Reincarnation Sword God

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Chapter 15: The Dark Heaven Village

I stepped forward. Since I was supposed to fight in Cheon Woo-jin’s stead, I felt a little nervous. Having fought against Moon Sovereign earlier, I wasn’t scared, but I knew just how strong the Seven Luminaries’ spirits were, and I was aware I’d be facing death several times.

I looked at Mangnyang and said, “Mangnyang. If I use that method I have right from the start…”

But I actually had an easy way to handle this fight. When I shared my thoughts with Mangnyang, he shook his head decisively.

“No way. If it was just us facing the trial, maybe. But we also have to deal with Qin Shi Huang. That’s a trump card, so save it.”

“Understood.”

“But if the difficulty of Tydaht is high, then you can use it based on the situation.”

Boom!

I moved forward. The Celestial Sage glanced at me and said, “Are you sure? This guy doesn’t seem like someone to underestimate.”

“I’m fine.”

I said this but found myself looking to the side involuntarily.

“…….”

But there was no one there.

The familiar faces… were gone.

In that moment, I felt weak from that emptiness.

That’s right – Cheon Woo-jin, Jin So-cheong, the Sword Demon, and the Extreme Tiger were no longer by my side. What kind of bad luck was this? They all fell under the restriction of being unable to be summoned, and it just so happened that the comrades who could have given me the greatest strength had all disappeared, leaving an indescribable void. I even doubted if I could give it my all in this battlefield.

“Damn! Let’s not play the crying card.”

And yet, despite everything, I had no choice but to keep fighting. If I couldn’t pull through here, I wouldn’t be able to face the comrades who had fallen until now. If I died without looking at Il-yo’s face first, I didn’t think I could ever forgive myself.

As our group stepped forward, Tydaht, a mass of tentacles floating in the air, suddenly acknowledged me.

[Oh…, it’s Baek Woong….]

Not overly hostile.

Somehow, Tydaht seemed to welcome me, making me a bit confused as I replied, “Tydaht’s spirit. Do you know me?”

[In reality, the one who possessed and managed me the longest was Empress Wu Zetian. In the end, she pointed to you as the master of the Earth Star Eight Trigrams Diagram, so I don’t particularly dislike you.]

“…….”

[If you had been my master for a long time, it would have been interesting….]

I looked at him and said, “You functioned as the heart of the Divine Portrait. Do you have any idea why someone thought to stab the Seven Luminaries into a Divine Portrait?”

[It was Changhil….]

“Do you know why Changhil did such a thing?”

[It was to be conscious of the Celestial Realm….]

“The Celestial Realm…?”

For a moment, I tilted my head, realizing what that implied.

Originally, if the Divine Portrait was completed, it would be a powerful existence due to its incredible time manipulation ability, but that alone couldn’t be deemed as the strongest. Some techniques could break the time manipulation, so Changhil aimed to create the ultimate puppet by granting it immunity to techniques. Clearly, he intended to operate it as a massacre tool especially against the immortals when facing them in the Celestial Realm.

I asked out of curiosity, “Could it be… since you were the heart of the Divine Portrait, you can also use the abilities of the Divine Portrait?”

[Well… why not confirm it directly….]

His words had a rather slippery tone. Still, I didn’t have the luxury to worry about his antics. After all, if Tydaht had time manipulation abilities, the difficulty here would become unbearable. Desperate, I said to Tydaht, “Hey! Please take it easy! Just getting through this place is enough to face Il-yo’s trial; isn’t this too much?!”

Then Tydaht leisurely replied, [Hmm…, should I…? Your suggestion does pique my interest…. Still, it is a trial…. What to do….]

“…….”

After pondering, Tydaht flicked his tentacles and said, [Alright…. Offer me a tribute, and I’ll take it easy on you…. I’ll fight at less than half my power….]

“What?! Tribute?!”

[Yeah…. I also need my goodies….]

I looked at Mangnyang and Zhuge Sa. Zhuge Sa chuckled and said, “What a great opportunity! After living so long among otherworldly races, even though he’s a spirit, human sacrifice works on him.”

“Human sacrifice? Hmmm…, let’s skip the human sacrifice. What do I have to offer right now?”

As I thought about it, Mangnyang said, “Pick a few treasures you got from Changhil and offer those. It’s the best option.”

“Got it.”

I reached to pull out a treasure from my wooden armor, but Zhuge Sa stopped me.

“Wait. There’s a better method.”

“What is it?”

After Zhuge Sa’s words, I flinched.

“If you wait a bit here, Qin Shi Huang will come looking for you because he’ll be anxious. When he does, tell him your tribute conditions and ask him to offer some of his troops to Tydaht. How about around 10,000 members?”

“……!!”

