사신지혼(四神之魂)

As soon as I set foot on the 77th floor, I teleported to the Eight Trigrams Pavilion. There, I lay on the bed while Mangnyang sat beside me, cautiously brushing near my eyes. After a while, he finally spoke up.

“Indeed, the Corpse Dissolution Technique won’t fix this. First, let’s call for the renowned Divine Doctor of the Celestial Realm.”

Divine Doctor?

I decided to lie still and patiently wait. While Mangnyang stepped out, a swarm of expedition members gathered around me, looking quite curious. Since I couldn’t see, I felt around with my Qi to vaguely sense their appearances without actually seeing them. The first to speak to me was the Sword Demon.

“You’ve acquired new power. Rays are coming from your eyes…”

“Yup. It’s the power of Shao Hao Jin Tian.”

“Shao Hao Jin Tian?”

Apparently, those in the Celestial Realm had no clue about my past journey, so I quickly summarized what happened at the Land and Earth Diagram. As I continued, astonished expressions appeared everywhere, and the Sword Demon commented.

“Your track record has now surpassed the definition of brave and fearless. You’ve entered a realm beyond courage…”

“Huh?”

“The mindset of using death as your weapon has taken root completely. That’s already looking like a skill to me.”

The Sword Demon, seemingly impressed, added, “First, rest well. There’s so much more to discuss, but for now, fixing your eyesight is the priority.”

Feeling the warmth in his words, the others gradually drifted away from my side. I was finally left alone, lying there in utter darkness, gently swaying and feeling the soft breeze flowing through the window.

“……”

Something feels different…. I could sense it, but I was unable to pinpoint what had actually changed.

Seeing familiar faces like the Sword Demon and Mangnyang should’ve filled my heart with joy, yet I felt almost nothing. It wasn’t just a lack of thrill; it felt like a lingering discomfort had settled deep within me, making me uneasy. My instincts were definitely not wrong, and I began to feel irritated.

‘Does this mean I can’t trust my companions?’

This life is strange. While it’s normal to feel like I’m on the verge of death, I now had to pick and choose whom among my companions to trust. The constant pressure of having to choose was making me frustrated, yet I had no choice but to carry on, leaving me exhausted.

‘But… I can’t treat my companions carelessly.’

It wasn’t just an issue of my feelings; it had practical implications. Someone I was sure would be my enemy, Zhuge Yulong, has turned into a loyal companion this life, and even the Master of the White Lotus Sect is on my side now. With the trait of the Reborn Person, if I persist, it’s possible to convert an opponent into an ally. It’s a remarkable advantage, but it also has quite the downside: once you break trust, it’s tough to make amends.

If I had given up on persuading Zhuge Yulong or the Master of the White Lotus Sect and instead aimed to eradicate them, would I have reached this outcome in this life? Amidst all the ruthless choices, I would’ve undoubtedly garnered their animosity, which, regardless of justification, would become an irreparable past.

Even Zhuge Bu was a case in point. In my past life, I thought I had a good reason to kill him, yet Zhuge Bu himself harbored considerable resentment. That resentment dissipated only because he chose to endure and move past it, not particularly due to my persuasion skills.

If even Zhuge Bu, a former evil middle manager, could handle that, what if my relationship with the Sword Demon or Mangnyang soured…?

“Tsk. What a pointless thought.”

I shook my head. Now worrying about each betrayal from my companions isn’t even a topic worth discussing. Even if they drive a knife into my back, believing till the end is what trust is about. If I didn’t have that level of resolve, I wouldn’t have made it this far as Emperor of the Great Bear Empire.

After lying around and doing nothing for about two “halves a moment,” I heard Mangnyang’s voice.

“I’ve brought the Divine Doctor.”

Then familiar voice echoed in.

“Is that really Emperor Baek Woong…? How can you transcend time?”

Huh? Could it be…?

I raised myself slightly from the bed and exclaimed, “No way, is that Hwa Seong-myeong?!”

“Indeed, it is. Your majesty.”

No doubt about it. Standing before me was Hwa Seong-myeong, one of the Five Great Physicians, who had taught me medical skills in my previous life! But how on earth is he here as a Divine Doctor 500 years later?

Realization struck, and I turned to Mangnyang beside me. “Mangnyang! Could it be that the Great Immortals and the rest of the Five Great Physicians…”

“Indeed, I sent all of the Five Great Physicians to the Celestial Realm.”

“They’re not even Great Immortals, yet they could do that?”

