A World Without Me
‘Did I really defect? Did something happen that made me sick of Earth?’
Given the conversation he'd had with Park Seryong right before arriving here, the thought flashed through his mind for an instant.
But after a moment, his head shook on its own.
Even if he had abandoned this world, he would never have halted the distribution of knowledge and awakening crystals that was already underway. It was a crucial plan for harvesting massive amounts of Karma, after all.
And since defecting in the first place would be an enormous gamble, he would far more likely have chosen to operate under a hidden identity for a while, build his strength with his awakening ability, and then overturn every disadvantageous circumstance in a single stroke. A plan like that would have had a very high chance of succeeding, too.
Which meant the most plausible hypothesis was a different one entirely — a hypothesis built on the various clues he had gathered on this post-apocalyptic Earth.
‘In this future Earth I'm visiting, I don't exist. No — maybe a man named Han Yujin existed, but not the me who holds this awakening ability.’
And yet, it seemed the conditions of reality that he himself had ‘significantly changed’ were still being reflected. The extermination of the Eternal Goddess Cult, for example.
‘Those significant changes are probably the kind that can no longer be undone — big enough that Karma flowed in and accumulated because of them.’
It was a hypothesis conjured almost on impulse, but it was also one shaped by the intelligence and intuition of a Golden Core cultivator.
‘Why doesn't the me with this awakening ability exist in this future Earth...?’
There was no particularly difficult answer to puzzle out.
A future that reflected every one of his possibilities — growing as if heaven and earth were being remade each time he woke from sleep — might simply have too many variables to compute at all.
Much the way a mirror reflecting itself spawns an infinite cascade of images.
In other words, the useful information obtainable from this world might amount to only a handful of things.
One: the world had still been intact as of 2057. Though whether the enemies had been conducting covert preparatory work before then, he couldn't say.
The other concerned the identity of those enemies.
‘That's what I'll find out from here on.’
After taking one sweep of the people locked in the cells, he decided that rescuing them now would accomplish nothing in this conquered Earth, and moved toward the only exit.
He was about to pass straight through the door with the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art when he abruptly froze — he had detected a restriction laid there that felt different from both the Formation Activation arrays of the Murim and the fantasy-style magic barriers.
Scouring it thoroughly with his Divine Sense, Han Yujin reached a rough judgment.
‘Less a formation... more like talisman craft.’
If a sect formation or a magic barrier was a door fitted with security systems, this was something like a booby trap. Trip the tripwire, and a claymore goes off.
‘Not that it's shoddy, either.’
So the ones who had conquered Earth were apparently neither cultivators nor mages. Thankfully.
Han Yujin focused a while longer on grasping the principle, and powered by his transcendent comprehension and enhanced intellect, he caught a gap in it — then slipped through that gap with the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art.
The far side was another long corridor. The difference was that this one was decorated in an impeccably clean, luxurious style.
And above all, four beings of another species stood guard with grave formality.
Their build was very similar to a human's.
But their skin was gray-blue, mottled with blue and black spots and flecks, and the cross-shaped pupils of their golden eyes gleamed. They had long, supple, whiplike tails, and in place of hair, scales of deepest black armored their vital points like a helmet.
When he probed their bodies with his Divine Sense, he found three spines apiece, two hearts, and bones positioned so as never to impede movement, meshed with muscle to sheath the entire body like armor.
Moreover, when he examined their lungs, spiritual energy was flowing as though they breathed not only through their noses but through their skin as a whole. It even gathered in their eyes of its own accord, tracing a particular pattern that seemed to produce an effect much like a spirit-vision art.
‘Huh.’
Despite knowing little of biology, Han Yujin could grasp without effort that these creatures' bodies were vastly superior to a human's.
Far better suited to bipedal movement, superior in combat, exceptional in the mystic arts. Given that they had built a civilization, their intellect was surely nothing to scoff at either.
Perhaps precisely because of that, the aura they gave off felt somehow more dangerous — even though it was only at the Qi Condensation level.
Wondering if they were borrowing the power of some external thing, he scrutinized their equipment closely, but all he could determine was that it was of the lowest-grade Dharma tool level.
‘Still — lowest-grade or not, that's Dharma-tool grade either way.’
The truly strong ones might be carrying weapons of Dharma-treasure grade.
Having finished his information gathering through observation, he took all the more care to conceal his presence with Monghwan Yusim and unleashed the Dream Illusion Mind Snatching Art on a single guard.
The very moment he slipped into that dream.
He subdued the target's mind with remarkable ease — but he felt that mind linked to the three others nearby, and was slightly startled. Because he had entered knowing nothing, an alarm signal raced along that connection, and the creatures caught on.
"What the—?"
"Mental intrusion!"
"Kill it!"
They reacted with practiced efficiency.
Rather than searching for an enemy whose point and method of mental entry they couldn't fathom, they drew the swords at their hips in unison and swung at the comrade who was clearly already compromised.
As if they had been waiting for this very moment — without a shred of hesitation.
That might have worked against an ordinary enemy. But their opponent was a cultivator who had ascended to the Golden Core.
The Origin Power Great Hand, unfurled in a heartbeat, smashed the three guards mid-swing as they moved to finish off their ally. Sturdy armor and hardened bodies alike were crushed flat and pulped in a single blow.
The instant the creatures died, some manner of spiritual ripple spread outward and set off an alarm throughout the facility.
"Tch."
Han Yujin clicked his tongue, but he felt neither real annoyance nor any sense of crisis.
He had accomplished his purpose regardless. In mere moments, he had made the target spend the better part of a month inside the dream, and extracted a wealth of vital information.
‘The Yusgul race of the Kamayus Empire.’
An empire of unified divine rule — a colossal power that, like the Aheti race, had taken root across multiple worlds through secret arts of crossing dimensions.
