A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 515: Festival Of The Eve (前夜祭) (1)

Chapter 515: Festival Of The Eve (前夜祭) (1)

Shring, Shriring!

Kim Young-hoon is drenched in cold sweat in Cedar Wood Grove of the Bright Cold Realm.

Then suddenly!

Paaaatt!

In the Plane of Soul overlapped with the Bright Cold Realm, a massive sphere of light resembling the sun appears.

"Haaaaaaahht!"

Tuk-wang!

"...Ha, hahahahaha!"

Watching this scene, Kim Young-hoon laughs.

And...standing beside him, Jang Ik grins.

"Now you're become somewhat useful."

"Haha! 'Now', you say? I've reached this stage several times faster than you did, Senior Jang. Aren't you afraid? That I'll surpass you?"

"Hahaha!"

Jang Ik lets out a hearty laugh, as if hearing a funny joke.

"How could you surpass me? 'Right now.' 'In this very moment!' I am stronger than you! So what if you surpass me in the next second? At this very moment, I can sever your neck!"

Then, the greetings between Heart Tribes begin.

Kwaaang!

Jang Ik charges toward Kim Young-hoon.

Four Treasures Annihilating Heavens Blade.

Executing Immortals Annihilating Heavens.

A sharp slash strikes in an instant, flying straight towards Kim Young-hoon's face.

Kim Young-hoon bends his body so low it looks as if he's bowing, then forcefully shakes off the attack.

Boo-oong!

A golden saber deflects a green podao.

Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.

Third Style.

Golden Blade Jade Resonance (金刃玉音).

The Golden Blade (金刃) shakes off the Jade Resonance (玉音).

Like Seo Eun-hyun's Severing Mountain Swordsmanship, Mountain Echoes Valley Responds, that shakes off a sword cry, Kim Young-hoon's saber vibrates wildly and the resonance ripples, seeping into Jang Ik's body.

Clicking his tongue, Jang Ik immediately dashes forward and strikes into Kim Young-hoon's chest.

"...Keheok!"

Kim Young-hoon vomits blood then scans his surroundings.

'This is insane...'

He finds himself knocked from the Stable Realm region all the way into the skies above the Chaos Realm regions.

Even though his protective body force was in place, his entire body is shattered. His limbs are torn off, and his internal organs are crushed into pulp.

Even at this moment, he's hurtling through the atmosphere of the Bright Cold Realm like a meteor, burning up from the frictional heat.

All this from allowing just one hit from Jang Ik.

Boo-oong!

Jang Ik leaps through space and reappears above Kim Young-hoon.

'If I take one more hit, I'll die!'

Kim Young-hoon quickly creates a martial art.

Yang-Birth Nine Revolutions Technique (陽生九轉功).

In a fleeting instant, countless golden threads gush out from Kim Young-hoon's body, crawling along his body.

They reconnect his crushed blood vessels, bones, and nerves everywhere.

His internal organs are restored. 

His dismembered limbs are regenerated. 

Kim Young-hoon's body is dyed in golden light.

The golden internal energy rotates within his body nine times, granting him regeneration equivalent to an Integration stage cultivator.

Four Treasures Annihilating Heavens Blade.

Slaughtering Immortals Annihilating Heavens (戮仙滅天)

At the same time, Jang Ik overlays his legs with Four Treasures Annihilating Heavens Blade and slams them down towards Kim Young-hoon.

In that instant, Kim Young-hoon quickly moves his body, gripping the Surpassing Radiant Saber and readying himself to counter.

Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.

Golden Wing Defiles the Light!

The silhouette of a Golden-Winged Peng seems to flash before clashing with Jang Ik's strike.

Ururung!

In the next moment, from the sky to one of the wastelands in the Stable Realm...

Kim Young-hoon is driven deep into the earth, all the way underground.

"Kuaaaagh!"

Dudududu!

Jang Ik's immense will presses down on Kim Young-hoon.

The willpower imbued in the Four Treasures Annihilating Heavens Blade continues to push Kim Young-hoon further underground.

'Facing him with just strength is impossible.'

Feeling his entire body being torn apart by the energy of Slaughtering Immortals Annihilating Heavens, Kim Young-hoon grits his teeth.

'I can't allow the attack itself. Otherwise, I'll lose without question! Without letting Jang Ik see me, I have to cut him down with countless strikes!'

Boo-oong!

