“It’s because the heavens no longer watch over us.”
“Ah.”
The moment I heard the Illusory Illusion Witch’s words, something the Heavenly Demon had once told me suddenly came to mind.
– Though the heavens no longer gaze upon us, their gifts and their shackles remain.
I still did not know exactly what that meant. I could only speculate.
It was the heavens that had bestowed the fortuitous opportunity of regression. In other words, transcendent beings like immortals or Buddhas. Yet they no longer interfered in this land—that was what it seemed to imply.
That was why the Heavenly Demon and I could enjoy the absurd blessing of regression without paying any apparent price. But at the same time, the side effects brought by regression—mental restrictions and the inevitable solitude—were not removed by anyone, so we had no choice but to endure them ourselves. That was what I had thought it meant.
But perhaps he had spoken in a broader sense.
Just in case, I casually relayed to the Illusory Illusion Witch the words I had once heard from the Heavenly Demon.
“So the heavens no longer watch us, yet what they left behind remains?”
“Uh… it might not be that intact, you know??”
Her attitude was still oddly timid, yet her answer itself was firm.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s similar to the reason I said earlier that the Soul-Transference Grand Art can never be completed…”
“You mean because it touches upon the domain of Daoist arts and is therefore impossible? Wasn’t it simply because there’s no one capable of performing Daoist arts?”
“It’s similar, but also a little different. Um. How should I explain this…”
As if pondering something, she tapped the ground lightly with her index finger before opening her mouth.
“To begin with, what do you think Daoist arts are?”
“Something you cut down before it can strike you.”
“Hiiik!”
For some reason, she trembled all over, but soon regained her composure and shook her head.
“T-th-that’s how you deal with Daoist arts. Even an absolute master at the Flowering Stage can’t cut Daoist arts… Ah, no. With the White Moon Sword Lord’s eyes, it might be possible.”
That was an unexpectedly concerning remark, but the conversation seemed ready to derail, so I gestured for her to continue.
“Enough. Finish what you were saying.”
“Ah, y-yes.”
After clearing her throat once, she continued her explanation.
“Daoist arts are, in essence, immortal arts. They’re what a person learns in order to be reborn as an immortal. In themselves, they are cultivation—a journey toward transcendence.”
“Hm. I don’t quite understand. Is it like an ascendant martial art? Something that guarantees a certain realm?”
“No. Cultivation guarantees nothing. Someone might gain great enlightenment and ascend to immortality, while someone else might waste their entire life in vain. I’m not exaggerating when I say there’s no guarantee—it’s truly like that.”
“Why would anyone learn something like that?”
Even a third-rate martial art offered at least a minimal guarantee. At the very least, it improved your health.
“But if you master Daoist arts and reach the end of cultivation, you become an immortal and enjoy eternal life.”
“Eternal life? It sounds like nonsense.”
“That’s only because Daoist arts are no longer permitted.”
The path from earth to heaven. The only way for a human to become an immortal. The Illusory Illusion Witch said that was Daoist arts.
“Isn’t that too grandiose? As far as I’ve heard, even a few decades ago, various Daoist sects still performed Daoist arts.”
“Those were all evil methods.”
“……”
A statement that would have made Daoist priests foam at the mouth.
Perhaps noticing my incredulous expression, she cautiously added,
“W-well, strictly speaking, not evil methods, but… how should I put it, their foundation? Their rank? Anyway, they’re on the same level as evil methods. They’re inferior versions of true Daoist arts. They just insist on calling them Daoist arts because they inherited the orthodox Daoist lineage.”
“Still, they’re not the same.”
“Martial arts have orthodox styles, unorthodox styles, and demonic arts, right? It’s the same with techniques.”
“When you put it that way, it does make sense.”
“Most of the lineage has been severed, but what people created while desperately clinging to fragments of it became martial arts, formations, and those techniques.”
“Even martial arts? If it was so important, why did the heavens take Daoist arts away? Did someone anger them?”
