Chapter 329 : Truth and Memories (2)
Chapter 329: Truth and Memories (2)
Jang Woo-hyun regained his composure and looked back at Kim Min-soo.
Kim Min-soo was briefly surprised to see that his expression remained unchanged from before, but the surprise lasted only a moment.
"Junior... you're stronger than I am."
"Senior Kim, all the truth is inside that sphere of light, isn't it?"
Kim Min-soo nodded.
"That is the memories and record left behind by Lee Tae-seong. Everything is contained within it. Even our fate."
Jang Woo-hyun stared at the sphere of light for a moment before turning away.
There was something he needed to resolve before touching the memories left behind by the True Martial God.
His gaze fell upon Kim Min-soo.
His eyes were vacant, his body slumped.
He was quietly chuckling to himself, yet there wasn't a trace of vitality in that laughter.
Rather than a living person, he resembled a corpse that had somehow begun moving.
Having lost all light, he stood in stark contrast to Jang Woo-hyun, whose eyes had regained their brilliance.
'This feels similar to back then.'
Once, he had been the one in Kim Min-soo's position.
Before Ascending.
Jang Woo-hyun, who had once helped others, had lost his own way.
Meanwhile, Yang Hyo-myeong, whom he had helped, had confidently continued forward.
'This time... I'm the one taking Pavilion Master Yang's role.'
Life truly came full circle.
He had found himself in a remarkably similar situation.
'Just as I found my way again...'
He had to help Kim Min-soo.
Jang Woo-hyun had regained his bearings thanks to Zhang Sanfeng and Lü Dongbin.
However, what they had said had merely been the beginning.
In truth, it was the companions he had met and the bonds he had forged along the way that had truly saved him.
Kim Min-soo also had bonds.
Today was the first time Jang Woo-hyun had met the original Kim Min-soo.
Until now, he had only met his Projections, so he knew little about the people connected to him.
In truth, Kim Min-soo had abandoned his own life and chosen sacrifice.
He had walked a path different from Jang Woo-hyun's.
Even so...
There were still people precious to him.
Jang Woo-hyun himself owed him an immeasurable debt.
Just as Jin Ha-un had chased after Jang Woo-hyun...
Jang Woo-hyun had spent all this time chasing after Kim Min-soo.
'I Ascended and made it this far because I followed Senior Kim.'
Whatever Kim Min-soo thought of himself...
To Jang Woo-hyun, he was another companion.
A benefactor.
A master.
And a brother.
After countless years...
Jang Woo-hyun finally stood before him.
Just as Yang Hyo-myeong had once spoken honestly to him...
Now it was Jang Woo-hyun's turn to express his gratitude.
It resembled a martial artist standing on an empty street before dawn...
Thanking the benefactor who had lost his light.
Still kneeling on one knee, Jang Woo-hyun cupped his fists.
Before him stood a man who had severed contact with all his Projections...
And abandoned everything.
"I am Jang Woo-hyun of the Immortal-Slaying Division of the Central Heavens Martial World."
Steadying his voice, he introduced himself.
Kim Min-soo's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected gesture.
"Thanks to the help of the Great Hero, the Gyoma Divine Sword Hero, Kim Min-soo, I was able to come all the way here from the Lower Realm."
Had he never found the Gyoma Divine Art...
Had he never met Kim Min-soo's Projection on the Dawn Continent...
The Jang Woo-hyun of today would never have existed.
"I have received a kindness that I could never repay, even in a lifetime. Thank you, Great Hero Kim!"
He lowered his head in gratitude.
It was the highest praise Jang Woo-hyun could possibly offer.
Light briefly returned to Kim Min-soo's vacant eyes.
Only for a moment.
He still had no will to live.
He had already abandoned everything.
Though he flinched slightly...
Nothing truly changed.
Jang Woo-hyun had never expected Kim Min-soo to recover so easily.
Nor did he intend to give up.
After all...
He wasn't the only bond Kim Min-soo still possessed.
'His Projection told me too.'
If he ever found the original Kim Min-soo shut away like a complete recluse...
He was supposed to mention that person's name.
Jang Woo-hyun reached forward and grabbed both of Kim Min-soo's shoulders.
Keeping his grip, he stood up.
"What are you..."
