A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 600: Bird Trapped In A Cage (1)

Chapter 600: Bird Trapped In A Cage (1)

"Huuuuh..."

I shake my head.

Now is not the time to be worrying about the Way of Light or the Way of Salt.

'Right now, I need to act my part so that I don't get caught by the light.'

I look at the souls of those sinners, who are living out their ordinary daily lives.

"...Damn it."

Yu Hwi promptly returns the souls to their original owners.

"Hmm... Then what do you intend to do, Master? Since they are the souls of sinners, are you thinking of making them into soap without concern?"

"...No."

I reply with a hardened expression.

"That's not it."

"In that case..."

"In the end, it's about interpretation. Everything depends on interpretation."

What I realized in my duel with Hyeon Mu is not simply how to swing the sword better or how to kill people more effectively.

Martial Arts is interpretation.

Therefore, a martial artist is someone who relentlessly pushes forward with their own interpretation.

"How much soap could the Owner of Liberation have possibly made...? What do They even know about soap!? No matter how much of a Supreme Deity They are, Their mind is stuck in the medieval ages because of fate..."

I rummage through the house of 'Seo Eun-hyun of this world' and pull out ashes from the furnace.

"How dare They lecture me about soap and bath products!? Our company's soap has always boasted the highest quality!!!"

Gal!

I let out a roar toward the daily quest written in the status window.

Since this world is so soft, just exerting a little bit of will is enough to alter something as trivial as the status window.

The first life.

In other words, during the 0th cycle before my regression, there were always those like Bong Myeong who had foolish thoughts.

Some stole my soap-making methods, trying to make soap with various oils, and there were even those who killed people to make soap from human fat.

Every single one of them failed.

The most important ingredients in soap-making are lye, aromatic herbs, and oil.

And oil is typically derived from either animals or vegetables.

How well-fed do you think people of this era are? How many of them have enough fat or oil clinging to their guts?

They are all so scrawny that even if you wring them dry, you wouldn't get a drop of usable oil.

The ones who actually have enough fat to produce oil are usually figures of power, great tycoons, or martial artists who trained in unique techniques or cultivators.

And those people tend to be on the 'buyer' side of the soap market.

You can't just kidnap them and turn them into soap.

Naturally, only a minuscule amount of human soap can ever actually be made.

Unless you commit mass murder on the level of that mustached lunatic who started World War II on Earth—who supposedly manufactured human soap and human buttons—

Human soap isn't something you can just make so easily.

'Heavenly Craftsman or whatever, Supreme Deity or whatever...do not look down on Earth's soap!!! You may have built Serving Command Palace, but you never even developed soap!'

I alter the daily mission with my will.

But anything beyond this would be risky.

[Using humans as materials], [Making and selling soap], [Madman].

These major premises must exist.

"Even if you plunder others and squeeze them dry, you still can't easily make human soap. Do not force such foolish methods on me! Even if I make human soap, I will make it my way!"

"M-Master...?"

Yu Hwi stares at me, dumbfounded by the roar I let out.

Pukwak!

I cut open my stomach.

From within me, various Heaven and Earth spiritual energy and Glass True Fire seem to flare forth before substances combine, transforming into oil perfect for making soap.

I pour the oil into a pot, mix it with lye, and swiftly proceed with the soap-making process.

And before long...

The soap, made using the oil extracted from my own body, is completed in an instant.

A subtle scent of Glass True Fire lingers—a product of exceptionally high-quality.

Paaatt!

The moment I finish crafting the soap using my own body,

The daily mission I modified begins to shine brightly, transforming into something called 'experience points' before being absorbed into me.

"Yu Hwi! Ham Jin! Listen up!"

"Yes!"

To me, soap is pain.

An unerasable pain, stained with the regret of the 0th cycle.

In the language of Earth, it is something called 'trauma'.

And Bong Myeong...provoked that trauma in the strongest possible way by associating it with [human soap], something I despise more than anything.

The reason I pour out this near-maniacal passion for soap is for one reason alone.

To face head-on the wounds Bong Myeong has torn open in my heart.

'This too...is a repentant enlightenment towards myself...!'

Confronting the regrets of my first life—

I resolve that at least in this world, I will stand face-to-face and redeem myself against those past wounds, with that past suffering and humiliation.

"If I could just carve away only myself to make human soap, that would be great...but it doesn't seem that this world wants that. It truly wants me to capture others and make soap from their fat... It wants me to become that kind of madman!"

I grit my teeth.

"But...I won't just grab anyone and turn them into human soap. No matter if they are the deceased with the souls of sinners...at the very least, they are still living their own lives...! So, in order to not recklessly squeeze oil from them and risk their deaths, I will only extract oil from those who can be drained to make soap."

Is it perhaps because they meet my wild, glinting eyes, or because they are bewildered by this absurd resolve?

Ham Jin and Yu Hwi seem taken aback for a moment before nodding.

"From now on...find the pigs. Find the pigs who have gorged themselves on mountain and sea delicacies as if devouring animal feed and have grown plump and fat! Wealthy tycoons are fine, powerful men are fine! But the best would be fat cultivators! Find them! Find them and...we will make soap!"

