HBWnovel Chapter 492: Eve of the End (終末前夜) (3)
Chapter 492: Eve of the End (終末前夜) (3)
Chapter 492: Eve of the End (終
I see a path.
The path is vast and wide, and it seems that by following this path, I will surely achieve everything I desire.
But the path is hidden.
Therefore, this is not a path that can be taken carelessly by just anyone.
I reach out towards a certain wall that blocks this path.
From my hand, a point of pure white light and a circle of darkness seem to appear, before gently opening the wall that blocks the path.
The wall becomes a door through which I can enter, and I gaze at the door.
'So this is Minor Completion (小成).'
I look back.
Having reached minor completion, a brief reprieve should be granted.
But after this brief reprieve, I must enter that door, where time that has been compressed as long as eternity awaits.
'Will I be able to enter?'
I am afraid.
But if I walk this path to the conclusion, before the End, I can grasp at least the faintest starting point to achieve everything and save Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, and the now-silent Kim Yeon.
I briefly look beyond the path, steeling my heart.
'Let's go.'
After a fleeting moment of reprieve, I shall return and seize everything within my grasp.
Because...
My desires are so vast.
To obtain them, I must pay the price.
And so, in this fleeting reprieve before walking the path, I raise my consciousness to see the faces I long for.
"...Er."
Wiiiiiiing!
"...Er...Ma..."
I briefly look around in a daze, then snap to my senses at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Master!!!"
[...Ah...Hong...Fan...is that you?]
My mind is a bit muddled.
I can hardly believe that I've been cultivating for eight thousand years, and I wonder how much the world has changed in that time.
Simultaneously...I remember what I have done over the past eight thousand years.
[Hmm...I feel...a bit hazy...]
I gather my scattering mind.
Reciting the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra inwardly, my scattered mind gradually seems to come together, bringing back my reason.
'For eight thousand years...Yes. I was definitely reciting the Flawless Mantra...taking one step after another into the darkness.'
It felt as though [something] beyond the darkness had spoken to me, saying that if I quickly crossed over the darkness, I could achieve great completion in the Flawless Mantra in an instant... r
'But then...why couldn't I reach great completion after eight thousand years?'
As I ponder, I let out a small exclamation.
'Ah, I see.'
At the same time I was reciting the Flawless Mantra, I repentantly enlightened myself through the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.
While engaging in self-repentant enlightenment, I endlessly traced a circle within my heart, following the standard cultivation method of the Flawless Mantra.
At times, I seemed to hear a voice from a distant place, urging me onward...but I ignored it and continued to cultivate the Flawless Mantra in the standard way, advancing slowly yet steadily towards the darkness.
As I cultivated in the Flawless Mantra, fleeting thoughts crossed my mind that it might be better to quickly cross into the darkness to obtain the ultimate authority.
But each time that happened, the formula of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra helped me.
Immortal Cultivation is repentant enlightenment.
Like tiny grains of salt gathering to form the sea.
Build mountains through repentant enlightenment.
Endlessly repeating that aphorism, I searched for myself over and over again within the circle.
Of course, such a process is not strictly necessary for cultivating in the Flawless Mantra.
In a way, it was an unnecessary and meaningless action.
Perhaps it was because I repeated that meaningless action countless times that it took me eight thousand years to get this far.
'But...it's fine.'
There is no need to forcibly approach that boundless darkness.
With just my own power alone, I have already...
Wiiiiing.
[Hong Fan...]
Wiiiiiiiiiing!
[Look...]
The Flawless Mantra.
Having reached minor completion.
[The Wheel is turning.]
The Wheel formed by the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra and the Flawless Mantra rotates above me.
No, to be precise, it rotates above 'us'.
I speak to him.
[While reciting this mantra, I received a whisper from some being beyond. That being said that if I follow them, I would immediately achieve great completion in the mantra. But...I did not follow that being's whisper.]
"Master did very well. Whoever that being may be..."
[Instead.]
My incarnation sits on one of the stars of the Colorless Sword Enclosure, meeting Hong Fan's trembling gaze.
Has Hong Fan also reached the Star Shattering stage by now?
He now appears to be in his early fifties.
Perhaps when he reaches the Entering Nirvana stage, he will look like a man in his early to mid-forties.
