Chapter 71
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: What Are You Scheming?
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Prologue of the Legend.
The writing of Ki (起) has been completed.
And at the same moment,
Bihyeong felt as if one layer of the world that made him up had crumbled away.
‘This is… the Spirit Realm?’
No. A little different.
His consciousness, which had begun ascending even higher from the Spirit Realm, had now reached the vast blue sky.
Bihyeong had never seen that place before, but he instinctively recognized it.
‘Realm of Heavenly Will.’
One of the three realms that constitute the world.
Bihyeong had stepped into the threshold of that realm.
As Bihyeong looked around,
a message appeared before his eyes.
Bloodline Ability, ‘Dokkaebi Cap’ is startled!
It said you’re not ready to set foot in the Realm of Heavenly Will yet…….
[Correction.]
[Checking rank. Qualifications met.]
Bloodline Ability, ‘Dokkaebi Cap’ now includes ‘Realm of Heavenly Will’ among accessible spaces!
Along with that.
The single horn protruding from the cap on Bihyeong’s forehead suddenly began to split.
Before long, a pair of horns had sprouted on his forehead.
“...This is straight-up yokai territory, isn’t it?”
No way he could hide his bloodline anywhere now.
‘By the way, mastering the cap’s power lets you enter the Realm of Heavenly Will too, huh.’
An unknown fact.
The Realm of Heavenly Will was a boundary not even the most stagnant old-timers had ever entered.
He had only been aware of its existence—never dreamed a single bloodline could grant entry.
‘Realm of Heavenly Will…….’
And gazing at that power, Bihyeong had just one thought.
‘So, what the hell do I do with this?’
The Spirit Realm had some practical uses,
but the Realm of Heavenly Will? Not a single clue.
‘The Spirit Realm’s tied closely to the material world from the start.’
Enter it, and you can strike an opponent’s spirit body directly.
Of course, his current flesh was too weak to exploit it well, but someday he could.
‘But the Realm of Heavenly Will is the aggregate of every will in the world.’
Grasping it. Wielding it.
...No image formed in his mind.
No matter how much he grew!
‘…And after writing the legend’s prologue, why only show me this?’
He wanted to know why he’d been brought here.
The moment Bihyeong looked around with that question in mind.
The ‘Heavens’ tremble at the legend crafted by the Supreme Half-Yokai.
Huh?
What’s trembling?
The doubt didn’t last long.
Suddenly, the entire Realm of Heavenly Will shook violently, and space began to split open.
...Why the hell is this happening?
Heavenly divinities observe your legend.
Heavenly divinity is shocked at your legend.
‘This is… even more than that thunderbolt baldhead….’ mutters.
Kikikik─!
After the heavenly divinities’ mutterings came the laughter of a monkey.
Thump!
His heart pounded fiercely.
More violently than ever before.
‘Great Sage Equaling Heaven.’
The divinity who had gifted him a paragraph of his legend.
That legend, infused into his presence but not yet fully embodied, seemed thrilled at its true owner’s arrival.
And soon.
Crack!
A portion of the Realm of Heavenly Will crumbled, revealing a shadow within.
[Yo. Nice to see you.]
An overall black, shadow-like form.
Yet the glint in its eyes and the curve of its mouth were vividly recognizable.
[Never thought we’d meet this soon… truly absurd guy.]
Laughing kukuku, it felt genuinely delighted.
[Accomplishing the Ki of the legend already… not your average guy.]
Shaking its head in disbelief, but Bihyeong saw it.
The Great Sage’s lips curving contentedly upward.
[You. Don’t know the contents of your legend yet, do you?]
“Yes. Got dragged here before I could check.”
A gruff reply, but the Great Sage chuckled and continued.
[Precisely, the process of understanding is being summoned here.]
“The process of understanding?”
[Originally, the Realm of Heavenly Will is a place you can only ascend to upon reaching ‘divinity’.]
The Great Sage’s shadow swept across the Realm of Heavenly Will with its hand, continuing.
[The Realm of Heavenly Will is where the world’s will takes shape. A comprehensive space encompassing every will in all of existence.]
And the divinities.
[Can claim a portion of that Realm of Heavenly Will’s intent.]
“Claim?”
[Lemme show you something fun.]
Laughing kikik, it looked just like a mischievous brat itching for chaos.
The moment its hand seized a corner of the Realm of Heavenly Will,
Streeetch!
The space of will stretched long and tore apart.
Through the gap, one space became visible.
Grrrrowl…….
ROOOOAR!!
A purple sky loomed gloomy, and the beings below were savage.
Beasts brimming with primal killing intent that made the skin prickle.
The Great Sage grinned at it.
[That’s the original birthplace of yokai, the Yokai Realm. Primordial yokai lived among humans. But as they kept slaughtering each other, the divinities who ascended created spaces like this to separate them.]
Saying that, it swept other areas with its hand, busily opening more spaces.
[How about it? Pretty amazing, huh?]
The final space flung open was the one he had previously summoned Hyeopteo into.
[And this is where divinities gather nowadays. The Heavenly Realm.]
The Heavenly Realm.
[Well then, shall we head in?]
As it said that and stepped inside, a table, simple snacks, and tea were already prepared—who knew when.
The Great Sage plopped down into a seat and downed his tea in one gulp.
[Kuu! Nice aroma.]
