A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation

:: A mere fly. ::

Jjeooong!

The Great Mountain Supreme Deity looks down at Kang Min-hee and waves his hand.

Splurt!

Blood bursts from the corner of Kang Min-hee’s mouth.

However, she does not get torn apart in a single strike.

Rather, she simply hands me that mask and calmly endures before the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

:: Do you know how…I withstood your strike just now? Do you know why I found your mask? ::

She speaks while looking at the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

Kang Min-hee’s clear voice spreads across the battlefield.

:: The source of my authority is sorrow. I can hear the laments of all grieving existences in all phenomena. If this authority combines with Seo Eun-hyun’s Immortal Beast King authority…I can even hear the wailing of existences already perished. ::

::..::

:: I heard the grieving of your master’s lingering will, and I, receiving their help, found this. O Mountain Divine Spirit who was once great! Is this truly what you desire, to hope for your master’s will to grieve so that you may find an offering to dedicate before your master’s spirit hall!? ::

Kugugugugugu!

At Kang Min-hee’s words, the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s whole body flushes a deep red.

:: Your will does not uphold their meaning. All it does is cause them sorrow! The fact that I, who preside over sorrow, could find that mask you hid so carefully…perfectly proves it. ::

::…Fine. It is time…to obtain the Third Absolute. ::

The Great Mountain Supreme Deity, once again, waves his hand toward Kang Min-hee.

Kwagwagwang!

She attempts to form a defense, but the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s authority pierces through all of it and strikes her.

It is a strike of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity that dented the Head Realm and put cracks in the boundary of Cakravāda.

Kang Min-hee collapses under his attack.

That she can even endure until now is likely because she has the symbol of Gi (Z) that is the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s past self.

She looks back at me and smiles.

:: This time too. You will save me, right? ::

::…Of course. ::

:: Then…I’ll head in and have the arrangements set in place. Let all your grace and resentment be resolved. ::

Kwajijijing!!

At last, when the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s strike once again directly hits Kang Min-hee,

She completely collapses and is absorbed into the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

I feel Kang Min-hee get swallowed into the inside of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea.

She could have avoided it.

Even if she only called the name of the Underworld, she could have fled to the Underworld, and even if not that, with her skill alone she would have been able to escape.

The only reason she did not flee was to buy me a moment of time.

And, to seep into the interior of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, become the most lethal poison to him, and become the starting point that relieves my pain.

‘I…am only being protected by you all.’

From friends who fight together with me everywhere, I gain indescribable gratitude and courage.

:: I now have one more reason to defeat you. ::

Watching Kang Min-hee seep into the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, enduring pain through repentant enlightenment within the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea while slowly reaching out to Wol Ryeong, I melt the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s mask in my hand.

At Kang Min-hee’s maneuver, as if to provoke me, he takes Wol Ryeong, which he placed upon his forehead, and swallows her back down into the depths of his body.

He seems unwilling to show me even the possibility of Kang Min-hee informing Wol Ryeong of something and Wol Ryeong forgiving me.

Tstststststs!

The golden mask that transforms in my hand soon changes into something else.

It is a handle.

The hilt of a sword.

The sword has no edge, with only a bare hilt and guard, but I feel satisfied with just that and raise the sword.

Because for a stupid swordsman who had his own sword taken away, it is the most fitting sword.

:: How unsightly. ::

:: Yeah. I am unsightly. ::

I readily admit it.

A monkey who only grabs a blade and makes a fuss about protecting them only after those that are precious are already taken.

That is me.

I am ugly.

I always am.

That I have come this far is entirely thanks to the friends and teachers who led me.

Kim Young-hoon.

My disciples.

Cheongmun Ryeong.

Seo Ran.

Hyang-hwa.

Yeon.

Azure Tiger Saint.

Gyu Ryeon and Gyu Baek.

Hongsu Ryeong.

Seo Li.

Kang Min-hee.

Wuji Religious Order.

