Chapter 574

“AAARGH!”

The surviving Twin Ghost—a martial artist from the unorthodox faction who carried Sky-Crushing Palace energy—screamed as he clutched his severed arm.

His iron shield had been split in two, along with the arm that had held it.

“Ghk...! Y-You bastard...! How did you do that...?!”

He looked as though he could not understand my attack.

That was only natural. I was not sure I understood it myself.

I saw it, and I cut it.

It was not the Moon Immortal sword path. It was simply a route I could sense on my own.

Once I entered body-and-sword unity, it felt as though I could sense the exact point I needed to cut.

Could I really call it seeing?

Strictly speaking, sensing was more accurate, but it did not matter anymore.

Whether I saw it or sensed it—

What mattered was that I knew where to cut.

[How I did it is irrelevant.]

I walked toward him.

Honestly, I had been tense enough that my breathing was caught in my throat, but I forced it down.

For now, I had to act as though nothing was wrong.

[What matters is that you are nothing worth mentioning.]

“...You bastard...! You bastard!”

[Stop barking. You are making noise.]

[Where did you learn to say such revolting things?]

The Heavenly Demon asked as though challenging me, but I ignored him.

Where else would I have learned them? From him, obviously.

Or perhaps not.

It was not important enough to think about.

[I have something to ask you.]

“...Hah. Do you think I would answer?”

The surviving Twin Ghost spoke as though the idea were absurd.

I stared at him while considering my options.

What should I do?

Should I torture him?

Or—

Should I just kill him?

If he refused to talk, killing him seemed more efficient than wasting time torturing him.

Still, that was not an easy choice.

I needed to know what these men had been trying to do here.

Then—

I should coax him.

I chose something other than torture.

Men like this were accustomed to abusing their own bodies and were dull to pain. Torture probably would not work very well.

So I would coax him instead.

As I made that decision and walked closer, I already knew the most effective thing I could offer him.

“You vile bastard! No matter what you say, I—”

[I will let you leave this place.]

“...What?”

The surviving Twin Ghost froze in the middle of speaking.

What he wanted most.

I knew what it was.

[I will free you from this cramped, suffocating room. Will you speak, then?]

“...Bullshit.”

His growl trembled.

That alone meant I was already halfway there.

“Do not talk nonsense. You think someone like you can undo this curse? What a pathetic trick. Just kill me!”

[There is nothing I cannot do. Whether it is the curse binding you or anything else, I will remove it. Will you tell me what I want to know?]

“You expect me to believe that...?”

[The choice is yours. Decide. Die here, or leave.]

“...”

The longer I spoke, the more his eyes shook.

Whether he believed me or not was his decision, but could he really choose anything else?

You want it desperately.

He looked more desperate than anyone.

Desperate enough to waver at those words even after I had killed the man who had been his comrade and younger brother.

At least five years.

I did not know how many years he had rotted away in this place, but it had been no fewer than five.

I could tell from examining the room.

What is bound to his body, and what has been set up inside this room.

This—

It looks like the way an earthbound ghost is tethered.

Vengeful ghosts that could not leave a single place were bound in a similar fashion.

I had no idea how they had managed to wrap such a thing around a living person.

That energy must be the problem.

Sky-Crushing Palace energy.

It seemed to be what kept him nailed to this place.

“Really...?”

The surviving Twin Ghost looked at me.

“Can you really free me?”

He did not even seem to notice the blood pouring from his arm.

All that filled him was the expectation that he might finally be released.

I nodded.

[Provided you do exactly as I want.]

“...”

[Have you decided?]

“...If you want betrayal, I cannot do it. Even what binds me will not allow that...”

[I will deal with that as well. Just answer.]

Had I said that because I knew for certain I could do it?

No.

I had simply needed to try.

“...If you free me, I will tell you everything I know.”

[Good.]

That was the answer I wanted.

The moment I heard it, I approached him.

As I reached out, he flinched.

Ignoring him, I placed my hand against his chest.

[Do not resist for no reason.]

That would only make things troublesome.

After warning him, I moved my energy.

WOOOOONG—!!!

“...Ghk!?”

Spiritual energy seeped into his body.

The surviving Twin Ghost jolted as though something had begun tearing through his insides.

He had probably never experienced anything like this before.

“W-What is this...?”

It was not physical pain.

He probably could not feel anything like that.

But the foreign sensation pressing against his soul had to be unbearably unpleasant.

Like having wings that did not exist ripped from his back.

Someone had once described it that way, and it fit perfectly.

“Argh...! Guh...!”

They bound him thoroughly.

Sky-Crushing Palace energy was deeply connected to the soul.

There were many things I did not know, but that much I understood.

It was the same when I recalled the methods the Heretic Cultists had used in my past life.

I did not know it at first, but—

Now that I knew Sky-Crushing Palace was tied to the Heretic Cult, I assumed dealing with this energy would be similar.

I had dealt with things like this until I was sick of it.

If I was wrong—

His soul will burst, and he will die.

That was all.

I did not tell the surviving Twin Ghost that.

