Farewell, Then
Gugu gugu――
Sato Territory.
Before the heavenly realm, leading into Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension.
Earthquakes shook the very air around it, triggered by the miniature laser beam fired from the Wondrous Castle.
Chiiiii――
Goe-gun stroked his chin and gazed downward.
“Hoo… this trash like that kid finally got it.”
He muttered while watching the situation on the crystal screen inside the Wondrous Castle.
Only ashes remained where Seo Hyul had stood.
Goe-gun’s eyes narrowed.
“Hmm…”
He swept his hand across his face in the control chair of the Wondrous Castle.
“I killed him… I killed him…”
No matter how one looked at it, Goe-gun and Seo Hyul had always regarded each other as mortal enemies.
For Goe-gun, Seo Hyul had been the only one who could truly stand against him.
For Seo Hyul, their compatibility had simply been too terrible.
Perhaps because of that.
After killing Seo Hyul, Goe-gun felt such a massive emotional surge that his mind momentarily snapped back into clarity.
“…You’re watching from the underworld, aren’t you? The real villain behind everything back then… I killed him.”
That was when.
Chwaaak!
A hand shot out from the heavens and earth.
And Seo Eun-hyun emerged from within, his body now bearing nineteen heads—one of his own and the eighteen skulls of the true Seo Eun-hyun from past lives.
Seo Eun-hyun had been looking for Seo Hyul, but the moment he spotted the Wondrous Castle, his body froze solid.
Jo Yeon wore a bitter smile as he looked at him.
“Why is that thing popping up out of nowhere… I was supposed to return to being Goe-gun any second now… Ah, right. He drove Seo Hyul to the brink of death, didn’t he? The king of that scheme? Impressive.”
Jo Yeon sent grateful eyes toward the frozen Seo Eun-hyun.
“Since it’s come to this, he’s going to go wild in a few moments anyway, so I might as well scare him off and send him packing… once he’s in full mania mode, I’ll definitely catch him…”
* * *
I stood tensely, staring up at the Wondrous Castle ahead.
‘Damn it.’
Seo Hyul was surely dead.
Just the ashes beside me made that clear.
Goe-gun, who treated trash like Seo Hyul, had probably simply laser-bombed him so thoroughly he wouldn’t even bother turning him into a puppet.
‘Current loop: around the five-hundredth cycle after the Void Shattering…’
Even in this timeline, Goe-gun possessed the power of over seventy Integration stage puppets.
Even if I had only reached Integration, I couldn’t have stopped him.
Of course, if I entered the Wulin of the General, I could have aimed for internal betrayal from within… but without Kim Yeon, that was impossible even as a starting point.
But…
‘Escaping is possible.’
I sent a signal downward, toward the still-unreleased Hong Beom below the Pocket Dimension.
If the Wondrous Castle vanished, come out.
Leaving the castle was no problem, but the only moment the entrance would open was once every month of the waning moon, so Goe-gun couldn’t enter from the outside.
‘Goe-gun, who controls puppets, and Hong Beom…’
Hong Beom and Goe-gun had the absolute worst compatibility.
Puppets didn’t work on him because they were poison.
If I somehow poisoned Goe-gun’s core, there might have been a chance… but Goe-gun had prepared purifying arrays and other poison-blocking formations inside the castle for “better quality of life for his puppets,” so it had been pointless.
I rolled my eyes and looked for an escape route.
That was when.
Krak!
One of the Wondrous Castle’s cannons fired straight down at me.
‘Damn it. Okay, escape first—analysis later.’
I activated the Boundless Art, the Non-Dust Technique, the Levitation Art, and the Invisible Sword Flight and shot out of the castle’s domain at blinding speed.
‘Run! Run!’
My condition wasn’t good to begin with, and now I was running as fast as I could through the Sato Territory.
Suddenly I felt something strange.
‘What? Why isn’t Goe-gun chasing me?’
If it were the normal Goe-gun, he would have used ‘her’ or something just to drive me insane with pursuit.
‘No way…’
I thought back to how he had only dropped the cannon on me to threaten without launching into that characteristically mad, exaggerated rant of his.
As I recalled him, one possibility surfaced.
‘Maybe… Goe-gun is…’
He might have regained his sanity for a moment.
I hesitated, then summoned a Wulin-type General using the Pocket Dimension and sent it flying toward Goe-gun.
‘If he’s truly sane, he needs to be told about Seo Hyul.’
