Chapter 47
What do you mean by no permission?
Me?
That I become a cultivator?
“Master… This disciple truly struggles to understand and begs to be told.”
“…What is it?”
“Does that mean the Mandate truly exists?”
“Yes… it exists. What mortals call fate is undoubtedly real, and it has shaped the lives of every living being across the universe.”
My fingertips trembled.
“If the Mandate truly exists, then free will is… nonexistent?”
The meaning of everything would vanish if free will did not exist and every outcome was fixed…
“Well… that is not entirely true. The seven stars who received heavenly permission from the spiritual energy bestowed by the heavens can faintly glimpse the concept of fate from the seventh layer of Qi Condensation onward.”
“You learned astronomy from me and the method of reading the stars in the sky, did you not? But the moment you received permission from the heavens, the path of the cultivator grants the faint ability to perceive the workings of heaven.”
Master’s explanation continued.
“Of course, it is impossible for a human to directly witness such an enormous concept as fate. However… basic understanding is possible.”
“From the seventh layer of Qi Condensation onward, a cultivator can read their own lifespan and confirm how much time remains in their life.”
“Lifespan…? Does that mean human lifespan is truly predetermined?”
“That is correct.”
“Then… what is the reason for cultivation? Why continue practicing when one knows lifespan is fixed?”
“That is… because the lifespan is fixed but not absolute.”
Lifespan is not absolute?
“For example, a Qi Condensation cultivator has at best the same lifespan as a mortal. But from Foundation Establishment onward, each time a cultivator advances in realm, the heavens bestow new lifespan.”
Foundation Establishment grants three hundred years, Core Formation six hundred years, Nascent Soul over twelve hundred years, and Heavenly Person over two thousand four hundred years. Lifespan differs by individual, yet as a cultivator climbs the ranks, the heavens grant ever-newer lifespan.”
“That is why cultivators themselves, by their very existence, bring change to the heavenly laws. That is why cultivators have long been called those who defy heaven.”
“…Then… can I not receive new Mandate as a cultivator?”
“…That is not entirely true. While a human can receive new Mandate, the heavens instead grant those born without spiritual roots a fate that surpasses lifespan itself.”
Master’s expression darkened.
“Born talent, innate spiritual vein, innate five elements. Those are the criteria by which the innate fate decides whether one can change lifespan.”
“…Does that mean I am destined to be unable to become a cultivator because of my birth? Is my fate one from which I cannot escape my destiny?”
“…That seems to be the case.”
I was stunned and asked again.
“Then… is there truly no way?”
“…From what I have searched, there is none. …I am sorry.”
“The lifespan the heavens have bestowed upon me… I cannot understand. Is the heavens merely a concept? Is it not simply the vast blue sky that is called the heavens?”
“It is not merely a label. The laws that flow through this world… the vast and immense principle… that is what the heavens are.”
That was it.
The heavens had simply refused to permit me this world.
“We all enter this world carrying the fate bestowed by the heavens. We grow, we live, we die. When cultivators say they defy heaven by being called those who go against the heavens, it is merely a reversal of words that stirs change in the heavenly laws.”
“In reality, no cultivator can ever escape the grace of the heavens who gave them birth. That is why, although lifespan can be overcome, the very fate that allows one to overcome it is bestowed by the heavens…”
Master took my hand and said.
“…I was the same. Though incomparable to you.”
His voice trembled.
“I worked my entire life. I made blood vows until my fingers bled, I chanted incantations until my voice gave out. After a lifetime of that, I barely reached the initial stage of Foundation Establishment…”
Master possessed three-fifths spiritual root.”
He had the spiritual quality equivalent to three-fifths spiritual root, yet his innate spiritual vein was thin, and from birth he contained excessive impure energy, limiting him to the initial stage of Foundation Establishment.”
“He devoted his entire life to the obsession with karmic retribution and research into law decrees and incantations… for the sake of his later disciples being able to read his annotations and insights and, with their deficient talent, reach as high a realm as possible.”
“And you, who are of five-fifths spiritual root, who were born a lowly mortal and reached the seventh layer of Qi Condensation… you have beautifully proven the value I pursued… Yet there is still a given subject for a person.”
The words I heard on the day we first met.”
Back then they had been directed at me, but this time they were directed at himself.”
“…I am sorry to be such a flawed master. I am sorry to have been born with such Mandate and been unable to do anything…”
“…No. This disciple too… is flawed and truly sorry…”
The two of us gritted our teeth and apologized to each other.
“…All I can give you now is nothing. But even if it is impossible… I will try at least through effort. I will search for even more ancient texts and attempts at rituals, to find whether a person not born with the Mandate of the cultivator can receive permission from the heavens…”
“…Thank you.”
“What can a rejected one from the heavens do…? The heavens have set our lifespan but have not decided how we should live within that lifespan… Therefore, I will go all out with you as far as we are able.”
Master’s eyes met mine.
“That is all the most I, as your master, can give you.”
“….”
I said nothing.
I simply pressed my lips tightly shut and lowered my head.
