The land that had turned into a massive crater due to some old man's Demonic Light-Knot Footwork. Only the crisp sound of tiny pebbles rolling down could be heard.

Before anyone noticed, the three absolutes had flown off, mixed into the storm. All that remained were Venerable Wonjeok, the green-haired girl, and Jeong Yeon-shin, who still maintained his Half Step Reverse Ghost Formation.

A place Jeong Yeon-shin had once visited with the Lord of Ipwang Fortress. Near the city of Cheonhamok.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought silently. It made no sense unless the methods employed by the Dream Phantom Body had arisen naturally.

‘...A technique that strikes the upper dantian and consciousness through dreams.’

Originally, he had been focused on regulating his breathing. Sitting cross-legged in front of the Guest Pavilion of Shaolin Temple, half-ruined by a great battle.

His body was in such a fragile state that if the control of his qi slipped even slightly, he could die. Fundamentally, he was attempting to surpass the limits granted to humans — without even the vessel of Light Wheel, only by relying on flesh and blood.

There had been assistance from Venerable Beomha.

— "Stop the flow of time within Shaolin."

The words spoken by the owner of the Green Jade Buddha Staff.

Immediately after, Jeong Yeon-shin was able to focus solely on the circulation of his qi, as if time itself had come to a standstill.

Not only was there no interference, but he could not even feel the passage of time. The One Hundred and Eight Arhats of Shaolin, freed from the Gate, stood guard, while Venerable Wonjeok, just before merging with Cheonhamok, was suppressed by Hell Stream Beomnyeol and Yokai Wonu Great Master.

‘And yet.’

In the midst of it all, his consciousness had suddenly been ejected and drawn in like a ghost, into the upper dantian of Venerable Wonjeok, where Cheonhamok’s overwhelming spirituality was pouring out like clouds.

It was the same as when he had previously used the trunk of Cheonhamok to perform the Transformation of Emptiness or to peer into the world. Only this time, it wasn’t his will.

It felt like even his mind was pushed away by the massive spiritual force imbued in the Light Wheel’s energy. The two remaining Light Wheels spun at a transcendent speed to control the energy, and since the heart’s middle dantian was directly connected to the upper dantian’s Baihui, the rebound inevitably affected his consciousness.

‘It’s similar to an overload of the Mechanical Soul Form.’

For the first time in his life, he couldn’t fully control his inner energy. Something even his short-lived talents couldn't prevent. That was how divine and immense the force was.

As a result.

"The Head Monk truly had keen insight!"

Venerable Wonjeok, one of the Four Vajras of Shaolin, was pushing his excited face right up against Jeong Yeon-shin’s.

"If you are to step into this wheel of reincarnation, the one most suited would be a supreme master who has refined the upper dantian the longest! I was already delighted to know that you had become the Acting Lord of the Divine Sword Corps...!"

He kept repeating himself. Rambling on and on.

Gone was the hundred years of meditation facing the wall. It was as if he had been trapped for over a century in the Hell Prison, which could suffocate even a Vajra.

But something was changing.

The expression of the girl, who had consistently captured Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze.

"......."

Beyond the shoulder of Venerable Wonjeok, the face of the Lord of Ipwang Fortress — unbelievably small and youthful. Her expression, usually blank, had hardened like a crystal of ice.

Jeong Yeon-shin recalled himself around the age of fifteen. When everything was a matter of vigilance.

"...Dream Phantom Body?"

The green-eyed girl asked. Her voice was different from the Lord of Ipwang Fortress in Jeong Yeon-shin’s timeline. The shallowness of years was evident, and her emotions were unfiltered. It was a voice as young as her appearance.

She was extremely wary of him.

It felt far too vivid to be merely a «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» world constructed from Venerable Wonjeok’s consciousness. Jeong Yeon-shin’s senses confirmed it. His sensitivity was sharp, undulled in the slightest.

‘Even my qi-sense and five senses....’

Shaa―

The grass brushing against his pants leg,

Тhe air that refreshed even the eyes with a single inhalation,

Тhe vast inner energy flowing through his body like a great sea,

The ecstatic strength of the monk gripping his shoulders,

characteristic of the Reverse Tendon Strength Technique.

And the child-like Lord of Ipwang Fortress resting her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"This is a misunderstanding!"

Venerable Wonjeok hastily pulled his hands back and turned around.

"I am not possessed by any Dream Phantom Body! I am perfectly lucid! I’m simply overwhelmed with joy at meeting an old acquaintance...!"

It truly sounded like something from his younger days.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately sent a transmission devoid of qi, like Venerable Beomha’s Enlightened Light Seed.

— "This isn’t just a simple dream, is it?"

— "If you were to name the one supernatural phenomenon across all ages, it would be Cheonhamok. The god of our bloodline that has extended its roots across the world..."

Venerable Wonjeok’s mental transmission paused for a moment. It seemed he had suddenly felt a sense of vastness. Though he was one of Shaolin’s Four Vajras, deeper in spiritual cultivation than Ipwang Fortress’ Black Three Rivers.