Only Goe-gun could be considered Seo Hyul’s mortal enemy, so sharing the information would be the most efficient way for him to confront him.
Buuuuung――
After some time, my Wulin-type General finally reached the front of the Wondrous Castle.
[Goe-gun-nim. I have something to report.]
And the castle gate opened.
I shared my puppet’s vision as I entered the castle.
A while later.
I entered Goe-gun’s audience room, guided by the puppets.
And I was startled.
Jo Yeon, the Goe-gun, was calmly sipping tea from ‘her’ while in the audience chamber, his gaze surprisingly rational.
“That puppet made by that guy a while ago, right? He seemed to have something to say.”
Flickers of insanity still showed in his eyes, but Goe-gun was definitely in a sane state.
I nodded at him and relayed the information about Seo Hyul.
“…So Seo Hyul was a kind of military cell, and he survives by spreading it?”
[That is correct.]
“…I see. He hadn’t been completely killed, then.”
Goe-gun let out a short sigh and spoke.
“I understand. Thank you. I’ll think about a way to handle him someday as well.”
[…]
I felt an odd sensation looking at him.
‘Throughout the entire explanation… he didn’t have a single outburst…?’
That was impossible.
How was this Goe-gun even possible in the first place?
When I showed my surprise, Goe-gun drank his tea with a wry smile.
“You seem strange too. I’m not having an outburst…”
[Could you have recovered your sanity?]
“No. Seeing you handle puppets, I can tell you’re knowledgeable about puppet arts to some degree, but you wouldn’t know much about this Wondrous Castle. It’s impossible to maintain sanity while controlling the Wondrous Castle. The reason I’m this clear-headed right now is…”
A serious light appeared in Jo Yeon’s eyes.
“A moment ago, the Integration-stage puppets of the Wondrous Castle reacted. Shortly after you appeared from the heavens and earth, an eerie fluctuation spread across the entire Gwanghan Realm.”
[An eerie… fluctuation?]
“Yes. Only the Integration ones seem able to sense it with their special senses. I couldn’t feel any fluctuation, but I caught it thanks to the puppets’ reaction… So, because of that fluctuation, my mind has returned to clarity. Of course… once time passes, I’ll be swallowed by madness again, but that ‘time’ will be much longer.”
[Whoa…]
In that case, the Goe-gun before me was a being that could maintain this state for a very long time.
‘Still, what kind of fluctuation was it that let Goe-gun regain his sanity?’
I felt puzzled and thought it over.
* * *
Gwanghan Realm.
Cheonlyeon Great Mountain summit.
Above the White Jade Tower built of white jade.
A massive dimensional gate stood open, and a being wrapped in pure white light walked toward it, holding a pure white branch.
The being wrapped in pure white light was Baek-woon Seongsa, the Saintess of Gwanghan.
Baek-woon Seongsa spoke toward the huge red entity outside the dimensional gate, in the boundless space beyond.
[Why do you keep trying to approach the Gwanghan Realm, great Yu Ho-deok? Return. The gold sin-jin’s ruffian has indeed caused chaos, but the barrier he placed to keep you away still stands, does it not?]
As he said, when the red entity tried to approach the Gwanghan Realm, a massive thunder tribulation struck it directly.
Kwaaarruurururur!
A thunder tribulation capable of burning the world.
The tribulation struck the red entity and created a curtain of thunder that prevented it from approaching.
Kwajijijik!
But the red entity pierced through the curtain and entered Baek-woon Seongsa’s direction.
Baek-woon Seongsa, enveloped in light, raised the branch in her hand.
[Are you truly willing to bear the pain and come here?]
And from the red being, an answer came.
[My Baik-yup-woon-hwa-jin-in-ssi-i-at-ye-o-na-heun-lan-jak-deul-eo-deul-bo-reo-nae-n-da-dam-na-eop-ui-hwa-gwon-ui-han-heum-eul-eu-chal-ro-eum-geun-rye-shin-ham-e-a-ge-ni-yeok-mak-eun-eu-bu-ryeo-sang-ha-eul-ji-tae-mal-wa-a-ju-la-ma.]
Chi ii ing――
The red entity’s communication.
Baek-woon Seongsa paused as if interpreting the message, then smiled bitterly.
[Impossible. That is absolutely impossible. If you regain your authority, the Gwanghan Realm will burn, and your proposal is no different from saying you want to become one of your servants or descendants.]
