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“Ruyi Staff! If this is really the Ruyi Staff, isn’t it almost a treasure that symbolizes the Celestial Sage and King Mi-hu?”

Thinking about the destruction he caused with this staff in his past life sent shivers down my spine.

“An ultimate battle treasure rivaling the Seven Luminaries…!!”

I swallowed hard as I took the Ruyi Staff, which was as small as my palm, making it look like a child’s toy.

As I stared blankly at the staff, the Celestial Sage spoke up.

“The Ruyi Staff was originally called the Divine Treasure Iron of the River’s Depths.”

“What’s that?”

“It was something used to measure the size of the world, and somehow it ended up in my hands.”

“Hmm… How can I use something this small?”

“Think of it getting bigger in your mind. The opposite works too.”

I followed the Celestial Sage’s advice.

Zoom!

“Ooh….”

As soon as I thought about it expanding, the staff responded, growing in both thickness and length. As it quickly became long enough to actually be a staff, I stopped thinking, and it settled fully into my hand.

Thud!

“Ugh.”

But at that moment, the weight suddenly increased, applying strong pressure on one of my arms. It felt more like lifting a gigantic rock than a simple staff. As I gathered my internal power to bear its weight, the Celestial Sage chuckled.

“Haha! A bit too heavy for a human, huh? I should have mentioned that.”

It seemed he intentionally avoided telling me, as I had briefly forgotten how mischievous the Celestial Sage was.

“Does it get heavier with size and length?”

“Correct! Right now, it’s probably around ten thousand jin.”

That’s equivalent to lifting a massive rock over two feet tall with one hand. I was flabbergasted by the Celestial Sage’s words.

“How can a person use something like this as a weapon?!”

“Why, don’t like it? Its weight makes it hard for others to steal…”

“……”

“Just kidding.”

With my internal power and will, I could manage to use it somehow. But if it got even ten times heavier, I wouldn’t have the confidence to swing it right. If even I, with top-tier internal power, found it hard to use, I had to question its practical utility as a weapon! With its heft, the destructive power would be phenomenal, but in battles among advanced experts, that wasn’t what mattered—so it was more of a burden really.

Then the Celestial Sage said, “You need to gain the Ruyi Staff’s spirit’s recognition since you’re human.”

“The spirit of the Ruyi Staff?”

“The Dragon King of the East, Okwang, sought help from Taishang Laojun to easily manage the Ruyi Staff. He sealed away the sinners from the Fengshen War within it. If the spirit accepts you, you could wield the staff as easily as a toothpick.”

Swish!

As the Celestial Sage waved his hand, a golden light erupted from the Ruyi Staff, revealing a beautiful girl with flawless skin, blue hair, and golden eyes. She looked quite otherworldly. The girl glanced at the Celestial Sage and said, [You monkey, why did you summon me again?]

“He Yu, cut the grumbling and lend this human some power for a bit. He’s a good kid, so take care of him.”

[Hmm…?]

The blue-haired girl, named He Yu, stared at me for a moment before replying, [Got it. It’s rare for a greedy monkey like you to lend something of yours to someone else.]

“You always have to add a comment, don’t you?”

As soon as the spirit of the Ruyi Staff vanished, I immediately felt its weight significantly decrease. It must have been the spirit manipulating the originally enormous staff and lightening it up. Feeling amazed, I turned to the Celestial Sage.

“Thank you for lending me such a powerful treasure…”

“Ha ha ha. I’ve never been treated so generously by a human in my life! Quite touching!”

The Celestial Sage laughed heartily and then said, “Since I’m out in the mortal world for a change, shall we eat some food?”

“I’ll treat you!”

“Ha ha ha.”

I took the Celestial Sage to the largest dining hall nearby. I carefully used my transformation technique, and the Celestial Sage was so skilled in transformation that it caused no issues either. I ordered the finest dishes in the special separate room of the dining hall while serving him drinks.

