The Infernal Spores of Myeonggwi Realm (5)
I stood on the upper level of Gwangumyeong and gazed down at the desolate land stretching endlessly into the distance.
It marked the starting point of the Jinnam region where the disciples of the Gumsincheonreomun sect had entered.
An endless expanse of a lifeless desert.
In the past, such lands had been common in the Myeonggwi Realm.
They were poor for harboring life force, yet ideal for hosting ghosts with specific attributes.
But I sensed that this desert was fundamentally different.
‘No ghosts even… visible.’
It was too desolate.
Originally, in the Myeonggwi Realm, even the ground underfoot was infested with ghosts.
There had been intelligent ones, yet countless mindless wraiths had roamed.
Especially those wraiths had occupied every corner in countless forms.
But there was none.
Not a single one of those familiar wraiths was visible.
Only the endless desolate land stretched before me.
And then…
Crack… crack… crack…
Stuck in the center of the desolate land was a human skull—belonging to someone.
I looked at that skull and realized it was the remains of a cultivator who had been corrupted by the Jin-in.
Boong—
Kwaaaang!
I swiftly leaped and landed in front of the skull.
This…
Upon closer inspection, it was no ordinary skull.
Crack… crack… crack…
It kept snapping its jaws open and closed as if still alive, a chilling sight.
Yet I knew this form was far more horrifying than it appeared.
Kwak!
I grabbed the skull and yanked it out of the ground.
Kwa-gagak—
From beneath the land, a body resembling a spine emerged, and after pulling further, hundreds of eerie threads shot out from the vertebrae.
‘Fungal threads?’
I had roughly checked with my consciousness before landing, but the sight still made me shudder.
The cultivator had originally been a normal ghost.
Over time, their body had mutated into these mushroom-like fungal threads, rooting deep beneath the land.
Uuuung—
I observed the ground below with my consciousness.
An immense quantity of fungal threads writhed beneath the earth.
Counting them in the thousands or even billions was impossible.
‘The further north, the denser the fungal clusters become.’
I sensed the fungal threads that had corroded the land and looked toward the distant horizon.
‘The remains of the corrupted cultivator have stretched their essence here, fueling the fungal face on the land.’
I stared at the still-jaw-snapping skull even as it was pulled from the ground.
Surprisingly, it showed no reaction to my death.
‘Since it’s already corrupted, it doesn’t care.’
I tried stimulating it with my ghost power, yin power, or spiritual energy.
But this fungal skull ignored me completely, only twitching in my hand as it kept clicking its teeth.
Then—
Twitch, twitch—
The fungal skull began extruding threads from my palm.
The threads wriggled through my hand and rooted deeper.
‘Amazing. I was pulling up Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop, yet it simply pierced through my solid flesh.’
I felt a moment of admiration and tried to dispel the threads invading my arm.
But no technique I had mastered could drive them out.
Tsk… I should just cut them off.’
That was when I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Crash!
At the last strength I had used, the threads twitched in response.
[Hoh…]
It was the mist of Mansang Inyeondo.
Moreover, the threads reacted to the All-Heaven Sword’s power.
Perhaps because it held the aura of Ten Thousand Years, the instant the All-Heaven Sword touched them, life force withered and they retreated inside my hand.
Uuuung—
I combined the power of the All-Heaven Sword and Mansang Inyeondo to swiftly expel the fungal threads from inside my hand, then shattered the fungal skull in my grip.
Perish!
The fungal skull that touched the All-Heaven Sword simply turned to ash and poured out beneath my hand.
Kwazizizik!
Jeon Myeong-hoon flew over and asked.
“Have you learned anything about this land?”
[Yes.]
I nodded and replied.
[These fungal threads are weak against Ten Thousand Years. Not just to the blue lightning of Wol-do Ip-cheon, but almost completely immune to the black lightning of the Six Polar Yin Thunder God. So if you emulate that with your Red Lightning Tribulation Gong and push forward, it should work.]
“Understood.”
[Then let’s depart.]
