Chapter 324: Farewell (6)

"Follow me."

The prelude to the battle is initiated by Seo Eun-hyun.

Chuaaaa!

Light.

The starlight of all Heaven's natural colors seem to shine from his hand, transforming into a vertical line that strikes directly at the sphere.

Kuadududuk!

A scar of starlight remains on the sphere.

I cast Ghost King Transformation.

Perhaps due to the ghostly energy filling the surroundings, the 18 heads that had been destroyed by Seo Eun-hyun instantly regain their original form.

Great Desert to Dead Sea.

Glutinous Devil Ghost Devouring (食魔鬼沒).

Cheok, cheok, cheok, cheok...!

All 18 heads simultaneously open their mouths.

An immense suction force emanates from them, absorbing all the ghostly and yin energy in the vicinity.

An overwhelming power surges forth!

Ooooooh—

From the eye sockets of the 18 heads, a ferocious ghost fire erupts violently.

Simultaneously, the surrounding yin energy is temporarily weakened, causing the ghost horde to retreat.

But that isn't the end.

The next stage of the Qi Building Yin Soul Ghost Incantation which I had inherited from the curse lineage's Bi Yul.

A method that begins at the Nascent Soul stage and can be mastered up to the Grand Perfection Four-Axis stage.

Black Blood Tears Flower (黑色血淚花).

Chuaaaa—

From the 18 skull heads, pitch-black tears fall.

The tears scatter on the ground, causing sinister buds of curses to sprout from the earth.

'A long time ago, I had almost independently evolved the Yin Soul Ghost Incantation to reach Black Blood Tears Flower.'

The buds of the curses resemble the grotesque masses I had created in my 10th cycle using the Black Ghost Curse Banner.

The malice they emit is also quite similar.

If I hadn't discovered the White Orchid Blessing Incantation back then, I would have obtained the Black Blood Tears Flower.

Of course, although I had come close, this Black Blood Tears Flower is still the masterpiece created over several generations by the curse lineage of Black Ghost Valley.

The buds of curses I created back then with the Black Ghost Curse Banner were the 'end,' but this is just the ‘beginning’ for the Black Blood Tears Flowers.

Kyaaaaaaa—

Kuuaaaaa—

Huaaaaaaaaaa!!!

The buds bloom.

Simultaneously, the area is filled with screams louder than the wailing of the ghosts.

The black flowers look more like the gaping mouths of several split snakes, with eyeball-like objects wriggling inside.

Usually, blooming one Black Blood Tears Flower would be classified as 1 star.

Blooming three flowers would be 2 stars.

Blooming five flowers would be 3 stars, corresponding to the early, middle, and late stages of the Nascent Soul stage.

Eight flowers would be 4 stars, representing the Grand Perfection Nascent Soul stage.

Ten flowers would be 5 stars.

Twenty flowers would be 6 stars.

Thirty flowers would be 7 stars.

Blooming fifty flowers to create a flower bed would be 8 stars, corresponding to the Grand Perfection Heavenly Being stage.

Afterwards, blooming a hundred flowers would be 9 stars, two hundred flowers would be 10 stars, three hundred sixty flowers would be 11 stars corresponding to the late Four-Axis stage, and successfully creating a flower garden with a thousand flowers would signify achieving 12 stars, representing great achievement.

Around me, countless grotesque flowers bloom, filling a radius of ten li in an instant.

Even the ghosts guarding the sphere flinch and retreat at the sight of this monstrosity.

Chuararararak!

As I call forth my will, a yin wind swirls in the surroundings.

In that yin wind, the petals of the sinister flowers scatter.

The black petals from the curse gather before me and coalesce into a sword.

Bo-oong!

I concentrate my mind and swing the cursed flower sword.

Kwaaaang!

The sword slash of the flower sword overlaps with the starlight scar left by Seo Eun-hyun.

Yet, the sphere remains intact, with only traces of damage.

[Curse Assimilation.]

However, the sword mark from my cursed flower sword permeates into the sphere.

I can sense it.

The sphere is a conglomerate of all kinds of pain, resentment, and sorrow.

A massive force condensed with the grudges of ghosts.

Inside it, my curse naturally blends in, assimilating with the sphere.

Like a spy, the petals of my Black Blood Tears Flower infiltrate within.

Seo Eun-hyun and I exchange glances.

Wo-ooong!

The sword scar left by Seo Eun-hyun begins to shine with all of Heaven's colors.

What is the First Step Before the Throne?

Seo Eun-hyun's eyes gleam.

For 500 years, he had self-reflected and comprehended the essence of the Formless Sword.

