibility', he can intervene and follow that existence.

Of course, if such a being exists, the very vexation that the being agonizes over can be regarded by Miracle as the advancement ritual of a True Emperor, and the Future King himself cannot involve himself in the advancement of another Emperor.

'If it is not the main body, but merely one aspect split off and demoted from myself, I can follow them around as much as I like."

Following along thus, he will guide them to drift far from that possibility.

If they do not drift far even then, he will continue to cling and naturally increase misfortune and calamity to kill them.

If even so they do not die, then he will merely follow under them, observe, and ceaselessly research ways to break their anguish.

'Of course, if it comes to this, I will no longer be in a complete body and will be far more incomplete for a long time, and it will become possible for me to be influenced by others.'

In that state, external Creator Gods or beings at the level of great divinities, Or if something equivalent to their attacks suddenly goes mad and assaults him, he would suffer fatal damage.

To enter that state means that the Future King, in his own way, is taking action by staking his very life and existence.

However, he has already resolved to sacrifice himself.

'If I cannot resolve to gamble to that degree, I cannot even begin this journey.'

Of course, the probability of reaching that point is only at the level of a unit reaching an instant in the infinite future.

If one pierces through that atrocious probability and arrives, even for him there is no further way to prepare.

He simply must, with all his strength, face the enemy with his Divine Arts and kill them.

'And...'

If he is split into aspects, he will become incomplete for a time.

So perhaps...

In that incomplete state, he can savor at least a little the joy of exchanging affection from the old days and look back on memories.

In truth, that alone is enough to make the gamble worthwhile.

Thus, after establishing countermeasures for every variable he can respond to, he begins to bestow upon the Absolute fragments the fate of beginning, development, twist, and conclusion.

That...

Becomes the beginning of what are called Enders.

"Make Hwe-ah the protagonist, become the supporting roles yourselves, create variables, and complete the story."

The Future King's long journey to manufacture the protagonist named Yang Hwe into the Creator God.

That...

... is the Ender's Tale.

The truth of everything that continues to the present age.

Present.

Shiooooo— The light dies down.

Urururung— The gestation world behind us is split into seven pieces by Splitting Heaven.

However, the Enders, who originally should be annihilated except for me and the Underworld, are all unscathed.

I can tell the reason.

Chiiiiii— A silver giant.

It is because Silver Basket stepped forward.

Silver Basket bears over their chest something that seems like a character, a symbol, or an incantation.

From it, nothing is felt.

Instinctively, I can tell that it is the same kind of thing that Hong Fan used to massacre the Creator Gods.

'Divine Art...!'

Hyeon Mu looks down at Silver Basket and mutters.

"Pitiful. Had you quietly completed creation in your own world, with a completed Great Mantra you would have been a troublesome opponent even to me... Yet as a Creator God who could not even complete creation, is this the result of the abandonment of your world and wandering? Barely enduring before me with that trash-like Great Mantra?"

"The tenderest aspect of the Future King."

Silver Basket lets smoke flow from their whole body and looks up at Hyeon Mu.

Perhaps from the aftermath of meeting Splitting Heaven, greatly strengthened by the [First Light], even standing looks hard.

"My Divine Art is certainly weak, and I dare not compare to your Divine Art. No, our specialisation is completely different from the very beginning, so comparing them itself is a fallacy. However, judging with the eyes of a Creator God, your Divine Art is no different from a levee about to collapse."

"Hoh, why do you think so? Don't tell me it is because the roots of that Star Genesis or Hwe-ah over there are specialized against me? That because they are Divine Arts meant to face me, you can defeat me?"

Hyeon Mu sneers at Silver Basket.

"You prattle much for one who knows nothing about [Hope]. Before Hope, I have toppled again and again the otherworldly existences who use Divine Arts even without using Divine Arts. I do not fall. For now, I am the answer of this world."

Emptiness settles in Hyeon Mu's eyes.

"Only I am your refuge and resting place, and the answer I decide is what leads the world."

Kugugugugugu!

"The amusement ends here."

The shape of the black circle that is behind Hong Fan's main body appears behind Hyeon Mu's back.

