Chapter 1068: The Divine Tree and the Master.

Clank.

Grinddddddd—!!!

The mechanisms moved without rest, the sound echoing.

At the ceaseless sound, the woman lifted her head.

In the darkness where nothing was visible.

The woman gazed in the direction of the sound.

Deep within the pitch-black darkness, the sound emanated from afar. A door that should have been sealed shut was open.

It was a door that absolutely should never have opened. No matter what. No matter how much time passed, a door that should never have opened again.

It was open, blindingly so.

As the woman stared blankly.

Whooooooshhhhhh—-!!!!

The black ocean, contained within the door, poured out like madness.

The flowing ocean instantly filled the woman’s desolate, long-scorched black space.

Whoosh.

The waves seeped beneath her bare feet.

Feeling the water surge as if splashing, the woman’s eyes flickered.

How?

How did that door open?

The woman couldn’t comprehend. She had locked it using every method possible. It absolutely should not have opened.

For it to have opened meant her choice was wrong, or…

‘Oblivion has been released.’

The most crucial thing abandoned for the sake of her choice.

It signified that someone’s oblivion had been undone.

‘No.’

It cannot be. It shouldn’t have been. How could it have been locked, only to be undone like this?

Whooooshh–!!!

The woman pushed forward, parting the surging water. These were the waves that had once filled this endlessly stretching space.

As it contained everything experienced over countless eons, the surging waves crashed down as if to bury the woman, yet…

Still, the woman did not stop.

No, she couldn’t stop. She had to advance somehow and lock that door again.

She must.

The reopened door was like a miracle. Leaving it like this might even be beneficial for her, but…

‘No.’

Then it would be bad for him.

She pushed forward with fierce determination. Though the penetrating waves crushed her entire body, the woman didn’t stop.

After advancing like that for a long while, she finally reached the door.

With a grimace, the woman reached out her hand.

Her hand met the door. The water erupted explosively, making it difficult to close, but she still exerted her strength.

Cree… creak.

Perhaps due to the strength she exerted, the door slowly began to close. Just as the woman endured the current and was about to shut the door.

Grip.

Someone grabbed the woman’s wrist.

“…!”

The woman’s eyes widened like saucers. This was a space where no one should exist. To feel another’s touch in a place like this? Flustered, the woman quickly checked the owner of the hand.

“Ah…”

The moment she confirmed the face, the woman let out a low sound.

It was someone she never expected to see here.

Someone she had always longed for.

A face she had always yearned for.

The one who held tenderness in his characteristically stoic, fierce eyes.

He, her everything, gazed at the woman in a place he absolutely could not be.

“You…”

The moment the woman tried to speak to him.

“Yeohwa.”

“…!”

He called her.

The name she thought she’d never hear again.

Hearing her name, Yeohwa’s body turned to stone. The door she had been trying to close froze shut. The young man slowly applied pressure to the wrist he held, pulling his hand free.

Watching Yeohwa like that, the young man asked.

“Is this your name?”

“…”

Yeohwa couldn’t answer.

No, she didn’t.

It felt like she shouldn’t.

But.

‘A name? A name… Hmm… Yes.’

‘From now on, you are Yeohwa.’

‘Let’s just go with that.’

Still, she missed him terribly.

No words surfaced. She silently endured the silence.

The emotions that burst from the unclosed door ultimately engulfed her entire body.

And so, Yeohwa’s space filled with the ocean.

---

BOOOOOMMMMM-!!!

Energy torn asunder with a deafening roar. The spear, shattered into two, tore through the space.

The distorted sky far in the distance indicated just how immense Taecheon’s energy had been, but…

“…Hahaha.”

Taecheon, who had unleashed such immense power, could only manage a hollow laugh.

Thump.

Something detached from his body. Upon checking what had fallen to the floor, it was his arm. Taecheon’s severed forearm rolled across the floor.

Before long, it turned to dust and vanished.

“How could this happen…?”

Seemingly unfazed by his mangled arm, Taecheon stared ahead with a contorted expression.

He intended to see the entity that had severed his energy and arm.

What stood before him was something absurd.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—-!!!

What could one even call that?

The immense darkness gathered was utterly alien, devoid of even a speck of light.

It couldn’t even be called night. That was purely, utterly darkness.

It seemed to swell outwards in a nebulous form, only to coalesce again.

With its unknowable form, Taecheon, watching it, couldn’t utter a word.

“How can something like that possibly exist…?”

The question he finally managed to utter after enduring was inevitable.

It was only natural.

That alien form was entirely divinity.

Vast divinity, whose origin was unknown.

“…That level… isn’t that akin to the true body descending?”

A master possessing divinity.

