Chapter 261: Tribulating Heavens (1)

Chapter 261: Tribulating Heavens (1)

Translator: TranslatingNovice

Editor: Z0Rel

Her golden flying sword and my colorless glass sword are pointed at each other.

My head overheats.

We are anticipating each other's moves, engaging in a battle of minds through dozens of exchanges.

And the result of these exchanges is, without exception, my victory every time.

Despite her reaching the extreme speed of the Ultimate Pinnacle, I no longer hold back in our exchanges.

Pushing her to the limit, even resorting to Treading Heavens, the anticipated outcome of our confrontation in the realm of intent is always her defeat, no matter how many times we fight.

Swoosh

But she steps forward without any regard.

Bo-oong!

Hong Su-ryeong slashes diagonally from the bottom left to the upper right with her flying sword.

In an instant, the lightning that bursts from the flying sword sweeps over my upper body as if cutting through it.

Fweeeing!

The air is torn apart.

The next moment, I use Severing Mountain Swordsmanship's first, second, and third moves simultaneously, performing an upper cut, a lower cut, and a rising slash to rip apart her lightning blade.

Then, without giving her a chance to react, I advance further.

Not relying on the Flying Escape Technique or the physical abilities of demon beast methods.

With only the acceleration of pure consciousness, my body moves forward, creating shockwaves as the air is pushed away.

Surpassing sound, I rush towards Hong Su-ryeong in an instant, attempting a gentle thrust towards her chest.

However, in a split-second exchange of looks, Hong Su-ryeong counters my acceleration with the Flying Escape Technique, the Lightning Path Method, and nine Gang Spheres, deflecting my thrust.

She steps back, throws her flying sword at me, and then changes her hands into lightning, forming a seal with her lightning-transformed hands.

Crack!

Subsequently, 16 flying swords sequentially fly towards me.

Now, the battle expanded to not just martial arts but the realm of flying sword techniques.

What she desires to contest is not martial prowess but the artistry of the sword.

To her, as a swordsman, it doesn't matter whether she fights with martial arts or flying sword techniques, as long as she can cross swords before she dies.

Wo-woong!

I accelerate my consciousness even further and face the 16 flying swords attacking me from all directions with my Colorless Glass Sword.

The 16 flying swords circle around me, forming a sword formation and pressing me with 64 transformations.

Previously, Hong Su-ryeong's sword formation would have been merely a 'technique' combined with the harmony of the Lightning Path Method, a 'cultivation technique.'

But at this moment, after receiving enlightenment about the sword from me and learning to handle the sword from the perspective of martial arts.

What she uses is no longer just a simple technique.

Whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz!

Hong Su-ryeong's sword formation, as if alive, begins to press me aggressively.

It feels as if 16 Hong Su-ryeongs are wielding swords and attacking me from all sides.

For the first time in a long while, I truly feel like I am engaging in a martial arts duel, exchanging thousands of moves in an instant.

Wo-woong!

Trapped in the sword formation, I thrust my Colorless Glass Sword towards a weak point in the formation to break through.

Boom!

It seems as if part of the formation collapses, but the 16 flying swords do not stop encircling me and continue to follow.

After piercing through one of the peaks, I straighten my posture and swiftly slash at the incoming sword energies.

!

In an instant, even sound is cut off.

All the nearby high peaks are sliced off, and Hong Su-ryeong's sword formation momentarily scatters.

But as soon as her sword formation scatters, what appears is Hong Su-ryeong, accelerating from outside the formation and rushing towards me.

Clack!

Catching one of the flying swords from the dispersed formation, Hong Su-ryeong begins to perform a sword dance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Using the Flying Escape Technique, the Lightning Path Method, and the acceleration of Ultimate Pinnacle simultaneously, she is barely able to keep up with my movements bolstered by pure martial acceleration, exchanging moves with me.

However, her flying swords begin to stabilize the formation again in the meantime.

We foresee millions of futures, blocking each other's possible moves.

After experiencing that process in our minds and transferring it to reality, we engage in a battle of tactics.

I prepare to attack, pushing her overwhelmingly.

I aim to suppress Hong Su-ryeong before the sword formation can be activated again.

But the next moment, eight of her flying swords unexpectedly spread out in a formation from angles I hadn't anticipated.

I'm surprised for a moment but quickly shake my sword vigorously at Hong Su-ryeong, throwing her off and breaking through the eight flying sword formation.

However, upon regaining my senses, the remaining eight flying swords gathered where the other eight had flown, forming a perfect angle for a complete sword formation.

Paaaat!

The 16 flying swords unfold a formation again and enclose me.

For the first time in our battle of tactics, I am pushed back.

I move my body.

