The Pillar's Shadow (3)
Suddenly, the capital city of a sect in Seongje Kingdom.
One of the cities near the Daesan Mountains in Doonseong.
The people felt an overwhelming sense of suffocation.
"Ah... It feels strangely stuffy..."
"This air is heavy like stone... My body feels hollow..."
"Breathing is so hard..."
Ordinary people were at this level.
But martial artists were different.
"Ugh! My inner energy!"
"It suddenly hardened!"
"Even breathing doesn't bring it in! Breathing is impossible!!"
Inner energy turned to stone, immobile.
And the capital cultivators were far worse.
Creak, creak, creak!
One of Seongje's capital cultivators collapsed on the floor, foaming at the mouth.
Creak, creak, creak!
The meridians throughout his body froze solid.
At the same time, the heavenly spiritual energy they breathed in.
That heavenly spiritual energy carried a massive killing intent that pressed down on the cultivators' minds.
This pressure hit the Foundation Establishment cultivators hardest. Among them, only Core Formation cultivators could barely resist by drawing on their golden core power.
None of them understood why the heavenly spiritual energy had changed and why this disaster had struck so suddenly.
* * *
I struggled to keep my expression calm, but it was useless. My face tightened anyway.
A moment later.
I calmed my mind, withdrew the killing intent, and regained control of my will.
"...I'm sorry. The Cheongmun Clan has ties to the Gwanghan Realm, and someone mentioned knowing the one called Cheongmun Ryeong, so I reacted too hastily."
I apologized to Kim Young-hoon.
Kim Young-hoon smiled bitterly.
"He was a friend of a friend, right? I understand. Even if your friend is grieving, anger can still rise. But... I had no choice. More precisely, I don't think it was about killing him. It was turning him into a vegetative state, a plant person."
"...Hmm."
The words "vegetative state" made me barely succeed in controlling my will.
'He wasn't dead, then.'
There was still hope.
In this world there might be no way, but in the Gwanghan Realm there were countless Vital Energy Pillars and Vital Energy Herbs. Treatment should be possible.
"Cheongmun Ryeong's achievements after reaching Core Formation became the turning point of history in this world. Yes, we should start with that. First..."
Kim Young-hoon's explanation continued.
* * *
The butterfly effect of the countless fates I had changed in this world was enormous.
First, under the leadership of the Cheongmun Clan, the Western Three Kingdoms' capital families organized the Cheongwoo Alliance.
They respected each other's territories but cooperated outside them. This alliance brought enormous wealth to the Cheongmun Clan, which had cooperated with the remnants of Black Ghost Valley.
A Core Formation remnant soul remnant, Song Jin.
And with the help of his disciple, the mixed-blood Seo Ran, they began expanding their power by moving freely between the Palace of Liberation and the Seopmyeong Ship.
Unlike in my previous life, Kim Young-hoon had to face capital cultivators from the very beginning.
He was a martial artist whose territory was guarded by a Core Formation-level fox beast. So it was natural that the Cheongwoo Alliance would take notice.
In the beginning, Kim Young-hoon was beaten almost to death by the fox, and he dueled with the capital cultivators who came looking for him, rapidly improving his skills.
It took about five years.
Kim Young-hoon finally reached the Saber Entering Heaven realm and was able to beat the fox.
From that point on, he could access the capital world.
The capital world was a great upheaval led by the Cheongwoo Alliance, centered on the Cheongmun Clan.
And among the Cheongmun Clan, Cheongmun Ryeong, who had received extraordinary support from spiritual stones during those five years, had reached a level far beyond ordinary cultivators.
He had studied and previewed Foundation Establishment late-stage, Great Origin Sphere, and early Core Formation techniques. With the support of the spiritual stones, he mastered both the after-acuity method and the before-perception method, overcame his weak constitution, and finally became a Core Formation cultivator.
Kim Young-hoon's first opponent was Cheongmun Ryeong.
