Chapter 369
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 369
Chapter Title: Bullshit
[It's a draw.]
Go Hu-rak responded calmly.
[A draw?]
[Their powers were equal—impossible to say who was superior. Both won, and both lost. The result was mutual destruction, so yes, a draw.]
The beginning of the world, the pure singular entity known as the Primordial. The Vast Expanse, said to be the world itself.
Their powers were equal.
[So? Is that the end of it? You called it a sublime tale of the world's genesis.]
[Didn't I say it was mutual destruction? The Primordial shattered into six fragments. The Vast Expanse tore into eight pieces. From that came light and darkness. Earth formed, and the heavens appeared.]
[......]
Ha Mu-baek listened in silence.
How was he supposed to take this?
It sounded like some creation myth straight out of the Demonic Cult or Blood Cult scriptures.
[Water flowed, fire blazed, wind blew, and trees took root. Only then did the world become a true world.]
[Then isn't that enough? The Vast Expanse achieved its purpose. Why keep fighting the Primordial?]
[......]
Go Hu-rak fell silent at the sharp question.
Because Ha Mu-baek was right.
If it had rebelled against the solitary Primordial...
Even if the result was mutual destruction...
Now that a true world had opened, its purpose was fulfilled.
Yet it still sought to fight the Primordial.
A contradiction.
[Because it didn't end with the Primordial's shattering. The Primordial endlessly seeks to revert to oneness. The fragments seek each other out. To stop that, all fragments must be utterly annihilated. That is the Vast Expanse's mission and duty.]
Ha Mu-baek harbored doubts at the eventual response but didn't show it.
Doubts born from his own encounter with the Primordial.
That abyss of power had tempted and manipulated his will.
But it hadn't driven him to seek other fragments.
That was true for his current state and for Hyeon-gil.
Hyeon-gil had touched the Primordial's abyss yet hadn't sought or coveted other fragments.
'No, did that abyss merely bide its time as well?'
Like Go Hu-rak, who had invaded his inner self.
Absorbing his disciple's memories, erasing the soul, seizing the body to extend his lifespan.
Repeating that horrific, grotesque act over and over.
This was no longer human.
A monster.
Ha Mu-baek wondered if this wasn't Go Hu-rak's will at all, but the will of the Vast Expanse itself.
The Primordial had its abyss; the Vast Expanse surely had something similar.
After all, both had wills and fought with them.
[So you fought the Primordial?]
The tale Go Hu-rak had tattooed onto his own body.
It said he had lost to the Primordial.
[It is the mission of one who inherits the Vast Expanse's will.]
[And you lost?]
Ha Mu-baek's follow-up question.
Had he touched a sore spot?
Go Hu-rak's voice changed.
No, the emotions within it changed.
Rage.
Indignation.
Resentment.
Vengeance.
Contempt.
A voice swirling with countless emotions.
[I lost.]
A short reply.
Ha Mu-baek smiled faintly.
[Then doesn't that mean the Primordial was stronger in the end?]
Followed by provocation.
He could feel Go Hu-rak's soul reacting violently.
[It wasn't a fair fight.]
The response seethed with boiling rage.
[Fair?]
[Exactly. A single piece of the Vast Expanse against two of the Primordial's fragments. Of course it was overwhelming odds. A cowardly, despicable battle.]
Recalling that day three thousand years ago.
A voice drunk with fury.
[Pathetic.]
Ha Mu-baek provoked again.
[You babble nonsense because you know nothing!]
Go Hu-rak roared.
[Two of the Primordial's six fragments united. I was merely one of the Vast Expanse's eight pieces. It was inevitable I'd lose!]
Indeed, the tattoo had said he lost not to one, but two.
[Still, the result was defeat.]
Ha Mu-baek said with a faint smile.
[No matter the process or conditions, battles leave only results. Like how your disciples lost to you and had their bodies taken. No matter how diligently they lived or trained, the outcome was you seizing them—because you were stronger.]
[Kukuku. What sophistry.]
Go Hu-rak let out a sneer.
[Your disciples lost to you, their bodies taken, souls erased. And you lost to the Primordial's fragments, ending up like this.]
Ha Mu-baek stated calmly.
As if this were karmic retribution for his evils.
[Fine. Good. I'll concede your sophistry. By your logic, your fate is sealed too—your body taken by me. Kukuku. Are all your questions answered? Then I'll make good use of your body.]
Go Hu-rak's emotions shifted past rage at the provocation, reaching the thrill of annihilating Ha Mu-baek's soul.
Ha Mu-baek's soul barrier was already as lax as it could be.
Go Hu-rak crossed it, swiftly eroding Ha Mu-baek's soul.
The occupied territory soon reached eighty percent.
Go Hu-rak pushed faster, stronger to expand further.
But suddenly, it halted.
[Wh-what... how...]
Go Hu-rak's panicked voice rang in Ha Mu-baek's ears.
[You... Were you so focused on destroying my soul that you didn't properly check my body? Or can you only sense the Vast Expanse's energy?]
Ha Mu-baek asked in a triumphant tone.
The time spent conversing with Go Hu-rak.
It had served to resolve his curiosities.
But there was another purpose.
Clashing with the soul's will.
Attack and defense.
Barriers.
He had adapted somewhat to using them.
By observing Go Hu-rak's soul react and move, he mimicked and learned bit by bit.
Thus, he gradually loosened the barrier, letting him claim eighty percent.
Then he reinforced it, blocking further advance.
[Even so... how is it this solid... This is impossible...]
Go Hu-rak was truly flustered.
He had never experienced this while seizing his disciples' bodies.
