The Last Floor of Bongmyeong-ju
It was bitterly cold.
Together with Seo Hyul, we arrived at the lowest floor of Bongmyeong-ju. The place was so freezing and dark it felt like liquid ice.
This was the seventh floor of Bongmyeong-ju, the very last layer.
Bongmyeong-ju was built in the same seven-tier structure as the legendary floating castle, Bongmyeong Castle.
The top floor, the Layer of Life, handled administration, hosted meetings of the Jinryong-maeng, and was the bustling hub of markets and social gatherings for the demon beasts.
The sixth floor, the Layer of Cultivation, offered the richest spiritual veins for the later-stage experts and elders of the earth-faction.
The fifth floor, the Layer of Realization, served as the ideal refuge for earth-faction members who had yet to cross into the Cultivation realm, the safest place to endure heavenly tribulations.
The fourth floor, the Layer of Death, was where the corpses of deceased earth-faction members were gathered.
The third floor, the Layer of Origin, housed the power core that supplied spiritual energy to the entire Bongmyeong-ju.
The second floor, under the power core, stored treasures collected by the earth-faction. It was currently a repository for their accumulated wealth.
And the lowest floor, the first floor, the Layer of Emptiness, was where the spear-blood alliance would take place.
The moment I stepped into the Layer of Emptiness, my entire body felt as though the spiritual energy in my meridians had frozen solid.
This must be the chill of the Emptiness layer.
In the literal sense, there was nothing here.
No light, no heat, no air, no sound.
Even spiritual power had thinned to the point that once it dispersed, it simply scattered into the dim void.
Facing such an immense darkness, the other earth-faction members present—except me—began to shiver in panic.
Even the Nascent Soul experts from the Haeryong Clan who had come with Seo Hyul shrank back and scanned their surroundings.
Not just the Haeryong Clan. All the other demon beasts who had arrived here were trembling in fear as well.
Is this where the spear-blood alliance is held?
They’re going to run survival trials here? This will be no joke.
Just breathing makes the spiritual energy scatter away.
While they were all whispering among themselves—
A flash of light suddenly bloomed across the pitch-black lowest floor.
Golden light pierced every direction.
Startled by the glare, every demon beast who had reached the lowest floor lifted their heads toward the sky.
At the center of that light stood a familiar face.
The Jinryong-maeng elder who had come to fetch us—Gyu-ryeon.
It seems everyone has gathered. I am the Jinryong-maeng Elder Gyu-ryeon, who will preside over this spear-blood alliance. For now, if any Four-Pillar experts from the major clans have arrived, please stop protecting your own clans and come over here.
At her words, the Haeryong Clan members who had been with Seo Hyul, along with a few other demon beasts from various locations, rose into the air and gathered beside Gyu-ryeon.
Ugh…
The, the, it’s, it’s freezing…
Once Seo Hyul had left, the surrounding Haeryong Clan members began to tremble violently.
Is this the chill of the Emptiness layer that Seo Hyul-nim stopped protecting…?
It’s merciless…
…?
Watching the Haeryong Clan members shiver around me, I felt a sudden wave of confusion.
What the hell? Nothing has changed at all.
The absolute freezing of the Emptiness layer since the moment we arrived remained unchanged.
Yet suddenly the later-stage experts of the Haeryong Clan were trembling.
From that sight, I could grasp something.
Ah, Seo Hyul. So I never received his protection from the very beginning.
It was a painfully simple realization.
Uuuuung!
The Four-Pillar earth-faction experts gathered beside Gyu-ryeon, and the light she radiated grew even brighter.
This is…
I sensed the true essence of the light pouring from Gyu-ryeon and felt a jolt of surprise.
Life itself?
In the literal sense, within the completely empty void.
Gyu-ryeon was producing the purest origin spiritual power—life force—right in front of us.
These are the Four-Pillar experts who have awakened the force of life.
The fact that reaching the Four-Pillar realm grants an immeasurably long lifespan is true. She was literally spewing life force itself, illuminating the surrounding darkness.
But that can’t be her doing alone.
Using the auras of the Four-Pillar experts who had gathered around her, she was emitting an even brighter light.
With that golden light radiating from the Four-Pillar experts, the darkness receded and the surroundings gradually became visible.
