A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation

Chapter 405: Bow Down In Prostration (2)

The Heavenly Domain is formed, and naturally born Quasi-Immortals emerge, creating stars. Not long after, beings below Quasi-Immortals are born.

These are the administrators of the worlds, the Sacred Masters.

The naturally born Sacred Vessel stage Sacred Masters manage the laws of the stars created by the Quasi-Immortals and instinctively begin to birth life into the universe.

Under their influence, stars find their orbits, and in an instant, galaxies and star systems are born within the Heavenly Domain, transforming into environments conducive to the growth of living beings.

And then, on a star that has been moved near a fixed star by one of the Sacred Masters,

[Editor: 'Fixed star' refers to one like our Sun.]

There is a presence.

Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle—

Mumblemumblemumble...

It's Seo Eun-hyun.

Seo Eun-hyun mutters something continuously with a vacant gaze.

His eyes are empty, and the Black Blood Tears Flowers around him incessantly wriggle repulsively, emitting ghostly wails.

However, Seo Eun-hyun, standing at the center of this monstrous flower field, simply mutters incomprehensibly with an indifferent expression.

As time passes, the field of cursed flowers expands.

The flower field continues to grow.

One li, ten li, a hundred li, a thousand li!

However, that seems to be the limit.

The field of cursed flowers stops expanding after reaching a diameter of a thousand li centered around Seo Eun-hyun.

Instead, at a certain moment,

Rather than flowers in a flower field, 'animals' begin to appear.

Wriggle, wriggle...

Things like veins and intestines, having sprouted from Seo Eun-hyun's body, struggle to detach from him before eventually dying.

This phenomenon continues for decades, eventually evolving.

Then, at some point.

"Heo, heok, hek...!"

A dark Black Blood Tears Flower seems to bloom from Seo Eun-hyun's body, and from within the Black Blood Tears Flower, a being with tentacles and a face identical to Seo Eun-hyun's emerges.

After staring at Seo Eun-hyun for a moment, the being attempts to flee as far as possible from him with a face filled with terror.

However, the further it gets from Seo Eun-hyun, the more it seems to lose strength, eventually shriveling up and dying.

Dozens of Black Blood Tears Flowers bloom from Seo Eun-hyun's body each day, and from within them, monsters identical to Seo Eun-hyun appear and attempt to flee from him, only to repeatedly wither and die.

The true identity of these monsters are none other than Seo Eun-hyun's Heart Demons.

Even though the Heart Demons wither and die, they all desperately try to escape from Seo Eun-hyun's body for a reason.

Mumblemumblemumblemumblemumble...

Seo Eun-hyun's lips continue to mutter something.

But, though he is muttering, the exact meaning of those words are impossible to discern.

They are merely sounds emitted without any purpose.

And the eyes of Seo Eun-hyun, who is uttering these meaningless words, are so darkly tainted to a point no one could possibly imagine.

Shaaaaaaaa—

Though Seo Eun-hyun himself seems unaware, as time passes, his hair gradually turns white.

Just like it would in his old age.

Mumblemumblemumble...

However, whether he knows it or not.

Seo Eun-hyun continues to mutter repeatedly.

Constantly vomiting curses from his body.

A new Heavenly Domain was born, and a thousand years passed.

During this thousand years, countless life forms began to settle on various stars under the guidance of the Sacred Masters.

Naturally-born Star Shattering stage beings also began to emerge one by one, breathing new power into the Heavenly Domain.

And during this millennium, there is a planet that has half-melted.

Near the core of that planet.

There, something that has been drooping and muttering with a ruined gaze suddenly clenches its fist.

The being that clenched its fist strikes its own head with that fist.

Kwaaang!

The entire planet trembles.

It's a truly terrifying blow, but the being remains unscathed even after taking that blow.

However, there appears to be some effect.

The being stopped its muttering, splits open its own stomach, and reaches inside to pull something out.

It's a scroll.

When the scroll is unfurled, certain objects and puppets sealed within are revealed.

One of the puppets inside the scroll is crying and wailing.

The being that half-melted the planet pulls out the puppet with a vacant expression.

[Congratulations on thy birthday! Most revered Cult Leader!]

The puppet wears a face full of reverence and bows to him in the shape of a 90-degree angle.

And finally, he understands.

Roughly a thousand years after the birth of the new Heavenly Domain following the 'End.'

That day is exactly his five-thousandth birthday.

Of course, this is his five-thousandth birthday not in terms of physical age, but in terms of the age of his soul.

The being celebrating his five-thousandth birthday.

Seo Eun-hyun, upon hearing the puppet's congratulatory words, finally regains his sanity.

"..."

However, just regaining his sanity didn't bring about any drastic changes.

He simply continues staring into the void.

What good will it do if something changes?

In any case, there is nothing left in this world.

All those he loved are dead.

There is no place to return to.

In that case, just what is a person supposed to do?

For roughly a thousand years, he has raged, suffered, and cursed.

But after half-melting the planet, rather than pain, a sense of emptiness engulfs him.

In the past, when he lost his beloved to Yuan Li and swore revenge, it was because Yuan Li was still at a level within his reach to some extent.

But this time, what can he possibly do about the being that annihilated his comrades, the ones he loved?

Seo Eun-hyun knows.

Even if hundreds of millions of years pass, he can never defeat that Devil God (魔神).

That being is so distant and unfathomable that he can't even fathom how to reach it, but how is he possibly supposed to suppress his desire for revenge?

He spends another 23 years sitting in stupid with a hollow laugh.

And then, in the 24th year.

"..."

Suddenly, his eyes shrivel up as he touches his abdomen.

"Ie, ie, ie...!"

