⟨16th Cycle⟩
—Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.
—Secluded Valley.
—Flowing Ridge.
After a diagonal upward slash comes a thrust.
Hong Fan lightly evades the attack, steps on Seo Eun-hyun's foot so he cannot escape, then reads every single movement of Seo Eun-hyun's muscles, predicts his every action, and begins tapping at pressure points all over his body.
Seo Eun-hyun's entire body is transformed into lightning, making it physically impossible to touch, but reaching the realm of law and principle, Hong Fan directly strokes all of it and seals the spirit veins themselves.
Kaaang!
The lightning-transformed body returns.
Seo Eun-hyun's speed decreases.
Immediately after, Hong Fan slams Seo Eun-hyun's body down directly.
Shririk—
—First Quarter.
—Illusory Play under the Rosy Afterglow.
But Seo Eun-hyun also, through Yeon's Play and the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, unfolds with his body countless other kinds of Manifestation and resists Hong Fan.
Hong Fan freezes for a moment under an intense desire to sleep.
Seeing that sight, Seo Eun-hyun wears an apologetic smile.
"I see, Hong Fan."
Briefly separating from Hong Fan, he begins to breathe the entirety of his Nascent Soul into the Colorless Glass Sword in order to manifest the strongest decisive technique he can unleash from the realm of Treading Heavens.
"...So you were tired."
Hearing those words, Hong Fan's pupils tremble.
He clutches his own chest tightly.
He is getting tired.
Yes.
A person who does not sleep in succession, a person who has never once rested...
A person who lives only in Winter for their entire life does not suffer.
Because they have already grown used to it.
Because their body has become numb and accustomed, soaked in that cold, that pain, that fatigue.
However...
A person who has even once found themselves in an environment where they can close their eyes.
A person who has had a chance to rest, who has once greeted Spring, suffers.
For as their body has been warmly melted, the Winter that comes again hurts all the more.
Hong Fan, who has once allowed the warmth of the heart from another, grits his teeth and concentrates the black Gang Qi even more into his hand.
The Gang Qi evolves into a throwing weapon.
'I...am tired...?'
The essence of himself being that ridiculous and petty heart of wanting to rest.
Hong Fan can absolutely not accept that.
Kiiiiing!
Seeing Hong Fan prepare a technique, Seo Eun-hyun hides using the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts, but it is meaningless.
—Applied Technique.
—Great.
The Gang Qi is thrown.
Tukwang!
Tukwang, tukwang, tukwang!
And the single thrown black Gang Qi splits in the air into thousands, tens of thousands of pieces, and slams down all across the Heaven-Treading Desert like a torrential downpour.
From all over, pillars of flame born from the mingled heat, wind pressure, and impact rise up and lead the entire Heaven-Treading Desert toward annihilation.
Within that black and vicious wide-area attack, in the end, Seo Eun-hyun ends up with one of his legs turned to powder by a single storm of destructive Gang Qi that flies in regardless of the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
However, he does not care.
He simply overlays the Formless Sword over the Colorless Glass Sword and waits for an opening.
What he aims for is One Annihilation to the Near Shore.
A move where he contains his own Nascent Soul in the sword strike, explodes it, and dies together with the opponent.
However, this is something that focuses on exploding the Nascent Soul.
It is not a technique that focuses on the principle of swinging the sword.
How, in what manner, should he approach and land it?
With which move should he combine One Annihilation to the Near Shore and send it out?
'What is needed when facing Hong Fan...'
Hong Fan is weary.
For some reason, the heart that he wants to rest is being conveyed.
'...Right. An attack he can predict would be good.'
There is also the desire to surprise Hong Fan with an unexpected attack.
Since his fatigue is his current weakness, driving in to stab at that weakness is also Martial Arts.
However...
He decides not to do so.
Instead, he resolves to unleash One Annihilation to the Near Shore through an attack whose path is the easiest to predict.
The reason is simple.
That fatigue, that heart of wanting to rest...
He does not particularly want to wake it up.
Because that fatigue is clearly...
Something that has arisen while Hong Fan was together with Seo Eun-hyun himself over the span of five hundred years.
His friend has grown weary because of him, so how could he do something so mean as to deliberately wake him from his rest?
'Let him rest.'
Let's help a friend rest.
Thinking such thoughts, he prepares the stance for an 'upward slash'.
⟨Present⟩
—Emptiness Sword Final Profundity.
—Hope, One-Hundred Consecutive Strikes.
He shaves himself down and spews out countless lights of Hope.
Seeing such a Hong Fan, Seo Eun-hyun thinks.
The story he heard in the Ancient Force Realm's Penglai Island from the Queen of Penglai Kingdom inside the dream world.
The one other method that lets the people of the dream world leave Penglai Island.
—The dreamers call this world a dream. So the way to leave this world is similar to the way you wake from a dream.
—What is the method to awaken from a dream?
—To violate a taboo.
The gist is that if you wish to wake from a dream, you gain the greatest effect when you commit in the dream an 'act that must not be done in reality'.
—Of course, the degree of that taboo differs from person to person, but one thing is certain. If you violate the greatest taboo, you can in the end escape from the dream.
—The greatest taboo?
—Yes. It is self-harm.
To abuse yourself.
That, from the deepest layers of the unconscious, is the act that every intelligent living being most shuns and hates, and clearly it is something that deserves to be called a taboo.
—And at the end of that lies suicide. That is right. If you wish to leave Penglai Island, drive yourself to the very brink of the extreme. And if even at the end of that it still does not work, then as a last resort, if you commit suicide...there will be a possibility.
To deny one's own existence and everything about oneself.
That is the method for leaving Penglai Island, and the method for waking from the dream.
Seo Eun-hyun looks at Hong Fan.
Hope is the technique that abuses oneself the most.
It is a technique in which he grants himself the greatest despair and pain and shaves himself down.
'You are...trying to wake up from the dream, aren't you, Hong Fan?'
Seo Eun-hyun looks at the Formless Poison that lies dormant in Hong Fan's chest and continues to spread even now.
By now that Formless Poison is passing a certain critical point.
And, by Kim Yeon's blessing, it begins to draw in the will contained in the Immortal Cultivation system.
