The First Day of the 701st Loop, and...
I opened my eyes and quickly assessed the situation.
Promotion had failed.
But I was fine with that.
More importantly, I had gained something crucial.
Hong Beom. I needed Hong Beom's help.
I quickly sorted through the memories that had just surfaced.
After the fifteenth loop, in the sixteenth, I had truly witnessed Hong Beom's genius. One of those manifestations was his martial arts.
I taught martial arts to Hong Beom.
And the guy grasped every technique instantly.
Even after being burned at the stake, once he transformed into a human body and began to display his martial arts, his genius shone even more brightly.
Hong Beom possessed affinity for every single weapon. No matter which blade he picked up, he would instinctively execute the perfect movements suited to it.
Back then, I had compared it to recalling Kim Young-hoon.
Looking at it now, it wasn't talent at all.
It was closer to a high-realm expert temporarily losing their memories and regaining their instincts.
I had practiced this so many times, so I could see it immediately.
It must have been... related to Hong Beom's past lives.
Anyway.
Not long after I taught him martial arts, his skills soared to the peak in the blink of an eye.
I recalled the moment he had passed through Deungbongjogeuk and entered Woldoipcheon.
There was Hong Beom, dangling threads from the tips of his ten fingers, attaching different poisonous weapons to the ends of each thread.
Sword, spear, staff, bow, whip, gauntlet, iron whip, halberd, dagger... And around him, dozens of other weapons.
All kinds of deformed weapons like the joho, gujeolpyeon, cheolsun, panguanpil, up to war weapons like the woldo, bakdo, and jangchang, filling the space beside him.
And then he raised his Ganghwan.
Nine Ganghwan began spinning behind his back. Each infused with extreme poison, they were lethal toxins that would kill almost any living being with a mere graze.
The pitch-black Ganghwan devoured the surrounding light. At the same time, the poison rose to a metaphysical level, transcending the law of energy.
This is my martial art.
How marvelous. To unify all martial streams through poison.
That conversation from back then came flooding back.
A magnificent martial art.
No. My martial arts are nothing magnificent. They are not of that type.
What? Why? Why isn't this magnificent martial art a good martial art?
Hong Beom had told me.
First, my martial art was not created for competing with others.
Then what is it for?
This martial art was created not to compete with others.
Swish.
Hong Beom's merged Ganghwan and his Woldoipcheon had turned pitch black, eroding everything around him.
The black mist he exhaled swallowed up the nearby weapons and began to corrode the surrounding space.
Watching the illusion of light being endlessly sucked into that darkness, I asked him, What is the true meaning of your martial art?
He answered.
It is to survive.
To survive?
Yes. To kill. The essence of this martial art is to kill, no matter what it takes. To kill my enemies, to kill those who threaten me, to kill, kill, kill again... If I can't kill them, I run. If I can't run, I steal from others. This Woldoipcheon was created solely for the sake of survival.
In the darkness, Hong Beom assumed his posture.
What do you think is the most necessary thing for survival?
What?
To learn.
To learn?
Yes. Watch.
That day, I watched Hong Beom's dance. It was a dance that encompassed all possibilities.
Why did poison exist in the world? To kill. Poison to make the opponent suffer so they would never hunt me again. Poison to paralyze them so I could eat them. Poison to kill the aggressor in one strike.
For myself to survive and protect myself, it was poison.
Poison was pain. And pain was ultimately the master of life.
I dueled Hong Beom.
And Hong Beom's Woldoipcheon instantly learned my Muhyeong Sword, connecting it to his own martial arts, and used that connection to seize a momentary advantage against me.
So that's it. The essence of your martial art... is the unification of martial streams.
At the time, I was at the level of Hyeoncheon, and I could directly read the true meaning of Hong Beom's martial arts.
The true meaning of Hong Beom's martial arts was unification.
To connect one's own martial arts with the opponent's and merge those martial streams.
Then, while in that unified state, to read the opponent's flow, distort it according to one's own will, and eventually reverse it.
That was the ability of Hong Beom's Woldoipcheon.
Then why did I need Hong Beom's Woldoipcheon right now?
Cheonkeom.
I looked at the stellar keoms shining beyond the void space.
It was not that Hyeol-eum had not blocked my first stellar keom for me to watch my own antics. The first stellar keom had simply fallen too quickly for him to intercept properly.
Therefore, when facing the stellar keom of the Star Shattering realm, I was certain to receive the first one.
