NOVEL NEXT Chapter 263
263rd Chapter: Diagram of Primordial Harmony
Consciousness returned. A sense of omnipotence overflowed my entire body. The moment I reached the Boundary of Life and Death.
The concept of Danjeon meant nothing to me.
A body that could manipulate the natural energies of heaven and earth like my martial prowess.
Reaching the Empty Spirit Body, a specialty of the Boundary of Life and Death, made the distinction between my martial energy and natural energies irrelevant.
Only then did I understand why the demon moved in harmony with heaven and earth every time it moved.
It too was at the Boundary of Life and Death. Because it formed an Empty Spirit Body, nature’s energy synchronized with its movements, causing heaven and earth to shift.
The Empty Spirit Body.
A realm spoken of only in legends. I never knew one could achieve it by reaching the Boundary of Life and Death.
Now, I too could attain such miraculous feats.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Plop.
The disciple collapsed into my arms. Her pupils were starkly white. She seemed to have fallen victim to the virus of the Two Thousand Middle Heaven World.
I rested my hand on her head. The mind virus injected by the demon was clearly visible to my spiritual perception at the Boundary of Life and Death.
I placed my hand on her Heavenly Cover and extracted the mind virus. The ominous blood energy was drawn out into my hand. I tossed it to the ground.
Ka-Woom!
With an explosive sound, the ground shattered.
Only then did the disciple peacefully close her eyes. I could hear her steady breathing. I gently stroked her head.
She had tried to protect me until the very end. Even after hearing the truth that I was a returner, she still thought of me as her protector.
She said she loved me regardless.
So it was now my turn to repay her wishes.
I took off my robe and laid it on the ground, carefully placing the disciple onto it before standing up.
“Hyulma.”
Looking up, I saw it.
Hyulma.
A figure I once thought unassailable, like an endless universe—now appeared as a worthy opponent in my eyes.
I too had reached the Boundary of Life and Death, just like it.
“Congratulations. Goeryong Lee Cheol-soo. Just like your ancestors, you too have risen to the Boundary of Life and Death.”
Hyulma laughed.
I raised my hand, extracting the mind viruses that were corroding the minds of the seven masters, except for the disciple.
If I had been any slower, they would have all been turned into mindless husks.
“Even in all this, you still care about your comrades?”
Hyulma sneered at me.
I looked back at Hyulma and said.
“I’m not a pathetic beta male like you. I’m an outgoing alpha male, you know.”
“Pathetic? Outgoing? I have no idea what you’re saying, but it feels like a severe insult aimed at me.”
Hyulma’s eyes glinted with the characters reflecting my words.
It seemed he realized I was criticizing him.
“I’m glad you understood. I was about to offer a definition if you didn’t.”
Thud.
I kicked off the ground. The natural energies of heaven and earth synchronized, lifting my body into the air.
I was levitating. While walking in the air, I stood at eye level with Hyulma.
“Do you think you’ve become arrogant just because you reached the Boundary of Life and Death? Or is it just because you’ve awakened the Diagram of Primordial Harmony?”
Hyulma spoke as he looked at me. Bloodlight ignited in his eyes.
“Whichever it is, you’ll never surpass me. Do you know how many masters at the Boundary of Life and Death I have eliminated? Countless. The Heavenly Alliance—those cockroaches have always tried to hold me back, but I’ve always exterminated them. Dharma Master, Wang Jung-yang, Ye Dong-bin, the first Cheonma… Legendary masters whose names are etched in the history of the martial world all fell beneath me. It’s the same with the Primordial Sword Technique. You’re just at the threshold of the Boundary of Life and Death, while I’ve reached its pinnacle. The experience I’ve amassed, the insights I’ve gained, are worlds apart.”
Hyulma sneered at me.
Ka-Woom!
An overwhelming blood energy surged from his body. A crimson pillar pierced the sky. Rumble! The heavens ominously roared.
“Your ultimate technique was indeed impressive, but in the end, you lost to me. You couldn’t kill me. You think you won in the Payang Lake battle? No, you lost. Being victorious doesn’t mean you’re strong. Surviving! Even if it’s ugly, surviving to achieve your ultimate goal! That is true strength!! Thus, I am the strongest in all history!”
Hyulma screamed, a burst of blood energy emanating from his body. His head soared into the heavens as he released all his energy, causing the sky to ominously vibrate.
