Chapter 568

I couldn’t guess the age of the woman behind the gauze veil.

I only judged her to be young. The smooth, unwrinkled skin across the tops of her feet, the fine sheen of her hands and fingertips—nothing about her suggested age.

Rather, I could feel nothing from her at all. No presence that a living person should possess, nor even a trace of any other spiritual energy.

At first, I thought the spiritual energy pouring from this Divine Tree was concealing it.

It wasn’t.

She had simply shut spiritual energy out entirely.

“Elder.”

“It has been a long time, Dancer.”

The woman Gye Mun had called Dancer dipped her head gracefully.

“It has been a long time. I never expected you to visit this place with a guest.”

“...I had urgent business.”

“Business...”

Her head turned toward me.

“Do you mean that bringing this guest here was that business?”

“Something like that.”

“Then should I take it that you used an Elder’s authority?”

“That is right.”

At the mention of an Elder’s authority, she nodded.

Through the veil, I noticed something.

Her eyes are covered.

She wore cloth over them. It should have blocked all sight.

Did she deliberately blindfold herself so she could focus on seeing souls?

Ghost Eyes were especially attuned to spiritual energy. With them, closing one’s physical eyes could let a person perceive a broader plane.

Since they could see what ordinary sight could not, perhaps that was possible.

She can do even that?

Divine sight, control over spiritual energy, and the ability to conceal even the presence of her own soul.

Well, look at her.

Her ability was no ordinary thing. At the very least, she had enough talent to easily reach the upper ranks of the place I had belonged to in my past life.

As for me, I never climbed that high only because the people above cut me down first.

She, though, could reach that level if she wanted to.

People like that had a name.

A vessel of a god.

A soul the gods themselves would covet. Something that should have been born as something other than human from the start.

Her soul carried that much value.

And now, that woman stared steadily at me.

I didn’t look away either.

As we faced each other in silence—

Ssssss.

A soul moved.

Mine swayed as if something were tugging at it.

Now that’s interesting.

I recognized the sensation. It was her. She was reaching for my energy.

She’s trying to confirm something.

I wasn’t like her. I didn’t conceal myself completely. To hide every trace of spiritual energy meant, in other words—

That you can control it.

Anyone capable of noticing that would understand it the moment they saw her, exactly as I had.

I regulated my own energy with that in mind.

Looks like she doesn’t have that kind of finesse yet.

I had already noticed it with others, but the Holy Cult seemed to have an unusual number of people gifted in this field.

One point in my favor, at least.

She isn’t from Sky-Crushing Palace.

That mattered most.

I couldn’t sense any Sky-Crushing Palace energy from her, for now.

But I can’t be certain.

It would be careless to make that call so easily. Anyone capable of controlling energy at that level might be able to manipulate Sky-Crushing Palace energy too.

I’ll keep it in mind for now.

Then I decided to try something else.

Wooooong.

The energy kept moving. It felt as though she were trying to examine something within my soul.

If you’re doing it, then we should both do it.

I had no intention of staying still. If she wanted to see, I would let her.

But—

You’ll have to show me something too.

I would look as well.

With that intention, I loosened the restraints around my soul a fraction.

WHOOOSH—!!

“...”

Dancer’s body flinched.

She must have felt my energy surge, and when she tried to draw it in, I sent it straight to her instead.

WHOOSH!

“...!”

The energy surged inside.

The instant she drew my soul toward her, she panicked.

I forced my way through that opening.

I opened the soul she had locked away. It was wrapped tight, layer upon layer.

I tapped at it lightly, testing the waters.

Then—

“...Ngh.”

She staggered backward.

At the sudden change in Dancer, Gye Mun looked at her in surprise.

“Dancer. What—?”

Before he could finish, the pull she had exerted on my soul stopped.

Once the sensation vanished, I stopped trying to open her soul as well.

“...Hoo.”

She steadied her breathing.

“...A truly precious guest has come.”

Gye Mun looked at me.

“...What did you do?”

“Nothing. She tried to do something first, and I only answered in kind.”

“Answered...?”

“That is correct, Elder.”

Dancer spoke before I could elaborate.

“...I was discourteous to him.”

She passed Gye Mun and approached me.

“I apologize. I was rude.”

“I accept your apology.”

It was a clean apology. There was nothing else to say.

I could pry more out of her if I wanted.

But why bother?

That wasn’t necessary. The important thing was that we had both learned something about the other.

“How did an honored guest such as yourself come to this place?”

“As I said, that Elder brought me here. But...”

I turned my gaze to the Divine Tree.

“What exactly is this place? Why is something like that here?”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Not in detail. I only know it is called a Divine Tree.”

“...A Divine Tree.”

“You knew about the Divine Tree?” Gye Mun cut in.

“As I said, not in detail. I only know it isn’t an ordinary tree.”

“Then.”

Dancer spoke again.

“Before I ask your name, may I ask whether you understand what you possess?”