And at the same time, reading her intent, blocking her moves and continuing with mine.

Gradually, we begin to have an inner dialogue..

You have grown incomparably since before.

I swing my sword, disturbing the sword formation, and look for its weak point.

But for you, your sword's tip is trembling.

Hong Su-ryeong comes out of the sword formation and forms a hand seal.

Qi condenses in her hands, creating a Lightning Blade.

Merely with the difference in pure skill, I cannot reach you. That we can exchange blows like this...is probably because you're harboring too much hesitation at the tip of your sword.

Without hesitation, she dives into the sword formation, attacking me like a storm with her sword.

That's what makes it a duel. If I start using my sword properly, the duel will no longer be possible.

Boom!

We collide.

We face each other with our swords, our eyes meeting.

Hong Su-ryeong speaks out loud.

"...It doesn't matter. I know you're holding back your strength. Show me your true sword."

"You want to see my true sword?"

I smirk cynically.

"It's meaningless. Doing so won't accomplish anything. Isn't spending the last moments of your life in the greatest due...-"

"Seo Eun-hyun!"

She shouts as if she is truly angry.

"Draw your true sword."

"..."

"It's not that I want to spend my last moments in the greatest duel. Don't you still understand? I know you have a vision beyond intent, beyond everything else. And yet, do you not know?"

"...All of that..."

I, with a gloomy expression, relax my grip on the sword and let it hang loosely.

"What's the point?"

Yang Su-jin's Non-Human Theory.

The result of failing to save the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect despite dedicating this life to it.

The bitter conclusion that fate cannot be resisted.

I say with a hollow look.

"After all...we're all going to die anyway. If I were to use the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique, it might be possible to prevent this. But if I use the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens, the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect will disappear."

I scream as if in agony.

"No matter what I do, what I try to protect is doomed to destruction! What meaning is there in doing anything more here...!"

"...Seo Eun-hyun."

Hong Su-ryeong points her flying sword at me.

"I,"

Enduring the massive 'gaze' from the sky, her body battered and bloodied from countless self-inflicted wounds.

Even in her blood-soaked robe, Hong Su-ryeong meets my gaze with bright eyes.

"I came to cross swords with you."

"..."

"Not with the heavens, but with you."

"..."

"Do you understand what that means?"

I clench my teeth.

I see her intent.

I see her resolve and will.

I understand what Hong Su-ryeong wants.

"You want me, with my own hands, to end you in a duel."

"..."

"I want to die by your sword, not by the heavens. That's why I've come to duel with you now."

"...You're cruel."

But Hong Soo-ryeong, who had burned her entire lifespan, is dying.

Her nearly 900-year-old hair has turned white, and her once supple skin is shriveling.

"Seo...Eun-hyun..."

Hong Su-ryeong looks at me and says.

"Was my...sword...worth watching...?"

Even as her life drains away and she loses her light.

Hong Su-ryeong asks me while looking at me.

I kneel on one knee.

And holding her hand, I reply.

"It was the best."

"Ha, haha..."

She laughs, closing her eyes, not wanting to look at the sky.

"To be able to die by your hands, not by the heavens..."

Even as her vitality fully drains away.

Even as she looks momentarily old and somewhat unsightly.

"It was, wonderful ..."

(TL Note: Can be taken as double meaning as saying she loved MC in Korean)

"...Yes."

To my eyes, her appearance now is as beautiful as Hyang-hwa's or Yeon's.

Was it because of a woman's intuition?

Or was it respect for a swordsman superior to oneself?

In the end, she spoke to me formally and thus fell asleep.

"I too..."

Will forever.

"Love you..."

It's already much too late, but I kiss her fallen lips.

I had thought not to grow attached.

But affection isn't something that moves according to plan.

Unbeknownst to us both, it accumulated little by little, and before we knew it, it had become as immense as Mount Tai.

Isn't that what human affection is?

I ask the people of the world, what is affection that it dictates life and death ( from the Wild Goose Mound Verses by Yuan Haowen).

Affection, in the end, is time.

It is the time that has piled up layer by layer, growing and rising until it cannot be ignored.

I had such affection for Hong Su-ryeong, for the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, for Yu Hwa, for Gyu-baek, for Gyu-ryeon, for Azure Tiger Saint, for Oh Hyun-seok, for the Azure Heaven Creation Sect, for Kim Yeon, for Buk Hyang-hwa...

To all those who had accumulated time with me thus far, I had given affection and received it.

And to Hong Su-ryeong who had given me her affection and passed, I lay her body in its place.

The surroundings are ablaze with the aftermath of our battle.

In the sky, the God () of Heavenly Punishment is descending.

Staring directly at God, the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect is going mad.

In this mad world, I take a step forward.

