Crackle!

Dharma summoned the Vajra and held it in his hand, saying,

[Reborn one, what is your name?]

“Baek Woong.”

[I want to tell you to go back quietly, but… it seems you’ve already faced me before.]

“……”

[You must have already analyzed my tactics, so I won’t say much. If you think you can win against me, then challenge me; otherwise, go back.]

I grasped the meaning behind Dharma’s words and understood the current situation.

‘Thanks to Chon Woo-jin spinning the [Great Cycle] here, Dharma doesn’t remember our previous fight. But… for some reason, he seems to realize that the cycle has turned.’

Dharma seemed confident, deducing from the fact that the cycle had turned that he had fought me multiple times. In truth, it was entirely predictable from Dharma’s perspective, as I hadn’t defeated him, thus the cycle reversed.

However, despite Dharma’s confidence, I felt I had the upper hand.

‘Regardless, the [Cycle] has turned back, meaning I know Dharma’s tactics while he has no clue what strength I possess. Although he pretends to speak boldly, the immediate summoning of the Vajra, the mightiest of the Four Great Spirit Deities, shows he’s preparing for whatever tricks I might use…’

Perhaps I could exploit this advantage to my utmost benefit. I pondered for a moment before speaking up.

“Dharma, let’s fight without the Four Great Spirit Deities.”

[Hmm?]

“Both of us can use our spirit deities. But if we use them, the outcome will simply depend on who uses them first. That’s boring, isn’t it?”

Dharma replied, sounding unexpectedly surprised.

[Your capabilities are far beneath mine. If we don’t use the Four Great Spirit Deities, you’ll never overturn that gap.]

“Yeah. I’m confident.”

[…… Hmm, fine. Let’s fight without the Four Great Spirit Deities.]

“Can you promise that?”

[I promise. I will fight without the Four Great Spirit Deities.]

“Great…”

I tightly gripped my sword and assumed my battle stance. Dharma also settled into a lotus position, floating in the air, and as the atmosphere of battle intensified, I quickly shouted,

“Vayu!”

[……?!]

Huuuu

As soon as the Vajra of the Four Great Spirit Deities appeared, Dharma recoiled slightly. I grinned mischievously.

“I never promised I wouldn’t use a spirit deity!”

[You little…!!]

Despite his surprise, Dharma swiftly grabbed a stone tablet in one hand. Naturally, that stone tablet served as his primary weapon until the ceremony of the Five Stars commenced. With him holding the stone tablet, the merging of the Five Stars was halted, and thus, I had successfully sealed away his first attack.

As Dharma thrust the stone tablet forward and attempted some formidable sorcery, I seized the moment and charged at him using the Thunder Spirit technique.

Technique of All Things!

Piying

As lightning flashed past, I employed the Technique of All Things and swiftly snatched at Dharma’s precious artifact. The moment my technique succeeded, a loud explosion echoed from behind.

Boom!

[Cough!]

As the spell was disrupted and the artifact vanished, the magical power seemed to bounce back at him. I caught the sight of Dharma with bloodied arms and couldn’t help but smile as I glanced at the stone tablet in my hand.

“I want to use it, but it’s probably exclusive to Dharma… so, Vajra!”

Zap!!

I summoned the Vajra into my hand and shouted,

“Destroy the stone tablet and absorb its power!”

[What!?]

Crack!….

In the next moment, I struck the gem part of the stone tablet with the Vajra, producing a resonating sound. Still, perhaps because it was a legendary demon artifact forged from the body of the [Old Ruler], it resisted even against the Vajra’s assault. Striking it again, though, the gem shattered.

Shatter!

Shhhhhh….

Dark smoke began to seep into the Vajra. Watching this unfold, I thought,

‘The offering was successful.’

Now, I just hoped that the bad-tempered Indra would accept this offering and wouldn’t betray me for at least the duration of this battle. While I was lost in thought, Dharma, who had been watching me break the stone tablet, suddenly burst into laughter.

[Hahaha… Quite audacious. I thought you were just a stubborn martial artist who used a sword, but you’re more clever than I expected.]

What’s this? Why’s he so relaxed?

Feeling a bit irritated by Dharma’s composure, I shot back curtly.

“Do you really have the leisure to laugh? After all, you promised not to use your spirit deities, but I never did. You placed that restriction on yourself, so you can’t use the Four Great Spirit Deities!”

[Indeed. It’s not that there’s no way to break a promise, but I don’t mind fighting without them.]

“What?”

[If you’ve sealed away the spirit deities and snatched the stone tablet first, that means you’ve already suffered under the tactics of my Four Great Spirit Deities and the merging of the forces. Is that not so?]

“……”

[However… To settle the outcome of a reborn one’s battle based on just that is too simplistic. You’re making the same mistake I made in the past.]