Being able to connect and unify martial arts meant being able to connect hearts and unify them for a brief moment.
And...
The heart of the sentient being is identical to the stellar keom.
In other words.
Through Hong Beom's Woldoipcheon, I could unify the first stellar keom that would inevitably strike me, and all subsequent stellar keoms, to withstand them.
Jeon Myeong-hoon! Hong Beom!!
After throwing the rest of my companions into the Demon Realm, I prepared the Star Shattering ascension ritual with only the two of them remaining.
Hyeol-eum allowed me a brief moment of respite as he observed my consciousness preparation, and I shouted at the two of them.
From now on, I need your help!
Hapdo Area.
Muhan Yeongsandohae!
I activated the Hapdo Area and began to explode it, declaring.
I will merge my stellar keoms!
I spoke to the two of them through my heart words and quickly began the Star Shattering ascension.
No other way exists at this point.
I looked at Hong Beom.
I knew he had taught Kim Yeon martial arts and sometimes trained his own.
With his talent, he should have been close to comprehending Woldoipcheon by now.
So, please... I could only pray fervently that he would obtain Woldoipcheon this time!
Oh Heaven...
If you are a sentient being, I hate you.
But if I keep dying in this world, isn't this world going to freeze here?
For the sake of this world's flow.
And for a real genius like Hong Beom, not a dullard like me... I desperately pray that Hong Beom reaches Woldoipcheon.
So...
He must reach it! Hong Beom!
Kwa kwa kwa kwang!
In the explosion, I shouted at Hong Beom.
Hong Beom's consciousness was alien even when compared to all other existences.
So alien that I couldn't tell if he had reached Woldoipcheon or not.
An endless dark world that not even a single ray of light could touch!
But it was not the turbid, chaotic darkness of Jo Yeon or Seo Hyoel. It was instead a calm, tranquil, endless night sky darkness.
It even looked like he was peacefully sleeping.
I could only see darkness.
That was why I could not judge whether it was his Woldoipcheon or not, and I could only pray.
Kwa ru ru ru ruung!
Once again, I transformed into a stellar keom and continued the Star Shattering ascension.
Jeon Myeong-hoon had to defend the aftershocks of my Star Shattering ascension even though he was barely alive. Hong Beom seemed to be analyzing my words behind him and sharing them with Jeon Myeong-hoon.
If Jeon Myeong-hoon and Hong Beom combine their strengths and I expend a little, the stellar keom of the Star Shattering realm can be withstood with a single merged stellar keom!
That way, I would have the chance to attempt the method Taesan had taught me completely entering the Star Shattering realm.
Kureung, kurururung!
After trying it once, I found the Star Shattering ascension ritual relatively easy to perform.
Again, in the stellar cloud, I steadied my consciousness and pulled clouds of fortune toward the center of the stellar cloud.
And...
Hmm?
During the ascension, I felt something strange.
Wait, something's off here.
The ascension ritual from the previous loop was different.
And I immediately understood the reason.
Ah... I see.
The amount of stellar cloud that erupted from my body was twice as much as in the previous loop.
Even after dying, thanks to Void Shattering, I could maintain my cultivation level and regress.
Then, after being torn apart by a stellar keom in the previous loop and regressed, how was it now?
Simple.
I had not reached complete Star Shattering. But when I self-destructed and became stellar cloud, and then reconverged into a stellar form, I was torn apart by the stellar keom again. Therefore, what remained was only the enormous dust of the star turned to powder by the stellar keom.
That dust had moved to the soul's law level thanks to the Void Shattering realm and had accompanied my regression.
In other words, the stellar cloud created from my remains in the previous loop had followed me into this loop.
Kugu gu gu gu!
Hmm, no big change in the star.
I thought while absorbing the stellar cloud.
Although the stellar cloud had doubled in size, the star's mass had only increased slightly. The star's size had not grown exponentially.
It did seem that the attraction had become slightly stronger than before, but that was the end of it.
Of course, if the stellar cloud continued to accumulate with each ascension, in theory, dying a billion times could make me a true immortal.
However, I felt in the depths of my soul that I could not go that way, as the accumulation of 'death' weighed heavily.
That way isn't possible.
Already, I have died too many times.
Although it still felt safe, the anxiety that if I died too many more times I would be pulled straight into the underworld pressed against my brain.
I must escape quickly at an appropriate time!
Kurururung!