We were standing on the edge of a desert.
Countless strange demon beasts were scattered across the sand.
Including the Haeryong Clan, unknown races I had never seen before, and even demon beasts that looked like mere stones—undeniably alive.
An uncountable number of demon beasts covered the ground.
Thousands? Tens of thousands? Roughly ten thousand, I’d guess.
Most of them were already at the Core Formation or Nascent Soul realm.
The only Foundation Establishment expert here was me.
At that moment, Gyu-ryeon continued her speech from within the golden light.
First, I extend my respect to all the later-stage experts of the demon beasts who have come here. You all know that you may lose your lives in this spear-blood alliance, yet you still chose to participate in a selection that only takes one hundred. That takes courage. At the same time, however, I feel concerned as your senior. Let me remind you once more: this spear-blood alliance is an extreme survival test held within the Emptiness space. I will speak plainly. The spear-blood alliance involves death, and those who wish to quit should do so right now. Is there anyone who wishes to quit the spear-blood alliance? Step forward immediately.
However, no one stepped forward.
Gyu-ryeon nodded dispassionately, but I could sense pity in her will.
Very well. Since no one wishes to quit, I shall now begin the spear-blood alliance. The content of this spear-blood alliance is quite simple. Simply survive until only the last one hundred remain!
She flicked her hand, and golden life force spread outward, carving bizarre patterns onto the arms and legs of every demon beast present.
The number inscribed in the demon beast language was twenty-eight thousand three hundred fifty-two.
The number now on your bodies represents the count of other spear-blood alliance participants who have entered the test. With every death, the number will decrease accordingly. Hold out until the number reaches one hundred. But as you know, the spear-blood alliance does not allow mid-course quitting. Therefore, for the number I have given you to drop to one hundred or below, a significant number of you must either die or fall into a combat-incapable state. Well, that’s the gist of it. Does anyone have any questions?
Senior Test Supervisor. What exactly is a combat-incapable state?
One demon beast asked Gyu-ryeon. She answered in a cold tone, yet with a heart full of pity.
Anyone who is driven to the brink of death and reaches the state of becoming a living corpse will be recognized as combat-incapable and transferred to the second floor of Bongmyeong-ju. However, if you do reach that state, you should be prepared to have your cultivation base drop by at least several stages.
…Understood.
Any more questions?
I have one thing I would like to confirm… If the goal of this competition is to survive until fewer than one hundred earth-faction members remain, then isn’t the true purpose of the spear-blood alliance to reduce the number of competitors as quickly as possible?
A demon beast resembling a praying mantis asked Gyu-ryeon with killing intent dripping from his voice.
Gyu-ryeon smiled faintly.
Most would think that, but it’s not quite. In the end, this spear-blood alliance is a contest to select demon beasts with sufficient life force to accept the blood of the true immortals. Thus it is also a contest centered on survival. Once the contest truly begins, you will understand.
Yes… Understood as meaning that reducing the number of competitors is permissible.
Do as you please.
The mantis-like demon beast revealed his killing intent without hiding it, sneering.
The surrounding demon beasts gave him an uneasy glance and instinctively took a step or two away.
Yet Gyu-ryeon sent him a look of pity.
No matter what it is, it seems this real spear-blood alliance demands terrifying survival ability.
It was not difficult.
Over the past six months, not only me but also Won-yu had recovered our cultivation.
Unlike me, who had no foundation in cultivation since the moment of regression, Won-yu possessed the original Four-Pillar foundation, so he had quickly regained Core Formation cultivation.
Since I had brought Won-yu here, survival ability was not a concern for me.
Soon, more questions followed.
Does the spear-blood alliance not end until one hundred remain?
That’s correct. I know what you’re worried about. Will it drag on for years? That’s your concern? Don’t worry. The decisive battle will come within four months at most.
Several more questions were asked.
Gyu-ryeon swept her gaze across the crowd.
No more questions? Then, from now on, the real spear-blood alliance shall begin!
Yes!
Countless demon beasts answered in unison.
And Gyu-ryeon raised her hand high into the sky and brought it down.
From this moment, the spear-blood alliance begins!
Kwaaa-kwaaak!
At the same time, the desert itself shattered and began to collapse downward.
This is…
Not pure physical force.
