전생검신 83권 13화

What does that even mean?

I found the Wheel King’s words a bit puzzling, so I asked again.

“Isn’t it a problem with the karma of the Law of Cause and Effect if you become an Outer God…? What’s that got to do with anything?”

The Wheel King gazed at me deeply and replied.

“What is the Law of Cause and Effect?”

“Well… it’s the great rule that governs the world…”

“Before that, the Law of Cause and Effect is a simple yet absolute principle: because there is a cause (因), there is an effect (果). Isn’t that right?”

“…That’s true.”

“In other words, if an effect exists, something, no matter what, must have caused it. Conversely, if a cause exists, an effect must inevitably follow. It’s complementary and inevitable.”

I snapped back, feeling a bit irritable at the Wheel King’s serious tone about such obvious things.

“I already know that.”

“Glad to hear you know. Then have you ever thought about this?”

“What kind of thought?”

His next words made me flinch, momentarily forgetting my response.

“According to the Law of Cause and Effect, all the actions you’ve accumulated through your rebirth will someday return to you.”

“…?!”

“In your memories, don’t you call this cause and effect karma?”

Wha-what?!

I was shocked since this was something I’d never considered before. The mere concept made my skin crawl. Sure enough, the Wheel King began to delve into my discomfort casually.

“Whether it’s evil deeds or good deeds, every action in the universe accumulates karma. Not even the gods can escape that fate! I would not consider you, a Reborn Person, to be free from it.”

“……”

“The ones you’ve killed will seek revenge one day, and those you saved will repay their favor eventually. Indeed, every little action leads to a conclusion. You must have felt this cycle during your rebirth, to some extent.”

“B-but that sounds like groundless speculation. I’ve never thought that it would just come back to me!”

As I shouted in panic, the Wheel King replied emotionlessly.

“Of course, it’s just speculation. I too am unable to measure the vast cycle of the universe. However, every being carries karma, and that karma never disappears until it is resolved.”

“……”

“So, what do you think will happen to all the karma you’ve accumulated if you become an Outer God?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“It will vanish.”

Screeech

The Wheel King began to slowly draw the long saber he held in his hand.

“An Outer God exists outside the cycle. The Law of Cause and Effect is the karma confined within the cycle, so a being outside it can be said to be devoid of that karma. Since you’ve left the cycle, naturally, the karma will also become null. That’s what it means to break free from the [cycle].”

I was taken aback by his unexpected words.

“…Wait? Are you saying an Outer God has no Law of Cause and Effect?!”

“Correct. Did you think gods try to escape the cycles just to gain [power]?”

“……”

“No, that’s not it. In fact, the Absolute Beings like the Emperor or Fuxi, who have reached that level, face none of the hardships from the beginning to the end of the universe, and they can do whatever they want if they wish. There are even more formidable Outer Gods who rarely meddle in worldly affairs; thus, there’s no real reason for them to pursue power just to gain the upper hand over others. The true reason powerful gods desire to become Outer Gods is precisely that they wish to escape the Law of Cause and Effect.”

The Wheel King’s eyes briefly glimmered.

“Even gods are unaware of what lies beyond the end of the universe. However, we have known from birth that none among us is free from the Law of Cause and Effect, and that we will pay the price for our karma after the end.”

“……”

“Yet, if you become an Outer God where the Law of Cause and Effect does not exist, all that karma will completely vanish. At the same time, you will become a transcendent being with the right to observe everything. Even powerful gods seek transcendence for that reason.”

So that’s it…!!

I felt like I was starting to grasp why the gods sought to elevate themselves to Outer Gods, nodding along when the Wheel King pointed his blade at me.

“However, it’s sure to be an incredibly dangerous and dreadful thing for a Reborn Person to become an Outer God. You may walk that path, but you shouldn’t go down it.”

I didn’t truly understand the Wheel King’s words, so I questioned him back.

“Why is it dangerous and dreadful? What have I done…?”