Hong Fan is gradually becoming younger.
His beard, albeit slowly, shortens, and his dignity and majesty diminish bit by bit.
He is forcibly seeking Spring.
The season he fears the most.
It is the season in which people can rest.
'You are thinking that everything I breathed into you with the Apex of Life-Savings Arts is nothing more than a terrible dream and fatigue to you, aren't you?'
One who has never once rested does not find it hard.
The one who is always in the greatest pain and hardship is the one who has at least once tasted warmth.
Pakang!
And,
From Hong Fan's physical body, the spacetime of the 16th cycle breaks open again and returns to Seo Eun-hyun.
It is because Hong Fan can no longer endure the emotions of the Formless Poison, and even if it means returning a part of the 16th cycle to Seo Eun-hyun, he has to vent out the erosion of the Formless Poison.
A vicious technique passes between them.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Zero Net.
The net that tears Heaven and Earth apart bares its fangs toward Seo Eun-hyun.
In an instant he dies once more and, barely regressing, comes back to life.
However, the Hopes continue to pursue him.
Yet for Seo Eun-hyun, who is now beginning to regain the memories and experiences of the 16th cycle, a method is now coming into being.
Tsuaaaaat!
In a single moment, his Impermanence Sword is dyed in green light.
Seeing that sight, Hong Fan hastily moves away from him.
Toward the Hopes, he throws the greatest comfort he can give.
Wiiing—
Chwah!
It is like a brushstroke.
The void becomes tinged with brushstrokes of green light.
Seo Eun-hyun grips his sword.
—Severing Heaven Sword Form.
—First Form.
—Entering Heaven.
The ultimate of Hand Commands Sword.
Holding the sword, he becomes the very cluster of dancing light itself.
The green light flares up and, like a storm, directly strikes the Hopes.
And...
The Hopes begin to melt down.
For ordinary Creator Gods to deal with hopes, they add a story onto the Hope and grant it another possibility.
They either give it the possibility of becoming even happier, or properly grant the Hope a soul or existence and separate it from Hong Fan to give it a chance to live another life.
In such cases, Hope may be broken, but it also may not.
Rather, if it is not broken, having shaken off temptation, it becomes even more steadfast, and with a far more vicious and horrible might, it tears the Creator Gods apart together with their worlds. That is the technique of Hope.
However...
Why is it?
Under Seo Eun-hyun's sword strikes, the Hopes all melt away without a single failure.
The green light comforts the Hopes and melts them away in the void.
At the same time, Hong Fan, kicking off from the space of chaos and shooting forth, scatters the Emptiness Sword.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Heavenly Light.
Force of repulsion mixed with spiraling force flies toward him.
—Severing Heaven Sword Form.
—Treading Heaven.
The ultimate of Eye Commands Sword.
The sword lights that leave his hand shake off the repulsion force and, rotating around them, grind them down.
At that sight, Hong Fan once again opens some distance from Seo Eun-hyun and hurls the Emptiness Sword again.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Emperor God.
A transcendent throwing technique that uses attraction force.
—Severing Heaven Sword.
—All-Heavens Righteous Understanding.
—Punishing Heaven.
As the powers of All-Heavens and Punishing Heaven link together, Seo Eun-hyun's strength amplifies madly.
On top of that, the ultimate of Heart Commands Sword, Punishing Heaven, mixes in, smacks down the thrown attack, and easily chases after Hong Fan, who tries to get away from him.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Emperor Devil Nameless Rending.
Hong Fan's single sword becomes vicious claws on the level of a living Supreme Deity, thrashing in all directions and tearing the space apart so Seo Eun-hyun cannot approach.
—Severing Heaven Sword Form.
—Punishing Heaven.
—Escaping Heaven.
He responds to that change with Heart Commands Sword, and with Escaping Heaven reads the flow of Hong Fan's Martial Arts and, in an instant, enters into a 'connection' with Hong Fan.
Hong Fan's eyes shake.
For a brief moment, he again cannot maintain emptiness and comes down from the speed of Nirvana Tranquility.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Great Net Radiance.
The Emptiness Sword splits apart, races in all directions together with repulsive force, and is fired in the form of planes that look similar to sword curtains.
Each and every one of them contains not only the principle of spiraling force, but also the principle of super-acceleration using the unity of future and past that Kim Young-hoon discovered, so it cannot be broken by ordinary techniques.
—Severing Heaven Sword Form Derived Profundity.
—Sword God Dance.
And, while in a state of being connected with Hong Fan, Seo Eun-hyun's eyes shine.
At the same time, he reads Hong Fan's heart essence and imbues it into his sword.
The Ultimate of Martial Arts that borrows another's power, Sword God Dance.
—Sword God Dance Revised.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Light of Heavenly Net.
Together with immense repulsion force, a barrier of pure white light, similar to Great Net Radiance yet different, advances and collides with Great Net Radiance, and the two mutually cancel each other out.
Pachijik—
Something keeps breaking out from Hong Fan's body.
The spacetime of the 16th cycle that Seo Eun-hyun gave him...
...is flowing without stopping.
To expel that poison, he is returning the entirety of the 16th cycle's spacetime to Seo Eun-hyun with all his might, and yet,
That poison still does not drain away.
Hong Fan glares at Seo Eun-hyun.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Profundity.
—Devil Heavenly King.
Claws that tear the entire body apart rush in in a form where attraction and repulsion force are combined, becoming a monster that tries to bite his entire body to pieces.
Once again, Seo Eun-hyun's Sword God Dance spits out light.
—Severing Heaven Sword Form, Derived Profundity, Sword God Dance Revised.
—Emptiness Sword Linked Five Profundity.
—Divine Net Upper Heaven.
Within the throwing technique that pierces all defenses, repulsion force seems to arise, then the repulsion force is concentrated into a single point, pierces through the monster, and sends it flying all the way outside the Gestation World.
Seo Eun-hyun reads it.
Through that, he strikes back.
No matter what technique Hong Fan uses, it is useless.
'I cannot do anything with my own strength.'
If likened to personal growth, Seo Eun-hyun and Hong Fan have a difference in talent and possibility literally greater than a thousandfold.
