The Race of Land (9)
A chill raced through my entire body.
But the oppressive weight I had felt when I last met that [being] was nowhere to be seen.
The presence before me was also only a fragment of resentment from a single drop of blood, and [he] was merely a clone. Yet something felt different.
I tried to understand why, but I sensed a clearer distance between us.
It was as if this black dragon stood far, far away—farther than the original [he].
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
Perhaps this black dragon existed in a dimension even more distant than the original’s, within the Gwanghan Realm.
‘Since its core is in a farther dimension, it carries none of that same pressure.’
Still, despite the absence of the original’s weight, the mere presence of a single drop of blood left behind by this black dragon delivered pressure far beyond any late-stage Integration cultivator.
While I stared at the black dragon.
Crack! Crack-crack-crack!
“…!!!”
Suddenly, my entire body locked away in darkness began to disintegrate before the black dragon.
‘What in the…!?’
Even though this was merely a spiritual world where I had met the black dragon’s resentment, and not the real world, I felt as though my physical body was being torn apart in reality.
“Kuuueup!!”
I bit back my scream, but the black dragon paid no heed. It systematically dismantled every part of my body, observing from the deepest layers.
Bones and flesh were disintegrating.
Blood and internal organs were vanishing.
Finally, even the tiniest cells began to break down.
Within each cell, countless double helices—along with the countless yin-yang energies that had once swirled inside my body—were laid bare before the black dragon’s eyes.
Despite being a spiritual world, my flesh was being rendered with the same clarity as in reality. Even though I had ascended to the Woldoipcheon realm and mastered the Gimyoseongsimjeon technique, I could offer no resistance whatsoever before this gaze.
And at the exact moment the black dragon inverted my body, I also saw information about the yin-yang and double helices that the black dragon observed unfurl before my own eyes.
‘This… is…’
The same scene I had witnessed when I first obtained the Yuanyeong.
The vision of yin-yang energies swirling within my body as it reviewed my past.
Yes.
I was watching the scene of me obtaining the Yuanyeong once again—through this black dragon’s eyes!
‘This… is my history…!!?’
Being born, growing up, flying to this world…
And then, fleeing and following Seo Hyul, arriving here. The thirty-plus years of my life passed before my eyes in an instant.
‘Huh?’
Yet I realized something was wrong.
The life moments I had normally seen in the life light, or when I reached the Yuanyeonggi realm, had all been flows that included the time of my regression.
But the flow the black dragon showed contained no regression. The memory cut off abruptly the moment I crossed from my original world into this one—right after the regression.
And as the memories flashed by, the moment I finally entered Bongmyeong-ju and met [him] surfaced in my mind.
That was the moment.
Pit!
Suddenly the life light cut off completely, and my body returned to its original state.
“…!?”
It was only then that I realized I could move again within the space.
“…! Haa… haa…”
I thought I was dying.
What in the world was happening?
‘My body… is being broken down at the genetic unit level?’
And those very genes were carried upward by the yin-yang energies, forming double helices while showing my past.
In other words, I had taken a direct look at the history of my own life in a single glance.
At that moment, the black dragon’s voice struck my ears.
[What on earth is it that a mere mortal with over two thousand years of accumulated time has done? —— I had indeed met that person. Since he does not allow one to peer into the past, I shall stop here.]
“…? Ah…”
It seemed the black dragon had realized something upon viewing the memories of my encounter with [him].
“You… read all of my memories?”
I asked the dark dragon before me in a trembling voice.
The dark dragon remained silent for a moment, then simply dispersed into the darkness.
The black dragon’s voice, scattered across all directions, echoed across the heavens and earth.
[I tried to read everything, but —— stopped me. I dared not read all of it. What kind of mortal are you, that —— cherishes you so dearly.]
‘Huh?’
I tried to hear what the —— in the black dragon’s words might be, but the very words themselves were not even perceived.
‘…He must have done something.’
“P-pardon me, but I myself do not fully know why that person would take an interest in me.”
[Is that so… I understand. However, the reason I worry about you is not that. Are you truly attempting to refine the Player’s blood lineage now?]
“…? Yes, that’s correct.”