The energies of the universe revolved around him.
Only then did I realize.
Hyulma.
He had never once fought us with full strength until now.
I had finally drawn out his true power.
“Goeryong Lee Cheol-soo, the reverse heaven among returners. Now, I shall show you. What true transcendence looks like! I will unleash all of my true ultimate techniques! A technique that struck down your ancestor, the Primordial Sword Technique! Understand this as an honor!”
Fizz!
Sparks erupted from Hyulma’s body. He twisted his muscular frame into bizarre bodybuilding poses. Dark clouds parted as the sun of Reverse Heaven rose behind him. With the backlight framing him, he smirked wickedly.
“Be engulfed, soul and all, by my supreme technique! The one who stands as the legacy of the Primordial Sword Technique!!”
An ominous aura surged from Hyulma’s body. The universe unfolded behind him. A galaxy burst forth. The universe danced in his eyes.
Behind him, a thousand arms spread wide. No, not a thousand arms — countless appendages, more akin to red tentacles, manifested.
Hyulma laughed.
[Three Thousand Great Heaven World]
Hyulma’s incantation shook the universe. The cosmos that rose behind him engulfed the surroundings. The landscape of Baekdusan had already vanished. We were now wandering the universe.
The sun and moon of Reverse Heaven ascended into the sky.
This was the Universe of Reverse Heaven.
Hyulma was rising to shape a new heaven, reconstructing the world of reverse heaven. A future that shouldn’t exist. His mind unfurled in the great universe, causing the providence itself to tremble.
The translucent red tentacles undulated behind Hyulma, with stars hanging from their tips. The Infinite Mind’s World hung at the end of those infinite tentacles.
Because I had reached the same level as Hyulma, I understood.
Hyulma.
No matter how many years he lived, the infinity of his mind was impossible.
Yet, he wielded an infinite mind, employing the Infinite Mind’s Method.
In reality, this shouldn’t be possible. But he had transcended the constraints of reality.
He materialized all possibilities. Drawing from all his powers that existed in observable parallel universes. Thus he completed the ultimate infinity.
He drew forth his infinite essence.
He attained the Infinite Mind’s Method.
He wielded the Infinite Ultimate.
Three Thousand Great Heaven World.
Hyulma’s true ultimate technique, symbolizing a billion worlds.
His words held weight.
Infinity dwelled in Hyulma’s eyes.
Another incantation was etched into the universe of the Three Thousand Great Heaven World.
[The Infinity of the Mind Can Even Overcome Heaven.]
Hyulma gazed at me.
[Humanity Prevails Over Heaven]
The infinite essence of the Mind flowed down from the tips of his tentacles. The ultimate of Reverse Heaven poured over me.
His essence was infinite.
An infinite wave surged toward me. Indeed, there was no doubt this was an ultimate moment he could take pride in.
However.
He overlooked something.
“Hyulma.”
I called out to him.
“You arrogant wannabe. No matter how much you prattle on, the truth is, you’re just a pathetic grown man who trembles before our true origin alpha male, the Gold Sun, the Primordial Sword Master. Well, it’s true that empty carts make the loudest noise, and the more pathetic you are, the longer your tongue gets.”
The Diagram of Primordial Harmony.
The ultimate technique left by the Primordial Sword Master.
The moment I reached the Boundary of Life and Death, I fully grasped the tenets of the Diagram of Primordial Harmony.
And I finally understood why the Primordial Sword Master wanted to pass this down to future generations, and why Hyulma desperately fought to erase any traces of it.
[What are you saying? Goeryong Lee Cheol-soo, you will soon die.]
Hyulma spoke with arrogance, but I caught the slight tremor in his voice.
The Diagram of Primordial Harmony.
It was the only technique that could strike directly at Hyulma’s soul.
That was precisely why he had been so desperate to erase the traces of the Primordial Sword Master.
Hyulma.
He acted all high and mighty, but in truth, he was a self-serving coward whose survival came first.
A narrow-minded loser with an excessive amount of power was what led to this.
I was a grown man.
So I wouldn’t lose to someone like Hyulma.
And I came to a realization.
“The Diagram of Primordial Harmony is an incomplete technique.”
Hyulma’s expression twisted oddly at my words.
That was right.
The moment I fully understood the Diagram of Primordial Harmony, I realized this.