Kim Min-soo was forcibly pulled to his feet.
Holding him upright, Jang Woo-hyun spoke.
"Senior Kim. Think about the people connected to you."
"My bonds? Did I even have any?"
"Senior Im is waiting for you."
"Senior Im? Who..."
"Senior Im Gwan-hwa of the Five Wheels Five Elements Cult."
"...Gwan-hwa."
A faint glimmer returned to his lifeless eyes.
The bond that had once taken hold of Kim Min-soo's hand...
Once again gave him the will to live.
"She's still waiting for you."
The emotion that returned to his eyes was different from before.
Not sorrow.
Not emptiness.
It was longing...
And anxiety.
"She's... still waiting... for me..."
"She still keeps the note you gave her."
"...Gwan-hwa..."
Perhaps it had worked.
Even after Jang Woo-hyun released his shoulders...
Kim Min-soo remained standing on his own.
"Just like you told me before—return to the Central Heavens Martial World and live your own life."
"What?"
"No... just wait here for a while."
"...What are you planning to do?"
Jang Woo-hyun nodded toward the sphere of light behind him.
"I'll settle that."
His voice was firm.
"I'll see everything with my own eyes. Senior Kim, you've done enough. Rest now. I'll take care of everything."
"That's the True Martial God Lee Tae-seong—"
"That's enough. I'll see it myself. Senior Kim... you can rest now."
"..."
Unlike before, some light had returned to Kim Min-soo's eyes.
Yet they trembled.
His body seemed ready to sink back into despair.
"Senior Kim!"
Jang Woo-hyun shouted.
Kim Min-soo, who had been about to collapse, froze in surprise.
"If you're going to give up, then do it after I come back."
"It won't matter anyway—"
"Don't worry. I'll handle everything. Didn't I tell you the second time we met? Senior Kim... you know the Six Heavenly Sovereigns, right?"
Kim Min-soo nodded.
Of course he did.
Even during his own era, the Six Heavenly Sovereigns had been the absolute rulers of the Central Heavens Martial World.
"The information you know is outdated. Two of those positions have changed."
Jang Woo-hyun smiled faintly.
In that instant...
The atmosphere around them completely changed.
It felt as though space itself had been pushed aside.
The presence emanating from Jang Woo-hyun surpassed mere confidence.
It was absolute.
"I'm one of them."
"...What?!"
"I'm one of the Six Heavenly Sovereigns. So don't worry anymore. I'll take care of everything. If someone says your life has no meaning, I'll find them. If anyone bullies you, Senior Kim... I'll deal with them. Well then, I'm off."
"W-Wait... Junior. Wait."
Jang Woo-hyun gave Kim Min-soo a slight bow in farewell.
Then he summoned Baekmu.
Without another word...
He reached toward the sphere of light.
'A meaningless life? A puppet?'
Not at all.
Kim Min-soo had sacrificed himself to prepare everything.
If he had truly been nothing more than a puppet...
A mere weapon...
He never would have done any of this.
'He would've fought those cultivators until the day he died.'
The sphere of light flooded everything around Jang Woo-hyun with brilliant radiance...
And guided him into another world.
'Let's see what kind of bastard tormented Senior Kim.'
With that final thought...
Jang Woo-hyun witnessed the memory that might have been the beginning of everything.
The sphere of light showed him the memories of a single man.
'The True Martial God... Lee Tae-seong.'
Even without any explanation...
Jang Woo-hyun instantly recognized whose memories they were.
Just as expected...
Lee Tae-seong had been an Earthling who suddenly fell into this world.
After crossing dimensions into one of the Lower Realms where the Murim existed...
He wandered aimlessly before being captured by river bandits near a riverside.
For several months, unable to understand the language, he was beaten daily while being forced to work.
Then, by chance...
A martial artist passed by the bandits' stronghold.
"Hoho... Why do you treat another person this way?"
The Azure Sky Great Hero.
A righteous martial artist renowned for his integrity.
His martial arts were equally formidable, earning him a place among the Ten Great Experts of the Murim.
The Azure Sky Great Hero exterminated the river bandits and rescued everyone they had imprisoned.
Lee Tae-seong was among them.
"Please save me! Sir, please help me!"
