A Silent Invitation
I did not answer her words.
“Those who look into the heart… suicidal impulses…?”
It seemed as though she wanted to reveal something secret about the suicidal impulses possessed by the Heart Tribe.
Yet I would not turn my head, nor would I give an answer.
The topic was maddeningly intriguing, but after too many lessons from the mountain itself, I could not afford to speak carelessly.
I would guard my mouth, guard it further, and remain silent.
“Silence is indeed said to be golden, yet silence at the wrong time can summon a blade. I am no wild mountain spirit, so if you are curious, you may lay it all before me.”
“…”
Swish—swish—swish—
‘I have been read…’
I was helpless, sweating profusely.
At last, with great difficulty, I opened my lips.
“May I ask your honored name?”
“It is impossible.”
“Even for your sake. The few souls within this mountain who can bear my true name are few indeed.”
“…”
I swallowed hard.
My mind froze instantly. I nearly asked the forbidden question.
Had she been a being like the mountain itself, I would have exploded every meridian in my body the moment she spoke her true name.
“…I thank you for your mercy. Then… may I ask how you came to find me?”
“You misunderstand.”
“Eh?”
“I did not come to you. You called me.”
‘I called you…?’
Tap—tap—tap…
The sweat that had dripped from my forehead now rolled down my cheeks and fell from my chin.
Even after fighting a supreme enemy, I was drenched this much.
It was proof of how tightly I had been wound.
“You shall know who I am once you descend. All the gods of the universe have placed high hopes upon you. Of the seven who have yet to die of old age and enter the cycle of reincarnation, only a handful have succeeded.”
Tap… tap-tap-tap-tap…
I felt the droplets of sweat continue to fall from my chin and sorted my questions.
‘I must not ask about her identity.’
Intuition warned me that probing further would enrage her.
Yet remaining silent would also displease her.
‘Do not overreach.’
Ask only what is safe.
For instance, the information she had just implied.
“…The Heart Tribe—how exactly do you come close to suicide? I beg you to bestow wisdom upon me.”
“Now you may hear a proper answer.”
I felt her smile.
“Do you know how and why an existence comes into being?”
“…”
I pondered the profound question that had struck me suddenly.
“I do not know.”
What exactly was the heart?
Why did it come into being?
I had thought long about the matter since I began seeking the root of the path, yet I could find no answer.
From a purely biological viewpoint, the heart was simply the expression of genes and the sum of electrical signals.
Yet after coming to this world, I had sensed that even among stars and inanimate objects there existed a heart of some sort.
Then what was the true essence of a heart?
And the answer to the questions I had long pondered I could now learn so easily from her lips.
“The heart is nothing but death.”
Swish—swish—swish—
A hand blocked my eyes.
It was unmistakably her hand.
Yet I could neither shake it off nor resist.
A pitch-black darkness unfolded before my eyes in which no light entered.
I realized that by blocking my eyes she had dragged my consciousness somewhere.
Flash—flash—flash—
At some point I stood upon a pure-white land.
Behind me I still sensed her presence.
Drip—drip—drip—
Something flowed beside my feet.
It was dye.
Colorful dyes flowed beneath my feet.
“In the end, when all colors are blended, they become black.”
Sip—sip—sip…
Countless colors merged into black.
“Conversely, when all concepts are blended, they become colorless.”
That was correct.
It was a truth all who had reached the peak of Five Qi Consorting with the Origin knew.
“Colorless and black. Both symbolize endings. The ultimate of concepts is ‘end’ itself… and the place the heart ultimately reaches is death.”
Shiver—shiver—shiver—
Goosebumps rose across my entire body.
Splash—splash—splash—splash—
The black dye at my feet suddenly began to writhe as if alive, then surged forward to engulf me.
I sank into the black river of dye.
When I finally opened my eyes, I had reached the universe.
Within the black dye.
Countless stars floated in every corner of the endless universe.
“Those who gaze into the heart gradually awaken the essence of their own heart.”
Flash—flash—flash—
The stars began to shine.
Colorful stars gradually illuminated the universe.