The Diagram of Primordial Harmony was an incomplete technique. To achieve the reverse taiji, both yin and yang were needed. However, the Primordial Sword Master had only achieved the essence of the yang’s mind method.
He lacked the yin’s essence.
Thus, the Primordial Sword Master’s Diagram of Primordial Harmony could only ever be incomplete. Because he couldn’t achieve true reverse taiji or yin-yang reversal.
His technique was but a half-baked version, only possessing the essence of yang.
Now, I finally understood why the Primordial Sword Master’s consciousness had been so delighted at the thought of containing both reverse and elemental paths to contend against Hyulma.
The Primordial Sword Master had known.
He knew his technique was only half-complete. But a mind method is the essence of a martial artist’s life condensed into a singular clarity. Unless under special circumstances, one person could hold only one mind method.
Because one cannot live two lives.
That was why the Primordial Sword Master could never complete the Diagram of Primordial Harmony, even after dedicating his whole life to it. This was the reason he created the Secret Cave. He believed that someone in the future would complete the Diagram of Primordial Harmony through a miracle.
But that person was not me.
I held both the reverse and elemental paths simultaneously.
I encompassed both gods and mortals, yin and yang.
I had lived two lives.
I finally understood the meaning behind the Primordial Sword Master’s words about casting away my previous life. To reach the heights, I had to let go of everything, even the current stage. However, in order to glimpse beyond that level, I needed to acknowledge what I had abandoned.
The Primordial Sword Master taught me to refill what had been lost after letting go. Yes, from the very beginning, from that cavern, he had indeed imparted all the true understandings to me.
I just hadn’t realized it before now.
“Then I will complete the incomplete technique made by our alpha male senior today, and show it to you.”
I extended my right hand.
[Ten Years Polished One Sword]
Whoooooosh!
The heavens trembled as a sword descended from above. The Ten Years Polished One Sword. An embodiment of my second life, igniting extreme yang energy.
The culmination of my one lifetime of training, a resolute sword stood firmly in my right hand like Everest.
I smiled. Then I recited the tenets of Regulation Preservation. My body, now an Empty Spirit Body, easily absorbed the tenets.
Patzatzatzatzatzatzatzatzat!
Half my body was enveloped in extreme yin energy. Behind me grew a colossal tree made of glacial ice. In my left hand blossomed snowflakes of extreme low temperature, close to absolute zero.
The universe of Reverse Heaven froze into a dazzling white.
[One Piece of Ice Heart]
One Piece of Ice Heart.
The mind method of my first life unfolded to the left. One Piece of Ice Heart was the extreme yin mind method completed by the previous me, who achieved Regulation Preservation. With both extreme yang and extreme yin energies, I operated the Primordial Unity Energy Technique.
Unlike the Primordial Sword Master, I had lived two lives.
I possessed both the extreme yang’s mind method and the extreme yin’s mind method.
Hyulma
In comparison to its infinite mind method, mine might seem modest.
But I knew.
Hyulma’s mind method was infinite. But the depth of that realization was incredibly shallow. He hadn’t comprehended the ultimate truths of all the infinite mind methods.
That was only natural.
No matter how much Hyulma possessed the Infinite Mind’s Method, he was still just human. It was impossible for him to fully awaken all depths of the infinite essence.
Hyulma was a swamp. Expansive, yet shallow.
But I was not.
I had reached the ultimate depth of extreme yin enlightenment with the body of a transcendent being and had achieved the final enlightenment of extreme yang with the body of a newly reborn grown man.
Thus, even with just two mind methods, I held profound realization. I was equivalent to the Mariana Trench.
Therefore, this battle was my victory.
I drew the reverse taiji in the air with my right hand imbued with extreme yang energy and my left hand imbued with extreme yin energy.
Yin-yang energies surged. The martial and anti-demon magic powers soared. The energies of elemental paths inscribed into my soul entwined with the reverse powers acquired through reincarnation.
Yin-Yang Reversal.
The positions of all opposing powers were inverted.
The teachings of the long-gone emperor bestowed upon the sect master of the Gongdong Sect finally manifested here, as a martial art.
The secret left by the absolute master, the Primordial Sword Master, who had imparted it to me three hundred years ago, was finally completed at this moment.
Realizations continued.
[Diagram of Primordial Harmony]
And the heavens were turned upside down.