A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 799 Chapter 795: Primordial Chaos (5)
Previously on A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation...
The Black Snake begins his journey.
Following the brutal slaughter in the county, he departs from his birthplace and travels toward the distant west.
He traverses countless territories, crossing through city after city until he reaches the borders beyond the mountains and rivers.
His homeland is the Central Spirit Holy Kingdom.
He moves past that nation’s borders, driven by the desire to reunite with the wife from his first life who resides at the westernmost edge of the world.
The Black Snake journeys through the lands of Byeokra and Yanguo.
Crossing one kingdom after another, he departs from the path of his previous life by accumulating vast riches and establishing a high status.
Any bandits he encounters on the road are captured and suppressed with his overwhelming power.
He subjects them to training that borders on torture, transforming them into loyal subordinates and organizing them into a faction.
He names this group after himself: the Heuk Sa Society (黑蛇會).
As the leader of the Heuk Sa Society, known simply as 'Heuk Sa', he commands his followers while building influence and wealth, finally arriving at the kingdom in the far west.
He reaches the land of Shengzi.
And deep within Shengzi, the country at the edge of the west...
He arrives at the location of the great Shengzi mountain range.
"I made good time."
Accompanied by his men, Heuk Sa reaches a village nestled halfway up the massive peaks.
Though he is only ten years old, he carries his mother’s keepsake—a hairpin made of mother-of-pearl.
He remembers his mother’s words.
She told him she originated from Shengzi, the country at the western frontier.
In that land, she had been born and raised in a village on the western slopes of a mountain range...
However, she was captured by bandits, and her entire family was forced into slavery. After being sold repeatedly, she eventually drifted to the Central Spirit Holy Kingdom. There, she gave birth to him, escaped her captors, and managed to find a place to settle.
Before Heuk Sa seeks out his wife from the first cycle,
he visits a quiet corner of this village.
"Mother..."
Heuk Sa thinks back to his very first life.
Back then, he had lost his sight and his companion, and...
Remembering his mother's stories, he traveled to the western edge so her keepsake could finally touch the soil of her home.
It was in this place that he originally met his wife.
This village was both his mother's origin and his own fresh start.
Upon his arrival, he is met with nothing but crumbling ruins.
His mother used to say something frequently.
She wished that if she were ever reborn, she would be born as a man.
As a man, she wouldn't be subject to a fate of being kidnapped by common thugs, dragged from her home, and sold like merchandise.
She hoped to be a scholar, someone capable of giving her child a meaningful name instead of a random one chosen without thought.
Yes...
If she were to live again...
"If you were reborn... you said you wanted... a body strong enough to protect your child, a mind that could bestow a proper name... a peaceful homeland to live in... and to be someone who lived through stories..."
Heuk Sa enters the area, stroking the ruins as he recalls the words his mother whispered whenever she could.
"In your next life... please. Even if you are just a scholar owning a bookstore, be born into a life of lasting peace..."
He rests against the remains of the building, placing the keepsake upon it and closing his eyes.
He imagines his mother’s rebirth...
He envisions her as a son of a prestigious family, a shopkeeper of books who gives children beautiful names and tells legends every day, living a long life free from sickness or hunger.
It didn't matter if he wasn't part of that vision.
Even if Heuk Sa, burdened by the Hell of Killing Karma, was destined to return only as an insect or a beast...
After praying for her soul's peaceful transition for some time, Heuk Sa buries the hairpin beneath the ruins. Afterward, the Heuk Sa Society establishes a base in a suitable cave on the mountain peak across from the village.
The locals view the Heuk Sa Society members in the nearby cave as a pack of brigands and live in fear. However, because they are there, no other bandit groups dare attack the village, ensuring no one is murdered or kidnapped.
Furthermore, while the society is dreaded, Heuk Sa himself appears to be a mere ten-year-old boy.
He does not arrive looking like a beggar in rags as he did in the past; instead, he is treated as the young master of the group and wears clean, high-quality clothing...
The villagers assume Heuk Sa is the son of a high-ranking officer within the Heuk Sa Society, never suspecting he is actually the master.
The people do not despise or fear the boy.