At those words, the red entity attempted communication again.
[My-eop-neun-hwa-myeong-man-gye-chal-ui-pan-myeon-gwan-na-jang-neun-i-da-da-si-ne-bok-ga-gwon-gam-hal-hi-got-nae-i-je-yo-an-myung-gye-geo-ui-bu-cheon-ha-jon-neu-ui-nya-o-neo-run-seu-ja-seu-ro-lul-gwang-da-yeong-si-eul-kkueol-da-chal-cha-geot-neun-i-gu-no-na-ni.]
Baek-woon Seongsa, interpreting his communication, clicked her tongue with pity.
[Poor thing. You are not Yu Ho-deok. You are not the great and noble Myeongma Jin-gun. If you were truly the revival of Myeongma Jin-gun, why would the other judges not have come to take you away?]
And at those words, the body of the red entity trembled.
Baek-woon Seongsa frowned in the light.
[My-eop-neun-ba-yu-ra-ho-jin-deok-geo-t-eul-gam-da-hi!!!!!!!!]
Furious Rage.
The being before her was reacting with extreme fury to Baek-woon Seongsa’s words.
Baek-woon Seongsa waved her branch with eyes shining brightly.
Swaaa――
Countless white trees sprouted around Baek-woon Seongsa, beginning to form a vast white forest in the empty space outside the dimensional curtain.
[If I hadn’t already been humiliated by the gold sin-jin before this, I would have been helpless against you. But as the Saintess of the Gwanghan Realm… I am absolutely certain about the defense of the Gwanghan Realm.]
Uuuuung!
The surface of the Gwanghan Realm was now covered with white trees made of non-material substance.
[I have placed mental stability across the entire Gwanghan Realm. It would be impossible to go as far as to cause madness across the entire realm like four thousand years ago.]
Paaaat!
The clash of white light and red light occurred outside the dimensional gate.
* * *
Wooong, uuuuung, uuuwuuuung…
I frowned as I watched the heavenly energy strangely moving.
‘Something is happening…’
The feeling was odd.
For some reason, I felt an instinct that someone was targeting me.
‘Still, why did Goe-gun’s sanity stabilize?’
No clue.
Of course, I knew he would slowly slip back into insanity, but if this continued, he would stay in that clear state for days.
‘Well, I’ll have to stay with Goe-gun for those days, then.’
I first possessed myself with Seolip and listened to Seolip’s stories of the time without me.
I hadn’t always been watching him, so I needed to absorb his experiences and insights.
Chi ii iing――
That was when.
I suddenly felt a cold energy sweep across my back.
‘T-this…?’
I could sense it.
The sensation that only someone who had mastered the Ghost Dao Art and crossed the ‘back alley’ of the underworld, or someone who had once seen the Myeongma Jin-gun Yu Ho-deok, could feel.
Just moments ago, the power of the underworld had rapidly swept across the entire Gwanghan Realm.
‘What the hell? What is happening?’
At the same time, the qi of the heavenly energy felt especially strong in the wood attribute among the five elements.
Perhaps the cultivators who had mastered the wood attribute Gongfa had suddenly been given a chance at a realm breakthrough.
That was when.
Kugu gugu gugu gugu!
Far away.
Sap-pung Territory.
I felt a chill as I sensed the qi erupting from there.
And Goe-gun, who had been exchanging puppet techniques with the General for a moment, also turned his head toward the Sap-pung Territory.
Jjeojjeojjeok!
‘W-what…?’
It was cold.
Even though we were still in Sato Territory, the cold qi erupting from Sap-pung Territory was enough to freeze one’s mind.
Zzrit, zzrit…
Seo Lip screamed inside my head.
[Kang Min-hee! Seo Eun-hyun! Kang Min-hee is…!]
I gritted my teeth.
Seo Lip screamed that his Gigoego given to Kang Min-hee had been destroyed.
I clenched my teeth and grabbed the Colorless Glass Sword.
“…You probably couldn’t remember because you don’t have the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.”
Thinking back, this five-hundred-year mark was when Kang Min-hee would awaken as the Ghost Dao Holy Mother in the Sap-pung Territory.
Kugu gugu gugu gugu!
Was it because the underworld power had swept across the Gwanghan Realm?
Or was something else happening?
Perhaps the force of destiny had forcibly dragged Kang Min-hee into becoming the Ghost Dao Holy Mother.
Kang Min-hee had awakened as the Ghost Mother.
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