Chapter 59: Sacrifice, Flames, Ritual (4)

It was said that a candle burned itself to illuminate the world brightly.

Then, what did the burning candle emit light with?

Was what was created by burning and melting merely simple light?

If it could fill the world with light, what was that light?

"ॐ-"

As soon as Jinseong leaped into the fire, the flames blazed fiercely as if welcoming the sacrifice.

The unrealistically vivid flames now became even clearer as if they had jumped out of paper on their own, and they were imprinting their image on the world so strongly that even if you closed your eyes not wanting to see, their appearance would naturally come to mind.

It was said that when seeing ghosts, you recognized them with your soul rather than your eyes, so regardless of distance, field of vision, or environment, their appearance clearly came to mind.

The sacred fire could also be seen with the soul, so its appearance could be seen even with closed eyes, and even if you turned your back, in places where light shone, its image naturally came to mind. This was indeed the light emitted by the candle burning itself, the form of wisdom illuminating the world brightly.

That's right.

Light.

There was light on the altar.

There was light in the shrine.

And at the center of that light was Jinseong.

"ॐ…."

Jinseong, wrapped in flames, was sitting comfortably and continuously uttering mantras.

Only with exhalation, without inhalation.

Uttering the sound of the universe's birth as if vibrating his entire body, endlessly, endlessly.

ॐ-------------.

After chanting mantras for a long time like this, Jinseong breathed with his eyes still closed.

As if to inhale as much air as he had exhaled earlier, endlessly, to the point where his chest seemed about to burst.

But where he was was in the flames.

A place where there was no oxygen for him to breathe, only heat existed.

As Jinseong inhaled, the flames of wisdom flowed towards his lungs as if air were flowing.

Colors of unparalleled vividness flowed into his body as if smoke were being inhaled with the breath, and those colors filled Jinseong's mouth and flowed into his throat, filling his chest.

Of course, inhaling flames was accompanied by terrible pain.

Jinseong felt the flames trying to burn his mouth and lungs.

He felt energy full of the will to burn each piece of flesh, explode cells, only to roast his body and turn it into ashes.

Did they say that the worst pain a human could experience was burning pain?

Jinseong's entire body was feeling the pain of burning from the flames, the pain of skin melting while alive, the pain created by flames trying to roast him from inside his body, and the pain his brain was screaming from being unable to bear that pain.

Jinseong was suffering from constant, severe pain as the price for entering the flames with a living body.

That pain was so terrible that his brain was secreting endorphins with all its might, and all the nerves in his body were convulsing, unable to bear the pain, trying to jump out of the fire. But Jinseong was keeping his body comfortably trapped in the fire by sheer will alone, sitting straight with his eyes closed.

Huu-up.

Jinseong, who had been inhaling while suffering such terrible pain, stopped breathing.

And he exhaled like before, but that breath was red to the point of being crimson.

"हूँ-"

The mantra coming out again.

As the mantra flowed, the vibration that had been flowing through Jinseong's body earlier moved upward. The vibration that had stimulated everywhere from his center to his extremities now flowed up like water flowing, like air flowing, along his blood vessels and skin. Upward. Upward until it reached the crown of his head.

The vibration that reached the crown shook Jinseong's head mercilessly as he sat still in the fire, looking like a scarecrow shaking in an earthquake.

"हूँ---------"

And the brain, stimulated by the vibration, began to secrete even more endorphins than before.

If the previous secretion was a self-judgment to forget the pain, this time it was using all brain functions to secrete endorphins.

Jinseong's brain, unable to even judge for itself, began to release endorphins and enkephalins solely under the influence of the vibration, as if squeezing juice from fruit.

At that moment when the effects of pain and endorphins reached a balance.

Pain, distracting thoughts, happiness.

A feeling as if all of these were empty came.

Jinseong realized that the moment he had been waiting for had arrived.

Samadhi.

A world where the five senses seemed numb.

