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Chapter 343: Hearing of the Resurrection. (2)

Paddadaduck.

A strange noise reached my ear.

What a violent sound.

If it were just the noise, that would be one thing.

But a pressure was continuously pouring in, compressing my body.

Should I say it felt like being squeezed tight?

“Ugh…” The pressure intensified, causing pain.

I couldn’t bear to open my mouth, so I had to scream in agony within myself.

How long has it been like this?

I don’t know. I can’t measure it in time.

“What a ridiculous situation.”

In the midst of the crumpling pain, I found myself regretting it for a while.

When entering, my stomach was upset.

It was enough to cause nausea.

But now that it was time to leave, isn’t the situation vastly different?

Especially compared to my previous life.

Back then, the nausea was mild, similar to the entrance feelings.

But the sensations in this life feel overwhelmingly different.

Or perhaps, is this the consequence of ignoring the warning I heard right before I returned?

– Apostle.

After finishing all the discussions,

The World Tree spoke to me.

– The pain when you return will be great. Be careful.

– I’ve already experienced it once. That much is nothing.

I chuckled at the World Tree’s warning and replied confidently.

Now, I found myself regretting what I thought back then.

“Experienced it, my ass…!”

What a joke.

The level of suffering is entirely different this time.

And why is the return journey taking so long?

While I was lost in thought, I shook my head internally.

‘Is all of this my karma?’

From what I heard from the World Tree,

I thought I vaguely understood the reason for my current state.

The world where the World Tree existed was described as a false one.

It was a Demonic Gate created for the World Tree to suffer alone after committing sins.

Originally, it was a place that shouldn’t allow easy passage.

I was unaware of that fact back then…

Anyway.

The reason I headed there was that I wanted to hear truths I didn’t know.

And I had the desire to deal with Jang Seonyeon.

But the most crucial essence was the time difference between that place and here.

I needed that.

The years spent in the Demonic Gate would equate to only a few days in the physical realm.

I needed that difference.

Moreover,

Once I stepped out, I couldn’t set foot in that Demonic Gate again.

Since I took a step, I had to do everything possible.

Especially,

In a state like now, being stuck against the wall.

I more than ever needed time to train.

After ending the conversation with the World Tree,

Having heard everything I needed,

The one thing I did was to ask the World Tree for a favor.

I expressed my need to train in this place.

Gathering all the opportunities I had picked up along the way,

And the proficiency I developed from experiences in my previous life.

!

..

Even after reconstructing my body,

All the conditions seemed to align perfectly.

Yet, for some reason, I was stuck, unable to cross the wall.

This time, I truly felt the necessity of training.

So, I decided to utilize the Demonic Gate.

Using the time in this place,

I aimed to break through the barriers.

The World Tree didn’t outright refuse my request.

I began training immediately!

Even in a fake world, the senses were vivid.

Of course, pain was present. Hunger was also felt.

Almost everything felt the same as reality.

The sensations when stretching my arm felt familiar.

I could feel the energy moving from my Dantian, along with the heat it generated.

Since everything felt familiar, I could train as much as I wanted.

All sorts of information were swirling in my head.

Leaving behind those moments filled with despair,

It felt good to move my body and gain a sense of time.

Days passed.

I soon stopped counting.

But the inertia I initially lacked seemed to spark a fire within me.

A day went by.

Then another.

Before I knew it, a year passed.

Around the six-month mark, I got too lazy to keep track.

According to the World Tree,

A year has already gone by.

I felt nothing from that.

What a shame it was to not have properly passed the wall despite that much time.

When I should have been listening,

I reached out again.

One difference between the Demonic Gate and the physical realm was somewhat clear:

The growth of the body was noticeably slower.

But that was fine.

At this point, physical growth wasn’t the main concern.

I was strengthening my body yet not growing taller.

Was there something wrong?

Or has my growth completely halted?

It might be, but probably not.

Considering I wasn’t particularly large in my previous life, yet was larger than now.

Furthermore, remembering how my growth sped up after experiencing regression,

I thought I’d probably be bigger once fully grown compared to now.

Anyway.

The important thing isn’t physical growth.

It’s achieving stability of the heart and transcending the barriers through it.

Time continued to pass.

Now, the World Tree no longer stated the time.

Night would come, and soon it would turn to day.

Maybe it was due to training in the vicinity of the World Tree.

But the Demon Beasts didn’t bother me too much.

How strange.

