Absolute Regression Chapter 764

Episode 764: Cry Louder

A vast space unfolded before my eyes.
Its overwhelming scale was incomparable to the fake tombs I’d seen in the previous formation.

A place where the past leaders stay forever after death.

The sword dance stood at the border between the living and the dead and greeted them with a loud voice.

“I am the leader of the Cheonma Shingyo sect, Geommu Geuk. Although our paths may differ, I respect the great lives of my predecessors, who protected us with a single sword. In the contemporary martial arts world, there are forces seeking to disrupt the order of Sima Zheng and take over the world. I have come to stop them, so please forgive me, a junior, for my unauthorized steps today.”

After bowing his head respectfully and paying his respects, Geommugeuk entered. He added a few words, typical of Geommugeuk.

“I like and respect the current leader. I’m friends with the next leader! So please take good care of me!”

Geommugeuk stood at the entrance for a moment, looking around the room, overwhelmed by the power of the ages. The dry, heavy air was permeated by the scent of incense.

The interior was spacious, but I figured I’d have plenty of time to explore. Dansojin wouldn’t be able to freely come and go here either. He’d probably only be able to enter on certain days.

But time isn’t the key. If it’s meant to be, you’ll find it in half an hour. If it’s not, you won’t find it even if you spend ten years here.

He just hoped that the last bead would be his fate.

The interior was built in a huge circle, and in the center of the back was a stone statue of a warrior sitting on a throne.

Despite being a stone statue, he possessed a powerful authority. He seemed like the founder of the Apostolic Alliance. His eyes were pierced with blood-like gems, making even a simple glance at him terrifying.

There was an altar in front of it where sacrifices could be made, and around it were dozens of pillars erected.

Each pillar had writing on it, which was a record of the past leaders.

One person’s life on one pillar.

It recorded everything: when and where they were born, what martial arts they mastered, how they became the leader of the Apostle Alliance, what they accomplished after ascending to the throne, and when and how they died.
Each and every pillar was the history of the Apostle Alliance.

Geommugeuk slowly read the contents.
Reading someone’s life, especially a written record, is terribly tedious.
But Geommugeuk knew. There’s definitely something to be learned from others’ choices. Life isn’t long enough to make all those choices yourself.

In this way, the Sword Dance Theater reads about the most important choices the leaders made throughout their lives and their consequences.

After reading one person, I read about the life of the next pillar, and then another.
I laughed, and then I frowned. There were some leaders I liked, and others I wondered if such people could exist.

As he was reading the pillars, there was a name that stood out to him.

Lord.

It was he, the Apostle’s greatest master and leader of the Apostles three hundred years ago.
The sword gun beneath the lake where he had previously fought the Twelve Zodiac Kings was also revealed to be his grave, and masters of the past gathered there.

But his real body was buried here.
Geommu-geuk read the story of Ju Gwa-shin’s life. How he mastered martial arts, became the Apostle’s First Sword, and then the Apostle Alliance’s Leader.

―After he became the leader, he always carried a wolf named Jeokrang (赤狼) with him.

A leader of the Apostles who walks around with a wolf? I thought it was kind of cool.

Then, there was a part of his actions that caught my eye.

-Defeat the Heavenly Palace with the Muhwang Divine Sword.

‘Ah, the Lord was there too!’

Three hundred years ago, on that day, the final, bloody battle between the Murim Alliance and the Cheonui Palace wasn’t just about the Cheonma Shingyo. The Sadomaeng also intervened. And it was directly led by the then-leader of the Sadomaeng, Ju Gao-shin.

It was no coincidence that the last bead was kept here, but it was certain that the fate of three hundred years ago was being carried on.

This is something I would never have known if I hadn’t read the contents of this pillar carefully.

The Sword Dance Theater has read all the remaining pillars. Baekjagang’s pillar has not yet been found. After his death, his pillar will also be erected somewhere here.

“Can my name be included in your history?”

―Defeat the Cheonui Palace lineage together with the Cheonma Shingyo sect leader!

I hope so, my lord.

Having read all of the history of the pillars, Geommu-geuk walked to the place where the legacies of the past leaders were kept.

