A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation
C804 Chapter 800: Future King (5)
Chapter 804 Chapter 800: Future King (5)
When I come to my senses, I have at some point come out of the story.
And, in the Primordial Chaos in front of my eyes, insects are swarming.
The Blood Insect Demon-Devil Great Method that he scattered throughout the Head Realm is appearing inside the Heavenly Void Furnace in the form of black insects.
The reason I can escape the story is obvious.
It is because the owner of the story permitted it.
In front of my eyes, Hong Fan gathers the bodies of the insects, takes a form, and appears.
Now I can understand why Hong Fan has the bearing of an emperor.
"I ask again."
Following the single utterance of the Fate Supreme Deity, who met my eyes inside the story, Hong Fan continues those words in front of me.
"Is it because you have the qualification to maintain your connection with me that you do not cut it?"
I make a bitter smile.
Where I am is inside the Heavenly Void Furnace.
And this Heavenly Void Furnace is embedded in Ascension Path.
Yes, the Ascension Path.
It is the place where I cried out Heavens Above the most in my life.
"The memories of the previous life... you seem to have found it all, O Heavens."
"Yes. In fact, it has been set from the moment you brought the Radiance Mantra into contact with me."
"You said you were bathed by the light six times. In the 10th cycle...did you gain reason by contacting me, who possesses the ability of regression, in the state of a mother centipede's egg?"
"Dispense with the courtesy and speak at ease. Since I know your disposition quite well regardless, I can foresee that you will speak comfortably if you reach the level of Heavenly King."
...
I am surprised at the insight that sees through even my trivial traits in an instant, but there is no particular way to deny it.
"...Understood. Hong Fan."
With a bitter smile, I summon the body made of the clusters of green light before him and take on a humanoid form.
"To shed the Vestige...does it mean having left the Head Realm?"
Recalling what Hong Fan told me in the early part of this life, I ask.
"What you call the Head Realm is the storage scroll made of the ges of me and Hwe-ah. here, the Absolute of History is stored. Therefore, the power of fate does not easily reach. If even you all, fragments of Miracle, overlap in the same place there, many variables occur that even I cannot control. Yes, because I left the Head Realm, I could gradually find reason."
I think maybe he should have said it a little differently, but it seems that since he just found reason in the state of an insect, his mind wavers a bit.
As if he reads my thoughts in real time, Hong Fan's eyes feel a little colder.
"...The existence called Hwe-ah..."
"Someone like you has no need to know."
In a solemn voice, he forbids me from asking about Yang Hwe.
"Answer my question."
I...
...resent the Heavens.
Could I have known that Hong Fan is the Heavens?
'No, even if I did not know...'
I cannot deny that I desperately needed someone to blame.
I wanted to try to shift the pain that happened to me as someone else's fault.
I just didn't know that it turned out to be the connection I cherish.
I have been resenting my connection and not letting it go.
'Have I...not been letting go until now in order to resent?'
From Hong Fan's position, how ugly do I look?
Cursing and resenting his face, and yet not being able to let go of his hand...
But...
"...Even so. I...still do not know you."
There is something I have to say.
"Hong Fan. You also do not know me."
Crunch-
Before I know it, my body is gone, and only my head rests on Hong Fan's hand.
I cannot know the cause.
Only the result is like this.
"Your past, your present, your future. I know them all. Starting from which ancestors you had in the past to what thoughts you lived with. I also know everything you will do in the future."
"What...becomes of me?"
"There are many futures. From a future where you die right now, to a future where you, as the first among countless Enders, tear your own fate apart. There is no future I do not see."
"Then...why do you try to hear my answer?"
To my words, he does not answer.
"If you can know and decide everything, you can simply apply the future you want to me as you wish. Why do you try to hear my answer?"
"Divine Arts. It is merely one of the conditions to satisfy the power called Great Mantra. Just answer."
"If I do not answer, are the conditions not satisfied?"
"That too is one answer."
"Hahaha."
Amused for a moment by the wise answer to a foolish question, I burst into laughter.
"...Thank you."
And I offer thanks to Hong Fan.
"For what?"
"For following me."
"To an Ender like you, who has an ability that even affects me, I always follow."
"I had an ability!?"
"...Did you perhaps not know?"
