Translator: TranslatingNovice

Editors: Z0Rel, BlueMangoAde

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Chapter 786: Protagonist (主人公) (1)

"Do not be mistaken."

Breaking the silence within the scream, the Owner of the Heavens opens his mouth.

"You were only supporting roles in the story from the very beginning. Even that was something I arranged with my own hands. Merely chess pieces and ornaments that make the story richer."

He gently strokes the rainbow-hued birdcage beside him and looks into the inside of the cage.

It looks like there is nothing inside, but it also feels like the emotionless him treasures it most.

"You do not need hope. Who would expect possibility from mere supporting characters?"

Jjjeoooong!

At that shocking line, Jeon Myeong-hoon collapses to the ground.

At the same time, it feels like the Absolute dwelling within Jeon Myeong-hoon is being suppressed, and something is being born.

It is a soul.

Jeon Myeong-hoon, by paying audience to the Future King...

Has all the hope he harbored crushed by that presence and authority, and his spirit birthed.

And, without even giving such Jeon Myeong-hoon a glance, Hong Fan begins to curl his finger.

Woo-woooong—

He raises his hand.

At the same time, our authorities.

No, what we have 'believed to be authorities' begins to squeeze our necks in their true forms.

Truth Attainment.

Causality Induction.

Bridle Creation.

Primal Chaos World.

Paradise Guidance.

Truth Manipulation.

The dharma forms that rise from behind my comrades slip out of their control, and begin to choke their necks from behind.

No one dies from the choking, but everyone's abilities are greatly constrained, and, pressed under the dharma forms that appear behind them, they kneel on the spot.

So it is.

"I see now...the heavenly path."

It was there from the beginning in the Ender's tale.

From the beginning, it was not our authority.

The reason the Underworld showed me that story is, though she herself forgot history so could not know, she knew instinctively.

She tried, by any means, to process the truth of the Future King and the Enders into the form of a fairy tale or a taenghwa to show us the truth.

"The [fate] we have mistaken for authority...is the heavenly path you have laid out for us."

Hong Fan merely looks down at me indifferently and remains silent.

It is a silence of affirmation.

And I begin to move toward such Hong Fan.

He mutters.

"Tell the story."

"...Martial Arts is originally...a story."

Kiririk...

The Turning Wheel Mantra rewrites history and, for a brief moment, lulls the dharma forms that are choking the necks of my comrades to sleep.

Of course, even this does not solve the problem, but merely postpones it.

Like postponing [Hope].

"Having thrown the final decisive move as a greeting, you suggest we just sit and chit-chat. What a boring thing that would be, O Heavens."

I take a step toward those indifferent eyes.

Once again, truth is manipulated.

Oh Hye-seo, who uttered her fate.

Her abilities, authority, and even her very existence, already belong to the Future King.

Therefore, her authority tightens around me.

It tries to revise my very essence.

But I endure through the Turning Wheel Mantra, advance toward him, and level the Impermanence Sword at his throat.

The sword of impermanence filled with starlight touches Hong Fan's chest.

"Now, let us talk."

The talk of martial artists is always not the tongue but something else.

Hong Fan raises his hand.

Something black rises in his hand.

Ego-Preservation.

The shard of the Absolute that clung to me, and my authority.

No, the fate I mistook for authority.

'So that is how it is.'

Only now I understand why I felt such disgust when I looked at the Head Realm and the Future King.

'From the very beginning...the one who granted the power was you.'

In accordance with the fragment of the Absolute, the world bestows authority upon us.

That 'world' is precisely the being before my eyes.

He, with silence, expresses affirmation to my question.

When I think about it, Kim Young-hoon always reached the same eye level as me.

Jeon Myeong-hoon always guided those with ties of grace and resentment through the Heavenly Lightning Banner.

Kang Min-hee always put a bridle on herself.

Oh Hyun-seok was always faint.

Kim Yeon always led others toward an ideal.

Oh Hye-seo manipulated everyone, and even manipulated herself.

I was very stubborn.

When I think about it...

All of this was fate.

'It was not simply something like desire.'

No, perhaps at first it was indeed desire.

Once I obtain the clues to infer the truth, I deduce in an instant with the insight of a Supreme Deity how the Fate Supreme Deity creates the Enders, and how our fates and authorities come to be.