— "...Naturally, it is of a completely different class than the Dream Phantom Body. If you understand it as ripping the past from all of existence using my memories as a medium, it might make sense."

— "Ripping the past...? It’s still hard to grasp."

— "It means it has recreated the world of this era exactly. To shatter my spirit and thoroughly probe the actions of Jang Sambong. By endlessly repeating the past."

— "Then I must be an uninvited guest."

— "Perhaps Cheonhamok intends to observe hundreds of thousands of possible reactions from Jang Sambong. Though it could act like a god here, it generally refrains from interfering. I cannot guarantee it will remain so."

— "How can I leave this place?"

— "I wouldn’t know. Didn’t you enter knowingly? I thought you came to rescue me..."

— "That’s..."

— "...Oh."

When a silence as serene as an abandoned temple briefly enveloped them—

Suddenly, the air to the side split semi-transparently. A sword strike came rushing straight at Jeong Yeon-shin.

It was the child-like Lord of Ipwang Fortress.

Whoosh―

In the instant of drawing the sword, her grip shifted. A change in grip technique.

The double-edged sword spun half a circle like an awl, generating a translucent rotational wave, and that whirlpool magnified the sword force dozens of times over. A lethal technique difficult for even military-grade swordsmanship to counter.

‘The speed should have decreased.’

But the girl’s face was already approaching. She had compensated by advancing faster than her own sword draw.

For a moment, Jeong Yeon-shin recalled his own youth — when he had to overcome his young age with every possible trick and technique, back when he bore the Black Mark.

Boom!

The sword was caught between Jeong Yeon-shin’s middle and index fingers, producing a thunderous vibration.

The storm of force contained in the blade roared fiercely, but Jeong Yeon-shin suppressed even the aftershock with just his two fingers.

No complicated technique was even needed.

"......!"

Empty-Handed Entry Into the White Blade.

The pure green eyes, half-obscured by the recoil of her defensive reflexes, were now fully visible.

Jeong Yeon-shin was just as surprised.

‘This is...?’

He had not exerted any special force. He had not activated Ultimate Thunder either.

Yet the sword, between his fingers, was as helpless as a brush caught in the exam hall by a young Monk of Wondok.

Would his physical body be the same? He was now beginning the full circulation of Grand Cosmic Orbit. Even now, his unconscious mind must be focusing solely on qi circulation.

He had already succeeded in fully absorbing the broken first Light Wheel’s internal energy. If he could activate Ultimate Thunder from this stabilized state, аnd if he could shatter the remaining two Light Wheels and return them to true origin through Grand Cosmic Orbit—

‘That would be my union.’

Hezhong. Unity of One Origin.

When those words surfaced in Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind—

"Let go." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The child-like Lord of Ipwang Fortress spoke.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently looked down at the girl.

Under the pouring sunlight, the light green crown of her head flickered faintly in white. She was extremely short. At best, she barely reached Jeong Yeon-shin's chest.

'...Truly.'

It really was his master from her childhood.

The girl’s internal breath, unlike that of his master, was vivid enough to tickle his qi sense, but that was all. From the baby fat on her round face drifted the same scent of grass he had always smelled when receiving breathing and sword teachings. A scent unique to the Master of the Sword Extinction.

"Pi-moonja?"

As Jeong Yeon-shin did not cause any harm, the girl cautiously moved her lips. Great Master Wonjeok nodded vigorously.

"Exactly so! One who has escaped disaster from the Gate! Naturally, she has no acquaintances in the Central Plain, so if a noble lineage like hers could show pity, it would be most fortunate!"

"What is your name?"

The girl asked.

Her tone was quaintly old-fashioned, not matching her youthful appearance.

However, Jeong Yeon-shin, even in his younger body, remembered the elder Jongyeon from the village who had celebrated his seventieth birthday. It was said that pureblooded clans would only age slowly after they could pick their own herbs.

Out of respect for his master, he answered politely.

"I am Seomye of the Jeong family. You may call me Yeon-shin, elder."

"...?"

Their reactions were odd.

Not only the girl, but Wonjeok as well.

― Sir.

― Please speak.

― Your master wandered the battlefields alongside the first Sword Master at the age of ten, and underwent miraculous transformation at the Great Wall’s Shanhaiguan at thirteen. Thanks to that, he grew like a Han child of the same age. I believe he would now be around fifteen.

The short conversation spoke volumes about the turbulent times.

Jeong Yeon-shin fell silent for a moment.

He couldn’t think of what to say. He had no idea how to deal with his master in this form.

― ...Where were you heading now?

― Jang Sambong is about to turn all the noble clans of the Central Plain into his enemies. I heard he was trying to manipulate the Heavenly Tree and extract a promise from the Grand Empress Dowager Wi Yeon... but the first Sword Master Wolpung had no interest in such conflicts. Wi Yeon, as clan leader, was the guardian of the young Master of Ipwang, and Jang Sambong, alongside Wolpung, often looked after your master. He was always caught in between. Perhaps that's why he was so fervent...

