The Weight of a Thousand Years
The blindfold came torn away in a single rip, and with it vanished the technique that had hidden the face beneath it.
Thanks to that, I could see her face with my own eyes and through my will. Clear as day.
She was plump and round-faced. Honestly, I hadn’t expected beauty.
Yet something about her carried an air of dignity.
In life she must have been a fine warrior and a good woman at the same time.
Clank!
[She] readjusted her posture once more through the heavenly calculation device.
I had no idea what she had been like before, but right now she was nothing but a battle doll.
I had long since left the realm of humans behind. I could not be defeated by them, let alone by a mere doll.
Kekeke!
Geggek!
Gerururu!
Churururu!
Outside the Gwanghan Realm, the corpses from the Void Space began to surge forward.
‘There are still no Star Shattering ones.’
That was enough.
Once more I collided with [her].
Seven mouths gaped open as if the eyes of the twisted Yellow Springs were staring at us.
I went straight in with [her] toward the heart of the corpse, detonated its body, and came back out.
The corpses could not keep up with our speed and remained trapped at the level of the terrain.
She must have realized she could never win a frontal clash with me, so she slipped behind the corpses, dodged my attacks, and chose the tactic of crushing me from afar with repulsive force.
She moved to the rear of three massive corpses.
Boweop.
Mountain Lord Moonshade.
I became the Mountain Lord.
I turned into a fierce beast like a great tiger, tearing the corpses apart and charging at [her].
The first form of the Danak Sword Art, Heaven and Earth, fused with Mountain Lord Moonshade. A huge tiger leaped forward, its form like a beast tearing at [her].
Kwadeuk!
[Her] left shoulder tore away.
Inside it, countless mechanical organs were revealed.
Danak Sword Art.
Heaven and Earth!
Blocking her struggle, I absorbed every ounce of her strength into my domain with the Heaven and Earth form.
Originally it was a technique that confined an opponent’s movements to the instant of a blade, but when combined with my domain it felt as if I were draining the enemy’s power like a black magic absorption spell.
I grabbed [her] by the neck and right shoulder and leaped toward the Gwanghan Realm.
Kwaaang!
The dimensional curtain of the Gwanghan Realm crumpled, and we fell back into its interior once more.
Two gaping holes pierced straight through the sky.
Fortunately the world’s restoration power was already pulling us back, but at least a few corpses would slip through those holes.
I hurled a curse web into the sky while clutching [her], sealing the two holes for a moment.
Any corpses that tried to enter through there would simply melt away.
We continued to plummet through the Gwanghan Realm’s sky.
I kept accelerating our descent, applying the technique of Heavenly Weight Reduction and repulsive force.
‘We’re going to crush it.’
Her own body, and the source of the star power I felt inside her!
At this acceleration, it was possible!
She must have realized that staying in this form would mean being crushed, so she thrashed wildly to break free.
But it was no use.
I pressed her down even harder, pinning her so she could not move.
[This is the end. Let’s end it here.]
My grudge with [her] would finally be settled.
Hwaruruk!
Our bodies began to burn.
The ground was only a short distance away now.
Disappear!
—It cannot be.
“…!?”
Pa-bat!
I flinched for a moment, and in that instant [she] shone before my eyes and vanished.
Wheeiiii.
Vacant sky.
Only I remained there.
‘What just happened…’
A dull but quick voice.
Yet somewhere in it felt bizarre.
‘The Wondrous Castle…?’
The Wondrous Castle had used the power of the World-Destroying Earthquake to pull [her] out of my grasp.
The sudden extraction, perfectly coordinated with the star power inside her body, proved it had been designed from the beginning for [her] to return in a crisis.
Yet I could not help but be startled by that voice.
‘What just happened… is that the personality of the Wondrous Castle? Even a thousand years from now, no such thing existed…’
Goe-gun was not the type to create such things.
That meant the personality had almost certainly appeared spontaneously inside the Wondrous Castle.
‘What? Was there a reason for something like this to appear in this life…?’
Shaken by the variable that had appeared in the Wondrous Castle, I chased the castle as it moved toward the edge of the Gwanghan Realm through the World-Destroying Earthquake.
* * *
“I CAN’T!!!!”
Inside the Wondrous Castle.
Goe-gun was howling.
In front of him stood [she], her left shoulder torn away and her entire body shaking.
According to the judgment magic that recognized a mysterious threat, he activated the World-Destroying Earthquake.
And in that moment [she] protected the Wondrous Castle with it.
The time it took for the Wondrous Castle to move was about three seconds.
The instant those three seconds ended, [she] was transmitted in that condition right in front of him.
