The Path to Moon Domain Entrance Heaven
The realm of cultivation differs for every person, does it not?
I asked, genuinely unable to wrap my head around it.
Kim Young-hoon wiped the blood from his lips and began to explain.
Precisely, the realization of consciousness is the same, but what that consciousness realizes varies from person to person.
He paused, as if lost in thought, then continued.
To be honest, I only grasped a single thread of the truth and don’t fully understand it. What I do know for certain is that in the realm of Wol-do-ip-cheon, someone is always speaking of another person’s life. I don’t know who that someone is, but if reaching this realm beyond simply by speaking of someone’s life means something…
Every human life is different, so mustn’t there be a unique martial path for each life beyond this realm?
Unique martial paths for each life…
For some reason, those words stirred an itch deep in my chest.
…By the way, you said you gained two insights. One is that the realms beyond Deungbongjogeuk differ for every person. What is the other?
Ah, that was just a personal realization.
Kim Young-hoon smiled faintly.
I realized I was truly someone who had always longed for home. I also understood that the very motivation I had trained martial arts for all these years might one day be the hope of returning to my family and seeing them again.
He pressed a hand to his chest and closed his eyes.
I finally realized there were faces I desperately wanted to see again… even after I’d gone mad with training to forget that pain and broken my will swinging the saber until my palms split open. Now, at last, I understand.
Kim Young-hoon gazed at the sky with misty eyes.
…Sigh. Sorry, but this feels too ordinary even to call a martial insight.
No, it isn’t.
I shook my head.
The realization I felt upon reaching the realm of Ogijowon.
Everything I did was ultimately part of my own life. Just as heaven and earth influence each other, what I did had also influenced my life.
If he truly comprehended his own life, then his martial arts would soon blend into Kim Hyung’s Wu.
…Sometimes talking with you feels like conversing with a very old man. In terms of martial talent, my talent is clearly superior to yours, yet there is something you lack that I lack…
He looked at me with a puzzled expression and said.
Perhaps you will reach this realm beyond at a similar pace to me.
Haha, that’s impossible. How could my talent possibly match Kim Hyung’s?
You reached the extreme of Deungbongjogeuk quite quickly yourself, didn’t you? That’s talent enough. Of course I know you’re not as good as me… Still, when I observe you with the talent I possess, if I am a swallow soaring through the skies, you are a volcano.
Volcano?
Do you know how volcanoes erupt? I only heard rumors, so it isn’t accurate, but the lava keeps rising beneath the mountain, piling up until it can no longer withstand the pressure and the mountain explodes.
I was born to soar swiftly through the heavens, so I feel like a swallow. You were born as a high mountain, filled with lava inside. If it erupts, the force you will reach the sky with will be far greater than any swallow’s.
He smiled and encouraged me.
Comprehend your own life well. Perhaps the things you’ve overlooked are simply accumulating, creating a hidden potential you don’t even know about.
Hidden things I don’t even realize I’ve accumulated.
All I’ve accumulated is time.
…For now, let’s not think about that here. Let’s properly treat Kim Hyung first.
I took Kim Young-hoon and gave him proper treatment.
Afterward, I began to mull over the phrase he had spoken.
***
Time flowed and flowed again.
Eventually I had mastered all five of the Jiwol Ipdogyeol, Suwol Ipdogyeol, Hwawol Ipdogyeol, and Geumwol Ipdogyeol techniques, and the foundation for Mokwol Ipdogyeol had taken root.
Mokwol Ipdogyeol is the easiest…
Because the power of the other four elements was already supporting the foundation, it flowed with terrifying speed and ease.
It was smooth.
Now Mokwol Ipdogyeol was at the thirteenth layer of Qi Condensation, the first unity.
Just a little more and Daeseong awaited.
Soon the entire Ohwol Ipdogyeol realm would be mastered.
Of course, whether I would even reach Foundation Establishment was still unknown.
Even with all this, I might still fail to enter Foundation Establishment in this life.
And Kim Hyung said I possessed latent potential…
I was a fool.
Perhaps even more so than he imagined.
If I failed to enter Foundation Establishment this life and extend my lifespan, I might never reach the realm beyond Deungbongjogeuk.
