Chapter 335: Mother (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 335: Mother (2)
My memories of my mother were few and fleeting.
-Son.
Her voice was slightly high-pitched, yet warm. I remember her soft hands gently brushing through my coarse hair.
I remembered her smiling as she held my little sister, enjoying the gentle spring breeze.
By the time I realized these fragments were called "reminiscence," my mother was already gone.
She loved every season.
Spring seemed to be her favorite, but she cherished the other three just as deeply. She loved spring for the flowers that bloomed.
Even during the sweltering summers that made me irritable, my mother found beauty in them. She would often sit on the living room floor, watching the summer rain pour down.
I could never forget the warmth of her hand in mine during autumn and winter, as leaves and snow drifted gently to the ground.
Yes, my mother loved all four seasons. She loved the world.
At least, that was how I saw it.
-Son.
After tucking Gu Ryunghwa into bed, she would lie down herself and close her eyes.
-Are you sleepy?
-Mhm…
In response to my whiny answer, she would rub my belly and softly hum a song into my ear.
Perhaps it was the comfort of her singing, but I always fell asleep almost instantly.
The only reason I could reminisce in this dreary place was ultimately thanks to my mother's warmth.
Because of that…
-Son… I’m sorry…
The last touch of her hand on my cheek, the last sound of her voice—they still haunted me, shackles I could not escape.
"...What do you mean?"
I bit my tongue, hesitating before I finally responded.
Why was the World Tree bringing up my mother?
"Are you saying the beast inside me is connected to my mother?"
I struggled to suppress my boiling emotions.
It had never once crossed my mind that my mother would be mentioned in all of this.
Mother… is connected to this?
How was that even possible?
[ Calm down, apostle. ]
"You drop a bombshell like that and expect me to calm down? How selfish can you be?"
I had never considered it, not even once.
I had pondered the beast's existence within me endlessly, yet all I had discovered was its name. I never considered that information to be vital.
Just what was this beast?
Initially, I assumed it was something that came with my Demonic Absorption Art. That made sense, didn't it? Whenever the beast devoured the Demonic Qi from Demonic Stones, my Demonic Absorption Art would activate autonomously. The Demonic Qi I absorbed was purified into normal Qi.
Because of that, I thought the bastard's existence was part of the authority the Heavenly Demon had bestowed upon me. But as time passed, my perspective changed.
I began to think the beast was related not to the Demonic Absorption Art, but to my Gu Flame Wheel Art instead. If the beast's primary goal wasn't to consume Demonic Qi, but to purify Qi, then it must be more closely aligned with the Gu Flame Wheel Art.
Regardless, the real problem was that I had no idea why this beast existed within me.
The Immortal Healer had once said that Taoist Qi resided in my Dantian alongside my normal Qi, and it wouldn't have been strange for my body to explode at any moment. But it was Elder Shin who maintained order, preventing the Taoist Qi and normal Qi from clashing.
Truthfully, without Elder Shin's intervention, my body would have suffered excruciating pain whenever the Taoist Qi raged out of control. He helped me by preventing the collision of Qi within my Dantian.
Another thing.
There was another matter on my mind.
It concerned the Demonic Qi inside my body, coexisting with my Taoist Qi and normal Qi.
Becoming a Demonic Human meant that all the Qi in one's Dantian transformed into Demonic Qi. However, as soon as Demonic Qi entered my body, my Gu Flame Wheel Art would purify it almost immediately. The process was slow, however, meaning Demonic Qi lingered within me for a time.
This meant that, at any given moment, three different types of Qi coexisted inside me. Elder Shin might have been managing the Taoist Qi, but what about the Demonic Qi?
I thought to myself. Demonic Qi mixing with other Qi isn't inherently a major problem. The Heavenly Demon was able to turn even powerful masters into Demonic Humans precisely because Demonic Qi and normal Qi can coexist.
But that's only if a person is already a Demonic Human.
That coexistence is only possible after the Heavenly Demon transforms a person.
Why do I say this?
