The Barren World and the Echoes of Time

The entrance to a mountain range steeped in utter desolation.

Nothing met the eye but withered trees, so brittle it was impossible to tell whether they were dead or merely clinging to a mockery of life. No insects or animals stirred anywhere in sight.

The sky hung heavy and ashen gray despite the absence of clouds. The earth had split into jagged fissures as though tortured by endless drought, beyond any hope of healing.

Ugh…

This was the Yeongwon Continent in the post-Dharma-Ending Age, a place he now revisited after stepping into the Initiation Stage.

Back when he had been ordinary, he had never truly registered the overwhelming emptiness and aridity. Now it made him shudder. Even the reality he had just left—where spiritual energy density barely exceeded ten percent of the Primordial Forest—had felt brutally barren. Compared to this place, that reality seemed like paradise.

Not even a single trace of spiritual energy could be sensed.

At this rate, even though the soul could generate its own spiritual energy, any recovery afterward would be impossible. It was like burning stamina with every movement while having no water or food to replenish it.

And there really is no water or food here.

Every source of sustenance that had once existed could no longer thrive and had slowly withered into extinction. The difference between an environment with extremely sparse spiritual energy and one with literally none at all was a gulf of entirely different dimensions. The soul—a fundamental building block of life—could contain only the tiniest amount of spiritual energy, but it could never be wholly absent.

One also had to remember that the root of all spiritual energy filling heaven and earth flowed from the cosmic currents of the Primordial Origin Realm.

Only when an entire world had completely severed itself from those currents could such a phenomenon occur. It meant the world had fallen into one of the most barren environments in the entire universe.

Yet if anything could survive and flourish here, it would have to be a being of truly cosmic strength.

While these thoughts ran through his mind, Han Yujin was already climbing the mountain path leading toward the Ohaeng Sect ruins. He did not use any techniques such as the Wind Riding Art. He relied solely on the enhanced physical strength he had gained upon becoming a cultivator. He had no idea when he might need spiritual energy; he could not afford to waste it for mere convenience.

Before long.

Having never once stopped to rest, he reached the Ohaeng Sect ruins even faster than before. Feeling only slightly winded, he retraced his memories and began to explore. Soon he found the library building he had discovered on his first visit.

He had already examined it thoroughly and was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about to walk past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when he noticed the door was closed. He stopped.

…Did I close the door when I left last time?

No matter how hard he thought, he had no such memory. Without hesitation, he pushed open the rotten, crumbling door and stepped inside. The moment he took a few steps forward, the exhausted door collapsed and rolled away behind him.

Back then I opened it extremely carefully.

He had still been an ordinary human at the time—fresh from the brutal hardships of the demon worshippers’ world—and had approached everything with extreme caution. There was no way he would have deliberately closed such a decrepit, unstable door.

After a quick sweep of the interior, he became certain.

There are no traces of my previous visit at all.

No one would have cleaned the place, which could only mean this was the time period before he had ever come here.

“Ha.”

He didn’t bother suppressing the reflexive laugh.

Even while telling himself it was impossible, some instinct had whispered that it might be possible. His awakening ability truly allowed him to visit a specific time period within the desired world.

And it means I can return to the same point as many times as I want?

The realization that he could reunite with that useless little beast crystallized. More importantly, if anything unpleasant happened in the future, he could simply rewind and try again.

The ability felt so overwhelmingly broken that he was almost worried.

Just what was he, to have awakened such a monstrous power? Had past lives truly existed, and had he saved the world in one of them? Or was it nothing more than blind luck?

I can’t know.

He had pondered the same question before. The conclusion was always identical: he lacked too much information to reach any real answer. Since there were no apparent downsides for now, he would simply make full use of it. The idea of avoiding it out of hypothetical risk wasn’t worth a single second of consideration.

Come to think of it, I can restore the harvested items as well.

Last time, unaware of that fact, he had barely glanced at the heavily damaged books. This time he would have to examine every single one.

But before that…

Examining everything was fine, but he had to remember his usable spiritual energy was limited—and therefore so was his survival time.

He should begin with the places most likely to yield definite results.

Han Yujin left the library immediately and headed for the inner sect area. As he walked, he observed the ruined Ohaeng Sect complex with fresh eyes.

Imagining how pristine and orderly it must have been in the distant past, with countless cultivators moving about their duties, a sudden impulse rose in him to visit this world during that very era.

Just how influential had the Ohaeng Sect truly been? How exceptional were the cultivators who had lived and breathed here?

If I really do visit that time period…

While he entertained the fleeting fantasy, he soon arrived at the inner sect grounds.

Simply moving with physical strength alone made him realize anew just how much stronger he had become compared to his ordinary days.

Without overthinking, he made his way to the canyon where the training caves of the inner sect members were located. Upon arrival he gave the surroundings a quick glance, then headed straight for the nearest cave.