The Owner of Fate splits the Absolute of Miracle within his own hands, then processes it and refines it into the form of fate.

Then he lodges it within seven living beings of another dimension, has them live their lives and accumulate causality, and makes each living being look upon fate by their own standards.

Thus, when the causality in the other dimension ends, he brings them to Mount Sumeru and proceeds with the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion of each fragment of the Absolute.

Through the beginning, development, twist, conclusion, the fragment of the Absolute matures, and gradually, from a simple fragment of the Absolute—the power of joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hate, and desire—it converts into the proper form of fate that the Owner of Fate has set.

Of course, in my case, because the power of the Absolute fragment was maximized as I underwent death, the Absolute fragment evolved to some extent close to fate from the very beginning and seized the Radiance Mantra.

Putting the Absolute fragment into the flesh of a mortal, and as that life proceeds, sublimating the Absolute of Miracle into a power the Owner of Fate can control!

This is the reality of what we call our fate, which I perceive as I face the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju, and watch him wield Truth Manipulation.

That is why, when everyone sees the Future King who allocates fate, they naturally feel longing and peace.

Because, as the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion proceeds, each Absolute fragment 'sublimates' into the form of 'fate', and so it is practically no different from being in a state of unity with the Owner of Fate.

And because only I did not accept my fate.

Because, as I proceeded through the beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, I became broken.

Because I did not rashly accept the very origin of desire, I rather remain apart from the subject of fate.

Therefore, I instead see fate most objectively, and I intuitively loathe the filthy essence called desire.

"Am I right?"

When I ask Hong Fan, who in any case already reads all my thoughts, he opens his mouth.

"Right. Only you..."

For the first time, he trails off.

"Stubbornly refuse to accept me."

And for the first time, he goes beyond reacting to our opinions and begins to speak his own.

"It is a dilemma. You are supporting roles and chess pieces. At the same time, you are crucial devices to complete the story. Originally, only when the seven Heavenly Kings are born can one obtain the Miracle. Everything is complete, yet one has gone beyond mere defectiveness and completely went against his fate."

Ssaaaa—

At his emotionless gaze, I feel my chest tighten.

"Whether I should discard all of you here, or, even if I have to forcibly fit the defective piece, take it anyway."

Even as I feel my chest tightening with pressure at those words, I smile slightly.

"Is it not already decided, my friend?"

At my next words, Hong Fan's expressionless eyes twitch for the first time.

"Try to make it fit. Just as you kept trying, and for the first time, managed to get this far, even though you kept trying to guide me and it did not work, maybe you might actually succeed this time."

"..."

Sururururu...

The fate floats above Hong Fan's hand.

The fragments of the Absolute that the Future King Fate Supreme Deity released into Mount Sumeru to process into the shape of fate begins to dye his hand black.

Just as I fought with an obsidian chain wrapped around my right hand, he uses the Absolute fragment almost like an Immortal Treasure and raises his hand toward the sword I extend.

"...If you so wish."

—True Martial Arts.

—Emptiness Sword.

—Third Form.

"I shall face you."

The Emptiness Sword circles.

A black wave draws a blackened Three Great Ultimates around him.

"As the Devil Heavenly King."

The blackened Emptiness Sword transforms into Radiance itself and flies in.

At the same time, inside that strike of radiance, I feel the Absolute fragment of Obsidian flicking its tongue as if trying to make a flower bloom with me as its seedbed.

The purpose of the attack is utterly transparent.

He intends to complete his plan even if he has to forcibly ram into me the fragment of the Absolute that fell away from me and failed to settle.

At the same time, I raise the Impermanence Sword and fly toward the Emptiness Sword.

The Impermanence Sword circles in the exact reverse direction to the Emptiness Sword and begins to emit light.

—Void Sword.

—Third Form, Light.

—————!

His third form, restored by reinterpreting the Radiance Mantra, confronting Radiance Hall, and accelerating time.

Two identical techniques collide and cancel each other out.

Light explodes, and from the impact, a small Heavenly Domain forms and collapses between he and I.

I shout toward him as he sits.

"Let us dance, stand up!"

In his hollow gaze, I am reflected.

He speaks.

"If you so wish."

And at last, he begins to stand.

Kugugugugu!