Desperate to survive, Lee Tae-seong clung to him.
"I can't understand what you're saying. Are you not from the Central Plains?"
Intrigued by the strange language and Lee Tae-seong's desperate circumstances...
The Azure Sky Great Hero accepted him as his disciple.
Afterward...
While traveling the Jianghu together...
Lee Tae-seong learned the language, writing, and martial arts from his master.
Watching the relationship between master and disciple unfold...
Jang Woo-hyun estimated the Azure Sky Great Hero's strength.
'Around the beginning of the Transcendent Realm?'
He was supposedly one of the Ten Great Experts.
Yet his level wasn't especially high.
It seemed that the martial artists of that world were generally much weaker.
'There aren't any Absolute Masters.'
Just as expected...
Even the strongest righteous expert had only reached around the middle stage of the Transcendent Realm.
That explained how the Azure Sky Great Hero could rank among the Ten Great Experts.
From then on...
Lee Tae-seong's life became completely different from the miserable days he had endured under the river bandits.
He spent happy days together with his master and fellow disciples...
Like a true family.
Then one day...
Lee Tae-seong discovered the truth about the world he had fallen into.
"Monsters..."
One of his arms had been severed.
As his fading vision looked toward the sky...
He saw them.
People riding enormous swords...
And tiny boats.
Existences so powerful that even the Azure Sky Great Hero stood no chance against them.
Because of them...
His peaceful yet happy life was destroyed.
His master and fellow disciples were massacred.
Lee Tae-seong himself lay dying.
He immediately recognized what those monsters truly were.
"Cultivators..."
The world he had fallen into...
Wasn't a Martial World.
It was a Cultivation World.
One blue-eyed cultivator floating in the sky casually waved his hand.
And with that...
Everything ended.
The world Jang Woo-hyun was watching suddenly turned black.
When Lee Tae-seong opened his eyes again...
He found himself somewhere familiar.
It was the filthy, run-down prison where he had once been confined.
Jang Woo-hyun immediately understood what had happened.
'A Regressor.'
Just as expected...
Lee Tae-seong had not lived only one life.
Soon...
His second life began.
"I... regressed?"
At first, Lee Tae-seong couldn't comprehend what had happened.
But as time passed...
He accepted it.
'If dimensional travel exists... then regression isn't impossible either.'
Besides...
He had come from Earth.
Stories like this were common in novels.
"So this is my ability."
He quickly organized his thoughts.
There was no time to hesitate.
There was something he had to do.
'Find those cultivators.'
The ones who had suddenly appeared...
And slaughtered his master and fellow disciples.
Since he had been given another chance...
He intended to take revenge.
Lee Tae-seong secretly trained in martial arts while avoiding the river bandits' attention.
The bandits were weak.
Once the opportunity came...
He planned to kill them.
However...
Things didn't unfold as he had hoped.
"So you've learned martial arts."
Unlike his previous life...
A master from the Unorthodox Faction who happened to visit the stronghold noticed him.
"Will you die by my hand here... or will you come with me?"
There was no choice.
Lee Tae-seong had no option but to follow the Unorthodox master, Gong Ya-jeong.
Afterward...
He learned martial arts under Gong Ya-jeong.
But he never called him Master.
From the beginning...
Gong Ya-jeong had only taken him in for his own purposes.
"Hehehe... My thirteenth disciple. You'll become an enormous help to my future."
Once Lee Tae-seong had accumulated a respectable amount of internal energy...
Gong Ya-jeong attempted to absorb it.
As someone who cultivated an Absorption Art...
He had viewed Lee Tae-seong as prey from the very beginning.
Lee Tae-seong couldn't resist him.
He was captured...
And his internal energy was stolen.
But then...
Something unexpected happened.
"Y-You brat! What trick have you pulled?!"
As Gong Ya-jeong absorbed his internal energy...
The internal cultivation method originally taught by the Azure Sky Great Hero caused a violent backlash.
Gong Ya-jeong suffered devastating internal injuries.
Instead...
His own internal energy poured into Lee Tae-seong.
Their positions instantly reversed.
Without missing the opportunity...
Lee Tae-seong killed Gong Ya-jeong.
That day...
He slew a master of the Unorthodox Faction.
He also obtained an enormous amount of internal energy...
