A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 756: Chapter 752: Light and Salt (8)
itis over.
Wol Ryeong's first thought is that.
What stands before her eyes is the Owner of Heavenly Punishment.
The being who governs the Heavenly Tribulations that descend upon every cultivation realm in this world.
The God of Thunder Resonance Valley.
They are an existence a mortal being like her cannot withstand.
“From the very start...
She cannot understand.
“Why, in a ritual that summons the spirit of lightning, did the Owner of Heavenly Punishment...descend...?'
And the God of Heavenly Punishment answers.
[I thought maybe a transformation in fate is occurring, so I descended to take a look. Quite interesting, I must say...]
oi
I was read!?'
[The brain of a mortal being that moves by electrical signals...for Lightning Immortals, it is not difficult to read.]
“..What do you intend to do with us...?"
[Before I deal with you, I'll handle another urgent matter first.]
The God of Heavenly Punishment seems to smile, then rises from their seat and looks around at the forty-eight Nascent Soul Elders who are encircling their descent body. [You expected the Heavenly Lightning Banner to come and waited to snatch it, but since I personally descended, it seems I gave you quite the surprise.]
"...Release her. She is not one to be imprisoned in your embrace and be humiliated." [Seize her with your own hands. Have I not said it all along? Only that is a fate that has meaning... Until that fate comes to pass, she is mine.]
“It seems you got excited by the generational shift of the Eight Immortals and came as your main personality. As expected, you are hasty, young Red Pearl. If we suppress you here, your main body will become defenseless.”
[How laughable. Are you saying you intend to block me right now with that cultivation?] “We are the ones who were taught the principle of Indra's Net by Them. We know the world far more deeply than you..."
The Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord begins to form hand seals, and the other Nascent Soul stage Elders around them also form hand seals.
“By no means does our full strength fall behind you, O Evil God!"
Kwarururung!
Starting from the Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord, ropes of lightning extend from them and link to the other Elders.
Then their ropes of lightning entangle and interweave, forming a great net that embraces the cavern.
Wo-wooong-
Wol Ryeong cannot even grasp the context of the conversation they exchange, nor does she know what they are unfolding.
However, her instincts realize that that net, on a metaphysical level, is suppressing that Lightning God's descent body with some transcendent power.
"0 Evil God who devoured the Lord, today this place becomes your grave. Regret for felling the Lord and not sweeping us away!"
It has no effect on Wol Ryeong, a mortal being, but clearly something on a transcendent plane is pressing down on that descent body.
However, the Lightning God does not seem fazed at all.
[Foolish. Do you not know this place is the Middle Realm overseen by my friend? If I merely contact my friend, she will crush you together with this entire Middle Realm.] “That is on the assumption you can get a message to your friend."
[Hoh, I see. So you have set it so that no connection reaches outside. Excellent.]
“That is right, now you..."
[But still foolish. Even after living together for several months, have you still failed to notice that [Hel is personally present?]
“What...2"
[Even if a crisis should come that I die to the likes of you, as long as [Hel is here, I will borrow [His] power and revive.]
“What...? You say that Devil God is personally present in Thunder Resonance Valley!?"
“It is a lie. Merely a ruse to agitate us. If truly that wicked Mountain Divine Spirit is personally present in this place, there is no way we would fail to sense it!"
[Ahaha, how arrogant. Do you think [He] would take a form that you could find with your power? And...]
Kwachik, kwachijijjik!
From the spirit of lightning, an immense thunderstorm erupts.
"Kughk, block it!"
“W-Wait, this power, what in the world...2"
[I am not a Supreme Deity, but a Heavenly Venerable.]
Kwaaaang!
Wol Ryeong's head explodes the moment she hears the Lightning God's words.
Her soul throws all its strength into compressing and sealing away the dreadful information that has entered her mind so that it does not affect her.
'S-Supreme Deity? Heavenly Venerable!?'
In her mind, the afterimage of a [Black Sky] is naturally reflected.
Upon that [Black Skyl—
[Ten] Seats are shining brightly.
