A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation – Chapter 271: The Heavenly Human Realm
I was immersed in a space filled with seven-colored lightning.
In the center, I gazed at a shadow shedding blood tears.
Had I not shouted “Shattered Heaven” at him?
On reflection, it seemed I had muttered the word often enough, given that the chaos unfolded atop Shattered Heaven Peak.
In the frenzy of the moment, my tongue had been unusually loose with Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Well, that was beside the point…
I recalled the last time I had employed Myeonsingeobcheon.
Clearly, Yang Su-jin’s remnant had appeared, and the moment he reached out, I had felt a push and severed fate itself.
“You helped me?”
[…Yes.]
“…I confronted the fragment you left behind at the bottom of the underworld, received Myeonsingeobcheon, and returned with it.”
[…I see.]
I looked at him and spoke.
“I should warn you of one thing. I am extremely negative toward your ‘non-human’ doctrine and do not agree with it. If we follow your words to the letter, even those Terminus Ones who follow the mandate of heaven would be no different from non-humans, would they not?”
[…Correct.]
“…?”
I sensed something strange in his strangely calm tone.
Drip, drip…
The blood tears from the shadow’s eyes gradually thickened.
[The fragments you encountered were those I created before facing ■■… he was me at the time when I was overflowing with self-confidence and lost in the illusion that I could do anything.]
“…!”
I trembled at the desolate despair emanating from Yang Su-jin’s remnant.
[I decided to change fate because I had revealed the mandate, believing there was no chance in the battle with ■■. Of course, I knew it was impossible, but I thought that possessing the authority of the heavenly punishment would give me a chance… but it was wrong…]
The blood tears flowing from Yang Su-jin’s remnant eyes steadily increased, gradually staining his dark body red.
[You are right. My doctrine of non-humanity contains profound contradictions.]
And at his next words, I trembled.
[We are also nothing but non-humans. We are mere playthings beneath the dust… All that we have accumulated… holds no meaning…]
Swish…
Yang Su-jin’s remnant, now completely red, began to dissipate.
[Fellow later generations… be cautious of the mandate you received. Speak nothing of the miracles you may unleash. Hide the gift bestowed upon you by the world. Among Imperial Immortals, only one can be trusted.]
Each word he uttered caused Yang Su-jin’s remnant to dissipate further until it finally dissolved into thin air.
[To casually reveal anything related to the mandate would trample even a speck of hope… Do not tread in my footsteps.]
With those final words, Yang Su-jin vanished completely.
I closed my eyes, watching his last moment.
* * *
Flap—
My eyes opened to a strange ceiling.
Where…?
It was a cave.
And unexpectedly, the qi of heaven and earth was distributed throughout the air in considerable amounts—far more than one would expect from the mortal realm.
Swish…
Rising from my seat, a soft blanket slid off my body.
It seemed someone had prepared bedding and laid me down in the cave.
Moreover, spiritual herbs and spiritual liquid were scattered throughout the cave, and beneath the bed a formation had been laid out to nourish the vital energy.
“This place…”
I stirred my consciousness while gazing at the cave that felt strangely familiar.
Wuuung!
A vast conscious domain erupted from the center of the Upper Dantian.
Kugugugug!
The intent of the Heavenly Human was power in itself.
Therefore, merely by spreading my conscious domain, the heaven and earth shook, and the qi of heaven and earth began to stir.
“Huuu…”
A radius of two hundred li.
It was as if the diameter of four hundred li was held neatly in my palm.
This was the size of the conscious domain that had reached the peak of the Heavenly Man realm.
And the moment I spread my conscious domain, I knew exactly where I was.
“Deungsunhyang…!?”
It was the same cave where my colleagues and I had first stayed.
It seemed they had brought me here because Deungsunhyang was the area with the densest qi of heaven and earth in the mortal realm.
Wuuung!
“Mm?”
As I rose from the bed, I felt the formation that had been nourishing my vital energy vibrating and sending out signals somewhere.
It seemed Jeon Myeong-hoon or the other disciples of Geumsincheonroemun had done this for me.
Well, I would know once I waited.