Hyeon Mu begins in earnest to draw upon the Absolute of Fate.

The power of Fate and the [First Light].

The power of the Splitting Heaven Mantra spews blazing radiance in Hyeon Mu's hand.

"So you blocked it with a Divine Art. Then, let us see how many times you can last."

Hyeon Mu looks down at Silver Basket as she finishes preparing to unleash barrages of the Splitting Heaven Mantra.

And, it is at that moment, The Divine Art that rises from Silver Basket's chest lifts into the void, then resounds as a single utterance that shakes all of phenomena.

"As your Divine Art is specialized in Execution... my Divine Art is originally not specialized in direct offense and defense. Doing the brutish act of blocking an attack with this once is enough."

Tsuaaaaatt!

Silver Basket's eyes shine.

Their voice transforms into a sacred speech.

:: I, Silver Basket. As the Ender of Pleasure and a Heavenly King, and as a great divinity who descended for a time from the Seat of the Creator God of a far-away other world, command.:: Tsuaaaaaat!

:: My Divine Art is 'Awakening'.:: Hyeon Mu flinches in surprise and turns back.

The [First Light] that is supplying power from behind Hyeon Mu.

The countless Supreme Deities that compose it are all being 'awakened' before Silver Basket's words.

:: Rise. And take pleasure.:: They temporarily draw forth the fragment of the Absolute dwelling in Oh Hyun-seok's body and, borrowing its power, gives the decree.

:: As you awaken the most pleasurable memories of your lives...:: Tshuaaaaatt!

:: Give thanks.:: Flash!

:: And in the name of I, Silver Basket, and the many Governing Immortals.:: The silver light that bursts out from Silver Basket's body swallows Hyeon Mu for an instant and reaches even the Future King's main body beyond.

:: Give the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju... your blessings!:: Shioooooo— The countless clusters of light that constitute the [First Light] all burst out at once and begin to whisper something to Hyeon Mu.

'That is...!'

It is a blessing.

Just as when the Creator Gods whispered blessings and sympathy as they died, making the Future King sit down wearily.

Silver Basket causes the many Supreme Deities to bless the Future King and Hyeon Mu, shaking his heart once again.

:: O young god who cannot trust anything and knows not how to receive from anyone. O thee who fears most to receive goodwill. I will give you fear through pleasure.::

"You...!"

Hyeon Mu's face twists, and Hyeon Mu clutches her head.

And in the next moment, the Supreme Deities that compose the [First Light], gathered behind Hyeon Mu, begin to scatter.

The Supreme Deities gathered from the future return again to the future, and the Supreme Deities pulled from the past return again to the past.

Fearing being blessed, Hyeon Mu forcibly sends the Supreme Deities back.

:: So long as this single utterance of I, Silver Basket, continues, the blessings upon you shall continue forever.:: By me and Obsidian, the Heavenly Void Furnace is sealed.

And by Silver Basket, the [First Light] is sealed.

Chukwaaaaaaang!

At the same time, Kim Young-hoon, who is defending against attacks by wearing Oh Hyun-seok's body as his armor and swinging his saber, finally knocks down every Gandhara except for the Gandhara where Hyeon Mu's incarnation body is.

As the last golden firework explodes, in the Future King's camp only Hyeon Mu and, behind her, the Future King's main body remain.

"Listen well. Star Genesis, Underworld."

Continuing to use their Divine Arts and blocking the [First Light] from appearing again, Silver Basket speaks to me.

"For the Underworld, it is already as good as secured, so it will soon be over with just a little attention, but you, Star Genesis, must listen and watch even more closely. You already have a seed sprouting and taking root. That is to say... you have the aptitude of Creation. Your Divine Art is blooming."

"Divine Art..."

"You cannot wield Divine Arts carelessly. For it is your essence, your life itself. But without using Divine Arts, you can never block the Future King's Divine Art. If he rises and begins to use his Divine Art... you all know the outcome."

I nod.

I still cannot forget that shocking scene of the Creator Gods being massacred.

"Will you teach us how to use Divine Arts?"

