Who Am I? (9)
“Y-Yes…?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
“….”
I felt a flicker of confusion.
“…Even if the experiment makes sense, now that I no longer have a twin soul, there’s no point in preparing it. Why did you still arrange everything?”
“I simply wanted to see what would happen if my hidden art and the ordinary brain-art interacted.”
“Hmm…”
“Choose quickly.”
I asked, puzzled.
“Doesn’t it matter which one I start with?”
“Hm? It does. Whichever path you choose first, there’s a high chance the other will be delayed until tomorrow, because there’s so much to figure out.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Choose now. My body is itching to be studied the moment I get the chance.”
‘Should I refuse?’
Honestly, my mind was a mess right now, and I didn’t feel like tackling either.
But Hong Su-ryeong must have sensed it, because she struck first.
“If you help me no matter which path you choose, I’ll give you a clue to reaching the Heavenly Person realm.”
“Eh?”
“You’re already in the Nascent Soul Grand Completion. Soon you’ll be preparing to ascend to the Heavenly Person realm, right? I’ll share the enlightenment you need to avoid confusion when you break through.”
“Hmm… I could just ask my master, but…”
“Haha, the true Venerable cannot explain enlightenment with words alone. But if you help me today, no matter which path, you’ll be able to embody the enlightenment that comes with reaching the Heavenly Person realm.”
At her words, I nodded.
‘Certainly… if Hong Su-ryeong’s over-the-top method is involved, it might be helpful.’
After all, I had already reached the Nascent Soul Grand Completion. There was nothing left to lose.
From now on, with Jeon Myeong-hoon’s training, I would also need to cultivate to reach the Heavenly Person realm. This was a necessary step.
And if, as she said, I could experience the enlightenment of the breakthrough in my body right now, it would be a tremendous help.
“…Very well. I’ll assist you.”
“Haha, I knew you would. Then, choose: bodily experiment or twin soul. Decide.”
I glanced between the training frame and the bed.
“…Then…”
I opened my mouth.
***
The next day arrived.
“Um… I’m quite stiff.”
I said, emerging from her eastern side.
She followed with a flushed face and smiled in the morning sunlight.
“Haha, I’m very satisfied. Your body was worth investigating thoroughly.”
“I’m grateful for yesterday as well.”
I recalled the enlightenment of reaching the Heavenly Person realm that Hong Su-ryeong had taught me the night before.
“Probably even Jin-hwi could explain it with words, but he couldn’t have made me experience it like you did. Only you could teach me this method from the classic.”
“Yes, it truly was an effective way.”
I nodded.
She had shown me the flow of her original art, the Extermination Lotus Heavenly Palace and the Invisible Sword, and it was only natural that I would feel grateful.
In any case, with this method—though somewhat intense—I had obtained the experience needed to reach the Heavenly Person realm.
‘That’s why great sects are so good.’
When I wandered the mountains of the lower realm, I never could have gained such an experience.
It felt just like the time I heard my master explain the Understanding of the Past with the Cheongmun Clan Estate—my mind suddenly clearing.
I returned to my eastern side and sorted through what I had felt yesterday.
‘Madness. Madness is needed.’
When I observed my Nascent Soul, unlike before, the Yin-Yang Deities were no longer rigidly separated. The seven colors of the Yin-Yang Five Elements mixed naturally, and the Essence of the Golden Elixir slept inside.
In reaching the Nascent Soul Grand Completion, I fully merged my consciousness into the One of the Two Poles of the Sun and Moon, completing my Nascent Soul.
I remembered the words I had heard from Hong Su-ryeong the night before.
―Cultivators say that the more they pursue the path of water, the more heartless they become. Do you know why?
―Because they absorb heaven and earth’s nature into their body and become one with it.
―You must have felt it clearly when you reached the Grand Completion. You created the Sun-Moon-Two-Poles with the Yin-Yang Five Elements of heaven and earth, and fused it completely with your consciousness. Without realizing it, you are gradually becoming heartless, and eventually your personality will be erased to the point where you are no different from a plant.
I rubbed the sore parts of my body while thinking about what I had endured from Hong Su-ryeong last night.
―The Heavenly Person realm is also called the realm of union with the heavens and earth. Only from that realm can the inner and outer micro-universes truly connect and wield heaven and earth’s power.
―What will happen when the inner micro-universe opens and truly touches heaven and earth’s nature? Your pitiful personality will be swept away by the great nature and you’ll become a plant-human.
