Chapter 569

I had just heard something insane.

What is he even talking about?

The Heavenly Demon’s words only left me confused. What did that mean? I heard them, but I couldn’t understand them.

It was the kind of thing that made me think I must have misheard.

You’re saying the Heavenly Demon didn’t use his power?

The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.

To grip it, one had to possess the Heavenly Demon’s direct bloodline. That was the first condition.

Yu Yeon had proven it when she gripped and lifted the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.

There were other factors and countless other conditions, but in the end, bloodline mattered if one wished to wield the Divine Sword.

It doesn’t exactly fit, though.

It was somewhat at odds with the Holy Cult’s creed that strength was law, but that was how the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword existed.

Which meant—

The reason I can hold this sword...

I had believed the Heavenly Demon’s soul inside the sword was regulating it for me.

I had heard something strange once before, but I had dismissed that as one more meaningless remark.

...What does this mean?

What the Heavenly Demon had said struck me hard.

He can’t control the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword?

He said he was not personally controlling the sword.

Then—

How the hell am I holding it?

How could I wield the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword?

I had no idea how to make sense of this absurd situation.

[Heh heh heh.]

The Heavenly Demon laughed, apparently finding my confusion amusing.

That brought a thought to mind.

You’re joking, right? Otherwise, it makes no sense.

He had to be joking. If the Heavenly Demon wasn’t helping me wield the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, then I would have to possess the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline.

It’s not as though I can be your son.

My father was perfectly alive. Calling me the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline was ridiculous.

[Why do you assume you are not?]

“...”

I froze at his next words.

Uh, fuck. Seriously?

[I was joking.]

You insane evil-ghost bastard.

Relief washed through me, but so did the urge to curse him out.

He was joking in a situation like this? Was he really that insane?

Then how much of it had been a joke? All of it?

That would have been preferable.

[Aside from the part about you being My son, I was not joking.]

The Heavenly Demon’s denial shattered that hope.

Then how can I use it...?

I wasn’t of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline, and the Heavenly Demon wasn’t controlling the sword.

So how was I holding the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword?

To my question, the Heavenly Demon answered—

[I do not know.]

...This is driving me insane.

What a simple and clear answer.

And what absolutely no help it was.

Was not knowing supposed to settle it? He dropped a bombshell, then answered as though it were nothing.

[The direct bloodline needed to hold the sword differs according to how strong the blood is. The Heavenly Demon’s bloodline is not limited to one or two people. I cannot know them all.]

So it isn’t only direct descendants who can hold it?

[What matters is the strength of the blood and the sword’s choice.]

If blood was mixed in, there was a chance. After that, the Divine Sword itself made its choice.

Which meant—

...There’s Heavenly Demon blood mixed into me after all?

There was Heavenly Demon blood in my body.

I didn’t know whether it came from the soul speaking to me now or from the former Heavenly Demon, but still.

And—

If the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} blood has to be strong...

That meant the connection could not be distant.

[How interesting.]

His tone did not sound interested in the slightest.

He only said that. He clearly did not care.

...What the hell?

My family was a mess.

We were supposed to be an orthodox-faction family, yet there was Demonic Cult blood in our veins? Heavenly Demon blood, at that?

...Which side is it from?

The question was whether it came from the Bang Family or the Zhuge Family.

But no matter how I look at it—

It was more likely my father’s side.

That damn decadent family would hardly surprise me if something had gotten mixed into its bloodline long ago.

In the middle of that exhausting realization, as I held back a sigh—

“Then I would like to ask.”

Dancer continued speaking to me.

“What do you intend to do within the Cult?”

“...”

I looked at Gye Mun.

He was looking at me too.

I had already answered him long ago.

“I intend to become the Heavenly Demon.”

Even if I had no intention of doing so, I had already said it. That meant I had to carry it through.

Dancer looked up at me.

Even with her eyes covered, I knew her gaze was fixed on me.

I did not know how much she could see.

“Do you seek to become the Sky?”

“If I can?”

“...Why do you wish to do so?”

“Why?”

What reason did I have?

There were plenty of reasons not to.

But a reason to do it?

If I were the Heavenly Demon—

No.

What would Yoo Cheongil have said?

One thought passed through my head.

“Because I want to.”

“...”

“What did you say?”

Gye Mun’s expression twisted.

Was that all? I wanted to become the Heavenly Demon simply because I wanted to?

The answer seemed to grate on him badly.

“I meet the conditions, and I want to do it. So I will. Do I need any other reason?”

“...”

It sounded insignificant as a reason.

But what did it matter?

By now, such things no longer mattered.

“What do you think?”

“...Are you asking me?”

“I am.”

I asked Dancer.

“Do you think I can become the Sky?”

“...”

Silence passed.

Even now, Gye Mun did not interrupt.

After some time—

“What would happen if I said no?”

Dancer asked.

[That would be absurd.]

“...That would be absurd.”

