830——————==

True Martial Home

The moment the Reincarnation Cannon was fired.

Whooosh

The entire world turned a shade of gray. At the same time, I realized that everything I was seeing was freezing in place—everything from the stars to minor details was completely still. Nevertheless, I was still able to think and process what was happening in front of me.

‘Time has stopped…?’

I’ve seen the Time Stop ability before. It’s an ability used by the Ultimate Portrait Immortal, and it gave me a hard time on multiple occasions. Because of that, I thought perhaps the Portrait Immortal had appeared right here, but since my vision was locked and I could only think, I couldn’t figure anything out.

Where is the Portrait Immortal?

I waited a long time, but there were no signs of anything appearing. Time passed as if I had taken five thousand breaths, yet nothing changed. I was starting to get bored and decided to muster my strength to try and move. But my Qi didn’t budge, and my intent wouldn’t work either. It definitely seemed like all movement was sealed.

‘Uh… Was this the doing of the Portrait Immortal?’

Did Yulju seal me?

No… that’s not it. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be the only one who could think clearly in this frozen time.

‘Could it be that Yulju is in the same state as me…?’

I had that glimmer of hope, but there was nothing I could do. I just couldn’t tell from the outside. Even so, I sensed I had to move somehow, and I focused all my willpower to try and shift my body.

……

Creak

Had about half a day passed? After exerting myself greatly, I finally managed to move a single finger. I couldn’t tell if it was the result of my effort or if my condition was gradually lifting. Regardless, I decided to keep trying to move.

About another day passed before I could move my arm. As I grew increasingly able to move my body, hopeful thoughts danced in my mind. If I continued like this, I would soon be able to move my entire body.

And sure enough, after about two days, I regained full control of my body. I still couldn’t take a step, but at least all of me was under my command. I glanced at Yulju and Unsa, but they still showed no signs of movement. Taking advantage of that moment, I tried to kill Yulju with a Sword Flying Technique using my intent.

Thwack

“……”

My attack only grazed his skin, as if hitting an invisible wall. Yulju didn’t seem to have created any defensive barrier, which was strange. I tried to enhance my Sword Strength, but I still couldn’t cause him any harm. It was the same for Unsa, leaving me utterly baffled.

‘Damn it… What in the world is going on?’

I fired the Heavenly Secret at Taheo, so why is this happening?

At least, I was fortunate to realize that I could still move.

I contemplated suicide for a moment in this situation, but I felt that it wasn’t the right time. Dying without knowing what happened would be too great a loss. Since I had come this far, it seemed I should gather everything I could before dying to avoid any regrets. Hence, I clung to life.

Ugh

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, I felt a wave of pain wash over me, causing me to open my eyes wide. A dull yet stabbing pain assaulted my shoulder and lungs. It wasn’t unbearable, but the problem was that the pain persisted continuously. I much preferred sharp, intense pain over this kind of nagging sensation, which was one of the most annoying kinds for me.

‘Is the pain feeling prolonged because time is slow…?’

In any case, it would get better soon. I practiced my Breathing Technique and Meditation to steady my body. Though I felt utterly exhausted from the wounds I received from Ha Eun-cheon, I could enhance my life force by boosting my Qi, allowing for a degree of instant healing from my injuries. As I pressed my blood to revitalize myself, I seemed to recover slightly.

Step

A while later, I realized I could walk. It still felt as if I had lead weights on my feet, but that sensation gradually grew lighter, almost as if I were getting used to the heavy pressure. I approached Yulju and tried to attack once more, but once again, I couldn’t touch him.

Why can’t I make contact?

I was puzzled, but I also started to notice my growing lightness. If I couldn’t take down Yulju or Unsa, there was no point in wasting energy attacking. I slowly walked over to the Heavenly Secret and picked up a book.

Boom

“……!!”

A resonance echoed throughout the interior of the Heavenly Secret. It felt like it was announcing something, and I had the sense that the Heavenly Secret was welcoming something. In that moment, I felt utterly ridiculous.

‘It’s welcoming something? What could it be? How do I even know this?’

The Heavenly Secret was truly something strange. I couldn’t logically understand my current situation, but I instinctively felt that the Heavenly Secret was the cause. And I pondered what kind of existence the Heavenly Secret was welcoming.

An entity the Heavenly Secret welcomes.

It was something that suited the purpose of the Heavenly Secret.

“……”

That means, in this frozen space, there are other beings that can move alongside me…?

Because it felt like this resonance was not welcoming ‘me.’ It felt instinctively like it welcomed something ‘other.’

‘Damn it… What’s going on?’

Boom!!

At that moment, the Heavenly Secret in my hand emitted an intangible wave. I could tell that wave was directed somewhere, and I even clearly understood the direction. Although it was invisible, I felt guided to where I needed to go.

I don’t want to go.

