A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation

Clang clang-

Seo Gyeong’s gaze falls upon the hunched puppet looming before him—a figure he hasn’t faced in what feels like ages.

…The eleventh cycle, wasn’t it?’

This was the very first puppet dispatched by the Mad Lord to capture Seo Eun-hyun.

The same hunched puppet that eerily resembled the Mad Lord himself.

[By order of the Elder, the incursion into the Bright Cold Realm shall commence. Initiate retrieval of ‘components’ for factory activation. Chijijijik… ‘Components’ located. Early Integration stage Grand Cultivator. Begin extraction…chijijik…begin…chijik…shishishishishi…youyouyouyouyou…]

The hunched general puppet crackled and staggered, then extended a mechanical hand toward Seo Eun- hyun. Responding, Seo Eun-hyun reached out and transmitted a command.

“Authority, Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress Main Castle general automaton. Designation: [General Seo]. As an Upper Fortress general automaton, I hereby request transfer of administrative control.”

With Seo Eun-hyun’s words, a translucent [circuit] link materialized, connecting between him and the general puppet.

Moments later, so as not to arouse suspicion among onlookers, Seo Eun-hyun and the general puppet began conversing discreetly via voice transmission.

[General Seo. This designation is unregistered.]

[It is a newly constructed unit from the Upper Fortress. I also carry the command letter from the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress main castle.]

Wo-woong-

Through Seo Gyeong’s body, Seo Eun-hyun transferred data constructs he had previously gathered within the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress to the general puppet.

[Chijijik… Verification complete. Unit [General Seo] confirmed. Holds delegated administrator authority from Castle Lord [Mad Lord Jo Yeon]. From this point forward, administrative control of [Wonderfully Mysterious Castle’s Mass-Production Integration-Class Puppet Manufacturing Branch] transfers to [General Seo].]

“…Mass-Production Integration-Class Puppet Factory…”

At that dreadful title, Seo Eun-hyun clicked his tongue.

‘After completing [Her] to the Star Shattering Stage, the Mad Lord created these factories and scattered hundreds of such puppets throughout the Vast Cold Realm. Had he been given tens of thousands more years… the Integration stage puppets mass-produced under his command could have swarmed the realm like a relentless hive.’

A shudder ran through Seo Eun-hyun as he pictured billions upon billions of Integration stage puppets blanketing the Vast Cold Realm, an unstoppable locust swarm.

Despite the vast gulf between Star Shattering and Integration stages, such overwhelming numbers could pose a threat even to Sacred Vessels.

Furthermore, knowing the Mad Lord’s genius and temperament, it wasn’t likely he’d command so many puppets by brute force alone. Undoubtedly, he would engineer some strategic scheme using them.

‘If the Mad Lord still lived, displacing the Sacred Master through legions of Integration stage puppets and installing the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress as the seat of the Sacred Master might well have been within his grasp…’

That’s the terrifying power wielded by the entity known as the Mad Lord.

What truly unsettled Seo Eun-hyun was not the formidable puppet [Her], but rather the factories the Mad Lord had crafted.

At first, he mass-produced Heavenly Being stage puppets, then Four-Axis stage, followed by Integration stage. After building [Her], he might have even aimed to mass-produce Star Shattering puppets.

If Jo Yeon’s aim wasn’t Yeon’s Play but to confront Seo Hweol, surely that would have been the trajectory. ‘But now, all that is nothing but a memory…’

Utilizing administrator authority, Seo Eun-hyun immediately terminated the ‘Integration Stage Puppet Mass-Production Plan’ within the underground Factory.

Henceforth, the factory’s sole function would be to repair the roughly fifty Integration stage puppets present.

‘If millions of years pass in this manner, just as spirit fruits, woods, and stones evolve their spiritual essence and are embraced by the Earth Tribe, perhaps these puppets might one day join that tribe as well.’

Contemplating that remote possibility, Seo Eun-hyun embedded a secret [prophecy] within all but three of the Integration puppets, rendering them undetectable.

Originally, these puppets weren’t part of his plan, so the move was impromptu, but…

If they fall and new Enders arrive, perhaps this will serve as an arrangement left for them.

The prophecy and command Seo Eun-hyun grafted into the puppets read:

[In the event that beings from another world arrive, protect them; if they prove worthy, serve as their devoted retainers.]

He intentionally made it so that at approximately the Core Formation level, a being could claim ownership of these puppets. Seo Eun-hyun’s lips curled into a faint smile.