What could be the identity of the Demon Beasts that linger in this false world?

I was briefly curious but decided against pondering it too deeply.

Right now,

I needed to extend my reach once more.

I focused more on refining my inner strength and finding out how to breathe properly.

The compression techniques learned from Shin Noya.

Utilizing that to control my body.

And,

Reducing the mental backlash from the altered methods of use.

For a moment, I forgot all the burdens piling up behind me.

Only concentrating on moving my body and refining my energy and mind.

As I momentarily forgot the clutter in my head,

Surprisingly, I felt my energy flowing much more freely.

Perhaps that’s why,

I honestly thought it wouldn’t take long.

To breach the wall.

If I kept pounding against it for a few more months, I would still break through.

Or perhaps, I would surpass it.

I thought that.

But months? What a foolish thought.

Endless training made reality hit me hard.

The current realm was undeniably the peak.

It was a level achieved through opportunities gained from my regression and the messy experiences of my past life.

If asked whether it was different from other peaks, it probably wasn’t.

It was just that I didn’t solely ascend with my talent.

Furthermore,

Unlike the explosive energy I had used before,

Now I had steadily applied even a handful of my energy with precision.

In this nuanced situation, the past experiences didn’t take up much of a space.

Thanks to that.

“Phew…”

Reaching the level I desired took far longer than expected.

I hadn’t counted every single day.

But when considering the time difference,

When I returned to the original world, several days might have passed.

That’s how long I had been here, which was time I hadn’t anticipated.

However, in the end, I achieved what I aimed for.

Now, it was time to return.

And upon arriving here,

The unbearable pain intertwined with it.

“Damn.”

The pain felt as if my whole body was being crumpled.

The reason I felt this pain while crossing dimensions back to the physical realm was simple.

Everything I achieved there,

I couldn’t take back anything to the physical realm.

In contrast to how they spent their lifetimes there,

My memories were erased.

The reason I could return just as I was when initially entering the Demonic Gate was precisely because of that.

What I could bring back was none other than my memories.

So, what was this pain I was enduring?

It was some sort of recoil.

I was cleansing the strength obtained from training in the Demonic Gate.

Returning to the body that existed in the physical realm.

That’s how it was.

“Damn that hurts like hell.”

It felt like my whole body was being hammered with a blunt weapon.

In the middle of it all, I couldn’t even scream.

If I moved incorrectly, I felt I might end up dead.

I simply endured.

I had to keep enduring.

Whether it was fire or lightning.

Enduring the pain that seemed to burn my entire body and limbs.

Time passed painfully.

No, it was a hellish time to endure through that torturous pain.

Crack.

With the sound of something crumbling,

Thud….

It felt as if my legs touched the ground after floating for so long.

A breeze blew by.

The long-lost sensation of wind.

Finally, having endured so much, I let the words slip.

“Holy crap.”

Without realizing it, a curse escaped my lips.

But under the circumstances, it was no surprise.

“I almost died for real…”

I truly had a close call.

It was way too different from my previous life.

If I had even breathed wrong,

I might have torn apart completely.

Is this truly insane?

“If I have to go through that nonsense again…”

Given that I used this method due to time constraints, I might have reconsidered my choices had I known I’d end up in such a dangerous situation.

I raised my hand and swept it through my hair.

For some reason, my body felt unbelievably heavy as I moved.

It was just moving my hand but it felt awfully laborious.

‘That’s beside the point.’

I slowly gathered my thoughts.

First and foremost, I needed to locate Jang Seonyeon.

Even if I grilled her and burned her alive,

That would only mean her demise in the Demonic Gate.

I then asked the World Tree if there was a way around this.

But the reply was that it was unacceptable due to the laws governing it.

If that was the case, then it was highly likely Jang Seonyeon had returned as well.

After all, that was anticipated.

If she returned alive, then killing her again is all that was necessary.

The Demon Beasts were numerous around here anyway…

Thinking thus, I scanned my surroundings.

“But what’s this place? Why does it look like this?”

I had expected to reappear; of course, in the Demonic Gate.

But what I saw before me was an unexpected building, not a patch of grass.

The fortunate thing is, I could tell what kind of building it was.

Even after time had passed, my memory served me well.

That building was Shinryong Temple.

But.

What a strange sight it was.

‘What a mess has it become?’

I wondered how much money had been poured into this structure.

The splendid building was now cracked in many places, looking precariously close to collapsing simply from a casual touch.

