The Finale of the Performance
Seo Hyul looked at me with a mocking smile.
**Urururung—**
“Fufufu… No matter how superb the Mind Technique may be, if it doesn’t work… then it doesn’t.”
**Kkwarrurung!**
The sound of a thunderclap rang out. In the next instant I drove my knee straight into Seo Hyul’s skull.
His head was sliced cleanly away.
“First one.”
“Ha…”
**Kugugugu!**
Seo Hyul’s true body emerged.
A colossal sea dragon filled the darkness.
**[Art: Great Sea Thousand-Li Pearl.]**
**Chwaruruk!**
A sphere fifty li in radius.
A perfect sphere a thousand li across.
A single droplet of water materialized inside the dark space.
In an instant Seo Hyul and I were sealed inside a vast, circular sea. He swam freely beneath me, pressing down with crushing weight.
**[Art: Three Hundred Million Jin Water Honey Peach.]**
**Uuwuung!**
**Uddddeuduk!**
The pressure of the water suddenly became monstrous.
The droplets rushed toward my dwindling flesh, swelling it like water balloons until it felt soft and bloated.
But the next moment.
The colorless lightning that enveloped my entire body shifted to golden light.
The first lightning.
Invisible. Untouchable. It pierced every defense and struck my origin soul.
And the second.
**Flicker!**
My body shot straight through the Great Sea Thousand-Li Pearl and leaped through space itself.
This was, quite literally, **Lightning**.
A thunderclap faster than light, slicing through space as it fell.
My attack struck Seo Hyul’s nape.
Of course, even at the peak of the Four Pillars he was far from finished.
But.
“Now two.”
The reason the Heart Tribe despised me was simple: the thunderclaps I delivered when pushing someone to the next realm.
When Seo Hyul tried to reach Integration, he would receive quite the shock.
The third thunderclap.
*Can I?*
I could manifest the Lightning because Kim Young-hoon’s martial arts had grown alongside mine. And the foundation of the Invisible Sword and the Colorless Glass Sword was identical to the roots of the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
I had promised Gyubaek I would, but would I truly be able to recreate the hearts of others?
I held my breath, concentration deepening until it was almost painful.
---
**Uuwuung!**
Outside Seo Hyul’s barrier.
Kim Yeon’s figure glowed brighter than ever.
The connection between her and Seo Eun-hyun made her light even more brilliant.
And for the first time in a long while, her form moved.
“Uhm…?”
A spark of interest lit Goe-gun’s eyes.
“The disciple’s consciousness… not origin, but something far more evolved… Could this be the direction the Strange Star-Mind Scroll should take?”
**Uuwuung!**
Kim Yeon’s hand pointed straight at the Wondrous Castle.
Goe-gun realized what she intended and laughed bitterly.
“So you’re going to activate **Yeon-ui Yeon** by yourself? No, no. You’re trying to collaborate with Seo Eun-hyun inside. Fine. Go ahead, do your worst.”
Goe-gun looked at Kim Yeon with expectant eyes.
And then her hand moved.
Countless threads of consciousness gathered in her palm and plunged into the Wondrous Castle, triggering its final phase.
**Kugugugu!**
**Uuwuung!**
The golden light of **Yeon-ui Yeon** activated.
It flowed straight into Seo Hyul’s barrier.
Goe-gun simply watched in silence.
“No matter how you try to fire Yeon-ui Yeon from outside, without coordinates and energy supply from inside, it’s useless. What exactly are you planning, you little—?”
---
*Deeper. Deeper still!*
I was reaching for another heart when the consciousness thread connecting me to Kim Yeon flared.
At the same moment, golden light surrounded me.
*This is…*
The moment I touched the light, I understood.
It was **Yeon-ui Yeon**.
Kim Yeon had activated it from outside and sent its power straight to me.
But what was I supposed to do with it?
What…?
*…Wait.*
A thought flashed through my mind.
*That’s right…*
I acted the instant the idea formed.
**Uuwuung!**
Having studied the Wondrous Castle and understood the principle of Yeon-ui Yeon, I saw exactly how Goe-gun pulled space and time.
I recreated the moment I had watched before, trapping the coordinates.