By the mere act of standing, spacetime distorts and the surroundings warp.

He begins to lift the Emptiness Sword.

"Come, let us talk! Hong Fan!!!"

I shout, calling my friend's name.

At that shout, other friends also begin to rush all at once toward Hong Fan.

From the Underworld, Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, Oh Hyun-seok, Kim Yeon, and Oh Hye-seo, laying out their everything...

They begin to rush to dance with our friend, Hong Fan.

The time we can dance with him is until the power of Hope that I let flow and sent away to another spacetime catches up to us again.

'Exactly 360 days by a mortal's time!'

For us, it is a time limit no different from an instant.

Our dance with him begins.

—Emptiness Sword.

—Fourth Form.

—Heaven (天).

A simple upward slash.

An attack that performs the second form, King (王) in the exact reverse.

Yet that upward slash that comes not by attraction force, but repulsive force, holds in that single strike the power to burn Heaven and Earth.

Thrusting the Impermanence Sword toward that blade, I begin to face Hong Fan even more directly.

With me at the head, my comrades form a formation, gather everyone's strength, and barely deflect Heaven, nullifying it.

He rushes toward us who have formed a formation.

Mount Sumeru, Thirty-Third Heaven, Audience Chamber.

Before the jade throne of the king wearing a black mianguan.

Before that great and sacred imperial presence.

The memories of the 16th cycle vividly sprout up anew between the attacks of us and the Devil Heavenly King.

16th cycle.

Several years have passed since we settled on Red Moon Island.

In that time, the Devilish Immortal Sect Alliance including Makli Cheon-sa completely took root on Red Moon Island and succeeded in absorbing almost all of the existing clans of Red Moon Island.

Since Makli Cheon-sa is also counted as a promising candidate to reach the Heavenly Being stage, all the various clans threw every kind of passes at her, and there are not a few who volunteered as disciples or henchmen and flocked under her cave residence.

So eventually, cultivators who claim to be Makli Cheon-sa's disciples and henchmen flocked together and even formed a group, and...

The Devilish Immortal Sect Alliance now even sends a message saying that she should not simply be the alliance's nominal leader, but should accept them, formally open a sect, and sit as one of the alliance's seats.

Of course,

None of the handling of these events even reaches her, who stands on the verge of advancing to the Heavenly Being stage. I have to take on all of it.

She received reports of such letters and situations the first one or two times, but from then on she threatened that if I bother her again, she would kill me, and told me to handle it as I see fit, so I had to handle everything on my own.

'Am I a cultivator or a grad student?'

I am old enough to have lived enough as I want, but because faint nightmares from Earth days start to surface for no reason, I shiver.

Makli Cheon-sa's way of thinking is similar to professors who order around graduate students to the point that it reminds me of my Earth days.

'Damn it, no wonder she accepted a suspicious guy so easily.'

Maybe I should have noticed and ran away when she started with having me take care of demon insects and demon beasts in the beginning and then even this kind of grunt work.

She didn't care whether I was suspicious or gave a bad feeling. She simply needed a fresh, capable slave in the same realm.

"Hey you, did you deliver the gift to Great Person Makli well? What did she say?"

"Hey Seo brat. Did Great Person Makli not say she would send a reply today?"

"Hey, Seo punk. Are you really sure you reported it properly to Great Person Makli!?"

Starting with cultivators from the Grand Perfection Core Formation stage to the half-step Nascent Soul stage who come to find me.

"Great Person Seo, hehe, what do you think about the marriage matter I mentioned?"

"If you enter our clan, we promise every support we can give to Great Person Seo..."

"Seo Hyung, when a sect opens with Great Person Makli at the head, surely Seo Hyung will take a high post in the new sect. Since you are trusted by Great Person Makli to this extent, it is only natural. When that time comes, my sincerity, please remember as..."

I am on the verge of collapse from accepting and sorting out all sorts of solicitations from cultivators reaching even the Qi Building level.

And above all, what drives me mad is...

"Kraaaagh, Seo Hyung! Great Person Makli's demon beasts are on a rampage! My younger brother was already eaten!"

"This fucking...!"

Makli Cheon-sa's pet demon beasts.

It is the incidents between these insane troublemakers and the cultivators who gather following her.

"Kyaooooo!"

