Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: The Sea's Vastness
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Looking back, he'd boarded the boat so hastily that he hadn't even packed the bare minimum of water.
He wasn't parched yet, but without any water, he couldn't drift across the ocean forever.
'This is their coming-of-age rite?'
It was absurd. Wasn't calling this a coming-of-age rite a bit too harsh?
The sea was vast—too vast.
The only thing carrying his body was a single tiny boat.
If he didn't keep rowing, it felt like it would drift off to who-knows-where.
Rowing wasn't easy, either.
The currents grew fiercer the farther he went, and if he eased his grip even slightly, the oars would be swept away by the flow. No, they already were.
Every time the waves surged, Wi Seong-cheon felt a chill run down his spine.
The boat rose high with the towering waves, then plunged deep below.
Each time, the violent shaking rattled his entire body and churned his guts.
So this was the sea.
As expected, seeing it with his eyes was nothing like experiencing it firsthand.
Standing on the sandy shore, he'd only thought it beautiful and expansive.
But now, only the impression from gazing at the sea last night remained.
Awe-inspiring. Terrifying.
There was nothing around him.
The sea stretched out endlessly.
Was this what infinity felt like? No, it wasn't infinite. Even this vast ocean must have an end somewhere.
...Did it?
What lay at the sea's edge?
The thought crossed his mind suddenly.
Was the sea's end the world's end? What existed beyond it?
Fresh fear bloomed from that question.
Wi Seong-cheon swallowed hard and peered down.
The sea's depth was immeasurable.
The clear shallows of a river let you see the bottom fairly well, but the ocean floor...
It was invisible.
Because the water was dirty?
No, it wasn't dirty.
Wi Seong-cheon leaned over and dipped his hand into the sea.
The shape of his submerged hand distorted in the churning waves.
'It's too deep to see.'
No matter how much he strained his eyes, the ocean floor remained out of sight.
It wasn't just the depth. He lifted his head and looked ahead.
No matter how far he tried to see, there was only sea.
Occasionally, small islands dotted the horizon, but that was it.
Wi Seong-cheon looked up at the sky.
The sky was the same—endlessly vast and high.
A bottomless deep sea and an endlessly high sky.
Right now, Wi Seong-cheon stood in the midst of it all.
It was a strangely profound sensation. Wasn't it something he should have realized long ago?
Wi Seong-cheon had always stood beneath the sky.
Not on the sea, but on land, walking under that vast expanse.
All that had changed was land to sea.
Yet it felt this real now.
Wi Seong-cheon let out a hollow chuckle and shook his head.
"Indeed, it all depends on how you look at it."
Perception changed everything based on your mindset.
Had his perspective shifted? Wi Seong-cheon pulled the oars inside the boat.
Amid the jolting motion, he steadied himself and straightened his back.
He stopped rowing altogether. He let the boat drift with the sea's flow.
The boat didn't stop. It kept moving, and Wi Seong-cheon kept standing.
Riding the currents, he felt the immense flow of the sea beneath his feet.
His body twitched. He wobbled, fighting to maintain his balance and keep from toppling.
It was familiar yet unfamiliar.
Ha Myeong-il's words made sense now.
To let you know the world.
The sea was part of the world, too—wasn't it just as vast?
Drifting across it in this tiny boat would teach him all sorts of things.
What he comprehended would depend on whatever stray thoughts gripped him in that moment.
'I see.'
So blatant, so violent. The sea—no, the world itself—proclaimed its endless vastness.
Drifting on this little boat, you'd be forced to understand, whether you wanted to or not.
Wi Seong-cheon could vaguely grasp why the North Sea Ice Palace made this their coming-of-age rite.
Through it, they taught their young disciples the world's breadth and their own insignificance.
Wi Seong-cheon was no different. He felt acutely how terribly "small" he was.
In this colossal world, he was a mere speck of dust—perhaps not even that.
No matter how hard he rowed, all he could do was nudge this tiny boat along, and even that couldn't fully defy the ocean's currents.
'Stray thoughts.'
Wi Seong-cheon stopped standing and sat down. No, that wasn't enough—he flopped flat on his back.
The blazing sun pierced his entire body. The sea's motion transmitted through him.
'What stray thoughts bind me?'
Plenty.
The fate of the Heavenly Flower Sect, his questions about it. His greed to fully claim Spirit Ignition. Things his father hadn't told him—or couldn't. His vanished eldest brother.
And more besides.
Listing them one by one would never end.
It couldn't be helped.
Wi Seong-cheon chuckled to himself.
"What you comprehend depends on whatever stray thoughts grip you in that moment..."
He muttered it to himself as he closed his eyes.
Amid the stray thoughts that surfaced, what bound Wi Seong-cheon most tightly was...
The fate of the Heavenly Flower Sect, after all.
Wi Seong-cheon opened his eyes. He sat up and stared blankly ahead.
He had no idea how far he'd drifted.
Wi Seong-cheon turned around.
Or rather, was "around" even the right direction?
He'd lost all sense of direction. He didn't know where he was or how to head back.
'TURN the boat around?'
I...
Saw the sea. Came out onto it. Learned it.
So what had he gained?
Had he gained... anything?
No.
But he had realized something.
That in this vast world, he was small and pathetic. That the sea was terrifying and awe-inspiring.
That was all.
He'd simply become aware of the obvious anew. He hadn't gained anything.
Could he be satisfied with that?
He didn't... want to go back.
For one thing, he wasn't sure he even could.
Wi Seong-cheon rose quietly.
Yes. It still wasn't enough.
In the training cave, experiencing his limits had made him think he knew himself better.
