The Secret of the Primordial Star Constellation
The boy felt a wave of relief at being called a benefactor. At least he would not die at the hands of the divine spirit.
Then the man spoke.
“In our sect, any grace received must be repaid. Do you have a wish?”
The boy asked cautiously, “Pardon me, but is the sect you speak of a faction of the martial world?”
“Something like that.”
The man offered no further explanation about the sect. If one was not a cultivator, there was no need to know. Even if one were a cultivator, it had nothing to do with the mortal realm.
“Then I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“Please teach me how to survive the hands of the Xiaoyao Sect.”
The man chuckled. “Did you not say the tinted spectacles could hide your eyes?”
“Even so, there is always the chance of the unexpected. Better safe than sorry, as they say.”
“Hmm.”
A low hum escaped the man’s lips, as though the request troubled him. The Xiaoyao Sect was one of the nine great sects that ruled the Celestial Realm. No method of survival against them existed in the mortal world. The only way was to master the arts of a sect on par with the Xiaoyao Sect.
To the cultivators of the Celestial Realm, the mortal world was nothing but a filthy quagmire. It offered no aid to cultivation, so only true immortals ever descended, and even then only rarely. There might be descendants of the Xiaoyao Sect in the mortal realm, but their cultivation would be negligible. Teaching the boy even a fragment or two might let him avoid death. Yet doing so would require revealing his own identity and the nature of the sect—an act that defied the natural order of the mortal world.
‘Or perhaps not.’
Looking back, he had already issued the boy a heaven-defying command, and the boy had followed it to reach this place. After much deliberation, the man finally spoke.
“If you master the arts of a sect on par with the Xiaoyao Sect, you may yet survive.”
“It is not certain, then?”
“Of course not. Learning to fish does not mean everyone catches fish with ease. Life and death depend solely on each individual’s achievement.”
“I understand. Do you, by any chance, know the arts of a sect on par with the Xiaoyao Sect?”
At this point, the boy still believed the sect to be some unknown martial faction. After all, there were countless factions under heaven.
“I do. I myself was once a cultivator of the Taego Sect, one of them.”
In that instant, the boy prostrated himself flat on the ground and cried out, “Divine spirit! Please open a path of survival for this lowly one! If you do, I will never forget your grace for the rest of my life!”
“You wish to learn the arts of the Taego Sect from me?”
“Yes!”
“Fortune always walks hand in hand with calamity. If you learn from me, you must also bear my grudges. Will you still do it?”
“I lack the ability, but at least in spirit I will.”
It sounded pragmatic, yet the boy’s true intent was simply to obtain what he could first. The man knew this but pressed no further. In the end, it would not go as the boy wished anyway.
“Very well. Bow to me three times. The first bow means you will revere the Taego Sect. The second means you will revere your master. The third means you will follow the cultivators who entered the Taego Sect before you.”
The boy bowed three times in rapid succession before the man could change his mind. When he finished, a satisfied smile appeared on the man’s face. Though his primordial spirit was currently fragmented and incomplete, the boy was a disciple whose future held promise once he mastered the Unity of Two Origins technique.
“My name is Red Pine. By the Heavenly Emperor’s command, I descended to the mortal realm together with Seok-je-ga and Yuk Yak-bin… only to be betrayed by them. After battling them, my vital energy was gravely damaged. Since then, I have been as you see me now. Should you ever encounter Seok-je-ga, Yuk Yak-bin, or their descendants in the future, you must kill them. Otherwise, you will lose your life at their hands.”
“Um… Divine spirit.”
“I am not a divine spirit. Call me master.”
“Yes, Master. You said you descended to the mortal realm by the Heavenly Emperor’s command… This disciple is dull and cannot grasp the meaning within those words.”
The boy could not understand Red Pine’s metaphor at all. He could accept that the man had hidden in the royal tomb to heal his injuries—after all, even the Haomun lived inside Byeongmachong, part of the same tomb. But the sudden mention of the Heavenly Emperor and the mortal realm left even him unable to interpret it.
“There is no deeper meaning. You have at least heard the names of the Wind Lord, the Rain Master, and the Cloud Master, have you not?”
“Yes. Are they not the gods of the ancient era?”