It is for that reason that Hong Fan bothered to give about three thousand cycles of chances with prophecy.
He is the one who, after only three deaths, reached every conclusion and became the Future King.
As for regression itself, he may have rewound time endlessly many times, but three deaths are the true number it took for Hong Fan to become a transcendent.
Seo Eun-hyun likewise stepped over countless hardships, accumulated his talent by himself, and created possibility with his own strength.
He grew while receiving the help of countless people.
Therefore, even calculating in that grown talent and possibility, Hong Fan decided to grant him a thousandfold number of chances.
It is also compensation for the fact that the existence called Seo Eun-hyun, even after losing the entire chance of the 16th cycle, never once gave up and continued to believe in him to the very end.
'It is not a thousandfold.'
The talent that used to be like trash is growing.
His scope of possibility and growth is changing in a way close to evolution.
This is, yes...
He is gradually becoming like Hong Fan Gu Ju.
There is only one reason.
Even if his own talent and potential do not even reach one-thousandth of Hong Fan's, he still reaches it by borrowing from all the connections he has accumulated.
'Are you saying there are that many people behind you...?'
They collide.
It is not merely the power of True Martial Arts and martial techniques.
Everything.
He truly crashes everything against him.
The authority of fate, future rewrite, and attraction force.
Divine Art.
The act of firing Hope in a barrage.
The mantras of Splitting Heaven and Radiance that still remain to him.
He faces him containing all of this.
He confronts him containing all of this.
Seo Eun-hyun is still weak.
He has succeeded in counterattacking him a few times, but still, again and again he is torn to death, cut to death, ground to death, blown apart to death.
He dies and dies and dies again.
Before he knows it, the timeline Seo Eun-hyun has shifted reaches the 2,990th cycle.
'Within nine counts, I will settle it.'
It is splendid.
Until now, not a single being has ever made the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju pour himself out this far.
Even the Salt Sea Supreme Deity, whom he regarded with the greatest vigilance before Seo Eun-hyun, accomplished no more than break Hope a few times, and that was all.
'Is it only you who can receive me to this point?'
But...
That too is now over.
Seo Eun-hyun is clearly now Hong Fan's true friend.
But...
Perhaps he has already come too far to make something like a friend.
"...The story..."
Woo-woooong!
Hong Fan begins to draw out his final full power.
"...must be completed."
Most Supreme who Opens the World, Wielder of Talismans, Ruler of Calendrics, Truth Embracing Dao Embodying Future Radiance Nine Firmaments Time Governing Myriad Daos Non-Action All-Illuminating Great Hall Vast Heaven Golden Gate Fate Great Heavenly Venerable Black Martial High Supreme Deity.
He undoes the last shackle that has been restricting the full power of the Future King.
His title title peels away.
Clang!
Kugugugugung!
Relying on his innate talent and potential, he climbed all the way up to the supreme seat.
And after that, he spent time spanning nayuta kalpas.
And after that as well, he has accumulated power.
Not only what he was born with, but what he accumulated and accumulated with his own hands...
A level of authority that comes to threaten even the position of the Creator God who is originally supposed to be born.
Kugugugung!
At the magnitude of that transcendent [power], the entire Gestation World shakes.
At the same time, the shell of the Gestation World.
The boundary of Cakravāda shakes violently.
It is an omen that a Creator God is about to be born in the Gestation World.
The Conception Palace of Omnipotence in which a Creator God has not been born.
The power that has become transcendentally strong over too long a time ignores the rules and laws fixed by the previous Creator God and now has become such that it can gain by itself the position of a new Creator God.
Even if the former Absolutes and the like are gone, if left alone, it has reached a transcendent rank of authority that can simply create a new world.
It is the power he intends to use as the driving force to manufacture a new Absolute, and his confidence.
The greatest reason that the Creator Gods sincerely sympathize with and pity the Future King.
"Myriad Stars. Just as you have accumulated, I too, since reaching the pinnacle, through nayuta kalpas, have power that I have accumulated."
Something transcendent that the Future King has accumulated by sucking in countless Supreme Deities with attraction force and gulping down chaos settles into him.
He shakes off the will with which the Gestation World begs him to use it for genesis, and he pours all that authority out solely for destruction.
Hong Fan begins to take his stance.
"What you believe in must be Formless Poison."
He at last acknowledges Seo Eun-hyun.
And, learning Seo Eun-hyun's method, he evolves once again through him.
He remembers Seo Eun-hyun's spirit.
No matter how unfavorable it seemed and how without possibility it seemed, the spirit with which he sacrificed his very own existence, wrested away from him the authority over the Enders, and at last ascended to the position of Ender Supreme Deity.
Kiririririk—
As the Radiance Mantra moves, it splits even further and rewinds the timeline of Seo Eun-hyun, who has not even died yet.
And in the process of rewinding, just as Kim Young-hoon has done, it arms himself with even more infinite possibilities by uniting future and past.
Because Nirvana Tranquility itself is the ultimate of all speed and of the cognitive world, he does not go so far as to transcend yet another dimension, but it is enough if he is just a little faster than Seo Eun-hyun.
Certainly, Seo Eun-hyun, who has received the body of a Creator God, grows stronger the more his timeline is split, but in the end the attraction force of fate grows still stronger.
The one who is killed before three thousand cycles pass is Seo Eun-hyun.
In an instant, through nine regressions, squaring nine times the infinite possibility, Hong Fan, who has raised his speed a little higher than Seo Eun-hyun's even within Nirvana Tranquility, faces Seo Eun-hyun.
Wiiiiiiiing—
"Since you have done it, there is no reason I cannot either."
—Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.
The sword for killing the Mountain Divine Spirit unfolds from Hong Fan's hand.
He, in order to understand Seo Eun-hyun,
And to make Seo Eun-hyun understand, reveals the disparity in power through the technique.
—Transcending Peaks.
A horizontal slash of Hong Fan, who has brought out all of his power.
A mythic power into which even Divine Art is integrated!
Seo Eun-hyun begins to pour in all his strength.
[I will block it.]
Even if he has to offer up all of himself!
Seizing that opening and closing his eyes to quench the Formless Poison dwelling in him, Hong Fan immediately prepares the power to deliver the final blow to Seo Eun-hyun and shatter his personality.
