The Law of Righteousness

The rage of an early Nascent Soul cultivator who had lost his home and every last possession—left with nothing but whatever remained in his storage pouch, and even that he had scattered among other cultivators in his hunt for the demonic cultivator, becoming a true penniless beggar—was terrifying.

So terrifying that it was hard to understand why the minimap showed him as a gray dot for a neutral NPC instead of red.

Forming a Nascent Soul of a child beyond the Golden Core meant establishing one's own clear Law, and being able to force that Law upon the world itself.

Yu Hee, who was merely at Golden Core yet possessed a single Law of her own, felt that fact down to her bones.

"Gyaah?!"

The giant of slaughter energy, enlarged by transformation skill and Law, was sent flying by a single strike from the enraged cultivator. That heavy body soared through the air and crashed into a mountain, shattering it. Yu Hee's Law was Scale.

It was the power to freely change size, and the force contained within grew or strengthened according to that size—yet when a Nascent Soul cultivator forcibly imposed his clear Law, it crumbled with ease.

While still crashed into the ground, he stretched out an arm and deflected the pouring chopsticks with mere techniques alone. The spoon swung in desperate thrashing was completely avoided as white flashes erupted and dodge notifications scrolled up one after another.

"Uwek..."

I spat blood. Wait, does this even make sense?

Dying here? No—I have to load here?!

The most recent save point was way before I met Elder Togo. And with loading, the farther the save point, the more often it just crashed instead of loading.

So if I really loaded right now, instead of going back, the game might straight-up explode. And if that happened, I had no idea what would become of me.

On top of that, the neutral NPC I was facing was a cultivator far too accustomed to combat. Just watching the fight gave me a sense of it, but getting hit myself made me feel it even more clearly!

"Yu I-seong! Help me! Help! Seong-ah! Please!"

"You cannot escape, demonic cultivator!"

As I desperately cried for help and transferred my consciousness into the wheel that was my True Name Dharma Treasure, Yu I-seong burst golden spiritual energy, seized control of the body, raised a golden spear, and in an instant exchanged hundreds of blows with the Nascent Soul cultivator.

"Ah."

Unlike me, who had only been mercilessly pushed around, she was holding her own in a half-even match. Before I could even cheer, Yu I-seong—still moving the body—let out a groan and staggered as blood sprayed from her entire body.

The Nascent Soul cultivator floated bracelets that appeared to be his True Name Dharma Treasures into the air, spreading them into a kind of barrier. At the same time, aurora bloomed from the golden spear Yu I-seong held.

"You... you dare mock me... demonic cultivator?!"

Even though the aurora that cut through the barrier and charged in not only landed cleanly but even raised the bright yellow flash that meant a critical hit, the cultivator's perfectly intact voice came through, trembling with rage.

No—not just intact. He fully recovered?! What the hell are you doing, Yu I-seong!

"I told you, main body. My ultimate only cuts the bad guys and heals the good ones."

That neutral NPC attacked first?!

"But the main body was the one who first blew up that neutral NPC's house and property."

Kyaaaaah!

I screamed, shoved Yu I-seong back into Golden Core, and seized control of the body. The golden spiritual energy faded, and red slaughter energy rose in thick streams once more.

So that was actually a good, kind neutral NPC, and I was the one who pissed him off first and caused this whole mess?!

Honestly, isn't this the main body's fault?

Could anyone laugh it off if their house and every last possession got completely wiped out?

I should have just dropped an apology first. That would have been the normal thing to do.

"But he tried to kill me first!!!"

"You bastaaard, demonic cultivatoooor!!!"

Ah shit, this is really fucked up.

The Law struck me. I stretched out a hand to interfere with it, forcibly shrinking the size to lower its power, but even then I couldn't fully interfere and was shoved back again.

So damn picky for real.

"All things must return according to the right principle! Twisted demonic cultivator, even if everything appears incorrect in your eyes, all things are ultimately revealed by the result!"

Blue spiritual energy spread outward as written characters.

A restriction—the power to draw upon the world's Laws and the Law established by the Nascent Soul cultivator—fused into one and forced a single Law upon me.

The Law struck me head-on.

The connection with slaughter energy was forcibly severed throughout my entire body. As my limbs went limp and my mind blurred, I forced myself to spit out dead vital blood with a wet cough and collapsed powerlessly. Fuck for real.

Murderous intent surged in my eyes.

You think you're the only one with a Law?

As the wheel I forcibly dragged above my head spun and vomited slaughter energy, I opened my mouth.

Red slaughter energy formed a restriction. Watching the cultivator freak out and raise blue spiritual energy at the sheer act of copying what I had just seen and experienced on the spot, I drew out my own Law.

