Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village

I could confirm that the Dark Heaven Martial Queen was far more amicable than expected. Even though Shin Gonggyo had barged into her palace using time-stopping sorcery, she had subtly proposed terms without losing any of her kingly dignity. Those words themselves might be a deception or a trap, but at the very least, it was clear she was a being befitting a queen.

Shin Gonggyo said,

[Dark Heaven Martial Queen. Where is the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart?]

Wasn't that too direct?!

I felt absurd, as if the chance to extract information in an instant had vanished. This left nothing but battle ahead. The Dark Heaven Martial Queen replied,

[So you've come for that after all.]

[Answer me.]

[You want to know what you'll use the Earth Day for.]

[Just to take the Pearl of the Pig's Eye. You lot can't even use the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart properly anyway.]

[......]

[Only I can truly wield the Earth Day.]

Her arrogant tone made me inwardly think we were in big trouble. Every word from Shin Gonggyo was aggressive and haughty, leaving no room for negotiation from the start. No, it was clear she had no intention of allying or negotiating with anyone to begin with.

Yet unexpectedly, the Dark Heaven Martial Queen readily acknowledged it.

[The Pearl of the Pig's Eye, eh? That may well be.]

[I ask again. Where is the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart?]

[Not here now.]

[What?]

The Dark Heaven Martial Queen slowly shifted her massive frame, folding her arms as she spoke.

[A human sorcerer who offered tribute to me recently summoned the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart to the mortal world. He borrowed it, so it's no longer in this palace.]

[......!!]

What did that mean?!

[W-What...]

Even the great Shin Gonggyo seemed considerably flustered, a flicker of agitation crossing her face. But I, listening alongside, understood what had happened.

'Vermilion Bird Zhuge Yulong!'

No doubt about it!

Vermilion Bird Zhuge Yulong, the de facto head of the Imperial Palace's Subjugation Hall, had the ability to borrow the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart. In my seventeenth death, when a god descended upon the imperial palace, I had been chased all the way to the Heavenly Sovereign Altar. There, I had witnessed with my own eyes how Zhuge Yulong used the power of the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart to seal away Moon Day's authority and every trick in its arsenal.

I still remembered his words.

[As you see, it's the power of the Eight Trigrams. The power of the Prenatal Eight Trigrams. Borrowed directly from the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart.]

[Don't look at me like that. I'd love to be the master of Sun Day too, but this is just something I borrowed from the Subjugation Hall. Shall we say it's power lent in exchange for serving the gods?]

[The Eight Trigrams are the origin of heaven and earth. The supreme divination system created by the Three Sovereigns' Fuxi. With the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart, I can deploy the Eight Formations, sealing all sorcery.]

That was it.

He wasn't the true master of Earth Day, but as a member of the Subjugation Hall and a priest, he could borrow its power to attack us. The authority of the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart was the Prenatal Eight Trigrams, capable of sealing all sorcery—even the liberated authority of Moon Day, another of the Seven Luminaries.

Vermilion Bird Zhuge Yulong must have offered tribute to the god and borrowed the Earth Day Eight Trigrams Chart as a trump card, what with his son Zhuge Bu kidnapped and the mortal world's situation unstable for so long.

'If the imperial palace high priest Zhuge Yulong borrows it, the Earth Day from Dark Heaven Village gets summoned wholesale to the mortal world.'

A newly learned fact, but it also meant things had gotten more annoying.

'Damn it! So either I come to Dark Heaven Village and steal it before Vermilion Bird Zhuge Yulong summons it to the mortal world, or snatch it after he does... Do I really have to focus on that bastard's movements now?!'

Even more troublesome was whether seizing a borrowed Eight Trigrams Chart from the mortal world would count as acquiring a Luminosity. There was a high chance it would just be returned to the Dark Heaven Martial Queen's palace, dismissed as merely a borrowed item.

As I pondered, a bizarre humming sound echoed through the air.

Whirrrrr—

Shin Gonggyo, flustered but no longer interested in talk, was splitting her Deathsword into blades. Once those four absolute swords launched their assault, this palace would be reduced to rubble. I hurriedly called out to stop her.

[Wait, wait!! Don't rush it.]

[Why? Now that I know the Earth Day isn't here, there's no business left in this dump. I'll finish her quick and head to the mortal world.]

I shouted desperately.

[Just wait!! Enough charging around—hand the body back to me.]

[What?]

[I guarantee I can get info from the Dark Heaven Martial Queen even you couldn't. So give it here.]

My bold claim made Shin Gonggyo fall suddenly silent.

She growled,

[I don't know what makes you so cocky. You really that confident?]

Her killing intent was no joke, making me flinch for a moment, but I projected confidence.

[Of course! You think I lack that much skill?]

[...I'll watch.]

Hummm

Shin Gonggyo's soul returned to the Ruyi Jingu Bang, and I regained control of my body. The time-stop sorcery lifted, and the two-legged folk around us began to move. I stepped forward, gazing at the Dark Heaven Martial Queen, who looked back at me with a strange gleam in her eyes.

[Are you the true master of that body?]

As expected of a god—she had instantly grasped the switch in control.

I bowed to the Dark Heaven Martial Queen and said,

"Dark Heaven Martial Queen. I am Baek Woong. It is an honor to meet the sovereign of this realm."

She let out a wry chuckle.

[Hahaha... Given the potential you possess, you have no need to bow to me, yet you are courteous. I accept your greeting.]

"Since Your Majesty first bade us rest easy, how could I not be grateful?"

[There must be reason you switched with the Tongtian Hierarch. Speak if you have words.]

I nodded and addressed the Dark Heaven Martial Queen.

"Are the people of this place the subjects of the Great Tang Empire whom Your Majesty took in after becoming a god?"

