Chapter 167: The Early Master (1)

Jinseong smiled as he gazed at the stars.

White clouds were slowly drifting across the black night sky, repeatedly covering and revealing the stars, but Jinseong could easily see through them without having to cast a strong spell like before. Not only that, but with his enhanced vision, he could also see the shape of airplanes flying in the sky, and even clearly see the figure of a child resting their chin on their hand while looking out the airplane window.

It was thanks to his body overflowing with vitality.

The vitality and life force gained after the coming-of-age ceremony had infused Jinseong with strength and increased the efficiency of all the sorcery he performed. Even the spell to enhance his eyes was greatly strengthened, allowing him to see farther and in more detail than before, despite using it the same way as in the past.

With Jinseong's thus enhanced eyes, he saw a single star.

It was a nameless star.

But this nameless star repeatedly shone brilliantly and then became obscured as if engulfed by darkness, which at a glance created the illusion of a light shining brightly and twinkling. However, to Jinseong's eyes that easily pierced through the clouds, the anomaly of this star was clearly visible.

Let's see. The fact that it repeatedly becomes hidden and visible even to eyes that pierce through clouds means that this is how the celestial body moves, and there's an interference where it emits light that covers it.

And the star's twinkling was like shouting loudly at Jinseong through the interference, and like sending a signal that its life was still attached.

As he stared at it, Jinseong could understand what the star was trying to say.

The twinkling spoke of brilliance.

Being covered spoke of misfortune.

And the repetition of this meant that misfortune would come and be repelled, then return again, which spoke of calamities piling up in layers or the inability to properly overcome them.

It spoke of the lifeline of that calamity being truly long and tenacious.

It's a symbol. The star is a symbol, governing fate, and protecting what has been bestowed upon each.

Jinseong sat on the roof, staring blankly at the sky.

He focused his gaze as if being sucked into the twinkling, forgetting even his own breathing and concentrating all his senses solely on his vision.

It twinkled.

And darkness entangled that twinkling.

The light of barely visible stars between the darkness burst into crying.

That light entangled and entangled, speaking of the form in which it has settled on Earth as a symbol.

The star simply indicating the northwestern direction twinkled as if bursting with indignation, and in sync with that twinkling, light gently settled in the dark space and then disappeared. And the things that settled and disappeared again became symbols and entangled, and the light that repeatedly twinkled and disappeared left afterimages in the eyes, drawing lines and surfaces.

And connecting those afterimages and traces of stars to draw shapes, overlapping with other shapes being drawn. And concentrating consciousness as if being sucked into those shapes, staring blankly at it as if becoming light itself.

And finally, the star that noticed Jinseong through observation spoke to him.

Jinseong could know who had taken the impurity.

It's China.

Like a mirage forming on asphalt in midsummer, the lightly arising afterimage drew a picture, and that picture drew a shape that at first glance looked like a scribble. Irregularly protruding ends with blurred surfaces, and even some unknown triangular shape.

An appearance that anyone would mistake for a scribble.

But Jinseong knew it well.

Zhongming Bird.

A transcendent being also called the Zhongming Bird.

A being that exerted the divine power to reject forces it considered evil, and could make somewhat clumsy prophecies.

And in the current era, this Zhongming Bird was in China.

Lushan Xuannü.

Formally called Lushan Xuannü Niangniang.

In a contract with the woman called Lushan Xuannü, or just Xuannü for short.

Hmm. Right. Come to think of it, she's still alive.

Jinseong slowly traced his memories.

When did she die again?

Lushan Xuannü died.

And at the hands of a sorcerer at that.

I never saw it directly... But I did hear about it.

Future China invaded surrounding countries like mad.

And in that process, they showed not even a speck of humanity.

If something displeased them, they carried out ethnic cleansing without hesitation. Raping or sterilizing men, saying they needed to mix Han blood with barbarians, was basic, and they even created facilities to 'efficiently increase Han bloodlines' by gathering captured women in one place.

Moreover, they even thoroughly divided classes even after conversion, as if they had set rankings for all races.

They placed yellow race at the top, black race in the middle, and white race at the bottom.

And even among yellow races, they divided minutely, with Han Chinese at the very top.

And it was during the time when this 'classification work' was actively carried out that Lushan Xuannü died.

China, which was actively waging war and expanding its territory, invaded the domain of a certain sorcerer, and shattered the altar that sorcerer had been building using materials obtained during the war.

When what he had been putting all his efforts into became nothing in an instant, the sorcerer protested in anger, but China naturally didn't even pretend to listen. Rather, they hurled all sorts of insults at the sorcerer and drove him out, and when he continued to protest, they even sent agents to assassinate him.

If that sorcerer had been weak, it might have been a method that could have worked, but...

Unfortunately, that sorcerer was strong.

