Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
The mont the flas touched my skin, my heart pounded wildly, as if about to burst. Nine Flas Firewheel began spinning out of control, its energy raging chaotically inside .
My blood burned.
Through ragged, distorted breaths, I stared straight into the flas.
“What a truly perfect vessel.”
What was this fla speaking to ?
I didn’t have to think long.
For it to resonate with so powerfully ant it was Nine Flas Firewheel. That much was certain.
This burning fla in front of was my family’s legacy.
The problem was, I had never seen this fla before.
Which could only an—
‘A blood relative I don’t know.’
And if so…
‘Then who could it be?’
Again, there was no need to agonize over it for long.
If it were before, I might have been uncertain.
But now, there was only one person who ca to mind.
Crack.
I tried to move my body.
I couldn’t. An unknown force was holding down.
I tried to open my mouth, but it was the sa. My lips felt locked in place.
Woooong.
I focused on my heart, drawing power into it. Fortunately, I could still control my energy.
Kiiiiiing—!
I spun Nine Flas Firewheel faster, compressing the rampaging energy.
Fwoosh.
Gathering the swirling flas into a single point—
Bang!
I detonated it.
Kwaaaaaa—!
Blue flas exploded outwards, spinning violently as if a storm had been unleashed.
The massive surge of energy filled the area.
Crack.
The oppressive force around my body shattered.
“…Hoo.”
Finally, my lips were free.
The sudden use of power left my ridians and bones aching, the strain imnse.
“Hooh.”
While I flexed my shoulders and tested my body, the fla’s voice ca again, tinged with admiration.
“Impressive.”
“…”
I frowned deeply as I glared at the fla.
“I’ll ask you this directly.”
I spoke while drawing my senses to their absolute peak.
“Are you my grandfather?”
“Hmm.”
Was it my imagination?
I could almost feel the fla smile.
Though its form was purely made of fire, with no face to speak of, I sohow knew it.
“Curious. Your father never told you, and yet… How did you know?”
The fla’s response made click my tongue.
So I was right.
The fla was my grandfather.
I sighed heavily and asked,
“How are you alive?”
“Haha.”
Asking soone why they weren’t dead might seem crude, even to , but I needed to know.
“That’s quite a startling question.”
“It’s more startling for , I assure you.”
How could I not be startled when a humanoid fla suddenly appeared, claiming to be my grandfather—a man everyone thought dead?
On top of that—
‘He said In’wae (inhuman).’
He had asked why I had beco sothing inhuman.
Which ant he could tell I was no longer human.
Maybe that’s why—
“What do you want?”
My voice ca out sharper, edged with suspicion.
“Why did you seek out?”
As I narrowed my eyes and asked, the fla replied,
“Is it so strange for a grandfather to seek his grandson?”
It was a reasonable answer, on the surface.
But it made laugh.
“If that’s the case, then why didn’t you show up until now?”
I had never seen him once in my life, not even in my past one.
And now he suddenly claid to be my grandfather?
Not to ntion—
“Showing up in such a hostile manner doesn’t help your case.”
“It was rely a gesture of affection.”
“One more ‘gesture’ like that and soone might end up dead.”
“Cluck, cluck.”
I heard him laugh faintly and rolled my eyes, scanning the still-silent surroundings.
‘Grandfather, huh.’
The forr head of the Gu family.
I had heard nothing about him—not his story, not his life.
So why was it that…
Even now, looking at him, I felt nothing?
To , Grandfather was Elder Il.
The person in front of felt infinitely distant.
“Child.”
The fla spoke again.
“It’s been so long, yet you’ve grown so well. It’s a sight to see.”
I frowned at the unexpected praise.
“What nonsense is this…”
“Your flas are proof of your effort. They are truly beautiful.”
His words felt like praise, yet sohow made uneasy.
“Your vessel is firm, your body is strong. There’s no need to worry about the next generation… But.”
The fla’s hand gripped my shoulder.
“How could you, with such potential, beco inhuman? That is what confounds .”
“…”
Crackle.
The hand burned hot.
As the swirling energy filled my senses, I stared into the fla’s form.
There was no avoiding it now.
“I lived my life, and it just turned out that way.”
I simply struggled to survive.
That was all I could say.