He then further forged the Formless Sword that had grown immensely through becoming a Heavenly Tribulation.

He realized that the enlightenment already laid within him.

He awakened the heart of Martial Arts that he had learned and united it with himself once more.

And like so, he reached the First Step Before the Throne.

The essence of the First Step Before the Throne is as follows:

Resolutely preparing for one's soul to be crushed and to perish, one compresses their heart essence into depths of their martial arts.

A realization that resonates with Seo Eun-hyun's Sea of Righteousness and Mountain of Grace.

If one's true heart aligns with their martial arts, they won't perish even when delving into the depths of their martial arts.

Unbeknownst to him, Seo Eun-hyun had preemptively practiced the enlightenment of the First Step Before the Throne through his Sea of Righteousness and Mountain of Grace.

In this way, if one stakes everything and succeeds in infusing their heart, their heart essence, into the depths of their martial arts, uniting the heart of their martial arts with their own heart, their martial arts will completely rise to the plane of Soul.

In the case of Tae Yeol-jeon, it reaches the depths of the plane of Soul.

She draws power from the source of heart essence as she continues her battles. For Jang Ik, he leverages his Fighting Spirit, which has risen to the plane of Soul, to gather an immense amount of energy from the plane of Qi to unleash his attacks.

Those who reach the First Step Before the Throne can all achieve a strike at the plane of Soul.

Using that strike, they can embed their heart essence into their opponent's heart essence or manifest their heart essence externally to create an avatar.

Jang Ik's ability to embed a podao into the heart essence of numerous subordinate Heart Tribe members to support them with a single strike. The ability to create an avatar through the podao and dispatch it in times of emergency. Kim Young-hoon creating an avatar exactly like his main body except for the total amount of energy. They are all based on the same principle.

The First Step Before the Throne corresponds to both the Four-Axis and Integration stages of the Heaven and Earth Tribes.

Why is this so?

The reason is that the 'strike' of the First Step Before the Throne, forged by putting in one's 'everything,' is powerful enough to split dimensions and rival the full-force strike of a Grand Cultivator in the Integration stage.

However, the strike of the First Step Before the Throne must literally contain 'everything.'

The Heart Tribe often falls into a near-death state after unleashing a single compressed strike of their heart essence.

While their overall skills improve after merging the heart of their martial arts with their own heart, the main strength of the Heart Tribe in the First Step Before the Throne lies in the 'strike infused with heart essence.'

A single use would drain their combat power, making it a do-or-die gamble of mutual destruction.

Therefore, Heart Tribe members in the early stages of the First Step Before the Throne are regarded as being in the Four-Axis stage.

However, as they become more familiar and skilled with the attacks of the First Step Before the Throne, and their understanding of heart essence deepens, the number of times they can launch 'heart essence strikes' increases.

Their personal skills gradually improve, allowing them to push the power of their heart essence to its extreme. The initial single mutually destructive strike increases to two strikes, then three strikes.

As their understanding of heart essence deepens further, at some point, members of the Heart Tribe become capable of launching multiple 'heart essence strikes' in rapid succession.

Therefore, Heart Tribe members who reach the later stages of the First Step Before the Throne and can skillfully handle the power of heart essence, rapidly unleashing multiple heart essence strikes, are recognized as being on par with those at the Integration stage.

Furthermore, the reason why ordinary Heart Tribe members fall into a near-death state after launching a heart essence strike is because they wield a power their frail bodies cannot handle.

That means...

Chuaaaaaaatt!

"Second strike."

Seo Eun-hyun, who possesses the physical body of a Four-Axis stage Earth Tribe, will not be in a critical state from just one or two heart essence strikes.

In an instant, Seo Eun-hyun's body seems to be enveloped in sharp energy, and he swings his sword.

Kwadududuk!

Once again, scars of light are engraved on the sphere.

"Third strike."

Flash!

Once more.

"Fourth strike."

Once more again.

Seo Eun-hyun's strikes continue to land, and seven scars in total are embedded in the sphere.

"Hoo..."

Seo Eun-hyun wipes the sweat off.

The light embedded in the sphere becomes even brighter.

This light is visible only to Seo Eun-hyun, who is of the Heart Tribe, Seo Li, who shares his vision, and the Mad Lord, who also has a vision like that of the Heart Tribe.

That light represents both sword scars and Seo Eun-hyun's avatars.

"Now, Seo Li!"

Seo Eun-hyun shouts.

Seo Li forms hand seals.

[Curse Reversal.]

And then.

Flash!