In fact, some village leaders, hoping to gain favor with the bandits by befriending the 'officer's son', even try to introduce their daughters to him.
Heuk Sa ignores these advances entirely. He only searches for a specific girl of his age—a servant girl working in a noble's estate.
She is eleven years old this year, one year older than Heuk Sa’s current body. The people call her 'Seo-agi' (West Baby) because she was found under a willow tree on the western slope.
The name isn't even official; depending on who is speaking, she is called 'Seo-ak' (Western Peak), 'Seo-yak' (Oath), 'Seo-yeok' (Western Region), or 'Westy'.
She is the same woman who suffered from leprosy whom Heuk Sa met in his first life.
"Pardon me... I was told a girl named Westy lives here."
"Ah, yes. The nanny mentioned she was assigned to work in the rear garden. Why are you looking for her? Let’s see..."
To find Westy, Heuk Sa makes friends with a child from the noble house. He visits the estate to play and makes his way toward the back garden where the girl is supposed to be.
"Ah, there she is. Hey! Wait—what are you eating!?"
The noble's son, who was about to introduce Heuk Sa to Westy, stares in shock. Westy freezes instantly at the sound of his voice.
In the garden, Westy was caught taking a massive bite out of a large peach.
Even in a wealthy house, peaches were not meant for servants; she was clearly stealing a snack.
Caught by the Young Master and Heuk Sa, Westy stands paralyzed, her cheeks bulging with the fruit as tears fill her eyes.
"Mm... hic... I-I'm so sorry..."
"How embarrassing! I finally bring a friend over and you're caught stealing again. What does this make me look like...?"
The noble boy’s face flushes with anger. He goes to find a heavy wooden club, threatening to punish the maid. Westy collapses on the ground, sobbing loudly.
Heuk Sa watches her intently.
In his past life, his eyes were useless, so he could never truly see her.
Westy’s face, her skin, her hair, her small frame...
He had known her shape through his refined senses, but her colors—which he had never glimpsed before—
...were beautiful.
It wasn't just her appearance; her very presence was precious and dear to him.
"Don't cry."
Even though she is a year older, Heuk Sa helps the trembling Westy up and comforts her.
Ultimately, the noble child doesn't actually have the stomach to beat her. He seems to be playing a game of imitating adults, picking up a piece of foxtail grass and tapping her with it as a joke. Only then does Westy stop crying, realizing she isn't being beaten or exiled.
"I-I'm sorry, Young Master. The peach just looked so good..."
"Huff, huff..."
The seven-year-old noble boy pants, looking exhausted from his performance. Seeing this, Heuk Sa speaks up.
"Friend."
"Hmm? What?"
"I will be taking Westy with me."
"Huh? Uh..."
The boy remembers the nanny’s warning about not wasting the family’s property by giving it away.
But he also remembers his parents' instructions from that morning: 'That boy’s father is a ruthless bandit leader. Do not upset him, and stay on his good side at all costs.'
Since the village was rarely visited by imperial soldiers, the bandit faction over the ridge was a far more terrifying reality than the distant government.
The child is torn between the nanny's rules and his parents' warnings, a difficult choice for a seven-year-old.
"Uhh... Nanny said I shouldn't... but Mother and Father would probably be okay with it..."
"I understand. We have a jar of salt at my home. I'll give it to you in exchange."
It was loot the Heuk Sa Society had taken while wiping out other local bandit groups.
Since most of the stolen treasures were too extravagant to give to a rural noble, Heuk Sa chose something practical and valuable.
"A jar of salt?"
The boy nods eagerly.
For a jar of salt, trading away a maid who steals peaches seemed like a great deal.
This way, he wasn't wasting property, and he wasn't offending his guest.
"Deal! Let's do it! You! Our house doesn't need a peach-stealer anymore. You're going to Heuk Sa's house now. Understand?"
Hearing this, Westy starts crying again.
She had been raised in this house since she was an infant; it was the only home she knew.
Moreover, she had heard rumors about this 'Heuk Sa' dressed in black.
The other servants had been gossiping.
They said Heuk Sa came from a den of monsters who were brutal and violent, men who beat their subordinates and killed them on a whim.