Yeon Wei.

Mad Lord.

Daoist Seo.

Blood Yin.

Glass Peacock.

In Yeon’s clan and In Ye.

The King of the Forest who acknowledged me as the King of Deer.

The Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity and comrades.

The Sword Spear Heavenly Lord Ji Hwa.

My child.

Oh Hyun-seok.

They kept pulling the inadequate me forward, and only then did I arrive at this place.

So…

:: Even if I am unsightly, I cannot retreat a single step. : :

We will win.

Tiiing!

Clearly, it is a bizarre chunk of an ornament with only a hilt and guard and no blade.

However, the moment I swing it into the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, a clear sword cry rings out.

I will show you now.

The steps toward the final profundity of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship!

‘Take it. This is the ultimate I created to kill you.’

It is a martial art, yet a technique of transcendence that surpasses martial arts.

Walking step by step to unfold it, I keep making the sword cry resound.

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, Thirty-Fifth Move.

Mount Cedarwood.

The sword will that contains the hearts of all the Heart Tribe I have met until now manifests from my hand and

pounds Great Mountain Supreme Deity infinitely.

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, Thirty-Fourth Move.

Mount Kunlun.

A single thrust!

That thrust, carried out within the domain of Triple Divinity, in an instantly pierces the Great Mountain Supreme Deity’s chest, and seeking the energy of Kang Min-hee that is inside his chest, stabs inside.

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, Thirty-Third Move.

Mount Sumeru.

As the sword draws a circle, a sword dance appears.

Within the sword dance, I begin borrowing power from this very spacetime, from reality itself.

It is not only reality.

Through the authority of the Immortal Beast King, the sword dance also begins to draw power from the past.

To the magnitude of power accumulated by Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains, my skill that reaches the Ultimate

of Martial Arts is added, and I gradually begin to shake off the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

Gripping a strange formless sword with no blade, where only the ring of the sword cry exists…

I thus begin to revive and bloom the swords of past days toward the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

Transcending Mountain Ridge Embedment.

Accumulating Dust Forms a Mountain

Deep Mountain, Emerging Dao.

Boundless Dao to the Other Shore.

Twelve Thousand Peaks.

Guiding to the Summit.

One Annihilation to the Near Shore.

Sea of Righteousness and Mountain of Grace.

As the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship goes toward the latter half, the part that applies the heart itself to the sword grows.

The later techniques of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship formed of sword cries begin to resonate with the heart of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

And, while unfolding that sword in reverse order, the opponent’s heart and soul that begins to resonate with my sword will…

I drag it down to the Lower Realm.

Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains!

As the sword cry resounds, at last the final chess piece to unfold the final profound technique is complete.

The final profundity that was unfinished during the time of the Hyeon Mu Battle, and thus did not have very great

effect.

A strong-against-strong, weak-against-weak technique that works only on an enemy who has a mighty ‘power’ like the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

Tiiing, tiling, tiling!

The sword cries I scatter begin resonating ever more strongly.

Gwak Am’s gaze wavers.

The final profundity of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship is for unfolding the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra as a sword.

However, unlike the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra that compresses the universe into a single point, its power is not so destructive.

For this is solely the domain of the Heart Sword.

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

Final Profundity

The Great Mountain Supreme Deity, whose whole body is suppressed in an instant by the sword cry, cannot dare evade this technique.

Because just as he applied a certain-hit to me with the Impermanence Sword, the sword that uses this technique is one I have refined from his past.

Uduk, ududududuk!

Moreover, for an instant, the small hand of Kang Min-hee, who was swallowed by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity, bursts through his chest and even provides us with the optimal stage.

-A flower that has fallen once does not bloom again.

-Only before the flowers fall does one remember the Spring.

Mantra, Fallen Flowers.

Her rule interferes with our battle, and within that rule I, with all my strength, unfold the end of the Severing

Mountain Swordsmanship.

A single downward strike.

Great Mountain Pressing Down (JE)!