―Then how do we prevent that? Madness. We need madness—madness. Gather human madness and make it stand against heaven and earth. Protect yourself with madness.
―That’s why most Heavenly Person realm cultivators are no longer in their right mind. Everyone must be mad about at least one thing. Like this, like this! Like this!!!
I recalled the madness Hong Su-ryeong had shown me.
Last night, both she and the me she had influenced had been swept away by madness.
‘Do I have to choose what to go mad for?’
Finding something to go mad over.
That was the first step to reaching the Heavenly Person realm.
‘What I desire most…’
If I concentrated my madness on what I most desired…
‘What I most desire is…’
I went from my eastern side to find Jeon Myeong-hoon.
First, I had to begin his training.
***
“…What?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s face twitched.
“From now on, starting today, I will assist you with your art training.”
“What kind of nonsense is that…?”
He looked at the man who was Seo Eun-hyun, no.
‘Geum Eun-hyun.’
“My master is Geum Jin-chan…”
“Yes, I obtained permission from your master as well.”
“What are you talking about…?”
“Listen carefully, Jeon Myeong-hoon.”
Geum Eun-hyun stared at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
“Supreme Patriarch Geum Byeok-ho has already given his permission. From now on, a powerful threat is targeting the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.”
“What?”
“And the only one who can stop that threat is you, Jeon Myeong-hoon.”
“What kind of threat is it? No, what is it?”
“I can’t tell you because your level is too low. It could harm your mind if you’re not prepared. At the very least, once you reach the Nascent Soul realm, I’ll tell you.”
Crack!
A vein bulged on Jeon Myeong-hoon’s forehead.
‘This brat is openly ignoring me.’
“Fine. I mean, yes. Then, what method will you use to teach me?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon spat out his pure qi.
“As you can see, I’ve already created six spiritual cores. I’m almost finished with the four layers of Pure Force. The twin soul art has immense efficiency, but is there a way to raise my realm even more efficiently?”
“There is.”
“Oh? What’s the method?”
At Jeon Myeong-hoon’s mocking tone, Geum Eun-hyun silently took a wooden club from somewhere in Jeomuldo.
“It’s this.”
“…Eh?”
Before Jeon Myeong-hoon could react, the club swung and struck him.
Boom!
“…! Gwaaaaa… Eh?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon flew from the blow, grabbed his shoulder, and screamed. Then he let go, staring at his shoulder in confusion.
‘What? I got hit, but…’
It had hurt when it landed, yet there was no wound and no more pain.
When he looked at Geum Eun-hyun with bewilderment, Geum Eun-hyun raised the wooden club.
Whoong!
Green spiritual qi burst from the wooden club.
“It is spiritual qi of the Wood element that heals. Wood corresponds to the Zhen trigram of the Eight Trigrams, and it also symbolizes lightning. From now on, I’ll chase you around with this club filled with Wood spiritual qi and beat you endlessly.”
“….”
“And every time you take a hit, I’ll help you understand the brain-art through my consciousness art and the seals of the Understanding of the Past. Since I have mastered every art of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, I have more than enough knowledge to teach you the brain-art.”
“….”
“Of course, you may counterattack me. While counterattacking and shaking off my blows, and while I hammer you with the club, you will embody the knowledge of the Understanding of the Past that I drive into your head. I will only use the power of the Pure Force realm, so you will have no trouble counterattacking me.”
“….”
“Any questions?”
“…Elder, now that I think about it, it seems like I’ve done a lot wrong on Earth. Please, forgive me.”
“I’m not doing this out of some personal grudge.”
Boom!
With that, Geum Eun-hyun began beating Jeon Myeong-hoon.
***
It had been about a month since I started training against Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Thud, thud, thud!
“Gwaaaa!!!”
I beat Jeon Myeong-hoon mercilessly and infused him with Wood spiritual qi in every part of his body.
At the same time, I infused the seals of the brain-art into his mind, changed the infused Wood qi into lightning attributes, and forcibly used the art to mold the brain-art throughout his body.
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s brain-art had improved day by day.
Especially when I kept beating him, there was a moment when his rage exploded.
“You bastard!!!”
Crackle!
Red lightning writhed in all directions.
‘He’s grown again.’
Strangely, when Jeon Myeong-hoon got angry, the art reacted and grew even faster.
