Chapter 64: Mandate of Heaven (天命)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 64: Mandate of Heaven (天命)
Mandate of Heaven (天命).
The lifespan bestowed by Heaven.
The command decreed by Heaven.
The fate ordained by Heaven.
It is the will of Heaven, which a mere mortal cannot refuse.
That is the true nature of the Mandate of Heaven.
Yuhwa, a messenger of Heaven, possessed the Heavenly Eye that could read this Mandate. By infusing her divine power and gazing intently at a target, she could see the Mandate bestowed upon them.
For instance, their rise and fall.
Or their impending death.
“You are fated to die soon.”
Through Yuhwa’s Heavenly Eye, Karami was shrouded in black. It was the aura of one who would soon meet their end.
“Is Mastah gonna die?”
“Not a chance. It seems the old lady has dementia.”
“Dementia?”
“It means her mind is flickering on and off.”
The scene was one of him patiently explaining the world to a child who had just learned to see it.
It was as heartwarming as a father and daughter.
But this very scene was, ironically, hastening Karami’s death.
“If you do not wish to die, then release the gumiho at once.”
If the Celestial Fox’s role was to ensure the world flowed according to the Mandate, the gumiho’s was the exact opposite. A gumiho threw the Mandate into disarray.
The moment one became entangled with a gumiho, the threads of fate would twist, plunging the world into chaos.
Yuhwa’s prophecies were akin to a confirmed future.
But Karami just smiled brightly.
“I refuse.”
“There is no refusal. If you resist, I will take her by force. It is my given role to set the world right, to ensure it flows according to the Mandate, just as clouds drift on the wind.”
Yuhwa’s presence settled heavily upon them.
“What will happen to Rin if she goes to White Cloud Valley?”
“The world will regain its stability.”
“I didn’t ask what happens to the world. I asked what happens to Rin.”
“The gumiho will live as she has always lived. That is her Mandate.”
An endless cycle of being persecuted by her own Fox Clan, scrounging for potatoes, and fleeing from yokai.
The world finds peace by forcing the gumiho to bear all its misfortune alone.
“Then I refuse again. Peace earned by forcing misfortune onto a little fox is worse than no peace at all.”
“To cling to such petty stubbornness, even with your own death so near. I thought you were wise, but you are a foolish child.”
“Better than you, who seeks safety through the sacrifice of the weak.”
“The moment you experience the world’s cruelty, you will realize how foolish your obstinance was.”
Yuhwa moved her hand.
She slowly raised her fingers.
“Please understand my position. I cannot endanger the world simply to grant you an epiphany.”
At the movement of her fingertips, the surrounding clouds began to slowly change shape.
As if gaining life, they surged to one spot, forming the shape of a colossal hand.
Karami had to crane his neck back as far as it would go to look up at it. It was so massive it cast a shadow over the entire area. The situation was dire.
“Rin, let’s bounce.”
The two of them immediately sprinted toward the door they had entered.
But passing through the door didn’t return them to the halls of the Celestial Pavilion. They were still on the clouds.
“This space was created by my magic.”
Yuhwa’s voice echoed through the clouds.
Her majestic voice was like a warning from the heavens themselves.
“It is a place I can control as I please. It is useless for you to try and escape.”
The hand of clouds descended, pushing the air away with a great whoosh! A fierce wind, visible to the eye, pressed down on their bodies.
Rin bent her knees, curling her body up with all her might. She was compressing power into her legs.
Fwoom!
She shot forward, kicking off the ground.
The clouds beneath her feet exploded as if a bomb had gone off.
Flying in a straight diagonal line, Rin swung her tiny fist. But the result was anything but tiny. The giant’s hand met Rin’s fist and burst with a pow!, the scattered clouds falling like snow.
Yuhwa narrowed her Heavenly Eye, staring intently.
“That is no ordinary power.”
Even if she was born a gumiho, she was still just a three-tailed fox. For a creature with only three tails, her power was far too great. If she were to grow any more tails…
She had to be subdued here.
Yuhwa closed her eyes.
She brought her hands together as if in prayer.
In that instant, the clouds shimmered and began to undergo countless transformations. As if responding to something, they gathered and morphed into innumerable hands.
“Thousand Cloud Hands.”
A thousand hands materialized in the air.
Like the grasp of the dead trying to drag them to hell, the cloud hands opened their palms and swarmed toward the pair.
“Mastah!”
Rin scooped Karami up in a princess carry and started running, her short legs moving ceaselessly.
Outwardly, Rin was no more than a grade-schooler, but she had three tails. The power she contained was on a different dimension from when she’d only had one.
Pababat! She dashed forward, kicking powerfully off the clouds. Behind her, the clouds were swept away like a landslide.
“What do we do, Mastah!”
“Haaa, good question.”
To hire Yuhwa as Rin’s magic teacher, he had to pass her test.
Just like in a tycoon game.
A test befitting Yuhwa, the leader of a merchant group.
This kind of forceful approach wasn’t it. This was unexpected. As a mere three-tailed fox, Rin had no way of escaping Yuhwa’s home turf.
