Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village
Originally, we would have spent three days rescuing survivors in Luoyang and aiding the people. But the situation had flipped so drastically that we had no spare energy for it. In the end, we left all rescue operations and aftermath cleanup to Yeon Jong-hwi and had no choice but to quickly depart Luoyang.
“The Mangyang Monk isn’t intervening at all...”
Even as the great battle between the Heavenly Realm and the Nine Yin Church unfolded in Luoyang, and even with the massive human sacrifice ritual and the Great Barrier Realm’s destruction ceremony taking place there, the Mangyang Monk exerted no influence whatsoever. Aside from guarding the Great Barrier Realm, he showed no presence at all, as if everything else was beneath his notice. A divine being of the Mangyang Monk’s caliber could have easily crushed the Nine Yin Church in advance, which made this all the more strange.
One piece of evidence for his indifference was that Mangyang had desperately sought the Mangyang Monk, yet received no response. He hadn’t even appeared to me in a dream. Seeing the Mangyang Monk’s non-reaction, Jegal-sa summed it up concisely.
“Simply put, he’s reached his limit.”
“His limit?”
“He’s been using most of his power from the start just to maintain the Great Barrier Realm. In other words, with ferocious spirits rampaging to this extent, he’s in no state to do anything beyond upholding it.”
“......”
That could very well be the case.
We returned to the Da Du Kingdom for now. To examine Seomun Hye in detail, we summoned the World’s Five Great Physicians who were already staying there. My comrades, having inherited my memories, had deemed top physicians essential for future battles, so fifty years ago, they had sought them out one by one and brought them to the Da Du Kingdom as refugees. Thus, all of the World’s Five Great Physicians except Uiseong Sanggwan Hyeok were currently residing in the Da Du Kingdom.
Dongbang Mu-gyeol, the Heavenly Monster in a mask, diagnosed the unconscious Seomun Hye and said,
“She’s perfectly fine. Just fainted. No issues with her organs or brain.”
“Really?”
“I stake my name on it. And where’s this supposed wound? There’s no injury.”
“Hmm...”
Dongbang Mu-gyeol was the most objectively skilled among the World’s Five Great Physicians in medicine. If he staked his name on it, Seomun Hye was undoubtedly safe. I suddenly found his mask odd and asked,
“Why the mask?”
“Why should I tell you?”
When Dongbang Mu-gyeol snappishly shot back, Jegal-sa, standing beside me, grinned stickily and said,
“You’d better spill if you don’t want to be exiled from this island. This ugly bastard is practically our lord.”
“Urgh.”
“I won’t stop you if you want to go back to the hellish Central Plains and fight monsters nonstop.”
“Fine. Damn it!”
Dongbang Mu-gyeol flinched at the word “exile,” then reluctantly removed his mask slowly.
Swish.
“......!!”
I was shocked by what lay beneath.
“A... merman? Sea God Clan.”
Indeed.
His face still retained about thirty percent human features, but it was unmistakably that of a typical merman race—the very Sea God Clan I’d clashed with across my reincarnations! By normal human aesthetics, anyone would call it a monster. Dongbang Mu-gyeol had originally been a fairly handsome middle-aged man with a cunning air, so this was a severe change in appearance.
Dongbang Mu-gyeol spoke curtly.
“What of it now? In the Central Plains outside Da Du Kingdom, hybrids with these races or those fused with them are a dime a dozen... I’ve stably accepted their blood through the Water God Style’s secret arts, so I’m fine. I won’t lose my human traits.”
“Water God Style’s secret arts? What do you mean?”
“...With the cult leader and guardian beasts gone, it doesn’t matter if I tell you now.”
Dongbang Mu-gyeol scratched the small gills on the side of his cheek and continued.
“Not just me—all who inherit the Water God Style’s secret arts gradually transform into merman in appearance. We receive diluted merman blood through long-term regular injections, preserved with spells to safeguard our Qi and souls, accepting only their power. This grants the merman race’s immense vitality and vessel, allows stable operation of the Heavenly Spirit Pill, and bestows a lifespan near immortality.”
“......”
“Why look at me like that? Pitying me?”
I gazed at him and said with difficulty,
“Your voice is rasping. It won’t turn fully merman later, will it?”
“It will. I’m suppressing it myself for now, since I don’t want it yet.”
If so, Dongbang Mu-gyeol would eventually converse like Duggo Jun or the Water God Style masters I’d faced before—barely producing a human voice, using physical transmission or telepathy. Thinking of those Water God Style figures from the past sent a chill down my spine.
“You say you preserve some human traits, but you’ve essentially abandoned being human.”
When I spoke in a flustered tone, Dongbang Mu-gyeol let out a hollow laugh.
“What’s so great about staying human?”
“Wha...”
“The human body is frail, inconvenient, and dies quickly. This body overflows with vitality, can live semi-permanently in water, lasts incredibly long, and above all, makes operating the Heavenly Spirit Pill effortless. Why stay human? Ha!”
