How a legendary returner lives - Chapter 324
“…The existence of that person was a truth that only we knew, from the time when the Elders and the Executors were unified.”
“According to the teachings left by our predecessors, the Immortal Lords, that person came from the Middle Realm and created this realm. During the process, they consumed an enormous amount of energy and fell into a deep sleep, close to eternal slumber.”
“That person still believed that the Middle Realm existed, and repeatedly emphasized their regret over not being able to destroy it. Although we never saw them directly, we could feel their presence. The barrier leading to the Middle Realm has remained intact for over a hundred thousand years.”
“We didn’t have the strength to break it. Even when all the Immortal Lords and the ‘Ascendants’ gathered and joined their powers, it couldn’t be broken. Two of the Ascendants who were sent there in the past had clearly died. However, the strange thing was, why hadn’t the barrier been breached, and why hadn’t that person crossed over? We couldn’t figure it out, nor could we find out. So, we decided to do our part.”
“Even the ‘one’ our predecessors spoke of could not break the barrier. That person, who must be somewhere in this realm, will surely wake up one day and finish what they couldn’t complete in the past.”
“That’s right. After countless years, that person will return, break the barrier between this realm and the Middle Realm, and destroy the Middle Realm. We have just been waiting.”
“Then, at some point, strange voices began to be heard by the Ascendants of the Elders’ Sect.”
“We instinctively realized. That person had awakened.”
“However, that person was in a weakened state. They said that the reason they fell into a sleep close to eternal slumber was to recover the vitality lost in the process of creating this realm. We didn’t doubt their words. They easily entered our minds, for we had all reached a certain level of power.”
“Thus, we decided to share our strength with them.”
“This is everything.”
I silently looked at the Sun Master.
“I see. Thanks for the information.”
Now, I was certain.
Coming here was not a wrong decision.
It seemed they referred to those who reached the level of Immortal Lords as “Ascendants,” a term I was familiar with, and it wasn’t bad.
The being they referred to as “that person” was clearly someone who wanted to destroy the Middle Realm where I lived.
The ambition to complete the task from the past.
Based on the flow of the conversation, it seemed that this realm, known as Jingjie, was created using immense power, which led to their exhaustion and subsequent slumber. They had recently awakened.
However, they had awoken in a weakened state, and their power was replenished by the Elders’ Sect.
In the process, the status of the Immortals from the Elders’ Sect had drastically dropped, resulting in their current miserable state.
I felt no sympathy or pity.
I didn’t care.
It was their choice, and choices like that should be respected.
At that moment, Helena approached me.
“Looks like we’ll have to fight after all.”
I turned my head. I didn’t deny it.
“If they fell asleep over a hundred thousand years ago and only recently woke up… it means they’ve likely retained the feelings they had back then… Are you okay with this?”
Helena’s words were filled with concern, and I just smiled.
What could I do?
I had come here knowing this was a possibility.
“Helena, you should go back to the Middle Realm now…”
My words stopped. I couldn’t continue. I immediately reached out, grabbed Helena, and threw my body sideways.
Thud. I collapsed to the floor with Helena on top of me. My eyes clearly saw everything.
A space, where Helena had just been, split open, and a long hand, stretching out from within, grabbed the Sun Master’s head, which was pinned against the wall.
“Ugh… is that some kind of rubber man?”
The arm was easily over 5 meters long.
“Ma… Master!”
The Sun Master’s body grew thin. Vitality drained from it, and his body turned to dust, scattering away.
Was it just two seconds? Maybe three?
That’s what happened in that brief moment. From a distance, Danmokcheondo, who had been sitting, suddenly sprang to his feet.
But even before that.
He drew out the Heavenly Sword he had embedded in space and swung it.
Swish—!
The arm was severed in half.
But it seemed like it was for nothing.
The severed arm was quickly retrieved and disappeared beyond the space.
He stood up.
“I wasn’t ready, but I guess it’s starting right away.”
He smiled and started walking.
He swung the Heavenly Sword down towards the already closed space.
Swish—!
The space split open.
It was the same place I had seen earlier.
A space within a space.
He pushed his body into it.
Ah, now that I think about it, I was about to tell Helena to go back to the Middle Realm.
I looked to the side, and there she was, following me.
Helena smiled brightly.
“I’m not going.”
“Why not?”
“Just… I want to die together, maybe?”
“Who’s dying? Stop saying such appetite-killing things.”
