A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 618: Cultivation (4)

"Take off my clothes, you say...? Why is that necessary?"

I ask while eyeing Ho Woon's swaying tails suspiciously.

"Come now, are you so shy? There are hardly any among True Immortals who properly wear clothes anyway, so what is there to be embarrassed about? I need to examine your body, so stop talking nonsense and strip!"

"...Understood."

I have no choice but to comply with Ho Woon's order and begin removing the clothes draped over my Transformation body one by one.

Pasak, pasasak...

Each time I wave my hand, my white robe evaporates, exposing my upper body.

Just then.

"No! What are you doing right now! I told you to take off your clothes, so why are you just peeling off the outer shell bit by bit!"

"Pardon...? You told me to take off my clothes."

"No! Don't you know what clothes are? I mean the [shell]! Honestly, is it because you're some bumpkin from the backwater Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain that you know none of the common sense of the True Immortal Realm!?"

Ho Woon beats their chest with their fist in frustration, and as I listen to their explanation, I finally understand.

"For True Immortals, clothes refer to the kind of Transformation where you force your essence into the appearance of mortal beings! I'm telling you to discard that artificially adorned Transformation form and reveal your true body!"

"...!"

"Just what were you even thinking, you lecherous fool!?"

'That wasn't even included in Blood Yin's common knowledge...'

It seems it was too basic to be deliberately included.

Suddenly called lecherous out of nowhere, I feel somewhat wronged, but I let out a deep sigh and begin to reveal my true body.

'Come to think of it, is this the first time I'm revealing my true body as a Heaven-Earth Upper Immortal?'

Kugugugugugu!

My physical form distorts, surpassing the form of a mortal.

Woo-woooong!

The essence of a Heaven-Earth Upper Immortal bursts forth.

However, perhaps because the power of Heaven innately holds an advantage over the power of Earth, the essence of Heaven Upper Immortal emerges first.

As an Earth Upper Immortal, my body is composed of mist and the candle flame of Glass True Fire.

But as a Heaven Upper Immortal, my body is composed of swords and white light.

I am a Sword Mountain.

Kugugugugugu!

My size expands, gradually growing comparable to an entire stellar system.

At the same time, the symbol of a Pure White Three Great Ultimates naturally forms behind my head.

It feels as though the very shape of the Pure White Three Great Ultimates clings to my essence as a Heaven-Earth Upper Immortal.

My entire being is familiarly composed of sword mountains made of glass.

Those glass sword mountains gather to form a round collar robe (團領), and due to the Pure-White Three Great Ultimates, it appears like a white round collar robe.

Beneath the white round collar robe of glass sword mountains, a faint aurora covers me, making my form difficult to discern, and the same applies to my face.

On the chest area, a large white quince flower is prominently drawn, while at the shoes, a divine aurora swirls, supporting me.

Once my Heaven Upper Immortal essence fully emerges, my Earth Upper Immortal essence follows.

Beneath the white round collar robe of glass sword mountains, a dragon's tail made of hazy mist grows, my hands and feet become even more jagged, and on the bare flesh and face that had been only aurora, Glass True Fire begins to blaze.

Atop my head, the horn of Candle Shadow sprouts, and emitting a much fiercer presence than before, my body, once the size of a stellar system, grows even larger, to the point where I can hold an entire stellar system in one hand.

Puhwak!

As the powers of Heaven and Earth unite, my body grows so immense that I pierce straight through the purple nebula of the Purple Lotus Realm.

Finally, the recently acquired winged garment naturally settles upon my shoulders, and I reveal my complete true form as a Heaven and Earth Upper Immortal.

A half-human, half-beast giant god clad in a white round collar robe made of glass sword mountains!

That is the current me.

Woo-woong!

Ho Woon also casts off their Transformation form and reveals their true body before me.

A True Immortal of pale light, wearing a pale round collar robe with a fujin made of mountains and a sash of light.

Mortal beings would likely return to thee on the spot just by perceiving us, and the space where mortals reside would be swept away and destroyed.