I observed the flow of spiritual energy between Gyu-ryeon and the desert, and realized the true nature of this so-called desert.
Is the desert itself Gyu-ryeon’s magical art?
Uuuuussu!
The desert cracked open, revealing pitch-black space beneath.
Absolute darkness, much like the Emptiness space.
Unlike the Emptiness space, however, I could not return to the Material Realm by reading the coordinates.
Because the darkness itself was not the Emptiness space, but the space of the Material Realm.
Swaaaa!
I felt a sense of reality as the insane chill rushed over my body, and I nearly lost consciousness.
What in the world is this…
It’s cold.
I had known the spear-blood alliance would be no joke, but I had not imagined it would be this freezing.
Absolute nothingness.
Absolute darkness!
It was as if the universe itself had turned into this.
The life force itself is being drained.
In this pitch-black void, simply remaining still causes life force to scatter into the Emptiness on its own.
In this insane cold, I endured and finally understood why Gyu-ryeon smiled coldly at the demon beast who wished to reduce the number of competitors, yet pitied him at the same time.
Reducing competitors? How ridiculous.
That kind of thing is impossible.
Just staying still makes the soul feel as though it will freeze.
No, it isn’t even cold.
It is death itself.
The fourth floor is called the Layer of Death. Isn’t that more fitting for the first floor?
Before we knew it, the desert that had once been our ground had vanished into darkness.
Gyu-ryeon and the Four-Pillar experts who had been illuminating the area had disappeared somewhere.
I decided not to look for the other demon beasts around me and immediately began circulating my law power.
Uuuung!
Pure law power flowed vigorously through my body, waking my dying flesh.
Wooong wooong!
Faint light began to spurt from my body, and a faint sense of survival returned.
This won’t do.
Yet I clenched my teeth as I watched even that faint light slowly scatter into the darkness.
I need another way. If this continues, all life force will scatter and I will die. It’s a test of life force itself.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
During this time, my body—which had never once been controlled—began to slam into itself on its own.
The moment death itself pressed close, my body moved on its own, not because of will.
If this continues, I will definitely die.
There is no other way. Since it’s a test of life force, I just need to activate my life force.
And nothing is better for activating life force than cultivation.
Even though the space is sparse in spiritual energy, it is still better than nothing.
In such a space, I can train without Seo Hyul noticing.
In other words, I will have plenty of time to train properly.
And the fact that there is no spiritual energy is not a problem either.
Uuuung!
Mansang Inyeondo.
Tzzzt!
The forms of spirit beings rose before me.
The countless spirit beings that carried the affinity of all phenomena transformed according to my will into my own figure.
I then overlapped with my own body.
Zuuuung!
The vast spiritual energy stored within the spirit beings was transmitted into my body.
Since the moment I heard that the spear-blood alliance was a survival competition, I had believed I could easily survive within the last one hundred.
As long as I hid my presence with Wansuigungmurok and merely absorbed the spiritual energy of Mansang Inyeondo, I would be fine.
But looking at this harsh Emptiness environment, most demon beasts would exhaust all their life force and essence just trying to endure in this void.
I wouldn’t need Wansuigungmurok.
I could simply train diligently with the spiritual energy of Mansang Inyeondo and wait!
Uuuung!
In the meantime, I brought the practice of Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop, which Seo Hyul had suspected me of not training, into my body.
Because Seo Hyul knew Changhoza, the probability that he would discover me practicing Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop was high, so I had not trained it until now.
Six months ago, every three days Seo Hyul summoned me to check my progress, but Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop had drastic body changes in the beginning, so I had to be careful.
According to Gyu-ryeon’s words, however, I would gain roughly four months of time in this test.
Four months… I could pull up the ki and blood of the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop I had stored from my past life.
Ki is soul.
That is why the laws I had bound to my soul and the practice of Mansang Inyeondo stored within them could return to me across time.
Ki is life.
The extremely pure spiritual energy was literally life force.
That is why the practice of Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop, which compresses spiritual energy to the extreme and maximizes life force, could also be brought over after regression.
Udug, uudeug!
Huge life force swirled through my entire body.
Kuuuup!
The pain I had endured while practicing Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop in my past life was compressed into a moment and struck my brain.
…!
Pain so intense it felt as though my brain would split!