[Those who inherit the Player’s bloodline and wish to refine it formally must first be driven into extreme environments to confirm that they possess enough life force to receive the Player’s blood. You must have gone through that process. Is that not so?]
“Yes.”
I had indeed completed the Player’s blood fusion.
[If I were to ask you, what was the highest cultivation level reached by those who participated in the Player’s blood fusion?]
“It was clearly the Yuanyeonggi realm.”
From my memories, participation above the Cheonin realm had been impossible.
[Why do you think the Cheonin realm was blocked from participation? Those who reach the Cheonin realm possess several times more life force than those at the Yuanyeonggi realm.]
“That is…”
The black dragon’s voice thundered from within the darkness.
[A thousand years. The condition for receiving the Player’s bloodline and refining it is ‘having lived no more than a thousand years.’ Those who have already exceeded a thousand years even among Yuanyeonggi cultivators naturally cannot receive it, and the majority of Cheonin realm cultivators have lived far longer, so they lack the qualification.]
“…”
[Yet here you are—your body is willing, yet you, a mere mortal, have accumulated two thousand years of time. You have lived as long as a Cheonin realm cultivator and still wish to receive the Player’s bloodline. That is impossible. Originally, the original soul left behind in the Player’s bloodline was meant to advise the Cheonin cultivators who dared attempt to refine the Player’s bloodline without hesitation…]
“Th-then… does that mean I lack qualifications?”
I asked the black dragon in disbelief.
Because I had lived over two thousand years, and because of that, my qualifications were blocked and I could not refine the Player’s bloodline?
While I was stunned, a sense of amusement seemed to fill the entire darkness.
[You do not lack qualifications. Rather, your qualifications are overflowing to the point that even Cheonin realm beasts cannot hold the Player’s power. When you try to add anything to an already full vessel, it simply overflows.]
“…”
[Spirit qi will soon explode. Explosion means life. And every living thing possesses a double-helix structure modeled after yin-yang.]
The black dragon continued from within the darkness.
[The double helix is the grand archive of all information and the history of existence. Little one, do you know why the race that nurtures life by causing spirit qi to explode is called the race of land?]
Uuuk!
Suddenly my stomach churned violently.
Same as when I had met [him].
‘This… this…’
Until now I had thought the black dragon existed in a distant dimension. Yet it was gradually getting closer—approaching here.
The entire world began spinning wildly.
The black dragon was showing interest in me.
Even though it was in a distant dimension, its interest alone, beyond a single drop of blood, conveyed an immense existence.
Its core was distant, yet its concern crossed dimensions, and that concern alone made my existence tremble.
[If heaven is fate, then the earth is history. History is information, and information is life. Therefore, those who race toward the ultimate meaning of life are all members of the race of land.]
His voice was gentle.
But its true nature had long since dispersed into darkness, and I felt every single gene that formed my body being devoured by the darkness. I could not even scream; I simply melted away.
I was melting and dying with every syllable of that gentle voice.
[Our Player beast is a god that wanders in the realm of life and history. We are the true representatives of the race of land. That is why we cannot accept too much accumulated time. Why? Because living for many years means there is already enough content in one vessel; adding new things would likely shatter the vessel.]
Ku gu gu gu gu!
“Aaaah… aaaah! Aa… aaah…”
[History is an absolute ‘one’. Therefore, the Player’s power that one existence can accept is also one. That is why, little one, you could not receive my power to begin with. You have already accumulated enough time to surpass your own limits…]
The screams gradually sank into the darkness.
[But conversely, since you have exceeded your limits and accumulated that much time, perhaps you do not know. So I shall watch for a moment. Can you receive my power?]
Bu ssus…
My entire body was torn apart by the darkness.
I realized I had become dust and lost consciousness within the darkness.
* * *
“Gu hak…! Gu ha hak! Ku hak!”
Haa!
I opened my eyes in a flash and shuddered at the strange sound coming from my throat.
‘Where… am I?’
Right.
I had asked Gyu-ryeon to help me refine the Player’s bloodline inside her eastern domain…
“Hah!”
I hurriedly rose and tried to look around.
But the horrific foreign sensation from my throat forced me to sit back down.
