The Regressor's Final Cultivation
**CHAPTER TITLE: The Final Dawn of the 7th Life**
Eyes opening was impossible.
No, it wasn't even that simple.
Just as sunlight stings the eyes, facing such overwhelming will-like energy made my upper dantian throb.
Even if I viewed it through the lens of will-perception or yourzak-perception, it was painful just to look directly at it.
*What kind of enlightenment is this…?!*
Yet I endured the pain and somehow managed to gaze directly at Kim Young-hoon's figure.
He was dancing within a sea of golden waves.
The essence of the Danmak Sword Art flowed out from Kim Young-hoon's saber.
A total of 17 seconds of Danmak Sword Art.
The martial will born from Kim Young-hoon's heart that wished to cross mountains, go home, and return.
However, the 16th and 17th seconds of the Danmak Sword Art shared the same mysterious principle as the 23rd and 24th seconds of the Danak Sword Art.
Danak Sword Art 23rd, Danmak Sword Art 16th Mountain Beyond Mountain Is Endless.
And Danak Sword Art 24th, Danmak Sword Art 17th.
The Fool Moves the Mountain.
Just as mountains beyond the mountain have no end.
No matter how much hardship and adversity may come in life.
If one is the Fool who firmly believes in his own martial path.
He will surely be able to push all the mountains ahead.
That was the final mysterious principle of the Danak Sword Art and Danmak Sword Art, following Mountain Beyond Mountain Is Endless.
It was Kim Young-hoon's will from his past life, contained within The Fool Moves the Mountain.
However, Kim Young-hoon had never been the Fool until now.
The Fool meant a foolish, dullard.
For someone a genius in martial arts, that word didn't fit.
Yet perhaps the Kim Young-hoon of the past life who created the Danak Sword Art and Danmak Sword Art, tasting despair in front of the elders, had wanted to say such words.
Even a genius cannot advance to the next step unless he becomes the Fool.
And.
Kim Young-hoon became the Fool.
No matter how unreachable the path seemed.
Even if Mount Tai stood blocking his way.
At the end of repeated inheritance and inheritance, he finally succeeded in piercing through the mountain.
*Whoosh!*
*Crackle!*
Golden energy surged from Kim Young-hoon's upper dantian, beginning to burn his upper dantian.
*That…*
In my eyes, which had mastered both law techniques and martial arts, I saw the flow of that.
*Jin Clan Secret Art!*
Previously, a secret method where I inserted the souls of my disciples into my upper dantian to awaken the dantian, forcibly activating my talent.
It seemed Kim Young-hoon had reinterpreted the Jin Clan's Secret Art as martial arts and created something new from it.
Instead of souls, he burned his own dantian with his own strong energy, pulling his possessed martial talents to an extreme beyond limit.
“Grrrrrrrrrrrr!”
Starting from Kim Young-hoon's upper dantian, his entire upper body began to burn in golden energy.
He endured the pain, yet he did not stop his sword art.
It was like Turning Back the Light.
Just as the sunset burns most brightly just before the end, he was burning himself.
It was painful just to watch.
But I could not look away.
Changes began to appear in Kim Young-hoon's martial arts.
*Woo-woong—*
The world of will.
Around the burning Kim Young-hoon, nine versions of Kim Young-hoon stood.
Nine Ganghwan floated and transformed, emitting light.
The Ganghwan began to melt into thin air.
No, not thin air.
The Ganghwan melted into Kim Young-hoon's consciousness domain.
One by one, the nine Ganghwan melted, and the golden light gushing from Kim Young-hoon gradually deepened.
And at some point.
*Shhh, shhh—*
Simply by watching, his sharp energy cut everywhere on my body.
At the same time, Kim Young-hoon's consciousness domain began to merge with the Ganghwan and materialize.
Kim Young-hoon's consciousness domain turned into perfect golden light.
“I… have… reached…!!”
*Gu-gugugugu!*
The golden-light materialized consciousness domain suddenly thinned like a line.
“Must… reach…”
The golden line of light settled directly into Kim Young-hoon's saber body.
“Beyond… the sky…!!!!!”
Even while burning himself in golden energy, Kim Young-hoon swung his golden saber filled with light toward the sky.
Instantly, his saber reached the sky, surpassing even the light beam.
