READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 730
Chapter 730: The Dark Heaven Village Encounter
“Yebuli!”
‘The highest power and merchant of the Qin before Emperor Qin…’
I knew who Yebuli was the moment I heard his name, thanks to my studies in literature and history. Yebuli was a powerful figure whose like is rarely seen in the thousands of years of Chinese history, and the unique trait he possessed was that he directly supported the emperor while posing as a merchant.
Although he was eventually ousted by Qin Shi Huang in his later years, until then he wielded immense power, grasping and controlling a great empire as a leading merchant of Qin.
There had been hardly anyone in history who could match a merchant like Yebuli in both prestige and power, so he undoubtedly marked a significant chapter in history. Most scholars could not claim to study history without knowing about Yebuli. He was an indispensable figure in the establishment of the Qin Empire’s history.
But it was hard to believe what he was saying.
Calmly, I looked at the self-proclaimed Yebuli and asked, “What do you mean? It’s currently the years of Jia Jing in the Great Ming Empire. If you claim to be Yebuli, then you must be a person from the Qin dynasty, over 1700 years ago, am I right?”
“……”
Yebuli raised his dark eyes. This expression wasn’t merely due to dark under-eye circles; his eyeballs, pupils, and the skin around his eyes were all pitch black, to the point it was creepy.
Ordinary humans would feel a degree of fear, but after witnessing so many terrifying things, I could look upon him impassively.
He opened his mouth slowly. “Kill… me… please…”
“I understand. If you are indeed Yebuli, then it would make sense to say such things. However, you need to at least explain why you are trapped here and what this place is before I can meet your request.”
“… Up there… the precious jewel… destroy it…”
Precious jewel?
I glanced at the ceiling as Yebuli spoke. There was another staircase up, but I couldn’t see any precious jewel. It seemed I needed to climb higher to find this jewel, so I decided to ascend the stairs.
‘It feels like they’ve hollowed out the mountain completely…’
As I had felt before, it was an absurd architectural style. It took far more effort and labor to dig into the ground and create a structure than to simply build on the surface. At this time, during the Qin era, creating such facilities would have required an immense workforce and sacrifice.
After climbing about 300 stairs, I finally spotted the incredibly radiant precious jewel.
“Is this what I’m supposed to destroy?”
But I couldn’t just take Yebuli’s words at face value. If breaking this jewel resulted in his death, then I would gain nothing by being here. I thought about taking the jewel out, but it seemed that if I forced it, it would break. I contemplated slicing the altar it was embedded in, but the altar seemed to support some sort of spiritual structure, so I couldn’t touch it.
‘It seems they designed it so it can’t be removed from the start.’
I had no choice but to return to Yebuli. I said, “I found the jewel. However, if you don’t provide some context, I won’t break it.”
“……”
Yebuli didn’t respond and quietly lowered his head.
After a moment of silence passed, Yebuli finally spoke up. “I will give you the Book of Lü!”
“……!!”
He coughed for a moment, making a sound reminiscent of a prayer burning away. Yebuli, who was letting out what could have been a scream or a groan, continued, “I’ve… been in pain… for far too long… Please… kill me…”
“What do you mean?” I tilted my head, perplexed.
“The Book of Lü, I know of it. It’s the book that Yebuli of Qin compiled with over three thousand scholars and intellectuals, detailing the proper political norms and attitudes for rulers. I haven’t read all 20 volumes of the Book of Lü, but I’ve read about two volumes of records and three volumes of examinations.”
When studying under Mangnyang, I had come across the Book of Lü a bit. Of course, I wasn’t able to study it thoroughly due to the need to focus on other subjects, but I had at least tasted its essence. Proper study of the volumes divided into spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the articles within would take the average person three years— which was why Mangnyang had suggested we skip over it. Of course, he claimed he memorized the entire Book of Lü in a month.
“……”
“I’m not a scholar. I have no need for the Book of Lü now.”
At this, Yebuli insisted emphatically, “Listen…!!”
“Got it.”
Yebuli seemed to have woken up from his agony, his sanity appearing to return slightly. His determination to seize the opportunity seemed to have overcome his pain.
“I realized it the moment I saw you… I learned the art of reading faces from the Great Immortal! No one under heaven can discern a person’s character and nature as I can… With this ability, I identified the heroes and cunning of the Warring States, the talented and the gifted, distinguishing jade from stone to succeed…”
“Hmm…”
Yebuli stared at me with those dark eyes.
“You are a commoner… certainly not a scholar’s appearance, reckless and mundane, an ordinary human…”
“……”
“However… now that you’re here… you can’t be an ordinary human… Your martial prowess and wisdom are unusually remarkable compared to your given circumstance… you possess a king’s mandate, which should not exist… You are undoubtedly… a phantom…”
“What?”
I felt bewildered by Yebuli’s words. How could he judge me based on my appearance? The title of ‘phantom’ definitely came with negative connotations. But if he truly was Yebuli, who had commanded the great figures of the Warring States, it wouldn’t be strange for him to possess that kind of discernment.