[Not only do I occupy a position among the Heavenly Seats, but I have also seized the Divinity of Anger and united with the Seat...]
Kurung, Kurururung!
The Lightning God's descent body runs madly amok, beginning to push away the net of lightning of the Nascent Soul Elders.
[Though the depth of my enlightenment may not reach your former owner, in sheer power...I surpass even them...!]
Kwarururung!
"Kuuuuught”
“Th-This cannot bet"
"How can that wretch..that bug-like bastard draw out the power of Heavenly Punishment more strongly than the Lord!t2"
Even as the Nascent Soul Elders cry out with tears of blood, the Lightning God only chuckles and releases more power.
[You cannot defeat me. Acknowledge it now. I am your Lord.]
“I cannot acknowledge it... You are nothing but a phantom that flickers briefly like Yang Su-jin and then disappears. We do not serve a phantom as Lord!!t"
[Il am curious what you would think if you knew how your Lord thought of that phantom...]
Kururung!
The Lightning God stretches one hand to the sky, then makes a grasping motion.
At the same time, the net unfolded by the Nascent Soul Elders ripples even more.
[Can you even attack like this? If you had come in your main bodies and unfolded it, perhaps...but with mere clones, it is laughable.
Chijijjik—
Regenerating her burst head and barely digesting the immense knowledge, Wol Ryeong listens to those words and looks toward the forty-eight Nascent Soul Elders.
“Clones...2"
Then, the Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord sheers and shouts.
"..Even so, we succeeded in suppressing most of your descent body's power. If it comes to this...we must even borrow the hateful power of the Eight Immortals, must we not?"
[Hooh?]
“Wol Ryeong!! I have known you are a disciple of the Radiance Spirit Sect!”
At the Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord's words, Wol Ryeong flinches in surprise.
"We too are spies who hid our realms and infiltrated Thunder Resonance Valley to eradicate this Evil God. Let us combine our strength and exterminate that Lightning God together! We have deployed a formation that seals away most of the power of the Evil God's descent body, so now they can no longer exert their true might! They can only face you with mere brute combat!"
"...f you too are clones...does that mean you are high beings directly connected to that Evil God?"
“...Let us say itis so."
"Could it be...you are at least Quasi-Immortals of the Entering Nirvana stage?"
At those words, Seo Gyeong briefly looks up at the sky and mutters, "So this is what it feels like," and the Lightning God turns their back on Wol Ryeong and shudders.
And the Ten Thousand Law Spiritual Lord along with the forty-eight Nascent Soul Elders make the same absurd expression as when Mu Geom and Bi Hwa scratched their belies. “...Uh...well...let us say that is so."
But in the end, the Jade Pivot Forty-Eight Lightning Heavenly Great Immortals under the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity agree with that statement with strange expressions, fearing that if they speak of their true bodies, Wol Ryeong will die. “Supreme Deity... Heavenly Venerable...
Wol Ryeong recalls the Black Sky and the Ten Seats beneath that sky she just glimpsed through the Lightning God's wisdom.
“When one becomes a True Immortal from a Quasi-Immortal, does one become inscribed upon a Heavenly Seat and receive the title of Supreme Deity or Heavenly Venerable?’
Even in the Radiance Spirit Sect, information about True Immortals is considered to be poison and not passed down, so Wol Ryeong has never been taught anything about the realms or the society of True Immortals.
Thus, she only thinks that the Lightning God before her is a True Immortal, and that those Nascent Soul Elders are merely Entering Nirvanas disguised as Nascent Soul stage cultivators.
[I am going crazy... Well, since she is merely a mortal being who knows nothing about the True Immortality, she has no choice but to think so.]
The Lightning God, as if something is amusing, reads Wol Ryeong's thoughts and chuckles heartily, and Wol Ryeong glares at them at that sight.
“I would appreciate it if you stopped reading my thoughts."
Of course, she does not expect such a request to work.
Her opponent is a True Immortal.
Her proposal is nothing but the chirping of a chick.
“Stop thinking."
She stops all thought and moves only by the memories engraved in her body.
