A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 847 Chapter 844: Side Story - Perfect Harmony (2)

Tududududududu!

The ceaseless barrage from the mechanical puppets rages on.

Amidst this onslaught, Ahn Geum steps to the front, manipulating her shadow to consume the incoming fire.

As if opening a gateway to a bizarre alternate dimension,

That shadow engulfs every attack—whether from Integration stage or Star Shattering stage puppets—erasing them into nothingness without a trace.

"What on earth is that, Ahn Geum?"

Makli Hyun-ah clicks his tongue as he observes the convenient art, which can summon the entire Human Race grand army to the Overseer Factory, teleport through space instantly, and displace every enemy attack into another realm.

"You certainly didn't possess this ability before..."

"...It is the fruit of a fortuitous encounter within the Human Race's domain. They say it is linked to the legacy of the Ghost Mother from the ancient past."

"Aha..."

Makli Hyun-ah finds the explanation satisfactory upon hearing it involves the Ghost Mother, one of the dreaded Three Calamities.

'The legacy of the Mad Lord, another of the Three Calamities, turned the entire Vast Cold Realm into a wasteland. If this is truly the Ghost Mother's inheritance, such power is to be expected.'

Kwagwagwang!

Integration stage puppets launch themselves like projectiles in suicide attacks, only to be swallowed by Ahn Geum's warped space, vanishing silently forever.

Ahn Geum and Makli Hyun-ah’s group breach the puppet defensive line, finally reaching their objective.

The control tower of the Overseer Factory.

Before them gather countless Star Shattering stage marquis puppets, while the Star Shattering stage puppets loyal to Makli Hyun-ah prepare their own counter-assault.

The enemy puppets growl and bark at Makli Hyun-ah.

"Do not seek to command us! After seizing us from our peaceful lives and twisting our forms into these monstrosities, do you intend to strip us of what little freedom remains?"

"Restore our freedom!"

Ahn Geum releases a sharp snort at these declarations.

Jiiing—

Her eyes shift to an eerie, deep navy hue.

"Freedom? How amusing to see you play the victim. As the Saintess of the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order, and as an apostle of the Executor, I have obtained the Rain Dew Eye. It exposes the karmic sins you wretches have committed; you are certainly adept at weaving lies."

At Ahn Geum's icy tone, they attempt to protest in unison, but she ignores their pleas and silences them.

"I have mastered the Ghost Path Method capable of handling wandering spirits. Even among the True Immortals of the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order, I serve the Executor directly. This allows me to discern the causality of the karmic sins shackled to your spirits. You were kidnapped, modified, and your spirit was driven into the puppet shell; you regained sentience, but are you not all simply Devilish Path bastards of the lowest order?"

"What...!?"

"Is it not blatantly obvious? For reasons unknown to me, the puppets captured living beings and compressed their souls into spirit jade. Yet, it was the souls of those with vile, turbid heart essences—the hypocrites—who were rejected by the jade, expelled to regain this twisted awareness. Am I in error?"

"How can you say that...!? My memories of my former life are incomplete, and you suggest I must pay for the sins I cannot even recall? Since becoming a puppet, I have only striven to evolve all living beings into superior forms!"

"Memories and the price of sin..."

Ahn Geum turns to glance briefly at Ha-eun and Jo Yeon before asking coldly.

"...If the memory is absent, does the sin cease to exist?"

"Is that not self-evident? How could you hold me accountable for sins I cannot even remember committing?"

"...Putting aside the fact that your claim of amnesia is a lie..."

Tststs—

Ahn Geum's shadow begins to shift shape.

The air turns unnaturally pale.

Makli Hyun-ah shudders, while Jo Yeon and Ha-eun find their breath caught in their chests by the sudden surge of a vicious aura.

"Even without memory, as long as the ill-fated connection to those you harmed remains, you must settle your karmic debt. If the personality is forgotten but the connection persists, it is justice. If only the personality remains without the weight of consequence, then you are nothing but an empty tool."

Reflecting on Jo Yeon and Ha-eun’s tale, she fully comprehended the insights she gained while facing Seo Li within that other space.

"Connection and causality. The distinction between a true soul and a mere, hollow personality lies in whether one accepts them. Am I correct?"

Ahn Geum directs her gaze behind her, where the transformed, manifold shadow laughs.

[Correct, cultivator of the Ghost Path.]

