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“Right after returning, the Celestial Sage spoke.”

“Shin Gong-pyo will be lingering around here for a while. He’s a self-centered jerk who’ll likely think we didn’t help, so just be careful.”

“……”

“He might not launch a full-on attack, but it’s obvious he’ll be watching you guys closely.”

The Celestial Sage knew Shin Gong-pyo’s character far too well. I hesitated and asked, “Are you planning to meet someone else?”

“Of course! I’ll meet the Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens! I’ll check out the vibe in the Celestial Realm while I’m at it.”

“Ah.”

“If she were here, I would’ve considered having a little duel with Daji on Golden Crow Island. I can’t block divine terminals with Xiang Yu, you know. The Corpse Dissolution Technique might have worked, which is a shame… If only I could eliminate Daji while Shin Gong-pyo is busy preventing divine interventions and seize that demon power.”

The Celestial Sage continued with a genuinely regretful expression. “Her Corpse Dissolution Technique is terrifying when she’s the enemy, but when she’s on our side, it makes you feel safe. So you should prepare to summon her quickly!”

“Understood.”

Pa-at!

As the Celestial Sage vanished on his cloud steed, Xiang Yu approached me. He stared relentlessly at me with his usual blank expression and said, “Never before have I, along with the Celestial Sage and the Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens, helped a mere human this much. It seems like we’re gathering the Seven Luminaries, but what’s preventing us from fully assembling them?”

“Ugh… well, it’s…” I stammered, “we haven’t found the Twelve Joules with the Moon and Wood Sovereigns in the Underworld yet, and Tydaht is in the Imperial Palace’s heart.”

“That’s strange.”

“Huh?”

“Then the priority should be seeking the Twelve Joules or whatever. Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”

“Well, I thought we’d still need Shin Gong-pyo’s help in the future, and if we could build a large force with the Monster Sages, it would make things easier. Besides, there’s no immediate way to locate the Twelve Joules.”

“It all seems pretty flimsy.”

“….”

Xiang Yu smirked and said, “I had a feeling that you and your companions would end up being manipulated by someone. I’ll be back in Nine Immortals Mountain, so don’t call for me for a while.”

“What?! Why…?”

“If you call me when you haven’t even found Yu Ji, I’ll make sure to kill you.”

Swish!

With those words, Xiang Yu departed.

“……”

“You can’t blame him. It’s infuriating! Here he is getting a good impression of you and helping you himself, but the outcome is just a flailing mess in the void. The fact that he hasn’t killed you yet is more restraint than Xiang Yu is known for!”

Cheon Woo-jin, who had been watching, chimed in, but I had nothing to say. I felt guilty after attacking him due to an illusion recently. When I fell quiet, Cheon Woo-jin sighed and took a seat.

“Ugh – our progress has hit a wall. The strategy of my older brother was predicated on obtaining successful results from Golden Crow Island, so I think we should call him for help again.”

“… Really think so?”

“What?”

“I feel like we’re missing something important…” I murmured.

My mind wandered back to something Xiang Yu said earlier, and I couldn’t shake it off. Of course, it’s not to say that Mangnyang’s strategy was flawed, but both Xiang Yu and I relied heavily on intuition. It seemed like something significant was off in the overall flow, and it didn’t feel right.

It’s hard to explain rationally, but I felt a clear sense of impending crisis whispering, ‘This is bad news.’

I have no control over the situation.

Gathering the Luminaries was proving difficult, and confronting Chi You directly isn’t an option either. I have powerful allies – the Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens, the Celestial Sage, and Xiang Yu – but I’m not using them well. The strategy should have worked, yet I kept flailing about. Something crucial must be missing. So what exactly is critical in this situation?

“……”

It’s not that mysterious egg I found in the Secret Space that Jin So-cheong discovered. It doesn’t seem like it’ll wake up anytime soon, so I just put it in the Wooden Armor. Things were already going haywire before bringing that egg back.