It has been so long since he has spoken that it's as if he has forgotten how.

However, he soon recalls the 'words.'

"It's gone...!"

Panic spreads across his face.

"Colorless, Colorless Glass Sword, the Colorless Glass Sword is gone...!"

And he remembers.

The moment he tried to swing the sword toward the being atop Great Mountain, the sword shattered.

And only then does he finally cry out again.

"HUAAAAAH! Ah, AHHHHH! AHHHHHHH!"

While his whole body trembles, he still manages to find a very faintly embedded shard of the Colorless Glass Sword inside his Golden Core.

Finding the shard of the Colorless Glass Sword, he clenches his teeth as his hands shake uncontrollably.

"...Find, I must find..."

Finally, after spending what amounts to nearly a thousand years, a 'sense of purpose' begins to take root, and with it, 'rationality' begins to return to him.

"..."

Without a word, he extends his consciousness, scouring the planet he is on.

However, he fails to find any more shards of the Colorless Glass Sword.

After scouring the planet for a while, Seo Eun-hyun moves to a neighboring planet to search for the shards of the Colorless Glass Sword.

There are none on the neighboring planet either.

However, he acts somewhat differently on the neighboring planet.

Kuguk, Kuguguk—

He uses earth attribute spells to reshape the ground, attempting to recreate the faces of his comrades from memory.

Whether it's a sculpture or a mural, it doesn't matter.

But after a while,

Seo Eun-hyun's hands stop.

His eyes waver precariously.

The fact that the Colorless Glass Sword is gone means that the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, which relies on it, is also gone.

And the absence of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections means that there is a leak in his small pool of memories.

His hands tremble as he struggles to remember the faces of his comrades accurately.

And after roughly 36 years of agonizing effort,

Seo Eun-hyun manages to recall the distinct features of his comrades and sketches their faces.

But he is far from satisfied.

Their faces are not clear.

He sighs gloomily.

In any case, if he wants to recover his proper memories, he needs the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.

And for that, he needs the Colorless Glass Sword.

Using the planet where he has drawn his comrades' faces as a coordinate, he continues his search for the shards of the Colorless Glass Sword.

Although the Colorless Glass Sword was shattered into tiny pieces and scattered throughout the Astral Realm, Seo Eun-hyun is undeterred.

This is because even though it's called a glass sword, after being tempered by Seo Eun-hyun's Dan Fire for over four thousand years, it has transformed into a mineral that is questionable to call glass.

What that means is that the shards of Seo Eun-hyun's Colorless Glass Sword are older than this newly born Heavenly Domain itself.

The method he uses to track the shards of the Colorless Glass Sword is simple.

He would find a planet and activate the formula of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections throughout the entire planet through the dragon veins.

If there is a place where the power of the dragon veins gathers, that would be where the shard is located.

The planet where the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections is activated will be one where the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections has never been used before, and if the dragon veins activated through the aura of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections are further concentrated on a specific location, then it is likely the shard of the Colorless Glass Sword, which is more 'familiar' with the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connection compared to the planet itself, would be there.

Using this method, Seo Eun-hyun is able to recover a shard of the Colorless Glass Sword about the size of a thumb over the course of four thousand years.

And there is one very first thing Seo Eun-hyun does after finding that much of the Colorless Glass Sword.

Wo-woong—

He returns to the planet where he has first drawn the faces of his comrades and activates the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections using the thumb-sized restored piece of the Colorless Glass Sword.

Although the range that can be restored isn't a lot, it still contains the faces Seo Eun-hyun desires.

Seo Eun-hyun restores those faces and sculpts them into statues.

This time, they are very small statues.

Small enough to fit in his hand.

After burying those statues on the planet, he creates tombstones on the ground.

He has only made the graves for those within the restored Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections.

That is all Seo Eun-hyun can do for now.

However, he has already found a new purpose.

To fully restore the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, remember all their faces, and create tombstones for everyone he remembers from the previous Heavenly Domain.

That is his new goal in this new Heavenly Domain, where no one remains.

He bows deeply towards the graves he has already made and lights incense.

In his own way, he is giving them a funeral.

Thus, from that day, Seo Eun-hyun's journey began.

A further 6000 years pass.

Seo Eun-hyun has now reached exactly 15,000 years of age.

Clink—

Seo Eun-hyun finally restored a handle of the Colorless Glass Sword.

The progress is painfully slow.

However, he smiles.

The number of tombstones he has created on planets has increased.

He places the Colorless Glass Sword into his storage scroll.

He still doesn't fully understand how he was resurrected, but one thing is clear.

The entity that revived him also restored his storage scroll and his other belongings.

Thanks to that, he is able to use the conveniences of a cultivation civilization, such as the storage scroll.

Looking at the handle of the Colorless Glass Sword inside the storage scroll, he thinks to himself.

Refining them in his Dan Fire can only be done after all the shards of the Colorless Glass Sword are restored, tempered together.

If not, the shards that are in contact with the Dan Fire for longer will become stronger, while others will be weaker, resulting in an unevenly restored Colorless Glass Sword.

Woong—

As he grasps the handle of the Colorless Glass Sword and operates the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections, he feels a slight pull.

It's a very faint pull, and the duration is short, but Seo Eun-hyun doesn't mind.

It's a good sign.

The more the Colorless Glass Sword is restored, the greater of an attraction force it emits through the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections towards the other shards of the Colorless Glass Sword.

In other words, the more he restores the Colorless Glass Sword, the faster the restoration process will become.

And so, another 15,000 years pass.

Seo Eun-hyun finally restored one of the 3,000 Colorless Glass Swords.