“Sword...
She tries to summon a radiance sword.
After all, her specialty has always been the sword.
But she cannot.
“Damn...
She still recalls the terrifying vision that that girl with a ponytail showed her.
The fear she engraved into Wol Ryeong binds her hands.
She, even now...
She still cannot grasp a sword.
In the end she summons something other than a radiance sword.
The light of the Radiance Spirit Sword Formula gathers in her hand and condenses a radiance halberd.
She thrusts the halberd toward the Lightning God before her and mutters.
“Disciple of the Radiance Spirit Sect, Wol Ryeong. I request a Life-and-Death Duel with the God of Heavenly Punishment."
[Haha, a Life-and-Death Duel. Life and death hold no meaning for us... But I understand what you mean, so I accept.]
Cheok—
With one hand behind their back, the Lightning God casually beckons Wol Ryeong with his other hand.
immediately, Wol Ryeong and the Lightning God clash.
Kwaaang!
Fast!’
Her opponent moves at lightning speed by default.
Their baseline is lightning speed, and at times they even show movements reaching light speed.
“Fast. But not to the extent I can't respond to."
The barrier unfolded by the forty-eight Elders seems to suppress their authority.
“I can match their speed. The only thing left is...
She gradually unites her mind with the halberd and unleashes a fierce offensive. "attack power!"
Cheukang, cheukang!
Because of light-speed movement, the Lightning God's kicks and movements become massive slashes each time they unfold.
She meets those strikes with her halberd, splitting them apart as she charges toward them.
Shiiing—
She swings the halberd and cleaves the Lightning God's body in two.
Kwajichik—
But of course,
They simply reattach their split body as though nothing has happened.
“The opponent is lightning itself."
They are no different from a spirit of lightning.
Therefore she must find an answer that tears apart the very phenomenon called lightning itself.
Wo-wooong—
Something begins to settle in her radiance halberd.
itis an Immortal Art.
Rain, Sunlight, Heat, Cold, Wind, Time.
itis the basic Immortal Art and formula of the Integration stage.
The power of the Immortal Art Various Omens gathers into her radiance halberd and begins to suppress the transcendent phenomenon.
[So you at least know the basics.]
Calling a divine skill that the overwhelming majority at the Integration stage cannot even attempt basic, the Lightning God releases the hand behind their back and unleashes a fierce assault at her with both hands.
Knife hand.
Palm strike.
Straight punch.
Cloth grabbing.
Outer leg tripping.
Countless fighting techniques unfold from their hands, and Wol Ryeong, parrying and diverting their innumerable techniques, can tell.
t's not perfect
This Lightning God before her is not used to bare-handed fighting.
They have simply lived overwhelmingly more years than she has, encountered martial flows of this and that, and more or less picked up martial techniques.
Compared to opponents she faced like Yu Jin and Jin Wol-ryeong..
In the realm of Marital Arts, the Lightning God appears to have far more openings.
But at the same time, as she senses their habits, their unconscious actions, the flow of movement she feels from them, she comes to realize one thing.
“Damn it...
They are not used to bare-handed martial arts.
But there is a weapon they are accustomed to wielding.
And the reason they do not draw that weapon now to fight her is...
Simply because she at present cannot inflict any real damage upon the Lightning God's decent body.
Though, by wrapping Immortal Arts around her radiance halberd, she is able to suppress the phenomenon of lightning, even with such clumsy martial techniques, they can easily evade or deflect her attacks.
Wol Ryeong has yet to draw out even a fraction of the opponent's strength.
“More, more...!"
She experiences a flashback.
Not a flashback born from the threat of death, but one she herself forcibly evokes.
Wol Ryeong recalls everything she has experienced throughout the entire span of her fe and begins to seek the breakthrough to escape this situation.
And in a single instant, she finally finds it.
lis this all? Can you not do any better?]
"...I shall make it...a little more entertaining."
Tsuaaaat!
She focuses all her consciousness into the radiance halberd.
Her soul is sucked into the weapon.