Kim Young-hoon had been chasing the thread of Wol-do-ip-cheon for nearly five years.
He swung the saber until his palms bled every day, hammering at the wall beyond Deungbongjogeuk.
But I…
While training Sudo Gongbeop, I never once neglected martial arts. I had not let the sword leave my hand for even a single moment.
Even after reaching Deungbongjogeuk and no longer needing a sword, I maintained the sharp aura of a blade and never forgot the sensation of cultivating saber techniques.
In the past forty years I had not devoted myself only to Sudo Gongbeop.
No, not even in past lives.
Or lives before that…
Suddenly I began to wonder how many lives I had already lived.
Ninth? Tenth? Ah, the regression itself had happened nine times.
And how many years had I lived during those regressions?
No, don’t think about it.
How many years of martial training? How many years of Sudo Gongbeop?
Early signs of Simma! I must not think of it!
During nine regressions, I had lived nearly fifty years in each life.
Some loops ended even sooner, but even accounting for those, if I summed up all the lives I had lived so far…
No!
Five hundred years.
Approximately five hundred years of life.
Whoosh—
My qi and blood twisted, and a large mouthful of blood erupted.
Despite training martial arts for five hundred years, I still cannot feel that realm.
Strong Meridians broke free on their own and split into nine fragments.
In the realm of will, nine versions of myself surrounded me, each with a gloomy expression, spitting out a single sentence.
You should start letting go of martial arts soon.
After all, the initial goal of reaching Ogijowon and piercing the veil of the spirit had already been achieved.
I’ve run far enough from the fox that my eight limbs won’t be torn off anymore. I’ve done enough.
Martial arts are not my talent. It’s better to focus on one thing you can actually do than to force something you cannot achieve.
It wasn’t my mind fracturing.
It was all me.
It was me speaking to myself.
To be honest, how many words of Kim Hyung’s advice did I actually hear?
Whoosh—
I tried to control my mind, but I had to spit up blood again.
Even geniuses who existed for ten thousand years before and after, who have reached the extreme of Deungbongjogeuk after only a few lives, are still stuck there.
I barely managed to pass down knowledge and comprehension to reach this point, but that is Kim Hyung’s story.
If I, who lacks talent, want to reach Kim Hyung’s realm, how many years of training do I need? Five hundred years more?
Whoosh, whoosh…
I spilled a little more blood and stabilized my injury.
Let me ask myself. What have I accomplished in five hundred years? Have I simply wasted time?
Storm-like thoughts raged inside my head.
The words the nine strong meridian clones were spitting out were nothing but the immediate, gloomy thoughts that had materialized.
Why am I training martial arts?
And then, suddenly, a question echoed in my mind.
…Because power is needed.
As soon as I heard that question, the chaotic thoughts began to recede.
It’s that simple.
The words of Goe-gun resurfaced.
Destiny’s gravity can be overcome by force beyond its pull.
I had simply done everything I could. What more did you expect me to do…
Within the bounds of Indo, I had struggled and struggled to overcome fate.
That was all.
I know. Perhaps reaching Foundation Establishment in this life is only my hope. Even if I train for hundreds of years inside Foundation Establishment, I might still be unable to take even a single step beyond Deungbongjogeuk.
I am nothing more than dust beneath this vast sky. I am, at best, a bug or a speck of dust… yet I wish to cherish every single moment of this life.
As I spoke, I began to organize my stance, and the clouds in my mind gradually cleared.
Even the martial arts that had become one with my life had simply been cherished.
I raised my head.
The will clone that had spoken those cold words to me had vanished, leaving only the physical form of strong energy.
I dispersed the strong meridians and clenched my fist.
No matter how long it takes, I don’t care. I only cherish my own life… Even if everything returns one day, the only thing left for me will be the memory that I gave my all.
Qi and blood stabilized.
I did not gain a great realization, but Simma had been blocked.
Still, something felt strangely suffocating in the corner of my chest.
Was there something I could have comprehended…?
Probably not, because I lack talent.
That was unavoidable. I had to pour out time and move forward.
As my qi and blood calmed, the cultivation bases I had trained for years stirred.
Yet I had reached it after pouring out time…
Ku-gu-gu-gu!
