Eternal Karma (4)
A brilliant flash erupted from General Seo’s lips, and Jeon Myeong-hoon’s head was severed clean off by the strike. Yet the moment the blade fell, Jeon Myeong-hoon’s head regrew instantly, and he charged back at the general with a fury that made my spine chill.
“Seo Eun-hyun!!!”
Kwaa-ruururrung!
Jeon Myeong-hoon charged straight at me, eyes completely glazed over.
It was obvious now. The man was being controlled by Jeong-ryeo.
More than half of the emotions he showed me were clearly not his own—they were Jeong-ryeo’s doing.
But that meant the other half…
…were his true feelings.
Jeon Myeong-hoon was furious with me on his own.
“…I’m sorry.”
I bowed my head toward Jeon Myeong-hoon and the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect he had become, offering my apology.
“I’m truly sorry.”
Kwaa-qua-kwang!
Lightning flashed, and the general was sent flying by Jeon Myeong-hoon’s power.
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s strength had grown far beyond what mere anger could explain. When he was at the Heavenly Person stage of the first cycle, he had been able to match a nascent-soul expert. Now he was approaching the general’s level.
‘No… that’s not it.’
The power wasn’t coming from rage alone.
Jeon Myeong-hoon was activating his potential. With a nascent-soul cultivation base and over a thousand years of lifespan, he was pressing forward, sacrificing some of that life to corner me.
“Seo Eun-hyun!!!”
“….”
I watched the approaching figure and spoke calmly.
“…Yes. Keep coming.”
Since things had reached this point, it made sense to push his fury to its limit and accelerate his growth even further.
“Keep raging… one day…”
I drew out the training baton I had used on him and met the charge head-on.
Giant thunder claws formed above Jeon Myeong-hoon’s hands. The moment they struck, his entire body screamed in agony.
“Haaaaaaa!”
Kwajik! Kwa-ji-ji-jik!
His strength now dwarfed anything I had faced before.
“Hold on tight, Yuan Yu.”
I took Yuan Yu, set the Heavenly Thunder Banner aside for a moment, and poured my strength into the training baton.
[You dare… betray the Golden Divine Thunder Sect!!!]
“…Use your power to kill this betrayer and reseal the Heavenly Thunder Banner.”
If that happened, I would be perfectly content.
Grow stronger, Jeon Myeong-hoon. Use this rage as fuel and grow even more powerful.
Chuk! Jeo-jeo-jik!
A crack formed on the training baton in contact with his body.
Jeo-jeo-jik!
Finally—
Paka!
Jeon Myeong-hoon shattered the baton I had used to train him and charged at me with overwhelming force.
In that instant, the power he unleashed was so immense that my own arm shattered on impact with his torso.
Jeon Myeong-hoon kept coming, flying straight for Yuan Yu.
Puaaaang!
He kicked Yuan Yu away, seized the Heavenly Thunder Banner from his grasp, and succeeded in holding it.
“Huff… hah… haaah!”
He was breathing heavily.
It wasn’t just his sudden power spike. The combination of extreme potential release and boiling rage had pushed him beyond his limits in a single moment.
I looked at Jeon Myeong-hoon and at the Jeong-ryeo he now held.
Jeong-ryeo looked genuinely shaken.
Yet even now, she continued to manipulate him.
Her whispers never ceased.
Call my name.
Forever.
And Jeon Myeong-hoon finally spoke.
“J…”
Puaaang!
The instant was now.
I had broken the time gap and kicked his head.
“Chase the power you showed just now. One day you will beat me.”
Swish—
I pulled out one of the three thousand colorless glass swords.
“As of today, I have already broken your training baton. I can no longer treat you as a mere toy.”
This was the last cycle for me.
Every single colorless glass sword I had possessed had been refined through flame into the finest steel.
In the sixteenth cycle I had skipped, the strength had only grown further.
The first hundred years elevated them to supreme-grade steel.
The next hundred years raised them to the level of master swordsmen’s lowest magic tools.
The following hundred years pushed them to the peak of all mortal blades.
Over the next hundred years they became low-grade magic tools wielded by sword saints.
And the final hundred years brought them to the peak of low-grade magic tools.
Then, during my time with the Golden Divine Thunder Sect, they were refined once more with flame.
Right now, these three thousand swords were mid-to-low-grade magic tools.
When I swung one before, I had needed ten units of strength to keep it from shattering.
Now I only needed three or four.
Swish!
I swung the sword once.
A single true slash.
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s torso was split in two, and dozens of mountain peaks belonging to the Golden Divine Thunder Sect were severed in a single stroke.
The instant was now.
I stepped through the gap in time.
Accelerating my consciousness, I entered the frozen world and swung the sword again.
I thrust, thrust, and thrust again.