[I proceeded through the proper method. No matter what the darkness whispered, I ignored it all...and by learning this mantra through the proper method, I have glimpsed hope.]
Hong Fan, as if unable to understand, grasps my hand and asks,
"Just what is Master saying? Hope? At this rate, Master will be consumed by that Immortal Art and perish before even being able to reach the refuge space for the End. You will die!"
[...If I cultivate deeper into this mantra, I can save Kang Min-hee. That much is certain.]
"Then what about Sir Myeong-hoon? In two thousand years, didn't Master plan to go and rescue Sir Jeon Myeong-hoon with that Seo Hweol person!?"
[Yes, we planned to use Seo Hweol's Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens to break Jeon Myeong-hoon free. But...the bastard alone isn't enough. That person is a True Immortal. And for someone like me who isn't a True Immortal to contend with a True Immortal...I need something beyond what I currently possess. Moreover, I'm still bound by Blood Yin's prophecy as well...]
Golden Shaking Bird and Blood Yin.
The unknown being who gifted Kim Yeon with a new form of Extraordinary Pattern Law Talent.
If I can't deal with them somehow, I won't be able to save my comrades.
Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, Kim Yeon, and even myself.
If I am to save everyone, I must find hope here.
[With the power we possess, we can't do anything. So, we must take a gamble. Because you conveyed the mantra to me...I was able to see hope. Thank you, Hong Fan.]
"It is all my fault...I was wrong. Passing that mantra to Master recklessly without even fully recalling all my memories of it...Master. This servant, Hong Fan, beseeches you. Please do not entrust yourself to the Immortal Art. Why must Master risk your life on such an uncertain gamble!?"
[...Because...]
I smile faintly.
[Life, after all...exists for my own sake. So if it's to protect something precious to me, I can stake my life on it.]
More than anything.
Though I called it a gamble to Hong Fan...I know otherwise.
As long as I don't lose myself within this Immortal Art, I can accomplish everything before the End.
[...Therefore, do not worry. I will definitely return before the End. Thank you, Hong Fan. And thank you, everyone...]
I bid farewell once more to Hong Fan and to everyone I hadn't seen in eight thousand years, then close the eyes of my incarnation.
Now, within the depths of that darkness.
It's time to follow the path prepared by the darkness.
'No...that's not it.'
It's not the path prepared by the darkness.
The pure white mountain of salt.
And darkness.
The two combined to form the Wheel.
Therefore, this is...a path prepared by two beings.
Though my comrades and Hong Fan seem to be trying to use even the power of the Bright Cold Realm to influence my mind, waking after eight thousand years was only a brief reprieve achieved after reaching minor completion...
...
...
Now, he is both wheel and axle.
He has stepped onto the path we have created.
A precious opportunity crafted by the two Imperial Venerables, even at the cost of deceiving themselves.
It is an arrangement set up solely so that the successor can reject the temptations of the two Imperial Venerables and walk the correct path.
This is not a prophecy.
It is neither the authority of fate nor the authority of history.
It is nothing more than an impossible miracle.
Therefore, you, Black Snake (黑蛇).
For this inheritance alone, no matter what you do, you will not be able to bestow any blessings.
This time, the successor will walk alone...
Thus, within someone's earnest desire, Seo Eun-hyun once again steps onto a certain path in a state of trance.
And from this moment, Seo Eun-hyun's time begins to flow differently.
Ten thousandfold.
Within the time of life that is perceived to be ten thousand times longer, Seo Eun-hyun creates the Heavenly Outer Diagram Great Star and the Heavenly Inner Diagram Great Star, reaching the Grand Perfection Star Shattering stage.
However, such things are not what matters.
Using Kang Min-hee's Sacred Vessel advancement ritual as a medium, [someone] deep within the darkness connected to her scatters Seo Eun-hyun's mind.
Had he succumbed to the temptation of darkness, he would have ended up in the same plight as Kang Min-hee, but Seo Eun-hyun does not yield to the temptation and steadily draws a circle.
To fulfill a promise, [someone] beyond the darkness begins to reincarnate Seo Eun-hyun's mind among the seven stars.
Thus, Seo Eun-hyun's mind starts to orbit around a fixed star, drawing a Sacred Disc (聖盤).
And finally...
The Eve of the End approaches.
Translator Notes: Sacred Disc as in Sacred Vessel (they are written the same).