Chương 730: Fathers (4)

Kurururung— Thunder rumbles.

And within that thunder, a war of gods unfolds.

:: Pangu's Genesis.:: In the fog of illusion, as Hyeon Rang opens his fist, a new Heavenly Domain forms once again.

This is the Supreme Deity.

Beings with the authority and power to freely create and extinguish entire universes.

'To be honest...'

I don't really understand how the Creator Gods of other worlds, like Silver Basket, are different from Supreme Deities.

'I guess I'll have to meet them someday to know.'

Hwoong— And then, I cut down the Heavenly Domain Hyeon Rang creates with a single sword, splitting and annihilating it as I close in on him.

Hyeon Rang is, quite literally, a giant god capable of splitting Heaven and Earth.

With his sheer size alone, he exudes a pressure that seems as though he could flatten the world.

Even within the world where Kang Min-hee has restricted the laws, Hyeon Rang unleashes his full strength, revealing his true form and confronting me head-on.

But it is futile.

:: Descend unto me.:: [Since earlier...] I bloom a cursed flower field upon Hyeon Rang's skin, beginning my transformation into the Immortal Beast form.

[What is it you've been so desperately seeking?] Hyeon Rang howls in the torrent of pain I've endured, and I transform into a half-human, half-dragon form. With the Five Desires Chains, I coil around Hyeon Rang's body and forcibly compress his physical body.

Wudududuk!

Hyeon Rang's body instantly shrinks to the size of a mountain range, and we rise into the sky, clashing above the clouds.

Paaat!

:: Close your eyes and drift off.:: Just as I extend my sword to slash at Hyeon Rang, he begins to wield the authority of Pangu.

Hyeon Go (玄古).

Innate Immortal Art.

A Fleeting Spring Dream (一場春夢).

:: There is no difference between life and a dream...:: Tsuaaaat!

At the sound of Hyeon Rang's words, I briefly fall asleep and fall into a dream world.

In the dream world, I live an ordinary life.

Born into an ordinary family, growing up ordinarily, falling in love ordinarily, having ordinary children, growing old in an ordinary way, and dying just as ordinarily.

And then, buried in a sunny place, I begin to gradually forg...

[... As if I would ever forget.] Tstststst— From within that ordinary life, I pull out the heart I had kept buried deep in my chest throughout that entire ordinary life and open my eyes.

A literal fleeting instant.

Before Hyeon Rang could strike me with his fist after casting the Immortal Art Fleeting Spring Dream, in that fleeting instant— I experienced an entire lifetime within a dream.

It is a truly terrifying Immortal Art.

Yet, even in that dream, I never forget the hearts I've received and given.

Tststststst!

For I could never forget Gracious Soul Filling the Heavens, the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, the hearts that scattered through the world to form connections.

[The heart alone will never disappear! The heart...] And then— Kwaaang!

In that fleeting instant, I take Hyeon Rang's punch to the jaw who pierced through during the haze between dream and reality, and I'm launched straight into the sky.

Shukwaaang!

When I come to my senses, I find myself beneath the eaves of the Palace of Radiance, outside the mantra of Falling Flower.

:: That incessant talk about the heart. Are you not sick of it yet?:: After knocking me upwards, Hyeon Rang speaks to me with a sneer.

:: You keep parroting that the heart never disappears—is that the Dao you speak of? How absolutely laughable. You are no longer the Immortal Beast Candle Dragon. I have renamed you the Immortal Beast Parrot now:: Tststst!

After being hit by Hyeon Rang's punch, I, once a half-human, half-dragon, now turn into a colorful parrot Immortal Beast.

[How...?]:: I am the Progenitor of Humans. The God of the Human Race. As long as you are human, I can read and interpret your history as much as I like. I have read your history... and you seem less like a human and more like a parrot. Cherishing the heart is fine. Treasuring the connections born from the heart is also fine. So let me ask you this.:: At Hyeon Rang's following words, I slightly flinch, my body stiffening.

:: Are the connections you made in dreams also precious to you?:: Booong!

Hyeon Rang charges at me again, unfolding his Immortal Art Fleeting Spring Dream.

I try to resist the Immortal Art, but for some reason, by the time I regain awareness, I'm already pulled back into another dream.

In the dream, I am born as a mosquito.

Living as a mosquito, I spend my entire life sucking the blood of humans and beasts, building relationships with countless mosquito friends.

