Chương 772: Great Mountain Battle Begins

The world perishes.

Only three things maintain form in the destroyed world.

First, the Underworld and the spirits the Underworld holds.

Since they are in the embrace of the sole Heavenly Venerable who remains and possesses a normal Gandhara, they are safe.

Second, the True Immortals.

Since they are existences that transcend Mount Sumeru to a certain extent, even as the entirety of Mount Sumeru undergoes annihilation, they can generate prophecies within their bodies and maintain their lives.

Third, the Mountain Divine Spirits.

Kugugugu!

A golden torrent rampages centered on the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

That appearance looks as if, centered on Gwak Am, dozens of gigantic golden wings flutter.

However, that mass of light that looks dazzlingly bright seems to be sucked in centered on Gwak Am, and the surroundings start to grow dark.

:: The strongest light emits the shortest wavelength... so it is not visible to the eyes of lowly creatures and thus looks dark.:: To the eyes of humans, to the eyes of mortal beings...

The universe looks dark.

But to the eyes of True Immortals, the universe is rather bright.

For True Immortals can perceive even the wavelengths of light that mortal beings cannot not perceive.

But I feel that the light gathering around the Great Mountain Supreme Deity gradually passes through white, blue, and purple and becomes a dusky light, and then I witness it become complete darkness.

:: I am now the prime Radiance Ten Heavenly Lords itself.:: The Great Mountain Supreme Deity, who turns the surroundings into a complete Darkness World, seems like a God of Darkness wrapped in endless darkness, rather than the golden radiance shown just before.

Yet apart from that appearance which seems dark, I can feel from him a power of light stronger than anyone else.

'It isn't visible.'

All the Origin Essences of Sumeru Mountain.

The primordial of myriad seats.

The very first Origin Essence, like Radiance itself...

No, rather, it is a power of light even purer than that.

As the Great Mountain Supreme Deity says, mortal beings cannot see overly strong wavelengths.

But ordinarily, True Immortals can perceive wavelengths that mortal beings cannot see.

'... Even I, who have reached the level of a True Immortal... a Governing Immortal... am I unable to perceive the wavelength of that light?'

The source of all things in the world, Light.

Compressing and devouring everything born from light and fusing it, he manifests again the First Light.

That is the power of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

Moreover, due to my karma, the Retribution of the Impermanence Sword ended up even passing over to the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

'Is this what Bong Myeong's foresight meant?'

Impermanence Sword is a mantra.

A True Immortal without intellect, and a system of power.

Therefore, not only the creator, but all who satisfy its conditions have the possibility to use it.

'In the end, my greatest traitor is...'

It is my conscience.

The way to take back the Impermanence Sword is simple.

As the creator of the Impermanence Sword, I can discard my conscience and rewrite the acquisition conditions of the Impermanence Sword.

In short...

To defeat the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, I just need to kill the humanity within me.

Kaang!

I also draw the Impermanence Sword into my hand and stand against the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

However...

Wo-woong—

'... As expected...'

The side of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity is instead drawing out the power of the Impermanence Sword even better.

Just like when, during Treading Heaven Beyond the Path, I sheathed my whole body in the Impermanence Sword and fought, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity likewise wraps his whole body with the Impermanence Sword and thrusts a fist toward me.

Kwaaang!

The first exchange comes and goes.

My sword is blocked by him, and his fist, overlaid with the Impermanence Sword, drives straight into my waist.

Even by the size ratio of a Governing Immortal, at the massive punch that feels like the size of a pot lid, I am sent flying as I spill Immortal Beast True Blood.

Kwagwagwang!

Leaving the place where the original Mount Sumeru exists, the place I reach is the Underworld's Gandhara.

The dimension of vast darkness, through attraction force, stands outside the Mount Sumeru where only its form remains and observes us.

'The Great Mountain Supreme Deity has descended. Will you truly not take part?'

In an instant, I ask briefly, and a reply comes from the Underworld side.

—....

Kiiiiiiing!

The Underworld's Wheel is spinning like mad.

An immense Cycle of Reincarnation forms, and the spirits the Great Mountain Supreme Deity just killed are seen circulating within the Underworld.

It is a wordless answer, but I understand.

The moment the Underworld moves to help anyone, the overwhelming majority of the spirits whom the Great Mountain Supreme Deity killed will be flung out to the sea of chaos outside Mount Sumeru and become lost children of chaos.

A powerful great compassion toward the living beings of Mount Sumeru!

That great compassion, like Yu Hao Te's, that venerates even a single mortal being like an insect or microorganism, is instead holding back the Underworld in a situation like now.

'No. Great Mountain aimed for this and made a surprise attack so there was no time to prepare, and let go a considerable number of spirits.'

With a single surprise attack, Great Mountain gained a quite significant advantage.

::... I was discourteous. Please take good care of the spirits.:: Beginning to draw forth power, I offer a word to the Underworld, and I face the Great Mountain Supreme Deity who walks through chaos wreathed in a dark light that even I at the level of a Governing Immortal cannot see.

Behind the gigantic Mountain Divine Spirit walking with Master's mask on, the Radiance Seven Immortals naturally join.

:: We will kill you. Enders!!!:: Beyond their masks, they shed bright-red Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of hatred and anger like tears and pour upon us an unbearable fury.

And behind me, my Ender comrades, and the True Immortals they summoned begin to form ranks.