That meant the opponent had created such a mess in just three seconds using a monster on the level of a Star Shattering being.
Goe-gun wailed and grabbed [her] body.
“You promised… you promised you would never let me get hurt again… why, why are you hurt! Why did you get hurt! Jo Yeon!!! Is this your limit! Is this the end!? What, what is this! [She] is hurt! She’s hurt!!!”
Kkirak! Kkirak! Kkirak!
Countless puppet arms shot out from the Wondrous Castle and began repairing [her].
“But the major parts aren’t even damaged, right? It’s fine, isn’t it? Repairs are quick too… This doesn’t make sense! You hurt her! You almost lost her again! Hey, calm down. Fighting has no meaning. I mean, this wound isn’t that bad, why are you panicking… Shut up! Shut your mouth, you damned beast, you damned beast, you damned beast…”
Dul, dul-dul-dul-dul…
Tears of blood streamed from Goe-gun’s eyes.
He repaired [her] at terrifying speed and stroked her hand.
“It was my fault, my fault, my fault… Please, please, please, please, we have been together for a thousand years, let us grow old together in that place where we swore to each other that day, among the spring flowers…”
Goe-gun had been holding [her] hand and crying tears of blood and tears for a long time when he suddenly turned to look at a corner of the Wondrous Castle.
“Ah… so it was you bastards. You are the culprits and your accomplices who made [her] get hurt!?”
A vision showing the current situation of the Wondrous Castle appeared before Goe-gun’s eyes.
There, a corner of the Wondrous Castle with the Seopmyeong Ship stuck in it was shown.
“Fine, fine, fine, fine… I’ll catch every single one of you and turn you into spare parts for [her]! Black Ghost Valley ghost scum! Today I won’t show you any mercy!!!”
Goe-gun raged and waved his arms wildly.
At the same time the Wondrous Castle shook violently.
[She] had replaced a few parts and received complete treatment; the artificial star inside her had even been swapped for a new one and she was back to normal.
But Goe-gun could not hold back his anger and shouted.
“Capture the intruders! Bring them all alive in front of me! Put them on the experiment stand!!!”
In response to Goe-gun’s order, countless puppets flew toward the Seopmyeong Ship in unison.
* * *
Kugugugu!
Inside the Wondrous Castle.
The Seopmyeong Ship, which had barely succeeded in space transmission just before the World-Destroying Earthquake activated, was embedded in a factory hall.
Kkiiaaaaaa!
Ghost kings crawled out from inside the Seopmyeong Ship, followed by Kim Yeon and Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Oh Hyun-seok, Seo Ran, Siho, Hong Beom, and Changhoja.
“Wow, the flesh is already trembling.”
Kim Young-hoon stuck out his tongue and looked around.
Each and every one of them was a Three-Gate Dharma Refiner puppet, hundreds of them.
“Hundreds… like that Yuk Rin guy…”
“Still, being able to hold on at all is something, right?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon clicked his tongue with a slightly disgusted expression.
Oh Hyun-seok, wearing the Blue Heaven Armor Changhoja had given him, clenched his fists and said.
“If we can’t hold on, we have to hold on.”
Seo Ran and Siho were manipulating the Seopmyeong Ship intently, and together with the ghost kings they poured out its cannons.
Hong Beom tied eight blades together with thread and connected them to his fingers, spitting poison.
Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Oh Hyun-seok, and Hong Beom.
The four of them, Three-Gate Dharma Refiners, surrounded Kim Yeon. Changhoja and Siho surrounded Seo Ran.
Kworurung!
The Terminating One puppets of the Seoreum Tribe unleashed flames.
And then Hong Beom stepped forward.
Having reached the Three-Gate stage, he spread both hands.
Kugugugu!
[Domain. Dark World.]
Kururur!
Hong Beom’s body seemed to swell, and he transformed into a huge centipede, the entire world filled with pitch-black poison.
Poison jumped up to a higher tier than qi, becoming even more metaphysical.
A poison that devoured life had become darkness that devoured light and heat at a higher tier.
Hong Beom, who had merged with his domain, coiled around and protected the group.
Hwarururuk!
Flames could not pierce Hong Beom’s body and were simply absorbed into the darkness.
A Terminating One puppet of the Taoho Tribe leaped toward Hong Beom and brought its front paw down.
Kwang!
But the paw was blocked by a giant’s hand.
From inside the coiled Hong Beom, a giant’s arm rose up.
Oh Hyun-seok, a Three-Gate Dharma Refiner.
[Domain…]
Kugugugu!
Oh Hyun-seok’s body swelled, and his domain enveloped the surroundings.