“Gods… Well, to human eyes we must have appeared as gods. In those days, people called me the Rain Master, Seok-je-ga the Wind Lord, and Yuk Yak-bin the Cloud Master.”
“……”
The boy regarded Red Pine with a mixture of belief and doubt. Awakening from the stone coffin was astonishing enough, but claiming to be the Rain Master was another matter. Even if he now called the man master, that claim felt excessive.
Red Pine saw the doubt in the boy’s eyes but did not force him to believe.
“Then why did they betray you, Master?”
“Because the people revered me, who brought them rain, more than the two of them. The cruel-natured Wind Lord could not endure it. In the end, he seduced the Cloud Master into trying to kill me.”
“Ah……”
“The owner of this royal tomb was someone even the Wind Lord and Cloud Master feared, so I hid here to treat my wounds.”
“So that is why you left behind those paintings and poems.”
“Correct. Had you been a person instead of a snake and damaged the writing, the resulting explosion would have left not even a corpse behind.”
In truth, the paintings and writing had been Red Pine’s trap to filter out Seok-je-ga and Yuk Yak-bin. Anyone of their caliber would have been enraged upon seeing them and destroyed everything. Meanwhile, the boy could not help but feel a chill. He had thought the mechanisms were merely riddles to solve, never imagining such a terrifying device lay hidden within. Seok-je-ga and Yuk Yak-bin were terrifying, but so was his master Red Pine’s cunning.
Fear suddenly gripped the boy, and he dared not even breathe loudly. A moment later, Red Pine began teaching him the Taego Sect’s arts.
“Tae-eul-bon-won-yeon-seong-gyeol is the art of refining Tae-eul Qi. Tae-eul Qi is the primordial sacred energy that gave birth to heaven, earth, and the nebulae. When the microcosm within you harmonizes and connects as one with the macrocosm of the nebulae, only then will Tae-eul Qi awaken……”
After imparting a three-thousand-character scripture, Red Pine asked casually, “Have you memorized this as well?”
“Yes.”
“You have a rather useful head on your shoulders. However, to master Tae-eul-bon-won-yeon-seong-gyeol, your primordial spirit must become one. Once you achieve mastery, the boundary between inner and outer will vanish, allowing you to enter the mindscape. If darkness runs deep in your heart, you will experience the Asura Realm; otherwise, you will experience the Celestial Realm.”
To bring the physical body into the mindscape, one had to form a primordial infant body, but Red Pine omitted that detail. No matter how excellent the Taego Sect’s arts were, achieving a primordial infant body through cultivation in the mortal realm was nearly impossible. Even in the Celestial Realm, it took hundreds of years of cultivation, and sometimes still failed. What hope was there in the mortal realm?
“What sort of places are the Asura Realm and the Celestial Realm?”
“The Asura Realm is where sinners go after death. Endless war rages there. Those who attain the Dao, on the other hand, go to the Celestial Realm.”
“Does that mean one can go there without dying once mastery is achieved?”
“It is not the body that goes, but the divine sense that experiences it. Think of it as seeing with the heavenly eye.”
As he spoke, Red Pine poked the spot between his eyebrows with his index finger. Only then did the boy realize it was the mind’s eye, not the body’s, that would see.
‘Of course. There is no way a living body could go to a place one only reaches after death.’
The cultivators of the Celestial Realm—like the Wind Lord, the Rain Master, and the Cloud Master—could travel between the upper and lower realms at will, but the boy did not know that yet.
Red Pine then taught him the three forms of Taeheo Muyeonggeom, which were open to outer disciples. It was possible the boy might be captured by a cultivator of the Xiaoyao Sect or a descendant of Seok-je-ga and Yuk Yak-bin and have the Taego Sect’s arts extracted from him.
“Taeheo Muyeonggeom is an art as ancient as the history of the Taego Sect itself. If you master it properly, you will surely be called the greatest under heaven.”
“Does that mean I will be able to defeat the people of the Xiaoyao Sect then?”
“It would be better not to fight the Xiaoyao Sect, nor the descendants of Seok-je-ga and Yuk Yak-bin. With your current level of power, you would not last even three moves. If they fight in earnest, you will not withstand even a single strike.”
“You just called me the greatest under heaven, so why is that?”
