1168——————==

Soul of the Evil God

I announced to my companions that I was going back to the human realm. Then Sagong Lin said,

“Baek Woong, if you’re going to investigate the Battle Ground, it looks like we’ll be working together a lot.”

“Guess so. Thanks in advance.”

“Then let me confirm one thing before we part ways.”

“Huh?”

Sagong Lin glanced subtly towards Asura and the other comrades and said,

“They also need to be assured that they will follow my or Baek Woong’s orders without hesitation.”

“Well, of course…”

Then Asura, who had been silent until now, shook his head.

“I can’t promise that!”

I looked at Asura in disbelief.

“Hey, what are you saying? This isn’t exactly a time to be picky!”

“No. We still have to think it through.”

“What the…”

“If you die, Baek Woong, it’s all over. I had no choice but to reveal our identities to Sagong Lin, but we haven’t cleared our doubts about her. There’s no guarantee that she won’t feign reason and trap us all.”

“……!!”

“If you’re insisting we follow Sagong Lin’s orders… sorry, but we can’t cooperate with you for the time being.”

Asura’s words were incredibly firm, and I felt a headache coming on. I realized that this wasn’t just a personal grudge against Sagong Lin. Frowning, I replied to Asura,

“Asura! Trust Sagong Lin. If she wanted to betray us in this fight, she had plenty of chances. But she went through the tower’s trials until the end!”

“Whether that’s due to the Emperor reading the Law of Cause and Effect, no one knows. It’s impossible to predict what monstrous existence—one that’s been waiting for a thousand years—might scheme.”

“…Damn it, enough already!”

You have a point, but if cracks start to show between comrades now, it’ll be uncontrollable! I said to Asura,

“If you can’t trust Sagong Lin, then trust me!”

“How does that make sense?”

“If there’s a betrayal, it’s all on my shoulders! I don’t want to suspect my comrades any longer!”

“…….”

Asura closed his eyes and fell silent for a moment. Then he replied,

“If you insist that much, I guess I have no choice! I trust your trust.”

“Thanks.”

Not long after, not only Asura but also the other companions around were reassured. This meant we had formed a massive alliance force, one that could unleash unparalleled power in the human realm.

“Miho, take care until we meet again.”

Miho was recognized as the successor of Nüwa, and she would head to the dimension where Fuxi and Nüwa were residing to inherit Nüwa’s divine status. With a look of regret, Miho said,

“I’m really sorry. You took on the tower’s trials for me, but I can’t help you directly because of the Law of Cause and Effect.”

“Is Daji still rampaging inside?”

“No. Furthermore, Fuxi and Nüwa are casting their Yin-Yang sorceries on me to merge completely with Daji.”

“Good luck with that.”

Tears seemed to fill Miho’s eyes as she spoke.

“I’m so grateful. I will definitely… risk my life to help you when you need it, Baek Woong.”

After finishing my conversation with Miho, the Sword Demon spoke to me.

“Baek Woong. My exploration team and I will be staying in the Celestial Realm a bit longer.”

“Is it because of training?”

“That’s right.”

The Sword Demon continued.

“Our warriors have honed their abilities for hundreds of years, achieving competence in the Absolute Realm. But in the coming apocalypse, this level of strength won’t cut it. We felt that desperately while going through the tower’s trials. We need to become stronger.”

“You’re trying to get leads on Jang Sam-bong’s divine martial art technique.”

“Honestly, it’s such a difficult training, I’m not even sure if we can finish before the end… but I won’t make promises.”

The Sword Demon gripped my hand firmly. With glowing eyes, he said,

“I will do everything in my power to ensure that the future we saw does not come to pass!!”

“…….”

The future.

That surely referred to the terrible future seen by the Sword Spirit.

Firmly gripping the Sword Demon’s resolve with my hand, I replied,

“I’ll do my best. I’m counting on you.”

“By the way, I have one more request.”

“A request?”

“Release Hyea from her seal now. I want her to see your face, even if for a brief moment…”

“…Of course. I’ll do that.”

Crash!

With the help of the Heavenly Mysterious Woman, we finally descended to the human realm. We then arrived at the Imperial Palace of the Great Bear Empire, and Sagong Lin said,

“Baek Woong. Following the route you established, I will make contact with the western forces to unify the whole world. It won’t take long, and I will make all-out efforts to gather information on the Battle Ground.”

“Hmm. I’ll go awaken Seo Mun-hye.”

First things first, I needed to fulfill the Sword Demon’s request. I went to the Eternal Ice Wall where Seo Mun-hye was trapped. My companion Cheon Woo-jin said to me,

“You probably have guessed, but you need immense power that matches Seo Mun-hye’s divine strength to break this seal. Like I mentioned before, the method involves you resurrecting Heuk Woong and using the powerful shockwave from his revival to infuse Seo Mun-hye with Spirit Power.”