A Three-Headed Python (三頭蟒) demon beast at the Grand Perfection Core Formation stage runs wild with bloodshot eyes.

When I check, one or two who look like cultivators at the Qi Building stage are inside its belly.

I activate a beast binding, subdue the three-headed snake demon beast first, and scatter the Formless Sword.

Chwaaaak!

The Treading Heavens Formless Sword spreads out like thornbushes, pierces the entire body of the three-headed python demon beast, and takes position so it can take its life at any time.

Sensing both the restriction and the crisis to its life at the same time, the beast stops and begins to listen to my words.

Gulp, gulp!

After a while, it retches and spits out the Qi Building cultivators it has gobbled up.

"What happened?"

"Keheok! Great Person Seo, thank you. The demon beast suddenly went berserk..."

"That is a lie."

The Qi Building cultivator who escaped death speaks to me with a pale gaze, and from far away, a spirit wave in the Demon Race tongue resonates to me.

"Those Human Race bastards tried to steal and eat the python's eggs. So the python got very angry."

A Demon Race of the Transformation Stage, a cat demon beast.

The demon beast of the Five-Colored Shadow Cat Race that Makli Cheon-sa cherishes.

It is the woman with the common name 'Oh Saek' (Five Colors).

I let out a deep sigh and ignite Yin Soul Ghost Curse Incantation.

Tssaaaa...

Black curses overflow around and begin to flow into the Qi Building thugs.

"Kuaaaaaaagh!"

"Guaaaagh!"

[I already know what you stole. What you stole is not simply an animal's eggs, but my master's precious property. As you are thieves who tried to steal my master's property, I shall cast you into curses as you are and make you rot to death!]

"Great Person!!!"

"Please spare us!!! Please spare us, Great Person!"

[If you want to live...confess your crime yourselves! Proclaim your sins to all and suffer exemplary punishment under my hand!]

"W-We tried to steal and eat the eggs of the demon beast raised by Elder Makli Cheon-sa and..."

And so, another dizzying day passes again.

"Huuu..."

Night has fallen.

A whole day has passed just by mediating between the dog-like Red Moon Island trash and Makli Cheon-sa's ferocious beasts.

At least from night onward, an island-wide prohibition on Red Moon Island activates, so the use of all spells and divine power becomes extremely restricted, making it comparatively quiet.

From what I heard, in the distant past Red Moon Island was the true homeland of the Devilish Path where war and slaughter never ceased.

Not a day passed without blood drying, and every night, the moonlight looked like a moon soaked in blood, a Red Moon, and thus the name Red Moon Island was given. How severe must the slaughter have been?

In the end, a monk from Red Moon Island wielded a powerful divine power handed down in the Buddhist Family, stripped the Red Moon Island people of the power of [Night], and sealed it under the grounds of a temple beneath Sky Island. Since then, prohibition was born whereby at night the power of all divine power and spells becomes extremely weakened regardless of race.

"Perhaps only the Immortal Arts of legends or a cultivator at the Star Shattering stage has power to that degree."

I feed the demon beasts, and I look after their sleeping places.

At the edge of the demon beast cave, I come to my cave residence and, looking at the centipede being raised inside, I mutter.

Hong Fan is growing quite well.

Recently, he readily takes the elixirs I give, and with my help, he has been growing quickly through the demonic power training method written in Makli Cheon-sa's beast taming secret manual.

Makli Cheon-sa laughed at Hong Fan, but Hong Fan, who has been growing to the point that such mockery is meaningless, has already reached the 4th Star of Qi Refining before I knew it.

'As long as he reaches the Qi Building level, his spiritual nature will open up considerably, so communication should become possible. When that time comes, he should show the same genius as in the previous life.'

Once he reaches that level, I plan to leave Red Moon Island with Hong Fan.

'The curse of lightning transformation...'

This accursed curse left by the Immortal of Heavenly Punishment gnaws at my body.

Even though I recovered my realm up to the Core Formation stage before I knew it, in reality thunder and lightning has replaced parts of my organs, and I am dying.

"Grow up fast and strong, Hong Fan."

I feed Hong Fan a realm-advancing pill and steady my heart that wants to resolve this curse as soon as possible.

"Grrrk..."

And Hong Fan lets out a burp-like sound.

"...Huh...?"

Tududududuk!