“Lord Jin Si-Hoo.”
“What?”
“Let’s just do it together. We agreed from the first time we met, didn’t we? Together.”
I scratched my head.
“That’s true, but look at that one. Aren’t you scared of it?”
I pointed with my finger toward a figure.
I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman.
Its gender couldn’t be determined.
For convenience, let’s call it “he.” The figure… honestly, it was a bit familiar.
A naked, bald human form, half black, half white.
No genitalia or any such thing, in other words, a form like the Sun God Rana or the Ascendant Trimurti.
The only difference was the immense presence that emanated from it.
“…It looks scary, but there’s no way I’d be afraid of something like that.”
Helena knows.
She’s been with me long enough to know.
To her, I probably seem like an ordinary person.
That’s because her cultivation is far below mine, so she can’t read my energy.
Unless I consciously project my energy, she can’t sense it.
The same goes for that thing ahead.
Helena couldn’t sense any energy from it at all. That means.
It was at least at my level.
Helena, who was feeling that with her entire body, tried her best to appear calm, but she couldn’t stop her arms from trembling slightly.
I patted her shoulder.
Then it happened.
[In the end, did he succeed?]
I turned my head.
[Fantasia was not destroyed after all.]
“It turned out that way.”
[…To think someone like you would be raised… you must be the final seed of that man.]
I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
“That’s a weird way to say it. If someone heard that, they’d think that old man from the Heavenly Throne gave birth to me.”
[Are you trying to joke with me?]
“This bastard is funny. You started it. Damn you.”
[…Still, it was once my land. I should have fulfilled my mission properly… Why is someone as light as you calling yourself the protector of the Middle Realm?]
I turned my head.
The space that led into this place was still open.
Inside it, Danmokcheondo was frozen in place, but to be precise, it wasn’t that he was frozen.
He was moving incredibly slowly.
It was clear.
This was a room of time.
It might seem like time outside was slow and time here was fast, but that wasn’t the case at all.
A single second outside was roughly… 0.0001 seconds in here.
Time flows differently relative to each other.
The problem was.
That this one second of absolute time had changed.
The one second was repeatedly split and split again, and similarly, the time in this place, which flowed relatively slower, was also divided over and over.
The principle of the Time Room was like this.
It’s not about splitting a second from outside, but rather splitting 0.1 seconds first, then 0.01 seconds, then 0.001 seconds, and continually splitting and splitting, creating a time imbalance, which is then amplified.
When that range is expanded further and further.
That’s the Time Room.
Even though the time was split countless times, it felt like one second, which is truly something only those who have reached the divine realm could do.
Helena sensed that as well.
Why the creature in front of us now had similar power to mine.
Why it looked so intact.
It had clearly absorbed Danmokcheondo’s body, and with the power it had previously absorbed, it had restored its original strength.
I scratched my head.
No matter how I thought about it.
There was only one answer.
This was it.
This was simply my answer.
I tightened the hand resting on Helena’s shoulder.
“Helena.”
“…Yes?”
“Go up and tell the editor I sent you.”
I subtly marked Helena’s shoulder with a seal.
Even though I told her not to let anyone in if they came, the seal would change things.
Helena resisted. She reached out and grabbed my body.
“I told you I don’t want to.”
“Hey. We’re not here for a romance story.”
“…Can’t we do both, Fantasia and romance?”
“I would like to, but I have work to do. Plus, it seems like we might die here.”
At the same time, I swung the Heavenly Sword sideways.
SWOOSH—!!
The wave of energy released by the strange creature instantly dissipated.
Glancing at it, it seemed like it was preparing for a larger attack.
It wasn’t over.
The space behind us suddenly closed.
It seemed like it wanted to bury us together.
“Helena.”
“…Yes?”
“Be happy. Live kindly.”
I threw her backwards.
The previously closed space opened, and Helena slipped through.
I sent a mental message.
“Don’t wait.”
I waved my hand.
Then, I closed the space. At the same time.
BOOM—!!
My back exploded. Everything below my neck was restored to life as I shot upwards into the sky.
Suddenly, I felt something pull the Heavenly Sword towards my hand, which had been heading toward the shrine corner.
[…Impressive.]
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Now that I looked closely, this space didn’t even have a physical form.
What had looked like a jar was all fabricated.
I snapped my fingers.
SNAP.
With a clear sound, everything that had been formed around us, like a cave, shattered. Its white and black eyes were locked on me.
