Crunch.
A strange sound reached my ears.
Truly a violent sound.
If only it were just the sound.
Pressure poured down in succession, and I felt my body being compressed.
Should I say it feels like being squeezed tight?
‘Grrrrgh.’ As the pressure intensified, I felt pain.
I couldn’t even open my mouth, so I had to let out a pain-filled scream internally.
How long had this been going on?
I don’t know. Since I wasn’t counting the time.
‘Fucking insane. Seriously.’
I had to regret for a long while amidst this crushing pain.
When entering, my stomach had churned.
It was at a level that came with motion sickness.
But when it came time to leave, the level was completely different.
Especially, it was a difference incomparable to my previous life.
Back then, compared to when it was at a similar level to entering—just moderate motion sickness.
Why is the sensation I’m feeling in this life so different?
If not, is it the price I paid for ignoring the warning I heard right before returning?
\-Sado.
After all talk was finished.
The World Tree spoke to me.
\-The pain of returning will be immense. Be careful.
\-I’ve already experienced it once. That much is nothing.
At the World Tree’s warning, I smirked and said that.
I had to regret that matter now.
‘Experienced it my ass…!’
How absurd.
The level is completely different from back then.
Besides, why is the return taking so damn long?
While thinking about that, suddenly.
I had to shake my head inwardly.
‘Is this all my karma?’
Among the words I had heard from the World Tree.
Because I vaguely felt I knew the reason it had come to this.
The world where the World Tree existed.
Was called a false world.
It was a demonic realm created so that the sinful World Tree could endure punishment alone.
Originally, it was a place where no one could come and go freely.
I hadn’t known that exactly, but…
Anyway.
The reason I headed there was partly that I wanted to hear truths I didn’t know.
There was also my desire to deal with Jang Seonyeon, but.
The most important thing was.
The time difference between that place and this one.
I needed that.
A few years in the demonic realm.
Would become mere days in the present world.
I needed that difference.
Moreover.
Since once I stepped outside, I could never set foot in that demonic realm again.
Since I had already stepped inside, I had to do everything possible.
Especially.
Since I was currently in a state blocked by a wall, floundering.
All the more.
To be precise.
I needed time to train.
After finishing my conversation with the World Tree.
After hearing everything I needed to hear.
What I did was make a request to the World Tree.
Saying that I needed to train here.
With internal energy raised by gathering all sorts of fortuitous encounters.
And proficiency built upon my previous life’s experience.
!
..
And even a physical body torn down and rebuilt like a reconstruction.
Though I had all three elements prepared.
For some reason, I couldn’t cross the wall and was completely stuck—I had to break through.
Because this time, I felt the need to advance solely through training.
I decided to utilize the demonic realm.
Using the time here.
To break through the blocked point, that’s all.
The World Tree, having heard my story, didn’t particularly object.
I immediately began training.
No matter how false the world was.
The five senses were vivid.
Pain, of course. And feeling hunger.
Almost everything was the same as reality.
The sensation when stretching my arm was the same.
The sensation of energy moving from my dantian.
And the feeling of handling heat.
Since everything was the same, I could train as much as I wanted.
All sorts of information swirled through my head.
Leaving behind the time filled with nothing but bewildering moments.
Moving my body while having ample time was quite a decent time.
As days passed.
When it reached the point where I gave up counting, that was a problem, but still.
Even though I never had an ounce of perseverance.
I don’t know why I was working so hard at this.
A day passed.
Two days passed.
Soon, a year passed.
By the time half a year had passed, I had stopped counting because it was annoying.
It was something the World Tree informed me of.
Saying that a year had already passed.
I wasn’t particularly moved.
I was only disappointed that I hadn’t properly crossed the wall even after a year.
Instead of listening.
I stretched my arm once more.
If there was one thing different between the demonic realm and the present world.
It was that the growth of the physical body was somewhat slower.
It didn’t matter.
Because right now, the growth of the physical body wasn’t the important thing.
The body was strengthened, but my height didn’t grow.
Was there some difference?
Or had my growth stopped completely?
That might be so, but.
I thought that probably wasn’t it.
I hadn’t been tall in my previous life, but since I had been taller than I am now, that probably wasn’t it.
Moreover, recalling that my growth rate had accelerated after the regression.
I thought that once fully grown, I might be bigger than I had been then.
Anyway.
The important thing wasn’t physical growth.
It was the stability of my mental state, and crossing the wall through it.
And time continued to flow.
Now the World Tree no longer told me the time.
