C954
‘Ugh…’
Raon bit his chapped lips. The blood dripping from his white teeth instantly evaporated. The sun’s heat was so intense that it threatened to incinerate his entire body, making it impossible for him to maintain his concentration.
‘To use Wrath’s words, it’s hellishly hot.’
Even with the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation running at full power, he couldn’t absorb all the heat from the sun. He couldn’t imagine how such intense heat could be generated.
‘However…’
Would absorbing this heat here affect reality? The realm of swordsmanship was a mental growth independent of the physical body, so what he learned here would undoubtedly carry over to the outside world. But it seemed unlikely that aura or physical growth would extend to reality.
‘No, for now, it’s best to believe.’
The First Patriarch wouldn’t have prepared such a test without reason. At this point, it was right to trust him and focus solely on cultivation.
‘The heat is so intense that it makes me think about all sorts of things.’
If it were only pain, he could force himself to endure it, but not being able to breathe at all left him helpless. If he hadn’t been using the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, his soul would have already melted like ice cream under the scorching sun.
‘The First Patriarch was more ruthless than I thought.’
In his memories, the First Patriarch always appeared kind and considerate. He had thought he was just a gentle person, but now he seemed to be a true extremist.
‘I don’t want to lose in tenacity either— Argh!’
Raon let out a light laugh before grimacing and hunching over.
‘Damn it.’
The heat made him feel as if his skin, muscles, and even bones were melting. No, it wasn’t just a feeling. There was real pain, as if a knife was carving his flesh.
‘I can’t endure this.’
This wasn’t something he could overcome with just concentration. He felt a strange sensation, as if his own soul was being erased.
‘Should I try using Glacier alongside it?’
Glacier’s ice was the opposite of heat, so it might help a little. With a surge of energy, he raised both the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier simultaneously, as if he were in the middle of an urgent battle.
‘This isn’t working either.’
While Glacier’s cold energy slightly reduced the heat around his mana circuits, the difference was negligible. The heat falling from the golden sun was too strong for the ice to have any effect.
“Ugh…”
A rough moan escaped Raon’s cracked lips. It wasn’t intentional. His soul screamed in response to the overwhelming heat. The sensation wasn’t being next to Vulcan’s coal furnace, but being inside it.
The feeling in his skin was disappearing. That meant the severity of the burns was increasing. Anything more would be truly dangerous.
‘Surely the First Patriarch wouldn’t give an impossible test…’
The First Patriarch had only presented tests that, while painful or difficult, could be overcome with enough effort. Surely, there must be a way to endure this heat as well.
‘What method should I use? To accept fire… Ah!’
As he pondered the First Patriarch’s intentions, he suddenly thought of a method he hadn’t tried yet.
‘The Ring of Fire.’
What the First Patriarch had passed down wasn’t just the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. There was also the Ring of Fire, which was both a cultivation method and not. Originally, when cultivating aura, one should use only a single method, but now wasn’t the time to follow such theories. The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation alone could never handle the sun’s heat.
‘Let’s go.’
Raon clenched his fist on his knee and simultaneously activated the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. The Ring of Fire erupted into the clearest flames yet, beginning to absorb the torrent of heat from the sun.
As the nine rings resonated, the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation seemed to gain vigor, absorbing even more heat.
‘The pain has decreased.’
The pain from the heat hadn’t completely disappeared. It had decreased from feeling like being in a smelting furnace to being on a hot grill, which was bearable enough.
‘So the Ring of Fire was the answer.’
It seemed the First Patriarch wanted to teach that the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation should always be used together, not just in battle but also during cultivation.
‘He could have told me…’
There was no need to beat him to teach something that could have been explained with words. Although, thanks to this, he would never forget it.
‘Let’s start again.’
Exhaling a breath imbued with heat, he concentrated on operating the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. The nine rings rippled, infusing his entire body with vitality, while the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation converted the heat into aura and guided it towards his dantian. Raon sank into a deep state of enlightenment, listening to the clear resonance of the Ring of Fire.
* * *
“You’ve grown stronger.”
The mysterious blue-haired child nodded slightly as he looked at Wrath.
“Is that the life you desired?”
The child curled his lips as if mocking.