What’s waiting for me at the end of this path…?

But at the same time, I understood that if I didn’t respond to the Heavenly Secret’s calling, this situation wouldn’t change. It was highly likely that the Heavenly Secret was the one who created this space.

I looked at the Heavenly Secret with a hint of fear.

‘This thing is alive. It has its own will.’

I hadn’t really felt this until now, but ever since Chi You was devoured, I could sense that truth clearly. Something sinister and alien, unlike any living being, was controlling the Heavenly Secret, and that same will was trying to control me.

Suddenly, Zhuge Sa’s words floated into my mind.

[Listen closely. Although the Law of Cause and Effect will persist when you are reincarnated, do you know why the Divine Status connected to you was established?]

[… In fact, at this feasible point, it can be said that it is the strongest Grimoire.]

In my 23rd life, after liberating Gong Gong, I had discussed the Heavenly Secret’s power with Zhuge Sa. At that time, when he told me the Heavenly Secret was the strongest Grimoire, I felt a pang of curiosity and asked.

[Is there really no Grimoire as powerful as the Heavenly Secret in this world?]

[Of course. No such Grimoire can exist.]

[That’s a pretty definitive statement.]

[If I didn’t make definitive statements, I wouldn’t be called a Demon Sorcerer, right? The abilities of the Heavenly Secret transcend my knowledge of sorcery and common sense. Even if it were a god, upon realizing the Heavenly Secret’s capabilities, it would be enveloped in awe. No Grimoire in the entire universe can compare to the Heavenly Secret.]

[But you mentioned there are some that can destroy continents or bestow godly powers with just reading… So why doesn’t the Heavenly Secret grant such abilities?]

When I grumbled about this, Zhuge Sa retorted.

[Of course, there are some. In this universe, the top-tier Grimoires can possess abilities that surpass the Heavenly Secret’s power at a glance. But do you know the common trait they all share?]

[What is it?]

[They have a self-awareness. Some were originally former Old Rulers sealed and turned into Grimoires. And as long as they possess self-awareness, utilizing those Grimoires properly is impossible, leading only to the user’s demise. There have been instances where a powerful race roaming the galaxy was destroyed because of one Grimoire.]

[……]

[The Heavenly Secret is more powerful than all the Grimoires in this world combined. So, it’s certain that the Heavenly Secret possesses self-awareness. And when you confront that self…]

[Shit.]

[Well, until that time, let’s just try to do our best.]

Right… Zhuge Sa wanted to hasten my reincarnation process for such reasons. If some entity is manipulating the Heavenly Secret, or if the self-awareness of the Heavenly Secret awakens, it would likely bring great ruin upon me as its user, hence the urgency to wrap things up quickly.

Could it be that the day I confront the self-awareness of the Heavenly Secret has really come?

“Shit…”

Yet, even as I cursed, I had no choice but to walk. Life is full of miserable occurrences, and countless things don’t go the way you want. If I were to moan and squirm over every little trouble, I wouldn’t survive. All I can do is what I can do; I can’t do what I can’t. Even if I reach the end and face destruction, for now, I’ll just keep walking.

With tension, I headed toward the place the wave guided me. After about fifty paces, the internal structure of the Old Continent caught my eye. Walls made of mysterious crystals were everywhere, and beyond them were countless unknown machines. The time might be frozen, so they weren’t moving, but they certainly didn’t seem to belong to the technological level of the current age.

‘Those must be technologies of the future.’

For now, I’d at least examine their appearance.

I glanced curiously at the space beyond the walls and continued walking. After another hundred paces, I spotted someone standing in front of a large crystalline door. The person wore a big straw hat that concealed their face. However, they were roughly my height, with a long saber strapped around their waist. They were draped in a worn cloak, and a red scarf adorned their neck.

They didn’t move at all.

Could it be that the wave led me to this person?

I couldn’t tell if they could move in this space, as they stood completely still.

‘Let’s try attacking.’

So I decided to test it out and launched my Sword Flying Technique aiming for their neck. The sword sliced through the air at an unbelievable speed, attempting to stab through the neck of the being before me.

“……”

Was that a trick of the light, or did the hat-wearing figure’s eyes briefly flicker?

Slash

In that instant, the impression of the New Moon etched itself in my mind.

‘I can avoid it…’

It wasn’t completely unassailable. The opponent wasn’t such an overwhelming expert. I reflexively executed the Three Treasure Technique to dodge their attack while countering with my Sword Qi.

Clash…

Then something unbelievable happened. As the New Moon whirled past, my water spirit was cleaved in half. It was sliced so cleanly that the cross-section was almost see-through.

Huh?

The Seven Luminaries was cut in two?!

There’s no way!

This can’t be real…

No matter how strong the opponent I had faced, not once had my weapon been destroyed, even if the user perished. Even when fighting the Three Sovereigns, that had been the case. The Seven Luminaries was among the strongest weapons in the world, impossible to break or slice.