[You know my circumstances well... How so?]

In answer to the Dark Heaven Martial Queen's question, I subtly drew the Fire Dragon Divine Sword and held it forth. The Fire Dragon Adept's spirit emerged from the blade, and immense fiery power flowed out.

Fwoosh!

Seeing this, the Dark Heaven Martial Queen exclaimed in surprise,

[Could that sword be Sword Immortal Yeo Dongbin's...??!]

The Fire Dragon Adept, arms folded, replied,

[I am the Fire Dragon Adept. Yeo Dongbin is my disciple.]

[Hmm...]

[It's been a millennium, Martial Queen.]

They were old acquaintances. Though they had never met face-to-face as spirits like this, the Fire Dragon Divine Sword had always been in Yeo Dongbin's hand. The Dark Heaven Martial Queen had once been beheaded by that sword, so she looked somewhat uncomfortable, and her displeasure caused the palace to rumble once.

Boom...

I realized the Dark Heaven Martial Queen's demonic power was no small thing. Even as a minor deity, her contracted being was of such high stature that she wielded power beyond the Transcendent realm.

Even Shin Gonggyo would have expended considerable strength or taken injuries fighting her... And this is her home ground, no less.

Dodging the fight was the right call.

Before the Dark Heaven Martial Queen's mood soured further, I quickly interjected,

"I am the destined partner of Sword Immortal Yeo Dongbin and the Fire Dragon Adept. Bound to them by fate, I journey in search of the Seven Luminaries."

[Also Yeo Dongbin's destined partner...?]

As the Dark Heaven Martial Queen eyed me with curiosity, I continued,

"As her destined partner, I can glimpse Yeo Dongbin's memories. Thus I learned why Your Majesty allied with the Yaksha of the Eight Divine Legions, the background of the two-legged folk's rebellion, and the reason for the Apotheosis Rite. I witnessed Your Majesty's final conversation with Yeo Dongbin."

[...I see.]

"I also know that Sanggwan Wana was in truth a Yaksha who deliberately approached Your Majesty to sow chaos in the Tang Empire."

[......]

The Dark Heaven Martial Queen fell silent for a long time. Then she commanded the two-legged folk at her side,

[Withdraw.]

Her attendants all left the hall. As the vast audience chamber fell into dead silence, the Dark Heaven Martial Queen spoke.

[Indeed. The people here are the Great Tang subjects I took into Dark Heaven Village as a condition of the Apotheosis Rite I performed.]

"As I thought."

[The gods enthroned me as a new deity and reincarnated my people into Dark Heaven Village. They even kept their human souls intact, as promised. That was the value of offering the Earth Day as tribute.]

"What intrigues me is the scope. How many human souls were reincarnated here?"

To my question, the Dark Heaven Martial Queen answered,

[Those who lived within thirty years before and after I performed the rite.]

"Pardon?"

[They all died and were reborn here.]

"D-Does thirty years mean across the entire Central Plains?"

[Yes.]

"........."

Thirty years around the Dark Heaven Martial Queen's mortal life—how many had been reincarnated into this palace?!

An astronomical number. Easily hundreds of thousands, no, over a million. Stunned, my jaw dropped before I regained my wits and said,

"...I know this palace is vast, spanning hundreds of layers, but surely not enough to house that many souls?"

[Correct. It couldn't hold even half.]

The Dark Heaven Martial Queen tilted her head slightly before continuing,

[Thus, the remaining souls are held in purgatory.]

"Purgatory?"

[A dimension at the boundary between the human realm and Dark Heaven Village... A place even the underworld cannot touch.]

Such a place existed.

As I mulled this over, the Dark Heaven Martial Queen said,

[You seem to want much from me. Is it related to gathering the Seven Luminaries?]

"Yes."

[Why gather the Seven Luminaries?]

"To save the world from apocalypse."

[I would hear more.]

I explained to the Dark Heaven Martial Queen how I came to gather the Seven Luminaries and my plan to storm the Emperor's Pantheon with them. She listened quietly before responding,

[Impressive. What human could approach the end times so closely and devise a counter... You are truly one of purpose.]

Then she added,

[But might it not be futile...?]

"...Why?"

[I know little of the Pantheon or the Seven Luminaries... Yet your tale lacks a crucial element.]

A crucial element?

I tilted my head, and the Dark Heaven Martial Queen leaned back slightly as she continued,

[Even if the Sun Day-summoned Emperor Gong Sunxuan can save the world... He would require immense power to do so. But how do you explain to him why he should? It defies the will of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and their pact with the [Ancient Overlords].]

[......!!]

[He is paramount among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors... A true god among gods. Human wisdom cannot rashly approach him. At least I cannot fathom the price to offer him for such a wish...]

She was right. The Dark Heaven Martial Queen was approaching it politically.

Even if the Emperor could save the world, what immense tribute and offering would be needed to request it? The flaw in my vague plan hit like a bone-deep ache. Gritting my teeth, I replied,

"Offering all the Seven Luminaries should suffice, I think."

[...Perhaps.]

"May I ask Your Majesty one more thing?"

[Speak.]

"What is your relation to Changhil and the Eight Divine Legions?"

[A difficult question...]

The Dark Heaven Martial Queen let out a groan before saying,

[The Eight Divine Legions... They aided in making me a god, and... This palace is protected by two [Ancient Overlords]. We are bound inseparably. The two overlords have a mutual pact.]

"Pardon?"

She seemed to wryly smile.

[I had intended to converse and stall for time, but as a human hero, you deserve a chance...]

Two of them?

A suspicion dawned on me, but the Dark Heaven Martial Queen's next words made it reality.

[The Eight Divine Legions sent by Changhil will soon arrive to guard me in this palace. You should flee before the summoning completes.]

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