Chapter 374: Regression
Chapter 374 – Regression?
That was the first thought that arose.
Did he perhaps return to ten years ago?
It was an absurd thought, but he had no choice but to have doubts.
It was not simply because the surrounding landscape had changed.
Gon-ak, who had departed to find a method to escape from the secret realm, was standing right next to him.
Just like that day ten years ago when they had dug up the hourglass.
And even though he was right on the verge of breaking through the minor realm just a moment ago, the magic power that filled his dantian had vanished as if washed away.
The traces of cultivation he had diligently accumulated for ten years had disappeared.
He was so despondent that his strength drained away, but he managed to brace his mind.
Putting his panicked feelings behind him, he checked the sub-space, and a low groan escaped him naturally.
Because even the cultivation resources he had consumed in large quantities over the ten years had all generated again.
‘It feels as if I had a dream…’
Had the events he experienced over the past ten years perhaps been an illusion.
‘Or did I truly regress?’
However, to call it a regression, there was a point that was clearly different from ten years ago.
‘The spiritual Qi of heaven and earth has thinned.’
In terms of numerical value, roughly 3%. It was not a large amount, but it had definitely decreased.
Exactly when he grasped the situation up to this point.
Gon-ak next to him narrowed his eyes.
“This is perplexing. Is this not the place where we dug up the Pseudo-Immortal Treasure ten years ago?”
“Senior, you remember as well. I was just doubting whether I had returned to the past.”
“The past? Haha…”
Gon-ak, who let out a hollow laugh as if he had heard a joke, paused, then fumbled at the storage pouch on his waist.
“Why is this perfectly fine?”
“Yes?”
The eyes of Gon-ak, who was staring blankly at the storage pouch, shook.
“When you were cultivating, there were a few times I clashed with the enemies. At that time, the storage pouch was broken, but… now it is perfectly fine.”
Watching the perplexed Gon-ak, he opened his Status Window.
【Jin So-myeong】
【Lifespan】: 370 / 54420
【Realm】: Unity Stage 3rd Layer
【Supreme Great Ability】: 17 Trillion / 20 Trillion
【Magic Power Amplification】: +421%
【Divine Ability】: <Secret Realm of the Mind>, <Myriad Flows Restoration>
First, he focused on the lifespan, and his age had increased by 10 years.
‘The Supreme Great Ability is also recovered.’
It was different from ten years ago.
At the time he dug up the hourglass, he was 360 years old and his Supreme Great Ability was in a depleted state.
Did he not unfold the Genesis divine ability to pierce the encirclement?
He remembered clearly because he had consumed over 10 trillion of his Supreme Great Ability.
‘Strange…’
Looking up to this point, it was definitely not a regression.
However, in that case, the broken object becoming perfectly fine, or the already consumed cultivation resources returning, could not be explained.
He contemplated deeply.
First, there was no need to even ponder the cause of the bizarre phenomenon.
It was because of the hourglass presumed to be the Pseudo-Immortal Treasure. It was certain up to that point.
He slowly fumbled through his memories.
Exactly ten years ago, when the hourglass flipped, sand began to fall from the sky.
And…
‘When the sand falling from the sky stopped, this phenomenon occurred.’
Suddenly, this thought occurred to him.
“Could it be that we were teleported inside the hourglass? Or perhaps the entire secret realm was the interior of the hourglass from the beginning.”
This secret realm had a somewhat unique structure.
The sky, which could be called the ceiling, was blocked by a transparent barrier like glass, and that barrier was in a slanted shape.
The overall structure was in a cone shape, which was similar to looking at the lower part of an hourglass with a narrow waist detached.
“This place is inside the hourglass?”
“Seeing the sand falling from the sky, that thought occurred to me. If one looks at the upper part from inside the hourglass, would it not look exactly like this?”
Gon-ak, who looked up at the sky where golden sand was pouring down, sighed.
“That could be. If the hourglass was truly a Pseudo-Immortal Treasure, even if it forcibly teleported us, we would not have been able to resist.”
Although it was a speculation, only now did he grasp the situation a little.
It seemed they had awakened the Pseudo-Immortal Treasure that had lost its power and had been sealed.
“Perhaps, the starved Pseudo-Immortal Treasure regarded us as prey and swallowed us.”
“Ha… That is a chilling thing to say. Then are we currently being digested?”
