973——————==

Soul of the Evil God

” ……!!”

What? My command can’t handle my divine power?

I didn’t get it and said to Seong Jin.

” Wait a sec!! You know I used the Great Destruction technique to take down Yacha from the Eight Parts of the Divine at the start of this life! Back then, I spent my Spirit Power trying to suppress the side effects of the Great Destruction.”

” Right.”

” And after that, I didn’t absorb any Spirit Power from the statue of Jeon Wook. If anything has been consumed, it should’ve decreased in absolute terms since my 27th life, so why can’t the command of the scriptures control my Spirit Power?”

In response to my question, Seong Jin calmly replied.

” Whether your absolute amount of Spirit Power increased or decreased, I can’t say since I haven’t been following you around in every past life measuring your strength.”

” What do you mean? It should definitely have decreased.”

Seong Jin shook his head.

” That’s entirely up to your intuition, isn’t it? Divine power is the power of gods, a metaphysical ability that transcends physical laws. It wouldn’t be surprising if some unknown principle is at work.”

” Hmm. But…”

I really felt like my Spirit Power had been heavily consumed, though?

As I tilted my head, Seong Jin spoke.

” To begin with, I doubt divine power can be precisely measured as a quantity over several years. Divine power is different from Qi. Logically, accepting the traces left by a cosmic existence in your body, some changes might occur.”

” … That might be true, but how am I supposed to revive Heuk Woong? Whatever the reason, it’s self-evident that I need to properly utilize my Spirit Power.”

To that, Seong Jin simply answered.

” I think the solution is to find a stronger command than the spiritualization scripture that Cheon Woo-jin taught you.”

” Really?”

” If you’re doubtful, go ask Cheon Woo-jin. But it won’t differ from my answer.”

” Hmm… If that’s the case, where can I find a stronger command?”

” The very act of spiritualization is an incantation of the Divine Age, so if you’re looking for a stronger command, you can only receive it from a divine being…”

” ……”

” What will you do now?”

I pondered and then said to Seong Jin.

” I’ll consult with Cheon Woo-jin and come back.”

” Got it. I’ll be waiting at the White Lotus Sect.”

Boom

I knew Mangnyang didn’t want Cheon Woo-jin involved, but I had no choice but to find him. He was the one who taught me the spiritualization incantation. When I explained my situation to Cheon Woo-jin while handing him the obsidian, he became extremely irritated.

” Damn it…!! Why do you always come to me whenever something happens! Don’t disturb my peace!”

I scratched my head.

” Don’t be too irritated. I’m here because it was worth it this time.”

” Tsk… Fine. As Seong Jin said, if Heuk Woong isn’t forming, it means the command for spiritualization is lacking in power. It’s right to think that your Spirit Power potential has increased.”

That was the moment I confirmed Seong Jin’s solution was valid. After all, he must be no slouch as a sorcerer who had lived for over a thousand years. I asked Cheon Woo-jin.

” How do I get stronger commands than this?”

” Seong Jin already laid that answer out. Get it from a divine being. Why do you insist on asking me…”

Cheon Woo-jin grumbled, but I kept pressing.

” From whom?”

” Well… you should figure out that yourself. It’s certain that it won’t be a chat with someone at the level of a Great Immortal.”

Cheon Woo-jin answered annoyingly and continued.

” It’s interesting that the quantity of your Spirit Power has decreased yet the influence has become stronger. There must be some reason for it, but I can’t conjecture what.”

” You don’t know either?”

” If neither Seong Jin nor I know, then it’s safe to say that no mortals would know.”

He’s right. I thought deeply.

‘ Since losing Heuk Woong, what has happened through my past lives to now…’

Was there some event that could have affected my Spirit Power during that time?

But as I was pondering without any clue, Cheon Woo-jin said.

” Well, you should go now.”

” Wait… don’t you have any more solutions for me?”

” Why do I have to do anything? It’s your business, so handle it yourself!”

Boom

As soon as Cheon Woo-jin finished his sentence, he used magic to bounced me out of Mangnyang’s town. I felt unpleasant, knowing how irritated he was, but I could understand it, so I went back to find Seong Jin.

