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As Mahuraga was slain, the Eight Parts of the Divine sprang into action, surrounding the Queen Mother of the West and launching a simultaneous assault. It was just like before, but this time, Celestial Sage Tripitaka stepped forward, casting some bizarre technique.

Whooooosh –

He manipulated some unknown sorcery that warped the space around the Queen Mother while seemingly summoning something. I couldn’t grasp what kind of magic it was, but it was obvious it was beyond human comprehension. Still, the fact that he could temporarily restrain the Queen Mother showed just how formidable the Celestial beings were.

[You’ve bought some time.]

While the Eight Parts of the Divine held her in place, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens and the Eight Immortals took a breather. Regardless of their immortal status, they couldn’t keep going without recuperation, so the opportunity created by the Eight Parts was precious.

“Heavenly Mysterious Woman!”

As we approached them, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman gazed at us and spoke.

[Baek Woong, if this continues, we will surely lose.]

“…!!”

[Thanks to awakening my memories, I’ve regained some strength, but it’s not enough to face the Queen Mother. She can become ten or even a hundred times stronger if she wishes. Without an effective plan, we’ll all be wiped out here.]

Just listening made my eyes go dark.

I was incredulous and asked, “A hundred times? She can really get that strong?”

Even now, she’s a monster capable of obliterating a Demon King with a single strike. Imagining her a hundred times more powerful was beyond comprehension. As I stood there dazed, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman continued.

[Essentially, if we harness the power of Nüwa, a cosmic entity, that could be possible… although it would break the Law of Cause and Effect, and she would have to pay a hefty price… It depends on her self-control.]

“Ugh.”

In short, the Queen Mother could end us all whenever she pleased, but she was being cautious due to concerns over backlash. Feeling dizzy and clenching my teeth, Zhuge Sa slowly stepped forward and said.

“We need to clarify one thing.”

As everyone focused on Zhuge Sa, he began to speak.

“Heavenly Mysterious Woman, if you reverted to your true form as the Guardian, even if you couldn’t defeat the Queen Mother, at least you could opt for a mutual destruction. You’re that powerful. Why aren’t you doing that?”

The Heavenly Mysterious Woman replied expressionlessly.

[If that happens, the only fate left for this world will be ruin. Furthermore, revealing my true essence is also up to her will.]

“That’s amusing. Nüwa must be aware of this too and would share the same stance. Yet one side is brimming with confidence while the other is quaking in fear?”

[It’s not the same situation. To Nüwa, this world is just a toy that can be rebuilt when destroyed, but there’s no point in annihilating the world if one aims to defeat her.]

“Sounds like mere excuses to me. Anyway, why is the Heavenly Mysterious Woman whining about us?”

[We are doing everything we can. You must provide the answers.]

Listening to the dialogue between the Heavenly Mysterious Woman and Zhuge Sa, I started to grasp the situation.

‘If the Heavenly Mysterious Woman becomes the Guardian of the sun, she’d be equal to the Queen Mother… but that would likely lead to the world’s destruction due to the clash of such powerful beings. While the Queen Mother might not care, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman needs to protect the world and is thus forced into a defensive stance.’

The Queen Mother once attempted to annihilate the earth using Pangu’s incantations when the forces of evil threatened to erupt. I had already witnessed her complete indifference towards earthly civilizations with my own eyes.

Zhuge Sa seemed unimpressed, but there was validity in the Heavenly Mysterious Woman’s words. I mulled over it and then spoke up.

“Zhuge Sa. How does the Law of Cause and Effect in a Situational Context operate? You mentioned there’s no chance of winning, but if the Law did favor us, wouldn’t we have to win in this situation?”

“Normally, yes. The question is what kind of cause we need to create. Even if victory is the outcome, the situation can change based on what cause we establish.”

“Hmmm…”

At that moment, someone piped up.

“We should head to the Sancheong Palace.”

We turned around. And recognized the sudden voice.

