A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 803 Chapter 799: Future King (4)

It might have truly been a sincere concern for the preservation of good.

He likely feared that a being who consumes Origin Essence to become an Emperor capable of manifesting a Heavenly Domain might inadvertently create a living hell within its borders.

Thus, even while severing what needed to be cut, there remained a lingering desire to align himself with righteousness.

However...

The moment he clashed with, dismantled, and slew an entity who—by any objective standard—had embraced evil to indulge in their own sadism, trapping and tormenting living souls in eternal agony...

He understood that such thoughts were merely justifications.

'Ah, I understand now.'

What Hong Fan was truly confronting...

Was not a gentle divinity like Chief God Fuxi, who inherited divinity at birth and claimed the universe as his prize.

It was another legend who, much like Hong Fan himself, had climbed from the status of a mere mortal, endured every conceivable hardship, and finally seized the Imperial Seat.

That was the first "worthy rival" Hong Fan had ever encountered.

While Chief Gods are powerful and dread-inducing, they lack the perspective of a mortal and therefore possess no venomous will. Conversely, mortal beings who harbor such venomous will lack the necessary rank and authority to challenge him.

For Hong Fan, who carried a mortal's spiteful determination as he faced immortal beings to ascend to his throne...

There had never been a truly suitable opponent until this moment.

But as he gazes upon the newly crowned Imperial Venerables, the realization finally strikes him.

'I see. I...'

Until this very point, not a single person existed.

Not one being stood at an altitude equal to his own.

'Was it a collision that I craved...?'

Though the target is less wicked than the first primordial evil Supreme Deity he executed, he strikes down a Supreme Deity who ruled the world through pure ego, indifferent to the agony of mortals.

Following that, he continues to systematically kill Supreme Deities who are progressively less malevolent.

With every Supreme Deity he slaughters, an indescribable, boiling emotion surges within him.

Yet, it never brings him satisfaction.

In this state, he also discovers why he uses "good" as his shield and justification.

'Goodness is the ultimate power...'

Much like the kindness Hwe-ah once offered him.

Surely, if he protects the gods who maintain such goodwill, a powerful being will eventually emerge who can endure the full extent of his might.

He championed hope and virtue as his cause specifically to safeguard such a person.

'If they possess goodwill, they might... be the ones to stop me, who has risen through slaughter.'

Since his birth, the method to kill a man was always clear to his eyes. Even after losing his sight, nothing changed.

He lacked the power to restore his starving, frail mother,

To cure his ailing wife,

Or to mend the trust of a friend who had turned against him.

But...

In the art of killing, he was without peer.

The act of taking a life.

Perhaps that...

Was his true destiny, obscured behind the god of regression that lived within him like a parasite.

From the beginning, everyone around him could perish from a simple touch.

Only now does Hong Fan...

Truly recognize his own deepest desire.

'I...'

The peak of the killing arts he has perfected begins to shift and evolve into myriad forms, gradually taking on a symbolic weight.

A technique designed to slay even an undying Chief God.

If the Golden Speed Heavenly King or the Star Genesis Supreme Deity were to witness it in the future, they would judge it to have reached the Martial Pinnacle long ago. Yet, because it remains undefined, it is a lethal technique that has still not reached the Ultimate of Martial Arts.

'I desire... a being who does not perish simply because I draw near.'

He, who embodies darkness, longs for a light so radiant that he cannot consume it.

He has been searching for a light so intense that even a blind man like himself can feel its presence.

The Apex of Killing Techniques.

Heuk Sa.

The Apex of Internal Energy Methods.

Darkness World.

The Apex of Movement Techniques.

Black Heaven.

The final essence of killing that unites them all.

"This, truly... is legitimate Martial Arts...!"

If Martial Arts has any purpose, it is solely to prune away those who cannot become a light for him. It exists for the destruction of the "other."

The moment he understands this, and the moment he defines it as such.

He realizes the path for his killing art to reach a domain that could be called the ultimate of Martial Arts.

Perhaps he longed for simple love. Perhaps he wanted normal human connection.

However, this world is populated by fragile things that break the instant he touches them.

A world that shreds at the slightest contact, like a world made of paper—that is how Hong Fan perceives reality.

Even those hailed as gods are merely slightly larger sandcastles that he can collapse with minimal effort.

Though they bet their lives, this world ultimately contains only existences that seem far too easy to kill.

In a brittle world where everything falls apart at a touch...

To the child who brings pain to every precious bond and, feigning bravery, tries to pursue hope.

The fact that a proper rival he can "truly face" has finally appeared,

Is a hope beyond words.

But...

In the end, the child's only method of communicating with the world is through killing.

Just as a nation founded by the sword dies by the sword. A connection forged in killing must ultimately end in killing.

A cycle of karma, once initiated, can only be bound by that same karma.

For the child born without the chance to be loved, who constantly reached out to destroy everything he disliked,

What he truly required was an opponent standing at an equal or greater height.

Yes, perhaps what he needed was a parent to scold him and pay him attention.

