The beginning, where not even a handful of the seeds of time had been sown. During those distant days when all things were finding their form amidst chaos, there was a man.
He was the primordial darkness, and soon became the manifestation of a demon itself.
Where there is light, darkness is born, and yang cannot flourish alone without yin.
At the same time, a woman was also born.
The man loved this woman, the only being who shared the primordial breath with him. She was a pure flower blooming amidst chaos, and a lantern that illuminated loneliness.
The love of the man was as absolute as the laws of the world, and as infinite as the depths of the universe.
However, even within time that seemed as though it would endure for eternity, parting was unavoidable.
Just as the dawn mist melts into the sunlight, she disappeared beyond the horizon of time.
Before the man, an eternity of endless loneliness cast its shadow.
—I will find you again.
The man wandered through repeated reincarnations, searching for his lost lover, his other half.
The river of time flowed on indifferently, but his will alone remained unbroken. Crossing through countless lifetimes, he tenaciously pursued her traces. Sometimes they met as the same gender, and sometimes their ages were mismatched, meeting as a child and an elderly person.
Yet even when they crossed paths with such difficulty, it was hard for the two of them to become lovers again.
This was because the man retained the memories of all his lifetimes, but the woman could not.
What the man loved was the past version of her, the one who had shared the memories of the beginning. The woman he faced now, as if by fate, was merely another connection forged by a new life. She was not the woman of the beginning whom he had yearned for throughout eternity.
—Let us create a grand method that can restore the memories of the past life.
The man began to create a powerful grand method.
It was a token of love, and nothing more than an earnest prayer to reclaim lost time.
It was a long task with an unknown completion date, but he never gave up.
However, the grand methods all failed.
Without the chain of reincarnation, it is impossible to awaken the memories of war.
One of the most important purposes of reincarnation is to wash away the karma of previous lifetimes and grow through a new life. What if the mind is not purified, and one carries over the painful memories or flawed obsessions from a past life just as they were?
That is because it could not be considered a new life.
—Is there no way to reclaim her memories?
Despairing, the man recalled a single fact.
—However, I can give her the memories that I possess.
What if he infused her with the days they loved at the beginning?
What if he conveyed the supreme and pure love that had remained unchanged despite repeated reincarnations?
If he conveyed those memories, he could truly reclaim the lover he loved, just like their meeting at the very beginning.
Ultimately, the man completed the grand method capable of infusing his memories, and after countably infinite reincarnations, he discovered his beloved woman once more.
Though her appearance was always different, he could recognize her by looking at her eyes and her smile. For his heart, which had not been beating, broke its silence and throbbed violently.
—Will you be able to remember me?
As he deployed the grand method, the man's memories turned into rays of light and pierced into her soul.
Through a long reincarnation, the man found the woman and stayed with her.
All those memories flowed into her consciousness like a massive stream of water, and he hoped that she would recognize him again, that she would realize their long-lasting love.
—You are a demon.
However, the woman fell into fear and despair instead.
A human life is like a pavilion built upon a single block. Only by shedding the weight of the past and forgetting can a being truly live in the present and dream of tomorrow.
The man's forced restoration of memories was not a blessing, but a curse.
—Why must I suffer this much because of you?
The memories possessed by the man were so vast that they could not be contained by the mind of a human living a short lifespan. Not to mention the happy moments of repeated lifetimes, there were memories of heartbreaking partings, the pain of betrayal and loss, and the agony of unfulfilled love.
Massive, uncontrollable emotions tangled together and tore her soul down.
—Furthermore, under the pretext of completing the grand method, to inflict such horrible experiments on countless people... How can you commit such cruel villainy without hesitation?
Because it was a grand method that conveyed memories, the woman unintentionally witnessed even the man's evil deeds. In order to devise the grand method capable of infusing memories, he had been committing acts that could absolutely never be forgiven as a human being.
—Please let me go.
It is human life to regret, ache, and suffer from the memories of just a single lifetime. By trying to infuse hundreds and thousands of lifetimes' worth of memories under the guise of infusing the memories of the time they loved, her heart began to shatter like a cracked mirror.
