Chương 566: Earth Immortal (7)

"Hong Fan! Hong Fan!"

"Yes, Master. I am here. I just regained clarity while resonating with Master. How terrifying."

"Good. That's a relief. It felt similar to when I was trapped in that dream inside the salt pillar."

It seems that Hong Fan's Formless Poison is helpful for [breaking dreams].

"Tell me the principle behind the Formless Poison. We need to wake Jeon Myeong-hoon and Golden Shaking Bird so they can come to their senses."

Feeling an overwhelming sense of crisis, I draw the Impermanence Sword and turn towards Golden Shaking Bird and Jeon Myeong-hoon, who are blankly exposing their true selves and reforming their bodies to make it easier to unite with Glass Peacock.

"If they stay like this, they'll be violated by Glass Peacock. Quickly!"

"First... pain. Pain is required. My Formless Poison condenses Qi into an information entity, which is then injected into the target to drive their information towards destruction. However, at the same time, it uses information to discern [truth and falsehood], forcibly awakening the target. And the most effective type of information to create the Formless Poison is... the information of pain. If Master gives me the energy of pain, I will use that pain to create the Formless Poison and awaken the two of them."

Chijijijik...

The Impermanence Sword darkens, turning pitch black.

Impermanence Sword.

Black Impermanence (黑無常).

The blackened sword morphs into a shadow resembling me, standing before Hong Fan.

Hong Fan extends his hand towards it, quickly collecting my [pain] and refining it into Formless Poison.

Even though he must feel a portion of my pain in the process, Hong Fan grits his teeth and endures, refining the Formless Poison and injecting it into Jeon Myeong-hoon's head.

Before long, Jeon Myeong-hoon begins to shed tears of blood.

"Kk, kkuaaaaaaaagh! Kkagh! Hah, heok... heheok...!"

"Calm yourself, Jeon Myeong-hoon. Think carefully. The first time you met [Glass Peacock] is... when!?"

"Th-Three thousand years ago... during Blood Yin's self-destruction. They... cared for me... in the Bearing Tree Heavenly Domain..."

"Recall it clearly!"

While making sure attraction force doesn't form between Jeon Myeong-hoon even when calling out their name, I urge Jeon Myeong-hoon to focus.

Finally, Jeon Myeong-hoon is startled in fright.

"Heo, Heheok! This crazy... J-Just now... what were we hit with?"

"... It seems that thing temporarily caused us to [lose the reason to escape]. I don't know the full details, but... let's wake Golden Shaking Bird for now!"

Hong Fan and I infuse the Formless Poison into Golden Shaking Bird to wake her up.

Golden Shaking Bird, overwhelmed by my immense pain used as the raw material for the Formless Poison, regains her senses amidst unbearable agony.

"Heheook, kuaaaaaaaaagh!"

But perhaps because Jeon Myeong-hoon is watching, she suppresses her outburst and gasps for breath.

"Hah, heheok... heok..."

"Are you alright, Golden Shaking Bird!"

"... Damn it. We've been captured by Glass Peacock. After seizing Twin Constructing Chains, Glass Peacock will come back to violate us."

Jeon Myeong-hoon seems to ponder something before asking,

"Wait, violate us? Is that thing a man?"

"... For True Immortals, gender holds no meaning, Master."

"Hmm... then can't I just ask them to take a form that suits my preferences? Judging by their talk of showing us paradise, it doesn't seem like they would torture us or anything..."

"... Haha... Golden Divine... the previous Master once approached that lunatic with the same thought. Thinking that as long they cater to his preferred form, he'd only experience pleasure. But... even Master couldn't last three days before fleeing. Glass Peacock was the only one who made Master run from someone weaker than him."

"J-Just what did they do...?"

"... At least six thousand years."

"Hmm?"

Golden Shaking Bird, her face darkened, trembles in terror as she speaks.

"For at least six thousand years, we will be violated by Glass Peacock without being able to rest for even one shichen. That's the kind of existence they are. Since we are practically prisoners, whether as a male or female, whether as same-sex, whether as a monstrous form or the form of True Immortal, they will violate us with no consideration. Because we are in a situation where ignoring our demands does not affect them."

"..."

"..."

"Glass Peacock's dual cultivation sessions are long. The minimum is six thousand years, the average is seventy thousand years. And... the record is with a Seat Holder of the same Immortal Path, the former Immortal Lord, Azure Peng. During their Great Net Immortal era, they violated Azure Peng for twenty million years, ultimately seizing the Seat. After taking the seat, they continued for another 5. 04 million years..."

"Stop, stop! That's enough."