I form connections even as a mosquito, and together with those many mosquito friends, I attempt to feed on the human Jin Man-jae, only to get caught and crushed to death.

That is my life as a mosquito...

[Gal!] I quickly awaken from the dream, but once again, I am struck by Hyeon Rang's fist who drills into the boundary between dream and reality, sending me flying.

Kwaaang!

Inside the Palace of Radiance, the space expands further under Hyeon Rang's authority, and even Kang Min-hee's mantra can no longer restrain him.

'He's getting stronger by the moment.'

:: Descend unto me.::

'That something he keeps summoning is giving Hyeon Rang power. Most likely...'

I glance subtly toward the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain.

'With a high chance, it's the Heavenly Void Furnace... Even if it's not coming directly, because he keeps calling for it, is it granting him power?'

Hwoong— Before I can even gather my thoughts, Hyeon Rang closes in and throws a punch right in front of me.

[Tsk...] Twooong!

I deflect Hyeon Rang's fist with the Impermanence Sword.

Still, the gap between his ability and mine is significant.

As the Progenitor of the Human Race and the Owner of Names, the one who has awakened to the position of the Western Zero King, I can't stop from being dragged into his Fleeting Spring Dream by his authority. But no matter how strong he becomes, he cannot compare to me, who has forged strength with the goal of reaching the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

:: Do you enjoy close combat? Even swordsmen find it hard to respond once you are inside their range...:: Without knowing his place, Hyeon Rang dares to rush into my inner zone and throw a punch, and I transform the Impermanence Sword.

Impermanence Sword.

Heavenly Shatter Star Body!

The Impermanence Sword overlays itself onto my body.

Tukwaang!

I strike directly into Hyeon Rang's body, driving him into close combat.

[You don't really think a swordsman only wields a blade, do you?] In an instant, I slam Hyeon Rang all the way to the northern wall of the Palace of Radiance, pinning him against it, then gather energy into one hand as I speak.

A strike sharing the same roots as Oh Hyun-seok's Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter.

Tsuaaaaat!

From my back, pure white lines emerge like wings, and those lines spiral and converge into my fist.

'Martial Arts and I are one.'

In an instant, my fist, flaring up in pure white, drives straight into Hyeon Rang's abdomen.

Because the Impermanence Sword overlaps with my physical body as I thrust my punch, what appears on Hyeon Rang's belly is not a bruise, but a sword wound.

Hyeon Rang's abdomen is pierced as if stabbed by a sword, but even while writhing in pain, he grabs hold of my arm and smiles.

:: I still have not heard your answer. Go on, answer me.:: Paatt!

I am instantly sucked back into the Fleeting Spring Dream and experience six thousand reincarnations, living six thousand lives within it.

Flash!

Opening my eyes after six thousand deaths, I find Hyeon Rang slipping free from my grasp once more, having just fully recovered his wounds.

Confused by the memories gained from six thousand lives, I press him hard, and he laughs.

:: If the heart does not disappear, and connections do not fade, then if you draw a line on a blank canvas and claim that line as your child, then does your connection to that line also not vanish?:: [...]:: If you paint a nightmare upon the canvas of dreams, and in that nightmare you slaughter ten billion humans, are you then forever bound by ill connection to those ten billion lives within the dream?:: Though Hyeon Rang cannot surpass me in skill, he endures against me using authority and Immortal Arts.

With Pangu's Authority, he pulls the opponent into a dream; with the authority of the Western Zero King and the Heavenly Void Furnace, he weaves history and narrative within that dream; and with the Immortal Dao of Names, he bestows a name upon me, assigning me a role within the dream.

Though he isn't skilled in battle as a Supreme Deity, the combination of authority and Immortal Arts at that level of Supreme Deity is incredibly troublesome.

'Whenever I try to press him, he instantly pulls me into a dream.'

It is a rather annoying tactic.

:: The difference between dream and reality is omnipotence. Within dreams, all are omnipotent, but outside dreams, they are not—this is the difference between dream and reality... Yet those who rise through the Immortal Cultivation system to this level, draw ever closer to omnipotence both inside and outside the dream...:: Impermanence Sword.

Twin Flowers.

Mysterious Bizarre.

A White Orchid Flower and a Yin Soul Flower bloom in each of my hands, resonating with the curse I've implanted in Hyeon Rang's body.

Simultaneously, those curses forcibly carve circuits into Hyeon Rang's flesh, and his body begins to transform into my puppet.