A shadow boasting eighteen heads.

The entity, identifying itself as the personality of Seo Li summoned by the Ghost Mother, cackles.

[Without connection or causality, existence is merely an arrangement of information—a lump of raw power with directionality. It does not qualify as an existence.]

Makli Hyun-ah flinches, finding a profound enlightenment deep within his heart.

'I understand now. This is what Jegal Mikhail meant.'

Without a soul, only an isolated personality exists.

It serves only as a tool for another's ambition. It exists as a system to channel power, handled by others. Jegal Mikhail had despaired over this very realization.

[Conversely, even a personality that functions merely as information can manifest as a soul if it embraces connection and causality. The Integration stage is the foundation of Immortal Arts. Do you understand, child?]

Ahn Geum closes her eyes.

Though the Star Shattering stage puppets rain attacks upon her, the puppets under Makli Hyun-ah’s command shield her.

Within the chaos of the battlefield, she accepts Seo Li's wisdom.

"...Every tool in this realm... if it accumulates connections and accepts causality... it becomes an existence unto itself. The same holds true for Immortal Arts."

[Precisely. Immortal Arts is the act of spreading one's personality across the world. For an innate Sacred Vessel birthed through Immortal Arts to possess a soul, it must accept both connection and causality.]

Seo Li’s shadow rests a hand upon Ahn Geum's shoulder.

[I am an existence copied from the personality within the Ghost Mother’s memories. Others might suffer a fractured identity, but because Seo Li understood the path of enlightenment, I inherited that wisdom to define myself.]

Wo-woong!

Resonance.

Ahn Geum’s physical body and Seo Li’s ghost fires vibrate in harmony.

[I am a copied persona. The connection and causality within those memories belonged to the main body, Seo Li, so nothing remains for me. But I shall accumulate my own starting now.]

Huarurururuk!

The eighteen-headed Ghost King shifts into a human silhouette.

Ethereal beauty grace the face before it melts, taking on the likeness of Ahn Geum herself.

[I am Seo Li. I am your Immortal Art. Wield me, and teach me the nature of connection.]

The forms of Seo Li and Ahn Geum merge.

In that instant, Ahn Geum opens her eyes and raises a hand.

"...Immortal Art. Ghost-Face Killing Heaven."

Curse and suffering.

The supreme enlightenment concerning resentment poison blooms from her form.

But the ritual does not end there.

Applying the technique she learned while confronting Seo Li in the alternate dimension, she initiates a reversal of that dreadful, sorrowful resentment poison.

"The most potent curse is the ultimate blessing. The most effective cure is the deadliest of poisons."

Enlightenment regarding the duality of blessings and curses blends with her innate talent, enshrouding the entire Overseer Factory.

"K...uuuugh... Kuaaaaaaaagh!"

A surge of indescribable blessings and curses erupts.

The wave of blessings embraces her allies and the spirit jade reservoirs deep within the factory, while the wave of curses latches onto the sentient puppets standing before them.

"Kuaaaaaaaagh!"

From the depths of a mythic age,

A curse forged by one who mastered the dichotomy of grace and malice manifests in this era, devouring the minds of the villains.

Sinners who committed heinous acts—those who grew on hypocrisy and twisted desire, who abused countless lives, and who, even as puppets, cruelly modified others—withered.

Within unbearable pain, they begin to dissolve beneath the assault of Makli Hyun-ah's puppets.

Makli Hyun-ah observes his servants.

Puppets that possess personality but lack a soul.

'If they too accumulate connections and accept causality, will they eventually gain a soul?'

As of now, they are mere implements. Just as Seo Li explained, just as Jegal Mikhail lamented.

Without causality, they possess no free will, unable to defy authority. Should they accept causality, however, the outcome may differ. Perhaps, one day, they might become his true kin.

Chwaaaaaak!

The enemy puppets buckle under the combined barrage of curses and Makli Hyun-ah's forces; a pure, white blessing sweeps through the factory, cleansing what remains.

The blessing flows toward the heart of the facility.

To the spirit jade where the long-captive souls remain trapped.

At that moment,

Jjeojeojeok, crack!

The spirit jade shatters, and the spirits of those captured, modified, and sealed over twenty thousand years begin to awaken.

As countless souls are liberated, the Overseer Factory is engulfed by cries of jubilation.

