A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 800 Chapter 796: Future King (1)
Previously on A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation...
Chapter 800 Chapter 796: Future King (1)
"Hoho... our dear sir Heuk Sa~."
Squish, squish—
Heuk Sa makes his way back to the village.
Upon his arrival, he is greeted by the affectionate touch of his young wife, who is a single year his senior.
Westy—or rather, the girl now known as 'Yang Hwe'—springs from behind to ambush Heuk Sa, kneading his soft, plump cheeks with reckless abandon.
Despite their marriage making him her husband, she is now fourteen while Heuk Sa remains a thirteen-year-old child; thus, she dotes on him to her heart's content.
"Where did you wander off to, my little cutie?"
"Uu... lugu..."
Muttering for her to 'let go,' Heuk Sa manages to slip from her grasp before explaining his absence.
"Westy—no... dear, I went to visit a person of high standing to obtain a proper name for you."
"Wow, truly? Though I quite liked being Westy as well..."
She appears both delighted and conflicted.
Ultimately, however, she pulls Heuk Sa into a hug tight enough to crush him, wearing a radiant smile.
"So, what is my new name?"
"Your name is... Hwe. Yang Hwe."
"Hwe... Yang Hwe..."
Beaming at her new identity as 'Yang Hwe,' she showers Heuk Sa’s cheeks with kisses.
"Oh my, you precious thing. You went and found a wonderful name for your big sister."
Heuk Sa struggles to wiggle free from her embrace once more.
Years have passed since they first started their life together.
Yang Hwe no longer harbors the fear of Heuk Sa she once felt. Instead, having grown up eating her fill and learning whatever she desired, she has flourished.
Unlike the previous timeline, she did not fall victim to leprosy.
This change occurred because Heuk Sa stayed by her side, systematically destroying every germ that approached her.
"Um... Heuk Sa."
"Mm? What is it, Hwe-ah?"
"Hey. Don't call me 'Hwe-ah.' You should use a term like 'honey.' Stop treating me like a child when you are the younger one."
Puffing out her cheeks at the informal address, Yang Hwe playfully tugs at Heuk Sa’s face.
"By any chance... may I give you a name as well?"
"Uh...?"
"It’s just... 'Black Snake' is a bit much, you know? I want to find a better name to give you."
Heuk Sa contemplates Yang Hwe’s suggestion.
Naturally, the idea pleases him.
A name bestowed by the woman he loves is infinitely better than 'Black Snake,' a title born from the betrayal of an old friend.
He would feel deep gratitude even if she chose a name as lowly as Dog-dung or Cow-dung.
However, while he wishes to agree immediately, he finds himself looking up at the sky.
The threads of causality are shifting in their thousands, weaving the fabric of the future.
This is a history that has already played out once before.
"..."
Yang Hwe’s destined lifespan remains unchanged.
'Must I kill them after all?'
Tracing the flows of causality, he detects the presence of the god who dictates the length of lives and considers a divine assassination.
"Then... give it to me a little later, Hwe-ah."
"Eeeh, I told you to stop calling me like a kid! I'm going to name you and treat you like a kid too!"
Watching Yang Hwe throw a tantrum while kneading his cheeks, Heuk Sa sinks into thought.
Bestowing a name directly impacts the strength of a connection.
The Darkness World internal energy method he mastered was achieved by severing all bonds and standing in isolation.
The current thread connecting him to Yang Hwe exists only because he has spent this time deceiving causality.
In other words, if Yang Hwe names him and he accepts it, his Cultivation and internal energy will be compromised.
'If I intend to slay a god... I must maintain my peak state and prepare with absolute precision.'
Killing a god requires one to stake their very life.
This holds true even for a minor, lower-ranked deity.
For a mortal vessel to strike down a god, death must be faced head-on.
In his past life, he did not fear the end, allowing him to hunt gods while wearing a mortal's skin.
But...
'Now... I am afraid.'
He can no longer throw his life away with reckless abandon.
He now possesses something far more valuable than his own existence.
Yang Hwe has become Heuk Sa’s singular weakness.
Consequently, he refuses to let that weakness expand any further.
He does not wish to die.
'I must kill the gods without falling myself.'
With his innate talent, it is possible.
His insight and potential are more than sufficient.
'Even now, the fated hour draws closer...'
The river of history continues its relentless flow.
Thus, he intends to warp fate and history itself to ensure Yang Hwe’s safety.
"...Just wait a bit longer, Hwe-ah. Until the moment I am ready to receive a worthy name from you..."
Heuk Sa embraces Yang Hwe, soothing her complaints as he speaks.
In his vision, he sees the infinite causalities swirling behind her.