“......”
He bellowed.
“Don’t nitpick a man living well and mind your own business.”
Dongbang Mu-gyeol stood abruptly, seeming somewhat angry, and stormed out. A brief silence fell, and the other Great Physicians sitting nearby looked unsurprised. Gwangmyeongsin’s Hwaseo Myeong spoke up.
“You just touched that man’s reverse scale.”
“Reverse scale?”
“He acts nonchalant, but he often laments and regrets his merman transformation. He’s lost his temper over drinks plenty of times. He got what he wanted but always seems to miss what he lost.”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, our diagnosis shows no issues with Lady Seomun Hye’s body. Except...”
“Except?”
Unlike fifty years ago, Hwaseo Myeong—now with stark white hair and aged—continued.
“Her body is human, yet not human.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well... It looks human on the surface, but... it’s impossibly sturdy and perfect. Simply put, it has tremendous resistance and recovery against all impacts, and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians circulate hundreds of times more complexly and intensely than a normal person’s.”
“You mean a non-human body?”
“Not exactly...”
Hwaseo Myeong chewed his lips, frustrated, then continued.
“A human enhanced hundreds of times. If I must describe it... an evolved form of humanity beyond current humans.”
“......!!”
“Not a non-human body? Of course, we’ve dissected plenty of non-human corpses over fifty years, so we know their examples and strength. But hers is far sturdier and tougher than those. It seems stronger than the Qi Unification Breath realm that martial artists struggle to achieve after decades of training.”
He looked at the unconscious Seomun Hye with envious eyes.
“She could walk barefoot through lava unscratched and shatter a cliff with bare fists without martial arts.”
“Is that possible?”
“Naturally, not for a normal body.”
Gang Jeon-gil beside Hwaseo Myeong pulled out several bent silver needles and said,
“Look. We tried pulse diagnosis with these needles, but they wouldn’t pierce her skin. They all shattered. That’s why Dongbang Mu-gyeol, who just stormed out, infused them with his peak-level power to barely insert them.”
“Gasp...”
“That serious?”
I thought for a moment, then said,
“When will she regain consciousness?”
“No idea. But her breathing has stopped, yet her blood flow remains calmly stable, so she might wake soon. No threat to her life, anyway.”
“Understood.”
For now, all we could do was watch over Seomun Hye.
I stepped outside and consulted with Jegal-sa and Mangyang.
“What now?”
“For starters, we head to Mount Tai in three days as the Great Sage calls. But there’s one thing to do before that.”
Jegal-sa continued.
“Baek Woong. Are you certain you’ve reached the Absolute Realm or Transcendent Realm?”
“......”
His question struck the core instantly, leaving me no choice but to ponder. I wasn’t flustered like before, but it wasn’t easy to answer. After much thought, I said,
“I don’t think so.”
“But you could sense Absolute Realm movements when fighting alongside Jin So-cheong and Tang San?”
“That was only when I activated Sword Immortal Arts. Once I withdrew it, the Heavenly Dull Swordsmanship Moonlight Leap Realm vanished too.”
“Hmm.”
Jegal-sa rested his chin, intrigued. Mangyang, standing nearby, then spoke.
“That Sword Immortal Arts seems to hold some secret. Baek Woong, any hunches?”
Mangyang seemed to place hope in my intuition. Fair enough—my gut had played a big role in stopping the Fretful Ghost’s revival ritual back then. Though much time had passed since, I wasn’t sure if my senses were still sharp.
“The reason... why Yeo Dong-bin became a Sword Immortal...”
I recalled what Yeo Dong-bin had said then.
[Though evidence is insufficient, greater issues loom for you, so I’ve held back. But once the Heavenly Altar descends, those who subjugate you will come.]
[Yet if you trust your own justice, you may avoid clashing with the Heavenly Realm.]
[If you can awaken my master, Fire Dragon True Man, before the Heavenly Altar descends, there may be a way.]
[First, awaken my master and explain the situation—he’ll tell you what to do.]
Right.
As the Three Pure Ones seemed poised to brand me the Heavenly Realm’s enemy, Yeo Dong-bin—trusting his fellow disciple, me—had volunteered to become a Sword Immortal to aid me. At the same time, he’d asked me to awaken Fire Dragon True Man but hadn’t explained the details.
Perhaps, as a Great Law Immortal of the Heavenly Realm, Yeo Dong-bin had no choice but to subjugate me, so he’d forsaken that rank to become a Sword Immortal and help instead. But something told me that wasn’t the whole story, which was why Mangyang raised the doubt.
What had Yeo Dong-bin been thinking?
In the end, I said,
“The surest path is as Yeo Dong-bin said then: awaken Fire Dragon True Man slumbering in this Fire Dragon Divine Sword first. He’ll know how the situation unfolds.”