If she went to that terrifying place, a slow girl like her would surely be beaten every day or even killed.
Heuk Sa smiles as he watches her cry at the sight of him.
Just being able to see her face overwhelms him with affection.
Heuk Sa takes her hand and leads the sobbing Westy out of the estate, speaking softly.
"Stop crying, Westy."
"Heueooong! I-I'm Seo-agi... heueoong!"
"From now on, I'll let you eat all the peaches you want."
"Hic...!?"
"You'll wear silk and beautiful jewelry. I'll get you flower shoes. And instead of a random name... I'll find a scholar to give you a proper name with a real meaning."
Holding the hand of the girl called Seo-agi—or Westy—Heuk Sa speaks with a gentle tone as they walk toward the Heuk Sa Society's stronghold.
Because he sounds so kind, Westy stops crying and looks at him.
"I'm going to make you happy. Marry me."
Clench—
Heuk Sa squeezes her hand, making a silent vow.
In ten years.
In the past, she caught leprosy, her body decayed, and she was burned to death by bandits.
'If a person's nature cannot be changed...'
Then the joy she brings him until the end will also remain the same.
'I will change the world instead.'
He would not allow the world to take her life.
The tiny organisms called germs were things he could perceive with his heightened senses.
He possessed the power to hunt down and destroy every single leprosy bacillus within her.
The bond between them was fixed.
But the heavens that dictated that bond could be bent by his will.
Humans might be stubborn, but the heavens themselves could be torn and reshaped.
'I won't let you die. I will give you a beautiful name... and a life of happiness.'
Perhaps...
In this life, they might even have the child they were denied in the last.
"Let’s... find happiness together this time."
Heuk Sa smiles brightly as he leads Westy toward the den of the Heuk Sa Society.
Several years have passed since Heuk Sa arrived at the village.
"Since you were discovered beneath a willow, your surname shall be Yang (楊)."
To provide a better name for 'Westy', who was now his wife, he had sought out a renowned namer in the region.
"For your given name, Hwe (回) is fitting."
"Hwe (回)..."
Originally, Heuk Sa was illiterate.
In his first life, he was blind; the edge of a blade meant more to him than ink.
Now, he was learning to read alongside his wife.
He knew that the character Hwe (回) meant 'to return' or 'to cycle'.
Shaaah—
The air around the namer’s house suddenly turned cold.
With sharp eyes, Heuk Sa stared at the man who had named his wife 'Yang Hwe'.
In truth, that was the same name she had in the previous life.
Back then, he didn't know the meaning; he simply assumed a scholar knew best and accepted it with gratitude.
But now that he had experienced regression (回歸), he understood exactly what this namer had done.
"Who are you?"
Black Gang Qi erupted from Heuk Sa’s body.
In the last life, he had met this man before he gained the Star Extinguishing True Chapter, before his power had exploded. He hadn't been able to see the truth then.
But now he knew.
The man who named his wife was not a human being.
It was a divine entity inhabiting a human shell.
"Are you the one who sent me back?"
The namer smiled softly at the question.
"I do not follow what the distinguished guest is implying."
"What do you mean...?"
"However, my master appears to have the answers."
"Master?"
The namer pointed toward the heavens.
"One day, if you seek the cause of all things, go find my master. They observe and measure everything within this Cosmic Great Desolation."
"..."
Heuk Sa finally realized who the namer and his master were.
In the blink of an eye, the namer vanished.
This was the messenger of the Chief God, the one who had offered him the Seat of the War God in his first life.
Heuk Sa understood that the messenger had been this namer all along.
The master he spoke of was the Chief God.
The entity he called Lord Heavens.
'Did Lord Heavens... know?'
He knew why he had regressed.
By sending a messenger to give his wife that specific name, it was a clear sign they understood the nature of his regression.
"..."
Heuk Sa glanced at the sky before returning to the village.
Regardless, he had his wife's name.
Yang Hwe (楊回).
'Hwe-ah...'
It was a name given not by a mortal, but by the Chief God who governed the world.
'Hwe-ah. In this life... I will never let you suffer.'
Lord Heavens was speaking through the messenger.
Telling him that if he wanted the truth, he had to seek them out...
But for now—