Chapter 1014: The Divine Tree and the Master.

As the sunset was gradually setting. In a field in a corner of the Hwasan Sect, flames were ceaselessly rising.

Fwoooooosh—!!!

The blue flame, now more radiant than before. Heat, imbued with a clearly brightened color and vitality, swept the surroundings.

Fwaaaaaaaa—!!!

Where the flames had passed, beautiful embers danced as if fireflies were moving.

The large amount of blue flame brushing the air emitted its presence, creating a lovely curve with a single gesture.

Thus, for a long time.

Watching the flames that had been moving for yet another long while, I slowly clenched my spread-out palm.

Then, the flames that had been floating in the air, obscuring the sunset, suddenly stirred.

Kwaaaaaa—!!!

Exhaling rough breaths, it poured down on me.

It was karmic fire that felt like it would burn me to death if I were swept away by it, but the flame that approached me gathered at one point and began to coil around the arm clenched into a fist.

Thus, the flame wrapped around my entire right arm gradually increased its rotational speed.

It reduced its size and made its color deeper.

Fwoooooosh—!!!

Its size shrank further. As the speed increased, it reduced its volume.

As the speed increased and the volume decreased, pressure was added.

With the friction, the heat grew stronger.

Soon, not long after, when the flame stopped its speed.

Chiiiiiiiiik—!!!!

A sound like something cooking echoed from my right arm as the flame’s form was completed.

“…….”

I calmly stared at the formed something.

It felt like new skin had been made on my arm.

Shall I call it skin made of flame? The shimmering form, the embers rising little by little.

Even the hot heat that made it feel like my insides were heating up just by looking.

It was a power possessing a form quite different from the martial arts I had used until now.

“Hmm…….”

Watching that, I let out a slight hum. A dissatisfied face was a bonus. To look at, it seemed like considerable power was coiled within, and indeed it was.

“…The firepower itself doesn’t seem bad.”

One-tenth of my total internal energy.

Measured by volume, immense power was put in. Thanks to the widened vessel reached through transcendence and the energy filling the enlarged space, my energy had increased compared to before.

‘Compared to the past. Almost thirty percent. No, maybe forty percent.’

Compared to before coming to the Myriad Realms, it’s about the amount of power put in.

As much as that, the firepower itself would be tremendously high, but.

“This isn’t it.”

My eyebrows furrowed on their own.

This wasn’t what I wanted. It was true the firepower was high, and it was true it looked highly complete, but crucially, the form I wanted was not this.

Clench-!

I put more strength into the fist I was holding.

Then, the coiled flame wavered roughly and exploded outwards.

Fwooooooosh—!!!

As the flame exploded, air pressure burst along with it. It didn’t cause damage to the surroundings. It was merely a strong wind that blew briefly.

“…Tsk.”

I checked the condition with disappointment. My energy was still plentiful, and I wasn’t tired.

Despite spending time unleashing strong firepower, almost thirty percent of my energy still remained.

‘With this much…’

It seems my energy won’t run out in most fights.

The flame, too, had become much more fluid upon reaching transcendence, making it comfortable to move as if it were my own body.

Overall, I had become much stronger.

This was satisfactory, but.

‘Still, I ultimately failed to succeed.’

Although I had already gone through several repetitions, I ultimately failed to achieve what I wanted.

I tried my best, but ultimately failed even to get close.

‘How on earth did Father do it?’

What I was trying to do was none other than this.

That power Father used previously in Sichuan.

I was making repeated attempts to use it.

‘The ultimate technique used against the Demon Queen in my past life.’

The Gu family’s ultimate technique. I succeeded in learning it upon reaching transcendence, but separately from that, I couldn’t use the complete state Father used.

It was the power Father used while fighting the Demon Queen, driving her to the brink of death.

It was also the power that resolved an unknown seal that was with the Heavenly Venerate.

‘How on earth do you use it?’

I have no clue.

Unlike Taesan Ohyeong, who learned the usage method as soon as they reached transcendence.

