Chapter 59
Perhaps I was dreaming.
"To think you actually managed to reach this place."
The reason I took this for a dream was that Yakseon, his face the very picture of benevolence, had spoken to me first.
"Why do you gaze at me with eyes so stiff and strange?"
"...My apologies."
Yakseon and I were not men of the same era. Naturally, this was the first time I had ever laid eyes on him — and yet I knew at a glance that he was Yakseon himself. Knowing something I had no way of knowing; it had to be because this was a dream, I thought.
"Pull yourself together and set the Yakseon Heart Decision in motion."
"Pardon?"
"Hurry now. Having come this far, you cannot very well freeze to death or burn to a cinder."
Before I had time to form a question, my body had already set the Yakseon Heart Decision in motion on pure instinct. What else could the Harmony Realm be? For a martial artist who had attained the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, wielding internal energy moved at the speed of thought itself — and so the gentle warmth of the Heart Decision soon wrapped my whole body.
"Good. You did not learn it half-heartedly."
There was no time to answer his praise. Cold that froze the heart pressed in from within my body, while heat that melted bone seared me from without — both at once.
'Ah.'
Only then did it come back to me — that I had taken the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng and hurled myself into the magma where the Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure lay. It felt like a lifetime ago, but I knew well that dreams mangle the scale of time. In all likelihood, no time had passed at all. That my body had not died even with the Heart Decision far from its full strength was proof enough of that.
"Set your stray thoughts aside for now. There is no time left — you must do this properly."
His words were true indeed, and I threw everything I had into the Yakseon Heart Decision. In truth, I believe this was the first time I had ever felt nerves in unfolding a martial art of mine. Performing his art before its very creator — how could I not?
Guuuuum.
The Yakseon Heart Decision moved at my will, and I soothed the Snow Ginseng's yin energy, coiled tight around my heart. It lacked the flamboyance of the display the Sovereign of Destruction had once put on, but its subtlety ran deep — Yakseon, too, deserved to be called a grandmaster.
Thump.
My frozen heart stirred back to life and began to do its work.
Thump.
As the wellspring of life resumed its beating, my body reclaimed its vitality and began to find its balance. Put another way...
Kwaaaaah.
...it meant the Yakseon Heart Decision had begun, all on its own, to receive the ultimate yang energy the Blood Treasure held. The Snow Ginseng's yin was fierce, and the energy pouring in from the Blood Treasure came like a thundering wave.
'Gh—.'
Like practice paper drinking up spilled ink, my body absorbed the Blood Treasure's energy without the slightest filter. A mortal vessel attempting to hold all of nature's vastness within it — that was the fitting description.
Watching me with a fond smile, Yakseon spoke again.
"Cast off the greed to take it all. To hold the whole of nature within you is a twisted desire — in all things, the middle way is what matters."
Taking his words as my guide, the Yakseon Heart Decision continued to unfold its power. In that tightrope walk — one that surpassed even the tension of a life-or-death duel — my senses honed themselves to a razor's edge.
A long while passed like that.
Kwaaaaaah.
The Snow Ginseng was a treasure of ultimate yin that fully deserved its name as the supreme elixir, and even after drinking in the Blood Treasure's ultimate yang without pause, the yin still held the upper hand. And then...
I felt the Blood Treasure's yang, which had surged like a tidal wave, falter. In the sudden slackening, my vision opened, and before my eyes sat a crimson-glowing crystal no larger than a fingernail. I recognized it on instinct. That was the very essence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure. Just as every human carries an inborn qi known as the primal essence, that tiny crystal was, without question, the primal essence of the Blood Treasure itself.
"Haah."
Yakseon, still keeping watch at my side, let out a long breath. No — reading the emotion within it, admiration would be the truer word.
"So this is what came of that reckless fool before you draining the Blood Treasure's power in advance."
The reckless fool before me — that would be Yeom Gi-ha, the Sovereign of Destruction.
"How wondrous. This, too, must be the flow of fate."
So spoke Yakseon, nodding to himself alone.
"Take it. It is yours."
As if obeying his word, the Blood Treasure's essence drifted toward me of its own accord. At last it touched my heart, and—
Shhk.
It sank in without the slightest resistance.
"...!"
The Blood Treasure's essence truly deserved to be called the quintessence of ultimate yang. As if to prove that everything I had absorbed from the Blood Treasure until now had been mere dregs, its essence melted into the Snow Ginseng's yin.
