Chương 827: Side Story - Nation Founding (5)

'Miracle...?'

Paaaatt!

Makli Hyun-ah cannot understand what the words mean, but as they end, the old man with a goat beard shines a pure white and disappears right before his eyes.

Makli Hyun-ah extends his consciousness and tries to find the old man, but he nowhere to be seen.

'M-My goodness... He disappeared beyond my consciousness domain in an instant. Did he leap over space? As expected of an Integration stage senior!'

Makli Hyun-ah gapes at the Integration stage senior's authority, then bows at the place where the old man disappeared and offers his respects.

"Mister Jegal Mikhail, can we also reach that realm someday?"

—...? What are you talking about.

It seems that Jegal Mikhail, who is nothing more than Jegal Mikhail inside him, does not understand, but Makli Hyun-ah does not care at all.

And then, Makli Hyun-ah sees a dull radiance flying in from beyond that Ascension Forest, from the direction of the Heaven-Treading Desert.

It is a cultivator from the Makli Clan.

Inside the dull radiance, Makli Hweol, who has now reached the Grand Perfection Nascent Soul stage, is descending.

"Ah, Daoist Makli Hweol, you came to help. But you don't have to worry. I repaid my grudge with my own hands, and the subordinates are smoothly taking control of Ascension Forest as well."

"Hoho, that is fortunate. I believe in you. I came here not to help Daoist, but only to see someone whose face I have not seen for a long time."

"Uh... well..."

Makli Hyun-ah scratches his head awkwardly. When he thinks about it, he realizes that after the last war with the Righteous Dao Immortal Sect Alliance, he hasn't really seen his face much.

"I plan to build a grand palace nearby and bring mortals here to build the capital, but since you are here anyway, let's have a drink in a scenic place before the construction begins."

Makli Hyun-ah opens the storage scroll and takes out the wine he has been saving for Makli Hweol, who looks around here and there as if searching for something.

Makli Hweol looks around the surroundings for a while, then lets out a faint sigh and nods his head.

"Thank you. Haha..."

Thus, the two of them sit in the center of Ascension Forest, at the place where they first fell, passing wine back and forth and as they enjoy the surrounding scenery.

Time flows in impermanence.

Before long, Makli Hyun-ah is acknowledged for the benefits of Confucian Family Method by countless cultivation sects, and under the condition that he makes Confucian Family Method that the collateral lines of other cultivation sects can learn, he gains the total acknowledgement of all sects in all four directions, and by the countless Demon Race as well.

Makli Hweol helps Makli Hyun-ah create Confucian Family Methods at his side.

No, more accurately, when Makli Hyun-ah tells him the essence of the formula of the Confucian Family Method, Makli Hweol uses that as the framework and creates the Confucian Family Methods one by one.

Thus, in exchange for the Confucian Family Methods, Makli Hyun-ah founds a nation in the center of the Heaven-Treading Desert and succeeds in ascending the throne as a true king.

He finally succeeds in rising to the realm corresponding to the Heavenly Being stage.

Kururung!

Swaaaaaah!

Fortunately, the Heavenly Tribulation of the Heavenly Being stage is an ordinary natural disaster.

However, rain pours down over the entire desert for 49 days, and because of that, from the first year of the nation's founding, Makli Hyun-ah has to sigh as he watches the desert become a sea.

According to Makli Hweol, the Heavenly Tribulation is only of this degree because he received acknowledgment from many nations and forces and then founded the nation. If his acknowledgment and social authority was less, he would have suffered a far more terrible calamity.

In the early days, the Heaven-Treading Desert is nothing but a desert...

But after rising to the realm corresponding to the Heavenly Being stage, Makli Hyun-ah, who has far stronger suppressive power over strange forces and chaotic spirits, captures demon beasts or devilish cultivators who do not communicate reasonably, seals them into clay dolls, beats them, draws up the vitality of the earth in various places, and makes rain fall.

Moreover, due to the characteristics of Pacifying Myriad Demons Under Heaven Survey, the people of Makli Hyun-ah's nation are mostly all of the Demon Race, so they have bodies far stronger than the Human Race, and even in the harsh climate of the desert, they only find it a bit difficult and do not suffer to the point of death.

Several decades pass.

