The One Who Was Nearly the True Immortal
He had kept silent for a long time, then looked at me with an expression of pure disbelief.
[So that’s how it is. I thought the talent you showed was just ordinary because it looked so crude, but I never imagined… a Gaeyeol expert? A person whose mind clearly wasn’t right, yet here you are. Who would’ve guessed there were existences like that out there…]
He stroked his beard, genuinely fascinated.
“…I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
I frowned, desperately trying to decipher the hidden meaning in his words.
The being in front of me was no longer a physical body. I could no longer read living reactions, and because he was a Gaeyeol-jin, beyond the point where one could read intentions, I couldn’t grasp what his thoughts really were.
He stroked his beard once more, then smiled.
[Those who have reached the peak of the just begin to see their consciousness gradually turn into qi. Those who can’t adapt often fall into the state of ju-hwa-i-ma. How about you, now? Are you afraid?]
“…I don’t know.”
I stroked my chin and answered with a completely blank expression.
“Back then… emotions used to matter quite a lot. But honestly, right now I’m not sure. I can’t even understand why I was so obsessed with things like this.”
I still didn’t fully grasp how I had tried to master the Triple Taiji, the Hollow Annihilation, or any of the rest of it.
‘I would’ve reached the Seongban level long ago if I’d just thrown everything into the Heavenly Earthly Nether way instead.’
He stroked his beard again, then suddenly introduced himself.
[I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am the Chief Priest of Seungryong Peak, Jin Rugok. I once served the late Lord Seungryong, and I was the representative of the human race fifty thousand years ago. And…]
I stared at him in genuine surprise.
[I am also the one called the genius of the consciousness cultivation method fifty thousand years ago… I had reached the third stage of implementation. Now, because I’ve forgotten how to implement it, I’m nothing more than an ordinary shinjok.]
“…Hmm. That’s impressive. Learning the techniques of a shinjok isn’t easy, but…”
[It’s not that difficult. Even as you see me now, I once received the consciousness cultivation method directly from the Cold Lunar Heavenly King fifty thousand years ago.]
He grinned, then clapped both hands together.
Chaaak!
[And now, as someone who mastered that consciousness cultivation method, let me tell you something. The faster and more intensely a shinjok’s consciousness turns into qi, the more they suffer when they reach the peak of the just.]
“Hm… that’s interesting.”
Shouldn’t those who had already trained with the implementation of a shinjok be able to maintain their emotions even after reaching the peak of the just?
Yet Jin Rugok explained it in a way that was easy to understand.
[Have you ever built a sandcastle?]
“Yeah, sometimes when I was a kid.”
[Good. So when you build that sandcastle, does the shadow of a big castle get smaller, or does the shadow of a small castle get smaller?]
I caught on to his meaning.
“…Rather, the larger the heart built through implementation, the larger its shadow becomes.”
[Seven out of ten. Think about it again.]
“Hm…”
I thought for a moment, then reconsidered his question carefully.
And suddenly I felt something was off.
‘Hold on. The size of the shadow?’
“…The size of the shadow always changes depending on the position of the sun, right?”
[Exactly. The real answer isn’t size—it’s light. Size does affect it somewhat, but only very weakly. In the end, the bigger and longer the shadow, the closer you got to the sun.]
He said it with deep meaning.
[In other words, the closer you get to light, the larger the shadow becomes. If you consider building sandcastles as training for shinjoks, then training to become a Heavenly Being is training to approach light. Of course, everyone eventually trains and gets closer to light, so that part isn’t an issue. The real problem is those who build sandcastles—or mountains of sand—in their hearts. Ordinary Heavenly Beings are like flat land.]
“Hmm… so we who are like us suffer from the speed and intensity of our consciousness turning into qi much more severely than ordinary cultivators?”
[Exactly. Ordinary Gaeyeol-jins only briefly turn their consciousness into qi while using techniques, and then slowly over time… we turn completely in an instant. Like you are now.]
“Hm…”
I observed myself and asked.
‘Yeah, I’ve been feeling a bit numb lately.’
I had grown indifferent to the Hollow Annihilation, but forgetting implementation completely would have been a huge loss of power.
Trying to master the Hollow Annihilation was one thing, but losing what I already had was something I couldn’t afford, so I asked Jin Rugok for a solution.
“From what you said, it seems that once we reach the realm beyond Gaeyeol, we can somehow avoid this.”