Ho Woon's true body is only the size of my palm.

"Your weight class is terrifying. Damn it...I should've realized it back then and fled..."

Ho Woon, seemingly aghast, circles around me and inspects various parts of my Immortal Body.

"Let's see... The flow of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy seems stable, the internal world appears healthy, and the powers of prophecy and revision are at appropriate levels. For an Immortal Beast, you seem to have almost no Salt Crystal, but considering you've just advanced and have the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, I suppose it doesn't matter... Hmmm..."

Ho Woon circles around me, occasionally shooting small energies into my body, inserting planets, and even briefly entering my internal world to look around.

After some time, they let out a long sigh and speak.

"...It's done. I've found the cause."

"What is it?"

"...It's you..."

Ho Woon sighs so deeply it seems the ground itself sinks.

"You've been cultivating the Immortal Dao of the Mountain...in an utterly inefficient manner. For a being who has reached Heaven and Earth Upper Immortal, to think your cultivation of the Immortal Dao is this poor...I would never have imagined it."

"...Pardon?"

I, who had vaguely assumed something was blocking the distribution of the Immortal Crown, am taken aback at the unexpected words and mouth hang open.

At my request, we return to our Transformation forms and begin a brief lesson.

"First of all, you're in an extremely malformed state right now. I don't know how you became an Upper Immortal, but I can only assume you advanced through the most unorthodox of unorthodox methods."

"..."

"And this is just my guess, but...you. Aside from the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, you know other mantras too, don't you?"

"Yes..."

The Wheel, the Flawless Mantra, and the Impermanence Sword.

"Including the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra, I am cultivating about four mantras."

"...You lunatic... You absolute lunatic..."

Ho Woon rubs their forehead as they speak.

"Most True Immortals usually take around ten million years to obtain just one mantra, and you've got four... Then, by any chance, what's the rank of your mantras? No, never mind. Forget it. There's no way you'd understand if I ask like that... Have you ever felt as though the mantras are 'alive and moving'?"

"Pardon...? Of course, I feel that every moment."

"...Do the mantras ever speak to you on their own?"

"Since mantras are innate True Immortals, isn't it natural for them to speak to their master?"

"...Then have your mantras ever moved on their own without your command?"

"Hmm...not every moment, but quite often."

"..."

Ho Woon looks up at the sky with a dumbfounded expression.

"...You...madman."

"Pardon...?"

"Mantras that even after millions of years of groveling beneath Supreme Deities or Heavenly Venerables would be difficult to obtain...you have four of them..."

"Hmm... Judging by the characteristics you've mentioned...they sound like indicators of rather exceptional mantras...?"

"...It's beyond exceptional, you backwater bumpkin from the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain!! Right now, you're carrying four mantras at the level of a Supreme Deity! Moreover, that wave I feel from your body..."

Ho Woon points at me, their hand trembling.

"You've already made two of those four Supreme Deity-level mantras completely your own...!!"

"Yes, well, something like that. And, there seems to be a misunderstanding. One of them is actually my Natal Immortal Art that I created myself."

"...!!"

The 'mantras I made my own' that Ho Woon speaks of are the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra and the Impermanence Sword.

From the very beginning, the Impermanence Sword is no different from my own clone, and the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra is something I have used with the recognition from its original owner, the Salt Sea Supreme Deity. Moreover, after receiving violent teachings from the Great Mountain Supreme Deity and continuously subjecting myself to repentant enlightenment, I have now made more than ninety percent of it my own.

However, no matter how hard I try, the Flawless Mantra and the mantra of the [Wheel] do not seem to completely permit me.

In the case of the Flawless Mantra, it feels like my proficiency is lacking, while the mantra of the Wheel seems to simply not acknowledge me yet.

'Someday, I'll have to properly master both of them...'

As I am thinking this—

Ho Woon stares at me with their mouth agape.

"Y-You made it...? One of them...?"

"That's correct, but...?"

"..."

Ho Woon stares at me dumbly for a long while.

Then, regaining their senses after some time, they smile bitterly.

"No wonder Radiance Hall called you the return of Vast Cold and put out a bounty on you... You monstrous bastard... Undoubtedly, you'll become an enormous obstruction to Radiance Hall's future..."

Killing intent flickers in Ho Woon's eyes.

"...It's making me wonder if it would be right to sacrifice my life right here and now and scatter into ash in order to deal you a fatal blow."

"Hmmm..."

Woo-wooong!

I reassemble the surrounding particles and create a solid six-sided club.

Tak, tak!

Tapping the club a few times in my hand, I glance at Ho Woon.

'Are all foxes the type that only listens after being beaten a little...?'

Just then,

"...Well, whatever. What could I possibly accomplish by fighting you? Given the difference in weight class I saw earlier, I wouldn't even be able to inflict decent damage and would just die. Just make sure you properly reveal the true will of Radiance Hall someday."

"Of course, you need not worry about that."

"Then fine. Anyway, continuing the explanation... Normal Immortals grow by following the Immortal Dao they have chosen and using the power aligned to that Immortal Dao. Through their chosen Immortal Dao, they use Immortal Arts to construct the Radiance Ten Heavens, and through the Radiance Ten Heavens, they rise to Upper Immortal..."

"I see."

"But you...you must have either practiced the Radiance Ten Heavens cultivation itself in a strange way, or perhaps you simply brute-forced through the cultivation using the power of your mantras alone; isn't that right?"

"...That's right."

Both are true.

I didn't cultivate the Radiance Ten Heavens in the orthodox manner, and I did push through with the power of my mantras.

"The power of the mantras you possess is so overwhelming that it has led to this disaster... Any ordinary prophecy, even if it wasn't part of the Immortal Dao you walk, would have been overwhelmed just by your sheer weight class, and there wouldn't have been any need to use the ordinary power of the Immortal Dao as just roughly forcing through with the mantras alone would have been enough. As a result, there would have been no reason to look back on your own Immortal Dao. On top of that, since it's said there's hardly any True Immortals in the Sun and Moon Heavenly Domain...there would have been no one to tell you what's gone wrong."

"Ummmm..."

I let out a low murmur.

Indeed, I have been walking the Immortal Dao of the Mountain, but unlike before, I often felt that I wasn't following the proper method of Understanding before Breakthrough.

'So it was because of this.'

"Haah...damn it. Thanks to my promise to teach you 'with utmost sincerity and wholeheartedness,' I can't even pretend not to notice this."

Ho Woon lets out a deep sigh and speaks to me.

"The power of your Immortal Dao itself is currently...at the early Vestige Liberation Immortal-level. You've simply climbed to this realm by brute force thanks to the overwhelming strength of your mantras. From now on, while undergoing the cultivation of Heaven and Earth Upper Immortal together with me, you will focus solely on cultivating the power of your own Immortal Dao. You need to solidify your fundamentals; understood?"

"Yes, thank you. I will learn diligently."

"Good, then... Huu, damn it. I don't even know where to start teaching you. The future is dark."

Having my problem diagnosed by Ho Woon, from that day on, I begin earnest cultivation alongside Ho Woon to accumulate the Immortal Dao of the Mountain.

"First...what do you think the Immortal Dao of the Mountain is?"

"I believe it is the Immortal Dao of the 'power of accumulation'."

"That's right. Slowly accumulating to create something. That is the Mountain Immortal Dao. Then, what do you think is the most necessary thing to accumulate the Immortal Dao of the Mountain?"

"It would be to accumulate something, I suppose."

"Correct. You know well. Then you understand what you need to do from now on, don't you?"

"So you're telling me to accumulate a great mountain."

"No, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Ho Woon shakes their head repeatedly.

"Don't talk about flying when you can't even walk yet. You're in the position of crawling...no. Of an infant who needs to flip over."

They point to the ground.

Kwaduduk!

At the spot they point, a circle with a diameter of ten cun is drawn.

"Starting today, regardless of what material you use, accumulate a mountain inside that circle. Well, rather than a mountain...it would be more fitting to call it a sandcastle."

"That's really simple."

I crush nearby stones into powder and pour the sand into the circle.

But at that moment, Ho Woon swings their tail.

Cheolpeok!

Their thick, soft tail swiftly strikes and scatters the sand lump I made.

"...What are you doing?"

"Who told you to accumulate a sandcastle by moving directly yourself? Do you think you're some six-year-old mortal brat? Even if you're a baby now, you're still a baby at True Immortality."

Cheok!

Ho Woon points to the sky.

"If you are a True Immortal, control attraction force. Raise stars, and use the power of prophecy to accumulate the sandcastle. Of course, since you are an Upper Immortal, you can use revision instead of prophecy. However, you are absolutely forbidden from directly interfering with reality. Understood?"

"...So, you're telling me to use prophecy and revision...to accumulate a mere sandcastle? One that fits inside that circle?"

When I ask back, incredulous, Ho Woon's face contorts at once.

"What...? A mere sandcastle...? Have you lost your mind?"

Ho Woon's eyes flip, and they snatch the six-sided club from my hand and start beating me like crazy.

"Kuugh! Wh-What are you—"

"Shut up! No matter how strong you are, right now, I am standing here as your Immortal Realm senior who is helping you!"

Peok! Pak!

They strike me fiercely with the six-sided club, lecturing me.

"There is no such thing as 'mere'! I don't know how arrogantly you strutted about during your mortal days. But as we cultivate the Immortal Dao and raise our realms, there is something we all come to realize. That in this world, there is nothing that is insignificant!

"Every single speck of dust beneath our feet, every single grain of sand, is a foundation that forms the world! From the True Persons who reached the pinnacle of mortal beings to the Vestige Liberation Immortals, there are plenty of arrogant ones. Why? Because they lived thinking they were the best, and entered the Immortal Family that way. To them, everything in this world looks trivial, like mere grains of sand!

"However! At the very least, we must not be like that. Because the Immortal Dao of the Mountain, all the mountains in this world, are ultimately formed by the accumulation of the grains of sand we deem trivial!"

Peok! Peok! Peok!

"Once you accumulate grains of sand into a mountain, then you may be arrogant. Because having accumulated a mountain means you have learned how to cherish each grain of sand. After that, it's fine to look down on mountains lower than yours! You'll have no choice but to look down on them anyway.

"But! Someone like you, who has nothing besides mantras, must not be arrogant! Lower your head! Get down and observe each grain of sand! That! That is the task you must do right now! Throw away your conceited heart and prepare yourself to properly accumulate!"

Peok!

Ho Woon's six-sided club is sharp.

By my standards, that strength feels like a child smacking me with a reed leaf, but the truth within it is sharp, so I respectfully kneel on my knees.

"...I have misspoken. Please withdraw your anger."

"Hmph! If you understand, hurry up and start."

Kugugugugung!

I immediately rise and make a prophecy.

: : I prophesize...In this place, a sand mountain one chi high shall be accumulated. : :

Kugugugugu!

A star is born within my body, and the newborn star emerges into the cosmic space, beginning to alter reality.

Kugugugung!

I can sense the time when the prophecy of fate will be realized.

"Four hundred years..."

For piling a single sand mountain, the time is overwhelmingly long.

"Fate, without exception, tries to guide reality in the most natural way possible. Therefore, to avoid disturbing that divine providence, it takes considerable time for a prophecy to come true. If you want to shorten the time it takes, scatter prophecies frequently and lay the groundwork, aligning the branches of the future so it doesn't deviate from divine providence."

"I see..."

Until now, I've only used prophecy in combat, so a prophecy that takes this long feels somewhat unfamiliar to me.

"However, since you are in the position of cultivating now, I'll impose restrictions on you. For each mountain you accumulate, you may use prophecy and revision only twice each. If you use both prophecy and revision together, only one of each is allowed."

"Understood."

Woo-woong!

I gather a Taiji in both hands.

In the next moment,