I sprang into action, extending the Heavenly Sword as it reached the creature’s face. POOF.
I pulled it out. The creature’s body fell to the ground.
I turned my head.
Dozens, no, hundreds of identical figures appeared.
Their mouths opened simultaneously.
[Let me introduce myself again. I am the first emperor of Fantasia, Tian (天).]
It wasn’t just the Doppler effect; the voice echoed so loudly it made my ears hurt.
Silently, I reached into my void space and pulled out a set of clothes.
As much as I enjoyed fighting, I didn’t want to do so in such a disheveled state.
I put on training pants and a long robe embroidered with the White Lotus.
Now, I finally looked like a human.
I took a cigarette, lit it, and quietly spoke.
“I’ve got the general idea, but is this space manipulation your specialty?”
[Yes.]
The creature looked full of confidence.
“I heard that the Time Room’s origin was the Fantasia Empire, so are you the one who originally proposed the concept?”
[Your way of speaking is quite vulgar. To answer your question, yes.]
“So, it seems His Majesty is confident.”
Dozens, no, hundreds of the creature’s forms laughed. It was like a horror movie, with how grotesque they looked.
So,
“In the end, the one whose energy is exhausted first loses, right?”
[More precisely, it’s mental energy.]
“Aha.”
[You’ve reached that level, and the fact that you received power from the next Great Lord of the Celestial Throne means that your mental strength must surely be touching the divine realm.]
I hadn’t actually received any power, but I just shrugged it off. Strictly speaking, creating barriers also involves power, so I figured that was what they meant.
However.
“You’re next in line?”
[That’s right. I am the first master of the Celestial Throne.]
The one who introduced himself as Tian smiled slightly.
[The first emperor of Fantasia, the one who declared the creation of a new star and the migration to it, I am the one true god of this world.]
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“So, you’re the bastard who fled from Fantasia, right?”
[…….]
“Why are you so proud to say that? And the old man of the next generation of the Celestial Throne…”
[He is human.]
“Human?”
[Don’t you even know the true name of the one who gave you your power?]
“I heard it was pretty long.”
[Would someone who rejected his own fate use his true name?]
I just accepted it.
“Anyway, you couldn’t even manage the war that broke out in Fantasia and just fled. Isn’t that right?”
[……The word “migration” is used, and while I don’t want to blame your ignorance, it’s hard to watch you say it so proudly.]
“Same thing, and don’t you think my mental strength might be superior to yours?”
Tian responded to my question with another question.
[Do you know why this place is called the Gate of Truth?]
“Should I know that?”
[You should. I coined all the terms that governed your world, such as mana, natural energy, and the spirit-void technique.]
I was genuinely curious.
“So?”
[……I am truth itself. Beyond the Gate of Truth, there is only truth. I am the one who exists everywhere and nowhere at once.]
I scratched my head.
“You sound like an extreme narcissist. In the end, you only created names, didn’t you?”
[…….]
“You didn’t even create the spirit-void technique. It’s about developing the inherent energy contained in human souls… Did you lose your mind after screwing around for tens of thousands of years? What the hell are you talking about?”
[……Interesting.]
“What’s interesting?”
[You must know what it means to bestow a true name, yet you’re resorting to shallow tricks.]
I ignored him and lit another cigarette.
I had figured out the situation.
The entire space around us was fabricated.
The caster was Tian over there, and in order to escape this space, I had to kill him.
Since we both had reached certain realms, physical regeneration and such didn’t matter.
The one who gets exhausted first and collapses would die.
From now on, it would be a battle to wear down each other’s mental strength.
I smoked one more cigarette.
Tian waited.
So, I smoked two more.
[……Don’t smoke too much.]
“You’re being stingy. Isn’t this a guy who was an emperor?”
I smoked a chain of cigarettes. I probably wouldn’t have time to smoke any more from here on.
I flicked the cigarette butt at his face.
It wasn’t a matter of accuracy; hitting him wasn’t a problem.
I gripped my sword again.
“Let’s begin.”
The “creatures” charged.
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Shine
Asdfghjkl so my whole theory about what’s beyond the gate of truth are all wrong, and Instead what beyond the gate of truth is just a narcissistic bastard who thinks he’s a god because he was the one who invented everything first?? Damn, actually I’m kinda disappointed but.. I guess it’s okay, It was a long ride of up and down, and a lot of plot twist too, and tbh despite the ending I enjoyed the novel