A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation

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Chapter 826: Side Story - Nation Founding (4)

Hwang Ung lives a happy daily life as the ruler of Ascension Forest.

Originally already at the Grand Perfection Core Formation stage and aiming for the Nascent Soul stage, he ate several humans who fell into Ascension Forest a hundred years ago with a strange smell, and he gained an opportunity for a breakthrough in cultivation.

Although he almost died that day at the hands of Heavenly Being stage seniors, getting hit by their attacks instead became a blessing in disguise, and he became able to easily digest the unique constitutions the humans he ate that day possessed.

Thanks to that, seventy years ago, Hwang Ung broke through in realm to the Nascent Soul stage and became able to gain a human form through Transformation.

Afterwards, he makes the spiritual creatures of Ascension Forest kneel and received all sorts of precious spiritual medicines as tribute from other demon beasts, and over those seventy years he solidified the early Nascent Soul stage and, upon reaching the mid Nascent Soul stage, formed the Yin-Yang Spirit and rose to a realm where he could freely separate and merge it.

Now even his change into a human is mature, so if one only looks at his outward appearance, he merely looks like a chubby man with a lot of hair.

Hwang Ung, transformed into the appearance of a male body with catfish whiskers and wearing a yellow robe, looks at his reflection in the stream even today and smiles in satisfaction.

"Indeed, a Transformation form needs to have a somewhat dependable build. Hmhm, I am satisfied no matter when I look."

Having eaten demon beasts through the past winter days, he contentedly thumps his plumply fattened belly while moving his steps toward the edge of Ascension Forest.

Hwioooooo—

A desert dust wind blows in from the edge of Ascension Forest onto Hwang Ung's face.

Ascension Forest.

A place also called Ascension Path, or Ascension Island.

This strange land is said to have been a Sky Island that floats in the sky in a distant ancient age.

But for some reason, the Sky Island gradually began to come down from the sky to the ground, and today it is only a life-filled land that has settled in the middle of the desert.

"The green land has gotten wider."

Hwang Ung looks around the area where greenish weeds have sprouted and smacks his lips.

The range of this land of life called Ascension Forest is gradually widening.

Hwang Ung recalls the legend about Ascension Forest that's been handed down from his father's time.

'In the distant past, they say Ascension Island itself was a sealing formation made by a Lightning Immortal drawing in the dragon veins of an immeasurably vast country to seal some divine object. But because of the war of Immortals in a mythic age, the divine object was pulled out to another place, and since the sealing formation no longer had an object to seal, it naturally gradually dismantled... The Sky Island came down to the ground...the formation that used an entire country's dragon veins for sealing was dismantled, and they say the dragon veins gradually returned to their original places.'

From the ancient past until now, over countless years, the green land of Ascension Island has been gradually growing wider.

If it is as the legend Hwang Ung knows, as the sealing formation that sealed the divine object that existed in Ascension Forest came apart, the dragon veins that make up the sealing formation have returned to their original places, so this phenomenon occurs.

'And the fact that the entire Heaven-Treading Desert has not yet regained life means all the dragon veins have not returned to their places yet.'

Hwang Ung grins.

'It has already been seventy years since I reached the Nascent Soul stage. With my talent, I can reach the Grand Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage! But reaching the Heavenly Being stage is not certain. So, to maximize the possibility of reaching the Heavenly Being stage...if I can find the dragon veins in various parts of Ascension Forest that have not been released yet and absorb their energy...the chance of reaching the Heavenly Being stage will rise!'

Feeling good even to himself about his grand plan, Hwang Ung laughs heartily, and he begins to fly into the sky while covered in flames.

It is then.

"Hmm? Oh, what's that, is that not a lunchbox!?"

Hwang Ung sees a group of humans walking in from far away across the Heaven-Treading Desert, hides among the trees, and begins to change back into his original form while smacking his lips.

Grrrr...

Hwang Ung smooths his fur and flicks out his tongue.

"I was just hungry, so this is perfect. But are they not cultivators? I can't feel any spiritual power from a single one of them... Well, whatever. The Human Race is a delicacy, so even mortals are worth eating!"

After a while, the group of Human Race that enter Ascension Forest chatter among themselves, as if they are searching for something.