I rose from my seat and stepped out of the cave.
“Huu…”
It had truly been a long time.
I recalled the first time I had met three Heavenly Man cultivators in front of the cave.
The me of now had successfully reached the same realm as those cultivators of the Heavenly Man stage at that time.
If I returned to that moment now, what would happen?
Perhaps I would have warned them off and declared that I was taking my colleagues as my disciples.
Swish—
I quietly raised one hand toward the sky.
I traced the line in the sky with my finger exactly as it was, pointing straight toward the heavens.
Kugugugugug!
At the same time, the qi of heaven and earth vibrated, and under my will the phenomenon of the heavens and earth changed.
Wuuuung!
Just as lightning fell when Geum Byeok-ho flew into a rage.
As I desired, dark clouds began to gather in the shape of my finger-drawn line in the sky.
Swaaaah—
This was the realm of Heavenly Man and Heaven Unity.
The ability to make rain fall with a mere thought and freely wield the power of nature.
Kwaak!
I clenched my fist, and the dark clouds filling the sky swelled in size before spreading across the entirety of Deungsunhyang and beginning to pour rain.
Swaaaah—
In an instant, rain fell in every corner of Deungsunhyang, and a torrential downpour began.
Swish…
As I opened my hand and lowered my arm, the rain turned into sleet and then white snow, dyeing Deungsunhyang white.
I rose into the air amid the snowstorm.
Flight at the Core Formation stage had been a form of “dharma technique” that lightly circulated the qi of heaven and earth throughout the body centered on the golden core.
But from the Heavenly Man stage onward, it felt as though the qi of heaven and earth automatically lifted me as my will rose.
No dharma power was consumed.
I flew upward toward the sky and reached the upper part of the dark clouds.
Kugugugug!
The snowstorm gradually grew fiercer until it transformed into a dragon’s roar, sweeping through every corner of Deungsunhyang.
Wuuuung—
A circular halo appeared behind my head.
The Triple Taiji did not rise; it was simply the pure power of the Heavenly Human of the Heavenly Race, yet that power was immense.
Kugugugug—
As I waved my hand, vortexes dozens of them split off without any special seal being formed and spread across Deungsunhyang.
As I spread my arms wide, the vortexes dispersed and vanished in every direction.
Yet the sky churned, and thunder rumbled from every corner.
The sky was covered by a sea of lightning!
Thereafter, hail fell, and waves rose as water poured down beneath Deungsunhyang.
I swung my arms from above Deungsunhyang, freely directing the phenomena of heaven and earth.
And at one moment—
Paaeng!
As I clenched my fist, a gale blew, and I pushed all the phenomena of heaven and earth outward from Deungsunhyang, destroying them.
“This is… the Heavenly Man realm.”
The realm that senses the phenomena of heaven and earth by will.
The realm in which the qi of heaven and earth and consciousness had merged, making the size of the consciousness itself the power.
From the Heavenly Man stage onward, one could manifest the attributes of the cultivation methods one had cultivated as phenomena of heaven and earth.
The cultivator who had mastered the Earth attribute technique could bring forth earthquakes and tsunamis.
The cultivator who had mastered the Water attribute technique could bring forth torrential rains and blizzards.
The cultivator who had mastered the Fire attribute technique could bring forth droughts and forest fires.
The cultivator who had mastered the Wood attribute technique could bring forth thunder and the growth of forests.
The cultivator who had mastered the Metal attribute technique could bring forth storms and control magnetic forces.
The Heavenly Man cultivators could freely wield such phenomena of heaven and earth as they desired, and even draw upon them.
Among Heavenly Man cultivators, this manipulation of the heavens was called “Heavenly Qi Guidance.”
The same principle by which Goe-gun had once tried to strangle Won Rip to death from several thousand li away—turning a curse into a single phenomenon of heaven and earth and guiding it toward Won Rip.
And the key point in such attribute-based guidance was which attribute one had centered one’s accumulation upon in the later stages of the primordial era.
But thanks to the effects of Wol-do Swae-cheon and Ohaengjangweon, I could guide all five elements as Heavenly Qi.
