Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
I returned to Jinrang Valley with Dao King Byeokji-sang. Upon arriving, I introduced Dao King Byeokji-sang to Mangnyang, who simply stared at her and said,
“What’s your game?”
Dao King Byeokji-sang replied without changing her expression,
“I thought it looked fun.”
“I see.”
Mangnyang nodded casually and then led Dao King Byeokji-sang to her lodging. When he returned, he flapped the Five Fire Seven Bird Fan and looked at me, saying,
“Baek Woong, let’s have a chat.”
I followed Mangnyang to a secluded patch of grass. He perched himself on a rock and said,
“What do you plan to do next?”
“What do you mean…? I’m thinking of going to Geuk Ho to study the Soul Extinguishing Technique.”
“……”
Mangnyang sighed briefly and replied,
“That’s fine, but I’ve uncovered something significant that I need to share along the way. You must understand all this before making any decisions.”
“Hmm.”
“And I suspect that Cheon-ho is listening to this conversation, so I’d appreciate it if you could just step out and join us.”
Swish
Suddenly, Miho appeared out of nowhere, having cast a transformation technique to disguise herself as an inanimate object. I was taken by surprise, not expecting to see Miho, and she too had a sparkle in her eyes as she looked at Mangnyang.
“How did you know? Has your skill improved that much?”
“Not at all. I just figured if I were Cheon-ho, I’d want to hear this too.”
“Hmph… You’re unnecessarily clever.”
Mangnyang flapped his sleeves.
“If Cheon-ho is protecting Baek Woong, it’s better for him to know about this conversation as well. Please, sit and listen.”
“Fine. Let’s hear how interesting this is.”
Miho also sat on a nearby tree stump. As our gazes turned toward Mangnyang, he slowly began to speak.
“Currently, the Jinrang Valley and the Bancheon Alliance have become quite powerful. We’ve taken plenty of time to administer Spiritual Pills to our talents, and our organization is now formed. I can confidently say we possess the strength akin to a substantial sect. However, we are still lacking for a major operation, so for now, we gather intelligence while lying low. We have also succeeded in rescuing General Huang Yan‘s family.”
“I see.”
“And aside from that, I received two tasks from you, Baek Woong.”
“Two tasks?”
Mangnyang nodded.
“One is related to the method to unseal Moya and its location… and the other concerns the statue of Zhen Wu from the ruins of Su-yo and the Oracle Bone Script.”
“That’s right.”
I could clearly recall the former. I had constantly asked Mangnyang to look into it, but I hadn’t made much progress because I died so quickly. As for the latter, it was a query I had recently learned about in this lifetime. Looking at Mangnyang, he continued,
“I had a question first. Why does Moya have a separate seal unlike the other Seven Luminaries? Why isn’t there a guardian at the seal? Thinking through that, I wondered whether the statue of Zhen Wu might hold the answer.”
“The statue of Zhen Wu…?”
“So, before I interpreted the riddle that symbolizes the seal of Moya, I decoded Zhen Wu‘s Oracle Bone Script. If it had been just me, it would have taken a long time, but using the organizational strength of the Bancheon Alliance, I was able to decipher it in six months.”
Having said that, Mangnyang took a brief breath before continuing.
“The Oracle Bone Script of Zhen Wu, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, is as follows:
[Ah, has the passage between Heaven and Earth in the north collapsed?
The Divine Child, Goyang, returns at the Emperor’s call.
He has left behind the method for water control for humanity.
Thus, it remains marked as Moya.]”
“The passage between Heaven and Earth in the north…?”
“It refers to Zhen Wu’s mistake in Shan Hai Jing. Long ago, there was a connection between the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm, where humans could cross into the Celestial Realm without going through the process of ascension. But due to Zhen Wu’s mistake, that passage collapsed, giving rise to the system of ascension.”
Explaining this, Mangnyang glanced briefly at Miho.
“Since you were in the Celestial Realm, you might understand this well…”
“……”
Miho showed a contemplative expression as she listened to Mangnyang’s explanation. Finally, she said,
“I don’t know well. However, I can confirm that there exists a secret passage connecting the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm, which is indeed somewhere in the world. I was also expelled to the surface through one of those passages.”
That was an unexpected revelation.
Mangnyang asked while unfolding the Five Fire Seven Bird Fan,
“Then why don’t you use that passage to return to the Celestial Realm…?”
“I don’t know where anything other than where I came from is, and that could be considered a backdoor. If I were to enter through there, I would immediately be attacked and annihilated by the Heavenly Spirits.”
“I see.”
After a moment of pause, Mangnyang turned back to me.
“Regardless, what’s important isn’t that, but about the method of water control.”
“Water control?”