“Awakening Fire Dragon True Man requires the world’s most powerful fire power, but we can’t even guess Fire Yao’s current state. Right now, we lack a way to breach its barrier. Plus, the backup, Fire God Style’s guardian beast Han Baek-ryeong, fell in battle recently.”
“Damn it!”
Things had truly tangled.
Jegal-sa, listening beside us, gave a wry smile.
“Well... We don’t even know if we can obtain Fire Yao now, but scouting the Seven Luminaries isn’t a bad idea. If we get it, give it to that monkey.”
“What? You mean offer the Seven Luminaries to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?”
Jegal-sa nodded.
“Yes. He’s always on alert for the Seven Luminaries, trying to seize it. But we don’t really know why he wants it.”
I grasped what Jegal-sa meant.
“You want to uncover why he’s after the Seven Luminaries?”
“Knowing that reason and background will help greatly ahead. Plus, he’s not strongly tied to the Heavenly Realm and is loyal to righteousness. If we offer the Seven Luminaries first, we might gain major favor. He’s the type who does more than quid pro quo for those he deems righteous.”
“Hmm...”
“With the Seven Luminaries unusable for liberation anyway in this mess, cooperating with Jin So-cheong’s sole remaining ally, the Great Sage, is inevitable. Besides, if he starts probing us with Fire-Eye Golden Pupil, hiding the Seven Luminaries is just a matter of time before it’s exposed.”
“Tch.”
I gritted my teeth.
Pushed to this point, even if we found the Seven Luminaries, we’d have to offer it to the Great Sage as tribute! But if it’s getting taken either way, better to hand it over first.
I finally made up my mind and said,
“Fine. Let’s scout Fire Yao.”
I had no idea how strong Gonggong, Fire Yao’s guardian, had become, but we’d have to risk it.
Failing to awaken Fire Dragon True Man with Fire Yao meant nothing else mattered.
Still, breaching Fire Yao’s current barrier was questionable. It didn’t open until the total eclipse neared. This was more about checking accessibility than obtaining it.
Even if open, confronting the guardian head-on wasn’t realistic. With yin-yang balance shattered, Gonggong’s power had likely multiplied several times.
The situation was bleak all around, but I decided to move. Staying put achieved nothing.
Flash!
After a brief rest, I headed to the Yuranza region of Kaltka in the southern continent, as before. First, scout the surroundings. Charging straight in would just bounce me off the barrier.
I located the Great Barrier Realm near Uluru, then noticed something odd shortly after.
“Trees are dense nearby.”
Uluru’s vicinity had been near-desert before, yet now it teemed with lush greenery and vibrant trees. Massive ancient trees abounded, radiating vital life force. Climate determines environment—fifty years couldn’t turn desert into thriving forest so easily.
Soon, I checked if the barrier remained intact.
“......!!”
It was destroyed!
The barrier around Uluru, guarded by the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns’ will and even summoning Transcendants in emergencies, had been shattered. And not recently—scarcely any traces remained, suggesting repeated destruction efforts.
“Hmm... Better enter than retreat now?”
I slowly climbed the massive rock mountain, searching for the inner passage. Recalling past memories, I groped around but couldn’t find the direct way in.
“Damn... As expected.”
Uluru spanned over ten li, but the entrance was a mere one-change-wide spot requiring precise touch. I’d lucked out before, but finding it now would take ages.
But there was a way. Having entered Fire Yao’s sealed chamber once before, I could use Instant Flash to go straight there.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself.
‘Grab the Dragonfire Tree seed in minimal time, absorb millions of fire power from Fire Yao into the Fire Dragon Divine Sword, take Fire Yao, and escape.’
Flash!
The moment Instant Flash teleported me, I swiftly pressed the Fire Dragon Divine Sword to Fire Yao, trying to absorb thousands of years’ worth of fire power. No guarantee I’d beat its guardian Gonggong one-on-one, so I’d planned to avoid combat, do the minimum, and flee.
“Ahh...”
But the next instant, I froze.
Something stood in Fire Yao’s sealed chamber.
[Has another ferocious spirit’minion come to steal the Seven Luminaries? Don’t you ever tire?]
“......”
[Destroying the barrier changes nothing. As long as I’m here, you’ll never take it.]
Human-like height and build, appearance too. A bit taller than me? Flames blazed across its body, wielding a massive sword—the figure I knew well.
“Gonggong!”
To openly guard Fire Yao inside the sealed chamber like this!
Wasn’t this cheating?!
[You’re human, yet you know me?]
“You were originally a giant, so why the reduced size...”
As I wondered aloud, Gonggong cut me off.
[Chatter chatter, shut up. Die, intruder!]
Boom boom boom!
“Urk.”
I summoned Sword Immortal Arts in the nick of time to block Gonggong’s massive sword swing but was hurled back hard. My arms went numb, filling me with despair.
‘Can I win?’
Of all places, all times—to face Fire Yao’s guardian head-on here, now.
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