The Lost (4)
Jeon Myeong-hoon tilted his head and stared at me.
Somehow, his eyes did not look like those of a living man.
They resembled the eyes of the dead.
Behind those pitch-black, lifeless orbs, something hot and furious lay dormant.
He looked entirely dead, his expression sunken and melancholic. His hair hung long and disheveled.
His skin had turned far paler than before, and dark shadows pooled beneath his eyes.
He looked like a corpse on the verge of death.
Yet from that corpse-like figure, I sensed something like a volcano about to erupt.
Right now, he was a bomb seconds from detonation.
“Jeon Myeong-hoon, are you alri—”
Whoosh!
In the next instant, a crimson bolt of lightning shot straight toward my jaw.
“…!”
I split the lightning with the Invisible Sword wrapped around my body and leapt back to create distance.
But the very next moment—
Rumble!
Thunder roared, and he appeared before me in an instant, palm open and reaching for my face.
He had become lightning itself.
Crackle! Boom!
Seven crimson lightning spears formed around him, all aimed at me.
Above, below, front, back, left, right.
Red spears struck from every direction of the six cardinal points, while the final spear remained in his hand as he hurled it directly at me.
Whoosh!
The last spear crossed the boundary and flew toward me.
Each one moved at lightning speed.
‘None of them are real lightning.’
I extended my hand, reading the six directions.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Flash!
With a single motion, six lightning spears were severed.
The final spear I dodged by shifting my body.
Whoosh!
I surged forward in an instant and drove my fist into Jeon Myeong-hoon.
He crossed his arms to block, but the moment my fist touched his guard—
His upper body split cleanly in half.
Thud!
“…Hmm. It’s been a while since we met, and this is how I greet you. My apologies.”
Crackle, crackle!
Lightning sparked from his bisected torso, and moments later his body rejoined.
“Not bad.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon rolled his corpse-like eyes and spoke.
“…?”
I felt something was wrong and asked,
“Hey… you don’t recognize me?”
His mental state was clearly unstable.
Extremely fragile.
At my question, he looked at me with those dead eyes and said,
“You’re the interim governor of the Eighth Occupation Zone, aren’t you? I tortured the inspector’s soul and learned that much.”
“…I’m Seo Eun-hyun. You really don’t remember?”
“Seo Eun-hyun…?”
“We’re from the same place! Remember where you came from!”
“The same… place…”
At those words, Jeon Myeong-hoon suddenly clutched his head.
“Aah, aaah… Aaaaaah! Haaaaaaaah!”
Crackle, crackle!
Lightning of every color began to pour from his entire body.
“Kuhhhhh!”
Rumble, rumble!
Behind his back, six faint banners began to manifest.
They were embedded in his back like wings.
‘Is that… a technique he cultivated?’
I thought it might be some kind of seal, but the flow of spiritual energy felt too natural. It seemed to be simply a characteristic of his own art.
After howling and spewing lightning in all directions for a while, he gradually calmed.
Then those corpse-like eyes turned back to me.
“…Seo… Eun-hyun. Right. I remember.”
He grinned.
“It’s been a while. Ever since I directly witnessed [that], my mind hasn’t been whole. I’ve been making a fool of myself. Forgive me.”
“[That]?”
“Shut up! Shut your mouth! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you! I’ll tear you to pieces and chew you up!!!”
Rumble!
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s eyes rolled back, and he suddenly went berserk.
Lightning bolts rained down in every direction.
I dodged them while watching him for a moment.
Fortunately, he stabilized again soon after.
Once more he looked at me, his expression gloomy.
“…Well, I didn’t come here to chat. Anyway, I came looking for you. Seo Eun-hyun, interim governor of the Eighth Occupation Zone.”
“What is it?”
“Has a disciple of the Golden God Heavenly Thunder Sect named ‘Yeon-jin’ stopped by the Eighth Occupation Zone? Where did he go?”
“Yeon-jin? If it’s Yeon-jin… he said he was heading to the Gwanghan Realm mainland to find you…”
“The mainland…? Ha, haha, hahahahaha!”
At those words, Jeon Myeong-hoon suddenly burst into mad laughter.