Watching them, Hwang Ung feels something strange.

'What is this? They don't seem like cultivators...so why does the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy vibrate so ominously?'

Demon beasts cannot read celestial energy like the Human Race, but through the vibration of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, they can maximize their instincts.

'There isn't any particularly special spiritual energy fluctuation...is there a senior hiding their realm? No. Even if they hide their realm, they cannot hide their smell. It is not the smell of a senior of the Heavenly Being stage.'

Even if the other side erases their spiritual energy, Hwang Ung has a demon ability to infer the other party's realm through the smells that come from each realm.

Especially upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage, the capability of that demon ability reached its peak, and thanks to that, his skill at inferring an opponent's realm is first rate.

Afterwards, whenever Hwang Ung smelled the scent of seniors of a higher realm, he survived by quickly running away to hide, or by wagging his tail on his own and flattering.

But even with Hwang Ung's demon ability, he can't sense anyone hiding their realm.

'Do they have some unusual dharma treasure or talisman? When I asked some new demon beasts recently, they said something called a Talisman War tournament is all the rage between a Human Race nation and the sea demon beasts... Is it something like the Naming Family talisman used in that Talisman War tournament?'

While Hwang Ung thinks for a while.

The group of humans in black clothes that came to Ascension Forest already set up stone steles called 'Black King Earth Stone Stele' all throughout Ascension Forest.

Hwang Ung does not know the details, but he knows that this is one of the steps in the process by which the Human Race declares the land to be its own territory.

'This land is my territory, stamped with my scent...those insolent human bastards...!'

At that sight, fire lights in Hwang Ung's eyes, and he steps forward and reveals himself.

On guard against the ominous spiritual energy fluctuation, Hwang Ung releases his Transformation form from the start, shows his full strength, and roars loudly.

"You trash Human Race bastards...whose territory do you dare plant a stele in!? This place is my territory! Get out at once!!"

Kururung!

At Hwang Ung's shout, the ground shakes everywhere, thousands of birds fly up and flee from all over Ascension Forest, and weak demon beasts start fleeing madly in the opposite direction.

Hwang Ung's fur flares up with a brown blaze, and before long it starts to take on a golden color.

And at that sight, someone who looks like the leader among the Human Race steps forward.

"Tsk...a beast that doesn't know its place is running wild. At a glance, you are that one Her Majesty spoke of, aren't you?"

Makli Hu-gi, a younger generation talent of the Makli Clan and a promising newcomer, draws up social authority from the talisman plaque he received from Makli Hyun-ah.

"This part of the land of Ascension Forest is land we received permission to develop from the cultivator clans and sects of Byeokra! We received the order to swiftly put down any harmful beast that blocks the path of our great Makli Clan, so by the command of the Makli Clan's Darkness Queen, Her Highness Makli Hyun-ah, I will subjugate the harmful beast bastard who obstructs development!"

And in that moment,

Tudududududuk!

Strength drains from Hwang Ung's whole body, and under the powerful heavy pressure he feels across this entire area, he has no choice but to drop to his knees.

'Th-This...what is this...!? The Heaven and Earth spiritual energy is being suppressed?'

Not only the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, but even the demonic power inside Hwang Ung's body is being suppressed along with it.

"This...what kind of sorcery is this...!? You Human Race bastards—!"

However, as his demonic power is suppressed, Hwang Ung instead feels his ferocity diminish and his reason become clearer, and he slowly analyzes this technique.

'It suppresses the ferocious nature that follows demonic power. Is it a Beast Taming method? No, if it were a Beast Taming method, the entire Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of this area would not be suppressed. Even if I try to draw out demonic power, it won't rise. Is my consciousness okay? My consciousness is still relatively free. But it isn't completely free... Still, the fact that consciousness is the most free means there is a breakthrough if I go through consciousness.'

Hwang Ung watches the humans around him raise spears and surround him, and his eyes gleam.

"Human bastards...now that I look, you aren't mortals. You are all cultivators. But even though you are cultivators, your spiritual power is being suppressed along with mine, is it not? What kind of stupid act is this? Do you believe a human can beat a bear without spells? Trusting those measly weapons?"