At the same time, powerful spatial waves ripple out around her.
“Integrated Dao Domain."
Since reaching the Integration stage, it is the domain she accumulated through endless contemplation and repentant enlightenment.
“Bright Sword Spear Star Rain World (¢838/S2mts)."
Her domain, where countless weapons in the form of starlight rain down endlessly from the black sky, cover the whole region in an instant.
[Filling the Heavens Sword Rain...?]
For a moment, the Lightning God flinches in surprise and shudders, but then they smirk. [So it is nothing but a degraded version. Laughable. With something like this...]
“With something like this, of course, I do not dare reach a god."
And then, the Lightning God's smile has no choice but to vanish.
Tsuaaaaat!
The rain of weapons that fills all of Heaven and Earth.
That world of light-rain begins to compress.
Kwajik, kwajijijijik!
She compresses the Integrated Dao Domain.
She recalls the duel between Hon Jin and Seo Gyeong, and she begins to refine Hon Jin's ultimate techniques that she saw then into her own.
Kwchigigik!
The compressed domain is honed into a blade.
At the same time, the blade of the honed Integrated Dao Domain is directly compressed and overlaid onto the blade of the radiance halberd Wol Ryeong holds.
L.Jin's technique, is it? To copy it after seeing it once...so this is the next Eight immortal.]
Before the Lightning God can even finish their muttering, Wol Ryeong swings the halberd with all her strength straight at their body.
cuttt
it is not as perfect as what Hon Jin displayed, but it is still an ultimate technique that slices through the dimension itself and can directly strike even the divine body of a transcendent being!
That single strike, manifested by Wol Ryeong's hand, thrusts toward the Lightning God. Heaven and Earth seem to darken for an instant.
All the light of Heaven and Earth is—for a moment—absorbed into Wol Ryeong's radiance halberd.
In that fleeting instant—
Chwaaaaak!
Wol Ryeong's radiance halberd cuts a massive scar into the Lightning God's chest. "Huu...hu..."
Chijijijik...
L...Astounding. To pierce through the defense of this one and wound this one's descent body.]
Despite having just imitated Hon Jin's technique and consumed an overwhelming amount of stamina and mental strength, she cannot help but sweat coldly.
“How in the world did that man, with such an aged body, use this technique...2 And even after using it...that being still...
it is because, aside from the appearance of the scar, the Lightning God remains unscathed.
[Do not despair too much. This one's strength has indeed been consumed, and so the time I can remain in the Saha World is greatly shortened... If you strike with a few more of such attacks, you may truly be able to end this one's descent body.]
Shiver!
Wol Ryeong trembles at the despair that surges up from the depths of her heart. Cheok—
The Lightning God takes a stance.
itis not the stance of bare-handed combat they have shown until now.
tis...
The stance of holding a weapon.
"Spear...2"
And at that moment when Wol Ryeong realizes the weapon their stance is grasping— Kwachijijikt
[Now that I have even created a weapon...the time I remain in the Saha World will be further shortened.]
The electric current drawn out from the Lightning God's body forms a spear of thunder and lightning.
And the instant she sees the being before her eyes grasp the spear, she feels an illusion as if space itself is sucked into that being.
The next moment.
Kwaaaang!
222"
Wol Ryeong, without even realizing what has struck her, is hurled straight into the corner of the cavern.
[Astonishing. Since you made me draw a spear, I thrust with the intent to kill..]
Only then does Wol Ryeong realize that she barely survived because she instinctively defended through her halberd.
“Dangerous.’
The Lightning God before taking up the spear and the Lightning God after taking up the spear are completely different beings.
“I must stop—'
Kwaaang!
Before her thought even ends, the end of the Lightning God's spear shaft smashes into Wol Ryeong's face.
Wol Ryeong's head crashes straight into the cavern and is shaken violently, and in that instant the spear is swung again, smashing Wol Ryeong’s forehead, abdomen, and legs with the end of the spear shaft.
[Will you make this a little more entertaining for me?]
With only a few thrusts, the Lightning God drives Wol Ryeong to her limits,