“……”

“My time alive is at most a few hundred or thousand years. Compared to what gods experience, it’s just a fleeting moment. Even if I added up all the actions I took during that time, it wouldn’t even amount to the tiniest fraction of a god’s lifetime. So why do you say it’s dangerous?!”

The Wheel King looked at me with calm eyes.

“Simply put, the karma of someone who has lived about 30 lifetimes has already surpassed the domain of the gods.”

“……!!”

“You’ve likely sensed it. During your journey, many beings have felt that the weight of your karma is profound.”

It was a definite conclusion from the Wheel King, but I had no rebuttal, as I felt a similar sensation within myself.

“No, that’s…”

“It’s not a coincidence. Just the fact that you exist as a Reborn Person likely carries massive karma. Perhaps what I’ve read of your karma is merely the tip of the iceberg…”

The Wheel King muttered and added,

“Do you think the universe’s laws would allow your massive karma to simply vanish because you became an Outer God? Absolutely not. If you become an Outer God, you will have to sacrifice something in exchange for alleviating that karma to maintain balance.”

“What do you mean by balance…?”

“You will have to offer something that corresponds to your karma. Can you envision what that cost would be?”

“……”

That does sound horrifying.

As I understood the Wheel King’s words and fell silent, he slowly stood up.

“That’s why I wanted you to feel your karma, to turn the wheel of karma. If you develop the ability to sense your karmic weight, it will surely aid you on your path ahead.”

“Hmm.”

“I thought you might one day figure out the essence of the vast karma a Reborn Person carries.”

I bitterly laughed at that.

“I haven’t felt anything at all…”

Even after hundreds of repetitions, I only turned the wheel of karma without ever truly understanding or feeling what karma even was. I guessed what the Wheel King hoped for me to realize, but it seemed I was far from feeling the existence of that karma.

Then the Wheel King spoke as if he anticipated this.

“Baek Woong. That’s merely one of the tasks you must accomplish someday. Now do you understand why I called you here?”

“I don’t really know.”

“It’s so you could understand ‘death’.”

“……?”

What the heck does that mean?

I spoke in confusion.

“Why should I understand death?”

“Is there anyone who should understand death more than a Reborn Person? After all, to rebirth, you must die, don’t you?”

“Ah.”

Realizing I had asked a dumb question, the Wheel King slowly approached me with the saber in hand.

Step, step

He then pressed the sword tip against my chest and said,

“If I were to stab you with this blade, would you die?”

I contemplated his words and replied,

“No.”

“If the blade pierced your solar plexus, it should be a fatal wound; why wouldn’t you die?”

“First, I’d endure the injury using my energy, and even if the blade pierced me, I’d use martial arts to enhance my vitality. And then with divine power, I could recover, and for the most part…”

“You really don’t understand anything, do you?”

“What?”

Flick!!

“Ugh!!”

The next moment, the Wheel King used his power to pierce my solar plexus with the saber, disregarding time and space. I was caught off guard, unable to evade the attack due to its suddenness, and only attempted to retaliate with my divine power after impact. However, I soon realized something, cold sweat breaking out.

“Ugh…?!”

I-I can’t activate my divine power at all!!

Why?!

I had no choice but to utilize the energy channels of my martial arts to lessen the injury and preserve my life. While trembling, unable to muster the courage to pull the saber out of my solar plexus, the Wheel King quietly remarked,

“All you’ve just spoken of is ‘reason.’ You merely interpreted a few of the countless causal relations leading to death.”

“Grrr…”

“However, if the true master of death were to wield death itself, then no reasons are necessary regarding that death. That is the true power over death.”

With his cold voice, I could feel my heart plummet. The chilling sensation filled me from head to toe, a feeling I was all too familiar with.

I-I’m going to die…!!

Whoooosh…

In the next instant, I felt my breath cut off completely as my body and spirit became separated. As my spirit seeped out and I hovered over my own body, the Wheel King stared at my spirit.

