Chapter 53: The Five Primordial Immortals
While riding the White Winged Tiger through the sky, Heaven Rakshasa told me about the royal family of Heaven.
According to her, the beings of Heaven were originally Immortals.
They had cultivated the Way for countless years, understood the principles of the world, and ascended into Heaven.
Among them, the oldest were called the Primordial Immortals.
And among those oldest Immortals, five possessed especially overwhelming power.
They were called the Five Primordial Immortals.
Daeseon, Immortal of Light.
Daemyeong, Immortal of Moonlight.
Gaseon, Immortal of the Eight Trigrams.
Yehwa, Immortal of Heavenly Yin.
And Sinpil, Immortal of Heavenly Martial Arts.
These five were the Five Primordial Immortals.
Daeseon, who possessed Heavenly Yang Energy, ascended and became the Jade Emperor.
Yehwa, who possessed Heavenly Yin Energy, became his queen, Lady Sunhwa.
I couldn’t resist asking.
“I understand that Gaseon, Immortal of the Eight Trigrams, is Palhwang True Immortal.”
“But is Daemyeong, Immortal of Moonlight... King Yeomra?”
The name Daemyeong, Immortal of Moonlight sounded far too cool for Chicken Grandpa.
“That’s right.”
Heaven Rakshasa nodded.
“And Sinpil, Immortal of Heavenly Martial Arts, possessed Heavenly Steel Energy.”
“He was the founder of Heavenly Steel Martial Arts.”
“He was also the master of Heavenly Steel Chasa Cheongpung.”
Then she added,
“And Cheongpung was our master.”
“What?!”
I stared at her.
“Uncle Frankenstein was your master?”
“Uncle Frankenstein?”
Heaven Rakshasa looked completely confused.
“Who is that?”
“Nothing.”
I waved my hand.
“Forget it.”
Heaven Rakshasa laughed.
“Inhwang, you became an extremely unserious man.”
“Did you help me become unserious?”
I snapped.
I didn’t like being compared to Taebaek.
“Hahaha.”
“Sorry.”
Then her expression became serious.
“Anyway, Heaven had a problem.”
The Jade Emperor had become ruler of Heaven.
But he and Lady Sunhwa could not have a child.
Even though the Jade Emperor ruled Heaven, he was not a true god.
One day, he too would purify his soul, enter the Pure Land where Buddha resided, and become a divine being.
“What?”
I stared.
“So they’re all humans?”
Heaven Rakshasa laughed.
“Not humans.”
“We’re Immortals.”
“You can think of us as something between humans and gods.”
She continued.
“The Underworld itself can be considered an intermediate world between the living world and the Pure Land.”
“True gods reside in the Pure Land.”
She continued the story.
Before eventually ascending to the Pure Land, the Jade Emperor needed someone to inherit Heaven.
Because both he and Lady Sunhwa possessed Heavenly Yang and Heavenly Yin Energy, he hoped their child might inherit perfect Heavenly King Energy through the balance of Yin and Yang.
But no child came.
Eventually, the Jade Emperor took another heavenly maiden who possessed Heavenly Yin Energy as a second wife.
That woman became Lady Jahwa.
Fortunately, Lady Jahwa bore children.
Three adorable triplet daughters.
The Jade Emperor and Palhwang True Immortal examined the three children.
They wanted to know whether one possessed Heavenly King Energy and could become ruler of Heaven.
Unfortunately...
None of them possessed Heavenly King Energy.
They did not even possess Heavenly Yin Energy.
The Jade Emperor was deeply disappointed.
Eventually, he gave up on producing a biological successor.
Instead, he decided to raise a young Immortal who possessed Heavenly Yang Energy, just like himself.
That young man was former Iljik Chasa Taerang.
“So the Jade Emperor must have treated Taerang almost like his own son.”
I grinned.
“Princess Heaven Rakshasa.”
“Don’t call me princess.”
She immediately frowned.
“That stuff doesn’t suit me.”
“I’m actually glad I became a Rakshasa instead of some heir to Heaven.”
“Earth Rakshasa feels the same.”
Talking to Heaven Rakshasa felt more like talking to another man than talking to a woman.
“Then what’s your real name?”
I asked.
“Heaven Rakshasa can’t be your actual name.”
“....”
Her reaction looked suspiciously similar to Aize’s.
“Just call me Heaven Rakshasa.”
She became visibly annoyed.
“Thinking about my real name makes me angry.”
“Earth Rakshasa probably feels the same.”
I had temporarily forgotten that their father was the Jade Emperor.
Apparently, this woman also had name trauma.
Maybe her name was somehow even worse than Mija.
“Fine.”
I changed the subject.
“Why did Taerang rebel?”
“The Jade Emperor treated him like a real son.”
Heaven Rakshasa became thoughtful.
“I don’t know the exact details.”
“But I vaguely heard it had something to do with Hwayeong unnie.”
Something moved inside my chest.
“Hwayeong?”
My grip suddenly tightened around Heaven Rakshasa’s waist.
“What does that mean?!”
“Tell me properly!”
“Ow!”
Heaven Rakshasa shouted.
“Why are you squeezing my waist again?!”
Then she turned.
The moment she saw my face, her expression hardened.
“So that’s why you’re reacting like this....”
She quietly looked forward again.
“I forgot.”
“Taebaek loved Hwayeong unnie.”
Her voice sounded strangely sad.
“Sorry.”
“I don’t know the details either.”
“When you meet Palhwang True Immortal, ask him.”
For some reason, her voice sounded disappointed.
I stopped asking questions.
I loosened my arms around her waist.
Ever since the fever and tears two days earlier, hearing Hwayeong’s name made my chest hurt terribly.
For a while, Heaven Rakshasa and I flew through the sky in awkward silence.
Then...
“Inhwang!”
Heaven Rakshasa suddenly pointed forward.
“That is Heaven.”
“...That’s Heaven?”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Far away, an enormous island floated above the clouds.
It looked as though someone had placed a giant flat plate on top of the clouds and built mountains, rivers, forests, and plains across it.
As we approached, the thing I had thought was an island continued expanding.
Soon, it looked like an entire continent.
Then...
An entire world.
And I was flying directly into it.
“How big is that?”
I stared in disbelief.
“About the size of Seoul.”
I became speechless.
A landmass the size of Seoul was floating in the sky.
Newton’s laws of gravity probably wanted to hide in shame.
Heaven Rakshasa pointed.
“That is the Heavenly Palace where the Jade Emperor lives.”
I looked.
Far away, a palace stood in the middle of a forest filled with enormous ancient trees.
At its center stood a ten-story, ten-sided tiled tower.
Around it were gardens, ponds, octagonal pavilions, and many traditional houses arranged neatly along walls.
The entire palace looked around ten times larger than Gyeongbokgung Palace.
“Where is Palhwang True Immortal’s Ancient Hermitage?”
Heaven Rakshasa looked back.
“You came all the way to Heaven.”
“Aren’t you going to greet the Jade Emperor?”
She sounded as though meeting him was an obvious duty.
“I have nothing to say to him.”
Like Chicken Grandpa, I felt meeting the Jade Emperor would only create trouble.
Heaven Rakshasa laughed loudly.
“What?”
“Hahaha!”
“They said this reincarnation of the Inhwang is completely different from Taebaek.”
“They were right.”
Judging by that reaction, Jeonghu must have returned to the Underworld and broadcast stories about me everywhere.
“Fine.”
Heaven Rakshasa turned Cheonho.
“Then we’ll head toward Palhwang True Immortal’s Ancient Hermitage.”
“Cheonho! Change direction!”
