Ch.334110. Make Yourself a Lamp and a Torch as You Move Forward (3)

# Life is Suffering

Some say.

No, the wise say.

That everything is resolved the moment you realize it.

Then what does it mean to realize?

…It’s nothing special.

Who I am.

…Coming to know that.

But that is neither a result, nor an answer, nor a solution.

It is none of these things.

It signifies another beginning.

By knowing myself, I come to realize the purpose I will pursue.

Thus, I no longer wander aimlessly.

For those who do not wander, only moving forward remains.

…A sublime delusion.

For us, merely existing was suffering, unbearable anguish.

…And an incomparable curse.

That is life.

An endless race, a never-ending struggle, an infinitely repeating duel, a fight for survival.

That’s what life is.

The disgrace of having to continue this wretched existence, even if it means chewing and swallowing the corpses of others for nourishment.

Yet despite such disgrace, we are designed to live this way, hence the preciousness of life, sacrifice, devotion.

And a world where the good and evil of selfishness must be distinguished.

“……”

I saw.

And I realized.

Therefore I…

Exist, as myself.

****

“Perhaps no one can teach anything better than I can.”

My ancestor Kariel merely presented a methodology for reaching it, but he can’t be said to have guided well.

And even his successors and heirs would be no exception.

Therefore, it is a realm that those with proper vessels and qualifications reach only after taming time and karma, overturning them, reaching and reaching again… only then do they finally arrive.

Precise guidance.

Legitimate knowledge and theory.

Clear methodology.

Yet even with all these guaranteed, those who learn, awaken, and absorb are all different.

…Those born exceptional cannot understand the struggles of others.

Therefore, while the naturally gifted, the excellent, the outstanding may somehow guide even the dull-witted.

…They cannot guide those completely devoid of talent.

In that sense, if there is one fortunate thing, it’s that these teachings that pursue the Black Star make no such distinction.

Because the one who realized, learned, and established this was originally a being with an empty vessel, devoid of any talent.

But even he possessed one thing.

A heart that never gives up.

A spirit that never yields.

…And a faith that never breaks.

Therefore, those who pursue the Black Star require three mindsets.

First is faith.

Second is indomitability.

And the third is…

“Then why is faith the first?”

Aurezach asked, seated in midair.

“……”

For Eliya, who was battered and broken, simply hearing the question was all she could manage.

“Because faith alone can fill everything that is lacking.”

Only faith can fill all that is missing.

“Therefore, one must not mistake or confuse the object of faith. While faith resolves everything, sometimes faith is also the beginning of all downfall and destruction.”

Kariel was fortunate.

The Golden Beast faithfully rewarded his faith.

Reward would be the right word.

Even if it was something based on a contract, the Beast could have overturned it at any time if it wanted to.

It could have easily arranged for the purpose to be fulfilled with nothing afterward.

Therefore, even a contract cannot be the foundation of faith.

“Time is short, but what I have to convey is vast. Its depth and height are as verbose as the distance between heaven and earth.”

In the end, it’s a matter of time.

But even if one lives for eternity, for those trapped in the swamp of foolishness, wandering and straying, even billions of eons would be wasted like a momentary sneeze.

Therefore, even a single second, a few seconds, is precious to us, and we must exert value accordingly.

“Wielding a sword is like that. Extending your hand, planting your foot, and kicking are also like that.”

In the end, it’s about crossing the gap, dominating the interval, subduing the extreme, and transcending the limit.

“Surpassing limits is martial arts, and that is the foundation and basis that forms substance, forms proof, and something that transcends even such concepts. Establishing that something is… the art.”

Then what is art?

“…It wasn’t born to kill, subdue, or do such things. It’s another means to understand principles and laws, use them to break through transcendence and limits, achieve ascension, and prepare a way to reach heaven.”

“……”

“I’ve spoken at length, but the point is this. All martial arts created to harm others in this world are… fake.”

So if one were to define such things.

“It would be appropriate to define them as combat techniques.”

“…Is that important enough to listen to right now?”

“It’s conceptual organization. You need to understand this for what comes next. You’re already familiar with combat, but you can’t grasp what comes after. Why is that? Simple. What you want to manifest is the realm beyond, but you still haven’t escaped the limitations of combat techniques. Neither with your body nor your mind.”

Aurezach pointed to his chest, shoulders, and between his eyebrows in sequence.

“If you had practiced our art for a long time, even if your mind didn’t understand, your body and heart would naturally guide you on that path, but you lack time.”

“……”

“Therefore, understanding is necessary. It’s to give you a map to take a shortcut, so to speak.”

A hint, is it?

As Eliya barely composed herself, furrowing her brow.

“Mikate. Kanus. Tenebra. Originally, these three are the limits that our sect should reach, is destined to reach.”

Even then, only one.

Just one.

The only one who handled all three in his lifetime was… probably Aurezach himself.

Even his sister only managed to achieve Mikate.

Aurezach himself must have been a born prodigy.

That’s why he was consumed by a sense of mission, identified their shackles, and confronted it to resolve them.

But it wasn’t something to be confronted.

…Yet even that wasn’t meaningless.

Even that was part of the process.

“And only when you reach the fourth can we finally, in another sense, break free from the shackles of our sect.”

Kariel, he transcended.

In other words, he cast off the fate and task of pursuing the Black Star, and established his own mandate afterward.