“Hahahahaha! The mainland! He went to the Gwanghan Realm! We missed each other!?”
Tears streamed from his eyes.
“Why! Why the hell! Why is this happening! Why is this happening to me!!!”
Rumble!
Crimson lightning erupted from his body.
“Hey, Jeon Myeong-hoon. Calm down…”
“All of you!!!”
Before I could say anything more,
he screamed and unleashed lightning in every direction.
“Die! Every last one of you! All of you!!!”
Crackle!
Rumble, rumble!
Lightning bolts fell across heaven and earth.
“Everything in this land is worthless! All of it—every single thing—die!!!”
Crackle!
‘What…!’
Red.
It wasn’t the color of his lightning.
His consciousness had been dyed blood-red.
Rage.
He was vomiting forth fury as hot as lava.
“W-wait…!”
At the same time, the lightning he scattered split apart and began passing straight through the barrier.
‘So “letting the human race through” also meant letting through the spells they cast!’
Whoosh!
I moved swiftly with flight arts and struck down every falling bolt inside the barrier with the Invisible Sword.
Below, the demon race members who had yet to escape were murmuring among themselves.
‘If even one of those bolts lands where they are…’
Total annihilation.
Rumble, rumble!
Enormous lightning bolts poured from Jeon Myeong-hoon.
‘Still, at this level I can find an opening and suppress him…’
The next moment—
Whoosh…
The inspector’s severed head he had been holding burned to ash.
Then, among the six banners embedded in his back,
the purple banner was pulled free and melted into his lightning.
With one banner removed, both the quantity and quality of lightning erupting from him surged dramatically.
‘This is…!’
Each bolt now carried the force of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator’s strike!
Thud!
Another banner was torn from his back.
The indigo banner was pulled free and dissolved into his lightning.
Rumble!
“…!”
I clenched my teeth.
The lightning grew even stronger.
‘Come to think of it, the inspector was a Four Pillars cultivator. Killing him means…’
If all the banners were removed, he would reach Four Pillars level.
‘It looks like a consumable power, but the explosive force is absurd! A prolonged fight is impossible—this will end in a short burst!’
Stay calm.
I steadied my mind and first contemplated the Nascent Soul I had recently obtained.
Hum!
The hierarchy of realms began to reveal itself to my eyes.
‘I see…’
Every Nascent Soul cultivator, upon reaching that stage, realizes one truth.
It is both the enlightenment of a Nascent Soul cultivator and a law of the world itself.
‘Qi is intent.’
In this world, there exist higher and lower realms.
These realms are largely divided into three categories.
The realm of Qi, which greatly influences the material world and life force.
The realm of the Soul, which stands above Qi and guides the direction of all things.
And the realm of Fate, which stands even higher and guides the truths of the world.
The world is composed of these three realms.
Depending on the height of one’s dimension, an existence manifests as Qi, as a soul, or as fate.
In short, Qi, soul, and fate are essentially the same.
‘It aligns with the enlightenment of Woldoipcheon…’
All phenomena are one.
Just as Woldoipcheon reaches the principle that Heaven, Earth, and Man are one,
all essence is ultimately one.
Only the manner of manifestation differs according to dimensional height.
‘Now I finally understand why the races of the Gwanghan Realm are classified into three groups.’
Why the Heart Race is included among the Three Great Races despite being far inferior to the Heaven Race and Earth Race.
It was never simply a matter of “vision.”
‘The Earth Race gathers spiritual energy to the extreme within the realm of Qi and cultivates. The Heaven Race offers sacrifices toward the realm of Fate and is drawn upward. The Heart Race freely navigates the realm of the Soul through their cultivation.’
Only after gaining awareness of the realms did I finally understand how a human could cultivate to become a True Immortal.
‘By raising one’s existence from the realm of Qi to the realm of Fate, a mortal born of Qi who reaches the domain of Fate is called a True Immortal.’
I understood the principle behind the formation of a Nascent Soul.
‘Pure Qi gathered from the realm of Qi is raised to the realm of the Soul, uniting soul and Qi. No—that’s not quite right.’
Spiritual energy and soul were originally one.
They had merely been divided according to dimensional height.
