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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 66: The Image of an Awakened Liberated One

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The Imperial House's junior second-rank administrator, the Martial World Mediator Do Muwon.

Han Yujin could not know exactly why that person had ordered Eun Miryeong's assassination. Still, if he had to guess, it was unlikely to be due to a personal grudge or Eun Miryeong herself.

‘Junior second rank isn't low at all. Someone like that would have a hard time even becoming involved with a rising talent like Eun Miryeong.’

As Han Yujin had guessed, junior second rank was comparable to a vice minister's position on modern Earth.

‘It isn't very convincing to say this is related to the Hyeonbaek Sect either. Eun Miryeong may be famous, but she's still only a rising talent.’

In the end, only one likely possibility remained.

‘It's because of me.’

There was no other explanation than that someone had wanted to achieve something by enraging the Golden Lotus Martial Venerable, a Life and Death Realm master. And although they had hired an exceptional assassin, they had shown no intent at all to conceal the fact that it was an assassination...

‘If things had gone as they planned, I wouldn't have been able to leave the assassin organizations alone, even knowing there was someone behind them. And most assassin organizations belong to the unorthodox faction.’

From the Imperial House's perspective, the more martial-world powers divided and fought one another, the better.

‘Or perhaps the Imperial House administrator merely took the commission because their interests overlapped with someone else's.’

There was also the Dark Shadow Demon Cult, which stood to gain if the Golden Lotus Martial Venerable clashed with the unorthodox faction and naturally came to be regarded as part of the righteous faction.

Thanks to the combination of his divine ability and the Illusory Dream Heart-Seizing Art, he had learned who had commissioned the Ruthless Killer King. That made it much easier to infer several things. Whether his guesses were right could be confirmed later, when he went to collect the debt.

What mattered was this.

‘The Imperial House struck at me first, so I'll feel much more comfortable demanding payment later.’

He was genuinely looking forward to seeing what martial arts manuals might be stored in the Imperial House Repository.

He was also quite interested in the Ruthless Killer King.

The assassin had been too bizarre and dangerous to capture alive, so he had killed them. Still, there was something Han Yujin wanted to try when he later found Evernight, the assassin organization.

Having comprehended a Divine Sense secret art related to emotion, could he restore their emotions? Could the process offer even a clue toward overcoming the Heartless Tribulation?

‘Of course, for that... I need to successfully gain something from the Six Paths of Samsara Painting.’

With that thought, he made one final circuit of the Sutra Repository.

About fifteen days had passed since the Ruthless Killer King's attack.

He had memorized every scripture related to the Six Paths of Samsara and understood as much as he could. He had also filled his mind with all the supplementary doctrine needed for that understanding.

Unless he truly intended to devote himself to the Samsara Buddhahood Sect, this should be enough. In fact, Han Yujin was quite curious how many of its actual followers knew as much doctrine as he did now.

‘It's time.’

Finally certain, he left the Sutra Repository.

It was time to uncover the secret of the Six Paths of Samsara Painting.

* * *

Abbot Hyegak personally guided Han Yujin, who had come alone.

Even without the guilt of having allowed the Ruthless Killer King to infiltrate their defenses, and the gratitude felt toward someone who did not make an issue of it, Abbot Hyegak would have come personally.

The Six Paths of Samsara Painting was protected by a formation array in the deepest part of the temple. Nearby was also a Scripture Pavilion containing secret martial arts manuals, making it impossible not to recognize how important this place was.

The building bearing the plaque Dharma Wheel Hall was remarkably tall. According to the explanation, it did not have separate floors. The painting was simply that large.

After guiding him there, Abbot Hyegak said that meals would be delivered at a set time every day.

Naturally, Han Yujin shook his head.

“That's all right. I'd actually prefer that no one look for me until the time is up.”

“...Very well. There should be a small bell inside. If something urgent happens, please do not hesitate to ring it.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

After exchanging farewells with Abbot Hyegak, who looked as though they assumed Han Yujin had some means of his own, Han Yujin entered the building.

