Chapter 1066: The Divine Tree and the Master.

I could not become the head of the Gu clan.

Although there were times I didn’t want to become the head, even from the point I became the Junior Clan Head.

Consequently, it would be no exaggeration to say it was the work of others.

Isn’t that right?

Whether I had decided or not.

Ultimately, I should have become the head. I had lived a life like that. Even though I said I didn’t want to become it, it was something I should have done in the end.

I had lived a life where I couldn’t help but have such thoughts.

I guess I’ll have to accept this damn life.

Even if I indulged in rebellion and straying, in the end, I would ascend to that place without change.

Like that.

I would ascend to the position of the father I resented. Yet, I had been living my life with that mindset.

With the emergence of the Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Demon, everything had been twisted.

The Heavenly Demon tried to kill the Divine Sword- no. The Young Sword Saint at the time.

I ended up entering the Demonic Cult in her stead.

Thus, drifting away from the Gu clan, I became distant from the position of Junior Clan Head, let alone the Clan Head position.

In the end, regretfully, I came to live a miserable life.

That was the story of my past life, though.

“The Heavenly Demon… twisted fate?”

In the first place, does that mean I didn’t become a scourge because of that?

“What kind of bullshit is that.”

I said, contorting my face. Does that even make sense?

I can’t understand. My mind refused to accept it.

What that means is, the Heavenly Demon knew everything and twisted fate, doesn’t it?

“Why would the Heavenly Demon…”

Besides, for what purpose? I had heard that it was the Heavenly Demon’s doing that I regressed, but it was the same reason back then. Why on earth did the Heavenly Demon make me regress?

I hadn’t understood even that, and now you’re saying the Heavenly Demon was the one who twisted my fate?

“…Why?”

Why me.

The Heavenly Demon, for what purpose?

‘…What is her true identity.’

What was the Heavenly Demon’s true identity, and what were her intentions? I couldn’t know the Heavenly Demon’s thoughts back then.

Even if I were to ask the current Heavenly Demon, there’s no way I could know.

Because it would be no exaggeration to say she was a different being from my past life.

Then.

‘Does even that have some kind of meaning?’

‘Damn it, why am I always…’

‘…having to live amidst such questions?’

Since there’s nothing I can understand, annoyance just surges.

Clearly, all of this is happening to me, yet I actually knew nothing. The very fact that I’m only starting to learn things one by one now…

Grrr.

I clench my fist.

Should I dismiss even this as incompetence? Just as thoughts about myself were in turmoil.

Tap.

Something lands on the crown of my head. It was a hand. The Ancestor came close and strokes my hair.

Ridiculously, I felt a little calmer from that rough touch.

“Descendant.”

The Ancestor seized that moment to speak to me.

“Oblivion, in a way, can be seen as a blessing.”

“What kind of bullshit is that, suddenly.”

“Not knowing can sometimes be a path for you.”

“That’s a pathetic excuse. Why beat around the bush when you mean ‘I don’t want to tell me’? Why annoy me like this.”

“You are correct. This is an excuse. However, it is not entirely my will alone.”

“Speak clearly. If it’s not your will, then what is it?”

Whatever the Heavenly Demon did.

Whatever my fate was.

Whatever the ultimate meaning the Gu clan held was.

It is self-evident that I ultimately didn’t know the stories unfolding centered around me.

That my life was not entirely my own.

That was the only truth I felt right now.

“…What’s the conclusion?”

So what’s the conclusion?

“The conclusion of this damn story… is that I’m ultimately supposed to become a scourge.”

The collapse of the vessel.

(I/they) said to absorb the Ancestor to prevent death.

My guess was that the meaning of absorbing the Ancestor here was one thing.

‘Inheriting the will.’

The Ancestor, who was bound by the Nine Flame Wheel Technique.

The absorption he speaks of is ultimately that.

‘Absorb me and inherit the Gu clan’s will.’ But you said inheriting the will would make me a scourge.

If it’s like this, I thought, wouldn’t it be better to just die?

“Do you think I’d do something like that? I told you. It’s better to just die.”

It’s better to face death like this.

I’m serious. Rather than burning everything down with my own hands, it’s right to let it collapse like this.

Just as I was thinking that.

“Didn’t I tell you? There’s an arrangement.”

The Ancestor added to what he was saying earlier to me.

“Arrangement. Right, I did hear about it. That Mother left behind an arrangement.”

‘Was that the divinity obtained from the Divine Tree?’

Even though I don’t clearly know what divinity is, I know something has begun to reside within my body.

How could I possibly not know that the vessel even broke because of it?

The problem is.

“What about that arrangement?”

So what changes if I receive the arrangement? That too led to one conclusion.

‘Becoming the master.’

If the vessel collapses and I absorb the Ancestor, I will receive the Gu clan’s will.

While it was confirmed that I would become a scourge through that.

What changes even if I hear about the arrangement now? So, I asked, still pissed off.

“Nothing changes. If you want to live, you must become the master.”

“…So, that damn thing. If trying it yields the same result, I won’t do it-“

“However, if you don’t become the master of the Central Plains, things would be different.”

“…Hmm?”

At the Ancestor’s words, I paused for a moment.

If I’m not the master of the Central Plains?

“What has dwelled within you is your mother’s divinity. In other words, it would be right to see it as the divinity of the Myriad Realms. In the first place, the fact that the world set you as the end of the Central Plains was largely thanks to the existence of your mother.”

