HBWnovel Chapter 542: True Immortal Advancement
Chapter 542: True Immortal Advancement
Chapter 542: True Immortal Advancement
Heaven and Earth distort.
For a moment, it feels difficult to understand what is what.
But in an instant, I am able to understand what the situation is.@@@@
'Blood Yin...self-destructed...?'
I remember that in the final moment, Blood Yin exploded with a dusk-like light, releasing [power] surpassing imagination.
And in those final moments, I remember my comrades being flung somewhere beyond the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain by Blood Yin's self-destruction.
Simultaneously, I realize what situation I am in right now.
'I... Ah...I see.'
Everything has completely shattered.
My entire physical body, my authority, Heaven, Earth, Heart, Wheel, even the power added by Kim Yeon—everything.
I have been reduced to cosmic dust, only a single strand of consciousness remaining, and drifting aimlessly through the expanse of space.
Even in this state, I can feel [death] approaching closer with every passing moment.
Suddenly, futility washes over me.
In this 999th cycle, I have struggled so desperately with all my power to survive.
Yet, in the end, I couldn't avoid Blood Yin's self-destruction and now face such a futile death.
'Still...'
I fought with all my might.
Truly, it was a life where I gave everything, leaving nothing behind.
It's unbearably regretful...but still, I can accept this death.
It's then.
Woo-woong!
'...?'
Suddenly, I notice my consciousness being sucked in [somewhere].
'Th-This is...'
Startled, I look towards the place pulling me in.
There...a Sun (太陽), tinged a reddish yellow with a subtle crimson hue, glows with the light of dawn.
The Sun is beautiful.
Its light alone feels as though it illuminates and warms the entire universe.
However, the moment I see that Sun, I feel chills spreading deep inside my very soul.
Kugugugugugu!
The center of the Sun!
At its core, something is glowing.
It is a being adorned in ancient robes, wearing a mianguan on their head, with a reddish-yellow mask covering their face.
The moment I perceive this being, I realize through the [wisdom] radiating from them who they are.
Radiance Eight Immortals.
Third Seat.
Great Sun Heavenly Lord!
Wh-What is this...!?'
One of the rulers of the Radiance Hall is pulling in my soul.
The being's hands are raised to their chest, almost touching each other, and gathering light between them.
Within that light, a familiar energy is felt.
It's my [physical body]!
That being is reconstructing the body that Blood Yin reduced to cosmic dust, using it as a foundation to summon my soul back.
'Are they trying to revive me (蘇生)!?'
However, the closer I am pulled towards that being through attraction force, the more I realize that's not the case.
'Th-This is...!'
The moment I realize what that being is doing, I cannot help but be horrified.
'This, this madness... Is such a thing even possible!? No matter how high ranking of a True Immortal they are...how can they...how can they...!?'
Dududududu!
The heart begins to rapidly convert into attraction force.
From the Sacred Vessel stage, one can somewhat control the heart's change into attraction force that begins in the Star Shattering stage, and through the Immortal Arts of Eight Paths, make the attraction force-changed heart operate like a true heart. ????ἈɴꝋbĘṡ
From the Entering Nirvana stage, it even becomes possible to return the attraction force-changed heart back to its original state.
However, even though I have reached the Entering Nirvana stage, I cannot avoid the phenomena of my heart being changed into attraction force by the Great Heavenly Lord.
Why does the heart become attraction force starting from the Star Shattering stage?
Why does one formally step into the stages of Immortal Arts from that point?
It's perhaps...
Because the Star Shattering stage marks the beginning of the preparatory phase for the True Immortal advancement ritual.
The True Immortal advancement ritual proceeds as follows:
Just like when I previously stood before Jinlu Gok and released all the death energy of the Death Path Three Great Ultimates, the heart gradually changes into an attraction force, and that attraction force gradually reaches its peak.
At its peak, the heart's attraction force begins to contract, eventually compressing into a single point and annihilating everything about the cultivator.
Once compressed, the True Person's physical body and authority are released from their compression, entering the Interdimensional Void, where they gradually decompose and turn into a Vestige (尸).
Then, the soul of the True Person, having undergone complete annihilation, moves towards the [Domain of Death], uniting 'life and death' within the soul itself before unfolding the Immortal Art cultivated from the Star Shattering stage to the Entering Nirvana stage.
At the core of the Immortal Art, a being that has fully embraced and contained life and death is born.
In the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds, such a being is called a True Immortal (眞仙).
In short:
From the Star Shattering stage, the heart begins changing into attraction force.
In the Sacred Vessel stage, one learns to control this attraction force through Immortal Arts.
In the Entering Nirvana stage, the attraction force reaches its peak.
Finally, the True Immortal advancement involves compressing this peak attraction force, annihilating oneself before shedding (脫殼) from one's life, and uniting life and death to become an entirely new existence.
This is the enlightenment I once realized in front of the Jinlu Gok, and at the same time, the True Immortal advancement ritual I cross-verified with Yeo Hwi.
