The World After the Dharma's End
Han Yujin didn't immediately try to use his ability again. Instead, he spent his time carefully considering what kind of world would be best.
After finishing lunch, he went out for a pointless walk and even bought an ice cream from a convenience store. While fiddling with his smartphone, something occurred to him, and he contacted one of his college friends.
The guy seemed a little puzzled but soon agreed. It wasn't exactly an unusual thing for them to do.
Time passed quickly. While Han Yujin steadied his mind and gathered his thoughts, the appointed hour arrived.
The friend waiting in front of the restaurant was Park Heewon, the closest person to him at this university. There was no need to explain how or why they had become close. What mattered to Han Yujin right now was that the guy was surprisingly knowledgeable about Hunters and related topics.
As an added bonus, he loved manhwa and genre novels, so he might be able to offer some fresh ideas.
Or not. Whatever.
With that thought, Han Yujin entered the grilled pork belly restaurant with Park Heewon. They sat down, placed their order, and chatted about recent events while waiting for the meat to arrive.
It seemed the guy's problems with his girlfriend still hadn't been resolved, just like a few days ago. While offering some half-hearted comfort and advice, the meat finally came out. Han Yujin began grilling it himself and casually steered the conversation toward Hunters.
“If you suddenly awakened, what would you do?”
“What else? I'd become a Hunter, obviously.”
“Got any abilities in mind?”
Park Heewon let out a dry laugh.
“You think I get to pick that myself?”
“Haven't you ever fantasized about it? I do it all the time.”
“Ah~ of course I have. Probably way more than you.”
After that, the conversation never stopped.
Since he knew a lot about Hunters, the industry, and various abilities, Park Heewon didn't just talk about them in simple terms. He added in social status, influence, and other factors, making the discussion incredibly engaging.
Han Yujin was very satisfied with the new perspectives he was gaining.
But he still wasn't completely satisfied.
“You read fantasy novels, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Why don't those kinds of abilities exist in reality?”
“There are quite a few that do, but way more that don't. Giving the protagonist some special cheat is practically mandatory in those stories.”
“What kind of cheats?”
“Well, there are tons where you grow through a game-like system...”
Han Yujin wasn't completely ignorant about genre novels either. He didn't read the novels themselves, but he'd seen a few webtoons adapted from them.
Still, his knowledge couldn't compare to Park Heewon's, who was practically a genre novel enthusiast. Thanks to that, he could listen with genuine, rapt interest.
There was also a small spark of hope that, with his own ability, he might somehow obtain one of those protagonists' 'cheats.' This wasn't just wishful thinking. It was about setting a clear goal.
As he kept listening, the topic eventually shifted to world-building.
“Lately, it seems like xianxia is starting to catch on a bit.”
“Xianxia? Like wuxia?”
“It's similar Eastern fantasy, but a bit different. Where wuxia has martial artists, xianxia has immortals.”
“Immortals?”
The only immortals Han Yujin could picture were the ones from the old fairy tale about the golden and silver axes. But as the explanation continued, it became clear this was an entirely different concept.
In xianxia world-building, an immortal was an undying transcendent being.
You could think of them as the equivalent of a god in most fantasy settings.
Therefore, those who trained in pursuit of immortality were called cultivators, and in fantasy terms, they were similar to mages.
However, the power balance was apparently completely insane. The stories often described how even the top masters of a wuxia world would struggle to defeat a low-level cultivator.
“And that's trending these days?”
“Not exactly trending, more like it's slowly gaining recognition. Just my opinion, but it feels like readers who used to love wuxia are gradually moving over to xianxia. After seeing the same stuff over and over, this feels fresh.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
After playing along for a bit, Han Yujin suddenly asked,
“Then what if, hypothetically, someone awakened xianxia-style abilities in real life? What would happen?”
“What would happen?”
Park Heewon laughed as if the mere thought was delightful.
“You'd basically become a god.”
After returning home.
Instead of going straight to sleep, Han Yujin searched the internet for information on xianxia. Combined with Park Heewon's earlier explanation, he was able to easily gather and reinforce his knowledge.
Could a world like this really exist?
To some, it would be nothing more than idle fantasy. To Han Yujin, however, it was an extremely serious question.
Depending on whether such a world existed or not, his future could change dramatically.
But even if it does exist, it would be incredibly dangerous.
Perhaps because it was a world where individual power was so immense, many of the stories featured completely collapsed moral frameworks. The sense that people would do literally anything for the sake of their cultivation.
And to Han Yujin, that felt quite convincing.
If individuals could truly become that powerful, what wouldn't they do for the sake of training?
The law of the jungle would apply more nakedly than anywhere else. Once you succeeded in cultivation and gained power, almost every problem could be solved.
In fact, even in reality.
When the first rifts appeared after World War II and people began awakening supernatural abilities, the world had fallen into unimaginable shock.
It would be too difficult to explain every kind of shock, every conflict that arose, and how they were resolved. But one thing that must be understood was that the fear of 'the emergence of absolute beings' was by no means small.