“Hey there~ For a human, you’re quite a decent guy~”

“Oh, please be nice to me~”

As I rubbed my palms together to curry favor with the Celestial Sage, he gulped down his drink and, feeling quite festive, said, “You seemed to be wanting to say something since earlier!”

“Is it alright?”

“Of course, of course~ Today I’m feeling better than I have in a hundred years!”

“I have two things…”

“Go ahead!”

I cautiously broached my question.

“First… do you happen to know what happens if we gather all the Seven Luminaries?”

“… Hmm?”

Instantly, a sharp glimmer crossed the previously flushed face of the Celestial Sage. Before he could change his stance, I hastily continued, “Uh, my companions are saying it’s good for us to gather the Seven Luminaries to get stronger quickly, but we don’t know what actually happens when we gather them all… Since I just got the Ruyi Staff, I’d prefer not to deal with any hassle…”

As I rambled on, the Celestial Sage’s expression softened a bit.

“Er… do you want to become the emperor of the human world?”

“It would be nice, I guess.”

“Hee hee hee.”

The Celestial Sage seemed to misunderstand and chuckled at the prospect of me wanting to become emperor.

“Tell your companions this: Knowing something vaguely is worse than knowing nothing at all. And being the emperor of a mere human empire isn’t hard even without the Seven Luminaries, so forget about it. Why would you go through that much trouble?”

“Do you know something about the Seven Luminaries?”

“Oh, I do indeed… I’m involved in the Celestial Realm because of that damned Seven Luminaries…”

He sighed heavily and continued.

“Enough of the nonsensical stuff. Let’s drink more.”

“Oh, by the way!”

I exclaimed as if I had just remembered, “That Tripitaka character came by and said he wanted to tell you something?”

“What?”

I recounted everything the Tripitaka said during his visit. The Celestial Sage grimaced as he spoke.

“… That bastard. Now he’ll mention the truth about the Seven Luminaries? If I knew where he was, I’d go there and smack him down.”

“……”

“If that Tripitaka came to see you personally, you wouldn’t be unrelated to the ancient Law of Cause and Effect anymore.”

The Celestial Sage glanced at me over his shoulder.

“Hey… if you promise never to tell anyone what I’m about to say, I might share a few things.”

I nodded eagerly.

“Of course!”

“Okay, okay. It doesn’t really matter since I’m fine, but you’ll be the one getting punched by the divine spirit, so just keep that in mind.”

“……”

The Celestial Sage casually dropped a bombshell.

“The Seven Luminaries are the key to destruction.”

“The key to destruction?”

“It’s been passed down in an unspoken manner across both East and West. When all seven Luminaries are gathered and liberated, an unprecedented calamity will arise, far more horrific than anything before. If you get tempted by the power of the Seven Luminaries and try to gather them, this world will perish.”

“Umm… what kind of calamity are we talking about here?”

“What does a key do? What is it used for?”

Taken aback, I blurted out, “It opens a door, right?”

“Right. A key opens a door. [When the door opens, that’s the calamity.]”

“……?”

“Every contract of the Seven Luminaries has a counterpart belonging to the Three Sovereigns. The reason for their counterparts is that in ancient times, the Three Sovereigns sealed mighty [Old Rulers] whom they could keep in check, contract by contract. They agreed to postpone destruction, but in times of crisis, they hold priority.”

The Celestial Sage spoke in a context I couldn’t quite grasp.

“To put it simply, when all the Seven Luminaries are liberated, the world will perish. That’s why it’s not allowed.”

His words matched what I had suspected to some extent until now. But I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“But surely a couple shouldn’t matter? If we treat the Seven Luminaries as seals, there are seven of them, so one or two should be…?”

The Celestial Sage frowned.

“Do you have that many organs? Would losing just a few be okay? How about giving up a kidney or some internal organs? You won’t die immediately from losing one or two, right?”

“……”

“Stop talking about such tasteless things.”

“Oh, yes…”

Trying to defend against the Celestial Sage’s remark left me feeling somewhat cornered. But this was too big of an opportunity to get closer to him, so I cautiously brought up my next question after about half a moment of flattering him and drinking along with him.