Digested.
Thinking up to this point, a hypothesis occurred to him.
“Could it be that the time inside the secret realm is repeating?”
“Repeating?”
“Is an hourglass not usually an object that one flips again when all the sand at the top has fallen?”
“Are you saying that when ten years flow, all the sand falls, and the hourglass is flipped again? And each time, time repeats?”
“It is still a speculation.”
Was it thanks to his foresight ability?
He had a vague intuition. That the hourglass flipping would not be a very good thing.
Before it was too late, it seemed it would be beneficial to escape as quickly as possible.
“I realized after hearing your words… My memories of the past ten years are blurry.”
Blurry memories?
Startled, he tried recalling the memories of the past ten years, and a low groan escaped him naturally.
“Ha, now that I see, I am the same.”
The memories were not intact.
In particular, he could hardly recall the memories of the time he was focused on cultivation.
He could tell that he had cultivated every single day without missing a day, but he could not remember well what specific achievements he had obtained.
Could this perhaps be the process of being digested by the Pseudo-Immortal Treasure?
Silence flowed.
If it was initialized every ten years, it was useless no matter how hard he cultivated.
He did not get a sense of how to escape from such a bizarre secret realm.
Suddenly, this worry arose.
If it was impossible to accumulate the strength to escape from the secret realm within ten years…
And if his realm continued to be initialized every ten years.
He might never be able to escape forever.
‘…What happened to Geum-cheong?’
He divided a part of his consciousness. Dwelling in the clone in the Secret Realm of the Mind, he headed to Geum-cheong’s nest.
“Chirp! You came!”
Whether it was a relief or a pity, she did not perceive the fact itself that she had returned to the past.
“Master, you did another great job! Very well done!”
When he gave her the lightning-attribute spiritual item obtained from the storage pouch, she showed the exact same reaction as ten years ago.
“……..”
“Chirp? Is something wrong? Your expression is not good.”
“It is nothing, so do not worry.”
Reassuring her as she looked at him suspiciously, he retrieved the consciousness that had dwelt in the clone.
“Senior, let us head toward the entrance of the secret realm. If the enemies also maintain their memories, their actions will have changed.”
When he went toward the entrance where the enemies were gathered, unlike last time, they were constructing a stone tower.
‘Last time, they tried to pierce the entrance immediately, but it has changed.’
It meant that their memories had not completely vanished.
‘Must one at least be in the Unity stage to maintain memories?’
If he had to point out the difference between Geum-cheong and them, the difference in realm was the most likely.
As he examined the enemies constructing the stone tower to break stealth techniques, he paused.
A woman with black wings like a crow caught his eye.
‘I definitely killed that woman, did I not?’
Ten years ago. When he raided the enemies trying to pierce the exit, the one he had definitely killed was resurrected.
Right around the time his brows knitted naturally.
Gok Man, the old man with the gourd bottle on his waist, looked toward the void and shouted.
“Jin So-myeong, can we have a brief conversation?”
Seeing him speak toward the empty void, it seemed he had not seen through the stealth.
In any case, to have a conversation…
‘There is no reason I cannot.’
As he retracted the Infinite Void Formless Robe and stepped forward, Gok Man’s gaze turned toward this side.
“As expected, you were nearby.”
“What do you want to talk about? You want to have a one-on-one fight?”
“…Are you still saying that? Forget it. More than that, you must also have noticed that the situation is unusual. A bizarre thing is currently happening in the secret realm.”
“So?”
“In the first place, it is probably something that happened because of you, but I will not blame you. How about cooperating for a bit before the situation worsens further?”
“…….”
Just as he was contemplating the unexpected proposal, he paused.
He realized through the blankly staring gaze.
‘He was testing me.’
From the perspective of the opponent who lacked information, they could not know because of what such a situation had occurred.
Since they checked the traces of the rocky mountain where the hourglass had been buried being dug up, they probably guessed roughly, but that was exactly as far as it went.
‘Since I contemplated at the proposal to join forces and escape, he must have realized that I am also trapped.’
And also.
He would also have noticed that he could not control the object buried in the rocky mountain.
Because if he had controlled it properly, there was no way he would be trapped here, so it was a natural conclusion.
‘He probably thinks it is a heaven-defying treasure.’
To find out information with just a few words. He was more of a sly fox than expected.
