What exactly was the Heavenly Killing Star?

That had been where my thoughts started.

A burden the world itself had assigned. One born carrying a burden that would not let one live without killing someone else, existing as a flaw in the world.

A flaw.

That was how Grandmother used to describe such people.

Because the world must not be perfect, it sometimes carved flaws into itself.

In the distant past, in an age when nothing but peace endured, beasts born carrying such a burden were called spiritual creatures.

Creatures that could become either disaster or guardian to humanity.

And those born as humans carrying such a burden were no different.

Some were born with blessings so absurd they became the light of the world.

Others were born carrying a burden that became a flaw, so that light would never be able to shine.

It was like a shackle engraved into the soul, something that could not be undone by ordinary means.

“Undone” is nonsense to begin with.

The very idea of undoing a burden embedded into the soul was absurd.

A flaw imposed by the world was bound to affect not just the soul, but the flesh as well.

Something that vast could not be unraveled or damaged.

Even Grandmother, in the end, had only ever managed to hide and cover it.

She had never even considered erasing it or passing it on.

That was what a burden was.

That was why I had tried not to get involved with ghosts, and even if I did get dragged into it, why I had always tried to run as far away as possible.

...This time, though, there was no helping it.

The fight with Yuyeon had been the method for passing on the Plum Blossom Governance Sword.

It had been a battle meant to bury the story contained inside it beneath something else.

Yuyeon is the Heavenly Killing Star.

The only bloodline of the Heavenly Demon, born with the fate of the Heavenly Killing Star.

Yuyeon was someone from whom the burden imposed by the world seeped out on a vast scale.

So I had to use that.

I had meant to cover the story of the Plum Blossom Governance Sword with that burden.

The method itself was simple.

Provoke Yuyeon’s burden and drown the Plum Blossom Governance Sword beneath it.

I had intended to forcibly awaken the Heavenly Killing Star. Killing intent burst out, and the burden spilled forth with it.

The problem was—

Just provoking it with words wasn’t enough.

Maybe Seongheon had really done something to it, because the burden of the Heavenly Killing Star had been slow to spill out.

So while we sparred, I prodded at it a little more.

I subtly tore at what was bound inside her soul.

Only then did the burden fully bloom.

...It was a gamble.

But the killing intent had been thicker than I expected. There had been a moment where I trembled, thinking it might slip out of control if things went wrong, but—

It worked.

In the end, I pulled it off.

I covered the Plum Blossom Governance Sword with Yuyeon’s killing intent and obscured its story.

All I’d really done was cover its eyes a little, but thanks to that, the burden that would’ve come to me would be reduced.

And I confirmed what I wanted to confirm, too.

I had wanted to see what kind of close relationship the Heavenly Killing Star had with the soul.

This settled it.

The Heavenly Killing Star is less a fate than a type of soul.

Rather than treating the Heavenly Killing Star as nothing more than fate—

It was more accurate to see it as a type of soul itself.

And if that was the case—

That’s my specialty.

When it came to identifying that kind of thing and handling it, I was the expert.

I spent my whole life like that.

Whether you called it the concept of an evil spirit,

or the concept of possession—

It wasn’t perfectly clear, but if it was something involving the soul, then that changed things.

Then all I have to do is suppress it.

Maybe I couldn’t unravel it.

But I could suppress it.

My hand trembled.

“Tch.”

Was it because I had tampered with the soul? A chill had spread through my whole body.

Even this much is hard.

It was different from before. This body had spent so long trying to avoid getting close to souls that its condition was pretty awful.

...I shouldn’t do this again for a while.

CLACK.

A # Nоvеlight # sensation like a ring locking back into place brushed my heart. I had shoved the burden I’d released back inside again.

...Just like the Heavenly Killing Star.

A flaw wasn’t the only thing like that in existence.

And if we were counting flaws, mine didn’t lag behind at all.

Right. Absolutely not. At least not in a fight between soul and soul.

Grandmother would lose her mind if she saw this.

If she saw me like this, she would’ve cursed me up and down for doing something so stupid.

“Haa...”

I was exhaling, trying to steady my body, when—

How in the world did you do that?

Seongheon’s living spirit, following behind me, asked the question.

How exactly did you make that...?

How had the Heavenly Killing Star died down? Faced with that question, I clicked my tongue and answered.

“What else? I just put it to sleep.”

Put it to sleep?

“Yes. It should’ve just stayed asleep quietly, but it kept sticking its head out, so I told it to sleep.”

What kind of—

“I didn’t block it completely. It’ll crawl back out again eventually. This is only a temporary measure.”

It wasn’t some trivial level of burden, so while it was possible to stop it for a little while, suppressing it completely was impossible.

Still—

...How is something like that even possible?

Seongheon looked like he could not understand even that much.

I shrugged at him.

“Hard to explain. I can just do it.”

What kind of answer is—

Don’t keep digging like that.

Yoo Cheongil frowned at Seongheon as he spoke.

Can’t you tell just by looking at him that he’s the kind of bastard carrying a mountain of secrets? The fact that he can see you and me at all already makes him strange enough.

Cheongil—

At this point, both sides are already operating on the unspoken agreement not to ask certain things. Who are you to butt in?

“...”

Only then did Seongheon close his mouth.

Yoo Cheongil was right.

