937——————==

True Martial Home

So you want me to teach you martial arts, huh?

I couldn’t help but feel that Dalma was being a bit absurd. So I asked back,

“It’s not hard to teach, but why…”

Usually, people learn martial arts to get stronger. But Dalma, well, he just looked human; in essence, he had transformed into a cosmic being, wielding divine power that could twist the world to his will. So rolling around in martial arts was totally pointless for him.

Then Dalma answered.

[That mysterious power exists in your world but not in ours… I want to explore its essence.]

“Umm… got it.”

Anyway, there was no real reason not to teach him, so I agreed without much thought.

First, I taught Dalma the method of gathering qi. It was all about manipulating breath and sometimes accumulating it. Listening to the theory, Dalma suddenly said,

[According to you, qi is widespread in this world. But why has the art of highly manipulating qi developed in your world and not here?]

“… I don’t know either.”

[Keep going…]

Then I proceeded to explain in detail how to accumulate qi and also told him about qi healing methods. However, after trying to feel the qi for a while, Dalma couldn’t feel a thing at all, and of course, he also couldn’t pull it into his dantian. He was completely clueless.

‘Does Dalma lack talent too?’

I tilted my head and tried to comfort Dalma by saying,

“Well, some people just can’t feel qi… But still, even if it takes time, anyone can awaken their qi in about a month or so.”

There’s no way someone with my level of expertise could fail to feel it. If it really came down to it, I could forcibly activate his senses using my internal power. I had mastered the martial arts theories that span thousands of years, so it wouldn’t be difficult.

[… Hmm… Baek Woong, wait.]

After a short while, Dalma called in his disciples. They had already been released from prison and were busy doing their own things. Moreover, they had heard about the exchange of bodies between me and the Divine Thief, so they looked at me without any strong caution. After gathering all his disciples, Dalma commanded me,

[I have marked my soul with the curse and transformed into this otherworldly form. Therefore, I may not be able to learn qi, so pass this technique to my disciples as well.]

“Umm… is that why?”

Maybe Dalma was right. I had hardly seen anyone among the otherworldly beings who was a master of martial arts. To make an exception, Asura from the Eight Parts of the Divine could be mentioned, but he was a very unique case, so it could be said that otherworldly beings generally don’t learn qi.

While Dalma was watching, I spent half a day passing martial arts knowledge to four of his disciples. The first to feel and activate their qi was Princess Ayuta. Within a single meal’s time after I taught her how to feel qi, she was already feeling her meridians.

‘She’s got some genius-level talent…’

With Princess Ayuta’s talent, I could foresee that she would achieve the level of a master in less than three years. The next one with talent was Hye Ga, who also possessed incredible sensitivity. Seong Jin, the prince of the destroyed kingdom, wasn’t exactly a genius, but he had decent skills. Finally, Huang Wu struggled quite a bit and just barely managed to feel the qi, showing talent comparable to that of an average person.

After passing on qi training over the course of half a day, Dalma, who was training next to me, suddenly said,

[I see… now I understand.]

“What do you mean you understand?”

[I realize that further practicing qi is pointless. Since I have fallen into the Demon Path, I can’t learn qi anymore.]

“… Aren’t you jumping to conclusions? It hasn’t even been a day yet.”

Dalma slowly continued,

[No. Until just now, I was observing the flow of qi from the abyss, honing my divine nature. And I felt that the fundamental essence forming qi rejects my essence. That power has qualities that repel the demon, as if yin and yang have divided…]

“……!!”

[That power is like a thread…]

I realized he was using the powers of the [Ruler] to measure the essence of qi. He had even managed to observe the primordial threads, the fundamental unit of qi.

[Very… impressive power. Amazing.]

Dalma murmured with a trembling voice. His body shook strongly, almost like he was moved. I couldn’t understand his heightened reaction and said,

“But no matter how much you master martial arts, defeating a demon king as a master of the Absolute Realm is still a tough task. For you, who have already reached the zenith of demon power, this shouldn’t blow your mind like that…”

[Huh… hmm… perhaps…? It could just be a simple difference in the absolute measure of power… Also… it might not be limited to Earth…]

As he rambled on, Dalma continued.