The gods who occupy this world.
He will only find peace once every one of those deities has been eradicated.
From that day forward, Heuk Sa begins his hunt, slaughtering gods to forcibly extend Yang Hwe’s life.
His first target is the god of lifespan.
: : O Mortal! What change do you expect to bring by killing me? I am but a recorder of days! The currents of history and fate are beyond alteration! : :
"They can be changed."
As Heuk Sa refines his killing arts toward the pinnacle of slaughter, he answers the dying deity.
"Because if history does not change, I shall simply annihilate fate and history themselves."
He is willing to tear down Heaven and Earth to protect what is his.
When the god of lifespan falls, the lifespans of countless mortals are thrown into chaos, plunging the world into turmoil—but he remains indifferent.
To him, a single connection is worth more than the entire world.
After the god of lifespan, he hunts the god of disease, the god of calamity, the god of misfortune, and many others.
He systematically executes every deity capable of causing Yang Hwe’s sudden demise.
: : What sin have we committed to deserve this murder!? : :
: : O Mortal! Do you not realize we are the ones who keep disaster and suffering in balance? : :
: : Your ignorance will sink the world into agony! O Mortal! No, you must not kill us! : :
"No."
With a gaze as cold as frost, Heuk Sa looks down upon them and strikes.
"Because of you..."
The memories still haunt him.
In his first life, Yang Hwe perished because of their influence.
She died in a state of wretched misery...
"She..."
She had contracted leprosy...
Unable to find a cure, and while Heuk Sa was away searching for medicine, bandits plundered her home and set it ablaze, killing her.
She was carrying Heuk Sa’s child at the time... a death so cruel and pitiful.
"...died... you see."
Having slaughtered the gods responsible for her original fate, Heuk Sa clutches his chest.
He treats the current Yang Hwe with utmost care.
Yet, a doubt lingers.
Whether the Yang Hwe of the first life and the Yang Hwe of now are truly the same soul...
Whether the one he truly loves is the girl from that forgotten time...
He cannot be certain.
In this life, he found her as a child and prevented her illness; she never left her noble home to wander the streets as a scavenger.
This version of her is vibrant and dotes on Heuk Sa constantly.
He wonders if she is truly the person he set out to save.
Small ripples may shift, but the great tides of fate are stubborn.
Because Heuk Sa himself is a massive current in history, the connections tied to him remain largely constant.
Therefore, the Yang Hwe who loves him now is likely the same essence as before.
But if that is the case...
'If I prolong the life of this Yang Hwe... is she still the one I know? Or does she transform into someone else?'
The answer eludes him.
As he continues his divine massacre, Heuk Sa erases every potential cause of her death.
From gods of ill omens to those governing heart failure, falling stars, and lightning strikes, he hunts them all down one by one.
Yet, the more blood he spills,
The more this Yang Hwe diverges from the one in his memories...
And the anxiety in Heuk Sa’s heart grows in tandem with his kills.
Finally,
On the day Heuk Sa has eradicated every god on their star.
On the very day he reaches the age of twenty.
He discovers the answer.
Huarururururur—
The village is engulfed in flames.
At the center of the chaos, surrounding the tiled-roof house Heuk Sa built, lie hundreds of corpses in neat rows.
They are his own men.
The members of the Heuk Sa Society.
"...What... is this...?"
To ensure her safety, he had traveled far to kill countless gods.
Occasionally, he would return from his slaughter to share moments of love with Yang Hwe...
To feel a fleeting happiness...
To check on her, read together, eat together, and play with one another.
Huarurururuk!
He charges through the inferno consuming the village, heading straight for his home.
From within, a familiar scent wafts out.
The stench of burning flesh.
Yes...
It is the exact same smell from his previous life, when his wife was burned alive.
"Chief... we couldn't... protect her..."
A dying member of the Heuk Sa Society lets out a final, pained groan.
"...You did well. Rest now."
Leaving the dying behind, he rushes to the inner chambers where Yang Hwe should be.
There, he finds a monstrosity riddled with countless spears and blades.
A black-bodied beast, hissing and radiating heat, lies exhausted and dying right before Yang Hwe.
It is an imoogi.
"You..."
An imoogi that failed to secure a dragon pearl and thus could not ascend to dragonhood.
Driven mad by its failure, it became a creature of drought and ruin.
Heuk Sa suddenly realizes who this monster was in the first cycle.
"You...!"
A being that was once a divine Dragon King.
In this timeline, it failed its ascension and became a monster, reducing everything Heuk Sa built to ashes.
[O evil god who brings destruction.]
The beast, which should have been a sacred dragon, gazes at him with its final breaths.