The universe began to brighten.
“Yet once the true essence is fully awakened… the end is…”
The universe brightened further.
And began to grow hot.
A chill ran down my spine.
‘This… this cannot be…’
I had seen this sight once before.
The owner of the mountain.
The end of the universe he had shown me.
End—!
The universe began to contract.
It contracted at a speed surpassing even light, then collapsed into a single point and vanished.
“Do you understand? Why those who awaken the heart can never become True Immortals… why the entire world loathes those who train in the heart… and why the lives of those who approach awakening the heart inevitably draw closer to death…”
“…Because the heart is nothing but… death?”
“That is not the end. The more souls who gaze into the heart and perceive its essence, the faster their entire world approaches doom.”
“…!!!”
“Not only does it destroy the self, but the power to drive the entire world toward death… that is the heart. Thanks to the Great Cold Moon, the law of the Heavenly Tribulations changed.”
“Yes…?”
My mind froze.
Who was the Great Cold Moon she spoke of?
It was all too obvious.
The ruler of the Great Cold Moon.
The being who had clashed with the Pandanus Clan and met a cruel end.
Did he create the Heavenly Tribulation law that accelerated doom for those who awakened the heart?
“Truly a sinister and inauspicious truth… that is the true nature of the heart.”
I felt her breath behind me.
Frozen where I stood, she offered me a proposal.
“Then I shall make one proposal. From today onward, do not gaze into the heart any longer. Simply comprehend your own feelings and feel them as they are. Training the heart only hastens everyone’s misfortune and brings no benefit. If you accept my proposal, I shall immediately raise you to the Immortal Seat.”
“…!!!”
I was startled by the audacious proposal.
The words ‘Immortal Seat’ pierced my mind and filled me with their meaning.
True Immortal.
She was offering me a True Immortal if I abandoned martial arts.
The suggestion was so extreme it left me dizzy.
Yet what truly terrified me was her authority.
‘If she can turn me into a True Immortal instantly, what would she do to me if I refused?’
The nightmare of the mountain owner flashed before my eyes.
The instant when the universe ended, when everyone perished and my body was torn apart.
Resistance was impossible.
This time, it would be even worse than before.
Hope was nowhere to be seen.
Despite no pressure, no threats, only gentle words, I felt my reason about to collapse.
I wanted to vomit from fear right there.
Countless solutions raced through my mind, yet none worked.
I wanted to kneel and sob, begging her to leave me alone.
Yes…
It would not be bad to feel at ease here.
Once a True Immortal, I would face no more worries about longevity, nor the fear of losing comrades.
With my abilities, even after becoming a True Immortal I could flee from the mountain owner and survive.
Wasn’t it better to simply accept his words and obtain the Immortal Seat?
“I…”
The moment I opened my mouth, a single memory flashed through my mind.
It was a scene.
A withered hand held another.
A figure who looked steady stood with his back to the light, gazing at me with troubled eyes while holding my hand.
“Nine Cycles. Your name is… Nine Cycles.”
A short instant.
Yet I closed my mouth at that fleeting memory.
I could not explain the strange emotion that had taken root inside me.
I remained silent for a moment.
Then I answered.
“…I refuse.”
“Why?”
“…Humanity is hard to attain, the way is hard to discern.”
Crack—crack—crack—
Instead of answering, I opened my eyes slightly and spoke.
Through Hwahonmancheon I vaguely recalled.
In the sixteenth loop.
The words I had exchanged with my companion.
“Following the human heart, we seek the root of the path…”
I shouted, pushing the rising fear in my heart aside.
“If I cannot guide this body in this life!”
I felt her catch her breath.
Though I did not read her mind, I sensed her emotion.
Genuine surprise.
“Waiting for what time to guide this body again?”
Flash—flash—flash—
Together with that, my vision cleared.
The form of the vanished universe faded, and I stood once more in Seokak Village.
I saw her hand leave my eyes.
Facing death, I answered her.
“I understand that death is the heart. The heart ultimately… is born from the worry of how to accept a life that will end someday.”