The Heavenly Demon spoke, and my mouth followed.

“Even if you said no, it would not shake me. You may say whatever you wish.”

“...”

“I have decided to do it. That is enough. It will happen anyway.”

Even as I said it, I knew I sounded like a complete asshole.

Maybe this was simply a trait ingrained deep within me.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

“...I see.”

Dancer nodded, as though she had understood something.

“It has been an honor to meet you. I hope you achieve your wish. I am not feeling well. May I rise?”

“Do as you wish.”

Dancer rose.

Her condition was clearly not feigned. A deep exhaustion seemed to cling to her.

Once I gave permission, she stood and bowed to me.

“It was an enjoyable conversation. I look forward to meeting you again...”

“You’re telling me to leave?”

“The exit is to your left.”

“...How considerate.”

I looked left and spotted another entrance.

Was she telling me to go through there?

“May I leave?”

I asked Gye Mun.

He wore a complicated expression as he nodded.

It did not seem as though he intended to see me out.

What the hell was that?

I felt as though I had just learned one of the Holy Cult’s secrets.

Who would have thought there was a massive Divine Tree beneath this place?

And beyond that—

Calling it merely a Divine Tree doesn’t feel right. It feels as though there is truly a god inside it.

A place that genuinely contained a god.

The spiritual energy was so immense that it would not have been wrong to call it a vessel.

Just what—

What was the Holy Cult keeping hidden?

I stared at the tree for a while before turning away.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword...

I had learned one more secret about my bloodline.

And in my already complicated thoughts, another question had been added to that miserable family of mine.

Seriously.

It was a truly damned family.

*****

After the young man left, Gye Mun spoke first into the silence.

“...What are you trying to do?”

At his question, Dancer, who had been standing still, looked at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you truly believe that bastard will become the Heavenly Demon?”

An orthodox martial artist.

Moreover, one called the Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil’s inheritor.

He had called himself the child of the former Sky and the master of the Divine Sword, invoking his qualifications.

The absurd part was—

Those qualifications are not light.

Gye Mun had no idea how the boy had learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts, but he carried those divine arts within his body.

He possessed the energy of the orthodox faction, the Azure Moon Heart Art of the Azure Moon Sect.

Yet how could he also hold demonic qi within his flesh?

And Freak Demon followed him.

The Young Cult Leader possessed a certain qualification: he could place all Eight Demons beneath his command.

That was why Freak Demon had to follow the Young Cult Leader even without supporting him.

For him to act that way...

Had the Holy Cult’s curse somehow been lifted?

No.

If it had—

Gye Mun would have known.

Something abnormal was involved.

What in the world is he?

The more Gye Mun learned, the more questions accumulated.

The Sword Saint’s inheritor had swept in like a storm.

If he had merely been an inheritor, there would have been no problem.

But too many strange things had gathered within him.

Could even that be Yoo Cheongil’s intention?

What had that monster left behind to produce something like him?

My Sky...

The former Heavenly Demon came to mind.

The master of the night Gye Mun had believed in and followed.

He hated to admit it, but—

He resembles him.

The Sword Saint’s inheritor resembled the Heavenly Demon’s shadow more than he resembled the Sword Saint.

Even the way he openly said that he would become the Heavenly Demon was the same.

Had that been what bewitched Gye Mun?

How did I end up bringing him here?

He had brought that bastard into the place called the Sanctuary, a place even the current Young Cult Leader and the Heavenly Demon candidates scarcely dared to enter.

Dancer’s response was strange as well.

Could she truly believe that he would become the Heavenly Demon?

A Dancer bound by the covenant of fate might have seen something.

That was why Gye Mun asked.

“I do not know.”

Contrary to his expectation, Dancer gave an ambiguous answer.

“You do not know?”

A Dancer bound by the covenant should have been able to know.

Did that mean the answer was no?

Then Dancer said—

“It is far too dark.”

She recalled him.

From the moment he first arrived, he had felt alien.

She could see many things, but she could not see what mattered most.

He never appeared within her sight. She could not tell what he held inside.

She had never encountered anyone like him before.

And more than that—

He sensed me.

He had sensed her energy and even turned it to his own use.

She had never met anyone like that in her life.

Could he be the promised one?

He had come bearing the key, so he seemed to be.

...But perhaps not.

To say he was only that would be—

Something more.

Something higher.

A strange existence she could not even evaluate.

Even she, who had inherited the name of Dancer, one of the figures woven into the Holy Cult’s sacred history, could not grasp what he was.

“If he desires it, I think he may become it.”

“If he desires it?”

“Yes.”

He said with his own mouth that he desired it.

But Dancer did not know.

He...

Did he truly desire the Heavenly Demon’s seat?

There had been no such greed in the eyes Dancer had seen.

That was why she could be certain of one thing.

He—

He does not desire it.

He did not desire the Sky of the Demonic Cult.

He had no desire for something like that.