Kim Young-hoon, who had beaten the fox even in the Saber Entering Heaven realm, was driven to the brink of death by Cheongmun Ryeong, who had just entered Core Formation.
That day was the first time Kim Young-hoon had lost to a capital cultivator.
After that day, Cheongmun Ryeong and Kim Young-hoon inexplicably matched each other and fought together.
The two became sworn brothers. Kim Young-hoon joined the Cheongwoo Alliance and gradually dueled Cheongmun Ryeong until he surpassed him in skill.
Kim Young-hoon accumulated insane amounts of martial experience by sparring with Cheongmun Ryeong and the fox, and he raced toward the techniques that drifted in his mind.
It was peaceful for a while.
If only Song Jin hadn't asked the Cheongwoo Alliance for one favor.
"To enter the Observatory at the southernmost tip of the Sea Dragon Clan, we need basic repairs to the Seopmyeong Ship. Gather artificers who can repair the Seopmyeong Ship."
From across the Cheongwoo Alliance, the renowned artificers gathered like a swarm.
It was a chance to see the legendary Seopmyeong Ship of Black Ghost Valley.
Among them was Buk Hyang-hwa, the most talented of the Cheongmun Clan's Core Formation cultivators who had recently entered Core Formation in Byeokra Kingdom and fallen from the position of one of the Three Great Venerables.
Song Jin admired her skill and selected her along with one hundred skilled artificers to learn at the Palace of Liberation. He entrusted them with the repairs to the Seopmyeong Ship.
During that process, Buk Hyang-hwa became a core member of the Cheongwoo Alliance, Cheongmun Ryeong's sworn brother.
She also became acquainted with Kim Young-hoon, Cheongmun Ryeong's sworn brother, and gained their friendship.
Cheongmun Ryeong especially admired Buk Hyang-hwa, who followed him into the position of Three Great Venerable, praising her efforts and talent.
Amid this peace, another five years passed, and finally, under Buk Hyang-hwa's leadership, the basic repairs to the Seopmyeong Ship were completed.
Song Jin was overjoyed and rewarded Buk Hyang-hwa. He said she had entered the Observatory at the Sea Dragon Palace via the Seopmyeong Ship.
"The problem began from there."
Kim Young-hoon's eyes grew heavy.
"Song Jin asked Cheongmun Ryeong to use the observation devices found in the Observatory to figure out something. He said basic dharma arts were the common language of the entire capital world, and that Cheongmun Ryeong's extreme mastery of that language was essential."
'Heavenly Observation Analysis?'
Of course. Cheongmun Ryeong was already skilled in heavenly observation and star mapping. He should have been able to handle the devices in the Observatory.
"And Cheongmun Ryeong went with Song Jin to the Observatory at the Sea Dragon Palace and interpreted data for years. And on the day I reached here, after fourteen years, I beat the fox and reached the Saber Entering Heaven realm... ."
"Wait, what is the fox?"
"Oh, that fox. I started calling it that after I raised a stray dog as a puppy when I was young."
"...Raising an animal and naming it after a dog when you're a kid... Isn't that animal cruelty?"
"Animal cruelty? Animal cruelty applies to mute, wronged animals. The one who tearfully begs while I tear it apart and eat it alive? That doesn't count."
"...Yeah, whatever. So what happened?"
"Well, I beat the fox that had reached Great Origin Sphere and reached Saber Entering Heaven. And... I went to the southernmost tip to boast to my sworn brother, Cheongmun Ryeong. I went to the Observatory at the southernmost tip... and found the mad Cheongmun Ryeong."
"...!?"
"And from there, the disaster began. Cheongmun Ryeong was mesmerized by the heavenly observation devices. He wrote down interpretations he had made of the heavenly observation data. I felt that 'power' was seeping into the data itself."
"...!"
"I grew worried about his condition and tried to stop him. But he ignored me. Instead, he attacked me in rage. I suppressed him before he could kill me. But... at that moment, Cheongmun Ryeong broke free from my hand and began 'eating' the data he had interpreted."
"Eh?"
I asked in confusion.