No, it is not only the True Immortals they summoned.

After the sudden destruction of Mount Sumeru, the vast majority of True Immortals originally belonging to Radiance Hall, including Heaven Immortals who quickly gauge the situation, begin to come to our side.

Kim Yeon activates the Artificial Gandhara that devoured even the domain of time.

Many among the True Immortals knock on the gates of the Underworld, but as the Heaven Immortals are not accepted, they take refuge inside Kim Yeon's Gandhara.

Is it only refuge?

:: Radiance Supreme Deity!:::: To join hands with the Great Mountain Supreme Deity...:::: No matter how heinous an enemy the Sword Mountain Devil Lord is... to join hands with 'that' Mountain Divine Spirit...! What in the world are you doing!? O light that guards justice, why are you with the existence that has destroyed the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World? Are we now to be together with the Great Mountain Supreme Deity!?

:: They, having a fit at the Radiance Seven Immortals who have joined hands with the Great Mountain Supreme Deity who has destroyed the world, attach themselves to us.

Even the Envoys of the Final Age of Dharma are the same.

Excepting faithful existences like the Thirty-Three Heavenly Resplendent Treasure Immortals, the forces flip over in an instant, and in terms of faction we become superior.

And, as the Radiance Seven Immortals put their palms together, they still begin to call forth the symbol of Heuk Sa, though it has become a little unstable.

:: Trash that has gained power without qualification.:::: All of you... have never once differed from the Mountain Divine Spirits.:::: On this day, we shall annihilate you all and open a new world!:: The situation from when the Great Mountain Supreme Deity recited the Splitting Heaven Mantra before is reproduced.

The chaotic situation in which the Radiance Eight Immortals betrayed all their own forces and, joining hands with the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, waged war against them all.

In the waves of chaos, a cluttered all-out war begins.

:: In the name of the Radiance Supreme Deity, we prophesize...:: The Radiance Seven Immortals step forward, and inside Mount Sumeru that the Great Mountain Supreme Deity annihilated, they simultaneously raise their fingers.

:: Let there be light!:: And then there is light.

Centered on the seven divine spirits, a vast light erupts and begins to create a Heavenly Domain.

Immortal Lords, if they draw on the power of the Origin Essence excessively, are devoured by the Origin Essence.

The only ones who can escape that law are Supreme Deities.

It is the same for the Radiance Eight Immortals.

They are ones who slowly get eaten by the Origin Essence, And they too, if roughly ten trillion years pass, are existences that get devoured by light.

That also is the driving force that makes the Radiance Eight Immortals undergo a generational change.

That is, if they draw only within the normal range of power, unless about ten trillion years pass, they have no reason to be slain or to undergo a generational change.

Because they will not be devoured at once by the Origin Essence of Light.

However...

I, seeing the Seven Immortals of this era whose eyes have gone mad with hatred, realize what they are doing.

Burnt Offering!

They, feeding all of their own existence to the Origin Essence of Light, are summoning power.

'Is this... the proper power of the Radiance Supreme Deity?'

If the Radiance Ten Heavenly Lords were truly alive and made themselves a sacrificial burnt offering to draw forth power, that power seems to have been literally comparable to the Gandhara of the Underworld.

Kugugugugugugu!

As a Heavenly Domain is created, lights flicker again on Mount Sumeru, which has lost light and become only a shell.

They are 'Heavenly Domains'.

Yes, with the self burnt offering of the Radiance Seven Immortals as the main axis, thousands, tens of thousands of 'Heavenly Domains' are created and lights are surging.

Furthermore, with my Radiance Mantra still activating, the radiance of those Heavenly Domains moving as if quickly pulsing inside Mount Sumeru is an indescribable spectacle.

At that astonishing authority of the Radiance Seven Immortals, the True Immortal alliance simultaneously hesitates.

And seeing that sight, Jeon Myeong-hoon in his true body pushes my back.

:: Go and come back.:: Kim Yeon also gently strokes my shoulder and smiles.

:: Go and come back.:: Having finished speaking, the two walk forth before me and cry out.

:: I, in the name of the Owner of Heavenly Punishment, command.:: Kurung, kurururung!

Jeon Myeong-hoon swings the Heavenly Lightning Banner and declares.

:: The Jade Pivot Forty-Eight Lightning Heavenly Great Immortals... shall duly assemble. Seize the chance to release that retribution.:: Kurururururung!

Zhengli, who always resisted in Jeon Myeong-hoon's hand, at least this once properly responds with power to Jeon Myeong-hoon's order and scatters lightning.

And within that rumbling thunder, forty-eight Lightning Immortals begin to reveal their true bodies.

They all glare at Jeon Myeong-hoon with eyes as if displeased.

But...

This time at least, there lies a will that says they will listen to his command.

:: We shall receive the command.:: Not only the Jade Pivot Forty-Eight Lightning Heavenly Great Immortals, but some True Immortals as well are seen gathering under Jeon Myeong-hoon.

Reading history, they seem to be those who had claimed themselves to be disciples of Yang Su-jin.

Kiiiiiing!

Kim Yeon's Artificial Gandhara hums and draws the attention of the Heaven Immortals who originally belonged to Radiance Hall.

:: I am the Tridacna Vast Cold Heavenly King.:: That single name.