‘That’s different.’

I couldn’t learn this. I thought maybe it was a part of the ultimate technique, but it wasn’t.

This was a power that needed to be learned in yet another way.

‘How do I do it?’

Clearly, the heat gathered only on the palm and emitted light.

So, I tried every possible method, but.

‘The entire arm is the best I can do.’

No matter how much I compressed the heat and applied pressure, I ultimately failed to condense the heat onto the palm alone.

I still remember the amount of energy Father used.

That was certainly a considerable power, and trying to expel and compress it as if imitating the amount I vaguely saw…

‘I keep failing.’

The amount was too much, making control impossible. Upon reaching transcendence, at least I can wrap it around my arm.

Originally, let alone compression, it would just be wandering around in the air.

“Tsk.”

Clicking my tongue briefly, I looked up at the sky.

What I started in the morning had somehow progressed towards evening.

As soon as I finished my conversation with Mujeogaeng, I started training, and now it’s this time.

What I started to relieve my stuffy heart took up too much time.

Tap tap.

I lightly brushed off my body with my hands. At the same time, I tried to recall the conversation from back then.

‘That the Demon Queen put Mujeogaeng into me…’

The conversation I had with Mother, too.

And the conversation with Mujeogaeng. As soon as I recalled them again, my mind sank heavily.

I immersed myself in training, trying hard to erase this thought, but as soon as it ended, it was rising like a ghost.

“Huuuuuu-.”

Through the low sigh I let out, stuffiness poured out.

‘What on earth is it?’

Mujeogaeng, who appeared as a clone, didn’t have much conversation with me.

At most a few words.

‘The fact that the Demon Queen put himself into my body.’

Besides that, they were the answers to the question of whether she knew I would become a disaster for the Central Plains.

Mujeogaeng said regarding this question.

‘You must be careful.’

He said.

What should I be careful of? When I asked what it meant, Mujeogaeng continued speaking.

‘Remember. The seed.’

‘…Remember the seed?’

It was a bewildering statement. What did it mean to suddenly tell me to remember the seed?

However, as soon as I thought of the question, one thing did come to mind.

‘Perhaps.’

Before.

Probably around three to four years after my regression.

It was something that happened on the front lines.

I had discovered something shaped like a giant egg in a place managed by the Gu family.

When I instinctively reached out my hand looking at it. Kkureung-i. That is, that Mujeogaeng bastard stopped me.

I remember his words then.

‘Seed.’

He called that egg a seed back then. It’s something I couldn’t understand thinking about it then.

‘How could something so huge be a seed?’

It was too enormous to be called a seed.

Why was the Gu family keeping something Mujeogaeng called a seed?

‘As far as I know… that’s a place the Gu family has managed for generations.’

It must have been a very long period, not a short one.

But that’s a seed? Moreover.

‘To remember.’

The thing I, who am destined to become a disaster, must remember.

Recalling Mujeogaeng’s words, I frowned.

After saying those words, Mujeogaeng disappeared as if he had conveyed everything he needed to.

It’s absurd.

‘Why didn’t you tell me about the Demon Queen.’

How could it be the Demon Queen, not Mother, who put Mujeogaeng into my body?

Moreover, when?

‘If that’s really the case, was it when she bestowed powers?’

When she made me a demon and bestowed powers.

I received the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique then; if I were to guess, was it then?

‘And that has continued even after my regression?’

It’s a point in time where I know the Demon Queen also influenced my regression.

‘What did she want from me?’

Why did the Demon Queen put these things into me?

Leaving aside how she caused the regression.

‘Why me?’

Why was it me? Were the Demon Queen’s actions towards me also part of fate?

I couldn’t know.

The more I thought and tried to understand, the more the things I experienced were all connected one by one.

Damn it, I wanted to think it was absurd, but it really was.

What truly lies at the end of these connected things?

What awaits that makes them so inconveniently and densely connected?

As I tried hard to find a conclusion regarding this.

Crackle-!