“Of course not. As the saying goes, ‘Heaven and Earth are not benevolent.’ The heavens aren’t kind. Not that they’re evil, but they don’t judge right and wrong by human standards. They simply follow the natural order.”
“The natural order…”
“Yes. Just as you’re thinking, Daoist arts are a path achieved through defying the heavens. Since eternal life lies at the end, that’s only natural.”
My regression had been a fortuitous opportunity granted through the combined power of some unknown Great Luo Immortal and Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.
And it was a defiance of heaven among defiance of heaven—rewinding time itself.
If the natural order was for time to flow in one direction, then something like regression would be an utterly unacceptable shortcut.
If the heavens no longer desired transcendent beings like immortals…
As I organized my thoughts inwardly, she gestured with her hands as she continued.
“When we say the heavens no longer watch over this land, it means the method for humans to connect with the principles has disappeared. That means the core of Daoist arts has been taken away. In terms of martial arts, it’s like no longer being able to cultivate inner techniques.”
“If that’s the case, then I can understand a world where Daoist arts are forbidden. Wait. Could it be that the reason natural energy is gradually diminishing is—?”
“Yes. Martial arts are ultimately a branch of Daoist arts. There have always been martial artists at the Flowering Stage, but no one can reach a higher realm now. That’s why I said it was impossible when I heard about the Heavenly Demon from the White Moon Sword Lord. No matter how extraordinary a martial artist is, becoming that unreasonably strong… it simply can’t happen in this era.”
“So when you said what the heavens left behind might not be intact… that’s what you meant.”
“That’s right. Something will go wrong somewhere. No matter how diligently one practices Daoist arts and devotes a lifetime to cultivation, they won’t reach immortality… In the same way, martial arts will one day lose inner energy, and even those with the aptitude for techniques will no longer be born. Divine artifacts that once possessed great power will become mere junk. Fortuitous encounters that everyone once coveted will be reduced to mildly unusual events.”
And so, the world would become ordinary.
A world inhabited only by ordinary people. Yet this was not regression. I already knew.
Ordinariness was the first step toward infinity, and the most stable state.
The moment my thoughts reached that point, something snagged in my mind.
“Illusory Illusion Witch. What you’ve said was somewhat difficult, but I understand it all. I now understand why the Soul-Transference Grand Art is bound to fail. Then what exactly is the King of Assassins I brought back this ear from?”
“It’s simple. It half-succeeded. Or perhaps it’s easier to say it half-failed.”
“Explain it plainly.”
“The Soul-Transference Grand Art is a technique that implants a soul into another person’s body. In theory, it allows you to change bodies like changing clothes and live eternally. That’s why I took an interest in researching it. Back then, I was only at the Sub-Perfection stage, so I was worried about lifespan and aging…”
“Enough of the chatter. What happens if it fails?”
“The soul shatters, and only the hun transfers to another body. The soul is much lighter and more delicate, after all.”
“….”
The King of Assassins had been strangely silent. Even considering he was an assassin, his emotions were too dull. His reaction had seemed as though he could not properly remember me.
Yet he perfectly reproduced his martial arts, as if he remembered them flawlessly.
All of it connected into one certainty.
Through the incomplete Soul-Transference Grand Art, the King of Assassins would revive again and again in a puppet-like state.
And the Heavenly Demon had known all of this… He had known the Soul-Transference Grand Art could only fail—that it was not the answer.
Naturally, he must have known that Daoist arts were forbidden, and the consequences that followed.
If so, I had to interpret his words differently.
Until now, I had thought the gift left by the heavens was regression, and the shackles referred to mental restrictions.
But if the shackles meant the taking away of Daoist arts, blocking humanity’s path to immortality—
And if the closer a technique approached Daoist arts, the more problems it would develop—
Then something incomparably greater than mere mental restrictions must have afflicted regression itself, which was defiance of heaven incarnate.
For example… regression repeating infinitely.
