891——————==

True Martial Home

As soon as I changed my mind, Zhuge Yulong’s eyes lit up. He then said,

“Hang Yu hasn’t even participated in the Queen Mother of the West’s event yet, and we can’t just dictate his will. So why the sudden change of heart?”

“If we go in like this, it’s game over. Before that…”

I glared at Zhuge Yulong and said,

“You… you were hiding something from me, weren’t you? Spill everything you know right now!”

With the Blood Pillar and the Endless Barrier, Zhuge Yulong casually tossed out critical information only after we’d entered the Primordial Void. I had no choice but to scramble and piece together the situation based on what he’d given me, much like a dog on a leash being dragged along. Zhuge Yulong calmly stated,

“What we need to watch for upon entering the Dreamland is the Blood Pillar. I’ve heard it supports the Dreamland with three pillars. If we can break the Blood Pillar, we can void the ancient curse of the Three Pure Ones.”

I cut in sarcastically,

“Sure, and it’ll be engraved with the Reverse Eight Trigrams, right?”

“……”

Zhuge Yulong’s face stiffened, and I growled as I continued,

“Listen here. We’ve already been on the brink of death once because of you. I’ve suffered enough. We were supposed to be enemies, yet here I am, wasting precious time and chances believing you’d fight with sincerity! While my comrades are in life-or-death battles, we were banking on your schemes!”

“……”

“And now that we’ve come this far, you think it’s fine to still hide the truth and use me? Are you joking right now?!”

“… Did you use the powers of Jeon Wook’s apostle? That’s…”

“I couldn’t care less about that!”

I grabbed Zhuge Yulong by the collar, and the sharp gazes of Zhuge Bu and the White Tiger spewed intent, but I gritted my teeth, unfazed.

“Do you know what’s in there? Divine treasures and a transcendent immortal! If you’d mentioned the dangers or what schemes were brewing within earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted time trying to rewind the clock! Are you still plotting against me?!”

“… No.”

“Well, it looks like you are! If this continues, I can’t trust you anymore.”

I shook off his collar grip and turned my head.

“I’m going to summon Hang Yu and deal with Tai Gong-mang my way. You can handle your part yourself. Our alliance ends here.”

Step by step

As I turned to leave, Zhuge Yulong shouted out,

“Wait, Baek Woong!”

When I stopped, he continued,

“I sincerely apologize. Please forgive me.”

Thud

The sound of knees hitting the ground. When I looked back, Zhuge Yulong was kneeling and bowing his head. Zhuge Bu looked astonished, but he continued speaking with his head on the ground.

“I’m sorry for hiding my plans and schemes. But I never thought you’d allow me to summon the Old Ruler. I wanted to break the seal all at once, so I couldn’t reveal it.”

“… Is that true?”

“Indeed. I had no intention to deceive you.”

I pondered for a moment.

‘I still can’t trust him. There’s a good chance that statement isn’t true. But…’

Thinking it over when my anger had slightly cooled, severing ties with Zhuge Yulong purely out of emotion would be a loss. Of course, I could still do it, but I felt that Zhuge Yulong might possess crucial secrets for breaking through this celestial realm. I realized I needed to find out what those secrets were and decided to accept Zhuge Yulong’s apology.

“Fine. I’ll forgive you, so get up. But I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“Can I borrow the Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram?”

At my question, Zhuge Yulong nodded.

“Of course. However, you can’t just pull Tydaht out directly from within the Primordial Void, so you’ll need to prepare some kind of offering. It’s not something you can just summon with a single command.”

“Offering, you say?”

“A borrower must pay a rental fee to the god. No matter how much I’m a priest, I can’t just do it for free.”

With that, Zhuge Yulong’s gaze briefly flickered to the White Tiger. The White Tiger seemed unaware, but I quickly inferred the overall situation from that glance.

‘So that was it!’

Zhuge Yulong planned to use the White Tiger as a sacrifice, turning him into a demon beast to bring the Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram along with the Old Ruler! Since I got sealed with Tai Chi, I hadn’t seen what would happen after that, but Zhuge Yulong must have either summoned the Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram or prepared the summoning by then.

In other words, Zhuge Yulong’s entire scheme hinged on offering the White Tiger as a sacrifice. I could now understand why he hesitated to hastily share his plans with me—he must’ve been afraid I’d react poorly.

I looked at Zhuge Yulong with complex feelings and said,

“The administrator of the Primordial Void, Tai Gong-mang, can use the Treasures of the Blood Pillar and the Divine Skill Tai Chi as a disciple of the Primordial Heaven Master. Clearly, he’s no ordinary entity and might very well be on par with the peak-endurance of the Three Pure Ones. Can you seal his Divine Skill Tai Chi with the Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram?”