The Regressor's Tale of Cultivation that he wishes for is standing on the verge of a hopeful ending.
"Life is Hope."
Muttering such as if to resist Seo Eun-hyun's words...
He wraps Seo Eun-hyun's Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens technique around the Emptiness Sword and takes the posture of Great Mountain Pressing Down.
"Right now, there is only pain."
The time has come to bring an end to the Mountain Divine Spirits.
"But Hwe-ah will surely give salvation to everyone."
The light of Hope that evolves without rest changes.
—True Martial Arts Emptiness Sword.
—Seventh Move, Final Profundity Revised.
—Salvation (救援).
The evolved profundity that transcends the original Hope shines at the tip of Hong Fan's sword and illuminates the entire Gestation World.
⟨16th Cycle⟩
"That is not a good idea."
Hong Fan looks down at Seo Eun-hyun with eyes tinged with fatigue.
The choice of an upward slash is not a good choice for a swordsman.
To cut upward is a technique that does not receive the help of gravity, but rather goes against it toward the opponent.
The stance of an upward slash is not treated as a central focus in many sword schools.
Because there are not just one or two disadvantages.
Starting from the fact that the posture of the human body is not suited to an upward slash, to even the vagueness of its effect.
"When has my choice ever been the best?"
However, Seo Eun-hyun runs toward Hong Fan with a smile.
Mountain Lord Transcending Peaks Step.
With a firm lower body, he charges at Hong Fan like a tiger and heads for his chest.
In Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, there are especially many forms that slash upward.
From the third move Ascending Vein on, up through Deep Mountain and Cliff Edge.
All take on a disadvantageous position and are powers that strike the opponent up from below.
Even though Hong Fan's technique Heaven is likewise based on an upward slash, he infuses into it the power that shoots outward through repulsion force.
It is also a move that focuses more on the repulsion force itself than on the upward slash.
It is not a sword that simply, foolishly goes against gravity like Seo Eun-hyun's.
Even so, Kim Young-hoon, the creator of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, deliberately created forms that slash upward.
Why is that?
"...Well, alright. Then now..."
Hong Fan made a promise with Seo Eun-hyun.
And, in a way, this current duel is the price of his promise with Seo Eun-hyun.
In order to pay the price, he prepares a move that he can show to Seo Eun-hyun, a move that, at this point in time, can give him an insight that can help him even a little.
—Future King (未來王).
Accelerating and slashing down.
It is simple and straightforward.
However, its power is just as clear.
If Future King is unfolded at full power, he is confident that even in his current state, with the body of a mortal being, he can pierce a hole in the Head Realm.
In fact, it is a crazy technique that can even punch a hole in the body of a Supreme Deity with a mortal body.
A simple, clear, and strongest downward slash.
From now on, this insight will remain inside Seo Eun-hyun's heart essence and influence the techniques Seo Eun-hyun will create in the future.
Hong Fan briefly looks at the futures in which Seo Eun-hyun overcomes countless opponents through the downward slash.
'This...is the last gift I give you.'
Hong Fan also charges toward Seo Eun-hyun.
In the next moment,
Their upward and downward slashes collide.
Kaaaaaaang!
Since Hong Fan has no particular desire to smash the Colorless Glass Sword that Seo Eun-hyun likes, he reduces the sharp energy and converts the power only into a shockwave.
However, the One Annihilation to the Near Shore imbued with Seo Eun-hyun's Nascent Soul shatters and bursts apart under Hong Fan's downward slash, which has even eliminated the sharp energy.
The Colorless Glass Sword flies far off into the distance, and Hong Fan's sword, by his control, turns entirely into a shockwave, so that instead of cleaving Seo Eun-hyun in two, it only delivers impact across his whole body.
Seo Eun-hyun becomes a bloody lump and collapses on the spot.
Thud—
Hong Fan looks down at that Seo Eun-hyun, then scatters his Gang Qi.
"...Are you satisfied, Master?"
At the end of his life, Seo Eun-hyun, who has clashed his heart's content and confirmed that Hong Fan, to whom he has taught Martial Arts, has followed the same path as himself, smiles gently.
"It is...the best last moment."
"That is fortunate."
"...I will keep the promise...if there is a next life...that is."
Now, hardly any life force remains in Seo Eun-hyun.
Before long, even his remaining form is going to be transformed into lightning and scatter as a single bolt.
Hong Fan uses attraction force to naturally suppress those lightning bolts and preserve Seo Eun-hyun's form.
It is the least courtesy toward Seo Eun-hyun, who has made a promise with him.
Seo Eun-hyun, in an aged appearance, looks at Hong Fan and speaks.
"Hong Fan, are you there?"
Now even his eyes seem dim.
He is in such an exhausted state that he cannot even emit his consciousness domain.
"I am here."
"Why I chose an upward slash at the end. I want to tell you."
"Is there a reason?"
"No, then what, did you think I am a person who just lives however he feels like without thinking? I am also someone who has a reason for his actions."
"..."
Hong Fan squeezes his eyes shut.
Is it because he has experienced warmth?
The emotions that have been almost worn away...
Seem to come back to life, at least in part.
"Is it not because I look tired that you faced me only to a moderate extent?"
"Hehehe, I did not face you moderately. Why would I do such a thing? It is just that...I wanted to tell you, who has just reached Entering Heavens Beyond the Path, the meaning of Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts, which is the basis of the name Entering Heavens Beyond the Path."
"Is it not a martial discipline meant for transmission itself?"
Seo Eun-hyun looks up at Hong Fan and continues speaking.
"Transmission, of course, is there. The wish that later generations reach a higher realm through martial discipline...but that is a means, not the goal. Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts does not take such a thing as its purpose."
"Then what is it?"
"The purpose of Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts is, to accomplish."
"To accomplish?"
"Yes. It is to accomplish one's wish."
"..."
"To achieve what you wish, you must look into your own heart. Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts is...a martial discipline to make you look into your own heart and have you reflect on what you yourself want."
Gradually, Seo Eun-hyun's breathing becomes rough.
His life force is now running out.
