Absolute Regression

Chapter 662: The Waves Aren’t Meant to Be Avoided, They’re Meant to Be Ridden

Want to live differently?

“This is some more bullshit, isn’t it?”

To Jin Hyeo, it was a statement that held no weight whatsoever.

“So? You gave up the position of Cult Leader to spend your life running errands for the Young Cult Leader—does that make you satisfied?”

He might have wanted to see a reaction of denial, though he was surely convinced the answer would be no.

The Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult smiled brightly and replied.

“I’m truly satisfied. Heaven gave me a gift.”

Jin Hyeo could tell the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader truly meant it. That soaring joy could never be faked.

“Why are you telling me this? So I’ll go live like an idiot too?”

Whether this Heavenly Wind Cult Leader had gone senile or was indulging in belated sentiment, Jin Hyeo figured he was about to say something like, “Why don’t you try living this way too?”

Instead, cold words flowed from the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s lips.

“What are you talking about? You’re going to die by my hand today.”

“Then why say all that?”

“Why else? I wanted to brag.”

A curse slipped out of Jin Hyeo’s mouth before he could stop it.

“You crazy fat bastard.”

“If you call me fat one more time, you’ll regret it. Ah, wait.”

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, who had been standing at the prow, turned around.

The warriors of the Demon-Slaying Brigade were locked in battle with tentacles bursting out from all directions, and one of them was in grave danger.

A tentacle had coiled around the warrior, trying to tear his leg off raw, but there was no one nearby who could help him.

Boom!

The tentacle trying to rip off the warrior’s leg exploded under the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s palm strike. It vanished without a trace, so not even a drop of blood splattered on the warrior. Bowing his head in thanks, the warrior limped and began swinging his sword again.

Without looking back, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t be impatient, old man. You’re going to die today anyway.”

From behind the turned back of the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, a dense killing intent surged toward him, as though an attack might come at any moment.

“Once you die today, my disciple’s era will begin.”

A master of the Soul Reaping Art like Jin Hyeo was a rarity—one might appear only once or twice in a generation.

Of course, Jin Hyeo sneered coldly. He intended to kill both of them today and claim the title of greatest master of the Soul Reaping Art for himself.

“When you’re both dead, my era will begin.”

“If that happens, the Soul Reaping Art will vanish from the world for a very long time.”

At Jin Hyeo’s questioning gaze, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader mentioned a certain person.

“You’ll die at the Young Cult Leader’s hands.”

“You couldn’t kill me yourselves, but you’re saying the Young Cult Leader will? Did he already defeat you with his Soul Reaping Art or something?”

A strange smile formed at the corner of the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s lips.

“That’s only because you haven’t experienced it yet. Right, with our poor imaginations, it’s something we could never guess. I was the same.”

“Even after sending your disciple into a deadly situation, you can still say that with a straight face.”

At that, the Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult shook his head.

“She won’t die.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“You saw it earlier. Those young ones, one after another, jumping straight into that water without a moment’s hesitation. Can you do that? I can’t either.”

“In this world, it’s always the foolish ones like that who die first.”

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader quietly nodded.

“But this is my world, isn’t it?”

To say something so shameless in a world he had created himself—

“You insane fat fool! This is my world!”

“I clearly warned you, and yet you say it again.”

Jin Hyeo frowned. He was the one hurling most of the insults, but oddly, he felt like he was the more offended one. And those eyes—like he’d realized something—were irritating him to no end.

Then it happened.

Boom! Boom-boom! Boom!

Tentacles began exploding everywhere. They were living beings that kept regenerating no matter how many were cut, yet now they burst apart in radiant circles of light, like the Waterfolk scattering into droplets.

Just as the warriors on deck were finally catching their breath in relief—

Splash!

From beneath the water, the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme emerged. Right after her, Jin Hagun surfaced, exhaling a long breath, followed by the warriors of the Demon-Slaying Brigade. Some were injured, but thankfully none had suffered fatal wounds.