What I possessed.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.

She was probably referring to the sword in my hand, so I answered that too.

“I know enough. I couldn’t not know. I wouldn’t be able to carry it if I didn’t.”

“...”

Dancer said nothing and walked toward me. She approached in slow, measured steps, then extended her hand.

What is she doing?

Her fingers moved toward the sword as if she intended to grasp it. I couldn’t sense what she meant to do, so I remained still.

A moment later—

CRACKLE—!

The instant her fingertips touched the sword, electricity erupted from her hand.

“Dancer!”

Gye Mun rushed to her. The tips of her fingers had been seared red.

“...So it truly is that.”

“How could this happen?”

“I am fine. I wished to confirm it myself.”

“...Damn it. You need treatment at once—”

“Before that.”

Dancer stepped back before he could treat her injury. After retreating a few light steps, she said—

“...I am Ye Ran, a Dancer who safeguards the will of the Holy Cult. It is an honor to meet the master of the exalted key.”

“Dancer!”

This time, she bowed to me even more deeply than before, in wholehearted reverence.

There was no time to be caught off guard by her sudden change.

[She is a Dancer of the Holy Cult. It appears she has only recently taken the seat.]

What is a Dancer?

[One who guards the ancient tree that has existed since the Holy Cult’s beginning. And one who is born in the same generation as the person who will ascend as the next Heavenly Demon.]

Born in the same generation?

I couldn’t make sense of it. Born together?

[The next Heavenly Demon is predetermined. It is a being born in the same era as the Dancer.]

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

A Heavenly Demon was predetermined? Was that even possible?

I didn’t know whether even soul-binding sorcery could do something like that. I had never studied that side of things.

If what the Heavenly Demon said was true—

That explains it.

The reason the Elder Circle and the other older Demonic Cultists weren’t trying to claim the Heavenly Demon’s seat.

The reason people who looked exactly my age had become Heavenly Demon candidates and were fighting over it.

Ah.

I understood.

That seemed to be the core of this religious organization.

Then Heavenly Demon Divine Arts aren’t the point at all.

Whether someone possessed the divine arts or not was secondary.

What matters is whether they were born in the same era as this Dancer.

That, the Heavenly Demon was saying, was what mattered for a Heavenly Demon.

And after all that talk about Heavenly Demon Divine Arts, you’re telling me that isn’t the important part?

[Don’t be absurd. Nothing is more important than that.]

...What a joke.

What I had just heard seemed far more important.

I thought that, since they called themselves a Cult, I would see how fanatical they could really be.

These people were just as strange as I expected.

A Dancer?

If I’d heard it anywhere else—

I would have called it complete bullshit.

But after seeing her myself, I don’t have much to say.

A being born with that level of spiritual talent existed here, and they called her a Dancer.

That was plausible enough.

She might even have precognition.

Sometimes there were people whose eyes were so extraordinary that they saw too far.

Far enough to reach the future.

This Dancer could be one of them.

Right after I heard that, Gye Mun looked at Dancer and spoke.

“...Dancer. Are you calling that bastard the Chosen One now?”

“I do not know. I only follow the will of the Holy Cult.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The Holy Cult says—”

Even while on her knees, her white fingertips pressed to the floor.

“—that one born with a soul and bearing the key is called the Sky of the Holy Cult.”

“That—”

“Is that not why you brought this honored guest here, Elder? Because you know it as well?”

“...It is too soon to say. He is none other than Yoo Cheongil’s inheritor. The inheritor of the Sword Saint.”

It sounded as though he meant: How could he see the inheritor of his enemy that way?

But—

“I follow the will of the Holy Cult. That is my fate.”

“Hah.”

Gye Mun gave a hollow reaction to Dancer’s words.

What was he supposed to do about that?

I simply watched the two of them.

If the key is this sword...

Then being born with a soul likely meant being able to handle spiritual energy.

And—

Unless this Dancer is absurdly youthful.

She looked about my age.

So Gye Mun’s reaction isn’t strange.

By appearances alone, anyone would think it was me.

But—

Maybe...

Setting aside the Young Cult Leader and Heavenly Sword—

I can’t stop thinking about Yu Yeon.

If not for the issue of spiritual energy, Yu Yeon was a perfect fit.

After all—

The genuine bloodline is on her side.

She was the Heavenly Demon’s direct bloodline.

And as if to prove it, she had been able to grip the Divine Sword.

I wasn’t the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline. I had only been permitted to wield it because I possessed a soul.

By these standards, wouldn’t Yu Yeon make far more sense?

Just as I thought that—

[It seems I said this last time as well, but you are mistaken again.]

About what?

[The Holy Cult’s sword is not such a simple Divine Sword.]

Hm?

[It cannot be controlled merely because My soul is contained within it.]

What?

[The reason you can grasp the sword is not My will.]

“...What kind of insane nonsense is that?”

An unbelievable bomb had just dropped.