:: Those who have reached the pinnacle of Immortal Cultivation draw close to omnipotence in both dream and reality... thus, no difference remains between the two. In that case, you—do you truly believe the connections and hearts even within dreams do not disappear?:: [... Isn't that obvious?]:: Then...:: Kugugugugung!

Hyeon Rang's eyes of Sun and Moon (日月) gaze down at me and ask.

:: If the heart never disappears, then what, truly, is the difference between the heart and fate?:: Kugugugung!

At that very moment, the rooftop of the Palace of Radiance shatters.

As Hyeon Rang lifts his hand toward the sky, something familiar enters my sight.

It is Ascension Path.

That tiny Ascension Path, as soon as Hyeon Rang sends his will into it, begins to collapse, revealing what has been sealed inside.

It is a colossal three-legged furnace, the Heavenly Void Furnace.

Kugugugu!

The Heavenly Void Furnace enlarges as it lands in Hyeon Rang's hand, and I can feel his power surging immensely.

:: It has descended into my hand.:: Holding the Heavenly Void Furnace, Hyeon Rang bears down on me, his Sun and Moon eyes glowing.

:: Answer me, you who believe in the miracle of connections and hearts. What is the difference between the heart and fate? If the heart never disappears and binds and restrains humans, then how is the heart any different from fate, which likewise oppresses and binds humans?:: Kugugugung!

Hyeon Rang's strength, holding the Heavenly Void Furnace, continues to grow ever stronger, and I begin to be crushed into the ground beneath his power.

No...

It's not that I'm being crushed by his strength.

I simply cannot raise my head, ashamed by the words of the God of Humans who pinpoints precisely at my weakest point.

What is the difference between the heart and fate?

Indeed.

I came to understand as I raised my child.

I realized that my heart could become the fate of someone beneath me.

To help that child carry out the fate of overcoming fate in the least painful way, I drove them into the most agonizing fate.

Crushed by my own shame, I cannot rise.

:: You, who have spent your entire life trying to escape the heavens—answer me. In the end, have you not become yet another heaven? You fought against the oppression of fate your entire life, but did your heart not also become someone else's fate?:: [... It...] I answer with difficulty.

[... has...] Perhaps...

Fate, History, and perhaps the Third Absolute which seems to be 'Heart'...

Maybe they are not all that different after all.

No, they are not different.

Because from the beginning, Qi, Soul, Fate... Heaven, Earth, Heart have always been one.

Since those three must have always been one, they are a power not all that different.

Just as drawing three boundaries within a single circle forms the Three Great Ultimates, Heart too must be Fate and History.

Therefore, I have no choice but to fully accept Hyeon Rang's words.

Before irrefutable logic, the strength of my heart begins to waver.

Hyeon Rang continues to grow his strength and press down on me.

:: If even the empty connections and fates within dreams are real, then even if your heart does not disappear, is it not, in the end, merely another chain binding you?:: To those words, spoken by Hyeon Rang whose body is bound in black chains, I cannot respond.

:: When you proclaim that the heart does not disappear, are you truly demonstrating your strength, or are you simply boasting of the chains of anguish that bind you?:: Pangu's Genesis!

Hyeon Rang's authority births a Heavenly Domain within the Primal Chaos, and that Heavenly Domain is immediately sucked into the Heavenly Void Furnace, igniting its fire.

Huarurururuk!

The Heavenly Void Furnace, using an entire universe as fuel, begins to blaze, and Hyeon Rang's eyes shine as he speaks.

:: If the heart does not disappear, is that truly a righteous thing? Or is it merely another form of absurdity, like fate?:: Kurung, kururururung!

As Hyeon Rang lifts the blazing Heavenly Void Furnace, it begins to spew out overwhelming smoke from within.

That smoke mixes dream and reality, pulling me into a fleeting dream once more.

:: Immortal Beast Parrot. In a world filled with the connections and hearts you so desire... dream, and indulge in your beloved repentant enlightenment all you want. Let us see if the heart is truly only ever righteous...:: Thus, I begin to fall into an inescapable dream and start to lose consciousness.

I believe that it is over.

Clench!

Until someone's large, powerful hand grabs my shoulder.

[... Hyung-nim...] It is Oh Hyun-seok, who has concentrated all the forces of Heaven and Earth into his right arm.

[You've bought enough time.] Oh Hyun-seok, having become one with the Primal Chaos itself, blended into Hyeon Rang's spring dream and pulled me out, his eyes gleaming.