Yet I gritted my teeth and endured the pain, accepting the life force that pounded through my body.
The massive life force rotated through my entire body, raising my ki and blood, and began to reconstruct the diamond-like body I had created in my past life.
Uudeuddeug!
I gritted my teeth through the pain of my body being crushed and continued practicing.
Even though it felt as though my body was being crushed, that agony was pushing back the chill and darkness of the lowest floor.
I can endure this.
I smiled in the lowest floor of Bongmyeong-ju, continuing my cultivation with life force.
If I keep going like this, I can endure to the very end!
Even as my body felt as though it was being crushed, the pain allowed me to withstand the chill thanks to the heat it generated.
With the confidence that I could survive the spear-blood alliance to the end, I continued to wait.
The number recorded on my arm was decreasing rapidly.
In just a few days, the tens of thousands of demon beasts who had numbered twenty-eight thousand three hundred fifty-two had fallen to five thousand.
And now I understood why Gyu-ryeon had said the decisive battle would come within four months.
The number decreases, the darkness grows stronger.
It became colder and more desolate than before.
The nothingness itself in the Emptiness layer seemed to be forming into something that wanted to devour me.
I can still endure for now. But…
If the number decreases further, the darkness will become even stronger.
When that happens, the life force seething within the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop practice will be overtaken by the life force leaking from my body.
Can I really endure this?
I clenched my teeth and resisted the chill, this death, and endured.
Time passed very slowly.
For months I drifted in the darkness without feeling any light or heat.
Now…
The number is two hundred.
The chill and darkness grew even thicker.
The darkness now seemed to be crawling into my eyes, nose, and mouth.
It felt as though darkness was flowing through my blood vessels instead of blood.
Just a little longer, just a little more…
Fortunately, through Mansang Inyeondo I possessed overwhelmingly more resources than the others.
Enduring would not be difficult.
And at last, the fourth month as Gyu-ryeon had said.
Huuu…
Simply exhaling caused rays of light to spurt from my mouth and scatter into the darkness.
I’m dying… If I endure any longer, I’ll die.
The sensation of death reaching my throat was overwhelming.
As the number of endurance-capable demon beasts decreased, the darkness and chill grew stronger, and the remaining count was now one hundred three.
Only three more deaths were needed.
But the chill that seemed to freeze my soul even made me want to step outside, spear-blood alliance be damned.
The cold was too great to overcome with will alone.
Grind, grind, grind!
I gritted my teeth and focused my mind on the number on my arm.
The one hundred three returned to one hundred.
Now, in just a little while, this insane cold would pass.
I would be able to leave again.
One hundred one.
Now, if one more person falls into a living-corpse state, the spear-blood alliance will end.
Yet I looked at the number and let out a self-mocking laugh.
Surprisingly, my life force is tenacious.
No, it’s thanks to Mansang Inyeondo, not that my life force is particularly tenacious.
I had been enduring while practicing Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop with Mansang Inyeondo.
But now the cold was so severe that even Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop could barely hold it back.
Because it was not merely the yin attribute, but the literal space of nothingness—Emptiness.
It was even harder to endure.
My mind itself felt as though it was drying up.
Four months? It feels like four years.
But it will end soon enough.
I looked at the number one hundred one and hoped that one would disappear quickly.
How much time had passed?
The moment I had been waiting for finally came.
One hundred.
Finally!
The spear-blood alliance… has ended!
Just as I thought that.
…?
Nothing changed.
What the…?
I had known that upon the spear-blood alliance ending, I would be transferred to the second floor.
Why was there still no transfer?
Gyu-ryeon had clearly said that once the number reached one hundred, the spear-blood alliance would end.
Yeah, it must just be taking a little longer.
There is no reason for anything to be wrong.
I calmly waited for the transfer while shivering in the cold.
Ten days had passed again.
Something is wrong.
This can’t be.
Why am I still here even though the spear-blood alliance has ended?
Is Seo Hyul playing some trick?
Has Seo Hyul manipulated the participants of the spear-blood alliance to eliminate them all?
But no matter how I think about it, there is no reason for Seo Hyul to do that.
Perhaps my sense of time has become distorted because of the cold.
But my mind is too clear for that.