Then, as Kim Young-hoon steels his resolve, Jang Ik charges forward once again, unleashing his most powerful ultimate technique. 

Four Treasures Annihilating Heavens Blade.

Collapsing Immortals Annihilating Heavens!

The dimension itself collapses!

Interdimensional Void.

Outside the Bright Cold Realm.

Kwaaaang!

A powerful tremor echoes out, and the dimensional barrier of the Bright Cold Realm shatters completely.

From within appears Kim Young-hoon, his entire body covered in burns and rapidly regenerating, and Jang Ik, grinning wickedly and laughing with excitement.

Kim Young-hoon begins to move.

Boo-oong!

Surpassing Radiant Genesis Form.

Fourth Style.

Golden Radiance Flint to Flash (金光石火).

Created Martial Art.

Hundred Severings!

Kim Young-hoon's body transforms into golden light.

For an instant, he transcends the light.

Jang Ik raises his podao to counter, but before he realizes it, his entire body has already been slashed apart by a hundred strikes.

Chwajwajwak!

Blood sprays from Jang Ik's body like a fountain.

But in the next moment,

Jang Ik grins.

"Passable."

"...!"

Kim Young-hoon quickly tries to react, but a technique he has never seen before erupts from Jang Ik's body.

Created Martial Art.

Blazing Radiance Slaughtering Soul (烈光屠魂).

In a flash, Jang Ik moves like a streak of light, matching Kim Young-hoon's speed and extends a single saber strike towards him.

Four Treasures Annihilating Heavens Blade.

Severing Immortals Annihilating Heavens.

Shukak!

Paaatt!

Kim Young-hoon stares at Jang Ik with a chill running down his spine, then looks at his own severed strands of hair.

Though he barely avoided the strike, the feeling that if it had landed directly, he wouldn't have even had the chance to regenerate his body is overwhelming.

He looks at Jang Ik's small body, which had been definitely slashed over a hundred times.

It's stitched back together.

Just like Kim Young-hoon's body, Jang Ik also created a martial art on the spot, manipulating the energy within his body with a suitable technique to stitch himself together.

However, unlike Kim Young-hoon, his regeneration is far from perfect. Traces of the slashes still remain on Jang Ik's body.

It is a crude martial art.

Its level of completion is not particularly high.

Yet...

Kim Young-hoon realizes something.

"...How, Senior Jang Ik...how could you have that talent...?"

"I accumulated it over time. You, on the other hand, seem to have somehow been 'born' with it. But...once you reach this stage, it's inevitable to 'accumulate' a talent of this level. Even Seo Eun-hyun, from what I've seen, seems to have accumulated this sense."

Jang Ik smirks, floating four podaos around his body.

"I believe in what I've accumulated. Am I afraid that you'll grow and surpass me? Huhu! That's a good provocation, but it won't work on me! What I've accumulated has already touched upon the ultimate realm! Come! Do you have the resolve to stand against me as I am!?"

Kim Young-hoon stares at Jang Ik for a long moment, then breaks into a grin.

"Very well. Then please show me, Senior. This 'ultimate realm' you claim to have touched upon..."

"This isn't something to show to you. As there's already someone else to whom I wish to unfold it..."

"...Then I'll make you unfold it."

Once again, the two Heart Tribe clash.

The entirety of the dimension beyond the Bright Cold Realm becomes their battlefield, as gold and green collide against each other.

In terms of weight class, Jang Ik has the upper hand.

His Fighting Spirit itself embodies overwhelming and domineering 'strength.'

In terms of speed, Kim Young-hoon is ahead.

Naturally so, as his Surpassing Radiant Saber is a martial art specialized in speed.

The space beyond the Bright Cold Realm resounds noisily.

The dimensional barrier explodes in various places, Sacred Master Baek Woon's furious roar reverberates from within, and thousands of Vestiges of the Interdimensional Void are obliterated.

Then, when their clash reaches its peak!

Collapsing Immortals Annihilating Heavens and Golden Wing Defiles the Light collide.

Kim Young-hoon sees it.

The ultimate realm that Jang Ik has reached.

The despair of that realm, known as the Third Step Before the Throne!

Jang Ik, in turn, also sees it.

The overwhelming genius of Kim Young-hoon, and...the hope that he might one day reach the Third Step Before the Throne!

Confronting this new precipice, Kim Young-hoon bares his teeth in a grin.