With his dark eyes wide open, Yebuli continued speaking. “To someone like you… I will give the real… Book of Lü… But instead, destroy the precious jewel and kill me!!”
“The real Book of Lü?”
“Yes… the true one… that I… have never given even to Wei Cheng….”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Are you saying the Book of Lü circulating in the world is a fake?”
“After seven hundred years… as I wished… the fakes spread across the world…”
“Are you speaking the truth?”
“Hehe… did I really think… I would simply establish political thought by creating the Book of Lü? That I would gather thousands of scholars and intellectuals, spending hundreds of golden taels… Do you think a merchant… would waste money like that?”
“……”
“Ha ha ha… the Book of Lü…”
Laughing wildly, Yebuli said, “Its words are worth a thousand gold! Planning it would result in eight-sided observations… A debate on the six unions! What I sought was… a magical book but one that is not just magical… There lies a method to truly become a god!”
“What?!”
“Destroy the jewel!!”
“But if I destroy the jewel, how will you reveal the whereabouts of the Book of Lü? If I break the jewel, you die.”
“… If you break the jewel, I won’t die immediately.”
With those words, Yebuli suddenly sealed his lips, as if he had become dead. I rushed to shake him, but he returned to his brainless state. Apparently, he had been trapped in torment for so long that he had mentally succumbed to madness and pain. His current state could be termed insanity.
‘Hmph, do you think there’s no way out of this?’
Gritting my teeth, I reached for his forehead and prepared to use the Soul Exchange Technique. As my hand stayed there for a while, I could feel Yebuli’s spirit being drawn to me. But shortly, it stopped moving and retreated, saying, “Hmm?”
The Heavenly Mysterious Woman nearby spoke, [His soul is held as collateral by someone. The entity that captured him refuses to release him, rendering Baek Woong’s techniques ineffective.]
“Hmm.”
Indeed, this was something I had experienced before. The Soul Exchange Technique was powerful, but if the other party’s spirit was already someone’s possession, the difficulty of controlling it skyrocketed. Moreover, if the owner’s strength was sufficient, I couldn’t use the Soul Exchange Technique at all. I asked the Heavenly Mysterious Woman, “Is this person really Yebuli?”
[It is likely beyond doubt.]
“Who did this to him…”
[You’d better break that precious jewel as soon as possible.]
“Can’t we somehow extract the jewel using your Corpse Dissolution Technique? Perhaps extracting information from this idiot in front of me?”
[That is impossible. The jewel was a cohesive object from its inception, and the sorcery binding it is very elaborate and robust. The one who made this altar was likely someone far beyond a Great Immortal in sorcery.]
“……”
After a moment of thought, I pulled out my sword and stabbed Yebuli in the forehead.
[Thunk]
His head split open in a flash. I thought he must have died from that, but unexpectedly, moments later, he regenerated and returned to his original state. And he began to moan in pain once more.
“He’s under an Immortal Sorcery.”
No matter how much I tried to kill him from the outside, Yebuli remained bound to this entity, continuously suffering pain without dying. He had been bound in this state for thousands of years. It was, without a doubt, a gruesome torture, and it would have been far kinder to simply kill him with a single strike. I couldn’t quite comprehend it.
‘How cruel. Who could possibly hate Yebuli this much?’
I shook my head in disbelief. Without a doubt, the reason he wanted me to destroy the jewel was that the sorcery binding him and the immortality sorcery were both connected to the jewel. With no other option, I climbed up again and smashed the jewel and altar together.
[Boom]
At the moment the jewel shattered, murky magical power surged out from within. This magic momentarily produced smoke that assumed the shape of a regal figure.
[… You’ve ruined a toy… ha ha ha.]
After laughing, the smoky figure disappeared.
Toy?
As I tilted my head in confusion and descended, I found Yebuli screeching in agony.
“AAAHH!! Again… you deceive me! Wei Cheng!!!”
*Crrack!*
An ominous lightning crackled around, completely incinerating Yebuli’s body. He couldn’t escape from the entity and rather, the entity writhed like a living organism, devouring Yebuli’s frame.
*Crunch*
I hurriedly shouted to the Heavenly Mysterious Woman, “Heavenly Mysterious Woman!! Please save him!”
[Understood.]
Corpse Dissolution Technique!!
As the Heavenly Mysterious Woman’s technique unfolded, a cyan light burst forth in the hall. Yebuli, who was fading away, finally broke free from the entity and collapsed. However, his injuries were so severe that he looked gravely weakened. It seemed the immortality sorcery had also broken, and he couldn’t even speak properly anymore.
“Heavenly Mysterious Woman, please heal him.”
[……]
“Heavenly Mysterious Woman?”
In that moment, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman appeared flustered. [The Law of Cause and Effect is beginning to bind me. It seems I’ve expended too much power…]
“What?”
[Baek Woong, I must return to the Celestial Realm. It seems I won’t be able to show myself for a while. Please prepare adequate offerings or ceremonies to summon me again.]
*Pop!*
In the next moment, the Heavenly Mysterious Woman vanished. Staring in disbelief, Yebuli coughed out, “Ugh… Wei Cheng… you bastard… unfilial son… heretic… ugh…”
“Focus!”
