Absolute Regression
Chapter 1: Send Me to the Past
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TL: FoodieMonster007
The Ghostly Sage silently stared at his late-night visitor. As the leader of the Ghost Sect, a man who had survived the perilous jianghu, he had experienced his share of intruders. They came in many varieties, from the spirited and the meticulous to the skilled fighter and the master of schemes. Occasionally, one would arrive who was all those things at once, but not even that man had left this manor alive.
The man before him now, however, was different from any intruder he had ever faced. Looking into those weary eyes, which seemed to have tasted all the bitter and spicy flavors of life, only one thought came to the Sage's mind.
Damn it, is today the day I die?
He tried to hide his anxiety, his voice emerging with forced calm. "Have we met before?"
"No." The man's voice was low, yet truly pleasant to hear.
"Then what brings you here tonight?"
Please, don't let that nice voice say, 'It's a good day to die, you ghost bastard'!
"I've come with a request."
Having been pushed to the very gates of hell and back, the Ghostly Sage felt a wave of inner relief. "Let's hear it."
A request more astonishing than any he had ever heard in his life then flowed from the man's lips.
"Send me to the past."
A moment of silence fell. The Ghostly Sage studied the man with a peculiar gaze before asking softly, "How can a human possibly defy time?"
"I wouldn't know. You're the only one in this world who can perform the Great Regression Technique. You should be the one to tell me."
The Ghostly Sage did not deny it. "How did you know I could perform it?" The Great Regression Technique was a secret art, passed down only within his family.
"Seo Jin."
At the sound of that nostalgic name, emotion washed over the Ghostly Sage. "How do you know my younger sister?"
"We were colleagues during my mercenary days."
"Where is she now?"
"She's dead."
"Ah!" A deep sigh escaped the Ghostly Sage. The Great Regression Technique had been researched and passed down in his family for hundreds of years. It had been incomplete even in his father's generation, so he and his younger sister had worked since they were young to help their father complete it. Then, ten years ago, his sister had declared she couldn't bear it any longer and left the family, running away in the middle of the night. The Ghostly Sage had understood her. Under the pretext of the family's great work, she had dedicated her entire twenties, the prime of her life, to the research.
"How did Jin die?"
"I took care of the revenge, so you don't need to worry. Before she died, she asked me to be sure to tell you this. She said she lived a life with no regrets and hoped her Orabeoni would do the same. She told you not to live a life just researching the great technique, but to please live your own life."
The Ghostly Sage fell into a deep and silent regret. The man waited until he had composed himself before asking the most important question of the day.
"Have you completed the great technique?"
The Ghostly Sage slowly nodded his head. "Yes. In my generation, I have finally completed it."
For a moment, joy flashed across the man's face. When he smiled brightly, it was clear he was quite a handsome and likable man. "To when can I return?"
"That can't be decided. You could go back ten years, or you could go back thirty. You could even go back to being a baby. If you're unlucky, you might just go back to yesterday."
"I'm a lucky person, so I won't worry."
"You seem to think you can go back right away." A bitter expression crossed the Ghostly Sage's face. "The great technique is impossible. If it were possible, I would have already gone back myself."
"Didn't you say you completed it?"
"I haven't been able to gather all the necessary materials."
"I'll get the materials."
"I'm telling you, it's impossible."
"Tell me what they are."
"Of the ninety-nine materials needed, there are five I have been unable to obtain. The first one alone is absolutely impossible to get. Have you ever heard of the Echoing Thunder Bell?"
"The sacred artifact of the Heavenly Wind Cult?"
"That's right. That's the one." The Heavenly Wind Cult was the successor to the Blood Cult and the most powerful force in the Outer Regions. "To perform the Great Regression Technique, we need the sound waves produced when the Echoing Thunder Bell rings, but that bell is a treasure of the Heavenly Wind Cult, placed right behind the Cult Leader's throne. Do you still think you can get it?"
The Ghostly Sage couldn't even ask to borrow it. If he did, his family would be annihilated by the hands of that foul-tempered Heavenly Wind Cult Leader.
"I'll get it."
With that resolute answer, the man turned and left without giving him a chance to stop him.
"Is he insane?" the Ghostly Sage thought at the time, regretting that he hadn't asked more about his sister.
The man returned several years later. One night, while the Sage was suffering from insomnia, the man who had vanished like a midsummer night's dream reappeared before him. He was carrying the large Echoing Thunder Bell on his back. The demons carved into the bell looked even more hideous, as if angered by the long journey from the Outer Regions.
"Want to give it a ring?"
The Ghostly Sage's eyes widened as he examined the bell again and again. It was hard to believe, but this was the genuine Echoing Thunder Bell, faintly emanating the blood energy of the Blood Cult.
"It can't be! Ugh! It can't be!" he stammered. "You crazy bastard! How in the world did you get this?"
"I'm a man who does what he says he'll do. What's the next material?" The man's straightforward and confident gaze showed that his bold claim was no bluff.
He's no ordinary person.
However, the Ghostly Sage soon sighed. "You may have gotten lucky and brought back the sacred artifact of the Heavenly Wind Cult, but you won't be able to get the next material."
"What is it?"
"The Divine Incense Burner, the sacred artifact of the Rising Dragon Family. The great technique requires the incense that rises from it."