[Your subordinates fought with such desperation that they managed to bring me down... yet in the end, you too failed to guard what you held dear.]
The monster laments as it stares at Heuk Sa.
[Do you wonder why it ended this way? O evil god. All things are bound by cause and retribution. As you slaughtered the divinities, the world fell into profound misery. In the end, to save a world drowning in such pain, I realized this was the only path.]
"..."
Heuk Sa ignores the beast and moves toward Yang Hwe.
Her entire body is ablaze.
Her stomach is swollen with child.
[The vengeful spirits of the fallen gods entered me and commanded me to slay you. All of this is the harvest of your own sowing. O evil god...]
Crunch—
With a single motion, he crushes the jaw of the rambling imoogi.
Heuk Sa gently gathers Yang Hwe into his arms.
Even as she burns, Yang Hwe struggles to speak to him.
Because of the breathing techniques and health exercises Heuk Sa taught her, she does not die instantly, even amidst the flames.
However, the fire is fueled by the grudges of gods; her death is certain.
"I... thought of... a name..."
Yang Hwe offers a bright smile as she whispers.
"I saw... your true name..."
It was the name Heuk Sa’s mother had chosen from a school she passed, thinking it sounded dignified.
In a sense, it was Heuk Sa’s real name.
"Gu Ju (九疇)..."
It was a name Heuk Sa had long since forgotten.
"To match... that name... I found a... wonderful name..."
Yang Hwe’s hand reaches out to touch Heuk Sa’s cheek.
Chiiiii—
Heuk Sa’s frigid Qi extinguishes the flames on her body, and his sheer will commands the clouds to bring forth a torrential rain.
The downpour begins, dousing the fires.
"Hong Fan (洪範)... what do you think...?"
The name his mother gave him was Gu Ju.
To complement it, Yang Hwe chose a new name: Hong Fan.
"You took it... from the Great Plan Nine Categories (洪範九疇)."
"Yes... do you like it?"
Hong Fan smiles more radiantly than ever before.
"...Yes. I like it very much."
"That’s... a relief."
Seeing Hong Fan’s reaction, she smiles one last time and closes her eyes.
That is the end.
Yang Hwe passes away.
Tsuaaaaa—
As she dies, a power flows from her body and returns to Hong Fan.
It is a portion of the Darkness World ability he had bestowed upon her.
A power that allowed her to glimpse history and read the threads of causality.
He had given it to her so that if the Law of Causality shifted toward misfortune, she could escape on her own.
But she never used it to flee.
Instead, she used that power to find a name for Hong Fan, remaining in the village to face the disaster head-on.
The reason was simple.
Feeling Yang Hwe’s lingering thoughts within the returning power, Hong Fan grinds his teeth.
— I cannot run away alone.
—Because... the Heuk Sa Society family. This village. This home. All of it... were gifts from him. They are...
"Why...?"
—The greatest blessing.
"Why... did you not flee...?"
— If we just hold on a little longer, he will come to save us. Just as he always has...
[All things are of... cause... and retribution...]
"Why... did you believe in me so much...!?"
— So, everyone. While this disaster focuses its malice on me, work together to hold it back. If you have all received his teachings... then you can surely stop it.
The imoogi with the shattered jaw tries to speak again.
Hong Fan seizes the monster’s head, rips it off, and lets out a roar.
—For you, whom he has raised, are the light of our village at this very moment.
"Why... why on earth...!? Why must it always end like this for me...!?"
Hong Fan is caught between weeping and laughter.
He had doubted her.
He had feared she wasn't the 'she' from his memories.
But she was.
No matter how many times the clock was wound back, she was a being destined for a fixed conclusion.
"I committed atrocities, and so she died... If that is the logic... then why did she die in the first life...!?"
He recalls his first existence.
Back then, he had not lived a life of massacre and blood.
Yet, she had died anyway.
In a manner even more pathetic than this.
"Why must a person die so miserably!? O God! Someone answer me! I said, answer me!"
Hong Fan screams at the heavens.
"Why is this world... filled with nothing but such tragedy...!?"
His wife has died once more.
He had sworn to protect her at any cost, personally eliminating every threat he could perceive.
But in the end, an unforeseen variable twisted history back into its original shape.
Once again, Hong Fan’s heart was left unrewarded.
Beuduk... dududuk...
Hong Fan clutches his chest.
With trembling fingers, he gouges out his own eyes.
He had kept them until now only to gaze upon his wife's face, to hold the image of her smile within them.
Eyes that failed to protect her are utterly worthless.
He returns to blindness.
"Why... do humans... perish so easily...?"
He buri