“Because they are beings beyond the heavens. Even if you are called the greatest under heaven, you are no match for even one of their casual strikes. Therefore, do not grow arrogant, and never reveal that you are a disciple of the Taego Sect.”
“……”
At his master’s warning, the boy’s lips jutted out slightly. He had joined the Taego Sect to survive, yet he was still told he would die. It was absurd. Red Pine felt a twinge of guilt at the boy’s expression. Even if he taught the boy the inner sect arts of the Taego Sect, the boy would still be no match for them with his current cultivation. It was better for him to accept reality quickly. Of course, if Red Pine remained in the mortal realm to guide the boy’s progress, there would be no need to hide, but that was not his current situation.
From what the boy had said, the era Red Pine had lived in was the ancient past. To take revenge on the Wind Lord and the Cloud Master, he had to return to the Celestial Realm as soon as possible.
‘At this rate, I will end up being resented even after teaching him the sect’s arts.’
Just then, the boy spoke with self-mockery. “Do not worry, Master. I will live my entire life hiding like a rat, tucked away in some corner.”
Those words struck Red Pine like a blow. The Taego Sect was one of the nine sects that ruled the Celestial Realm, its fame extending across the universe. Even ordinary sects would tremble at the mere sight of a Taego Sect cultivator’s robe hem. Yet a disciple of that very Taego Sect was declaring he would live his life hiding like a rat? As a member of the Taego Sect, Red Pine could not help but feel indignant.
“What nonsense is that! A disciple of the Taego Sect declaring he will live like a rat! There has never been such a cultivator in the history of the Taego Sect!”
“But……”
“Enough!”
Red Pine cut the boy off and suddenly shrugged off the gold-threaded jade suit he wore. Clink, clink. Each time the jade plaques struck one another, a clear, resonant sound rang out. It was clearly no ordinary garment, for merely hearing it made one’s chest feel refreshed. When Red Pine recited the incantation of the Great Art of Returning to the Origin and Nest, red and blue will-o’-the-wisps flew out from the jade suit. The red wisp was drawn into the boy’s head, while the blue wisp sank into Red Pine’s own.
After completing the art, Red Pine held out the jade suit to the boy. “Take it. This is the Astral Gold-Threaded Jade Suit, a treasure among treasures of the Taego Sect. Ninety-nine jade plaques contain the energy of primordial chaos. If you wear it while cultivating Tae-eul-bon-won-yeon-seong-gyeol, you will accelerate your progress.”
“Good heavens, Master! May I really accept something so precious?”
The boy did not even bother with polite refusal and quickly accepted the Astral Gold-Threaded Jade Suit.
“According to the Taego Sect’s records, the ninety-nine jade plaques contain the secret of the Primordial Star Constellation.”
“What is the Primordial Star Constellation?”
“‘Primordial’ refers to the primordial energy, and ‘Star Constellation’ refers to the celestial order. In other words, the beginning and end of the universe are contained within those ninety-nine jade pieces. I cultivated inside the stone coffin for tens of thousands of years yet could not unravel the secret. It may simply be a mischievous prank left by the cultivators of the mythic era, so just remember it.”
“But is it really all right for me to possess such a precious treasure? If the descendants of other sects find out, they might kill me to take it……”
The boy’s face, which had been beaming at the mention of treasure, darkened with gloom. Was it not said that possessing treasure was itself a sin? Setting aside other sects, even the higher-ups of the Haomun might try to seize it. At that, Red Pine took something from his robes and tossed it in front of the boy. The bundle, no larger than a chestnut, swelled until it became a large traveling bag.
“It is a Dharma treasure called the Mahadam. It can hold as much as a cartload of goods. To place items inside or remove them, you must infuse it with your own vital energy. Only then will the contents remain invisible to others.”
“What if I do not infuse vital energy when storing things?”
“If you wish to use it like an ordinary bag, you may. Keep the Astral Gold-Threaded Jade Suit inside the Mahadam at all times and only take it out when no one is around. And you need not worry about others stealing it. I have already placed the Great Art of Returning to the Origin and Nest upon the jade suit.”
“What does that do?”
“If you die, the Astral Gold-Threaded Jade Suit will transcend time and space to return to me. It is thanks to this art that the jade suit has remained with the Taego Sect until now.”