At the same time, Hong Fan suddenly molts, and his body that was only the size of a palm becomes more than twice as large.

At that bizarre phenomenon, I only stare wide-eyed at the guy.

"Uh, uhh..."

Hong Fan, in an instant, has reached the 7th Star of Qi Refining.

And then,

"Mmm, are you my master?"

"Uh, uhhh..."

He starts to talk.

"My spiritual nature was lacking, so speaking was a bit difficult, but now communication should be a bit smoother. Haw haw."

Not only can I not understand how a demon beast at the Qi Refining 4th Star jumped its realm just by eating a few pills,

I also cannot understand how a demon beast of the insect lineage without any special bloodline has its intellect awakened and speaks just at the Qi Refining 7th Star.

Not knowing what on earth this situation is, I can only blink.

'Was it like this in my previous life too?'

It does not seem so.

It is when I blink my eyes.

"Do not be surprised, Master. The essence of Qi is explosion, and explosion is a phenomenon that occurs as something called Fate descends from a higher dimensional layer to a lower dimensional layer. That is, if one understands one's fate, it is easy to draw the power of fate down to a lower dimensional layer and amplify the power of explosion. All the more so if one is a Demon Race that mainly cultivates the power of explosion. Therefore, with the minimum spiritual energy to trigger fate, which is about the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the 3rd Star of Qi Refining, you can draw power from fate in the higher dimensional layer as much as you like, amplify your energy, and you can easily pull up and raise lower cultivation realms. However, due to lacking spiritual nature and intelligence and to tolerate several errors, I made the attempt at around the Qi Refining 4th Star level."

"...?"

Hong Fan starts to make sounds from start to finish that I cannot understand at all.

"Anyway, from breaking away from the vestige and layering the mantra six times, I have bathed in light sufficiently. I have also recovered my memory and intellect to some extent, so from now on, I will protect Master."

"...?"

He did get bigger than before, but still, this tiny centipede flailing his antennae and saying he will protect me is...

A fluttering feeling I will never forget.

Present.

With me at the head, the formation my comrades arranged begins to be completed.

It is the Six Harmonies formation that suppresses Heaven and Earth and Four Directions.

Clang!

Kang Min-hee sits at the earth bearing and, using shadow as ink, begins to paint something.

With the motion of her hands, the rank of existence we possess becomes further sealed.

Our forms, which are metaphysical in existence, become more distinct and are fixed into even more physical shapes.

Our appearances become defined according to the taenghwa she paints.

However, even though the rank continues to be sealed, Hong Fan's expression is indifferent.

Rather, he overwhelms all of us single-handedly and shows us despair with only the pure power of Martial Arts.

Tsuaaaat!

—Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.

—Sixth Form.

—Golden Speed Heavenly King.

Kim Young-hoon's head shines gold, and he becomes a Peng Bird.

He becomes the very heart itself, transcending all divine providence and causality, space and time.

And the next moment,

—Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.

—Final Form.

Tststststs...!

From that state, Kim Young-hoon begins to accelerate even more.

—Golden Great Thousand World.

In an instant he marks Hong Fan's rear and he explodes.

A true speed of Undying that surpasses Hyeon Mu.

The true light of Surpassing Radiance that nothing can catch up to intends to arrive to this place.

Or so we thought.

"Is that all?"

—Apex of Movement Techniques.

—True Martial Arts, Black Heaven (眞武玄天).

Perception cuts off.

In an instant, Kim Young-hoon's rear is again marked by Hong Fan.

Void Speed.

It is Hyeon Mu's method for reaching Undying, a reverse law whereby the more one empties power, the faster one becomes.

If power is infinite, speed decelerates to the speed of light, and if power approaches zero, speed accelerates to infinity and reaches Undying.

The opponent before my eyes is the Zero King in whose heart nothing exists.

The God of Emptiness!

'Ah...'

I realize in an instant.

The Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.

He is the original owner of all the martial arts Hyeon Mu has.

He is the original protagonist of the achievement Hyeon Mu used for Heavenly Venerable advancement.

Restrictions like the four steps that apply to a fabricated Heavenly Venerable like Hyeon Mu do not exist.

For he is a being of emptiness that is always emptied to the value of zero.

That is to say...

