A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation - For Seo Ran, Towards Seo Ran (4)
Three hundred years had passed.
A hundred years remained until the pocket dimension created by Jeongryong Jinin would open.
I had finally reached the Four Pillars stage.
Kugugugugu!
Dark ghost qi enveloped me completely.
Kureung, kurururung!
As dark clouds gathered in the sky, golden celestial tribulations began to writhe from within.
Forming the foundation of the world based on the Heavenly Circle, it established the roots of the land.
The Four Realms flowing from the Heavenly Circle formed during the Heavenly Person stage.
And the Seven Lakes of the Five Sacred Peaks created during the Nascent Soul stage.
The attribute of my own fame technique was placed at the center of the Five Sacred Peaks.
The remaining four attributes were arranged in the four directions.
The mountains formed this way were used as pillars connecting heaven and earth.
The four pillars connected to the Four Realms in the sky and descended the power of heaven.
Uuuung!
The aura around the upper dantian of the Nascent Soul rose like a halo.
And inside the lower dantian, the power of the halo descended and formed a perfect round circle in the same way.
Four axes were driven into that circle to create a square.
That was how the Heavenly Circle-Land was completed.
That was the practice of the Four Pillars stage.
Kurerurung!
As the foundation of the land began to form, golden light rays trembled from the sky.
The celestial tribulation that had been met during the transition from late Heavenly Person to Integration was twenty lines.
And the celestial tribulation met when advancing from Heavenly Person to Four Pillars was generally said to be twenty-five lines.
Kwaarrurung!
The sky poured down a torrent of light.
But I raised my head toward the heavens.
Kugugugugu!
Ghost qi covered my body.
If I had used the Ghost King Transformation created by the Ghost Immortal Star Demon Art, I would simply have become one ordinary ghost king.
But the Ghost King Transformation created by the Great Desert Dead Sea Formation was different.
It was a technique that allowed me to draw out the maximum power of the death force covering my soul.
That was the Great Desert Dead Sea Formation.
Kkuk, kkuddeddedded! Kkuk!
Around my head, skulls made of ghost qi began to emerge.
My body gradually transformed into a ghost body, with ghostly hands filling my palms and beads filling my feet.
My original face began to wither and twist, becoming like those skulls.
A ghost king with eighteen skulls.
That was me.
[Oooooooooo—]
The ghost valley energy burned across the four directions.
Yin qi surged everywhere, and the ghosts in every corner of Black Ghost Valley began to scream.
Uuuuuuuung!
The frame of the land created within my body circulated my inner qi endlessly, converting it into life force.
My sense of the myriad forces became increasingly sharp and clear, and my understanding of “life” was now within the grasp of my hand.
The circulation of heaven, earth, and spirit qi became even more certain, and my consciousness expanded and clarified.
Kwaarrurrurung!
A torrent of golden light crashed over me.
But I did not panic.
I opened eighteen mouths.
[Ooooooooo—]
Each of my eighteen heads began to sing.
It was the song of death.
Jet-black yin qi filled the sky, weakening the celestial tribulation.
At the same time, jet-black black thunder began to spew from beyond the yin qi.
The Six Extreme Yin Thunder Deity.
Kwaajijijijik!
Beneath my feet, black thunder gathered and, like shadows, six ghostly figures emerged.
These were not actual ghosts.
Instead, they were curses symbolizing the Six Extremes: horizontal death, disease, worry, poverty, evil, and weakness.
Among them, the ghost symbolizing horizontal death had an especially large head.
The ghosts began to hold hands and circle around me to the rhythm of the song of death.
Gradually, yin thunder began to form around the ghosts, responding to the celestial tribulation.
And finally.
Wiiiiiiing—
Above my head, the form of the taiji appeared, absorbing the weakened celestial tribulation.
The Supreme Yang Yin Thunder Deity.
Although I could not use it openly inside the Black Ghost Valley’s domain, no one would know that I had secretly refined the heavenly thunder with the Supreme Yang Yin Thunder Deity while enduring the celestial tribulation.
The eons that had felt like an eternity had passed, and at last.
Kwaarrurrurung!
I overcame the final line of the celestial tribulation.
Bwoong!
Kururrurung!
Light burst from my body as I began to frantically absorb the nearby heaven, earth, and spirit qi.