With that alone, the vast majority of True Immortals begin to tremble in panic like aspen trees.

:: True Immortals who will not fight out of fear, and True Immortals who will not fight because they worry about the Middle Realm inside their bodies... all come into this Gandhara.:: Tsuaaaaatt!

At the light pink radiance that spilling from Kim Yeon's eyes, the Heaven Immortals who groan under the remaining power of the Radiance Seven Immortals begin to gain hope.

:: I will embrace you.:: Numerous Heaven Immortals enter the Artificial Gandhara, and, using that Gandhara as a shield, they begin to fire a barrage of prophecies that snipe the Radiance Seven Immortals, and they begin to infuse their power in as the energy source for the Artificial Gandhara.

Clank!

:: Artificial Gandhara activation. Learning time-observation data of the Source River.:: And, as a strange voice rings out from the Artificial Gandhara... using the power of the True Immortals as the power source, [something]s begin to pour out.

Astonishingly, they are True Immortals.

More precisely, True Immortals who died in the past.

The innumerable existences within history that the Source River observed.

As the Source River observed time and history, the innumerable existences recorded by the calendrics within history start to pour out.

Projections of True Immortals numbering in the millions appear in reality and glare at the Radiance Seven Immortals.

A True Immortal-grade puppet cannot exist.

Because a puppet cannot accept life and death.

Therefore, the Mad Lord did not bother to design puppets at the Star Shattering stage and above.

From the Star Shattering stage and upward, there are aspects of power that a puppet cannot follow.

Instead, he created a magnum opus to replace puppets of the Star Shattering stage and higher.

Immortal Art Yeon's Play.

An Immortal Art that uses puppets to draw in spacetime of the past.

If the role of a marionette is for the sake of a play, this was his final masterpiece to puppeteer spacetime itself, reenact it, and stage the play.

Except for [Her], the Mad Lord did not bother to design puppets of the Star Shattering stage and above.

For once he conceived Yeon's Play, once he harbored the ambition to puppeteer spacetime, there was no reason to design puppets beyond that realm.

Kugugugugugu!

:: Immortal Art. Yeon's Play.:: With the power of the True Immortals sheltered inside the Artificial Gandhara as the power source.

Based on the observation information of the domain of time, the Source River, that the Artificial Gandhara devoured.

By activating the Immortal Art Yeon's Play, She puppeteers the spacetime of the past and reenacts it into this spacetime.

An army of True Immortals numbering in the millions begins to move like marionettes and charge toward the Radiance Seven Immortals.

It is the emergence of a true True Immortal Puppet army.

Oh Hyun-seok and Oh Hye-seo stand to my left and right.

:: We also have a personal grudge against that guy.::::....:: The two reveal their true bodies and show visible anger toward the Mountain Divine Spirit.

:: We can fight together, right?:: I nod.

::... Of course.:: Kang Min-hee meets my eyes within the world of chaos.

'Things developed suddenly, but... can you find it, Min-hee?'

I ask Kang Min-hee regarding what I asked her in advance, and Kang Min-hee nods.

:: With your authority and my status of being my master's disciple. And with my talent... I can definitely find it.:::: I'll trust you.:: The final move to defeat the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

In the end, Kang Min-hee's role is the most secret, but it is bound to become the most lethal poison.

Lastly, I look at the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.

I look at Ji Hwa.

There is no need for many words.

:: Let's fight together.:::: Yes.:: Ji Hwa and I, each gripping our swords, steel our resolve and...

Eujik— Ji Hwa explodes and dies.

:: Rambling this and that before a fight... Is such rambling your strength?:: The Great Mountain Supreme Deity tears apart Mount Sumeru, plants the Gandhara as his foothold, and descends before me.

:: Right now, I am on par with the prime Vast Cold in strength.:: Woo-wooong— The Mountain Exuding Darkness lifts its fist.

:: Know your place, and focus.:: Jjeoooooong!

His single strike.

Because the Retribution of the Impermanence Sword clings upon it, a must-hit strike from which only 'Seo Eun-hyun' cannot evade slams me straight down beneath the foothold.

Tukwang!

I pierce straight through the Gandhara of the Underworld, shoot out the opposite side, and stare at the God of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea who sheds tears of blood.

In a brief instant, advice from the Underworld comes in through the domain of Indra's Net.

:: Be careful. That arrogant God... lowers himself in comparison to Vast Cold.:: Indeed.

No matter how strong Vast Cold was, if it is the usual Great Mountain Supreme Deity, he would express himself with something like he has 'surpassed' Vast Cold... so to use an expression like 'on par' with his temperament is strange.

Since I know well that each and every Mountain Divine Spirit are all lumps of pride, the expression 'on par' bothers me more than Great Mountain's blow that pierced the straight through the Underworld's Gandhara.

Splitting Emperor Splitting Heaven.

:: Annihilation Advancement Mu.:: A dark-red light bursts out.

Not a golden light, but seeing that unique dark-red energy of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, I can tell that he has instantly digested all the fate and Origin Essence amounting to one Mount Sumeru.

Dudududududu— Chaos recedes.

At the same time, a spear of dark-red light that pushes back chaos shoots up, pierces me once again, and hurls me beyond the chaos.

'... I see.'

I vomit Immortal Beast True Blood all over my entire body, and I understand what this is.

'He truly... devoured all of the Sumeru Three Heavens Great Thousand World...'