Ham Jin and Yu Hwi are flustered.

But soon, their eyes regain certainty, and they smile.

That smile is the smile of relief.

The relief of followers seeing their master walking the right path.

Seeing that smile, I feel that even if I drown in madness while overcoming this wound, as long as I remember that smile, I will be able to find my way back to sanity.

And so, from that day forward, my Soap Crusade begins.

"Master! I have kidnapped him! The famous man of power, Pyeong Geun!"

"Teacher! I have brought one as well. A Qi Refining 3rd star cultivator, Seong Il!"

"Well done!"

Powerful figures of the mundane world.

Or cultivators of the mundane world who have grown accustomed to worldly power, wealth, and fame.

I bind them upside down to the pillars in the basement of my home, their eyes and mouths sealed shut.

"Yeo Hwi. It's your turn."

"Yes, Master."

Yeo Hwi, in the form of a small crow, opens her mouth and breathes out flames.

It is Glass True Fire.

Huarurururuk!

"Kkeuuuuuugh!"

"Uuuuuuup!"

Since Yeo Hwi has been refined into my Immortal Treasure, she naturally has access to my authority, and this Glass True Fire is one such borrowed power.

"Reflect upon your lives and repentantly enlightenment. Have you truly lived righteously?"

This Glass True Fire is different from ordinary Glass True Fire.

It is a Glass True Fire that maximizes the authority of Retribution from the Impermanence Sword.

Because of this, the inherent pain of Glass True Fire is drastically reduced, while instead, the function of Retribution—the principle of [receiving as much as one has given]—is amplified to the extreme.

If the original Glass True Fire simply inflicts pain to grant repentant enlightenment and realizations—

This Glass True Fire compels one to repentantly enlighten upon their own life. And if, within that repentant enlightenment, they realize they have deceived their own conscience many times over, it delivers unbearable suffering as retribution.

"Kkeuuuuuuuugh!"

"Uuuuuuuuugh!"

One cultivator and one figure of power groan in agony as their fat is extracted and their bodies dry out, eventually withering like dried-up corpses before passing out.

The moment they faint, the Glass True Fire extinguishes.

"They must have deceived themselves quite a bit."

I click my tongue and release the two, their life force nearly drained away.

"Send them back home. Their fat is all squeezed out, but their minds are so weakened they won't live much longer. Let them have their funerals at home."

Not everyone ends up as a dried-up husk like this.

If they have lived without straying too far from the righteous path—

If they have done some wrong but nothing too severe or excessive—

If they have not gleefully committed acts that would earn them the deep hatred of others—

If they have simply lived ordinary lives without committing any great sins—

Then the Glass True Fire, even by mortal standards rather than my own, inflicts only minor pain.

At the same time, their excess fat would be naturally expelled, freeing them from the illnesses that come with it, and through the Glass True Fire, they gain stronger mental fortitude, allowing them to live their lives with greater effort.

"Next."

"Yes!"

Yu Hwi takes the two withered bodies back to their homes, and Ham Jin brings in the next ones.

"Uuuuugh!"

"Kruuut!"

"Oh? You two have lived fairly upright in your own way."

These ones merely have their excess fat naturally expelled and experience only slight plain. There are no major issues.

Rather, their bodies appear sturdier and healthier.

'For Glass True Fire to grant blessings of its own accord... That must mean they have done a considerable amount of good deeds...'

Glass True Fire is influenced by the power of Retribution from the Impermanence Sword.

Thus, those who have caused countless people to shed tears of blood suffer pain akin to shedding tears of blood themselves.

And those who have brought countless people joyous laughter receive equivalent blessings.

These ones have received blessings proportional to the good they have done.

"Excellent! Never forget that heart and live by it! Next!"

"Yes!"

Like this, I capture daily dozens of wealthy tycoons, figures of power, and cultivators from Square Nation who have the most fat, extracting it from them.

As a result—

Before I know it, a considerable amount of 'human soap' has accumulated in my basement.

"Now then, Ham Jin, Yu Hwi! Let's sell these together!"

Through Kim Young-hoon, who works as a spy between Square Nation and Sea Nation, and Jeon Myeong-hoon, infamous as a pyromaniac, I begin searching for buyers of 'human soap'.

Kim Young-hoon, who had once been a director at a mid-sized company, swiftly secures sales channels and smuggles the human soap into Sea Nation, the country designated as his behind-the-scenes support.

The figures of power from Sea Nation become desperate to purchase these rare and exotic toiletries made from the flesh of Square Nation's authorities, and I write the names of the people who had become the raw materials for my soap and sell them.

Human soap sells like wildfire, and before long, I start gaining fame as the 'Human Soap Merchant, Seo Eun-hyun'.

Wo-woong!

The status window provides me with something called experience points, and as they accumulate, I begin to feel as if the world's veil is growing thicker.

'As long as I act according to my role...the light cannot perceive me!'

That truth brings me considerable relief.

With that relief, I continue confronting the wounds I have carried from my first life.

Like so, ten years pass.

Kiiiiing!

Flash!