Karami came to a clear conclusion.
“We’re screwed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Mastah! We’re gonna die!”
“We won’t die. It’s just that you, Rin, will have to say bye-bye to me and go live in White Cloud Valley. Eating potatoes.”
“I don’t wannaaaaaaaaa!”
Rin, still holding Karami, did her best to dodge the cloud hands, but it was only a matter of time. With no exit, there was no escape.
Swoop.
A hand shot out from the clouds and grabbed Rin’s ankle. Rin tumbled face-first, and Karami was thrown off, rolling across the clouds.
“Grr!”
Rin kicked her leg, shaking off the hand, but in that momentary opening, hands piled on top of her, layer after layer.
She kicked and punched, but the endlessly swarming clouds formed a great mound. Trapped inside, Rin couldn’t budge.
When the hands finally dispersed, Rin was bound by the clouds. She glared up at Yuhwa.
“Grrrrr! You’re not a granny! You’re a demon hag!”
“Say all you wish. I will gladly accept such criticism.”
Before sending the gumiho back to White Cloud Valley, she had to return her tails to normal. And before that, she had to undo the shackles on her soul…
‘This is no ordinary magic.’
Yuhwa tried to release the shackles, but they wouldn’t budge. They were bound so tightly that only the one who cast them could undo them.
Yuhwa’s gaze shifted to Karami. Since he had no abilities, she hadn’t bothered to restrain him like Rin.
“Undo it.”
“And if I say no?”
“If you say no, you may simply stand still. I will undo it myself.”
“How are you going to…”
Suddenly, Karami’s focus went blank.
It was Yuhwa’s mind control.
A technique so simple it was almost embarrassing to call it magic. Bewitching people was a basic skill for a fox.
Karami would probably cough up blood if he realized he’d been taken in by a thousand-year-old granny, but at least that wasn’t happening right now.
Yuhwa entered Karami’s spiritual world.
She could see it.
The chain connecting him to Rin.
All she had to do was command Karami’s consciousness to release it.
‘His mana is pathetic, but this is truly fascinating. I wonder where he learned such a thing… hmm?’
She saw another chain. It seemed he had a master-servant contract with someone else besides Rin.
To be a slave to such a man.
There must be a sorrowful story behind it.
How pitiful.
She might as well free this one along with Rin.
The moment Yuhwa touched the chain.
FWOOSH!
‘What?’
Her consciousness was sucked in, traveling along the chain.
The place Yuhwa’s consciousness arrived was another spiritual world.
A universe bound by shackles.
Countless points of knowledge scattered like the Milky Way.
Giant reapers standing like guardians.
And.
“How dare you.”
A girl in a maid outfit, standing at the center of the universe.
“You dare touch the proof of my bond with my Master? A mere messenger of Heaven?”
Currently, Yuhwa was in a state similar to an out-of-body experience. She had no physical form.
But the girl was clearly glaring at Yuhwa. An immeasurable hostility was directed at her. It was so immense that it was hard to even maintain her consciousness.
“Who… who are you.”
“I am my Master’s eternal servant. For you to dare touch my Master’s mind, without even knowing your place. Even as a fellow witch, I cannot forgive this.”
The witch delivered her judgment.
“You are sentenced to summary execution.”
A giant reaper swung its scythe.
Yuhwa’s body wouldn’t move.
In the split second that the word ‘death’ dominated her mind.
CRACK!
Expending all her spiritual power to resist, Yuhwa broke the spell and barely managed to escape.
“Hah, hah, hah.”
Yuhwa staggered, gasping for breath. Her face was pale, like someone who had just crossed the line between life and death.
It had been a brief moment, less than ten seconds, but to Yuhwa, it had felt like an eternity. Her body, from her head to her tails, was drenched in a cold sweat.
“Huh?”
Karami’s mind returned to him.
He blinked a few times, his vision refocusing.
‘What the—why do I feel so fucking awful?’
His mind was foggy, and in front of him, the old woman was panting, drenched in sweat. An indescribably shitty feeling washed over him.
If he could, he’d take out his brain and wash it right now.
BOOM!
In that interval, as the power maintaining the Thousand Cloud Hands weakened, Rin instinctively unleashed her spiritual power. The cloud hands exploded at once, evaporating.
“Grrrrrrr.”
Assuming a beastly posture, Rin glared at Yuhwa as if to kill her. A crimson spiritual power flared around her like fire.
Rin kicked off her back feet and lunged at Yuhwa.
“Ugh.”
Still disoriented, Yuhwa fell helplessly. Rin pinned her arms, her odd-colored eyes flashing as she bared her fangs.
She looked ready to tear out her throat at any moment.
“Don’t kill her, Rin. She’s going to be your teacher.”
With his hands behind his back, Karami looked down at the collapsed Yuhwa with a relaxed expression.
He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he figured it was just the backlash from the old lady overexerting herself, not acting her age.
Well, as long as things worked out, all’s well that ends well.