Yet in this world, there are none who can surpass even this single child.

Lights that extinguish the moment he tries to reach for them... they hold no meaning for him.

Since hope is born from the unreachable, he clings to it and continues to reach out toward others.

Present day.

Darkness consumes the world, reducing all that exists to nothingness.

The former Obsidian Devil Heavenly King channels power into the Swallowing Heaven Mantra, devouring everything and manifesting as a distorted, tiger-like entity with bared fangs.

Observing this, Hyeon Mu, keeping a hand on the Heavenly Void Furnace, once again forces one of the Seven Heavenly Lords into the furnace and ignites the incense flame.

But in the following heartbeat,

I, assuming the role of countering the Future King's strike, step forward and unleash the Turning Wheel Mantra.

The mantra, shaped like a vast galaxy, glows with the power of countless stars and begins to whisper the secrets of a Supreme Deity's power to me.

In the path of Immortal Cultivation, the formula for a Supreme Deity is called Primordial Chaos, while the formula for a Heavenly Venerable is known as Three Flowers.

However, these are merely definitions within the Immortal Cultivation system.

From the stage of Supreme Deity and beyond, one has already stepped halfway out of that system, making realm formulas little more than metaphors for one's essence.

Three Flowers describes the Three Absolutes as blossoms and is just a poetic way of saying a Heavenly Venerable can summon a fraction of their essence. Similarly, Primordial Chaos symbolizes the core of the Supreme Deity realm and doesn't strictly belong to the Immortal Cultivation system.

Huuuuup—

Thus, the Primordial Chaos formula doesn't require the lengthy Cultivation of previous stages; the moment one ascends to Supreme Deity, it is mastered naturally.

As simple as breathing.

Drawing upon the memories of the 16th cycle within the Heavenly Void Furnace, I execute the Supreme Deity realm formula.

The entirety of Mount Sumeru trembles in rhythm with my breath.

The gestation world that Hong Fan had split in two mends itself, and the chaos swirling within moves according to the pulse of my lungs.

A Creator God shapes the world through chaos, the medium of all creation.

And Supreme Deities, upon reaching their realm, transform their consciousness into a Heavenly Domain and forge a universe.

What then separates a Creator God from a Supreme Deity? Are they not both architects?

The distinction lies in their relationship with chaos.

A Supreme Deity inhales chaos—the raw material of creation—to exhale fate, life, and soul into the countless spirits within their Heavenly Domain, manifesting infinite stories. A Creator God, however, generates and wields chaos as the very substance of their omnipotence by their mere presence.

When Supreme Deities are enthroned, their titles are etched among the Heavenly Seats.

And those Heavenly Seats are situated at the very base of Mount Sumeru. In the Outer Sea beyond the mountain, the Supreme Deity's jade throne is manifested.

Yes.

To breathe Chaos, a Supreme Deity must transcend Mount Sumeru. Consequently, their presence exists beyond the mountain, engraved as a jade throne at its roots.

There are many complex explanations, but only one law matters now.

A Supreme Deity has the power to inhale chaos!

Kugugugugu!

The Heavenly Void Furnace slides from Hyeon Mu's grip and begins to rattle as it is pulled toward me.

Hyeon Mu's eyes twitch as she exerts a powerful attraction force, using the weight of fate itself to anchor the furnace.

But in this realm...

There is a force as potent as fate.

"Master, your disciple Star Genesis arrives to offer bowing rites at your spirit altar."

I roar as I inhale the Primordial Chaos world within the Heavenly Void Furnace with my entire being.

Woo-wooong—

The furnace vibrates in response to my voice.

"Master, your disciple Star Genesis arrives to offer bowing rites at your spirit altar."

I shout once more, fearing that Master Ryeong might not hear me.

Guuuwoooooong—

The Heavenly Void Furnace thunders again and draws closer.

Hyeon Mu's eyes narrow as she seizes the furnace's black leg, preventing it from reaching me.

"Master."

I call out to him again.

The spirit altar mentioned by the Great Mountain Supreme Deity.

The world of Penglai Island mirrors the structure of the Head Realm. And the shrine for the Salt Sea Supreme Deity that Senior Brother constructed is located at the heart of the Heaven-Treading Desert, in the center of Ascension Forest.

That's it.

Master's physical form was consumed by the Head Realm. His soul was shattered, falling into a decline that resulted in Cheongmun Ryeong—a weak existence who could never surpass the Qi Building stage.

If that is so...

Where is the fate of that high divinity who nearly claimed the Absolute of Miracle?

'I witnessed it in the 16th cycle.'

The voice that spoke to me in the domain of purity was undoubtedly his fate.

The fate of the Salt Sea Supreme Deity Ryeong slumbers within the Heavenly Void Furnace!

"Your disciple Star Genesis arrives to offer bowing rites at your spirit altar!"

Which means...

'As long as Master rests within that Primordial Chaos, if his disciple calls while breathing that chaos as a Supreme Deity... he will answer from within!'