[Great Star Night Palace Bottom Cold Lantern!]
Chwaaah!
A vast starry sky spread around him.
It was the universe itself.
In the universe, Oh Hyun-seok burned alone as a pure blue flame.
Kurururur—
The blue flame gradually changed color.
He became a purple star.
Kururung!
It sounded like thunder, and Oh Hyun-seok’s body was covered with the bones of every kind of monster.
At the very bottom of the Great Star Night.
There, a Cold Lantern burning at the bottom pushed away the cold of the desolate universe and directly knocked aside the Taoho Tribe’s Terminating One puppet.
Kwaaang!
[Lower Heaven Star Thunder Great Uncle Heaven.]
Jeon Myeong-hoon also transformed into the Second Six Spirit Thunder God and spread his domain.
A world where rain from the red thunder fell.
The domains of the three Three-Gate Dharma Refiners overlapped.
[Domain Link!]
Hong Beom’s Dark World, Oh Hyun-seok’s Great Star Night Palace Bottom Cold Lantern, and Jeon Myeong-hoon’s Lower Heaven Star Thunder Great Uncle Heaven.
The three domains connected, growing even stronger.
In the darkness where no light reached, Oh Hyun-seok’s Cold Lantern and Jeon Myeong-hoon’s Red Thunder formed the domain.
And in the center of that darkness.
Kim Yeon, protected and surrounded by them, sat in lotus position, concentrating her will.
Uuuuung!
Her will threads gathered, and something was being created in front of Kim Yeon’s eyes.
Hwaruruk!
It was a will clone.
It flickered like a white flame burning, and before Kim Yeon’s eyes it created a clone similar to her.
The plan Seo Eun-hyun had given her flashed through her mind.
If I activate Yeon-ui Yeon, Goe-gun will naturally disappear and the Wondrous Castle will become ours.
A very clean plan.
Yet she felt an unknown unease.
Even with heavenly prediction it could not be read, but because her massive consciousness had even grasped the level of the soul, she could feel something ominous from the soul’s level.
Negative thoughts amplified inside her, and some unknown guilt seemed to squeeze her heart.
Thanks to that her mind was shaken, and the clone in front of her was also shaking.
But she recalled something and steadied herself.
‘Hyang-hwa…’
She thought.
She had been thinking about this for a very long time.
What is love?
She did not know what love was.
She could not understand it.
Even as a student she could not understand her friends who were in love and dating.
For Kim Yeon, her parents were simply people who had fought, not wanted to take care of her, and left her at her grandmother’s.
Her grandmother had raised her with sympathy rather than love.
Without ever learning the love of parents or the love of the opposite sex, she was thrown into society.
Since she knew deep down that she was somewhat abnormal, Kim Yeon never spoke of this fact openly.
She had only told it to Kang Min-hee and Oh Hye-seo after drinking.
Kang Min-hee had said time would solve it, and Oh Hye-seo had been extremely kind to her from that day on.
And just as Kang Min-hee said, time had solved it.
The feeling of “like” had appeared.
The heart toward her workplace senior.
But the senior in question had not shown her any interest.
And after keeping that feeling hidden, she had fallen into this bizarre world.
After that the senior had come to know Kim Yeon’s heart.
He had recognized Kim Yeon’s feelings.
But that was the end. Seo Eun-hyun had ultimately rejected her.
Kim Yeon had insisted she would like him until the end.
But recently, the more she was with Seo Eun-hyun, the more she felt something.
No, it was not only her. Everyone, including Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, and Oh Hyun-seok, felt the same.
Seo Eun-hyun had gone mad.
He was not in his right mind.
After coming to this world, for some reason, his mind had clearly broken.
Jeon Myeong-hoon had still believed in him, saying he was just like that, and Kim Young-hoon had believed because martial arts never lied, that Seo Eun-hyun’s true nature had not changed for the worse, and Oh Hyun-seok had believed out of righteousness.
But Kim Yeon had now realized that her feelings toward Seo Eun-hyun had changed.
The kindness had not changed.
Yet the nature of that kindness had long since become sympathy in the form of love.
The moment she recognized that fact, her mind was shaken violently.
She had thought she had discovered the feeling of love.
And that this heart would never change.
But it had mutated.
Then was love not such a grand force after all?
She wondered.
And her question had been resolved by meeting Buk Hyang-hwa.
Buk Hyang-hwa had projected her mother onto Kim Yeon and loved her like a mother.
Only after receiving love could she truly understand it.
True love is an unchanging force.
Then Kim Yeon’s mutated love was not true love.
That was why Kim Yeon had changed the way she addressed Seo Eun-hyun.