It was not just because of the Great Desert Dead Sea Formation.
The flesh that had absorbed the nearby heaven, earth, and spirit qi had finally merged with the nearby spirit veins.
This was a fusion with the earth.
In the early stages of cultivation, we had long performed sacrifices to the sky.
But at the Four Pillars stage, the recipient of the sacrifice was no longer the sky.
Not the sky, but the land.
The earth itself.
That is, performing a sacrifice to the rank of qi.
From this stage onward, the only difference was slight in the method.
It was said that the cultivation methods of the heavenly tribes and earthly tribes were almost identical.
Of course, the heavenly tribes performed sacrifices to the rank of qi to influence the rank of fate.
While the earthly tribes had the rank of qi itself as the greater goal, the methods themselves became nearly identical.
The flesh that had fused with the earth absorbed the heaven, earth, and spirit qi of the land while simultaneously dyeing the nearby heaven and earth.
KuoOOOOO—
The earth around me was dyed with black ghost qi.
Ghosts howled and laughed with joy from every corner.
The ghost valley energy thundered between heaven and earth.
The entire land had become a place suitable for the ghosts to live.
At the Four Pillars stage, I could either leave this transformed land as it was or return it to its original state.
Now they had been given basic authority to command heaven, earth, and nature.
Kugukguk—
I gathered my strength and drew the ghost qi that filled the heaven and earth back into my body.
Huuu—
I rose from my seat, letting ghost qi flow from my thirty-six eyes.
From the Four Pillars stage, in the case of the myriad forces, one’s own flesh grows stronger and larger.
However, with the heavenly tribes, the body begins to transform according to the ideal world guided by the technique one has mastered.
Even during the Heavenly Person stage, one could briefly transform the body, but it was almost as fragile as a phantom technique.
But at the Four Pillars stage it was different.
It was truly the original self that had transformed.
Of course, one could return to the original body, but the stronger one drew upon the power of the technique, the more the form changed.
Now my original self was no longer a human form, but the form of a ghost king with eighteen heads.
I briefly observed myself, then returned my body to human form.
I returned to my original appearance in the black robe and extended my hand toward the void.
Kuguguk—
Force of attraction burst from my hand, beginning to twist space.
From the Four Pillars stage, the power of “heavenly qi guidance” obtained at the Heavenly Person stage evolved into “attraction.”
Attraction emerged from the earth, and it was at the Four Pillars stage after gaining enlightenment of the earth that one obtained attraction.
This attraction grew stronger and larger with each advancement of the rank, allowing one to perform the technique of holding down the ground at the Four Pillars stage.
However, at the Integration stage it became possible to twist space with only attraction without interfering with the rank, creating pocket dimensions.
And at the Star Shattering stage one could manipulate vast time and space to cross distances equivalent to light-years.
At the Star Plate stage, attraction could twist the orbital paths of stars in the Star Realm and bind the flow of the middle realms to one’s own hand.
And from the Fissure Opening stage, attraction rose to the rank of fate, allowing one to twist time and space and exert weak influence on destiny.
Kuguguk—
I grasped the void and generated attraction.
At this point I could not use such strong attraction.
Even the technique of holding down the ground was only possible from the middle of the Four Pillars stage if one possessed exceptional talent or had learned a special technique.
The one benefit of using attraction at the early stage of the Four Pillars stage was this.
Kugugugugu!
When I generated attraction on the rank of qi, an immense flood of heaven, earth, and spirit qi began to pour over me.
From the Four Pillars stage, the unit of heaven, earth, and spirit qi one could handle through attraction changed.
At the Heavenly Person stage it was simply the dissolution of the boundary between inner and outer, limited to handling the external heaven, earth, and spirit qi.
At best, I had performed heavenly qi guidance.
From the Four Pillars stage, using attraction allowed me to draw and control far more heaven, earth, and spirit qi than the Heavenly Person stage.
Kuguguguk—
Life force surged throughout my entire body.
I breathed heavily while reading the heavenly qi that had lengthened my lifespan to ten thousand years.
‘Finally… I have reached the Four Pillars stage.’
The technique of the heavenly tribes.
And when combined with the circuits of Goe-gun, it was power on the level of late Four Pillars stage.
‘I have become too weakened because I can no longer use the Invisible Sword.’