"What does that mean?"
"He ate it. He ate the heavenly observation data, page by page."
"... ."
"Anyway. After Cheongmun Ryeong ate the torn pages, his power surged sharply. He said he had succeeded in interpreting the truth of the world and attacked me. I... almost died from that attack."
"...!"
I asked in disbelief.
"Cheongmun Ryeong's... attack landed on you?"
"Yes."
How had Kim Young-hoon, who carried the comprehension of Able Light, been hit by a Core Formation-level strike?
'Even if I were a Heavenly Person cultivator, there's no guarantee I could land a hit on Saber Entering Kim Young-hoon... .'
I was in shock when Kim Young-hoon's explanation continued.
"It was strange. It wasn't just a hit. It was the concept of inevitable hit. [Avoidance was impossible].... And I... barely escaped with death on my heels, dodging Cheongmun Ryeong's eyes and fleeing with Song Jin, who had been hiding at the bottom of the Sea Dragon Palace, on the Seopmyeong Ship. I had gone looking for Cheongmun Ryeong with you and was about to die when the same thing happened, but even the Seopmyeong Ship couldn't escape Cheongmun Ryeong's eyes."
"... ."
"After escaping, Song Jin, with Seo Ran, shouted, 'If we don't kill Cheongmun Ryeong, the entire world will be exterminated by the mad Core Formation cultivator, Cheongmun Ryeong!' And I... couldn't refute Song Jin's words. The Cheongmun Ryeong I saw then was not the one I knew."
Kim Young-hoon continued in a gloomy tone.
My face hardened as I listened.
"...While escaping from Cheongmun Ryeong, I repaired the Seopmyeong Ship that had been shattered beyond repair. Buk Hyang-hwa, one of the Three Great Venerables, succeeded. Fortunately, Song Jin had hidden in the bottom of the Sea Dragon Palace and brought back the treasures accumulated there. Using those treasures, we almost perfectly repaired the Seopmyeong Ship. Moreover, she began producing mass-produced Seopmyeong Ships."
"...Ugh..."
"I don't know when, but the patterns on her face changed from four to completely three. From then on, mass-produced Seopmyeong Ships began pouring out."
'Qi Gate Refinement. Three Gates?'
Qi Gate Refinement existed from seven gates to one gate.
Four to seven gates were ordinary genius level.
But from three gates onward, the demonic talent truly awakened.
'She became Three Gate Refinement?'
Speaking of mass-producing the Seopmyeong Ship.
I was stunned that such a terrifying weapon was being mass-produced and questioned it.
"I heard the Seopmyeong Ship requires enormous power sources. Where did she get the power sources for all those ships?"
"Well, in the beginning, we just blindly gathered capital cultivators and forced their spiritual power into the mass-produced Seopmyeong Ship fleet, the so-called 'Bukhyang Fleet'."
"...Who named the Bukhyang Fleet?"
"Buk Hyang-hwa named it herself."
As I heard those words, I felt a little sorry for her, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling.
'Sorry, but the name isn't very clever.'
I would have come up with a more clever name.
A faint regret lingered.
"Anyway, the first extermination expedition against Cheongmun Ryeong was organized with the Bukhyang Fleet, me, and the Core Formation cultivators of the Cheongwoo Alliance."
"...The term 'first' extermination expedition..."
"Exactly. It was completely destroyed. The Bukhyang Fleet was nearly annihilated, and a good number of Core Formation cultivators were heavily injured. A few died. But we did gain something."
Kim Young-hoon's eyes sparkled.
"I sliced open one of Cheongmun Ryeong's ships and managed to extract 'something' from inside."
"...Eh?"
I asked, frowning, not knowing what reaction to show.
"What... did you extract?"
"Later analysis showed it was the 'heavenly observation data' Cheongmun Ryeong had eaten. The heavenly observation data had oddly turned into stone after melting in his body... and was providing the Origin Soul level function inside his body. Anyway, we took the strange stone with us and retreated. And..."
He gave a faint smile.