Having captured and processed so many figures of authority from Square Nation, I eventually expanded to capturing powerful figures and cultivators from other nations as well to turn them into soap. At some point, as my experience accumulated, I suddenly realised that I have reached a peculiar threshold.

"Hut...!"

It is something that lacks nothing to be called 'authority.'

At the same time, it is also a 'privilege' that allows modifications to the world.

Now, I can instantly turn into soap anything as much as the area my hands can touch!

No longer do I need to go through the troublesome process of extracting fat using Glass True Fire!

Excited by this truth, I capture even more people.

I hear that Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon have each acquired their own authorities as well.

Jeon Myeong-hoon can produce fire from both hands, and Kim Young-hoon has obtained an authority called 'voice transmission'.

It is an ability similar to how martial artists use heart language to communicate, yet instead of relying on internal energy or spells, he can transmit his voice purely through his will.

It is a law of this world distinct from the Heart Tribe's heart language.

Of course, compared to our original powers, these authorities are considerably shallow.

However, these authorities hide us from the light, and the more we use them, the more comfort and security we feel, driving us to continue acting in accordance with our roles.

Another ten years pass.

Year twenty.

My soap ability has grown even stronger.

Now, I am no longer limited to just the area my hand can touch. I can turn anything before me into soap as much as I will it.

The same goes for Jeon Myeong-hoon and Kim Young-hoon.

Compared to our original power, these abilities are laughable, but we continue training our authorities and fulfilling our roles with enjoyment.

After all, there are still eighty years left before we can escape from the eyes of the Radiance Eight Immortals.

There is no rush.

Another ten years pass.

Year thirty.

Kudududuk!

Now, I can manipulate the soap I create.

I can shape the soap into whatever form I desire, and I can even use it to launch attacks on par with those of a martial artist.

And at this point, I can tell that my sense of comfort has significantly grown.

'It feels like we're almost there.'

An eerie belief takes root that when authority and experience points reach a certain threshold, this comfort will completely envelop us, and the role of this world will fully protect us.

'...It should be true, right?'

At times, I feel a sense of doubt, but I continue my training without stopping.

After all, my duty is to fulfill my role as the Human Soap Merchant.

Only then can I remain safe from the light.

Year fifty.

Now, I can be said to have grasped powerful soap spells.

Not only can I turn people into soap by touching them, but I can also wield the soap I control like a raging storm.

It feels almost godlike.

The comfort that grew as I trained the authority of soap at some point reached its peak.

And from that moment on, I began to feel not just 'comfort' but a sense of 'belonging' to this world.

Of course, whenever I have time, I constantly reflect upon myself through Glass True Fire and engage in repentant enlightenment.

At the same time, I relentlessly push forward with my interpretation, constantly fighting against the status window's interpretation.

The status window still urges me to capture anyone and turn them into soap, but I continue pushing forward with my interpretation to the end, enforcing my will.

'At least this will alone...I can never give it up.'

Of course, holding onto this will makes me feel as if the sense of belonging this world has granted me might slip away...

But it doesn't matter.

'Because...this is what I have accumulated.'

Thus, I continue making soap and carrying on my life of repentant enlightenment.

Year seventy.

"Hey! Seo Eun-hyun! I really don't get why you're refusing. Why are you rejecting the idea of raiding that village?"

I look at Jeon Myeong-hoon and reply.

"What kind of insane nonsense are you spouting? Setting fire to uninhabited mountains or the hideouts of bandits, or even burning down the houses of corrupt officials—those are acceptable. But that village has nothing to do with anything!"

Jeon Myeong-hoon clicks his tongue and speaks.

"Look here, Seo Eun-hyun. Why are you being like this? We burned down those officials' houses because they were rich, and we wanted to loot their wealth. We burned down those bandit hideouts because we didn't like those bastards. The only reason there haven't been any innocent casualties is because...for the past 70 years we were focusing on properly mastering this power, no!?"

"...What?"

"Have you forgotten, Seo Eun-hyun!!?? You, Kim Young-hoon, and I! The oath we made under the peach tree! To throw this world into chaos! To bring suffering into this world! To make this world groan in pain and disorder!"

He grits his teeth.

"Seventy years ago! Right after we obtained our authority, we made that vow! Young-hoon Hyung-him would become the storm that topples nations.

"I would become the flame that burns the world.

"And you would become the monster that turns people into soap!"

"...Young-hoon Hyung-nim. Is this true?"

"Yes, Eun-hyun."

Kim Young-hoon also looks at me as if something is strange.

"You have been acting weird lately. Just what is going on? Have you forgotten our oath?"

"..."

Only then do I finally realize that something is wrong.

It's because no matter how hard I try to remember, I have no recollection of such a thing.

No...

It feels like I'm on the verge of remembering something.

Maybe it's something I simply forgot.

But no matter what, something about this is undeniably strange.

"Jeon Myeong-hoon. Young-hoon Hyung-nim."

I speak with a sunken expression.

"Something is wrong. Don't you all think so? Why are we even taking this insignificant pretend play so sincerely?"

"What? What are you even talking about!? Do you even realize how precious this power is!?"

"Are you trying to belittle the years we've spent!? Even if it's you, I won't forgive that! Seo Eun-hyun!"

Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon charge at me in fury.