All the while, the young Master of Ipwang continued struggling to retrieve her sword from between Jeong Yeon-shin’s fingers. It was the instinct of a swordsman. On a battlefield where seconds mattered, she would have abandoned the sword immediately, but Jeong Yeon-shin’s grip carried no killing intent. It was natural for her to try to recover her beloved sword, a part of herself.

'Ah.'

As Jeong Yeon-shin released his hold, her small shoulders jerked backward. After a few backward steps, stepping lightly on the grass, the fierce emotion flickered in her deep green eyes.

Feeling guilty, Jeong Yeon-shin inadvertently asked,

"Would you like to try again...?"

"Finish your words properly. Your speech sounds disrespectful."

The girl answered calmly.

It was just after that—

Whooooooom―!

A tearing sound from the distant sky.

A streak of pink light shredded the clouds stretched out like a sea of mist and plummeted steeply downward.

It was a person.

[You bastard!]

In an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision was filled by a figure rushing at terrifying speed. A white-haired old man, lightning crackling around his body, thrusting a gleaming sword forward in the stance of unity between body and sword.

‘Changcheondae, Cheongcheon Sword Technique...!’

The body of the first Sword Master, like dazzling lightning, distorted and struck directly at Jeong Yeon-shin.

Just before impact, Jeong Yeon-shin’s and Wolpung’s phantom-like hand overlapped, pushing the young girl far away.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!

A massive crater, nearly a hundred jang across, was blasted into the ground.

[State your sect! Are you a lone inheritor of martial transmission? Or from beyond the Gate?!]

A voice thundered, crushing down to the bones with its pressure. Every bit of his behavior reminded Jeong Yeon-shin of his estranged grandfather.

‘Was this why Master treated Grandfather with such familiarity...?’

Meanwhile, Wolpung's sword pressed down the blade of the drawn sword, stopping just before Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest.

Jeong Yeon-shin tensed his bent elbow. The recoil energy was about to explode.

Kwaggagagak!

The blade scraped against the sword surface and was pushed aside.

Normally, Wolpung’s misaligned strike should have pierced Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest.

[This guy...?]

The old man in pink robes landed on the ground with a faintly surprised look.

Jeong Yeon-shin understood his feeling.

The Changcheondae's sword technique was not as overwhelmingly powerful as a unification art, but it was notoriously difficult to counter. Its distribution of strength and movement of qi were intricate and ever-changing.

But a Sword Master must not fail to recognize their comrades. That was why Jeong Yeon-shin did not fear facing Wolpung, even for the first time.

"...You."

The old man frowned.

"Who are you?"

"I am the one who shared hands with that person."

Jeong Yeon-shin gestured at the young Master of Ipwang. She pointed hesitantly to herself as well. Me...?

Every part of her seemed unfamiliar.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought, perhaps this was a great opportunity. If he was to someday face the Master of Ipwang, now united with the Heavenly Tree, he would need to know every habit her body possessed.

"This..."

Wolpung murmured, filled with regret.

"...The world has grown so cruel that I have acted too rashly. How could I atone for this?"

At the edge of the crater carved by the Cheongcheon Sword Technique.

The ones who had been humans were scattered into pieces. Geumbyeokja and Great Master Wonjeok. Geumbyeokja had no mind to even activate protective qi, and Wonjeok merely wore a faint smile. His expression resembled the serene smile of a Buddha holding a lotus flower.

[Sir.]

Wonjeok’s voice echoed telepathically.

[I have suffered hundreds of different deaths here. This is a world formed from my memories. When I die, time rewinds like flipping the pages of a book in reverse.]

That was the end.

When Jeong Yeon-shin opened his eyes again, everything had returned to normal. The lush forest stood untouched, without a single crater, and the young Wi Yeon was standing facing Jang Sambong in the distance. Behind her were Geumbyeokja and Wonjeok.

It was indeed the cycle of reincarnation.

― Move very carefully to protect this monk. Only then will you reach the end of this story. Wolpung, Jang Sambong, Wi Yeon... do not recklessly provoke any of them. The same goes for your young master.

Wonjeok’s telepathic message.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s head tilted slightly.

Step.

Following Wonjeok’s advice, he moved cautiously to stand behind Grand Empress Dowager Wi Yeon. Over her shoulder, he could see Jang Sambong’s face, and reflected in his eyes were Wolpung and the young master’s faces, clearly visible even if small.

"...!"

As the muscles and qi of all the beings reacted at their own speeds, Great Master Wonjeok’s urgent telepathic cry pierced into him.

― Sir!

It was inevitable.

The forward step of the world’s swiftest art could not be stopped.

At the same time, Jeong Yeon-sin thought. Whatever it was, he had to experience it first before worrying.

"I would like to ask for directions," Jeong Yeon-sin said.