Seong Jin advised me.

” Instead of recklessly summoning a high-level existence to obtain commands, it’s better to focus on training a bit more.”

” It feels like banging my head against the ground, but are you saying I should keep going?”

” The power of the command contained in that scripture hasn’t diminished. If the training period increases, you might recover more control.”

” ……”

I suppose giving up after only a month was a bit swift.

” Don’t rush it. Compared to your master, it seems you gained power quite quickly…”

” Understood.”

I decided not to get swept up in the immediate predicament, as I had done so many times before which made my past lives feel pointless. It wouldn’t be too late to calmly gather what I could and then challenge later.

And so, I began honing the Ghostly Spirit Sect’s martial arts and vision techniques at the White Lotus Sect. The experts of the Ghostly Spirit Sect, who didn’t even appear during the Thunder God’s faction war, possessed bizarre martial arts I had neither seen nor heard of in my lifetime. There were at least over thirty of them, and I realized that mastering all of them required immense training time.

‘ Hmm. When will I learn all of this?’

As I steadily absorbed the Ghostly Spirit Sect’s techniques day by day, Seong Jin remarked.

” Even if we call it our vision, most of it will be lagging significantly behind the world-class martial skills you’ve already learned. You should focus on a few exceptions.”

” The Soul Removal Technique?”

Seong Jin nodded.

” Including that, I’ll let you know some techniques that will be helpful…”

Thus, while spending each day in training for three months, I noticed something changing.

Whoa

‘ … It’s slowly refining.’

Just as Seong Jin said. As I repeatedly practiced the existing training method, reactions began to emerge. Reciting the scriptures a thousand times a day wasn’t an easy task, but thanks to not missing a single day, I felt like my divine power began to drop like clay and started to materialize. However, compared to the past, the speed was significantly slower, proving the command’s control had weakened. Considering I had gained Heuk Woong after seventeen days of honing, this was slow.

Seong Jin said.

” At this rate, gaining Heuk Woong will take about a year to a year and a half.”

” That’s too slow…”

” Once you gain Heuk Woong, there’s no reason to train again from the next lifetime. Thinking that way, that’s a worthwhile amount of time. Besides, it’s not like you have anything particularly urgent to do right now, do you?”

” I was thinking of searching for the Master of Zen at the National Seal.”

The whereabouts of the Master of Zen weighed heavily on my mind. Then Seong Jin shook his head.

” He could also be searching for Hye Ga Hyeong’s martial art, the Reverse Root Water Mirror. But given the current situation, the Master of Zen ultimately hasn’t been able to find any martial arts in real combat. So searching for him now would be pointless.”

” That’s true…”

” I feel like your comrades’ ‘work’ is nearly at its end. I recommend waiting a bit longer.”

” ……”

I knew patiently waiting while doing nothing was tough, but these days it felt even more unbearable. Still, I decided to tough it out and keep training.

One day, Mangnyang, Zhuge Sa, and Zhuge Yulong came to find me.

” Baek Woong. The time has come.”

When I looked at them, Mangnyang spoke.

” Let’s head to Luoyang.”

Boom

I went to Luoyang with my companions. And upon seeing Zhuge Bu waiting for us in the heart of Luoyang, he said.

” Have you arrived?”

” Did you keep him well?”

” Yes. He’s definitely here.”

What are they talking about?

Soon, Zhuge Bu scattered talismans into the air, and a coffin made of ice appeared with a pop. Zhuge Bu stretched out his hand and slowly opened the coffin; upon seeing the person frozen inside, my face stiffened.

” … An Alchemist!”

No doubt!

That scoundrel had been working in the shadows alongside Zhuge Yulong, committing human sacrifices and evil studies as an alchemist from the West. With a sigh, Zhuge Bu said.

” Originally, I was going to ask you for help in capturing this guy, but you seemed to be doing something important. So your father and I worked our wisdom and strength to successfully encircle and seal him tightly.”

” His fighting power shouldn’t be that high, so was it really that difficult?”

” Damn it… What kind of nonsense are you spouting? You do know he’s a high-level Demon Sorcerer, right? I would definitely have the confidence to beat him in a direct fight, but if he unleashes magic to escape, it’d be hard to catch him easily! If he escapes and reveals any bizarre incident, do you know what could happen?”