*Flash!*
Golden light slammed into the sky, splitting the clouds passing by in half.
*Ah…*
Something from my eyes felt like it was flowing down my cheeks.
When I tried to catch it with my hand, it was red.
So beautiful, and yet an understanding-defying enlightenment.
At that moment, my upper dantian could not hold on and wept tears of blood.
*Crackle…*
And Kim Young-hoon stood in the exact pose of swinging his saber toward the sky.
He died while standing.
Even as he burned in golden energy, he smiled as if he had finally reached it.
As if he had finally arrived here.
*Plop, plop…*
*Whoosh…*
Golden energy poured out from Kim Young-hoon's body, and Kim Young-hoon scattered into the wind, swept away by his own strong energy.
He became a beam of light and flew toward the sky.
Toward the place he had longed to reach for so long.
“…I will never forget you.”
I bowed toward the spot where Kim Young-hoon had been.
It was a tribute to the great master who had transcended the limit of martial arts once more.
Perhaps because I had just witnessed the enlightenment that crossed the threshold of Deungbongjogeuk.
Six Ganghwan began to rise around me, rotating, and split into seven.
Now only two Ganghwan remained.
Once those two were filled, I would have the qualifications to challenge the extreme of Deungbongjogeuk.
I examined the new enlightenment left by Kim Young-hoon.
The book of Woldoipcheon.
It seemed to have a thread, yet it did not.
Perhaps only when reaching the extreme of Deungbongjogeuk would I grasp it.
‘There.’
I will definitely reach it.
Perhaps because of Kim Young-hoon's saber light scorching the sky.
I saw several major sects' disciples flying toward me from afar.
I used the Earth Escape Technique and fled into the ground.
Recalling Kim Young-hoon's final appearance over and over.
* * *
The day of death was approaching.
And I exhaled my last breath with a smile.
*Who-wooo…*
Yellow, black, red, and white clouds gathered around me.
Jiwoldo, Suwoldo, Hwawoldo, Geumwoldo.
I had succeeded in mastering all four public laws before death.
*But in the end, I die without mastering Miwoldo…*
The Wood public law.
I had deliberately left the Wood-attribute public law until the end.
It was a law that reminded me of my master.
I had not known whether I could become good soil for a tree to take deep roots.
The end of my lifespan was near.
I had already stabilized all seven Ganghwan by collecting their enlightenments.
Even in the next life, if I train valiantly for ten years, I would reach the extreme of Deungbongjogeuk.
Seven Ganghwan.
And four Five-Element public laws.
All unfinished items that I had left one or two behind in regret.
*By now, have I become good soil for a tree to grow…?*
In the next life, could I achieve a better result?
*Nothing is certain.*
I laughed self-mockingly and pulled the swirling clouds around me back in.
Through Seo Ran's sacrifice.
Through Kim Young-hoon's scattering.
And through my own perseverance.
As the foundation to move this entire life toward the next.
This entire life as nutrients for the next.
*How quiet…*
I contemplated the four-colored clouds whirling in my lower dantian.
It was like the calm before a storm.
*Yes, this life was like the calm before a storm…!*
In my next life, I will truly become the storm and sweep everything away.
Why?
*Because I cannot be ashamed before the ones who provided nutrients in this life!*
*Thump, thump…*
Lifespan is ending.
*Gu-gugugu!*
I once again began to challenge the Foundation Establishment realm simultaneously.
Four clouds whirled and compressed.
At the same time, a star of four-colored spiritual energy began to form at the center.
*How many times have I challenged Foundation Establishment…?*
I no longer knew.
I had probably challenged countless times.
*Gu-gugugung!*
The star of spiritual energy, shaking and about to shatter, was being maintained by the four clouds continuously repairing it.
However, the changes were too many.
Four attributes were insufficient.
*Kuung!*
Again and again, I knocked at the threshold of Foundation Establishment.
But then.
*Two-kung!*
An abnormality began to appear in my heart.
*It has started.*
I sent golden energy into my heart, forcibly massaging it, and resisted the end of my lifespan.
*Thump, thump, thump…*
Painful.
But this was how it was.
*Just face the end.*
Kim Young-hoon had known he could not transcend the extreme within the remaining time and burned himself.
Even a genius burned himself, so how could a mere ordinary person hesitate before death.
