Chapter 418: Face-to-Face (3)

Burururu—

At the shape of the Head Realm and the positions of the worlds surrounding it, I shiver and clear my mind.

'There's nothing I can figure out right now.'

I need to stay alert, but I shouldn't keep thinking about it.

The more I think about it, the more the attraction force builds up, and if that happens, who knows what kind of entity might peek into my mind.

"...Thank you for the valuable information."

[Alright, then be on your way.]

After Sacred Master Baek Woon fully releases the acceleration on my consciousness, I feel that she has granted me permission to return at any time.

I speak to her,

"May I come back later to resolve some questions?"

[Hmm...]

She ponders for a moment before replying.

[If you want to meet with me alone before reaching the Star Shattering stage, at least stabilize those disasters first.]

'She must be talking about the Mad Lord and Kang Min-hee.'

I nod after considering for a moment.

"...Understood. I will try my best."

[Good. Then, let us meet again later...]

Woo-woong—

With those words, my consciousness quickly returns from the Heavenly Lotus Mountain where Sacred Master Baek Woon resides.

Tststststststss—

When I open my eyes, I find myself back in the same situation.

Kugugugugu!

Yin energy is overflowing, and Kang Min-hee is descending.

'If Jeon Myeong-hoon and Kim Young-hoon combine their strength, they can reach a speed close to the Star Shattering stage.'

The rest of my comrades are also capable of each handling their own parts.

Moreover, considering that Sacred Master Baek Woon has verified my weight class as being on the level of the Star Shattering stage, I should be able to at least buy some time against Kang Min-hee who is descending now.

Surung—

I draw out the Colorless Glass Sword from the void through my domain and move forward to join my comrades.

Kururung—

Dark clouds cover the sky, and from their center, space begins to distort as a gray sphere starts to appear.

A phenomenon where the outskirts of the Netherworld is being forcibly overlaid onto reality.

But that isn't the end.

Kuuuung—

Is it the sound of a rifle being fired?

The sound of a grenade exploding?

Or the sound of a mountain being blown away by a spell?

A similar explosion echoes from deep within.

Kuuuung—

But instinctively, I realize that this isn't just any ordinary explosion—it's a 'heartbeat.'

Yes, this is the sound of someone's heartbeat.

Kuuung—

With the third heartbeat, the gray sphere turns black.

Tsschaaa—

Black smoke pours out from the darkened sphere.

And the sight makes the hair on my body stand on end.

'Crazy.'

What looks like smoke is actually tiny specks of dust.

And each of those specks are at least a Qi Building level ghost.

Kuuung—

The fourth heartbeat echoes.

The sphere begins to crack, and I feel something trying to burst out from inside.

I speak with a hardened expression.

"Young-hoon Hyung-nim. Jeon Myeong-hoon. Everyone, head to the Nether Crossing Ship now."

It seems I underestimated the situation.

I assumed that the Kang Min-hee of the Star Shattering stage we are about to face is the same Kang Min-hee I had encountered in the previous 18th cycle with Seo Li.

The Kang Min-hee of that time had only just reached the Star Shattering stage, and she felt about the same level as I am now.

The most overwhelming Kang Min-hee I ever encountered is the one from a thousand years in the future.

The bonafide Star Shattering stage Kang Min-hee was so terrifying that Jang Ik had to personally confront the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother.

Therefore, even though we are not yet a thousand years into the future, but only about 500 years later, the current situation...

It seems I had been under the delusion that I could possibly face Kang Min-hee.

"What do you mean, Eun-hyun? How can we abandon our comrade?"

"We can each pull our own weight..."

"I said go now!!!"

I cut off Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon, shouting fiercely.

It's because my weight class has reached the Star Shattering stage that I can sense it, while my comrades, still at the Integration level, seem unaware.

Fortunately, Kim Yeon, whose consciousness has explosively grown to a level beyond the Integration stage, seems to grasp the meaning behind my words. She nods with cold sweat trickling down her face and Hong Fan stares blankly into the sphere as if sensing something,

"D-Do as he says, everyone..."

Kim Yeon clutches her head and breathes heavily as she speaks, and since Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon are not entirely oblivious to the situation, they exchange glances and ask with dark expressions.

"Will you be alright?"

"As long as you all aren't here, I can muster every means available to hold out."

"...Alright."

Jeon Myeong-hoon nods, then he and Kim Young-hoon combine their strength, transforming into a golden lightning bird and flying off towards the Nether Crossing Ship of the Black Ghost Valley.