“It’s been neutralized.”

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader beamed with satisfaction and praised her.

“Well done, my disciple.”

The Soul Reaper Demon Supreme’s face lit up in a bright smile. She always felt happiest when her master acknowledged her.

She glanced toward Jin Hagun, who was floating beside her.

“Leader Jin’s help was invaluable.”

When the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader looked at Jin Hagun, he shook his head.

“Your disciple did everything. We merely provided support.”

Though he said that, without Jin Hagun it would have been far harder to break through.

They leapt up onto the deck of the ship.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader said to Jin Hyeo,

“See? In my world, no one dies.”

Jin Hyeo no longer said anything about “my world.” Those creatures should have died—only then would that infuriating mouth have shut.

Jin Hyeo gathered his inner power. Not only his body, but now even his eyes began radiating a blue aura.

Shhhhhh!

The waves began to rise sharply.

Jin Hyeo’s figure could be seen small against the crest of the swelling sea.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader looked up at him and shouted.

“Man, at your age, if you push yourself like that, you’ll collapse!”

The raging waves rose even higher.

Jin Hagun and the warriors of the Demon-Slaying Brigade looked up at the towering wall of water.

If that wave struck, even a ship this large might not withstand it. And if they were thrown into the water, who knew what else might attack them?

“Disciple, what do we do in a situation like this?”

“I think we should avoid it first.”

At the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme’s answer, the Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult shook his head.

“A wave isn’t something you avoid—it’s something you ride.”

Still standing, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader stomped his foot.

Thud!

From where his foot struck, a shockwave rippled out in all directions.

Crack! Splinter!

All around, the ship’s deck shattered and sprang upward.

What fell to the floor were wooden planks—each just the right size for one person to stand on.

“Alright, time to disembark!”

The moment he finished speaking—

Fwoosh!

The great ship they had been riding vanished in an instant.

Now, upon the rolling sea, everyone stood atop the wooden planks the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader had crafted. Jin Hagun took charge of Gwak Ju, who had no martial arts skills.

“When a wave comes, you ride it.”

Whooooosh!

The wind and waves conjured by the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader pushed everyone on the planks toward the heart of the swell.

He led the charge, heading straight for the oncoming wave. His exuberant laughter rang out, echoing across the sea.

Shhhhhhhhhh.

Everyone behind him saw it—the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader slicing up the great wave on a diagonal, riding upward along its face.

The Soul Reaper Demon Supreme, Jin Hagun, and the warriors of the Demon-Slaying Brigade all rode their planks alongside him. The wind he raised from behind drove them forward with fierce momentum.

Never had they imagined they would end up riding waves inside the world of the Soul Reaping Art.

Jin Hagun felt his heart race—not with fear, but with exhilaration. Gwak Ju, clinging tightly to him, knew this would be a moment he’d never forget for the rest of his life… though no one would ever believe him.

Splash!

And they all saw it—the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader reaching the very crest of the great wave.

Kicking off from that peak, he soared into the sky alongside Jin Hyeo.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s red aura and Jin Hyeo’s blue aura clashed in midair. It was like watching two immortals battling in the heavens.

Kwah-boom!

Upon the clear sky spread two colors, red and blue, like vivid ink on paper, adorning the heavens.

In that first clash, Jin Hyeo’s immediate thought was—

‘Strong!’

Perhaps those frivolous words of his had made Jin Hyeo underestimate him. But with just one exchange, he could tell—he was astonishingly strong.

The moment they collided in the air, the towering waves sank away as if they had never been.

Everyone stood on their wooden planks, watching the fight. The Soul Reaper Demon Supreme, in particular, didn’t miss a single one of her master’s movements.

Ssshhh!

Jin Hyeo’s body split apart in an instant, producing clones. They swiftly encircled the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader.

True Soul Clone Technique.

These weren’t mere illusions—they were clones capable of attacking with a third of Jin Hyeo’s full power. This was one of his most guarded secret techniques.

