Chapter 987: Lost Soul.

Divine Fruit (神果)?

Hearing the turtle’s words, I shook my head in confusion. I had heard of Divine Trees, but never of Divine Fruits.

‘Judging by the name alone, it sounds like a simple fruit that grows on a Divine Tree.’

Which means.

‘That tree was also a Divine Tree?’

It seems to mean the tree I saw back then was also a Divine Tree.

‘What is it?’

It was strange.

‘It was too small?’

Its size was far too small to be called a Divine Tree. Even if that wasn’t the case.

‘……Which Divine Tree could it be from?’

Which of the five Divine Trees that Elder Noya explained could it be?

‘The distance wasn’t that far either.’

The location was relatively close to Yawal. Of course, there was a possibility that Yarang had carried me far, far away, but I judged that wasn’t the case.

The reason was.

‘The timing is ambiguous.’

The time it took when Yarang carried me versus when I opened my eyes and was back in the original location.

If you consider how much time passed during that process, it couldn’t have been a very long distance.

This means.

‘If that tree was a Divine Tree, it wouldn’t be far from Yawal. And’

If not,

‘Yarang has another method.’

A way to move distances easily without walking or running.

‘……That’s not the important thing right now.’

What needed attention now wasn’t Yarang’s abilities, but the current situation.

“Are you saying the tree I saw was a Divine Tree?”

“I heard you saw it yourself. Didn’t you feel anything?”

“……Should I have felt something?”

Felt what? I did feel a sense of strangeness back then, but that was all.

‘I didn’t feel anything particularly special.’

Just a peculiar tree.

The surrounding atmosphere was peculiar. That’s all I felt.

‘Does that mean I should have felt more?’

I sensed something strange from the turtle’s reaction. Then, I turned my head and sent my gaze far away.

Towards the Divine Tree within the Mount Hua Sect.

Would I feel something? I stared with that question in mind.

Thump-!

“……!”

My eyes widened involuntarily.

‘What is this?’

The feeling is different. It had changed significantly from what I usually saw. The moment I looked at the Divine Tree, I could realize the difference.

“Why? Can you feel it?”

Hearing that, the turtle asked, Can you feel it?

“……Yes. I can feel it.”

Why didn’t I know this before?

Swoosh.

Hooosh.

The difference was clearly felt in the process of inhaling and exhaling the air.

It had changed from the moment I looked at the Divine Tree.

‘It’s mystical.’

Mystical and also noble.

Just by looking at the Divine Tree, I felt inexplicable sentiments and emotions welling up.

As if witnessing a great being.

It was a wondrous feeling.

‘Was that why?’

I had often seen people paying their respects from a distance to the Divine Tree of Mount Hua.

Seeing as most people living here, not to mention the warriors of the Mount Hua Sect, did so.

‘Does it mean everyone else felt this way except me?’

If they were feeling that way, it makes sense. It makes sense, but…

‘Why me?’

In such a situation, why am I only feeling this now?

I was feeling something I couldn’t feel before.

Actually, if it comes down to it, there’s only one reason.

‘It must be that guy again.’

Eating the fruit called the Divine Fruit.

The changes in my body and the current situation must be because of it.

“What exactly is this Divine Fruit?”

“Hmmmm.”

At my words, the turtle stroked its chin as if in thought. Since it barely had fingers, the action looked a bit funny.

“So you couldn’t feel it until now… and that too is something that changed after eating the Divine Fruit?”

“Yes. So please explain what this Divine Fruit is.”

What on earth is it?

“Did my body change strangely and the situation become like this?”

Suddenly becoming a Wolya tribe member, and having abnormalities when looking at the Divine Tree…

I couldn’t properly understand the current process.

So, when I asked the turtle about it,

“That’s incorrect.”

He spat out a denial.

“Sect Leader. What that guy said too, this is not a change.”

“……What is that?”

“To be precise, it would be more accurate to call it a return.”

At the turtle’s words, I fell silent for a moment. A return?

Thinking about it carefully, I spoke again.

“……What has returned?”

If it wasn’t a change but a return, what had returned? As I asked that, the turtle looked at Elder Shin with slightly hardened eyes.

At that gaze, Elder Shin nodded slightly.

Was it a sign of permission? Seeing that, the turtle immediately spoke to me.

“Child.”

“……Yes.”

“How much do you know about the soul (魂)?”

“The soul?”

The soul? Are you talking about the soul in ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’?

“Well…… perhaps?”

To the question of how much I knew, there wasn’t really anything specific to answer.

Because I neither knew it well nor didn’t know it at all.

If you asked if I knew it completely, it was ambiguous.

And it felt wrong to say I didn’t know.

Because as one’s martial arts increase, their cultivation level rises, and they reach the realm of the mind’s eye within it, one naturally comes to know.

‘Whether it’s martial arts or anything else, it’s ultimately related to the soul.’

I don’t know if it’s closely related, but it’s not unrelated. Knowing that is why my answer is ambiguous.