'To forget that a Reaper of the Netherworld intervened...are you retarded, Seo Eun-hyun?'

I curse myself furiously.

Kuuung—

Crack!

At last, a long, slender hand breaks through the sphere.

Kugugugugu!

If my suspicion is right,

This cycle's Kang Min-hee will be stronger than any version of her I encountered before.

Because she...

Crack!

Shatter!

'You're finally here.'

Due to the intervention of a Reaper of the Netherworld, at this point in time—500 years after we arrived in this world—her power already exceeds that of herself a thousand years in.

Whisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisper...

It's as if countless whispers are flickering at my ears.

Unintelligible murmurs.

Resentment, wailing, screams, prayers, cries...

The languages of the dead are all spewing out from one place.

The monarch of ghosts who leads tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, trillions of ghosts.

It is the voice of the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother Kang Min-hee!

Whisperwhisperwhisper...

Kuguguk!

Just from her whispers, I can feel an enormous shockwave, understanding that this force is akin to the attack of an Integration stage cultivator.

'It's on par with the laughter of the Star Shattering stage Esteemed Ones in the Lightning Sacred Sea.'

Fortunately, I have grown stronger since then and I can still stand here now.

A black ghost with a ten-zhang tall body, tearing at its own head as it utters countless whispers.

Her head stretches out for several li, merging with the darkness, and she wears a robe of shadows with blue tears streaming from her eyes—this is the Ghost Mother.

I shout at Kang Min-hee, the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother.

"Over here!"

Whoosh!

At my words, her gaze locks onto me.

Kuguguk!

Just from her gaze, the ground around me begins to rot from the yin energy, and ghosts start appearing in all directions.

But I meet her gaze calmly and give a bitter smile.

Surung—

"...We have a lot of unfinished conversations, don't we?"

I raise the Colorless Glass Sword and assume a sword stance.

"Let's share them now."

The next moment.

Kang Min-hee has already arrived in front of me.

Kwagwagwagwang!

She swings her arm down.

In the past, I wouldn't have been able to react and would have been buried deep in the ground by such a blow.

But now, I smoothly deflect her hand with my sword and kick off the ground, soaring high into the sky.

In an instant, the blue sky draws closer, and I rise high enough for the vast territory of the Human Race to look small.

'I can see Heavenly Lotus Mountain.'

I glance at Sacred Master Baek Woon's Heavenly Lotus Mountain, where I had just been, and then turn my gaze to Kang Min-hee, who has already caught up with me.

Rip!

She opens her mouth.

Her blue teeth, having already turned into those of a monster, are jagged and sharp like a shark.

"Your teeth are healthy as always, I see."

Crunch!

I joke as I watch Kang Min-hee bite down on my Colorless Glass Sword.

Of course, she doesn't seem inclined to humor me. She pulls me below her using the strength of her neck and then dives straight down from this height, trying to plunge me directly into the ground.

Huarururuk!

Like a meteor entering the atmosphere and bursting into flames, she and I are surrounded by fire.

"This is going to hurt. Sorry."

Bo-oong!

In the midst of the scorching heat, I twist the Colorless Glass Sword that is clenched in her mouth.

Kagak!

With a few sword cries, the direction of the twisted Colorless Glass Sword in her mouth shifts.

At the same time, the Colorless Glass Sword that's wedged between her teeth cleanly severs Kang Min-hee's head.

[Kiyaaaaaaaa!!!]

A horrifying ghostly wail seems to echo beyond from the Human Race territory all the way to the Leaf Race territory.

Gurgle, gurgle!

From the place where her head is severed, black liquid flows, and two new heads sprout from Kang Min-hee's neck.

It's an amusing trick. But since I can produce up to 20 heads myself, I take advantage of her confusion instead of being impressed and climb onto her body.

Uguk!

She squirms as if trying to shake me off, but in her human form, I have her arms completely pinned down, pressing her beneath me and making it difficult for her to escape.

[Kiyaaaaaaaak!]

Another upper body sprouts from her back.

The new upper body aims a ghostly claw at me, but it's already too late.

I summon my true form with 20 heads, and using the thousand-pound descent (千斤墜) technique, I add the weight of an entire continent to her by enhancing the mass within my domain.

Kwaaaaang!

A massive rupture emerges across the entire Human Race territory, triggering tectonic shifts.

I feel a little sorry for the neighboring Leaf Race, knowing their territory is likely experiencing massive earthquakes and tsunamis.