“Let me ask again. Are you dead right now?”

I replied in my spirit form.

[Since my soul has popped out, doesn’t that mean I’m dead?! Please bring me back to life…!]

“No, you aren’t dead. You are still alive.”

[What?!]

“You aren’t being reborn, are you?”

[……]

…What, why is that…?

Seeing me at a loss for words, the Wheel King pulled the saber out of my solar plexus.

Fwhoosh!!

“Ugh!!”

At that moment, my spirit re-entered my body, and I regained consciousness. I was still in pain from the sharp throbs radiating from the wound, but I could clearly hear the Wheel King’s voice.

“You must be faintly sensing it by now. For you, [death] is not merely a physical condition. By worldly perception, you have come to the underworld, which means you are already dead, and even if you’re stabbed again in a spirit state, you are still considered dead… yet you are still not dead.”

“……”

“Then what is the state of your approach to [death]?”

Papapat!

I quickly halted the pain and pressed on my blood channel to stabilize my condition. For some reason, I still couldn’t use divine power, making recovery impossible. As the pain subsided and I could think clearly, I calmly replied to the Wheel King’s words.

“I’m not sure.”

“Of course. I have seen your memories, so I know how confused you truly are. You just don’t think deeply about it.”

“……”

“I know the answer.”

“What is it?”

Swoosh…

The Wheel King raised his saber high.

“The first is when one acknowledges their own death.”

I felt a surge of fear and instinctively tensed up, and then the Wheel King’s next words followed.

“The other is… a circumstance where one cannot continue living, even if they deny death due to the complete destruction of all their sense and spirit.”

“…!!”

“Both situations may seem broad for mortals, but for you now, they are exceedingly narrow. You can freely traverse between life and death, and as long as you wield divine power, you have no reason to acknowledge your death. Especially with the power of my abilities, this fact is even more solidified.”

“…That’s true.”

As I nodded, the Wheel King continued.

“However, you’ve probably never considered this. In the future you lived in, I, the Wheel King, had already perished, while I, as the embodiment of death itself born from [death], did not meet my end in the form of annihilation. How can death die again?”

Suddenly, a thought struck me, and I said,

“Um… are you saying that annihilation and death are different states?”

“Correct. You must absolutely understand that difference. Otherwise, you’ll struggle to fully utilize your rebirth abilities moving forward.”

“……?”

What does he mean by that?

I asked in confusion when the Wheel King continued.

“Baek Woong. Let me ask you again. What do you think [death] is?”

“……”

What is death… That’s such a philosophical question.

A riddle that all human philosophers and thinkers struggle to solve their entire lives, and here I am expected to have a quick answer!

‘But the Wheel King isn’t asking me for philosophical contentment right now.’

I realized I needed to clearly comprehend what [death] is in order to progress as a Reborn Person. Therefore, the Wheel King’s question was not merely philosophical but carried significant meaning. I pondered the question before cautiously responding.

“If we say death, it’s probably when everything’s over, and you can’t continue living anymore…?”

The Wheel King laughed heartily.

“That’s a typical answer for a Reborn Person. For you, life is [continuation], so interpreting death that way isn’t wrong either.”

“Is there another answer?”

“Baek Woong. If you want to understand death, you must first grasp the opposite of it—[life].”

The Wheel King stated this and slowly extended one of his hands. He then said,

“What I reach out now represents [life] and is also a part of it. Therefore, wouldn’t a state of not reaching out, of remaining still, be closer to [death]?”

“…No. It’s just a hand not being extended. That’s still life.”

“Correct. Just the motion of stillness cannot determine life or death. However, the dead cannot reach out; thus, there is no freedom of action.”

“What you mean is…”

“Listen well, Baek Woong. Everything in the universe operates on cause and effect, and life and death must be understood through the Law of Cause and Effect. From this perspective, death is the state where no further causes can emerge.”

The Wheel King gazed intently at me.