The Undying that Kim Young-hoon reaches by using Golden Great Thousand World is, for him, merely basic speed.

Tukwagwang!

—Apex of Killing Techniques.

—Heuk Sa (Black Snake).

I can tell.

That technique, for Hong Fan, is not even worthy to be called True Martial Arts.

If I must categorize it, it is a martial technique with the kind of weight that the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts has for me and Kim Young-hoon.

Countless snakes hiss and sweep over Kim Young-hoon like a waterfall.

Hyeon Mu's True Martial Arts, the martial techniques of the Dance of Emptiness, explode in a single instant.

Through that single martial technique Kim Young-hoon's whole body cannot even react and is torn away, scattered like trash.

: : Guaaaaaaaa! : :

Oh Hyun-seok, with a pale face, completes the charging of Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter through the gap Kim Young-hoon creates, and unleashes power.

Jeon Myeong-hoon lifts his spear, barely overcomes fear, and prepares a full-power thrust.

—Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation Ultimate Will.

—Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.

—Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear.

—Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter.

—Zero Wing.

—Nameless One Fist.

And then, Hong Fan begins to inhale.

—Apex of Internal Energy Methods.

—Darkness World.

It is the end.

Likewise, it is something not even worth to be called True Martial Arts.

If I compare it to myself, it is not even the Impermanence Sword, but a method at the level of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea.

At that single method, Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok, as if bewitched, gaze at the tip of their spear and the end of their fist.

The energy, the will, the strength that gathers in their hands...

And the very history of those techniques itself wither away powerlessly.

Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok instantly forget what they are about to do and, like fools, just stand there stupidly staring at the opponent before their eyes.

Causality.

No, the colossal law called the Law of Causality itself, with a single breath of Hong Fan, is sucked toward him.

The Heaven, Earth, and Heavens Above transform into a Heaven and Earth of Avidyā, and I can feel the restraints imposed upon by Kang Min-hee and my Great Mountain Pressing Down unravel layer by layer.

Kang Min-hee, struck by backlash from the taenghwa painting method, spits blood, rolls up her eyes, and heads toward death.

His existence that was pinned down to the realm of the physical begins to loosen again into the metaphysical.

An internal energy method that sucks in the Law of Causality without limit and devours it!

It is the most terrifying internal energy method, one I have never even conceived of, and one I must not even imagine.

The enemies who face him forget why they must fight him.

They even forget the techniques they accumulated to fight him.

Since causality itself is being sucked away, there is nothing to be done.

—Emptiness Sword Third Form, Applied Technique.

Kiririk...!

Converting the devoured Law of Causality into power, the Emptiness Sword begins to circle centered on Hong Fan.

—Black (玄).

It is black.

Everything is black.

And the moment that pitch-black darkness ends, I gaze at the true bodies of Jeon Myeong-hoon and Oh Hyun-seok flung away with their limbs wildly twisted and snapped.

An instant after arranging the Six Harmonies Formation to pressure Hong Fan.

Kim Young-hoon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Kang Min-hee, and Oh Hyun-seok are annihilated in an instant before I have any chance to do anything.

The ones left are Kim Yeon and Oh Hye-seo.

Kim Yeon joins both hands and forms a unique hand seal that draws a small circle, doing something, and before long Hong Fan reaches the front of her and, with an emotionless face, extends the Emptiness Sword.

—Emptiness Sword First Form.

—Zero.

Before I have any chance to step in and block, countless black claws and fangs appear from within the Emptiness Sword.

However, unlike when I used it, those countless irregular-looking claws, fangs, and murderous auras are perfectly disciplined under Hong Fan's will.

That decisive technique, which in my hands only ever ripped and tore the opponent to shreds, cleanly severs Kim Yeon's neck and decapitates her.

Not even a single drop of blood flows from her neck.

Her head tumbles far away like garbage.

Oh Hye-seo tries to do something, but Hong Fan acts as though he does not even care about her.

In an instant he appears while stomping her head, and he slams Oh Hye-seo into the floor of the Audience Chamber and crushes her in.

Not even a proper technique is used on her.

Having subdued everyone, Hong Fan looks at me.

"You stayed still until everyone was slaughtered."

"Th—"

"Do you trust Hwe-ah?"

Realizing my intention in an instant, Hong Fan looks at me with emotionless eyes.