Yet it had truly happened.

Whoosh

Simultaneously, I felt the First Character vanish into thin air, and the strings of the Law of Cause and Effect connecting to my water spirit snapped entirely. It was bizarre, but it felt like something beyond just the weapon’s destruction; it felt like the Law of Cause and Effect itself was severed.

What the hell is that guy?!

What followed was even more outrageous. The figure in the hat raised their longsword horizontally, and suddenly, blood gushed from their arm, exploding from their entire forearm due to hundreds of lacerations!

Boom!

Moments later, one of their arms blew off and rolled on the ground.

What’s up with that?! A self-inflicted injury from their own martial arts? I stared at them in disbelief, but the figure clutched their shoulder and swung their sword again with the uninjured arm. At that moment, a transparent fissure appeared in the air, and I noticed the immense spatial pressure that had been crushing my entire body dissipate at an astonishing speed.

Boom Boom Boom

The space-time was swirling chaotically. Dimensional distortions twisted everywhere. Within that chaos, I could see the figure in the hat begin to disappear, as if ink were washing away in the space surrounding them. The figure licked their lips.

Not far now.

I felt their gaze boring into me with a fearsome intensity. It felt predatory, like the malice of a beast. As their body completely vanished, I sensed time begin to move again and felt a thrill rush through me. It was as if a tangled thread was unraveling.

“……”

I stood frozen in place.

In that moment, a scorching heat radiated from my left. As I turned my eyes, I saw utter devastation threatening to consume everything before me. I quickly pieced together the situation.

Could it be that the wave from the Heavenly Secret and Taheo has finally exploded?!

‘Ugh! Just a moment of respite…’

I moved swiftly to evade the heat, but in an instant, I felt that devastation engulf the space where I had been standing.

‘Am I going to die?!’

Boom!!

Just as the destructive heat enveloped my body, I felt death approaching. Yet, death didn’t come, and my vision was immersed in a dazzling array of colors, feeling as if I were being sucked into the oblivion of the Old Continent.

Eventually, I sensed I was swimming through a complete Sea of Chaos. It felt similar to the universe space I had seen in Dark Heaven Village, except here, there seemed to be no physical laws governing it; I had no worries about breathing. It was more like I was gliding through soft, warm water.

Whooooooo

And in the far-off cosmos, I caught faint glimpses of pale, dark shadows dancing and singing, revolving around a single axis. I spotted a massive seat that seemed familiar. There stood a humanoid figure nearby, but I couldn’t discern its appearance.

While I caught sight of that figure, I began to pass through a curved space-time that had darkened.

It was truly limitless.

‘Ahhh…’

A space surpassing a billion-fold beyond what humans could conceive— that was the feeling I got as I traversed through the distortion. I couldn’t even grasp what I was experiencing.

Whooooosh!!

Bang

I fell on my backside, bouncing up like a spring. Quickly surveying my surroundings, I found myself in a dense forest. As I looked around, a middle-aged Western man appeared. When our eyes met, he wore a bewildered expression.

The Western man seemed to stutter for a bit before realizing his words weren’t registering with me. He handed me a small mechanical device, and I recognized it from my past memories.

‘Right. This is…’

It was the translator device that Miyamoto Musashi had mentioned receiving from Ha Eun-cheon.

As I plugged the translator into my ear, a voice spoke shortly after.

“Who are you? What happened just ten seconds after General Ha Eun-cheon crossed the wall of the multiverse…”

It was a language I had never heard before, yet it immediately made sense to me. I realized it was translating automatically.

“……”

I recognized the man’s face well. It was the face Ha Eun-cheon had directly shown me back in the Old Continent. I spoke with a trembling voice.

“Dr. Faust?”

He nodded affirmatively.

“That’s right. You seem to be of Eastern descent. Did General Ha Eun-cheon manage to cross the wall of the multiverse again? What is your relation with him?”

“……”

I nervously asked.

“Could it be that the End has come?”

“Why do you speak of it as if it’s someone else’s problem? Humanity has been extinct for quite some time.”

“But you’re alive!”

“Does this look like living to you?”

Zzt

Dr. Faust’s image flickered and shimmered. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to have been an intricately crafted illusion, implying he had no physical form. Dr. Faust continued speaking.

“As you can see, my body has already perished at the hands of an Old Ruler, but with the help of a strong AI, my consciousness has been reconstructed.”

“……”

“It’s truly puzzling. Who exactly are you? How can you even speak archaic Chinese?”

I couldn’t respond.

‘Have I crossed over into the multiverse…?’

There’s no doubt about it.

Whatever it was, I had somehow arrived in a world that was similar to the one Ha Eun-cheon entered—a world after the extinction of humanity.