The black petals flowing inside the sphere reverse into pure white petals in an instant.

Boom!

A massive brilliance erupts from the top of the sphere, creating a large air hole.

Simultaneously, the seven sword scars merge into one, burrowing deep into the sphere.

"Let's go!"

[Please! Elder!]

[Alright!]

Bo-oong―

Seo Eun-hyun and Seo Li enter within the sphere, followed by an enormous swarm of puppets.

How far have the two chased after Seo Eun-hyun's slash?

Before their eyes.

There, the Nether Crossing Ship comes into view.

"The space is distorted."

Seo Eun-hyun mutters as he runs through the interior which is larger than the sphere seen from the outside.

Bo-oong!

The swarm of puppets cling to the Nether Crossing Ship, trying to pull it out.

However, the Nether Crossing Ship does not budge, as if it's anchored in place.

Underneath the Nether Crossing Ship.

Black ghosts are gathered as if to form a liquid, holding onto the ship.

[You! Will you not get lost?!]

Seo Li commands fiercely with ghost fire raging. But the ghosts, though trembling with fear, do not retreat.

Seo Eun-hyun gazes at the ghosts calmly.

The ghosts seem to fear Seo Eun-hyun even more than Seo Li, yet they still do not move.

Seo Eun-hyun clicks his tongue and speaks.

"We have to remove them. I'll take care of extracting the Nether Crossing Ship, so you follow the light."

Seo Eun-hyun points somewhere while looking at Seo Li.

There, the merged seven strikes he had unleashed earlier are piercing through the darkness beyond the Nether Crossing Ship, continuing forward.

[That's...]

"From my vision, at the center of those depths lies her heart essence. Kang Min-hee's main body should be there. Go, Seo Li."

[...]

Seo Li looks at Seo Eun-hyun.

[Seo Eun-hyun.]

"What is it?"

[You didn't tell me...why you came to rescue Kang Min-hee.]

Seo Eun-hyun gently smiles at those words.

"Until recently, you called me the main body. Now, you need me to tell you for you to understand?"

Somehow, his tone seems reproachful.

However, his expression seems filled with joy.

"You, having originated from me, should already know."

Seo Eun-hyun turns his back to Seo Li.

Kugugugugu—

The starlight of the Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method, altered by Seo Hweol, begins to shine from Seo Eun-hyun's entire body.

His body begins to grow larger, resembling that of Azure Tiger Saint.

Seo Eun-hyun becomes a Giant embodying the starry night.

[People, from birth to death, receive immeasurable grace that cannot be expressed in words.]

Seo Li, from his memories...

No, the figure of a giant that exists in Seo Eun-hyun's memory overlaps with that form.

[Struggling to repay that grace, to give back to this world, is our duty, our obligation, and our privilege.]

Kudududuk!

The giant of stars begins to tear away the Nether Crossing Ship that's anchored by the ghosts from the ground.

"It–it's Azure Tiger Saint!"

"He's come from the Azure Heaven Creation Sect to save us!"

The few remaining disciples of Black Ghost Valley in the Nether Crossing Ship cheer as they see the giant of stars.

[Moving towards impossible dreams while overcoming endless hardships. Enduring unbearable pain. Living while struggling like that...is who we are.]

Seo Li stares blankly at the giant's back.

[Because you struggled with your own will, because you sought to break through with your own will, because with your own will you had belief and aimed to reach the stars...I decided to help you. Go, Seo Li. The saying 'the heavens help those who help themselves' might be false, but I will help you.]

[...]

Seo Li remains silent.

Then he turns and chases after Seo Eun-hyun's slash.

'I'm always just following.'

Behind him, the disciples of Black Ghost Valley cheer, but as they exit, they scream upon encountering the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress.

Soon, Seo Eun-hyun will probably follow him.

He will overtake him again.

No, since Seo Eun-hyun's slashes which are burning through the darkness ahead are like his avatars, he is already ahead of him.

'I'm only looking at your back.'

Seo Li grits his teeth as he runs after Seo Eun-hyun.

He realized they have already diverged.

Although he doesn't know what the next regression will bring, they are already different people.

And Seo Eun-hyun respects Seo Li, pushing him in order to be independent from his embrace at any time.

However, Seo Li feels a lingering frustration in his heart.

He doesn't know why.

How far has he run along the path of darkness?

Paaaatt!

Seo Eun-hyun's slash exhausts its energy and fades, and Seo Li finally reaches the end of the path.

There, a massive Ghost Guiding Holy Mother in the form of an 8-foot ghost monster is curled up and sleeping.

***