The interior was neat, perhaps because it was regularly maintained. The painting was covered by ivory silk embroidered with the symbols of the Samsara Buddhahood Sect, and it truly was enormous.

It was over ten meters tall and more than seven meters wide.

Han Yujin sat on the meditation cushion placed at the center, spending some time calming his mind and raising his concentration.

Once he felt fully prepared, he used the Object Manipulation Art to remove the silk covering the painting, then folded it and set it to one side.

At last.

The Six Paths of Samsara Painting revealed itself.

A being of dark form, whose appearance could not be discerned, held six divided and cycling worlds between its spread arms.

The dark figure wore blue-black robes embroidered with gold and white clouds. The colors were not uniform, their intensity changing from top to bottom. Mountain ranges seemed to fill the background, though upon closer inspection, they appeared to be something other than mountains.

Above the figure's head, the outline of another luminous shape shimmered. At a glance, it seemed human, perhaps a tree, or perhaps some celestial body in the universe.

The six cycling worlds were the Heavenly Bliss Realm, Human Desire Realm, Departed Souls Realm, Beast Realm, Strange Insect Realm, and Abyss Realm, described in the doctrine of the Samsara Buddhahood Sect. They gave off the impression of a mosaic, yet even the slightest focus revealed that they depicted infinite worlds forcibly compressed into the painting.

Without realizing it, Han Yujin examined the painting with Divine Sense at full power. He considered using the Spirit Vision Art as well, but for some reason, he intuitively felt that it would only interfere and stopped himself.

His gaze naturally moved toward the first of the Six Paths of Samsara, the world of the highest happiness. Then it moved to the world of expectation, then the world of sorrow, before flowing through the worlds of anger, disgust, and despair.

‘Heavenly Bliss, Human Desire, Departed Souls, Beast, Strange Insect, Abyss.’

They were like the Five Elements of fire, lightning, wind, water, and earth that explained the elements. They were not something distinct and absolute, but rather representations.

As time passed like that.

At some point.

Within Han Yujin's consciousness as it moved along with the flow, the outline of one world began to emerge. Soon, the other five worlds began to take shape as well.

At the same time, countless images stimulating his five senses rapidly surfaced, then sank away again.

An endlessly blue and clear sky. Morning mist carrying a faint golden glow. Plains covered with fresh plants and colorful flowers. Animals resting proudly with elegant horns and manes. The songs of small, adorable birds in the trees. Clear jade-green rivers filled with vividly colored fish. Tall, beautiful stone peaks thick with vegetation, embracing the clouds.

A sturdy, majestic gray city wall. A city of splendid palaces, mansions, and other buildings within it. Bustling markets filled with faceless people on clean streets. In shadowed alleys everywhere, something gave off an eerie glow like an eye's gleam before vanishing. Murmurs filled with hope and greed drifted like background noise.

Blue mist faintly coloring the surroundings. A completely empty, utterly hollow gray sky. Dim, gloomy light from an unknown source. Desolate land between withered ancient trees. Shadows lying thick and moving like sobs along with the flowing light. Pitiful whispers and sighs carried on a weak wind.

Rugged plains and excessively dense forests. A sky where black clouds flashing with lightning swirled ferociously. Rocky mountains where thunderous roars and lava burst forth. Sharp cries and spine-chilling roars that would echo forever. Scalding red blood flowing endlessly from somewhere in every direction and soaking the earth. Poisonous plants that grew and fell as they waged unseen wars upon it.

Ground as sticky as a swamp, easily crushed and clinging. A sky entirely obscured by drooping leaves, insect nests, and spiderwebs. Worms tangled together, writhing and swimming through pools of slime. Countless wet noises that seemed to gnaw at the brain. The damp, suffocating stench of everything rotting and collapsing.

Darkness so deep that nothing could be discerned. Sharply rusted barriers blocking every path. A jagged floor that clanked and tilted precariously with every step. Fear-soaked screams borne on freezing gusts. Pained groans from something crawling beyond the barriers, dragging chains. Lightning bolts crashing down at irregular intervals and tearing at his ears. A blood-red sky briefly revealed in their flashes.