Because if a single individual gained excessive power and authority, they could turn into a disaster at any moment. Historical examples included countless emperors and dictators.
Therefore, the dangerous and barbaric atmosphere of xianxia world-building wasn't an unreasonable setting at all. In the end, without power to back it up, no principle or logic mattered. That was reality.
In the end, what rules the world is power...
Anyway.
What mattered now was figuring out how to safely visit a world with that kind of atmosphere, assuming it truly existed.
This couldn't be rushed. If he acted hastily, the same catastrophe as last time might repeat itself.
As he slowly prepared for bed while continuing to ponder, Han Yujin suddenly came up with an idea. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, and he felt a slight surge of excitement.
A little while later.
He lay down on his bed and attempted to activate his ability. This time, he fell asleep much more easily than before.
A space filled entirely with darkness.
Standing before the ever-changing door, Han Yujin refined his 'wish' one final time.
He reached out with his hand while maintaining that intense focus. The moment his fingers touched the door, a soft but body-resonating hum spread out, and the door's transformations finally stopped.
What appeared was a massive wooden gate in an ancient Eastern style, decorated with jade in various places. However, it was severely weathered overall, with some parts so rotten they looked ready to crumble at any moment.
Soon, silver characters floated upward, catching Han Yujin's eye.
Yeongwon Continent — After the Dharma-Ending Age
Dharma-ending age...
Strangely, he understood exactly what it meant. It referred to the great catastrophe in which the spiritual energy that once filled the world withered away without remedy, severing the path of immortality.
In short, it was the end of the cultivation era.
Han Yujin had concluded that if he were to truly visit a xianxia-like world, the most dangerous thing there would inevitably be people.
So what if it was a world where all those people had already died and disappeared? And what if, unlike the Post-Apocalyptic Earth he had visited first, there were no unknown dangers still lurking? Wouldn't that allow him to achieve his goal?
To think a door like this actually stabilized.
Of course, he would only know what lay beyond this gate once he looked.
Steel himself, he pushed the door open with force. He naturally yielded to the invisible power that appeared and stepped inside.
“......”
He glanced back to confirm the door had vanished, then looked around. It matched his expectations quite well—a desolate mountain range, standing at its entrance.
All he could see were dried-up, twisted trees. It was impossible to tell if they were dead or alive, and naturally, there were no signs of insects or animals either.
The sky was a gloomy ash-gray even though there were no clouds. The ground was cracked as if from a long drought, making recovery seem impossible.
Finally, he examined his own clothes. They resembled those of an ancient Eastern martial artist. While they might fit the era, they were far too neat and stood in stark contrast to the surrounding desolation.
Well... it doesn't matter.
There were no living beings around to notice anyway.
Maintaining only the bare minimum of tension, he pondered where to go before starting up the mountain path. The reason was a large stone monument at the entrance engraved with the characters Ohaeng Sect.
The writing was heavily weathered, with barely any traces left, and it was a script from another world he had never seen before. Nevertheless, Han Yujin could read it as naturally as if it were Korean.
He would likely have no problems writing, hearing, or speaking it either.
It was the same when I talked to that guy.
He briefly recalled the middle-aged man who still made his teeth grind just thinking about him. But Han Yujin soon shook off the distracting thoughts and focused on climbing the mountain.
How many times had he rested because it was too exhausting before continuing upward?
Finally, the sight of ruined sect buildings came into view. The closer he got, the more apparent their terrible condition became. It didn't look like deliberate destruction. Rather, they seemed to have weathered and collapsed under the sheer weight of time.
Han Yujin stopped in front of the massive gate and cautiously checked for any possible dangers. But no matter where or how he looked, it was simply a ruin.
Guess I shouldn't get my hopes up too high.
He felt a little disappointed, but there was still more to see. And even if he really gained nothing, he would only have wasted a single night's sleep.
Feeling rather relieved instead, he began thoroughly exploring the ruins of this Ohaeng Sect. Fortunately, the sun didn't set too early, so he wasn't forced to rest.
Rather than wandering aimlessly, it would be better to take one big look around first and then investigate the places that seemed most important.
With that thought in mind, his eyes landed on a tower-shaped building with a signboard that read Scripture Pavilion.
The Scripture Pavilion.
In wuxia novels, it was the place where important martial arts manuals were stored. Perhaps this world's version was similar.
With a mix of curiosity and slight excitement, he carefully opened the building's half-rotted, tattered door and stepped inside. The dry air that rushed out carried a dusty smell that made him frown.
Aside from the fact that everything had simply aged and crumbled with time, there were no signs of major disturbance. The bookshelves, placed at regular intervals, had mostly collapsed, but some still stood upright.
Han Yujin approached one of the relatively intact shelves and examined the books placed there. As expected, most were in a state where they couldn't possibly be read. However, the title on one book caught his eye.
Immortal Path Secret History.
Roughly meaning the secret history of the immortal path.
His heart began to pound at the sight of a book that actually mentioned immortals. With extreme care, he picked up the incredibly old and worn volume and opened it.