By raising spiritual energy and crossing the dimensional boundary to connect with the “essence”—
That is a Nascent Soul.
Therefore, Qi is intent.
Why must one train the mind with mantra formulas while accumulating spiritual power and cultivating divine abilities?
Why does a cultivator’s “consciousness” grow alongside the gathering of “energy” to raise one’s realm?
Because Qi is simultaneously soul and intent.
They are essentially the same, which is why such phenomena occur.
‘Ahaha. Now I finally understand.’
Back when I reached the Peak Realm.
I had seen red lines even on a Jiangshi.
But after reaching Peak, I realized that a Jiangshi, being lifeless, should theoretically have no red lines.
Why had I seen the red line of intent on a Jiangshi that possessed no consciousness?
Because energy is intent. Even if a Jiangshi has no soul, as long as it possesses Qi, it can hold a faint intent.
‘It’s clearer than ever before.’
The realm of “energy” and the realm of “soul” are now distinctly separated.
Added to that is the Yao Race’s vision that reads the flow of spiritual energy,
and the Woldoipcheon vision that perceives the color and essence of intent.
Combined, I can now delve even deeper into the essence of the world.
‘They’re merging…’
Once I recognized that Qi and intent are the same,
the Yao Race’s vision and the Dapcheon vision, previously separate, began to melt together and become one.
The color of intent merges with the yin-yang of spiritual energy, creating an indescribable metaphysical landscape.
I looked up at the sky.
The Heaven Race’s vision, which reads heavenly Qi, had still not merged into this sight.
‘When I become a True Immortal and become fate itself, will that vision also merge?’
The spiritual energy that is the source of life.
The intent that is the source of the mind.
The heavenly Qi that is the source of fate.
What would one see when all of these are combined into a single vision?
I pondered it briefly, then steadied my sight and glared at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
His power was growing even stronger.
But…
‘I can see it.’
Calmly organizing my enlightenment and aligning my vision, it began to appear!
The grain and texture of heaven and earth.
The entire process by which that grain and texture intertwine with human consciousness and are born as divine abilities.
Within that process, countless openings in the opponent became visible!
A vision only I, who possessed both the Yao Race’s sight and the Dapcheon sight, could see.
Whoosh!
I extended the Invisible Sword toward the exact gap in the grain and texture of the lightning Jeon Myeong-hoon unleashed.
Slash!
The lightning split apart.
At the same time, I could see almost prophetically where the lightning he was about to release would go.
And within that foresight, I could find the openings in his attacks.
‘Shall we dance?’
Holding the formless sword, I began to perform a sword dance in the air.
The Invisible Sword scattered in accordance with the sword dance.
Crossing realms—what an absurd authority that was.
I hadn’t known before entering the Nascent Soul realm, but now I understood.
A terrifying monstrosity that could cross the realms of Qi and Soul without regard and sever a Nascent Soul with no restrictions!
That was the Invisible Sword.
And now, I had finally obtained the “eyes” to properly wield this monstrosity!
If the Pure Force obtained at the Foundation Establishment stage supplied infinite energy to Woldoipcheon,
then the “eyes” gained at the Nascent Soul stage precisely indicated where Woldo Dapcheon should aim.
They complemented each other.
Added to that was the physical strength obtained through the Soft Body Art.
The Invisible Sword received the body’s power at the Qi realm, gained overwhelming dominance, and soared to a higher dimension to sever lightning at its fundamental level.
Whoosh!
A blue banner was pulled from Jeon Myeong-hoon’s back.
Now each individual bolt carried the force of a Heavenly Person stage strike!
Yet with the addition of physical strength,
the eyes of the Nascent Soul realm,
and the function of the Invisible Sword,
my Invisible Sword struck precisely at the weak points of the lightning he scattered and severed it.
Whoosh!
‘Let’s see how far this goes.’
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Stepping lightly, I drew a circle around me with my sword.
His lightning gradually grew stronger.
It took more effort to sever each bolt.
In other words—
Until now, severing Heavenly Person-level lightning had required no effort at all!
Thud, thud, thud!
Green and yellow banners were simultaneously torn from Jeon Myeong-hoon’s back.
Each of his lightning bolts transformed into an attack at the peak of the Heavenly Person stage.