From some point onward, I had become unable to project my inner image onto qi.
I had thought it must be because my core was completely separated.
‘No, perhaps…’
It might have been because Seo Hyul had taken my core.
If Seo Hyul, who did not understand the nature of his own mind and knew nothing of martial arts, could not properly handle the Invisible Sword, there was a high possibility that he would simply lose it.
I had cut the connection to my core, but we still shared the fundamental foundation, so if something went wrong with my core’s inner image, I could not use the Invisible Sword.
If I wanted to use the Invisible Sword again, there was only one way.
‘If I completely cut the connection with Seo Eun-hyun and completely rebirth as the independent personality of “Seo Lip”…’
Then I would be able to use the Invisible Sword once more.
‘But then it would have no meaning.’
I was Seo Lip.
But at the same time I was Seo Eun-hyun.
There was no need to break free from the framework of Seo Eun-hyun to become an independent “me.”
“…Well, it doesn’t matter much.”
Anyway, once I obtained what was usable from Jeongryong Jinin’s pocket dimension, the gap in power would be resolved.
And Seo Hyul still needed six hundred years to escape the barrier, so there was more time.
‘Gradually mastering the technique and the sensation of the rank increasing at an accelerating speed.’
With this speed, it seemed I would be able to aim for the Integration stage in a few hundred years.
I suddenly thought that if I had simply trained without wasting time from the beginning, I might have reached the Star Shattering stage by now.
‘But that doesn’t mean the technique is good…’
Leaving aside the fact that my original self had become so monstrous, my hatred and rage toward Won Rip, my anger and disgust toward the technique, had not disappeared.
Even the Great Desert Dead Sea Formation, which had been modified from a technique and was not a technique, was enough to make me shudder with an unspoken disgust when I practiced it occasionally.
Anyway, since I knew the utility of the technique, it seemed there was no harm in modifying and mastering the technique, or in focusing on the parts where I did not need to sacrifice others.
It was then that I fell into thought.
—Master, I pay my respects for your advancement in cultivation.
“Hong Beom?”
I received Hong Beom’s contact and stood up from my seat.
A mountain peak that was not particularly familiar.
Below the mountain peak, cold winds blew fiercely, producing chilling sounds.
This place was the Sap-pung Territory.
I had come to the Sap-pung Territory to forge a shortcut for rescuing Kang Min-hee, the genius who appeared once every ten thousand years with the Spirit Dao Yin Transformation Lineage, the Ghost Dao Holy Mother of Black Ghost Valley.
I had naturally volunteered to help with the creation of the Sap-pung Territory shortcut to assist in the rescue of Kang Min-hee.
And after absorbing the yin qi of the Sap-pung Territory for hundreds of years and enduring valiant cultivation, I had finally reached the Four Pillars stage.
“I will go there now.
Prepare yourself.”
—Yes, thank you.
Kuguguk!
I rolled my feet, generating attraction.
Paaaaang!
I installed attraction at the target point and was pulled toward it.
This way I could fly without using the technique of lightness on water.
After flying for a while in the sky, I finally reached the place where Hong Beom was.
Huiiiii—
The rugged peaks in the Sap-pung Territory.
A basin surrounded by those mountain peaks.
Hong Beom was sitting in the center of the basin, rubbing his beard with his crumpled body and waiting.
“Are you ready?”
—Yes, Master.
Hong Beom was in the state of having prepared to transition from Nascent Soul to Heavenly Person Integration and then to Four Pillars after three hundred years.
No matter how talented I was with the technique, I did not think I would surpass Hong Beom in talent.
“Then shall we begin?”
Kwoong!
As I rolled my feet, the basin shuddered and turned to sand, becoming a desert.
And clay figures made of earth appeared from everywhere, opening their mouths toward the sky.
These clay figures would serve as lightning rods to disperse the heavenly thunder.
“Please watch the heavenly qi.”
—It is the right time now.
The two thousand, five thousand, and seven thousand have risen to the sky.
—Thank you… Then, let us begin!
Kugugugugu!
Hong Beom revealed his core.
The image of a giant centipede spewing black venom appeared before my eyes.
Hong Beom’s core had grown so large that it was now the size of a three-story building.
His core alone was large enough to cover the entire royal palace of the Yeon Kingdom’s capital.