In a world full of only silence, Jinseong finally opened his eyes that had been closed.

Then, as if they had been waiting, the flames approached and seeped into his pupils.

Jinseong's pupils, holding the flames, alternately emitted red and blue light, and his pupils continuously contracted and expanded.

But instead of burning his pupils, the flames wanted to dominate his eyes, and instead of blinding him, they wanted to view the world through his sight.

Jinseong gladly allowed this, and the flames settled in his pupils and viewed the world through his sight.

And with the flames.

With the pain of burning flesh.

He spoke, imbuing his will into the vibration containing sound.

Only the pure can maintain their form.

Only the wise can brightly illuminate the world.

Purity and wisdom are sacred, and the impure will disappear without leaving even ashes.

The flames viewed the world through his sight.

In Jinseong's vision, a world full of only silence was seen.

Silence.

Without external conditions shaking the self.

Only a quiet, static world.

The flames deemed his vision not impure.

So they entered along his optic nerve towards his brain.

The flames viewed the world through his thoughts.

Jinseong's brain was calmly in place, and despite the external condition of pain, it was in its place without being shaken.

The mind elevated infinitely due to Samadhi seemed pure to the flames' judgment.

The flames deemed his mind not impure.

So they opened the boundary between material and immaterial and moved to his soul through his body and mind.

The flames viewed the world through his soul.

Jinseong's soul was distorted.

Sorcery was a power that changed the body and changed the soul.

No matter how careful one was, it couldn’t be avoided.

Just as one couldn’t avoid the body aging even if one disliked getting old.

Just as one would eventually reach the end of life even if one disliked dying.

His soul too had been changed by sorcery.

However, change was not necessarily bad.

The flames saw a soul full of only yearning for sorcery.

The flames saw a soul trying to shed its shell and advance through sorcery.

The flames saw the essence of a soul with unwavering will.

The flames deemed his soul not impure.

So they judged.

The body was pure.

The mind was pure.

The soul was also pure.

And so he was worthy of surviving in the sacred fire.

The sacred fire blazed instead of burning Jinseong.

Just as Jinseong wished to emit light using his body as a candle, it blazed using its body made of flames as firewood. It lit flames with flames and bloomed with the sacredness it held.

Then the flames that had been continuously burning Jinseong and causing pain changed their nature and healed his body.

The melting skin became fresh, soft new skin, and his internal organs that had been cooking in the heat became new. The accumulated toxins, chemicals, and fat all burned away, leaving only beneficial things in his body. However, the parasites in his body were also about to burn, but due to Jinseong's will, they fell into a long sleep while holding the heat of the flames.

The same was true for Jinseong's mind.

Jinseong's mind, which had reached the state of quiet Samadhi, became an even deeper state of silence as the smokeless fire passed through, and by lighting a flame deep in his mind, it expanded his mind at once. It was like the open view after a fire in a large forest, allowing him to experience a vast world of mind without any obstacles.

And in his soul, an unquenchable ember took root.

The sacred flames burrowed into the twisted and distorted parts, leaving embers, and part of Jinseong's soul changed like charcoal holding lingering flames.

*                     *                     *

Jinseong's actions were enough to shock everyone.

Lighting a fire on the altar, leaving the shrine maiden he thought he would offer as a sacrifice, and pouring oil on himself and walking into the fire?

It was truly an action that only a madman could do.

At this terrible sight, Rise tightly closed her eyes, and the mercenaries, who had been through thick and thin, could only stare blankly with their mouths wide open at this crazy scene they had never seen before.

Even the martial artists who were groaning in pain while trying to extinguish the fire on their bodies were looking at it with eyes that seemed about to pop out.

But Jinseong, who had entered the fire, didn't die for a long time.

He floated in the air in a sitting position.

His body changed as if being reborn.

Rebirth and transformation?!

That appearance was similar to a certain appearance known to those who had learned martial arts.