I and Jeon Myeong-hoon returned to Gwangumyeong.
Kugugugugu—
I sent the signal to depart from the upper barrier of Gwangumyeong, and the realm began moving northward.
Simultaneously, Jeon Myeong-hoon transformed into a six-winged giant at the northern end of Gwangumyeong and swung his six-colored flag wildly.
Kwaring, kwarureureung!
Multicolored lightning coalesced in the sky and merged into a single crimson.
Jeon Myeong-hoon shouted toward the crimson lightning sphere before him.
The sphere exploded, spreading a curtain of lightning infused with endless Ten Thousand Years aura in front of Gwangumyeong.
Kwazizizik!
Gwangumyeong advanced, erasing the fungal threads beneath the ground as it went.
Uuuung—
I focused my mind and observed with my consciousness while the realm remained wrapped around it, ready for any crisis.
When the massive body of Gwangumyeong entered the desert—
Kugugugugu!
The entire land trembled violently, and the fungal threads that had writhed beneath the ground suddenly spewed spores.
‘When I and Jeon Myeong-hoon entered, there was no reaction. But with such a big target, they’re responding.’
Yet it was useless.
Weeeeeing—
For the Heart Tribe, consciousness was authority and power.
Its manifestations relied absolutely on consciousness.
But their initial consciousness remained almost unchanged.
Kim Young-hoon, Jang Ik—
They had defeated countless mysterious cultivators using the consciousness they had obtained at the peak of Five Qi Consorting with the Origin, even before they could cover heaven and earth.
But I possessed the Heart Tribe’s power and held the consciousness of the Heaven and Earth Tribes.
My consciousness still covered the entire Gwangumyeong!
Kwarurururur!
My consciousness surrounding Gwangumyeong became a storm.
The formless storm swept across with the Five Colors of the Universe and repelled every single spore.
The expelled spores turned to ash and fell back onto the desert, and we traversed this vast, desolate desert as if nothing had happened.
***
One month had passed.
How far had we traveled over such a gigantic desert?
“There it is.”
We finally reached the source where the fungal threads had been scattered across the entire area.
The remains of the corrupted cultivator.
Kwazizizizik!
Jeon Myeong-hoon let out a roar while spitting crimson lightning from his six-winged form.
Red lightning storms raged across the four directions of heaven and earth, sweeping away all the fungal threads.
Kwazizizizik!
After clearing the fungal threads, he set a red lightning barrier across the entire Gwangumyeong and looked at me.
I nodded.
The three of us—me, Jeon Myeong-hoon, and Oh Hyun-seok—exited Gwangumyeong and walked toward the corrupted remains.
Oh Hyun-seok had been brought along because the past month had proven that the purple aura he generated would simply absorb the spores upon contact.
It was a colossal ruin.
[Horrible…]
I clicked my tongue while staring at the giant ruin before me.
This ruin was clearly still “alive.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon clicked his tongue and alternated glances between the ruin and me.
“You two look quite similar. That’s why you’re being called the Master of the Demon Cult.”
[…]
I hated to admit it, but the remains of the cultivator corrupted by the Jin-in were nearly identical to me.
At the center of the fungal threads, something supplied power to them, possessing a pitch-black body with white skulls protruding between the black forms.
Even with Myeong-gak, the image of death layered in an eerie manner.
Truly, it resembled my outer appearance far too closely.
Tsk… so it was no wonder they called me the Master of the Demon Cult.’
“Then Hyun-seok and I will search the surroundings for the disciples of the main sect.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok began circling the thirty-meter-tall ruin.
I clicked my tongue and watched the scene with sympathy.
‘Speaking of which… it still seems alive, yet it looks so pitiful.’
From each of those skulls, emotions flowed.
Those emotions intertwined into a single consciousness.
That was it.
This ruin was horrifyingly alive.
‘Is it dreaming?’
The Jin-in, having received its gaze, endured an endless dream that was devastating the land.
Did it want to become such a wretched form?
Uuuung—
I took out the All-Heaven Sword and pondered.