[Of course we can.]
“What is it?”
I asked with a completely expressionless face.
[Before I answer, I have something I’d like to ask you.]
“What is it?”
[What is the mind to you? Why do you want to find it again?]
“Hm…”
I gave it deep thought.
‘Why… am I trying to find it?’
The mind was nothing more than suffering.
Carrying it in my chest only created factories for demons and had been the source of my pain.
‘In the first place, isn’t the mind simply death?’
Recently, I had been spinning the Triple Taiji more and more often, peeling the death that clung to my body.
At first it had been difficult, but now I was getting used to it.
From the beginning it had been a matter of life and death, so I had been living it like I was putting my life on the line.
‘If I dig too deep into my heart, the death I just peeled away might go berserk and drag me to the underworld… The mind? Why do I even have to train for something like this?’
It was too dangerous.
If that was the case, I might as well give up the Hollow Annihilation and stick to the Heavenly Earthly Nether way.
Somehow, Kim Yeon had developed patterns similar to the Moon Method, so instead of losing her voice, she had gained something like the Moon Method.
Through that Moon Method, she could create things like the Seongban puppet or Gaeyeol puppet, and I would be able to handle the absolute peak of power stably.
‘…Wait, that’s strange.’
My rationality, now colder than ever because of the loss of emotions, caught a profound contradiction in myself.
—Why do I want to become the strongest?
‘To protect my comrades, of course. If I become the strongest, I can protect them.’
—Why do I want to protect my comrades?
‘To stay with them, I have to break the mandate of the Terminus One. Then I can eventually go back to my hometown.’
—Why do I want to go back to my hometown? Shouldn’t I just enjoy endless pleasure and debauchery here and breed?
‘Well…’
I felt my throat tighten.
The koan Jin Rugok had given me was now stuck inside me, turning into a heart demon.
‘Wait… this human. What the hell did he do to me? A heart demon is actually whispering inside my mind… Jin Rugok… what kind of curse did he place on me?’
I glared at him for a moment, but I couldn’t fight him while his curse was attached. And right now, with the Hollow Annihilation unstable, I definitely couldn’t.
‘For now, he doesn’t seem to want to attack me, so I’ll first expel this heart demon. After all, I have to deal with it anyway.’
I leaped out of the planet that was Jin Rugok’s body and placed myself in the void of space. Then I began quickly answering the contradictions echoing inside my mind.
‘My parents are still there… and my job… If I keep staying here, I’ll be declared missing and who knows what will happen to my social standing…’
—Why do you care about the culture of those bugs? You’re already a star itself. Once you reach the Seongban level, you’ll live for billions of years. That’s the time it takes for microbes to evolve and build one civilization. So why is the gap in realms so huge that you still want to return to your homeland?
‘…Is that right?’
The logic held.
Even my parents were, in the end, humans made of flesh and blood.
And the world I lived in was only a fragment of something I could never fully understand.
As a Gaeyeol-jin who had become a Heavenly Being, I no longer needed to worry about parent-child bonds.
My body was no longer human, and I had become a star. What more was there to care about?
I had transcended humanity.
‘It wasn’t a heart demon. It was a blessing.’
It seemed I had misunderstood Jin Rugok.
It was a stimulus or a blessing to pull my mind away from the lowly shackles of humanity, not a heart demon. I had mistaken it for a curse.
‘I’ll throw off the shackles of my race and live freely across the universe.’
Honestly, why had I ever bound myself with all these shackles?
My comrades were no longer necessary.
The collapse of the Heavenly Realm?
With the power I had right now, I could probably reach the Gaeyeol level in fifty thousand years no matter what.
‘I just need to repeat the cycle another fifty times without dying.’
Then I would become the real body of the Gaeyeol level and withstand the collapse of the Heavenly Realm. And once I did, I would be guaranteed a minimum of several hundred million years of training.
‘A few hundred million years? Even if I trained for that long, I’d still be far from the True Immortal.’
I just needed to become a True Immortal and finally achieve eternal life without suffering.
‘…’
And then I realized something strange.
The [blessing] Jin Rugok had given me was still whispering.
—Why must I achieve eternal life?
‘Well…’
I thought carefully and answered.
‘Because I want to live?’
Why would I need a reason here?
Yet the [blessing] kept pressing me for a reason.
—Why do you want to live?
‘…’
Why do I want to live…
Of course.