Jeon Myeong-hoon and I sigh, cutting off Golden Shaking Bird's explanation.

'A lunatic Immortal Lord who endlessly alters their form and violates their opponents for tens of thousands of years regardless of gender, species, or rank... is that the Glass Peacock? What a crazy bastard.'

To be honest, I feel a fear as intense as when I was fleeing and committed suicide to avoid being modified by the Mad Lord in the 11th cycle.

'Even though I have a strong tolerance for pain, if it's that level of pleasure, I might lose my mind. Shame aside, the pleasure alone could drive me insane.'

At least during my time as [General Seo], I had the resolve of protecting Yeon...

But this time, if I end up being mindlessly violated, there won't be resolve or anything left.

I will also have no idea what would happen to my comrades during that time, and if Sword Spear Heavenly Lord finds me, it'll be a disaster.

The worst-case scenario is being mindlessly violated by Glass Peacock for tens of thousands of years, only to be found by the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord of Radiance Hall and killed meaninglessly—without achieving anything, gaining no useful information, and leaving nothing behind.

'That can't happen. I have to escape this place, no matter what!'

Jeon Myeong-hoon and I grit our teeth as Golden Shaking Bird speaks with a rotting expression.

"Hmm, it seems you are planning to resist. I would recommend against it. Provoking Glass Peacock's sadistic nature will only make the next tens of thousands of years even worse."

"... Stop with the hopeless talk and tell us what you know about that thing."

At Jeon Myeong-hoon's command, Golden Shaking Bird sighs and begins explaining about Glass Peacock.

Glass Peacock is one of the Immortal Beast King candidates, and among the Immortal Beasts, they are one of the seven who have accumulated the most ancient force.

"The Immortal Dao they walk is the Dao of Addiction. They believe that obtaining [wisdom] through connections with others is the ultimate form of addiction. Because of this, they are a mad lunatic who is addicted to union and indulges in dual cultivation everywhere. Their current realm is the Great Net realm, and..."

"Wait! Great Net Immortal realm?"

Jeon Myeong-hoon asks in confusion.

"Didn't you just say they violated that... Seat Holder, Azure Peng, for twenty-five million years and took the Seat?"

"Azure Peng took it back. However, Azure Peng did not retake the Seat by pushing through their interpretation with their own strength but with the help of other Immortal Beasts and True Immortals. Because of this, Azure Peng knows that if they meet Glass Peacock again, the Seat will be taken once more, so they are currently on the run. And because of that... Glass Peacock divides themself into clones and flies across various Heavenly Domains, searching for Azure Peng."

"That means..."

My eyes light up.

"That's right. The Glass Peacock that captured us is one of the many clones. Their realm is only Upper Immortal. However, their true form is a True Immortal who had reached the realm of an Immortal Lord. They are a greatly experienced and powerful Earth Immortal... someone we cannot defeat by power alone. They are practically no different from a Great Net Immortal. Their understanding of their Immortal Dao is so high that they defeated an Immortal Lord as a Great Net Immortal...

so if we fight, it is a guaranteed defeat."

"... But was that really a victory through just interpretation?"

"... I don't know. And I don't want to know."

Golden Shaking Bird shivers before continuing.

"Glass Peacock's Immortal Art is the Glass Avidyā Advancement Light (琉璃無明進光). Its ability, as you already know..."

"It's the authority to turn the target into an idiot."

"That is correct. But it's not as simple as just making them idiots. It scrambles the target's sequence of time, background knowledge, and even their sense of dissonance. Then, through their own history revision, they manipulate their victims however they please. That is the truly terrifying part."

'It's like if the Mad Lord got an ability like Seo Hweol's instead of puppetry... Damn it.'

An ability reminiscent of Seo Hweol's cunning, and a personality and lust resembling the Mad Lord's madness.'

A horrifying existence.

"... Is that the end of the explanation?"

Yes. That is all of it."

"Are there any other abilities, Immortal Arts, or Immortal Treasures?"

"There are none. That is the entirety of Glass Peacock. And... to put it in a different perspective, they are a monster who reached the realm of Immortal Lord with that alone."

"Damn it... That just makes it even scarier."

I click my tongue as I inspect the seal placed here by Glass Peacock.

'If the inner seal is broken, it will connect to the star vein formation outside, immediately alerting Glass Peacock to our escape.'

Breaking the seal itself isn't difficult.

A single strike of the Great Mountain Splitting Emperor Technique would probably bring it down completely.

However, the problem is that Glass Peacock would notice.