'I'm sorry. I don't have the strength to evacuate you all.'

While initiating an emergency alert, I offer a slight apology to the Leaf Race and other nearby races who are just now beginning to evacuate. I then raise my sword towards the writhing darkness beneath my feet.

From a higher plane to a lower plane.

From a higher stance to a lower target.

In an instant.

In a moment so brief that it surpasses even the speed of the Surpassing Radiant Saber, my Deep Mountain, Emerging Dao single strike lands on the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother.

Boo-wooong!

The Human Race territory, spanning about 500,000 li, is once again split in half by my sword energy.

Sound itself fails to keep up with the speed, arriving only afterwards.

However, I harden my expression, and without hesitation, I withdraw from the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother after delivering the strike.

Ooooooo—

Ghosts begin to sing.

The tectonic shifts I caused by striking the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother into the entire Human Race territory,

From the cracks formed by those tectonic shifts, yin energy and ghostly energy begin to rise.

Kugugugugu!

"...This dog-like."

I mutter a curse under my breath as I realize the true nature of that yin energy.

Why is the Human Race considered one of the Two Evils among the Six Great Races?

Turning living creatures into pills is not a vice exclusive to humans. Many other races also keep slave races, and the mindset full of invasion and plunder isn't unique to humanity either.

In hypocrisy, the Tall Tree Race and Paired Wings Race surpasses them.

In strangeness, the Fungal Bone Race is above.

In ugliness, the Rotting Owl Race is superior.

In battle prowess, the Fighting Ghost Race outpaces humans.

Yet, the Human Race is among the Two Evils.

Why is that?

The truth lies in their 'quantity.'

The Human Race is one of the countless Heaven Tribe Races, seemingly ordinary at first glance.

But the Human Race is a species that could covet others' possessions even when they don't need them.

Humans could kill others even when it isn't necessary, desire to be more comfortable than needed, and pursue comfort and ease beyond necessity.

The power of their desire surpasses the combat prowess of the Fighting Ghost Race.

The ugliness of their desire surpasses the Rotting Owl Race.

The strangeness of their desire surpasses the Fungal Bone Race, and the hypocrisy of their desire surpasses that of the Tall Tree and Paired Wings Races.

Countless races were captured, experimented on, and turned into pills within the Human Race territory.

So, where did the 'souls of those countless races' go?

Kugugugugugugu!

Why did the Human Race abandon perfectly good land and insist on living arrogantly on the Sky Islands above it?

Ooooooo—

Ooooooo—

Aaaaaaaah!

Hoawwwww—

It hurts—it hurts—

Stop it, stop it...

It has been 500,000 years since the creation of the Bright Cold Realm.

After those long 500,000 years, the ugliness of the Human Race, who slaughtered and devoured countless other races, finally begins to surface.

Kugugugugugu!

I stand at the very bottom of the Human Race's territory.

There, beneath the ground, I meet the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother and see the endless souls pouring out, feeling utterly speechless.

When the Human Race plunders other races, they extract the inner cores and demon cores of those races to use as pills, turn their blood and skin into talismans, and their bones and organs into magic artifacts.

Even their souls are absorbed by devilish cultivators, who suck out their spiritual energy, leaving only the remaining scraps to be discarded below the Sky Islands like food waste.

By doing so, no matter how much resentment those souls harbor, they are left powerless and unable to become vengeful ghosts due to their lack of energy.

Even if they later try to slowly recover their energy, other souls, constantly falling from above, would turn into hungry ghosts and devour each other's energy in a desperate struggle to regain their strength.

Souls so full of resentment that they can't enter the Netherworld, and so weakened that they can't even reach the Nether Ghost Realm, continue to struggle and drain each other's energy in endless torment within the earth.

The land beneath the Sky Island is nothing short of humanity's garbage dump.

However, due to Kang Min-hee, the countless vengeful spirits who had been oppressed and tortured by the Human Race begin to awaken all at once, regaining their strength through her power.

No, to be precise, Kang Min-hee is merely a conduit. It feels as though power is being drawn from [deep within] and supplied to the vengeful spirits.

[Humanshumanshumanshumans...]

[Killkillkillkillkill...]

[Joinusjoinusjoinus...]

[Ithurtithurtithurt.]

[Wemustkillyouthesamewaytomakeyoufeelthesame...]

As the vengeful spirits who were sacrificed by humanity regain their strength, they all simultaneously become beings at least at the Qi Building level.

I look up at Kang Min-hee with a shocked expression, seeing how the power she can command has increased in an instant.

