The Ruined
The entire Geongon City shuddered as if on the verge of collapse, its Ascension Platform shattering in unison and crumbling into dust.
Beneath the platform, the Gongryeong-ji began to reveal its true form, faint and mysterious, like a mirror lake.
It mirrored the very scene Heon-won had created earlier with the Taesan Yeolje-gong, yet the difference was stark.
He had wielded the divine art, while I had simply grabbed him by the throat and slammed him down.
“Th-this… bastard…”
He snarled and began channeling power once more.
Space waves erupted from his body, swelling his frame until it ballooned upward into the sky.
Heon-won’s true form emerged.
The sheer mass pushed me back, sending me soaring high above.
Kugugugugu!
The next instant, he had become a mountain.
Rocks, soil, and trees sprouted from his body, small springs and streams trickled down its slopes, veins of ore wove through the core, and within that core a colossal volcano erupted, boiling magma.
This mountain infused with the five elements had become a giant spirit, glaring down at me.
The mountain god was none other than Heon-won’s true body.
“Integration Domain. Taesan Daijin Geolpungdo!”
Kugugugugu!
His body transformed into a domain, and his field immediately began to engulf the surroundings.
Heon-won’s domain was a barren island.
Inside it floated countless islands suspended in nothingness, and countless dust storms howled like razor winds, shredding everything in their path.
From the center of that dusty gale rose the mountain god, unleashing a fearsome aura toward me.
“Let’s settle the score we never finished back then, Seo Eun-hyun! If you want me dead, you’ll have to stomp on my corpse…”
Then, in the next heartbeat—
Kwa-qua-qua-quang!
Heon-won’s upper body exploded, blasting him away as the shockwave from my fist shattered his entire domain into ruins.
“You seem to be making a mistake.”
I glared at him with eyes blazing like a furnace, watching from the pinnacle of supreme time.
“Right now you’re not even worth one second of my time, Heon-won!”
I did not reveal my true body, nor did I draw out the colorless glass sword or activate my domain. Behind me, only the Triple Taiji flared up.
[One second.]
Whoosh!
I shifted above his head, bent my legs, then struck straight down with a savage downward smash, crushing his regenerating abdomen.
Kwa-leul-leul-leung!
[Two seconds.]
His body was pierced clean through, and the shockwave carved the domain into tattered ribbons.
He tried to counter with an illusionary technique, clashing powers in the light, but our bodies collided.
[Three, four seconds.]
After two impacts, both of his fists were severed. His upper body was sliced apart again.
To suppress an Integration realm cultivator, you must shatter their domain.
Heavenly cultivators die when their domain is destroyed. Earthly cultivators when their body that has fused with the domain is shattered. And what of a Heavenly-Earthly Twin Master?
‘Annoying.’
For those who fused their body with the domain, the domain would regenerate as long as flesh remained, or resurrect as long as the body survived.
The only way was to erase body, fused domain, and manifested domain in a single strike.
Annoying.
And that was all I had.
[Five, six, seven seconds.]
I struck the domain in one blow, the flesh in the next, and the soul in the third, completely suppressing him.
“You bastard…”
Yet he was not the type to rot in peace. In an instant, the entire region was blanketed by a jade realm of yin and yang and the five elements.
His resolve to unleash the Taesan Yeolje-gong upon the world centered on himself.
But it was futile.
I grasped the black flag.
Whoosh, whoosh!
This was no ordinary banner.
Shadow figures on its surface writhed like black eyes, and from within monstrous presences screamed in terror.
Writhing, writhing—
The thing in my hand constantly squirmed and grew.
‘If I pierce him with this, he’ll die.’
The Eumhon Gwijumun, which intuitively expressed my decayed heart, had long since transcended its limits.
Even my soul quivered at the concentrated agony.
If I stabbed that into Heon-won, my guess was that even an Integration Grand Completion would lose his mind and his soul would evaporate.
I was willing to bet that even Baek-woon, the saintess, would not remain sane after taking it fully.
‘Just a little less.’