I hurriedly pressed on Yebuli’s pressure points to channel some life force. I provided emergency medical treatment, but he was too weak from the full-body burns and numerous wounds, and I doubted he could survive for long.
Even with my medical skills, I wouldn’t be able to save him in a proper setting. Yebuli seemed to sense that truth as he gasped, “This… tomb is… just a façade… the entire Mount Ye… merely… the creature’s disguise… and the real… Wei Cheng… laughing in the face of everyone’s expectations… even the gods and demon kings…”
“What do you mean?”
“Wei Cheng… is not here… he never died… does this seem like a… tomb?”
Yebuli, momentarily at a loss for words, went on, “That guy is… truly terrifying… even the gods will be caught off guard… hehehe… truly… hehehehehe…”
“Where is the Book of Lü?”
“… The old capital of the Xia… and I left the antidote for finding the real one with Li Si… hehehe… is the pain… finally… coming to an end…”
Plop.
Shortly after, Yebuli died. I closed his eyes, and when I attempted to summon his soul with the Heavenly Secret Technique, once again, it rushed off somewhere. It was indeed the truth that he was held as collateral by someone. I scratched my head in frustration, thinking, ‘Damn it. He told me absolutely nothing important.’
Regardless, the real problem was that the Heavenly Mysterious Woman had vanished. Perhaps her constant interference while accompanying me led to her being constrained by the Law of Cause and Effect, compelling her to return to the Celestial Realm to suppress that backlash.
With her skills, she could hide the auras of the Seven Luminaries, so it would be fine for now, but considering the Queen Mother of the West, the situation still seemed perilous.
Getting out of here seemed quite troublesome. I licked my lips and made my way out of Mount Ye, employing stealth techniques and light body techniques to evade human eyes.
Once out of Mount Ye, I returned to the location where my companions were. Fortunately, it seemed the position of Mount Ye was not far from Luoyang, so I could reach there by running. When I recounted my experiences in Mount Ye to Cheon Woo-jin, he said, “To find the real Book of Lü, we must travel to the ancient capital of Chu and summon Li Si’s soul as well. Why is it that every time I wander around, I end up bringing back work?”
Cheon Woo-jin reprimanded me before continuing, “Now is not the time to be searching for such things. The absence of the Heavenly Mysterious Woman weighs heavily; our strength to restrain Cheon Gong-pyo has significantly diminished. We need to come up with a countermeasure.”
“Hmm. If we find the real Book of Lü and offer it as a sacrifice to the Heavenly Mysterious Woman…”
“What’s the assurance that we’ll find it, and even how long will it take to acquire? Keep in mind that the current tension between Changhil and Jeogok won’t last long.”
“Ugh.”
I grimaced in response, prompting the Celestial Sage, who had been nearby, to speak up irritably, “Why is the progress here so slow? We’re loaded with plans, yet we haven’t accomplished a single thing!”
“Celestial Sage.”
“I don’t care! I’m off to confront Cheon Gong-pyo now! Afterward, I’ll negotiate with him. You can follow or not; handle it yourselves.”
*Pop!*
In an instant, the Celestial Sage vanished. The rest of us were left dumbfounded, and Jin So-cheong said, “Let’s follow him. At this rate, we’ll have no choice but to engage in battle with Golden Crow Island immediately.”
“Ugh, without the Heavenly Mysterious Woman…”
“Baek Woong, in any case, she cannot truly become one of us, so don’t rely on her too much. She is an external power.”
“But…”
“She has yet to disclose her true purpose to us. For now, be cautious.”
Taken aback by his words, I looked back at Jin So-cheong. “What do you mean?”
“Just as you have the instincts of a reborn person, I have my own instincts. And those instincts tell me I shouldn’t fully trust the Heavenly Mysterious Woman yet.”
“……”
“Let’s focus on the matter at hand first.”
“Understood.”
I couldn’t dismiss Jin So-cheong’s words. Although he knew nothing about sorcery or magic, his suggestions and intuitions often hit the mark.
“Follow me closely. I’m heading straight for the entrance of Golden Crow Island.”
Whoosh.
As we utilized Cheon Woo-jin’s techniques to reach the entrance of Golden Crow Island, we found ourselves face to face with Cheon Gong-pyo, who wore an enraged expression.
[You damn fools!!]
Cheon Gong-pyo glared at us with furious eyes and bellowed, [Did you idiots send that monkey charging in alone? You think you can toy with me!? Do you know how reckless that fool is?!]
I hurriedly retorted, “That’s not the case. We’re in no position to command the Celestial Sage.”
[Uggg…!!]
In that moment, Cheon Gong-pyo attempted to attack us out of anger but seemed to waver for a moment.
[Tch!]
Then, without another word, he rushed into the entrance of Golden Crow Island.
‘What’s going on?’
Soon enough, I gained clarity on the matter.
A deep voice sounded from behind us.
“Where did the Celestial Sage go? I hurried over when I was told to come and play.”
“……”
Xiang Yu had arrived.