Yet, none of them could attack.

Slice, slice, slice, slice!

The divided bodies of Jin Hyeo were cut apart into dozens of pieces.

Before anyone realized it, dozens of lines stretched across the air.

They were formless strands of qi, created by the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, spread out like a spider’s web in every direction.

As Jin Hyeo’s clones were sliced apart by those lines, liquid dripped from the cuts.

Among it was real blood.

Jin Hyeo’s shoulders were soaked crimson as he stared at the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader in shock, head tilted as far back as it could go. Had he been even a moment slower in raising his Protective Energy, or in pulling his head back, it wouldn’t have been his shoulder—it would have been his neck severed.

“Formless Qi?”

It was the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s martial art that used invisible qi as a weapon.

The same Formless Qi he had once displayed in his fight with the Illusion King had returned.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s cold gaze locked on him.

The man before him now was a completely different person from the one who had spoken so casually down on the deck.

Then—

Whooom.

The surrounding space began to spin and twist, distorting.

Those standing on the sea felt dizziness so intense that they toppled off their planks. It was the kind of vertigo no mental strength could resist.

Yet they did not fall into the water.

Before they knew it, they were in a different place.

Looking around, they saw a space filled with mirrors on every side.

In those mirrors, the reflection of the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader appeared.

One mirror floated right in front of him.

It radiated a chilling energy, and the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader gazed at it blankly.

It was the manifestation of Jin Hyeo’s exclusive martial art—the Soul Demon Mirror.

The ultimate technique of domination.

The moment one fell into the Soul Demon Mirror, they were compelled to obey the caster’s orders without question.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme tried to rush to her master immediately—but all around her were only mirrors. In them, the warriors of the Demon-Slaying Brigade flickered in and out, vanishing again, making it impossible to tell where her master was. This was a maze of mirrors.

‘…Master!’

Now, Jin Hyeo’s image appeared in the mirror.

“The deepest darkness of your heart shall lead you into a new world—now, heed my command!”

His mnemonic verse echoed through the space. Jin Hyeo’s expression was one of satisfaction.

“Kill everyone here and then take your own life!”

At that order, the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme, Jin Hagun, and the warriors of the Demon-Slaying Brigade were all stunned. If the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader obeyed, none of them would survive.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader slowly opened his mouth. Normally, he should have been looking at Jin Hyeo as he spoke, but his gaze remained fixed on the mirror.

“When did I get so much white hair? This is all the Young Cult Leader’s fault.”

At that moment, Jin Hyeo’s eyes widened in shock, his face twisting.

‘Even after seeing the Soul Demon Mirror, it doesn’t work?’

He couldn’t believe it.

From beyond the mirror, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader glanced at Jin Hyeo.

In that instant, Jin Hyeo felt as though he were standing before a massive cliff.

Jin Hyeo had thought the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader would be a worthy opponent, but in reality, he was far stronger than Jin Hyeo had imagined.

‘I can’t win like this!’

Only one option remained.

In the next instant—

Crack, crack, crack…

The mirrors all around began to fracture, and the surroundings started to change.

They all now stood once more in the original grand hall.

Jin Hyeo’s gaze had changed. Where killing intent had once burned, there was now a strange, solemn resolve.

“So it’s come to this, after all.”

As he chanted an incantation, the objects around them began to stir.

The picture frame hanging on the wall tilted. The flowers in the vase withered. A window opened by itself, and incense smoke began to curl upward.

“The Mad Soul Technique has been activated.”

The Mad Soul Technique was far more destructive than the previously used Blood Heaven Soul Strengthening Art.

But there was a fatal flaw—using the Mad Soul Technique meant the user could not survive. And it wasn’t a simple death; it was a death after enduring truly horrific agony.

“Damn it! I didn’t endure all this just to end it like this. Damn it all!”

Jin Hyeo shouted, as if wronged. But without the Soul Demon Mirror working, he had no other way.

“Damn that Young Cult Leader!”

