A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation

Translator: TranslatingNovice

Editor: Z0Rel

I must stop it.

This is the first thing Jeon Myeong-hoon feels when he witnesses [it].

The Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation Method, the voice of lightning, from the bottom of his soul to the tip of his flesh.

Every part which constitutes the existence known as Jeon Myeong-hoon is ringing alarm bells like mad.

'IwilldieIwilldieIwilldieIwilldieIwilldieIwilldieIwilldieifIcan'tstopitIwilldie.'

"Huaaaaaah!"

Jeon Myeong-hoon, quicker than anyone else, dashes towards Jin Byuk-ho to snatch the Heavenly Lightning Banner from his hand, and half out of his senses, infuses it with 'power.'

Qi (氣), Soul (魂), Fate (命).

Instincts from three planes of existence lead Jeon Myeong-hoon, forcibly engraving into his mind the method to wield the power of the Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation, the ultimate authority of the Heavenly Golden Thunder Body.

Almost instinctively, he strengthens the [seal] on the Heavenly Lightning Banner and, using the power of heavenly lightning, stimulates the plane to tear through the dimensional barrier.

The voice of lightning whispers to him.

[That being] cannot fully come here.

It merely revealed its gaze using the Heavenly Lightning Banner as coordinates.

Therefore, if you expel the Heavenly Lightning Banner outside the dimension, [that being] won't be able to come here. That's what it is telling him.

With his eyes rolled back and foaming at the mouth, Jeon Myeong-hoon grips the Heavenly Lightning Banner and tears open a dimensional rift, attempting to push it inside.

However, the Heavenly Lightning Banner refuses to go in.

A clear and resonant female voice reaches Jeon Myeong-hoon's ears.

[Ahahahaha...Myeong-hoon-ah, Myeong-hoon-ah. My grateful Myeong-hoon-ah.]

Rustle...

A white-haired woman with slender, jade-like fingers suddenly appears in front of Jeon Myeong-hoon, caressing his cheek.

[I must destroy the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect. The master needs to see you. The great God of the Heavenly Punishment needs to grasp the thread of fate left by the Golden Deity and erase his traces. So, my dear Myeong-hoon, stop this.]

"Grghhhhh!"

Seeing the white-haired woman whose face isn't clearly visible, Jeon Myeong-hoon feels something bursting in his mind.

It's a memory.

The memory of hearing this woman's [name] when he entered the Thunder Tribute Hall!

'Why, why haven't I paid attention to this memory all this time?'

Jeon Myeong-hoon himself can't understand.

Certainly, that day.

Hadn't Seo Eun-hyun given him an ominous warning about the Heavenly Lightning Banner?

Even if it isn't true, Jeon Myeong-hoon had almost forgotten everything about that moment except for her [name] up until now.

But at this moment.

Jeon Myeong-hoon can tell by looking at Zhengli.

"Myeong-hoon-ah, what are you doing!"

"Why are you suddenly snatching the Heavenly Lightning Banner!"

"Do you intend to betray the sect like Seo Eun-hyun!"

Seeing the elders of the sect, whose eyes are unusually crazed, suddenly screaming at Jeon Myeong-hoon holding the Heavenly Lightning Banner, he can tell.

The Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation Method, the voice of lightning, is telling him.

All this time.

Everyone from the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, including Jeon Myeong-hoon, had been enchanted by this monster.

Jeon Myeong-hoon remembers.

Up until now, the voice of lightning had been of [two kinds].

The somewhat sticky and bewitching voice that taught the Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation Method before Seo Eun-hyun's betrayal.

And after Seo Eun-hyun fled with the Heavenly Lightning Banner, a voice much weaker and smaller than the seductive one, but gentle and pure.

Only today does he realize that the owner of the first voice is the entity before him.

"Jeon Myeong-hoon! Do you not hear the words of the Supreme Sect Master!?"

As if he can't see [that being] within [the heavens].

As if he can't see Zhengli, who has clearly revealed herself.