As the familiar UI of Mode Manager floated up on one side of my vision and the settings window for the map I stood on appeared, I used only my gaze to recklessly reduce the map radius past the minimum value and below it.

The world was forcibly shrunk.

Even at that majestic sight, the Nascent Soul cultivator tore his eyes from the contracting world and looked down at the tiny demonic cultivator. It was only natural to feel interest in a power that forced Laws even without having formed a Nascent Soul yet—but more than that, the immediate thirst for revenge was greater.

Above the cultivator's head, a newborn baby formed of blue spiritual energy popped out. The infant, with eight bracelets binding its arms, legs, neck, and hair, opened its mumbling mouth and shouted.

The Nascent Soul forced the world with Law. The forcibly contracting world stopped, and the fight entered a full-fledged battle of Law versus Law. And of course, the Nascent Soul side won.

Naturally, the full backlash from losing that Law battle slammed into Yu Hee. Looking down at the demonic cultivator collapsing powerlessly, U Yukgyeong raised his wariness to the absolute maximum.

It was an unbelievable situation that a cultivator who was merely Golden Core had engaged in a Law battle with him, who had reached Nascent Soul. So was that really just some simple mad cultivator?

A cultivator fallen from the upper realm? Or some threat that had awakened from an ancient secret realm?

Outwardly she was nothing more than a simple girl, yet she was clad in an unusually dense murderous aura so thick that even spiritual energy could not be properly felt. Still, the presence that boldly made itself known—as if she did not even know how to hide her realm—was clearly late Golden Core.

Though only a portion of it, the power to shrink the world itself to that degree had forced him to bring out his Nascent Soul. If he had left her alone even a little longer, she might have risen to Nascent Soul and even swallowed him whole. He immediately raised blue spiritual energy to completely cut off her breath.

Cold rainbow-colored spiritual energy rose and blocked the blue.

It was a sight of beautiful rainbow light scattering while holding back the blue spiritual energy. If Yu Hee had seen the dispersing energy she would have shouted "Hologram!", but of course U Yukgyeong had no idea. He simply felt the depth of power contained in that spiritual energy and the absolute difference, and immediately lost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all will to fight.

A difference that could not be felt at the same realm.

Spiritual energy that had formed Deity Transformation beyond Nascent Soul.

"...Are you Senior?"

What appeared from the small mechanical device along with the rainbow spiritual energy was an old woman who looked as if she had been struck head-on by the years. The aura felt was late Nascent Soul, but it was easy to tell it was not proper power.

"I asked if it was Senior who created the demonic cultivator."

Even having lost his will to fight, U Yukgyeong did not retreat. His Law was Righteousness. For U Yukgyeong, where there was righteousness there was justice, where there was friendship there was friendship. Having lived thousands of years solely upright and straight, unfolding his will, he could not simply leave alone a demonic cultivator who ate cultivators.

"The newborn has not even been born two hundred years yet."

"She must have eaten countless cultivators and grown her power! That is clear evil itself! Can Senior not feel the terrible power she holds?!"

"I will not deny that the newborn eats cultivators, but so what about that? A giant can eat humans too."

A chill flowed.

"Just by enduring the bugs that touch the newborn, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shouldn't you be grateful to me for not smashing this tiny lower realm to pieces?"

The aura of Togo—who had reached the end of Deity Transformation and looked toward the next realm—spread out as if covering the world.

Giant. Transcendent species of the upper realm. Oh damn—and only then did U Yukgyeong realize the identity of the demonic cultivator.

"If she is not conspicuous, she does not eat. If she is not wounded, she does not hunt. If she is not first attacked or holding hostility, she does not strike first. Truly a kind-hearted newborn, is she not?"

Of course it would be natural to trample everything so thoroughly that they could not even look up.

Of course he had tried to warn the incomplete newborn against tasting Spirit Roots or Golden Cores, but it was already far too late, and even if he smacked her hand he could no longer stop her. In the upper realm, where spiritual energy materials were abundant, it was no different from paper. Worrying about how hard it would be later for her to break through her limits, Togo's thoughts were cut off as U Yukgyeong shouted.

"How is that any different from a beast?!"

"Right. So did you try talking to the newborn? Of course not—because the newborn strikes first the moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she feels hostility."

"Absurd sophistry!"

"If the newborns had not said you were a good person, you would have died long ago as a noisy bug. Take being safely released like this as the newborn's mercy."

As the rainbow spiritual energy shattered like a broken mirror and scattered, and the demonic cultivator who should have been behind it vanished along with it, U Yukgyeong gritted his teeth.