Through the doubled stellar cloud, I continued the ascension ritual and finally succeeded in completely capturing the shape of the star.
Kureung, kururururung!
And the familiar starlight sparkled in the sky.
The stellar keom was about to begin.
I focused my consciousness toward Hong Beom and Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Hong Beom, I know you have practiced martial arts. I could also roughly estimate where the ultimate of your martial arts is pointing, now that I have reached the Void Shattering realm. Right now, I need your power. Please lend me your strength!
Hong Beom and Jeon Myeong-hoon began to seal their hands with resolute expressions.
Hapdo Area.
Hajeonbyeolrae Daeucheon.
Dark World.
Two Hapdo Areas unfolded before me.
Hong Beom had already awakened the true meaning of my words and shared it with Jeon Myeong-hoon.
I will show you, Master. This is...
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The inside of Hong Beom's Hapdo Area began to spin.
At the same time, Hong Beom's will unfolded across the world.
The same.
Hong Beom's Woldoipcheon, identical to previous lives, was falling toward the stellar keom I was about to receive.
Dwad!
Hong Beom exploded and died.
It was Hyeol-eum.
If you interfere with the great, I will do what?
Ah...
The stellar keom was piercing down toward me.
Even though Jeon Myeong-hoon had died, instead of fleeing, he seemed to have decided to carry out the strategy they had discussed, and he burned his own source.
Kwa zizizizit!
But it was useless.
Jeon Myeong-hoon's physical body was infinitely insufficient to handle the universe-like stellar keoms, and at best he had only merged a hundred and eighty thousand stellar keoms into one.
Even if he received love from the heavenly punishment, that was the limit.
I endured the stellar keom that had merged a hundred and eighty thousand into one.
While enduring it, I watched Jeon Myeong-hoon, who had exhausted all his energy and died, bleached white.
Jeon Myeong-hoon... Hong Beom...
Jeon Myeong-hoon was smiling.
I didn't know why.
Perhaps he was reuniting with Geum So-hae in the afterlife.
I could not see where their souls had gone, and what remained was only the smile they had left behind.
As your senior, I will help you.
Hyeol-eum mocked me again and blocked the stellar keom, strengthening me for a brief respite.
The stellar keom was blocked by him, and now I was compressing the shape of the star.
And I overlaid my avatar over the shape of the star.
Swish swish...
The body of human Seo Eun-hyun returned.
And, looking up at Hyeol-eum in the human form of Seo Eun-hyun, I spoke.
You are...
Sreung...
I pulled out the Muhyeong Sword.
And I began to burn my source.
Burning every lifespan and source, I began to fill the sword with everything I was.
It was madness to do such a thing in the middle of a stellar keom. The end would have been death, but it didn't matter.
I was going to die anyway.
I didn't have the time to grieve over the deaths of Hong Beom and Jeon Myeong-hoon.
So, in this short moment, I had to do what I could.
I will escape from your grasp.
I exploded the body that had captured the shape of the star.
I became the explosion itself and charged toward Hyeol-eum.
Even if I die a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times!
The strike from Hyeol-eum came to mind.
The hope I had had of escaping from him through Hong Beom was crushed.
What should I do?
After a hundred and eighty thousand deaths, I had learned that kneeling, begging, and pitifully pleading was useless.
The answer was always frontal breakthrough.
Swallowing my sorrow and resentment, I flew at Hyeol-eum, shooting a sword infused with all my pain.
The strike that had crushed Hong Beom and killed him, a true immortal's strike!
If I can block that strike just once, hope will appear.
The target is set.
No matter how many times I die, I must block Hyeol-eum's strike.
If I can block the true immortal's strike, then through Hong Beom and Jeon Myeong-hoon, I can see hope for escape!
So...
I will keep dying.
I will die again and again, and continue to fail.
And by piling up the mountain of failure, I will definitely break free from this terrible cycle of regression!
Definitely!
Hyeol-eum flicked off everything of mine with contempt.
I was flung away and struck by the stellar keom stem amplified by Hyeol-eum.
While suppressing my rage in the pain of the stellar keom, I vowed to escape this cycle no matter what.
That was my seven hundred and second regression.
It had become the first moment of the 985th loop.
I had finally grasped the thread.
The form had been captured.
Danak Sword Art, thirty-third style.
The form of the style I had named Sumi shone before my eyes.
This would be the starting point to block the true immortal's strike.