“Hmm…”
The fla tilted its head as if curious.
Then it murmured,
“Perhaps I should have burned her after all. A precious fla tainted with impurity…”
The words froze in place.
“…Her?”
I knew instinctively whom he was referring to.
“I should have removed her the first ti I saw her. Things would have been better that way.”
“…”
“What a sha. Your vessel is so pristine, yet its light has dimd because of that filth—hmm?”
The fla paused, tilting its head again as it looked at .
“Why do you wear such an expression?”
My expression?
I could guess it wasn’t pleasant.
How could it be?
“You talk so much shit. How am I supposed to smile?”
Even if he was my grandfather, how could I accept soone who called my mother an impurity?
Crack.
I stretched my shoulders and looked at the fla coldly.
“You don’t look so ‘human’ yourself.”
The title of “grandfather” no longer suited him.
A body wrapped entirely in flas?
At best, it mimicked the shape of a human.
The fla replied calmly.
“You cannot see properly because you lack the qualifications.”
“Qualifications…?”
Was he talking about my level of mastery? Or sothing else?
“Is it because I haven’t taken the Soga-ju position?”
I asked directly, and the fla laughed softly.
“That’s right.”
If I inherited the position, would I be able to see beyond the flas?
I didn’t know.
Even in my past life, when I had beco Soga-ju, I had never seen him.
And so, I was curious.
“Why are you here now?”
Why, after all this ti, had he co to ?
“As I said before, a grandfather seeking his grandson—”
“Cut the useless affection and get to the point.”
“…”
I couldn’t take it anymore.
It was sickening.
“You speak as though you care, yet there’s no warmth in your voice or gaze. Just say what you ca to say. You’re making sick.”
“Hooh…”
I spat my frustration at him, and the fla’s deanor shifted instantly.
“This is disappointing.”
The soft facade disappeared.
His tone turned cold and emotionless, sending a chill through the air.
“Is this not the approach you preferred?”
“There was no effort to hide it. Stop talking nonsense.”
His gaze, his voice—everything about him was different now.
Grandfather?
The word made think of Elder Il. To , that was the only image of “grandfather” I had.
What did this being want?
“What is it you want from ?”
I asked again, knowing it wasn’t because he missed .
The fla finally spoke.
“Because the ti has co.”
His voice resonated ominously.
“You are ready. The ti has passed, and the extra ti I gave your father has run out. And yet—”
Whoosh.
The heat around grew even more suffocating.
“Child, you still haven’t received the key, have you?”
“…”
The key.
I imdiately understood. He must be referring to the Gu family’s insignia—a symbol passed down to the Soga-ju.
“It is ti for you to inherit the karma. That is what we must do.”
His words weighed on like a boulder.
“Is that why you ca to see ? To tell to hurry up and take it?”
Did this man—who had played dead for who knows how long—co all the way here just to pressure ?
When I asked, the fla replied,
“No. I ca purely out of curiosity.”
“…Curiosity?”
“The Gu family despises the inhuman more than anyone. And yet you, the one ant to inherit our karma, have beco sothing vile.”
“…Ha.”
So it was because I had turned into a dragon.
But did becoming a dragon sohow interfere with inheriting the karma?
‘How does he even know?’
For him to know I was no longer human, he must have been watching.
‘Wait…’
A thought struck , and I asked sharply,
“…By any chance, is what happened to the Patriarch your doing?”
Father couldn’t make it to Henan because sothing had happened.
Madam Mi said it was related to sothing only the Soga-ju could understand.
And now my grandfather had appeared?
This couldn’t be a coincidence.
The fla gave a simple answer.
“Yes.”
“…!”
I clenched my teeth. My hunch was right.
“What… What did you do to the Patriarch?”
“I acted according to reason. Your father is guarding the Gate in my stead.”
The Gate?
What gate was he talking about?
“It was sothing your father should have done long ago, and one day, it will be your responsibility as well.”
“…All this just to guard a door?”
“How can you call it ‘just a door’? Guarding it is our karma.”
Our karma…
The Gu family’s very reason for existence, sothing I knew nothing about.
It was clear that only the Soga-ju, or perhaps the Patriarch, could know this truth.
Thinking it over, I asked,
“If becoming inhuman is such a problem, doesn’t that an I can’t inherit it anymore?”