The earth-attribute cultivation power surged, creating a spiritual core.
And finally it exploded.
Kwaaang!
A shock exploded from my lower dantian. The spiritual energy of the earth attribute bloomed as azure clouds.
Yellow, black, red, white, azure.
I have mastered the entire Ohwol Ipdogyeol realm…!
Huuu…
Exhaling, multicolored clouds bloomed around me and began to rotate.
Shall I challenge Foundation Establishment…?
I smiled and closed my eyes.
With all five elements intertwined, my recovery power would skyrocket to a ridiculous level.
Now, what would happen if I challenged Foundation Establishment this time…
Ku-gu-gu-gu!
I drew in the multicolored clouds and filled my dantian to the brim.
The multicolored clouds rotated inside my dantian and gradually converged toward the center.
Here I go!
Kuung!
Even a fool like me can climb the highest mountain by piling up time in the most primitive way.
No matter how thick the wall of Foundation Establishment is, can it compare to the time I have accumulated?
Kwaaang!
Five-colored stars lit up inside my body.
But the stars continued to tremble from the microscopic changes in my five spiritual roots and then cracked.
Crack, spit!
Kwaa-aaang!
Finally the stars exploded again. All the spiritual luck I had built for Foundation Establishment vanished.
The realm that had reached the fourteenth layer of Qi Condensation fell back to the twelfth.
Huu…
Failed again.
But.
Huu, huu…
After about twenty breaths…
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu—
Power began to rise once more inside my dantian.
When all four techniques had reached mastery, my recovery speed was enough to restore every realm in half a day.
With all five elements mastered, my recovery speed now allowed full restoration of the thirteenth layer of Qi Condensation in the time of twenty breaths.
Here I go again.
Ku-gu-gu-gu!
In an instant I recovered the multicolored spiritual luck and challenged Foundation Establishment once more.
Kuung, kuung, kuung!
With every star that exploded, I could observe the flow of the five elements.
The changes in the five elements corresponded exactly to the five-element techniques I had mastered.
Each failure revealed the clear reason for the failure.
Decades of failure upon failure upon failure.
The rotten manure of those failures would one day sprout.
At the same time, every time I observed the flow of the five elements, the power of the mastered Ohwol Ipdogyeol within me gradually balanced.
Among the techniques I had trained, Jiwol Ipdogyeol had more power than the others, and each technique had accumulated power in the order I had learned them.
The difference was slight, but those microscopic differences gradually filled the gaps and moved toward perfect balance.
And with every tiny gap filled, I discovered that my recovery power was slowly, very slowly improving.
From twenty breaths to nineteen and a half.
Further.
Kuung!
I focused on my lower dantian and continued training.
Remaining time: ten years.
I must break through within that time!
I entered the cave inside Shattered Heaven Peak and continued challenging Foundation Establishment, adjusting the minute proportions of spiritual power in Ohwol Ipdogyeol.
Kim Young-hoon still did not appear, no matter where I searched. He was apparently still chasing comprehension like a madman somewhere.
***
And after several months…
Eun-hyun-ah, come here.
Yes, Kim Hyung. What… whoa!
I was startled when I saw Kim Young-hoon’s emaciated appearance.
He had become so thin that his bones were visible, and dark circles hung heavily beneath his eyes, making him look like a living skull.
His hands were covered in scabs, and he was gripping the saber as if the scabs had fused with the blade, making it seem like his hand and the weapon were one.
For the past fifty days I survived only on the energy of my inner dan and swung the saber madly. And, Eun-hyun-ah…
Shlurp…
A single tear fell from Kim Young-hoon’s withered face.
After forty years of refinement… finally, finally, I have reached it.
…
I had no idea what he had been doing while training Sudo Gongbeop.
From now on, I will begin to leap. I came to show you.
…Yes.
I stopped training and rose from my seat, following him.
We went to a small hill in front of the lower part of Shattered Heaven Peak.
Kim Young-hoon raised his saber with an emaciated expression.
Listen slowly. I will explain about the realm beyond…
His explanation began.
To reach the stage beyond this realm, the most important thing is to find the consciousness form best suited for humans.