She lost her way amidst the overlapping layers of fragmented memories, forgetting who she was and what she was supposed to live for. Even while facing the face of her lover, she had to writhe in agony instead because of that person's memories.
In that manner, an eternity of time passed.
"I beg of you," the woman said with an earnest voice as she finished her recollection. "Can you not grant even a brief respite to the martial world, which has suffered to its limit under your endless madness?"
The man replied indifferently, "That matters absolutely nothing to me."
In truth, it did not matter whether the martial artists advanced or not. Even if he left them alone for thousands of years, they would never reach a level that could pose a threat to him.
"And I have already tried it," the man let out a sigh. "A long time ago."
Throughout the vast ages, there was nothing he had not tried. As the woman wished, he had forcibly advanced the martial artists and had even raised them to a level where they could oppose him.
But it was the same.
Only the power of the Baekri Family was threatening; the martial artists could not even follow his footsteps.
"That is because you forcibly advanced them in a short period of time," the woman said. "If you had given them time to develop on their own, slowly over a long period, the result would have been different."
"There is no greater ordeal than staring blankly and waiting endlessly."
That long loneliness and boredom.
Having to watch quietly without any stimulation was also a form of suffering.
"There is no need to worry," the woman said calmly. "Because I will raise specialized masters who will block you."
"With the future sight obtained through the power of the sacred stars?"
"You should not look down on it." The woman assumed a solemn expression. "Whether you are newly born or become a young child, they will surely find you and eliminate you immediately."
And she said with confidence, "And I will destroy the chain of reincarnation."
In that instant, the man revealed his white teeth.
"Finding me... is it?"
On the contrary, he showed signs of delight.
She was the only one in the world who could say such words to him and provide him with stimulation. This was an incredibly enjoyable matter.
"Fine," He readily agreed. "I accept."
The man had a plan, and he needed a little more time. The woman's proposal would, conversely, be of great help to his plan. All of the man's servants and blood relatives ceased their activities.
Even when outstanding individuals appeared, he did not eliminate them.
Consequently, the martial arts world advanced brilliantly. Philosophers emerged to systemize the disorganized martial arts, and they created a stable structure of power. Factions that would not change even after hundreds of years took root in the martial arts world, settling it into stability.
And the woman created the Ancient Sword Forest.
The True Demon.
Instead of the man's name, she created the legend of 'the True Demon,' and under the name of twin stars rather than lovers, she entrusted his disposal to the successors of the Ancient Sword Forest.
However, that time was nothing but a mere flash.
The successors of that generation ultimately degenerated into a mere amusement, crumbling in the palms of the True Demon.
Nevertheless, they did not stop and continued to pursue the True Demon.
The True Demon.
The name bestowed upon a being that one dared not describe.
The woman created the legend of the True Demon so that the martial arts world would not forget that name even as generations passed.
Because only that tenacious pursuit was the sole path to rescue the True Demon from his infinite loneliness.
The martial artists would endlessly pursue him following the legend, and as long as that memory continued, the True Demon would be able to exist while enduring the loneliness.
—Let the person with the greatest potential of that era utilize the power of the Ancient Sword Forest.
The woman with the power of the sacred stars arranged for the person with the greatest potential in the current generation to become the successor of the Ancient Sword Forest. She made it possible to pursue and execute the True Demon during his childhood when he could not use his strength or when he failed to reclaim his complete memories as much as possible.
—And we must create a Black Divine Artifact that transcends even the laws of nature.
In order to destroy the chain of reincarnation, she had to create a divine artifact possessing a transcendent power that exceeded the limits of the human world.
Having seen the future through the power of the sacred stars, she finally found a way to break the chain of reincarnation.
—However, it will take a long time to come around.
Creating a divine artifact that could break even the laws of nature was a task that took a vast amount of time.
—Let us create a fountain of life to endure the ages.
She created a fountain of life so that the people of the Ancient Sword Forest could maintain a long lifespan.
As time passed like that, the martial world stabilized and was able to breathe after escaping from the palms of the True Demon.