Thud!
At that point, the sword grew heavy.
No matter how much one sought weaknesses and struck with a sword that severed all things while infusing overwhelming physical strength, when the gap in power grew too vast, limits would appear.
But I smiled and decided to test the limits I had reached at the Nascent Soul stage.
Gradually, power began to gather in my Invisible Sword.
The sword dance accelerated.
This was the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains.
Grind, grind, grind!
I absorbed Jeon Myeong-hoon’s lightning into my Invisible Sword and continuously reflected its power back.
The burden on my entire body grew extreme, yet the Nascent Soul realm, combined with the body tempered by the Soft Body Art and the Woldo Dapcheon stage, firmly held together a body that should have burst apart.
Boom, boom!
Rumble!
The barrier spread by the Ghost Commanding Ship trembled from our clash.
Gradually, the colorless sword began to push back the red lightning.
Thud!
Finally, the last orange banner was pulled from Jeon Myeong-hoon’s back and melted into lightning.
Rumble!
The already crimson lightning shone with an even fiercer red light and shot toward me.
A single lightning strike sliced through space itself!
‘This might be pushing it a little… but still…’
I grinned and looked up at the sky.
‘Let’s try it!’
Grind, grind!
Starlight swirled around my entire body.
Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop!
I operated the starlight and azure energies with extreme precision and infused both into my Invisible Sword.
Hum!
The Invisible Sword began to take on the color of starlight.
Crackle!
My Invisible Sword became a single stream of the Milky Way.
What I held in my hand was no longer empty space.
It was a galaxy.
A tiny galaxy rested in my hand.
The ultimate technique of Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop.
After grinding the secret art of Changik Cheonswae to the extreme and infusing it into the Invisible Sword.
I squeezed every ounce of power in my body into a single strike!
‘Aah…’
Right now,
there was nothing I could not sever.
Whoosh!
The attack power of the Invisible Sword, pushed to the limit by the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains, combined with the power of Changik Cheonswae and carved through the sky.
And that was the end.
Splash!
The baptism of red lightning that had covered the sky was swept away in an instant.
I grinned and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Using the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains meant death.
That had been true before.
“Curse, reversal!”
Flash!
The burden of the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains embedded in my body all returned to Won-yu.
Boom!
Below, Won-yu—who had been protecting the demon race under my orders so they wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire—exploded as a cursed doll.
His body, which had reached Core Formation Great Circle, took on every burden that had been placed on mine.
Hum!
Then Won-yu quickly ascended and raised his skull staff toward Jeon Myeong-hoon, who was still unable to regain his senses after unleashing all his lightning.
Whoosh!
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s qi and blood were sucked into Won-yu.
Gradually, Won-yu regenerated his exploded body while devouring Jeon Myeong-hoon’s energy.
Drained of his power, Jeon Myeong-hoon staggered and fell beneath the barrier.
Whoosh!
I had Won-yu catch him and slowly descended to the ground with the two of them.
“Hey, Jeon Myeong-hoon.”
I looked at him, who had poured out all his power along with his madness, and asked,
“Are you all right?”
He looked at me and said,
“…Shut up.”
“What?”
“Don’t pretend to understand…”
He gritted his teeth.
“Kill me… The moment I recover my energy, I’ll slaughter every living thing in this area without exception.”
Rage burned in his eyes.
“No matter how much I pour out, this pain and anger won’t subside… My chest feels like it’s burning…! I can’t endure it unless I kill everything I see…! So if you want to stop me, kill me right now, Seo Eun-hyun!”
“…Calm down. Anger isn’t resolved by killing others.”
“You!”
He shouted and lunged at me, grabbing my collar.
“What the hell do you know! Have you ever lost a lover right before your eyes? Have you ever watched your master, friends, loved ones, and every acquaintance be swept away like insects by an existence you cannot resist? Do you know the wretchedness of being unable to do anything while your precious people die? What do you know about me! Shut up! Shut your mouth!!! I!!!”
Bloody tears streamed from Jeon Myeong-hoon’s eyes.
“I lost everything!!!”
Rumble!
Red lightning once again erupted from his body and swept through the surroundings.