‘Is the Heavenly Lightning Body growing faster the more rage it has?’
If there was a physique for controlling rage, it was probably the Heavenly Lightning Body.
Crackle!
Before the red lightning could strike me, I read his intent, dodged it, and slammed the club down on his left side.
Boom!
“Gwaaaak!”
When he took one hit after another without dodging, his eyes rolled back and he spat lightning.
I swung the club and sliced through every lightning bolt.
Whoong!
The qi wrapped around the club crackled.
‘The power of lightning has grown stronger.’
The art’s growth was smooth.
When I kept grabbing him and pouring endless Wood spiritual qi and the enlightenment of the Understanding of the Past into him, Jeon Myeong-hoon grew visibly.
In just a month, he had reached the second layer of Pure Force.
But there was something strange.
‘Why is this brat…’
Red lightning erupted.
I slipped into his gap and led him to the next step of the Seven Lightning True Classics he was learning with Wood spiritual qi.
But Jeon Myeong-hoon, in a fit of rage, only spat red lightning.
Red. Red. Red.
‘Why… why can’t he advance to the next level of the Seven Lightning True Classics?’
No matter how much I beat him, Jeon Myeong-hoon could not surpass the first level of the Seven Lightning True Classics, the Red Lightning True Classics.
It was almost time for him to move on to the next level, the Master Lightning True Classics.
I infused him with the seals of the Master Lightning True Classics as well.
‘In the normal order, when he reached the second layer of Pure Force, he should have entered the Master Lightning True Classics right away.’
But even after creating ten spiritual cores, Jeon Myeong-hoon still could not use the Master Lightning True Classics.
It was a problem with the Five Elements.
‘It’s like he can’t even embody it.’
But I wasn’t teaching him by simply beating him.
In the evening, I treated him and explained the seals of the Understanding of the Past I had inserted that day until he understood them.
Jeon Myeong-hoon understood the concept, and his understanding of the art improved.
But even with understanding, embodiment through his own body was slow.
‘He can’t use the Master Lightning True Classics with his own body, so he can’t advance to it.’
Yes, I understood that.
A dullard could certainly do this.
But what puzzled me most was this.
‘…Then how is he advancing to the second layer of Pure Force if he can’t use the Master Lightning True Classics?’
The Red Lightning True Classics and the Master Lightning True Classics are arts learned in the Pure Force realm.
Of those, the Red Lightning True Classics is only learned in the first layer of Pure Force. Only then can one advance to the Master Lightning True Classics and reach the peak of the Pure Force realm.
Yet Jeon Myeong-hoon was somehow advancing to the upper level while only knowing the Red Lightning True Classics.
Boom!
“C-crap!”
Crackle!
Jeon Myeong-hoon reached out at me and shot lightning.
Whoong!
I swung the club and cut the lightning in half.
‘Its power has increased again.’
Now I was gradually using attacks stronger than my own realm.
Attacks of the late Pure Force realm.
‘…That brat… while raging, he’s evolving the Red Lightning True Classics.’
I laughed dryly while watching Jeon Myeong-hoon wrapped in red lightning.
‘He should advance to the next level of the art, but since he can’t, he’s evolving the entire stage he’s stuck in into a completely different art…’
What kind of talent is this?
Crackle!
The next moment, Jeon Myeong-hoon, transformed like the red lightning itself, charged at me. I dodged lightly and swung the club at the back of his head.
Boom!
“Gwaaaak!”
Jeon Myeong-hoon fell and rolled.
The Red Lightning True Classics he had been using also scattered.
But I laughed in disbelief.
“…The art scattered, yet the power I feel has increased even more?”
“…You… you bastard like Seo Eun-hyun…”
“He’s gone mad… How does just getting angry increase power?”
“Shut up!!!”
Crackle!
I watched Jeon Myeong-hoon accelerate and grinned, then swung the club at him.
‘Good, keep growing!’
Under my guidance, Jeon Myeong-hoon had grown faster than in his previous life.
***
“Haah…”
Night had fallen.
When night came, Jeon Myeong-hoon returned to his eastern side with a bit of rest and began training with Geum So-hae.
After training late into the night, he would sleep a little at dawn and then start again.
That had been his recent training schedule.
‘Well, once in the Pure Force realm, thanks to pure qi, he probably wouldn’t need much sleep anyway.’