Even when there were things we wanted to ask each other, we had not asked.

And—

Cheap bastard. He just shut his mouth for him.

What Yoo Cheongil had said to Seongheon was just as good as saying it to me.

In other words, don’t ask?

Don’t ask about the Heavenly Demon. It was basically no different from saying it outright.

So I’m supposed to figure it out myself, is that it?

The old man really was sly to the bone.

This is important.

What part of any of this isn’t important to us?

“...”

If all you care about is your disciple, then even in death you still haven’t come to your senses. Just go pass on as you are.

At that cold rebuke, Seongheon’s face twisted.

...I only—

“At least this much is clear.”

Yoo Cheongil stared straight at Seongheon as he spoke.

Your lingering attachment isn’t guilt and worry over Mount Hua.

“...”

He sank where he stood. At Yoo Cheongil’s words, Seongheon visibly withered.

Tch.

Yoo Cheongil turned his head away from Seongheon.

Time really is something. To think a once-lofty old tree would rot this badly.

He meant Seongheon.

“...I’ll go rest for a while.”

Instead of answering, Seongheon vanished.

Watching that, Yoo Cheongil’s brow furrowed.

Idiot.

The way he reacted made it obvious he could not stand it.

Old men were always like that when they fought with words.

More precisely, it was always just Yoo Cheongil beating someone one-sidedly.

“...So.”

Only after Seongheon left did Yoo Cheongil look at me.

What exactly are you doing?

“Can’t you tell just by looking?”

I answered while looking at the water boiling rapidly in front of me.

“I’m boiling noodles.”

...Then why are you doing it?

“Because I’m hungry.”

I was using the empty kitchen.

When I went to ask permission, they gave it easily enough.

I’d said all I was going to make was simple noodles, so I didn’t need much in the way of ingredients anyway.

And stopping the person who kept insisting on making it instead of me would’ve been even more annoying.

You know how to cook too?

“Cook? It’s just noodles.”

All I had to do was prepare a simple broth and pour it over the boiled noodles.

Normally, I probably would’ve added this and that, but—

No need.

Maybe it was because I’d grown used to living with nothing, but I didn’t bother with expensive ingredients.

Broth and noodles were enough.

All I needed to do was fill a stomach, wasn’t it?

That was what I was thinking as I prepared the noodles when—

That...

Yoo Cheongil’s words cut off.

I felt it and raised my head.

Any time it feels like I’ve just dealt with one thing—

something else shows up.

Thinking that, I let out a sigh.

Yoo Cheongil was already staring somewhere, as though he had noticed something.

Kid...

At him calling me, I gave a slight nod.

I understood even without him saying it.

By the time I was scooping the noodles out of the boiling water—

“This is a problem.”

I muttered it aloud, as though for someone’s benefit.

“I only prepared enough food for two people. Now I’ll have to make one more serving.”

I looked in the same direction Yoo Cheongil was looking.

Then I spoke.

“You going to eat?”

At my words, there was finally a reaction.

At the entrance to the kitchen, where it had seemed like no one was there, someone appeared and dropped to one knee.

“I greet the little Heaven...”

It was Strange Demon.

Seeing him, I flinched.

So it really is him.

When I saw how Yoo Cheongil reacted, I’d wondered if maybe Strange Demon had shown up, but I hadn’t expected him to actually appear.

Doesn’t he value his life at all?

No matter how shaky things were, this was still Mount Hua.

The fact that someone from the DEMON CULT could show up in a place like this without a care was absurd.

It was as if his life meant nothing to him.

If it wasn’t that, then—

He must be confident he can escape.

If he had enough confidence to get away no matter what happened—

That was the only answer.

“As expected... my Heaven knows where I am no matter where I go.”

“...”

No. I had only looked because Yoo Cheongil’s soul state had turned strange.

“Ahh... as expected...”

He kept staring at me in rapture.

I had to force back the sigh trying to come out.

“I was in the middle of preparing food. Showing up like this is a little startling.”

“I apologize. I meant not to disturb such precious time, but... I failed to realize that my Heaven is an existence too exalted for something like me to dare comprehend. Please kill this worthless servant—”

“Don’t smash your head on the floor. It’s unpleasant to look at.”

“...”

He had started moving to slam his forehead into the ground like last time, so I stopped him first.

Then I asked,

“...Why did you come looking for me?”

“I apologize. There was something I needed to tell you, so I came in haste. I am deeply sorry that I could not wait—”

“Enough.”

Any time something happened, he tried to smash his head into the ground.

It was giving me a headache.

Watching him, I glanced over at Yoo Cheongil.

Crackle.

Yoo Cheongil’s form was blurred.

I could even see it flickering like electricity running through it.

Just as I thought.

I’d felt it before, but it seemed like something happened whenever Strange Demon appeared.

Hm.

So if that bastard was around, possession became impossible?

That was an extremely inconvenient and troublesome detail.

“...So why did you come here?”

I thought I was the one who said I’d come find you.

So why bother showing up yourself?

At that question, Strange Demon said,

“Ah... that is...”

Slide.

Strange Demon pulled something from his robes and showed it to me.

That’s...

I frowned the moment I saw it.

It’s a stake.

It was a stake.

The same kind they had been driving into the ground around Shaanxi to form the six-point star.