882——————==

True Martial Home

The first to move in the heavenly ambush was none other than the Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens and her disciples. As we approached the back door of the Celestial Realm under the guidance of the Celestial Sage, the sky darkened ominously, and we could hear thunder and flames alternating amid the raging typhoon. Zhuge Yulong, who was drenched in the heavy rain brought by the natural disaster, muttered.

“Has the Heavenly Mysterious Woman started to duel the Queen Mother of the West?”

Zhuge Yulong’s question was directed at the Celestial Sage, who could spy on the internal workings of the Celestial Realm with his Fire Eye Golden Spirit. With his palm held up to shield his eyes, the Celestial Sage opened his mouth.

“No, not yet. She’s still preparing. It seems her disciples have set up a barrier.”

“That barrier is probably the Corpse Dissolution Technique to weaken the abilities of the Great Immortals.”

“Why ask when you already know?”

“Then let’s storm in immediately. We need to shake things up from below so the Heavenly Mysterious Woman can fully unleash chaos in the heavens.”

Swoosh!

At last, our group entered the interior of the Celestial Realm. Just as we did, Tydaht, who was guarding the back door, noticed us and visibly flinched. Beside him stood about a hundred celestial soldiers.

“What’s going on?! Monkey boy, who are those people?!”

The Celestial Sage casually bantered back at Tydaht.

“They’re guests of the Heavenly Mysterious Woman. Move aside; she’s waiting.”

“… I don’t understand what you’re saying. Even if they’re guests of the Heavenly Mysterious Woman, breaking into the back door of the Celestial Realm without permission is a crime punishable by immediate execution! I received no orders from above.”

“What’s the matter? Didn’t you get the memo? The Jade Emperor and the Three Sovereigns are all in a meeting, so it’s chaotic up there. The Heavenly Mysterious Woman is temporarily managing things with the Queen Mother, so I brought the humans here in a hurry. Didn’t you know? Though I wouldn’t expect you, a lowly Tydaht, to understand.”

“Ugh…”

Tydaht gritted his teeth in anger, glaring at us.

“Shut up, monkey. I’ve been a Great Immortal since the ancient times; there’s no reason for you to insult me! I repeat: drop all weapons and surrender now. I have no reason to trust you.”

“Heh… Is that so?”

“If that were the case, confirm it later and let me go…”

Slam!

“Ahhh.”

In that moment, the Celestial Sage dashed forward like lightning and struck Tydaht in the face, sending him flying backward.

Boom!

As Tydaht crashed into a mountainside, a deafening boom erupted, and half the mountain crumbled to the ground, leaving the celestial soldiers in shock.

“Ugh, no!”

“Great Sage, what have you done?! How could you harm a fellow Tydaht…”

“Fellow? Please, I’ve never liked that guy.”

The Celestial Sage chuckled as he swung his Ruyi Staff dramatically.

“What I said earlier is true, so you better clear the way! It’s better to leave than to get obliterated for no good reason.”

Crash!

As the celestial soldiers hesitated, suddenly a treasure, the Fire Spear, shot from the crumbling mountainside and impaled the Celestial Sage’s forehead. With lightning-fast reflexes, he deflected the spear with two fingers, but the shockwave made the world tremble, and an enraged Tydaht sprang up from the rubble, shouting at the top of his lungs.

[This is perfect! I’ll take this chance to brand you a traitor of the Celestial Realm, monkey!!]

“Ha ha ha!!”

Boom!

A moment later, hundreds of clones of the Celestial Sage clashed with Tydaht’s treasures, illuminating the sky with flames. Tydaht wielded the Convergence Blade and the Fire Spear with such force that he could likely destroy an entire nation in half a day. As we ignored the celestial soldiers and pressed forward, some of them blocked our path.

“Ugh!!”

The celestial soldiers attacked us. Unlike human warriors, their spirit bodies moved with unimaginable speed and strength in the Celestial Realm, making them formidable foes. However, at that moment, Seo Mun-hye and I charged forward, cutting them down, and five of the soldiers vanished in an instant.

