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“This is a mess beyond my imagination!”

After acquiring the Golden Crow, we stepped out boldly, heading straight for the British Empire’s Governor’s Office. The place looked like it had been through the wringer, with Dr. Faust torn to shreds by transformation and waiting for us while donning a plague doctor mask.

With his back to the moon, Dr. Faust spoke, “Hero of the East, thank you for rescuing our Guardian.”

“Oh, please… everything’s turned to chaos, and reinforcements aren’t on their way?”

“They won’t be coming.”

Responding, Faust showcased a bright red meat chunk resting in his palm, pulsating with vibrant veins and tendons.

“All the soldiers around here received tumors implanted in their brains, moving like a single village. Since you defeated the Demon Sorcerer controlling these tumors, they all died at once, preventing the situation from spreading externally.”

“… Horrifying.” I frowned, already gathering an inkling of the atrocious experiments the British Empire’s Governor’s Office had conducted on the soldiers, owing to my studies on the Demon Path with Zhuge Sa.

Integration! It’s a tactic often used in Demon Path to implant bugs or tentacles into hosts, either fully corrupting them into otherworldly beings or binding their minds to a single controller. Naturally, once someone fell victim to this Integrated Magic, their personality was wiped out, and their life and death were controlled—they were in a dreadful state.

Berus walked over to Faust and quipped, “Looks like you’re a bit busy dealing with the Demon Sorcerers. If you need our help, just give us a shout later. We’ll get word through Matteo Ricci.”

“Understood.”

Accepting their help might have been fine, but honestly, I felt uneasy about it. What we were planning from now on was likely to contain significant secrets, and even if they were friendly, it wasn’t wise to reveal such matters to members of another faction. So, Berus’s proposal was surprisingly welcome from my side.

Crash!

We returned from the West to the Four Talents Sect’s building where Tang San had been. He seemed to have just fully awoken from the effects of hypnosis, grimacing from a headache.

“Oh, my apologies. I didn’t betray you or anything.”

“Hmm… is the mental attack of this treasure really that powerful?” I pulled out the Black Lute, one of the trophies I got from Peng Zuo.

“It may sound like an excuse, but the moment I heard the sound of that lute, all my senses and nerves went numb, and my mind went foggy. It was on a whole different level compared to the sound techniques used in Jianghu. I tried to muster all my internal power to resist, but it was no use.” Tang San explained.

“Where?” Strum!

I plucked the strings of the Black Lute, but no one seemed to show signs of falling into hypnosis or brainwashing. As I furrowed my brow, Cheon Woo-jin chimed in, “Some treasures can be triggered easily, while others have a complicated usage method. That Black Lute is the latter; you can’t just use it without having practiced for a long time to activate it properly. While its limited use escalates its power, it also makes it more challenging to employ.”

“Ugh, what about the other treasures?”

“Let’s see them all.” Cheon Woo-jin examined everything I pulled out from my wooden armor in sequence, saying, “The Cheongun Sword, Eight Trigrams Garment, Flower Fire Grass, Hunyuan Mountain, Bright Red, most of what Peng Zuo possesses falls into this category. Ancient treasures are usually more demanding. Treasures made in later generations tend to have easier usage methods.”

“Hmm.” I frowned again. So, are you telling me that even if I got these treasures, I can’t just equip them to my companions right away? I pulled out the Eight Trigrams Garment and asked, “They say this is the best protective garment in the Celestial Realm. Is there a specific way to wear it?”

“Of course. That’s a wing garment, so it can’t be worn without conditions. Once you recite a designated incantation, it automatically fits the caster as if they weren’t wearing anything. But the incantation, I’m not sure about.”

“Is there any way to find out?”

“That’s a meaningless question. Have you forgotten who descended upon you? It’s not just any immortal; it’s her. Why would you be worried about such trivialities?”

“Ah!” I turned to glance at the Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens who was summoning beside me. She looked at me dryly and said, [As Cheon Woo-jin mentioned, I know the operation methods for all the treasures here.]

“Oh!” Indeed, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman is the master of the finest techniques in the Celestial Realm! Moreover, she knows the existence of the treasure storage that belonged to the non-movable state and has fought in wars with her full body, so there’s no way she wouldn’t know how to activate these treasures. Plus, she even granted me the Fenghua Lute in Mangnyang before, so she must be skilled with most treasures.

But then she added, [I will tell you the methods, but keep in mind that if an unskilled person recklessly uses a treasure, they will harm themselves.]

“Understood.” After hearing the operation methods from her, I attempted to wear the Eight Trigrams Garment as a test.

However, as I began to recite the incantation but felt a lack of power, I was gasping for breath while Cheon Woo-jin looked at me with disappointment, as if saying, “I told you so.”

“I mentioned that unskilled individuals can’t handle it. The Eight Trigrams Garment is a top-tier treasure, and it requires high martial power to wear it successfully.”

“Ugh… then I can’t wear it?”

“While you could potentially substitute Spirit Power for martial power, even now you’re struggling. Forcing it on will not end well…”

“Cough.” Cheon Woo-jin was right. I had no choice but to stop trying to wear the Eight Trigrams Garment.

‘I need to improve my understanding of the techniques and my martial power itself.’ Since treasures absorb the power of the wearer even after being equipped, it’s meaningless to force wearing them. As I contemplated, Seo Mun-hye asked, “Lord Baek Woong, what will you do now?”

“Well, of course, I will follow Mangnyang’s plan.” I responded to Seo Mun-hye and turned back to Cheon Woo-jin. “Your part in the plan is crucial. Are you okay with that?”