[Baek Woong… keep passing down martial arts. Help my disciples fully step into the path during the remaining time.]

“Got it. But… how long do I have to keep teaching martial arts here in the White Lotus Sect?”

I shouldered my training spear and asked,

“When the heck are we starting True Martial Home? Can’t you just tell me something?”

I really didn’t know the important details regarding Dalma’s True Martial Home plan and its timeline. The only thing I knew was that he would eventually handle it somehow. Even the disciples seemed unaware, which made my question evident. And then Dalma replied,

[You must have seen the Altar of Heavenly Darkness not long ago… The moment the essence of darkness gathers and condenses at that altar is when the plan will commence. At that time, I will start crafting the Dharma Technique, and you must oversee the ceremony.]

“Essence of darkness?”

[Indeed… The seeds I scattered across the world will gradually accelerate harvest time… Just wait, and soon the plan will unfold.]

“……”

I realized then that the Altar of Heavenly Darkness was crucial for creating the Non-Birth Mother’s Dharma Technique ritual.

‘So that’s what it was for…’

Back in the era of Master of the White Lotus Sect Dokgo Uncheon, the Dharma Technique had already been crafted and scattered, so there was no need to create a new one. But in this era, there was no Dharma Technique, and we had to start from scratch, which was going to take place at the Altar of Heavenly Darkness.

‘Hmm… so securing the Altar of Heavenly Darkness is also important from the next rebirth.’

I pondered and, remembering, I asked Dalma again.

“About that end-of-the-world story I heard before. What does it mean that the King of Terror will descend in the seventh month of 1999?”

[It’s just as it is… That is the prophecy of the end… Based on the day the Savior from the Western Regions is born, in the seventh month of 1999, the King of Terror will descend from the heavens… And the world’s destruction is originally the fate of this world.]

“What is the King of Terror?”

[It’s the meteor shower…]

“……”

Meteor shower?

At the unexpected revelation, I widened my eyes as Dalma continued.

[I have seen that future with the power of foresight… A massive swarm of meteors that sweep across this vast universe will pass near this planet… And due to the collision of these giant meteors, this planet will face tremendous natural disasters… While the developed Western civilization of that time will try to withstand it… they will ultimately be brought to ruin by a demon disease called Angolmois…]

“……”

[That disease was hidden within the meteor… Ultimately, it is the whim of this great universe that results in the extinction of all civilization… Following that, as the Evil God rises, the world will be cloaked in chaos once more, but in a situation where the world has already perished, it won’t have any meaning…]

“Are you kidding me?”

I murmured in disbelief. Then I said,

“You’re saying the world will end in 1999… but that can’t be right. [‘End’] and [‘Revelation’] happened at least several decades after that.”

That’s right.

When I traveled to the future during the time of [‘Revelation’], I received some knowledge about the future from Dr. Faust. They perished at least 40 years after 1999, and even then, the end-of-the-world theory of 1999 was proven to be mere ramblings of a prophet. But in this world, was the world already destroyed by then?

Suddenly, Dalma’s eyes sparkled.

[You speak as if you’ve witnessed the end firsthand…]

“……”

[However, even the cruel circumstances of the end I saw were trivial matters for the [Old Rulers]… Even if they avoided the rapture of 1999, once the Evil God manifests in the world, there was no way to prevent ruin… Thus they decided to aim for complete destruction instead.]

“Hmm.”

[Whether we face the inevitable end a thousand years from now or today… it doesn’t matter as long as it saves our souls.]

I started to understand Dalma’s mindset. If the circumstances made it impossible to escape, then pursuing the end makes sense. Unlike us, they didn’t have the option of a [grace period]. But I grit my teeth and said to Dalma,

“… But then, do you have to sacrifice 100 million souls?”

[You must. Without such a price, I can’t create the Dharma Technique.]

“Stop! You don’t have the right to offer their souls!”

That’s the problem.

Even if I wanted to cooperate with Dalma, the methodology continually unsettled me!