“To think you would make me remember such a miserable time…”
Wrath pressed his lips tightly, looking at the child with a deep smile.
“You certainly know how to sour my mood.”
This blue-haired child was both his past self and not. It was his worst and weakest period, and just looking at him made him feel nauseous.
“Don’t pretend you’ve changed.”
The blue-haired child shook his head with a sarcastic smile.
“King of the Dump.”
The child’s eyes gleamed menacingly, as if to tell him not to escape.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that title.”
Wrath clenched his trembling fingers.
“It’s both nostalgic and hellishly uncomfortable.”
Although he was now called the Monarch of Wrath, he hadn’t always been this strong. When he was born in the deepest darkness of Devildom, that infernal land where all the garbage of the world gathered, he was weaker than anyone.
“Uncomfortable? Isn’t this the hell you created?”
The blue-haired child showed his white teeth, asking why he had fled. His eyes contained both mockery and resentment.
“Fled? What nonsense are you saying! You know better than anyone! The meaning of that damn war!”
Wrath roared like a beast, extending his hand towards the blue-haired child.
“Yes! Rip my throat out. Just like you killed those who were dear to you with your own hands!”
The blue-haired child spread his arms, as if inviting him to do whatever he wanted.
“I…”
Wrath relaxed his fingers, which had emanated killing intent, and embraced the blue-haired child with his arms.
“I haven’t forgotten the past. I just carry it deep inside me.”
He closed his eyes, recalling that infernal moment from the distant past, not forgotten even after thousands of years.
“Ha! You damn bastard.”
The blue-haired child twisted his lips in discontent and disappeared into smoke.
“…Was this the test?”
Wrath sighed as he looked at the now empty cave.
‘If I had erupted in anger, would it have been a failure?’
By the situation, it seemed that if he had shown anger towards the mirror reflecting his past, he would have naturally failed the Room of Self’s test.
‘I was lucky.’
Who would have thought that Raon’s face would come to mind there? The past self that emerged from the mirror reminded him of Raon’s childhood, filled with deep vengeance. Having seen how that child had changed, he was also able to calm his boiling anger.
‘The Monarch of Wrath cannot fail to control his anger.’
Humans greatly misunderstand, but demon kings must not only delve deeply into their authority, but also be able to control it more easily than anything else. The test in this cave seemed to be checking if he could control his anger.
“The Room of Self, huh…”
Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at the mirror from which the blue-haired child had emerged. In the black mirror, unlike reality, he saw his younger self covered in wounds.
“I don’t know who you are, but you named this well.”
He looked down at the mirror, letting out a laugh filled with irritation.
‘Still, I feel like something has changed.’
Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at his hand, white as if it had never seen sunlight. As he overcame his past, he could feel the authority residing in his soul growing. The name ‘Room of Self’ fit too well, regardless of who had named it.
‘Of course, I won’t be able to get everything from this place…’
As far as he could feel, a small crack had formed when Raon and he simultaneously entered a space that was originally intended for only one soul. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to take all the power that could originally be obtained from this place.
‘It’s unfortunate, but I must continue.’
Wrath clicked his tongue briefly and entered the mirror from which his past self had emerged. He felt as if he were walking through water, and then something soft like a blanket touched his feet. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a pristine white snowfield that seemed to have been untouched by anyone.
On the edge of the snowfield stood a World Tree that seemed to have been carved from ice, extending its branches towards the sky. Sitting on one of those branches was a handsome man with black hair and black eyes.
“I had a feeling, but you really did come out.”
Wrath bit his lip deeply as he looked at the handsome man with black hair and black eyes.
“Monarch of the previous generation.”
* * *
Raon lifted his heavy eyelids. He saw nine rings floating in the sky and numerous swords wandering the heavens.
‘Is this the mental world?’
It’s always the same here. It seemed that even entering through the Room of Self didn’t change anything in particular about the mental world.
‘No, that’s not entirely true.’
The nine Rings of Fire in the sky resonated intensely, forming a figure like the sun, and the floating swords in the sky traced sword paths that had clearly grown based on the experience gained here.
‘I’ve grown.’
Just by observing the mental world, he could feel how much stronger he had become.
‘Of course, it’s not over yet…’
Although he had already achieved satisfactory growth, it wasn’t all over. The test would only end when he had completely transformed all the heat of the sun that was burning endlessly into his own. Raon raised the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation as he looked at the nine resonating Rings of Fire.