“No issues. Up till now.”

“…? What are you talking about?”

Cheon Woo-jin replied in a strange tone and looked up at the sky. “Up until now, it’s been fine, but it feels like there will be problems from here on out.”

Boom!!!

Suddenly, the entire building we were sitting in shook violently, and a sound echoed like heaven and earth rumbling together. It vibrated enough to upend chairs, leaving everyone startled.

The Heavenly Mysterious Woman of Nine Heavens remarked, as if she expected this, [Seems we’ve been discovered.]

“H Heavenly Mysterious Woman! What’s going on?”

[As Cheon Woo-jin said, my powers are constrained by the Law of Cause and Effect. Since the moment I received an offering from Xuyou, I’ve been trying to hide my aura from the Queen Mother. However, when I recently defeated Peng Zuo, I couldn’t wrap things up easily.]

“Oh no! You mean the Queen Mother has come?” I gasped.

If the Queen Mother showed up here, we would all be finished! Even now, it was impossible to defeat her and her true form, no matter what tricks we tried during our rebirths. Cheon Woo-jin, arms crossed, interjected, “The Heavenly Mysterious Woman wouldn’t have allowed it to go this far. If that were the case, she would have just let us defeat Peng Zuo among ourselves, hiding the power waves so that the Queen Mother and the Celestial Realm wouldn’t notice. However, it means she succeeded halfway in hiding her power waves but failed about half the time.”

“Half a failure? What do you mean by that?”

“The barrier Cheon Woo-jin and I set up has been severely shaken. That barrier doesn’t budge unless confronted with a pretty powerful treasure. But it’s been half destroyed in one blow, and soon the barrier will be breached, so tell me, are there really that many strong beings out there?”

“……”

“The ordinary Great Immortal of the Celestial Realm couldn’t do this.”

A sense of foreboding washed over me. The Heavenly Mysterious Woman sighed, [He might have been keeping an eye on our movements from the start. Especially you, Baek Woong, who shares a strong bond with him. He might be paying close attention to your return to the present realm… If he’s become that sensitive, even I can’t hide my identity until the end.]

“Damn it… Could it be… that guy?!” I finally recognized the identity of the unexpected assailant.

Crack!

Once again, a massive vibration reverberated. The tremors rumbled through the ground and subsided after a while.

“……”

Realizing the nature of that eerie silence, I swallowed hard. The barrier had broken.

That meant that someone capable of shattering a top-tier existence’s barrier had come uncomfortably close.

Jin So-cheong stepped to my side, taking up a defensive stance with her spear. She understood very well what kind of being had appeared. Speaking with determination, Jin So-cheong stated, “I’ll at least buy you time to escape, Lord Baek Woong.”

“… Don’t be so sure. It won’t come to that.” I replied nervously. But if it was as Jin So-cheong mentioned, the worst situation might arrive shortly. I realized the secret aura of Cheon Gong-pyo that had been observing us had vanished, making me grit my teeth.

‘Damn it, you don’t want to fight, huh…’

At this rate, getting any help from Cheon Gong-pyo would become a problem.

Step, step.

And shortly after, footsteps echoed in front of us, followed by a cheerful voice.

“Oh?! Who do we have here? Our adorable Baek Woong, the little brother?”

I couldn’t react to that familiar voice. As I remained silent and observed the person with my companions, he scratched his hair at the side of his head and continued, “This wouldn’t do. How could you return to the Central Plains without coming to greet your old pal?”

“……”

“Wow. Seems like you’ve really lost your voice. Did I do something to upset you? I’m dying to know what schemes you’ve been cooking up while hiding like this.”

As he expressed disappointment toward me, I remained silent. It was because I sensed that beneath his seemingly cheerful words lay a subtle anger and suspicion. If I replied carelessly, I risked provoking his emotions, which could lead to unnecessary trouble.

When I remained silent until the end, he glanced at the Heavenly Mysterious Woman and commented, “Heavenly Mysterious Woman, it’s really you. I knew you’d grow fonder of that Golden Crow after not seeing you for a while. Did you strike any deals while you were at it? I thought you’d be the last bastion against the Three Sovereigns, yet I feel a bit let down right now.”

[Did you come with other immortals?]

“Yes, well, technically, I did bring one diligent fellow who insisted on following me even through the secret. Want me to introduce you?”

With a flourish, he opened his arms, and a figure stealthily stepped out from the shadows. It was someone familiar to all of us, making my vision momentarily darken. He introduced his companion, “This here is Tang San, one of the relatively new members among celestial champions. Humans probably know him well enough.”

“……”

How could I not recognize him? The first generation master of the Wudang Sect, creator of the Iron Great Excursion Technique, and once the strongest warrior in the Jianghu of the late Ming Dynasty—the absolute master! As Tang San was introduced, he cupped his fist toward the Heavenly Mysterious Woman, saying, [Heavenly Mysterious Woman, it’s good to see you again.]

[How did you come to be here?]

[I had a divination about the ups and downs of life and death in heaven and earth recently, and received an omen of a calamity looming that would turn heaven and earth upside down. I happened to follow the Great Sage here, hoping to find a way to deal with this calamity.]

[I see…]

As they conversed, the cheerful figure interjected once more.

“Now then. We’ll catch up later… but first, Heavenly Mysterious Woman, I’ll cut straight to the chase.”

[What is it?]

“Heavenly Mysterious Woman.” Swish!

The Great Sage, also known as the conquering Buddha from the Celestial Realm, pointed a finger at us and grinned.

“Give me Xuyou, or else I’ll obliterate you.”

 

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