However, even as he is dying, he does not stop passing words to Hong Fan.
"Because I longed for freedom from fate, I obtained the Formless Sword. The founder of this martial discipline, in order to go beyond cultivators and surpass everything that blocks him and return home, obtained the Surpassing Radiant Saber. And Hong Fan. As I see it, you seem to long for something else."
"...It seems you have seen my fatigue."
"Yes. You want to rest."
"...Are you going to cheer me on to take it easy?"
"No. You just do as you wish. If you want to take it easy, then do so."
"..."
"I, on the day I obtained the meaning of Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts and reached Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Formless Sword, once cut Heavenly Lightning and reached the ultimate of all upward slashes."
—Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.
—Formless Sword.
The one strike from that time when the Formless Sword cut and split blue lightning and pierced through the clouds of the sky.
Thinking of the Formless Sword that he, at that time, slashed upward toward the heavens, Seo Eun-hyun smiles.
"The essence of slashing upward is to go against gravity. It also means the will to stand up even when the body is heavy. It is also the will to not give up no matter how much suffering and hardship comes rushing in."
Hong Fan finds it awkward to be told the interpretation of Martial Arts.
For him, Martial Arts is nothing but a technique for killing.
"Just as I have come to this realm through countless hardships, I think you too have gone through hardships like mine to rise to this place. For rising to Entering Heavens Beyond the Path has that kind of meaning. Even if you have a previous life and remember that previous life."
"..."
Seo Eun-hyun raises his hand.
His aged hand grabs Hong Fan's hand.
It is still a young and strong hand.
"You have suffered a lot. What hardships you have gone through, with what thoughts you have lived...I cannot know it all. But, because I at least know some part of it...if I dare to speak with that qualification...you have suffered.
"The path you have walked is not a meaningless path. In some way or another, it surely has meaning. So...if a day someday comes when you want to rest. When a day comes when you must rest. Rest with an easy heart. Because everything you have done has meaning."
Hong Fan's hand trembles.
His pupils begin to tremble.
"You really have suffered a lot. I wanted to say that...so I made the upward slash."
[TL/N: In Korean, it literally translates to "You have suffered a lot" but it also has the meaning of "You worked hard".]
Seo Eun-hyun does not see it.
Behind Hong Fan's back, enormous black things are pouring out, rotting the whole area.
Hong Fan's body trembles.
Consolation.
[TL/N: The word used here is 위로, which can mean both comfort/consolation and upward.]
It is not as if he used some immense power like Apex of Life-Saving Arts, Formless.
It is not as if, with some great authority, he called forth the very Origin Essence of Happiness itself and gifted it to him.
It is not as if he twisted the principle of this world and forced upon him the interpretation that spring has come to him.
Just.
Consolation.
At that one word...
Hong Fan feels as if the Apex of Life-Saving Arts, Formless...
As if that deep and beautiful position has nested deep inside his heart so there is no way for it to flow out.
Hong Fan's whole body trembles.
"...Master."
"What is it?"
"If there is a next life, I will follow Master even in the next life."
"...Thank you."
Hong Fan realizes that he can never expel this poison.
No matter how much he foresees the future...
Even if, someday, Seo Eun-hyun betrays him and thereby proves that Seo Eun-hyun's consolation in the Heavenly Void Furnace is wrong,
This poison will remain to some extent and will always become salt that gouges at his heart.
In any of the infinitely many futures, until his Divine Art reaches its conclusion, Hong Fan confirms that this poison will continue to remain in his heart and grits his teeth.
"...So, at that time as well, please teach me Martial Arts."
"Haha, even in the next life...if there is a connection. I surely will."
He has to return it.
If he does not return this Formless poison...
Someday, he will in the end lose the technique of [Hope].
Power that is made by shaving himself away is something he can never use as long as there is someone who consoles him.
Therefore Hong Fan, vowing that he will definitely return this formless teaching to him, for once acknowledges the existence called Seo Eun-hyun.
"...Even at that time, my Entering Heavens Beyond the Path will not change. My heart, even if ages of eternal unchanging time flow by, is never going to change..."
Even if there comes a day when he kills him through his Emptiness Sword.
The Martial Arts system of Seo Eun-hyun and Kim Young-hoon, into which he has entered thanks to the heart and comfort Hong Fan received from him.
He will not fall away from Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.
Realizing this, Hong Fan grips his hand and, with all his strength, tries to interpret the Formless as poison, if only to return it to him.
And whether Seo Eun-hyun knows such inner thoughts of Hong Fan or not,
Seo Eun-hyun smiles slightly and asks a question.
"...What name will you give your Entering Heavens Beyond the Path?"
Hong Fan shakes his head.
Only after he reached the Ultimate of Martial Arts did he obtain the Emptiness Sword.
He feels that for the realm of Entering Heavens Beyond the Path, a system that is only the beginning of Martial Arts, there is hardly any point in a name.
"...Mm, I cannot think of a good name, but...does a name even have meaning? I will just call it whatever comes to mind."
Unless it is for an existence that has meaning.
A blade that kills people does not need a proper name.
That is what Hong Fan thinks.
"Hmm, what are you saying? Only by having a name will it make it more satisfying when you use it. If you can't come up with one...how about I name it for you?"
But Seo Eun-hyun shakes his head and speaks.
To feel proud when you display Martial Arts.
Hong Fan has never felt anything like that, but since he knows that Seo Eun-hyun is stubborn in this sort of way, he just lets it be.
"Mm... Do as you wish."
"Alright. Do you have something you strive for? Some meaning you'd like to have in the name?"
"Nothing specific comes to mind but...if we must name it, please include the word sword."
Blade.
In Martial Arts that kill people, there must always be a blade.
That much is the only point on which Hong Fan can compromise.
"Sword?"
"Yes. Since Master's Entering Heavens is the Formless Sword, and since I am receiving it from Master, I'd like it to have 'sword' in it."
It is a completely unrelated reason, but Hong Fan answers like so, hoping that Seo Eun-hyun can go on his way feeling relieved.
"Got it. In that case..."
Seo Eun-hyun looks up at the sky of the Head Realm.
"Let's go with...the sword that cuts through the void (虛空) of nothingness."
Is it coincidence, or inevitability?
