Enshrinement as a God

It had been exactly a fortnight since Hongjun had left.

Although it was a short time, Agong did his best to normalize the tavern and its surroundings.

But it was almost impossible for Agong to restore the half-burnt tavern to its original state by himself.

And in the end, Hongjun returned before Agong, who had given up on everything.

"You've blown away the tavern in less than a month. I don't know what you'll do if I leave it to you for a little longer."

"...I'm sorry."

"The deed is done... what's the use of completing the God-Sealing Platform? All the ones who were supposed to be sealed have escaped."

"Sealed?"

"The followers of Sheng Wang from the Non-Duality Gate have left the Hermit's Valley. I heard on the way that a few from the Sea Isle Sect have also left the Hermit's Valley."

"Then..."

If Sheng Wang had left the Hermit's Valley, his daughter, Daji, would have also left the Hermit's Valley.

No matter what, Agong felt a bitter taste in his mouth at the fact that she had disappeared without a word to him, even though they had been close for a while.

Agong knew that there were many who wanted to leave the Hermit's Valley, avoiding Hongjun.

They were all afraid of Hongjun and were staying in the Hermit's Valley because they could not accept the conditions that Hongjun had presented.

"Now you take responsibility."

"How can I?"

"Since you have broken the law of the valley, a great disaster will come to the world. The one who made the mess should clean it up. I can't clean it up, can I?"

"No way..."

"Either send them back to the Hermit's Valley or cut off their lives. You can figure out the method yourself."

"How can I do that!"

Agong, startled, raised his voice.

The ones who were in the Hermit's Valley were all, without a doubt, tremendous masters. Moreover, the Westerners of the Non-Duality Gate were also masters who were not inferior to them.

Agong was not confident of subduing them.

"The method is for you to figure out. Even if you don't catch them all, if you subdue them with a suitable number, you can do as you please after that."

"How do I know the suitable number?"

"The blood of enough masters to activate the God-Sealing Platform."

At Hongjun's words, Agong stopped his retort.

He couldn't understand why the God-Sealing Platform, which he had heard about from Shen Gongbao before, kept popping up.

In any case, it must have been the reason why Hongjun and Master Gongsun had put so much effort into it so far.

"When that is over, you will know without anyone having to tell you."

"Then are you telling me to leave the Hermit's Valley now?"

"Did you ever think you would stay here forever?"

It wasn't that, but it wasn't like this.

Master Gongsun, who was looking at Agong's troubled face, smiled with his wrinkled face and patted Agong's shoulder.

"For now, go to Zhu Yuan and check the situation."

Zhu Yuan was the home of Master Gongsun's family that he had mentioned in the past.

"But what you mean is..."

"Now that you are leaving the Hermit's Valley, you will never come back. From now on, you will live not as Agong, but as Jiang Ziya."

"..."

Agong hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"Or do you not like receiving my surname?"

"N-no! It's just... um..."

Agong hesitated and twitched his lips, which would not easily part.

To become Jiang Ziya. Then did that mean that the Master Gongsun in front of him would soon become his father?

Since he had been an orphan from a very young age, Agong had almost no memory of his father. Moreover, since he had never even said the word out loud, it was strange and awkward.

Agong, who had been hesitating for a long time at the strange feeling that was tickling his two cheeks, opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

"Thank you. Fath..."

"That's enough. The relationship between master and disciple is also like that of father and son. Since we are bound by a bond deeper than a relationship, there is no need to follow formalities."

Agong, who had no other choice, nodded his head.

He could not be stubborn after causing such a catastrophe.

As Master Gongsun finished his words, Cook Li stepped forward.

"If it weren't for this opportunity, it would be even more difficult for you to get out of this place. As the days go by, Tongtian's training becomes more violent, so isn't it difficult to avoid it anymore?"

After leaving the Heavenly Demon Cave, and after Agong's martial arts had become strange, Tongtian, as if possessed by something, had been pushing Agong and had been trying to forcibly train him in the Manifest Demon True Art.