In fact, he even cast off the causality of pursuing the Black Star, so while he is our founder, he now has no connection to us.

Nevertheless, the reason he wanted to care for and embrace us was…

“……”

Aurezach let out a brief sigh.

“In this short period, you cannot obtain any of those three.”

“……”

“So put aside the mindset of trying to imitate them, and strive to achieve your own.”

“…My own?”

“This is the shortcut for that.”

Aurezach said, placing a pitch-black sword in midair.

“But this won’t give you a sense of it. So I’ll show you some things for reference.”

The pitch-black sword suddenly extends into pitch-black flames.

Yet somehow, those flames are brilliantly radiant.

…Shining with a pitch-black light, yet so bright and clear.

“Myeonghwadapcheon.”

Seeing this, Eliya recalled a legend.

About a transcendent being who once burned immortals and divine beasts with pitch-black light.

Yeokcheon-ga.

Yeokcheon-gyo.

That is, the unique divine skill said to have been unleashed by Cheonjaha, the Yeokcheon Demon, whom she had seen once before.

Aurezach was casually manifesting what even his descendants could only imitate.

“This is the answer he achieved.”

And then.

The world is dyed golden.

“…This isn’t easy even for me, but.”

And once again, the world transforms into another world.

“Aureus Aurum.”

Mere imitation.

What this means is not yet clear.

He’s trying to imitate it to understand its true meaning.

But he still doesn’t know the answer.

“This is the answer achieved by our founder, Kariel.”

“……”

“And.”

As the golden light ceases.

Eventually, the world is covered by a black sea.

Though calm, that pitch-black sea is incomparably vast and immense.

…Its end is nowhere to be seen.

All suffering and despair were latent there.

“Sea of Suffering.”

The sea of pain.

“This is the conclusion I’ve reached.”

The world is filled with a sea of suffering.

For Aurezach, no further imagination, ideal, delusion, or fantasy is possible anymore.

“How is it? Do you have some sense of it?”

“……”

How could she?

Eliya could only be dumbfounded.

“It’s said to be the realm reached after achieving the three extremes, but you have no choice. You must achieve this, however clumsily.”

Because time is short.

“Don’t worry. He would have prepared for this as well.”

“……”

Eliya could quickly guess who Aurezach meant by “he.”

…Though it still felt overwhelmingly daunting.

“Time’s up.”

“Al-already?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Time is short.”

From here on, it’s her responsibility.

Aurezach himself has shown everything he could.

The next realm… she’ll have to figure it out herself.

“If you still want more clues, go to the demon realm.”

“Demon realm…?”

“If she is still the god of that place, she won’t ignore you.”

Having observed his fate and even examined Aurezach’s own destiny and distant past, he could only feel sorry for her existence.

…Perhaps.

If a very long time ago, when he had a different body, he had been a little wiser, more sound, more mentally clear and intelligent.

…No. All such assumptions are meaningless.

We are slaves to fate and shackles.

The reason we could escape them was probably because we at least had the perspective to glimpse the fence and barrier called shackles.

Realization is not the end.

After realization, it truly begins.

…Whether to demolish the fence, climb over it and run outside.

Whether to stay as is.

Or even whether to hold back the ankles of those trying to cross over.

…That’s what begins then.

Superiority of power or knowledge is completely irrelevant at this point.

No matter how much you accumulate, it’s all just a moment in the end.

“I hope you find your answer. I wish you good luck. You’ll need a lot of fortune.”

There’s no such thing as luck in this world.

But for those who don’t know, everything will seem and sound that way.

Therefore, we have no choice but to walk and run by ourselves.

As long as the ground doesn’t break or collapse and split.

At least we can stand firmly on our two legs.

As long as there is land.

As long as there is sky.

But if either one is missing.

We won’t be able to stand or walk.

Everything is part of a miracle.

An ordinary yet mysterious… such miracle.

And what happens next will be, for him, luck and another kind of miracle.

So he smiled comfortably in the middle of the dissipating space.

“…It’s been quite long.”

Sister.

Now that I’ve accomplished the last task I could do.

“Now…”

We can meet again.

****

“……”

It was four days later when Eliya returned to the encampment where her companions were staying.

“Ah, you’re back?”

A snow-white girl wrapped in thick clothes closed the book she was reading and greeted Eliya.

At the same time.

“You’re late?”

A boy with beauty reminiscent of pure gold.

“Huh?”

As the girl tried to rise from her camping chair.

“There she goes again.”

The golden boy grabbed her body, supporting her as she was about to fall.

The girl, awkwardly limping but somehow maintaining her balance.

And the boy, holding her while breathing a sigh of relief.

Then the boy asked.

“So, did you gain anything?”

The boy asked, handing a crutch that was lying on one side to the girl.

“…Clumsily at best?”

Eliya could only offer an ambiguous expression.

“…?”

Strangely enough.

Eliya stared at the girl intently.

“Why, why? Is there something on my face?”

“Maybe you drooled again while dozing off?”

At the boy’s words, the girl jabbed his side with her good elbow.

“Ugh!”

The boy made a dying face.

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Wondering if it was just her imagination, Eliya tilted her head.

Quite curiously.

Just now, she had felt something familiar from the snow-white girl.

Unconsciously, Eliya turned her gaze again toward where the stone mountain stood.

‘…Aurezach?’

For some reason, Eliya had the strange feeling that his presence was watching over her from nearby.