Kugugugugu!

Countless vengeful spirits, numbering in the trillions and quadrillions, flow into her, causing her size to grow even larger.

Her body, which was originally about 10 zhang, now surpassed 40 zhang, reaching a height of 4 li.

I let out a hollow laugh as I look at her now mountain-sized form.

"...Damn humans."

Kwagwagwang!

Her giant hand comes crashing down on the spot where I was standing.

I completely abandon the thought of trying to buy time against her.

'I need to escape.'

Even in my form as the Ghost King with 20 heads, I am no match for her who is commanding innumerable ghosts.

At first, the ghosts hesitated when they saw me, but after Kang Min-hee grew to the size of a mountain, they instead set their ghost fire ablaze and are now madly reaching out to me.

As if wanting to become one.

[Sorry, but your mistress and I have a rather uncomfortable relationship.]

Chuuwaaaaaak!

I dodge the black hands that are closing in on me like a net covering the sky and look at the Human Race territory, now completely engulfed in darkness and transformed into something resembling the Nether Ghost Realm.

Woooo-woooong!

Though it's a bit unseemly, I begin to flee, using the energy of the Three Great Ultimates entirely to dodge her grasp.

To say my energy is at the Star Shattering weight class means that the sheer magnitude of my energy is at the early Star Shattering level.

However, even with that, I have no chance against her. Having fully embraced the filth of humanity, she is now practically at the mid Star Shattering stage.

Flash, flash!

I use every means at my disposal, including the Gliding Technique, Flying Escape Technique, ground-shrinking technique, and Sword Flight to escape.

The darkness that covers the Human Race territory begins to chase after me.

Kugugugugu—

'Could even Jang Ik stop that?'

Cold sweat trickles down my back as I look up at the darkness of the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother that is swallowing up the territories of other races.

Rumble, rumble!

Black lightning flashes as dark blue ghost fire pours out from within, sweeping over the White Horned Race, one of the neighboring races of the Human Race.

Kugugugugu!

Countless cultivators of the cultivation world.

And the Heaven Tribe who has always given birth to the Heart Tribe.

Although the Human Race is particularly severe, no other Heaven Tribe Race is innocent either.

They, too, have massacred and invaded other races.

And the countless vengeful spirits of those they invaded are once again being sucked into the darkness of the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother, gaining power.

Kururung!

I watch as the aura of the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother gradually grows larger amidst the sound of black thunder.

'Crazy...'

I feel like I am about to lose my breath.

Each time she swallows an entire race, the size of the darkness grows larger.

Although it isn't as rapid a change as when she swallowed the vengeful spirits of the Human Race, it's clear to the naked eye that she is growing stronger with every race and vengeful spirit she devours.

There is a reason Kang Min-hee managed to swallow one-fiftieth of the Bright Cold Realm a thousand years in.

And now, Kang Min-hee has already gained power surpassing what she would have had at the beginning of her rampage a thousand years in, after meeting the Chief Judge.

'Sacred Master Baek Woon...it seems we'll need to summon Jang Ik's main body, not just his avatar.'

I look back with a stunned expression.

At that very moment, a giant hand from within the darkness reaches across space towards me.

"...!"

Before I can even react,

Due to the spatial manipulation of the Star Shattering stage, her hand reaches me, and I am struck rolling across one of the Heaven Tribe territories.

"Keheok...heok."

Drip, drip drip...

Blood flows from my seven orifices.

It heals quickly, but I realize just how immense the difference between the Ghost Guiding Holy Mother and me is, to the point where I can hardly even react.

However, more than that, I stare at the enormous dark storm that is still approaching from afar.

"...Kang Min-hee..."

Just a moment ago, when her hand struck me, I heard it clearly.

—Save me.

It's a will that only I, who is of all three Heaven Tribe, Earth Tribe, and Heart Tribe, can hear.

"...."

I should have run away as soon as I regained my senses.

But I widen my eyes and, with a slightly dazed look, stare in the direction of Kang Min-hee.

Whiiiioooo—

Once again, Kang Min-hee is annihilating one of the Heaven Tribe Races as she approaches this place.

In about 100 seconds, she will likely reach here.

"...Kang Min-hee..."

I call out her name, my parched lips sticking together as I speak.

Then, a response comes from beside me.

[Hoho, so that's the name of that being, Daoist Seo.]

Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

Twenty-second Move.

Without hesitation, I use Severing Mountain towards the voice I detest hearing.