It is a clue to the name of the Emptiness Supreme Deity, and at the same time words befitting the Head Realm where the Akashic Records, the collection of all pasts, are sealed.
A sword that cuts the Void.
A name similar to the Emptiness (空虛) Sword, but a completely different name.
Words that also make him recall a remark of a former subordinate of Heuk Sa Hall, telling him not to be captured by the past and to move forward.
"If you don't like it or if you come up with a better name later, feel free to change it. If another name comes to mind, you can use that instead."
Hong Fan chews over that name for a moment.
And then...he smiles.
"No, I quite like it. The Sword of the Void... If I later come up with a name I like more, I will return this name to Master. Of course..."
This will become the proof of the bet.
If Seo Eun-hyun trusts him until the end, he resolves to keep this Void Sword to the very end.
However, if Seo Eun-hyun's promise collapses...then the meaning contained in that will only fade once more.
'How ironic.'
"If I can't think of a better name until the end, I will continue to use this name even in the next life."
Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.
Void Sword (虛空劍).
That is the name of Hong Fan's new Martial Arts that he receives from Seo Eun-hyun.
"Is that so...? Do as you...wish..."
Seo Eun-hyun begins to close his eyes.
Now his energy is exhausted, and his body is old.
Having just now fought with Hong Fan and drawn out even his last bit of life force, he is now on his way.
Tsuaaaaat!
Light bursts out from behind Hong Fan, and he returns the Radiance Mantra he had retrieved to Seo Eun-hyun, and removes the fate of the Absolute Fragment he had reattached to him.
"Thank you."
Smiling innocently without even knowing what Hong Fan is doing as he says those words, Seo Eun-hyun...
In that way, begins to close his eyes.
Not knowing that his entire life was being toyed with, the sight of him going while smiling so purely and clearly...
...is truly a sight that is hard to behold.
In the end, as he looks at that sight, Hong Fan mutters a few words to him in his final moment.
So low, so low that no one can hear.
Some five hundred years in the time outside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
Roughly fourteen trillion years in the time inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
At the end of that inconceivable span of time, he finishes this life.
That is Seo Eun-hyun's seventeenth return.
Seo Eun-hyun's timeline shifts, and accordingly, all the Heavenly Venerables and Supreme Deities of Mount Sumeru also shift to another timeline.
Since even the Heavenly Venerable of Time has been moved, this timeline gradually loses the driving force to let time proceed, so time gradually slows, then comes to a complete stop as it closes into a closed loop.
A closed loop that will continue to persist until Time quickly recognizes the other timelines and breathes the power of Origin Essence into those other timelines as well.
In the timeline that is going to come to a stop, Hong Fan takes Seo Eun-hyun's hand, looks at his face, and changes his own body.
Chiiiiii—
Hong Fan, who has borne the imposing appearance of an Imperial King, gradually changes into an aged appearance.
At the same time, the majority of the lightning that is inside Seo Eun-hyun is drawn into Hong Fan.
That sight looks as if he is sucking the years away from Seo Eun-hyun.
At the same time, the three faces separate again, and Hong Fan tears out his own memories, history, and reason itself.
Eventually, by following after Seo Eun-hyun and raising his realm, he will someday regain his memories again...
But for now, he wishes to forget all of his identity and reason, and simply follow Seo Eun-hyun.
And as he gradually changes into the appearance of an old man, he speaks.
"I am jealous. Of that kind of purity."
He wonders that if he too knows nothing like him, if he remembers nothing, could he become like him?
Could he repay that purity?
Could he at least draw a little closer to that attitude that is younger than himself, yet more adult?
Admiring Seo Eun-hyun, Hong Fan temporarily seals away all intellect and memories.
In any case, after having regained his reason once, he has already adjusted the settings of the Radiance Mantra and prepared the prophecies.
He has set it up so that if someone invades the Audience Chamber or the entirety of Mount Sumeru is shaken, he can in an instant regain his memories again.
He simply, with pure curiosity and the desire to become like Seo Eun-hyun, decides to take on an appearance like Seo Eun-hyun's and to try becoming someone who knows nothing, like Seo Eun-hyun.
It is as if he is trying once more to dream a fleeting spring dream.
'At the very end of all endings...'
Will Seo Eun-hyun be able to keep his promise?
Looking forward to that...
Hong Fan plops down to lie beside Seo Eun-hyun.
Right before he loses all reason for the last time.
In the eyes of him, the Future King, one strand of a far-off future is caught.
'Ah...is that so?'
Perhaps, he might be able to reach that future.
Thus, as Hong Fan closes his eyes, together with Seo Eun-hyun, he heads toward a new timeline.
He flies toward Seo Eun-hyun's seventeenth cycle.
That is the end of the entire story of the sixteenth cycle.
Pakang—
The timeline and history of the sixteenth cycle shatter into pieces.
And the shattered history, within the Gestation World full of darkness and chaos, flows to the Crystal King who sits in that far-off place.
At last, back to the present.
Receiving back all of the sixteenth cycle's worldlines that have flown into him, Seo Eun-hyun looks at Hong Fan.
He barely managed to block Transcending Peaks.
But as the price, he exhausted all of his energy.
It is the same even for Bong Hwa.
Because she has been loading her energy onto Seo Eun-hyun, even she, as an innocent party, has had her strength consumed.
Using the authority of the Life Supreme Deity, she tries to summon all the Immortal Beasts within Mount Sumeru and breathe even their life force into him, but it is no use.
Kugugugugu!
The Immortal Beasts have their life force plundered by Bong Hwa and let out groans in the chaos of the Gestation World.
And, having recovered a sliver of energy at the price of their groans, Seo Eun-hyun looks at the Future King Hong Fan, who is drawing everything in before his eyes.
Wooooong—
Woong—
A sacred ringing flows out from the tip of his sword.
—Emptiness Sword Forth Move Applied Profundity.
—Fate.
A technique that maximizes repulsion force, briefly separates the Absolute of Fate from his true body, pushes it into the Emptiness Sword, and attacks the opponent with it.
In a way, its principle is also similar to Seo Eun-hyun's One Annihilation to the Near Shore, which pushes his own Nascent Soul into the sword.