It had been embarrassing to herself.
To call him Oppa when she did not even truly love him and pretend to be close.
And Kim Yeon had wanted to know how to truly love someone.
—Yeona, from now on you will live at Grandma’s house. Understand?
Memories from when she was little flashed through her mind.
—Mom, don’t you live together?
—…Sorry. Yeona… Mom… doesn’t seem to love Dad anymore. Dad feels the same.
Does not love.
Because of that reason, Kim Yeon’s mother and father had separated.
And they had left her.
That was why she had known one rule when she was young.
If you do not love, you will leave.
And from that day on she had worked to love others.
No one had left her side, and no one should leave her.
That had been her greatest wish.
The moment she faced that wish, the clone in front of her grew even larger.
Kim Yeon opened her eyes.
The pure white clone also opened its eyes.
Pa-sasa-sa!
At the same time, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of will threads burst out from the clone’s body.
The will threads pierced through the Domain areas that protected her and connected straight to every corner of the Wondrous Castle.
Chwarararar!
Information from every corner of the Wondrous Castle flooded into Kim Yeon’s mind.
She sensed that she had entered a pure white world.
Everything about the Wondrous Castle.
The womb of all information.
A huge pure white sphere appeared before her eyes.
Inside it was the control authority of the Wondrous Castle.
She was about to reach out to the control authority.
Startle!
In Kim Yeon’s eyes, a corner of the pure white world appeared.
There stood a shadow emitting an eerie aura.
Twitch, twitch…
The shadow twitched and condensed in the void.
“…You are…”
Kim Yeon’s pupils shrank tightly.
It was Oh Hye-seo.
[Hello, our Yeon?]
Pat, pat…
As if she had just emerged from the sea.
With black water dripping, Oh Hye-seo approached her.
Kim Yeon did not step back at all.
[You’ve grown so much. You’re even looking me straight in the eye…]
“…Why are you here?”
[AHAHA, it’s not the usual way you came, right?]
The shadow form of Oh Hye-seo stroked Kim Yeon’s cheek.
[I’ll tell you. “Why” and “how” are connected…]
Oh Hye-seo’s mouth opened.
[Do you know I got married?]
“…Well, kind of…”
[Yeah. My husband… the superior of Seo Huel gave the order. To neutralize Goe-gun, the Star Shattering power left in the Gwanghan Realm… And Seo Huel answered his superior that he would use the trick he planted in Goe-gun’s Wondrous Castle, the Muddy Soul Filling the Heaven, to bring him down. But Seo Huel said that even his Muddy Soul Filling the Heaven would not be able to invade the Wondrous Castle without significant sacrifice. So… I came through the Muddy Soul Filling the Heaven. I hid here and waited for an opportunity. I heard that you were going to come back here again someday.]
She smiled sweetly and stroked Kim Yeon’s cheek again.
“…Do you have something to say to me?”
Kim Yeon asked with a blank expression, looking straight into Oh Hye-seo’s eyes.
Oh Hye-seo’s crescent moon eyes curved.
[Seo Huel’s superior… the master of all negative powers in this Heavenly Road… he is about to come to the Gwanghan Realm. The Wondrous Castle is an artifact piled with negative power… If you connect your mind there, you will be entangled with it and judged for your sins. So… I will give you a way.]
“A way?”
[Yeah… a way to escape the gaze of the master of negative power… If you use this method, you can remove yourself from that master’s eyes and properly control the Wondrous Castle.]
“…Why are you telling me this?”
In response to Kim Yeon’s question, Oh Hye-seo answered with a smiling face.
[Because I want something from you.]
“…What do you want?”
[Simple. When a great being descends, secretly take control of the Wondrous Castle according to the timing… and activate its hidden power.]
Kim Yeon’s expression became strange.
‘Activate Yeon-ui Yeon?’
“What benefit does that bring to you?”
Strange.
She knew Oh Hye-seo’s essence to some degree.
A person who never did anything that did not benefit them.
That was Oh Hye-seo.
She stepped back from Kim Yeon and said.
[Seo Huel wants it.]
“Why are you going to give me what Seo Huel wants?”
[He proposed to me. That he would send me back to my original world.]
Oh Hye-seo’s eyes trembled.
[I just want to go back… I don’t like this power anymore. I’m tired of this vast world. There are just too many [great beings]… Our world doesn’t have those things.]
Fear appeared in her eyes.
The fear and terror she had felt when she saw the Chief Judge of the Underworld in the darkness were etched in her mind.