*Gu-gugugu!*
Internal power leaked from my lower dantian.
And the internal power turned into golden energy inside my body and began to burn.
*Whoosh!*
*Crackle…*
“Ku… gurrrrrrr!”
There was no spiritual star to control the golden energy and complete the spirit channels.
I was still only at Qi Condensation, not Foundation Establishment.
My body could not endure the golden energy and burned up.
However, at the same time, the golden energy kept stimulating my heart, making it rage, and the golden energy from the lower dantian shot up, stimulating the heart in the middle dantian, and reached the upper dantian.
The martial arts Kim Young-hoon had unfolded.
I, too, could replicate that level because I had reached the extreme of Deungbongjogeuk and the peak of Qi Condensation.
Burn my upper dantian with golden energy and pull my pitiful talent to its maximum, or rather beyond!
*Kuung!*
*Kuung!*
*Kuung!*
Again and again I knocked at the wall of Foundation Establishment.
At the same time, I floated Ganghwan around me and focused my consciousness to sense the eighth Ganghwan.
The life I had left behind.
Disciples, master, friends.
I would never lose them again, using this failure as fertilizer.
*Ku-rung, ku-rurung…*
Dark clouds began to gather in the sky.
While burning in golden energy, I laughed bitterly.
*“Is it… here…?”*
Ironically, the dark clouds were starting to feel familiar.
How could they resist the lifespan the sky had granted.
The cloud with lightning in it completely covered the sky.
I turned on my will-perception and yourzak-perception, and at the same time activated the law technique I had discovered on the Gold Spirit Thunder Law: Premonition of Thunder.
A law technique that concentrated the sense of seeing heavenly qi to predict the location of the falling thunder.
*No, it's not even a law technique, just a trick.*
I had just lightly concentrated on the thunder with the heavenly qi sense I had obtained from the Seven Stars Ceremony.
But while looking at the cloud with lightning, I still thought this law technique was useless.
If one could predict and avoid lightning, just block it or endure it.
Conversely, if one could predict but could not block it, then one could not avoid it anyway.
How could one possibly dodge something falling at the speed of light?
I, wrapped in golden energy, calmly looked at the sky.
*Ku-gung!*
*Ku-gugung!*
The spiritual star maintained its duration longer than any time I had kept it before.
The result of mastering the four-attribute law techniques.
The hope that mastering the Five Elements would reach Foundation Establishment grew even stronger.
And.
*Ku-gwa-gwang!*
The spiritual star held on until it finally exploded.
At the same time, a blue lightning bolt fell from the sky.
The lightning of heaven falls upon the human born from the earth.
I, wrapped in golden energy, was struck by the lightning directly.
And it was at that very moment when I was struck.
The seven Ganghwan spinning around me.
In the moment of death, when the energy of heaven descended to the ground, I seemed to understand the principle of the Ganghwan.
*One splits into Heaven, Earth, and Man, and humans are not made of just one… perhaps heaven, earth, and man are also not made of just one.*
Heaven, earth, and people.
Each element influences the others.
Then heaven is also influenced by earth, people, and heaven itself, so inside it there is another Heaven-Earth-Man, and earth is influenced by heaven, people, and earth itself, so inside it there are three reprobates, and people also have another Heaven-Earth-Man inside them.
*Ah, Kim Young-hoon said he obtained the enlightenment of Ganghwan through the principle of circulation.*
Humans are influenced by those who gave birth to them, those who accompany them, and those they gave birth to, and continue to circulate endlessly inside.
Perhaps the principle of the world itself circulates, influenced by each other.
While burning in the blue lightning, in that fleeting moment I obtained enlightenment.
*Even the punishment heaven inflicts on humans who transcend lifespan is, in the end, because humans also influence heaven, trying to reduce that influence as much as possible…*
Just as Kim Young-hoon influenced me.
Just as Seo Ran influenced me.
Just as I influenced them.
Everyone influences each other.
Another Heaven-Earth-Man inside the Heaven-Earth-Man.
The three reprobates split into three reprobates again.
The number of Ganghwan increased.
Seven, eight… and nine!
In that enlightenment, even as I burned to ash in the blue lightning, I confirmed that the seven Ganghwan had become nine, and closed my eyes.
That was my ninth regression.
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