No, not just my throat—the entire body felt that horrific sensation.
“…”
It was a blood lance!
A blood lance made of pure blood had been thrust into my throat, limbs, and right at the top of my dantian, just above my heart.
“Wh-what… is this…?”
Kulak!
Every time I spoke, blood spewed out.
At that moment, a familiar figure walked over from afar.
It was Gyu-ryeon.
“Have you regained your senses?”
“Gyu… senior…?”
“Normally, when refining the Player’s bloodline, one faces the fragment of the Player black dragon’s power dissolved in the blood and loses control, rampaging wildly. Because you rampaged so much, I suppressed you inside the spell formation.”
“Ah… thank you. Could you… perhaps remove them now…?”
She approached silently, then pulled out the blood lance in my throat, the one in my heart, and the one above my dantian.
Chwa rak!
The moment the lances were extracted, a rich spiritual energy surged in, and I felt the pierced areas regenerating.
‘Regeneration power… the dimensions are different…?’
I lit up my eyes at my altered body state.
This level of regeneration power was one I could only see once I reached the Gedan realm.
“Um… but could you also remove the blood lances embedded in my limbs?”
“Not yet.”
“Yes…?”
“You have only just awakened after experiencing the lingering remnants of the black dragon’s power.”
“Wh-what… heuk!!!”
I gritted my teeth against the oncoming pain along with him.
It was cold!
Just like when I had been trapped at the bottom of Bongmyeong-ju!
This was…
“The black dragon is a Player beast that governs the power of the Cold Moon. This is the process of melting his power into your body. Accept the Cold Moon’s authority passed down from ancient times.”
Fwa a a a at!
Gyu-ryeon’s voice rang out.
And every time it echoed, golden spiritual energy began to flow from the blood lances embedded in my limbs.
Even though it was so cold I might freeze solid.
The blood lances drove away my chill and guided my spirit.
‘This is… the Cold Moon…?’
I gritted my teeth and tried to calm the wild qi surging throughout my body.
“Huu u u u u u!”
Calm!
Gyu-ryeon revealed her golden horns and suppressed the wild qi surging through my body. I placed the suppressed qi under my will and forcibly restrained it from rampaging.
“Operate the Yaosu Gongbeop you have cultivated in that state. Guide the flow of yin-yang to encompass the Cold Moon!”
‘Guide the flow of yin-yang to encompass the Cold Moon…?’
I operated the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop and drew out the yin energy.
Yin and yang spirit qi exploded, and double helices were drawn between the explosions.
I guided the yin energy into those double helices.
The power of yin seeped through the spaces between the double helices and began remodeling my own flesh.
Udug, uu deu deuk!
The black dragon’s power seeped into my entire body!
Ppudeuk, ppuu deu deuk!
I felt black antlers sprouting on my forehead and my teeth sharpening. Sharp claws like those of a hawk formed at my fingertips, and sparse black scales began to appear on my skin.
“Gu… aaa a a a!”
When I roared, the sound that erupted from my vocal cords was no longer a human voice—it was a dragon’s.
The powerful savage energy of the black dragon seemed to seize control of my mind.
‘My… mind…?’
The black dragon’s roar raged maddeningly near my ears.
If this continued, I would likely be devoured by the black dragon’s savagery.
No, wait.
‘This…’
I was facing the savagery hidden deep within me.
The black dragon’s power seeped inward, extracting my own two thousand years of time.
The negative energies I had accumulated layer upon layer over those two thousand years of life, and the desires that had been strongly suppressed for so long, began to writhe wildly.
‘So that’s it. The longer one lives, the more one cannot overcome the savagery accumulated within oneself and crumbles.’
I gritted my teeth while facing the savagery of my own self that had been exposed by the black dragon’s power.
If I continued, my mind might break and I might do something insane.
“Kua a a a a!”
I roared.
Now my roar was no different from a dragon’s.
The entire eastern domain of Gyu-ryeon shook, but she remained calm and lifted golden spiritual energy.
“It will hurt a little. Still, if you have passed the Player blood fusion, you should be able to endure it.”
At the next moment, she lifted her foot.
Golden spiritual energy surged into her foot.