'Considering quite a bit of time has passed without them bringing Yeo Hwi back... it's not that they couldn't catch her, but they're probably enjoying themselves with Yeo Hwi while coming back. Dammit! That lust-crazed bird-brained bastard. To someone else's Immortal Treasure, they...'

But from Glass Peacock's perspective, we are likely a more tempting prey than Yeo Hwi, who is merely at the Sacred Vessel stage, so they'll be here soon enough.

'At the latest, they'll be here within one shichen. At the earliest, in about half a ke.'

I have to come up with a countermeasure within that time.

"Jeon Myeong-hoon, what ability does your Immortal Title, Heaven-Destroying One, have?"

"Hmm, through my misfortune, I can produce an effect similar to your Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique. But unlike yours, it can't cover an area... at most two people. If I push it, I might be able to conceal three within my Immortal Title."

"I see. Understood."

It's a much better Immortal Title than mine, which only avoids the gaze of the forces of light.

With just a little bit of misfortune, one could hide themselves within his Immortal Title.

I quickly formulate a plan in my head.

"Listen carefully, Jeon Myeong-hoon. There's a way for us to escape."

I explain the plan to Golden Shaking Bird, Hong Fan, and Jeon Myeong-hoon.

After hearing my explanation, Hong Fan looks pale as he speaks.

"Th-That's dangerous, Master! If what Master said is true, that's a technique that hasn't even been verified yet!"

"It won't improve unless I keep using it. Let's treat this as practice. Anyways, if I use this technique, I'll definitely be able to escape, so don't worry."

"Th-That..."

Hong Fan looks deeply worried, and Golden Shaking Bird also looks at me skeptically.

"You're not just pretending like that and planning to leave me and Master behind while you escape alone, are you? To be honest, it's hard to trust Elder's words..."

"This time as well, I will believe in you, Seo Eun-hyun!"

"... I've actually been trusting you too, Elder! Since Master believes in Elder, it must mean Elder's ability is that much profound!"

Although she still seems slightly dubious, she immediately switches her stance and supports me after Jeon Myeong-hoon speaks up.

I nod and prepare for the plan.

"Good. Then let's quickly get ready!"

And so, we start preparing to escape from Glass Peacock's devilish clutches.

:: Good.:: Glass Peacock laughs as they swing a limp chain dangling from one foot.

[H-Hiik! F-Forgive me, forgive... please forgive me...]:: The attendant concubine of that brute trained well. Only half a shichen, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hahaha... This... Well then, I suppose I'll have to give that attendant concubine the same training I gave this one. Just imagining it is truly...:: It's just when Glass Peacock, visibly excited, arrives at the front of the black hole.

Glass Peacock flinches for a moment before swiftly undoing the barrier hanging over the black hole and stepping into the dimensional space inside.

Kugugugugugu!

The dimension Glass Peacock had created is now filled with countless densely packed barrier formations numbering in the thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of millions.

:: No... this isn't just a simple barrier. Is this a reconstruction of a scene from the past? Haha...:: Glass Peacock's eyes glimmer with excitement as they transform.

Their transformed body has no distinguishable gender, their face is androgynous, and their hair is pure white.

From their white hair, a glass-like seven-colored light shimmers faintly.

"Impressive. To escape this Immortal's revision, despite being mere fledglings who barely reached Vestige Liberation Immortal and a toy created by the Golden Divine... Ahaha! Good. Very good. How exciting."

Kwaduduk!

Glass Peacock's hand glows with light as they grip the outermost barrier.

Their gaze pierces through to Seo Eun-hyun, who is unfolding a barrier at the innermost part of the formation.

"Hmm... Where are the others hiding?"

Glass Peacock darts their eyes around, searching for their prisoners.

Seo Eun-hyun smiles faintly and speaks.

"Who knows? It seems they've escaped. If you don't hurry and chase them, they'll leave for another Heavenly Domain."

At those words, Glass Peacock responds while looking at Seo Eun-hyun as if finding him cute.

"You're acting so cute... it makes me want to lay you down and scratch your belly. I can see the lump of misfortune behind you. I've seen the Golden Divine's Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique many times—do you think I wouldn't notice? You're like an animal burying its head in the bushes, leaving its body exposed, thinking that if it can't see others, others can't see it... It's so cute I could go crazy."

"..."

"Undo the barrier and greet this Immortal. If you don't, and this Immortal has to break through all these barriers to reach you, then that is already a [battle]. Right now, this Immortal just planned to abduct you, have my way with you briefly, and then let you go. Since there hasn't been any battle so far, you're merely prisoners of this Immortal. However..."

