The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors refer to eight divine rulers.

Since the Yin and Zhou eras, traditions about the great Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors have been passed down.

If one wonders whether those rulers were human sovereigns, they certainly were not.

They were heavenly gods of the Heavenly Realm.

Among them, the three most great and fundamental gods are the Three Pure Ones.

The Primordial Heavenly Lord, the Divine Treasures Heavenly Lord, and the Grand Elder Lord.

Even older and of higher rank than those three were the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

And the Five Emperors of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

More primordial than the Five Emperors are the three deity-equivalents known as the Three Sovereigns.

Among the Three Sovereigns, the Flame Emperor Shennong1 is a deity with the head of an ox.

He made crops that could feed people on the world’s barren lands.

Nüwa is said to have blocked the collapsing sky herself and molded humans from clay to give them life.

And Taihao Fuxi, Nüwa’s elder brother and husband, was the first to draw the Eight Trigrams and create written characters, thereby establishing the laws of the world…

“The Eight Trigrams, that’s right, did you know that Taihao Fuxi created them?”

“Yes, I’ve read about it.”

Yu Jeong-shin explained, staring at Yi-gang who replied.

“They’re called Fuxi’s Eight Trigrams. Taihao Fuxi is the deity presiding over spring and the beginning of life. In other words…”

The Eight Trigrams are essentially a foundational system for the Dao and mystical arts.

Overlaying the Eight Trigrams twice yields the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching.

Mastery of the Eight Trigrams alone makes almost no spell impossible.

Though Yi-gang learned mystical arts as an elite disciple, even his exceptional intelligence did not grant him perfect knowledge of the Eight Trigrams.

“By borrowing Fuxi’s power, it’s possible to use spells that even deceive the eyes of those heavenly gods.”

That was the claim of Yu Jeong-shin and the elite disciples.

They would offer sacrifices and offerings to the greater god-equivalent Taihao Fuxi to receive a boon.

“More precisely, it’s about receiving Fuxi’s Eight Trigrams.”

“Can the Trigrams be ‘received’ like a tangible object?”

“It is said Taihao Fuxi also created written characters. It’s possible.”

Yi-gang understood at once.

He could tell just by looking at talismans.

One can encapsulate a spell by writing characters with Mirror-Faced Cinnabar on the yellow talisman paper.

“This is important.”

Yu Jeong-shin smiled faintly.

The altar before him was nearly complete.

“Tomorrow is the auspicious day.”

Such rituals depend heavily on the movements of heaven, earth, sun, and moon.

An auspicious date suitable for performing the ritual had arrived.

Yu Jeong-shin explained that if they missed this opportunity, there would be no next time.

In other words, a single, final chance.

Fortunately, the Azure Forest members remaining here were uniformly outstanding talents.

The ritual was prepared without issue.

Yu Jeong-shin hesitated briefly and then asked Yi-gang.

“How about Dam Hyun?”

“You mean senior brother?”

Yi-gang had ceased practicing Power Borrowing, but Dam Hyun had not.

For several days he had barely slept, devoting himself to Power Borrowing.

“He entered the Heaven-Reaching Realm by himself.”

Yu Jeong-shin’s expression brightened slightly.

Dam Hyun had ultimately entered the Heaven-Reaching Realm after training.

In truth, entering the Heaven-Reaching Realm in just a few days was impressive, but it was a disappointing result for Yu Jeong-shin, who had expected Dam Hyun to awaken immediately.

“Even though he entered the Heaven-Reaching Realm, he says he couldn’t see anything.”

“…Huh.”

A sigh escaped from Yi-gang after that.

It was fortunate he entered the Heaven-Reaching Realm, but troubling that he saw not a single star.

That meant there were no heavenly gods interested in Dam Hyun’s soul fragment.

“The fellow must be feeling terribly slighted.”

“Yes, he gave me hell… ahem, threw a fit.”

Dam Hyun had forced himself into the Heaven-Reaching Realm by sheer effort.

But unlike Yi-gang, who faced countless stars like the Milky Way, all that awaited him was pitch-black darkness.

Dam Hyun cursed and thumped the ground in anger.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

“What determines whether a heavenly god takes interest?”

Some people see many stars, while others, like Dam Hyun, see none at all.

At first they thought it might relate to talent in mystical arts, but that didn’t seem to be the whole story.

If that were the case, Dam Hyun wouldn’t have been utterly ignored.

“I don’t know exactly either.”

Yet Yu Jeong-shin couldn’t offer a clear answer either.

“I can only guess it’s related to their soul fragment.”

That’s why even among the elite disciples, some fail to master Power Borrowing.

Yu Jeong-shin smiled ruefully.

“Leave Dam Hyun be. Even that child must have things he can’t do.”

He seemed to have given up on passing Power Borrowing on to Dam Hyun.

That didn’t mean Dam Hyun would give up.

A ruined swidden village.

A village strewn with corpses.

The village, swept clean by bandits and left with nothing, evoked the Baek Family or Azure Forest.

The difference was that the swidden village showed not a trace of prosperity.

There were no towering pavilions left, nor neatly maintained stone floors.

Dam Hyun stood tall on the dirt floor stained with dried blood.

The Heaven-Reaching Realm manifests differently for each person.

For some it appears as barren fields, for others, as the house they once lived in.

It’s similar to an imagined, symbolic world.

The scene Dam Hyun’s consciousness fell into was his childhood hometown.

A place trampled and erased by bandits like this.

“Damn cursed…”

Dam Hyun muttered curses repeatedly.

It had been the same when he first entered the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

Unpleasant childhood memories. Of all places, he had to open his eyes there.

Though disgusted, Dam Hyun did not stop what he had to do.

He had encountered something he couldn’t do for the first time in a long while.

What was there that Dam Hyun hadn’t obtained?