Saying it would only make him struggle harder.

I gathered my strength and began removing it piece by piece.

Sky-Crushing Palace energy clung thickly to his soul, hardened into something solid.

The way to remove it was simple.

To scrub away something that had hardened, first you softened it with heat.

Usually, I used my spiritual energy for that heat.

WHOOSH.

Well, look at that.

This time, I did not need to.

As though it had been waiting for this moment, the power I had gained before surged out.

Karmic fire.

Flames that burned karma.

That unfamiliar power, which had seeped into my spiritual energy before I had even properly understood it, emerged and began burning away the Sky-Crushing Palace energy.

“AAAAARGH!!!”

The process was painful enough to make the surviving Twin Ghost scream.

Fortunately, he did not struggle.

Perhaps he understood as well.

The pain was proof that his restraints were actually changing.

After some time—

There was more than I expected.

But I managed to burn all of it away.

“Cough... Hah... Hah...”

The surviving Twin Ghost collapsed forward, groaning.

His mental strength was impressive.

It would not have been strange for him to have fainted long ago.

He had endured all of it through nothing but his desire to live.

I could acknowledge him for that much.

“Hah... Hoo... Is it... done?”

[Of course not.]

I smiled at his expectant eyes.

[I have lifted the covenant tying you to Sky-Crushing Palace, but you still cannot leave this place. I left that part untouched.]

“W-Why...?!”

His eyes filled with resentment, as though he believed I had promised to do everything.

I tilted my head.

[I have not received what I want yet. I need some leverage, do I not?]

“...!”

[Now answer me. What are you trying to do here?]

Why had Sky-Crushing Palace settled in Xinjiang?

When I asked, the surviving Twin Ghost hesitated.

He seemed to be wondering whether he was allowed to say it.

I waited.

“...Sky-Crushing Palace has business with the Holy Cult... Inside it...”

As he began speaking, his eyes widened.

The fact that the words were coming out at all seemed to astonish him.

Once the hesitation vanished, he continued.

“...They intend to take the Divine Tree and the Dancer.”

[Hmm.]

The Dancer and the Divine Tree.

Could it be what I had seen before?

It had to be.

[The Divine Tree and the Dancer... What do they intend to do with them?]

“I do not know. The Palace Lord would know... Those are the things he wants.”

[Why are you bound here?]

“...It is the price of returning from death.”

[Death? You mean you were dead?]

“Yes. More than a decade ago... My body should have already been dead, but the Palace Lord brought me back.”

Well, that was interesting.

Sword Demon had said something similar before.

Someone who should be dead is alive.

How was that possible?

As far as I knew, even the Heretic Cult Leader could not bring the dead back to life.

If what he says is true—

Had he accomplished some kind of forbidden art?

It sounded impossible, but that was what the information suggested.

Bringing back the dead.

“In exchange, the Palace Lord nailed me to this room and ordered me to guard the inn. What a joke. How am I supposed to guard anything when I cannot even leave this room?”

He remembered being unable to come out even while everyone around him was dying.

That did not sound like a lie.

[Have you seen any other Sky-Crushing Palace members while you were here?]

“No. I was abandoned. You, on the other hand... Do you truly not know who I am?”

His information was sparse.

He seemed more shocked that I knew so little about him.

[Is there anything else you can tell me about Sky-Crushing Palace?]

“What do you want to know?”

[Their purpose.]

“...Their purpose.”

The surviving Twin Ghost thought for a moment.

Had he heard something?

“...I saw the Sky-Crushing Palace Lord exactly once.”

He spoke as though something had just come back to him.

“He said he wanted his world to become the gods’ world. He said that was why he brought me back.”

[Ha.]

I laughed when I heard that.

[What a fucking bastard.]

“...What?”

[That was not directed at you.]

There had been someone in my past life who said things like that.

“Living as a mortal is pathetic and grueling.”

“You could become immortal. You could become a god. Yet you insist on remaining a paltry human?”

“That is absurd!”

“With talent like yours, how can you choose to remain human?! Wake up!”

I remembered that man shouting as though he were coughing blood.

A man who had been broken beyond repair.

It seemed—

It really was you.

Now I could be certain who led Sky-Crushing Palace.

[This is enough. I do not think you know anything else.]

“...Then... Are you going to free me now?”

His eyes shone with expectation.

Eyes that believed he could finally leave this room.

I looked at him and spoke.

[Ah. That.]

I moved my sword.

SLASH.

“...Ghk?”

“I lied.”

I cut off the surviving Twin Ghost’s head and removed my mask.

His head rolled across the floor.

His body collapsed after it.

“You are not going anywhere.”

I did not know how many people he had killed.

But when I touched his soul, I saw the enormous amount of karma piled inside it.

I had never intended to let him live.

I had not intended to from the start.

“...The Divine Tree and the Dancer.”

Those were what Sky-Crushing Palace was after.

If something happened here, they would probably react.

“Good.”

Let them try.

If Sky-Crushing Palace truly was the Heretic Cult—

“I will kill them again.”

All I had to do was crush them once more.