"And if you leave this place, please do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"If you ever have a chance to visit the Martial Arts Alliance, you must dig out the three characters 'Li Hachan' from the death list there."

"The Martial Arts Alliance death list?"

"Yes, if you just take care of that, you can think that you have no debt to me."

"A debt? You don't have to say it like that... if I can, I'll definitely do it."

Agong recalled the story that Cook Li had been put on the death list for splashing shit on the nameplate of the Martial Arts Alliance in the past.

He had been indebted to Cook Li a lot so far, and Cook Li was also Agong's master.

Agong decided that he would definitely do it, even if he didn't say it was a debt.

As the two finished their words, Old Ancestor Hongjun opened his mouth again.

"If you have any thoughts of giving up on the work after you go outside, it would be better to give up on that thought early on."

"What do you mean?"

"The price for you leaving the valley is what I have taken on. If you solve the matter, I will take on this karma, but if you give up, it will become double and will stab you."

Although it was a very threatening statement, Hongjun's words were by no means empty.

In the end, hadn't countless masters been tied to the Hermit's Valley because they could not pay that damn price?

"You're not going to tell me what it is?"

"What's the fun in telling you in advance?"

Although it was someone else's business, Agong, as if he were fed up with Hongjun, who was speaking as if he were joking, raised his two hands.

As Agong left his seat to pack his belongings, including Tonglin, Hongjun, seeing the worried expression of Master Gongsun, opened his mouth coldly.

"Tsk, tsk... if you don't use the tool you've heated up to use, how can you be responsible for the peace of the world?"

"But... isn't it too harsh for him to be like that without knowing anything?"

"Tears are not worth a handful compared to the great cause. Wipe away your tears."

Master Gongsun, realizing that his eyes had become moist without him realizing it, wiped his tears with his sleeve.

And the face of Cook Li, who was firmly holding his shoulder, did not look very good either.

Justice will prevail...

The God-Sealing Plan, which would bring peace to the world for ten thousand years, had begun, but he could not watch it with tears.

* * *

Although he had lived in the Hermit's Valley for several years, he didn't have much to pack. Thanks to that, Agong left the Mountain Sea Tavern lightly.

But as he was about to leave the Hermit's Valley as if he were being chased by something, unlike his light two hands, he could not erase the very uneasy feeling.

No matter how he thought about it, the actions of Old Ancestor Hongjun, who had been so calm for someone who had made such a request, and Cook Li and Master Gongsun, who had seen the ruined tavern, were too strange.

As if they had expected such a thing to happen, they had naturally sent him down from the Hermit's Valley.

"No way... did you leave the tavern from the beginning to do this?"

Although he thought it was an excessive suspicion, Agong still did not feel refreshed.

Although he had wanted to leave the Hermit's Valley so much, as he was being driven out like this as if he were being chased, he also felt a fear of the unfamiliar world.

Moreover, Hongjun's last words were also one of the reasons that were bothering Agong.

The words that if he could not catch or kill the people of the Non-Duality Gate who had run away, he would have to pay a great price, also meant that Agong had to solve the matter one way or another.

Since the people who had run away from Hongjun would not fully respond to Agong's persuasion, in the worst-case scenario, he might have to risk his life.

Although he had cut off the lives of many strange beasts in the Hermit's Valley, he had never taken a person's life.

"If it's so easy to kill a person, you should do it yourself..."

"Because he can't step forward."

Someone appeared through the fog from the place where he had kicked a rolling stone with all his might.

Agong, who was startled by the shadow that was twice his height, flinched and gripped Tonglin, taking a posture, but.

The one who had come out of the fog was a face that Agong also knew well.

"What is it?"

"Are you going down the mountain, junior brother?"

Shen Gongbao, who had appeared like a leisurely immortal riding on the back of a huge white tiger, had come out to meet Agong, who had moved away from the Mountain Sea Tavern.

"You're asking because you already know, right?"

"Of course, isn't it stranger not to know about such a big commotion?"