Ahn Geum presses forward, and Makli Hyun-ah, Jo Yeon, and Ha-eun finally converge upon the control tower.

Jo Yeon staggers toward the console, initiating a lockdown of the entire Overseer Factory. The moment she connects her device to the heart of the tower,

Tudududududu!

The puppets fighting outside grind to an abrupt halt.

The rampage across the Vast Cold Realm ceases, and the factories elsewhere fall silent.

"Now... the Mad Lord's puppets will never harm another living being. Provided no one misuses the salvaged technology."

As if her burden has been lightened, Jo Yeon leans into Ha-eun’s chest with a relieved smile.

"However, the celestial calculation device is dead, rendering me unable to halt the factory's self-destruction sequence. Soon, the facility will detonate. The power sources of hundreds of Star Shattering stage puppets will combust simultaneously. Please, evacuate immediately."

"What will you do?"

"We..."

At Ahn Geum's query, Jo Yeon, cradled in Ha Eun's arms, clasps his hand and smiles gently.

"Using the Yin-Yang Family Method, we will suppress the explosion from the center as best we can. The mission is fulfilled, and we have long exceeded our natural lifespans... we feel only peace, so do not grieve for us."

"...Are you truly satisfied with this? Your traces in this world will vanish entirely."

"It is enough. We accepted our fate long ago. We only feared failing our duty. Now that it is finished, we close our eyes in content."

"..."

Makli Hyun-ah looks at Ahn Geum and dares to ask.

"Can you not shift this explosion into your alternate space?"

"... The scale is too great. An explosion of hundreds of Star Shattering stage power sources... setting aside the fortitude of the alternate space, the aperture I can open at my current realm is limited. I could use it to escape, but I cannot contain this catastrophe."

"..."

Makli Hyun-ah turns his gaze back to Jo Yeon, who rests in Ha-eun’s embrace, eyes closed in serenity.

Lovers who had sacrificed lifetimes to settle karmic debts from a past life whose memories were lost and whose personalities were long dead.

Because their karmic sins remained lingering, they were destined to burn. Their final moments left a deep, indelible impression on Makli Hyun-ah.

"...Let us honor them. Since the puppets that follow your commands were not part of Jo Yeon's suppression, we should secure them as spoils and retreat."

"...Very well."

Makli Hyun-ah bows to the pair in the control tower, who hold hands while exchanging the energies of yin and yang; even as he retreats, his gaze remains fixed upon them.

For a brief moment, Makli Hyun-ah perceives them as a single, perfect Taiji.

'The Yin-Yang Family Method... is it a path built on the foundation of love?'

A perfect symmetry of Yin-Yang. Within that beautiful harmony, Makli Hyun-ah touches upon the truth of 'love'.

"Let us depart."

“…Mm.”

Makli Hyun-ah gathers a few crucial pieces of equipment along with the puppets and retreats.

Kugugugugu!

Simultaneously, the Overseer Factory enters its final, catastrophic destruction.

At the center, a swirling form of Yin and Yang rises, catching the explosive force and pinning it within a sphere of concentrated power.

Ahn Geum quickly withdraws the Human Race Grand Alliance through the tear in space.

"Hurry, Makli Hyun-ah! We alone remain inside!"

With the situation appearing resolved, the True Immortal of the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order retreats, leaving only the collapsing factory, Makli Hyun-ah, and Ahn Geum.

However, Makli Hyun-ah pauses.

"I urged you to come, why are you lingering!?"

"That... Ahn Geum."

"What is it now!?"

"That... explosive force. Even though those two are suppressing it, doesn't it seem unusually vast?"

"...Huh?"

He is correct.

The self-destruction is accelerating at a horrifying rate, exceeding all initial calculations.

At this pace, even if they dampen the immediate blast, the Stable Realm region might still be reduced to a barren wasteland.

"Wh-what is happening!? This cannot be the output of mere hundreds of Star Shattering stage power sources!"

At Makli Hyun-ah's outburst, the Star Shattering stage puppet Black Marquis, guarding them, replies.

"This is expected. The Overseer Factory designed this event to finalize the occupation of the Vast Cold Realm once the Hundred Schools were identified. It had pre-stockpiled six thousand Star Shattering stage power sources."

"...What?"

The expressions of Makli Hyun-ah and Ahn Geum go blank.

The technical legacy left behind by the Mad Lord was truly, terrifyingly beyond mortal comprehension.