Chiiiiii—
The nearby earth was instantly contaminated by his venom.
I knew that drinking Hong Beom’s venom was dangerous, so I stepped back.
And his ascension began.
Kwaarrurung!
Bwoong!
The sky shone as golden heavenly thunder fell.
Even this time Hong Beom’s heavenly thunder was on an unbelievable level.
Unlike the Jin-myeongja, the golden and cyan heavenly thunder did not strike at the same time, but heavenly thunder far larger than that of same-stage cultivators fell on Hong Beom.
Cheo-eoreo-eoreong!
Hong Beom endured the celestial tribulation inside the pillar of light.
The formation I had laid out in advance had slightly dispersed Hong Beom’s heavenly thunder, but even so he seemed to be suffering considerable pain.
Kwaajijijijik!
As the heavenly thunder reached its peak.
I operated the Supreme Yang Yin Thunder Deity and sealed a portion of Hong Beom’s celestial tribulation in the taiji.
Kwaarrurrurung!
The sky’s anger intensified the heaven, earth, and spirit qi.
But I smiled slyly and dropped a thread-thin amount of the celestial tribulation sealed in the taiji to Hong Beom.
When Hong Beom touched the thread-thin celestial tribulation, the sky stopped trying to reinforce it.
It was a kind of shortcut.
It was not possible to completely help with the celestial tribulation, but sealing it like this and then dividing it a little at a time was within the dangerously acceptable range.
Of course, even this had a defined range, and if one exceeded it or two people did this, the celestial tribulation would eventually grow.
Even so, it seemed Hong Beom would survive.
I took a moment to pay a grateful greeting.
Chiiiiii—
Hong Beom spewed venom and gathered qi, overcoming the celestial tribulation.
And at some point.
Bwoong!
The celestial tribulation ended, and finally Hong Beom merged with the earth.
Kugugugugu!
Venom rose in the earth.
After a while, Hong Beom recovered the venom and moved his body.
Deolk, deolkdeolk!
Soon his carapace fell, and Hong Beom began to shed his skin.
Chiiiiii—
Hong Beom, after shedding his skin, transformed into a black centipede spewing even darker venom.
After savoring the venom for a while, Hong Beom soon returned his body to human form.
[Huuuuur…]
I slowly approached the Hong Beom who was both drinking and spewing venom.
“Are you all right, Hong Beom?”
The Hong Beom who had been inside the venom for a while absorbed it as it was.
Soon the figure enveloped in venom clouds was revealed.
“Um…!”
I was slightly startled by Hong Beom’s appearance.
“Hong Beom, you, that form…”
Hong Beom had grown younger.
It was not to the point of becoming a youth from an old man.
In the completely white-haired, hunched figure, a few strands of dark qi had begun to flow in his hair, and the skin that had been wrinkled had improved slightly.
In addition, the waist that had completely shrunk had straightened, increasing his height.
‘I did feel it a little when advancing from Nascent Soul to Heavenly Person…’
Even then the wrinkled state had improved slightly and looked a bit more lively.
But now it was completely full of vitality, as if from a hundred-year-old in Nascent Soul to a ninety-year-old when reaching Heavenly Person.
And now it seemed like I had become from ninety to eighty.
‘Each time the rank is advanced, one becomes a little younger…’
It was like the phrase “Hong Beom’s time is going backward.”
Hong Beom took a breath and answered.
“I am fine.
It feels very refreshing.
Since I have reached the Four Pillars stage, my senses have widened and I feel like I can produce even more and more diverse poisons.”
“Um, yes.
I am glad.”
Looking at Hong Beom, I felt my heart grow steady.
The poisons Hong Beom produced would be useful even for the Integration stage.
So even if we fought, I was not afraid.
‘Hong Beom has also reached the Four Pillars stage.’
Then what remained was to quickly stabilize the shortcut.
‘Right now the shortcut has entered the outer walls and inner walls and is doing the quick stabilization work…’
Soon I would be able to contact Kang Min-hee again.
After reaching the Four Pillars stage, several days had passed.
At last, contact came from the outer walls and inner walls.
Tzuzut!
The new base of Black Ghost Valley established in the Sap-pung Territory.
The station of the Seopmyeong Ship of the Black Ghost Valley Sap-pung Territory branch.