From the way he talked about impurity and corruption, it seed like my transformation would interfere with my ability to inherit the karma.
When I asked, he replied calmly,
“Yes, it’s a problem. That is why I have co.”
His tone was indifferent as he continued,
“To burn away the impurity and restore you to your original state. That is why I ca personally.”
“…Tch.”
Hearing that, I imdiately drew up my energy.
To burn it away.
Did he an to kill ?
Thump.
I tightened my focus, glaring at the fla.
Fwoosh!
Blue flas erupted across my body as I raised my defenses, preparing for a fight.
But then—
“However,”
The fla folded its hands behind its back and continued,
“I made a deal with your father. I will grant you a little extra ti.”
“What did you just say?”
A deal with my father?
“What kind of—”
Before I could finish,
Snap—!
Whoosh!
“…!!”
With a snap of his fingers, the flas enveloping my body vanished.
I froze in shock.
I tried to summon the flas again, but—
Sizzle… Crack…
Only small sparks sputtered uselessly.
The rings of Nine Flas Firewheel had fallen completely silent.
‘What’s going on?’
The energy was still there, but I couldn’t call forth the flas.
As I stared, stunned, the fla spoke once more.
“So for now, I will take your fla.”
I widened my eyes in disbelief.
He had sealed my ability to use Nine Flas Firewheel.
How?
The fla raised his hand, and I saw it—the familiar glow of a blue fla swirling in his palm.
It was my fla.
“That is why I sought you today. If you wish to reclaim it…”
As the radiant fla danced in his hand, he said,
“Co find in Xinjiang.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Xinjiang?
The loss of my fla was shocking, but what caught more off guard was that word.
Xinjiang.
‘Xinjiang…’
[“Go to Xinjiang.”]
Namgung Myung had spoken those words through Woo Hyuk’s body in the North Sea.
Xinjiang was also where the Demonic Cult’s main base had been in my previous life.
And now, my grandfather was telling to co there?
How was this all connected?
This wasn’t just a coincidence.
“I cannot give you much ti. Your father ntioned a year, so I will grant you that.”
Hearing this, I imdiately shouted,
“Wait!”
He was trying to leave just like that?
I tensed my legs, unwilling to let him walk away so easily.
“You can’t just take sothing and leave! Who the hell do you think you are?”
Thud—!
I tried to force my flas back, but nothing happened.
I scowled, channeling another power instead.
I didn’t need flas to fight.
I twisted my body, focusing energy into my fist.
Tua Pacheonmu.
Demonic energy surged into my body, and I swung with all my might.
Boom—!
The shockwave exploded forward, tearing through the air toward him.
Rumble—!
“Hm.”
He raised his hand slightly, and flas erupted from the ground, forming a wall.
Fwoosh—!
The shockwave collided with the wall and dissipated.
I didn’t stop.
This ti, I used Simkwon.
Boom—!
The force struck the wall, shattering it with a thunderous roar.
“Hmm.”
The fla gave a short, impressed hum.
But by then, I was already in front of him.
I reached out and grabbed the blue fla from his hand.
Clench.
I crushed it, and the familiar heat seeped back into my heart.
Fwoosh!
The blue flas reignited around .
“…Hoo.”
As expected, that was my fla.
But even though I had reclaid it, I couldn’t relax.
Sohow, my grandfather had managed to take it from once. He could do it again.
While I remained on guard, I heard him chuckle softly.
“Good.”
Shiver.
His voice sent chills down my spine.
I swallowed hard, my body instinctively tensing.
What the hell was this feeling?
“Yes. You’ll do nicely.”
He took a step toward .
And then—
Shhhhhh—!!!
BOOM—!
Sothing fell from the sky, landing between us.
Wooooosh—!
A heavy, dark aura swirled aggressively around us.
I flinched for a mont at the overwhelming presence, but as the aura faded, I saw a small, slender figure standing in front of .
Long, dark hair with a violet sheen.
A graceful silhouette.
The figure blocked my grandfather’s path, standing between us.
I spoke quietly, my voice low.
“…You.”
The woman turned her head to look at , her violet eyes eting mine.
Cheonma.
It was her.
She was the one who had stopped him.
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