What’s the issue here, what could it be…

Mangnyang isn’t wrong. If I start doubting Mangnyang, then my actions lose meaning, both now and in the future. This isn’t a problem of logic or strategy.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, it felt like I realized something. I stood up from my seat and spoke to Cheon Woo-jin: “Cheon Woo-jin, is there any chance there are illusion techniques capable of controlling me without my knowledge?”

“Of course.”

“What kinds?”

Cheon Woo-jin replied coolly, “So many. It’s not just one or two. Soul Exchange Technique is on the same line; it’s just a different principle of seduction and brainwashing, right? Not to mention that throughout history in the Central Plains, Dao Veins have aligned with power multiple times. I know of hundreds myself.”

“But… if an average sorcerer used brainwashing techniques on me, wouldn’t you know immediately?”

“Of course. Not to mention, consider that the Heavenly Mysterious Woman and the Fire Dragon Incarnate are destined to descend. There’s no sorcerer in existence capable of successfully brainwashing or controlling you while they’re pouring down their divine blessings.”

“What about if we expand that to otherworldly races or even the Great Immortals?”

“… If we’re talking about the high elite among the otherworldly, maybe, but that’s almost the same as being a divine being. If it were a Prophet or someone of that level, they might be able to control you with a powerful ceremony, but… you know they’re often classified as a Tao King and referred to as an ‘Old Ruler’, right?”

“Hmm…”

“Why are you asking such random questions?”

“You’re a genius, so you must know why I’m asking.” I replied, and Cheon Woo-jin scoffed.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Who in the world is highly esteemed enough to control you? If they were receiving higher divine blessings than you, who would it even be? That doesn’t sound feasible!”

“……”

But I struggled to trust Cheon Woo-jin’s definitive words. The strange unease I’ve felt up until now and this thin line of bad luck all pointed towards a conclusion.

[I had a premonition that you and your companions would become puppets to someone.]

Xiang Yu’s words echoed in my mind.

Is this truly just how I feel?

It feels too far-fetched compared to the experiences and intuition I’ve honed throughout my travels, which kept alerting me that something was amiss. After a long moment of contemplation, I said, “Cheon Woo-jin, think about it. If someone were truly controlling me, who would stand to gain the most from it?”

“……”

Cheon Woo-jin pondered for a bit before replying, “Your enemy.”

“But they’ve never done anything advantageous for anyone but themselves,” I countered.

“Damn it… I’m getting the feeling I’m listening to some lunatic’s ramblings.” Cheon Woo-jin snapped.

“I don’t know. Bring someone else to talk to.”

As Cheon Woo-jin walked away, clearly exhausted from our conversation, I reluctantly gathered the remaining human allies and Gong Gong to share my bizarre unease. Tang San seemed to find my concerns the most intriguing.

Upon hearing my unease, Tang San immediately remarked, “It reminds me of the Wan Poison Gate’s insect techniques.”

“Wan Poison Gate?”

“You know the Wan Poison Gate in Yunnan?”

“Yeah, I know. They were originally your Four Talents Sect’s rivals, and the Poison Demon, the sect leader, was one of the Eight Demons of Martial Daos.”

“I took the liberty of displaying the Poison Demon’s head down in the basement after wiping them out not too long ago.”

“…….”

Everyone turned their attention to Tang San, astonished by his random statement. I was dumbfounded and said, “Why did you wipe them out?”

“They were getting in the way of my plans for the Sichuan Martial World… and I needed their techniques and experience to continue my research on my Formless Poison.”

“……”

“Don’t look at me like that. I only killed the adults and spared the kids.” Tang San said nonchalantly, continuing his amazing boast.

“While taking them down, I extracted all the knowledge about poisons and insect techniques they had. Speaking of insect techniques, the method of parasitizing one bug within another is quite fascinating.”

“Parasitizing?”