Laughing kikik as he said it, the Great Sage suddenly turned solemn, as if a different personality had taken over.
He stared piercingly at Bihyeong, then slowly raised his rank.
Rumble!
The Heavenly Realm’s space began to vibrate.
Within it, the Great Sage’s Fire-Eyes Golden Pupils gleamed mysteriously.
[Told you earlier? You’re here for me to read your legend.]
“Yes.”
[Also told you. Realm of Heavenly Will is only for those who’ve reached ‘divinity’.]
No exceptions to that.
It was the established law of this world—the very foundation.
But.
Today, the first exception had been born.
[You.]
His rank released.
As the pressure squeezing the surroundings vanished, what appeared were the Great Sage’s eyes, oddly glistening with moisture.
And in stark contrast, lips curved in a radiant smile.
[Your legend—the rank and presence it fused with—pierced that natural law and punched a hole through it.]
Thus, he could be certain.
[Your legend wields the power to defy heaven’s law.]
Once the conversation ended, he was back in the training ground like nothing had happened.
In truth, “conversation” was generous—it was closer to a one-sided lecture.
Turo this, fists like that, how long you gonna neglect Yeoui, and so on.
The useful bits? Barely any advice on Yeoui, Fire-Eyes Golden Pupils, and the legend.
[Listen up. Think of Yeoui as my clone—another me. Huh? Not supposed to say it outright, but… that guy’s got a filthy temper. Smash a few heads, and you’ll warm up bit by bit. Don’t they say you bond through fighting?]
[Wanna make the Fire-Eyes Golden Pupils yours? Greedy little shit, aren’t ya? Fine, mood’s good—here’s a tip. Start with the ‘Eight Trigrams’. It’ll shorten the time to melt in your legend… and when you’re ready to devour it, do so. Get cocky halfway, and it’ll devour you instead?]
[How to wield defy-heaven power? Tsk. At minimum, you gotta weave ‘Victory’… but since it dwells in your very being, explore it well. Varies god to god—no specific advice here.]
And so on.
Those golden nuggets of advice, and he descended.
Wow.
But why’s everyone staring like that?
Plop.
Something dropped onto his head.
Circumstantially, from the ceiling….
Bihyeong looked up, and doubted his own eyes for a moment.
...Why’s there a hole up there?
‘What the.’
A massive hole had suddenly punched through the perfectly intact ceiling, reflecting the clear sky.
Probably the reason everyone was shocked… but what the hell happened?
“Bi, Bihyeong…”
Turning at Mi-na’s voice, she couldn’t hide her trembling pupils as she pointed behind Bihyeong’s back.
Huh?
‘…What the hell is that.’
Turning around, he spotted a space rippling like waves.
Among his techniques, only the Dokkaebi Club showed such a sight…
But what was lodged inside it right now?
“...Ah, no way.”
Apparently,
Yeoui—thrilled to meet its master—had caused an accident.
“……”
“……”
“……”
In the stretching silence, Bihyeong couldn’t utter a word.
Which made sense,
since the incident had triggered an academy-wide alert, drawing crowds here.
One of those people was the supervising professor, and with his prized disciples at the scene of the accident, how mortified must he be.
But that was Bihyeong’s misconception.
“Cadet Bihyeong… no, Bihyeong. What was that massive ‘pillar’ earlier?”
…He’d seen Yeoui.
Of course—with a hole that blew away half the ceiling, no way he missed it.
“The true form of the weapon I mentioned before.”
“Huh? So you achieved weapon fusion?”
“No. Complicated circumstances… it went berserk.”
“Yeah? It’s fine now?”
“Yes. No problems.”
In truth, Yeoui—now dormant again in the Dokkaebi Club—didn’t even twitch when called.
Unless it was its master, it wouldn’t deign to respond. What a nasty temperament.
‘As expected of the Great Sage’s weapon.’
The man himself had admitted it took after his personality.
He didn’t want to call a monkey a yokai like that, but Sun Wukong haters had their reasons.
“Yeah? Went berserk and still packed that punch… Master it, and it’d be insane.”
But why no scolding?
This was the second time he’d trashed the training ground since enrolling.
Not like it was a windowpane—why did it shatter so easily?
“No scolding?”
“Huh? Why scold?”
“Pardon?”
“Wasn’t some dirty terrorist act, and yeah, it inconvenienced others. Disrupted class, triggered alert, got me summoned by those grumpy elder council bastards.”
But.
“Can you really blame you for that?”
“...Isn’t it usually my fault?”
“Class disruption was just some profs who couldn’t stay calm. Alert? Back in the day, wouldn’t call for this. Old geezers’ hearts got weaker with age.”
That left one last thing.
“Get dragged to a hassle and scold my growing disciple?”
Professor Shin-hu grinned as he said it.
“Congrats. No idea what, but you seem even stronger than before. Got some enlightenment, huh.”
Shin-hu patted Bihyeong’s shoulder and stood.
“At that level… should be plenty enough? Good. Time to hash it out with the elder council.”
“Hash what out?”
“Spoil the fun if I tell ya upfront… just wait a bit. Won’t be bad for you.”
Professor Shin-hu laughed kikik as he said it.
An unmistakably sinister laugh.
Bihyeong couldn’t help but think.
‘This guy—what’s he scheming?’
Really needed to dig into the professor’s past sometime.