Ironically, the final profoundity of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship is the downward-strike posture that the

martial world evaluates as the most basic of basics.

It is the move of Great Mountain Pressing Down.

At that single downward strike, our hearts begin to resonate and amplify to the utmost.

Me and the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

The minds of the two of us amplify to the max, and all the hearts we have accumulated are maximized.

The essence of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra is the peak amplification of the heart.

Advancing the End by compression through the maximization of the heart is nothing but a side effect.

With the tip of the descending sword, the mind of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity begins to be amplified and to

be compressed.

He notices what is about to happen and tries to resist.

It must be because he realizes that, if the move of Great Mountain Pressing Down is completed, it will become quite disadvantageous to him.

:: Immortal Cultivation is repentant enlightenment…::

Kugugugugu!

He recites the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra and resists my Great Mountain Pressing Down.

‘It is useless.’

This is a decisive technique created solely to corner the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

If, by applying the principle of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, one uses it simply and destructively, Great Mountain Pressing Down at most merely ends in annihilating one universe with one sword.

However, if one does not stop at merely manifesting phenomenon of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mant with this Great Mountain Pressing Down, and goes beyond that.

If one puts the true meaning of the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra into the sword.

Then it does not end with merely destroying a single universe, but becomes the starting point to toppling the Great

Mountain Supreme Deity named Gwak Am.

:: You dare…!? ::

Gwak Am, exhaling a roar full of anger, and with the light of Annihilation Advancement Mu wrapped around one hand, thrusts a spear of light toward me.

‘I can’t dodge.’

Because I am concentrating my whole mind on the completion of Great Mountain Pressing Down, I must endure

that one strike.

‘Block it!’

Bracing for the bombardment of the dark-red spear, I draw forth all my authority.

But what arrives is not his Annihilation Advancement Mu, but a tranquil silver light.

Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter.

Transcendence Technique.

Zero Wing.

Nameless One Fist Thrust.

Unable to keep up with our battle until now and hiding, waiting for the most optimal situation, Oh Hyun-seok’s One

Fist lands precisely on Gwak Am’s elbow that is about to release Annihilation Advancement Mu.

Jjeoeeeeeeong!!

The Annihilation Advancement Wu glances aside, and through that once-in-a-thousand-years chance I finally

complete the Heart Sword.

Our hearts are amplified to the peak.

And the maximized hearts contract, like the compression of the universe.

We experience the omnipotent sense of the spirit that seems to cover the whole universe being forcibly

compressed to the limit and smashed into the mud, rolling down to the Lower Realm.

Kururung-

I open my eyes.

Before me stands a giant in a blood robe wearing a golden mask.

This place is the upper side of some nebulae.

There, facing each other in the bodies of mortal beings, I open my mouth to Gwak Am.

“Seeing you with the body of a mortal being, you’ve also become unsightly. Or is it not so?”

The result that comes out when unleashing Great Mountain Pressing Down not as physical force, but only as the

Heart Sword.

It is a technique that forcibly compresses the spirits of my own and the opponent’s, reducing transcendents into

mortal beings.

I look outside the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain that Kang Min-hee manifested.

There, the main bodies of the Great Mountain Supreme Deity and I faintly show.

Leaving our main bodies as they are, only the main personalities have tumbled down to the Lower Realm and are in

a state of having generated fleshly bodies.

Moreover, the Lower Realm is currently in a state where time flows much faster due to the Radiance Mantra.

“Let us unsightly things fight.”

In this battlefield of madness that will take at least tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of years, I point my sword at him.

In the end, the foundation of every transcendent is a mortal.

If one deems the will of a mortal unsightly, even as a transcendent they will be an unsightly existence.

Therefore, as two unsightly beings who toy with the fate of people, it is right that we clash in an unsightly form.

Feeling our realm that has compressed, separated from the main body, and fallen down to the Entering Nirvana stage, I begin to continue making my sword cry resound.