Chapter 141 – Haedong Sect

Whoosh!

Right after his victory over Park Jincheol, Park Seongcheol—the only one among the initial members who had been a full grade behind—awakened as a 5-Star.

Perhaps the others still lacked slightly in achievement to awaken, as he was the only one to awaken from this battle.

His contracted Yi Sun-sin’s Authority of Victory had been judged to have commanded the entire allied force, and crucially, since he had delivered the final blow, most of the achievement from the battle had flowed to him.

Thump!

Then, a transformation occurred in Park Seongcheol’s body, now equivalent to a 6-Star due to the Guarantee of the Righteous Will effect.

It was Body Reformation.

The mental image of reconstructing his flesh took the form of a mountain.

His belly was like a mountain towering over the sea.

<Mount Tai Constitution> had Bloomed.

“Uh…”

Witnessing this change up close, Park Jincheol soon realized he wouldn’t die and looked at his son with an awkward expression.

Pride in his son’s growth was evident in his gaze.

“Seongcheol, you saved me.”

“Yes, Father.”

“And…”

His gaze toward Park Seongcheol soon shifted to Lee Hanseong’s group.

Even while dominated by the brand, Park Jincheol’s consciousness had remained during the battle, so he had keenly felt the combat power of Lee Hanseong’s group.

Considering his son’s age, even if he had undergone the Coming-of-Age Ceremony as early as possible, it couldn’t have been more than half a year since he made the Spirit Contract, yet the sight of the entire group using Authorities…

“You’ve made good friends.”

It was something utterly incomprehensible by the common sense he knew from the past.

Of course, since he had fallen into the Otherworld years ago, it was possible that the level of Awakened on Earth had increased exponentially in his absence.

But a more reasonable inference was that Lee Hanseong, the Great Vessel once called a prospective Apostle, and his Constellation had made them strong.

Thinking that, Park Jincheol’s gaze toward Lee Hanseong naturally softened.

“I thought I’d either have to kill you all with my own hands or be killed by yours… Thank you.”

“Because you’re Seongcheol’s father. We just did what we had to do. Besides, it was Seongcheol who found a way to end it without killing.”

Lee Hanseong humbly replied to Park Jincheol’s thanks.

Following that, Yu Sehee approached the Park father and son, leaving only a gentle light in the Annihilation Myriad Flower Mirror.

“More importantly, are you alright?”

“Hmm, yes. My condition is better than expected.”

Although the burden of simply having the brand destroyed had disappeared, the shock to his Divinity from having several Authorities neutralized earlier was not small.

However, the Authority of Victory had somewhat stabilized even that instability in his Divinity.

Moreover, the faint remnants of the Primal Spirit God’s blood vanished upon contact with the light Yu Sehee had spread.

“But…”

Park Jincheol blinked as he sensed a new change within himself.

“Did you also change the Constellation I belong to?”

When he had chosen the Sun Constellation and become a High-Rank Awakener, half of his soul that had ascended to the Sun Constellation had somehow been transferred into the embrace of a different Constellation.

And since he felt a similar sensation from Lee Hanseong’s group, he naturally realized.

The being that had newly become his Constellation was the one served by Lee Hanseong’s group.

“Yes, that’s right.”

The moment Park Jincheol became spoils due to the Authority of Victory, Mirinae’s Primordial Chaos had contaminated him, forcibly changing his affiliation.

It was only now that Lee Hanseong realized this, but such contamination was only possible because Mirinae was originally the master of the Twelve Constellations.

However, at Lee Hanseong’s answer, Park Jincheol’s expression darkened slightly.

“Then my rematch with that bastard Luke is off the table, I suppose.”

Since duels for the Apostle position are only possible between those belonging to the same Constellation, he seemed to think he could no longer duel Luke.

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that part.”

“Huh?”

But as mentioned earlier, Mirinae was originally the master of the Heavenly Palace.

Even if contaminated by Primordial Chaos, the causality of him belonging to the Sun Constellation did not disappear.

As long as that causality remained, Park Jincheol retained the right to continue challenging the Sun Constellation.

Upon explaining this, Park Jincheol’s expression cleared.

“So, I’m left with only rights and no obligations.”