No words were spoken, yet each of us understood the other’s heart.
From that day on, my daily life changed greatly.
I made blood vows until my fingers bled without operating my internal energy technique.”
Instead, I wandered with Master through the ancient archives of the Cheongmun Clan Estate, searching for all manner of ancient texts and ritual manuals.”
I sought the criteria by which those who receive and do not receive permission from the heavens.”
Is it because of my internal energy?
Or is it because mortals who did not possess spiritual roots reached Five Qi Consorting with the Origin and forcibly awakened spiritual roots?
Or because I am from another world?
Or because of my regression?
Or is my fate simply like that?
However, in the ancient texts, records of humans rejected by the heavens in this manner were far too rare.”
It became impossible to find any.”
Yet I continued to read books about the heavens, heaven’s workings, and fate.”
I learned a little more about the concept of fate.”
Cultivators from the seventh layer of Qi Condensation onward can read their own Mandate, I learned.”
Of course, it was not a detailed Mandate, merely that one could roughly know one’s lifespan.”
As the realm rose, one could precisely know how much time remained.”
And when one reached Foundation Establishment, one could vaguely understand whether the events ahead were inauspicious or auspicious.”
When one reached Core Formation, it became even more precise, allowing one to sense the inauspicious and auspicious aspects of coming events more finely.”
There was no information for Nascent Soul or higher, but it was said to be more accurate than for Core Formation cultivators.”
I also found records of research into human free will.”
For example, would a mortal who received eighty years of lifespan from the heavens inevitably live exactly eighty years?
If a cultivator with ill intent killed a mortal with eighty years of lifespan in a single day, what would become of that mortal?
The answer was that the heavens merely bestow Mandate; they do not concern themselves with how long that Mandate lasts.”
In short.”
Humans are given a length called fate.”
Yet even under external pressure or through one’s own will, some cannot complete even the path of the Mandate granted to them.”
‘Is that the case?’
I read books about fate and thought back on events that had once happened to me.”
‘Even though the initial life, health, and body state differed in every life, I died on exactly the same day, at exactly the same time, in exactly the same hour across countless lives.’
Would that be plausible by probability?
Even though health differed in every life!
Because of such things, I had once believed the fate granted to me truly existed and that I might lack free will.”
However, at the time I beheaded Crown Prince Makri Hyeon.”
Then I had died before my lifespan, and I thought it was not a fate in which lifespan was fixed.”
But…”
‘According to the explanation in this book, the lifespan the heavens granted me was approximately fifty years. And if I walk the path of fate properly, I can live within that lifespan.”
“But if external pressure or my own choice and will prevent me from walking the full path of the Mandate granted to me, I will die sooner than that.”
Fate is not perfectly prearranged and fixed.”
If the path granted to humans is the concept of fate, then this book claimed that humans possess free will.”
Of course, the issue was whether one could go beyond the given path of fate.”
The book also explained fate in similar terms.”
The heavens gifted fate to humans, but not all humans could walk the path of the fate granted to them.”
Some due to a lack of willpower, others due to external circumstances.”
It was possible that one could not walk the path of fate.”
Yet even if one walked the full path of fate, if there was no path beyond it bestowed by the heavens…”
“That is the limit of that existence.”
“Humans can live freely until they reach fate.”
“But reaching beyond that is impossible.”
“Living freely within the time of the life the heavens gifted is the right and virtue of every mortal.”
“All existence must live gratefully and freely within the given life.”
The content of the book ended.”
‘…Is this the same as the book?’
I thought that the concept of fate described in the book was similar to the book itself.”
The author of the book did not know how much content they wished to include.”
However, there is a limit to the size of the paper, and there is a limit to the amount of the book.”
The author writes the desired story within the set amount, but cannot go beyond the volume of the book.”
No story can go beyond the outside of the book.”
When the book is closed, every story ends.”
‘This is the concept of fate…’
Then am I truly ending here?
Am I truly…”
‘No, no.’
I gritted my teeth.
Closing a book ends the story, but my story endlessly returns to the beginning.”
And the one who bestowed such a fate was undoubtedly the heavens.”
If the heavens granted me this fate, there must have been a reason.”
‘I have continuously overcome fate…’
In the first life, I was simply the pitiful fate of a wandering beggar who would die pathetically.”
But now?”
I have honed my sword and honed it again.”
With only mediocre talent, I have reached the peak of Wulin, a legend in the martial world.”
The saber technique of the cultivator, which can only be inherited by those born with spiritual roots, I forcibly acquired after reaching Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.”
Even if fate pressed upon me, I have crossed over it again and again!
“The answer… must exist.”
There must be an answer!
I madly read ancient texts again and again.”
One day.”
Master came to me carrying a single book.”
With bloodshot eyes.”
“I found one ancient text in the family’s upper archives.”
The book Master brought had no title and appeared on the verge of becoming dust from being so old.”
“Read it once.”
I received the book and read it.”
The content was a collection of wild histories from the distant past.”
In one wild history, a mother and young man were living together.”
When the mother fell ill in winter, the physician said she needed to eat carp to recover.”