“Another world” here meant not another Middle Realm or Heavenly Domain, but a completely foreign world-thus, these puppets might someday aid Enders from beyond.

Memories of the Mad Lord, once thought locked away, surfaced unbidden.

Back then, the pain had pierced like death itself…

Yet as always, wounds wash over time into bittersweet nostalgia.

Now, both the Mad Lord and Seo Hweol were but fragile echoes of the past.

[By administrator authority, I command. Henceforth…]

After lingering briefly in recollection, Seo Eun-hyun turned his gaze toward Wol Ryeong, who was approaching from afar, and issued orders to the three remaining puppets:

-the hunched puppet.

-the Supreme Tiger Race automaton.

-and the Western Flame Race automaton.

Wol Ryeong clenched her teeth tightly.

It was humiliating.

‘I was careless.’

She ought to have heeded Seo Gyeong’s warning.

Never had she imagined such abilities.

Even her short-range foresight, channeled via celestial energy, failed her.

‘I was reckless, overestimating my grasp on puppet mechanics from the start.’

Only two months had passed since she repelled the God of Heavenly Punishment, pinnacle of the Immortal Cultivation hierarchy.

Because of that feat, her confidence swelled unwisely.

Returning swiftly to her original station, she bit her lips hard.

“Please, please let nothing awful have occurred…”

Then.

At last back in place, Wol Ryeong’s insides twisted violently.

Bududuk…

“…What are you doing?”

She snarled as she caught sight of puppets imprisoning Seo Gyeong, Black Ghost Valley disciples, and Cold Spirit Race natives within brutal, machine-like contraptions-ruthlessly draining Heaven and Earth spiritual essence from them.

[Can you not perceive? I am gathering power sources.]

“…Power sources?”

[The life energy of Integration stage Grand Cultivators-and those of Four-Axis and Heavenly Being stages as well-is an eternal energy reservoir for puppets. By extracting this, I shall initiate my [factory]’s operation.]

“…Release them.”

[What?]

“Release… Seo Gyeong!”

Bo-oong-

In an instant, Wol Ryeong seized her radiance halberd and hurled herself at the puppets.

The gleaming halberd slammed against the hunched puppet’s arm.

Startled, Wol Ryeong realized,

‘Th-This one…’

Wiiiiiing- ʀᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛʀs ᴀᴛ novel-fire.net

Though the fifty Integration stage puppets that had ambushed her vanished, the hunched puppet still channeled the combined energy of those fifty comrades through a single arm.

And that was only the beginning.

Clang clang clang!

The Supreme Tiger Race puppet and Western Flame Race puppet joined in.

The hunched puppet traced the Three Powers Formation, each automaton performing a hand seal.

[Heaven ().]

[Earth (tt).]

[Puppet (1).]

Kugugung!

Jo

At that instant, as if the Three Great Ultimates coalesced from within their formation, a devastating surge of power erupted, hurtling toward Wol Ryeong.

[Kkuuuugh!]

Though her dimensional slash was enfolded in her Integrated Dao Domain, Wol Ryeong barely resisted against such overwhelming might.

Kwaaang!

The puppet’s onslaught, powered by this colossal energy, forcefully flung her backward, Integrated Dao Domain and all.

‘Compressing the dimensional slash within the Integrated Dao Domain is advantageous against the ‘absolute’ energies of transcendent beings, but when facing a massed assault by innumerable enemies beneath that? Useless.’

So what then?

‘Unlike the Lightning God Battle, this time I must unleash my full power.’

Yet she frowned.

‘Dammit… the Three Great Disasters? Exactly what are those monsters?’

Even at her Quasi-Star Shattering cultivation, she doubted overcoming this amplified onslaught.

‘Mad Lord system puppets are absurdly powerful-powers even I dare not aspire to.’

…Not compression.’

Therefore, she refrained from release, instead intensifying focus on her dimensional slash.

‘The blade on my halberd…’

Kiiiiiing-

She did not widen the stroke.

Instead, she sharpened the energy to its utmost and wrapped it around herself.

She fused halberd and being into one.

Patstststststs!

Her eyes gleamed fiercely.

‘I’ll draw them into close quarters.’

The divine edge of her dimensional slash compressed by the Integrated Dao Domain could cut through any barrier.

But though it could slice through all, it could not defend against saturated brute force.

So she sheathed the razor-sharp energy around her entire form.

She became* the halberd.

[Huuuu…]

She sensed her mind stretching into