Inside that place.
A projection of the outer walls appeared.
Tzuzut—
A ghost spirit made of ghost qi took the form of the outer walls and appeared before me.
[Oh, you have really reached the Four Pillars stage.
In just four hundred years you went from Nascent Soul to Four Pillars.
If it had not been for Kang Dojo, you would have been revered as the greatest talent of Black Ghost Valley.
It is a pity….
If it were not for this situation, a great victory for the sect would have been celebrated, but… now the situation is the situation, so I suppose such things would be difficult.
I understand.
The outer walls looked at my rank and clicked his tongue in surprise.
I paid my respects and said.
“It is nothing.
It is only natural that the sect’s support has fallen into danger.
Rather, since you contacted me….”
[Yes.
The shortcut has completely stabilized.
Originally I was going to request support personnel from the inner tribe, but since you have reached the Four Pillars stage, it is not necessary.]
“Yes.”
After exchanging a few words with each other, we immediately entered the Seopmyeong Ship.
Inside the Seopmyeong Ship.
The office of the Head of the Ghost Soul Pavilion.
We went there and stood before the drawing leading to the shortcut drawn by the Head of the Ghost Soul Pavilion.
[Operate your qi as I have told you before.]
“Understood.”
[Well, then… shall we go?]
I made a fist seal and operated qi.
My figure instantly changed into a ghost king with eighteen heads.
As I used the Ghost King Transformation, the shortcut became even clearer.
The drawing drawn inside the Seopmyeong Ship was only for coordinate fixation.
The ‘true’ drawing was drawn at the outer boundary of the Underworld perceived by my Underworld Sense.
Making a fist seal toward the drawing made with death power, the drawings moved and formed a single door.
I naturally extended my hand toward that door.
How this door was made.
What kind of attraction had acted to create this door, and how to create the door came into my mind.
‘Since I have reached the Four Pillars stage… the structure of the shortcut is not so difficult.’
I knew how to handle attraction and how to handle the Spirit Dao technique.
The shortcut was a method of passing through a slightly deeper place from the outer boundary of the Underworld.
I intuitively felt that using this method, I could create a shortcut that also connected to the Goryeok Realm and the Purple Gold Realm.
The reason Black Ghost Valley had not created a shortcut connecting to other middle realms was simply because there was no reason to do so.
Kiiiiiiik—
As I opened the door and entered, a thick ashen world appeared.
I stepped on the path that was made of nothing but pure darkness in the ashen world.
The space that was nothing except the path of darkness and the ashen sky.
I walked the path of space.
How far had I walked?
Deok, deok…
After a while.
While walking the path, I noticed two human figures far away.
A ghost king with eight spears emerging from its entire body, and a ghost king with four sails emerging from its shoulders.
The two ghost kings occupied space on the path.
The ghost kings were standing on the ashen void, not on the path of the road, and a black path was growing toward the place they were standing.
That black path was connected to the shortcut I was walking on.
[Head Elder Won Rip, Head Elder Won Gyong.]
[You have come.]
[Impressive, so impressive.
Even if it was not as much as the Head Elder Kang, you reached the Four Pillars stage in just four hundred years.
You too were a genius who appeared once every few generations…]
The ghost king who had grown spears was Won Gyong.
The ghost king who had grown sails was Won Rip.
Both sent words of praise to me with pure admiration.
After praising me for a while, they pointed to one place.
[Concentrate your Underworld Sense.
Find the darkness that has exactly the same quality as this ‘path.’
There should definitely be the Head Elder Kang there.
We will wait about seven days and nights, so concentrate your Underworld Sense.]
Following their words, I felt the quality of the darkness I was walking on.
It was a familiar quality.
The familiar energy of the Seopmyeong Ship.
I concentrated my Underworld Sense in the ashen world and found the same darkness.
Uuuuung—
It was an eerie feeling.
As if the ashen world had folded and entered my hand.
I observed the shrunken ashen world that had entered my hand and easily found the shortcut where Kang Min-hee was inside it.
It was too simple.
Was it not just a matter of finding the path made of the darkness of the Seopmyeong Ship, as we were standing?
[…Found it.]
[…?]
[Wait, already???]
Shock hung over the faces of the two Black Ghost Elders.