Jin Byuk-ho, with his eyes turned upside down, attacks Jeon Myeong-hoon.

Kwarururung!

Jin Byuk-ho's lightning bolt falls on Jeon Myeong-hoon.

Although the lightning is absorbed immediately, Jeon Myeong-hoon feels his concentration on pushing the Heavenly Lightning Banner into the dimensional rift waver.

"You! Get your hands off the Heavenly Lightning Banner now!"

"Do you wish to be like Seo Eun-hyun, you traitorous wretch!"

"You!!!"

Jeon Myeong-hoon clenches his teeth.

His family is scolding him.

Not of their own volition, but because of this monster before them!

Only the Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation Method and the pure voice of lightning are protecting him from Zhengli's clutches.

But.

[Myeong-hoon-ah.]

As Zhengli once again calls Jeon Myeong-hoon's name, he himself feels the strength leaving his arms.

Being called by name by Zhengli, he desires to entrust everything to her.

Desires to devote himself.

Desires to return to her.

"Ah, no..."

Jeon Myeong-hoon clenches his teeth as he looks at [that being] revealed in the sky.

He looked down at Jin So-hae, who is looking up at him.

"They're, my family...!"

[Myeong-hoon-ah.]

As she calls Jeon Myeong-hoon's name once again, he is engulfed in a terrifying sensation.

Deep within his memories.

Suddenly, his childhood comes to mind.

He recalls his kindergarten days.

At that time, Zhengli, who was his kindergarten teacher, whispered while caressing Jeon Myeong-hoon's entire body.

―Myeong-hoon-ah, you must listen well to me.

'Ah, no. There was no teacher like you!'

During his elementary school years.

He recalls all his homeroom teachers from first to sixth grade.

All of Jeon Myeong-hoon's homeroom teachers were long white-haired women.

'No, don't talk nonsense!'

In middle school, Jeon Myeong-hoon recalls a girl with white hair who was his classmate.

And his homeroom teacher during middle school was also a white-haired woman for all three years.

'Ah, no...'

During high school.

Jeon Myeong-hoon remembers the hairstyle that was popular among his classmates.

At that time, all the girls came to school with long white hair.

Thinking about it, it seemed like all the female teachers at his school were also white-haired and looked exactly the same.

'Hu, hua...'

During university.

Jeon Myeong-hoon was a loner.

Because everyone at the university except Jeon Myeong-hoon was a white-haired woman.

[Myeong-hoon-ah.]

With delicate fingers, the white-haired woman strokes Jeon Myeong-hoon's cheek and whispers in his ear.

Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes begin to narrow.

The faces of everyone he knows are turning into white-haired women.

He thinks of his colleagues at SJD Company.

The director and the chief, both white-haired women, liked hiking.

Two white-haired women, who were Jeon Myeong-hoon's entry mates, were both not on good terms with him.

The new recruit was also a white-haired woman.

'Ah, no!'

Jeon Myeong-hoon continues to sift through his memories.

Gradually, he recalls the figures from the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.

"Stop! Don't enter my head!"

[Myeong-hoon-ah...]

The woman he loves the most.

The face of So-hae...

And finally.

Jeon Myeong-hoon cries tears and screams, giving up on pushing Zhengli into the dimensional rift.

[Huaaahhhhh!]

Screaming out loud, even embedding spiritual energy in his cry, he hurriedly runs to Jin So-hae and looks at her face.

Fortunately, it's Jin So-hae as she should be, not white-haired.

"Jeon Myeong-hoon...? What's wrong?"

"So, So-hae...So-hae..."

And then.

Ziiing!

Suddenly.

Jeon Myeong-hoon feels a change in the 'voice of lightning' that had been advising him.

It's no longer sinister and seductive like Zhengli's voice, but a weak yet clear and pure voice of lightning.

This voice of lightning had always led Jeon Myeong-hoon down the right path.

Although he always felt a sense of rejection towards Zhengli's voice, he had always believed this voice of lightning to be truly the sound of genuine lightning, a voice he relied on deep in his heart.

But the next moment.