On his previous visit, he had been unable to pierce the darkness and could only examine the area near the entrance. That limitation no longer existed.

As Han Yujin ventured deeper into the cave, a sharp light gleamed in his eyes. He activated the Spiritual Eye Technique and inspected the interior without the slightest hindrance from the gloom.

It was wider than he had expected. Had he forced his way in back then, he might easily have gotten lost. Tripping and striking something in the dark would have been quite painful.

Is this what they call the feeling of the times having changed?

The layout he mapped out while entertaining such idle thoughts was roughly as follows:

First came what appeared to be a living space for rest or receiving guests. Deeper inside lay a training area covered in cushions that had deteriorated beyond further decay. Three additional partitioned sections with unclear purposes also existed.

The skeleton of the cave’s owner rested exactly on the central cushion in the training chamber. It seemed he had passed away in the place where he had spent the most time during his final moments.

Han Yujin felt an inexplicable pang of sorrow. He offered a small bow, then examined the skeleton and the relics surrounding it.

The storage ring had already been destroyed, and aside from the Ohaeng Sword, he found nothing particularly useful.

One cannot fill one’s stomach with the first bite.

He left the cave and continued exploring the others.

Along the way, near the entrance, he once again encountered the skeleton of the cultivator who had gifted him the Ohaeng Sword, the spiritual liquid bottle, and the storage ring before dying.

Because this was indeed the time period before his previous visit, the three artifacts he had chosen as harvest items remained exactly where they had been.

Han Yujin examined his own Ohaeng Sword and storage ring with renewed interest, confirming valuable new information.

If I can repeatedly visit a specific time period in one world, I can select the same items as harvest multiple times.

All it would cost was Karma. This was extremely precious intel.

After offering another brief moment of silent respect, he resumed his exploration of the caves.

The total harvest after investigating every cave was somewhat underwhelming.

One umbrella-shaped artifact that seemed intended for defense.

One extremely sharp, awl-shaped offensive artifact.

One rope-type artifact that had snapped and was badly damaged.

Three accessory-type artifacts—rings, bracelets, and the like—whose purpose he could not determine.

One box containing brushes and other tools apparently used for talisman crafting.

Various unidentifiable metal fragments.

And finally, a large number of powerless stones that had once been spirit stones.

Some of these will certainly prove useful, but…

It still felt lacking.

In truth, he could guess why only these items remained. After the Dharma Ending calamity struck, everything except the bare minimum for self-defense would have lost its value. Most would have been traded for food or consumed long ago.

As expected, the only truly perfect harvest to be gained from this world is knowledge.

With that thought, Han Yujin took one final look at the canyon that had served as the inner sect’s residence and departed.

Next came the rugged high ground he had been forced to bypass on his previous visit.

Whether by luck or because it had been built close to their dwelling, he quickly located the library the inner sect personnel must have used. It stood alone atop a sheer cliff that looked as if it had been sliced vertically by a blade.

Descending in front of it with the Wind Riding Art, he saw that its exterior was remarkably well-preserved compared to the outer sect buildings. It clearly had not been constructed from ordinary materials.

The items inside, after he opened the door, were also astonishingly intact. The sight filled him with deep satisfaction.

Yet a moment later he froze.

What is this…?

More than half the objects on the shelves were not books. They were small, thin, elongated rectangular jade plates linked together, rolled tightly and fused so completely they could not be unrolled.

They looked like bamboo slips that had been crafted from jade instead of bamboo, then miniaturized and tightly coiled.

So these are the jade slips.

In other words, they were books meant exclusively for cultivators. Small and light enough to hold comfortably between two fingers, they contained vast amounts of information. The jade itself was no ordinary material, making them exceptionally durable.

But the crucial point right now was that ordinary people could not read them.

Only upon reaching the Foundation Establishment or Dharma Soul Stage did a cultivator gain the new, exalted spiritual sense known as Divine Sense. Only through that Divine Sense could jade slips be read.

I’ll have to come back later.

Sighing, he accepted the unavoidable truth and began examining the remaining items that took the form of actual books.

The brief disappointment he had felt melted away almost instantly.

The first book he picked up bore a title that radiated extraordinary presence from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the very first glance: Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art.

His expectations soared as he opened it. The contents made his eyes widen and his heart race.

It was the Ohaeng Sect’s highest-grade movement technique, an ultimate art that unified the escape methods of all five elemental states. If mastered, one could move freely even underwater. Perfect mastery would place the user beyond pursuit by any cultivator of the same realm. It was not merely fast—it allowed the user to pass through any physical state of matter represented by the five elements at will.

Of course, a technique of such power was by no means easy to learn. Simply memorizing it would require an enormous amount of time.

With slightly trembling hands, Han Yujin returned the book—bound in some unidentified leather—to its original place and picked up the next volume. Its title, too, was extraordinary.