I make a bitter smile and perceive the Underworld preparing something behind me.

The moment the Future King rose, the Underworld prepared only one thing.

—I will advance. Guard me.

There is only one existence a Heavenly Venerable can advance to.

The position of True Emperor, like the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.

The Western Heavenly Venerable, Netherworld Queen Mother Bong Hwa thought that only that would create a possibility and has been aiming for it.

Step—

Hong Fan takes one step closer to me.

Just that one action.

With that, what I hid and was guarding with Heavenly Escape is revealed.

Kugugugugugu!

Centered on Bong Hwa, down below the Audience Chamber.

Thousands and hundreds of millions of [history] pour out from the Emptiness Supreme Deity Myeong Woon and whirl in a frenzy.

The fact that the tiny lifeform that said it will protect me at the Qi Refining 7th Star and the extremity of slaughter right before my eyes are the same existence...

I still cannot believe it.

Staring at that face, it feels like even now everything is a prank, only a test, and he is going to crack a silly joke about going to boil some potatoes.

But...

"Sure enough, that won't happen, will it?"

In those eyes, the Hong Fan I know is not there.

No, even if he is, it is only a speck.

I know nothing about the true Hong Fan.

So...

"From now on, let's find out."

I make up my mind to have a sincere conversation with Hong Fan.

"Come, Hong Fan."

My friends were massacred.

But without being swept up by that hatred, resentment, and madness, I look only at Hong Fan and focus all will at the tip of my sword.

The one behind me is the God of Life and Death, of History.

If the Underworld becomes the Owner of Life, death has no meaning.

No, even if the Underworld fails, there still remains a possibility to save my comrades.

And, looking into my resolute eyes, Hong Fan raises his left hand.

In his left hand, he holds the birdcage he has stroked.

In the next moment,

Clang—

The Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.

Bong Hwa is confined inside the birdcage.

The power of the Akashic Records she was drawing up.

The Origin Essence of Life, Omniscience.

The Emptiness Supreme Deity Myeong Woon, in whom it is embedded, gives up keeping the Akashic Records and becomes shackles that tighten around Bong Hwa's neck, suppressing her power.

Kugugugugu!

Bong Hwa musters all her strength to escape those shackles, but her power is perfectly offset by the shackles made of the Emptiness Supreme Deity and she cannot even pierce the birdcage.

The birdcage and the power of the Emptiness Supreme Deity amplify from within and completely press down the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.

The Future King Fate Supreme Deity, with eyes whose meaning I can by no means read, looks down and mutters at the shrunken form of the sealed Bong Hwa.

"Good. Resist. Struggle."

Woo-woooooong!

He gradually floats the birdcage into the void.

"For only resisting fate...is your reason for existence, Hwe-ah."

The Absolute of History.

The Akashic Records depart from the embrace of the Emptiness Supreme Deity and also slip out of the advancement ritual of the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.

The authority of Omniscience, inside that Mount Sumeru, shines purely in golden radiance, under no one's control.

"I speak again."

And, before my eyes.

The Heavenly God who seized the Absolute of Heaven opens his mouth again.

"You do not need something like hope."

Kugugugugu—

The God of Light and Hope wearing that black mianguan coldly takes hope from me and prophesizes.

"I see all your moves. Do you intend to turn back time with Auspicious Soul Filling the Heavens and save your friends? I prophesize. You will not complete three thousand regressions, and I will seize the entire Severing Heaven Sword Form whole from you, and you will be killed by your own Martial Arts."

Grasping every last possibility I have hidden, he calmly prophesied.

His prophecy is neither grave nor numinous like other True Immortals.

It is merely one of those words tossed out as if speaking ordinarily.

From the start, there is no need to be sacred.

For the very standard of all sacredness is the heavens itself.

"I speak again, do not be mistaken. No matter what you all do, you are only supporting roles."

Wooooooo—

Freed completely from Kang Min-hee's constraint and my Great Mountain Pressing Down, he slowly expands once more.

A divinity so transcendent that I feel nothing at all.

That is precisely the Heavens.

"The true protagonist of the story is not you."

An existence who attained the highest Dao.

Author’s Note:

Protagonist (主人公).

A Buddhist term for a person who has attained the Dao.

The fundamental and absolute subjecthood of all sentient beings.