“Originally, being a Great Immortal wasn’t a requirement to be sent to the Celestial Realm. It was merely a practice of recruiting absolute masters through teleportation to easily adjust the cause and effect of earth’s affairs to the liking of the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother of the West…. Now that they’ve lost their powers and the Celestial Realm has separated into a distinct dimension, it’s practically the same as dimension travel. Hence, all necessary talents were sent to the Celestial Realm.”

“……!!”

“Of course, they had to undergo training over the past few hundred years to obtain the divine mental entities in a human body, but anyway, all the Five Great Physicians have currently become Divine Doctors in the Celestial Realm.”

Unbelievable.

As I processed this, Hwa Seong-myeong slowly approached and said, “For the last five hundred years, I’ve been reading texts and scrolls in the Celestial Realm, so if there’s a disease I can’t cure, then no one can, your majesty. Now, let me diagnose you.”

“Uh, please do.”

Hwa Seong-myeong’s pulse diagnosis and examination proceeded for about half a moment. After checking me for some time, he finally spoke.

“I swear by my name, you have no issues at all! No injuries on your optic nerves, brain, or crucial organs whatsoever.”

“…Then why can’t I see?”

“It’s not so much an injury, but rather your eyes seem to have transformed into a storage house filled with some sort of power.”

“A storage house?”

“Metaphorically speaking, a ‘passage.’ A force connecting to an unknown, boundless location is trying to continuously flow out through your eyes, and as a reaction to that, your unconsciousness seems to have immediately sealed off your sight to protect your body.”

I sat there dazed while Mangnyang explained further.

“It’s just a hypothesis, but it seems that using Shao Hao’s powers too intensely has somehow transformed your eyeballs into a passage for that very energy. So, over time, your sight might begin to return.”

“Really? Then I shouldn’t use this eye light beam too often?”

“I can’t say for sure. It’s such an outlandish power… However, there is indeed a contradiction if it ends up this way.”

Mangnyang said it with a curious tone.

“It seems Shao Hao should have perished, so how can you still wield that power…?”

“I’m not sure either. Maybe I was cursed, yet I still remain alive?”

“…That might be true.”

Muttering to himself, Mangnyang continued, “Then until your sight recovers, let’s put the assault on the 77th floor on hold for a while. We need a moment to rest too.”

Thus, our recovery period commenced. I spent the whole day doing nothing, lying around, and no one disturbed me. It got boring to the extent that nobody even approached me under the pretense of helping me stabilize quickly.

It was about eight days later when it happened.

‘I can see.’

Slowly but surely, my vision began to return. And after several more days, my eyesight was fully restored. Mangnyang observed my progress and said, “Since your vision has recovered, I believe we can reach the 99th floor within a month.”

“Huh? That’s possible?”

“As long as you can shrink your enemy’s size with the Technique of All Things and use beams to break their defensive barrier, it’s entirely feasible. Besides, you haven’t even used Great Liberation’s Seven Luminaries yet, have you? If your eyes become strained, you should use the Seven Luminaries instead from now on.”

“Got it. Let’s go!”

Boom!

We returned to the 77th floor. Following Mangnyang’s statement, taking down the massive monsters between the 77th and 90th floors was doable at a rate of about one per day. They all looked slightly different and had different attack patterns, but essentially, they were pretty much identical to the crow from the 76th floor.

Crash!

“I cracked it!!”

As I crossed my dual swords to break the barrier, our allies swiftly charged in and slaughtered the foes.

Since using beams put a strain on my eyes, I mainly relied on the Seven Luminaries to break the barriers. After about ten collisions with the Great Liberation’s Seven Luminaries, any barrier would swiftly fall apart. In fact, it would’ve been possible to eliminate two or three monsters a day, but I opted for one per day to ensure a stable challenge while recovering my physical and mental strength.

For gigantic monsters, I would steal their size with the Technique of All Things, break the protective barriers, and in cases of monsters utilizing various spells or sorcery, the Great Immortals summoned from the Celestial Realm would engage in fierce battles, then the rest of the absolute masters would step in with close combat to suppress them. The strategy was so straightforward that it didn’t require anything particularly special.

I was curious why stealing sizes seemed to pose little harm, but Mangnyang simply answered my question.

“If this is indeed a trial made by divine beings, then each of them may not necessarily be a creation of the Gods. They’re merely illusions crafted without violating the law of cause and effect, so unlike directly stealing divine souls or sizes, it might carry no burden.”

Boom.

After defeating the three-headed giant, the next floor’s door to the 91st floor appeared. A bit worn out after finishing my tasks for the day, I gently patted my shoulder and complained, “This is getting boring. Feels like I’m taking down the same kind of monster numerous times between the 76th and 90th floors.”

“Isn’t it better that way?”

“Huh?”

“This isn’t some earthly game. If a fun fight proves to be difficult and leads to sacrifices, there’s no way to turn back. It’s better to keep things dull but easy.”

