Chapter 342: Second Coming. (2)

Badeudeuk.

A strange sound reached my ears.

It was truly a violent sound.

It would have been fortunate if it were just the sound.

Pressure poured down consecutively, making my body feel compressed.

Should I call it a tightening sensation?

‘Kkeueueueue.’

As the pressure intensified, I felt pain.

I couldn’t possibly open my mouth, so I had to let out a painful scream internally.

How long had it been like this?

I don’t know. I wasn’t counting the time.

‘This is fucking bullshit. Seriously.’

Amidst the crushing pain, I had to regret it for a long time.

When I entered, my insides were certainly turned upside down.

It was to the point of causing motion sickness, but.

Now that it was time to leave, isn’t the level of discomfort vastly different?

It was especially a difference incomparable to my previous life.

Compared to back then, when it was just a moderate level of motion sickness similar to entering.

Why are the sensations I feel in this life so different?

If not, could this be the price for ignoring the warning I heard right before returning?

-Apostle.

After finishing all the stories.

The World Tree told me.

-The pain upon returning will be great. Be cautious.

-I’ve already experienced it once. That level of pain is nothing.

At the World Tree’s warning, I chuckled and said so.

I had to regret that moment now.

‘Experienced it, my ass…!’

This is absurd.

The level is completely different from back then.

Moreover, why is the return time so long?

Thinking about that, suddenly.

I had to shake my head inwardly.

‘Is this all my karma.’

Among the things the World Tree told me.

I vaguely felt like I understood the reason why things turned out this way.

The world where the World Tree was.

Was said to be a false world.

It was a Demonic Realm created for a sinful World Tree to receive punishment alone.

Originally, it’s a place where footsteps cannot normally tread.

Well, I was in a situation where I didn’t know that precisely…

Anyway.

The reason I headed there was partly because I wanted to hear truths I didn’t know.

And partly because I wanted to deal with Jang Seon-yeon, but.

The most crucial essence.

Was the time difference between that place and this place.

I needed that.

Several years in the Demonic Realm.

Became a time difference of just a few days in the Mortal Realm.

I needed that difference.

Moreover.

Once I went outside, I could never set foot in that Demonic Realm again.

Since I had set foot there, I had to do everything I could.

Especially.

If I were in a state like now, blocked by a wall and struggling.

Even more so.

To put it plainly.

I needed time to train.

After finishing my conversation with the World Tree.

After hearing everything I needed to hear.

What I did was ask the World Tree for a favor.

That I needed to train here for a bit.

My internal energy, raised by picking up all sorts of fortuitous encounters,

And the proficiency built upon the experience from my past life.

Even my body, rebuilt as if reconfigured.

All three elements were in place, but.

For some reason, I had to break through the wall I was stuck behind.

Since I felt the necessity to improve solely through training this time.

I decided to use the Demonic Realm.

Using the time here.

To break through what was blocking me.

The World Tree, having heard my story, didn’t particularly object.

I immediately began training.

Even though it was a false world.

My five senses were vivid.

Including pain, and I felt hunger.

Almost everything was the same as reality.

The sensation felt when extending my arm was the same,

The feeling of energy moving in my lower dantian,

And the sensation of handling heat.

Everything was the same, so if I wanted to train, I could do so anytime.

All sorts of information swirled around my head,

Leaving behind a time filled only with overwhelming moments.

Moving my body while having ample time was, in its own way, a decent experience.

As a day passed, then another,

It became a problem when I reached the point of giving up counting.

Even though I had absolutely no grit,

I don’t know why I was working so hard at this.

A day passed.

Two days passed.

And soon, a year passed.

Around the time it passed half a year, I stopped counting because it was bothersome,

But the World Tree told me.

That it had been over a year.

I wasn’t particularly moved.

I was just disappointed that I still couldn’t properly overcome the wall despite a year passing.

Instead of listening to the news,

I extended my arm once more.

If there was one difference between the Demonic Realm and the Mortal Realm,

I could tell that the growth of the physical body was a bit slower.

It doesn’t matter.

Because the growth of the physical body isn’t important right now.

My body was strengthening, but my height didn’t increase.

Is there some kind of difference?

Or has my growth completely stopped?

It might be so, but.

I thought that probably wasn’t the case.

Considering I wasn’t particularly tall in my previous life either, but was taller than now, that couldn’t be it.

Furthermore, recalling how my growth rate became faster through regression,

I thought that perhaps, once I’m fully grown, I might be taller than back then.

Anyway.

What’s important isn’t the growth of the physical body.

It was the stability of the mind’s state, and overcoming the wall through it.

And time flowed again.

The World Tree no longer told me the time.

Night came, and day quickly followed.

Perhaps it was because I was training near the World Tree.