There are all kinds of pleasure, prosperity, and movies in this world.
To live an eternal life and enjoy them all… wasn’t that an incredibly precious opportunity?
—Why should I enjoy those things?
‘They’re among the basic desires of life—sleep, reproduction, food… living beings need them to survive…’
And in the middle of answering, I realized a contradiction in my own reply.
‘…I’m not a living being right now, though?’
I don’t have those desires anymore.
Then the desires I just mentioned weren’t actually what I truly wanted.
I felt confused when I realized that.
Not being a living being meant those desires didn’t matter.
And having become a star itself, my comrades, family ties, and connections no longer mattered.
Then… what the hell was I actually living for?
The heart demon was no longer asking me questions.
It was me, endlessly questioning myself and answering myself.
I twisted the surrounding qi into space and time, speeding up the flow of time, and thought inside that fast-moving bubble.
One second inside was equivalent to ten seconds outside.
I had plenty of time to think.
‘Why am I even alive?’
To avoid pain?
Because I can’t die because of regression?
I traced my original purpose from beginning to end.
Why am I doing this here?
‘My original purpose was… to end the regression.’
I remembered the eighteenth loop and Seo Lip.
A body that could die and be buried in the ground at any time.
A life in which I live a [single proper life].
A life in which [people who remember me even if I die] remain in this world.
That had been what I truly wanted back then.
Now it felt a bit incomprehensible, but that had been my wish.
‘And to end the regression, I had wondered how I could end it. As a result, I thought “if my power was born here, it will disappear when I go to Earth,” so I started looking for a way back to Earth.’
It was a bit complicated, but that was why I had initially come to Deungsunhyang to investigate the Ascension Gate.
If I could investigate the Ascension Gate, I would find a way to return to Earth.
And to do that, I had started living a disciplined life.
‘Thinking back now, my early goals were incredibly tangled.’
To end the regression.
To go to Earth for that.
To investigate the Ascension Gate for that.
To start living a disciplined life for that.
To obtain the Spiritual Root necessary to enter disciplined life for that.
To reach the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin for that.
To…
‘There was so much I had to do…’
I looked back at everything I had done and recalled the purpose I had forgotten.
‘Yeah, thinking about it now… my goal was to end the regression and create a fate in which I could be remembered even if I died.’
But right now, I didn’t know what my purpose actually was.
Because my mind had turned into qi.
I felt that the goals I had once pursued no longer resonated with me.
‘What do I need to do?’
I stared blankly at the void for a moment, then made a judgment with the cold rationality that had lost its emotions.
‘I have no reason to live. If emotions and instincts both have no meaning… then I have no reason to be alive in this world.’
“…Ha.”
I laughed.
‘Then I should just die.’
“Haha…”
‘But I can’t die. Because there’s still regression.’
“Ha, hahaha! Hahaha hahaha!”
‘So… I should end the regression.’
“Huhu hahaha! AHAHAHAHA!”
‘End the regression, and live in a world where [people remember me even if I die]. That is…’
“Ha! Hahaha hahaha! Aha, aha hahah!”
That had been my purpose from the very beginning.
I laughed like a madman and welcomed death once more.
Tsutsutsutsu—
While I spun the Triple Taiji, the death that had briefly left my body returned and clung to me again.
‘When qi reaches its peak, the Heavenly Realm will be at its end.’
And according to [her], the more a shinjok used its power, the sooner the end came.
It had never even needed thought in the first place.
The mind was death.
And every existence was destined to meet death.
[You crazy bastard!!!]
A horrified voice from far away echoed through space.
Thinking about it, the answer had been inside me all along.
[Extinction Law True Words!]
I raised the qi around me to its peak.
The qi of Heaven and Earth nearby was drawn in.
I couldn’t compress the entire universe like Mount Tai, but I could compress the surrounding qi and turn my immediate area into a world filled with light and heat.
Paaaah!
I compressed the qi and stored it in my chest.
Kurururun!
I stroked my chest and opened one eye.
[…I am grateful for the teachings you gave me.]
I bowed to Jin Rugok and perfectly overcame the phenomenon of my consciousness turning into qi.
Qi and mind were never completely different from the start.
Originally, the qi had been heading toward the mind.
Kuk, ku gu gu gu kuk!
At the same time, I realized that a massive amount of qi was erupting from the death I had just accepted, pulling me in.
‘He is calling me from the underworld.’