What Gwak Am consumed was not merely the Heavenly Domains.

The fate and life dwelling within those Heavenly Domains...

And the numerous Origin Essences!

Gwak Am, quite literally, is in a state of having become the owner of all Origin Essences.

By using the Immortal Lord-level consciousnesses in the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea and concurrently serving as the Immortal Lord of those Origin Essences, he alone exerts authority beyond the Radiance Ten Heavens Heavenly Lords.

Tukwang, tukwang, tukwang!

From the Gandhara of the Underworld, ten black somethings shoot up and slam into me.

Of the black things that lodge in me, the Yama True Lord Yan Luo conveys the will of the Underworld.

:: The Imperial Venerable commanded to aid you despite shouldering the fatigue of tending to the spirits all alone.:: Underworld Ten Kings!

The Ten Great Kings have been dispatched to help me.

The voice of the Underworld transmits into my consciousness through Indra's Net.

:: The generationally arrogant Mountain Divine Spirit is showing humility. I have seen such a thing only once before. When Salt Sea prepared for the decisive battle. Just once.::::...:::: When the most arrogant is the most frightening... is when they show humility. Use the Ten Great Underworld Kings as Immortal Treasures. The Great Mountain Supreme Deity Gwak Am is only showing humility. At present, for just that single moment when he uses that Annihilation Advancement Mu...:: Kugugugugu!!

Flung into the sea of chaos, I glare at the dark-red light charging me from afar and raise the Impermanence Sword that manifests only faintly.

:: He surpasses Vast Cold at their prime.:: Pakwagwagwang!!

Chaos is driven back by that spear of dark-red light.

That is a light more terrifying than the God-Killing Spear...

And it is an obsession and grudge more tenacious than Jeon Myeong-hoon's Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear.

That dark-red spear is a light of hatred that resents all things in the world.

Facing that light with the now-faint Impermanence Sword, I look straight at that resentment.

::... This place is...:: The moment I come to my senses, I realize I passed out for a moment.

And I realize where I am.

:: The boundary of Cakravāda...?:: The end of this world.

A fence that confines chaos, and an eggshell.

With just two shots of Gwak Am's Annihilation Advancement Mu, I was pushed along from the sea of chaos and flung all the way to the end of the world.

:: Please live!:::: Are you coming to your senses!?:: Inside my body, the Ten Great Kings, whom the Underworld transformed into Immortal Treasures, keep generating life and bestowing it upon me as they forbid death.

Seeing that fact, I realize I died for a moment.

'This is the might of Annihilation Advancement Mu...'

It is utterly incomparable to the incomplete Annihilation Advancement Mu I received countless times before in the Outer Sea.

'If that then was the 'simplified' form of the Splitting Heaven Mantra... the Annihilation Advancement Mu now seems complete as the mantra that is Annihilation Advancement Mu itself.'

I realize that and notice something.

:: So it was not that you did 'not' seize and come down in ambush; right?:: Kugugugugugu!!

Pushing back the chaos and at last following me to the boundary of Cakravāda as if flying, I look at Gwak Am and let out a faint smile.

:: So you also 'cannot' seize the Splitting Heaven Mantra.:::: The original owner grips it too tightly and does not permit it.:: In Gwak Am's hand, a dark-red radiance coils once more.

No, calling it dark red is a misunderstanding.

It is just that his momentum is so full of pain and hatred that, by the power of that resentment, the illusion that is seen seems to emit a dark-red light.

In reality, Gwak Am now is black, and even more black.

:: Unlike a certain mantra whose owner is loose and permits its body even to an enemy.:: Kwaaaaaang!!

The radiance of the Annihilation Advancement Mu falls again.

As expected, because of the Retribution of the Impermanence Sword, evasion and the like are impossible.

And as I take the Annihilation Advancement Mu once more with my whole body, I come to see an astonishing sight.

'Reality is...'

Reality collapses.

And within that terrifying destruction, the [eggshell].

The boundary of Cakravāda begins to 'ripple'.

With a single Annihilation Advancement Mu, a crack has been made through the boundary of Cakravāda.

Recalling the scar of the boundary of Cakravāda where the Heavenly Venerable of Time resides, I realise that the present Great Mountain Supreme Deity has become an existence comparable to the 'main body' of the prime Silver Basket.

Tukwang!

Then, struck by the Annihilation Advancement Wu whose might smashes reality itself, I am flung away somewhere again.

Kugugugugugu!

In the far distance, a [baby] comes into view.

The outskirts of the Akashic Records.

It is the world that I, together with Kim Young-hoon, reached exactly once in the past.

In the distance...

My [previous cycles] stand in rows.

Tudududududu!

And as a dark-red light dyes the surroundings like lava, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity chases all the way here again.

Rushing at me like an evil spirit, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity directly grabs my neck and makes a motion as if to smash me down again, then begins to charge together with Annihilation Advancement Wu toward the place where the form of [Baby] lies.

Reaching the outskirts of the Akashic Records is only for a moment; we pierce down into reality again, to where the baihui of the [baby] is.

Indeed...

The edge of Mount Sumeru.

The entrance of the Audience Chamber. We reach the Head Realm.

Jjeoooooong!!!

I slam into the spacetime near the Head Realm, and, with Underworld Ten Kings' prohibition of death and their 'remembering' of me as the foundation, I use the authority of the Immortal Beast King and barely avoid dying.