‘Can I cut it?’
But after a moment of hesitation, I sheathed the sword again.
‘No.’
The attempt itself would be possible.
Yet I stopped myself from reaching out with the All-Heaven Sword to the infinite gloom felt inside the ruin.
Chopping it carelessly would likely lead to disaster.
“I found them! There are some over here!”
From afar, Jeon Myeong-hoon’s voice rang out.
[Go there.]
I nodded and walked toward the direction.
At that moment—
Chills ran down my spine.
I hurriedly turned and raised the All-Heaven Sword.
What entered my eyes was a ruin that had sprouted a white pupil inside its eyelids.
Inside the eyes of a ruin with dozens of heads, an eye had formed and was staring directly at “me.”
I tried to retreat instantly, but the surroundings changed in an instant.
Crash, crash, crash…
[…!]
The ground shattered, and I suddenly floated above the night sky.
[This place is…]
And the moment I looked down—blood spurted from the eyelids of thirty-eight eyes.
Puok!
[Kuuuueuk…!]
A woman.
The body was twisted grotesquely, holes riddled across it, and I had witnessed her death.
I clenched my teeth against the feeling of my head swelling.
‘What did I just see?’
I couldn’t stand and collapsed onto the ground, barely regaining my senses.
‘I must not look down…’
Then—
Kwadudug!
An immense pressure crushed me down, and I couldn’t resist the weight of my head and slammed it to the ground.
There was a transparent barrier, yet I couldn’t fall through, but the area below remained pitch black!
‘No…! I must not look down…!’
And then—
[…?]
There was no woman in the “down” direction.
Only an incomprehensibly vast, aching “world” that caused headaches just from perceiving it.
[Myeong…gwi Realm…?]
That was it.
Below was the entire Myeonggwi Realm.
‘What? I thought I saw a woman just now…’
I frowned and forced my yin power to sense who had crushed my head so arbitrarily.
No one was detected within thousands of li.
Nearby, stars shone in the night sky and illuminated the darkness…
[Stars?]
Chills ran down my spine.
Only then did I realize I had suddenly arrived somewhere.
‘Crazy… Could this place be…!’
Above the Myeonggwi Realm.
No, even higher.
Outside the dimensions of the Myeonggwi Realm!
[Jin-in] dwelling place where they observed the Myeonggwi Realm!
As soon as I sensed it, a majestic voice boomed in my mind.
[Who are you?]
“…!!!”
I felt it.
Dozens of “gazes” pierced into my body!
‘What the hell! Can Jin-in summon beings inside the Myeonggwi Realm to the surface?!’
Countless thoughts raced through my mind, but I decided to answer the voice that had just resounded in my consciousness.
[I am…]
[I didn’t ask you. Bug.]
Kwazizizik!
My jaw shattered in an instant, and I could no longer speak.
No, I couldn’t even expel my “will” to the surface.
It was as if “speech” itself had been sealed.
[We observed while your words caused chaos throughout the Myeonggwi Realm. But during that observation, we discovered a terrifying truth. None of us has ever corrupted something like that.]
Scary gazes pierced through my body.
[Then the only possibility is that a being above True Immortal has transcended our perception and is controlling and corrupting someone.]
The Jin-in continued speaking to me—to the existence they mistakenly believed was behind me.
[Please tell us who you are. If there is anything you wish to entrust to us, we ask that you do so. We have also learned much while observing the Myeonggwi Realm as we wished, and for countless years we have raised believers to reside in every corner.]
Kugugugugugu!
As they spoke, my entire body shrank.
[Your Majesty, we would be grateful if you granted us an opportunity.]
And I stretched out my arm.
Uduk, ududeuduk—
I rose from the spot.
Kwadududuk!
Although cosmic-level yin power tried to crush my body, I endured.
Somehow, I felt I could “do it.”
[…!]
[How dare a mortal rise while enduring the power of transcendents!]
[Understood. Is the existence behind him lending his power?]
[How can they secretly give power to that thing by piercing through our gazes!]
I looked around while piercing through countless voices.