“I can’t give you a definite answer. I honestly had no idea the Divine Skill Tai Chi belonged to Tai Gong-mang. I had plans to seal the Treasure using the Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram, but the Tai Chi…”

Zhuge Yulong trailed off with his words, sounding genuine. If he knew the Divine Skill Tai Chi also belonged to Tai Gong-mang, he certainly wouldn’t have just come here without at least trying to bring Miho or Seo Mun-hye along.

‘Hmm. It feels like a contradiction.’

The Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram has previously sealed the now-free Moon Sovereign. But techniques such as the Spirit Summoning Technique and the Corpse Dissolution Technique possessed enough power to affect the Old Ruler.

Could the Seven Luminaries, with the ability to seal all techniques, truly seal the Three Greatest Techniques of the Celestial Realm? That was something I couldn’t know until I faced it head-on, for it felt supremely contradictory.

I said to Zhuge Yulong,

“Then prepare to summon the Tydaht Eight Trigrams Diagram as soon as we enter. And as I said, I will bring Hang Yu with me. Together, we’ll break through with the combined power of Hang Yu and Tydaht.”

“Is that really okay?”

“I won’t treat a non-human like a human.”

I thought no human sacrifice should be done, but the White Tiger was different. Just a moment ago, he almost ripped me apart alive, didn’t he? I can’t show unconditional tolerance to a born villain like the White Tiger.

“Alright. Be sure to bring Hang Yu.”

“And tell me about the Blood Pillar and Endless Barrier now.”

“Got it.”

Pa-at

I listened to Zhuge Yulong’s further explanations, and as soon as he finished, Zhuge Yulong’s group entered the Primordial Void. I immediately leaped into the sky towards the location where Hang Yu was. Given that Heuk Woong was absent, using my full internal power to leap was much faster than awkwardly trying to use spatial techniques.

Pa-ba-bot

Eventually, I arrived at Hang Yu’s palace. Upon entering the palace, I discovered Hang Yu, still pouring himself drinks from the lavish banquet spread out.

“……”

As expected, but seriously, he hadn’t moved an inch?! I looked at Hang Yu with disbelief.

“What brings you here, my lord?”

“Hang Yu! We’ve broken into the Celestial Realm, so as promised, please fight for us. We urgently need your help.”

“Hmph…”

Hang Yu snickered and gulped down another drink.

“I keep my promises and my honor. But you all seem too suspicious.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If you can’t find Yu Ji in the Primordial Void…? There’s no basis for your flowery words. I think it’s pointless to be swayed by your thoughts.”

“……”

“I’ll fight when I want to. Don’t force me.”

That made sense. The fact that we didn’t even know if we’d find Yu Ji in the Primordial Void was something we could not guarantee either, and no one could stake their claim on it. From Hang Yu’s perspective, there was no reason to help us blindly.

But I smiled instead.

“I’m here precisely to discuss that.”

“What discussion?”

“I’ve located the Primordial Void, and we can enter it.”

“……”

“I had originally meant to ask you to fight the Queen Mother of the West, but since you dislike being pushed into a baseless battle, how about you directly see if our tale holds water?”

Hang Yu looked at me with a strange expression.

“Dragging me into this means you must be saying there’s a formidable enemy in the Primordial Void that you cannot handle, right?”

“… I won’t deny that. We certainly can’t manage it on our own.”

“Hmph… fine. I’ll humor you.”

Clank

Hang Yu stood up, and the sound of armor rattled echoed. He crossed his arms and said,

“Lead the way.”

“Yes.”

Pa-at

I brought Hang Yu to the Primordial Void. I thought it would take a lot of time, but it didn’t take as long as I expected. Standing at the entrance of the Primordial Void, I said,

“Please deal with Tai Gong-mang.”

“Understood.”

“He is capable of using the Divine Treasure Tai Chi and can seal even gods into the void of space. We must be cautious of his techniques…”

Hang Yu got irritated.

“Stop yammering. What do I care?”

“Ah…”

Whoosh

Without further ado, Hang Yu rushed into the Primordial Void. I hurriedly followed him inside, and as soon as we entered, Hang Yu looked beyond the misty village and said,

“Three gigantic entities are floating. What are they?”

Can he instantly recognize the three Blood Pillars in the reverie of dreams?!

That meant he had somehow gained insight into the entirety of the realm of the Primordial Void—how could that be?!

I was astonished by Hang Yu’s ability, but I remained calm and answered,

“They are the Blood Pillars that form the Primordial Void. What floats above the Blood Pillars are the outer walls, and once the outer walls disappear, there’s said to be the Endless Barrier within. If we can break that Endless Barrier, the souls sealed in the Divine Sealing Room will emerge, and when they all do, the powers of the Ancients will be unleashed.”

“No need for complicated explanations. So it means we just need to break everything, right?”

“Yes, it’s like that, but…”

“Shall we break one first?”

Just then.