I’m not crazy, and even if I am, I’ve thought about this many times and there is no reason for Seo Hyul to do this. Furthermore, over the six months before the spear-blood alliance began, I investigated independently and learned that every spear-blood alliance has been held fairly. There is no room for Seo Hyul to intervene…
It couldn’t be that he deliberately orchestrated this to kill me.
Even if I doubt him, given Seo Hyul’s personality, he would use someone to the maximum and then kill them, not waste them like this without any reason.
Something is wrong.
I decided to wait a little longer while shivering in the cold.
A month passed again.
Perhaps… the Emptiness layer is damaged exactly when I participate?
I’m not crazy.
It’s not that Seo Hyul deliberately came here just to kill me out of boredom.
Those are the only possibilities that come to mind.
No… Rather than that, I am enduring while practicing Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop with the life force accumulated in Mansang Inyeondo, but how are the other demon beasts still alive?
More than two months have passed since the spear-blood alliance ended.
Yet the number still shows one hundred.
It must be that something is wrong with the spear-blood alliance. Damn it, I can’t die as Seo Eun-hyun’s frozen food.
With the resolve that I cannot die, I decided to find a way to escape from this place.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
I drew out my invisible sword and swung it around.
But since the area lacked spiritual energy, it was hard to cut anything.
I gathered spiritual energy in mid-air and explored the void.
But I found nothing.
It is vast.
And cold.
If only I can find whatever is activating the darkness of this Emptiness layer…
I gritted my teeth and pushed through the darkness, searching for a way.
One year passed like this.
One year…
Udug, uudeug…
Even moving one finger made my entire body creak.
This is… not going to work…
Something serious must have gone wrong.
Perhaps all the demon beasts who participated in the spear-blood alliance were sealed in the lowest floor?
After a full year without finding any hope, I could only drift in the Emptiness space.
I need to find a way…
If this continues, even finding an exit or escaping outside is secondary.
I will likely die swallowed by the darkness.
It’s too cold, too empty—I think I’m going to die.
What should I do?
While I drifted through the Emptiness space, pondering.
Thump!
The moment I tried to cross my arms, something in my pocket brushed my hand.
This is…
A small spirit stone.
I remembered the spirit stone’s origin and looked at it.
It was the Gwanhan-gyeol I had bought from the demon beast merchant last time.
The most basic… the foundation of the Yusu-gongbop, as it was called.
Suddenly, I decided to practice both Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop and Gwanhan-gyeol together.
If I cannot find a way to escape the Emptiness layer, the only option is to endure until I am rescued.
Instead of searching for a way to escape the Emptiness layer, I set my course to endure as long as possible.
Endure. Somehow endure. Whether Seo Hyul orchestrated this or there is a problem with Bongmyeong-ju, I will endure as long as I can!
Uung!
I gritted my teeth, read the demon beast language engraved on the spirit stone, and circulated the spiritual energy according to the principles of Gwanhan-gyeol.
Uuuung!
At first, it was unfamiliar.
But a year had passed in the Emptiness space.
While circulating the spiritual energy, I could feel what the Yusu-gongbop was.
The Yusu-gongbop is explosion.
As I had felt when learning Hofung Eungryongbyeon.
The inner dan, the Yusu, compresses spiritual energy within the inner dan and then explodes it.
By repeating the explosion, the vessel of the inner dan gradually widens, and as the vessel grows, it absorbs even more energy and grows.
That was the foundation of all Yusu-gongbops.
But while reading Gwanhan-gyeol, I realized how absurd a technique Hofung Eungryongbyeon is.
Seo Hyul, did he throw a bomb like Hofung Eungryongbyeon at me to learn?
The root of all Yusu-gongbops is as follows.
Heaven and Earth spiritual energy rotate in a Taiji pattern of yin and yang.
That is why, to the eyes of demon beasts who can see the essence of spiritual energy, all phenomena appear as Taiji.
And the core of Yusu-gongbop is to strongly rotate the Taiji within the inner dan, then collide it strongly to cause explosion.
Yin and yang explode against each other, but at the same time achieve harmony and stabilize instantly. Thus, while Yusu-gongbop is painful to learn, its stability is guaranteed.
However, the Hofung Eungryongbyeon Seo Hyul gave me contained no principles of Taiji rotation, only the method of blindly exploding the inner dan.
That damned bastard.