"Ah."
I understood on instinct. The balance between yin and yang had, at long last, been struck. The Snow Ginseng's ultimate yin, which had frozen my heart, met the Blood Treasure's ultimate yang — and within my body, a universe called the Taiji took shape. Observing my own body from within with the realm I had long since attained, there was no missing the truth of it.
"The Taiji is wanting for nothing, and yet it is the Wuji you must pursue."
He was right. Not because the Taiji was inferior to the Wuji, but because the path of the Yakseon Heart Decision pointed toward Wuji — and so Wuji was where I had to go. That was the only road to the Sixth Stage.
Opposing forces, by their nature, do not mingle. They do not blend into one; they collide, cancel each other out, and vanish — such is the law of nature. Then how does one contain such opposition? One forges a vessel vast enough to embrace the opposites entire. That was Yakseon's answer.
I retraced the road the Yakseon Heart Decision had traveled.
The First Stage — Body Opening. The Second Stage — Golden Body. When yin and yang met and the energy swelled explosively, my body endured without bursting.
The Third Stage — Invulnerability. The collision of opposites is wont to breed corrupt byproducts, but a body that had reached Invulnerability permitted none of them, burning every last one away.
The Fourth Stage — Amplification. The qi brimming in my dantian flexed its power, and my spirit began to expand — until at last I came face to face with the violently rampaging energies of the Snow Ginseng and the Blood Treasure.
Only now did I understand. Every stage of the Yakseon Heart Decision up to the Fourth had been preparation laid for this very moment.
Above my head, three flower buds bloomed open. It was the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown — the testament to the Harmony Realm, won through the Fourth Stage of Amplification. The Three Flowers I had long since achieved and the Two Qi — yin and yang tangled in chaos — wove together with savage force. The aim was nothing other than to bind yin and yang together and arrive at Wuji.
KWA-KOOM!
With the vision of an explosion, I plunged into the state of no-self. Yakseon's voice no longer reached me. Even so, I knew he was still there, watching. To forget the self is to forget the world — and so, too, to forget time. I had no idea how long had passed. Even so, the vessel of Essence, Energy, and Spirit that I had completed held firm.
Shhk.
The energies that had not budged a single step from their Taiji standoff at last began to trespass upon one another's territory. It was like opening the sluice of a great reservoir — a tiny channel soon becomes a mighty current. Ultimate yin and ultimate yang entwined, and together they arrived at Wuji. Not that they blended and neutralized each other. The ultimate yin remained, and the ultimate yang remained — but where the Taiji holds them in opposition, the Wuji holds them together. That was Wuji.
"Now."
Yakseon's voice returned. I was the successor carrying his progress forward, and I obeyed the word as though by instinct. The Essence, Energy, and Spirit gathered at the Three Flowers embraced the Wuji of yin and yang. The Five Faculties — Essence, Energy, Spirit, Yin, and Yang — fell into harmony. And as the Five Faculties harmonized, the Five Qi began, quite naturally, to circulate.
The three flower buds floating above my head began to transform. Soon a new shape arose: five rings, each cradling an auspicious light. It was the testament that I had attained the supreme realm known throughout the Jianghu as the Five Qi Returning to Origin. One could say a human body had come to cradle the universe — that I had at last stepped into the realm of perfect, unclouded will.
The Profound Realm. It meant, too, that I had reached the highest ground a mortal body could ever stand upon. I knew the law that no two summits are alike, and thus no two Profound Realms can be either — yet what mattered was that I, too, had set my foot upon that ground.
Shhk.
I opened my eyes. I was still inside the dream — Yakseon still standing there was proof of it.
"Magnificent."
Even as he spoke, Yakseon's face began to blur.
"And — thank you."
I strained my eyes, desperate to see his face clearly one last time, but it would not come into focus. That, too, must have been because it was a dream.
"You have climbed now to where I stand, which means I can lend you no more help."
I could not see his expression, but the feeling in his voice was closer to elation than to sorrow.
"Child of fate — it is time to descend."
With those words, Yakseon's figure began to fade.
"...Wait."
Wringing out every last ounce of the strength that came with the Five Qi Returning to Origin, I barely managed to open my mouth. As I sat bolt upright, a crushing lassitude washed over me — but was I not a martial artist who had achieved the Five Qi Returning to Origin? Mere fatigue could never be suffered to govern my conduct. I could no longer see Yakseon's face, yet I knew the emotion settling there was awe.