If that was the case, I would be dragged back to the underworld again.
But…
‘Remember that time.’
The time of the Birth of the Universe.
I had never directly seen the Birth of the Universe, but I had lived through its early days, and through the Star Vein Eye I had traced the exact spot where it had first occurred.
I imagined the moment of the Birth of the Universe and opened my eyes wide.
Flash!
The light and heat that had gathered in my chest exploded.
At the same time, the power of [death] that had been together with it also exploded.
Kwa rurururun!
A monstrous explosion erupted inside my body, my avatar body shattered, and my true body settled into space.
‘You said the mind is death and the end, didn’t you?’
While resisting [her] words, I scattered death all around me in the explosion.
When [she] had shown me the collapse of the universe.
My heart had truly sunk.
My training was accelerating the end of the universe!
But thinking about it again was strange.
When qi reached its peak, the universe would indeed come to an end.
But…
At the same time, a new universe was being born, wasn’t it?
I opened one eye, remembering the Heavenly Source that ended with the final cycle and the Heavenly Source that ended with the cycle of the four seasons.
‘It is not the end.’
Chirararara—
The power of [death] that had been piled layer upon layer in my soul scattered and turned into clear Heavenly qi, covering everything around me.
‘It could become a new beginning.’
I finally understood why my mind had turned into qi during the Gaeyeol level.
At the Gaeyeol level, the mind turns into qi, and that qi begins to reach its peak according to training.
And in the end, qi gathers again and meets the end, and beyond the end, a new [mind] is born.
‘This was basically a preview of that process.’
Of course, since I hadn’t actually gone through the [true] process, I didn’t know what problems would arise when I finally reached that realm and tried to perform it.
But…
One thing was certain.
‘In the future, whether I reach the Seongban level or the Gaeyeol level, whenever I get that experience, it will definitely help!’
I realized that I had turned the death power stacked in my soul into qi through the explosion of the qi and explosion from just now, and I laughed.
The qi-ification of the mind.
And the qi of the underworld.
I had solved both, so I swam through the lingering afterglow of the explosion to find Jin Rugok and bow to him.
While swimming through the light cluster, I suddenly felt something strange.
‘Why… doesn’t the space of light ever end?’
At that moment, I felt something softly stroking my cheek from behind.
Eek!
I, who had reached the peak of the just, felt no warning.
I froze in place as a soft, teasing touch came to my cheek.
The teasing continued on my cheek, then slid down my neck and reached my shoulder.
Startled!
I snapped to my senses and tried to move my body when a hand touched my shoulder.
But my body wouldn’t move, as if caught in an invisible vise.
The teasing continued on my shoulder.
Since the fifteenth loop, no one had teased my shoulder with such persistence.
I gritted my teeth in shame and humiliation for offering my shoulder to someone who hadn’t asked.
And then [will] rang out.
: : What an interesting thing. : :
[will] continued to tease my shoulder.
: : You are truly irresistible. : :
Crackle!
I trembled as if I had been struck by lightning from the stimulation coming from above my shoulder.
Puk!
[Someone] had bitten my shoulder with their teeth, unable to stop teasing it.
I felt my face burn with shame and humiliation as my limbs shook.
: : You are mine. When you one day ascend to the Heavenly King Realm, you will belong to me. : :
With those words, [Someone] vanished.
At the same time, I escaped from the light cluster of the explosion.
“…!”
The intense pain that had hit my shoulder made me grab it and bend over.
The pain that reached my shoulder was so great it felt like I was momentarily in agony.
Fortunately, it had been an instantaneous pain, not continuous.
‘This… this is…!’
When I pulled my hand away from my shoulder, I discovered a long sword scar on my left shoulder.
Pasasasa—
It was the same even if I destroyed my avatar body and made a new one.
No matter how I made an avatar body, it would always have a sword scar.
‘This crazy…’
I felt my hair stand on end at the being who had left a mark on me and departed.
[Haegeukcheonjun’s] actions.
‘Was he looking for me because I was overcoming death? Or because of the explosion? What the hell did he see and come looking for… damn it.’
It was not good.
The light had tried to devour me and even left its own mark.
‘If I die, it won’t be the Heavenly Lord of the Underworld who takes me. It’ll be Haegeukcheonjun.’
I sighed with cold sweat running down my back.
After making a plan to find a way to remove that mark later, I approached Jin Rugok.