And then—
Paaat!
I passed through Jeon Myeong-hoon and seized the Heavenly Thunder Banner he held.
The next moment.
Puaaang! Pua-bang! Pua-beu-beu-beung!
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s entire body began to disintegrate from the true slashes.
“U… uooooh!”
He fought against the force trying to tear him apart, but it was already impossible.
This strike was different from the one that had trained him on the baton.
I had swung with genuine intent, using my own sword art.
“Haaaaaaa!”
Puaaang!
In the end, only a single golden pill remained as Jeon Myeong-hoon’s body crumbled away completely.
Without the Demon Dao art, regenerating from a single golden pill would take days.
“Rest well, Jeon Myeong-hoon.”
I took out the Five Elements Blood Curse Flag.
A single red banner floated in my hand.
Pook!
I pierced it directly into the center of his golden pill and into his nascent soul.
“!!!”
“I have planted a curse in your mind.”
Since I would no longer be able to monitor him in real time after leaving, this was the safeguard.
“From now on, every time you try to speak the name of the Heavenly Thunder Banner, the Five Elements Blood Curse Flag will activate.”
Even to me it seemed slightly cruel, but there was no other choice.
The day he uttered my name by accident would be the end.
“If you wish to lift the curse… grow strong enough to come find me. I will be waiting.”
The golden pill containing the curse fell downward.
From now on, the Five Elements Blood Curse Flag would slumber inside his consciousness until he broke the curse, at which point it would deliver him unbearable pain.
‘I’m sorry.’
I apologized to the falling figure, then retrieved the general who had been struck by him and flew away.
The general forged in the Golden Divine Thunder Sect was already modified several times over by applying the Heaven-Cleaving Space-Opening Technique and the sect’s own arts.
Besides the basic form we were using now, there were two more: one that could wield the Heaven-Cleaving Space-Opening Technique, and one that could wield the full power of the Golden Divine Thunder Sect.
There was even a fourth form that combined with Yuan Yu to use demonic arts while regenerating.
But seeing Jeon Myeong-hoon, I decided to face him with my own strength instead.
“The Heavenly Thunder Banner seems shaken.”
I looked at Jeong-ryeo, who still wore a face of panic, and let out a dry chuckle.
[……]
“Is it because Jeon Myeong-hoon has begun to resist your control?”
[……How, the Lord of the Red Thunder Eternal Karma…]
“I don’t know what happened between Yang Su-jin and your Lord. But…”
At first, Jeon Myeong-hoon had moved according to Jeong-ryeo’s commands.
Then, at some point, his movements began to slip beyond her control.
At first he had attacked me only under her guidance. Gradually, he started attacking me on his own will.
Yes.
The technique Jeong-ryeo had taught him in the beginning was the Red Thunder Eternal Karma Art created by the Lord of the Heavenly Tribulation.
But Jeon Myeong-hoon had been completely consumed by rage while wielding it, and even in that state he was continuously evolving the Red Thunder Eternal Karma Art in a different direction.
“From what I see, the version Yang Su-jin used was not the one he learned from your Lord.”
Both Yang Su-jin and Jeon Myeong-hoon had been born with the same name. The first technique they learned would have been from the Heavenly Tribulation.
Yet they had been evolving the Red Thunder Eternal Karma Art as their own.
Perhaps that was the true Red Thunder Eternal Karma Art Yang Su-jin had intended to pass on to his descendants.
[This is nonsense… How…]
I looked at her panic and smiled wickedly.
“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you? But it’s not over yet.”
[What…?]
“You will be sealed. I have already prepared an ally. You will be sent back to the lower realm to be sealed.”
[!!]
Her consciousness shattered violently at my words.
At the same time, she began to beg me desperately.
[Eun-hyun, what are you saying? You’re going to trap me in that terrible place?!]
“……”
[Please reconsider. That place is unbearable. Please! Put me in the deepest abyss of the Underworld instead! Please! That place is too terrifying!]
“……”
[I can’t go there. I don’t want to be in that gloomy, dangerous world anymore. Please, please! It’s too scary. No, it’s not good for you either. I’m warning you seriously. That place is a world that even the vast majority of True Immortals avoid. Why would they avoid it? For centuries, the news has spread among True Immortals that terrifying, evil, and monstrous beings dwell there. It’s not just rumors!]
She seemed to be on the verge of losing her mind with fear.
[The most famous judge of the Underworld who could threaten my Lord, the closest friend who shared the deepest bond with my Lord, the lord who governs the lifespan of mortals, the being who was once sealed as an Immortal Beast King, the black hand who supported the behind-the-scenes events across the True Immortal realm—everyone met a tragic end in that world! Mortal, do not make a foolish choice. Even the terrifying and powerful Golden Immortal Yang Su-jin, who sealed me there, disappeared afterward!!! I beg you. Please, please do not seal me in that terrifying place!]