If a human and a bear fight, the bear wins.

That is obvious common sense.

Of course, if it is a human with a long weapon and a bear, it can be a fairly interesting fight.

But that is only on the assumption that the bear is a beast without reason.

Budududududuk...!

Hwang Ung draws up strength from his bulging muscles, uproots a nearby tree whole, strips off the small branches in one go, and sharpens the end into a spear.

"Even if spiritual power has disappeared, I am a bear. Do you think I can't kill humans? Come at me, you bugs!"

Kwaang, kwaang!

Hwang Ung freely swings the tree, bigger than his own height, and charges brutally at the spear-wielding humans.

However, strangely, the spear-wielding humans move quickly, avoid every swing of the tree Hwang Ung wields, cut away Hwang Ung's tree with their spears, and approach him.

Hwang Ung sees the blue energy carried on the humans' spears and swords, and his eyes gleam.

'Among the Human Race, I heard there are those called martial artists...I have heard there are those who use power similar to ours, and it really is so, but with the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy suppressed, how are they using something like that?'

Hwang Ung observes them closely, and after a while he comes to know the secret.

"Kuhuju...so that's what it is. A cute breakthrough."

Hwang Ung throws away the tree that is being cut apart by the humans, sends a signal through the muscles of his whole body, and with all his strength awakens the wildness that is being suppressed.

[Kwoooooooooo!]

At the same time, Hwang Ung's consciousness domain compresses from the form of a sphere into a shape similar to Hwang Ung.

When he wraps the consciousness domain around his body, Hwang Ung feels that part of his demonic power becomes usable.

Kwaaaang!

With Hwang Ung's forepaw slam, the ground shakes and mountains, streams, grasses, and trees all tremble.

Unlike the Human Race, the consciousness of the Demon Race compresses into a similar shape of themselves when using a demon ability.

And when that consciousness domain reaches the Nascent Soul stage, it changes in a slightly different way.

Kugugugugu!

Centered on the Nascent Soul inside the body, the Demon Race's consciousness changes into something called a dharma form.

If up to the Core Formation stage, the Demon Race's consciousness only ends at changing into something similar to the main body, then from the Transformation stage onward, the Demon Race's consciousness becomes the 'ideal' that demon beast ideally imagines, and it begins pulling the demon beast in that direction.

The consciousness domain floating above Hwang Ung's body takes on a dharma form, changing into the form of a golden bear wearing yellow armor.

When the dharma form of the golden bear forms a hand seal, four-colored bears spring out from Hwang Ung's shadow and rush at the humans.

The Blue Bear, Red Bear, Black Bear, and White Bear bears fiercely rush toward the Human Race who use martial arts, pressuring the humans.

Seeing that sight, Makli Hu-gi draws up as much social authority as he can, but he realizes that he cannot easily deal with Hwang Ung.

"Kugh, my ability is too shallow, so I can't properly draw up Your Highness's power! Your Highness!"

It is then.

Black light gushes out from Makli Hu-gi's talisman plaque, his entire body becomes covered in darkness, and from within it, someone with a beautiful face springs out.

Seeing that figure, Hwang Ung flinches in surprise and his eyes widen.

'That bitch is...definitely the one I spared because that Heavenly Being stage senior left a mark back then...! She was clearly at the level of a mortal back then! What in the world is this ominous spiritual energy fluctuation? And that method just now, of borrowing another human's body and incarnating here—it's a method you can't use unless you are at least in the Core Formation stage... Did she reach the Core Formation stage? Within just a hundred years?'

Hwang Ung rapidly rolls his brain.

'That Heavenly Being stage senior ascended, and I am now a demon beast of the Transformation stage. So even if I kill her, retaliation against me won't be easy. But...that Heavenly Being stage senior specifically left a mark, and on top of that, she is a bitch who popped up within a hundred years at the Core Formation level. Moreover, this ominous spiritual energy fluctuation and the strange power that suppresses the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy...'

Soon, he comes to a quick decision. 

'I don't know what wicked sorcery she obtained. For now, let's run. Let's run, investigate more about her sorcery, and even if I attack later, it won't be—'

Tudududududu!

