Creeeeak—!!

Boom—!!

The mechanism opened and the door swung wide.

The moment I saw inside, my body locked up.

“...Huh.”

A hollow breath slipped out of me.

What lay before my eyes was completely unexpected.

It looked nothing like anything I’d seen so far.

Rustle.

I stepped forward, and something soft brushed beneath my feet.

Grass.

It was grass.

The moment I entered the vault, a field spread out before me.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I couldn’t even process it.

What kind of vault had a field inside it?

Grass carpeted the ground, and I could even hear water nearby.

Shhhhhhh.

Cool water flowed gently through the space around me.

At a glance, it was obvious the place had been beautifully maintained, but...

This is supposed to be inside a vault.

The inside of a cave vault.

The fact that it had been arranged like this was bizarre.

No, bizarre didn’t even begin to cover it.

What the hell is this?

It was ridiculous.

What in the world had he built in here?

Had Yoo Cheongil done this, or had the Poison Sovereign?

I couldn’t know for sure, but whoever it was, sanity clearly hadn’t been involved.

Then again, none of that old man’s friends had ever been normal to begin with.

I forgot that for a second.

I’d forgotten the one thing I absolutely shouldn’t have.

I gave a slow nod.

The situation was outrageous, but the moment I remembered that Yoo Cheongil was the owner of this vault, all of it suddenly made sense.

“...Right.”

So what?

Clack.

I slid the Divine Sword back into its scabbard and started walking.

Rustle.

The grass bent under my feet.

“How is any of this being maintained?”

The ceiling was # Nоvеlight # solid stone. There was no way sunlight could possibly reach in here.

So how were the grass and the rest of this space being sustained?

It was bright too.

Why was it bright?

Even when I looked up, there was nothing hanging overhead. No lanterns, nothing.

So what was creating this light?

Was this some kind of special mechanism too?

What sort of mechanism could sustain something like this?

...And in the Central Plains, not the modern world.

If this had been South Korea in my previous life, sure.

That would’ve been one thing.

But for something this far removed from that age to create a place like this—

Is the Poison Sovereign the real monster here?

The fact that he was skilled not just at forging, but at making things like this too, was astonishing.

I couldn’t even begin to guess how it had been done.

...All right, then.

That could wait.

Once inside, I examined the walls.

The first thing I needed to find was obvious.

The path to the next place.

I had to find the route leading to the next vault.

Out of habit, I poured more power into Moon Eye and searched my surroundings.

But—

What?

I saw nothing.

There was no path leading onward.

What was this?

Am I just not finding it?

Or was there really nothing beyond this?

Then again, after a place like this had appeared, maybe it wouldn’t have been strange if there truly were nothing more.

Even so.

If the owner of this vault was Yoo Cheongil, I couldn’t imagine he would’ve ended things with something this simple.

...There has to be something here.

Since I couldn’t see any route forward, I shifted my focus elsewhere.

What’s actually inside this vault?

I looked around.

A field.

Flowing water.

And at the center of it—

A tree?

There was a single tree.

Ah.

That was when I realized it.

“So that’s where the light’s coming from.”

The tree itself was giving off light.

What was that?

What kind of tree emitted light like that?

It’s bright.

So bright it was almost uncanny.

Calling it a tree that merely glowed felt insufficient. It was like there was a giant lamp standing there.

I approached it slowly.

Other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything here.

How is there this little in the vault?

Could there really be so little?

Was the only thing here just a single tree?

I was staring at it in disbelief when—

...Hm.

At last, I came right up to it.

The tree’s glow was so strange I reached out, half intending to touch it.

[Don’t touch it.]

“...!”

The voice froze my body solid.

[Ha.]

The Heavenly Demon.

It was his voice.

Clatter, clatter—!

The Divine Sword shook violently.

What was this?

[That damned Yoo Cheongil.]

His voice was thick with fury.

Maybe the force of that emotion was reaching even the sword, because the Divine Sword trembled like it had gone mad.

[He stole the Divine Tree and planted it inside his own vault. Ha!]

Divine Tree?

Was that its name?

It was certainly grand enough.

A Divine Tree.

A tree with the name of god attached to it.

Judging by appearances alone, it fit.

Where else was I ever going to see a glowing tree like this?

It wouldn’t be strange for it to bear a name like that—

“Oh.”

I was looking at the tree while thinking that when something suddenly came into view.

“This is...”

[I told you.]

The Heavenly Demon spoke to me.

[Don’t touch it.]

“...What is this?”

[I figured you’d be able to see it.]

“What kind of tree has...”

This inside it?

A chill ran down my spine.

This was—

“A god.”

It really was a god.

This wasn’t just some extravagant name like Divine Tree.

It meant an actual god was contained inside the tree itself.

What was this?

A god. And not just any god.

A higher god.

One capable of directly influencing the natural world.

In my previous life...

I would’ve had to bet my life just to try cutting something like this down.

It was a vast god.

The kind I’d only dare challenge if I was prepared to die for real.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be an evil god.

“Why is something like this sealed in here?”

Could a higher god like that really be contained in a tree?

[That is why it is called a Divine Tree. Did you think it was merely a name?]

“...Usually, yes. Who would think otherwise?”

Who would ever assume there was an actual god sealed inside a tree?

An object, maybe. But a tree?

I’d occasionally seen objects that had been used for a long time and steeped so deeply in power that something had taken root inside them.