‘Ordinary demon beasts can generally guide all five elements as Heavenly Qi…’
They simply were not specialized compared to the Heavenly Race cultivators.
Only some demonic beasts with superior bloodlines specialized in the attributes governed by the superior bloodline among the five elements, while those without superior bloodlines simply chose to endlessly strengthen their own bodies through Heavenly Qi guidance.
But because I had mastered all five elements using the Heavenly Race cultivation method, all five elements were specialized like the Heavenly Race cultivators, yet I could wield them all like the Five Elements cultivators.
This alone already showed a considerable difference between me and ordinary Heavenly Man cultivators.
When I mixed the power of the Shattered Heaven and formed the Triple Taiji, and then incorporated the circuits of the Puppet, just how strong would I become?
I realized that even I myself did not know how strong my power was yet.
‘This is something I will have to figure out gradually.’
I checked my physical condition and turned around.
Zzzak, zzi-jjak…
“…You’ve woken up.”
“Everything’s recovered.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon and Kim Young-hoon had already flown over and were looking at me.
I grinned and nodded.
“Yes. I slept well.”
“I thought you were dead. I nearly went crazy pressuring the disciples of Geumsincheonroemun to plunder the nearby sect families and make pills from their spiritual herbs to stuff into your mouth.”
“…You stuffed them in?”
“No, it was Yeon-jin who did it.”
“…!”
Then why does he look so proud of himself?
I clicked my tongue at Jeon Myeong-hoon and looked at Kim Young-hoon.
“Your body seems to have recovered a bit.”
Kim Young-hoon grinned and reached for the handle of his sword.
“Well, there’s nothing much to say, is there?”
“…!”
Of course.
My hand itched with the desire to immediately draw the Invisible Sword and swing it at Kim Young-hoon.
But I held back the desire and asked.
“I have something I need to confirm.”
“What is it?”
“You said you had entered the realm of Wol-do Swae-cheon last time, right?”
“Yes.”
“But the reaction from Yeon Wi at the time… and now seeing it with my own eyes, it’s even clearer.”
I swallowed hard and asked.
“You are not… Wol-do Swae-cheon, are you?”
“…!”
Kim Young-hoon was silent for a moment, then gave a small smile.
It was affirmation.
Ossuk, ossuk…
I felt goosebumps rise on my skin.
Yes, this was the Kim Young-hoon I knew.
The reason Yeon Wi had been terrified when she saw Kim Young-hoon back then.
And the strange sense of incongruity I felt from him now.
And the golden ascension I had seen during the aerial battle in the lower realm.
Combining everything, one conclusion emerged.
“Brother Young-hoon. You have reached the realm that one being in my knowledge calls ‘Imperial Immortal One Look’ beyond the Shattered Heaven… and the current you, that is, the you who overcame the primordial era with us in the Shattered Heaven realm, is a clone, is he not?”
“Eh? What are you talking about?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon looked alternately at me and Kim Young-hoon, unable to understand.
It was there.
The Heaven-Sinking Venerable Jang Ik had once sent his ‘clone’ through distant spacetime via Yu Hwa while in the lower realm.
The current Kim Young-hoon was a clone of Kim Young-hoon who had reached the Imperial Immortal One Look that Jang Ik had created.
And the golden ascension we had seen when we aerially battled in the lower realm had been the main body of Kim Young-hoon who had not surrendered at that time.
I felt a tingling thrill run through my entire body and let out a low chuckle.
“How… how did you reach that realm?”
And Kim Young-hoon chuckled.
A faint golden light gleamed in his eyes, reflecting my figure.
My figure, for some reason, looked extremely excited.
Yes, the same expression I had when I pulled up the corners of my mouth just now.
“Do you want to know?”
Clang!
He placed his hand on the handle of his sword.
I pulled out the Colorless Glass Sword and said.
“Of course.”
“Is that necessary to say?”
I shook my head.
Kim Young-hoon gripped his sword with a joyful expression and spoke.
“I’ll tell you.”
In the next moment, the Light Blade and the Colorless Glass Sword tore through the void and collided.