“……”
I glanced at the Heavenly Thunder Banner.
“…I’m sorry.”
No matter how much I tried to persuade her, it was useless.
I had already decided to seal her there.
The fact that she was begging me now was proof that she knew I would never let the Lord of the Heavenly Tribulation come for me.
“I also have people I must protect.”
The image of that day when Cheonin-do and Noeryeong-do had vanished still burned vividly in my mind.
I had no choice.
To save the Golden Divine Thunder Sect I had joined as family, I ignored Jeong-ryeo’s desperate pleas and sent a voice message to Heon-wi, heading to the meeting place we had promised.
The day to change the fate of the Golden Divine Thunder Sect was coming to an end.
* * *
Paaa-at!
I exited Noeryeong-do and headed toward Siun-do.
Ta-at!
Siun-do remained a rocky island.
After all, it had been used only for managing records, so it had few permanent residents.
After waiting a few days,
Paaa-at!
Heon-wi’s signal appeared. She flew over using her pigeon magic.
“Long time no see. Right now Noeryeong-do is bustling because of your betrayal.”
“Is that so.”
I stood up indifferently.
“Please keep your promise.”
“Of course. Did you gather the people?”
“Yes.”
“I already told Father. The Lord of Bongrae Palace will recognize and support you as the new head of the Golden Divine Thunder Sect. I will connect you with him, so please behave properly.”
“Understood.”
She took out a small bottle from a pocket dimension in Jeomul-do.
Chwa-rak!
She opened the lid and poured water into the air. The liquid rose and transformed into a single water mirror.
Uuuuung!
The water mirror rippled, then revealed a distant view.
Inside Geongon City.
In a certain space inside, a figure sat in lotus position amid swirling dust.
Our eyes met across the dust wind.
“This humble sword cultivator, Geum-seon-hyun, pays respects to the Integration Grand Completion Heavenly Emperor Heon-won, the Lord of Geongon City and the Lord of Bongrae Palace.”
[……]
Heon-won only stared at me without a word.
Heon-wi, kneeling beside me, began to plead on his behalf.
“Lord, this is the man I spoke of earlier. Please allow the Lord to recognize and support the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect.”
[……How many disciples does the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect have?]
Heon-won asked in response to his daughter’s request.
Heon-wi signaled me.
I connected Yeon-jin and Hong Su-ryeong through the Transmutation Talisman.
The talismans rose into the air and connected them with the water mirror Heon-won had created.
Hong Su-ryeong was currently in the Four Pillars stage, tightly bound by her own energy while she cultivated.
She glanced at me briefly, then bowed to the Integration Grand Completion Heavenly Emperor before her and spoke.
“Hong Su-ryeong, a Heavenly Person senior of the Golden Divine Thunder Sect, supports the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect.”
Heon-won nodded and turned his gaze.
Yuan Yu stepped forward.
I made Yuan Yu speak.
“Yuan Yu, a Nascent Soul senior of the Golden Divine Thunder Sect, supports the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect.”
[……]
Heon-won glanced at Yuan Yu briefly, then nodded.
‘He noticed.’
Yet even though he had figured out that Yuan Yu was my doll, he seemed to accept it without much concern.
Heon-won’s gaze finally turned to the water mirror connected to Yeon-jin.
Yeon-jin was currently participating in the descent into the Demon Realm and was waiting at the entrance.
“U-uh, T-Teacher! Ah, no, this isn’t right! It’s the Heavenly Emperor!”
[……]
“I-I… I mean, Yeon-jin, a disciple of the Golden Divine Thunder Sect, supports the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect.”
[……]
Heon-won stared at him in silence.
I stepped forward and continued.
“These people wish to join the new Golden Divine Thunder Sect. Please allow us to be recognized by the Lord…”
And then—
[You…]
Suddenly, crimson consciousness swirled around Heon-won.
‘What…?’
The figure in lotus position amid the dust wind glared with murderous intent.
He was staring at Yeon-jin.
[You… this monster…! You’re still alive!!! Truly a filthy, tough, and despicable life!!!]
Heon-won’s rage caused his will to transmit through the communication spell, and the天地 energy began to quake violently.
‘What is this…!’
[I, the protector of Bongrae Palace, Heon-wi, order! I will never recognize the so-called new Golden Divine Thunder Sect supported by this filthy monster! I hate traitors who betray their sect the most!!! Quickly! Bring me those betrayers before me! Use the full power of Bongrae Palace if you must!]
“This…”
I hurriedly stood up. The next instant, Heon-wi’s eyes changed and she struck at me.
[As the Lord of Bongrae Palace, I order! I will announce these betrayers to the entire human race!!!]