Glass Peacock's eyes glint with a dangerous light.

"If you engage in battle with this Immortal and are caught afterward, you will become this Immortal's [spoils of war]. Do not provoke this Immortal's sadistic desires. If you become spoils of war... it won't end in just a few thousand years. You will be violated for hundreds of thousands of years instead... So, if you do not want to suffer that much, undo the barrier quickly. Obediently reveal your main bodies and accept this Immortal."

"I apologize, but as this junior does not have the time, I do not think I will be able to do that. There are things I must do, you see."

"For beings at the rank of True Immortals, who live eternally, to claim to have no time—is that not a laughable excuse? At most, it's only a few ten thousand years. During those few ten thousand years, it's not as if you will be engaging only in dual cultivation with this Immortal. This Immortal will teach you and grant breaks as well. Half a ke should suffice, don't you think? There's no need to worry about boredom. This Immortal will shower you with pleasure without pause."

"... How exactly do you plan to violate us? My comrade asks if it wouldn't be possible for you to transform into a human form of the opposite gender for the act."

"Hehehmm... That could have been the case. If you hadn't tried to flee upon seeing this Immortal and had simply accepted obediently, this Immortal might have at least used a form of your species. Gender and age are at this Immortal's whim. However, you attempted to run. Even now, you are rejecting this Immortal... For that crime of insolence, your request cannot be granted. But worry not. Regardless of gender, age, race, or realm, this Immortal will open up a world of pleasure beyond your imagination."

Glass Peacock's eyes glimmer with madness as they speak.

"To not experience dual cultivation with this Immortal is akin to losing out on the entirety of life! Currently, all the True Immortals of Mount Sumeru number fewer than ten thousand! And more than nine-tenths of them have shared a connection with this Immortal. Think of it as a sort of initiation. Now then, do not anger this Immortal. Open the barrier."

Woo-woong!

Glass Peacock's androgynous body shifts, taking on a gender.

Taking the form of a voluptuous woman with pure-white hair, Glass Peacock stands naked and smiles at Seo Eun-hyun.

They licks their lips and, with an alluring expression, stretches their hand towards Seo Eun-hyun.

"Now... open it. I won't say it twice."

Seo Eun-hyun closes his eyes, bringing his hands together as if in prayer.

"I must decline. I am being pursued, so it is difficult to stay in one place."

"... What a poor move."

Glass Peacock, who had been attempting to seduce Seo Eun-hyun with their bare form, hardens their expression and shifts their gender once again.

Kudududuk...

Glass Peacock's body morphs into that of a heavily muscular male from the Fighting Ghost Race, filled with bulging muscles.

Standing completely bare in the form of a Fighting Ghost Race male, Glass Peacock looks at Seo Eun-hyun with a face filled with excitement as they lift their erect lower half and speaks.

"Since you're from the Human Race, I thought I'd start with something relatively normal for you, but that won't be necessary. You will be the first to be violated, and I will take the form the Human Race despises the most."

Kwaaaaang!

Glass Peacock charges forward and headbutts the barrier, shattering it.

Pakang!

However, only the outermost barrier collapses.

Glass Peacock's eyes flash with a sharp light.

"... I see. You... this barrier's structure is..."

Seo Eun-hyun focuses his mind in silence.

"A creation of the Heavenly Craftsman. It must be an Immortal Treasure of the Liberation Supreme Deity...!"

Kiiiiing!

Seo Eun-hyun does not answer. Instead, he forms a hand seal and chants an invocation.

Before long, the basic spells he learned from Cheongmun Ryeong move according to his will, restoring the barrier formation shattered by Glass Peacock.

Seo Eun-hyun half-opens his eyes and looks at Glass Peacock.

'I drew upon the structure of the Serving Command Palace and the power of the Immortal Treasure Liberation Seal from the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections and manifested it with Yeon's Play.'

Woo-woooong!

Inside Seo Eun-hyun's body, from the artificial stars, the dance of puppets pulling forth Seo Eun-hyun's past is unfolding.

'Afterward, using curses, I created the barrier by mimicking the structure of the Serving Command Palace and Serving Command Seal, and flipped the concept through reversal."

As a result, the Authority of [Liberation] transformed into the Authority of [Sealing].

Regardless of this or that, this is a reversal of the Liberation Supreme Deity's liberation.

Even with Glass Peacock's strength, they cannot destroy it all at once.

However, Glass Peacock wears an exhilarated smile and once again smashes the outer barrier.

Kwarurung!

Glass Peacock punches through barriers as they approach Seo Eun-hyun.