The demonic creatures didn’t bother me.

It was quite strange.

What could be the identity of the demonic creatures residing in this false world?

I was curious about that for a moment, but.

I decided not to dwell on the question.

For now.

Extending my foot one more time,

Refining my internal energy, it was more important to focus on how to breathe.

The compression I learned from Elder Shin,

And manipulating my body using it.

And.

Reducing the mind’s resistance to the changed usage.

Forgetting for a moment the accumulated matters behind my back.

I focused solely on moving my body and refining my energy and mind’s state.

As I momentarily forgot the thoughts filling my head,

Surprisingly, my internal energy seemed to move much more smoothly.

Perhaps because of that.

Honestly, I thought it wouldn’t take long.

I mean, the period to overcome the wall.

Even in the Mortal Realm, if I struggled for a few more months, I could probably break through the wall.

Or overcome it.

That’s what I thought, but.

‘A few months? What a stupid thought.’

As I continuously repeated my training,

I came to realize the reality.

The current level I’m at is strictly.

A level boosted significantly by the fortuitous encounters gained from regression and the experience from my past life.

If you ask if it’s different from other peaks, it’s not, but.

It means I didn’t reach it solely through my own talent.

Furthermore.

Unlike the past, when I used my internal energy explosively,

Faithfully applying even a handful of internal energy,

In the current situation where I’ve started using it meticulously and delicately,

The problem was that past experience didn’t contribute as significantly.

Thanks to that,

“Hoooh…”

To reach the desired level,

It took a much longer time than I expected.

Although I didn’t count every passing day,

Considering the time difference,

It would have been several days passed in the original world.

I had been here for that long, and this was a duration I hadn’t anticipated.

However, since I ultimately achieved what I wanted,

It was time to return.

And now I’ve reached this point.

An intense pain intertwines.

‘Fuck.’

The pain felt like my entire body was being crumpled.

In the situation of returning to the Mortal Realm across dimensions.

The reason I felt such pain was none other than this:

Everything I achieved in that place.

Could not be brought back to the Mortal Realm.

In my previous life, they…

Despite the years spent there,

Memories were erased,

And that was the reason why the physical body returned without any difference from when it first fell into the Demonic Realm.

What I could bring back.

Was merely memories, perhaps.

So then, what is this pain I’m experiencing now?

It’s a kind of backlash.

It’s washing away the power gained through training in the Demonic Realm,

And returning to the physical body that existed in the Mortal Realm.

That is.

‘It fucking hurts, seriously.’

It’s just disgustingly painful.

The sensation, as if being hit all over my body with a blunt weapon, was vividly felt.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream.

Because if I moved wrongly, I felt like I’d be dead for sure.

I just endure.

I just had to keep enduring.

Whether it was fire or lightning.

Enduring the pain as if my entire body and limbs were being scorched.

I stayed like that for a long time.

After barely enduring the hellish time amidst that dog-like pain,

Pasak.

Along with a crumbling sound,

Hududuk….

I felt the sensation of my floating legs touching the ground.

Then, the wind blew.

It was a wind I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Feeling that, I finally managed to utter the words I had held back.

“Whoa, fuck.”

A curse escaped my lips before I knew it.

But I couldn’t help it.

“I really almost fucking died….”

Because I really almost died.

It’s so different from my previous life.

If I had even breathed wrong,

I might have been torn apart right then and there.

Are you fucking kidding me, seriously?

“I swear I’ll never do that dogshit again.”

It was a method I used because I was so short on time, but.

If I had known I’d be put in such a dangerous situation, I might not have chosen this method.

I raised my hand and swept my hair back.

As I moved, my body felt strangely heavy.

To feel this heavy just moving my hand.

‘Putting that aside.’

I’ll figure this out slowly.

First, I needed to know the important things.

For starters.

I had to find Jang Seon-yeon.

Even if I burned him to death with fire.

That was death within the Demonic Realm.

I then asked the World Tree if there was anything that could be done about this, but.

I was told it was impossible as it related to the laws of the realm.

In that case, there was a high probability that Jang Seon-yeon had also returned alive.

This was something I had expected anyway.

If he returned alive,

I just had to kill him again.

And there would be plenty of demonic creatures around…

Thinking that, I looked around.

“But what is this place now…. Huh? What’s with this state?”

I naturally expected to reappear in the same place I entered the Demonic Realm, but.

What I saw wasn’t a forest but a completely unexpected building.

The fortunate thing, perhaps, was that I could tell what kind of building it was.

Even though time had passed.

Fortunately, I remembered.

That’s a building of the Dragon Palace.

But.

Its condition is a bit strange.

‘What kind of mess has it become?’

No matter how much money was poured into it.