Confronting this new light, Jang Ik also bares his teeth and laughs.

In the next moment, their clash shatters the dimensional barrier of the Bright Cold Realm.

Shiiiiiiiii!

Kim Young-hoon and Jang Ik stand facing each other, steam rising from their entire bodies.

Having returned full circle to Cedar Wood Grove, the two look at each other and burst into laughter.

"...If you had used 'that,' I would likely have died. Why didn't you use it?"

"I told you already. It's not something to show to you."

"Huhaha! Well...for now, I'll have to be satisfied with just catching a faint glimpse of the true nature of 'that.'"

"You shameless brat. Do you think you can reach the realm I've devoted my entire life to attaining so quickly?"

"...I will probably need a thousand years."

"...Definitely a shameless brat."

Jang Ik grins and sits down casually.

However, his expression is brighter than ever.

"...What is the 'Void' you've attained?"

At Jang Ik's sudden question, Kim Young-hoon also slumps to the ground and answers.

"The Void of the moment."

Kim Young-hoon could not bring himself to sever his connections to reach Void Shattering.

Seo Eun-hyun embraced his connections and attained impermanence, but that is Seo Eun-hyun's enlightenment.

It is not something he can obtain for himself.

Thus, he found his own path.

"In the moment I face martial arts! For that moment, I chose to forget everything and embody the void!"

He cannot forget his family.

However, in those moments when his heart awakens to the desire to return to them!

In that moment of resolve, he can focus entirely on that purpose and let go.

"To forget something once and assume it is forgotten forever was my own misconception. A person's life is made up of moments. And in those countless moments, there are times when we forget something, times when we immerse ourselves and forget, and times when we remember. Thus, among the countless moments, I decided to attain the void of the moments I need most."

"Seo Eun-hyun seems to have 'gathered.' You, on the other hand, have 'disassembled.' It's an interesting choice!"

Jang Ik laughs heartily at Kim Young-hoon's words.

"At last, you have cast aside all hesitation and found the proper answer. Congratulations!"

At Jang Ik's acknowledgment, Kim Young-hoon smiles in satisfaction.

"You've reached the peak of the Second Step Before the Throne!"

This is one thousand years since Seo Eun-hyun became a Sacred Master.

Kurung, kurururung!

In a certain part of the universe.

An enormous celestial phenomenon is unfolding there.

Pajik, pajijijijijijik!

A cultivator at the Grand Perfection Integration Stage appears to be condensing their Integrated Dao Domain.

And at a certain moment—

Kwaaaaaang!

Their Integrated Dao Domain, the Great Heavenly Rain of the Charged Lightning Veil, bursts forth entirely.

[Guaaaaaaaah!]

The cultivator who detonated their Integrated Dao Domain, Jeon Myeong-hoon, grits his teeth as if overwhelmed by unbearable pain and seems to be 'contemplating’ on something.

That 'something' is...

Amidst the explosion of his Integrated Dao Domain, untouched by the blast due to prearranged arrangements, a [hand].

That shriveled, scorched [hand]!

Centered around that hand, Jeon Myeong-hoon's consciousness begins to coalesce.

[So...hae...]

Around the hand of Jin So-hae, scenes start to unfold. 

The scenes depict the moment Jin So-hae perished, her entire body obliterated by lightning, leaving only her hand behind.

The day the entirety of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect was utterly annihilated by lightning under the [eye] that appeared in the sky!

[So...hae...!]

Centered on the pain and fury of that day...Jeon Myeong-hoon regains his awareness.

Kwarung, kwarururung!

Inside the nebula created by Jeon Myeong-hoon's explosion due to the 'prelude phenomenon' of the Star Tribulation, preludes of Heavenly Tribulations appear.

Regaining his senses, Jeon Myeong-hoon seizes control of the prelude Heavenly Tribulations using Jin So-hae's hand as his anchor.

Kwajijijik!

The prelude Heavenly Tribulations are infused with the power of the Immortal Art, Various Omens.

Simultaneously, Jeon Myeong-hoon's physical body begins to condense.

[So...hae...!!!]

Kururururung!

Finally, Jeon Myeong-hoon succeeds in condensing the 'physical body' of a Star Shattering Esteemed One.

And immediately after—

Flash!

A vast beam of light descends from the universe.

The Heavenly Tribulation that falls upon an Esteemed One.

