Chapter 1064: The Divine Tree and the Master.

If you absorb the Ancestor, it becomes a Calamity.

Hearing that sound, I froze up.

Calamity. That terrible, irritating word. Why am I hearing that now of all times? With widened eyes, I turned my head. Towards Elder Shin. What did that mean? I looked at the elder as if asking for an answer, but…

Seeing his expression, I realized it was true.

Elder Shin was looking at me with a thin, somewhat dark gaze.

Did that expression mean he knew? About this?

Thump-thump.

‘Hah.’

My heart pounded like it was trying to escape. Enduring the frantic sensation, I looked at the Ancestor before me and asked.

“……If I absorb you, it becomes a Calamity?”

“Yes.”

“Does that make sense? How could that…”

“You already know that it’s possible, don’t you?”

“…”

I flinched at the Ancestor’s words.

“You would have realized it the moment you heard it. That it could happen. At least, you should have. Isn’t that right?”

“…”

I had nothing to say. Even though I wanted to argue, it was the truth. As soon as I heard it, I vaguely… No, perhaps I was certain.

‘It must have been like that since the moment the vessel collapsed.’

From the point I knew my inner world was shaking this much as the vessel collapsed.

Around the time I met this guy claiming to be the Ancestor.

And.

‘From the time I heard that my fate was to become a Calamity.’

Perhaps it could turn out like this.

I might have known.

I just wanted to deny it.

As always.

Crackle.

After glancing briefly at the splitting sky, I asked the Ancestor.

“Fine, let’s put that aside.”

There’s something I don’t understand.

“Then why did you beat me up?”

Why did you just start beating me up out of the blue? Just telling me would have been enough, but when I asked why he hit me the moment he saw me, the Ancestor immediately replied.

“I had to confirm.”

“…Confirm? Confirm what?”

“An assessment of whether you were a vessel capable of containing it. And, I wanted to see the state of your flame.”

“…You beat me up for that?”

And beat me half to death? I was dumbfounded.

“Now that I’ve confirmed, I understand well. If we delay any longer, you will die. Or rather…”

The Ancestor paused briefly to choose his words, then continued.

“You will perish.”

“…What’s the difference between dying and perishing? Aren’t they the same thing?”

“The annihilation of the soul and death are different. Of course, from your perspective, they might seem the same, but… that’s not what’s important right now.”

Fwoosh.

A change occurred in the Ancestor as he spoke. The form that mimicked my past life slowly burned away, leaving only a silhouette composed entirely of flame.

Seeing that, I widened my eyes slightly. It looked familiar. Where had I seen that before? As I tried to recall my memories, I fortunately remembered it not long after.

‘Grandfather.’

That beggar-like old man who appeared, calling himself my grandfather.

He rendered my flame unusable in an instant, then arbitrarily told me to come to Singang – that damned human.

‘Human? Can you even call that a human?’

Though his form made of flame looked human enough on the outside, I couldn’t feel any humanity from him at all.

An indescribable aura and feeling.

I still couldn’t forget the preemptive fear my Nine Fiery Wheels felt upon facing that old man.

‘That…’

It resembled his appearance back then.

Flare.

As I confirmed the burning flame and contorted my face, the Ancestor spoke to me.

“How much do you know about the Gu family’s secret?”

“…Well. About the fact that I’m suffering quite a bit because you did shitty things?”

“You know well.”

“Look at this shamelessness.”

I was being snarky, but he ignored it nonchalantly. It was certain. That guy was indeed likely a member of the Gu family.

“The sins received due to my blood are various, but the fundamental one is bearing the burden of sin.”

“Bearing the burden…?”

“Yes, the fact that the Central Plains went awry. Bearing the sin I brought upon myself is the Gu family’s karma.”

The sin the Ancestor committed. Did he mean opening the Demonic Mirror Gate and messing up the Central Plains?

That was one of the truths I learned upon becoming the Young Master.

What else could they be bearing?

Just as the question arose, the Ancestor spoke as if he had been waiting.

“Descendant.”

“What.”

“There must always be a Master in the world. Do you know that this is the absolute law set by the world?”

I know.

It was a truth I had heard many times already.

“What I mean by ‘absolute’ here is that it’s an immutable law. So, there’s something to consider.”

Swish.

The Ancestor extended a single index finger. Heat haze from flames rose from the tip.

“There is currently no Master in the Central Plains. Do you know how the world could endure that?”

“…What?”

Suddenly, the topic shifted to the Central Plains.

There is currently no Master in the Central Plains. That’s right. The Master is the Calamity, and the Calamity becomes the Master only after annihilating all life and reconstructing it, as they say.

To prevent this, heroes including Elder Shin had stopped the Blood Demon of the past.

It’s true that hundreds of years have passed like that.

“That’s correct. The Dragon Emperor failed. Whether he was made to fail or intended to fail is questionable, but the result is that he ultimately failed.”

“…What’s the conclusion? So what?”

The Blood Demon failed.

My mother stepped up.