"No, only the self knows how to use what is called Divine Arts. As the structures are all utterly different for each person, I cannot give any help. What I can advise is only this: the authority you obtained through the Absolute is an imitation of Divine Arts."

"Pardon...?"

"Therefore, the Future King cannot know the authorities each of you possesses. Since what imitates Divine Arts is the Ender's authority, and the Ender's authority also varies completely by individual, even he cannot know of it. He can only guess what authority you have."

At those words, Kang Min-hee asks a question.

"But he clearly said to Seo Eun-hyun that it is 'what I granted'..."

"Regarding the body... the Plane of Qi, it is much easier to interfere, so it is true that he interfered to some extent in things like the constitution."

"Does that mean that when he granted fate, he did not know of it...?"

"Haha, all he did was refine it in the form of fate and bestow it. It is all to make you give up through deception and speak the names more easily. If he truly knew all the authorities even without you uttering it, for what reason would all the beings who have told you not to divulge your fates from your mouths until now have given such warnings? It is only that the snake is a sinister being surpassing your common sense and propriety, so he resorted to deception."

At Silver Basket's words, the complexions of those who have felt pressure about using the authority they have awakened brighten a little.

"In the end, the truth is that the Absolute processed into the form of fate... at most lets even the Future King only guess based on your lives, and at most peer at what he dimly reads through Indra's Net. Because miracles are a power that denies determinism, they are unreasonable and uncertain, so it is impossible even for the fate to be interpreted properly."

"... If so...!"

"Use them as much as you want. True to the power of uncertainty, your authority changes with no consistency at all for each and every Ender of each era. It can become a decisive move even against that one. And... that one will soon enforce the debt. If it becomes so, resist with your authority. You can do it. If in the end you cannot resist... you can make the final choice."

After they speak to the Enders, they speak to me and the Underworld.

"And... the fact that Divine Arts are imitated through the Absolute fragments means that if you seize the Absolute, you can thereby come nearer to Divine Arts. Thus if you succeed in the advancement to True Emperor... do this."

Kiiiiiing— The plan for after reaching True Emperor is transmitted to us through wisdom.

The Underworld and I look at each other at the slightly outrageous wisdom but soon nod.

I can feel that Silver Basket has contemplated this deeply.

For this is quite literally the best course of action.

"Only this alone... can at least resist the Future King's Divine Art..."

Kwaduk!

Silver Basket, who conveys the plan to us, in the next moment— As if being directly compressed in the void, bursts apart and dies.

Shiver!

'Divine Art...!'

The same chilling energy as when the Future King massacred the Creator Gods surrounds the area.

At the same time, Hong Fan, who until now sits on the jade throne, half-opens his eyes.

"What do I look like?"

Perhaps because he has just woken up, with eyes that look somehow hazy and blank, he mutters words we cannot understand.

'To him, we are supporting roles. Then... is he asking the Underworld?'

However, the Underworld does not particularly answer and only looks at the Future King.

Woo-wooong!

From the Absolute of Life held in the Underworld's hand, the resonance grows stronger and stronger.

"... I see. That is fine."

Surururu— But gradually his eyes return to normal, and the attraction force gripping Silver Basket also grows stronger.

"Now, this really is goodbye."

Hyeon Mu is absorbed back into Hong Fan.

Having fully regained reason and awakened from the dream, he looks at Silver Basket.

"You really make things troublesome. Silver Basket."

Udududuk...

Hong Fan, who crushes the former Creator God of another world, Silver Basket, from afar, throws them away like trash and glares toward the Underworld.

As his words end, a change occurs in the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, who until now only resonated with the Absolute of Life.

The Absolute of History, Omniscience.

It responds to Bong Hwa and gradually begins to become one with her.

Bong Hwa, who is darkness itself, blazes with golden light and fills with life.

The Life Supreme Deity advancement begins.

Seeing this, I realize the meaning of Hong Fan's words.

'Divine Art of Awakening... Not only did it awaken the Supreme Deities... it awakened the Absolute and lowered the threshold of the advancement ritual...!'

Silver Basket is rammed like trash into the inside of Mount Sumeru, but the Divine Art they left behind seems to explode.