"...As for your body, it is an ability called the Heavenly Devil Body."
"!?"
I am startled at the fact that I have such an ability.
"What!? R-Really...? Then why did the Black Ghost Valley or the Devilish Immortal Sect Alliance not take me at
first...?"
Hong Fan quietly looks at me.
And he asks a question.
"I ask it once again in the future, but I should ask it once to you now as well. I ask you. Why do you not lay your hands on the power of the Devilish?"
"Huh?"
"The conditions for the Heavenly Devil Body to activate are two. The selfishness that takes others' sacrifice for granted. And learning devilish arts."
At his words, with only my head remaining, I blink my two eyes blankly.
"Why do you not learn devilish arts?"
I recall Seo Ran's words.
That devilish arts are not simply a method of accepting devilish energy, but a method that sacrifices others.
"Why do you try so hard not to sacrifice others."
"...Mm."
Honestly, it is something I never thought about.
"...Right."
For a moment, an awkward silence falls between Hong Fan and me.
Perhaps he cannot read what simply does not exist, as a brief look of absurdity rises in Hong Fan's eyes.
But there is nothing I can do.
If no thought comes to mind, what can I do about it?
I try to think of a reasonable reason.
"Mm... Since there was no chance to encounter something called devilish arts in the first cycle...it just became a habit to not use it, then because of Yuan Li, I became filled with loathing and ended up not learning it, maybe?"
"That cannot be. Even among martial arts, there are many classified as devilish arts. Certainly, in your Oth cycle, there were chances of you discovering the Star Draining Great Method in your house's back yard, or wandering the marketplace and discovering the Berserk Devilish Art. There was also the chance of learning low-grade devilish
arts by joining the Tuho Gang."
"Ah..."
At Hong Fan's words, it comes back to me.
In my house's backyard, in the place that touches the Ju family's potato field, I once dug up a wooden box that contained a martial arts manual called the Star Draining Great Method.
"I needed funds for the soap business, so I sold it for a few coins..."
Judging by how he talks, it seems to have been a martial arts manual quite compatible with me.
'I also discovered something called a Berserk Devilish Art while wandering the marketplace...'
But I was busy being squeezed for taxes by a Lianshan City official, so I had no time to pay attention to such
things.
Only after regression did opportunities arise and I thought of learning martial arts. How was I supposed to suddenly think of learning devilish arts while old, being shaken down for taxes by an official, and getting slapped?
Lastly, as for something like the Tuho Gang...
Why would I enter the band of thieves who stole all the rice from my house?
They even stole the herbal liquor I carefully brewed and my house's seed soy sauce!
Who would know how bitterly sorrowful I was that day?
'No matter how I think about it, there was no case where I learned devilish arts...'
If I was going to be pushed into learning devilish arts, it seems only right to have at least lowered the taxes a bit.
Perhaps reading my thoughts, Hong Fan lets out a deep sigh.
"How simple."
"Isn't everything precious found in what is simple?"
"Imperfect and self-contradictory."
Recalling the simple life of the Oth cycle, I suddenly think of a suitable answer to say to Hong Fan.
"How can a person be complete, Hong Fan? Small and simple and imperfect and self-contradictory, that is what a
person originally is."
You can like some aspects and dislike others.
"The Heavens...I did not only cry out against you."
The creature called a person, by nature, highlights and remembers only the bad memories.
Surely...
There are good memories too.
"There were times I was grateful to you as well."
When I came to this world and first learned to speak and got a home.
When the soap business was acknowledged.
When Mrs. Ju married and safely delivered a daughter.
When the herbal liquor and seed soy sauce fermented safely.
When, before I died, the Ju family held a small eightieth-birthday feast for me.
When I first regressed and dreamed of a new future...
And after regression, I was really, really grateful many times.
"A person's heart originally both hates and likes...I think of it as such a thing. Hong Fan."
So I also have a heart that cherishes Hong Fan as a friend.
And also parts that I hate him as the Heavens.
At the same time, there are also times I want to pull a nasty prank and force-feed him potatoes, and...
There are times I am sincerely grateful to the Heavens.
"So...there are parts where I resent you as well. But at the same time, I also have a heart that cherishes and trusts
you. And...this heart will not disappear."
"Then, the heart that resents me will also not disappear."