“Long ago, there was a cataclysmic flood. An enormous flood submerged the world, putting all living beings at risk of extinction. The one who stopped that flood was Nüwa, the Three Sovereigns and progenitor goddess. She ground the five-colored stones to patch the holes in the sky and supported the heavens with the four legs of a giant turtle from the sea—that’s the legend.”
“Oh, I remember that.”
It had been a while since I read the myths, and Mangnyang‘s explanation jogged my memory.
“Moreover, separately, there’s also the legend of selecting Gun and Yu as human representatives to perform water control.”
“Hmm.”
“I believe there were likely two great floods. One was halted by the power of the Three Sovereigns, while the other was dealt with by Gun and Yu, who stepped up alongside the people to stem the major flood in the Central Plains.”
Mangnyang, having said this, lit up with enthusiasm.
“I hypothesized this: perhaps Gun and Yu successfully learned the method of water control from Zhen Wu as human representatives to manage the great flood.”
“……!!”
“And Zhen Wu, by separating the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm, left behind the mark of the agreement for water control as Moya in the ruins of Su-yo. If not, the Oracle Bone Script found with the statue of Zhen Wu wouldn’t connect with Moya.”
The mark of the agreement for water control.
I began to think of the enormous amount of written records contained in Moya.
Could this have been a remnant of the great flood that occurred in antiquity?
“If so…”
I pondered quietly before speaking.
“Why did Zhen Wu separate and leave the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm? He could have just ruled the world as a Three Sovereign…”
“The first line states with a sigh that [the passage between Heaven and Earth in the north has collapsed]. There must have been a critical reason for such a passage to collapse, of which we have no knowledge. In other words, perhaps Zhen Wu severed all connections between the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm in a hurry, leaving only Moya behind.”
“All because of one passage…?”
“Ah, that’s something we cannot ascertain. It’s an unfathomable ancient mystery, and there are no surviving texts.”
Mangnyang sighed briefly and continued.
“And I have another hypothesis.”
“What hypothesis?”
“Moya possesses the ability to control water, and that ability might be too powerful to be allowed to humans. Hence, it might not have simply left an ‘ancient being’ at the seal; rather, it might have required anyone wishing to be the owner of Moya to prove their worth at the location of water control.”
“Was it really necessary to go that far?”
I scratched my head.
“Isn’t Ijana’s guardian, Izanagi no Mikoto, enough of a proof on its own? That being alone could destroy an entire nation within a week…”
“It indicates that a gap exists even among the Seven Luminaries.”
Mangnyang, gazing towards the distant mountains, added,
“Whatever the powers of the sun guardians may be, how would the world react to another myth-level great flood? I reckon that among the humans in the Central Plains, around 80% would perish, and civilization would regress at least 500 years. Not just in the Central Plains, but all countries would be similar. The key to causing such a disaster that could overturn the balance between Heaven and Earth might very well be Moya.”
“Hmm.”
“I can assert it confidently. Su-yo Moya is among the upper-tier of the Seven Luminaries. The day you unseal Moya, you will find it hard to find rivals across the world.”
“Ohh…!!”
I was ecstatic at Mangnyang’s words.
If that were true, I had to figure out the method to unseal Moya above all else. While I might not be able to utilize the ability that could incite a great flood, using any other supernatural powers within Moya would make my goals much easier to achieve. I might even acquire skills capable of opposing the Ancient Rulers.
Just then, after quietly listening to Mangnyang, Miho spoke up.
“So, where exactly is the true location guarding the seal of Moya? It must be a very troublesome place, which is why you warned me.”
“……”
Mangnyang displayed an awkward expression. Miho had picked up on it. As I glanced between their faces, Mangnyang carefully said to me,
“Baek Woong… let me mention something.”
“What is it?”
At his words, I opened my eyes wide.
“This world takes on the shape of a round sphere.”
I shook my head firmly.
“That can’t be true! Obviously, it’s flat and there must be an end to the world.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, if the world were round, wouldn’t we just fall off the bottom?”
“……”
Mangnyang hesitated for a moment and then said,
“There’s a note made by Li Sheng of the Tang Dynasty in the Wunyan that mentions this:
The earth moves in four directions. It rises upwards in the east and goes north-west for thirty thousand miles. In the summer solstice, it moves downwards to the south-east for thirty thousand miles. The vernal equinox and autumnal equinox lie in-between. The earth is constantly in motion, yet people are unaware, much like a boat oblivious to its movement while on the water.”
“……?”
“It’s not the heavens that move but the earth. Um… how should I put it?”
Mangnyang produced a round crystal sphere from his sleeve. He then said to me,
“If you keep walking on this crystal sphere, you might think you’d slip off, but the inside has a powerful gravitational force keeping everything up.”
“That sounds far-fetched! What nonsense are you spouting?”
