Chapter 712

I hoped I was wrong.

I wanted the thought that had just occurred to me—my suspicion—to be completely unfounded.

But the guardian spirit’s thoughts reached me the next moment, and I knew it was true.

—Someone has to do it. Perhaps this is the fate I was given.

Just as I had understood what the guardian spirit intended, it had understood me.

My face was reflected in its clear blue-white eyes. They seemed to see through everything.

—Until that darkness… that thing you call a rift is gone, this will not end. No, it will be the beginning of another catastrophe.

I couldn’t deny it. After a desperate struggle, we had defeated the Southern Heaven Demon Empress and her subordinates. But the rift they had opened remained, consuming the space around it.

Even now.

Ssshhhhhh.

The darkness had already passed beyond the Inner Palace and was advancing toward the Outer Palace.

The demonic qi within it would corrupt living things, transform them into beings that had lost their reason, and bring about another disaster.

Basically, an army of monsters.

The rift reminded me of a Gate, but I had no way of knowing how far its power would reach.

If the demonic qi flowing from it could swallow Nanman—or more—then the darkness would keep spreading.

Beyond Nanman, until it consumed all under heaven.

—Human. You have likely guessed that only the sacred stone’s power can withstand that darkness. Someone must enter the center of the rift with the stone and endure it.

I knew that, too. Only a few months ago, the Water God Dragon had sacrificed itself to seal the rift.

And I knew the price it had paid.

“What if you become something different from what you’ve been until now?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say a mutant. The guardian spirit gave me a faint smile.

—Kill me. Without the slightest hesitation.

“…!”

—With your strength and that old human’s, it shouldn’t be too difficult, even if I become a corrupted being.

I stared at the guardian spirit, then forced myself to speak. I had been holding on to this thought since the moment I understood its intentions. After turning it over for so long, I finally asked.

“What if I seal the rift myself?”

The answer came from someone else.

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

It was Jeok Cheongang’s shout. He had been tending to the Beast Miao King’s Internal Injury.

“Out of the question. Say whatever you like. This old man will not allow it.”

“But, Old Master—”

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care how much you’ve accomplished. We have no idea what might happen in there. How could I let you go?”

“I’ll come back safe and sound without so much as a hair out of place. I promise.”

“Without so much as a hair out of place?”

“Yes.”

I nodded. Jeok Cheongang watched me in silence, then spoke.

“If that’s what you want, fine.”

“Then—”

“You stay here. This old man will go.”

“…!”

“If you can return without a scratch, then it would be even more certain if I went instead. Am I wrong?”

That hit the heart of it. I had no answer.

The guardian spirit’s thoughts rang out.

—Old human. If the darkness changes that young human into something else, what will you do?

“I’ll kill the boy. So he can find peace.”

Jeok Cheongang answered without hesitation. His voice dropped.

“And then this old man will choose death as well.”

—Young human. What would you do if it were the other way around?

I said nothing. The guardian spirit understood my silence and smiled.

—Yes. That is why I must go.

“…”

—The humans of this land have already shed enough blood. There is no reason for you and that old human to sacrifice yourselves in my place. You still have many fates ahead of you, while I have already passed through many fates.

The guardian spirit raised its blue-white eyes to Jeok Cheongang.

—Even if the situation becomes irreversible, do not hesitate to kill me.

Jeok Cheongang gave a small nod.

“I’ll give it everything I have.”

—Thank you.

Grrr. The guardian spirit drew a labored breath and opened its mouth toward me.

—Jin Taekyung. It is time.

What more could I say?

I slipped a hand inside my robes and murmured inwardly.

Inventory open. Summon.

The next moment, something giving off a faint, warm light rested on my palm. I held it out to the guardian spirit.

Jeok Cheongang felt its mysterious energy and murmured, almost groaning.

“Could that be…?”

—This sacred stone, which you humans call the Beast King Stone, was the one mission I had left. The reason I existed. And now we will be together until the end.

Ssshhhh.

The sacred stone rose slowly into the air and was drawn into the guardian spirit’s mouth.

Warmth spread outward with its faint radiance.

At the same time, the guardian spirit’s ragged breathing steadied. Strength began to return to its fallen body.

Rustle. Thud.

At last, the enormous White Tiger rose and set a blood-soaked forepaw on the ground.

Thud. Thud.

One step. Then another.

Each step was heavier than ever, yet nothing could stop it.

Not even the darkness, now incomparably denser and stickier than at first, could stop them.

Kraaaash!

Pools of blood lay everywhere, with countless corpses scattered among them. The darkness surged over them like a wave, only to strike the light surrounding the guardian spirit and fall back.

If the darkness flowing from the rift corrupted everything, then the light contained within the sacred stone possessed the power of purification.

—Kraaaaang!

A fierce roar shook heaven and earth. Its silver mane, stained red, whipped violently in the wind.

Before I knew it, the guardian spirit had become a gust of wind and was racing forward.

Shweeeek!

I watched its back as it shot through the darkness.