“This works well for everyone. As long as we can easily get through the Seven Luminaries’ trial, he won’t mind giving up some troops. We can save our treasures from Changhil.”

But I shook my head. “Right now, Tydaht has the nature of a high-level otherworldly race. If we offer 10,000 living sacrifices, he’d probably gruesomely devour them alive. How could we even do that?”

“What does it matter? Whether they live or die, they’ll end up in the belly of the Old Ruler, and weren’t they the ones who have suffered countless times at the hands of the Luminaries? If they heard that if they endure one last pain, they could escape this hell, there’ll probably be plenty eager to volunteer.”

“…….”

Suddenly, Zhuge Sa sighed.

“Huh, Baek Woong. Isn’t it about time we revisited the definition of humanity? Since the moment we confirmed that there’s no salvation in the afterlife, we can no longer freely criticize even the Master of the White Lotus Sect. To achieve our goals, we may have to allow a bit of non-human methods to reduce unnecessary sacrifices. This isn’t a statement driven by my values, but rather a proposal I submit as a strategist.”

Zhuge Sa’s words struck home, leaving me speechless. Then, unexpectedly, the Zen Master spoke up.

“That’s not right….”

Everyone turned their gaze to the Zen Master. No one had expected him to reject Zhuge Sa’s words. The Zen Master brought his hands together and gently spoke.

“There’s a law that even the smallest creature can achieve Nirvana if it diligently cultivates its understanding…. The existence of the realm of death cannot be the end all of moral answers.”

Zhuge Sa sneered at that.

“Are you talking about the world attained through Nirvana? If so, what is Nirvana? Do you mean to say that when your Buddhist saints die and leave behind relics, they somehow escape the fate of being inside the belly of the Old Ruler?”

“…….”

“I know a bit about your theories. Are you suggesting that because all the Buddhas and Tathagatas have no attachments, their delusional thoughts vanish, and they attain all-knowing wisdom?”

“Indeed…. The sentient beings cannot see the true body of the great ones, only the glorified forms, and are led by their large applications… we may think we understand the substance we perceive, but there might be other truths behind it.”

“Hahaha! That’s funny!”

Zhuge Sa laughed harshly.

“You monk! The cycle of reincarnation has already closed! Didn’t Gautama Buddha guarantee the truth? There are no Bodhisattvas! Everything is merely a dirty deal between the Three Sovereigns and the Old Ruler, playing with mortals, all just an illusion. Don’t you see? In such a world, what value does life and morality hold?”

“……!!”

“All religions have collapsed!”

The Zen Master flinched for a moment. After being shaken by Zhuge Sa’s words, he spoke again after a brief pause.

“…I don’t know what others think, but Buddhism is not a religion. It’s merely a community of those who pursue the traces of the enlightened ones….”

“Stop the nonsense.”

“You should know about alaya-vijnana.”

“It’s a means to explain the cycle of life and death based on the Tathagatagarbha. So what?”

“Those who fully realize alaya-vijnana… gain causative power… and by turning the wheel of dharma from the eighth consciousness, they will encounter a new cycle of reincarnation that has never existed in the cosmos. And this reincarnation won’t include an afterlife, but rather a greater concept….”

At that moment, Zhuge Sa’s face twisted strangely.

“A new reincarnation?”

“Yes…. Reincarnation doesn’t simply mean the flow of spirits. There might exist truths in dimensions we can’t even imagine.”

As he replied, the Zen Master looked at me with an intense gaze and said, “Reborn person. Although I regret that my power is insufficient to aid you in this trial…, do you truly believe you’ve reached the depths of despair by knowing all the dark secrets of this world?”

“Hmm….”

“Perhaps… Zhuge Sa’s words may hold some truth, but… this is still premature….”

I agreed with the Zen Master’s perspective. Even though all humans are dragged into living hell after death, I don’t yet know everything about that system. Therefore, I still had ample reason to maintain my humanity and observe a little longer.

I made my decision and said, “I’ll offer the treasure. There’s no one to use them immediately anyway.”

These treasures I acquired from Changhil were mostly ancient, and unless I knew exactly how to use them, it would be better not to use them. Since I had nothing but trouble by keeping them around, I thought it better to uphold my inner morality by offering them.

After a moment, when I surrendered most of the treasures from Changhil, Tydaht, pleased with the offering, said, [Hmm…, this is quite nice…. I like it….]

“Now you’ll take it easy on me, right?”

[Of course….]

Pa-at!

At that moment, time came to a sudden halt.

“Ah!”

As if Jin was nearby, a tremendous sense of time’s pressure hit us, and we all froze in place. The Celestial Sage could still move, but even he looked strained. Eventually, Tydaht loosened the time stop and casually said.

