Chapter 481

The scene shown by the divine eye that revealed the future.

Seeing Seong Jihan's decapitated head there...

'Does that mean I die here in the future...?'

And the scene of the decapitated head next to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation, it seems related to Dongbang Sak.

Seong Jihan's head rolled briefly on the seabed.

Ssss...

As the water began to fill the area again, his head floated up.

'My face looks dazed.'

Seong Jihan observed the floating head carefully.

Since he had been defeated, it was obvious why his head was cut off.

But why was his face so clean?

Especially the left side which contained Void energy...

It was slightly grazed at the chin, just like when he first embedded the Void energy into his face.

'In the future, I look better than now?'

Thanks to the Blue stat, the severance function had become somewhat effective.

He planned to test restoration on his face.

Looking at the future version of his face, it seemed like it worked.

'The issue is that I'm decapitated...'

Of course, considering Pythia's downgraded divine eye was implanted in him,

it wasn't entirely reliable to say it accurately showed the future.

However,

'Assuming this to be true, I'd better prepare more thoroughly.'

Seong Jihan watched as his head floated higher and faded out of view, lost in thought.

When fighting Dongbang Sak, one must always assume the worst.

He was a monster who quickly soared the distortion of Martial Soul because the Martial God released some restrictions.

Even though he had become a temporary Administrator and his power has increased,

It was wise to prepare assuming he's at a disadvantage.

'So far, the divine eye has shown me being defeated and decapitated by what seems to be Dongbang Sak. And my face is much more recovered... So, two things.'

Was there any more information?

Seong Jihan tried to shift his gaze.

The downgraded divine eye seemed fixed and wouldn't change angles.

'It would be helpful to see the surroundings, but it's unfortunate.'

As Seong Jihan's severed head completely rose from the seabed, only the pattern of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation was visible.

Then he should at least examine that.

Seong Jihan compared the current Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation with the one shown by the divine eye.

'The future's Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation... Now that I look closely, its color has lightened. Many lines have disappeared as well.'

Even though he couldn't observe it earlier due to the scene of his own decapitated head.

The future Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation indeed looked different from the current one.

Just by viewing it, the future's formation seemed weakened.

'Hmm... Did I perhaps partially dismantle the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation?'

As Seong Jihan was scrutinizing the changes, a sudden light appeared.

Flash!

A light sword abruptly appeared above the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation and pierced through it.

'This is... The sword of Dongbang Sak I saw before.'

The cause of the rising distortion of Martial Soul, the light sword.

As more swords began to sprout, they uniformly penetrated the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

Then...

Flash!

The swords simultaneously emitted light.

The view turned completely white in an instant.

Ssss...

"...It's over."

The world reverted to its original state.

'Seeing the light sword, it seems clear that Dongbang Sak cut my head.'

Nobody else could create such a sword.

Confirming the suspect who severed his head, Seong Jihan looked at the actual Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

'Looking at this again, I can be sure. The Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation shown by the divine eye was weakened.'

And Seong Jihan inferred that he was the one who weakened the formation.

If Dongbang Sak had tampered with the formation, it wouldn't be merely weakened but completely dismantled.

'Hmm... But wasn't there just the World Tree inside? Why couldn't I dismantle the formation?'

The final seal of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

Before, it seemed impossible to approach.

But now, as a Blue Administrator, it didn't seem that difficult.

Unlike the ambiguous scene shown by the divine eye, he felt capable of dissolving it entirely.

Was there a reason for his future self to leave it intact?

'...I have to go in and check.'

Contemplating it from outside wouldn't yield any answers.

Seong Jihan decided to enter the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation to verify.

As he placed his foot on the central red dot,

Ssss...

His body was sucked into the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

'Could it be a strong opponent made me unable to dismantle the formation?'

Expecting such a scenario, he entered the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

'...Why is it so peaceful?'

Contrary to his expectations, the inside of the final seal was calm.

* * *

Inside the final seal of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

It contained the red World Tree, seen before.

However.

'Unlike before, Dongbang Sak isn't guarding it.'

Unlike the previous seal where he encountered Dongbang Sak and Asoka from Siddhartha's era.

The final seal only housed the World Tree alone.

'In the past, entering itself seemed impossible... The difficulty was entering the formation. The inside just contains the World Tree.'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan looked around.

In a barren land, the red World Tree stood tall alone.

Contrary to its appearance, which lacked any vegetation, the life energy here was denser than in any place Seong Jihan had seen.

'Life energy leaking outside the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation... Inside, it's so rich it's suffocating.'

If Gilgamesh had entered here, he would have quickly recovered.

As Seong Jihan examined the World Tree,

Ssss...

The cracks on the left side of his face caused by Void began to heal slightly.

'The cracks on my face... are healing.'