The very presence of that existence descending upon the land was… The sheer amount of divinity Taecheon perceived was truly on that scale.

However, even by that measure, it was too powerful.

The pressure was enough to affect other planes of existence.

The world itself could not withstand pressure of that magnitude.

As if to prove it.

Crackkkkkk–!!!

Cracks began to form, originating from the location of the darkness.

Though shallow and faint for now, they would rapidly expand in size.

“…”

Taecheon narrowed his eyes.

A variable.

Everything had been a variable up until now, but this incident was even more so.

Enduring a variable of this magnitude was overwhelming.

Even Taecheon found that darkness difficult to handle.

“Where on earth did it emerge from?”

It was already too late to dismiss it as merely a part of the Dragon Emperor.

That is a divinity standing on its own. Among them, masters possessing a presence and divinity of that magnitude were few, to Taecheon’s knowledge.

To be precise, the master of this vast world.

One could cite the Ten Thousand Realms as an example, but…

“I don’t understand.”

Taecheon voiced his thoughts upon seeing the darkness.

“Why do I sense the divinity of the Ten Thousand Realms from you?”

This was the reason for Taecheon’s bewilderment.

That is not a single divinity.

It’s a bizarre entity composed of countless divinities.

What’s more…

“…I can even feel my own divinity…”

That familiar sensation wriggling within it.

He could even feel his own power.

How is that possible?

“What in the world…”

What are you holding within you?

Just as Taecheon continued to voice these questions.

Vooooooooom—-!!!

The wriggling darkness suddenly grew quiet, then began to gradually take form. From a form merely filled with volume, it gradually took on a human shape.

At first, it appeared cloaked in shadows.

Hair sprouted atop it, its skin gradually changed, and color filled its pupils.

Violet pupils.

And white skin, along with long hair.

It was identical to the woman Taecheon had been fighting until moments ago.

“…!”

Seeing this woman, goosebumps prickled Taecheon’s back.

Identical?

Impossible.

Fwoosh.

The woman who had reformed her body was something entirely different from the one he had seen moments before.

“Hoo…”

With a low sigh, her hair fluttered.

The woman’s half-lidded violet eyes turned towards Taecheon.

Fwaaaaaaaa.

The darkness that had enveloped her transformed into clothing, draping over the woman.

A long robe made of black fur. At a glance, it seemed to settle around the woman’s shoulders.

In her hand rested a sword, far sharper and clearer than before.

Finally, the fully transformed woman.

“Ah…”

She covered her eyes with her hand and lamented.

“Why…”

Why did things turn out this way? Her expression showed she understood less than anyone, perhaps even herself.

“You… what in the world…”

Taecheon, seeing this, tried to speak, but…

KUGUGUNG–!!!

The moment he tried to speak, immense pressure poured down upon Taecheon.

His mouth snapped shut.

CRACK-!

With the sound of joints snapping, Taecheon buckled to his knees.

“Ghhk…”

“…Be quiet. My head hurts right now, so I don’t want to hear you.”

The woman cast her gaze upon the collapsing Taecheon.

An emotion, hot enough to burn, was clearly visible in her eyes.

“You… what exactly…”

Unfathomable.

If one were to measure the value of divinity, it would be lofty, exceedingly lofty.

This was undeniably the descent of a true self.

By this point, as he had predicted earlier, it was a being with divinity similar to his own.

But then, how could they have succeeded in descending?

“The Ten Thousand Realms… wouldn’t permit it…”

Entering with power of that magnitude shouldn’t have been permitted, not just by the master of the Ten Thousand Realms, but by the Ten Thousand Realms itself; it should have been blocked.

How is it that this woman can achieve such a thing so effortlessly?

Taecheon asked, his body collapsing.

“Permission?”

The woman chuckled at his words and replied.

“I buried that sort of thing ages ago.”

She meant some day that no one could remember.

“…”

Taecheon’s face contorted at her reply.

“What are you, anyway?”

The question regarding her identity, asked multiple times.

He thought he wouldn’t get an answer this time either, but…

“My identity.”

The woman replied, her eyes looking somewhat dry.

“Heavenly Demon (Cheonma).”

The words spoken nonchalantly.

Taecheon tried to react to the sound, but…

“Go back now. I no longer have time to concern myself with you.”

Slicce.

A black line slashed across, splitting Taecheon’s head in two.

Thud.

As soon as the severed head hit the floor, it vanished into dust, just like his arm had earlier.

Watching the scattering dust, Yeohwa glanced back, her eyes trembling slightly.

There.

Gu Yangcheon, wearing an expression of profound exhaustion, was looking at her.

His face seemed deep in thought.