Sararak...

White orchids begin to bloom.

The pure white orchids cover Hong Su-ryeong.

And the white flowers spreading in all directions quench the inferno, illuminating various places on the ground.

If we cannot overcome fate, can't we at least make choices within fate's confines?

Hong Su-ryeong's words echo in my mind.

Chewing over those words, I begin to utilize the Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens.

'Yang Su-jin, you called the entire world non-human.'

They say enlightenment comes to those who hear the stone striking the wood and seek it out.

To me, a Dao Companion burned her life and collided her will against mine.

Thanks to her, I was finally able to realize.

Yang Su-jin's Non-Human Theory fundamentally contains a contradiction.

'If every being in the myriad of creation is a slave to fate and the Heart Tribe too only arises due to the Enders, then sure. If even changing fate requires the Ender to have the fate to change their fate, then everything in the world is a slave and non-human. But...'

Step, step, step...

I head towards Thunder Cloud Peak.

Far away, beyond Thunder Cloud Peak, Jeon Myeong-hoon is visible.

Leaving the countless elders and grand elders below him behind, he is flying up to the sky, doing something to the Heavenly Lightning Banner.

Originally, Heavenly Tribulation should have struck down immediately, frying everyone. But Jeon Myeong-hoon, who has grown to the Heavenly Being stage, is doing something.

'If fate is absolute, what are [the weak who cannot fulfill their fate]?'

If fate is perfect and omnipotent.

The fate assigned to every being is an inevitability that 'must occur.'

However, some who are weak do not live out their fate and die before it is fulfilled.

Even I, before seriously beginning cultivation, died on the same day each cycle because my lifespan was predetermined. However, there were many times I died without fulfilling that lifespan.

This is not unique to me.

From what I had learned about fate from the Mad Lord, and from the countless others I had observed,

There were innumerable beings who failed to fulfill their fate.

Of course, these individuals were too weak to even bear their destined fate.

But it was precisely because they were weak that they could make a choice.

Though they couldn't overcome fate,

Like Hong Su-ryeong, who chose to meet death by me before fate caught up to her, achieving what she most desired before dying.

It was possible to choose what they desired within fate.

Fate might be insurmountable.

We might forever be slaves to fate.

But even so, to make choices within it, to 'desire,' is the undeniable 'freedom' of being.

"Not non-human!"

If we go by Yang Su-jin's logic.

Then, wouldn't the Ender be the most dreadful non-human of all?

Are we not constantly being torn apart according to the fate we possess?

That's why even Yang Su-jin, who wanted to deny fate, still sought to change it into something happier.

Everything is predetermined by fate without any freedom, so some say the slaves of fate are non-human.

However, even if there are things determined by fate and it's impossible to change them, to desire something beyond fate, to choose it and dream of it is the freedom granted to beings.

The very existence of [the weak who cannot fulfill their fate] proves it.

Therefore, there are no non-humans in this world!

Hong Su-ryeong ultimately did not reach Entering Heavens Beyond the Path.

However judging from the spirit I saw in her, perhaps if she had gathered a bit more enlightenment and not had not come to meet me, things might have been different.

But out of her own will, she chose to meet with me and duel rather than polishing her realm.

She chose to move from where she was within, rather than advancing forward.

Step

"So, I too will make a choice."

I look up at the sky.

Behind me, the entire area where Hong Su-ryeong and I battled is enveloped by the White Orchid Blessing Incantation.

"Extinguishing Divine ()."

Looking up at the sky, I stretch out my hands.

'I will save my family!'

"Tribulating Heavens ()."

Beyond the area filled with the White Orchid Blessing Incantation, the surroundings begin to spread with the dark Yin Soul Ghost Incantation.

The Yin Soul Ghost Incantation forms a sea of curses, beginning to cover the entire territory of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.

In an instant, the area I covered with the White Orchid Blessing Incantation looks like a dot compared to the vast area now covered.

It appears as if Lesser Yang is contained within Taiyin.

Chalalalak!

The black curse spells cover various places of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, turning the standings flags black as if they're Black Ghost Curse Banners.

I seize control of the area with my curses.

[Huaaaaah!]

From afar, Jeon Myeong-hoon is finally unable to hold on and falls from the Heavenly Lightning Banner.

At the same time, the Owner of Heavenly Punishment, who had not fully descended, begins to manifest its existence in this world completely.

Kugugugu!

Now, this place is my altar, a sanctuary of curses.

From now on.

"The ritual begins."

Translator Notes: Very late, but I decided to just change Beyond the Path to Heavens to Entering Heavens Beyond the Path. I was but a foolish mortal who dared to alter and interpret the divine knowledge of the Tremendous Heavens with my ignorant knowledge.

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