Night fell, and soon it was day.
Perhaps because I trained near the World Tree.
The demonic creatures didn’t bother me either.
It was simply amazing.
What exactly were the demonic creatures dwelling in this false world?
I was briefly curious about that.
But I decided not to dwell on it.
Right now.
Stretching my leg once more.
Refining my internal energy and paying attention to my breathing was more important.
The compression I learned from Sin Noya.
Handling my physical body using it.
And.
Reducing my mental state’s rejection of the changed method of usage.
Forgetting for a moment the burdens that had accumulated behind me.
I focused solely on moving my body and refining my energy and mental state.
When I briefly forgot the thoughts filling my head.
Surprisingly, my energy seemed to move much more smoothly.
Perhaps that was why.
To be honest, I thought it wouldn’t take long.
The time needed to cross the wall.
Even in the present world, if I butted against it for a few more months, I could probably break through.
Or cross it.
That’s what I thought.
A few months my ass, what a foolish thought.
Because as I repeated my training without cease.
I came to realize the reality.
My current realm was clearly.
A realm haphazardly raised up by fortuitous encounters gained through regression and the experience of my previous life.
If asked whether it was different from other apexes, it probably wasn’t, but.
It meant I hadn’t climbed using only my own talent.
Moreover.
Unlike in the past when I used explosive internal energy.
Now meticulously applying even a handful of internal energy.
In my current state where I had begun to use it delicately and finely.
Past experience didn’t hold as much weight—that was the problem.
Because of that.
“Huu….”
To reach the desired level.
It took much, much longer than I had thought.
Though I didn’t count every passing day.
Considering the time difference.
When I returned to the original world, several days would have passed.
I had been here for a long time—longer than I had expected.
But, in the end, I had achieved what I desired.
Now I had to return.
And now, arriving here.
Intense pain washed over me.
‘Fuck.’
Pain that felt as if my whole body would be crushed.
In the process of crossing dimensions to return to the present world.
The reason I felt this pain was simple.
Everything achieved there.
Could not be brought back to the present world.
In my previous life, they had.
Despite the years spent there.
Their memories were erased.
The reason their bodies could return unchanged from when they first fell into the demonic realm was exactly that.
What I could bring back.
Was merely memories.
Then what was this pain I was experiencing?
It was a kind of backlash.
Washing away the power I had obtained through training in the demonic realm.
And returning to the body I had in the present world.
That.
‘It fucking hurts, seriously.’
It was nothing but excruciating pain.
The sensation of my entire body being struck with blunt weapons was vividly felt.
I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream.
If I moved wrong, it felt like I’d drop dead on the spot.
I just endured.
I just had to keep enduring.
Whether fire or lightning.
Enduring pain that felt like it was scorching my entire body and limbs.
I remained like that for a long while.
Barely enduring that hellish time within that damned pain.
Crack.
Along with a crushing sound.
Thud, thud….
I felt the sensation of my floating legs touching the ground.
Then wind blew.
Wind I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Feeling that, I spat out the words I had been holding back.
“Wow, fuck.
Curses burst out of me unconsciously.
But it couldn’t be helped.
“I really almost died….”
I really almost died.
It’s way too different from my previous life.
If I had even breathed wrong.
I might have been torn apart on the spot.
Wasn’t that insane, seriously.
“I guess I’ll never do that fucking shit again.”
It was a method I used because I had no time.
If I had known I would end up in such a dangerous situation, I might not have chosen this method.
I raised my hand and swept back my hair.
Somehow my body felt heavy when I tried to move.
The fact that moving my hand alone felt this heavy.
‘Leaving that aside.’
I could figure this out slowly.
First, I needed to know what was important.
First.
I had to find Jang Seonyeon first.
Even if I had burned him to death.
That was death within the demonic realm.
I had asked the World Tree if something couldn’t be done about this, but.
I was told it was impossible because it pertained to the laws.
Therefore, there was a high possibility that Jang Seonyeon had returned alive.
That much I had expected.
If he had returned alive.
I just had to kill him again.
There would be plenty of demonic creatures too….
Thinking so, I looked around.
“But what the hell is this place…. What? Why does it look like this?”
I had naturally assumed I would reappear where I had entered the demonic realm.
But what I saw wasn’t grass, but a random building.
The fortunate part was that I could tell what kind of building it was.
Even though time had passed.
Fortunately, I remembered.
That was the Sinryong Hall building.
But.
It looked a bit strange.
‘What, it turned into a complete mess?’