Several hundred million layers of barriers protect Seo Eun-hyun, and they are powerful barriers created by reversing the authority of the Liberation Supreme Deity.

"But that's all it is. Without even grasping a fragment of the Liberation Supreme Deity's authority, and without even walking Their Immortal Path, doing this is pointless... There's no need for history revision, no need for the Immortal Dao's authority, no need for Immortal Arts, I can just crush it all with brute force! Ahahaha!"

Kwaaang! Kwang!

Each time Glass Peacock breaks through a barrier, their appearance shifts, changing into different silver-haired members of various races as they near Seo Eun-hyun.

The barriers Glass Peacock destroys soon begin to repair themselves, restored by the structure of the Serving Command Palace.

Though Glass Peacock continues to break the barriers, before long, even they find themself trapped within the barriers.

And then, it happens.

"Now! Jeon Myeong-hoon!"

Woo-woong!

The mass of misfortune behind Seo Eun-hyun enters the uppermost layer of the Serving Command Palace's structure, which is replicated exactly within the barrier formation.

Inside that lump of misfortune, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Golden Shaking Bird, and Hong Fan simultaneously activate the teleportation formation at the highest floor.

"Liberation!"

Normally, a True Immortal would never be able to move through a teleportation formation only fit for the lower realm.

However, due to Seo Eun-hyun's reversal, Jeon Myeong-hoon is thrust into the concept of [Liberation].

The power of the teleportation formation combines with the authority of Liberation manifested by Seo Eun-hyun. Within the teleportation formation, everything inside is sent outside all the barriers.

Thus, within the dimensional space of the black hole, only Seo Eun-hyun and Glass Peacock remain.

Glass Peacock smirks, straightening their lower body even more firmly.

"Cute thing. In this case... can't I just simply go outside and bring them back... hmm?"

Glass Peacock narrows their eyes.

Woo-wooong!

A powerful attraction force is holding them in place.

An overwhelming attraction force, as if compressing the universe into a single point!

At the same time, at the outermost edge of the barrier, They see a jade of Yin-Yang Five Elements emerge.

The jade of Yin-Yang Five Elements continues to contract, gradually intensifying the attraction force.

Glass Peacock trembles with excitement, their face flushing and their lower body straightening further.

"This... is good. Absolutely marvelous. It's something worth savoring. But... something like this alone cannot stop this Immortal. Even if you've managed to trap this Immortal's physical body..."

Woo-woooong!

"If I revise history..."

Glass Peacock, who is about to revise history to capture the fleeing Jeon Myeong-hoon, suddenly flinches.

The Jeon Myeong-hoon they need to include as a target for history revision is no longer within their senses.

Glass Peacock frowns.

'Misfortune... Is it the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique? How troublesome. I can't find him without going there myself... No choice, then.'

Glass Peacock turns their rolling eyes towards Seo Eun-hyun and smiles.

"This Immortal will capture you here, violate you until you lose your mind, crush your little tricks, and then go catch the rabble of the Golden Divine."

Kwaching!

Glass Peacock begins breaking through the inner barriers that are pulling them with attraction force as they approach Seo Eun-hyun.

Kwang, kwang, kwaang!

Glass Peacock smashes through the barriers relentlessly, drawing closer to me.

But at what point did it begin?

The number of times they need to strike a wall has increased.

Kwang, kwang, kwang!

It now takes three strikes for them to break through a single barrier.

Have the barriers become stronger?

No.

Ziiiiiiiiing!

I feel an overwhelming sense of dread as I deploy Filling the Heavens Governing View with all my strength.

Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra.

And Filling the Heavens Governing View.

The barrier that mimics and reverses the Liberation Palace is nothing more than a distraction, a means to buy time.

The real plan relies on these two Immortal Arts.

Using attraction force to bind Glass Peacock so they [cannot leave], and using Filling the Heavens Governing View to make them [fail to come closer].

Glass Peacock must now remain trapped here until Jeon Myeong-hoon, Golden Shaking Bird, Hong Fan, and the others escape from the Bearing Tree Heavenly Domain.

'Of course, I can't hold them here with just my own strength.'

Even if their feet are tied by my Immortal Arts, they will continue pressing forward.

'Whether I endure until Jeon Myeong-hoon's party escapes, or whether I'm captured, violated, and lose my mind before they leave the Heavenly Domain. That's the point where victory or defeat will be decided!'

If Jeon Myeong-hoon's party escapes, I, too, have a way to flee.

"So..."

Please, succeed!

Thus, wagering my chastity on the line, I engage Glass Peacock with my Immortal Arts.