“That’s right. Now, the Sun Star King won’t be able to interfere arbitrarily, like dropping you into the Otherworld using Constellation authority or forcibly imprinting the brand of Penglai.”

“Good. Then, there’s no need to hesitate any longer.”

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Park Jincheol’s grade surged.

Not due to the brand’s rampage, but by his own will, he performed Spirit Unification and raised his grade.

“Actually, I could have ascended to 10-Star anytime. I was just suppressing my Awakening out of caution that Luke might interfere with my Existence Reversal through the brand.”

An Awakened who contracts a Divine Spirit and can skillfully handle Reversal and Synthesis of Opposites can reduce the duration of Existence Reversal to an instant even upon reaching 10-Star.

However, during that skipped process, briefly becoming a reversed state is inevitable.

If the Constellation twists the direction of the reversal awry, even a Divine Spirit’s Contractor is not entirely free from the risk of being possessed by their reversed self.

“So that’s why you were still stuck at 9-Star even though years have passed since your disappearance.”

“But thanks to you, the inhibiting factor is gone, so I too shall now advance.”

Ooom—

Based on the Polarity Reversal of his Awakening Skill acquired before becoming a High-Rank Awakener and the Divinity he had built and perfected after becoming one, his existence reversed.

In an instant, the original Park Jincheol and the reversed Park Jincheol achieved Synthesis of Opposites, adding duality to his Divinity.

Thus, his Divinity was granted the qualification to reach beyond completion into Transcendence.

“Three is the number of perfection.”

Positive and negative.

When one finds the third something beyond the two, a quasi-god can finally become a True God.

And this third concept found is completed in the form of an Authority.

The state of infinite possibility where the Authority is not yet determined is precisely the Half-Step Eleven-Star.

Usually, one spends time here to find a single concept that permeates all their Skills.

Whoooosh—

Already knowing Hwanin and Chi You’s Authorities and having realized the three Authorities derived from them, Park Jincheol did not delay.

No, originally, he just hadn’t ascended to 10-Star.

He had already integrated most of his Skills with Hwanin’s Synthesis of Opposites.

So, the completion of his Authority was instantaneous.

No, influenced by [Heaven], [War], [Lightning], [Clouds], and [Rage], the form of his Authority became even more concrete beyond his original conception.

“I am the wind. I shall become the sun’s wind.”

Ziiing—

And the wind blew.

The flow of ultra-high-speed plasma emitted from the sun.

The wind flowing through the universe.

Authority [Solar Wind]!

The sixth Authority displayed by Park Jincheol and his own Innate Authority.

As [Solar Wind] was imprinted upon the world.

Whoosh!

Park Jincheol awakened, leaping two grades from 9-Star directly to 11-Star in a single Promotion.

It was the birth of a new True God capable of challenging the Sun Star King.

* * *

Together with Park Jincheol, who had completed his 11-Star Awakening, Lee Hanseong’s group exited beyond the boundary of the Japanese archipelago.

Thanks to the disappearance of the Penglai brand, Park Jincheol could also safely exit the Penglai Mountain Eastern Heaven, which projected Japan’s scenery.

As before, riding on Lycan’s back and racing through the void toward the Arthalia mainland, Park Jincheol spoke.

“You said you’d destroy the source of the corrosion.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“Not exactly, but it should be somewhere in the central part of that continent.”

“If you’ve narrowed down the area to some extent, why not go directly there instead?”

At the question implying that if they had the ability to perform Dimensional Shift, spatial movement should be easier, Lee Hanseong hesitated briefly.

The compulsion of the Geass had not allowed him to stall for time.

But now that he had obtained All Things Are Impermanent, he had somewhat shaken off the Geass’s compulsion.

Of course, to completely shake off the compulsion, he would need to delete the Geass’s Skill Circuit itself, so he hadn’t entirely eliminated it.

“But now, I can afford some time to build up strength.”

Previously, due to the compulsion, the best course was to accumulate as much achievement and raise his grade as possible during the process of destroying the source of corrosion.

But now that he had a little leeway, he could accumulate achievement in other ways.

Of course, building strength wasn’t so urgent anymore either.

After all, Park Jincheol, a bona fide Transcendent Awakener, had joined them.

“With you here, Mister, we could return to Earth immediately without issue…”

Still, relying solely on others didn’t suit his temperament.