Thwack!

With that, Dharma suddenly assumed a martial arts stance. He stopped levitating, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and took the exact posture of the Thunder God Lineage Fist technique. My eyebrows twitched at the sight, and Dharma provocatively said,

[You seem confident in your martial arts; why not give it a try?]

“Are you serious?”

[I may not be very good at martial arts due to my pursuit of the demon path, but I can defeat someone like you.]

“……!!”

This bastard!!

No matter how many times I was reborn, this guy thinks he can just mix with the [Old Ruler] and get away with it, but he hasn’t truly mastered martial arts like the countless top experts I’ve learned from while dancing between life and death!

Could he genuinely think of himself as my superior in martial arts?

Crack!

My pride was pricked, and I simply couldn’t ignore Dharma’s provocation. I ignited my eyes like flames and stepped forward with my sword.

“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got…”

Woooooosh –

I summoned the Immortal Sword and began to spin it in a reverse motion. I intended to determine the victor in one swift blow using the Dark Night Slash. After all, I wasn’t in the middle of activating the Five Stars ceremony, allowing me to be reckless.

‘Die!’

But just as I was about to unleash the Dark Night Slash on Dharma’s neck,

Clank!

“……?!”

Suddenly, the entire world turned pitch black. The very sight of Dharma vanished in an instant, and as everything was engulfed in an inky darkness, I panicked. Then, Dharma’s voice echoed throughout the venue.

[I told you to come at me; I never promised to fight you using martial arts.]

“What?! Damn it!!”

[I merely returned the favor; why are you so angry? Hahaha…]

Shhhhhh

With Dharma’s laughter, I realized many palms of darkness were incessantly flying at me from within the shadows.

[Now it’s your turn to suffer.]

Tap tap tap!

I hastily activated the Intent Heavenly Pillar to strike away those hands, but realizing their overwhelming numbers, I thought it was a big problem.

‘This isn’t an illusion; it’s also Dharma’s magic!’

I had been foolish. Instead of being lured into Dharma’s provocation, I should have seized the advantage to use my spirit deities!

But it was already too late for regrets, and I had to acknowledge that I’d lost my advantage and found myself on the defensive. Feeling like I couldn’t take it any longer, I quickly used the Soul Removal Technique to retreat. As I moved a great distance back with the technique, the dark palms stopped attacking for a moment. However, just as I caught my breath, hands began to fly at me again from an empty space, giving me a headache.

As long as darkness exists, these palms would fly endlessly.

‘The advantage of the Four Great Spirit Deities… Hmm… then!’

A bright idea sparked in my mind. Taking advantage of the momentary lull in the assault, I summoned the Vajra back into my grip and whispered towards it,

“You bastard. Since you’ve consumed the power of the stone tablet, make sure to give Dharma a good hit!”

I heard no answer from the Vajra.

“Hah!!”

I muttered something between a curse and a desire, then threw the Vajra with all my might into the void. Clearly, this darkness was Dharma’s god-level magic, and it was impossible to break through normally. Using the power of the spirit deities to produce an easy breakthrough was my plan. What worried me was that the Vajra might betray me and try to kill me, but having gotten its fill with the power of the stone tablet, I just hoped it wouldn’t be shameless.

Thwooom!

Clang!

A sound erupted as if the space had been bounced off, and soon the dark covering dissipated, revealing Dharma writhing on the ground.

[Oooooo…]

Crackle! Crack!

The Vajra was embedded in Dharma’s shoulder. I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed upon seeing it and shouted,

“Hahaha!! I did it!”

[Ugh… Urgh.]

This time, it seemed Dharma was truly taken aback, only letting out groans and hardly moving. Thinking this was my greatest opportunity, I hurriedly approached and attacked Dharma with the Dark Night Slash.

Shwoop!!

[Cough.]

“……?!”

What? What’s happening? I tried to swiftly slice off his head, but why is my sword only halfway sunk into Dharma’s neck?!

Splurt!

Blood gushed from Dharma’s neck, releasing an intense burst of magical power into the air. The magical energy was so dense it almost made me feel dizzy, and Dharma struggled to reach out towards me as he gasped,

[Did you really think I would be pushed this far…?]

BOOM!

I was blasted back by a powerful palm strike as Dharma extended his arm. Naturally, I had used my Protective Barrier and the Protection Energy Technique to defend, but it felt like everything had been shattered in an instant. It meant that Dharma’s strike had enough power to take down even a Demon King in one blow, showing just how formidable his martial arts were.

‘But I’m not injured. I’ll slice him again.’

Swiftly rotating in the air, I charged at Dharma with the Unity of Body and Sword technique, but then Dharma suddenly placed his hand on his shoulder and declared,

[Constellation… Sacrifice yourself!!]