I cursed Seo Hyul inwardly and continued repeating the principles of Gwanhan-gyeol.
Three more years passed.
Now five years had been spent in the darkness.
The Yusu-gongbop was truly simple.
At the Qi Condensation level, it circulated weak spiritual energy and exploded.
At the Foundation Establishment level, it linked its own life force to the inner dan, rotated the Taiji even more intensely, and exploded.
At the Core Formation level, it used the reinforced inner dan, which was as sturdy as the Golden Elixir of the human race, to repeatedly explode and reconstruct, refining the spiritual energy.
It rotated the Taiji, collided it, and exploded.
Within that process, the refined pure spiritual energy.
In other words, constantly filling the body with life force.
That was the essence of all Yusu-gongbops.
Unlike the human race, which created the Law Flower Core through the flow of yin and yang and then trained Yin-Yang Gods at the Nascent Soul realm, the demon beasts stubbornly followed the flow of yin and yang from the beginning and, reaching the Nascent Soul realm, circulated the Yin-Yang Gods back through the flow of yin and yang.
Compared to the complicated principles, rituals, and reading of heavenly trials that the human race required for their techniques, it was as simple as leaving it to instinct.
Perhaps the demon beasts were right to learn the Yusu-gongbop following their instincts.
The wild beasts that originally lacked intelligence gained spiritual nature and vision, then circulated the yin and yang within their bodies and exploded according to their own vision.
Because it was so simple, it was a technique that even the Yusu who had lacked intelligence could learn.
Kuuung!
I frowned as I felt the spiritual energy exploding from my inner dan.
It was not as complex as the techniques of the human race and the heavenly race, but that did not mean it was easy to learn.
The Yusu-gongbop was, like Lian Ti-gongbop, or perhaps even more horrific than Lian Ti-gongbop in its pain.
Every time spiritual energy exploded from the inner dan, it was part of the cultivation. Since Core Formation demon beasts had to explode the inner dan itself, they had to endure the constant pain of their inner dan being shattered at every moment.
Five more years passed.
Ten years in the Emptiness layer!
I have no idea how much time I wasted.
Originally, I should have had time to recover the Nascent Soul realm in the outside where spiritual energy was abundant!
But I was merely surviving in the void while deepening my understanding of the Yusu-gongbop.
Kuuung!
I gritted my teeth through the pain as though my inner dan was being crushed and practiced Gwanhan-gyeol and Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop simultaneously.
Gradually, the chill of the Emptiness layer began to be pushed back by the heat of the pain.
Duk, duk, duk!
It feels like a heart.
As I practiced the Yusu-gongbop, it felt as though an extra heart had appeared in my inner dan.
Every time the heart beat once, blood spurted through the arteries throughout the body and returned through the veins to the heart, just as in a living body.
Every time the yin and yang in the inner dan exploded, the explosion force swept through the entire body, tempering it, then condensed back inside the inner dan and became pure life force, healing the body.
Life is explosion…
Duk, duk, duk!
Gwanhan-gyeol and Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop lifted my life by causing explosions.
And at some point.
Faaaaat!
I felt a strange sensation as Gwanhan-gyeol and Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop merged around my inner dan.
This is…
Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop is evolving.
No, wait.
Originally, Lian Ti-gongbop was a subordinate technique that evolved Yusu-gongbop.
And at this very moment, the principles of Gwanhan-gyeol, the basic Yusu-gongbop that explained the operation of Yusu-gongbop, were operating within my inner dan. The evolution plate of Lian Ti-gongbop had become the same conditions as Yusu-gongbop and revealed its true essence.
This is… the true power of Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop…!
Buuung!
Udug, uudeuddeug!
It is cold.
It is unbearably cold.
Yet at the same time, I realized fundamental changes were occurring throughout my body.
Crack, crack, crack!
Body transformation!
As the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin had shown how Heaven and Earth spiritual energy should guide my body toward the correct path, this time Heaven and Earth spiritual energy was once again showing me how my body could evolve even more correctly.
Crack, crack, crack!
This is…
Spiritual energy rotates before my eyes.
Yin and yang break apart and enter my body, forming a double spiral.
Ah…
Yin and yang climbed the double spiral, digging into the secrets of the flesh accumulated from the past and pointing toward the correct direction of evolution.