“…”
“Yet… though the true nature of the heart may be sinister, I shall stand with my own feet in this sinister world.”
She did not answer.
I continued without regard.
“The fact that you granted me this body, the fact that you granted me this moment, the fact that you granted me death itself… those chances will never come again. Even if the heart draws closer to death, since I have been given the chance to find its root in this life, I will not yield.”
Because that was…
The promise with her.
I made up my mind, recalling the heart of the sixteenth loop I could never fully remember even after obtaining Hwahonmancheon.
“If you wish, torture me. I shall not speak the words to die even if you say so, but I shall not yield…”
And from behind me came a clear laugh.
“The more you gaze into the heart, the closer your fate draws to death. Countless hands of death will reach toward you. Even in that misfortune, will you truly not lose the heart?”
“I will try.”
I affirmed firmly.
“Even if those around me die, I shall ensure they obtain what they desire in death.”
If my companion died that evening, I would bring him what he wanted that morning.
I would do everything in my power to make that happen.
Death was certainly a sorrowful and terrifying thing.
Severing all connections and hearts was truly a pain so great it felt like the soul itself was torn apart.
Yet…
Death eventually fell upon everyone.
If death and fate were unavoidable, I would enjoy the best possible happiness within it.
Would giving up the heart mean that death would not fall upon my connections?
That could not be.
There was no being without death.
And my heart was not mine alone.
If that were so, how could I dare to casually abandon the heart!
Even if I destroyed the world, I could not have what I held taken from me.
It was not that I would let go; this was already everyone’s.
I summarized my long meditation and resolve and shouted to the [her] behind me.
“Even if you grant me the Emperor’s seat instead of the Immortal Seat, I cannot abandon this. Please go!”
A moment of silence passed.
And I sensed her laughter had stopped.
“Then… I shall watch how much weight your words carry. Originally I had intended to meet you elsewhere, but since you have confirmed your resolve here today… I have no choice but to make the next meeting inevitable.”
Tap—tap—tap…
I sensed her leaving behind me.
“I look forward to meeting you again. Until then, please… be careful of the north. He is the worst opponent for all Jongmyeongja…”
Swish—swish—swish—
Together with her, I closed my eyes and opened them to stand before Ryeo-hwa’s corpse.
I had returned.
I hurriedly turned around.
Nothing but the shadows of the Three Wood Grove.
When I looked ahead again, Hong Beom stood there.
‘Be careful of the north?’
What did she mean?
Her words carried power; I realized that the very word ‘north’ symbolized the [north].
Was there something in the north?
Or was the being who symbolized the north among the True Immortals a danger to us?
I did not know the details.
I shook my head at the approaching Hong Beom and regained my senses.
“Are you all right, Master? You are drenched in sweat.”
He brought me a handkerchief.
I wiped the sweat and looked at him.
After entering the Integration realm, he had become a little younger.
The completely aged face had now become that of a man in his fifties or sixties.
Dark black hair sprouted from his head.
“…Hong Beom.”
I spoke to him.
“What has happened?”
“…Thank you.”
“Eh?”
“For standing beside me.”
Hong Beom laughed lightly, somewhat awkwardly.
“As long as we stand beneath this sky, I will serve you devotedly at any time. There is no need to thank me.”
I smiled faintly and rose from my seat, lifting Ryeo-hwa’s corpse and burying her.
Splash—splash—splash—
‘Please rest well…’
The Ryeo-hwa who had endured countless ages…
I spent that night awake with Hong Beom, mourning her.
Twenty years passed.
* * *
Puff!
I looked at the corpse of Jae-hu whose eyes had closed as if dead, and clicked my tongue in distaste.
“Young… Guang…”
Jae-hu, the great warrior of the Myeong-won Tribe, had fallen unconscious after bleeding in my hand.
The Heart Sword had suppressed his consciousness.
He had not died, but would surely be in a coma-like state.
For the past twenty years I had continuously challenged Dok-young and faced him.
In the end, the Dok-young of the Yak-gyun Tribe had been reduced to a wreck by my hand and fled, dying.
And today.