Martial arts? Even among transcendent masters, Dam Hyun’s martial skill remained top-tier.

But that didn’t mean Dam Hyun was inept.

He, by his own choice, expended his vital energy to open a conduit to Yi-gang’s life-and-death gate.

Thus he lost martial arts, but gained much in return.

If Yi-gang was outstanding, Dam Hyun was equally remarkable.

Despite having once been mad, among the second-generation disciples, none had mastered mystical arts as much as Dam Hyun.

No, not only among the second-generation disciples.

Dam Hyun delved into any field without discrimination.

Not only mystical arts, but medicine, evil arts, even demonic paths.

No one had verified it, but Dam Hyun realized he had quietly surpassed his master Yu Jeong-shin.

If judging by sheer strength, Yi-gang might be superior, but Dam Hyun could do things Yi-gang could not.

‘Then why can’t this be done?’

He had never expected to meet a wall in Power Borrowing.

Entering the Heaven-Reaching Realm had not been by entirely normal means.

Dam Hyun had extracted his own corporeal soul in such an extreme and dangerous way that his master would have been outraged if he knew.

And yet there was not a single star in the sky.

Only utter darkness constantly awaited Dam Hyun.

“Let’s see who wins.”

Though he wasn’t contesting anyone, he burned with a spirit of competition.

He intended to finish things today.

The very day was the auspicious day.

Everyone else would perform the ceremony offering to Taihao Fuxi.

Dam Hyun was that earnest, willing to forgo the intriguing spectacle.

This place was the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

Though originally impossible, Dam Hyun’s body began to glow.

With no stars in the sky, it seemed he was trying to emit starlight himself.

But it was nothing special.

Dam Hyun was repeatedly tearing and reattaching his own corporeal soul.

To use a bodily analogy, it was like cutting off a finger, letting it bleed, then reattaching it.

Just as spurting drops of red blood attract others’ eyes, the radiance from tearing his corporeal soul attracts the attention of heavenly gods.

Nonetheless, the heavens were cruel.

Darkness persisted with no reply.

It was the very moment Dam Hyun was about to give up.

Twinkle.

A single starlight twinkled in that sky.

Color returned to Dam Hyun’s face, then vanished.

‘…What is that color?’

The starlight was not white.

An utterly ominous purple.

A violet star twinkled in the distance.

It was the same purple as the Honor Flower Disciples’ emblem color.

Dam Hyun normally liked purple, but for some reason he felt no fondness for that star.

‘An ominous star.’

A bad omen.

The owner of that star was certainly not a benevolent heavenly god. It could perhaps even be a great demon.

Dam Hyun stopped emitting light for the moment.

Though it was the star he’d been waiting for, he felt he’d met a troublesome one.

‘I should inform Master.’

Dam Hyun no longer acted recklessly.

He was willing to take risks, but had no intention of setting himself on fire and burning everything nearby.

Dam Hyun ceased contact with the ominous star.

But then something Yu Jeong-shin had never warned about happened.

The star began to grow larger and larger.

What was at first as tiny as a millet grain grew to the size of a grain of rice, then to half a bean.

Later it swelled to the size of a buckwheat seed, and the purple filled the sky.

In other words, the star was approaching.

‘This isn’t good.’

Dam Hyun immediately tried to exit the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

But his corporeal soul did not respond as he wished.

Even if he wanted to leave the Heaven-Reaching Realm, he couldn’t.

The ominous purple star that already filled the sky was exerting its dominion.

A voice resounded from the star.

「You emit an ill-omened light, human.」

Dam Hyun couldn’t help but laugh.

“Who are you to say that?”

Just as Dam Hyun sensed a malignant aura from the other, the other had felt something ominous from him.

“Who are you?”

「Your Soul fragment reeks.」

Dam Hyun frowned.

He had shown deference assuming the other was a heavenly god, only to be insulted on first meeting.

「A stinking wretch loiters and so no one pays attention. Unaware of that, you’ve been persistently annoying.」

“…Then why did you come?”

「Arrogant human. I came simply because you stood beside that resplendently bright human.」

Dam Hyun immediately understood what the other meant.

Yi-gang had said he faced a Milky Way filling the night sky.

That celestial being had also seen Yi-gang.

And it had also seen Dam Hyun standing beside him.

Not knowing Yi-gang, it had come to inspect Dam Hyun.

Veins bulged on Dam Hyun’s forehead, but the heavenly god did not notice.

“So why have you come?”

「Stinking human. I came to borrow your body to have a look at that fellow.」

“…Then please grace me with your presence once.”

It wasn’t his usual tone, but Dam Hyun suddenly spoke politely.

「That was my intention.」

The purple star slowly began to take form.

It resembled a human shape, but was essentially entirely different.

Blue skin, three heads, eight arms.

Despite that terrifying appearance, Dam Hyun was not afraid.

He just grinned and said.

“You look disgustingly ugly.”

Dam Hyun and the heavenly god.

‘This bastard.’

‘This guy…’

They thought it at the same time.

“What a detestable bastard.”

「A detestable bastard indeed.」

Then Dam Hyun raised his hand and formed a hand seal.

But even so, having extracted only a single corporeal soul, he could not resist the heavenly god.

The other had already incurred enormous karmic loss to manifest in the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

「Cease your resistance.」

It pierced Dam Hyun’s mystical defenses at once and lodged itself inside his body.

The moment Dam Hyun’s body flashed with purple light.

The night sky and the imagined world collapsed entirely.

The Heaven-Reaching Realm shattered.

Dam Hyun’s physical body snapped its eyes open.

An extraordinary light flashed in his gaze.

“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself.”

The heavenly god that had possessed Dam Hyun’s body.

“I am Nezha. You filth.”

1. TL/N: Shennong stands for Divine Farmer ️

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep