A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 697: The Beginning and the End

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Chapter 697: The Beginning and the End

The first thing we see is a massive chunk of information.

"This is..."

I understand what this is.

This thing, constantly writhing in a dark-red state, is a type of massive computation device.

Oh Hye-seo and I are immersed in the massive waves of dimensional flow, and the thing closest to us is this dark-red fog-like mass.

Wo-woong!

Oh Hye-seo, her eyes trembling, brings her hand toward the dark-red mass.

Ttstststsst!

'A virtual world, huh...'

Inside the dark-red mass before my eyes, I see thousands of 'worlds'.

And within those virtual worlds, virtual realities filled with countless possibilities are being processed.

'This must be...

The legacy of a previous Agate.

'The current time is forty thousand years ago. And this place is...'

Within the Head Realm, the space where the Akashic Records exist.

Located in that space, it seems to be a virtual world computation Immortal Art within the remains of the previous Agate.

'This place is...'

"Seo Hweol's...homeland."

Oh Hye-seo smiles bitterly.

Dreamlike mists of every hue cover the surroundings.

At the center is the dark-red mist, and within that mist, thousands of virtual realities are visible.

The ego of the artificial computation device that is the previous Agate's legacy—Agate's persona—seems to have detected our reaction, as it begins to scan the surroundings.

However, perhaps because the rank of Oh Hye-seo, who is currently linked to me, and I, is far too high, Agate's persona fails to even perceive us.

'This point in time is forty thousand years ago. Deep inside the Head Realm's Akashic Records...I guess we can't exit this place.'

I try to look around this point in time we've reached, but my whole body feels like it's sinking deep into an ocean, unable to move.

'If I get used to it, I might be able to move...but for now, it's difficult. Is it the resistance of a world existing in the past? I suppose I should see it as a kind of corrective force.'

The ancient history formed by the layered webs of Indra's Net, the principle of the world, presses down on us with immense weight, minimizing our interference.

For now, all we can do within this misty world inside the Head Realm's Akashic Records is observe the traces of Agate.

"Anyway, Seo Hweol can't be seen. Oh Hye-seo, about your predecessor Agate's—"

"He's here..."

"What?"

But Oh Hye-seo seems to have found something.

"He's...here..."

Heaven and Earth spiritual energy flows from her eyes.

Reflected in her tears is a single dot of violet mist, mingled with the dark-red legacy of Agate.

"...I see."

I can sense the familiar scent of the Underworld from that violet mist.

The loyal retainer of Bong Hwa who upheld the power of the Underworld, the former Chief Judge of the Netherworld, the Nether Devil True Lord Yu Hao Te.

His leftover Blood Yin.

The fragment of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens imbued with Blood Yin's will that submerged into Agate's legacy and was born was—

That ancient Seo Hweol.

In silence, I begin to watch Seo Hweol with Oh Hye-seo from outside the mist.

Countless time passes.

Oh Hye-seo watches as the fragment of Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, which can be called the essence of Seo Hweol, gradually awakens within Agate's legacy.

I, meanwhile, within the past, contemplate the Radiance Mantra and research ways to observe the past more closely, in search of power that transcends time.

'Even if we go to the past, if we can't escape the Head Realm, it's meaningless. We must be able to leave the Head Realm.'

Through Immortal Arts, through mantras, through martial arts, I seek every method to minimize the resistance imposed by the power of the past within this space.

And, within that time...

The existence that can be called the essence of Seo Hweol gradually gains more spiritual energy and expands the root of its existence...

Eventually, for the first time, it comes to possess what is called 'an ego'.

Then, at last, I am able to see the faces of Seo Hweol's [parents].

"Father, Mother. Must I also marry for the purpose of intercourse with a female or male?"

Within Agate's virtual world, Seo Hweol, having obtained an ego for the first time, asks his parents.

Oh Hye-seo tilts her head, unable to recognize the [parents].

Perhaps, for someone like Oh Hye-seo, they are beings of far too high a rank to perceive.

And...

As I perceive Seo Hweol's [parents], I barely endure the pain that feels as if my eyes are about to burst.

Hong Fan taps my shoulder and speaks with concern.

"Master, please do not overdo it. They seem to be existences beyond rank. You could be harmed if you push too hard."

"..."

I glance at Hong Fan, who has at some point succeeding in transforming the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity into an Immortal Treasure and bestowing the Supreme Deity's power to the other Immortal Treasures, and has come as one of the five Immortal Treasures, and speak.

'How strange.'

Even if the power of the Swallowing Heaven Supreme Deity was distributed among the Immortal Treasures so that each reaches the level of a Great Net Immortal and, together, they reach the level of a Supreme Deity...

Their own realm, excluding the power granted, is at best that of Vestige Liberation Immortal.

And yet, despite being such beings, though he accelerated for a shorter duration than Hyeon Mu, Hong Fan still managed to follow me with the speed of Undying and clung to me up to here.

The issue is, I have no way of knowing 'how he managed to do that'.

Even when I read the history, the result is the same.

He 'simply' followed along.

At this bizarre situation where there is no process, only the result, I feel a chill wash over me.

'It's as if...as long as we are inside Mount Sumeru, there's some kind of law that dictates Hong Fan to be by my side, regardless of causality.'

Just what exactly is Hong Fan?

Is he simply the first Radiance Supreme Deity, or...

Is there another secret hidden beyond that?

"...It's fine. You just go over there and eat boiled potatoes or something."

Seeing Hong Fan's expression that seems to worry for me, I let out a faint chuckle and turn my head away.

"If it's the current me...even if I look directly, it's not enough to make me return to thee."

And so, turning away from the worried-looking Hong Fan, I begin to perceive [Seo Hweol's parents].

: : Everything under Heaven and Earth follows the principle of Taiji, pairing as it should. : :

Tingle, tingle...

'I see...'

That is something someone like Oh Hye-seo cannot possibly perceive.

Because that being is a monstrosity that transcends all simply through its very existence, one of the fundamental laws that exist in this world.

That being is the one who bears the name Fate.

Kiiiiiiiiing!

Immortal Beast True Blood bursts out from my eyes.

But I look at the phenomenon clearly.

Within Seo Hweol's memories, only that one line is heard, but I am able to hear the other words spoken by that being.

: : Guide. Draw forth hatred. And so...through death, complete the new Agate... : :

Kugugugugugu!

I momentarily hide Hong Fan within my body, guard Oh Hye-seo from any potential attack, and simultaneously fix my glare on [that] inside the dark-red virtual world and on [that] which reveals itself from deep inside the Head Realm.

The one within the virtual world that is Seo Hweol's homeland, is merely a black surface (面/face).

The black wall-like thing emerging with the dark-red mist faces Seo Hweol.

And...

That is only a part of it.

I see a massive [black hand] revealed behind the dark-red mist.

That hand is pitch black, and part of its palm protrudes into the dark-red world, appearing as a black wall.

I focus all my senses on that [hand].

Yet the owner of the [hand] seems utterly uninterested in someone like me and instead exerts attraction force upon Seo Hweol.

Wo-woong!

Then, on the surface that reveals itself before Seo Hweol, colors begin to appear.

The colors intertwine and tangle together to form a [scene].

—Say! That you love me!!!

It is...

A scene where 'something' painted in dark-red embraces Seo Hweol's bones and weeps uncontrollably.

As I watch the scene, I grind my teeth.

: : Your existence...shall be for the sole purpose of realizing this future... : :

Tststststststss!

Soon, the black wall that appeared before Seo Hweol and showed him the future scene begins to dissolve and absorb into him.

Ptstststststst—

At the same time, the [hand] vanishes in the blink of an eye...and Seo Hweol regains his senses.

Immediately after...

I can tell that Seo Hweol, who was once nothing more than a small spirit fragment containing Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, now truly possesses fate.

He now has both soul and fate.

All that remains is Qi to form the physical body.

However...

Even with just that, the existence of the innate Sacred Vessel Seo Hweol is now more than halfway complete.

From that point on, Seo Hweol, now fully possessing fate, begins to walk the path of fate as I know it.

'Is that...the process of a [Guide] being born...?'

Beings born to awaken the fate of Agate, who must internalize everything about Agate's fate through their very flesh.

In order to teach hatred, those who must inscribe hated into their bodies deeper than anyone else.

That is precisely...

Those chosen to become the Guides of Agate.

Oh Hye-seo continues to observe such a Seo Hweol and trembles.

"Seo Eun-hyun...please...I beg you...save Seo Hweol... With your Wheel...rewrite the past..."

She begins to cry as she watches Seo Hweol in his pain.

"If it's you...you can do it, right...? I can't...I can't watch him...tear his own heart apart like that anymore..."

"..."

"Please! Seo Eun-hyun! I'll beg like this! I'll devote my body and heart to you from now on! I will never betray you again. I'll educate Seo Hweol myself. If you tell me to lick your feet, I'll do it. If you tell me to shove my head into the toilet, I will. Even if you cut my throat and sip and eat my skull, I'll smile and accept it! Please...please save Seo Hweol!!"

I look at Oh Hye-seo like that, then look at the Seo Hweol suffering in the past.

Seo Hweol is seizing the legacy of Agate in this time point and is completing Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.

What would happen if I intervene at this moment?

If the past is rewritten...

Will the Seo Hweol who had toyed with us until now disappear?

What if...

Seo Hweol could have been a true friend instead of an enemy?

Woo-woooong!

Hong Fan, who has entered my body, shouts.

—Do not over do it, Master. That one was an enemy until very recently. Just because she became an ally, there is no need to go that far. More than anything...to rewrite the past is to shatter the causality of the present story...

As his explanation continues, my hesitation deepens.

—If you help the Seo Hweol of the past, what becomes of us of the present? If he is rewritten, won't our very existence cease to exist?

"..."

I bite my lip at Hong Fan's completely reasonable words.

—For the sake of someone who was our enemy, do not throw away our present, our connections! Master!

"..."

I grit my teeth.

Not a single part of Hong Fan's argument is wrong.

There is no reason for me to sacrifice myself for someone like Seo Hweol.

Therefore, I ask Oh Hye-seo.

"Cut the emotional act. Explain it to me."

I explain to her the fundamental contradiction that Hong Fan has pointed out and ask her.

"What reason do we have to help the Seo Hweol of the past...even at the cost of our present?"

"...That's..."

"You're mad, but you've always been calculative. There's no way someone like you would make such an emotional plea without a reason. The one who possesses the legacy of the previous Agate is the current you. So in the most logical way possible...convince me, Oh Hye-seo."

"..."

If it had been someone other than Seo Hweol, I might've at least tried to play along with her emotional act.

But the one I am being asked to help...is Seo Hweol.

Before being my fellow Daoist, the one who was my enemy.

"Why should I make a choice that endangers the me of the present for the sake of an ill-connection?"

Upon hearing my question, Oh Hye-seo bites her lip for a moment.

But soon, a firm resolve rises on her face.

"My authority blurs the boundary between the 'truth' present in this place and the 'thoughts' I have. But...'truth' does not change. My uncle, and Seo Hweol taught me that. That's right...history can never be changed. If you try to change something unchangeable, just like you said, we might all end up in danger. But...you know it too..."

"..."

"The past...cannot be changed...because it is time that has already passed... No matter how much you try to rewrite it, it won't change."

"..."

"The moment I saw your Wheel, I knew. The power of your rewriting is probably almost the same as my authority."

Only after reaching this realm and perceiving the Radiance Mantra did I understand how the Wheel rewrites the past.

If I compare it to the form of the [infant] I saw...