Slash!

“Urgh…”

“Ahhh.”

Even so, Seo Mun-hye and I had reached the peak of human strength, making it easy to deal with the celestial soldiers. As their leader was wiped out, the remaining soldiers hesitated, allowing us to dash inside.

Tydaht!

The leader of our party, Zhuge Yulong, stated.

“We must either subdue or assassinate all Twelve Great Immortals. As discussed, we’ll split into Squads and each group must subdue at least two of the Twelve Greats within the allotted time.”

“Got it. So we’re splitting up here?”

“That’s the plan.”

At this moment, Mangnyang glared at Zhuge Yulong with piercing eyes.

“If your situation worsens, we won’t be able to send reinforcements.”

“Don’t expect any.”

Zhuge Yulong chuckled lightly.

“On the contrary, I hope you don’t need our help…”

With that, Zhuge Yulong took his troops and left. The Twelve Greats were scattered throughout the Celestial Realm, and we needed to move quickly to confront them. Zhuge Sa surveyed those around him and spoke.

“You know we’re split into three groups, right? Seo Mun-hye will operate alone, while Baek Woong and I will team up, and Mangnyang will go with Miho.”

“……”

“Baek Woong. What’s bothering you?”

“Is this really going to work? We’re at a significant disadvantage in terms of power…”

Theoretically, the number of people assigned to each squad should be enough to capture one Great Immortal. Seo Mun-hye had achieved an almost perfect level of her previous powers, becoming superhuman, and Miho also had the abilities of a divine beast. Plus, if I combined forces with Zhuge Sa, we could take down one of them, we wouldn’t fall short on caliber or skill.

However, theory and reality are often worlds apart. We weren’t going in for a fair duel; we were attempting to assassinate them in their own territory, meaning the Twelve Greats wouldn’t just stand by and fight one-on-one. When we really fought one of them, they’d surely call for reinforcements, and countless Tydahts and Immortals would rush in to help. The more I thought about it, the more I felt our situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous.

Mangnyang spoke calmly.

“We’re entering a phase where the Law of Cause and Effect begins to play out. Don’t worry, just go.”

“… Alright. You take care as well, Mangnyang.”

“Ha ha. I won’t have any problems until a crisis comes for you…”

Bam!

Our group split. I headed north with Zhuge Sa, speaking as we walked.

“Our opponent is the Great Immortal Gu Ryuson, right?”

“Yes. As you know, he’s the master of the Golden Crow’s strings. We need to watch out, as he can bind anything.”

“… Hmm.”

I couldn’t quite gauge what would happen if I fought a Great Immortal barehanded. Sure, I had faced the likes of the Ten Heavenly Generals before, but I had never truly defeated one in a head-to-head contest. They always seemed to be one step ahead of me, which was a bit daunting.

Moreover, the absence of the Seven Luminaries added to my psychological unease. While I had equipped myself with a divine sword, it was no comparison to the Seven Luminaries. It contained considerable power that granted substantial resistance to techniques and even the ability to pierce through spells, making my lack of it all the more worrying. Just as I was deep in thought—

“Ah!”

Zoom—

Suddenly, a tear appeared in the dimension, and I heard a loud crash as something massive fell from the sky. Zhuge Sa quickly gestured for me to hide, and I activated Ji-seon Mang-nyang’s shadow technique to cloak both of us in the shadows of a tree.

Boom!!

I held my breath, watching as a gigantic shadow flew through the air. It looked like a massive humanoid of light, lacking any facial features, and I instantly recognized who it belonged to. As the being vanished, I released the shadow technique and stepped out to speak to Zhuge Sa.

“Zhuge Sa, could that be…?”

“Hee hee hee. Ha ha ha ha ha!!”

Suddenly, Zhuge Sa burst into raucous laughter.

“It seems Zhuge Yulong wasn’t planning to stab us in the back. He probably wanted to avoid interference from other forces. This must be… the Law of Cause and Effect at play.”

“……”

I fell silent before asking.