Zzzzt zzzzt—
I pulled out the poison from the flag and drove the already ruined Black Ghost Curse Banner straight into his chest.
Puk!
And that was the end.
[…!!!!!]
Heon-won, who had tried to blow the region apart with the Taesan Yeolje-gong, convulsed without even a scream, his body shaking violently.
With his concentration broken, his domain collapsed and he reverted to human form.
Whoosh—
I continued piercing him, fearing he would go mad.
But even the illusionary communication remained, tormenting him. Tears of blood streamed from his eyes as he foamed at the mouth.
Slap, slap!
I slapped his cheeks.
“Eight, nine seconds.”
Zzaaak!
“Ten seconds.”
“Kuhk! K-Kuhhh! Aaaah!”
Only then did Heon-won regain his senses and let out a wail.
I looked down at him and smirked.
“Ten seconds is your limit. Do you understand? That gap… is already between you and me.”
“…”
I stared down at him.
He clenched his teeth and spoke.
“W-why is this happening… to you. You don’t even like me anyway. Whether I live or die, what does it have to do with you…! Did one of your provocations scratch your skin? Is something scratching and making you act like this?! Why the hell won’t you leave me alone! Why!!!”
“…”
I calmly watched the raving madman.
After five seconds of thrashing, he took a breath and opened his mouth.
“Do you know why everyone tries to live with hope and dreams? I wanted hope in life too. But… after watching my lover devoured alive… I no longer knew what I was supposed to do. Living as a living body is already me. Why did you come here to do this….”
“I have no intention of sparring with the likes of you. Whether you live or die, it’s none of my business. If you die, I’m happy. I already know that shouting ‘Live!’ hundreds of times to those who want to die is meaningless.”
“But why….”
“My anger stems from your irresponsibility.”
I glared at him with ice-cold eyes and spat the words out.
“You are not my father. Even if you are a concubine-born son, how many children do you have? How many followers do you have…! A man with a whole sect on his shoulders should not abandon everything so carelessly just because he is in pain…!”
Bang!
I stomped on his chest.
He vomited blood.
Since I knew he would regenerate, I mercilessly ground him down, teeth gnashing.
And as I did, I understood.
Why I had suddenly snapped at Heon-won.
Even if he had only said the words that would anger me, why the sudden fury that wanted to torment him.
Perhaps it was because I had seen myself reflected in him.
When the words about the Geumsin Cheonroemun sect left his lips,
the image of Yeon-wi flashed in my mind.
Yeon-wi and Heon-won.
And the inner thoughts of Yeon-wi I had seen on Bongrae-do.
She said she hated Heon-won, yet her heart still longed for him.
And remembering that, another face surfaced.
Heon-wi, who had struggled her entire life to earn Heon-won’s attention, along with her siblings.
Heon-won’s children.
The disciples of Bongrae Palace who followed him.
Heon-won, whether he knew it or not, was a man who was loved.
A man who received attention, admiration, and respect.
And I had seen my own reflection in that man.
The one I was stomping was not merely Heon-won.
Perhaps I was venting the rage I once could not protect onto this unworthy man, who had been loved and revered by countless others yet failed to protect them.
“Move. For the sake of those who think of you. Even if doom is upon you, do not give up…”
I directed my anger at myself and at Heon-won.
He remained silent, and for the still-spirited man I added one last word.
“Though not perfect, if you truly wish it, I can give you a way to see the face of the person you loved. Get up and help.”
“…!!!”
His eyes changed at my words, and he shot up, grabbing my shoulder.
“Th-that, th-that, th-that is… what…”
“Use the Wondrous Castle… get your hand off my shoulder. I’ll explain later.”
I shoved him away and turned to look at Kang Min-hee, who had almost reached us.
“Seo Hyul.”
[Hehe, what business do you have with me, Master Seo?]
“Take this man into the air above the Gwanghan Realm.”
[Understood. I know exactly what you mean.]
The man approached Heon-won, coaxed and soothed him, and flew together with my request toward the Gwanghan Realm sky.