Thanks to Makli Hyun-ah and the Demon Race under his command drawing up the vitality of the earth of the entire desert, activating Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, and reclaiming the land, before long the Heaven-Treading Desert becomes not a desert, but a plain.

Small grasses sprout up here and there, and the brown desert turns into a faintly green land.

Of course, since the earth's vitality and the spiritual veins have not fully returned yet, if one digs a little beneath the grasses, a layer of sand shows again, making it an incomplete plain.

In order to resolve this, Makli Hweol proposes one plan.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, it seems to be because the nation does not have proper mountains and rivers. Therefore, please create mountains and rivers in the nation, so that the land becomes naturally more and more fertile."

"Hm... it seems it will be an enormous construction project... But even if we set mountains aside, there isn't even a proper water source for rivers, is there?"

Makli Hyun-ah ponders Makli Hweol's words, but soon he is able to find a solution because of a divine object passed down in the Makli Clan from generation to generation.

"This is the secret treasure passed down in the main family, the Clear Scale Armor. They say it is the tear shed by the legendary Immortal Beast Xiezhi. It is itself a treasure that contains immense water energy, so if you pile up mountains and pour the Xiezhi's tear into it from above, surely a river that covers the entire nation will flow down."

"...! How could I dare accept something this precious...?"

"It is a decision made by the main house. Please accept it."

"... All right."

Makli Hyun-ah receives the Xiezhi's tears that Makli Hweol hands him and gives the order to pile up a mountain in the center of Ascension Forest, in front of the royal palace.

Afterward, countless demon beasts, following Makli Hyun-ah's command, lift up Ascension Forest itself, which has fallen to the ground, and create a gigantic mountain.

Makli Hyun-ah lets the Xiezhi's tear fall from the top of that mountain, and then an enormous torrent of water surges up and flows down below the mountain.

The torrent stretches out endlessly and flows out across the entire nation, which was originally the Heaven-Treading Desert.

Countless sea demon beasts, In particular, the Sea Dragon Race, seize that waterway, forms proper rivers, sets the rivers' directions so it is easy to create farmland, and lets it flow out to the sea.

As time passes, the 'Heaven-Treading Plain' that was called the Heaven-Treading Desert becomes fertile.

Makli Hyun-ah, who takes his seat atop the gigantic mountain range in the center of the Heaven-Treading Plain, changes the national name at that point.

Not the 'Sea Demon Nation' where sea demon beasts live, but the biggest nation on this Penglai Star.

The most flourishing nation that can represent the entirety of Penglai Star.

He names it 'Penglai Kingdom'.

Penglai Kingdom becomes, at the same time, the most prosperous and strongest nation in all of Penglai Star, and a nation where countless monsters and humans can live in harmony, and because the Confucian Family Method is spread across the entire territory, it becomes a kingdom where cultivators cannot casually lay their hands upon mortals.

Makli Hyun-ah brings the most outstanding children among the collateral branches of the clan as successor candidates, makes the children with the greatest governing ability compete with each other, and then begins preparing for ascension.

This happens in the year that marks 200 years since Makli Hyun-ah came to this Penglai Star.

Penglai Kingdom Royal Palace.

Voices are heard from inside a pavilion deeper within Makli Hyun-ah's royal palace.

"Daoist Makli Hweol's cultivation is something I cannot keep up with. Even if I choose a successor after having established a nation, I do not dare to look up at Daoist who entered half-step into the Four-Axis stage..."

"Hoho, do not be too disheartened. Anyway, once Your Majesty Makli Hyun-ah also has a successor properly decided, you will reach the half-step Four-Axis stage as well."

"It is fine if you call me Daoist again. I am slowly going to hand over the throne. And since I am going to ascend to the heaves (昇天) before the successor is decided anyway, it seems I will only reach the half-step Four-Axis stage after I reach the Upper Realm."

"Hoho. By the way, who do you think will become the successor, Daoist?"

"Hmm..."

Makli Hyun-ah looks over the candidates on one side of the pavilion.

"The likely ones are Makli Donald's son, Makli Potter; Makli Bi-yeol's son, Makli Seong-in; and... Makli Seo-hye, who comes from a collateral branch of the clan. It seems to be those three. In terms of ability, Makli Seo-hye is the most excellent."

"Indeed... but will Daoist really not clearly decide among those three before you go?"