Just as Hwang Ung sets up the four-colored bears he summoned as shields and tries to soar into the sky to run away.

An immense pressure crushes Hwang Ung, and Hwang Ung, who soars into the sky, drops right there and has to fall to his knees.

"K...uuuugh...!"

The Heaven and Earth spiritual energy presses down like mad, and dragged by it, Hwang Ung collapses there together,

'Wh-What is this pressure?'

Unlike Makli Hu-gi, who pressed down on the entire area, Makli Hyun-ah who appears before Hwang Ung's eyes seems to know how to concentrate pressure only on a specific region.

"Gu.aaaaaaaah...!"

Hwang Ung shouts and begins to rise from where he is.

If he concentrates demonic power and ferocity, if he uses the power of consciousness, it becomes able to resist to some degree.

"Even if you suppress demonic power, I am of the Demon Race and you are of the Human Race. Do you think you can overcome the difference in physical ability!!??"

Hwang Ung's voice booms, shaking the mountains and streams, the grasses and trees.

'I was going to use it when rising to the Heavenly Being stage...but I can't help it!'

Kurururung!

Hwang Ung's dharma form seems to shine like mad, then the yellow armor of the dharma form shatters and begins sucking in the energy of the earth.

Hwang Ung connects to the dragon veins of Ascension Forest, and he feels as if he gains inexhaustible power.

[At this moment, I am no different from the Land God of this earth!]

Hwang Ung stomps his foot while resisting the unidentified pressure that suppresses the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy.

Urururuung!

An earthquake occurs, and all of Ascension Forest begins to shake.

However, at that sight, Makli Hyun-ah instead grins and raises his whip.

"This rather works out perfectly. I already made up my mind to seal you, who doesn't match your station, as an Earth God, and you went ahead and declared it yourself."

Immediately after, Makli Hyun-ah swings the whip.

The whip wrapped in black energy lashes Hwang Ung's body in an instant.

Hwang Ung snorts.

"A stupid whip like that, with no spiritual power or demonic power on it...do you think it will be of any use!?"

Tudududududu!

Resisting the pressure, Hwang Ung slowly approaches Makli Hyun-ah.

Whiiik, smack, smack!

Even in the midst of that, Makli Hyun-ah continues swinging the whip at Hwang Ung, and the pressure gradually grows stronger.

Hwang Ung's legs begin to gouge deep into the ground, and the nearby Heaven and Earth spiritual energy is oppressed even more intensely, until low-realm demon beasts that possess Heaven and Earth spiritual energy cannot even stand up in place.

Kung, kung, kung, kung!

And finally,

Hwang Ung succeeds in reaching right in front of Makli Hyun-ah.

"Kuhuhuh, back then I let you live because the seniors of the Heavenly Being stage had not yet ascended, but now, even if I kill you, what problem would there be?"

If Hwang Ung swings and smashes his head like this, Makli Hyun-ah will die instantly.

However, Makli Hyun-ah instead looks at Hwang Ung with a relaxed gaze and lets out a chuckle.

"Seeing your intelligence drop so much, it definitely has an effect. Putting aside that you forgot I am not the main body, do you still not notice something strange?"

"Kekeke...what nonsense are you...uh...?"

And only then does Hwang Ung notice something strange.

His eye level is similar to Makli Hyun-ah's.

'So it isn't that the ground caved in because of the strange pressure? W-Wait...!'

Once again, the whip strikes Hwang Ung, and only then does Hwang Ung recognize that his body has 'shrunk'.

"Wh-What is this!? You bastard, what kind of evil sorcery...!?"

Chwaaak!

And soon, Makli Hyun-ah swings the whip once more, and Hwang Ung starts to feel fear at his own body visibly shrinking little by little, and he swings his forepaw at Makli Hyun-ah with all his strength.

But,

Squish—

"Ahaha, what a cute little guy! You've become a baby bear!"

Hwang Ung's blow, now so small it only reaches up to Makli Hyun-ah's knee, cannot deal him any damage at all.

"Th-This, what is this!? What did you do to me!? Return me back at once!"

At this bizarre phenomenon, Hwang Ung gradually starts to feel fear, and his mind starts to stiffen.

Makli Hyun-ah only swings the whip with a sneer.