I watched that faint but unmistakable streak of light cross countless corpses and piles of rubble.

I watched it race across the vast expanse until it reached the cliff swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

And then I realized something.

At the very end, the guardian spirit had called me by name for the first time.

The guardian spirit was out of breath. Its blood-drenched body felt heavy, and the darkness all around constricted it from head to toe.

Imugi. Did you feel this way, too?

With that unheard question, the guardian spirit took a step with all its strength into the gaping fissure in the cliff.

It had to keep going, however hard it was.

It had not known before. Now it did.

This had been its one mission from the beginning. The guardian spirit was meant to protect not the sacred stone, but everything in this land.

Crunch.

Its paw sank deep into the ground beneath the weight of its next step. The closer it came to the center of the rift, the harder the darkness and demonic qi pressed down on its body.

As its consciousness dimmed, memories of the distant past flashed before its blue-white eyes.

Come to think of it, I was always alone.

It had no father, mother, or siblings.

No. At first, it had not even known such things existed.

To one small, pure-white White Tiger, this space it had seen from the moment it first opened its eyes was the world itself. And it had a friend who had always been there with it.

A friend it could neither play with nor speak to, but who had never left its side.

Tap.

Something touched its soft white forepaw, which was like a ball of cotton.

It was a stone so clear that crystal would have been a better name for it. As always, it was warm and comforting.

Grrr.

The young White Tiger let out a contented growl and soon fell asleep, breathing softly.

And at the feet of the sleeping White Tiger, on a hill drenched in warm light that was neither sunlight nor moonlight, a green sprout suddenly pushed its head above the ground.

Rustle. Tap.

The sprout, no larger than a fingernail, began to straighten its bent stem. Colorful buds appeared, and branches grew.

Before long, a giant tree stood where the sprout had been, its roots sunk deep into the earth. Leaves hung from its countless branches, casting a broad, cool shade.

Ssshhhh.

A wind blew from somewhere, stirring the tree’s full crown.

A leaf that had clung stubbornly to its branch finally broke free and fell into the shade.

At the soft tap of its landing, the creature napping beneath the tree opened its eyes.

—Grrr.

It rose with a low growl.

It was a White Tiger.

Far too enormous and powerful to be called a cub—or even an ordinary tiger—it looked around with blue-white eyes.

No one knew exactly how much time had passed.

Only that it had been a long time. The place where it had been born and raised was always peaceful, and it was always day.

But things had changed.

Change as certain as the sprout growing into a giant tree, or the small, soft White Tiger cub becoming a huge and powerful being.

Yes. Him.

It had first met him three hundred years ago. He was a tribal chieftain who led humans and possessed a mysterious power that drew beasts to him. For someone built like a bear, he smiled an awful lot.

That power was probably why the beasts of the Sacred Land had accepted him without the guardian spirit’s permission.

“Oh. I’ve never seen a White Tiger this big before. What’s your name?”

At first, the guardian spirit had been surprised that a human had entered the Sacred Land without its permission. Then the human bastard had stroked the back of its neck without a trace of fear, leaving it dumbfounded.

So it asked him a question.

“And what is your name?”

It could still picture the insolent human bastard’s face. He had gaped at the guardian spirit, then answered in a dazed voice.

“Yayul Cheon….”

“I do not know how you entered this place, but if I see you here again, I will tear you limb from limb and kill you. Do you understand?”

The next day, the guardian spirit realized something.

That young human bastard named Yayul Cheon had less fear than any living creature it had ever seen.

“I believe I told you not to let yourself be seen.”

“That’s why I hid.”

“……Are you joking with me right now?”

“You found me by smell. You didn’t see me. I’m lying facedown in the grass.”

“No, is that supposed to be an answer? …Wait. What is that smell?”

“Grilled meat. I brought some in case you were hungry. Want some?”

“Meat? Did you hunt the beasts?”

“…”

The guardian spirit could not say how they had grown close. Like getting soaked in a light rain without noticing, they came to know each other little by little. The years passed quickly.

Ten years. Twenty years. And then, the day they last faced each other.

“It’s been a long time.”

Yayul Cheon had not visited for several years. He was no longer a young man.

His once-black hair was half gray, and his eyes were worn with fatigue.

“I need your help. Only with your power and the sacred stone’s can we win this war and restore peace to Nanman.”

The guardian spirit knew what kind of war he was fighting. It knew how evil their enemies were.

But it refused.

The sacred stone—and the guardian spirit itself—were merely observers. That was what it believed then.

At least, it had believed it then.

And regret always came too late.

If I had helped you then, would the fate of this land have changed?

The guardian spirit’s blue-white eyes cleared as it came back from its memories.

Turbulent darkness churned before it, writhing strangely and spewing demonic qi as though it would swallow everything.

Ssssss!

Within the warped space, the guardian spirit struggled through one final step and stared into the center of the rift.

Then it hurled its faintly glowing body forward with all the strength it had left.

—Kraaaaang!

A single roar rang out, and an enormous wave of force burst outward.