"Mm...outside, you learned martial arts from me, didn't you? Anyway, the you outside at least pretends to be loyal
to me and follows my words."
Hong Fan's memory is very long.
Just coming this far took trillions of years.
Even the hundred million years that pass in one day in the Heavenly Void Furnace is far too long to bear.
Thus, the me outside that does not inherit the Heavenly Void Furnace's memories has by now spent several
hundred years before I knew it.
Now the me outside...
Judging by the speed at which the curse of lightning transformation proceeds, there are now only about a hundred years left.
The True Immortal of Heavenly Punishment.
According to what I learned after obtaining the split soul of the Torch Candle Heavenly Lord and becoming able to connect outside, the 'blessing' that the being called the Heavenly Punishment Supreme Deity Do Gon laid upon me is not something I can sever just by cultivating the divine power of Cutting Principle for a very long time.
Even if I raise my cultivation rapidly thanks to the Heavenly Void Furnace, there is a limit.
'Perhaps unless the me who inherits the memories inside the Heavenly Void Furnace personally goes out and cuts
it off...it is impossible.'
The me outside is so weak and trivial that I cannot even cut the connection of Heavenly Punishment.
However, that weak me is now teaching the Future King Fate Supreme Deity Hong Fan Gu Ju.
I am teaching Martial Arts to the Owner of Mount Sumeru.
"You said it, didn't you, Hong Fan? That Martial Arts is a killing technique, and that repentant enlightenment or self-
cultivation can be done through Immortal Cultivation, right?"
"I did."
"There is a saying, do not be too taut, and do not be too loose."
A middle path that balances between two extremes.
Since it is what the Buddha of Earth said, it is probably not wrong.
"It can certainly be a killing art. But...it can also be a way of self-cultivation like Immortal Cultivation. There are
definitely values other than killing. And I think that, taking balance among those values and looking back on oneself...is Martial Arts..."
"So it is the same in my heart toward you. There is a heart that resents you. As you said, that will not disappear. But
the heart that cherishes and trusts you will also definitely not disappear. If, between them...we keep balance...and give and receive a heart that is neither too loose nor too taut, is that not a good connection?"
"I will not let go of the connection. If you cut it from your side, there is nothing I can do, but I will not be the one to
cut it first. I am a simple and ordinary human. I cannot easily let go of what I gained simply."
If it is an ill-fated connection like Yuan Li or the Makli Clan, or something like the Tuho Gang, where one side
unilaterally treated me badly, that would be another matter.
But if it is a connection where we exchanged good things, I cannot cut it.
A connection where we exchanged both good and bad.
That is the friend called Hong Fan, and the existence called the Heavens.
"What if everything I gave you was nothing but malice?"
Hong Fan looks down at me with expressionless eyes.
In those eyes I can find no light, and they seem filled only with endless emptiness and self-loathing.
"Making you meet the human named Buk Hyang-hwa, and making you fall in love. Making her die on that day at
that time is also the fate I ordained. I am the founder who created you 'Enders' as toys. You are nothing but my
dolls."
Kugugugugu!
Why is it?
It seems Hong Fan feels displeased at my words.
"Can you truly, after seeing the whole story, still dare to spout things like balance and whatnot before me?"
Woo-woooong-
The story unfolds again.
Only, perhaps thinking that if he shows about the Future King's main body as before I will go insane...
He lowers history to the degree I do not go mad and unfolds it in a way a mortal being can understand.
The boy who became the Future King heads to chapter 11 of the story.
Flutterflutterflutter-
The pages of countless fairy tale books flip before me, showing me the lowered chronicle of the Future King so
that I do not go mad.
The Hong Fan who becomes the Future King seeks to be repaid.
From that day, he begins to carry on proper regression.
He completely seizes the Radiance Mantra and, by the Future King's authority, tears it apart and remakes it anew.
And he creates a mantra that can truly rewrite history.
Tsuaaaaat-
He regresses.
Naturally, the timeline splits.
The timelines flow and flow, and they form a certain body.
It is the body of the previous Creator God.
'I see.'
Through that, Hong Fan surmises.
'The predecessor is resurrecting.'
Only, it is not a resurrection as the same absolute being as before.
They are likely to resurrect as an impersonal god.
However, even if they are an impersonal god, they will still be born holding the predecessor's will...