And I waited for Kang Min-hee atop the Ascension Platform, now completely in ruins, its original Gongryeong-ji shape revealed.
Kugugugugu—
The Ghost Valley energy spread across the heavens, and finally she arrived.
Deep darkness.
Flicker, flicker…
I spotted Kang Min-hee’s location at a glance from that deep darkness.
‘Compared to the darkness I saw when the oldest one chased her back in regression…’
The darkness enveloping her was unusually distinct.
Kiiiing—
I raised the Chongcheon-geom and hurled it straight at her.
Flash!
The Chongcheon-geom, now in the form of a thin line, sped toward her at light speed and stopped right before her face.
It struck something like a shield and lodged there.
‘It seems it doesn’t penetrate in one go.’
She stood still and glared at me.
I met her gaze and smiled faintly.
Fwaaaat!
The Chongcheon-geom embedded in front of her glowed and transformed into an Immang bunshin.
Through the Immang bunshin, I struck her once more right in front of her nose.
The bunshin, lacking energy, changed into a flame-like form.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
Her upper body exploded, and at the exact moment she regained her senses, Heon-won—whom Seo Hyul and I had taken flying earlier—was instructed by Seo Hyul to blanket the area with a yin-yang five-element jade realm.
‘I did it this way, huh.’
I clasped my hands together and focused my consciousness.
I chanted the seal of the twisted Dharma-Destroying True Word without linking [it] to any external force, then began using the true word [it] had taught me.
At the spot where I had pierced the Immang bunshin into Kang Min-hee,
a flame bunshin had formed.
Around that flame bunshin, the yin-yang five-element jade realm began to shrink.
It was far from the real divine art, but the form was the same!
“Myeolbeop-jin-eon!”
Kugugugugugu!
The jade realm covering the area began to shrink around the flame bunshin in front of Kang Min-hee.
Though twisted, the effect was absolute.
The density of the Heaven-Earth origin energy inside the jade realm gradually rose, filling the surroundings with light.
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Kang Min-hee unleashed the Ghost Valley cry, trying to shatter the jade prison that had become a realm of light, but it was useless.
No matter who she was, she could never break the jade I had summoned by sacrificing my hatred and joining forces with Heon-won.
Gradually the jade shrank further, smaller than the range I occupied, and finally became a sphere trapping only her.
Of course, that was not the end.
I could not make it smaller than dust, as I had seen before.
That was my own limit.
Whoooing!
The moment the sphere created by the Destructive Dharma True Word cracked, I raised the Triple Taiji and charged, slamming the sphere Kang Min-hee was trapped in toward the Gongryeong-ji with all my strength.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
A massive resistance surged from within.
For an instant she seemed ready to burst out, but I was one step too late.
She had already been hurled outside the Gongryeong-ji by me.
Of course, I could not seal the Gongryeong-ji forever, so she would return eventually.
But for at least a month, she would not be able to climb back while dealing with the Void Space spirits.
“See you later, Kang Min-hee.”
I looked down and calmed the goosebumps rising from the hatred.
I truly did not want to use it.
Even though the twisted Destructive Dharma True Word might not form a connection with the master of the mountain, it was still touching the most painful memory of mine.
But there was no choice.
Just as I had shouted at Heon-won earlier, the Bongrae Palace was now tied to his shoulders, so my shoulders now bore the remaining colleagues.
I had to stop Kang Min-hee somehow.
‘If one hatred is the problem, I will ignore it as many times as needed.’
Even if the memory was unbearably painful, it could be used.
That was a means to protect the dead disciples of the Mugeuk Sect.
And the living colleagues still remaining.
[Excellent, Master Seo.]
“Shut up.”
I glared at Seo Hyul and Heon-won who had descended from above and spoke.
“From now on, I will join my colleagues and head toward Goe-gun. While we travel, explain in detail how to bring Goe-gun back to his senses.”
[Understood. I will explain on the way. First…]
And so, after briefly chasing Kang Min-hee away, we headed toward Goe-gun Jo Yeon.