I scratched my head at Mangnyang’s words.

“That’s not quite what I meant. I just thought there should be some meaning behind this tower administering trials; I wonder why it keeps presenting the same trial like this…”

“Indeed. You’ve made a valid point.”

Mangnyang seemed impressed and continued, “Nüwa is waiting for you. So, her purpose might be to see your true capabilities…. According to your thoughts, the difficulty has likely reached a turning point now that we’re at the 90th floor.”

“Does that mean tougher monsters might start appearing from the next floor?”

“Probably.”

Just as Mangnyang had predicted.

The moment we stepped into the 91st floor, an entirely different scenery than previously awaited us. I glanced around only to murmur, “…This is the Imperial Palace of the Great Ming Empire.”

I could never forget it. The architectural styles felt all too familiar from countless trips to the interior of the Great Ming Empire’s Imperial Palace. Others seemed to have similar expressions of nostalgia as they looked around, and soon Mangnyang spotted the monster appeared on the opposite side of the 91st floor and said, “Is that it?”

Huh?

I gaped as I laid eyes on what resembled a fully human figure, practically a human itself. Surely, this must be the obstacle and enemy of the 91st floor, but why does it look human? No, that aside, the appearance is unmistakably….

Before I knew it, I shouted, “Emperor Zhu Hu Chong?!”

Indeed.

What stood before me was the Emperor of the Great Ming Empire during the era when I began my previous life, Zhu Hu Chong! Having faced him dozens of times and watched him die countless times, that face was impossible to forget. The unexpected appearance caught the attention of my former life’s companions, leaving them equally astonished.

After a moment, Zhu Hu Chong, fluttering his imperial robes, spoke with malevolent intent, “Baek Woong, you bastard… Did you conspire with Zhuge Yulong and loyalists to usurp my throne and incite rebellion? And to secretly send your minions to kill me!”

“……”

Thinking back, I had indeed deposed Zhu Hu Chong after taking the throne and sent him into exile. But after that, he became irrelevant, so I had ignored him, but apparently, Zhuge Yulong had secretly assassinated him.

“Was being an emperor that great? A monster stealing another’s existence.”

As Zhu Hu Chong mocked, I responded tersely, “I don’t know if you’re the real Zhu Hu Chong or not, but I’ll tell you right now, that’s not accurate.”

“What?”

“Being an emperor was not worth the fun. Next time, I don’t need that petty position.”

“Wha, what…?”

A smirk broke onto my face.

“Oh! And you totally deserved to die, you trash of an emperor. You should thank me for transforming the Great Ming Empire into the Great Bear Empire.”

Trembling with rage, Zhu Hu Chong’s hands shook violently, and his face turned a fiery red. After a brief moment, he grinned slyly, filled with malice, and exclaimed, “Hehe, Nüwa has given me permission to kill you. So here I’ll unleash my long-held resentment upon you!!”

“How would a fool who knew neither martial arts nor sorcery think to get revenge on me?”

“That’s just a tale from my human days.”

“What?”

Boookkk!!

Suddenly, a bright white light erupted from Zhu Hu Chong’s entire body. Sensing the danger, Mangnyang quickly unfurled Baek Woong and attempted to cast a control barrier on Zhu Hu Chong, only for Zhu Hu Chong to casually shatter Mangnyang’s barrier with a single wave of his hand.

Crash!

“……!!”

At this moment, Mangnyang was undoubtedly a Great Immortal, yet with just a gesture, Zhu Hu Chong tore through his control?

Feeling the looming crisis, I swiftly drew the Great Liberation’s Seven Luminaries, watching as orbs emanating red and silver light danced around Zhu Hu Chong’s body. Zhu Hu Chong transformed entirely into a silver-glowing individual, proclaiming in a divine tongue reserved for gods, [I have been chosen by the divine!! You, vermin!]

Kaboom!

With that command, everyone within the vicinity was sent flying backward, as the palace itself began to crumble, engulfed in an invisible maelstrom. And outside the wrecked palace, a cosmic expanse unveiled itself, with Zhu Hu Chong, now a silver being, screaming in agony.

[Kuuaaaaahhh…!!]

Boom, boom!

Moments later, a pair of silver wings extended from behind Zhu Hu Chong.

What on earth is that?

“Baek Woong. Haven’t you performed similar feats using divine power in outer space?”

“Huh?”

“That’s a phenomenon occurring when a god’s control over their power reaches its peak.”

“Don’t tell me….”

While I was digesting this absurdity, Miho beside me quietly remarked, “It seems Nüwa has temporarily appointed that human as her servant. Likely to test you!”