He was moving with Agong, matching his pace, while riding on the back of the Black Spot Tiger.

Agong, for a moment, had the thought of what it would be like to ride on the back of a white tiger, but seeing the fierce face of the Black Spot Tiger, which was breathing out from right next to him, that thought disappeared as if it had been washed away.

"What do you mean Old Ancestor Hongjun can't step forward?"

"Although the God-Sealing Platform has been completed, who can handle that powerful and hideous thing? Until the work is over, Hongjun will be pouring all his strength into managing the God-Sealing Platform, so he will have no strength to chase the ones who have run away."

Agong, who had heard the words 'God-Sealing Platform' again, was sure that the cause of this mess was that God-Sealing Platform.

"So you're saying that Old Ancestor Hongjun can't move because of that?"

"That's right. And you, forgetting all my words, are not moving according to his intentions like a reckless fool, are you?"

"Then you're saying that my taking care of the tavern alone, and Sheng Wang making that mess and running away, were all planned?"

"Now you're talking!"

Seeing Shen Gongbao, who was bursting out laughing, Agong looked up at him as if he were dumbfounded.

If this were true, it was a matter that he had to go back to the tavern and question right away.

"Stop it. Just because of that, it doesn't mean that it's not something you've done. And to go against it, you're already in a situation where you've entrusted your body to a precarious wave."

"Then why me? There are many more skilled and scary people here. Or there's you, senior brother."

"Who? Me?"

Shen Gongbao burst out laughing again.

"I just guarded the tower on the orders of Lord Laozi, that's all. It's not something that should be done. No."

The fact that he had intentionally leaked the magic of the Non-Duality Gate, which was approaching the God-Sealing Platform, was a secret only to Shen Gongbao.

In the end, since Old Ancestor Hongjun's plan had proceeded without any major hitches, it had become like a child's play.

"And in the end, thanks to your hard work in the Hermit's Valley, the martial world will suffer, so you should finish it."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

"Since the person who will do the work is ready, didn't he release all the fish? Since the already chaotic world will be full of muddy water, it is an unavoidable matter that many people will be injured."

Agong had the thought that Shen Gongbao, who was speaking in riddles, was like a real Taoist.

That's right, hadn't he said something strange before, that he had foresight?

"Then the reason you told me not to act according to Old Ancestor Hongjun's intentions before was because you saw a premonition?"

"Everything will be solved with blood. How does it feel to be at the center of a human sacrifice?"

"Is that person called Sheng Wang so dangerous?"

When he had seen him at the tavern, he had not seemed like a person who was dangerous enough to say this.

Of course, the madness of him burning the tavern was fear itself...

"He and his subordinates. And those three monsters will bring great chaos."

Agong briefly thought of Daji.

But the Daji that Agong had experienced was a girl with a childlike side.

He couldn't understand at all that she would do something bad.

No, more than that, how on earth did Shen Gongbao know Daji?

Daji had said that no one in the Hermit's Valley, except for the people on Sheng Wang's side and himself, should know about her...

"But it's not that everything has gone according to Hongjun's will yet."

"Don't say such things and can't you help me a little? Don't just say you're my senior brother."

"Haha!"

Grrr...

While Shen Gongbao was laughing at Agong's request, the Black Spot Tiger suddenly let out a low warning sound. It raised its fur and showed its sharp teeth.

Shen Gongbao, at the Black Spot Tiger's warning, came to his senses and raised his head.

"Oh my, a scary person is coming. I'm leaving. See you next time, junior brother Jiang."

Agong, who was about to say again that his name was Agong, recalled that he had received a new surname and name from Master Gongsun and looked at the place where he had disappeared with a surprised expression.

Although he didn't know if he really had the ability of foresight, he was a very strange person.

Swoosh.

The fog that had been blocking his eyes thinned and began to soar into the sky.

When someone's figure was revealed in the fog that had gathered like a tornado.

Agong soon knew that the scary person that Shen Gongbao had mentioned had appeared in front of him.

"Master Tongtian."

(End of Chapter)