Chapter: The Regression Slayer
Jin wandered through the courtyards of the Sect Leader's palace for a while after leaving the council hall. Then, he headed to one of the nearby peaks, standing there for a moment, lost in thought. Sadness and anxiety were clear on his face as he questioned himself.
What is happening to me? Why have I become so angry? Why do I get enraged so quickly like this? Did I really intend to kill everyone back there? Even the innocent? How am I any different from those I despise? But… if they go to the North Sea… what will I do? This place has become my home; I won't be able to leave them like that…
The voice of Rao Ming-Yu interrupted his thoughts from behind: "Why did you want to meet me, young man?"
Ming looked at his face, noticed the distress, and asked: "What is wrong with you?"
Jin spoke mockingly: "Why don't you remember the events of the previous time cycle so you can know what I'm thinking?"
Ming went silent for a moment, then spoke calmly in an extremely low voice: "Who told you that time repeats itself?"
Jin was slightly surprised: "What do you mean?"
Ming: "Do you truly think that events repeat in every cycle? Young man, this isn't a fictional story from Planet Earth. Time and Fate are not things humans can know. Simply put… some fools think that the return of time in a certain cycle means a repetition of events and an opportunity for the Regressor to change destiny. What do you think about that?"
Jin: "I don't know."
Ming continued: "All of this is part of true Fate; what will happen cannot be predicted. Every cycle differs in its events. In one cycle, a commoner might go to buy bread on a certain day; in the next, he might not go on that day at all. That is how it is with many things, even if some events seem similar—like our suspicions about the Priest, for example."
Jin fell silent for a bit before asking: "Have you learned anything about the reason for the isolation of the Western Continent?"
Ming was slightly astonished: "So… you found out about that continent? Well… in my last regression, that isolation never happened at all. Unfortunately, I know nothing."
The boy was greatly surprised by this, so he decided to ask about something else: "Do… do you know what my life was like in the past?"
Ming looked at him for a moment: "Do you really know nothing about yourself?"
The boy did not answer; his facial expressions confirmed the question.
Ming hesitated slightly but finally answered: "I was outside the Murim back then, and yes, I knew of you."
The boy looked at him, focusing on his words. Ming continued: "Your situation was entirely different. You didn't come to the Murim at this age at all. Instead, you were a renowned knight in Astarion and the Western Continent. You were known as a righteous person and a miracle the likes of which history has rarely seen. More importantly, you were the son of a great family."
Ming laughed a little: "Would you believe me if I told you that you used to sit before the kings of nations and impose your decisions?"
Jin laughed mockingly: "Stop. That's enough. I don't want to know any more than this. And please… don't tell me about that family. I don't want to know anything."
Ming fell into a long silence from his shock: "Do you really not want to know your identity? How can you throw away an opportunity like that from your hands?"
Jin: "I don't know what the situation was back then, but in the current cycle… I have no reason to know. If I really had a good family, why didn't they search for me? I have no need to know them."
Ming was truly amazed. This response was very shocking. He knew it would be better to tell the boy, but he wouldn't force something he didn't want. He decided to stop talking about that matter.
Meanwhile, Jin thought: A noble family? A miraculous knight? How did I end up like this?
After a short silence, the boy asked about something new: "What happened thirty years ago in the current cycle, and what happened exactly 17 years ago?"
Ming thought for a moment before answering: How does he know about these matters?
Ming: "Thirty years ago… a prophecy reached the world leaders and even the Asteroids. I don't know anything about it, but all I know is that it caused the world to change radically from all previous cycles."
Jin looked on for a moment before asking in a heavy voice: "And what happened 17 years ago?"
Ming: "That… that was the return from the last time cycle."
Jin was stunned: "Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean by this? Wasn't the last regression only ten years ago?"
Ming grew tense at this question. He wanted to answer, but he knew such information might not benefit the boy. Ultimately, he answered this as well.
Ming: "That is true for me, but for all Regressors, the last regression was 17 years ago, not ten."
Jin was shocked; it was something completely illogical: "Can you explain?"
Ming: "It isn't something I can fully grasp or understand myself, but I will try to simplify what I managed to comprehend. When I regressed for the last time, the world had completely changed from the previous regression. Twenty full years of history, when I returned, had been entirely altered. When I researched the matter, I discovered that entire time cycles can occur within another cycle; cycles can even intersect. But there is one thing that everyone who knows the truth of these matters is certain of."
Jin: "What is it?"
The Elder replied in a heavy voice: "That the cycle which ended 17 years ago is the final one. In the current cycle… history is identical for everyone without exception."
Jin fell silent for a long time, his sadness deepening. He didn't understand why his luck fell into this time specifically out of all others. The hundreds of questions he had asked before rushed back into his mind along with dozens of new ones.
Jin: "So… what happened in that cycle?"
Ming looked at him out of the corner of his eye, then looked at the sky and spoke with a trembling voice.
"Not a single Regressor who returned from that cycle uttered a single word. The world changed in an illogical way, and among those changes was the Heavenly Demon's manipulation of the Murim and his attempt to reshape the continent."
Jin spoke in a stern, sharp tone: "If you know where I might find them, tell me. I will go anywhere in the world to find them, whoever they are."
The Elder replied in a tone filled with evident anxiety: "You won't be able to do that."
The boy asked with overwhelming rage, his aura exploding as he demanded: "And why won't I be able to?!"
Ming's mouth trembled violently, and he hesitated for a long time before answering. In the end…
"Because… they were almost all annihilated at the hands of the Heavenly Demon and…"
Jin asked with a terrible, suffocating pressure: "And who else?"
Ming: "It was the Fourth Sword Throne… the Regressor Slayer, Valerion Varmilion."