Jeon Myeong-hoon doubts his ears.

―Return to thee...

The weak but clear and pure voice of lightning suddenly begins repeating a strange sound as if it had lost its mind.

―Return...

―Return...

―Return...

Suddenly, the lightning which was nothing more than a 'phenomenon' seems to have gone mad.

But that is not the end.

"Aaaaaaah!!!"

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Aaaaah!"

"Huaaaaah!"

As [that being] fully descends guided by the Heavenly Lightning Banner, the Elders and Grand Elders of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, who hadn't been aware of [that being] even upon seeing it due to the hypnotism of the Heavenly Lightning Banner, all scream out in unison.

"------!"

Jeon Myeong-hoon also screams out loud, indescribably.

'WhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthatWhatisthat...'

As that grand being sets its gaze, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy begins to surge dramatically.

Crack, crackling!

Simultaneously, the elders who absorb the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy start to explode one by one.

Even if their physical bodies explode, their Nascent Souls still remain.

However, none of their Nascent Souls could escape from their spots.

The souls of the exploded Nascent Soul Elders and Heavenly Being Grand Elders are humbly kneeling with their hands clasped in front and heads bowed.

In that somewhat bizarre scene, Jeon Myeong-hoon failed to even realize that the entire Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect had been covered in a dark curse.

Ziiing!

[O, my Lord...]

Far away, Zhengli ascends to the sky.

Through the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique, I barely manage to look up at the sky and clench my teeth.

It's merely one eye, but despite invoking Yang Su-jin's will of Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens, it feels like my mind is about to collapse right now.

Perhaps anyone else who had learned the same Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens would have lost their mind and started chanting to return a long time ago.

'It's just beginning.'

Barely holding onto my crumbling mind, I try to control my shaking body and attempt to begin the ritual.

'Move, body! Please move!'

It's when I am forcibly trying to move my body in a state of panic.

Ziiing!

I hear a tingling sound.

At the same time, I feel a certain [will] being conveyed to me.

This is, this is...!!!

―WerenowyouthatwithinitthehasbodybeenoffoundVastIColdwillEssenceeraseofthethetracesGreatofHeavenlythePunishmentGoldenreturnDeitynowfromtothethisThreegreatThousandimmortalWorlds.

(Odd and even words compose two different sentences; explanation in TL notes)

"Huaaaaah!!!"

I feel blood streaming from my seven orifices.

I can hear!

I can hear!

The [will] of the grand being can be heard!

"Re, re, return...re..."

With tears and blood streaming down, I try to clasp my hands together, sobbing uncontrollably.

It's too clear.

In my past life, Jin Byuk-ho heard the jade voice of that being, but hadn't I been unable to hear it?

Why is that?

Of course.

Back then, Jin Byuk-ho was walking the grand path of the Lightning Dao, and I was a wretched person who didn't even know the character for lightning in the Lightning Path Method.

That's right!

Now that I have also learned the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique, a Lightning Path Method, I can listen to that being's jade voice and return to...

'Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens!!!'

Ziiing!

As soon as my thoughts reach 'Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens,' I feel my sanity returning and stop my hands that were involuntarily trying to take a prayer position.

"Ha, haha..."

Cold sweat flows over me.

That person, no, [that being] isn't trying to control me nor harbors any malice.

It merely conveyed a huge [will] to Zhengli, and I, who had learned the Lightning Path Method, happened to overhear that [will].

I don't even understand what the [will] means.

Yet, merely overhearing a [will] with no malice almost destroyed all my resolutions and determination, nearly turning me into a wreck.

'So this, is the gap between me and a Governing Immortal...'

I manage to stand up with my trembling body and continue to look up at the sky.

Plop!

Both of my eyeballs burst.

It doesn't matter.

Quickly regenerating my eyeballs, I prevent them from bursting with the energy of Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens.

I begin the ritual in the darkness.

Wo-woong!

As I activate Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens, the celestial energy begins to change.

Kurung, Kururung...

At the same time, very familiar entities begin to poke their heads out.

