I held onto the collapsed Cheonma and looked at Yarang.
Then, I turned my gaze to the side, where the torn dimension glowed faintly with golden energy.
Something was different.
Though I rode it to come here, this sense of unease was something I hadn’t felt back then.
I grabbed my chest with my hand. The energy was flowing inside me. I could feel the state of it.
The energy that once resided in my body was still scattered within my flesh, but at the same time, something was different.
‘There is no vessel.’
The vessel that should have contained the energy was gone.
It seemed as though it was just floating aimlessly in the air.
How could this be? It was a question, but I had already experienced so much that I didn’t find it too shocking.
‘As I said before...’
My ancestor had spoken to me.
‘This will only last for a moment. Before then, you must make your choice.’
The time I could endure without the vessel was probably less than half an hour.
This was due to my request to delay the choice, asking for more time to think for myself.
Upon hearing that, my ancestor agreed to my condition, but in exchange, ordered me to speak the name "Yehwa."
Ssssshhh.
I could feel the energy rising from within my body, moving on its own.
It was alien. It felt as though something was about to burst but wasn’t. It seemed ready to scatter at any moment but was held together.
An uncomfortable sensation, as though it would dissipate the moment I touched it.
I tried to ignore it and spoke to Yarang.
“......What are you? Where have you been?”
I frowned and asked.
I was certain we came together, yet now she’s nowhere to be seen, and only just showed up?
“What have you been doing?”
I swallowed the surging emotions inside. I was irritated, but this wasn’t Yarang’s fault.
She hadn’t gotten involved in the fight? That didn’t matter.
This wasn’t a fight for her to get involved in anyway. My irritation now was just misplaced frustration.
I hadn’t been able to ask Cheonma the questions I wanted.
And there was the matter of Shin Noya, who had been with me, having problems.
All of this came to a head here, in this unfamiliar place, mixing with the discomfort of the situation.
I knew shouting wouldn’t change anything, but I still tried to hold back.
“You... What are you? Are you really the Divine Sword?”
“......”
Yarang didn’t answer my question. She hadn’t since the beginning.
Even my mother had said it. That thing, she said, was created from her soul and energy, but it was still a being wrapped in forgetfulness.
It couldn’t remember anything—neither about me nor about itself.
“......Damn it. That cursed forgetfulness.”
Cheonma, my ancestor, even my mother.
I couldn’t understand what forgetfulness was supposed to mean, how it could be this way.
“......Haah.”
I sighed deeply and looked at Yarang.
She was still standing there, wearing her white mask, staring at me.
“Is it even worth asking questions?”
It was a response born out of frustration, but I knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere.
“......”
I looked at Cheonma, who I was still holding in my arms. She lay there, still as death, but I could see her chest faintly rising and falling. It seemed like she wasn’t dead after all.
I lifted her carefully and stood up.
As I surveyed my surroundings,
“Cough!”
“......!”
A sound came from one side. Turning my head, I saw a turtle leaning against the broken debris.
“Elder......”
I approached.
“Ughh.”
As I drew near, the turtle groaned. Its condition was dire.
The bleeding had been stopped, fortunately, but the injuries were clearly severe.
‘Dogi.’
The energy surrounding the turtle was Dogi. I recognized it as Shin Noya’s.
I reached out toward it.
Woo—!!
I put more strength into the faint energy.
“Ughh......”
As the energy flowed in, the turtle exhaled the breath it had been holding.
“Are you alright?”
“......I’m fine...... Can you see me?”
It didn’t look fine at all.
“Ugh... I’m done for...... I shouldn’t have interfered with pointless things...”
“Please rest.......”
As I gently reached out to touch him, the turtle grasped my wrist with his fingerless hand.
“That fool...... What happened to the Gatekeeper?”
“......”
When he asked about Shin Noya, my body stiffened.
Seeing my reaction, the turtle chuckled softly.
“Looks like he’s gone.”
His tone was calm and unperturbed. Even if Shin Noya had disappeared, there was no surprise in his voice.
“He always said he could vanish at any time. Looks like that’s exactly what happened.”
Though I couldn’t say that he was ‘completely’ gone, at this point, it didn’t matter—he might as well be.
Clench.
I clenched my fist and gently pushed the turtle’s hand away, placing my palm on his chest.
“Please excuse me for a moment.”
Ssssshh—.
I mixed heat into the energy. Fortunately, the Nine Flames Firewheel started working again.
I infused my body with heat to reduce the pain and enhance healing.
Meanwhile, the turtle glanced behind him.
The wreckage of the surroundings was visible.
“......It’s going to take a long time to clean this up.”