“You’ve come from outside. Did the Queen Mother of the West send you?”

A figure donned in ancient attire was walking over from the misty side. I knew this child was one of the ancient Four Fierce Beasts called Qiongqi. I wondered if I should just let this slide again, but Hang Yu spoke first.

“How dare a beast question this king’s presence.”

“What did you say…? You’re a king?”

Qiongqi, taking on a youthful appearance, twisted into a laugh.

“Hehe… do you know who I am, Qiongqi? I’ve been courteous to you since it’s been a while since I saw a human, but how dare you! I’ll tear you limb from limb and find out!”

“It’s this king who has the words to say. Die!”

Hang Yu coldly unleashed his killing intent and pounced on Qiongqi.

Boom!

[Huh, Kreeeeeeek.]

It was all over in an instant. Qiongqi transformed back into its true form to defend but got smashed to pieces from Hang Yu’s One Punch, its limbs flying in all directions. Qiongqi’s body, now a mess of shredded limbs, smashed into a mountain, and Hang Yu approached, grabbing its neck and lifting it.

“Where is this Tai Gong-mang?”

[O… O… Olyun-dong…]

“Good. Lead me there.”

At that moment, bloodlight flickered in Hang Yu’s eyes, and simultaneously, blood flow from the shattered Qiongqi’s body soared into the void. The wrecked limbs of Qiongqi flew back to its body, and it staggered to stand.

[Ugh… monster…]

“……!!”

What the hell is that?!

My perception that Hang Yu’s power was purely destructive was suddenly shaken. Can he also heal what he destroys? This strange ability was something I’d never seen in my previous life, and I was utterly stunned.

Shortly after, we spread our wings and rode on Qiongqi’s back, starting our journey towards Olyun-dong. I was astounded by Hang Yu’s strength, treating an ancient fierce beast like a pet, but I mustered the courage to ask,

“Lord Hang Yu, how did you heal Qiongqi?”

“Does this king have any obligation to tell you that?”

“……”

“Just know it’s something called the Power of the Constellation.”

The Power of the Constellation.

It seemed Hang Yu could draw upon one of the many powers bestowed upon him to utilize healing abilities. The reason he hadn’t used it until now—or I hadn’t seen him use it—was probably simply because he hadn’t felt the need to.

When we arrived at the cave of Olyun-dong, Hang Yu shot a fierce glare at Qiongqi and said,

“Stay still, you’ll have to ride again.”

[……]

Qiongqi was treated like a mere manservant, but it didn’t even utter a word and sat quietly by a nearby tree. Hang Yu walked into the cave and opened the door, calling out,

“Tai Gong-mang. Are you here?”

Tai Gong-mang was inside, reading a book. He glanced at Hang Yu and said,

“Lord Hang Yu, what brings you to the Primordial Void?”

They seemed familiar, as Hang Yu had likely been in the celestial realm for over a thousand years, and Tai Gong-mang was the longest-serving immortal in the celestial realm, so it wouldn’t be strange if they recognized each other. Hang Yu stared intensely at Tai Gong-mang and then spoke.

“Do you know the whereabouts of Yu Ji?”

“I feel as though I’ve answered a question like this before. It was when the Heavenly Mysterious Woman led all the immortals to subdue you during your rampage, and I was also present at that time.”

“Answer my question.”

“I don’t know. If I knew, I would’ve already told the King of Chu with human sentiment. I also regret that matter.”

“Is it possible to find Yu Ji using the Primordial Void?”

“……”

At my last question, Tai Gong-mang shot me a sharp glare and said,

“You persuaded Lord Hang Yu, didn’t you?”

“Tai Gong-mang. Answer the question. There are no more warnings.”

At Hang Yu’s cold words, Tai Gong-mang sighed and replied,

“… It might be possible.”

“Good. Go find Yu Ji in the Primordial Void immediately.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“If we could return to the original Primordial Void, we could even surpass the capabilities of the National Seal, but as it stands, it has transformed into a sealing formation. Right now, the Primordial Void cannot use that ability.”

Hang Yu nodded.

“Then die.”

Crash!!

Using the Reverse Mountain-Opening Catalyst, Hang Yu attacked Tai Gong-mang. At the same time, the terrain shifted dramatically, throwing the nearby mountain into the sky and shaking the heavens. Amidst this cataclysm, I quickly regained my footing and sought out Tai Gong-mang’s location.

‘Did he die in a single blow?’

But that didn’t seem to be the case. Moments later, high in the sky, Tai Gong-mang appeared alongside the Treasure of the Blood Pillar, encircled by the radiant light of the Five Treasures. With a mighty Lion’s Roar, he shouted from afar.

[Hang Yu! As a descendant of the Constellation that should not exist in this world! If this is fate, as the successor of the Primordial Heaven Master, I will obliterate you with the Divine Treasure Tai Shin-pyeon!]