Dalma would surely use the dark power he instilled into the puppet emperor So Yeon to unify the world and then establish an empire with over 100 million subjects. And once the empire is formed, he would begin a plan for the human sacrifice of 100 million souls. That was nothing short of a terrible massacre and a path of inhumanity.

As I grabbed Dalma by the collar, he didn’t shake off my grip. Instead, he stared back at me with eyes blazing.

[Then what do you propose I sacrifice to create the Dharma Technique? If my life alone would suffice, I would set myself ablaze and offer it. But that immense demonic ritual involves even 100 million lives at a minimum; ultimately, everything has to be sacrificed.]

“So the sacrifice of humans itself…”

[Don’t spout fanciful tales. Do you have a backup plan to save our world other than this method?]

“……”

[You probably don’t. That’s why you crossed over to this outer universe…]

As I slowly released my grip on Dalma’s collar, he continued.

[If you can offer something that can replace 100 million lives, I’ll listen to you… However, if you ultimately oppose this, I will have no choice but to kill you.]

Whoosh!

Dalma vanished the moment he finished speaking. Only I and Dalma’s disciples remained in the hall.

An uncertain silence fell, and from the back, as Hye Ga observed everything, he brought his palms together and spoke.

“Amitabha.”

“……”

“Life is repaid with life at its core. We in the White Lotus Sect understand that pursuing an end is an evil act that cannot be forgiven. Not just our master Dalma, but we all know it…”

Hye Ga opened his eyes halfway and continued speaking.

“Yet… even so, all of us genuinely wish for the world to perish. Since the day our master imparted his teachings until today, we have wished for it continuously.”

“… Really?”

“Yes.”

I glared at them and shouted.

“Are you out of your minds?! Do you even know what death is?! Do you?! No matter how prepared you are, you can never simply accept death! No matter how hard you try to steel your heart, when it’s time to die, it’s just infuriating! You want to force that on 100 million people?!”

“Amitabha.”

“Can you really call that your true sincerity?! Or are you just intoxicated with yourselves?!”

In the wake of my outburst, Hye Ga briskly replied.

“That is true. We are indeed intoxicated with ourselves. We lack the courage and insight to face the true world. We desire to abandon everything and embrace the end, but we also understand that it is difficult for a human mind to reach that state.”

“……”

“Nevertheless, we genuinely wish for the world to perish… because we believe there will be a [next world].”

“What?”

What on earth does that mean?

In response to my question, Hye Ga smiled benevolently.

“Life is suffering… even if life is torment, it is not everything. Our sins cannot be repaid even in the hell of no return, but can they compare to the innocent souls tormented for eons by the [Old Rulers]? We hope for the world to be purified and reborn into a better realm.”

“… What nonsense.”

“You can call it madness. But are we the only ones insane in this world?”

Hye Ga looked at me with serious eyes.

“Perhaps you too live entangled in unending agony and have already lost your mind…”

“……”

I couldn’t figure out what to respond.

Maybe the madness thing was true, but it was Hye Ga’s other words that left me astounded.

A better world.

‘Could they think there’s a [next] after the True Martial Home?’

There’s no way.

After the universe’s [Revelation], everything but the throne had been swept away, and even the [Old Rulers] were obliterated—which I saw with my own eyes. Anyone who witnessed that wouldn’t think there would be a [next].

Wait…?

Suddenly, I caught on to something.

Organizing my thoughts, I nodded.

“… That could be true. Let’s focus on martial arts training for now.”

“Understood.”

I started teaching martial arts to Dalma’s disciples once more. It wasn’t because I was okay with the sacrifice of 100 million lives; I had genuinely come up with a good idea.

About a month passed.

I successfully passed on considerable martial arts skills to the four disciples. Despite having only trained for a month, Ayuta and Hye Ga demonstrated the prowess of second-rate warriors. By this point, I thought my martial arts training was going well, so I went to find Dalma.

“Dalma.”

[What is it…?]

I told him.

“I found a way to succeed in your ritual without sacrificing 100 million lives.”