…Demonic Qi eats away at Qi and corrodes the body.
If Demonic Qi enters a normal person's body, it blocks their Qi flow and causes the body to gradually decay. I had witnessed this firsthand with the Sword Queen in this life, and I remembered others suffering the same fate in my previous life. Demonic Qi was lethal to martial artists.
It was true that the Heavenly Demon possessed absolute strength, but the Demonic Cult's rapid conquest of the Central Plains was largely due to the overwhelming, corrosive power of Demonic Qi. It was as if Demonic Qi was specifically designed to annihilate martial artists.
But what about me, who had such a dangerous energy inside my body?
I am not a Demonic Human.
I knew how to control it, but I wasn't a Demonic Human yet. By all rights, my body should have begun decaying the moment Demonic Qi entered it.
Things had been unusual ever since I absorbed a Demonic Stone for the first time in this life. The Demonic Absorption Art allowed me to draw in Demonic Qi, and my Gu Flame Wheel Art purified it into normal Qi. I had assumed my body was simply uniquely capable of handling Demonic Qi, despite not being a Demonic Human.
But was that truly the case?
Perhaps something, much like Elder Shin, was preventing the Demonic Qi from damaging me. That was a thought I'd had recently.
If something like that really lived inside my body…
Then it has to be the bastard that used to growl every day.
I had been aware of the beast's irritating presence for a few years now. Aside from its constant whining about hunger, it hadn't seemed particularly dangerous. Considering how it occasionally fed me information that helped me, I'd even started to think it might not be so bad.
But this bastard… was connected to my mother all along?
The World Tree said I had to learn about my mother to understand the beast.
That made me frown. "That is absurd."
[ Why do you think that? ]
"I've only encountered this beast in this lifetime."
There was no way I would have been unaware of such a creature within me in my previous life. If this bastard was truly linked to my mother, why was I only discovering it now? I had thought the beast was related to my regression.
"This bastard didn't exist in my past life, so why would it be connected to my mother…"
[ Do you really think that it didn’t exist in your past life, apostle? ]
"What do you mean by that?"
I furrowed my brow at the World Tree's words. Was I truly sure it hadn't existed?
[ Have you never considered the fact that it’s been asleep the whole time? ]
The World Tree's words gave me pause. That would have been even stranger.
"Even if that were true, it is rather strange."
A beast sleeping within me for an entire lifetime, only to awaken after my regression? Wasn't that even more peculiar?
"You never mentioned this when I met you in my past life."
Back when I first met the World Tree, it had vanished shortly after showing me the way out of this world. It hadn't told me what the flames to burn away my burdens were, nor what it truly wanted from me.
"So…"
[ Do you believe nothing has changed in this new life of yours? ]
"A change?"
[ Think about the changes you’ve gone through. ]
The World Tree asked, but I couldn't pinpoint anything immediately. To be more accurate, there were simply too many changes to count. It wasn't just one or two events.
What is it… what could it be?
If the beast had truly been inside me all along, then something about my regression must have triggered its awakening.
…Where is it?
I searched through my memories. Changes in me before the beast woke up.
Mount Hua…
When I found the flower belonging to the Black Palace on Mount Hua, I consumed it and absorbed its power. I also took in the Demonic Qi writhing inside the Sword Queen's body. I thought that might have been the cause.
But it has to be before that.
Elder Shin was with me then, and judging by his shock at the existence within me, it must have been before that event.
Then what was it?
Was it because I absorbed the Qi from Mount Hua's treasure? In some ways, that was the first time I—
"...Huh?"
In the midst of my thoughts, I realized that wasn't actually the first time I had gained power from an external source.
The first time…
…The Golden Sky Yeon Clan’s secret vault.
It was the power I experienced from the Formation in Sichuan. A massive snake had filled the entire room. That snake had offered me a marble, a power to strengthen my foundation and elevate my abilities. But I had felt uncomfortable for some time afterward, because a strange Qi had mixed with my Flame Arts.
"...Wait."