But since it was winter and carp could not be found, the young man melted the river ice with his body heat in desperation, and the river broke open and carp jumped out.”
Or, there was the story of a blind man who lost his sight who begged the heavens again and again, and one day recovered his sight.”
There were stories of an old man whose lifespan increased when he offered a thousand sacrifices to the heavens on the day he was to die, and of a person who was to die receiving additional lifespan.”
“Though these are wild histories and most stories belong to mortals.”
“There is a common point, is there not…?”
“…Yes. Miracles happened in impossible situations.”
“That is correct. Especially the story in the final wild history, where the old man performed a thousand sacrifices to obtain additional lifespan…”
“Does that mean if one challenges again and again, it will succeed?”
“That is right… Most stories in this wild history collection contain the lesson that if one exerts effort with true sincerity, the heavens are moved.”
“Even mortals, if they exert themselves with true sincerity, the heavens are moved.”
Master’s voice trembled.
“…Of course, I cannot say what we have done so far, which has been death through effort, was not true sincerity.”
“….”
That was true.”
Is there anyone who has not made an effort?”
But even if one makes an effort, the heavens never open the door.”
What should one do?”
“…Let us continue attempting rituals.”
“….”
“If the heavens refuse once, let us pray ten times; if they refuse ten times, let us pray a hundred times; if they refuse a hundred times, let us pray a thousand times to the heavens… Let us perform rituals again and again… Let us ask endlessly whether it truly will not work…”
Master gritted his teeth and said.
“Let us ask whether we must truly end here…”
“…Yes, Master.”
I nodded firmly in return to him.
From that day on, we wandered the mountains and rivers again and again, reading heavenly texts and attempting rituals.”
Of course, every time we attempted a ritual, clouds would gather and heavenly energy would be blocked.”
Once we even went to Guryeongsan in Yeon Kingdom to perform the ritual.”
Master said the peak of Guryeongsan pierced through the clouds, so performing the ritual from above the peak would mean clouds could not cover it.”
However, even on the peak higher than the clouds, shortly after performing the ritual, clouds appeared mysteriously like ghosts at even higher places.”
As if, even if the heavens ignored physical laws, they would not permit me to enter the path of the cultivator.”
Master and I went again and again to famous mountains, vast rivers, or grand mountains, selecting seven stars from the twenty-eight.”
We continuously performed rituals.”
While performing the rituals, I also quietly learned from Master the knowledge of the eighth layer of Qi Condensation.”
The knowledge of the eighth layer of Qi Condensation, the Six Harmonies Full Way, was the stage where one applies the six directions of heaven, earth, and four seas to the consciousness and stimulates it with law power.”
It was said that after passing this stage, the consciousness of cultivators grows ever larger and law power fills every spiritual vein in the body, becoming far more powerful.”
Unfortunately, without completing the seventh layer, the training method of the eighth layer was useless.”
But I steadily absorbed even just the theory and insight of it.”
And during that time, I quietly met Kim Young-hoon and learned explanations of Wulin from him, internalizing the insight about reaching Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.”
And time passed.”
The day my lifespan was to end was approaching.”
“Do you have any questions regarding the five elements?”
“None today.”
“Good, let us prepare to go perform the ritual.”
My lifespan had little left.”
Of course, I had hoped that reaching Five Qi Consorting with the Origin would increase my lifespan.”
But after reading the books in the Cheongmun Clan Estate archives, I realized I would die with the same lifespan as before.”
My current realm had advanced significantly.”
I had reached the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, the Five Elements Origin, not the eighth layer of Qi Condensation, the Six Harmonies Full Way.”
Of course, I still could not train the ninth-layer-level spiritual energy technique.”
But in terms of pure understanding of the technique, I matched a ninth-layer cultivator.”
Recently I had also begun previewing the content of the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, the Four Concepts.”
‘Still, the process of integrating the spiritual veins and spiritual origins of the Four Concepts, unified into nine branches, back into two branches is very advantageous to me.’
It had merely been about integrating spiritual veins, so with just time given, I could definitely reach that realm.”
“Now, the sun is setting.”
I began the ritual with Master.”
Of course, once again clouds gathered without fail, and spiritual energy was blocked.”
“…Failed again.”
“…Yes.”
Master nodded and let out a small sigh.”
Again this time.”
I no longer remembered exactly how many times we had tried.”
“Now, let us go to the Dabcheon Desert tomorrow and try again.”
The Dabcheon Desert seems to have clouds arriving later than the others…”
“Master.”
“Hm? What is it?”
I forced a smile and said to Master who was packing the ritual tools.”
“…I would be grateful if you did not perform the ritual tomorrow.”
“What nonsense. Heavenly energy will be present in the Dabcheon Desert tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then when else…”
“This disciple has something to do. Could you postpone it just for tomorrow?”
“Hmm… The next ritual date is in a month. Can you return to the Cheongmun Clan Estate by then?”
I answered with a wry smile.”
“…I will return.”
Twenty-one days from now.”
That day was the exact day I had died in every life until now.”
The day my lifespan ended.