And her foot came down hard, stomping on my head.
“Kwa k!”
Without even noticing what I felt.
My head, seized by savagery and desire, was crushed and shattered by Gyu-ryeon’s foot.
Pe reong!
I lost consciousness with the final sensation that my head had exploded like a bursting watermelon.
* * *
[My power is poison to you. What you will gain from it is nothing but a curse.]
The black dragon’s voice faintly echoed from within the darkness.
[Yet you truly wish to accept my power. Do as you please. Only when you are about to die will you regret it, you fool.]
My consciousness gradually grew hazy once more.
I realized this was the final conversation I could have with the black dragon in this life.
‘No… I cannot let this opportunity slip away.’
If I missed this chance, I would be missing out on a tremendous opportunity!
‘O great black dragon. Please accept the will of a mortal.’
The darkness fell silent.
But I sensed a willingness to answer in the silence.
‘What relation does the black dragon king Hyeol-eum, who inherited your bloodline, have with the blood ghost realm…?’
I asked the black dragon directly about the black dragon king Hyeol-eum and the dragon clan.
[I see. Recently that person has been struggling with all his might, borrowing my bloodline.]
For some reason, the black dragon seemed to find my question extremely amusing.
[A high-ranking judge of the underworld—how could he fall into such a state and struggle? Anyone who governs good and evil would tremble before him, yet a mere True Immortal has left only his dregs and is parasitizing my bloodline like a bug… ahahaha…]
Zziing!
Kwa a a a a ng!
The next instant.
The moment I heard the True Immortal’s name, my head exploded.
I had so much more I wanted to ask the black dragon, so much more I wanted to know—
But at that instant, everything was wiped from my mind.
Those who dare recklessly mention a True Immortal’s real name willfully.
Their minds must be ruined.
“Kua a a a a ak!”
Names contain fragments of fate.
I had peered into the True Immortal’s name and glimpsed his true name.
[He] had erased his name from me, so there was no trace, but the True Immortal’s name the black dragon had carelessly spat out stirred my brain and plunged my mind into chaos.
Erased!
I erased the conversation I had just had.
I erased the name I had just heard.
If I did not erase it from my mind, ▒▒▒Hyeol-eum would surely look at me.
I felt my mind sinking into darkness and lost consciousness.
* * *
“Haa…”
I inhaled deeply and regained my senses.
‘Just now… my head felt like it had exploded…?’
Right. Gyu-ryeon had stomped on my head and burst it.
But…
‘My head has regenerated?’
I was still only at the Chukgig i realm.
Yet my head had already begun to regenerate.
‘To regenerate my head, I should have needed to reach the Gedan realm…?’
Twitch…
“…”
I moved my body and shuddered.
This was strange.
How much power did I have at the Chukgig i realm?
That was when.
“Wh-what…!”
I was next.
I was startled out of my wits by something inside my dantian.
‘Golden core? No, no.’
My inner pill had evolved and grown as large as a golden core.
Ttuk, ttud deuk…
When I moved my hand, I felt the blood lances embedded in my limbs crumble like snacks.
“Wh-what…!”
“Have you awakened?”
And Gyu-ryeon, who had been sitting beside me, spoke.
“It seems the Player’s blood lineage has settled well.”
“Hah…!”
U deu deuk!
When I hurriedly stood up in alarm, the blood lances embedded throughout my body crumbled like snack pieces.
“Congratulations. Now you are, though not completely, at least a member of our dragon clan.”
Gyu-ryeon looked at me with a satisfied smile, arms crossed.
“Ah, no, Senior Gyu… by the way, the inner pill in my stomach, I mean the inner core…?”
“You are currently at the Gedan realm.”
“Yes…!?”
“There are always people like you. Those whose Player bloodline’s power settles exceptionally well and whose cultivation skyrockets. Because your inner core has completed the golden core transformation, you are now at the Gedan realm.”
I opened my mouth in astonishment at the unexpected realm breakthrough.
My entire body felt full of power.
If so, I might be able to manifest the power of the Gedan realm with nothing but my bare hands, without using any martial techniques or spells.
But that was not the end.
I sensed that the Cold Moon’s power surging within me could, if properly controlled, become a spell and scatter in all directions.