Innumerable stars.
And “gazes” that imitated stars.
Approximately fifty?
Yes, fifty Five Qi Consorting with the Origin Jin-in were sending solemn gazes at me.
Gigig, gigigigig—
I tried to draw Triple Taiji or Hui-ro circuit, but realized it was impossible.
‘I see.’
I understood what the Jin-in were doing.
‘They didn’t drag me here. They simply pulled my consciousness to the surface for a moment. My body is still down there.’
I shone my eyes.
And with all my strength, I pushed my mind—and the “something” suppressed inside it.
Kuguguguguguk!
As if raising a body crushed by yin power, I extracted the “speech” that had been sealed.
[I… humbly report to the great Jin-in…]
Kuguguguk—
It was hard to speak even one word.
My entire body felt like it would shatter at any moment.
But I could endure.
Because what had been summoned here was not my actual body, but my spirit.
Since only my spirit had been brought, I could not call for Triple Taiji or Hui-ro that required cultivation of heaven and earth tribes, but if my spiritual power was sufficient, I could endure!
[I am… not being controlled by anyone… Please send me away…]
However, the Jin-in murmured briefly and sent will.
[Bug. We will acknowledge the achievement of speaking before us. If you are truly a great being, whether you realize it or not, you can move your fate and history to guide your actions as much as you wish. Do not interfere with our conversation by expressing such lowly opinions in front of us.]
Uduk, ududeududuk!
What if I called the name of the Reverse Horn or the Emperor?
I wanted to do it immediately, but the “speech” itself was sealed, and even my opinion was barely being extracted.
Because of that, I could not extract a “speech” with powerful meaning, nor could I extract names or symbols.
[Your Majesty, please answer us. We have remained silent even when your believer caused chaos in the Myeonggwi Realm, even when they created a religion with strange teachings while their body accumulated layers of ominous death, even when they disturbed the heavenly secrets of the Myeonggwi Realm with curse dolls possessing Hui-ro circuits connected to Gwanghan Realm. Your believer even approached our deity, drew out the Ten Thousand Years and tried to annihilate it. No matter how high you may be, you are not even a Great Daluo Immortal, yet you cannot treat us with such contempt.]
They spoke as if addressing someone they didn’t even know, ignoring me completely.
I clenched my teeth.
Somehow, the memory came back.
The despair when facing fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Now they were cute things I could scold, but back then I had felt like a bug.
Hiding inside a collapsed building, barely breathing, trembling, treated as a bug by Kim Young-hoon.
It felt like returning to that exact moment.
The situation itself was similar.
Back then the elders of the Major Sect had ignored me and chased Kim Young-hoon, and these Jin-in were doing the same.
[Kneel. Do not dare raise those arrogant eyes at us.]
Kwadududuk!
Devastating pressure crushed me down.
[…]
But while enduring that cosmic power, I refused to kneel and looked at the ground.
It was exactly the same situation as back then.
But something had changed.
[For the umpteenth time…]
Kuguguguk—
I gathered will.
[For the umpteenth time… I have been treated as a bug.]
Uuuuung!
I raised my head.
[But whether a bug or not, you are not our toy.]
I concentrated all my will and pulled my “speech” up to my throat.
[If you wish to speak, speak properly. If not, the bug will receive a venom sting.]
Kugugugugugu—
Rage.
Devastating rage filled the sky.
The Jin-in were angry.
The situation was the same as before, but something had changed.
It was that I had continuously trained my will and aspirations through several lifetimes!
Now, even if my mouth tore apart, I would speak!
[Grrrrrrraaaa!]
Through the All-Heaven Sword, I converted my spiritual power at the level of the Mind to the level of Qi.
Five Elements and Yin-Yang powers covered my entire body.
[Taesan!]
Kuuuung!
Light swirled in both my palms.
Not the simple Mountain-Cleaving Emperor Art.
Inside it, I engraved the shape of [what I had seen]!
[Yeolje!]
I scattered the Mountain-Cleaving Emperor Art toward the sky and showed the [Reverse Horn] to them.