He blamed it all on Geom Mugeuk—since it was he who had sent them here.

Then, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader roared,

“Silence!! He is not someone whose name can be sullied by the likes of you!”

The thundering rebuke echoed, startling even the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme, Jin Hagun and the rest. This was the same Heavenly Wind Cult Leader who never missed a chance to complain about the Young Cult Leader.

Jin Hyeo drew upon every last ounce of his strength for the Mad Soul Technique. His plan had been to unleash it in a single burst, dragging them all into mutual destruction.

But then—his expression froze. The Mad Soul Technique wasn’t activating.

He was shocked and confused. He summoned the Mad Soul energy again, but the technique would not trigger at all.

Which meant—

“You… neutralized the Mad Soul Technique? How?”

He hadn’t been interrupted at all during its activation.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader slowly walked toward him.

“If it were the old me, I would have made the same choice. Even if it meant dying in horrific pain, I wouldn’t have wanted to die alone. That’s who we were—selfish people who thought only of ourselves.”

“Shut up!”

Just as Jin Hyeo tried again to unleash the Mad Soul Technique—

Splurt!

Blood gushed from his mouth.

He slowly looked down at his chest.

Something invisible had pierced clean through it.

“Formless Spear?”

He’d been so agitated at the thought that the Mad Soul Technique had been broken. How could he let his guard down like this, in front of a master who could take a life with the slightest breath out of place?

“…What happened?”

In answer to his question, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader flicked his fingers.

Snap!

The surroundings began to change again.

Astonishingly, they were back in the place filled with mirrors.

The one most shocked was Jin Hyeo, who was now dying.

This was the same space he had opened earlier—yet he hadn’t opened it again.

“Why… is it here?”

With a look of incomprehension, he stared at the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, who gazed back at him in silence.

And then, a thought flashed through his mind.

“No way!”

Jin Hyeo realized it. The grand hall he had returned to earlier hadn’t been his own space at all.

“Yes, that place earlier was one I opened.”

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader had used the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique to create a location identical to the outer grand hall.

Its appearance was the same, but it was an entirely different space.

That was why, no matter how he moved the objects within it, the Mad Soul Technique had never activated.

Because the technique hadn’t worked, the shock and confusion had prevented him from giving his all in their final battle. If he’d kept his wits about him, he could at least have killed the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme, who had exhausted her inner power, or those Demon-Slaying Brigade dogs.

Blood welled and spilled from Jin Hyeo’s mouth in great gulps. Even after experiencing it firsthand, he still couldn’t believe it.

“…You knew the Mad Soul Technique was ready, and you calculated all the way to this outcome?”

“I told you in advance, didn’t I? This is my world.”

“!”

Could it be that he had planned for this very moment from back then?

Only as he lay dying did Jin Hyeo realize—this was an opponent he could never have defeated.

His eyes, fading toward death, filled with fury and regret.

“…You talk about living differently? You’ve spent your whole life in an illusion!”

He tried to insult the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, but it had no effect.

“That illusion was my world. It still is.”

Then, unexpectedly, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader offered words in return.

“Want to know why I’ve grown this strong?”

His gaze shifted—not to Jin Hyeo, but to the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme. He passed on his realization to his disciple.

“Because I tried to live differently, the world inside my Soul Reaping Art became stronger.”

The Soul Reaper Demon Supreme’s eyes trembled. This was the moment her master had placed a milestone on the path she would walk.

Jin Hyeo’s gaze, on the other hand, shook with rage. He could tell the words were sincere, and that only infuriated him further.

Even at death’s door, this talk of a “different life.” He didn’t want to hear such drivel at the moment of his death. He despised it.

“…Still spouting nonsense to the end.”

No—this was the real nonsense.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader forced open Jin Hyeo’s eyelids, which were slowly closing. The last thing Jin Hyeo saw and heard before his breath ceased was this—

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, rubbing his own belly fat, cheerfully asking,

“Should I lose a bit of this belly?”