I sank to my knees.
"I have received a grace beyond all measure."
And I bowed. The laws of the Dancheon Clan decreed that one must offer three bows to one's master.
The first bow: because of you, I came to hold hope in a new life.
The second bow: because of you, I could protect myself even after returning.
The third bow: because of you, I gained a future to walk toward, made new.
It was the first chance in my life to give form to a master's grace, and I did not do it carelessly. When the three bows were done, I wrung out my final thread of strength and spoke.
"Thank you."
A moment of silence.
"That is enough."
Yakseon's figure faded into faintness, and those were the words he left behind. I could not say whether this was the proper way to lose consciousness within a dream, but lose it I did.
At the heart of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
"...I see. Understood."
Having heard the report, the chief strategist of the Heavenly Demon Cult — the Demonic Divine Conduit, Wi Su — inclined his head.
"You have had a hard road. Go and rest."
The messenger threw a hasty clasped-hand bow and vanished as though he had never been. Wi Su's gaze followed it upward, naturally, to the sky.
"Tsk."
The heavens were veiled in cloud.
"I am stepping out for a while. See to things in my absence."
"I shall accompany you."
The answer came from a space where only Wi Su had been. As though it were the most ordinary occurrence in the world, Wi Su replied.
"No. I am going to the Demon Sky Tower."
"As you command."
Leaving those words behind him, Wi Su hurried on alone, his lightfoot art unfurling without pause. The Demonic Divine Conduit was himself a master who had touched the transcendent; the savage slopes of Takmoki Peak could not bar his way.
When at last Wi Su reached the Demon Sky Tower, a guest had come before him.
"This is the first I have seen of you in such a hurry."
It was the sovereign of the Demonic Cult — the Heavenly Demon, Seol Cheon-sang. Even with Seol Cheon-sang's form strolling upon empty air, Wi Su paid it no heed as he answered.
"Grant me a moment."
The Demon Sky Tower stood higher than the clouds, and at last Wi Su could take the whole, unbroken sky into his eyes.
"Tsk."
This was the celestial flow he had certainly read only a short while ago — and already it had shifted again. After a long while of poring over the heavens, Wi Su opened his mouth.
"...This is grave."
Such was the conclusion. Before the Great War of Righteousness and Evil could begin, one of the arrangements meant to sap the unorthodox factions' strength had collapsed. The baleful star of the disaster planned for Zhejiang Province had vanished — which meant the messenger's words were true. A scheme woven into the currents of heaven itself had come to nothing; small wonder the Demonic Divine Conduit's thoughts grew tangled. But that was not the true problem.
"Cult Master."
Wi Su called out to the Heavenly Demon, Seol Cheon-sang. It was a tone no one should dare take with the Heavenly Demon who reigned above ten thousand demons — yet upon the Demon Sky Tower, it was permitted. That Wi Su, who upheld honorifics at all times, had set them down of his own accord meant the matter was gravely serious indeed.
"Why do you call?"
The absolute one replied languidly, as though declining to meet Wi Su's gravity.
"The Sovereign of Destruction's star has come back to life."
It was the problem that gnawed worst at Wi Su's mind. The Tyrant Emperor's star had trodden past its dying light and blazed forth again — a far greater calamity than a baleful star gone missing over Zhejiang.
"It burns brighter than before. That bodes ill for our cult's great design."
It was a matter grave enough for Wi Su to lay down the honorifics he had always kept.
"Whose star shines the brighter, then?"
Curiosity stirred in him, and the Heavenly Demon asked —
"A meaningless question."
Wi Su answered.
"I suppose it would be."
replied the Heavenly Demon with a slow nod.
"Must it be erased now?"
The eyes that spoke those words held no red flicker of bloodlust; they were like the jet black of a bottomless abyss.
"The Sovereign of Destruction's star — its time has not yet come."
Before the Heavenly Demon's interest could cool, Wi Su added:
"But there is a task that must be done."
What Wi Su was gazing upon was a new star, only just beginning to shine.
"You must erase one star for me."
His voice rang, calm and flat, across the Demon Sky Tower. Curiosity stirred in the Heavenly Demon's expression.
"Gain, or loss?"
So he asked, and Wi Su answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Loss."
And yet...
"In all the world's affairs, where is it written that one may live by gain alone?"
Upon the Demon Sky Tower, a new destiny was stirring to life.