“Ah, I remember.”

I had indeed planned to do that, but after receiving Saitan’s command, I began training instead. With no immediate results and still needing considerable training time, I had put that idea on hold. Since then, other unexpected events like the training at the Land and Earth Diagram, Miho’s descent, the fight with the Monster King, and the trial of the Celestial Realm had piled up, leaving no proper opportunity to train.

“So, I need to do Closed Room Training to gather strength using Saitan’s command to resurrect Heuk Woong?”

“That’s the case… but I don’t know your condition.”

As Cheon Woo-jin looked at me suspiciously, the strategist Zhuge Liang, who was with us, said,

“Baek Woong, you currently don’t have much of the Wheel King’s power left, but by being appointed the Jade Emperor, you’ve received corresponding authority. Thanks to that authority, your divine strength must have greatly improved by now. Don’t you know your own condition?”

“Are you saying I should check my divine strength?”

“Exactly. If you recite Saitan’s command while wishing for Heuk Woong’s resurrection, you’ll be able to gauge your condition.”

“I’ll give it a shot!”

Whoosh

As I recited the [Command of Saitan], I continued to concentrate my mind. Although Saitan perished with Amaterasu, we had made a pact to search for the fruit of good and evil, so the effects of the command would continue until we found it. The immense command quickly suppressed my internal divine strength and felt like it was forming a grand path within me.

Whoooosh….

‘Hmm… it’s enormous…’

I let out a grunt as I finished my concentration after about half an hour. Then I exclaimed,

“This is insane! Why has the amount of divine strength increased so much compared to when I last trained?”

When I previously practiced the command of Saitan, I was convinced that with stringent Closed Room Training, one day I would be able to control it. I thought I could steadily gather all my divine energy by focusing over a period, seeing about a 30% progress.

But the total amount of divine strength I felt now was much more enormous, at least four times more than that time. It made me think that resurrecting Heuk Woong would be incredibly difficult. Then Zhuge Liang, manifested as a human, hummed thoughtfully.

“Hmm….”

“Zhuge Liang, do you sense something?”

“You are the Jade Emperor and the Wheel King. The Jade Emperor draws strength from the immense power of the Celestial Realm in real time. Moreover, since you exerted the authority of the Wheel King, additional divine strength has likely stacked upon you. Surely at this point, you’ve surpassed the level of a mortal.”

“……!!”

“To put it simply? You’re already at the level of a god without needing to practice divine strength. Resurrecting Heuk Woong may not even be meaningful.”

“H-however, I can’t wield powers as strong as the Sovereigns like the Three Sovereigns! These divine powers won’t listen to me.”

“That is indeed odd. Normally, someone with your level of divine strength should automatically undergo divine transformation and evolve into a transcendent being. How can such enormous power remain in a mere mortal body? It really should’ve transformed. But for some reason, it’s stuck in human form…”

Zhuge Liang was looking at me with a complex expression. Clearly, my condition was utterly baffling to him.

Cheon Woo-jin, standing beside us, suggested,

“Baek Woong, why don’t you try injecting your divine power into the Jade Robe? I have a hunch.”

“Like this?”

Whoooosh!!

“Whoa!”

In that moment, the Jade Robe erupted in a colorful spirit energy as it received my divine strength, shimmering around. Cheon Woo-jin remarked with an air of familiarity,

“As expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“Considering the original identity of the Jade Emperor is one of the Three Sovereigns, Yu Shun, it naturally possesses functions to handle colossal divine powers. The moment you donned the Jade Robe, you gained formidable divine control.”

“……!!”

“Try casting some martial arts techniques as a test.”

Whoosh

I finally recalled a few techniques from Ji-seon Mang-nyang’s memories and cast them out. To my amazement, the once unmanageable immense divine powers first flowed into the Jade Robe, and only after a brief moment could I execute the techniques. Furthermore, I found it possible to move my divine power like spirit energy.

“Oh!! Am I a sorcerer now?”

“…You’re more like several stages above a sorcerer. If so, it means resurrecting Heuk Woong isn’t an urgent task.”

“Hmm. So, I don’t need to train to resurrect Heuk Woong?”

“Not urgently, but you do need to. The power of the Jade Robe can’t match up to Heuk Woong’s.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

“Even though it was specifically made for the incarnation of the Three Sovereigns, there are limits to the divine strength the incarnation can control. Also, having such immense artifacts lying around on Earth isn’t necessarily a good idea, so the Jade Robe must have limitations. However, since you will eventually regain the power of the Wheel King, resurrecting Heuk Woong is essential. The more rigorous the awakening conditions, the stronger Heuk Woong will become.”

“I get it.”

I could now understand the situation.

‘So while I’ve gained the ability to control divine strength through the Jade Robe, it is still lesser compared to Heuk Woong.’