――――――――!
―!!!!
―――――!!
――――――――!!!!
An incomprehensible roar shook the universe.
No, the entire Myeonggwi Realm below seemed to shake with their cry.
[Your Majesty! Do you mean to truly oppose us!?]
Kugugugugugu!
One Jin-in with furious voice shouted.
[Your believer will meet misfortune. We will drive their cult out of this land by any means. Your believer will become a public enemy of all. Your believer’s words will be interpreted twistedly by everyone, and your believer will either fall to the underworld and perish or be driven to another world—nothing else is possible.]
Ooooooo—
Feeling the furious voice, I smirked.
Crash, crash, crash…
I shed my body transformed into the Ghost King.
My human appearance was revealed.
As Seo Eun-hyun the human, I looked up at the sky and spoke.
‘What loud-mouthed talk. Isn’t that exactly what you have been doing from the beginning?’
Big ghost, Demon Cult Master, evil cult—how many times has that happened?
For two hundred years I have only done missionary work, performed service activities, and brought benefits everywhere.
Moreover, I have avoided going outside the Wugeuk Cult grounds in case anyone feared my appearance and form.
Yet all forces have opposed me and called me a public enemy.
Two hundred years was no short time, and wanting to impress someone during that time was no simple matter.
It was natural for hearts to open after investing as much time.
But everyone had been trapped in a bizarre misunderstanding until they personally confirmed the cult with their own eyes.
Was all of this coincidence?
I had been toyed with by fate countless times.
Now, was I supposed to feel no sense of fate!?
‘You have been distorting the information of our main sect from the beginning, twisting our perception and scattering it across the entire Myeonggwi Realm. You have suppressed us for two hundred years by touching the ranks of Myeong-gak so we could not spread everywhere! And when I ask you to speak properly, you growl as if I had used some pity!’
Shouting at the Jin-in who were going mad after seeing the Reverse Horn, I smiled faintly.
Ever since earlier, I had been searching for a way to return to the Myeonggwi Realm.
And now I had found it.
“Farewell. I’m leaving now.”
They already knew.
Because of the promise with Hyeol-eum, they could never interfere with the Zhongjing Realm.
It was a fact I had heard directly from Hyeon-um.
Anyway, no matter how many times these people spoke to the existence behind me, nothing existed, so they would end up ignoring me and try to kill me.
Better to kick them firmly in the backside and leave.
[Chief Judge Hyeol-eum of the Underworld Rebirth Court, Myeonggwi Jin-gun Yu Su-ryeon! Send me back in!]
―――――――!
―――!!!
――!!!!!!!!!!
―――――――――――!!!
The Jin-in went berserk once more.
I too felt a shock as if my soul was collapsing.
But high-level information was more dangerous to higher beings, so they had likely received even stronger shocks.
And anyway.
Kuguguguk!
By calling the [name], a powerful “yin power” was created between the Myeonggwi Realm and me.
“Then I’ll be going. Take care.”
Flash!
The surroundings blazed white, and I returned inside the Myeonggwi Realm.
***
Kugugugugugugu!
The universe space where Seo Eun-hyun had disappeared.
Countless wills communicated across vast spacetime.
The content of the countless wills seemed chaotic, but the meaning was one.
How had a mere bug confronted the transcendents’ wills head-on, spoken back, scattered the [horrible thing], and fled?
And among them, the star that had been shining brightly where the existence behind Seo Eun-hyun was.
[I see. He was in the middle of completing the [Earth]. But how is that possible? A mortal—wait, even assuming the Five Qi, how can he fuse all six polarities inside him?]
He fell into confusion, but soon the starlight flickered and his will hardened.
[Done. It doesn’t matter. It must be the existence behind him lending his power. And since he is ignoring us like this, we have no choice. We will eliminate or drive him out through all the forces of the Myeonggwi Realm so he cannot exert power from here!]
Uuuuung!
As the Jin-in spoke, the starlights everywhere in the universe space flashed and expressed approval wills.