Red Lotus and Red Flower (1)
Red Lotus and Red Flower (1)
The moment I unleashed the climax.
The moment my vision flashed white.
I felt like I saw a band wrapping around heaven and earth.
It was devouring something endlessly with its mouth wide open.
Greedily, ravenously.
Savoring an eternal hunger.
The meal was suddenly interrupted.
The side of the band popped like a balloon.
It let out a voiceless scream.
That soundwave pushed me far away.
Downward. Downward.
Back to where I originally was.
"...Rehu!"
I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.
Damn it, this isn't my house?
I thought I was dead for sure, but I'm still alive.
It seems clear that my constitution in this world is truly the Great Fortune Constitution.
"Enough nonsense."
I kicked off the blanket covering me and got up.
Using my divine sense out of habit, I swept over the entire area.
"Wait, it's not working?"
My divine sense, which should be at least Foundation Establishment level, was completely dead.
Furthermore, I couldn't feel any power in my body.
"Right. My body died."
Then am I a soul body right now?
But when I pinched my cheek, that didn't seem to be the case either.
The warmth of blood heating beneath my skin,
and the beating echoing from my heart told me that I was indeed alive.
"I don't get it."
Since I caused such a huge Big Bang, did I fall into some weird place due to some unknown effect?
Scratching my head, I got off the bed and opened the door.
"Wow."
An exclamation burst out of me unconsciously.
I had guessed from the light seeping through the gaps in the paper windows, but outside the door was filled with sights impossible to encounter in Mangnyeonggye.
First, blindingly clear sunlight caught my eye.
Mangnyeonggye had sunlight too, but it was so hazy as if covered by dark clouds that it was worse than having none.
Here, that sunlight overflowed. It was so much cleaner than reality that it was almost blinding.
Added to this were neatly tended gardens and vibrant flowers.
As if it were the garden of some noble young lady, the fragrance of flowers and grass wafting from everywhere was extremely rich.
"But where are the people?"
Admiring the garden is great, but being alone is starting to make me feel lonely.
If only there were someone nearby.
"Oh."
At that moment, far off in the garden, there was a doll-like figure walking down the hallway.
I ran over carefully, approaching that person.
"......."
The closer I got, the clearer the doll-like figure became.
She was wearing beautiful black robes that matched her voluminous black hair.
The faint red glow surrounding her body combined with her ruby-like eyes to create a mysterious atmosphere.
Most importantly of all...
Her chest was huge. Very, very huge.
I caught up behind her.
Catching my breath, I waited.
She slowly turned around.
Unlike in my last memory, her smile wasn't sad; it shone as brightly as the surrounding light.
She stared intently at me.
At her gaze, which seemed to expect something, I chuckled softly.
"What are you looking at, you beautiful woman?"
I couldn't bring myself to say harsh words like during our first meeting.
However, as if even that pleased her, she ran to me and hugged me tightly.
"Have you returned?"
"I'm back. Did you have a good journey as well?"
"Yes, this maiden has also returned safely."
The sunlight brushed against our lips.
Warmth connected the two of us strongly, so very strongly.
This warmth would not dry up like it did back then.
We walked hand in hand for a while without saying a word.
Every minute and second with her was immensely precious.
Terrified that this might be a dream.
Terrified that this might be the final meeting granted by heaven.
As if these thoughts weren't mine alone, her hand did not let go of me.
Nor did I have any intention of letting go.
"Gaga."
She was the first to speak.
That first word was intense enough to snap me fully awake.
"I didn't expect to hear that before my name."
"Do you dislike it?"
"No, I love it."
At least it's not a one-sided feeling.
Now that I've confirmed it once, there's nothing holding me back.
"What should I call you, I wonder? Calling you Jeok-mae, your age is..."
"Today, thanks to gaga, I was born anew. Therefore, we should start counting again from today."
I felt like asking where such ridiculous logic came from, but the voluptuous sensation brushing against my arm was more than enough to make me forget everything.
"Jeok-mae."
"Yes, gaga."
"Jeok-mae."
"Yes, gaga."
Ah, I feel like cringing to death, but I fucking love it.
The corners of my mouth are practically hooked to the sky.
"I wish we could be like this forever."
"I only agree halfway."
"Only half?"
Jeokryeon smiled softly and caressed my lower abdomen.
"If we stop here forever, wouldn't there be no novelty?"
"I'll try hard. Very hard."
Haa. When the hell will the 18+ DLC review finish?
My heart feels like it's gonna burst.
"By the way, how did all this happen?"
As the indefinite reality of the review process crossed my mind, I quickly snapped back to my senses and asked her about the situation.
"Mmh, I don't know where to begin..."
"If it's difficult, we can talk later."
"No. It would be better to hear it from Mother than for me to explain."
"Mother...?"
Jeokryeon took my hand and pulled me along.
"Please follow me, gaga. I will guide you."
Stepping out of the splendid garden and grand manor, the world shifted to look like Mangnyeonggye.
Damp, humid air and a sky gloomy enough to induce clinical depression.
A land parched like a desert and a wind mixed with dust.
I wondered if the inside was an illusion and this place was reality, but to call it Mangnyeonggye, it felt artificial just like the previous garden.
Above all, I caused such a Big Bang, so it was weird that something of this scale still remained intact.
"It's over there."
At the tip of the finger she pointed, there was a castle.
