A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 808 Chapter 804: A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation

⟨Present⟩

A brilliant light erupts suddenly.

Using the mysterious technique known as Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, I temporarily hurl the Hopes into a distant realm.

They'll pursue us once more before long, yet this remains the optimal way to gain precious moments at present.

Kiriririk!

The Emptiness Sword lets out a sharp cry.

It hisses like a serpent while tearing through and shoving aside the surrounding turmoil.

Between Hong Fan and me, tiny fragments drift lazily, shimmering in the void as if mere particles.

Every single one of those innumerable fragments represents a full Heavenly Domain.

Merely by confronting one another, the fundamental laws of existence collide, spawning and extinguishing universes akin to grains swept in a fierce gale.

Then, the Emptiness Sword reveals its deadly edge.

I wield the sword forged from star clusters, infused with chaotic forces and the Turning Wheel's might, to intercept the Emptiness Sword.

Paaatt!

Resounding isn't merely a basic noise but rather an immense tremor, a profound echo beyond ordinary senses.

The initial clash.

As our blades meet, bursts of radiant clusters explode outward, resembling a raging sandstorm or dazzling fireworks display.

Each burst forms a fresh timeline or alternate reality.

The greater the number of these emerging worlds, the more the Creator God's form, embodied as Mount Sumeru, solidifies and gains power.

Gugugugu!

The immense divine entity grasping Mount Sumeru with one hand draws in the myriad Heavenly Domains and parallel realms sprouting nearby, then casts it into the ancient void.

Wiiiiing—

Within the Gestation World.

Mount Sumeru rotates swiftly.

Kugugugu!

The whirling Mount Sumeru plummets directly toward us, its form wavering erratically.

Amid this chaos, Hong Fan swings the Emptiness Sword anew.

The Hopes unleash a relentless volley without mercy.

Initially, I managed to deflect the Hopes, but with every ounce of my ultimate strength now unleashed...

'Those powers adapt ceaselessly to their foe.'

They've already adapted perfectly to me, and as they continue evolving mid-flight, blocking them has become impossible for me.

'The core of Hope is...'

It was only upon ascending to half-step Creator God status...

Only at this moment can I grasp that core truth and hidden mechanism.

No, it's more accurate to say it 'emerges in my thoughts'.

For even when he once murmured it to me, the weight proved too much to comprehend or withstand...

⟨16th Cycle⟩

Kiriririk—

Dark Gang Qi erupts from Hong Fan's form.

This marks Hong Fan's Entering Heavens Beyond the Path!

Similar to my Formless Sword, these formless, unregulated energies surge toward me guided solely by his intent.

—Final Profundity.

Hong Fan's inherent style is to, whenever an opening appears, unleash his most devastating, supreme ultimate move to slay the foe outright.

True to this trait, he promptly activates the ultimate depth of his Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.

—Hope.

'Uh...'

The dark Gang Qi transforms into blinding radiance.

For a split second, I stand stunned watching the Gang Qi mass hurtling my way, then react swiftly.

My reflexes take over.

It's as though a voice murmurs softly near my ear.

—The Hope you face now is one I've deliberately restrained and limited greatly, just to spar with you. Yet its fundamental nature remains unchanged.

Why does this happen?

Deep within Hong Fan...

A certain voice echoes.

'Is this...Hong Fan's inner voice?'

I can't explain the reason.

Still, somehow, in this instant, I sense a direct link to Hong Fan himself.

Until this point, Treading Heavens' vision had merely delved deeper into the foe's core essence.

But with Hong Fan, it's unique.

'It's like...'

—At its heart, this is a narrative. A tale crafted to dismantle the enemy I've chosen.

'I'm immersed within Hong Fan's core essence.'

It seems a fragment of my consciousness has slipped into Hong Fan's inner world, linking with his thoughts to reveal the solutions directly.

Does Hong Fan realize this?

Somehow, I suspect he does.

Wiiiiing—

Tukwagagagang!

From the cavern housing the Heavenly Void Furnace at Ascension Path's heart, a massive passage drills straight through, extending far beyond the entire Ascension Path.

This demonstrates how Hong Fan's hidden technique bores through Ascension Path—spanning dozens of mountain chains—in one swift moment.

Walgak!

Though my withered, aged frame can't withstand the direct impact of that assault, a surge rises within.

