Chapter 428 - 21st Cycle's First Day

The familiar river of time.

The familiar seats.

Familiar scenes flash before my eyes.

And in the next moment.

'Huh?'

Paaaatt!

I return.

Kugugugugu!

The Nether Crossing Ship crumbles, and at the moment I just grabbed the Heavenly Lotus Fruit.

In other words...

'What is this!?'

To the very moment just before!

I feel my pupils shaking violently.

The point of return has been fixed once again.

Kugugugugu!

Up ahead, Kang Min-hee, having completely swallowed the Nether Crossing Ship, is leaping towards me again.

'Why? Just why?'

My head feels like it's going to explode from the absurdity and strangeness of the situation.

Just why has the return point been fixed now?

It's so strange and incomprehensible.

'What exactly are the conditions for this fixation?'

Can it be that the condition isn't simply ascending from the Head Realm?

'More importantly, there's never been a fixation in the Interdimensional Void until now.'

Whether it was the Flying Immortal Platform in the Vast Cold Realm or within the Vestiges, fixation had always occurred within entities that could be called worlds.

However, this time's return fixation was so sudden and bewildering.

"Ugh..."

'What's this?'

For a moment, I feel a disgusting sensation, as if something is thoroughly scanning my body. But when I look around, all I see is Kang Min-hee and the last remaining Nether Crossing Ship moving off in the distance.

Amidst confusion and bewilderment, I steady my nauseous stomach and focus my mind.

'There's a lot to think about, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.'

I grab the All-Heavens Sword.

Tststststst!

The faint clouds of Accumulating Dust Forms a Mountain rise from the sword.

I focus all my consciousness on the sword and unleash the single strike gained from rising to a new realm.

The faint clouds shine.

The clouds softly, yet powerfully, push Kang Min-hee away.

Seo Hweol pulls her from the other side, and as I push, her body begins to gradually cross over towards the Astral Realm.

[As expected of Daoist Seo. I had faith in you!]

Seo Hweol smiles faintly from the other side, praising me.

And I, too, smile back at him, raising the Heavenly Lotus Fruit in my hand.

In my previous life, I didn't notice the malice hidden inside this spirit fruit but this time it's different.

I won't provoke the fragment of Blood Yin within it.

Woo-woong!

The Heavenly Lotus Fruit flies toward Kang Min-hee, naturally embedding itself into her bosom.

[... Daoist Seo?]

"If you try anything in the Astral Realm against Kang Min-hee, the fragment of [Their] split soul within the Heavenly Lotus Fruit will erode you."

[...]

Kang Min-hee is now being separated from us and is reaching the Astral Realm, filled with Seo Hweols.

Who knows what Seo Hweol might do to her once she's there.

That's why I planted the fragment of Blood Yin that Seo Hweol finds so uncomfortable within her bosom.

I have no worries about Kang Min-hee being consumed by the Blood Yin fragment.

The Chief Judge of the Netherworld who appeared within Kang Min-hee during the last cycle!

As long as that entity is connected to Kang Min-hee, the fragment of Blood Yin will remain dormant, without causing any trouble in her possession!

[...]

I can sense Seo Hweol silently watching me beyond the voice transmission without saying a word in response to my statement.

It was Seo Hweol who nonchalantly joined hands with me and led me to eat the Heavenly Lotus Fruit imbued with the fragment of Blood Yin.

If I hadn't achieved enlightenment and driven out the Heart Demon, if I hadn't expelled Blood Yin's split soul, I might not have regressed, but rather have become a mere puppet of Blood Yin.

Clearly, I was backstabbed, but I don't feel entirely bad about it.

Because of that situation, I gained enlightenment. But more importantly, by expelling the fragment of Blood Yin, I became able to speculate about the relationship between Blood Yin and Seo Hweol.

Blood Yin perceives Seo Hweol to be on the same side.

However, it seems that Seo Hweol finds Blood Yin extremely uncomfortable, and perhaps even somewhat fearful.

"Isn't that right, Seo Hweol? The something born from Blood Yin."

I realized that Seo Hweol is one of the branches extended from Blood Yin.

Thanks to my contact with Blood Yin's fragments, some knowledge flowed into me, and I could finally understand the mural I saw back on Cherry Blossom Dragon Island.