Then I twisted space and time with my own intent and pulled the gap between past and present into a single thread.
The most important part was the coordinates.
The difference between Goe-gun’s puppet art and my Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram was negligible.
**Buuuuung!**
I poured the power of Yeon-ui Yeon into the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
The force flowed into the Colorless Glass Sword.
Destiny carries weight.
If it can carry that much, can history—something far older—do the same?
**Paawaaat!**
The history accumulated in the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram shone, distorting space and time.
I danced the sword dance.
Beside me, the shadow of a man appeared and danced with me.
I gathered that dance, that heart, and poured it transparently into the Invisible Sword.
**Kkwarrurung!**
Again.
A golden bolt struck Seo Hyul directly.
I smiled, watching the silhouette of the man the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram had manifested.
“Thank you for your service.”
The Lightning I had just created was far more natural than the forced one from moments ago.
The man smiled once at me and vanished back into the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
*I see…*
I hadn’t realized it, but my Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram was the perfect method to open Yeon-ui Yeon.
Confidence surged through me.
Right now.
The Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram, Yeon-ui Yeon, and the combined power of my Ansang and the Curse of Thunder.
I finally understood what I could do.
**Tchutchut!**
A small green figure erupted from the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
The green figure held a saber and had been manifested by Yeon-ui Yeon.
**Four Treasures Heaven-Destroying Saber.**
**Trap Immortal Destruction of Heaven.**
The final strike of the Four Treasures Heaven-Destroying Saber.
The blow that would grant the title of **Trap Heaven Venerable**.
The strongest strike capable of swallowing the sky itself.
The absurdly powerful force that had once split the Wondrous Castle in two now unfolded inside the Invisible Sword.
**Kkwarrurung!**
The green lightning struck Seo Hyul’s flank.
The third thunderclap.
A strike that tore space itself and destroyed everything.
Seo Hyul’s side peeled away like scales, exposing muscle and blood vessels.
Yet he retreated into the Great Sea Thousand-Li Pearl, sucking in spiritual energy and calmly preparing his counter.
**[Art: Extinction Rain from Heaven.]**
**Swarrraaaa!**
The water from the Great Sea Thousand-Li Pearl turned into razor-sharp rain and scattered in every direction.
Each individual raindrop carried the insane destructive power to erase mountains.
**Kuguguguk!**
The moment Seo Hyul poured intent at them, every raindrop fell straight toward me.
Baek Nyeong added her own strength through the magical device.
But the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram already contained her image.
I received her perfected technique and unfolded it.
**Cheok San Pyeon.**
The Invisible Sword stretched like a whip and extended in all directions, distorting **weight**.
In the end the rain that covered me had spiritual energy, but the weight of a single speck of dust.
**Ururung!**
I did not stop there. I pierced through the clouds formed by the rain and drove an attack into Seo Hyul’s back.
Baek Nyeong’s immature sword also became a thunderclap inside my Invisible Sword and struck him.
The fourth thunderclap.
A strike heavy enough to make a finger tremble.
**Kururung!**
From Seo Hyul’s back I swung the Invisible Sword, rushed forward, sliced the thread of a small pendant hanging from his front paw, and kicked it away.
**Paaang!**
The crystal shard carrying Baek Nyeong’s soul flew toward Yu Hwa.
I prepared my final attack.
**Kururung!**
Golden light once again swirled across my entire body.
And from inside the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram, the figure of Gyubaek appeared.
No, not simply Gyubaek.
From Gyuryeon’s first appearance, through her love and betrayal, her transformation into Gyubaek, and her return to this very spot.
Every single one of her forms manifested and unfolded inside the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
The golden light became chains.
I wrapped them around the Colorless Glass Sword and looked at Seo Hyul.
**[Art: Illusion of Ten Thousand Shadows.]**
Seo Hyul realized that this technique alone was enough to end him. He stirred illusion and tried to hide.
It was useless.
I was the only one with eyes that combined the vision of heaven, earth, and the Heart Tribe.
I saw it.
I saw the golden chains.
The hearts I had received from Gyuryeon and Gyubaek.
I poured them back into the Invisible Sword.
“Coming.”