And terribly strong at that.

China didn't know the true value of the sorcerer who had been living quietly in seclusion, couldn't know what kind of sorcery he used, and even less could they know what kind of things he could do.

Yes.

Unfortunately, China didn't know anything.

They didn't know that the sorcerer they had looked down on was a necromancer.

Not just someone who could command evil spirits or demons, but someone strong enough to lead beings with the prefix 'great' attached to them.

They didn't know that corpses, hon, and baek created from massacres were scattered all over China.

But ignorance could not be an excuse.

The necromancer tried to take revenge on China for ruining his altar and threatening his life.

That revenge was very simple.

Since he had lost something precious, they too should lose something precious.

The necromancer headed to Jiangxi Province, where Mount Lu is located, leading the evil spirits and demons he had gathered.

And he released the evil spirits and demons he had brought into Jiangxi Province and ordered them to kill everyone there, and scraped together the hon, baek, and corpses of the dead people. And he increased the number of his evil spirit army by commanding naturally born evil spirits and demons, and used sorcery to make plagues dwell in corpses to pollute water and land.

Of course, the Chinese Communist Party was shocked, and Lushan Xuannü was dispatched to Jiangxi Province along with the army.

And.

Lushan Xuannü died.

Lushan Xuannü died, Jiangxi Province became a land of plague, Mount Lu became a place where man-eating demons dwelled, and demons spread all over China, making it impossible for people to walk around at night, they say.

Moreover, the necromancer who did this died right there.

Everyone became equally miserable.

But misfortune often gives lessons.

After this incident, China more greedily scraped together sorcery, treated the remaining two contractors more preciously and used them only as guards for the powerful, and became more cautious when incorporating occupied territories into China.

Hmm.

Jinseong pondered for a moment about Xuannü's death and China's obsession with sorcery.

Can I make my power reach China?

Jinseong's mind raced.

China scrapes together sorcery. They're probably doing it now, will do it in the future, and will continue to do so. Then if I can make my power reach China, I could intercept it, and could also browse the sorcery they bring, therefore.

It was good for China because they didn't have to compete with Jinseong for relics.

It was good for Jinseong too because he could safely look at sorcery without competing.

Wasn't this what you call a win-win?

Peacefully.

Equally.

It was something everyone benefited from.

Moreover, if they don't compete with me, sorcery will gather faster, and if so, the clash between the necromancer and Xuannü will be brought forward, so Xuannü will die faster, and then China will realize the true value of sorcery faster and move, and if so, China will be able to gather power faster than before the regression. This too is something everyone benefits from.

But this was just a delusion.

But there's no way that's possible. How would those incredibly greedy fellows share sorcery and knowledge with a sorcerer from a country they consider small? Even if they compete, they'll think it's because they're not exerting their full strength, and unless flying sha and curses make bodies rot and put them in hospital beds, their contemptuous gaze won't disappear.

Jinseong came to a conclusion.

That it was impossible.

That no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to approach the sorcery China was gathering.

Even if I try to expand my influence with money by creating a company, it will be snuffed out with one word from the Communist Party, and even if I try to build connections over a long time, it won't be easy, and even if I manage to do so, that help won't be as big as I want.

The most important thing to project power into China was people.

Because in China, people were more important than money.

Unlike other countries where power followed when you got money, it was a country where money naturally followed when you got power.

But ironically, what had no value in China was also people.

Politics was truly mysterious.

Sometimes the filth covering a body wasn't a problem, and sometimes a single speck of dust on clothes could kill a person.

Flowers do not bloom for ten days!

What has once flourished cannot last forever, and must inevitably decline and meet its end.

The country called China becomes a monster in the future. It's not that a monster sits at the top, but the Communist Party itself changes to become like a monster...

In the terribly unparalleled World War III, the Chinese Communist Party constantly changed yet remained unchanged.

It was an ironic statement, but there was no other way to explain it.

The future Chinese Communist Party was like a person.

Like a person who maintains their individuality intact despite cells constantly dying and being replaced.

That was how they maintained the organization firmly while constantly changing.

Members died for all sorts of reasons.

The person responsible for a province died, the person responsible for finance died, even the chairman died.

Yet, like other cells filling those empty spaces, they made the Communist Party run smoothly and put someone to fill the vacancy in a short time. And when another member died, they similarly replaced that vacancy and put someone in to fill the gap.

Even if the person acting as the head died.

Even if the organ acting as the hand was blown away.

Even if 70% of the Communist Party members died.

As if possessing regenerative power, empty spaces were filled, and they ran the country properly again.

In situations where normally a country should collapse because all the leaders have been blown away, the Communist Party persisted, stubbornly filling the vacancies of dead people. As if they had prepared plenty of spares and were inserting them whenever parts broke down.

Or.

As if they were printing people from somewhere.