::... Like a bug.:: The Great Mountain Supreme Deity looks down at me and tosses out a mutter.

:: There is no need to waste time against a bug like you... Come. O Key.:: Kugugugugu!

In the far distance, something begins to fall from the Outer Sea toward Mount Sumeru.

The way it falls looks just like a shooting star.

Soon, the thing that falls from the Outer Sea, piercing through Mount Sumeru as it drops, is something familiar to me.

Its name is Penglai Island.

Inside that world is the star that manifests the world of the Head Realm.

Wo-woong!

Penglai Island rotates.

And by the power of the rotating Penglai Island, the Head Realm starts to resonate.

And as the fate between Penglai Island and the Head Realm resonates, the [something] that exists in the Head Realm starts to reveal itself.

Its shape is beyond what one dares to guess at, and it is rather right to call it formless.

However, one thing is certain.

It is a gate.

Some kind of gate, because of the Penglai Island that Gwak Am has brought...

I feel it slowly 'opening'.

Its speed is visibly slow so it does not seem likely to open quickly, but clearly it keeps opening steadily.

Gwak Am is opening the gate of the Audience Chamber.

:: There were only two times when the Audience Chamber was opened without the fate of the Enders being used. The first was when Master manifested the 'key' and opened it, and the second was when Vast Cold directly opened it by force.:: Udududuk—:: A feat comparable to Master. A strength comparable to Vast Cold... You achieved none of them. And yet you dare...:: Kugugugugu!!

Strength enters the hand of Gwak Am that grips my neck.

:: With what qualification do you dare... dare falsely claim to be Master's disciple!?:: Kwaaaang!!!

Once again, the radiance containing Annihilation Advancement Mu explodes, and Gwak Am drives me straight into the Head Realm.

By the power of Annihilation Advancement Mu, part of the Head Realm's skull caves in.

:: I have a greater power than you. I have a greater purpose than you. I have a greater anger than you.:: Kurururung!

As if it gurgles like lava, the river of bloody tears of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea falls onto my Immortal Body and sears me hotly.

:: And yet you, who cannot compare to me in anything, think you can inherit Master's robe and bowl... and dare to stand against me!!??:: A war is taking place.

Countless thunder and lightning, and the numerous melee charges of Immortal Beasts.

The attacks of the True Immortals puppets.

The prophetic assaults of Heaven Immortals.

And the innumerable Heavenly Domains wielded by the seven beings who stand against them!

Ururung!

When the seven lights that burn themselves gesture, gigantic Heavenly Domains fall down onto the opposing beings like raindrops.

The Radiance Eight Immortals, while burning themselves, stand against the whole world.

Kwarururung!

Thunder rumbles, and out of the red lightning, a Three-Headed Eight-Armed Lightning, each face having Three Eyes, rushes at them holding a lightning spear.

However, the Great Sun Heavenly Lord bursts with red radiance and manifests the God-Killing Spear to oppose him.

As the God-Killing Spear and the Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear collide, Heaven and Earth tremble.

Before the power of Jeon Myeong-hoon, who awakened the power of Heavenly King, the Great Sun Heavenly Lord seems pushed back for a moment, but soon the Heavenly Domains that appear around them fall onto Jeon Myeong-hoon, and gradually achieving a stalemate.

'Because the Origin Essence and fate of Mount Sumeru was devoured by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, and the spirits that were inside were collected by the Underworld... is that why, even though they are Heavenly Domains, they can fling them so lightly without the slightest hesitation?'

Jeon Myeong-hoon clicks his tongue as he looks at the Heavenly Domains they are throwing.

They are the Radiance Seven Immortals who create thousands and tens of thousands of 'universes' by breathing, and in those universes there is neither the fate exhaled by True Immortals, nor the hearts of the spirits, nor the lives of the living beings.

And because the power of the Origin Essences does not exist there either, they can instead throw or shoot them far more lightly than before.

Of course, because the power that the Heavenly Domains themselves hold has weakened by that much, he can endure even when hit, but the mass attack itself is burdensome.

If not for Kim Yeon calling forth the True Immortals puppet offensive from past spacetime through Yeon's Play, they would have been completely pushed back by the Radiance Seven Immortals.

At least, since the Chief Eunuch White-Faced Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox, the two Blue Bird siblings, and other True Lords who borrow the power of the Underworld lend strength, the side of the Enders is not merely evenly matched but even holds a very slight advantage.

However, Jeon Myeong-hoon cannot help but feel anxious.

That is because of one Immortal Lord placed beneath the feet of the Radiance Seven Immortals.

It is the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.

After being struck by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity in a single glow and being thrown by the Supreme Deity toward the Radiance Seven Immortals, the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord is pressed beneath the God-Killing Spears of the seven Heavenly Lords and cannot move at all.

Jeon Myeong-hoon notices that they are not merely pressing down the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord, but that by pressing with the God-Killing Spears they are erasing the prophecies within the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord and the prophecies she hid.

'If time drags on like this, the Radiance Seven Immortals may not win, but the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord will die.'

Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes gleam with red.

'I will not let that happen.'

To him, he does not particularly have a relationship with the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord.

He certainly received help quite a few times, but that is because there is a friend named Seo Eun-hyun, and it was by the circumstance of being a friend of a friend that he received help.