Blood Yin used Purple Soul Filling the Heavens to give birth to Hyeon Eum, and Hyeon Eum's Purple Soul Filling the Heavens gave birth to Ja Eum, and through Ja Eum, the endlessly spread-out Sea Dragon Race was born.

Thus, the Sea Dragon Race are essentially branches that extend from the tree that is Blood Yin. [Branches of Blood Yin].

And among those [Branches of Blood Yin], something twisted, and the very being born from that is Seo Hweol.

Much like the relationship between me and Seo Li, it's fair to say he's a clone that came to have self-consciousness.

Since a clone can very easily be reabsorbed by the main body if it wishes, it makes sense that Seo Hweol finds Blood Yin and the Blood Yin Realm so uncomfortable and even fears being reabsorbed against his will.

Seo Hweol stands silently on the side of the Astral Realm, staring directly at me in response to my words.

He no longer lets out his unpleasant 'hoho' laugh like before.

Beyond the scene of the Astral Realm, Seo Hweol, who has become a star, and all the inhabitants of that star stare up at me with expressionless faces, a sight that's rather a chilling sight.

However, I don't feel bad at all.

"Can you even offer an excuse for what you intended by planting the fragment of Blood Yin inside me?"

At my words, all the Seo Hweols reach out their hands toward me in silence.

Blink!

From the hands of the Seo Hweols, a single eyeball appears.

The bastard is clearly trying to brainwash me.

"You said you wouldn't betray me until the alliance is broken. Every word that comes out of your mouth is a lie."

Seo Hweol replies to my accusation.

[This time, it wasn't a lie. It was a vow sworn on my very essence.]

"Then..."

[If we were never on the same side in the first place, how could it be called betrayal, Daoist Seo?]

"Haha... O Seo Hweol..."

I raise the All-Heavens Sword.

Hwiiiiiiiii!

Having pushed away Kang Min-hee, the recoil propels me towards where my comrades have gone.

I am flying back to the interior of the Bright Cold Realm, falling into the Heart Tribe territory.

Having just risen to a new realm, I can currently use about three Second Step Before the Throne moves.

But since I used Accumulating Dust Forms a Mountain once to push Kang Min-hee away, I have only two left.

Two is sufficient.

'No, sufficient isn't quite right.'

Zuuuuung!

'It's excessive!'

In the Astral Realm, Seo Hweol joins forces with Oh Hye-seo and seizes control of the power of the stars.

The bastard's attraction force that pulled Kang Min-hee completely into the Astral Realm is now binding me as well.

At the same time, the eyes in the hands of those reaching out to me burn bright red.

I imbue my heart into my sword.

What is the ultimate meaning of swordsmanship?

Ask any martial artist from the Head Realm, Kim Young-hoon, or even cultivators like Hong Su-ryeong who have mastered sword divine powers, and their answer will be the same.

The Dao of the Heart Sword (心劍之道)!

The realm where one moves the sword of the heart!

Because that is the ultimate realm every sword practitioner dreams of.

When it comes to imagining the highest realm, there is no distinction between martial artists and cultivators. Sword practitioners devote their entire lives to reaching that realm through the sword.

I obtained the Formless Sword after rising from Entering Heavens Beyond the Path, taking a step closer to the Heart Sword, and obtaining the All-Heavens Sword brought me even closer.

Yet, even after reaching Seated Detachment, Entering Hope, the Dao of the Heart Sword seemed endlessly distant.

But the moment I rose to this realm called Second Step Before the Throne, I finally realized.

'The Heart Sword is truly right before my eyes.'

The peak of the seemingly endless towering mountain begins to reveal itself.

Sword practitioners who pursue the Heart Sword must each find their own answer to reach it.

And my answer is this.

What is the Heart Sword?

The Heart Sword is a sword that cuts with only the heart.

How can there be such a thing in this world that can cut with only the heart?

The answer is simple.

To cut a heart, all you need is the heart itself.

The will to [cut], whispered to me by the Formless Sword and the All-Heavens Sword, becomes one with me completely.

I pierce through Seo Hweol from the Plane of Soul with the will to [cut].

Chwak!

Beyond the scenery of the Astral Realm.

One of the countless Seo Hweols' eyes returns to normal.

His Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens was cut.

But that isn't the end.

Chwak, chwak, chwak!