Along with the Absorption Art.
"This worked out even better."
He had wanted to become stronger as quickly as possible.
Now...
A new opportunity had presented itself.
After obtaining the Absorption Art...
Lee Tae-seong wandered throughout the Murim.
He punished evil men...
Absorbing their internal energy.
Then...
By chance...
He killed the son of a major leader of the Unorthodox Faction.
Naturally...
That leader hunted him down...
And severed his head.
Once again...
The world before Jang Woo-hyun vanished.
Lee Tae-seong awoke inside another familiar old wooden building.
"So... it doesn't end after one regression."
Second Regression.
He remained dazed for an entire day.
Then...
He began his new life.
Using the Absorption Art...
He grew far faster than before.
Though he initially possessed only a tiny amount of internal energy...
He subdued the river bandits.
Unlike before...
He destroyed their stronghold before fate could twist events against him.
He entered the Jianghu again.
He trained.
Captured evil men.
Absorbed their internal energy.
The beginning went smoothly.
But as time passed...
Everything became increasingly difficult.
The limits of his talent arrived much sooner than expected.
At first...
His previous life's experience combined with the Absorption Art allowed him to improve rapidly.
But eventually...
His growth slowed dramatically.
Lacking sufficient strength...
Whenever he encountered truly powerful opponents...
He inevitably died.
Third Regression.
Fourth Regression.
Fifth Regression.
His regressions continued endlessly.
Lee Tae-seong's soul...
And mind...
Gradually wore away.
His motivation faded.
Even his goal became unclear.
Sixth Regression.
This time...
He no longer used the Absorption Art only on evil men.
He used it against every martial artist who challenged him.
He wanted strength...
No matter what.
As he desperately struggled...
He became branded Public Enemy of the Murim.
Then one day...
He met the person who had come to eliminate him.
His own master.
The Azure Sky Great Hero.
"...I'm sorry."
This wasn't how things were supposed to be.
Ashamed of how he had slowly become a monster after losing sight of his purpose...
Lee Tae-seong wept.
The Azure Sky Great Hero, unable to understand the circumstances...
Couldn't comprehend those tears.
"Even if a Demonic Head repents now... what difference would it make?"
The Azure Sky Great Hero and his fellow disciples attacked...
To eliminate the Murim's Public Enemy.
As their attacks struck him...
Lee Tae-seong laughed...
While crying.
Thus...
His seventh life...
The Sixth Regression...
Came to an end.
Seventh Regression.
Perhaps because he had met his master and fellow disciples once more...
Lee Tae-seong firmly reaffirmed his goal.
"I'll kill those cultivators."
The fading flames of vengeance blazed anew.
He could not continue living beneath the same sky...
As those who had crushed his master and fellow disciples like insects.
Resolving himself once more...
Lee Tae-seong resumed training.
His talent might have been lacking.
But he possessed an extraordinary ability.
By this point...
Lee Tae-seong had also realized something.
His regressions...
Were not temporary.
They were infinite.
And beginning with his seventh regression...
He started behaving strangely.
"The Azure Clarity Divine Art is a Divine Art that simultaneously cultivates both the Lower Dantian and Upper Dantian."
"The Life-Severing Sword Art, obtained after killing the Unorthodox master known as the Life-Reaping Wanderer, is widely known as a Fast Sword technique."
"The method behind the Absorption Art isn't difficult. You send your own internal energy into the opponent's body and draw out theirs."
As though recording something...
Or perhaps explaining it to someone...
He periodically organized and described every martial art he learned.
Naturally...
Jang Woo-hyun watched every single technique.
And there was something even stranger.
'Is this really Lee Tae-seong's memory?'
He had assumed these were Lee Tae-seong's memories.
Yet something about the perspective felt wrong.
If these truly were Lee Tae-seong's memories...
Everything should have unfolded through his own eyes.
Instead...
Jang Woo-hyun was watching Lee Tae-seong from the perspective of a third party.
Even more strangely...
He could move his own hands and feet...
Following along with every martial art Lee Tae-seong demonstrated.
It felt less like observing someone's memories...
And more like wandering through a world recreated from those memories as a wandering soul.
'What is this?'
For something supposedly showing memories...
It was far too strange.