Chwaaak!

Hwang Ung's body becomes even smaller, and now he even feels his thoughts cut off and his body harden.

It is as if he is becoming a doll.

"G-Great Master! Elder! Please spare me, I was wrong!"

Only then does Hwang Ung start to desperately beg Makli Hyun-ah.

However, Makli Hyun-ah, with a hardened expression, only swings the whip once again.

Chwaaaak!

At last, when Makli Hyun-ah's whip strikes Hwang Ung again.

Hwang Ung's tongue hardens too, so he can no longer say anything at all, and only then does he realize how he has changed.

Earthen Form!

Hwang Ung has become a palm-sized clay figurine, tumbling about under Makli Hyun-ah's feet.

Around him, the four-colored bears that Hwang Ung has summoned also become clay figurines far smaller than Hwang Ung, tumbling about nearby.

"Under the name of Makli Hyun-ah, King of the Sea Beast Kingdom, I enfeoff the vicious demon beast that occupied Ascension Forest as an Earth God. From now on, the Land God of Ascension Forest shall take on the role of drawing up the dragon veins and earth energy of Ascension Forest even further."

Like so, the great demon beast Hwang Ung, who had been raising his realm by devouring demon beasts and people in Ascension Forest for a long time, is sealed into a clay figurine by Makli Hyun-ah.

Contrary to his original intention of devouring the dragon veins, he ends up taking on the role of drawing up the dragon veins and earth energy even more.

***

'Are you watching from the heavens, Mister Jegal Mikhail?'

Makli Hyun-ah picks up the clay figurines and, with moved eyes, lifts the figurines up to look at them.

Among the abilities of the Confucian Family Method, the greatest branches are four.

Oppression, Expulsion, Sealing, Negation.

And what Makli Hyun-ah used this time is an ability named Enfeoffing Gods Rite. Under the pretext of enfeoffing a powerful yaoguai or cultivator as the god who governs that region, it seals the yaogaui or cultivator into a clay doll.

"Take it. From now on, if you place these dolls in a place where earth power is lacking, and a local magistrate or social authority holder lashes them hard with a whip while holding a ritual, the earth power of that region will become abundant, and the dragon vein will grow stronger."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"In a little over a hundred years, the sealing will be undone again, so before then, don't forget to either throw them away in some remote backwater, or prepare an environment to suppress them, or if not, smash them."

"By your command!"

Having turned his and Jegal Mikhail's long-time enemy into a clay doll, Makli Hyun-ah releases the Confucian Family Method, takes out a flying magic artifact, and heads toward the center of Ascension Forest.

After the Confucian Family Method became known to the world, countless sects and cultivator clans paid attention to its power.

At first, because it was perceived as evil sorcery that suppresses the realm of Immortal Cultivation, all cultivation clans and sects panicked and tried to eliminate Makli Hyun-ah, but that fear soon faded at the information about the Confucian Family Method that the Makli Clan sent out.

That information was none other than the fact that the Confucian Family Method does not 'erase' Immortal Cultivation realms and Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, but 'suppresses' them.

In particular, countless Immortal Cultivation forces welcomed the fact that it 'suppresses' Heaven and Earth spiritual energy.

To suppress a realm of cultivation means that, among the many cultivation sects and cultivation clans, they can create an absolute neutral zone.

Most of all, because it does not destroy but suppresses, if one releases the Confucian Family Method's social authority, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy that is suppressed becomes even more actively stimulated.

Makli Hyun-ah's ruled sea region, that sea that people unofficially call 'Sea Beast Kingdom,' originally had neither many resources nor any decent spiritual veins, but as a result of Makli Hyun-ah suppressing Heaven and Earth spiritual energy with the Confucian Family Method for decades, the dragon vein and spiritual energy beneath it became immensely invigorated. 

When the Makli Clan revealed that fact, many cultivation forces instead came to think of the Confucian Family Method favorably.

When one devotes oneself to Immortal Cultivation, it is only natural that the resources of Heaven and Earth gradually become depleted, and spirit veins and spirit stone mines also gradually decrease.

But the Confucian Family Method suppresses Heaven and Earth spiritual energy for decades or centuries, restoring and strengthening the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of the suppressed land.