“......”
I looked at the turtle after hearing his words.
“Elder.”
“What is it?”
“......Are you planning to stay here?”
“What do you mean?”
“This is where Shin Noya is no longer present.”
“Ha.”
The turtle looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief and spoke.
“What does his presence or absence have to do with me staying here?”
Hearing that, I let out an awkward laugh.
Well, he had a point.
Whether Shin Noya was here or not, the turtle’s place in the Mount Hua Sect might not be directly connected.
‘Is that so?’
But I didn’t think so.
Even if the turtle was only a nominal elder, doing little of actual significance, wasn’t that because of Shin Noya?
I had assumed that without Shin Noya, he might not remain in the Mount Hua Sect.
“Besides, if he’s gone, someone has to stay behind.”
Groaning slightly, the turtle straightened himself and said,
“You have to return, after all. Isn’t that right?”
“......”
His words pierced through me like thorns.
“Don’t dwell on it. That fool would want it that way too.”
“...I don’t know about that.”
Noya had disappeared for my sake.
Now, the turtle was casually saying he’d take Noya’s place.
And I was being told that I had to leave.
‘What a mess.’
The situation was overwhelming.
Not just my own circumstances, but what about Mount Hua here in this world?
“Phew.”
It was infuriatingly complicated.
What was I supposed to do now? This wasn’t the time to be lost in my own thoughts.
How should I proceed? As I turned my thoughts over—
Grip.
Yarang suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“What is it?”
Did she have something to say?
I looked at her with curiosity.
“Step aside for now... This isn’t the time for discussions.”
The turtle, dragging his weary body, reached out his hand.
A staff that had been lying on the ground flew into his grasp.
“If we wait too long, it’ll be impossible to contain.”
“Contain what?”
“There’s only so much rampaging that can be ignored. At this level, it’s dangerous.”
Muttering something cryptic, the turtle waved his hand, and light burst forth from his staff.
A spell?
It seemed the turtle was preparing to use a ritual.
Before long—
“Huuuh!”
Zzzzzzzzzzz—!
With the turtle’s deep exhale, threads of incantation spread in all directions.
Seeing them, I understood.
He was setting up a barrier.
It was the same kind of barrier that had surrounded Mount Hua before.
And then—
Rumble—!!
Ruuuuumble—!!!
“......!!”
The night sky trembled.
A thunderous roar like a storm erupted, making me instinctively look up.
“This is bad...!”
The turtle’s expression twisted with realization.
It was clear that this was a problem.
“What’s wrong?”
I asked, but the turtle’s face darkened as he spoke.
“...This is a disaster. Taechon went too far.”
“What?”
“I think it has noticed.”
“Noticed what...?”
I tried to ask again, but before I could—
From the sacred tree of Mount Hua, something extended outward.
Kuaaaaaaaaah—!!!
A black tendril.
It shot up from the sacred tree, reaching higher than the vast trunk itself.
Instead of the turtle’s barrier, it covered the space he had intended to seal.
This was—
‘The Abyssal Pit?’
It was the energy of the Abyssal Pit.
That same overwhelming presence I had felt before was emanating from this barrier.
In an instant, the surrounding area was engulfed in blackness.
A darkness so deep that no light could penetrate.
And yet, strangely, I could see everything around me with perfect clarity.
What was this?
As I looked around, the turtle let out a sigh of resignation.
“...It’s too late.”
He was staring past the barrier.
“It seems it has finally noticed.”
“...Elder, what are you talking about?”
“If even the ruler of the afterlife has appeared and caused this much chaos, no matter how deeply it was asleep, it would have to awaken.”
“...What exactly is awakening—”
“What else would it be?”
The turtle tightened his grip on his staff, his expression growing tense.
“......Of course. The ruler of this world, who had been slumbering here.”
“......!”
The moment I realized what he meant—
Kuaaaaaaaaah—!!!!!
Kuuuuuuuuuuung—!!!!
The black barrier trembled violently.
As if something was striking against it.
Kugagagak—!!!
Not just once.
The impacts kept coming. Again and again.
Until—
Crack.
Craaaack.
The barrier fractured, shards falling to the ground.
Thud—!!
Black fragments crumbled upon impact.
And beyond the cracks—
I caught a glimpse of something.
“...Ah.”
A single syllable escaped my lips.
There, beyond the shattered darkness—
A woman with white hair, eyes like amethyst, and several tails of snow-white fur.
“......Mother?”
The ruler of this world had awakened.
________________________________________
TL Notes:
Dogi — a form of spiritual energy distinct from internal qi, often associated with higher martial or Daoist principles.