"Hm... it is unfortunate, but all three are so outstanding that I cannot decide. So after I ascend, I've decided to leave it to the council of elders. Grand Council Lord Makli Hye-seo said she will help."

"Grand Council Lord Makli Hye-seo is also running out of lifespan... I did not think she still wouldn't have advanced. It is unfortunate."

"Tsk... indeed."

Makli Hyun-ah gives a bitter smile as he recalls her, who hasn't advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, and whose lifespan is running out in the Core Formation stage.

"After I go to the Upper Realm, it would be good if I can obtain a great method or spiritual medicine for lifespan extension and send it down, but... it will not be easy."

"Indeed. In the Upper Realm, it is not easy to interfere with the Lower Realm. The higher the cultivation realm becomes, the more so. Even Senior Makli Cheon-sa, after her realm rose beyond a certain level, found it difficult to even perform divine descent to Daoist who has the Extreme Ghost Path Body."

"Tsk..."

Makli Hyun-ah scratches his head and smacks his lips.

"Why is it difficult for Grand Cultivators of the Upper Realm to interfere with the lower realm? Why does such a phenomenon happen...?"

"Well... maybe it is something the world has decided so that one does not commit too much tyranny. Hoho..."

"Hm..."

"By the way, has Daoist decided when to ascend?"

"The sooner the better. I have to save my older sister. So, I have planned it for ten days from now."

"Good. It will soon be the time when the space storm of Avīci stabilizes, so if you go then, it will be suitable."

"The weakness of Confucian Family Method... is that there is not much to receive help from at the time of ascension, so I will rely on Daoist Makli Hweol."

"Of course. Please do not worry. I have already prepared everything for Daoist Makli Hyun-ah's ascension."

"Thank you. Thanks to Daoist, I will not have a hard time against the monsters of Avīci."

To ascend to the Upper Realm, one must pass through a space called Avīci that lies on the route leading to the Upper Realm.

It is a space that, in the distant past, was called the Interdimensional Void, and it seems to be a mysterious world that is endlessly transparent and filled with bizarre things.

Thus, Makli Hyun-ah sets plans for how to face the monsters of Avīci and, for several days, looks around Penglai Kingdom and puts his mind in order.

He fell into a mysterious place, met many people, and formed connections.

He learned strange methods, learned the Confucian Family Method, became the king of a nation, and ruled the nation for a span of 200 years.

To say he has no emotion would be a lie, but strangely, when it becomes time to leave, all of it feels like nothing more than a dream of one moment.

"Life is impermanent..."

Makli Hyun-ah looks back on the past 200 years and spends the last ten days well.

Ten days later.

To engrave his final social authority, Makli Hyun-ah summons all great and minor officials, and wise old men and monsters from each region, and stands before them in front of the palace.

"Having lived two hundred years as the king of Penglai Kingdom, this king, Makli Hyun-ah, now returns to the heavens and plans to protect the nation from the heavens. Therefore, you great and minor officials and subjects, see this king off with a reverent heart, and live fiercely. This king will watch over you forever from the heavens and bless the kingdom!"

In the eyes of Makli Nobi, who reads Makli Hyun-ah's royal edict, countless emotions pass by.

Before long, Makli Nobi is now also an old man.

Having failed to surpass the Qi Building stage, his lifespan is soon at its end as well.

"Farewell forever! With this as the final edict that this one bestows upon you, the myriad people! This one shall now rise to the heavens!"

At the same moment Makli Hyun-ah's final edict bursts out from Makli Nobi.

Flash!

Makli Hyun-ah's body is wrapped in light and begins to float up into the sky.

The way a cultivator of the Confucian Family Method ascends is simple.

With the power of 'expulsion', one of the abilities of the Confucian Family Method, he expels even himself, the last strange power and chaotic spirit left in the kingdom, and ascends by eliminating all strange powers and chaotic spirits in the kingdom.

Makli Hyun-ah looks down at the great and minor officials looking up at him, and at the many old men and monsters gathered at the palace, and waves his hand.

And, far below, Makli Nobi also begins to wave his hand.

Following Makli Nobi, countless great and minor officials and people wave their hands to Makli Hyun-ah.

"May you have health!"

"Your Majestyyyy!! Please preserve your jade body...!!!"