And now...
The Great Sun Heavenly Lord is forcibly pulling my soul, [scooping up] the power of the [Domain of Death], forcefully merging it with me, and attempting to forcibly advance me.
'Ah, no...!'
I recall the warnings of countless high beings, including Yang Su-jin.
Be wary of the light!
'I can't get caught by the Great Sun Heavenly Lord...!'
I can feel it.
That being is not pulling me in to advance me because they favor me.
I can feel earnest malice.
And I realize that malice is connected to the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords I annihilated.
Though I don't know Their thoughts, I can tell my decision has slightly deviated from what They originally expected.
'Let's go, Impermanence Sword.'
Woo-woong!
I transform into the form of Aurora, and with the Immortal Art that cloaks my soul.
Enveloping my entire life, I surge towards the Interdimensional Void.
Passing through the Astral Realm and reaching the Interdimensional Void, only then do I finally realize something I hadn't before.
'My Severing Heaven...is incomplete.'
Just as the True Immortal advancement is done by the overlap of life and death, Severing Heaven must also experience both life and death to become complete.
'...Let's go.'
To the pure domain of death.
I steel my heart to enter a completely new domain of purity, escaping the gaze of both the Light and the Netherworld.
The deepest place where neither life nor death can be found.
The technique designed to enter the domain of purity.
Kunlun!
And so, I arrive in the domain of death for the Immortal Ascension (昇仙) ritual.
I do not know if this will sever regression and allow me to enter eternal rest.
If I fail, my regression will probably end, and I will enter eternal rest. Later, my comrades will arrive in this domain of purity and I will become their stepping stone to escape from the heavens.
If I succeed, I will advance to True Immortality and live again.
Either way, it does not matter.
Kirik, kiriririririk...!
I feel something unpleasant pulling me in.
This is undoubtedly the sensation of regression.
As I feel my mind breaking apart within the domain of purity, I begin to completely perish myself, resisting the authority of regression pulling me.
Will regression win, or will Kunlun prevail?
If regression wins, I will face the first day of my 1,000th cycle.
If I win, I will find complete eternal rest.
Either outcome satisfies me, and so I slip into the domain purity and close my eyes.
That is my 1,000th return and, simultaneously, my Immortal Ascension ritual.
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'...This place is...?'
I open my eyes.
And what appears before my eyes is a candle emitting a pure white light.
Somehow, that light seems similar to the one I saw on Penglai Island.
Saaaa—
The surroundings are an empty, dark space, with nothing but that candle.
Suddenly, I realize that the clothes I'm wearing are the employee uniforms during the early days of Ascension Path.
My body is that of Seo Eun-hyun from Earth, a body untouched by any training, and I can't feel a trace of spiritual power or energy within me.
It doesn't merely feel like I've been invited to an 'illusory dream world' similar to Penglai Island.
This feels...much more fundamental than that.
This is...yes...
It feels as if my soul has been trapped entirely by my own history, by the possibilities of my past.
As spoon as I realize this, I feel goosebumps spreading across my entire body.
'Th-This is...'
I can't breathe.
Because I've definitely experienced something familiar before.
Flicker...flicker...
The white candle in front of me flickers and seems to create an illusion before my eyes.
It looks like an illusion of a girl living in the mountains, struggling to survive and working at a noble's house. Or perhaps an illusion of a nun who spent her life pursuing the truth. It even feels like an illusion of a ruler with two heads.
However, more terrifying than those illusions is the being [beyond the illusion].
"Heok...heok..."
Under a suffocating pressure that feels like my heart is being squeezed, I unknowingly fall to the ground in prostration.
Unlike when I prostrated under Yeong Seung's pressure before, this comes from deep within my heart.
No, it's a fear rising from the depths of my very essence.
Sarak, sarak...
The being beyond the illusion is [drawing] something.
What I faintly see beyond the candle is...a taenghwa (幀畫).
Sarararak—
When that being finishes drawing the taenghwa, the flickering illusion before my eyes fixes in place.
It is [someone] with Kim Yeon's face.
The being opens their mouth.
"Has your journey thus far...been satisfying?"
I tremble as cold sweat pours down.
It seems that the move of Kunlun has ended in failure.
"No, perhaps it succeeded, which is why you've arrived here."
The illusion of the candle, wearing Kim Yeon's face, smiles faintly and speaks.
'It's reading me...'
Rather than attempting a clumsy scheme, I lower my head in respect towards the presence before me.
"This small one of the Human Path, Seo Eun-hyun, greets the [Oldest One]."
The women who twisted history itself every time they were encountered.
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld, who chased through regressions by perusing history.
The [Palace Lord of the Black Ghost Valley], whom Yu Oh spoke of.
They were all one and the same being.
The Deepest and Greatest Darkness.
The Oldest One.
The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.
The God of Death.
They are...
The Owner of the Netherworld.