Behind me, both Gyuryeon and Gyubaek.
And every single connection I had met in this life.
The countless records of the past that had been piling up since previous lives pushed me forward.
*Aah…*
In that moment.
Every single scene recorded in the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram appeared before me, as if forming a portrait of the man I was.
**Ch, tchutchut!**
*Black Dragon’s True Blood…*
Why did the predecessor selection only include youkai below one hundred years old?
Why did they not inject the predecessors’ power into older ones to strengthen the clan?
I finally understood why today.
*True Blood… is being expelled from the body…!*
The predecessors govern history.
All beings who have lived more than nine times their original lifespan and stacked vast histories are, in themselves, seeds of the predecessors.
I had already lived more than two thousand years.
I had awakened the very qualities to become a predecessor.
The cumbersome power of the black dragon was unnecessary.
Black Dragon’s True Blood could have become a poison that blocked my awakening as a predecessor.
But I had realized it!
**Swiiiii—**
The dragon form vanished from my body. The faint mist of the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram wrapped around me, pouring new strength into me.
Even like this, if I continued to stack history…
I might truly ascend as a new predecessor.
**Paawaaat!**
---
The black dragon’s form, the power of thunder.
In an instant they were pushed away from Seo Eun-hyun’s body.
Seo Eun-hyun wore white robes and was surrounded by pure white mist.
He caught the golden chains and shot toward Seo Hyul like a bolt of lightning.
This was the final gift Seo Eun-hyun gave to Seo Hyul.
The last thunderclap.
A thunderclap that would continue falling until the moment Seo Hyul died.
The **Seogyojeongpyo** manifested by Gyubaek received the power of the white mist and became even faster, leaping through space for a moment.
Seo Eun-hyun’s sword and Gyubaek’s heart.
They pierced straight into Seo Hyul’s heart.
**Patchijijik…**
Seo Hyul vomited blood and began to draw the dark space back into his body.
The four pillars returned to his core.
Seo Hyul looked at me.
He looked at Goe-gun, who was watching him from outside the Wondrous Castle.
**Swurruk—**
Kim Yeon’s figure gradually faded, and Goe-gun’s madness returned.
“Seo, Seo Hyul? Seo Hyul… Seo Hyul. O… Seo Hyul!!!”
Seo Hyul transformed into human form, smiled briefly, turned blue, and vanished somewhere.
Goe-gun drooled and flew after him, following the footsteps while leading the Wondrous Castle.
And Seo Eun-hyun simply collapsed.
**Patchijijik…**
Beside him, Yu Hwa shattered Baek Nyeong’s magical device containing her soul, purified her, and looked at Seo Eun-hyun.
“…Were you satisfied?”
“I am content.”
“Good. It is fortunate…”
“One more thing…”
Seo Eun-hyun’s entire body was whipped by white mist and thunder.
The mist tried to repel the thunder, but the speed at which the thunder devoured his flesh was faster.
Seo Eun-hyun turned into lightning and scattered, addressing Yu Hwa.
“The Heaven-Sinking Venerable… gave something to Gyubaek. Gyubaek carried my heart to me, and it came inside me now… I think I should pass it on to you as well. I will…”
This was the consolation the Heaven-Sinking Venerable had given to Gyubaek.
At the same time, a fragment of the Venerable’s understanding of the heart.
—*One monk said that the amount of air contained in the chest is the heart, and since the chest corresponds to metal, he called the heart metallic. But according to the logic of your monks… the metal of the Five Elements corresponds to Qian of the Eight Trigrams…*
*“The heart did not come from the sky. Living in contact with the sky is your heart, and since you cannot deny the sky, you cannot deny the heart either. Therefore, even if someone denies your heart, your heart will never completely disappear.”*
That was the words Jang Ik had given to Gyuryeon and Gyubaek.
And through her, the words and awakening he had poured into them.
Where does the heart come from?
If heaven is fate and earth is life, does the heart come between names and live with them?
The performance had ended, but the heart continued.
After passing Jang Ik’s awakening to Yu Hwa, Seo Eun-hyun finally became a flash of lightning and scattered into the void.
That was his sixteenth regression.
**END**