It was an illusion.
Hadn't he just realized again today how small and pathetic he truly was?
"The pinnacle of Heavenly Flower Sect martial arts is using myself completely."
Wi Seong-cheon's foot lifted.
'I learned my limits in that extremity.'
His extended foot reached toward the sea.
'But the unknown is too vast and deep.'
He imagined the Heavenly Demon he'd never met.
His father had felt fear, as if it wasn't a being of this world.
But the Heavenly Demon undoubtedly existed in this world. At the end of that demonic realm, awaiting the world.
The sea and the Heavenly Demon.
Which was more terrifying?
Wi Seong-cheon shuddered at the goosebumps rising.
"No need to say which."
Wi Seong-cheon smirked and muttered.
Was the chill from imagining that fear, or...
From shoving his foot into the icy sea?
"I haven't even met the Heavenly Demon yet."
Wi Seong-cheon leaned forward.
"But the sea is right here."
Wi Seong-cheon's body plunged into the water.
Salty!
That hit him first upon diving in. Seawater flooded his mouth—salty.
Wi Seong-cheon looked around, but saw nothing. Only pitch-black darkness.
'No, you idiot. Your eyes are closed.'
Of course he saw only darkness with his eyes squeezed shut. But... he couldn't open them.
He didn't want to, so he couldn't.
Afraid seawater would sting?
The sweat from his training had been just as salty.
'I don't want to see.'
He feared beholding the unknown he'd never experienced. That was all.
Wi Seong-cheon mocked himself for it and forced his eyes open.
Now that he'd seen it with his own eyes, it was no longer unknown.
In the sea depths he'd deemed terrifying, Wi Seong-cheon opened his eyes.
He gazed directly into that colossal world.
An ethereal sense of buoyancy enveloped his body.
The ceaseless currents wouldn't leave him be.
"Puhat."
He tried to laugh, but his mouth filled with seawater, stifling it.
Wi Seong-cheon bubbled and chuckled through the water. He couldn't help it.
He'd thought it scary.
Of course he had.
Wi Seong-cheon had seen the sea for the first time in his life. Overwhelmed by its endless expanse, depth, and flow.
Out on this tiny boat, becoming part of that massive current, he'd learned his own insignificance and the world's breadth.
Now, it wasn't scary. His wide-open eyes stung from the saltwater, but that was it.
The awe remained, while the fear vanished.
Yet he was still overwhelmed.
The sea, viewed through stinging eyes, held an overwhelming beauty.
Wi Seong-cheon looked around, then down. No end in sight.
Wi Seong-cheon fully opened his senses.
Countless beings dwelling in this massive flow.
Their pure qi enveloped him.
Amazed by the abundance, Wi Seong-cheon began moving his body bit by bit.
Not against the flow, but with it.
It wasn't hard.
It was what he'd always done, honed sharper in the training cave.
'A bit more.'
His breath was running out. Wi Seong-cheon widened his eyes and circulated the Heavenly Flower Sequential Arts.
Inner energy from his dantian spread through his body.
'I want to feel more.'
In this moment.
Most stray thoughts faded from Wi Seong-cheon's mind.
Only a sharp thirst remained.
He yearned to sense more clearly the vital flow born from this vast sea.
Circulating the Heavenly Flower Sequential Arts, Wi Seong-cheon began opening his body's acupoints.
Body Opening.
His body bloomed wide. At the same time, he deployed Heavy-Light Divine Stance.
Strength drained from his body, entering a state of complete relaxation.
But Wi Seong-cheon's body didn't float to the surface.
Instead, he sank deeper.
His mind intensely craved it, and his still-imperfect vessel responded to that craving.
Unable to breathe, yet Wi Seong-cheon felt at ease.
Flowing with the sea's immense current, he felt free.
His dantian tickled.
Unceasing inner energy raced through his fully opened acupoints.
His sharpened senses felt the qi flow more keenly than ever.
Wi Seong-cheon reached out his hand.
Toward the endless sea, he unleashed Swirling Current.
Kugugugung!
A massive flow enveloped his body. Wi Seong-cheon felt a dizzying thrill.
But it wasn't pain—it was ecstasy. Trembling, he extended his hand farther.
This feeling.
He knew it all too well.
In front of Uha Yeon's Plum Blossom Turmoil, when he couldn't reach out in the end.
Wi Seong-cheon felt the exact same sensation now.
Only this time, the hand he hadn't fully extended back then...
He thrust it out completely.
Paaaa!
Deep in the sea, a massive current exploded.
The shockwave rippled far, churning the ocean.
Towering waves crested and foamed, but where Wi Seong-cheon was, it remained still.
'Ah!'
Amazed, Wi Seong-cheon reached out again. Once more, his hand birthed a massive wave.
Wi Seong-cheon laughed madly.
Yes, this was it.
Building on the clue he'd grasped in the training cave, Wi Seong-cheon felt intense certainty.
That hand he hadn't extended then, that sensation he hadn't seized!
Now, it connected fully with him.
"Haha! Hahaha!"
He laughed amid the bubbles.
And so, Wi Seong-cheon continued sinking deeper.
The violent qi flow squeezed his body fiercely.
Even amid pressure that threatened to crush him, Wi Seong-cheon laughed wildly and reached out.
Though he knew he shouldn't sink further.
'More, more.'
He wished for it joyfully.
Oxygen deprivation dimmed his consciousness.
Yet Wi Seong-cheon felt no pain.
Savoring the fully grasped sensation, savoring the sea's immense flow that cradled him.
[O Linked One.]
At some point, that voice rang out, and Wi Seong-cheon's consciousness blacked out.