“Zhuge Yulong!!”

With him were Zhuge Bu and the White Tiger on his sides. There was no sight of the remaining troops and demons he had been commanding. Zhuge Yulong said coldly.

“We need to get to the Sancheong Palace, retrieve the Primordial Void, and break the ancient seals. This is the only chance, so follow me.”

“The ancient seals, you say?”

“By breaking those seals, the sealed divine powers of humans can be unleashed, allowing us to gain the upper hand against the Queen Mother.”

The Sancheong Palace originally referred to the highest domain of the Celestial Realm, where the Sancheong resided. However, since the Sancheong had long since perished, I had thought of it merely as a nominal palace, but now it appeared we were being directed there. Then the Heavenly Mysterious Woman warned.

[Human, if the ancient seals are broken, the world will be thrown into immense chaos… It’s not a good plan. ]

Zhuge Yulong responded without batting an eye.

“Heavenly Mysterious Woman, I don’t care what you say. My goal has been singular from the start.”

[……]

“There’s no time. I know how to break the seals of the Sancheong Palace, so hurry and follow me.”

Whoosh!!

Zhuge Yulong vanished in the blink of an eye using teleportation, and Mangnyang turned to me.

“Baek Woong, leave the rest to the others and go check it out.”

“Just me?”

“Yes. Even if everyone combined their strength, it would be iffy to hold back the Queen Mother. You need to find a solution first and with your and Zhuge Yulong’s powers, it should be manageable.”

“Mangnyang, you…”

“I can’t go with you. You do what you must.”

I looked around. After confirming everyone was pumped with determination, I resolutely replied.

“Understood!”

Whoosh!

I quickly began to trace Zhuge Yulong’s energy and followed his lead. Even if he used teleportation, I could locate him using Fire Eye Golden Spirit. When I arrived at the Sancheong Palace, which was miles away from the peak of Kunlun Mountain, I saw Zhuge Yulong walk inside.

He spoke without turning to face me.

“Time is of the essence.”

“Zhuge Yulong, you say the divine powers of ancient humans are sealed in this Sancheong Palace? Why didn’t you say anything about this?! “

……

Zhuge Yulong continued forward without replying. I followed him and asked.

“Didn’t you put that bizarre marking of the Queen Mother’s on the Yulong Mansion? What exactly happened with her?”

Zhuge Yulong was silent.

‘Damn it!’

His complete disregard for me infuriated me, but shouting at him now would be pointless, especially with our other companions risking their lives to buy time.

The White Tiger, leading right next to Zhuge Yulong, taunted me.

“Hehe. How about you stop flapping your gums and start paying attention to your surroundings? We seem to have already walked into the formations of the Sancheong Palace.”

“I know that.”

There was no way I could miss it. The moment we entered the Sancheong Palace, time and space warped, and countless crystalline structures shimmered in the Fire Eye Golden Spirit. It appeared we were looking at the distorted space-time, and each of those structures was a trap. One wrong step could leave us eternally lost.

“If you know, then just follow closely. Only Zhuge Yulong can break this ancient formation.”

I felt my anger surge as the White Tiger mocked me.

“Oh yeah? I’ll tear your mouth apart if you break this damn formation.”

“Psh, whatever…”

Whoooooooosh

“Come, Heuk Woong!”

In that moment, I concentrated the Spirit Power at the top of my head. Simultaneously, Heuk Woong, the embodiment of my Spirit Power, appeared in front of my chest.

[You called, Baek Woong.]

“Heuk Woong! Break the formation of the Sancheong Palace!”

[Understood.]

With a whirring sound –

Heuk Woong vanished into the air, and suddenly, my arms began to glow bright white. Once my arms were completely enveloped in pure white, Spirit Power spread over them, and soon, a white orb floated in my palms.

‘Is this… condensed Spirit Power?’