“If there’s a Great Immortal who has lost significant divine energy and is recovering, where would be the best place for them to regain their strength?”

“Huh? What a sudden question?”

“Ah, one of the Great Immortals I know is currently unwell…”

“You make it sound like the Great Immortal is just some neighbor acquaintance.”

Looking incredulous, the Celestial Sage replied, “Whatever, if it’s a place like that, I can provide it.”

“Where is it?”

With a grin, he said, “The back door to the Celestial Realm! It’s my patrol area, but since it’s you, I’ll let you rest there. There’s no place richer in spirit energy than the Celestial Realm.”

“… Thank you!”

After about three moments, I parted ways with the Celestial Sage and traveled with him on a cloud to the secret spot known as the back door of the Celestial Realm.

Whoosh!

Once the Celestial Sage used magic to open the door to the Celestial Realm, we stepped inside. A breathtaking view of a beautiful otherworldly environment greeted me, and I was overwhelmed by the powerful spirit energy pouring in from all directions.

‘Indeed…’

The Celestial Sage remarked, “Bring that Great Immortal here. Since this is my patrol area, I’ll ensure they can rest comfortably.”

“Sure, I’ll do that.”

Whoosh!

I pulled out the Fire Dragon Sword from my wooden armor. The Celestial Sage stared at the sword for a moment, dumbfounded, before suddenly exclaiming.

“Wait, wait?! Isn’t that the Fire Dragon Sword?! What is happening here?!”

He shouted in astonishment.

“The Great Immortal you mentioned is the Fire Dragon Incarnate?!”

“Yes, the spirit of the Fire Dragon Incarnate seems to be inside this divine sword, but they seem a bit depleted…”

“Ah, no, um, the Fire Dragon Incarnate is the… uh, Shenglong’s avatar… um…”

The Celestial Sage looked flustered, at a loss for words. Then, as if making up his mind, he said, “Darn it! I didn’t cause any accidents this time, so just strike the Fire Dragon Sword into that divine mountain peak up there. I’ll protect it from others harming the Fire Dragon Incarnate.”

“Thank you, brother.”

“I’m not your brother! Good grief.”

The Celestial Sage grumbled.

Whoosh —

As the Fire Dragon Sword rapidly absorbed spirit energy at an astonishing rate, I could visibly see it recovering. The rate of natural recovery it would have had on Earth was far from comparably slow. It was because the spirit energy in the Celestial Realm was dozens of times richer than on the surface. Witnessing that scene, I couldn’t help but admire Mangnyang’s clever plan.

‘Knowing how to charm the Celestial Sage to quickly recover the Fire Dragon Sword proved fruitful…’

If it absorbed that much energy, within a month or two, the Fire Dragon Incarnate’s strength should be completely restored! Just as I was happily reveling in my thoughts, the Celestial Sage said, “You have a stupid face and are seriously a terrifying individual. Like a snake.”

“What?! No way…”

“Seriously, but I don’t mind.”

The Celestial Sage chuckled lightly and said, “Since I’m already a fool, how about I go ahead and indulge! Any last request?”

“……”

The Celestial Sage was just too generous, wasn’t he?!

I was stunned by his offer. I never expected him to possess such a boisterous nature. This was entirely beyond what even the strategists had anticipated, putting the decision entirely in my hands. Having already obtained information about the Seven Luminaries, the blessings, and recovery of the Fire Dragon Sword, I pondered a moment before something suddenly came to me.

“Uh, would it be possible to see Xiang Yu?”

His face twisted.

“Xiang Yu… really.”

“Yes.”

“How come you only ask for the difficult things?”

After thinking deeply, the Celestial Sage nodded.

“Alright, hop on the cloud!”

“Really?!”

“Even if this is an outer region of the Celestial Realm and sometimes has patrols visiting, it should be fine if it’s me!”

“……!!”

Yes! It was happening!

Thanks to the whimsy of the Celestial Sage, I was about to see Xiang Yu, the Peerless Overlord, with whom I had only exchanged rumors and never had any real conversation before.

 

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