Whew –

Suddenly, a radiant rainbow light flickered from the tip of Dharma’s fingers, and shockingly, the Vajra that had been embedded in him was pulled out! With the Vajra flying back into my hands, I instinctively halted my attack to recover it. I became startled and exclaimed,

“How?”

[Ugh… It’s been so long since I’ve faced something like this…]

Dharma groaned in discomfort before saying,

[Spirit of the Imperial Palace of Huangdao, grant me strength!]

Pahh – !!

In that moment, Dharma’s body shimmered with a radiant heat like that of the sun, making it hard to look directly at him. At the same time, I activated the Palace Examination Technique to inspect Dharma’s body, discovering that 13 magical cores inside him were moving as if alive, changing places.

Of those, 8 cores were dark and lifeless, while 5 still shone with magical light.

I quickly looked up at the sky, noticing it tremble while the positions of the constellations changed in real-time.

“……!!”

So, that’s it!

‘The Law of 13… is connected to the Twelve Palaces of the Yellow Emperor!’

I had an inkling from the number 13, but even though Dharma could absorb more than 13 [Old Rulers], he specifically fixed it at 13. Frowning, I spoke to him,

“…Did you connect the constellations of the Twelve Palaces with the magical cores in your body?!”

That’s why he fixed the number at 13. Each of the most famous and powerful constellations among celestial bodies was linked with the magical cores of [Old Rulers] within his body, amplifying their power and assimilating celestial energy as needed!

[Looks like you caught on…]

Dharma seemed completely restored as he slowly stood up, his irises gleaming.

[Swapping the Vajra cost me eight… but as long as the celestial constellations align with the laws of the universe, I shall never die!!]

“……?!”

Dharma clasped his hands together.

[Merging of the Forces!!]

Crooowwwww…..!!

In that moment, I felt the laws of the universe tremble as the world shook around Dharma. The intensity of the disturbance was so immense it seemed like this star would bounce out of orbit in an instant.

‘The merging of the forces means…’

With a wary heart, I looked through the Palace Examination Technique and, sure enough, I saw cycles swirling within his magical cores. As they revolved, the cores that had dimmed gradually regained their light!

‘What?! Does he regenerate a magical core infused with the power of the [Old Ruler] with each rotation?!’

No way… How does he have such a ridiculous ability?!

It was literally absurd, that’s why he’s called a reborn one. If the principle of reincarnation was applied to martial arts, then the Soul of the Evil God would have its cycle, and when applied to the demon path, one could reach the pinnacle of the merging of the forces.

“Damn it!! You think I’ll let you recover? Hell no!”

Once again, I tried to throw the Vajra, but for some reason, it wouldn’t budge from my hand. Confused by the Vajra’s defiance, I scowled.

‘You little bastard!! Just because you got a taste of that offering, you think you can slack off?!’

I was left speechless, but there was no time to waste. I had no choice but to give up on the Vajra’s attack, and instead, I utilized the Dark Night Slash to cut down Dharma.

Shoooot!!

Earlier, I couldn’t slice through his neck, but this time, I successfully cut him diagonally! Though Dharma staggered, seemingly hurt by my Dark Night Slash, he spoke with surprising composure.

[I’m sure you’re curious about why you couldn’t sever my neck earlier. You’re probably wondering why the Four Great Spirit Deities, who dislike magic, would serve me.]

“……!!”

[The reason is this.]

Guguguguh…

At that moment, a halo of darkness surged from behind Dharma’s head. Then, from the 13 magical cores, dark power began to leak out, and suddenly a force of a different dimension emanated from Dharma. It resembled the overwhelming force felt when one reaches peak magic, leaving me temporarily speechless.

[Among the Twelve Palaces of the Yellow Emperor lies the final 13th star… the Hidden Sun of Darkness, and its trajectory affects… the Outer God beyond the cycle.]

“W-What…?!”

[After enduring years of merging the forces, I’ve reached the end of my trajectory and shared blood with the true master of the constellations… The grounds for my resistance against Nyarlathotep back when I was in the True Martial Home pertained to this!]

“……”

[Whether you acknowledge the Four Great Spirit Deities or not, the gap between us is already evident.]

With that, Dharma gripped my neck with his darkened gaze and glared at me.

[Junior, did you truly think that after being reincarnated countless times, I wouldn’t be able to contract with an Outer God?]

Ka-boom!

In the next second, the power of the Outer God enveloping the Hidden Sun exploded through my entire being.

As I was swept away in that explosion, I thought,

‘The transcendent of the demon path…’

How could I ever think I could defeat Dharma?

It hit me that Dharma had been toying with me during our first combat, drawing things out on purpose from the very beginning.

I realized, I was never an opponent worthy of defeating him.

And just as I was ready to give up everything,

[…No?]

The horn of Chi You glimmered.