The founder of Wol-do-ip-cheon tried to transform human consciousness into a form identical to humans, like the You-suk technique, but felt it was not the path of martial arts and gave up.
Yet he referred to the You-suk technique and sought the reason why youkai change their consciousness to match their own species.
He concluded it was to draw out the primal savagery of youkai, resonating their power with it, and to reinforce the body to its absolute limit.
While explaining, he slowly, very slowly unfolded the Danmaek Daobeop technique.
Jing—
Gradually, his consciousness form began to change.
At the same time my upper dantian was stimulated.
But why did the founder of Wol-do-ip-cheon conclude that it was not the original consciousness form of humans? I pondered this deeply. In doing so, I delved into the reason why Wol-do-ip-cheon had such deep subjectivity and gained one realization.
Buung, buung, buung!
Gradually, his slow dance began to speed up.
Humans are all originally unique beings. Youkai, who originally lacked intelligence, acquired spirituality and then intelligence; there was no reason to question that life itself. But for those who are originally intelligent, we are beings who question everything. If we live by questioning, each of those questions must be different, and each life must be entirely unique.
Uuung—
His consciousness was now bathed in light.
Therefore, the consciousness form best suited for humans is simply the one each human has most exhaustively sought in their life.
It was golden.
Previous-life Kim Young-hoon had simply burned away his talent to leap forward, but this Kim Young-hoon, who had devoted his entire life to the correct goal, showed a much more stable realm.
I felt as if I could glimpse the happiest time in his life beyond that golden will.
Sleeping with his family, eating, living an ordinary life.
All those times.
Nine versions of Kim Young-hoon appeared around him.
Nine strong meridians rotated around him.
And gradually they began to merge into his consciousness.
What I most desired and hoped for throughout my life was to cross the sky like a flash of light and return to my family as quickly as possible.
Eun-hyun-ah, you said martial arts are the path where life melts into itself. You were right. The speed of my martial arts was because the desire to return to my family faster had melted into it…
Ah…
His consciousness materialized and compressed.
Previously I had thought his consciousness had melted into the saber body like a blade.
But now it was clear: his consciousness itself was nothing but a single saber.
The consciousness form best suited for Kim Young-hoon was the golden saber.
The saber of consciousness had entered the saber body he held.
The final stance of the Danmaek Daobeop technique he was unfolding ended.
Accelerating thoughts with strong meridians, I observed everything he did without missing even a single instant.
The world of a single breath.
Kim Young-hoon, holding the blazing golden saber, and my eyes met.
[What is the name of that place?]
In the world of a single breath, our wills exchanged conversation.
[What do you think it is?]
[Please tell me.]
[I pondered. But it was far too clear.]
He smiled faintly.
[This realm is built from the blood of the founder of Wol-do-ip-cheon. I could never ignore that blood. I cannot even imagine the pain and history that existed before this realm was opened.]
From Wansuigungmurok to reaching Wol-do-ip-cheon.
The new history of martial arts created from Kim Young-hoon’s blood.
Although Deungbongjogeuk is a fictional realm, this is a realm beyond even fiction. Therefore, the person who first opened it has the right to name it. I do not have that right.
Therefore, this realm follows the will of its founder…
Just as the golden saber of consciousness and the saber body of Kim Young-hoon’s blood had merged.
The Kim Young-hoon of past lives seemed to overlap with the current Kim Young-hoon.
No, the corpses of all Kim Young-hoons from past lives stood behind him.
The history of martial arts he had created from his blood became one with the new realm.
[It will be called Wol-do-ip-cheon.]
Next moment.
In the world of a single breath, the saber body of light swung so fiercely that I, accelerating thoughts tenfold, could never catch it, illuminating the entire heaven, earth, and four directions in golden light.
Wol-do-ip-cheon, Neung-gwang-do!!!
Light flashed beyond space and split the hill in front of us exactly in half.
The sound followed the boom a moment later, and then the boom itself echoed.
…This is the path of my own life.
Kim Young-hoon looked at me, tears streaming down his face.
I have finally understood that life is joy. I am grateful to all the ancestors who created me, to my family, and to this life itself.
Amid the dust cloud that rose as the hill collapsed, Kim Young-hoon laughed and laughed.