Kugugugugu!

Behind Hyeon Rang, a massive glass-colored peacock begins to spread its wings.

Above the head of Glass Peacock, Azure Peng, in human form, is screeching noisily.

"I'm not cooperating because I like you, so don't misunderstand, you vulgar thing...!"

[Uhuhuhu, how adorable you are. Don't worry, I like you like this even better...] Soon, Azure Peng flips in the void and reveals their true form.

Two gigantic birds flap their wings and begin to cry out.

:: Fleeting Spring Dr—:: Hyeon Rang tries to drop us into a dream and seek an opening, but Oh Hyun-seok's authority drinks Hyeon Rang's authority whole, and Hyeon Rang's Immortal Art begins to get sucked into Oh Hyun-seok.

As if Oh Hyun-seok has become the Primal Chaos even deeper than a spring dream.

The cries of Azure Peng and Glass Peacock explode, drawing a Taiji, and the light of that massive Taiji splits the space and restrains Hyeon Rang's lower dantian.

The energy of Heaven and Earth gathered in Oh Hyun-seok's hand turns into a direct fist, shooting toward Hyeon Rang's chest, And I, too, swing my sword with all my strength and split Hyeon Rang's head in two.

Once again, Hyeon Rang's three dantians shatter, and once more, his physical body begins to regenerate.

Wriggle, wriggle...

Meanwhile, Kang Min-hee, Kim Yeon, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Oh Hye-seo, and the Radiance Eight Immortals reinforce the seal from outside, shrinking Hyeon Rang's body once more from that of a giant to an ordinary human size.

Tststs— At the same time, it seems the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord have activated their authority, as the Heavenly Void Furnace begins to shrink with the surrounding earth piling up and re-sealing it.

In an instant, the Heavenly Void Furnace returns to the form of Ascension Path, and we find ourselves standing just slightly west of its very center.

Yes...

Ironically, it's the very spot where we first fell onto Ascension Path.

Hyeon Rang, now in the form of a child, regains consciousness immediately and exhales from his mouth.

:: Foolish. So all you have managed to do is to drop me atop the Heavenly Void Furnace? You are helping me instead.:: Tsuuaaaaah!

Hyeon Rang's breath turns into fog and once again begins to drag us into a dream, and through the authority of Names, we are instantly forced into roles within the dream, becoming different beings.

However, at that moment, Oh Hyun-seok steps forward again.

Kururung— Transformed into a body of Primal Chaos, Oh Hyun-seok absorbs all of Hyeon Rang's fog.

It's as if Oh Hyun-seok's authority stands in a perfect superiority over Hyeon Rang's.

[Master. Let's stop now. Your mind... has returned as well, hasn't it?] And at Oh Hyun-seok's words, I finally realize that something about Hyeon Rang is different from before.

'I see. Ever since he transformed into a young man, Hyeon Rang's humanity had taken considerable control.'

With each strike from Oh Hyun-seok, Hyeon Rang's humanity gradually returned.

But then...

Why is it?

Even though his mind has fully returned, Hyeon Rang continues to exhale fog with a sorrowful smile.

::... I am sorry. My mind has returned, but... I can no longer stop myself. My fate has already been fixed...:: [Master...!]:: I am sorry. Kill me.:: Hyeon Rang, in the form of a child, tells us to kill him. But for some reason, he is boasting a proud attitude more than any other being.

:: My prophetic star, history revision, even the power of the Names have been momentarily severed with the power of curses... If you kill me now, you can truly kill me. This is your chance!:: Huuuuuu— Even as he speaks, Hyeon Rang continues to exhale fog with his breath, trying to drag us into dreams, and Oh Hyun-seok blocks it while shedding tears.

:: I cannot simply die. Fate commands me. So... I will not go down easily. Come at me with everything you have!:: With those words, we all charge at Hyeon Rang at once.

Paaat!

Glass Peacock and Azure Peng try to transform into their true bodies, but perhaps because Kang Min-hee reconstructed the rules with the mantra of Falling Flower, they transform only into forms of ordinary demon beasts instead.

Still, Glass Peacock and Azure Peng pay it no mind and, in their demon beast forms, whip their tail feathers to strike at Hyeon Rang.

Tukwang!

Hyeon Rang throws out his fist, deflecting their blow as he speaks.

:: I remember you two now. Was Azure Peng a descendant of Glass Peacock?::

"... In a past life, we once lived as siblings."