The True Demon found satisfaction in the successors of the Ancient Sword Forest who came to kill him, and he was constantly growing stronger while testing them.
Before anyone knew it, the successors of the Ancient Sword Forest had become the True Demon's toys, but he could endure the long boredom and loneliness with just that.
Because the True Demon also had another plan.
More time passed like that.
Eventually, the man named the True Demon broke his long silence and finally revealed himself in the martial world once more.
—The time has finally come.
He had been waiting for a long time.
In the distant future, where the long wheel of reincarnation turns and turns again, he hoped that his deeply loved partner would be born in her primordial form. He hoped that they would meet in the same appearance and with the same love as they did at the very first time.
"I have finally met you."
He finally came looking for the lover who would become his eternal companion in a perfect form.
Not only was his lover born with the exact same appearance as the beginning, but even her terrifying foresight had been restored. Therefore, even without forcibly infusing memories through the grand method, she was able to find out all the events of the past through that power.
"To think you were born from the bloodline I sowed," the man said with a smile. "Should I call you a Holy Maiden?"
The lover whom the man, the True Demon, had loved so much—the woman born with the foresight of the beginning—was none other than Saha, the Holy Maiden of the True Demon Family.
"It is not a coincidence," Saha said. "You moved the heavenly secrets and prepared everything."
Throughout his life, the True Demon constantly fathered children and gave them a portion of his power to make them perform various tasks.
The bloodline of the True Demon.
In accordance with the True Demon's will, they replaced numerous leaders of the martial arts world with fakes.
It was not to rule over the martial arts world.
It was because only by deploying them in that manner would the heavenly secrets change.
From the perspective of heaven, humans are like pieces on a Go board, and the entire flow shifts depending on their arrangement.
"Your obsession alters even the heavenly principles," Holy Maiden Saha let out a sigh.
She knew very well how lonely of a life the True Demon had lived, how he had endured long suffering among mortals, and why he was so obsessed with her.
"You made efforts to cast off the shackles placed upon you," Saha said. "But in the end, you failed to do so, and ultimately, you crave people, enduring by using that tenacity as your driving force."
The True Demon showed a satisfied smile.
Knowing that there was someone in the world who uniquely recognized him was a joy that could not be traded for anything else.
"Now, I will begin the wager."
"Did we not do it in the past?"
"We promised the wager, but we have not started it yet."
The True Demon sighed. "Are you still trying to cause a tedious affair like the Ancient Sword Forest?"
"Not at all." Saha shook her head. "You researched the grand method to infuse memories, but I researched the grand method to erase memories."
"To erase memories..."
"Yes. I can cleanly erase the memories you have accumulated all this time."
The True Demon's eyes sparkled. "Indeed, it is an unavoidable technique."
He was a man who had lived and lived while bearing numerous memories until now. Yet, to think those memories could be erased? It was something he simply could not resist trying.
"If such a thing occurs, the chain of reincarnation will belong to you..."
"Of course."
"Yes, I see."
The man could finally understand upon seeing Saha's clear gaze.
"It is a wager I cannot possibly refuse to accept."
From the moment she created the Ancient Sword Forest, she had already foreseen everything.
"You were waiting until you obtained the ability to take the chain of reincarnation."
The True Demon laughed.
Until now, countless individuals had coveted and yearned for the chain of reincarnation, and they had made efforts to possess or seize it. However, even if he wanted to give it away, he could not.
This was because the chain of reincarnation was like a law of nature bound to himself.
However, through numerous reincarnations, the woman Saha, who was reborn in her primordial form, possessed the ability to hold the chain of reincarnation just like him.
"It was an excellent bargaining chip," the True Demon marveled.
Just as he had always done, she had steadily carried out her grand plan over a long period and had finally completed it. He nodded his head without hesitation.
"Take it."
Was life merely a game to the True Demon? Even though she had set this impossible condition, he was smiling.
"Try erasing my memories," the man said. "I will surely reclaim my memories and come find you again."
Holy Maiden Saha placed both of her hands on the True Demon's head, and she deployed the grand method to erase memories, which the descendants of the Ancient Sword Forest had completed after long research.