"Be in health, Your Majesty!"

Makli Hyun-ah, wrapped in light as he expels himself, smiles toward them and then turns his back.

With that as the end, Makli Hyun-ah's form is completely covered in light and flies out beyond Penglai Star.

Makli Hyun-ah ascends like that.

After ascending, Makli Hyun-ah receives the regnal name Taehyeon Great King (太顯大王) from a later king, and with the record that he suddenly ascended to the heavens (昇天) in Taehyeon year 200, he remains forever in the hearts of later people of Penglai Kingdom.

[TL/N: Ascend to the heavens (昇天) is saying that also means passed away.] Kugugugugu!

Makli Hyun-ah reaches Avīci and, pushing through bizarre dimensional veils that shine in all of the heavens' natural colors, approaches Makli Hweol, who has already reached the place ahead of him.

"Damn... having come to a place where the power of Penglai Kingdom does not reach, it feels like I am going to die."

The end of the Confucian Family Method is, in the end, to ascend by expelling even oneself, the last strange power and chaotic spirit.

And by 'ascending to the heavens' like so and remaining an eternal myth and legend to the people of one's kingdom, generating social authority until the time when that legend stops being passed from mouth to mouth, is the final stage of the Lower Boundary cultivation of the Confucian Family Method.

If it succeeds, he can receive an endless supply of social authority for a very long time, but there is the drawback that immediately after 'expelling himself,' his own strength partially weakens.

'One basically should not ascend unless they receive the help of an Immortal Family Methods cultivator. This is really…'

Makli Hyun-ah lets out a hollow laugh at the drawbacks of the Confucian Family Method and steps onto the boat-shaped magic artifact that Makli Hweol prepared.

"Let us go, Daoist Makli Hyun-ah. You have worked hard all this time."

"No, not at all. Please take care of me during the ascension, Daoist Makli Hweol."

"Not at all. Rather, when the Vestiges that appear in Avīci attack, Daoist Makli Hyun-ah's authorities such as expulsion, oppression, negation, and sealing will be very useful."

Exchanging well-wishes with each other, they fly in a straight line beyond Avīci, toward the purple-gold color that emits the greatest sense of presence among the countless all of the heavens' natural colors.

"You are well-versed in the rules of Avīci, yes? Do not provoke the Vestiges of Avīci, do not look back, if the voice of someone other than the companion at your side comes, do not answer, and so on..."

"Yes, I remember. I will keep them well in mind, so please don't worry."

Makli Hyun-ah nods at Makli Hweol's words, but it is only for a moment.

Something like sparkling blue light brushes past Makli Hyun-ah's side in an instant, and for some reason Makli Hyun-ah feels an enormous 'pull' from within that blue light.

—New Fate.

[Editor: As a reminder, the term 'Neo-Ender' literally means 'New Fate Person' (新命者).] A strange voice brushes his ear.

But as instructed by the cautions he has memorized, Makli Hyun-ah does not answer or react.

He only thinks that the voice seems like a voice he has heard somewhere before.

However, the next moment, Thinking of where he has heard that strange voice before, Makli Hyun-ah has no choice but to widen his eyes.

—So they live inside you. I will help you take them out... and I will help you return to your homeland. You, call upon me. My name is... Radiance.

'Guild Master Ji Hwa...?'

Guild Master Ji Hwa of [Silver Snake], the one who sent Makli Hyun-ah and the guild members to another world by having them killed after being hit by a truck!

At the same feeling as the feeling that voice gives off, in the end Makli Hyun-ah has no choice but to make a mistake and break the taboo.

Whoosh.

Makli Hyun-ah 'turns back' to look at the blue light that brushes past him.

Makli Hweol screams in alarm, but Makli Hyun-ah cannot hear him.

What Makli Hyun-ah sees is...

That faraway land.

Penglai Star, which he ascended from.

Its [back side].

Because it is the [face of someone] that exists in the [Land of Madness].

The [face] splits in half, and from within it, a [hand of starlight] that possesses boundless wisdom and truth bursts forth.

:: Life Imprisonment. All of Eternity. Confinement. Imprisonment. Sealing.:: Kiririririririk!

Countless [wills] pierce into Makli Hyun-ah's mind, blood gushes like a fountain from Makli Hyun-ah's seven orifices, and Makli Hyun-ah's head begins to swell.