I had defeated the Myeong-won Tribe’s Jae-hu and finally subdued him without killing him.
“…It was long.”
For twenty years I had faced the peak experts of the two academies and awakened five divine techniques within the body synchronization.
Time was the convergence of moments into a life.
Wind was the shape drawn upon the world even as moments vanished.
Cold was the solitude of the moment.
Warmth was the tenderness of the moment.
Yang was the clarity of the moment!
I controlled the harmony of heaven and earth not with power, but by changing my own consciousness.
With the divine technique of Time, the flow of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy around me accelerated.
With the divine technique of Wind, the flow of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy stirred the wind and shaped the surrounding land.
With the divine technique of Cold, I hardened the sculpted land and imprinted its form.
With the divine technique of Warmth, I melted the imprinted form again and restored the land to its original shape.
With the divine technique of Yang, I clearly perceived all the divine techniques I had used until now.
‘Now only the divine technique of Rain remains…’
I felt it.
Once I awakened the last divine technique, I would become only a major in the Integration realm.
And…
‘With over seventy percent probability, I could ascend to Star Shattering.’
I flung my sword qi far away and thought.
‘I must reach Star Shattering quickly.’
Baek-woon had said she would recover her Saintess position if I simply waited a few years.
Yet after all these decades, there was still no sign of her recovery.
‘Thinking about it, Baek-woon once called five hundred years ‘merely’ a few years.’
Perhaps her ‘few years’ was far longer.
Then…
I would have to reach the Star Shattering stage as quickly as possible so I could protect the entire Gwanghan Realm with my own hands.
‘Now, among the peak experts of the two academies, all of Jang Ik’s disciples who have reached the pinnacle of their cultivation have died or fallen into coma.’
By placing Jae-hu in coma, I had become familiar enough with the realm of Void Refinement to suppress them without killing.
Thanks to that, no more Heart Tribe members challenged me.
‘It is good.’
The gap was now too great for them to challenge me meaningfully.
But that also meant I would have to personally seek out opponents to raise my own cultivation.
‘Finding a powerful Time divine technique and fighting it would not be bad…’
The moment I thought that.
Tap—!
At the highest point of the Three Wood Grove tree where I sat.
Kim Young-hoon and Kim Yeon appeared.
“Ah, what brings you here?”
I asked them.
‘What? Kim Young-hoon really isn’t planning to challenge me, is he?’
He was the only one among the supreme leaders of the Three Wood Grove who had reached the peak of the two academies.
Yet unlike my expectation, Kim Young-hoon laughed lightly and shook his head.
“I know what you are thinking, but it is nothing like that. The detailed explanation… would be better left to Kim Yeon.”
“…”
The moment I was puzzled.
Kim Yeon stepped forward with a bitter expression and said,
“A challenger has appeared before you.”
“…”
I read the unusual atmosphere between them and asked seriously.
And at the next question I had to open my mouth wide.
“…Hyang-hwa.”
Buk Hyang-hwa had suddenly sent me a challenge.
* * *
I stood in the arena of the Three Wood Grove.
A crowd of many gathered around.
Seo Ran, Siho, and Kim Young-hoon—those who had been close to Buk Hyang-hwa since the Water Realm era—along with the current friends of Buk Hyang-hwa, Kim Yeon and Hong Beom, watched us.
I looked around and saw Buk Hyang-hwa, who had barely entered the arena.
I sensed she was barely standing.
‘She has lost her light.’
Her eyes were completely dim and unfocused, her hands and feet trembled, and her very consciousness was hazy.
She was now in a state no different from the criminal.
I asked her through the Heart Sword.
—Why have you come?
In response to my Heart Sword, she smiled faintly.
Swish—swish—swish—
She lifted a sparkling bead.
A bead steeped in many connections and years.
And within the bead were countless circuits engraved like grains, as though she had studied them all this time.
—I wanted to show you.
I said nothing and lifted the Colorless Glass Sword, taking my stance.
The next instant, I swung my sword toward her.
Between the sword, the last day of the tenth loop when it had rained heavily flashed through.
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