However much money had been poured in.
The building that had been built so splendidly.
Had cracks everywhere and had become so precarious that it looked like it would collapse if tapped.
‘Don’t tell me….’
Seeing that, I had to entertain a rather frightening thought.
I had thought that at most a few days had passed.
It couldn’t have ended up like that in just a few days.
Had time flowed at the same rate as reality?
If so, then I was really screwed.
All the plans I had prepared there along with my training would completely collapse.
In other words, it was an extremely alarming situation.
Tuk, tuk.
As I was frantically racking my brain.
I sensed a presence nearby.
I turned my head.
“Huh?”
There, an old man who looked somewhat familiar was sitting collapsed, bleeding.
Before him, an old man with a massive physique was gripping a saber and looking this way.
Wondering what that was about, I frowned deeply.
He flinched.
The old man gripping the saber flinched in surprise.
Why was he so surprised the moment he saw my face?
Unpleasant.
Meanwhile, I looked at the old man who was bleeding and had lost an arm.
‘…Cheonghae Ilgeom?’
I could immediately tell who he was.
I just hadn’t recognized him immediately because it had been so long.
What?
Why was that old man sitting like that?
My five senses quickly returned vividly.
Only then did the smell of blood come from all directions.
Along with that.
Killing intent, of course.
A thick, malicious energy permeated the surroundings.
The unique, revolting energy used by demonic path practitioners.
Feeling that, I realized.
“Something seems to have happened.”
Though I couldn’t fully grasp the situation.
I could tell something had gone down.
I immediately narrowed my eyes at the old man in black before me.
He clearly wasn’t of the righteous path.
Nor did he seem like a normal person.
That old man also seemed interested in me.
He looked at me with slightly trembling eyes and spoke first.
“…What are you?”
What should I answer?
First, I took a step.
I circulated the internal energy in my body. That feeling.
Of when I hadn’t properly crossed the wall.
That sensation of floundering.
Taking the second step, I drew up my internal energy.
I raised it to the middle dantian.
It filled up in no time.
“What would you do with that? You clearly don’t look like a guest.”
“Unlike your appearance, your words are short, young one.”
The old man said so, watching me with tense eyes.
Was it because he couldn’t properly gauge me?
He should have swung his blade instead.
The third step.
Moving the internal energy that had filled my middle dantian.
I directed it toward the upper dantian.
Hooo.
“…!”
The old man’s expression changed noticeably as he sensed something.
“You….”
Amazing, isn’t it?
Watching someone cross the wall and ascend a level in real-time.
Every time my internal energy moved.
Though many things resisted.
Unlike before, it wasn’t much of a problem.
I controlled it.
And broke through.
Because I had trained in the demonic realm for exactly this.
Organizing my mental state.
Striving to harmonize with my body endlessly.
My acupoints opened.
The tip of my internal energy, which had been but a small awl.
Became larger and sharper.
Piercing the wall leading to the upper dantian.
Hoooooook—!
The quality of the internal energy enveloping my body changed.
As if the internal energy I had felt at the Apex had been a joke.
It grew endlessly heavier.
At the same time, it spread throughout my entire body.
With my upper dantian opened.
My perception changed.
The sounds I heard changed.
The internal energy flowing through me changed.
I.
Past the Apex known as the grave of martial artists and the end.
Had barely reached the Transformation Realm.
It was a new feeling.
“Why are my words short?”
Of course, there was no time to savor such emotions.
Since I realized something was wrong the moment I arrived.
I had to move first.
“I’ve never had respect for demonic path bastards. After all, righteous path blood runs strong in me.”
I smiled.
Did my smile displease him?
The old man’s saber moved.
The figure before me was clearly.
A formidable expert, but.
Perhaps because the internal energy that had crossed the wall now filled my upper dantian.
It felt like whatever fear I had never possessed was now completely gone.
“And why is the sky acting up like that?”
I wondered if it was night, but it wasn’t.
As I quietly looked up at the sky.
I sensed the old man’s movement.
His formidable internal energy as well.
But I didn’t react.
I simply lowered my gaze and stared into the old man’s eyes.
I moved the internal energy gathered in my upper dantian.
Though it wasn’t night.
The darkened sky wasn’t to my liking.
So.
I had to brighten it first.
Hoooooook—!
At the heat erupting from my body.
The old man took a step back.
That wouldn’t do.
He should have attacked even if he was intimidated.
I watched him.
And quietly whispered.
“Jeokcheon.”
First.
I shattered the darkness.