Their realm system was tied directly to rank and position, and their emperor was, by estimation, at least Void Refinement — more likely Body Integration.
‘Is every tomcat and tabby a Body Integration these days...?’
Han Yujin thought this for a moment, then shook his head.
For a civilization capable of invading and conquering other worlds, a leader who was too weak made no sense. And it was, after all, only an estimate — how such a being would actually compare to a true Body Integration cultivator was impossible to know.
The other point worth noting was their system of mysticism.
It rested on two great pillars. One was a genetics-like system that grafted the strengths of various living beings onto themselves; the other was a system of inscribing tattoos of arcane principle and growing them to amplify one's power.
The genetic system might be difficult to harvest remotely. But the tattoos genuinely piqued his interest.
‘A kind of Dharma formula, presumably. I could certainly adapt it myself.’
Judgment complete, he passed down the corridor and emerged into the open. The moment he did, he witnessed Yusgul combatants converging with drill-perfect coordination.
The Dharma Soul-level fighter at their head seemed to sense something; he raised a hand and bellowed.
"Kriata, Ssisithsuma—!!"
The instant that cry — some sacred proper noun of their faith — rang out.
Light flashed from his hand, and a violet radiance swept the entire hall. It was a detection-type Dharma spell of considerable power.
But it fell short of piercing through Han Yujin's Monghwan Yusim, so he surveyed at his leisure the tattoos blazing light across the creatures' bodies before he acted.
Twenty-some strands of Pure Yang Extreme Flame Bullet Thread shot out like beams of light, reducing them to ash before a single scream could leave their throats. Through the scattering heat and drifting ash, Han Yujin was already moving again.
What followed was nothing short of a massacre.
He killed on sight every creature crouched in tense guard postures throughout the facility. He made no distinction of distance, simply clearing out the most active ones first — and no one managed to properly block the Pure Yang Extreme Flame Bullet Threads, which melted through every obstacle in an instant as they flew.
Scorching the entirety of the sprawling three-story facility took no longer than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
‘Some kind of laboratory.’
That was the impression the facility gave as he swept it clean while surveying it simultaneously. In particular, the laboratory on the first floor — not far from where the captives had been held — presented a scene of utter cruelty.
There were no obvious bloodstains, but the stench of blood still hung in the air.
Along one wall, human body parts and organs — unquestionably human — were preserved as specimens; along the other stood boxes heaped with human bones, as if someone had found a use for them.
One look at the several experiment tables at the center of the room and the various instruments lined up beside them was enough to paint a vivid picture of how, and how miserably, people had died here.
Much like the mice in the laboratories of modern Earth.
"Did someone you know die in here?"
Just then, fluent English drifted from behind him. Han Yujin had already sensed the newcomer's approach with his Divine Sense, so he turned without the slightest alarm.
A single Yusgul stood watching him, dressed in something that at a glance resembled a mage's robe yet blended with the cut of a modern coat — an outfit that spoke unmistakably of a researcher rather than a combatant.
Unusually, its eyes were a vivid blood-red.
"For a human of your caliber to strike a strategically meaningless place like this — isn't that an awfully emotional move?"
"So there are resistance fighters still alive somewhere, then?"
"Hm?"
The moment the creature voiced its confusion at being asked something so self-evident.
Violet light erupted from Han Yujin's eyes and crashed over his opponent. But similar violet tattoos across the creature's body flared to life, resisting the Dream Illusion Mind Snatching Art.
In that instant, the Six Paths of Reincarnation unfurled, scattering radiance, and the violet blazing from Han Yujin's eyes intensified all the more.
"Khh... ugh...!"
A strangled groan escaped its throat.
The creature had likely been quite confident in itself.
Its aura marked it as mid-to-late Golden Core, and through its tattoos it could presumably draw on even greater power — with strength like that, a degree of pride and self-assurance was only natural.
At the same time, it must have held absolute conviction built on the level of human strength it had witnessed while conquering this Earth.
Unfortunately for it, it had no idea what it was dealing with.
The creature failed to withstand the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Once swept up in that storm of emotion, it was instantly swallowed by the Dream Illusion Mind Snatching Art as well.
He gave it a brief taste of the Heavenly Bliss Path's rapture, then dropped it through the Path of Human Desire's longing into the Lost Souls Path of sorrow. He violently amplified the emotions its struggling soul would naturally feel, letting the Beast Path of rage consume it, then cast it straight into the Path of Aberrations' revulsion to fracture its very self — and finally slammed it down into the Abyss Path of despair.
Simultaneously, he read out the bulk of its memories with the Mind Snatching Art, devouring the useful knowledge of a being so clearly a mid-level administrator.
In the process, he naturally learned how ruthlessly the creature had treated the humans.
Not merely physically — it had brought in the victims' families and lovers to torment them psychologically, sating its own sadistic appetites.
Different species or not, the sheer, almost unbelievable savagery with which it had violated beings of clear intelligence was beyond excuse.
"Good. Then this is your race's average, I take it."
With his features hidden in the backlight of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Han Yujin gazed coldly down at the prostrate, trembling creature through two eyes pouring violet light.
"I'll treat you in exactly the same way. As it happens, I've taken quite an interest in those tattoos your race inscribes on your bodies — so you won't hold it against me if I peel your hide off in one piece, will you? You've done it often enough yourself."
"N-no... no! No—!!"
Suspended in midair by the Origin Power Great Hand, the creature screamed as even the reason it had barely clung to collapsed into terror.
And then.
Across one wall of the laboratory, in the creature's shadow cast upon it, a mass of liquid came dripping down in thick drops as skin peeled away from its body like a soul leaving the flesh.
Screams and howls steeped in the full horror of hell echoed through the hall.