Therefore Jeon Myeong-hoon has little interest in Ji Hwa herself.

However, Jeon Myeong-hoon knows that Ji Hwa holds Seo Eun-hyun in her heart.

He also guesses there are many words she still could not say to Seo Eun-hyun.

:: I cannot... let you die like that.:: Jeon Myeong-hoon grits his teeth, recalling the owner of the hand that has become ashes and even within his heart completely flew away.

:: I will not let my friend... ever suffer the same pain as mine!!:: Kwarurururung!

The Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear reddens even more, and gradually starts to push away the God-Killing Spear.

Ji Hwa sees this and smiles.

:: Behold, my friends.:: As the former Sword Spear, she speaks toward her old comrades.

:: What is called the heart is to be used like so. Even if you eliminate me... this present history will not disappear.:::: Be silent, traitor.:::: Be grateful that, instead of annihilating you with the God-Killing Spear, we are merely erasing your prophecies and will conduct the funeral quietly in accordance with the honors of a Sword Spear.:::: Conducting a funeral for living friends, conducting a funeral by forcibly killing living hearts... My friends. Now even you know, do you not.

Though we are the Radiance Hall that represents and protects life... just why are we suppressing life so much?:: Ji Hwa appeals as she looks at her old colleagues with regretful eyes.

:: Please, see the truth! How long do you intend to keep wearing that mask and turn your eyes away from the truth?:::: The truth... such a thing is no longer important.:: The Radiance Seven Immortals glare at Ji Hwa and mutter.

:: What is important is that you dragged us into corruption together, and that you will soon die by our hands.:: Kwarung, kwarururung!

Thunder and lightning crashes around them, but even Jeon Myeong-hoon, who has become the Owner of Heavenly Punishment, finds it impossible to reach Ji Hwa, who is suppressed at the center of the Radiance Seven Immortals.

:: Quietly... accept your predestined fate. Our... old friend.:: The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, pressing Ji Hwa even harder with the God-Killing Spear, speaks painfully.

And, Ji Hwa opens her mouth.

::... So that is your will. In that case... I too will depart with an easy heart.:::: Do you think you can depart? In a war of attrition, those ones may be superior, but right in this moment you cannot stop us from killing you.:::: Wrong. You should have killed me directly with the God-Killing Spear. Because...:: Kwarurururung!!

At last, Jeon Myeong-hoon's lightning spear pierces the Great Sun Heavenly Lord and throws the Seven Immortals' battle formation into disorder.

The Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord looks at that sight and snorts.

:: What you trust in... is that greenhorn Owner of Heavenly Punishment, old friend!?:: He succeeds in disorganizing the Seven Immortals' battle formation, but that is all.

Jeon Myeong-hoon is once again bounced beyond the formation by the combined attack of the Seven Immortal.

In the end, he fails to rescue Ji Hwa.

However, Jeon Myeong-hoon smiles.

Ji Hwa also smiles.

:: Because... this promise is more important than predestined fate.:::: Come!! Kim Yeon!!!:: What rushes in at the same time as Jeon Myeong-hoon's shout is a consciousness domain that engulfs all of Mount Sumeru, including them.

A vast consciousness domain, at the speed of consciousness, embraces the entirety of Mount Sumeru, and Kim Yeon's will unfolds something before the Seven Immortals.

:: Open. Liberation Peach Garden Painting.:: Chwaaaaa— A world manufactured solely by Bong Myeong's own law, now hanging scroll inherited by Kim Yeon, opens its mouth.

Chwarararak!

Authority.

Paradise Guidance.

The Liberation Peach Garden Painting that sucks in the desired beings.

And the Paradise Guidance that makes the surrounding beings reach their ideal.

The two authorities combine, and Ji Hwa begins to be strongly sucked straight toward Liberation Peach Garden Painting.

Of course, naturally, everyone here knows that it is only called the Liberation Peach Garden Painting in name, and beyond it is merely an entrance that leads to Kim Yeon's Artificial Gandhara.

:: Sword Spear... To the end... to the end, you go while fallen, without receiving even the honors of a Sword Spear.:: And the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord, shedding blood-colored spiritual energy like tears from beyond the mask, cries out.

:: Are we truly no longer friends!?:: At those words, Ji Hwa looks back at them and speaks.

:: We are still friends. Only, I am no longer Sword Spear.:::: Y A N G J I - H W A N G!!!:: In the end, every one of the Seven Immortals, including the Pearl Jade Heavenly Lord whose anger reaches the heavens, throws a God-Killing Spear at her.

They forgo the honors due as a Seven Immortal and decide to annihilate her completely.

Seven spears fly and embed into Ji Hwa's flesh.

Having severed her connection with the Origin Essence of Light, Ji Hwa, now reduced to the level of an ordinary Heavenly Lord, begins to be annihilated where she is stabbed by the God-Killing Spears.

Yet even within that annihilation, she does not fear.

She only stretches her hand forward farther and farther.

The God-Killing Spear that ignores all prophecies and means of resurrection and annihilates the opponent!

Even struck by those spears, she moves forward and seizes what is within reach.

It is...

Kim Yeon's hand.

:: Take it.:: Chwaaaaaaaaa— The mask of Gyeong (庚) that the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord wears turns into a silver-white light and falls into Kim Yeon's hand.