"Is this your Entering Heavens!?"

Despite being labeled Entering Heavens, its terrifying might eclipses my Treading Heavens Formless Sword by far.

This power feels more like...

It's almost as if a supreme being, having attained the pinnacle of Martial Arts, is playfully claiming it as mere Entering Heavens Beyond the Path to indulge in a duel with me.

I even question if this truly qualifies as Entering Heavens-level strength...

'Hong Fan declares it Entering Heavens.'

If that's his word, then it is.

I accept it without doubt.

When a comrade states it so, that's the truth—no need for explanations or deceptions!?

Pachijijijik—

The deeper I channel my energy, the fiercer the lightning crackles across my entire being.

Over centuries, the lightning curse had lingered unresolved.

Yet...

Simultaneously, it had amplified my peak capabilities.

Kururung!

In a flash, I shift into a lightning spirit-like state.

I embody a pure bolt of lightning.

This achieves genuine lightning velocity, beyond what a typical Nascent Soul cultivator could hope to match.

I propel forward at velocities exceeding my cultivation level, slamming into Hong Fan.

But Hong Fan stomps the ground.

—Stepping technique, Black Heaven.

—Movement technique, Future.

Shiririririk—

He closes the distance in a blink.

The black Gang Qi slicing through the air en route resembles a lone serpent gliding forth.

'He outpaces...lightning velocity...!'

Instantly, he eclipses lightning speed and surges further, reaching a pace where even I, at Nascent Soul stage, lose track.

Kiiiiiing—

He pushes acceleration to its limit.

And, in that fleeting moment!

Kwaaaang!

My form collapses entirely as I'm hurled toward a section of Ascension Path.

"Keheok!"

Even with my lightning-infused body, the very [notion] of [lightning] warps and shreds apart.

Through sheer instinct alone, I barely comprehend the event.

'In that instant...he exceeded light speed...!?'

A velocity that, by reaching back from future to past, ensures an unerring strike.

It dwarfs mere lightning pace by an immense margin.

An answerless, horrifying Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.

That defines Hong Fan's formidable Entering Heavens.

Nevertheless, witnessing this glimpse of his boundless aptitude...

Seeing the insurmountable divide, I grin.

It evokes the thrill of battling Kim Young-hoon.

In the inaugural cycle, clashes with Kim Young-hoon brought endless despair.

Looking back now, though...

I realize I found joy simply in pursuing someone eternally out of reach.

"Huhahahaha!"

With a grin of pure exhilaration, I regenerate my body and deploy the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

As Hong Fan, cloaked in swirling black Gang Qi, hurtles toward me, curiously, he shares his Martial Arts enlightenments with me via our ongoing bond.

—To confront Hope, two or three approaches exist. This stems from Hope's underlying principle...

Kiiiii!

From his dark Gang Qi, light clusters erupt, and his ultimate profundity launches at me once more.

Why so?

Observing him corner me with such dread techniques...

It almost seems like he's just eager to deliver a solid thrashing.

Have I perhaps irked him in some way?

Maybe over our 500 shared years, I focused too much on training and skimped on treating him well.

'In the next lifetime...I ought to at least offer him some tasty potato meals.'

Potatoes are all that occupy my thoughts presently.

The Hope light clusters abruptly expand massively before charging to shred me apart.

And I, struggling to assimilate the Martial Arts insights Hong Fan imparts, rally every bit of my power against Hope.

⟨Present⟩

Kiriririk—

Gazing at the Hope that, despite my banishment via Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, pursues us anew across timelines, I remember Hope's fundamental principle.

At last, the sealed knowledge in my mind unlocks.

Since the insights on Hope itself had always pertained to the Future King, he apparently maintained the seal until I attained a realm capable of bearing it.

'Thank you, Gu Ju.'

During the 16th cycle, my ignorance left me untouched by its effects, but...

Now, I fully comprehend Hope's principle.

Had I learned this at Great Net Immortal level or lower, instead of as a Governing Immortal, the revelation would have shattered my view of Martial Arts, spawning a devastating Heart Demon.

I'd have attempted to mimic Hope beyond my means, fracturing my psyche into countless shards, descending into madness and demise.

Here lies the principle and core of Hope.