“…You mean.”

“The reason your mother, driven by greed, tried to put divinity into you. Grasp that intention.”

Grasp it? About what?

What was the arrangement Mother spoke of?

‘If I’m not the master of the Central Plains, it’s fine.’

My becoming a scourge was ultimately tied to acting as the master of the Central Plains. That is, they said it would activate if I fully inherited the Gu clan’s will.

Then.

‘…Even if I become the master.’

Does that mean it’s okay if I become the master of somewhere else?

Then, the arrangement Mother and the Ancestor spoke of…

‘Are they telling me to inherit the Myriad Realms?’

Is the intention for me to embrace this vast and treacherous landmass? If that’s truly the case…

‘What about the living beings of this land?’

If I become the master, I must annihilate all living beings in that world. I didn’t want to become the master of the Central Plains precisely because I hated that.

Doesn’t that mean I’d have to do that if I became the master of the Myriad Realms?

‘…I suppose I could do it.’

It doesn’t matter.

Frankly, I discarded concepts like justice long ago. If I had to kill and discard something else for the sake of the people I care about, I could do it without hesitation.

It’s just that a slightly unpleasant thought arises.

“Don’t worry.”

Then, the Ancestor spoke, as if knowing my thoughts.

“Setting aside other places, the Myriad Realms are different.”

“What does that mean?”

“The Myriad Realms are special, unlike other worlds. You know this, don’t you? There are two masters in the Myriad Realms.”

Ah.

Now that I heard that, it was true.

Unlike other places, the Myriad Realms had two masters.

Unlike the rule that only one master must exist.

The Myriad Realms were divided into the subterranean and the surface, having two masters.

The surface was my mother.

The subterranean.

‘The Abyss.’

The Abyss, which is called the source of all death and fiends.

He was said to handle the dark and murky places.

“In the Myriad Realms, living beings don’t disappear just because the master changes. For that to be disrupted, both masters would have to disappear at once.”

“…Does that mean if I become the master of the Myriad Realms, any further problems will disappear?”

If I become the master here with the divinity of the Myriad Realms, even after absorbing the Ancestor.

Could it mean I can defy the fate ordained by the world?

I asked, wondering if that might be the case, but…

“I don’t know.”

“Is he insane?”

The Ancestor gave an absurd answer.

You don’t know?

Has he lost his mind? What kind of answer is that?

I look at him dumbfoundedly, but…

“I do not know. It’s just that when I saw the arrangement your mother prepared, I thought it might be possible.”

“…No. Are you asking me to choose based on believing something like that?”

“Yes, therefore, I said I leave it up to your choice.”

Because even I don’t know what will happen.

The Ancestor was only telling me to choose in this situation where the vessel is collapsing.

“Absorb me and restore the vessel.”

At his urging words, I let out a hollow laugh.

“…How can I believe you?”

How could I possibly believe this person called the Ancestor?

It’s a fundamental problem.

Ultimately, the being before me is a specter of the Gu clan.

He exists to make me inherit the Gu clan’s will, yet you tell me to believe him and absorb him?

For starters, it’s uncertain whether the things he said are even true.

And yet, are you telling me to bet everything on this gamble and choose it?

It was too difficult a task for me.

Hearing those words, the Ancestor’s body begins to change.

Crackle.

His body, made of flames, gradually began to change.

Crack.

The flames that made up his body fell onto the floor.

Soon after, the form that reappeared was completely different from before.

Not the time when he imitated my past life appearance…

‘Who is it?’

It was a form I was seeing for the first time. A man who was somewhat petite, with sharp eyes.

He looked like he resembled Father, and maybe like he resembled me.

Seeing that, I realized.

That this was the Ancestor’s original form.

“This is karma and punishment. These are things my bloodline shouldn’t have had to endure because of me.”

He slowly kneels down.

“I truly hope its end is not despair. Therefore, if fate can truly be changed because of this, I could ask for nothing more.”

His pitiful voice was imbued with the emotions he must have been feeling.

Whether that was urgency or earnestness.

Whatever it was, I could tell it was heartfelt.

“I cannot be sure what the result of the choice will be, but if there’s even a small possibility… I truly hope you will do that deed.”

“…Haha.”

I laughed upon hearing that.

“…In the end, you’re just asking me to clean up the mess you made.”

So that there would be no more harm caused by the consequences of his own greed.

The feeling that he hoped it would conclude with me.

From my perspective, I couldn’t help but resent it, but there was no cleaner or simpler intention than that.

“…”

I gaze quietly at the Ancestor.

If I absorb him, no matter what, I become a scourge.

I had become a dragon, not a human.

I had even broken free from the lingering attachments that held me back.

The Nine Flame Wheel Technique achieved great completion, ultimately brushing against transcendence.

Appearances quite different from my past life.

Nevertheless, the ultimate goal I aimed for was still a scourge.

‘You are the scourge.’

The words Yeon Il-cheon spoke come to mind.

I lived tenaciously, wanting to deny those words, but…

‘…Were you right?’

Could it be that Yeon Il-cheon was right in the end?

Such thoughts pierced me deeply.

Should I just collapse as I am?

Or should I choose to accept it, even if it’s a gamble?

I agonized over this.

The decision born from my deliberation came faster than I expected.