Once again it will force the will of the predecessor upon the Supreme Deities and the True Emperors.
In order to discuss with each other and seek the true answer.
"An answer, huh..."
Now he cannot run away from responsibility.
Hong Fan, who has sought answers from higher beings, has now become the higher being and must create the
answer.
Also, just as he promised to the gods of good, he must keep in mind guiding others and promoting them into other
True Emperors.
But he comes to know an absurd truth.
"A True Emperor cannot be involved in the advancement of another True Emperor..."
It seems to be a mechanism of the predecessor to prevent someone who holds one ideology, having first risen to a
True Emperor, from blindly sponsoring and raising someone of the same ideology.
Of course, Hong Fan sees methods by which he can bypass it as much as he wants.
"I can keep my promise even by bypassing it. But...if so, whom should I support to advance as a True Emperor?"
According to the will of the predecessor, first it must be someone different from himself.
"By whose standard do we judge who is different from me? I do not need it."
At the same time, the will of the predecessor speaks to him.
That it must be someone who has little connection with oneself.
"Who judges whether a connection is little or much, deep or shallow? In this world there is no standard but me
alone. That too is an unneeded standard."
The will of the predecessors speaks again.
That it must be a sacred being, holy enough to receive recognition from the Absolute.
"What is it to be sacred?"
A nobility blinding to the eyes, or a vileness sickening to the stomach.
That is the standard of sacredness that Hong Fan confirms.
"Does that mean an ordinary being cannot become noble enough to blind...?"
Hong Fan decides to completely ignore the will of the predecessors.
"Anyone can become vile enough to sicken the stomach. Anyone can become noble enough to dazzle the eyes."
Beings similar to himself are not born chosen; rather, anyone likely holds such possibilities...
Hong Fan wants to believe so.
"From now on...I shall begin the selection of other Emperors."
Under the name of the Origin Essence of Radiance, which is emitted from himself and has now become something
that borrows power from him, Hong Fan begins to shine upon Mount Sumeru.
And, while supporting the figures of Heuk Sa Hall, he establishes a new group under himself.
The name of that group is Radiance Hall.
It is a gathering of those who have Heuk Sa Hall as their antecedent, and a gathering of good people whom Hong
Fan draws together to select the True Emperor.
Having set the foundation of Radiance Hall, Hong Fan turns back time.
Entering a new timeline, he begins to change history itself.
The reason is simple.
'Because I want to build the world together with you...'
What is the answer and the truth?
Hong Fan still cannot know completely, but there is one thing he can know.
What is called the answer, or what is called the truth of life...
It is clearly related to happiness.
Without becoming happy, one cannot draw near.
"Therefore, to know the truth, I must erase the wounds of the heart and receive recompense."
He can now rewrite the very history of his own misfortune and suffering, turn time back as much as he wants, and
reset
everything.
Hong Fan lets his mother be born in a much better place.
And he has Yang Hwe be born into an affluent household, and he makes it so that the fate of contracting leprosy
does not exist.
For Yang Hwe, he personally lays down a fate filled with happiness and success.
He sets Yang Hwe to be born as the young lady of a great noble house served by many maids, who likes peaches
and holds a pure side that believes in the legend of the blue bird.
He sets the fate for her to grow up to be a woman who is kind, gentle, and good-hearted to everyone, meet Hong
Fan, fall in love, marry, and under everyone's blessings, become a mother.
He sets a future where the child receives a good name at birth, grows up healthy and vigorous, passes the civil
service examination to delight the parents, and where someday grandchildren are placed in the arms of Hong Fan and Yang Hwe.
Thus a future in which Hong Fan and Yang Hwe grow old in harmony, hold hands amid the sorrow of many
children, and close their eyes on the same day at the same time, is completed by Hong Fan's hand.
But after deciding the future, Hong Fan feels something is off.
This does not seem right.
However...
"I...must find the answer."
He is the Heavens to which countless people look for answers.
Now he cannot defer the answer to anyone.
He, in order to find the answer, must experience happiness.
Hong Fan causes Yang Hwe to be born again and enjoys a happy life once within the newly changed history.
Then Yang Hwe dies and Hong Fan, once again becoming aware of his identity as the Future King, comes to a
realization.
"No. T