As Zhuge Bu got upset, Zhuge Yulong stepped forward and said.

” That’s true, and we’re still involved with the demon faction known as the Demon Subduing Hall. Moreover, as I’m a priest, if it’s revealed that we harbor any sinister intentions, the gods won’t let us be. We’ve been careful in every possible way to avoid any scandal.”

So it seems Zhuge Yulong can’t just run wild in the demon forces either.

I realized I misspoke and apologized.

” Um… My bad. Sorry for speaking carelessly.”

” Anyway, the reason we called you here is that we’ve managed to extract all the information we could from the alchemist, and now we want to share that information while also proceeding with another task…”

” Okay. What information is it?”

Zhuge Yulong glanced at Zhuge Sa. Zhuge Sa smiled and said.

” I used the Soul Exchange Technique to interrogate him. And surprisingly, I obtained some unexpected dividends.”

” Which dividends?”

” According to the information you’ve already gathered, this alchemist is a product of the western archmage and scholar ‘Saint Germain’ and is a Homunculus. You know what a Homunculus is, so I won’t bother explaining.”

” I know.”

A Homunculus is something similar to a Portrait Immortal, essentially a prototype of one. It’s the engineering of creating something from nothing, and a being created from a Homunculus doesn’t require a human womb. It seemed that Saint Germain created this Homunculus but lost control over it and that the runaway Homunculus had been building its alchemist career by claiming to be Saint Germain.

Zhuge Sa’s following words surprised me slightly.

” This guy is a member of the heretical sect that serves the Great Chaos and is a core member. Naturally, he’s a devotee of [Coming Chaos]. His summoning to the Imperial Palace wasn’t a coincidence; he actively offered himself to be summoned.”

” ……!!”

” And we could comprehend why he created the Portrait Immortal.”

Zhuge Sa crossed his arms and continued.

” The Portrait Immortal was ultimately made to become a sacrificial offering to a god. The ultimate goal was to create a complete Portrait Immortal to gain favor as a special offering to the gods. Currently, the causal rate of the Portrait Immortal is split evenly between the [God of the Imperial Palace] and the [Evil God].”

” Right.”

Because of the divided causal rate, I had personally witnessed the two gods fighting for their lives. Nodding my head, Zhuge Sa continued.

” However, it seems this guy had a plan to return home after creating the Ultimate Portrait Immortal and create something even beyond that.”

” Huh? The Ultimate Portrait Immortal is completed as it is. Is it possible for anything more to come out?”

” … I just said it’s for sacrificial purposes. No matter how extraordinary the combat ability of the Ultimate Portrait Immortal is, fundamentally, it’s for sacrificial use, and combat capability is merely secondary.”

” Hmm… So…”

” Yep. This guy was attempting to escape the limitations of being a Homunculus by creating the ultimate vessel. A [Combat Portrait Immortal].”

” ……”

” If even the sacrificial vessel was that powerful, had he been left unchecked, he could have easily become a worldwide calamity.”

” But the Portrait Immortal was made as a fusion of the top technologies of both east and west, so a masterpiece like that couldn’t just come from him working alone back home, right?”

” This guy’s hometown has Dr. Faust, the greatest genius of the West. It seems he intended to get help from Dr. Faust.”

” Hmm.”

I looked at the frozen alchemist with newfound perspective.

‘ This guy, though weak in direct combat, is quite a big shot, isn’t he?’

In a sense, the very fact that I started my past life while he hadn’t completed the Portrait Immortal might have been a stroke of luck. I gazed at the alchemist and said.

” Anyway, capturing this guy means we’ve sealed his ambitions. Why not just kill him?”

” This guy is a powerful sorcerer, so both his body and soul are bound by a contract with the [Old Ruler]. If we carelessly dispose of him, it could trigger the causal rate, providing the [Old Ruler] with an opportunity to intervene. For now, we’ll bury him in the coffin of eternal frost and seal him for eternity.”

” Okay. So how will research on the Portrait Immortal proceed from now?”