“I plan to gain as much as I can while we’re in the Otherworld.”

Saying so, Lee Hanseong shifted his gaze to the sea below.

Just then, among the islands sporadically seen in the sea they had traversed so far, one fairly large island came into view.

A faint Divinity felt from within the island.

“7-Star… no, around 8-Star?”

One of the Sea Serpents, believed to be children of the Eastern Divine Beast Leviathan, was there.

A type of dragon, but perhaps due to the legend of being Leviathan’s children, it also possessed demonic attributes, making it a Transcendent Species belonging to the Darkness Constellation, not the Wheel Constellation.

“That level should be sufficient for us to accumulate achievement.”

Although Lee Hanseong’s group could unleash True God Rank power through various means, their actual grades were not even 7-Star yet.

So, capturing just a few Monsters of that level on the way to find the source of corrosion would quickly allow them to achieve Awakening.

Thud.

With that thought, Lycan and Lee Hanseong’s group landed on the island.

Tap tap.

Jumping off Lycan’s back and heading inland, they soon discovered artificial structures.

“Buildings? Wasn’t it just a Monster’s dwelling?”

Eastern-style pavilions and roofs made of tiles.

Buildings of a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar appearance caught their eye.

On the signboard of a building constructed in Arthalia’s unique style, the characters ‘Haedong Sect Three Islands Branch’ were proudly engraved.

‘Carved with a sword.’

Lee Hanseong, a practitioner of the Formless Sword, immediately recognized it as sword marks.

Moreover, upon approaching here, several presences were felt that hadn’t been detectable from above.

Ooooom!

Overlapping waves of Gang Qi acted like a Formation, concealing their presence.

Within the Gang Qi, a will as if preparing for a desperate stand against a powerful enemy was being honed like a blade.

“Oh dear. It seems we’re unwelcome guests.”

They had probably detected Lee Hanseong’s group’s approach quite some time ago.

The Haedong Sect’s Three Hearts Six Waves Sword Formation specializes in detection.

Since they had been moving without concealing their presence, their approach would have been immediately known to them.

The problem was that the Sea Serpent they were targeting was located in the center of this building.

It seemed the Haedong Sect and the Sea Serpent were not unrelated.

Well, given that the Haedong Sect venerates Leviathan, it’s not strange for them to be associated with the Sea Serpent, considered its child.

“What will you do?”

“Hmm. First, we should see how they come out.”

This is their first encounter with Otherworlders in reality, but they should at least try to talk.

With that thought, as they waited, the level of Gang Qi concentrating from inside the building gradually rose to an unignorable level.

The Gang Qi resonating and amplifying repeatedly from inside the building!

While the Thirty-Six Waves Sword Formation is basically used as a wide-area detection radar, that’s when the waves are weak.

If the wave size grows to tsunami levels, it can itself become a powerful attack.

“They don’t seem interested in talking, do they?”

Reminiscent of the overlapping waves of Giparang’s Divine Artifact, the Ten Thousand Calamities Wave Gang Qi, Jin Yuseong took a step forward.

A step that conveyed the will to shatter everything with the Star-Shattering Fist if the tsunami crashes down.

“From their perspective, an existence similar in level to the god they serve suddenly visited, so they can’t help but be wary.”

If the Star-Shattering Fist and the Thirty-Six Waves Sword Formation’s tsunami collided, all those forming the sword formation would die from the recoil.

Thud thud…

Lee Hanseong approached the gate, imbuing his steps with the Heart Sword.

The Thirty-Six Waves Sword Formation vanished as if washed away, hidden by the sound of footsteps.

“……?!”

Sensing the silent panic and quiet inside the building, Lee Hanseong opened the gate of the Haedong Sect Three Islands Branch.

Creeeak.

“Come here!”

While the Heart Sword contained in his voice subdued all dozens of Haedong Sect Martial Artists waiting in formation inside the building.

Only one person shed the Heart Sword’s pressure, stepped forward, trying hard to conceal his nervousness.

“…For what purpose has the guest come to seek us?”

But although the opponent’s outward appearance was human, the form of his soul was not.

Looking at the Sea Serpent transformed into a human, Lee Hanseong narrowed his eyes.

‘What should I do with this guy…?’

Pondering whether to hunt it down as planned or end it through conversation.