:: Hundred Billion Year Undying Taxidermization.:: For one hundred billion years, you shall be taxidermized in this world.

Before that immeasurably vast will, Makli Hyun-ah uses all his strength to hone the power of [self expulsion] even more, and begins to push himself away from that [hand].

An endless Avīci of all of the heavens' natural colors.

Inside it, a chase begins between the eternal, undying [hand of starlight] and Makli Hyun-ah and Makli Hweol.

However, the hand only gradually draws closer, and just before Makli Hyun-ah goes mad from fear and a sense of estrangement— Flash!

From the opposite side of Penglai Star, a gigantic darkness blooms upward.

Immortal Art.

Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.

The darkness contaminates the starlight and, for only a very brief moment, For only a fleeting moment, it binds that starlight hand.

Aiming for that fleeting gap, Makli Hyun-ah calls out a [name] with all his strength.

"[Purple Gold Realm]!!!"

Because Makli Hyun-ah, who learned the Naming Family Method, calls the name, a powerful attraction force forms between them and the Purple Gold Realm, the Upper Realm they are trying to ascend to, and it pulls them in.

In an instant, they are sucked into the Purple Gold Realm and begin to move away from the hand of starlight, and they are able to escape the oppression of the starlight hand.

The starlight hand turns into countless nebulae and scatters, but Makli Hyun-ah still feels some will that targets him, and until the very moment he enters the Purple Gold Realm, he can't help but tremble in fear.

Penglai Kingdom, western sea region.

Inside a cave residence in the place where the main house of the Makli Clan is located.

There, an elderly woman with white hair, whose lifespan is running out, closes her eyes with ragged breaths.

Beside the woman, an androgynous handsome man with fox ears holds her hand and sheds tears.

"Are you fine with that, Makli Hye-seo...?"

"I am... fine. You always told me, didn't you. To build merit. If this builds even a little merit, I am satisfied."

"... With Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens... you could have lengthened your life by seizing another's body... but you changed that opportunity into building merit, so surely... you would have accumulated a lot of merit."

The white-haired fox-eared man's eyes glisten with tears as he gently strokes her forehead.

"... Is there nothing else you want to say?"

"... For protecting all this time... and for... all that knowledge, all that information of another world... and telling me about my past life... thank you. The heart I received from you... was a great comfort to me."

Makli Hye-seo holds the fox-eared man's hand and smiles peacefully.

And with those words, Makli Hye-seo closes her eyes.

The fox-eared man cannot hold back his tears, and while holding Makli Hye-seo's hand, he cries.

Then, someone enters the cave residence where they are.

It is Makli Seo-hye, who will become Penglai Kingdom's second queen after Makli Hyun-ah ascended.

"Did Seo Hweol... go peacefully?"

Makli Seo-hye, reddening around her eyes, asks, speaking down to the fox-eared man who seems to be at least in the Heavenly Being stage.

And at those words, the fox-eared man.

Shi Ho, wipes away his tears and speaks.

"They fell asleep using the inherited Immortal Art not to seize another person's body... but to save a life."

"Yes... that merit is very great, so because of that, I hope they can be born once again with intelligence in their next life..."

Makli Seo-hye.

No...

She, who has the true name Oh Hye-seo, approaches the dead Makli Hye-seo and strokes her white hair.

"Once again... someday, let's live an ordinary life like this again. In the next life too, build up as much merit as you can... and try to be granted yet another life... If you keep building merit, and building it again and again... even the karma of the animal path will pass quickly..."

Oh Hye-seo sheds tears, and together with Shi Ho, cradles Seo Hweol of this life in her arms.

"In the next life too, I will tell you a lot of knowledge. I will tell you stories of Earth too. I will pass on Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens again too. Together with Shi Ho, I will protect you. So... in the next life too, let's meet again."

Together with Shi Ho, she leaves the cave residence to lay the dead Makli Hye-seo to rest.

She seals Makli Hye-seo's body in the sea.

And she asks the Sea Dragon Race, who is close with Makli Hye-seo, to protect the royal castle of the Penglai Kingdom.

Like so, the story of the sea dragons, who come to protect the palace generation after generation to mourn the one the second queen of the Penglai Kingdom loved, continues without end to be passed down through the kingdom.