Hearing that, the turtle nodded once more and said,

“The Divine Fruit corrects distortions.”

“Distortions?”

“Fundamentally, the Divine Tree itself is directly linked to the will of this world, and the fruit that comes from it merely corrects abnormalities in the soul that were within your body. Do you understand?”

“No. I don’t understand at all…?”

How could I? I didn’t get it at all.

“……”

Hearing the answer, the turtle frowned. It was absurd.

He explains it like crap and expects me to understand?

Just then.

“So,”

Elder Noya said to me, sounding frustrated.

“Are you saying the Divine Fruit is a special elixir for the soul that cleanses the soul’s impurities accumulated throughout life, and restores it to the beautiful form it should have originally possessed?”

“Hmm……”

At Elder Noya’s words, the turtle pondered for a moment.

“……Yes. You could roughly say that.”

He said with a resigned expression. He seemed like he wanted to explain more, but he just gave up.

“Ah.”

I clapped my hands at Elder Noya’s words.

A special elixir for the soul. That phrase resonated with me.

As I gained enlightenment, the turtle continued speaking.

“However, consuming it doesn’t strengthen the soul or increase its power, etc. It doesn’t cause changes. It truly just returns it to its original state.”

“No. Considering that, I’ve changed quite a lot.”

Just looking at my current body is proof.

Suddenly becoming a Wolya tribe member, and regarding the Divine Tree…

How can this not be a change?

To that question, the turtle replied with eyes that had become somewhat serious.

“As I said again, the Divine Fruit can do nothing but return things to their original state.”

“So… considering that…”

“If you experienced any changes, it means it wasn’t a change, but the state your soul was originally supposed to be in.”

“……!”

My eyes widened at the turtle’s words.

The form it was originally supposed to be?

That means…

“……Does it mean I was originally supposed to become a Wolya tribe member? Something like that?”

It seemed so. I had heard this before. Elder Shin had told me the same thing.

Mentioning that, the turtle said to me with a nonchalant expression.

“It’s not particularly strange, is it?”

“Why? Because of my mother?”

“Yes. That’s part of it too.”

Glancing. The turtle looked at Elder Noya once more. Why does he keep looking at Elder Noya?

As I was about to speak up to question this,

“In your case, it should be seen as reclaiming a lost soul.”

The turtle said.

A lost soul?

“Lose one’s soul?”

What could that mean?

Does it mean my soul went somewhere and came back?

“Why my soul?”

What happened to my soul? Surprisingly, the answer came not from the turtle, but from Elder Noya.

“Yangcheon-ah.”

“……Yes.”

At Elder Noya’s call, I narrowed my eyes.

The way he addressed me was the issue. Whenever Elder Noya called me Yangcheon, it was always related to something unusual. Because of that, I tensed up considerably.

“Do you remember I said I had something to tell you?”

“……I remember.”

He had said that when we came. That he had something to say here too, so he would accompany me.

That’s why I came.

‘Is he going to say what he intended to say now?’

It seemed like he was about to bring up what he intended to say. So, I perked up my ears and focused.

Then.

“This is about your mother and your existence.”

Elder Noya said to me with eyes that had become very serious.

“Do you know that your mother was the calamity of the Central Plains?”

“……”

Hearing that, I nodded with a stiff expression. It was something I knew.

The Blood Demon was the first calamity,

And my mother was the second calamity.

However.

“Does that have anything to do with the current situation?”

Why would Elder Noya bring that up in the current situation?

Was it necessary to bring it up now?

As such doubts arose,

“Yangcheon-ah.”

“Yes.”

“This world, damn it, doesn’t repeat the same mistakes.”

“I know that too.”

I knew that they tried to destroy other Central Plains by launching calamities. When the Blood Demon failed, they sent my mother.

However.

“That’s right. The Blood Demon failed, so they sent your mother, but there’s a problem with that too.”

“What…?”

“Not repeating the same mistakes means the same applies to calamities. The world wouldn’t have wanted the mistake caused by your mother either.”

“……But she didn’t succeed, did she?”

Even if they don’t repeat mistakes,

Isn’t it the same if she ultimately failed?

My mother failed to become the calamity of the Central Plains,

Met my father, and gave birth to me and Gu Ryeonghwa.

And the Central Plains remained intact. Despite that situation,

What on earth is Elder Noya trying to say?

As I voiced that thought,

“Yes. Your mother gave birth to you all. Specifically, to you.”

Elder Noya said it as if that was the problem.

“No. What problem could that possibly be-.”

Mid-sentence, remembering something, I froze.

And I stared at Elder Shin with a dumbfounded expression.

“……It’s not true, right?”

Please say it’s not true. Hurry up and say it’s not true. I spoke to urge him on, but…

“It seems so.”

Elder Noya ignored my wish.

“Your destiny was to become the calamity of the Central Plains.”

He uttered the words I least wanted to hear.