"Song Jin said that the strange stone contained as much power as the Seopmyeong Ship's power source. So we entrusted the complete repair of the Seopmyeong Ship to Buk Hyang-hwa. And... that day, the Seopmyeong Ship of Black Ghost Valley regained its power. It was truly... astonishing."
'The Seopmyeong Ship... .'
I recalled the two Seopmyeong Ships left in Black Ghost Valley and felt a chill run down my spine.
'Insane. How is that possible?'
What had Cheongmun Ryeong interpreted that allowed him to condense such a monstrous power source of spiritual energy inside his body?
"Anyway, with the support of the Seopmyeong Ship, the second extermination expedition against Cheongmun Ryeong began. Of course, it failed too, but after that, the story doesn't get better, does it?"
"...Yes. By any means, we got the strange stone from Cheongmun Ryeong again... ."
"Yes. Because of the bizarre material constantly being generated inside Cheongmun Ryeong's body, our side's power grew stronger. The Bukhyang Fleet began displaying unbelievable might with each passing day. And so, over forty years, we had to conduct the Cheongmun Ryeong expedition!"
"... ."
Kim Young-hoon's face was filled with sorrow.
"I came to this world twenty-five years ago.... I was driven to the brink of death by the mad Cheongmun Ryeong several times... . In the end, I gained comprehension at Shattered Heaven Peak and obtained Shattered Heaven. But... from that point, Cheongmun Ryeong began to change into someone I no longer recognized. The Cheongmun Ryeong no longer existed. He gradually began to mutate into a 'monster'."
"... ."
I rubbed my face as the story grew increasingly tragic.
"I... had to kill him as he became a monster. But at the same time, I desperately wanted to save my friend. So I madly pursued the next realm. I pursued it, pursued it, and pursued it again. I trained with my entire muscles bursting, cutting my lifespan, accelerating through time with Able Light! In that way, I reached the 'next' realm solely to give my friend peace."
Kim Young-hoon stroked his own face.
A bitter smile lingered there.
"So... I finally reached the 'next'. And using the techniques I reached beyond that, I succeeded in sealing Cheongmun Ryeong's soul. Thus, Cheongmun Ryeong... left behind his mutated body inside the Observatory and fell into a vegetative state."
"...Is that right?"
"Do you know that?"
Kim Young-hoon said.
"When I swung my final path at Cheongmun Ryeong, he finally regained his senses."
"... ."
"We thought he was a monster... . But at that moment, we could tell. Cheongmun Ryeong... had been suppressing with his own mental strength whatever was about to sprout from his body.... We believed we had to kill him to save the world, but in reality, Cheongmun Ryeong alone was fighting the thing inside his body to save the world."
"... ."
I asked slowly in a trembling voice.
"What... is that thing, exactly?"
My pupils shook wildly.
"What did Cheongmun Ryeong interpret... and what was he affected by?"
"I don't know. In the end, Cheongmun Ryeong said he had interpreted part of the 'sky'. I don't know if it's a metaphor or what, but it seemed like he had witnessed something through the observation devices in the Observatory and his own dharma art comprehension. Yes, that is clearly his achievement. And because of that achievement... he became what he did."
"... ."
"His intelligence was so vast that he witnessed great wisdom, but... what was that wisdom that turned him into that state..."
I recalled the Frontier's Log.
The saying that looking directly at the sky causes headaches.
And Yang Su-jin's words.
This world is inauspicious.
Jeong-ryeo's words also came to mind.
Beings at the level of Imperial Immortals had been exterminated without a trace in this place....
Cheongmun Ryeong had surely entered the Observatory and, relying on the data discovered by the Sea Dragon Clan, interpreted the data based on his own comprehension of dharma arts.
'From the beginning, [Basic Dharma Art] is about the essence of qi.'
Qi Condensation was the basic stage where one understood the essence of qi and stored the 'sky' within one's own body.
Cheongmun Ryeong had interpreted the heavenly observation data from Sugye by relying on his comprehension of qi, and the result was what Kim Young-hoon had described.