On top of that...
Hong Fan has just returned the entirety of the sixteenth cycle to Seo Eun-hyun.
The Formless Poison, which has only been spreading all this time, for the first time has its momentum checked and flows out of his body.
Just as Seo Eun-hyun sacrificed himself to reclaim the Enders,
By returning to Seo Eun-hyun the worldline and history that have become his own, the Future King for a brief time comes to be free from the influence of the Formless Poison.
In addition, as his prophecy and Divine Art mesh together, at last the Immortal Art that will put the final period on the whole story is activated.
An Immortal Art of self-sacrifice.
An Immortal Art that makes the True Emperor sacrifice himself, pour himself into another Emperor, transfer the ownership of the Absolute, and enthrone the other as a Creator God!
The moment that sword hits Seo Eun-hyun head-on.
The personality of the existence called Seo Eun-hyun will disappear, and Bong Hwa will come out and receive the Origin Essence of Fate.
And with Silver Basket, Obsidian, and Vast Cold, who are in the grasp of the Fate Supreme Deity.
And with a handful of the miscellaneous spirits of Enders, he will grant her the Absolute of Hope and make her into a new Creator God.
Only today will he at last see the end of the story and obtain salvation!
Gugugugugu!
From the very tip of the Emptiness Sword, a radiance surpassing the First Light bursts forth.
This is a story that creates a new Creator Deity.
Woo-woooong!
The very end of the 2,999th cycle.
Seo Eun-hyun, with the 3000th cycle before him, knows.
'I cannot surpass it.'
Wiiiiiiing!
Hong Fan imbues the technique of Great Mountain Pressing Down with the evolved technique of Hope, [Salvation], and strikes down.
Its speed is Nirvana Tranquility.
On top of that, it is a power that has gone through several accelerations.
Even with Seo Eun-hyun's Nirvana Tranquility, he is a bit lacking.
In terms of speed, he cannot follow.
In terms of strength, he also cannot follow.
He is defeated in skill as well.
The curse poison has also considerably drained away.
Moreover, he himself is in a state where his strength has drained away.
To win by force is impossible.
But even so, Seo Eun-hyun takes his stance and, against Hong Fan's downward slash, chooses an upward slash.
Unlike the Future King's strike, which has reached the speed of Nirvana Tranquility, his is a dull sword.
Hong Fan notices.
'Is it that technique again?'
Tsuaaaat—
The technique that blocks Hope and pierces through the Divine Art.
He grasps the principle.
Because it is a technique that resonates with the Formless Poison and is imbued with the heart that consoles him, it resists Hope and the Divine Art.
Cheok—
Once again, behind Seo Eun-hyun, two Mountain Divine Spirits appear.
Salt Sea and Great Mountain.
It is Entering Heaven.
'It is useless.'
The world is not a bright fairy tale.
A miracle will not occur.
For everything Hong Fan has accumulated is greater than a miracle.
Cheok—
Behind Seo Eun-hyun, the countless Enders and Bong Hwas who have entered the Audience Chamber are revealed.
'Has he applied the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections?'
Even so, it is useless.
Sometimes, there are gaps that simply cannot be overcome.
As the sword rises a little sluggishly, it becomes the principle of Treading Heaven.
Cheok—
Behind Seo Eun-hyun...
Countless existences appear.
They are all the connections Seo Eun-hyun has formed up until now.
'Are you saying you will gather all connections and stand against me?'
Even so, it is useless.
The story he has accumulated is even longer, more distant, and more desperate.
The effect of A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation is one.
The Strongest.
As long as he enforces the story, he absolutely cannot be surpassed.
Seo Eun-hyun's sword becomes the principle of Punishing Heaven.
Cheok—
The countless silhouettes behind Seo Eun-hyun reach out their hands toward Seo Eun-hyun and pour light into him.
It is the stories of all the figures Seo Eun-hyun has met.
They materialize.
Using Seo Eun-hyun's Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections as coordinates and Bong Hwa as the flow of life...
They are temporarily taken out from the bridle of history and support Seo Eun-hyun.
—Golden Great Thousand World Transcendence Technique, Surpassing Radiance.
—Romance of the Golden Divine, Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear.
—Falling Flower.
—Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter Transcendence Technique, Nameless One Fist.
—Entering Heavens Beyond the Path, Full Blossom.
—Artificial Computation Device, Agate.
All Enders throughout the ages.
—Hoho, Daoist Seo.
—Immortal Art, Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.
—I don't know what kind of situation this is, but win.
—Entering Heavens Beyond the Path, Heart of Love.
—Win.
—Immortal Art, Fireworks.
All the connections with whom he had been hostile and with whom he had also come to form familiar, deep relationships.
The Ju family, his disciples, Cheongmun Clan, the people of Cheon-saek City, Azure Tiger Saint, Jin Byuk-ho, Heo Gwak, Azure Heaven Creation Sect, Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, Black Ghost Valley, Seo Li, the people of the Vast Cold Realm, the believers of the Nether Ghost Realm, the connections of the Ancient Force Realm, Jang Ik, Yu Hwa, Baek Yeom, Gyu Baek, and the other Heart Tribe.
The Star Shattering stage Esteemed Ones, the Sacred Masters, the Entering Nirvana True Persons, Ham Jin, Yu Hwi, Yeo Hwi, the connections of the Astral Realm, and the True Immortals he met in the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain such as Black Dragon, Yeong Seung, and Golden Shaking Bird.
The Radiance Eight Immortals, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord Ji Hwa, Radiance Hall Guardian Immortal Ho Woon, Radiance Hall Great Net Immortal Maek Jin, all of the Radiance Hall True Immortals up to and including the Purple Gold Heavenly Lords, Glass Peacock, Mountain-Destroying Demon Ape, White-Winged Heavenly Pegasus, Yu Soo Ryeon, Hae Nyeong, Yu Hao Te, Blood Yin, and the other Immortal Beasts. And besides them, the innumerably many Immortal Beasts he has met.
The forces of the Underworld and the forces of each Supreme Deity.
And, beginning with Time, Sal Tree, and the Underworld, the Governing Immortals such as the Liberation Supreme Deity, the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity, the Naming Supreme Deity, the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity, and so on.