Won Gyong touched the spears growing from his body and exclaimed.
[Even I would need a full day of concentration to enter the shortcut and find it… You found it in just a few seconds…?]
[Um… Perhaps it was coincidence.]
[…? Whether it was coincidence or not, I will see.
Then for now, let the three of us generate attraction to pull toward the shortcut we sense.]
[Yes.]
We each extended the characteristics of our hands and ghost bodies.
Won Gyong the spears growing from his body.
Won Rip the direction of the sails.
And I the eighteen faces.
All toward one place, we focused our consciousness and generated attraction.
Kuguguguk!
When the three Four Pillars stage cultivators generated attraction, space bent with immense power.
[Operate qi!]
[Connect the shortcut!]
At the same time, we spewed qi.
The black path wriggled as if responding to the death power we spewed, and from the place where we were standing, the black path extended and headed somewhere far away.
And at some point.
Paaaaang!
I crossed space and saw “another shortcut” far away, not the place where we were standing.
‘Should I connect this shortcut there?’
Thinking so, I replenished qi.
But the remaining two elders uttered words that they could not understand.
[Um, do you see the Head Elder Kang’s shortcut?]
[I do not see it.
Let us generate more attraction.]
[…?]
‘What? Why is that visible?’
I looked at the shortcut that was so clearly visible and felt bewildered.
I pointed to one side in confusion.
[I think that is visible, though…]
[Um? I see nothing…?]
[Did I missee it? I have mastered the Spirit Dao technique that specializes in perception, so my Underworld Sense is actually stronger than the ghost kings.
Even I cannot see it.
If I had mastered a powerful specialized technique like the Ghost Immortal Star Demon Art or the Six Extreme Yin Thunder Deity, I would have been able to see it.
Generate more attraction.]
Won Gyong and Won Rip shook their heads and spoke, and especially Won Rip spread his sails, which specialized in perception, even more tightly and said.
I did not understand Won Rip’s words, but for now I obediently spewed attraction.
After a while.
The shortcut to Kang Min-hee came almost right in front of my nose.
Only then did Won Rip shout as if he had found the shortcut, and connected our shortcut to that place.
And Won Gyong nodded as if he had only found the shortcut after it was connected.
Won Gyong said to me.
[I do not know what you saw earlier, but be careful.
This place is, after all, the outer boundary of the Underworld.
Even more so than the place I usually perceive with my Underworld Sense.
For those alive, it is too deep a place and the Underworld Sense does not activate properly, and it is normal that one cannot see even an inch ahead inside.
It looks quiet now, but I cannot easily say what kind of beings are lurking here.
In the worst case, one might fall into the Myeongdo Heaven.
From now on, do not be on guard when something appears.]
[…Yes.
I will be careful.]
‘…It did not seem like I had misseen it…’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and crossed over to Kang Min-hee’s shortcut.
[Well, then you go that way.
We will go this way.]
[Um…]
I briefly furrowed my brow.
‘It seems like Kang Min-hee is in the place the elders are going…’
My instinct sensed that Kang Min-hee was in the place they were going.
I wanted to go, but if I said anything, they would not like it, so for now I left it to them.
I headed toward the Gwanghan Realm, while they headed toward the Myeonggwi Realm.
When I saw the elders disappear from my sight, I turned around.
It was then.
[Um?]
What?
I felt an eerie sensation.
The place I had been going was clearly “toward the Gwanghan Realm.”
If I turned around from there, it should have been “toward the Myeonggwi Realm.”
But when I turned around, I sensed “toward the Gwanghan Realm.”
Because the power of the Gwanghan Realm was felt, it was extremely clear.
‘What? Really?’
Feeling confused, I turned around again.
But I could not understand.
‘This also is toward the Gwanghan Realm?’
No matter which way I went, the Gwanghan Realm appeared.
Feeling confused, I decided to walk the path anyway.
How far had I walked?
I saw a huge existence at the end of the path.
‘…That is…’
On the long, narrow black path.
There, the area of the shortcut suddenly widened.
No, rather, that area suited the word “basin” more than “shortcut.”
And above that basin.
There, a ghost like Mount Tai had grown so large.
Kang Min-hee was sitting with her body curled up.
‘No way…!’
Feeling my heart squeeze, I slowly approached Kang Min-hee.