One of the ten lights of the Radiance Supreme Deity now rests in her hand.

That silver-white light then transforms into the form of a paper flower and is placed in Kim Yeon's hand.

:: S W O R D S P E A R!!!:: Seeing Ji Hwa place the Radiance Supreme Deity's light into the Ender's hand, the Seven Immortals rage once more, but...

There is nothing they can do.

They can only watch beyond the Liberation Peach Garden Painting as Kim Yeon, gripping the light of Sword Spear, steels her resolve.

:: Even with the God-Killing Spear, she will not die.:: Kim Yeon looks at the silver-white paper flower held in her hand and speaks.

:: For I will remember Sword Spear.:: Her authority of Paradise Guidance ignores the annihilation authority of the God-Killing Spear, and she takes in her hand a single remaining strand of Ji Hwa's wish.

:: You asked me... to make a sword, didn't you?:: Kim Yeon closes Liberation Peach Garden Painting and turns her back.

Originally, she planned to leisurely refine Sword Spear into a sword after slowly grinding down and killing the Radiance Eight Immortals, but now that the Great Mountain Supreme Deity made a surprise attack and they became the Radiance Seven Immortals, she has no choice but to make it a little hastily.

But it does not matter.

Woo-ooong!

Inside the Artificial Gandhara, activating the power of the domain of time, Kim Yeon begins to light the fire in her workshop within Liberation Peach Garden Painting.

Time inside the Source River accelerates by hundreds of millions of times.

Inside the Liberation Peach Garden Painting.

It is a time applied only to Kim Yeon, but it does not matter.

:: I will make you into a sword.:: Woo-ooong— The silver-white paper flower hums faintly.

As if pleading to be made into the finest sword.

For the first time in a very long while, Kim Yeon personally takes up the hammer as a craftsperson.

Since awakening the Liberation Law Talent to a certain extent, she hasn't personally taken up a hammer to forge anything.

After all, even moving with just a bit of handwaving, the things she wanted came out one after another.

But in this moment, Kim Yeon decides to forge a weapon with all her essence, energy, and spirit.

For Seo Eun-hyun, the finest sword.

'Help me, Hyang-hwa.'

Embracing in her chest the heart of the greatest craftsperson she knows, Kim Yeon begins tempering the strand of Ji Hwa's spirit.

And that sight is visible to all the Radiance Seven Immortals.

For despite it being stolen, Sword Spear was originally their light.

Kkaang, kkang, kkaaaang!!

The Radiance Seven Immortals completely lose their reason as they watch the soul of their old comrade being tempered in the dirty hands of an Ender.

To them, Kim Yeon's act is nothing more than an area-wide provocation.

:: E N D E R!!!:: In the end, the Radiance Seven Immortals, who until now maintained a defensive position and faced the Ender's party and the True Immortal alliance, at once abandon their advantageous defense and begin unleashing an offensive straight at Kim Yeon's Artificial Gandhara.

Kwarung, kwarururuung!!

Seeing that, Jeon Myeong-hoon swings the Heavenly Lightning Banner.

Urururung!

The Heavenly Lightning Banner covers Jeon Myeong-hoon's body and transforms his true body.

The Origin Essence of Heavenly Punishment temporarily descends the visage of its previous master.

Jeon Myeong-hoon becomes a wall (壁).

A gigantic wall of crimson thunder and lightning blocks the space between the Artificial Gandhara and the Radiance Seven Immortals, transforming into a fortress for the Jade Pivot Forty-Eight Lightning Heavenly Great Immortals.

Jade Pivot Forty-Eight Lightning Heavenly Great Immortals, First Seat.

The Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord sneers.

:: City defense was originally our specialty. Come at us. It is a defense we couldn't do back then... but this time we will guard them, O corrupted light!:: Kwaarururung!

The Head Realm crumples once more, a little bit more.

Clutched in Gwak Am's tough grip, vomiting Immortal Beast True Blood...

I answer Gwak Am's question.

:: Why I stand against you... is that what you want to know?:: I look up at Gwak Am.

Uduk...

I reach my hand to the arm that is strangling my neck and begin to steadily apply force.

Duk, dudududuk...

Gradually his arm is pushed back, and in the end, the hand gripping my neck loosens.

:: Because they... have not forgiven you.:: There is only one reason I do not die for Wol Ryeong right now.

Soley because the debts of grace and resentment between Gwak Am and my friends come before the debts of grace and resentment between Wol Ryeong and me.

It is simply that one thing.

I perceive the friends of the Wuji Religious Order inside Gwak Am's Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.

:: Because I must be angry at you... with theirs included...! You say my anger is smaller than yours? Don't make me laugh!!:: I shove Gwak Am hard and throw a straight punch into his abdomen.

The Great Mountain Supreme Deity passes by the Radiance Seven Immortals and the Ender comrades who are fighting a decisive battle inside Mount Sumeru, then is flung back all the way to the Outer Sea.

:: My anger is the same as yours... there is no difference!!:: Kugugung!

Then, a dark-red light cluster seems to flash again in the Outer Sea, and once more the spear of Annihilation Advancement Mu falls down.

:: You say your anger is the same as mine...? Don't be ridiculous...:: Exuding a dark-red energy like an evil spirit, Gwak Am shouts.