The Enders of previous generations who gave him immense help, such as Silver Basket, Obsidian, Vast Cold, Yang Su-jin, and others.
And...
Master and Senior Brother.
Carrying all those connections on his back, Seo Eun-hyun continues raising his sword.
The principle of the sword reaches Escaping Heaven.
Then, Hong Fan can tell.
That it is his victory.
All those stories.
Even if all those connections are added, they still cannot surpass him.
In this world, there definitely are things that simply cannot be done.
'This world is not a fairy tale.'
A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation is absolute.
He has not met even a single opponent on whom he expended this much strength, and he has never once fought while revealing this much strength.
Even so, he can tell.
Even now, he is still inexhaustible.
On the other hand, Seo Eun-hyun, even while drawing forth and using all his connections, still falls far short of him.
'Are you going to try to recall what you received from Buk Hyang-hwa again.'
By now, even that is within his expectations.
But at least right now, logic like saying that the heart is a blessing, or that hearts connecting is a miracle, does not hold.
'Farewell.'
—Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven.
The shadow of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity lends its strength together to Seo Eun-hyun.
All the spirits that compose the mantra of Wuji lend their strength together.
The principle of All-Heavens Righteous Understanding dwells in the sword after Escaping Heaven.
—Annihilation Advancement Mu
The principle of Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens dwells in the sword after All-Heavens.
[Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven.]
With the power formed by all those connections right before him, Hong Fan looks straight into Seo Eun-hyun's eyes, and at last the two swords collide.
'Is that so? Is this...your story?'
It starts from Entering Heaven, and he enters the heavens.
It reaches Treading Heaven and he treads on the heavens.
It becomes Punishing Heaven, and he defeats the heavens,
It then becomes Escaping Heaven, he frees himself from the heavens,
And only then, he fills the heavens completely.
'It is a good story. This is farewell.'
A story that creates a new heavens.
[Separate Heaven Martial Arts (別天武).]
[Editor: 'Separate' as in 'different' or 'another'.]
Severing Heaven Sword Form.
Transcendent Profundity.
At the same time, it is Seo Eun-hyun's answer that departs from True Martial Arts, the system of the Martial God called the Future King Fate Supreme Deity.
His final enlightenment that starts from Entering Heavens Martial Arts and reaches all the way here.
The Martial Arts of a Separate Heaven.
Tsuaaaat!
Behind Seo Eun-hyun, the last silhouette appears.
Even without looking, he can tell.
It is Buk Hyang-hwa.
But, no matter how much they bless him even with Buk Hyang-hwa joining in,
They cannot stop this story.
—True Martial Arts Emptiness Sword Final Profundity.
That is what he thinks.
Until he sees the last silhouette that appears behind Seo Eun-hyun.
Seo Eun-hyun's connections.
Those are...
Connections that include Hong Fan.
—Gu Ju...your name is Gu Ju.
At the end of the 16th cycle.
There was a Three Spirits Art clone that he ascended to the heavens and a clone he scattered as insects and sowed into the earth.
But the last clone stayed together with Hong Fan in preparation for the unforeseen.
And he placed that last clone inside Seo Eun-hyun.
His purest aspect.
The story of the time when he was youngest and not yet unhappy, when he still kept the name his mother gave him.
The story of when he was most incomplete.
'Ah...'
He placed his own incompleteness inside Seo Eun-hyun.
Gu Ju, who comes out from behind Seo Eun-hyun, begins to help Seo Eun-hyun.
—Separate Heaven Martial Arts Void Sword Final Profundity.
—True Salvation.
The final trap that he placed inside the existence called Seo Eun-hyun.
The fragment of the feeling, 'I want to rest,' that Hong Fan felt while being treated by Seo Eun-hyun, and his pure true heart.
Even if Seo Eun-hyun finally brings about a miracle, the trap that would seize his ankle in the end.
That aspect, moved by Seo Eun-hyun...aims its sword toward Hong Fan.
Even now,
He still knows in his head that he can win.
For the world is not so easy that one can overcome it just with connections.
As long as he keeps running endlessly toward his goal by his own will,
A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation is definitely the Strongest.
In this at least, it is an [absolute proposition].
However...
In the final moment,
The moment when the weakest dull sword and the strongest swift sword collide,
Hong Fan, with the two eyes that face Seo Eun-hyun and the true heart of his purest time standing behind him,
Closes them by his own will.
Deeeeeeng!!
The sound of a brahma bell rings through the entire Gestation World.
The Pure-White Emperor's one sword burns the chaotic Heaven and Earth and reverses attraction force.
It snaps the Pitch-Black Emperor's one sword, and cuts apart the Divine Art and everything of the Emperor that lies behind it.
Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven.
Separate Heaven Martial Arts.
At first, it does not even reach the lower dantian.
But the Separate Heaven Martial Arts, which grows as it carves a scratch from the perineum up to the pit of the stomach,
At its very end at last splits in half the entirety of the lower, middle, and upper dantians of the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju all together, devours the Absolute of Fate in which the Immortal Art of self-sacrifice is activated, and elevates the existence called Seo Eun-hyun as an existence of Creation.
At last, his own Original Flow.
Seo Eun-hyun, who has reached the answer called Divine Arts, gives a name to the Divine Art.
Divine Art.
⟨Story's End⟩
It is the period that puts the final point on A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation.
—I prophesize. You will not complete three thousand regressions, and I will seize the entire Severing Heaven Sword Form whole from you, and you will be killed by your own Martial Arts.
The 2,999th cycle.
Hong Fan, who meets the prophecy twisted by himself, collapses within the chaotic world and laughs.
'Ah...so it was inevitable.'
Reaching the end of the story and coming to realize that in the end he cannot deceive his own true heart, Hong Fan laughs emptily yet with a sense of release and gazes at the Absolute One being born before his eyes.
The name of the Absolute One is Seo Eun-hyun.
He is the new god who finished the story called A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation.
At the end of everything.
Hong Fan realizes that the God of Connections before his eyes is truly his own Lord, and with laughter in which many emotions are mixed...he begins to cry as he quietly laughs.