[Actually, I can also use the time manipulation abilities of the Divine Portrait…. Since it was originally differentiated from Tydaht’s potential, it’s only natural that I can use it….]

“Cough…!!”

[However, since you provided an offering, I won’t use this ability…. I’ll seal my super regeneration power too…, and I’ll minimize my destruction rays….]

“…….”

[Now come at me…. Just play around before losing….]

I was left speechless.

‘It was real!’

The price for having stabbed Tydaht into the heart of the Divine Portrait!

As a spirit of the Seven Luminaries, Tydaht had obtained the Divine Portrait’s abilities due to its characteristics being greatly influenced by the location and situation! If it had access to time manipulation abilities, the fight would become as overwhelming as Moon Sovereign!

‘If I had fought without offering and instead had just gone for it, I would’ve been wiped out…!!’

Regardless, now that Tydaht had weakened, it was the perfect opportunity! I shouted while wielding the Flame Elemental Sword and Water Element.

“Let’s go!!”

Boom!

Cheon Gong-pyo launched the first strike with his Sabre Sword. Just then, the eye located on Tydaht’s head emitted a gray light, and at that moment, the Sabre Sword struck Tydaht, causing the mass of tentacles to burst apart.

Splish!

Swish!

However, like time rewinding, the exploded tentacle mass quickly restored itself. Tydaht appeared to be momentarily dazed, stumbling.

[Ah, I forgot…. I said I wouldn’t use time recovery….]

Splish!

Once again, the tentacle mass burst apart.

“Ugh…!!”

Cheon Gong-pyo looked frustrated, but there was nothing we could do. If Tydaht fought at full strength without holding back, it could reverse all damage taken from the Sabre Sword, making it impossible to defeat. It was best to win while Tydaht was being lenient.

But even if Tydaht was being lenient, its strength was no joke. As soon as the Celestial Sage summoned hundreds of clones, Tydaht shot another gray gaze, erasing the Celestial Sage’s techniques instantly. The Celestial Sage retreated, licking his lips.

“Damn, technique negation….”

Cheon Gong-pyo attempted to develop some other technique, but once Tydaht opened its eyes, they were all nullified. Even ancient chaos spirits like the primordial beings couldn’t counter Tydaht’s technique negation. Ultimately, we had no choice but to resort to close combat as the situation became dire, and the Celestial Sage came beside me.

“That guy’s tentacles may explode easily, but they’re incredibly tough and flexible. I’ll lure him, and you find his core and take him down.”

“Understood.”

Boom!

Finally, the Celestial Sage used his innate prowess to circle Tydaht. As Tydaht wriggled to grasp the Celestial Sage, I cautiously employed my air movement technique to fly in and find an opening. As I advanced a bit more, Tydaht’s tentacles grew larger and thicker, resembling a forest of tentacles.

‘Where’s the core?’

I delved deeper in search of the core. As smaller tentacles attacked, I quickly swung my Sword Thunder to cut them all down and increased my speed. When I got close to the base of Tydaht’s tentacle pillar, it happened.

Shwoop!

Black tentacles writhed and sprang out from the dark area. The tentacles transformed as if they were human and attacked me, but I again sliced them down with my Sword Thunder. After slashing through the smaller tentacles, a gigantic eye began to wriggle in sight, and I realized that was Tydaht’s core.

‘If I can just slice that….’

Swish!

As I aimed my Sword Thunder at the core, I was stunned to find that it barely budged due to its toughness.

‘There’s almost nothing I couldn’t slice with this technique…!!’

Even if Tydaht was holding back, being a spirit of the Seven Luminaries must mean great durability! Normally, if my Sword Thunder couldn’t inflict damage, I would’ve abandoned my attempt. But I crossed the Flame Elemental Sword and the Water Element, gathering my strength.

“Haah…!!”

When the two swords merged, they unleashed the power of Divine Killing!

After exerting my force, the core burst open, spraying blood everywhere.

Boom!

“I… I did it.”

Thinking that I had defeated Tydaht and only the last protector Il-yo remained, I felt relief. But at that moment.

[My core has three… you need to find and destroy two more….]

“…….”

Tydaht’s voice echoed in my head. As I stood there, dumbfounded, Tydaht continued speaking.

[And the area surrounding the last core will be attacked by my powerful summoned creatures, which will infect you upon contact with spores, so be careful…, and there are traps everywhere, so be sure to avoid them….]

“Ah, I got it.”

[Corrosive liquid will drop from the ceiling, so make sure you have your protection energy technique ready…. If you get lost, always take the right fork….]

“…….”

What, is he being too friendly?

His words lingered in my mind, but I barely managed to hold my tongue. After all, there was nothing good about an arduous trial.

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