He guided the heat towards his dantian, imagining his entire body’s mana circuits filling with flames.
His chest resonated like a drum beaten on a high mountain. It wasn’t a real sound, but his soul pulsating. He awakened his mind with that majestic reverberation and focused on cultivating the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Ring of Fire. The heat absorbed from the sun had already filled his lower and middle dantians and was now rushing towards the upper dantian.
As the heat refined through the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Ring of Fire touched his upper dantian, he felt a mysterious sensation as if his soul was connecting with the heavens. His three dantians and mana circuits expanded even further, and the red flames filling them began to take on a deep golden color.
The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, having absorbed all the heat from the sun, had crossed a new threshold.
But his transformation wasn’t over yet. A new ring rose above the nine Rings of Fire, overlapping them. Just as the tenth ring, made of golden flames, was about to connect with the other rings, blue cracks appeared in the sky, and the mental world began to break.
“Hah…”
Raon exhaled sharply and opened his eyes. The mental world had disappeared, and only the golden sun that had tormented him remained visible.
‘What just happened?’
Did he fail? It seemed he had been expelled from the mental world due to not having managed to form the new Ring of Fire, but something didn’t feel right.
‘It felt like it was about to succeed.’
The tenth Ring of Fire wasn’t something he had drawn, but a form that the Ring of Fire had created on its own. He didn’t understand why it had been blocked.
‘Thinking about it…’
Did it seem like the blue cracks had blocked the ring? He had the impression that just when the ring was about to complete, blue cracks suddenly appeared and destroyed it.
“This is frustrating.”
As Raon frowned, the sun disappeared, and in its place descended a man who resembled him but seemed a little older and as if he had lived a harsher life. It was the First Patriarch of the Zieghart family.
“This was unexpected.”
The First Patriarch stroked his smooth chin as if he were intrigued. His voice sounded familiar, but his words were muffled as if they were blocked by the sound of waves.
“Perhaps due to the two souls… the influence…”
The First Patriarch let out a faint laugh as if he found it amusing.
“What are you saying? Please explain properly.”
“If you wait… there’s no need to be disappointed… this is another opportunity…”
He nodded as if he were pleased, seemingly unaware that his words weren’t being heard properly.
“Now that it’s come to this, we’ll probably meet again.”
The First Patriarch’s last words were heard clearly. He waved his hand as if to say they would meet again someday and disappeared into the white space. As the First Patriarch disappeared, the golden sun sank, revealing the top of the sand mountain where he had performed the first test. It seemed he hadn’t moved from this place since the beginning.
“So the test is over?”
Interpreting the First Patriarch’s words, it seemed that all the arrangements he had prepared were complete.
“It’s a pity about the tenth ring, but I’ve gained much more than that.”
He had learned the proper use of Ten Thousand Swords and greatly improved his swordsmanship. His three dantians and mana circuits had also expanded significantly, so not only the flow of his swordsmanship but also his power would be on a different level.
‘Of course, there’s something even bigger…’
Raon curled his lips as he felt the heat burning in his dantian.
‘The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation is level 10.’
Unlike the Ring of Fire, the level of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation had increased. Although it was now difficult to feel it properly, once he returned to reality, he would probably be able to produce flames of a completely different dimension.
“I want to test that out quickly, but…”
Why wasn’t it ending? Even though the First Patriarch had said they would meet again, this world continued to persist. He was curious what was happening.
‘Thinking about it…’
Did he mention two souls? Although he couldn’t hear clearly, the First Patriarch had mentioned something about two souls.
‘One would be me, and the other…’
Could it be Wrath? Considering that he had seen Wrath’s reflection in the mirror before entering this place, it seemed certain that he had entered alongside him.
‘Then that sea must be Wrath’s path.’
He had felt something familiar about the sea he saw before climbing the sand mountain, and now it seemed that was the path Wrath had taken. Imagining the blue cotton candy moving its tail through that sea made him involuntarily laugh.
“So that’s why he said it became another opportunity.”
Raon licked his lips as he looked at the blue sea rippling like Wrath’s hair.
“Should we try to get some benefit from our Wrath?”
-
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