The building, which had been magnificently constructed,

Had cracks everywhere, looking precarious as if it would crumble with just a nudge.

‘No way….’

Seeing that, I had to entertain a rather frightening thought.

I thought only a few days had passed at most,

But it couldn’t possibly have gotten into that state in just a few days.

What if time flowed at the same rate?

Oh, then I’m really screwed, aren’t I?

All the plans I had prepared along with my training in that place would collapse.

This meant it was a situation that would make one’s hair stand on end.

Tuk-tuk.

Just as I was frantically trying to process things,

I sensed movement nearby.

I turned my head.

“Huh?”

There, an oddly familiar old man was sitting, bleeding,

And before him, a large, imposing old man stood gripping his saber, looking towards me.

Thinking, ‘What is this now?’, I frowned deeply as I looked at the scene.

Heomchit.

The old man gripping the saber flinched in surprise.

Why the hell is he getting startled the moment he sees someone’s face?

It’s irritating.

Meanwhile, I looked at the old man who was bleeding and had become one-armed.

‘…Cheonghae Ilgeom?’

I could quickly tell who he was.

It’s just that I hadn’t recognized him immediately because I hadn’t seen him in a while.

What the…?

Why is that old geezer sitting there like that?

My five senses quickly returned vividly.

Only then did I notice the smell of blood from all around.

Furthermore.

Not only killing intent,

But also a dense aura of malice could be felt all around.

That unique, repulsive energy wielded by those from the demonic sects.

Feeling that, I could realize.

“Looks like some kind of incident has occurred.”

Although I couldn’t grasp the details well,

I knew something had happened.

Immediately, I narrowed my eyes and looked at the old man in black clothes standing before me.

Judging by his appearance, he wasn’t from a righteous sect,

And didn’t seem like a normal person either.

The old man seemed interested in me too.

He looked at me with slightly trembling eyes and spoke first.

“…Who the hell are you?”

What should I say in response?

First, I took a step forward.

I circulated the internal energy within my body.

It was the same feeling as back then.

Unable to properly overcome the wall,

That sensation of struggling.

Taking my second step, I drew up my internal energy.

I channeled it up to my middle dantian.

It quickly filled up.

“What business is it of yours? You don’t look like a guest.”

“You speak quite bluntly for someone your age, boy.”

The old man said so, continuously watching me with tense eyes.

Perhaps because he couldn’t quite figure me out.

He should be swinging his sword in that time.

This is the third step.

Moving the internal energy that had risen to my middle dantian,

I directed it towards my upper dantian.

Huuk.

“…!”

The old man’s expression changed drastically, as if he had realized something.

“You…”

He must be amazed.

After all, he’s watching me break through the wall and ascend a level in real-time.

Every time my internal energy moved,

There were many things bothering me, but.

Unlike before, it wasn’t much of a problem.

I controlled it.

And broke through.

That’s why I rolled around in the Demonic Realm.

I organized my mind’s state.

And constantly strove to assimilate it with my body.

The acupoints opened.

The tip of my internal energy, which was merely like a small awl,

Became larger and sharper,

Piercing the wall leading to my upper dantian.

Hoooook-!

The quality of the internal energy permeating my body changed.

As if the energy felt at the peak was child’s play.

It became endlessly heavier.

At the same time, I spread it throughout my entire body.

As the upper dantian opened,

My perspective changed.

The sounds I heard changed,

And the internal energy flowing through my body changed.

I.

The grave of martial artists,

Having surpassed the peak, which was called the end.

Finally reached the Hua Realm.

It felt profound.

“Why do I speak bluntly?”

Of course, I don’t have time to feel such sentiments.

As soon as I arrived, I knew something was amiss,

So I had to act first.

“I don’t usually respect bastards from demonic sects. It’s because the blood of the righteous path flows strongly within me.”

I smiled.

Perhaps my smile displeased him.

The old man’s stance shifted.

The person before my eyes, at a glance,

Was clearly a considerable expert, but.

Perhaps thanks to the internal energy, having broken through the wall, filling my upper dantian,

I felt even bolder than I already was.

“And what the hell is wrong with the sky?”

I thought it might be night, but it wasn’t.

As I calmly looked at the sky,

I sensed the old man’s movement.

The refined internal energy was also felt.

But I didn’t react.

I simply lowered my head and stared into the old man’s eyes,

And moved the internal energy gathered in my upper dantian.

Even though it wasn’t night,

The sky dyed black wasn’t to my liking.

So,

I should make it bright first.

Hoooook-!

With the heat radiating from my body,

The old man took a step back.

He shouldn’t have done that.

He should have charged forward even if he was scared.

Watching him,

I quietly whispered words.

“Crimson Sky (赤天).”

First,

I shattered the night.