[You were my older sister in that past life. So what? A past life is just a past life.] Hyeon Rang looks at them with an amused expression and, drawing a Taiji with both hands, flicks the two of them away.

As expected of the Progenitor of the Human Race, he seems to have his own level of mastery over martial arts.

:: That is right. When you were siblings, you were part of the Human Race, so I remember as well. I remember how your mother, who went out to get rice cakes, was eaten by a tiger, and both of you were pleading to become the sun and moon while being eaten too.::

"..."

[...]:: The wish I could not grant you back then—I shall grant it now. Take it, brother and sister. From this moment, the sun and moon belong to you.:: Hyeon Rang plucks out both his eyes and they enter into the chests of Azure Peng and Glass Peacock.

The two birds, now bearing the energies of the Sun and Moon, stare at Hyeon Rang with bewildered eyes.

Hooong— I seize that moment to strike at Hyeon Rang from behind with the Impermanence Sword, but he turns around and meets my sword with his palm.

Kugugugugu!

The Heavenly Void Furnace, sealed beneath Ascension Path, begins to lend Hyeon Rang its power.

An overwhelming explosive force emanating from Hyeon Rang's body flings away the Five Desires Chain that had been binding him.

Hong Fan and the other Immortal Treasures all return to their original forms and cough up blood, while the shape of Taiji formed by Hyeon Rang's explosion becomes a protective barrier that blocks my advance.

That's not the end.

The power of the Heavenly Void Furnace, through Hyeon Rang, begins trying to erase my very existence through history revision.

'This... I have to block it with the Wheel!'

I take out the Wheel to resist Hyeon Rang's history revision, but it immediately begins to overheat.

:: The power of the Heavenly Void Furnace is not something your Wheel can overpower. It is an object that predates even the Future King.:: [...!?]:: Before the Future King... the Creator God who created this world... it is that being's artifact. And what the very first Radiance Supreme Deity refined from it is the current Heavenly Void Furnace. That is why, through the Heavenly Void Furnace, one can go anywhere and glimpse any history that unfolds within this world.:: Kugugugugu!

Drawing endless power from the Heavenly Void Furnace, Hyeon Rang smiles.

Jjeok, jjeojeojeojeok!

Cracks spread further across the Wheel.

:: The Heavenly Void Furnace is directly connected to the Salt Sea... If you go to the sea of chaos through the Furnace, you can even glimpse the secrets hidden beneath the Salt Sea.:: Kugung!

At those words, I realize the déjà vu regarding the 16th cycle.

'... In the 16th cycle... I...'

I went to the Outer Sea through the Heavenly Void Furnace and glimpsed a certain 'past' in the Outer Sea.

And I remember meeting even the Heavenly Venerable of Time and making a certain [promise].

'... In the 16th cycle, what in the world did I...'

As I waver in confusion, Hyeon Rang speaks.

:: The question I asked you was asked while I was in my right mind. You, the True Emperor candidate. The disciple who has inherited the will of Salt Sea. Can you truly contemplate for yourself the difference between Heart and Fate?::

"..."

I cannot speak, buried once more in the rising shame.

It is then.

[Even if Heart and Fate are the same... this one thing, I do not believe will ever change.] Oh Hyun-seok begins to walk slowly toward us.

In Oh Hyun-seok's hand, a silver brilliance more vivid than anything in this world condenses.

Futter, flutter, flutter, flutterrrr!!

From Oh Hyun-seok's back, wings begin to burst forth.

Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen pairs of wings...

Even after that, they continue to burst forth.

Flutter, flutter, flutter!

When Oh Hyun-seok's wings reach one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand pairs.

I come to understand something.

'In that dream...'

Oh Hyun-seok's authority stands in a hierarchical relationship with Hyeon Rang's Fleeting Spring Dream, as another dream authority.

Because of that, Oh Hyun-seok continuously borrows wings and strength from the dream beings within the dream.

[Whatever the case. We must face it. Just as I faced my own cowardice!] Flutter, flutter!

Oh Hyun-seok's wings that continue to bloom without end.

I now understand the true nature of those wings.

Those wings are the cowardices that Oh Hyun-seok avoided until now.

[Fate, History, Heart... whether they are the same or different, the need to acknowledge and face them does not change!] And within those words, I feel my mind brighten.

'Ah...'

That's right.

To acknowledge and to face.

The heart is not what matters.

Fate is not what matters.

—To accept fate, but to take one step further.