Touching his face lightly in astonishment,

[Void energy decreases by 5.]

[Efficiency of the incomplete stat "Eternity" increases slightly.]

Messages indicating the disappearance of Void energy and an increase in the efficiency of the incomplete stat "Eternity" appeared.

'So the red World Tree... Is it what healed my face in the future?'

It wasn't thanks to the Blue stat's restoration ability.

The red World Tree inside the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation healed his face with its life energy.

'The life energy emitted by this World Tree is truly extraordinary.'

Healing the Void cracks and enhancing the incomplete "Eternity" stat.

This exceeded the realm of ordinary World Trees.

Was it because it combined properly with the red?

In terms of extending life, this would be considered an upgraded version.

'Just standing here will heal the Void cracks.'

His cracked left face.

Unlike the slightly grazed face before, the expanded cracks naturally brought instinctive aversion from people.

While people's fear of his face wasn't a big concern,

'The issue was that my lifespan was running out fast.'

The Void-induced cracks could anytime cause his body to collapse.

In front of his worried niece or others, he had confidently declared there was a way to heal it.

Frankly, he didn't actually have a solution.

An idea to develop the Blue stat's restoration function?

That's all he had.

'But who would've thought an easy solution existed.'

Just standing near the red World Tree inside the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation made him recover.

Furthermore,

'If I use Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit to draw more life energy from this World Tree... the healing will accelerate.'

Even by merely absorbing the life energy floating around, his recovery was this fast.

Drawing power directly from the World Tree would accelerate the healing.

His face would return to its original state, and the stat "Eternity" might even lose the "incomplete" label.

The only downside to this change was the disappearance of Void.

'...If I hadn't seen the future with the divine eye, I would've immediately tried it.'

Seong Jihan laughed bitterly.

What's the use of fixing his face?

Dongbang Sak would sever his head anyway.

Especially without Void, One Sword Breaks the Sky might weaken or become unusable.

'Is that why I got decapitated... I still need Void.'

Facing Dongbang Sak's impending battle, weakening One Sword Breaks the Sky wasn't an option.

After observing the red World Tree for a while.

[Void energy decreases by 10.]

[Efficiency of the incomplete stat "Eternity" increases slightly.]

"...Let's leave."

After losing 10 more Void stat, he turned away from the World Tree.

There would be other opportunities to heal the cracks.

'Defeat Dongbang Sak and return.'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan exited the formation.

And the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation came back into view.

'The formation is slightly weakened...'

Its color had faded, and a few lines had disappeared.

Did it weaken because he absorbed some life energy?

'So the formation shown by the divine eye weakened because I stayed inside longer.'

Honestly, he understood the sentiment.

It healed the Void cracks that might devour him anytime.

It even perfected the "Eternity" stat.

'If I hadn't seen the future decapitation, I would've stayed there forever...'

After smacking his lips a few times,

Seong Jihan gave up lingering and surfaced from the seabed.

'I should ask my sister about using the divine eye when I get home.'

Since he has obtained it, he should make good use of it.

Thinking this, Seong Jihan entered his home through a window.

"Oh, Uncle. Long time no see?"

Yoon Seah, waving nonchalantly, greeted him from the living room.

Seong Jihan sensed something unusual in her words.

"Long time no see?"

"Yes, it's been two weeks."

"...Two weeks have passed?"

Two weeks.

Seong Jihan widened his eyes in shock.

* * *

"Ah... To you, Uncle, it might've felt brief? I thought Gilgamesh must've run very far."

"No. I quickly caught him."

Gilgamesh wasn't even a variable.

Thinking about the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation, Seong Jihan realized,

'Time inside the formation must flow differently.'

If he stayed longer absorbing life energy in there,

Time could've passed quickly outside.

'I left just in time.'

Without the divine eye's foresight, he might've lost his head in there unaware of the passing time.

Thinking he had made the right choice,

Seong Jihan asked Yoon Seah,

"Where's your mom? Is she out?"

"Mom? She's doing something with the Queen."

"With the Shadow Queen?"

"Yeah. She should be back soon."

Thinking of learning how to use the divine eye but finding his sister out was unfortunate.

'Since she'll be back soon, I should check my own condition for now.'

Opening the system, Seong Jihan saw a piled-up message.

[Big trouble, big trouble, Head!]

[Hey... Are you ignoring my message because I called you Head? Come on, we're closer than that~]

[Okay. No reply, huh... Fine, I'll be respectful. Blue Administrator! We are in big trouble!]

'Why is this guy messaging again?'

A series of messages from the Dead Star Constellation.

What now?

As Seong Jihan checked,

Ding.

Another message from him arrived.

[You saw the messages! Head, it's a real big deal!]

[Why?]

[The Sun King... has turned red!]