They were so vivid that it felt as though he had truly visited those worlds.

That was precisely why Han Yujin, staring at the painting, was soon drenched in cold sweat.

‘How... how did they possibly contemplate this... and gain a Divine Sense secret art...?’

Even while struggling amid the Six Paths of Samsara Painting's terrifying power, which far exceeded his expectations, he raised a single question and assessed the danger.

This was never an object of the martial world's level.

It was surely from the cultivation world, or from a world of comparable standing.

Fortunately, it was merely a painting without any spirituality. Yet the fact that it could display such a level despite having no spirituality was chilling in another way.

If he wished, he could turn his attention away and escape this unbearable storm of sensation even now.

But if he fled from it here.

He also intuitively knew that he would never again fall into such deep immersion.

As he hesitated, Abbot Hyegak's words suddenly came to mind. The abbot had warned that contemplating it for more than three months could cause someone to fall into a heart demon.

Now that he saw it, the length of time did not seem to be the issue. Still, the thought that he could face such danger naturally frightened him.

At that moment, a second anomaly occurred.

Amid the countless images that surfaced and sank away, intense emotions began to erupt, taking away every bit of composure he had left.

Whenever the image of the Heavenly Bliss Realm appeared, he was happy as though he had gained everything in the universe and comprehended the ultimate truth. Every positive emotion, including joy, pleasure, love, and friendship, seemed as though it would pour forth forever.

But when the image of the Human Desire Realm appeared next, he immediately fell into being an ordinary human. Even in frustration, he could not let go of hope. He adapted to his circumstances and eventually found small happinesses. Then, whenever things seemed to go a little well, he became consumed by greed based on empty beliefs, only to fall into frustration again.

When the image of the Departed Souls Realm appeared, everything lost meaning and became empty, leaving only endless sorrow and grief. The whole world faded into worthlessness. No method could fill this sense of loss or soothe the anguish.

When the image of the Beast Realm appeared, he exploded with such injustice and rage that he wanted to burn and kill the entire world. Even if he tore apart everything in his path, chewed every living thing he saw to death, and swallowed them, it was clear that none of it would calm the hatred boiling like a volcano within him.

When the image of the Strange Insect Realm appeared, he could not endure how unpleasant and disgusting everything was, including himself. He wanted to escape this infinite revulsion forever, yet could not bear the constant gooseflesh and rising nausea.

The final image of the Abyss Realm drove everything into endless despair. The fear that no matter how he struggled, he was only a tiny speck of dust in the universe expanded into frustration and defeat, becoming an earnest resignation that begged for it all to end mercifully.

Once he had completely resigned himself, the image of the Heavenly Bliss Realm appeared again, bringing the opposite, extreme happiness of gaining all things in the universe and comprehending ultimate truth.

The fact that he was experiencing the Heartless Tribulation almost seemed irrelevant. This was a catastrophic storm of emotion that he simply could not endure.

Just as he was about to give up.

Suddenly.

He saw the dark being that held the Six Paths of Samsara, which represented every emotion humans could not control, in its embrace.

The Awakened One and the Liberated One.

It felt as though his eyes met that being's.

No, their eyes had not met.

It was as though he were looking down upon himself through the gaze of that transcendent being.

As though he were looking upon an ordinary sentient being, bound by the world's afflictions and delusions, struggling in suffering.

From that moment onward, he could observe every sensation and emotional flow of the Six Paths of Samsara, which had felt impossible to endure, as though they were someone else's affair.

And he began to sense, almost within his grasp yet impossible to seize, what he truly needed to see and feel in the Six Paths of Samsara Painting.

Within a world composed of elements and sustained upon the foundation of dimensions.

Beneath the destiny that determines life and death, and the cycle of life and death that forges destiny.

- I attained sudden enlightenment and directly beheld the Dao. In the universe to which I belong, only the undivided spirit can be eternal, immortal, absolute, and unchanging.

For an instant.

It was as though the thought of some lofty and great being had resounded in his mind like the tolling of a great temple bell.

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