“Right. A bug can invade another bug’s body and live within it. Parasitic creatures can manipulate their host’s actions and biology to change them as they wish. The host remains oblivious and can even reveal themselves to predators.”

“……”

“What if someone has parasitized you with their bug—I mean, heh heh.”

Recognizing his teasing expression, I realized he was joking. I frowned and retorted, “Give me a break. Where would you even find a parasitic sorcerer like that? Even if they used parasite techniques on me, I couldn’t be deceived by the Heavenly Mysterious Woman or the Fire Dragon Incarnate’s divine blessings. Besides, if such a powerful sorcerer existed in the Martial World, they would have already already taken out the Master of the White Lotus Sect and conquered it.”

“What~ There could be cases like that!” Tang San snickered, while Seo Mun-hye interjected with a serious expression, “Lord Baek Woong, I honestly think that’s an overreaction. I understand why Cheon Woo-jin is upset, but do you have any definite reasons for feeling this way?”

“It’s just a gut feeling. But it’s clear that feeling points to a problem.”

Jin So-cheong, who had been listening from the side, spoke up. “Baek Woong, I believe you have a point.”

For the first time, someone listened attentively to me—Jin So-cheong! He calmly continued, “It is indeed true that we are being dragged along without any control in our current situation, and the reason is unclear. It seems more plausible that it’s outside forces interfering rather than our own incompetence. However, we can’t just prove that by instincts alone.”

“What should we do then?”

At that moment, Gong Gong chimed in, [So, it’s the core idea that you don’t know what to do despite your strength, or where to attack next.]

“That’s right, but…”

[Setting aside whether there’s a mysterious force controlling you, wouldn’t it be prudent to determine who we should prioritize attacking first? Who do you think should be our main target right now?]

“Well…” I hesitated as I almost mentioned Chi You and the Eight Parts of the Divine, but paused. Overcoming them would do me no good, and even if I did, it could potentially benefit someone else. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, which is why Mangnyang tried to seize Shin Gong-pyo and the powers of Golden Crow Island. However, since that strategy had failed, I needed to seek out another route.

‘So do we attack the Celestial Realm instead?’ That wouldn’t work either. The Celestial Realm itself isn’t evil. Regardless, it plays a minimum of controlling role to prevent Chi You from acting recklessly. Should a time of crisis arise, the Celestial Realm could very well attack Chi You at the orders of the Three Sovereigns, allowing Chi You to not act impulsively. Attacking the Celestial Realm first would be a foolish tactic as well.

It also wouldn’t make sense to attack Jeogok, who I had previously negotiated with in the Celestial Realm. I lack the strength to confront the Three Sovereigns head-on, and similarly, Jeogok plays a similar restraining role against Chi You.

Only then did it dawn on me.

The mighty forces are all stuck in a delicate balance!

It’s just like when the three major powers in the Human Realm are tugging at each other, making it hard to pinpoint a single enemy.

“……”

[It seems to me that it’s time to bide your strength with discretion. The moment someone cuts the thread of balance, it’s best to achieve your goals fiercely. Wouldn’t that be right? It’s likely that Mangnyang shares a similar preference for schemes that strengthen our power.]

“That could be true…”

As Gong Gong mentioned, Mangnyang also preferred strategies that focused on strengthening power. No matter how spectacular the scheme is, lacking absolute strength would result in frequent failures. With enemies surrounding us and no formidable strength to wield, why charge into battle headfirst?

“…But…”

It nagged at me.

Could it really be true that my actions were a product of my free will?

To regular humans, this might seem like an absurd worry, mimicking the thoughts of a madman. Yet, I couldn’t let go of these doubts, as my intuition repeatedly warned that if I let this moment slip away, there would be dire consequences.

Was it fate or destiny?

I sensed that I needed to take risks to validate my instinct. Thus, I abruptly stood up and declared, “I’ll go find the Prophet.”

If I lacked the ability to grasp the variables of this situation, I had no choice but to uncover it at any cost!

 

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