Flustered by the unfamiliarity.
[Alright, then. Let's do this properly from now on.]
Ha Mu-baek said in a voice laced with amusement.
His dantian stirred.
Not the inner core harmonizing poison qi, fire qi, ice qi, and internal energy.
The pure internal energy of Ha Mu-baek himself.
It flowed toward his head.
He had already pinpointed where Go Hu-rak's soul resided.
The Naohu Acupoint.
Located three inches behind the Baihui at the center of the head, at the base of the occiput.
A perilous point on the Governing Vessel, dangerous for casual internal energy circulation.
Near the Baihui where Conception and Governing Vessels connect, mishandling it could turn one into an idiot.
Ha Mu-baek's internal energy surged toward it.
First securing the meridians, fortifying the acupoint.
Then slowly directing energy toward Go Hu-rak.
[Wh-what is this!! Th-this energy!! What is it?!]
A cry of shock and panic.
[The Primordial.]
Ha Mu-baek answered curtly.
Go Hu-rak surely knew it and wouldn't need explanation.
[H-how... Impossible! This can't be! How can one person possess both the Vast Expanse and the Primordial... No, more than that—what is this immense energy?! It dwarfs the Vast Expanse energy you have... How...]
Go Hu-rak's wail, as if his mind had shattered from shock.
Ha Mu-baek ignored it.
[Infinity, Pearl of Wisdom, and Radiance.]
Naming each fragment he possessed.
[I-impossible! Lies! Three fragments together without an abyss—this is cheating! Cheating!!!]
Go Hu-rak's voice began distorting grotesquely.
As if two voices spoke over each other.
[There you are at last. Vast Expanse.]
Ha Mu-baek confirmed his prediction was correct.
[Gruk. Th-this can't... In that case, let's die together! Even if I fail to extend my life anew, taking the owner of three fragments with me is no loss. Kraaaah!]
Go Hu-rak's soul rampaged.
The Vast Expanse energy in Ha Mu-baek's body surged wildly on its own.
Go Hu-rak's soul thrashed to burst the Naohu Acupoint.
The Vast Expanse raged to rupture every meridian in his body.
But it was futile.
Ha Mu-baek had prepared first.
His energy tightened around Go Hu-rak's soul, squeezing ever harder.
[Kraaaah. As expected. A true heir of the Primordial. Loathsome and vile!! Unjust and resentful!!]
Go Hu-rak—no, the Vast Expanse—screamed.
[You said it yourself. That you'd take my body as the result? I'll throw those words back. I'll annihilate your soul's will as the result. And you're the vile, evil one for erasing your disciples' souls and stealing their bodies. You bastard.]
[Kraaaaaah!]
Go Hu-rak, the Vast Expanse, shrieked in agony.
Its soul, its will—half already gone.
A scream filled with torment.
And then, something familiar.
[Th-this is... Infinity and Pearl of Wisdom... No, Infinity-Pearl...!!!]
Ha Mu-baek had said Infinity, Pearl of Wisdom, and Radiance.
But Go Hu-rak sensed it differently.
The Vast Expanse's deep will seemed to as well.
Infinity-Pearl, Radiance.
That was how it perceived them.
[Y-you! What relation do you have to Seon Mu-han!!]
Go Hu-rak's voice quieted, a grotesque one echoing instead.
[Who are you? Not Go Hu-rak?]
[I am Narak, the supreme will of the Vast Expanse. What is your connection to Seon Mu-han?! How do you possess the unified energies of Infinity and Pearl of Wisdom!!]
Narak screamed in desperation.
A cry laced with resentment and grudge.
Seon Mu-han.
Not an unfamiliar name to Ha Mu-baek.
He knew it.
Another figure from three thousand years ago.
His master had told him so.
He knew the name, yet could hardly believe it.
But now, he had no choice.
[He's the founding patriarch of my sect.]
A calm reply.
[......]
Narak and Go Hu-rak were stunned speechless.
[Th-this can't be! It can't! Seon Mu-han! That damned bastard defeated me, trapping me here for endless ages... And now to fall to his heir like this too? Fuck this!! Kraaaaaah!!!]
Go Hu-rak's soul had barely ten percent left.
In other words,
Narak too clung to a mere ten percent.
[I curse you! Seon Mu-han! You! All who bear Infinity-Pearl—I curse you all!]
A venom-filled scream.
[Bullshit.]
Ha Mu-baek's curt curse.
[None of this would've happened if you hadn't coveted my body in the first place.]
The energies of Infinity-Pearl and Radiance swirled fiercely.
Completely annihilating Go Hu-rak and Narak's wills.
[Kwaaaaaaaaah!!!]
Their screams, brimming with venom and resentment, echoed in Ha Mu-baek's mind.
Irrelevant now.
Ha Mu-baek immediately entered meditation.
The Vast Expanse energy rampaged without its master.
Now to annihilate this too.
A decision made during the long conversation with Go Hu-rak.
An energy antithetical to his sect's cultivation, locked in eternal strife over ages.
Its immense power tempted him.
But annihilation was right.
Moments ago,
Encountering Narak had cemented that resolve.
Rearing disciples only to erase their souls and seize their bodies.
Not Go Hu-rak's idea alone.
Narak,
the will within the Vast Expanse energy, must have urged and influenced it.
Judging from Hyeon-gil and Hyeon-hwang's encounters with the Primordial's abyss.
Even the fortified meridians were reaching their limit.
Energy from his dantian and inner core mobilized frantically.
The Vast Expanse resisted fiercely and savagely.
But with all of Ha Mu-baek's energies mobilized, it began to quiet, bit by bit.