But a tree like this?

That was unusual.

And it was even giving off light.

Is the light because of the god too?

I stopped my hand before it could touch the bark.

There was no telling what might happen if I touched something like this carelessly.

“Hm...”

A Divine Tree.

If the Heavenly Demon was right, Yoo Cheongil had brought this thing here.

“Why would he...?”

And if he’d stolen it, on top of that—

“This. Did it belong to you?”

[Yes. It is mine.]

If it belonged to the Heavenly Demon...

Then in other words—

Doesn’t that make it property of the Demonic Cult?

The Heavenly Demon’s Holy Cult.

Something owned by the force that had once plunged the world into a great war.

Tch.

Why did that lunatic old man keep stealing things like this?

What in the world had he been thinking?

The Divine Sword too. And now the Divine Tree.

I couldn’t tell what he’d intended by any of it.

...And if this is really all that’s in the vault— huh?

As I turned my gaze, I noticed something near the tree.

“Hm?”

There was an object there.

This was—

A sword?

It was a sword.

A single thin blade, leaning against the tree.

“...”

The moment I saw it, something came back to me.

—Please find the sword.

Cheon Hyein’s words.

The sword her mother had possessed.

The weapon she said would kill Moon Immortal Sword.

Don’t tell me.

This?

Could it be?

“Hmm...”

I almost dismissed it, but then I noticed the crescent emblem set into the hilt.

That...

Didn’t Cheon Hyein’s sword have a similar mark?

I remembered seeing something like it on the sword she used.

It seemed likely.

This is the sword Cheon Hyein was looking for?

I lowered my head and examined it more closely.

“...Hiss.”

Then I took a slight step back.

Ah.

This thing—

“It’s already been taken over.”

The spiritual energy clinging to it was too strong.

Maybe because it had been attached to the Divine Tree, all sorts of things that should never have adhered to it were now stuck to it in layers.

[It has already been affected by the Divine Tree. It was never going to remain a normal object.]

The Heavenly Demon spoke as though he understood immediately.

Considering he possessed—or once had possessed—the same kind of divine sight I did, he had probably grasped it at once.

[Are you planning to take it out?]

“I’m considering it.”

At this point, the situation had changed.

“This is going to be a pain.”

Should I bring Cheon Hyein here and make her draw it herself?

That seemed difficult too.

“...If I make her pull it free—”

Everything attached to it would go straight to Cheon Hyein.

“And if that happens...”

It didn’t matter that this wasn’t an evil god.

It would affect her regardless.

Honestly.

I didn’t particularly care what happened to Cheon Hyein.

But letting this kind of force spread into a human body was a problem.

“Ah, damn it. I shouldn’t have made that promise.”

It would’ve been better if I’d never found it.

This had become a needless hassle.

Tch.

I clicked my tongue softly.

Then I reached into my robe.

With a rustling sound, I pulled out several talismans.

[You meddle too much.]

The Heavenly Demon’s voice was colder now.

“Yes. I do.”

He seemed to know exactly what I was about to do.

Maybe that was why there was some unidentifiable disappointment mixed into his tone.

Why disappointment, though?

It didn’t really hit me.

“I don’t have that much blood left.”

I dipped a finger into the pig’s blood I’d kept stored away and wrote characters onto the talisman.

Then I crushed it in my hand, pressed it against my palm, and grabbed the sword.

WUUUUUNG—!!!

My soul rang.

“Whoa.”

Strong.

Blood dripped down.

The characters were already smearing away.

So this much wasn’t enough?

If that was the case—

I’m probably going to have to clear out all the spiritual energy clinging to the sword.

I crumpled the talisman and shoved it back into my robe.

That meant a simple method wasn’t going to work.

I pulled out two more talismans.

I picked up a nearby stone, attached one of the new talismans to it, and clenched the other in my hand like before.

Then I gripped the hilt again.

Wung—!! Wuuung—!!!

This time the vibration felt different.

Thankfully, I had succeeded in deflecting the karma.

But only for an instant.

Inside.

There was something inside the sword.

It was an object steeped in divine power.

This wasn’t a matter of exorcising anything.

I’m going to have to ask it to move aside.

The house already had an occupant.

If I wanted in, I would have to ask the current owner to leave.

That was what it meant for a god to dwell within something.

I closed my eyes.

And thought.

This is why...

...you shouldn’t make pointless promises.

Drip—!

I poured my mind into the sword as though focusing on it.

And when I opened my eyes again—

[...Save... save her, please...!]

I was standing inside someone else’s memory.

[Please... please save my mother.]

A little girl.

She was kneeling on the ground, her eyes swollen with tears.

Her hands were smeared with blood.

With that tiny body, she was clutching a grown woman in her arms.

The woman—

Is dead.

I could see it immediately.

Her life was already over.

Had she been stabbed in the abdomen?

There was a sword wound there, and blood was still pouring from it.

I watched it with cold calm, then looked at the child.

I knew who she was.

Her blue eyes were gone, replaced by black ones, and her face was still young, but her features gave her away at once.

Cheon Hyein.

The child was Cheon Hyein.

And—

...The man standing in front of her.

The man standing before Cheon Hyein, holding a bloodstained sword as he looked down at her—

...Moon Immortal Sword?

Moon Immortal Sword, Cheon Seonghwa.

Her own father.