‘No, it is not a spell.’
The power of the Cold Moon I wielded with the black dragon’s bloodline was not a spell.
It should be called Yogong.
Kkudeu deuk…
When I clenched my fist, I felt the rich power along with the qi swirling around it.
‘If I combine the Yogong of the Yaosu clan with the Beopsul of the human clan, use it together with the power of this flesh and the extreme technique that heightens power…’
Even with only Gedan realm level strength, I would not fear a Yuanyeonggi cultivator at all.
It was when I was examining the power of my own flesh.
Gyu-ryeon, who had been sitting, pointed outside her eastern domain.
“Look at your power outside, you have guests coming to find you.”
“Yes?”
“Because I am holding back the guests right now, my strength is lacking. Go out and properly deal with them.”
“Ah…”
I thought I could guess who the ‘guests’ she meant were.
I slowly walked outside.
Ku reung, ku reu reung, ku reung!
Massive dark clouds covered the sky.
And from within those dark clouds, a familiar figure thundered.
It was Wolryeong.
But Wolryeong did not fall.
A spell formation with a golden dragon drawn on it covered the entire sky above Gyu-ryeon’s eastern domain, trapping Wolryeong who could only writhe inside her spell formation.
‘While I ascended to the Gedan realm, she kept the heavenly thunder from falling.’
Ku reung, ku reu reung!
Of course, the power rushing from the sky, since others were blocking it, was far stronger than usual.
The power of the heavenly thunder that thundered from the sky, as if daring to use others’ power to overcome the Cheongbeop, was not something to be lightly dismissed.
But.
‘Somehow, I think I can win.’
I smiled inwardly and first paid my respects to Gyu-ryeon inside the eastern domain.
“Thank you for taking care of me.”
“It’s nothing. Now I shall release the Cheongbeop… so test the newly obtained Player beast’s power.”
“Yes.”
At the same time as her words, the heavenly thunder in the sky subsided and Wolryeong fell toward me.
Kuk, kku gu gu gu kuk!
I refined the power surging within my body.
The heavenly clan techniques: Umhon Gwiju, Baekran Chukseong, Cheonrin Suhae, and Gyuto Jangseong.
The earth clan techniques I had completely transformed into Yaosu Gongbeop because of the Gwanghan Realm: the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop and the black dragon’s power.
And the power of the martial clan that I had raised to its limit.
The Muhyeong Geom did not need to be revealed.
The Muhyeong Geom I had obtained at the peak of martial arts was already deeply intertwined with the entire range of extreme techniques I routinely used.
Since the trajectories unfolding from my body were all under my control without having to reveal the Muhyeong Geom directly.
I needed only swing these overflowing powers from my entire body along the optimal trajectory.
Fwa a a a at!
Bearing the power of heaven, earth, and heart.
‘Danak Sword Art.’
Directed at Wolryeong.
‘Wureung!’
Law power and beast power mixed, extending into the sky along the optimal trajectory with the flesh power amplified to its extreme.
Natural Cold Moon energy entered the power shooting into the sky, and the strike aimed at the sky took the form of a massive black dragon and shattered Wolryeong into pieces!
Kwa kwa kwa gwang!
Wolryeong was smashed into pieces, and the dark clouds above her were torn apart, revealing a clear blue sky.
Huu…
Without directly using the Muhyeong Geom, I had received this monstrous heavenly thunder.
U u u eung…
There were changes even in my field of vision.
Until now, my earth clan sight had been nothing more than observing the flow of spirit qi.
But now it showed a much clearer and far grander scene than before.
‘This is… yin-yang…?’
Heaven and earth themselves formed an immense Taeguk.
That Taeguk was space.
Just as reaching the Woldoipcheon realm and gaining insight into the mind strengthened my eyes for observing fate, and mastering heavenly clan techniques; as a beast clan member reaching this realm, the yin and yang flowing through heaven and earth became even more macroscopic and clearer to see.
While looking at the newly evolved beast clan sight, I realized.
‘Now I have firmly become a member of the race of land.’
Finally, I had succeeded in stepping into the realm of land alongside heaven and heart.
I could finally feel it.