Meeting the calm gaze, he let out a chuckle.
“Cooperating… You mean to pierce the exit together, right?”
“Yes. If we add our means to the divine abilities you possess, we might be able to pierce the restriction, would we not?”
“It is not a bad proposal. Good. I will cooperate.”
Was it because he agreed too readily? Watching Gok Man whose eyebrows twitched, he attached a condition.
“However, let us do it not now, but nine years later.”
“Nine years?”
“Would it not be better to pierce the restriction after each of us is in perfect condition?”
The moment the exit was pierced, they would try to kill each other.
There was a need to raise his realm as much as possible.
*
Should it be called this quarter.
In any case, in this round, he cultivated much more boldly than the previous ten years.
He literally poured all his time and resources into raising his realm.
Originally, he used to raise spiritual herbs from time to time to replenish cultivation resources or practice body tempering and swordsmanship, but this time, he focused solely on accumulating magic power.
Was it thanks to that?
In just nine years, he was able to achieve the mid Unity stage.
【Jin So-myeong】
【Lifespan】: 379 / 54420
【Realm】: Unity Stage 4th Layer
【Supreme Great Ability】: 19 Trillion / 40 Trillion
【Magic Power Amplification】: +421%
【Divine Ability】: <Secret Realm of the Mind>, <Myriad Flows Restoration>
As much as he had broken through the minor realm, rapid growth followed.
His magic power, divine sense, and the maximum limit of his Supreme Great Ability all doubled.
And.
‘Finally, I can learn the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art.’
Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art .
A cultivation art he had obtained after plundering the headquarters of the Heavenly Law Palace, which was the primary cultivation art of Yoo Cheon whom he fought a while ago.
If one learned the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art, one could divide the mind and body into the Yin Soul and Yang Soul , and as long as one of the Yin Soul and Yang Soul remained, one could survive even if the soul was split.
He had postponed it because it required 30 trillion of his Supreme Great Ability to register it in the proficiency system, but now the time had come.
Since the maximum limit of his Supreme Great Ability had increased to 40 trillion upon becoming a mid Unity stage expert, he could also enter the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art.
Three days later.
【Supreme Great Ability】: 30 Trillion / 40 Trillion
The awaited moment arrived.
As soon as his Supreme Great Ability recovered, he immediately registered the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art in the proficiency system.
[The sun and moon are the vessel, and the stars and constellations are the passing light.]
Mulling over the Buddhist/dharma text, he realized. What the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art ultimately pursued.
‘Is it a vessel to contain infinity.’
Stars and constellations referred to all celestial bodies existing in the universe.
Not to mention stars and planets, even the scattering dust was entirely included.
If only the infinitely expanded myriad things could dwell in his mind and body, many or few no longer had meaning.
To summarize it a bit crudely, it meant he would be able to handle infinite energy, but the proficiency requirement was a bit strange.
【Cultivation Art】
Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art (Entry 1 / 200 Billion)
‘Why is it this low?’
For reference, the proficiency the Primordial One Qi Art required when it was at the Entry stage was 300 billion. The Nine Successes Golden Body Art was 100 billion.
If there was a high and low of cultivation arts.
It meant the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art was superior to the Nine Successes Golden Body Art, but lacking compared to the Primordial One Qi Art.
‘Strange. How can the Primordial One Qi Art created by the human race be superior to the cultivation art bestowed by a Great Ascension stage cultivator?’
For a moment, it was not understood, but as he contemplated deeply, he realized that he had temporarily made a mistake.
First, requiring a lot of proficiency did not guarantee that it was a superior cultivation art.
In the first place, the proficiency system was a system that helped achieve the ideal aimed for by the cultivation art.
For example, if a cultivation art clumsily created by a young child aimed for an omnipotent existence.
That cultivation art would require an incredibly massive amount of proficiency.
Because achieving the goal was far more difficult.
Of course, the Primordial One Qi Art could actually be a superior cultivation art… but that possibility was low.
‘In any case, it is done.’
Since he had become a mid Unity stage expert and also learned the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations Art, the preparation was complete.
Now, it would soon be the tenth year since the sand started pouring.
Since he might return to the past again, he had to escape from the secret realm soon.
Controlling the magic power that had become unstable as he broke through the minor realm, and waiting for his Supreme Great Ability to fill up, he headed toward the entrance of the secret realm.