HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI (覇穹 封神演義)

Chi!

Bunchu!

You and the Yin have both grown decrepit!

The human world needs a young wind.

That's its only hope.

So it's time for you to go!

If that's what you believe, you're delusional!

I won't hand over the human world to such a myopic brat!

You're just a naïve child!

Not good.

I'm almost out of strength at this point!

Although, the same goes for him.

All right.

No matter what it costs me, and no matter what I must do,

I have no option here but to prevail!

Now, Bunchu! Let's finish this!

Fine with me. Bring it, Taikobo!

Hello, Master Genshi Tenson.

Your number one pupil, Taikobo, has arrived.

Hmm. And how is my top pupil's training going?

Oh. Uh, y'know, it's going great.

Don't lie to me, you fool!

You only pretend to meditate, while in truth,

you're actually just sleeping!

There's no deceiving these eyes of mine.

You're blessed with the rare bone structure of a Sennin,

but you choose to goof off instead of properly training.

With all due respect, Master.

I don't see the point in training if we don't use it.

Dakki and her minions are down there terrorizing

the human world.

And all we ever do is just sit up here in the heavens

and train like there's nothing we can be bothered with.

It's too depressing to train.

So I'd rather sleep than worry about it.

You better not!

It has become more than apparent that you are not suited

for our traditional form of training.

What's with the scroll?

This scroll is the Hoshin List.

I have no intention of letting Dakki and her minions

continue to wreak havoc over the human world.

Some years ago, we three Great Sennin

deliberated over a solution.

Of course, we must certainly banish them

from the Human World, but we must not allow them

to return to the Sennin world either.

Our solution...

We created the world of gods, a new dimension

between the Sennin and human worlds.

And it is there that we will seal them away.

That list contains the names of those who must be

imprisoned there.

There are 365 Sennin on that list and it is your duty

to defeat them all!

Wait!

Sennin and Doshi are forbidden to take the life of another!

You won't be doing any killing, Taikobo.

Please, give us some credit.

Take a look over there.

The tower you see before you is called the Hoshindai.

Once an evil Sennin has been defeated in the human world,

their souls are magnetically drawn to the Hoshindai

and then immediately trapped within.

Uh... How did I never notice that before?

If it were enough for us to simply overthrow

and banish Dakki, we would mount all of our forces

against her.

But if such a powerful ruler were to be lost,

the humans would rebel against the controlling Yin

and the world would be thrown into chaos.

The chance for such calamity must be avoided at any cost.

In other words, we'll need to provide some stability

after Dakki's defeated.

Precisely.

To prevent the pervasive spread of pandemonium,

we'll need to establish a new king in the human world.

The most aptly suited candidate would have to be Kisho,

the Seihakuko.

But for Kisho to become king,

he will have to be the one to defeat Dakki.

So you are to use your knowledge to move forward

with the Hoshin Project while ensuring that Kisho

achieves this goal.

And if you refuse...

...you will choose expulsion!

Wait, you'll kick me out?!

Do you think Taikobo will accept the mission?

Yes. I'm certain that he will.

Oh?

He has his own personal stake in the matter.

It was a ruthless manhunt.

They said they needed to bury the villagers

with the slain emperor to be his attendants.

They normally only need five or six.

Why would they murder hundreds?

It was the selfish demand of the evil empress.

The Yin empress. She did this.

The empress of the Yin is an immortal Sennyo

who once lived in the Sennin world

and now manipulates mankind with the power

of her beguiling beauty.

Unbelievable!

She descended to the human world centuries ago

and has lived in the Imperial palace ever since.

By changing her name and appearance,

she has deceived generations of emperors

while indulging in a life of decadent profligacy.

The death of our beloved emperor demands extravagance.

He deserves hundreds of attendants in the afterlife,

not just five.

We don't want the people of Yin to rebel against us,

of course, so round them up from other tribes.

Yes, Miss.

Dakki seems to have recently acquired

a dangerous new spell.

Such wicked power attained through mere beauty

cannot be allowed to continue.

My name is Genshi, and I have come to summon you.

It is your fate to become a Sennin.

A Sennin?

My mother, father, brother, and my little sister...

The empress killed them all!

If I become a Sennin, can I punish her for her crimes?

I've made up my mind, Master.

I'll undertake the Hoshin Project.

Good to hear.

In that case, you deserve to carry this with you.

A paopei that manipulates the air.

It's called Dashinben.

A paopei?

I've always wanted a power amplifying weapon.

And now I've got one!

And one more thing to help you on your way.

This is Supushan, your spirit beast.

He'll take you wherever you need to go.

Really?

Hey, it's Taikobo, right? As he said, my name's Supushan.

It's very nice to meet ya.

You too, buddy!

The Hoshin Project, huh?

Well that's good for a laugh.

I rule over more than 300 slavishly loyal

Sennin and Doshi,

and some novice Doshi thinks he can overthrow me?

They don't seem to have thought out this plan.

After all, the extent of your power is only second to mine.

So, how will you handle him?

I've spent hundreds of years perfecting

my Temptation spell and thus obtained the highest status.

Why should I waste my time entertaining

the ambitions of one meager Doshi?

I can appreciate your disregard,

but I'd still like to give this a go and test out his powers

just to be on the safe side of things.

Lady Dakki just ordered you to ignore him!

Do you intend to disobey her?

I am here as Lady Dakki's guest, not a servant.

I warn you not to make that mistake again.

He speaks the truth!

Well, while we're on the subject,

I think I'll go ahead and take my shot at Taikobo.

I'm itching to try out my Raikoben here, after all.

How much longer until we reach the capital, Supu?

Still quite a ways.

This country's pretty huge, y'know.

Hey, look.

There's a shepherd down there.

A nomad roaming the west.

He must be of the Kyo people.

Poor guy's clothes are in tatters.

I'm kinda curious, Master.

Have you taken the time to look over the Hoshin list yet?

Jeez. No.

Better read it before we reach Choka.

Not a bad idea.

First name up... Shinkohyo.

What? Did you say Shinkohyo?

This is bad!

They say he's stronger than the Three Great Sennin combined!

He's the strongest Doshi, rides the strongest spirit beast,

and he's even got Raikoben, the strongest paopei!

What? Hold on!

They can't expect me to fight him!

Then don't do it!

Why wake up a sleeping dog to kill you?

Does this list go from strongest to weakest

or something?

That's gotta be it, yeah, let's see who's at the end.

You must be Taikobo.

It's a pleasure to meet you, truly.

I'm Shinkohyo, an imperial guest of the empress.

Speak of the devil.

Master Shinkohyo!

How can a person of your great stature

align himself with Dakki?

Now, now, Kokutenko, calm down.

It's not nice to make murderous threats.

Despite how it appears, I haven't taken anyone's side.

I only reside in the palace due to my chronic predilection