Crack, crack, crack!
I adjusted my body according to that direction and finally completed the body transformation.
At the same time, I felt my consciousness naturally take on a specific form.
I see.
The consciousness domain that had covered the surroundings in a circle transformed into a complete human form and enveloped me.
Human beings were also once a kind of Yusu until they found the method of the heavenly race and became heavenly immortals.
Kugugug…
As my consciousness changed into a human and I moved my body, clenching my fist, I felt an immensely powerful force enter my fist—something I had never felt before.
Huuu…
Finally, I had reached the new realm of the Yusu-gongbop.
At the same moment, I was overwhelmed by awe toward Kim Young-hoon.
He found the path to the other side of Deungbongjogeuk with a body that had not even learned Lian Ti-gongbop, tracing the origin of martial arts and discovering the path to human Yusu-gongbop?
The other path he had struggled to find while pursuing the way beyond Deungbongjogeuk in that past loop.
It was the Yusu-gongbop.
Not the Yusu-gongbop for real beasts found in Seo Ran’s book, but the Yusu-gongbop for humans!
That had been the other path Kim Young-hoon had discovered while evolving martial arts.
I, finally, have reached that path.
I smiled faintly, recalling the Kim Young-hoon of that loop.
Chiii…
So it ends here…
I completed the body transformation and looked at the life force leaking from my body, letting out a self-mocking laugh.
It was good that I had realized the true meaning of the Yusu-gongbop through the body transformation.
But I had almost used up all the spiritual energy in my body while undergoing the body transformation.
There was almost no life force left in Mansang Inyeondo.
If I had been in a place where Heaven and Earth spiritual energy was abundant, I could have replenished the spiritual energy immediately. But in this absolute realm of death, that was impossible.
Am I going to die like this so absurdly…
I felt my eyes gradually closing and laughed.
Well, at least I confirmed what that other path Kim Young-hoon discovered was…
Perhaps it is not such an empty death.
Thinking that, I closed my eyes.
I thought it was my sixteenth regression.
***
Ten years endured.
…?
Thud, thud…
I opened my eyes in front of a bonfire.
Where am I…?
It is dark.
It is not cold, but this place is also dark.
Yet everything is clearly visible.
There is no light!
Strange.
Everything in front of my eyes is perceived so clearly, yet it is painfully clear that no light exists.
What is this?
It is strange.
Living beings perceive objects through light.
But somehow, even without light, everything around me is perceived.
In front of me is a bonfire.
But the bonfire has no light—only heat.
Around the bonfire stood countless statues, each a masterpiece of exquisite art.
I was startled by the sudden situation.
Sit. Having endured ten years, you will only have ten seconds to talk with this lord. Of course, if we really only talk for ten seconds, neither of us will find anything worth it. This lord has distorted time so that one second flows as one day.
What in the…
Someone is sitting in front of me.
I lifted my head to look at him.
At that moment.
…! Kuuuueuk!
The eyeballs!
The eyeballs suddenly vaporize!
Without any warning, as soon as I tried to perceive the opponent, the eyeballs themselves evaporated and flew into the void.
Not just the eyeballs!
The entire body, the entire body vaporizes!
I, I’m dying…
Sit.
The next moment.
As soon as he told me to sit, the body that had been vaporizing sank back down.
And I found myself sitting properly on one of the surrounding statues.
Do not look directly at this lord. If this lord is the main body, we may be able to converse properly according to your status. But this lord is merely a remnant thought left by the main body, and I cannot adjust my status, so I may die.
He, he, I’m…
My heart is racing wildly.
This lord is the master of Liberation. If you look directly at this lord, all the essence that makes up your being will be liberated from the frame of you and vaporize and disappear.
Y-you…
My head is spinning.
The moment I guessed who the being in front of me was, my consciousness began to shake as if it would collapse, direction sense vanished, and I felt as though I would be knocked to the ground at any second.
The pain of being trapped in the Emptiness for ten years vanished in an instant, and new fear, awe, and reverence flooded my mind.
My name is Bongmyeong. I am the creator of the Bongmyeong Hammer you entered.
The being in front of me is at least a True Immortal.
To talk with you, I have distorted ten years of time and summoned you here. Then, shall we talk? End-of-Life?
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