The Rising Dragon Family. They were the symbol of the orthodox sects that had newly risen after the Murim Alliance closed-off, and the family with the greatest power, a force known to be even stronger than the Heavenly Wind Cult.
"I understand. I'll hear about the third material after I bring back the incense burner."
"You're leaving the Echoing Thunder Bell with me? What'll you do if I run off with it?"
"I'll inform the Heavenly Wind Cult that you ran off with their bell."
Leaving behind words that dared him to try, the man hurriedly left.
And so, more time passed. A doubt arose in the Ghostly Sage's mind every time the year changed. Will he really bring it this year? One autumn, after that doubt had repeated five or six times, the man returned with the Divine Incense Burner.
"You really brought it!" The Ghostly Sage couldn't believe his eyes, even as he looked directly at the artifact. "How on earth were you able to get it?"
"If I wrote it all down, it would take five or six books."
"Tell me. I'd read ten books if I had to. I'm curious!"
"There's no time for that."
What on earth drives this man to turn the impossible into the possible? With his abilities, he could live well in this life. So why is he so desperate to go back?
"Is the reason you want to go back for revenge?"
"……"
"With your skills, revenge should be possible in this life, shouldn't it?"
"It's impossible."
"Who is your enemy?"
A single name flowed from the man's lips. "Hwa Mugi."
"Gasp!"
The name made a gasp burst from the Ghostly Sage. Hwa Mugi. Two aliases sprang to his mind. The first was the Sealer of Three, a title that might seem to suit a knowledgeable old scholar. However, the 'Seal' in his title did not refer to a mountain peak or the act of serving. Hwa Mugi's 'Seal' meant to seal away.
The Murim Alliance closed-off.
The Evil Alliance closed-off.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult closed-off.
The leaders of the three strongest forces that supported the murim had all died at his hands. The leader of the Murim Alliance, the Evil Alliance Chairman, and the Heavenly Demon were all dead. Their families and any masters who did not surrender had died as well. That was why his second alias was the Greatest of All Time.
Hwa Mugi, the Greatest of All Time. The absolute ruler of this era. After he closed-off the three factions, he declared his own home the World's Greatest Alliance, and thousands of masters who revered him flocked to his side. People called him the Everlasting Martial God for having unified the murim.
"My god! He's an opponent you couldn't beat even if you went back in time!"
"I will kill him, no matter what."
"How? He's the greatest martial arts genius in the history of the murim."
"I grew up hearing I was a genius, too."
"He has the Heavenly Martial Body, a gift from the heavens!"
"I have the Heavenly Martial Body, too."
"What? Who in the world are you?"
"The Heavenly Demon who was killed by that bastard was my father."
"!"
The Ghostly Sage was deeply shocked. He had never dreamed that this man was the son of the dead Heavenly Demon. Now he understood how the man had accomplished what he had. He knew he was no ordinary person, but he never imagined this kind of status.
"Then how did you survive?"
The man pulled open his robes. The scar left on his chest was so fatal that it made the Ghostly Sage want to shout, 'Good heavens, are you a ghost?'
"When I opened my eyes, I was in a pile of corpses. I crawled out of there just before being buried alive."
"I see."
"The reason I can't forgive Hwa Mugi isn't because he tried to kill me. It's not because he killed my father, nor is it because he killed my incomparably treacherous brother. When you live a life branded with 'demonic', what's the big deal about being killed by someone?"
"Then?"
"That day, Hwa Mugi killed everyone, from the servants and cooks who knew no martial arts to the young children. He even killed the dogs and cats they were raising. He annihilated every living thing in sight."
"Lies! I can't believe it."
"Whether you believe me or not is none of my concern."
The Ghostly Sage could feel the truth in the man's words. The man he had seen so far was not someone who would lie about something like this.
"It doesn't matter what kind of person he is now. He might actually be a Master with a grand purpose. Some might even applaud him for eradicating the Demonic Cult root and stem, but to me, Hwa Mugi is just the enemy who killed my family and a cold-blooded man without a shred of mercy. No matter how I look at it, I can't kill him in this era. So I have to go back and kill him, and before I kill him, I have to ask. You, who are so powerful, did you really have to kill even the children?"
The Ghostly Sage stared at the man with a dazed expression, never having dreamed he carried such a story.
The man placed a hand on his chest. "That day, my bodyguard died with a hole pierced through here while trying to protect me. A friend who never even married, let alone made a proper friend, because he was busy protecting me day and night. Now, stop wasting my precious time and tell me. What's the third material?"
"You really are…."
"A busy man. So, the next material!"
The Ghostly Sage heaved the deepest sigh since he had met the man. "No matter who you are, you won't be able to get it this time."
"What is it?"
"The inner core of the 10000 Year Fire Carp. The last recorded discovery of it was three hundred years ago. It might not even exist in this world anymore."
"What a damn frustrating technique. Should I just cut you down right here and now?"
"Please, calm down."
"I have to be patient. After all I've been through to get here. Wait for me. This one might take quite a while."
"Hey! Do you think the 10000 Year Fire Carp is something you can just catch by casting a fishing line?"
"The 10000 Year Fire Carp is still a carp, isn't it? It must be in the water somewhere in this world. Wait for me. I'll be sure to bring it back."
As the Ghostly Sage watched the man's back disappear toward the impossible, he thought that things like stories about his sister, or even the man's still-unknown name, were not that important after all.
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