In other words, if one uses the Confucian Family Method to suppress land where Heaven and Earth spiritual energy is depleted and resources have disappeared, that land will gradually recover and Heaven and Earth spiritual energy will become active.

If one then withdraws the Confucian Family Method afterward, that land becomes land where countless cultivation resources arise again.

At that mysterious power the Confucian Family Method possesses, countless cultivation sects and cultivator clans not only tried to obtain even an inferior version of the Confucian Family Method from the Makli Clan so their collateral lines can learn it, but even went as far as to request that Makli Hyun-ah govern the entire Heaven-Treading Desert with the Confucian Family Method.

It is only natural.

As the Heaven-Treading Desert is a desolate desert where the dragon veins are depleted and resources have been absent since the distant ancient era, more than a few people lament the utilization of that vast land.

No matter how Ascension Forest is growing, the speed is too slow.

But if Makli Hyun-ah's Confucian Family Method covers the Heaven-Treading Desert, then even with only a thousand years, the Heaven-Treading Desert will be covered not by desert, but by lush forest and fertile land.

As a result, the interests of countless cultivation forces aligned, and...

Makli Hyun-ah dispatched local magistrates to this Ascension Forest.

'I avenged Mister Jegal Mikhail's grudge, too...and even this Ascension Forest, which I couldn't tell what is what in the past, has now come under my management...'

Makli Hyun-ah arrives at the center of Ascension Forest while feeling the impermanence of time, and his own power and influence that have changed in the meantime.

It is the very spot where they first fell.

"Now what remains...is only to ascend to go save noona."

Even that is because many cultivation sects understand the value of the Confucian Family Method, so he will soon advance to a realm that corresponds to the Heavenly Being stage and be able to ascend.

Makli Hyun-ah resolves in his heart to go up to the Upper Realm as soon as possible and rescue Lee Seo-ah, and as if to gather his thoughts, he walks around the place where they fell in the far past.

"Hmm?"

It is then.

At the place where they fell, Makli Hyun-ah sees an old man with a goatee, wearing blue clothes and looking around the surroundings.

'What is this? I withdrew the Confucian Family Method, but I don't even feel spiritual power fluctuation... He seems like a mortal, but how did he even come here?'

Soon, Makli Hyun-ah finds the answer.

'Ah, just like we suddenly fell here, did that old man also suddenly fall into this spot?'

Thinking whether the old man is the same kind of person as them, Makli Hyun-ah approaches him.

"H...excuse me, old sir. Where do you come from?"

Because Makli Hyun-ah is already a hundred years old, he tries to speak casually to the old man, but when he sees the old man's face, for some reason Makli Hyun-ah ends up using honorifics.

"Hmm? Ah...I come from a far place. Who are you?"

"Ah...I also am someone who comes from a far place. I came from another world. May I ask where you come from, Elder..."

"Mm...I..."

After pondering for a while, the old man looks up at the sky for a moment, then lets out a small chuckle.

"I come from a place called Salt Mountain."

"Salt Mountain?"

Makli Hyun-ah recalls his memories of Earth, but among the places on Earth, there is no place called Salt Mountain.

'At most I know places like a salt desert...or a place like the dead sea with high salinity...'

"Are you...not from Earth? D-Do you know kimchi?"

"Mm...I do not know what you are saying, but my homeland is a star called True Wu Star (真戊星) in Heavenly King Heaven."

"Ah..."

Makli Hyun-ah feels awkward and lets out a sigh.

"So you're from another world... So people from other worlds also fall here."

At those words, the old man laughs heartily and speaks.

"You misunderstand. I did not fall here. I came here on purpose."

"...?"

Makli Hyun-ah looks the old man up and down at those words.

He can't feel Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, let alone any other kind of power.

'Is he messing with me...or is there really something going on? What do you think, Jegal Mikhail.'

Makli Hyun-ah asks Jegal Mikhail inside himself, but for some reason, Jegal Mikhail stays quiet.

"Then...if you came on purpose, why did you come? What is there to see here?"

"I am here to see tomorrow. How the future that goes forward without biting its tail changes...I am curious about the scene of that tomorrow, so I came before preparing for the decisive battle."