Originally, I couldn’t wield such overwhelming Spirit Power. Heuk Woong was helping me use it as if it were a part of my own body. Feeling confident, I extended both arms forward.

“Hah!!”

Bang!

The two orbs in my palms shot forward as beams of light, spiraling together to form one and then collided with the dimensional rupture I had seen in the Fire Eye Golden Spirit, creating an explosion!

Crash!

As the dimensional rupture began to solidify as if ice were forming, it soon became completely solid and vanished. The Spirit Power had managed to solidify the time-space using divine strength. Through my consciousness, I felt the connection between the Spirit Power and my own still intact, and I concentrated on continuing to freeze the dimensional rupture.

Crack!

As I succeeded in freezing all the nearby ruptures, suddenly, Zhuge Yulong, who had been walking ahead, stopped.

He glanced around and pulled out an amulet, setting it ablaze, and as it burned, the scenery changed around us.

Woosh!

We found ourselves within a dark, ancient palace that looked hundreds of years old, rather than the vast corridor of the Sancheong Palace. In front of us, about thirty paces away, there hung a massive disc on the wall.

“Now, open wide.”

“Yikes.”

As I gritted my teeth and approached, the White Tiger bristled and stepped back, realizing he stood no chance against me.

‘You bastard! You mocked me like that while Mangnyang died because of you?’

Just then, Zhuge Yulong glanced back and spoke.

“The power of the divine is astonishing. The formation should have revealed the solution, yet you’ve frozen the very rupture in time and space…”

“…Uh-huh.”

I had just been about to rip open the White Tiger’s mouth when I hesitated.

“You were the one who said we have no time to waste. We need to unseal this human power or whatever it is; where is it?”

“It’s over there.”

“That?”

The distinctive item at which Zhuge Yulong pointed was a gigantic Eight Trigrams disc, easily three times the size of a person. As he strode closer, he said,

“The first treasure crafted by Fuxi, the Primordial Void.”

“……”

“That is where the powers of humanity and their future became sealed by those called Sancheong.”

He mumbled with a hint of resentment as he walked forward and instructed the White Tiger beside him.

“White Tiger, summon all the Demon Soldiers.”

“Absolutely!”

Crash!

The White Tiger produced a round orb from his robe, throwing it down to shatter it. Instantly, dozens of monsters erupted, emanating killing intent.

Graaah!

Zhuge Yulong coldly commanded,

“All units, charge at the Primordial Void!”

Graaahhh!

The monsters roared and surged toward the Eight Trigrams disc. However, as they made contact with it, the monsters disappeared without a sound, sucked into the disc.

“What?! “

In the blink of an eye, the monsters were gone, and Zhuge Yulong remarked,

“Just as described in the documents, the interior of the Primordial Void seems to be an otherworld.”

“What do you mean?”

Zhuge Yulong replied, staring at the Primordial Void.

“No matter how great the Sancheong are or how skilled in sorcery, they cannot seal the very abilities flowing through human blood, the essence of our kind. So they devised a plan to gradually eliminate that ‘blood’ by thinning its concentration, spending hundreds of years to seek out those of ancient bloodlines with powerful ‘blood’ who lived in their ancestral tribes.”

“……!”

“And they translocated all of them to this other world created by the Sancheong’s power. Meanwhile, the human race of the entire world was secretly modified so that their powers wouldn’t manifest.”

The Sancheong were capable enough to create an otherworld?

I was flabbergasted by Zhuge Yulong’s words and retorted.

“So you’re saying ancient Central Plains people from the Silver Age are living inside the Primordial Void?”

“That’s one of its abilities—the capacity to create another world.”

This was a sealing method I never would have imagined!

Zhuge Yulong slowly continued.

“Feeling guilty for sealing them to maintain the balance of the world, the Sancheong believed they should provide the ultimate paradise within.”

With a pitying glance, Zhuge Yulong looked at the Primordial Void.

“…And they called that world the Wu Ling Peach Garden.”

 

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