“In other words, it’s a world of perfect [order] in which all chaos in the universe has vanished, and no causes arise whatsoever. That world can genuinely be described as a more perfect realm of death than the Underworld I govern. Moreover, it represents a state where the ancient gods, who embody all order, yearn deeply for it.”

“……!!”

“Conversely, as long as chaos runs rampant in this world, infinite changes will reign, meaning that true death cannot exist. Life and death coexist in a distorted manner and succumb to chaos beyond description. But as you are aware, the more rampant chaos becomes, the more it saturates the world with pain and evil shadows, making extreme chaos seem preferable to death.”

I sensed something from the Wheel King’s words and spoke up.

“So, is that why you seek the Middle Way?”

“Correct. Chaos and order must not achieve a perfect victory; otherwise, the mortals and weaker beings existing in this world will suffer greatly. For that purpose, I created the Underworld symbolizing [death] to adjust the universe’s Law of Cause and Effect in my own way.”

“……”

Was that what the King of Hell meant?

As I started to understand something, nodding along, the Wheel King continued.

“However, as I mentioned, the Underworld does not symbolize perfect death. As you saw, it is merely a place where souls momentarily rest and sort through their karma. Therefore, merely passing through the Underworld, separating body and soul, cannot define a Reborn Person’s [death].”

“I see.”

“Thus, to kill you, one must induce a state where you can derive causes for yourself—that is, making you recognize the abandonment of [life]. They must make you feel overwhelming death in some form that compels you to give up. Moreover, this arises from your rigid interpretation of the form of [death].”

“What do you mean by rigid interpretation…?”

“If you were to tear your entire body into hundreds or thousands of pieces, no human can survive that. If your bones melted in lava, no human can live… that’s the perception of being [human]. You approach death through that understanding; thus, you meet your end due to the limitations of your imagination.”

“……”

“Of course, such things you can likely change and hone through your own training.”

Saying this, the Wheel King aimed the saber at me once more.

“However, if you confront a complete disruption of that perception, no matter how much you inherit my powers, you will ultimately meet your end via annihilation.”

I widened my eyes slightly at his words.

“Something like that exists?!”

“Indeed. That was precisely how I nearly killed you just now.”

The Wheel King slowly took his stance. I sensed his posture resembled that of a martial arts master, and reflexively adopted my own stance, mumbling to myself.

“Martial arts?”

Without a doubt, that movement could only be executed by someone who had trained for decades in martial arts! It was entirely different from the artificial supernatural abilities derived from divine power, and I could only conclude that the Wheel King was indeed a martial arts master. The Wheel King spoke softly,

“Any top-tier god can easily master martial arts. Creating thousands of time distortion fields and acquiring just a bit of knowledge will suffice to reach that realm easily.”

“……!!”

“Martial arts are so trivial compared to divine powers that most beings don’t bother mastering them, yet I have.”

After all, it makes sense that the Emperor also practiced martial arts; it’s not out of the realm of possibility!

When I was left speechless, the Wheel King said,

“In a single blow, I shall show you [death]. You prepare yourself.”

“Understood.”

Swoosh

If it’s a martial arts duel, I wouldn’t hold back, so I geared up to face the Wheel King’s attack with everything I had. I was even looking forward to discovering what martial art he would use.

Swish

“…Huh?”

But just as the Wheel King’s saber began to trace a circular arc, my eyes widened.

The moment his blade drew a precise half-moon shape, I felt my body’s balance diminishing to a perfect void.

‘No, no way…!!’

Only one thought came to mind.

How on earth can the Wheel King use this?!

As I tried to shout something, I felt my body twisting against my will.

‘Ah…’

I had been cut.

Swish…

My upper body was diagonally sliced off, and even as I stood there, wounded critically, I could only stare wide-eyed as the Wheel King spoke slowly.

“Did you see [death]?”

“……”

I felt like I was about to faint with the next words he uttered.

“This is the absolute separation technique… the essence of [death] that your memory refers to as the Hat Warrior.”