"...? Who are you fighting?"

"There is one. A king who absolutely does not want to move into the future. Before I fight him, there is something I want to see, so I pushed through spacetime and, for a moment, projected a single strand of consciousness into countless branches of the future."

"Hmm..."

Makli Hyun-ah does not really understand, but he understands that the person in front of him is someone mysterious.

'Could he be a cultivator of the Upper Realm? They say an Integration stage cultivator forms a dimension inside the body, so they can make it so that no spiritual energy fluctuations show at all...'

Once he recognizes that fact, Makli Hyun-ah feels cold sweat break out.

'I-Is he really an Integration stage cultivator!? A-An Integration stage great senior...no way, right?'

Makli Hyun-ah swallows and asks the old man.

"Old Sir...could it be you are an Integration stage senior?"

At those words, the old man strokes his goat beard and seems to think about something for a moment, then speaks.

"How fun. When I have the decisive battle with him, I should say something about this incident once. It feels like I might even make him laugh, haha."

"...?"

"Well...it is true I am at least of the Integration stage."

'A-As expected! He really is an Integration stage cultivator!'

When Makli Hyun-ah realizes that, he becomes extremely polite.

"Then...is there anything this junior can do to help sir Integration stage senior?"

"Mm...there isn't much you can help with. Just talk with me. What kind of world is this world? What kind of method did you learn?"

At those words, Makli Hyun-ah slowly starts explaining many things to the goat-bearded old man.

***

"I see, the Confucian Family Method, huh... The research I did to negate Immortal Cultivation and make it easier to sense Primordial Origin passed on well... What did you say the name of this star is?"

"It is called Penglai Star..."

"Right, right...and behind that star there is a place called the Land of Madness? And there is even a legend that the Land of Madness is 'someone's face'?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Hm...how hopeful. Truly hopeful indeed. Hahahahaha..."

The old man repeats the word hopeful, and his face looks dark in some way.

"Is he deliberately showing it to me as if to mock me? It is so hopeful that it makes me uneasy instead."

But even as his complexion grows dark, his voice does not actually sound that uneasy.

"Alright. Thank you for telling me all sorts of things... I heard the sound of you fighting a bear outside this Ascension Forest... Are you a queen? These days, does it seem easy even for a queen to become a king?"

"Ugh..."

Makli Hyun-ah's face turns red, thinking that this Integration stage great senior is teasing him.

Even though there should be a consciousness domain, the fact that he calls him a queen means he must be teasing him.

But it has already been about a hundred years since Makli Hyun-ah learned the Confucian Family Method and has come to know the Immortal Cultivation system well.

Knowing well what kind of being an Integration stage great senior is, Makli Hyun-ah does his best to humor him.

"Yes, yes...I am indeed queen...and these days queens are also enthroned well..."

'Fine, if an Integration stage senior calls me a queen, then I'm a queen, damn it!'

"Hmm...I see. And now, you plan to build a great nation that suppresses the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of a place called the Heaven-Treading Desert at the center of this Ascension Forest?"

"Yes..."

At those words, the old man strokes his beard and smiles faintly.

"Say, may I perhaps borrow your story?"

"Borrow my story...?"

"As I listen to you...there is a story I want to make into a key that opens the gate to the place of the decisive battle."

"...? Your words mean..."

"To fight my enemy, I must fight a certain gate, and as the key to fling that gate open...I want to take your story and create a world that moves according to your story."

Treating a whole world like a key!

Indeed, this old man is without a doubt an Integration stage great senior like in the legends.

"I-I'm honored, but I do not know whether the story that someone like me tells is that great..."

"Haha, you can feel that way. But...listen. It will be fun. 'A country of Penglai where the Immortal Cultivation system does not exist, only a few yaoguai use strange powers and chaotic spirits, and queens rule generation after generation'... Truly...is it not a splendid future?"

At those words, Makli Hyun-ah carefully asks the old man.

"Elder, where do you come from, and how did you come here? And...I come from another world. What should I do if I want to return to my homeland?"

At those words, the old man smiles faintly and speaks.

"I came miraculously from a distant yesterday, and your going back should also be a miracle."