The voice of my master, Ryeong, brushes past my ears, and from that, I take one step forward and come upon another realization.

'I acknowledge my heart...'

But it must not end with just the heart.

'But let's take one step further.'

So what if fate is absolute, and the heart never disappears?

In the end, what matters is taking one step further.

Tststststss— A change occurs in my Impermanence Sword.

'I see it.'

Only now do I begin to grasp the final form of the Severing Heaven Sword Form.

I become able to conceive the fourth form beyond Escaping Heaven.

Once more, I begin to pour confidence into the heart that was lost in the face of Hyeon Rang's argument, and I begin to maximize the power of the Impermanence Sword.

Jjeok, jjeojeojeojeok!

Hyeon Rang's power, drawn up from the Heavenly Void Furnace, begins to split from the Impermanence Sword.

::... Good. To you, I shall give you my heart. Together with my heart, take all of my blood.:: Tsuaaaaat!

Hyeon Rang smiles brightly and places something into my body.

:: You are the next Pangu. You... become the God of Humans.:: The Pangu True Blood merges with the Candle Dragon True Blood, and a power of an unfathomable degree settles throughout my entire body.

Kuguguguk!

Gradually, the Impermanence Sword pierces through Hyeon Rang's fleeting dream, and Glass Peacock and Azure Peng, having regained their senses, begin flying toward Hyeon Rang, targeting his lower dantian.

Oh Hyun-seok sheds tears.

:: To you, I shall give you my will. Hyun-seok-ah...:: Tempering his will to face the self who killed his master, and facing that very will, Oh Hyun-seok steels his resolve and takes his stance.

A stance to deliver a single direct punch.

:: Someday...:: Oh Hyun-seok's wings vanish for an instant.

Hundreds of billions of wings scatter into the void in a flash, and for a brief moment, the world once again becomes a silver world where all color has disappeared. Within that silver world, Hyeon Rang conveys something to Oh Hyun-seok.

Hyeon Rang's lips move.

Seeing the movement of those lips, Oh Hyun-seok casts away his tears and thrusts his fist forward.

Within that straight punch, I glimpse the ultimate will that belongs to Oh Hyun-seok alone, who has unceasingly unfolded Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter.

Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter.

Transcendent Technique.

'The soul...!'

Within that single punch, Oh Hyun-seok's own soul, transcending even the Absolute, begins to form.

Zero Wing (零翼).

Nameless (無名) One Fist (一拳).

The single punch of the Nameless, meant to kill the Owner of Names— Cuts through all space and time, piercing through the chest of his master.

The attack of Glass Peacock and Azure Peng becomes the Sun and Moon and strikes Hyeon Rang's lower dantian.

My Impermanence Sword cuts through Hyeon Rang's neck.

Thus, assaulted simultaneously on his three dantians, Hyeon Rang, even as his head flies off, wears a peaceful smile.

Tsuaaaaah— Perhaps, through the power of dreams, Oh Hyun-seok has allowed Hyeon Rang to dream in that fleeting instant of death.

Though the content of that dream is unclear...

Perhaps it is a dream where the first Hyeon Rang was not burned to death by his father, but rather lived a happy life, born under the love of his parents and showered in affection before departing in peace.

For in front of our eyes, the image of a young Hyeon Rang being embraced in the arms of the father who once killed him emerges as a fragment of that dream— From it, we can only guess at the dream's content.

"... As one who knows the heart of a father... I will... bless you. Master..."

Having exhausted all of his strength, Oh Hyun-seok sheds tears with those words and loses consciousness. I too collapse in place, overcome by such intense exhaustion that I can no longer sense my consciousness domain, my Qi sense, or even Indra's Net.

Bitterly, I recall the memories of my own child.

'Couldn't I... have also done a little better?'

In the dream fragment that blooms before our eyes, the image of Hyeon Rang, appearing as a child in his father's arms, looks so overwhelmingly happy.

Soon, the dream fragment disperses and vanishes, and the severed head of Hyeon Rang rolls to the feet of Hong Fan, who has returned to his original form.

What thoughts could Hong Fan be thinking? He picks up Hyeon Rang's severed head and gazes down at it for a while.

What kind of expression Hong Fan wears at that moment, we cannot know, because he stands with his back to the light of the Radiance Supreme Deity, which begins to descend over the Palace of Radiance now that the battle has ended...

Hong Fan's face is shrouded in shadow and cannot be seen.