But even with this level of power, I could sufficiently put it to use before the apocalypse arrives.

At last, Cheon Woo-jin said,

“Then gather as much Spirit Power as you can and inject it into the Jade Robe, then collide it with the Eternal Ice Wall. That’ll wake Seo Mun-hye up.”

“I’ll give it a shot!”

Whoosh

After pouring my strength into the Jade Robe, my body was engulfed in a vibrant glow as I pressed my palms against the Eternal Ice Wall. I longed and shouted for a good while,

“Seo Mun-hye!! Wake up!!”

Whoooosh—

Crackle!!

Moments later, the seemingly indestructible Eternal Ice Wall shattered with a loud noise, cracking open like a spider web. I felt a pang in my veins as my skin tightened, but I held on, concentrating my energy into the palms.

Whoooosh!!

Crack!

“It broke!!”

Shortly after, a huge segment of the ice wall crumbled, and pieces began to splinter off along the web-like cracks. The wind swept away the remnants where Seo Mun-hye was buried, revealing her skin to the air of reality.

Swoosh

Even after the ice wall shattered, Seo Mun-hye floated in the air for a while, eyes shut. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at me, her expression filled with disbelief.

“…Baek Woong?”

“You’re back to life!”

“Ah… ah…”

Unable to contain her emotions, tears welled up in her eyes, and moments later, she leaped into me, embracing me tightly.

“Baek Woong!!”

I put my arms around Seo Mun-hye’s shoulders and waited patiently until she calmed down. Then, I shared the memories captured in the Obsidian about the events before the [Knot], explaining the remaining details to her verbally.

Seo Mun-hye spoke, looking a bit anxious.

“[Knot]… isn’t that ominous?”

“I had no choice. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have made it through the tower in the Celestial Realm and would have died at the hands of Xiang Yu to start my next life.”

“Regardless, congratulations on your safe return. I see… you’re trying to save everyone.”

“Don’t say such things. I’m more sorry that I couldn’t give you enough of a reward for all the hardships you’ve endured for hundreds of years….”

“…….”

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me why you locked yourself in the Eternal Ice Wall? You locked yourself in all of a sudden, and the rest of us could only guess the reason.”

That’s right. After the war with the Nazis, Seo Mun-hye had been suffering due to the evil spirits, and one day, she unexpectedly created the Eternal Ice Wall and sealed herself. Everyone suspected it might be the case, but since she could have sought help from other sorcerers, they all wondered about her situation.

Then Seo Mun-hye spoke.

“In the battle against the Apostle Halchi Olleifra during the war with the Nazis, I couldn’t save any strength and had to give it my all. Consequently, the backlash from the evil spirit hit me hard, and at that rate, I felt I would awaken as a new Giant Race. Unable to bear it, I decided to seal myself.”

“I see… Is there no other reason?”

“None. Just….”

Seo Mun-hye fell silent for a moment before continuing.

“Baek Woong… actually, since awakening, I keep hearing the [Calling] again.”

“What?!”

I quickly turned to Cheon Woo-jin.

“Hey! Waking her up with Spirit Power shouldn’t awaken evil spirits again!”

Cheon Woo-jin retorted irritably.

“I told you! Since you borrowed the power from the Jade Robe instead of Heuk Woong, you couldn’t fully imbue her with your Spirit Power. Naturally, the imbalance of her Yin-Yang Harmony means the influence of the Giant Race bloodline remains.”

“Ugh, damn….”

As I scratched my head, Zhuge Liang, standing beside me, looked at Seo Mun-hye with a peculiar expression.

“It seems you have something you want to say. Are you hinting that the God of Agriculture Shennong has been trying to talk to you?”

“……!!”

Seo Mun-hye’s face went pale as if struck by lightning. Slowly, she nodded.

“That’s true. Such great wisdom he possesses….”

As expected from Zhuge Mu-hu, he should naturally be wise.

Though I thought that, I still said to Seo Mun-hye.

“Seo Mun-hye. Shennong is trying to talk to you? Are you saying he’s trying to force you into being a Giant Race…?”

“No. It was like that before being sealed, but not anymore.”

Seo Mun-hye held my hand with her cold grasp.

And with her next words, I felt my eyes widen.

“Baek Woong. Shennong wants to see you… right now. What will you do?”

“……”

Shennong…

I pondered for a moment but ultimately nodded.

“I’ll meet him.”

No objections arose from anyone nearby; it was clear to everyone that at this point, speaking with Shennong, one of the Three Sovereigns, was not just a choice but a necessity.

“Then please take my hand.”

Whoosh

The moment I grasped Seo Mun-hye’s hand, divine spirit energy spread out dramatically, enveloping the two of us. Her white hair stood on end, and the light glimmered in her white eyes.

[I will take you to the palace of the Giant Race.]