“Senior. Thank you for the teachings. I am deeply grateful.”
If he hadn’t placed a heart demon curse on me, I would never have gained this realization.
Jin Rugok stared at me for a moment, then let out a deep sigh and destroyed his avatar body.
[I had planned to give you only a little realization so that your junior wouldn’t suffer from ju-hwa-i-ma… but you have surpassed my expectations. Go on.]
“You mentioned there were things you wanted to ask about, such as the Purple Soul Filling the Heavens or the Soul Devouring Nether Demon….”
[I don’t want to talk to you. I already know roughly what kind of existences you’re entangled with. Just go do your business. I have nothing more to be curious about.]
“Hm… I understand there’s been a misunderstanding, but I have never had any kind of relationship with [the Master of Mount Tai] or [the Fifth Seat of Gwangmyeong-palseon, Haegeukcheonjun] that you might think…”
[KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!]
Jin Rugok screamed and roared.
[Get out! Get out of here! Do not let them turn the qi into existence! Get out now!!!]
“…Eh…”
I had thought I could endure as a Gaeyeol-jin, but the name of a True Immortal was apparently deadly even to Gaeyeol-jins.
‘No, isn’t it even more deadly because I’m a Gaeyeol-jin? I never thought of that.’
I clicked my tongue and moved toward the transmission formation on the surface of Jin Rugok’s planet.
“I’m sorry for interrupting your rest. I will come to apologize later.”
[No need! Just get out of here!]
He seemed to want me gone immediately, but because he thought there were enormous existences behind me, he didn’t try to use force.
I smiled bitterly, bowed to him, and asked one last thing before transmitting to another jin’s body.
“One last question. Is the ‘Star Path’ made up of jin existences something you know the reason why Seungryong-jin made it, why he made it, and why it connects to the Thunder Star Sea?”
He answered bluntly.
[Ask your own spirit instead.]
“As I mentioned, I am a mountain….”
[I know! It’s a mountain! Ask him! During the Battle of Hyeol-eum, the entire Ilwol Cheonyeok was caught up in the war, and Lord Seungryong pitied the life spirits of Ilwol Cheonyeok and created a path for them to escape to other Heavenly Realms. If you follow the Star Path, at its end is the ‘starting point’ of this Heavenly Realm!]
“…!”
The starting point of the Heavenly Realm.
The place I had arrived at during the nineteenth loop thanks to the Heavenly Source of Time.
It was the place where I had awakened the Star Vein Eye and been guided by its path.
The starting point of the Heavenly Realm was the place where the Heavenly Realm had first exploded, and at the same time the path that led directly to the deepest part of the Heavenly Source of Time’s domain, and also the entrance to other Heavenly Realms.
‘So that’s it. The life spirits were guided to the starting point of the Heavenly Realm through the Star Path so they could escape at any time.’
[…And twelve thousand years ago, if that [madman] hadn’t stabbed his own ring finger into the starting point of the Heavenly Realm and blocked the path, our Ilwol Cheonyeok would have been a Heavenly Realm where we could freely exchange with other Heavenly Realms… but because of the relics he left behind, even in the end we could no longer escape from this Heavenly Realm. Because of that, the existences from other Heavenly Realms can’t carelessly interfere in this one either!]
“…It’s the Geumsinja.”
It wasn’t new anymore after so many years of him doing whatever he wanted.
[This is the truth about the Star Path. On the other side of the Star Path lies the King of the Sea, Goryeok Realm. When something happens in Ilwol Cheonyeok, the successor of Lord Seungryong’s colleague. The Life Spirit opens the path, and the Star Path is activated, allowing the life spirits inside Lord Seungryong’s body to escape the Heavenly Realm. From then on, the Star Path is the emergency escape route for the life spirits of Ilwol Cheonyeok to flee to nearby Heavenly Realms through the Goryeok Realm.]
I nodded, having learned the truth about the Star Path.
“Thank you for telling me. I will repay you someday.”
[The fact that you don’t come looking for me is the repayment. I don’t want to be entangled with you. Just go! Go away!]
Jin Rugok no longer wanted to talk to me, as if what I was was terrifying.
I smiled bitterly, bowed to him one last time, and activated the transmission formation.
Paaaah!
***
Several days had passed.
After passing through dozens of transmission formations, I finally arrived at the Thunder Star Sea.
The ring finger of Yang Su-jin.