” That is also one of the reasons it takes time. Extracting all the research knowledge from this guy’s head with the Soul Exchange Technique to record it was a bit of a hassle. In the future, we should be able to produce the Portrait Immortal without his help.”

This meant the threat to the Imperial Palace had now been completely eliminated. I nodded in satisfaction, thinking that my companions had done an excellent job.

” Good news. So what’s this other thing you’re planning to do?”

” That’s the real important task.”

Thud

Zhuge Yulong once again chanted an incantation, burying the alchemist’s sealed coffin underground, then said.

” Prepare your mind and follow me.”

” Hmm.”

Could it be that a battle with a strong adversary awaits…

As I tightly gripped the hilt of my sword, Zhuge Sa smirked.

” Don’t be foolish. Relax your grip. There won’t be any fighting.”

” Huh?”

” Then again, there’s no harm in being tense.”

What does that mean?

I nodded, following Zhuge Yulong. Coming out of the dark heart of the Imperial Palace, we began striding through the sunlight inside the palace. As I frowned at the burden of exposing myself to people’s gazes, surprisingly, all the attendants and royals of the palace bowed their heads in fear, merely showing submission to us.

‘ Huh?’

Even the hundreds of warriors in the palace only bowed their heads without any resistance. It felt like a path was being created wherever we went.

Eventually, I arrived at the deepest area of the palace where I had been many times before. Glancing at the Inner Imperial Pavilion, I said to Zhuge Yulong, who was walking ahead.

” Uh, hey. Please don’t tell me…”

” We’ve arrived.”

Clop

Clop

As we entered, warriors from the Duke of Guanzhong and the Golden Eagle Guard lined up on either side. They all had their heads bowed, and some of them were even kneeling. Additionally, the leader of the Four Great Experts of the Imperial Palace, Xuanwu, was also bowing his head.

In the midst of an unexplainable strange stillness, I finally stepped into the innermost chamber, where I saw many high officials dressed in official robes in silence. I realized they were the top officials leading the current Great Ming Empire.

Clop

A pathway made of red carpet.

There, Zhuge Yulong, Zhuge Sa, and Mangnyang stopped and simultaneously looked at me. Not just them, but the other companions also stared at me as if urging something. I understood the pressure of their gazes and slowly walked forward.

Clop…

Clop….

A distance of merely about fifty paces.

I arrived at the end of the carpet path and climbed the nine steps slowly. These nine steps symbolized the dignity of the Son of Heaven, and soon the jade throne made of precious gems solidly touched my behind.

” Long live your Majesty!”

The first to speak was Mangnyang. As his voice echoed quietly, the other officials trembled and began to chant in unison.

” Long live your Majesty!”

” Long live your Majesty!!”

Sitting on the dragon bed, I looked down.

All the officials began entering slowly, and I realized that people from outside were crowding to peek inside, trying to see what was happening. Moreover, I understood that no one dared to question my identity, as they were too scared to meet my gaze.

Mangnyang declared.

” Your Majesty, the coronation ceremony is prepared. Shall we proceed?”

Unlike usual, it was a formal tone. I nodded dazedly and stood up, and as Zhuge Bu snapped his fingers, my clothes transformed into ceremonial robes through magic. While walking outside the palace, the head of the eunuchs, Xuanwu, respectfully presented me with a royal crown, which I took and placed on my head.

Then, stepping outside the court onto the enormous platform, I saw masses of people waiting in the plaza. There were some curious souls wondering what was going on, while others stood on tiptoe, filled with great curiosity, looking up at me. As I gazed out at the crowd of people, occupying Luoyang all the way to the horizon, I suddenly felt short of breath.

” ……!!”

So this is… the view of an emperor?

As I stood still, Mangnyang waved a fan and shouted.

” Your Majesty, we welcome you!!”

Moments later, a never-before-heard cheer resonated from the crowd below.

” Long live your Majesty!”

” Long live your Majesty!! Long live! Long live!!”

Long live!

Long live!

Long live!!

The thunderous cries of the immense populace shook Luoyang. Below my feet, hundreds of thousands of people were looking up at me.

As I felt this fervor and stood dazed, it finally dawned on me.

As of today, I had become the emperor of the continent.