Dark clouds.

The ones that always interfered with my cultivation.

During the Qi Refining stage, how much did I despair because of those dark clouds?

Kugugugu!

It's not a typical celestial phenomenon.

The dark clouds summoned by Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens have the exact same feeling as [those] dark clouds caused by Heavenly Rejection during my Qi Refining stage.

They are clouds formed by fate.

Specifically, they are clouds formed by disastrous calamity.

As the gaze of the Owner of Heavenly Punishment is momentarily obscured by the dark clouds, cutting off communication with her master, I feel Zhengli looking towards me as she looks up at the sky.

Calamity gathers and gathers, becoming a power strong enough to twist the fate of the heavens.

This is a ritual that is never auspicious.

Therefore, to safely complete this ritual, a sacrificial offering is needed.

"I offer."

The offering of the ritual is limited to those who possess the power of the 'Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder.'

And being expelled from the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect means more than just being chased away from the sect.

Being 'separated' from the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect means becoming 'another Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect' oneself.

This is the basis on which I asked Hon Wei to recognize me as another Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.

Offering the power of those who possess another form of Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder as the sacrificial offering.

That is the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique.

But that means 'oneself' is also included in the range of offerings.

I reverse part of the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique's incantation.

Tsupaah!

Just as the essence of curses and blessings merely depends on the presence or absence of the heart.

Perhaps the difference between devilish arts and cultivation (orthodox) methods is also a matter of how the heart flows.

Contrary to what Yang Su-jin intended, the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique begins to unfold in a completely different form.

Tststststst!

I fuse the power of the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique within my Nascent Soul with the Yin Soul Ghost Incantation using the Sea of Righteousness and Mountain of Grace.

Simultaneously, I reverse the activated Yin Soul Ghost Incantation and the White Orchid Blessing Incantation.

Paaaah!

At the same time, the curses that covered the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect in the form of a massive Taiyin are all reversed into blessings,

And the blessings that held the center of Taiyin in the form of Lesser Yang become the center of Taiyang in the form of Lesser Yin.

Yin and Yang reverse, and at the same time, the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique combined with them also reverses!

Patsutststst!

Accompanied by white orchids blooming everywhere, I reach out my hands towards the sky.

Originally a ritual that sacrifices everything to complete oneself.

But, at this moment, Yang Su-jin's legacy is completely shattered.

A madman who sacrifices himself to protect everything has taken up his will.

Kugugugugu!

The calamity-laden dark clouds in the sky begin to pour down towards me.

"I offer myself as the Sacrificial Offering, o fate. Please!"

Kwaeng, Kwarururung!

From various places within the dark clouds, fierce azure lightning flashes and begins to fall all over the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.

"Please divert the fate of destruction!"

Kwarurururung!

Azure lightning strikes from all directions.

The blue lightning, which always sought to kill and obstruct my cultivation, now, at this moment, strikes everyone in the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect without killing them, altering the celestial energy bestowed upon them.

Kugugugugugu!

I feel all the calamity-ridden dark clouds enter me, shedding a bitter cold sweat.

My celestial energy is changing.

Not a mere great misfortune.

I have never seen such an ominous calamity before.

And as the dark clouds enter me, allowing the sky to be visible again,

I am able to meet the gaze of the Owner of Heavenly Punishment.

'Ah...'

I realize.

The Owner of Heavenly Punishment is enraged.

At the same time, Zhengli, who has been looking at me for a while, reaches out her hand towards me.

[Seo Eun-hyun.]

"...!"

[Seo Eun-hyun.]

I watch Zhengli tensely.

[Seo Eun-hyun.]

Zhengli calls my name three times in a row.

Translator Notes: Author did a thing where you read the even and odd words separately to form two phrases. Of course, it looks really bad in English so here's what they mean:

"Were you within the body of Vast Cold, Essence of the Great Heavenly Punishment? Return now to this great immortal."

"Now that it has been found, I will erase the traces of the Golden Deity from the Three Thousand Worlds."