‘Could it be….’

I had to consider a somewhat terrifying thought.

I initially thought maybe only a few days had passed,

Since there’s no way such a mess could arise in just a few days.

Could it be that the time flowed at the same rate here?

If so, then that would mean everything I prepared for in training could all be in ruins.

This meant it was a truly alarming situation.

Tuktuk.

While my mind raced and whirled,

I felt a presence nearby.

I turned my head.

“Hmm?”

There sat a strangely familiar elder, bleeding as he collapsed.

In front of him stood a gigantic elder gripping a great sword, gazing my way.

What on earth could this mean? I frowned at the sight.

Gasp.

The elder gripping the great sword flinched at my visage.

Why would anyone startle at the sight of another?

What a peculiar feeling.

Amid this confusion, I looked at the bloodied elder who had lost an arm.

‘…Cheonghae Ilgeom?’

I quickly recognized who he was.

I just hadn’t recognized him immediately since it’d been a while.

What was going on? Why was that elder sitting there in such a state?

My five senses regained their vividness all at once.

Only then did I smell blood coming from every direction.

Moreover,

The atmosphere was thick with killing intent.

The unique, nauseating energy wielded by the Demonic Faction lingered around.

Noting that, I realized.

“Looks like something has gone terribly wrong.”

I couldn’t quite grasp the situation, but I sensed something had definitely blown up.

Immediately, I fixed my Curious Eyes on the elder in black clothes before me.

He clearly wasn’t one of the Demonic Faction’s elites.

He didn’t seem normal either.

That elder, sensing my stare, seemed to tremble slightly as he opened his mouth first.

“…Who are you?”

What should I reply?

I took a step forward.

I rotated my inner energy, just like back then.

That feeling of not being able to pass through the wall.

It was like I was floundering.

When I took a second step, I summoned forth my energy.

Filling it up in my lower dantian.

In no time, I was saturated.

“Why does it matter? You don’t seem like a guest.”

“You speak more briefly than expected, young one.”

The elder remarked, his gaze fixed on me with tension.

Perhaps he hadn’t fully grasped the situation.

If that’s the case, then why not swing the sword at me during this time?

Taking a third step,

I directed the inner energy I had accumulated in the lower Dantian toward the upper Dantian.

Fwoosh.

“…!”

The deranged expression on the elder’s face shifted dramatically.

“You…”

It must be fascinating for him to witness my ascension so quickly.

As my energy circulated through me,

There were still many distractions, but unlike before, they weren’t truly problematic.

I stabilized my state and proceeded onward.

I had rolled around the Demonic Gate for this purpose.

I organized my mind.

Continuously striving to merge with my body.

As my Blood Qi broke through,

The tip of my inner energy, once a mere pinprick, transformed into something grand and sharp.

Piercing through the wall leading to the upper Dantian.

Whooosh-!

The quality of energy felt distinctly different throughout my body.

The energy I had once sensed at the peak seemed like a mere child’s play.

It grew heavier endlessly.

At the same time, I expanded it throughout my being.

Now that the upper Dantian opened up,

The way I perceived everything shifted.

The sounds I could hear changed and the energy coursing within me transformed.

I had transcended the grave of martial artists and reached the peak known as transformation.

What a refreshing feeling.

“Why do you speak so briefly?”

Of course, there was no time to relish such feelings.

I immediately noticed something was off.

I had to act.

“I typically lack respect for the Demonic Faction scum. Particularly because of the strong purist bloodline.”

I smiled.

Perhaps my grin was displeasing to the elder.

He began to move.

It was evident that the figure before me was a formidable opponent.

Yet, thanks to the inner energy that filled my upper Dantian,

I felt strangely unafraid despite having never experienced this before.

“Hey, what’s with the sky acting all chaotic?”

It might have been nighttime, but that wasn’t it.

As I stared at the sky,

I sensed the elder moving.

The energy rising in power was palpable.

But I didn’t react.

Instead, I lowered my head and fixed my gaze into the elder’s eyes.

I maneuvered the energy gathered in my upper Dantian.

Though it was not night,

That blackened sky didn’t sit well with me.

So,

First, I needed to brighten it.

Whooooosh-!

As heat gushed forth from my body,

The elder took a step back.

That should not have been the case.

He should have embraced it!

Watching his retreat, I whispered softly.

“Red Sky (赤天).”

First, I shattered the night.

 

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