Drawing on those long-sealed Martial Arts realizations from back then, I tighten my hold on the Impermanence Sword.

—Hope represents the pinnacle of sword control.

I recall my initial foray into sword control.

I fed action after action into it, until it operated independently, ultimately replicating myself within to form Sword Gang.

—It equates to the ultimate form of cloning.

When Gang Sphere reaches its zenith, it merges with one's core essence, projecting that essence outward into reality.

Yet, this projected essence can later compress and 'launch' forth.

This mirrors the Seated Detachment Entering Hope displayed by Yu Hwa or Jang Ik.

The domain of First Step Before the Throne.

There, one condenses core essence for a realm-transcending strike.

Through that blow, clones emerge, or it embeds in another's essence for their use.

Essentially, Hope is First Step Before the Throne, evolved into a [transcendent Single-Strike Clone power].

What he termed sword control was his accommodation for my inability to wield Single-Strike Clones.

—You replicate your personality and infuse it into the sword. The infusion encompasses absolutely everything: talents, core, possibilities, emotions, even soul fragments...

Concepts I couldn't grasp in the 16th cycle, despite hearing them.

Only now does clarity dawn.

—Next...you alter that infused personality, instilling a sole objective: the target's annihilation. The result is a version of yourself wholly dedicated to slaying one foe...

This alternate self duplicates instantly upon activation, solely for eliminating the designated target, harnessing every infused talent, possibility, personality, and power toward that end.

You replicate and reshape a full self-copy, deploying it as a self-destructive weapon fixated on the kill.

From deployment, this killer-self agonizes over lethal strategies, forging optimized methods and powers.

Even en route to the foe, it relentlessly plagues itself with visions and torment...

At velocities defying Araya Consciousness—perhaps surpassing it—for a near-eternal 'duration,' it schemes the foe's downfall and demise.

With its purpose defined, it possesses vitality: evading prompts pursuit, timeline exile brings return.

The longer the foe flees, the extended the murder-obsession period, so rather than waning over time, this odd profundity 'keeps evolving' and intensifies.

A lone narrative existing to obliterate one foe, even at the cost of self.

In essence, it's a 'Pseudo-Divine Art,' eclipsing mere authorities or techniques.

A merciless, tragic supreme art brimming with self-inflicted pain and loathing, fulfilled only after relentlessly twisting, tormenting, and sacrificing itself to witness the foe's and its own end.

Such is Hope's core and principle.

A serpentine hiss reverberates.

—Thus, countermeasures against Hope number two or three. The first involves presenting Hope an alternative to destruction, dissolving it before impact. Yet, should Hope dismiss that path and press on, its evolution might hasten dangerously. Only transcendents wielding chaos as an authority medium can employ this.

I was unaware then, but it appears Creator Gods or otherworldly great divinities use it for limited defenses.

—The second relies on outpacing Hope's adaptation to your talents and potentials through faster personal growth. If you advance swifter than this endlessly adapting Hope, you can shatter it directly.

This demands evolution exceeding Hong Fan's own aptitudes and potentials.

—Finally...Hope's vulnerable instant is its activation. Then, it can't invoke Absolute of Fate or Three Great Mantras, so even minor progression at that moment allows blockage.

In essence, battling the barrage-firing Future King seals ranged options, forcing ultra-close combat where swords clash perpetually.

Puhwaaaak!

Under my command, the Turning Wheel Mantra and Outer Sea chaos weave, dismantling myriad tales.

And in a heartbeat,

Kiiiiik!

I evolve once again at otherworldly velocity.

Outstripping Hong Fan's aptitudes...!

[Triumph, Seo Eun-hyun...!]

Jeon Myeong-hoon dissolves his personality and potentials within me.

Concurrently, the Red Lightning Heavenly Tribulation surges into my grasp.

Kwarururung!

Jeon Myeong-hoon inherits the full legacy of the Owner of Heavenly Punishment.

The Owner of Heavenly Punishment, Do Gon, was the deity who dubbed the Law of Causality Indra's Net.

Limited by inferior stature and insight, Do Gon's interference with Indra's Net barely reached Heavenly Venerable ease.

But for a being of sufficient stature, rank, and wisdom receiving Naming authority...

Kururur!

I can claim and wield the Named power at will.

Jjeoeong!

Indra's Net forms the web of cosmic laws.

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