“Where is he going?”

“If it’s in that direction, it’s probably toward the palace where the Queen Mother of the West is. From what I see, it seems like they also want a piece of the action against the Celestial Realm.”

“Hmm…”

“That’s perfect. We’ll go as planned to confront Gu Ryuson. This just made our job a lot easier.”

However, I couldn’t help but voice my concern to Zhuge Sa.

“But this doesn’t just resolve the matter of invading the Celestial Realm. What about the Eight Parts of the Divine?!”

Exactly.

The divine being that just wormed its way into the Celestial Dimension was none other than the Celestial (Taoist Master) Tripitaka! The fact that it just barged in as its true form meant it was ready for a fight, and it was clear that they wanted to upheave the Celestial Realm too. Of course, Tripitaka wouldn’t come alone, and given the strong camaraderie of the Eight Parts of the Divine, it was obvious they’d all come along.

Zhuge Sa grinned wickedly.

“Hee hee hee… let’s move.”

“Ugh.”

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

With worries about the future, my head felt like it was spinning. If it were just me acting and I alone fell, that would be one thing, but given that the lives of my companions were at stake, my worries grew tenfold. A bit later, as we arrived at the underground home of Gu Ryuson, I was met with an unexpected sight.

Gu Ryuson, the Great Master, was standing outside waiting for us, flanked by Zhang Guolao and Yeodong-bin, both members of the Eight Immortals. With three Great Immortals present, my vision dimmed immediately.

‘What the hell is this!’

Yeodong-bin too?!

I never thought they’d be gathered here!

And even if it was just Yeodong-bin, I had no assurance of winning against him, but with Zhang Guolao, the most skilled in techniques among the Eight Immortals, along with Gu Ryuson, known for his skills in sealing and binding, the odds were grim!

‘…Even with Zhuge Sa’s help… would it work…?’

I was filled with doubt.

Facing three of the upper echelon Great Immortals, who were renowned across the realm, meant I couldn’t guarantee anything. With all three present, even a Demon King would struggle to face them.

They said the Law of Cause and Effect would ease everything along, but what kind of situation was this?!

Gu Ryuson squinted his tiny eyes under his snow-white eyebrows and regarded me.

“As Dong-bin said… you truly are an extraordinary individual…”

“……?”

I looked at Yeodong-bin, confused. He stood there with a blank expression, simply securing his sword on his back without any reaction.

‘Did Yeodong-bin spill the beans about me to Gu Ryuson?’

While I was still unsure of the situation, Zhang Guolao spoke.

“The Heavenly Mysterious Woman mentioned you would come to annihilate the Celestial Realm.”

“……”

Why on earth did the Heavenly Mysterious Woman divulge such a secret plan to them?

‘Could it be that the Heavenly Mysterious Woman has betrayed us…?’

My mind went blank. If she had indeed betrayed us, then all the comrades who had gone elsewhere would be doomed, as we had no means to win against the prepared and waiting Celestial Realm.

But next to me, Zhuge Sa appeared unworried, grinning confidently.

“Well, looks like you’re ready to sacrifice yourself.”

“Don’t tell me… you merely plan to watch the destruction unfold.”

“Hmm. As fellow comrades?”

“Hardly. It’s just an observation.”

Zhuge Sa giggled, then abruptly turned to Yeodong-bin.

“Yeodong-bin! What on earth will you do if the Celestial Realm falls? If it collapses, your efforts of building up power will be for nothing. Are you fine with that?”

“Zhuge Sa!”

If they’re going to play it like this, can’t we just skip the fight?!

Now that things are looking up, why stir the pot like this?!

I was flabbergasted, trying to stop Zhuge Sa, but Yeodong-bin coldly replied.

“Demon Sorcerer, I have nothing to discuss with you.”

“Then?”

“Protector, step forward.”

I slowly walked forward at Yeodong-bin’s command.

A moment later, Yeodong-bin looked me over and finally spoke.

“You’ve already begun acquiring divine status. Do you intend to become a god, Protector?”