Starting with the first Seo Hweol who was cut, like how his Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens spreads contagiously, the Heart Sword begins to infect him.

The single strike of Seated Detachment, Entering Hope is a form of heart language that conveys one's own heart to the opponent.

Condensing one's own heart to influence the opponent is the very essence of the Seated Detachment, Entering Hope single strike.

Once one becomes accustomed to delivering their heart to the opponent, they can unleash single strike after single strike of this realm.

Then, what kind of attack can one unleash from the realm beyond, where the heart can fire endlessly?

"Try to escape, Seo Hweol."

People exchange hearts and change at every moment.

Therefore, the me from one second ago is inevitably different from the me a second later.

"You won't escape so easily."

The Heart Sword I've displayed is based on the concept that 'when people meet, they change,' engraving my Heart Sword into the opponent's heart. With the sword energy, the opponent's heart is endlessly cut.

There's only one way to escape from this Heart Sword.

By calming the 'change created by meeting me,' only then can one escape from the Heart Sword.

To put it simply in one sentence,

From the moment you're struck by this Heart Sword, the structure is such that if you even 'think of me,' your heart will be cut by sword energy.

To escape from the Heart Sword, you must completely forget me, the one who shot the Heart Sword, and maintain a pure, empty heart.

Of course, the difficulty of that is akin to being told, 'Don't think of an elephant,' and immediately not thinking of one. Even the Heart Tribe, who dedicate their entire lives to training the heart, would find this far from easy.

This is my answer for reaching the true Dao of the Heart Sword.

The peak of the heart grows more rugged the more one thinks of it.

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, Thirty-Second Move.

Sub-Heart Sword (亞心劍)

This is Transcending Mountain Ridge Embedment (嶺踰越嵌).

'They say when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.'

The Heart Sword I created while thinking of Seo Hweol is eerily similar to his Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.

[...!!!]

Kugugugugu!

Seo Hweol's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, numbering in the hundreds of millions, begins to be slashed apart all at once.

His brainwashing wave is certainly dangerous.

Dangerous enough to even brainwash me.

But what if I cut down that very will before he can even release those waves?

The sword of my heart that I send forth cuts through the Seo Hweols who think of me.

Like the 'shocks you the moment you recognize it' gaze or name of a True Immortal.

Akin to such entities, the more Seo Hweol thinks of me, the deeper my Heart Sword pierces into his Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.

Gradually, the scenery of the Astral Realm fades.

With a final glimpse of Kang Min-hee, who has fallen into the Astral Realm, and Seo Hweol writhing in agony from the Heart Sword, I smile as I fall into the dimensional veil of the Bright Cold Realm.

Thunk—

I sense that Seo Hweol, through some means, has escaped my Sub-Heart Sword.

But I do not worry.

Because undoubtedly, the form of the Sub-Heart Sword's Transcending Mountain Ridge Embedment is a fatal blow he will never recover from.

'Next time, pray you don't meet me, Seo Hweol.'

Using the Sub-Heart Sword and Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, I now have confidence that I can uncover Seo Hweol's main body.

Chwak!

Following the traces of the Nether Crossing Ship that my comrades have passed, I enter the dimensional barrier of the Bright Cold Realm, and as I fall towards the 'Heart Tribe territory' below, I let out a hollow smile.

The sudden fixation of this moment in time.

Though I still don't fully understand the incomprehensible laws of regression, deep inside, I feel immense gratitude.

Because I have drawn even closer to those I wish to protect.

'Next time, I will be able to save Kang Min-hee.'

There's nothing standing in my way now.

In the span of three hundred years, I will undoubtedly reach the Star Shattering stage and save her no matter what!

Cough!

Blood mixes with my cough.

Perhaps it's because I unleashed a fairly excessive single strike shortly after reaching this realm, but my entire body starts to lose strength.

Yet, even though I can't move a single finger, a faint smile spreads across my face.

'I've finally reached it...'

I've finally reached the realm that Jang Ik calls the Second Step Before the Throne.

The Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts, created by Kim Young-hoon, is a formula that sings of hope.

It's a formula that proves life is joy and expresses the joy of training in martial arts.

Feeling the deepest sense of overwhelming joy among all the emotions I've felt throughout my endless years of training martial arts,

And resonating with the formula of Entering Heavens Beyond the Path Martial Arts more than ever,

I fall towards the Heart Tribe territory.