At the same time, the Underworld's advancement speed becomes even faster, and Hong Fan rises to his feet.

"If the advancement succeeds, it will become hard to kill... so it seems I must handle it now. I am sorry, Hwe-ah. For hurting you again."

Kugugugugu!

He, who until now has faced us only with True Martial Arts, begins to reveal proper authority.

Perhaps because the Underworld began challenging the advancement to Life Supreme Deity faster than expected, the fatigue has not completely disappeared from his eyes since he did not finish his meditation, but he no longer finds any reason to go easy on us.

Starting with the slightly unsettled True Martial Arts due to failing to calm his heart, Emptiness Sword.

To the Absolute of Fate, Totality.

And to Radiance and Splitting Heaven, and the mantra of Immortal Cultivation.

The Future King begins to reveal his full power.

Tudududuk!

Tearing off the rules that Kang Min-hee tried to suppress as if they are toys, he begins to reveal his true body.

He is darkness.

He is the god who wields all attraction force of all phenomena.

The fate, who rules the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World, looks down at us, who are as small as a palm, and declares.

"This is the end."

And...

At last, I step forward.

"No, my dear friend."

I let out a clear laugh and raise the Impermanence Sword.

"It is only the beginning."

"It is about time for it to come."

The moment Hong Fan's words end.

Flash!

The light cluster of Hope that I have barely deferred until now pierces spacetime and reaches me.

The Future King looks down at me and mutters.

"Do you reach the level of your master?"

The light of Certain Annihilation that even ripped apart Creator Gods.

And, I raise my sword toward that light and cut.

Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven

"With such a trifling authority..."

Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven Annihilation Advancement Mu intertwines with the Severing Heaven Sword Form.

And I feel as if two mountain divine spirits stand behind my back.

"... Martial Arts."

Master and Senior Brother.

Feeling the gaze of those two, I put everything I have into completing an upward cut.

Deeeeeeng!

A sound like a bell seems to ring...

And for the first time, my sword alone meets Hong Fan's True Martial Arts head-on.

The Impermanence Sword repels Hope and dyes the gaze of everyone present here in astonishment.

Shikakak!

My sword that repels Hope sends a slight sword wind toward Hong Fan's lower dantian.

To him, the sword wind is not even at the level of a breeze.

But Hong Fan's pupils, which only felt a bit of fatigue from the Creation Gods' attacks, for the first time tremble minutely at my attack.

"Please advance. Imperial Venerable!"

I shout loudly toward Bong Hwa and, before Hong Fan, stand at the head of the Enders and shout.

"For we shall protect you!"

I have seen enough of Hong Fan's authority.

Now...

It is time to unload everything I have accumulated up to here.

What I have accumulated does not fall behind Hong Fan in the least.

"Then prove it."

The Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju looks down at me and brings out what he has not used until now.

I feel it.

The Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju now...

Truly intends to slaughter us in earnest.

Teok— Breath.

My breath catches in my throat.

At the same time, that same chilling something I felt when the Creator Gods were massacred arises.

"Can you all find an answer better than mine?"

This is the story of a young king who desires twisted hope, who makes a Creator God to be saved.

At the same time, the ending of a fairy tale that has not yet proceeded.

The last story of the Future King's fairy tale which sometimes has a 13-chapter edition I have seen.

The title of the 13th story.

Radiance Mantra.

Splitting Heaven Mantra.

Immortal Cultivation.

Totality of Fate.

Sincerity of Miracle.

Omniscience of History.

And the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World, the Gestation World.

This is the Great Mantra made by grinding everything of the young king, who established the great achievement called Hong Fan Gu Ju, entirely into materials and parts for a story.

—Divine Art.

"A Great Mantra is... a story."

—A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation (回歸修仙傳).

Regression and Immortal Cultivation, the story begun by the black snake born from two snake gods.

Or...

The Immortal Cultivation tale to turn the person named Hwe (回/return/regress) back into a savior.

"As long as this story does not reach its conclusion, no matter how many Creator Gods and great divinities from countless otherworlds and separate Heaven and Earths gather, I am supreme."