Chapter 275. Agent (4)
“We Constellations don’t age, and we don’t need to eat.”
“We could stay in here for a hundred years... even a thousand.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am.”
Golden Horn answered without changing his expression.
“If you go back outside now, you’ll die.”
“You mean Taigong Wang will kill me?”
“More precisely, beings subordinate to Taigong Wang will kill you.”
“Beings subordinate to Taigong Wang?”
“Yes.”
“Like me.”
“Wait.”
I stared at Golden Horn.
“You’re subordinate to Taigong Wang?”
“Yes.”
“Then shouldn’t you be trying to kill me?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why are you trying to protect me?”
“Nameless King.”
“You already know.”
Golden Horn smiled bitterly.
“I’m a fan of you and Kang Yujin.”
That caught me completely off guard.
“That’s why I want to protect you.”
“Golden Horn...”
“I’m not the only being subordinate to Taigong Wang.”
“I’m doing this to protect you from the others.”
“So... I hope you can understand.”
“Wouldn’t doing this put you in danger too?”
“That’s why I came inside with you.”
“Then your younger brother is going into the bottle with Kang Yujin too?”
“Yes.”
Thinking about it...
it did make a certain amount of sense.
But both Golden Horn and Silver Horn would have to remain sealed inside their respective treasures just like us.
They were willing to betray Taigong Wang and imprison themselves...
just to protect us.
I am grateful.
They must have made an enormous resolution to do this.
But...
I couldn’t stay trapped here forever.
“Golden Horn.”
“What exactly is Taigong Wang?”
"..."
“Was Taigong Wang the one who created the Constellation system?”
Golden Horn’s brows twitched slightly.
“Tell me.”
“Nameless King, that’s...”
“You said we’re supposed to stay here for a hundred years or even a thousand.”
“Then it shouldn’t matter if you tell me, right?”
"..."
Golden Horn thought silently for a moment.
Then he sighed.
“Yes.”
“He did.”
“As I thought...”
Count Monte Cristo’s deduction had been correct.
“I don’t know why he created it.”
“But it’s true that Taigong Wang created the Constellation system and is maintaining it.”
“Then where is Taigong Wang?”
“I couldn’t confirm his existence anywhere in the Spirit Realm.”
“He exists in another world, not the Spirit Realm.”
“We can’t contact him however we want.”
“What world?”
“The Celestial Time Realm.”
So there was another world besides the Material Realm, Fantasy Realm, and Spirit Realm.
“Taigong Wang resides in the Celestial Time Realm.”
“And from there, he exerts influence over us.”
“Like how we watch the Material Realm from the Spirit Realm?”
“Probably something similar.”
"..."
The relationship between the Material Realm and the Spirit Realm was fundamentally one-way.
The Spirit Realm could interfere with the Material Realm.
But the Material Realm could not interfere with the Spirit Realm.
Then perhaps we, who existed in the lower realms...
couldn’t access the Celestial Time Realm either.
“Why is Taigong Wang so desperate to stop anyone from investigating him?”
“To maintain the Constellation system.”
“If Constellations discover Taigong Wang’s existence, does something go wrong with the system?”
“I don’t know the details.”
“But probably.”
"..."
Common sense said that learning who designed a system wouldn’t cause the system itself to break.
Then why was Taigong Wang so desperate to hide his existence?
Wait...
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
What if the Constellation system itself was created by Taigong Wang for some other purpose?
By creating the Constellation system...
Taigong Wang was trying to obtain some kind of benefit.
If the Constellations learned the truth, it would interfere with his plan.
Could that be it?
“Golden Horn.”
“What benefit does Taigong Wang gain from the Constellation system?”
“I don’t know.”
“All I know is that Taigong Wang created the system and keeps it running.”
“But he wouldn’t have done something like this just for fun.”
“That’s... probably true.”
Why exactly had Taigong Wang created the Constellation system?
“Was Taigong Wang also responsible for making the Material Realm and Fantasy Realm overlap?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Constellation system appeared after the two worlds overlapped.”
“I don’t know.”
“What benefit would Taigong Wang gain from that?”
“Do you have any idea?”
“No.”
“It isn’t as though we know everything.”
For now...
let’s assume everything was part of Taigong Wang’s conspiracy.
The Material Realm and Fantasy Realm overlapping.
The various afterlives merging or disappearing.
The creation of the Constellation system.
If all of that had happened according to Taigong Wang’s plan...
what was his true objective?
This is exactly when I need Sherlock Holmes...
It was difficult to deduce the answer with the information I had.
“Golden Horn... weren’t you ever curious?”
“Why Taigong Wang did all of this?”
“To be honest, I didn’t remember any of it until recently.”
“What?”
“Normally, we forget Taigong Wang even exists.”
“But when someone starts investigating Taigong Wang...”
“we immediately remember our mission and all begin moving at once.”
“Then you weren’t deliberately hiding your identity all this time?”
“No.”
“Even we didn’t know what we were.”
Depending on how I looked at it...
that was an extremely troublesome problem.
It meant even Constellations who had never shown anything suspicious could suddenly betray me one day.
“It’s okay, Nameless King.”
Golden Horn spoke as though he had read my thoughts.
“None of your closest companions are like me.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Though...”
“What?”
“There is someone among the Constellations cooperating with you who is like us.”
“Who?”
"..."
Golden Horn fell silent.
“Tell me.”
“What will you do if you know?”
"..."
“You can’t leave this place anyway.”
“Would knowing really matter?”
“I’m just curious.”
“You already told me everything else.”
“You’re not seriously planning to leave here, are you?”
Golden Horn had seen right through me.
“I told you it was dangerous.”
“But Golden Horn...”
“you still haven’t told me exactly how dangerous.”
I was a high-ranking existence even among Constellations.
Even if several powerful Constellations attacked me at once...
I didn’t think I would be helplessly overwhelmed.
“Do you people possess some kind of special power?”
"..."
“If you tell me, maybe I’ll feel more inclined to stay here quietly.”
Golden Horn sighed as though he had no choice.
“When we awaken as Taigong Wang’s agents...”
“we’re given a new weapon.”
“A weapon?”
“The God-Striking Whip.”
"...!"
The God-Striking Whip was Taigong Wang’s weapon in Investiture of the Gods.
It had been bestowed by Yuanshi Tianzun, one of the highest gods of Taoism.
Its name literally meant a whip that struck gods.