Mangnyang insisted strongly.
“It’s not nonsense. Those who observe the cosmos have realized they cannot explain the positions of the stars if they don’t assume this. That’s why the Zhe Family, who have been astronomers for hundreds of years, acknowledged the earth’s spherical shape and concluded that an end to the world does not exist. Not just the Zhe Family, but many great sages of the Ming Dynasty roughly understand it but don’t speak out.”
“……”
I was flabbergasted.
The world is round?!
‘Is Mangnyang messing with me? Is he deceiving me?’
My trust in Mangnyang was absolute, but this shocking story was enough to shake that trust. The notion that our world is a spherical globe, and we are anchored to the surface! I was bewildered, scratching my head and asking,
“Wait! Then what about the sun, stars, and moon?”
“They are celestial bodies residing far away. They may appear small, but they are likely much larger than the land we inhabit.”
“……?!?!”
As I gasped in astonishment, Miho beside me spoke up.
“It’s likely true, Baek Woong.”
“Miho…”
“I’ve been in the Celestial Realm since the time of my birth, but not a single Heavenly Spirit ever spoke of the ‘end of the world’ or even discussed it. The absence of an ‘end’ is why they didn’t feel the need to discuss it.”
“Uh… um…”
I tilted my head in confusion as Mangnyang wore a wry smile.
“You’ll find it hard to believe right away. Let’s first continue the conversation under the assumption the earth is round.”
“… Alright.”
“Now look at this crystal sphere. If you do this with the end of the globe…”
Whoosh
Mangnyang inserted a large iron rod into the crystal sphere. Whether there had already been a hole, it slid in without resistance. Mangnyang held the iron rod piercing through the middle of the crystal sphere and said,
“There’s an axis. If there are two points at the extremes of this axis, where would this location be?”
“……”
I calmed my thoughts and pondered carefully. Then I replied,
“It would be a very cold place…”
Although I couldn’t believe the earth was round, if I were to entertain the notion, then it would get colder as one journeys north. The reason for that would likely be due to receiving less sunlight. So, if that were the case, the extremes of the axis must be the coldest places in the world. Mangnyang smiled brightly and said,
“Exactly!”
“What do you mean exactly?”
“The contents of the stele in the ruins of Su-yo were as follows:
[…Song of Darkness… pairs… steps of the wind… the god of cold and white silence… The Primordial North… the arrival… no trials… but, to unseal… meet the god of silence…. mark the blood, awaken and arrive… what is offered at this altar… is the blood of the arriver…]
What could the Primordial North refer to? Doesn’t it seem to fit perfectly with the text from Zhen Wu’s Oracle Bone Script?”
“……”
“The power of Moya, passed down within Taoism, is known as Heavenly Ice. This forbidden technique can freeze everything in the world with extreme cold, even erasing a great sage. When combined with that tradition… the place called Primordial North may, in another sense, be regarded as a location that could signify the end of this world.”
I was silent for a long while, and I felt I was beginning to grasp why Mangnyang had deemed this conversation so significant. After some stammering, I asked Mangnyang to confirm my thoughts,
“If that’s the case… does it mean we have to go beyond the North Sea Ice Palace and reach a location past the icy sea where even the blue-eyed barbarians can’t survive?”
“Precisely.”
Mangnyang replied decisively.
“We must go to the land at the northern extremity to find the altar of the ‘ancient beings,’ and once you offer your blood, the seal of Moya will be unsealed.”
This was unreal. My head spun. Though I had thought the world was vast, I never imagined I would ever be expected to venture to such places. When I challenged the Twelve Standards, I had been to the North Sea Ice Palace, which was a place of eternal blizzards year-round. Beyond that lies an area where even humans couldn’t survive—a desolate frozen wasteland.
To traverse that wasteland and reach the northernmost end!
It was ridiculous, and it seemed Miho felt the same way, as she questioned Mangnyang.
“I can hardly believe this. Also, there are too many leaps in logic and no evidence. You really think we can reach the end of the world just based on the mere mention of the Primordial North?”
“I think so too. However, I need to tell you this hypothesis, Baek Woong. Because…”
Understanding Mangnyang‘s intent, I nodded.
“I got it, Mangnyang. Thank you.”
I was a body that could die at any moment. Up until now, I had died way too quickly, and Mangnyang’s research results had often led me to my untimely demise without me even learning of them. Mangnyang recognized that, and even if there wasn’t solid evidence, he wanted to share whatever he could with me. It was a kind gesture on his part.
As if he had overcome a significant hurdle, Mangnyang wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued,
“Um, and one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“I’d like to ask you to take on a secret mission soon.”
“What kind of…?”
Mangnyang grinned.
“We can’t just sit back and watch our enemies grow. We need to steal a march.”
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