[If I participate in Seo Huel’s plan and help him… I can return to my original world. He showed me hope. It was a pretty reasonable plan. I can’t tell you everything, but one thing is certain. You too… if you help Seo Huel, you have hope of going home. Hoo…]
Oh Hye-seo said while showing a fearful expression but without losing her smile.
[So, Yeona. Use the method I told you, and when the [great negative] descends… take control and activate the Wondrous Castle. That is the only way we can see hope… Hoo…]
Oh Hye-seo slowly melted away from Kim Yeon.
Oh Hye-seo, who had completely melted into a shadow, eventually melted into the pure white world and disappeared completely.
Kim Yeon closed her eyes, watching the sight.
As Oh Hye-seo had said, the negative power was gradually growing stronger.
It was true that something was about to descend to this land.
She did not steal the control authority of the Wondrous Castle in the pure white world; instead, she sat in lotus position.
Oh Hye-seo had clearly been strange.
And according to Seo Eun-hyun, Seo Huel used a trick to infect the opponent’s mind.
Perhaps Oh Hye-seo had already been infected by Seo Huel, and everything she said was a lie, and if she used her words Kim Yeon might also be infected.
But she did not feel worried.
‘Why… I’m not afraid.’
Thump, thump…
Since the day she realized that what she had done was not true love, Kim Yeon’s Gwanghan Cheon-won had begun to emit subtle power.
And every time she pondered what love was, the Gwanghan Cheon-won began to spin more strongly.
When Kim Yeon returned to the Gwanghan Realm while still carrying that question.
She felt the power coming from the Gwanghan Cheon-won flowing into her.
She had an inexplicable confidence that she would not be infected.
Kim Yeon thought the Gwanghan Cheon-won was protecting her.
‘So, it’s fine to listen to her a little.’
If it had been Seo Eun-hyun, he would have split Oh Hye-seo in half and killed her on the spot, but Kim Yeon had decided to follow her words.
Because the Gwanghan Cheon-won was whispering that she was fine, imbuing her with an inexplicable absolute confidence.
Kim Yeon sat in lotus position and waited for the “time” Oh Hye-seo had mentioned.
* * *
Gwanghan Realm.
Cheonlyeon Great Mountain.
Inside a certain cave.
At the center of the cave, Baek-woon sat in lotus position and half-opened her eyes.
[…I felt something strange when the frequency of your siblings’ water activities increased by about thirty percent… but it was you who did it.]
Baek-woon looked into the darkness somewhere in the cave.
Her voice was archaic and majestic.
[Do you not know who I am watching? How dare you come in here while fearing her!]
And from the darkness came an answer.
: : If you were a saint, you would have been terrified of being found out. But a true man like a sage? Would the light bother him? : :
[The one before him knows everything about the myriad phenomena.]
: : Fighting without even trying and acting like you know. I have fought him dozens of times face to face. : :
[It was the Chief Judge of the Underworld, Hyeol-eum-nim, who fought against you. ‘Blood Yin’ Elder!]
After Baek-woon’s words, silence fell in the darkness for a moment.
And a short while later.
Jjeeeeeing!
The entire Gwanghan Realm shook.
It felt as if someone was shaking the whole Gwanghan Realm in rage.
* * *
Seo Eun-hyun, who had been moving toward the Wondrous Castle, stopped in his tracks and looked up.
Fear shone in his forty-two eyes.
Seo Eun-hyun asked with an astonished expression.
[…What is that…]
* * *
At the peak of the Wondrous Castle.
Goe-gun, who had been manipulating something, hurriedly turned around.
Behind him, the heavenly calculation device was spinning wildly.
Goe-gun looked at the heavenly calculation device with a strange expression.
“Yin…? What? Why only these characters are coming up, is it broken? Yin…?”
At that moment Goe-gun suddenly looked up at the sky.
And the Goe-gun, who had been filled with madness, temporarily recovered his senses.
“What…!”
* * *
Inside Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension.
Inside the faraway tree in the Bongyang layer.
The thought of [someone] looked up at the sky, swept their face with embarrassment, and trembled.
[How can I show my face to my peers…]
* * *
Jojok, Biyok, Toguk, Gunhae, Buhyu.
Thirteen tribes of the Zhizu.
And the Shimzu.
All living beings in the Gwanghan Realm looked up at the sky with astonished faces.
The sky was red.
: : Down. : :
And from the sky a vast voice like the age of heaven rang through the Gwanghan Realm.
: : The name of Gwang-han! : :
The light of the Gwanghan Realm dimmed and began to change into the Blood Yin Realm.
---
The Gwanghan Realm is changing into the Blood Yin Realm. The light of the sky is dimming. A vast voice echoes: “Down.”