And the current result is that I must become the next Calamity. So what am I supposed to do?

As I started getting frustrated by the incomprehensible words.

“Descendant. Do you think the world is merciful enough to let a world without a Master exist for hundreds of years? No. The world is not that merciful. It’s a being that hates distortion more than anything.”

“But the Central Plains were fine, weren’t they? Whether there was a Master or not. So, isn’t it just fine?”

Although there are stories of my mother coming and going, even though I haven’t become the Master now.

I know they’ve been doing just fine despite there being no Master during that time.

But you say the world wasn’t merciful.

Then what exactly was the problem-

“That’s wrong. It’s not that it was fine. It’s that we made it fine.”

I nodded at the Ancestor’s words. Not that it was fine, but that we made it fine?

“The Gu family’s sin. That is precisely this.”

“What…”

“Bearing the world that was about to collapse because there was no Master, preventing it from twisting. That is the Gu family’s current burden.”

“…”!

Hearing his words, my eyes widened like saucers. What was this nonsense now?

“…Bearing the distortion?”

“The severe punishment handed down by the world. So that the martial artists of the Central Plains cannot raise their ranks. Especially.”

The Ancestor’s gaze turned towards Elder Shin.

“You know they lowered the bar, so that people like that person, or like them, have no hope of breaking through their limits and raising their rank, right?”

“…”

I knew that too. It was something I heard from Elder Noya.

“The Gu family is uniquely exempt from that line.”

“Huh…?”

This was another thing I didn’t know.

“Wasn’t it just my father who was like that?”

“Do you know why? This is also for the sake of bearing it.”

Flare-.

The flames shining from the Ancestor’s feet gradually expanded their range.

“With insufficient rank, they cannot withstand the world’s punishment. And because they cannot even temporarily guard the vacant Master’s seat in the Central Plains, the Gu family must be strong.”

“…That’s incomprehensible.”

Contorting my face, I said to the Ancestor.

“Then what about me?”

If the Gu family was excluded from the world’s punishment.

And because of that, they became beings who could easily raise their rank.

“Then what am I?”

In my past life, I couldn’t become strong without the Demon God’s help.

When I explained this by analogy, the Ancestor reacted as if he expected me to ask even that.

“That’s right. You were different.”

The Ancestor admitted it. But.

“That’s why you are the anomaly.”

“…”

“What the…”

“Despite inheriting the Gu family’s bloodline, you are not included in the karma. Yet you still intrude into all sorts of currents of fate. This is why you are labeled a Calamity.”

Flare.

The Ancestor took steps towards me. Each time, flames left marks on the floor.

“From the moment your mother gave birth to you. Or, from the moment the world sent your mother to the Central Plains and intertwined her with the Gu family’s bloodline.”

Perhaps.

No, clearly from that moment.

“You were destined to turn out this way. Because the world is not merciful, it made even this certain.”

“…Certain?”

“It likely means you were meant to finish it yourself. If you created a crack, you were meant to maintain it yourself, and ultimately use my blood to cleanse the world and normalize it.”

The severe punishment imposed on the goblin who desperately wanted to return home.

Because the beginning was the Gu family.

The end must also be the Gu family.

That was the meaning.

“…Bullshit.”

Cursing came out involuntarily. What kind of fucked-up words are these?

“Then what is it? Is this whole mess ultimately happening because of you?”

“…I won’t deny it.”

“Not that you won’t, you can’t. You son of a bitch.”

Grab-!

I grabbed him by the collar.

Since only flames remained, I wondered if I could even grab him, but surprisingly, I could.

It wasn’t even hot. Did he deliberately let me grab him?

“…Why is everyone giving me shit?”

I said through gritted teeth.

“I just wanted to live comfortably. No, it doesn’t even have to be comfortable. I just wanted to live a normal life. Why does it always have to be me…!”

As I spat out my resentful words, the flame spoke to me in a low voice.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Sorry my ass… Do you even mean it? A person who says sorry is telling me to become a Calamity?”

I’ve been struggling like this because I don’t want to become that.

What? Become a Calamity?

“I’d rather die. Just kill me instead.”

Whether it’s perishing or death.

Just make it that way. That would be better.

Just as I was about to give up on everything, thinking thus.

“If you don’t accept it, the people you wanted to protect will die by your hand.”

At the Ancestor’s words, a murderous intent flashed in my eyes.

Is this a threat now?

“This bastard.”

It doesn’t matter if my strength works or not. I will kill this guy, even if I die.

Deciding thus, as I moved to clench my fist.

“However, I will help you so that doesn’t happen.”

Halt.

At the Ancestor’s words, I stopped my body for a moment.

“Even if you become the Calamity, there is a way to not reconstruct the Central Plains.”

“…”

Without replying, I glared at him.

Go on, say it. I looked at him with that expression.

The Ancestor’s lips opened after a brief silence.

“…The arrangements your mother gave you. The answer lies there.”

What came out of that was, surprisingly, talk about my mother.