Then, along with a light that enveloped the entire world, the True Demon, having lost his memories and having lost the chain of reincarnation, vanished to somewhere.
"No matter how long it takes." Saha looked down at the chains wound around her body. “I will surely break this chain.”
The reason the True Demon willingly handed over the chain of reincarnation was because he already possessed an ability that transcended the laws. Furthermore, no one could use the chain of reincarnation, and it could not be broken by any power.
However, she was confident. It would be faster for her to break the chain of reincarnation than for the True Demon to reclaim his memories.
"Before long, I will gather all the dharma power, and the Black Divine Artifact will also be completed."
The future sight she had gathered—that was the dharma power capable of breaking the chain of reincarnation, and the completed Black Divine Artifact.
"Let us leave now."
Saha entered a deep mountain that her past self had arranged for the cultivation of her dharma power.
Behind the curtain of water where a massive waterfall poured down, a secret door that seemed as if nature itself had created it lay hidden. As she carefully pushed through the stream of water and stepped inside, the grand roaring of the waterfall subsided, and a deep, tranquil silence settled over her as if she were disconnected from the world.
The place she finally arrived at was a precipitous valley filled with a mysterious energy that felt as if life itself were condensed and breathing. The ground was covered with moss and nameless grass that emitted a faint light beneath her feet the more she stepped on them.
The cliffs stretching toward the sky were half-hidden by giant ancient trees that must have been hundreds or perhaps thousands of years old. Between those trees, small flowers emitting a spiritual light bloomed, illuminating the darkness of the valley like stars in the night sky.
The most astonishing thing was the fine gold or silver particles floating in the air. They moved slowly as if they were alive, emitting a divine aura. They resonated with the dharma power inside her body, as if confirming her presence.
"How long has it been?"
This place possessed an energy extremely similar to the gorge of the Western Regions, where the Ancient Sword Forest used to be in the past.
"If it is here, I will be able to fully recover my dharma power."
She walked deep into the valley. There, crystal-clear water gushed out to form a small lake, and above the surface of the water, strange rings of light spun slowly as if floating in mid-air.
The reason the people of the Ancient Sword Forest were able to live for a long time in the past was because they utilized this fountain containing the energy of life.
Rustle, rustle.
She crossed to the other side of the lake and entered a stone building that sat naturally as if a portion of the cliff had been carved out. The place was engraved with intricate and mysterious patterns. Those patterns emitted waves of intense dharma power that could be felt even without touching them.
"This is truly a sacred place where one can awaken the great dharma power capable of shaking even the laws of heaven, a power that goes beyond the principles of the world."
The past master of the Ancient Sword Forest had foreseen everything and had created another Ancient Sword Forest in the Central Plains.
Flash!
* * *
Bu Eunseol opened his eyes within an endless abyss.
The surroundings were enveloped in thick darkness, but a faint light was flowing from his body.
Harmony.
In the end, discerning that he could not prevent Nariya's mental collapse, he immediately deployed Harmony and wrapped it around his body. Thanks to that, even though Nariya was dying, his mind was able to maintain an intact form.
'How does she have such a memory?' Bu Eunseol could not understand. Why did this vicious woman possess the memories of the True Demon—no, the memories of his mother?
Throb.
Suddenly, a splitting headache came upon him.
Manwol had received most of Holy Maiden Saha's abilities. Within those abilities, a portion of the memories inside Holy Maiden Saha's head was included.
And the reason Nariya was able to seize Manwol's power was not solely due to the Harmony of Sun and Moon. At the same time, she used the ultimate treasure of the martial world, the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor.
With that power, which could inherit the memories and abilities of ancestors engraved in the blood, she had acquired even the memories of Holy Maiden Saha that Manwol had learned.
Afterward, Nariya intentionally dragged Bu Eunseol into her own mind in order to kill him and, without hesitation, she took her own life.
At that moment, a portion of the memories seized from Manwol flowed into Bu Eunseol's consciousness through the medium of Nariya's mind.
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