The Radiance Mantra is the principle of returning to the ends of the blood vessels and forming new ones,

While the rewriting of the Wheel creates a new, smaller blood vessel next to the existing one.

In other words, the ability of rewriting is a kind of parallel dimension creation.

It does not change the actual past, but instead transfers the beings that existed in that past into a parallel dimension that possesses the same reality as the original past, and lets them live there.

In that sense, the Wheel and the Radiance Mantra are equivalent in that they [possess an ability to form the infant's body].

That is to say, when I dealt with the children of In and Yeon during my battle with Seo Hweol, I did not truly rewrite the past.

I merely sent their spirits into a parallel dimension and allowed them to live out their lives once more within it.

For the time that has passed [absolutely] does not disappear.

"But...even if the past never disappears, within that past...I want to insert even a little bit of happiness between those moments. For Seo Hweol...I want him to have not just a history of pure hatred, but also a trace of happy history. So please...please, Seo Eun-hyun. Lend me your Wheel. If your power and my authority combine...we can give Seo Hweol even a sliver of happiness..."

"..."

"History...is [absolutely] unchangeable anyway... So what you're afraid of, the danger to our present caused by changing the past, will never happen. So..."

—Absolutely not, Master. What this woman says only applies to a typical case... But now that we've reached the real past through the Akashic Records, this is no longer an ordinary case and could very well lead to the actual rewriting of the past! Therefore...

"Just once...give us a chance...!!"

—If the predetermined fate is twisted, everyone may be destroyed!

"..."

I rise from my seat and gently close my eyes.

And then, I realize something.

No, more precisely, it would be accurate to say that the 'enlightenment came to me' through Oh Hye-seo's desperate 'wish.'

[If you were to realize that you've already died in the future, and that your current self is nothing but a reenactment of the past, what would you do?]

"...Are you asking what I'd do if I'm just a memory or a lingering thought?"

I hear Oh Hye-seo's shout, and I turn to look at the person in white who has come to me.

Come to think of it, this person, too, has experienced the exact same thing through me in the past.

"You accepted it with such calm composure. How were you able to do that, exactly?"

[I was the one who asked first. You dare turn it around with a question of your own, you brat? Do you want to taste the club?]

"Kugh..."

If I am nothing more than a remnant of the past, and all I'm doing is repeating my history, and if my end is a pitiful defeat, making everything I do from now on meaningless—then what would I do?

"If that's the case...then I must struggle harder."

Though I ponder the question for a moment, the answer is simple.

From the very beginning...

It is something I've embodied again and again with my own flesh and body after all.

If I were to regress multiple times and face enemies I cannot resist, making everything meaningless—then what would I do?

Struggle harder.

That is the only answer I can give.

"Even if the future is meaningless...as long as the me who struggles exists, my 'present' is still alive."

If I were to die tomorrow, and if that can never be changed—then what would I do?

Struggle.

Keep struggling.

Struggle like mad.

That is all there is to it.

Because even if I were to die tomorrow, if I struggle more, then that struggle will be remembered by someone.

"If this moment is nothing more than a reenactment of the past, and my ending is already determined...then isn't that all the more to live like mad? Only then, will those who one day read my past be able to gain something from me."

As I answer my own questions while looking at the presence before me,

I find the answer to the question I asked the Salt Sea Supreme Deity.

Just why and how did the lingering thought of the Salt Sea Supreme Deity so calmly accept that it is a being of the past and that its end is only defeat?

It is simple.

Even if the future is set, the past, in itself, conveys the heart to those who will exist in that future.

As long as those of the future fumble through and try to read the past...

No matter how fixed the future may be, the things we do are not meaningless.

The heart never disappears.

Even if I die, someday those who follow after me...

They will surely receive that heart, and understand it.

That is enough.

"...Take your stance, Oh Hye-seo."

—M-Master?

I stand beside Oh Hye-seo and take the stance of the Sword God Dance.

"I absolutely don't expect you to follow along. Just try to clumsil