It felt like all these things could be a reason, but the experience at the Golden Sky Yeon Clan was unique. It was because the existence before me now was a World Tree, and it reminded me of the beautiful tree with white leaves I had seen there, though it wasn't nearly as large.
With that realization, I began explaining my experience to the World Tree.
"...I visited the secret vault of the Golden Sky Yeon Clan once."
[ I see. ]
"I saw a tree with white leaves there."
I explained how I had gained power from a giant snake within the vault.
[ I see… So that child gave you that. ]
"You seem to know the snake in that room."
[ I know it well. ]
The World Tree's voice was tinged with sorrow.
[ I am very grateful to that child for protecting me. How could I not know? ]
My eyes widened in shock. The demon in the shape of a giant snake, the tree with white leaves inside that room… they all seemed connected to the World Tree before me. The World Tree had said all traces of it had been erased, so how had those remnants endured?
…But more importantly,
"...So did the beast wake up because of what happened there?"
This was the first question I needed answered.
The World Tree's roots shifted, pressing against its chest—or what passed for its chest—after hearing my question.
[ Do you know about resonance? ]
Was this an explanation?
[ What you consumed that day was the dream that child held, and a seed of mine. ]
"...Pardon?"
[ The child had been holding that marble with great love, a dream to rise above the sky. ]
"Please, make it easier for me to understand."
[ By consuming my seed, you allowed a ruler’s essence to merge within you. ]
Craack-!
A root from the tree moved toward my chest, pressing against the spot where my Dantian lay.
[ The entry of another ruler’s power caused a resonance within you, awakening the beast. ]
"...Resonance, you say."
[ It, too, is a ruler of a world. It reacted to my power. ]
"...!"
I instinctively rubbed my Dantian. This whiny, growling beast was a ruler of another world?
Then, I remembered what the Blood Demon had called it.
-The ruler of the Abyss…
That's what the Blood Demon had called the growling beast. The ruler of the Abyss.
Back then, I had dismissed those words, unable to grasp their meaning. But now, I understood the term "ruler" all too well.
The Abyss.
A ruler.
According to the World Tree, the beast within me was a ruler of another world, just as the tree once had been. Perhaps this bastard was far more important than I had ever imagined.
"Wait, but why is such a thing inside me?"
It was bizarre to think that a ruler from another world resided within my body. And the fact that it was connected to my mother.
Mother.
It meant my mother wasn't just an ordinary woman.
I remembered my mother's lifeless face fading into the Gate of Demons suspended in the air. That moment marked my transformation, the moment I stopped trusting anyone within the Gu Clan.
[ Apostle. ]
The World Tree's voice was gentle, almost hesitant.
"...You said you knew about my mother, right?"
[ I do not know much. As I said earlier… I am just an existence that was erased from that world. ]
"But that means you do know a little."
My voice grew more desperate. It was something I had pondered many times before. I hadn't thought my mother was special.
"Please tell me. About my mother…"
But, of course, everything seemed to be intertwined. It felt like all of my experiences were connected. If my being a child of the Gu Clan was a reason, and if everyone around me ended up miserable because of my burdens, then I had to hear it. I had to learn the secrets about myself that I didn't know.
I gazed at the World Tree, which fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
[ I may have been erased from that world, but I do know a little. It used to be my world, after all. ]
[ From what I feel, it seems you have run into two calamities so far. ]
"Two times?"
I considered what the two calamities might be. If the first was the Blood Demon, then what was the second? The Heavenly Demon? That was the only existence I could think of as a second calamity. Unless, of course, I was a calamity myself, as Yeon Il-Cheon had hinted.
As that thought crossed my mind,
[ You said you wanted to learn about your mother, correct? ]
The World Tree began talking about my mother. A frown creased my forehead as I listened.
…Why is she being mentioned?
We were just discussing calamities, and now it was bringing up my mother?
Just as I questioned it,
[ Your mother— ]
The World Tree spoke.
[ —is the second calamity that fell upon your world. ]
Hearing those words, it felt as if the world around me stopped completely.