A castle far larger than the Palace Master Castle in Blood Lotus Palace.
The majesty of that castle, looking fit for a Great Demon King to reside in, radiated an indescribable pressure that made my body shrink back.
"Hudeul-deul."
"Fufu, you don't have to be afraid. Mother thinks highly of gaga."
Hiding behind Jeokryeon's back, I entered the Demon King's castle.
Passing by luxury items that were clearly extraordinary at a glance, I entered the main hall of the castle.
A gloomy atmosphere floated along wailing ghost sounds.
Goblin fires flickering from the ceiling painted the main hall red.
Where the red carpet ended, stairs rose up, and at their apex sat a throne.
The owner seated on the throne looked down at me with half-closed eyes.
She resembled Jeokryeon, yet she could never be the same.
Her subtle presence was breathlessly intense and captivating, yet so dangerous that if you fell for it, it would devour you down to the marrow.
"Pleased to meet you, nameless lover. I am Jeokhwa. I pay my respects as the first Palace Master of Blood Lotus Palace, its founder, and as Jeokryeon's mother, sister, and daughter."
And with her self-introduction, my brain stopped working.
"Say what?"
What kind of trait is being a mother, sister, AND daughter at the same time?!
Ten thousand years ago, Jeokhwa was a cultivator at the Great Completion of the Dao Entry Realm, looking toward ascension.
However, for a certain reason, she failed to ascend and placed a hypnotic suggestion on the entire Blood Lotus Palace for her own resurrection.
The preparation for the Resurrection Grand Law.
At the time, Blood Lotus Palace was a sect built by Jeokhwa's own hands, so no one would betray or ignore it.
Thus, for ten thousand years, Blood Lotus Palace became Jeokhwa's slave, preparing for her resurrection.
Using any means necessary, pushing the sect's honor far into the background.
"My original self was a foolish person. She could not accept the law that the Heavenly Dao is ruthless and that failure for the Demonic Path means immediate death."
Jeokhwa was fated to not last long until the preparations for the Resurrection Grand Law were complete, because the backlash from that 'certain failure' was too severe.
Her soul was damaged to the point where even possession was impossible, and it was only a matter of time before her Nascent Soul dissipated. Her body was merely a barely reconstructed shell, useless for recovery.
Jeokhwa entered hibernation even within such a body to await the time of resurrection, but the problem was that it took far too long.
"The method of resurrection was also flawed."
Resources were insufficient to construct the grand law using blood and life force in the manner of the Demonic Path, and because the aftermath of the failed ascension was so immense, Blood Lotus Palace had no leeway either.
So the second-choice plan chosen by the Faceless One, who became the 2nd Palace Master succeeding Jeokhwa, was cloned humans and cloned personalities.
"In the end, that method led her to destruction."
No matter how much they tried to make the clone identical to her, how could the uniqueness of a Dao Entry Realm cultivator be compromised?
Had Jeokhwa been awake, she would have killed the Faceless One and stopped it, but unfortunately, Jeokhwa was fast asleep.
And the countless 'Jeokhwas' poured in over ten thousand years caused her to fall into an eternal slumber within her own body.
It was a tragic end fitting for a demonic cultivator.
"The Faceless One continued the experiments without realizing that fact. Finally, at the end of the experiments, he obtained a clone closely resembling Jeokhwa."
That was Jeokryeon, and the story after that is already well known.
"Then what are you?"
"I am 'Jeokhwa,' forged from the gathered fragments of the clones. To be precise, about half of me resembles the original, while the remaining half is filled with Jeokryeon."
That is why she is a mother, a sister, and a daughter.
Since she inherited the abilities and memories of the deceased original Jeokhwa, she can be called a mother.
Since she is composed of the remnants of clones preceding Jeokryeon, she can be called a sister.
And since she was born by filling her imperfections through Jeokryeon, she is effectively a daughter.
"Mmh, wild."
To think a character with such tropes exists in all of creation.
If not for my one-month ban, I would've immediately gone to the community forum to brag about it.
"Additionally, due to the Resurrection Grand Law, we are fused so closely to being the same person that we are also each other's avatars."
"Gaga, if you are confused, please just think of her as my mother."
"Nah, whatever. I'm just taking it as it is."
Forget the complicated stuff.
"So, what now?"
"If you so desire—"
"Achieve the Grand Dao of Cultivation."
Cutting off Jeokryeon's words, Jeokhwa appeared in front of me before I even realized it.
"If it is you, you can resolve the misfortune that swallowed this Mangnyeonggye."
"Wait a moment. Mother, that's..."
Blocking Jeokryeon's mouth, Jeokhwa asked me with glistening eyes.
"However, before that, please answer this question first. Will you continue your cultivation and eventually see it through to the end?"
"If it's fun, I'll keep going."
"In that case, you will have to save this Mangnyeonggye first."
"Why?"
Jeokhwa pointed at the sky.
"Currently, Mangnyeonggye is a realm impossible to ascend from."
Just as Jeokhwa did ten thousand years ago.
And just as countless cultivators did even further back in time.
Since some point in time, Mangnyeonggye...
Has never produced a single ascendant.
"Nameless lover, if you seek amusement, why not take on this challenge while you have the chance? If you do, I shall become your limbs and support you in everything."
She proposes the challenge rather provocatively.
There is no reason to refuse.
"Fuck it, let's give it a shot."