"In the end, Cheongmun Ryeong told Buk Hyang-hwa how to extract the knowledge from the strange stones inside his body without going mad, and he fell asleep. Buk Hyang-hwa obtained a very small part of the knowledge contained in the strange stones as he had instructed and reinforced the Bukhyang Fleet once more. So the story of Cheongmun Ryeong, the Bukhyang Fleet, and me almost ended there."
He said in a bitter voice.
"...Do you understand my realm now? It is the realm I opened by pouring my full strength into saving my friend from death. But even though I gave my friend peace, it is the realm in which I cut him down. I don't want to name the realm in which I cut my friend, so I didn't name this realm."
"...Is that right?"
"...After reaching the realm, I almost went mad. I dueled the reinforced Bukhyang Fleet and, once that was boring, I trained madly. If I hadn't, the sensation of sealing Cheongmun Ryeong's soul would not have been forgotten. But eventually it became boring, so the sensation kept resurfacing. Boring, and then unbearably boring... just before I truly 'went mad'... Seo Ran and Song Jin found a torture document."
I listened quietly to his words.
"He suggested that there might be a way to restore and heal Cheongmun Ryeong to his original state in the world of Ancient Power. So originally, we had planned to ascend after the Ascension Gate opened a thousand years from now, but we changed the plan."
Kim Young-hoon's eyes sparkled.
"I, Buk Hyang-hwa, and Seo Ran and Song Jin each had their own reasons to ascend to the Goryeok Realm. Seo Ran to counter someone like Seo Hyoel. Song Jin to measure something. Me to rescue Cheongmun Ryeong and to strengthen the sealing of the strange stones from his body. All for different reasons."
"Goryeok... Realm, you say?"
I recalled the Goryeok Realm.
I didn't know much in detail, but I had heard that it took a thousand years just to travel between the Gwanghan Realm and that it could only be entered under special conditions.
"Is there a way to ascend to that Goryeok Realm?"
I asked in wonder.
Ascending to the Gwanghan Realm was easy because of the Ascension Gate.
But ascending to another middle realm was purely a matter of one's own cultivation method.
The Goryeok Realm?
Kim Young-hoon nodded.
"Song Jin measured something and said we all had the 'qualification' to enter the Goryeok Realm. He said that those with the 'qualification' who received the blessing of the Bongmyeongin and ascended would have a higher chance of reaching the Goryeok Realm."
"Hmm..."
"And he told us which middle realm was closer depending on the position of the 'sky' in this world. The Goryeok Realm is closest to the sky of Shattered Heaven Peak, above the Geumsincheonloemun. So Buk Hyang-hwa and I, using our combined strength, pierced through the Shattered Heaven Peak's sky, which has an unusually thick dimensional veil, left me behind in this world to monitor Cheongmun Ryeong, and ascended. This... is the entire story of what I experienced in this world."
"... ."
"I am truly grateful to you. If you hadn't appeared... my clone would have slowly gone mad in this world. And that would have affected the main body as well. I don't know how much... this heart has been freed because of you."
It seemed the competitive excitement Kim Young-hoon felt while sparring with me had been part of that reason as well.
As I listened to his story, my heart was completely overturned by the fate of Sugye.
I had listened to the story in a somewhat bitter tone, so I asked him one thing.
"...I have some acquaintance with the person named Cheongmun Ryeong. Since that acquaintance is someone I cannot easily sever ties with, I must check Cheongmun Ryeong's condition."
The 'acquaintance' I was referring to was myself.
I looked at Kim Young-hoon and said.
"You said you sealed Cheongmun Ryeong's soul using the power of your realm, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Lead me... to Cheongmun Ryeong."
"... ."
Kim Young-hoon looked troubled.
A moment later, he stood up from his seat.
"Come with me."
--- **Note:** The translation is complete and faithful to the source. All special in-universe elements (system notifications, comments, etc.) are absent in this chapter, so no additional styled blocks are required beyond the narrative prose.