It is the Star Tribulation.

And towards that Star Tribulation, someone present at the scene leaps forward.

It is Hong Fan.

[Entering Heavens Beyond the Path. Void Sword!]

Paaaaaatt!

Guided by Seo Eun-hyun and Kim Young-hoon, Hong Fan, who has once again reached Entering Heavens Beyond the Path in this life, charges towards the Star Tribulation without hesitation.

Scattering Jeon Myeong-hoon's prepared blood, he resounds in mental speech. 

[On the last day of the last month, where no light reaches, the Tribulation (劫) shall arise. Tribulation, come hither, so that all may partake in the feast before the light enters.]

The ritual prepared with Jeon Myeong-hoon's blood scatters, and Hong Fan's Void Sword touches the Star Tribulation.

Immediately after, Hong Fan's entire body is nearly reduced to ashes and he is blasted away.

Kwaaaang!

As Hong Fan is flung away, the Star Tribulation fuses with 'all the Star Tribulations' that are supposed to come after and converges upon Jeon Myeong-hoon.

Jeon Myeong-hoon faces the Star Tribulation.

Flash!

The expected sound of when Heavenly Tribulation collides does not occur. 

Though space lacks a medium for sound to travel, the corresponding spiritual wave should reverberate. Yet even such waves of spiritual energy fail to ripple.

The Star Tribulation is merely absorbed and devoured by Jeon Myeong-hoon's Great Heavenly Rain of Charged Lightning Veil Great Star.

Kurururung!

Above Jeon Myeong-hoon's main body, Heaven and Earth spiritual energy condenses, forming a projection.

It's a phenomenon that naturally occurs as Jeon Myeong-hoon's authority surges powerfully, manifesting his combat technique form.

The main body of Jeon Myeong-hoon, the Two-Headed Six-Armed Lightning God, begins to transform.

Kwajijijijik!

As lightning condenses around Jeon Myeong-hoon's two heads and six arms, another head emerges.

The complete form of a Three-Headed Six-Armed Lightning God!

But it doesn't stop there.

On the six arms of the Three-Headed Six-Armed Lightning God, despite not being a practitioner of Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation, a 'winged garment' of thunder and lightning forms.

[Ooooooooh!]

Kwarurururung!

As the Three-Headed Six-Armed Lightning God roars, the entire Heaven and Earth begins surging with lightning force.

Kwajijijijik!

The Lightning God with three heads and six arms extends all six of its hands, concentrating the energy of the Star Tribulation.

Then, in the center of the six hands, a certain form begins to coalesce.

Rain (雨).

It is a sphere of lightning inscribed with the character 'Rain (雨)'.

Subsequently, other spheres begin to materialize in the Lightning God's hands one by one.

Clearing (霽), Cloudiness (蒙), Want of Connection (驛), Crossing (克).

Inner Diagram (內卦) and Outer Diagram (外卦).

Holding these six symbols in his six hands, excluding the symbol Rain (雨) in the center, Jeon Myeong-hoon opens wide all of the eyes of the Three-Headed Six-Armed Lightning God, releasing a massive roar.

[Haaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!]

Kwarururururung!

With that final act, the Star Tribulation is completely absorbed into Jeon Myeong-hoon's body.

Half-closing his eyes, he finally draws his Origin Star into the projection.

[...At last, I've made it this far.]

He has finally become a Star Shattering stage Esteemed One.

He gazes at the symbols held in his hands.

These are dharma treasures forged from the power of the recent Star Tribulation.

With these, it is certain that he will be able to easily create the remaining six Origin Stars.

'Perhaps within a thousand years, I should reach the Grand Perfection Star Shattering stage and aim for advancement to the Sacred Vessel stage.'

This is the Heavenly Golden Thunder Body!

Reigning as the master of all thunder and lightning, impervious to Heavenly Tribulations, and even using them as a spiritual elixir to advance cultivation!

'Perhaps my Ender, Yang Su-jin, who is presumed to have the same ability as I do, also utilized these traits to their fullest, allowing him to reach the pinnacle of True Immortality within three thousand years.'

Jeon Myeong-hoon muses this as he approaches the figure who was observing his advancement ritual nearby.

"Ancestor, I have finally succeeded in becoming an Esteemed One."

The one who was watching over him.

Yeon Wei, with an expression of letting go a big burden from her heart, kneels before Jeon Myeong-hoon.