At the felt presence, I turned my head. Seeing the person standing in the direction I turned, I had to let out a wry laugh.

“Speak of the devil.”

“Huh?”

The one who appeared was the Demon Queen. With her familiar blank expression, she approached me and asked.

“Is it over?”

“…Yeah. Roughly.”

I had already known she was watching from a distance.

Perhaps because she knew I was training, she didn’t approach, just watched. But as soon as she knew it was over, she seemed to approach.

“What are you going to do now?”

“…….”

To the calmly asked question, I slightly furrowed my brow.

Without answering that question, I asked the opposite instead.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“What on earth are you?”

“Huh…?”

To my question, the Demon Queen tilted her head.

“What on earth are you, that you’re doing this to me? Do you know something? Or are you pretending not to know?”

“…Huh?”

“Ah, that expression again.”

She looks exactly like Wi Seol-ah and often puts on an expression like she knows nothing.

At first glance, it’s an innocent face, but since I’ve heard a lot, I don’t know if that face is real or not.

“What is your identity?”

“I am me.”

“…So. What are you?”

“I am me?”

“Are you trying to fight me?”

“No?”

The Demon Queen shook her head back and forth. It was a strong denial. After shaking her head like that for a moment, she stopped again.

Looks at me and says.

“I am me. And.”

She stretches out her index finger and points at me.

“You know.”

“…What are you talking about?”

I’m the fool for asking.

What happened during the regression that made that proud and arrogant woman become like this?

‘In the first place, is that her true form,’

Or is she hiding her true form?

From my perspective, it didn’t feel like she was hiding something.

Then.

‘What must she go through to become that Demon Queen?’

What could the process have been by which that woman became her past self?

While I was quite curious about that.

“…Alright, prepare yourself.”

Clicking my tongue, I said to the Demon Queen.

“Prepare?”

“Because we have to move, prepare.”

“Where are we going?”

The Demon Queen asked with a question, and I replied, mixing a sigh into my words.

“Mt. Maryeong.”

Mt. Maryeong, where the next Divine Tree is.

I intended to head there, and this time, I planned to take the Demon Queen too.

‘Since the Demon Queen is heavily involved in this matter.’

If we were to go on a long journey, the reason was the judgment that it’s better to keep her by my side rather than leaving her separate.

To the words I uttered, the Demon Queen’s eyes widened.

“Huh? Me too?”

“If you don’t want to go, say so.”

“I’ll go. Let’s go.”

The Demon Queen approaches me with light steps.

Her expression didn’t change, but she seemed subtly excited.

Knowing where we’re going and what we’ll do, why is she so excited?

It’s absurd.

“…Because we’re leaving right away. If there’s anything to pack, pack it.”

I just said that casually. Pack what? Nonsense, where would the Demon Queen have such things?

As if proving those words, the Demon Queen says.

“I don’t have any.”

To those words, just as I was about to move immediately.

“But you need to pack.”

To the words that followed, I had to pause my body for a moment.

“Me what?”

I asked with a puzzled face, and the Demon Queen says.

“It’s a mountain.”

“But?”

“You hate climbing mountains. You need to pack a walking stick.”

“What kind of crazy talk is this? Why would I pack a walking stick?”

“Don’t you hate climbing mountains?”

“That’s right-“

While talking, I scowled deeply.

“…How did you know?”

That I dislike climbing mountains was something no one knew.

It was obvious, because I had never told anyone.

I dislike climbing mountains.

It was something I’d thought since childhood, and since there was no reason to mention it, I had kept it to myself.

How could the Demon Queen have said it with such certainty?

When I asked about this.

“Ah–“

The Demon Queen.

“I just thought it seemed like it.”

Saying that, she slightly nodded her head.

At that time, as the sunset passed, night arrived.

Seeing the remaining embers around shining particularly brightly, I realized.

It was evening before I knew it, and the Demon Queen’s purple eyes, speaking to me, seemed to sparkle more than usual, perhaps because it was night.