In the Qi Condensation era, I would have let him rest a little more to consider his stamina, but now that he was in the Pure Force realm, this was all he could handle, so we kept pushing.
I returned to my eastern side and observed my Nascent Soul.
‘To reach the Heavenly Person realm, madness is needed.’
Then what madness did I need?
What could I go mad for?
“….”
Normally, the answer would have been simple.
The Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram had proven it.
I could go mad over protecting the precious connections I had made.
But after hearing Yang Su-jin’s words, discomfort had crept in.
―The only thing that matters is ‘freedom.’ Only beings who possess ‘freedom’ or have the possibility of acquiring ‘freedom’ are [humans] and qualify to enjoy the rights of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
―Therefore, only we Terminus Ones are [humans], and all beings in this world, including True Immortals, are [non-humans]!
Non-humans.
Puppets moving as the fate dictates.
I recalled Seo Hyul’s words.
―This world is a play under fate, and we are only actors playing in the theater. Why is an actor acting not considered emotion?
Seo Hyul’s words that emotions do not exist.
And Yang Su-jin’s words that even those who prove emotions to the extreme and reach the realm are slaves of fate.
‘…What is this?’
If emotions do not exist and the connections I have made are merely a play dancing under fate, then what on earth have I been doing all this time?
In training Jeon Myeong-hoon with the way of Changcheon Gaekbyeokmun, there was another reason I had struck him with the club.
With the Changcheon Gaekbyeokmun way, two fists would have been enough, but why did I take up the club?
To recall the foundation of the Danak Sword Art with the club, clear my mind, and leap beyond the Answer Sky.
If I could leap beyond the Answer Sky, it seemed I could counter Yang Su-jin’s words and Seo Hyul’s words.
‘Damn it…’
I was no different from a heart demon that had taken root.
Whoong, boom, boom!
I gripped the Colorless Glass Sword and unfolded the Danak Sword Art from beginning to end.
When I was practicing martial arts, it seemed to ease my worries a little.
And how many times had I repeated unfolding the Danak Sword Art from the first second to the twenty-sixth?
When I stopped the sword art.
―[Non-human]!
Yang Su-jin’s voice seemed to ring in my ears.
I clenched my teeth while staring at the Colorless Glass Sword.
“Damn it… don’t talk nonsense!”
Since meeting Yang Su-jin, my mind had been in chaos.
‘If the connections existing in this world are not humans but mere puppets…’
I clenched the Colorless Glass Sword until it creaked and stared at the transparent sword edge.
‘Who exactly have I loved?’
What on earth had all these connections I had accumulated been?
Yang Su-jin was a great immortal who had ascended to the peak of True Immortality and was likely to have seen the truth of the world.
To say it was just his extreme philosophy would not do, because Seo Hyul, who was estimated to be a very high existence, had said the same thing.
‘Then what exactly have I done?’
Yang Su-jin’s words and Seo Hyul’s voice echoed in my mind.
To reach the Heavenly Person realm, madness is needed.
If I do not go mad for something, my mind will scatter into heaven and earth’s power and that realm will be the Heavenly Person realm.
But what I could go mad for was the connections I had accumulated.
Yet the great existences say the connections I accumulated are nothing but lies.
Then, what should I do?
Thud.
I held the Colorless Glass Sword and let it hang down until it touched the ground.
I had no strength left to swing the sword.
‘Day by day… the heart demon grows deeper.’
I stared at the moon from outside my eastern side with a dazed expression.
‘What should I do…?’
That was when I was dazed and lost in anxiety.
Ziiing—
“…Eh?”
From somewhere far away.
I felt something stimulating my consciousness.
And at the same time.
“…!”
Tsu tsu tsu!
I felt my consciousness being pulled somewhere.
‘This…!’
***
A space filled with iridescent colors.
I opened my eyes inside that space.
‘This place is…’
Inside someone’s dream.
And I immediately knew who that someone was.
Whoong!
I used the Strange Star-Mind Scroll and adjusted my consciousness to match the dream’s waves.
Inside this dream, the surroundings that had been flickering thanks to my Strange Star-Mind Scroll stabilized into a space.
I spoke to the one who had ‘called’ me.
“You finally succeeded.”
And in the white light, someone walked toward me.
She wore a pale pink palace robe.
“Yeon-ah.”
Kim Yeon.
She had finally mastered the Strange Star-Mind Scroll and pulled me into her dream through the Strange Parasite she had connected me with.