The poisonous secrets they used were displayed on a display case. They were truly divine techniques that would turn the martial arts world upside down if even one copy were leaked.

Of course, he passed the sword dance without even looking. What caught his attention was the objects on display before him. He wondered if there might be a bead mixed in among them.

All manner of weapons, armor, armor, armored weapons, even the clothing and shoes favored by the lords—a veritable spectacle of artifacts was on display.
Because no labels were placed on the artifacts or their owners, it was impossible to determine who had left them behind.

The sword dance didn’t even touch the objects.
No one was watching, but he maintained the utmost courtesy. He examined them closely, just in case there were any beads among them.
Yet, even after examining all the objects, Bigwi didn’t cry.

‘Yeah, I wouldn’t have hidden it so easily.’

If you think back on what you’ve acquired so far, it won’t be easy to find. Heukjeong was obtained by So Baek-ta, the next leader of the Pungcheon Church, who said, “I’ll choose this.”
At first glance, it seems like an easy acquisition, but considering the process leading up to that statement, it wasn’t easy at all.

This time, the sword dance moved toward the surrounding wall.
Along the wall stood unmanned stone statues, swords resting on the ground, as if guarding something.

The wall was covered in murals. They depicted various figures, seemingly the previous Apostolic Alliance leaders.
Some depicted bloodied warriors engaged in bloody battles, others raised banners and shouted in battlefields littered with corpses, others slashed cliffs with swords.
Some ran with children in their arms, others brutally murdered. The scenes depicted were truly diverse.

A large portion of that wide wall was covered with numerous paintings, making it a spectacular sight to behold.

The stone statues stood at a fixed distance from the mural.
They were too numerous to be simply symbols protecting the tomb. Furthermore, the distance between the statues was perfectly accurate.

‘Who are you standing there protecting?’

Geommugeuk placed his hand on the wall between the statues. The wall was so thick that even the most skilled practitioners couldn’t see beyond it. However, Geommugeuk, whose martial arts skills had reached the pinnacle, could feel beyond it.

‘There is space behind the wall.’

The sword dance looked at the stone statues lined up around the circular wall.

‘Indeed, the coffins of the leaders are stored between these stone statues!’

These stone statues are a kind of guardian statues that guard the coffins of each leader.

I tried to open it, but there was no door in the wall. There wasn’t even a trace of a door. It must have been locked open, so there must have been some intricate, unknown mechanism.

‘What if the marbles are in someone’s coffin?’

It would be a truly precarious situation.
Finding the last bead was paramount, but it wasn’t possible to break down the wall and open the coffin.
It wasn’t because of Dansojin, but because of Baekjagang and Bisain.

‘I hope you didn’t hide it in there.’

The sword dance circled around and examined the guardian statues.

‘Please cry, you rascal! Let the statue’s eyes bulge out with a purple glow, and let the ornaments on the sword’s hilt fall off!’

But that was merely a wishful thinking for the sword dance. Bigwi didn’t cry until he had seen all the guardian statues.

I examined the stone statue sitting on the throne, and I flew into the air and examined the ceiling, but I couldn’t find the bead.

‘Is he not in this tomb?’

No, that couldn’t be happening.

―If the leader of the Apostles does not die, the martial arts world will be destroyed.

It was a prophecy.
They were clearly planning to kill the current leader of the Apostles, find out the location of this place, and seize the bead.

‘It’s definitely in here.’

Again, the gaze of the swordsman looked at the walls between the stone statues.

‘Now those are the only places left.’

There must be a mechanism to open the door somewhere. If not, I can cut through the wall without it being visible…

As that thought crossed his mind, Geommu-geuk realized he was feeling uncharacteristically anxious. Even now, unconsciously, he was clenching his fists. He was anxious, as it was the last remaining bead.

‘The beads I’ve gotten so far weren’t obtained by force.’

Geommugeuk unclenched his fist. He must unclench his fist to grasp the bead with this hand.

The sword dance thumped down on its seat.

“Oh, my lords. I’ll take a break for a moment. The demonic cult members are naturally short-tempered. Please understand.”

The voice of the sword dance echoed throughout the hall. As I sat there, Baek Ja-gang suddenly came to mind.
I longed to see him, the man who gazed at me with those small eyes. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please come and find me!”