Hyeon Mu mocks me, tightening her grip on the furnace.

Kurururung—

Countless Gandhara swirl and coil around her hand to reinforce her strength.

"Do you honestly believe he will respond? He is dead. Only a husk remains. Do you presume to summon the deceased under the authority of the Owner of Fate?"

Hyeon Mu snorts in derision.

But a moment later, the smirk vanishes from her face.

Ggigigigik—

A hand!

It is a hand as white as snow.

Clench—

A hand formed from Salt Mountain.

The snow-white salt hand emerges from the Heavenly Void Furnace and seizes Hyeon Mu's wrist.

Seeing this, I grin.

"Fragment of the Future King. Do you dare... dismiss the authority of one who once held the position of Owner of Miracles as merely dead?"

Enders grow closer to fate as they approach death, becoming more powerful in the process. This is because "miracles" touch upon the principles of death.

Master died. And because he died, he has not truly vanished.

Had they imprisoned him alive to rot, he might have faded, but because the Future King slew him, he will endure forever.

Until a new Owner of Miracles is born!

Cheok!

I perform one bow toward the seal of the Salt Sea Supreme Deity dissolved within the furnace.

Pasasasak—

The Gandhara reinforcing Hyeon Mu's wrist turn into pillars of salt.

I perform a second bow.

Peoseoseok—

Hyeon Mu glares at the hand and summons the power of fate, but the other side begins a debt enforcement against her.

The authorities of Enders that Hyeon Mu has stolen and absorbed are being reclaimed. Under the name of the Owner of Miracles, the price is extracted, and life begins to pulse in the arm of salt.

I perform a third bow.

Finally, Hyeon Mu's own wrist transforms into salt, and the Heavenly Void Furnace is wrenched from her grasp.

Peoseoseok—

Turning her arm into salt dust, the furnace flies to me.

Seizing the moment, the Obsidian Devil Heavenly King presses their palms together and releases a cry.

Uuuuuuuu—

A mournful wailing rises from the darkness. An alien tongue fills the air like a funeral dirge. It is the whisper of the Swallowing Heaven Mantra.

Clang—

As the furnace reaches me, I feel its ownership temporarily transfer to my control. Through the power of the dirge, the Obsidian Devil Heavenly King grants me full authority while the song of the dead continues.

'While the dirge plays, [this moment] is eternal...!'

Nothing can disrupt the flow within this funeral song.

In that instant, all the Enders who had been waiting in the rear charge forward, using their spells to pin the Supreme Deities in place.

Simultaneously, Underworld—who was busy merging her Gandhara with the Absolute of Life—shifts her focus and raises a hand.

'Finally, you're doing something!'

As if hearing me, Underworld gives me a look of mild annoyance before bringing her hand down.

The Supreme Deities react with the same terror they showed toward Vast Cold.

:: The [Oldest One] exerts their power! ::

:: O Netherworld Queen Mother, this one is not among the Five Cruels! ::

:: Where am I!? Why am I facing the [Oldest One]!? ::

:: None can stand against them! ::

:: O Wheel Imperial Venerable, have mercy! ::

These beings, whose intellect had been erased, find their minds suddenly restored by the power of the Underworld, causing them to scream in panic.

"...As I thought, leaving a shred of will for autonomous control was a mistake. Had they been fully alive, they might have rebelled, but they would have shown some spine. Because they were only half-revived, they have nothing but survival instincts. Useless."

Kiiiiiiing!

Clicking her tongue, Hyeon Mu draws fate directly from the Absolute of Fate. A terrifying attraction force erupts.

Huuung—

Underworld strikes with her hand of Gandhara. Like the strike against Vast Cold, the blow is too fast to be perceived.

Kwaaaaaaaang!!!

A massive shockwave devastates the Audience Chamber, shattering it once more. And just like that, over a hundred Supreme Deities are blown out of the chamber, sent flying back into the otherworlds.

They should have been [deleted] like Vast Cold, but because Hyeon Mu used the Absolute of Fate to deflect the point of impact, they were merely scattered.

"Radiance Mantra, Time Restoration."

Gazing at Underworld with eyes that seemed almost nostalgic, Hyeon Mu attempts to activate her mantra.

Ggigigigik—

The Radiance Mantra fails. The Obsidian Devil Heavenly King's Swallowing Heaven Mantra holds spacetime in a vice-like grip.

'I see.'

Until the funeral dirge ends, no one can escape through spacetime.

As Underworld refocuses on her advancement to Life Supreme Deity, the Enders launch a full-scale assault on Hyeon Mu's remaining Gandhara.

While the former Enders keep them occupied, Kim Young-hoon raises his blade.

"I can sever the Gandhara. Support me!"

Hyeon Mu has summoned about fifty Gandhara. As a mere shard of the Future King, perhaps that is her limit.

Kim Young-hoon intends to thin the number of Gandhara she can command. Jeon Myeong-hoon and Kim Yeon immediately move to back him up. Kim Yeon maintains her hand seals, ready to activate a spell in tandem with Vast Cold.