One time was an opportunity. Infinity was no different from a curse.
The Heavenly Demon’s true objective. I began to roughly grasp what would happen after my death.
“If. Just if.”
“Yes??”
“If we wanted the heavens, which have already turned their gaze away, to look down upon us once more—what do you think we would have to do?”
“As I said earlier, unless they’re immortals, the heavens simply follow the natural order…”
“But if it absolutely had to be done?”
“…Hmm. The most effective method would be to cause a defiance of heaven. They withdrew their gaze because they did not wish for further defiance of heaven. But if a defiance so great that it could not be ignored were to occur, they would have no choice but to pay attention in order to take action.”
“In an era where Daoist arts are forbidden and martial arts and techniques are gradually declining, is there such a defiance of heaven that can be achieved?”
“There is… but it lacks realism.”
“Even if it lacks realism, tell me.”
“A slaughter so immense it reaches the heavens. Piling mountains of corpses until no one on this land can reproduce, swimming in a sea of blood—that would be sufficient defiance of heaven.”
After saying that, she added that life prospering generation after generation was the natural order.
She continued explaining afterward, but I did not truly hear her. My mind was already filled with what would follow.
Before my regression, I had survived until the imperial family fell and even the Orthodox and Unorthodox Alliance was nearly dissolved—until there was nowhere left to retreat.
Naturally, after my death, the Alliance must have completely collapsed.
Even if some survived, no one would have dared stand against the Heavenly Demon.
The Demonic Cult would have celebrated its victory, devising plans to create a world without martial arts.
And then they would have been betrayed by the Heavenly Demon—their staunchest ally.
He would have killed his own followers, killed innocent commoners, killed the surviving remnants of the Alliance who had been fugitives.
After killing all of Zhongyuan—if even then the heavens remained silent—his next step would naturally have extended to the martial world beyond the borders.
If even that was annihilated? Then to Haedong or Dongying. If still not enough? To the Western Regions. And if still not enough?
Well. The world I knew ended there, so I did not know. But if there were other lands, he would have gone there.
Or else, retracing his steps, hunting down any who had hidden and survived.
Of course, he might have failed along the way. The Heavenly Demon was overwhelmingly strong, but perhaps in the Western Regions there existed someone who could trouble even him.
He would not have been able to prepare and detonate everything at once as he had in Zhongyuan.
But one thing was certain. Once he judged that he had killed enough, he would have taken his own life and regressed for the first time.
Together with the power of defiance of heaven accumulated through all that slaughter.
“One last question.”
“Yes?”
“Through defiance of heaven, can one reach a realm beyond the Flowering Stage?”
“In theory… yes.”
That confirmed it.
Until the day the heavens turned their gaze upon him—until heavenly punishment finally descended—the Heavenly Demon would not stop.
And I would have to defeat that madman who sought to defy the principles and overturn heaven’s decision.
“Heh. Perfect.”
I already knew the Heavenly Demon was absurdly strong. What had made it more suffocating was not knowing his purpose.
But now, at least, I could guess what that purpose was.
That was enough. When you cut something down, you first look directly at what you intend to cut.
Only now did I truly understand what it was I sought to cut down when I faced the Heavenly Demon.
The moment a grin tugged at the corners of my mouth—
“Sniff… You can kill everyone else, but please spare me at least……”
“W-What??”
“I-I’m sure I’ll be useful! I know a lot, and there’s a lot I can do… I-I may not have achieved rejuvenation, but I’m still quite usable, right??”
Just like the first time I met her, the Illusory Illusion Witch suddenly threw herself into a full prostration before me.
“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding. I wasn’t saying I’d aim for the next realm through defiance of heaven.”
“Y-yes… of course. I didn’t hear anything. That just now was a joke. I’ll never tell anyone……”
With trembling lips, she forced an awkward smile and mimed sealing her mouth shut.
At the utterly pitiful sight, a sigh escaped me.
“Ha…”
“Hik!”
This was driving me insane.