:: What you lost is, at most… some ghost scraps, a few bugs that have no effect whatsoever on the flow of the entire universe. What I lost… is the one who was supposed to give hope to the Sumeru Three Thousand Great Thousand World. The only friend of the Heavenly Venerable. The one who first raised opposition against the light. The one… who taught me a new truth. The one… who raised me since I was a child… Someone no different from my own parents…!!

How can the pain of one who lost the salt of life be the same as one who lost mere dust!!!:: Kwarururuung!

And for the first time, my faint Impermanence Sword and the spear of Annihilation Advancement Wu overlaid with the Impermanence Sword collide, and I do not get pushed back.

From the edge of Mount Sumeru, I glare at Gwak Am.

:: The same.:::: What...?:::: Because every mountain is made by accumulating dust... even if from your standpoint they are dust, they...:: I, seeing my friends who still suffer inside Great Mountain, shout.

::... are the foundation stones of my mountain!:: Kaaaaaang!!

And at last, I swing my sword and, for the first time, deflect the light of Annihilation Advancement Wu.

The Great Mountain Supreme Deity flinches and retreats.

:: Even if from your standpoint they are dust, to someone they are no different from a foundation stone. Therefore... in the end, the pain a bug feels as it dies and the pain a Supreme Deity feels at losing kin... are essentially no different. The pain of thrashing after losing what is precious... is not something you can dare judge!:: Woong, wo-woooong!

Even with my body as well, a dark-red light blooms.

All this time, I diligently took the blows of Annihilation Advancement Wu solely for this moment.

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

Twenty-Fourth Move.

Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains Absorbing the opponent's power, my power, and even the rebound force that comes between them, the martial discipline that grows gradually stronger while confronting the opponent bursts forth from my hands.

The Impermanence Sword that is the ultimate technique of transcendence, and the Severing Heaven Sword Form used to wield it, are blocked.

If so, what I can do now only is the ultimate technique of mortality, the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

From the start...

The only martial art that can truly face him is the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

Kwaang, kwaaaang!

Annihilation Advancement Mu and the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship collide.

Between the exchanges, Heavenly Domains are born and annihilated.

It is a phenomenon that occurs because the magnitude of the power we each possess is too great.

Though powers such as Origin Essence, fate, life, and spirit are not within it, because the magnitude of the colliding power is too immense, by power struggle alone, the physical universe repeatedly disappears and perishes.

But in the end, what the Great Mountain Supreme Deity holds in his hand is the Impermanence Sword.

It is my Immortal Art and mantra, but also a martial discipline that reaches transcendence.

It is also a martial doctrine imbued with the Severing Heaven Sword Form, the higher form of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

Kwaaaaang!!

The enlightenment of Severing Heaven blocks the sword of Severing Mountain.

:: You say the pain and anger of a bug and a Supreme Deity are the same?:::: Because the Supreme Deity is made up of those bugs.:::: Haha, then I ask you this.:: The Great Mountain Supreme Deity's blood-red eye gleam shoots at me.

Along with a fearsome authority of light, the surroundings begin to darken.

:: You and I are no different in mocking bugs, toying with their lives, and inflicting pain... Yet you dare think you could be forgiven?:: The Corpse Mountain Blood Sea that covers the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's body.

On a part of his forehead, Wol Ryeong appears.

Wol Ryeong, having become part of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, suffers and, in the midst of paint, sheds tears of blood as she single-mindedly engages in repentant enlightenment.

Seeing that, I feel the strength drain from my whole body.

:: Look closely. This is the sin you committed. You are no different from me.:: Somehow, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity's voice seems to be mixed with self-mockery.

:: The only difference between you and me is color. We are merely Mountain Divine Spirits who mock life and scatter pain and anger. Therefore... even if you defeat me, you also have no chance of victory.:: The Retribution of the Impermanence Sword activates to the maximum, and...

I, by my own power, am pushed straight back.

The dark-red light of Annihilation Advancement Mu bursts forth and I again fall down near the Head Realm.

:: You did not inherit Master's robe and alms bowl. What you inherited is only my robe and alms bowl.:: Under the Retribution of the Impermanence Sword overlaid upon that Annihilation Advancement Wu, Upon the single lifetime I made a toy of, borne beyond that Retribution...

This time I cannot help but sense a premonition that I will truly die.

Kaaaang!!

And, making that premonition meaningless...

I live.

Someone stands in front of me.

It is a blue-haired beauty in a dark-blue robe.

Huuuuuu...

A blue nebula streams from her pipe.

It is Kang Min-hee.

She, raising one hand, is blocking Annihilation Advancement Mu and the Impermanence Sword.

:: Seo Eun-hyun... will not inherit a robe and alms bowl like yours, filled with pain and anger.:: The authority of the Immortal Beast King I lent.

The connection possessed by the Heavenly Venerable of the Underworld.

And the authority Kang Min-hee possesses as a Heavenly King, and her innate talent.

Adding all of that together...

She at last found it in time.

Wo-woooong!!

A strand of golden radiance that Kang Min-hee found stands firm, blocking Annihilation Advancement Wu and the Impermanence Sword.

It is a mask.

:: Because we will protect him.:: It has a form similar to the mask of Mu (戊) that Gwak Am wears, but it is a mask on which Gi (己) is written.

Gwak Am's Annihilation Advancement Wu, struck by the image of his own past self, glances away and pierces a hole in the Head Realm.