“As time passes, the leader will also rest here.”

The Baekja River will also be depicted as a mural.
Perhaps even Bisain will be painted later. Once I leave this place, I’ll never be able to return, so this painting will be a sight I’ll never see again.

“If I really miss you so much, I might sneak in here.”

Geommugeuk smiled as he remembered the scene where Visain was questioning why he only thought about the case where he died first.

With that, I regained my composure and looked around. Geommu-geuk was staring at the mural. A moment ago, he had been searching for the orb, paying more attention to the vibration of the scepter than to the painting.

‘Ah, the Lord must be somewhere in this picture.’

I didn’t know about anyone else, but I wanted to find Ju Gusa-shin. Still, he’s the only person I know here. Even if he hid the bead here, I would have followed his will.

However, since the leaders in the painting were unknown, finding the main god was impossible.
The same goes for the objects and the secrets. Not a single name was written down, so this is a truly unfriendly Apostolic Alliance.

As he sat there admiring the mural, something caught Geommugeuk’s eye.

It was a really cool picture of a wolf with red feathers.

“Hey, you’re really handsome!”

Just as he was about to pass by, Geommugeuk’s gaze turned back to the wolf.

One phrase comes to mind at the same time.

―Even after becoming the leader, he carried around a wolf named Jeokrang.

If it’s a red wolf, it’s a wolf with red feathers!

Geommugeuk jumped up and walked toward the painting.
His eyes widened as he closely observed the wolf in the painting.

The wolf was wearing a magnificent armor around his neck and body, and there was a bead embedded in the center of the armor around his neck.

‘It’s a blue bead!’

The bead I got from the old Apostle Alliance’s Steel Wolf Statue was pure.

Geommu-geuk looked at the leader standing beside the wolf.
A middle-aged man, fully dressed in royal attire, was depicted with a dignified air, as if he were heading to war. A warrior who perfectly suited the wolf.

In an instant, Geommu-geuk’s eyes widened even further. He had a purple bead embedded in the belt he wore around his waist.

‘This man is the Lord!’

It could be a coincidence that the beads on the wolf’s armor were blue, but the beads on this waist decoration couldn’t be a coincidence either.

‘That day, the Lord God obtained two beads.’

So you hid one in the Iron Wolf statue, and the other one? Where did you put the other one?

Geommu-geuk flew again and went to the place where he had stored the sacred water and found the belt that the main god had been wearing.

“There it was!”

The belt didn’t have any beads. But Geommugeuk felt a strange dizziness coming from it.

“Excuse me for a moment, Your Majesty.”

Geommugeuk carefully picked up his belt.

“Maybe we could have met that day.”

But Bigwig sent himself back to reality three hundred years ago, before that fight. If he had been there, he might have actually met him.

Geommu-geuk, who had been silently looking down at his belt, put it around his waist. But nothing happened.

The gaze of the swordsman turned back to the painting.

‘if?’

The swordsman slowly walked over and stood beside the iron wolf statue. He stood exactly like the main god in the painting.

Swish.

It was at that moment that I felt the metal fittings on my belt being magnetically drawn to the iron wolf statue.

I thought I heard a clicking sound coming from inside the wolf statue.

Slurp!

A wall between the guardian statues on the other side opened wide. What poured out of the open door was a coffin. Both the door and the coffin leading out were constructed with truly intricate mechanisms.

I could instinctively know the sword dance.

‘It’s the Lord’s coffin!’

Charrung.

The door covering the coffin slid open as it slid sideways.

Geommugeuk walked toward the location with trembling eyes.
The moment he saw the inside of the coffin, his heart was filled with emotion.

The skeleton of the main god lay in the coffin. It held its hands together at its chest, and a bead lay between them.

It was midnight, the last bead I had been searching for.

The bead, which had appeared to the world after three hundred years, was radiating a vibrant purple light.

Woohoo.

The casket in my arms began to vibrate. It was more powerful than any vibration I’d ever felt before.

“Cry louder, you idiot!”

At the same time, the five energies that had been dormant within Geommugeuk’s body awakened simultaneously.

“I finally found the youngest!”