전생검신 97권 04화

I took a moment to think about Simon Magus’s proposal.

‘This guy’s definitely a wicked demon sorcerer… I’ve faced him as an enemy during my previous life to take him down. Generally, teaming up with someone like him is a no-go, but…’

It seemed Simon Magus knew how to properly resurrect Zhuge Sa. Plus, thinking about the fact that he had Zhuge Sa’s soul in hand thanks to the Soul Exchange Technique made it a proposal I couldn’t dismiss. I needed to hear him out first.

But I didn’t see this as an ‘inevitable’ proposal. With my experience in negotiations, I knew that he was trying to lead the situation in his favor by pretending to be all friendly while sneaking in poison clauses.

‘I need to show that I can refuse this at any time.’

I kept my expression neutral and replied calmly,

“What will you do if I don’t accept your proposal?”

I immediately thought,

‘I deliberately left room for him to dig in… Let’s see him try to threaten me with Zhuge Sa’s soul. It’ll be his end for sure.’

Did Simon Magus even realize I was testing him?

In these situations, the usual game is for the opponent to leverage their advantages to instill an unavoidable reason for me to comply. In this case, it would probably involve the soul of Zhuge Sa.

Yet, I could use this proposal to filter whether this guy really could be a companion. Being a reborn person means I can just ditch this life and jump to the next whenever I want.

Anyone who threatens me by saying ‘If you don’t listen to me, I’ll harm your ally’ is clearly unfit to be a reborn companion, even a fool knows that.

A moment later, Simon Magus’s response was unexpected.

“Still, I’ll do my best to resurrect Zhuge Sa.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“…Why? If I don’t accept you as a companion, that would just be wasted effort for you, wouldn’t it?”

“Cough. Looks like you’ve been somewhat entangled with me, managing to grasp my true nature. I wouldn’t expect a reborn to quickly win my favor.”

Simon Magus seemed to smirk instead.

“No matter how many lives it takes, I must show my genuine intent to be recognized as a trading partner.”

“…”

“I don’t underestimate you, Demiurge.”

This guy’s pretty shrewd…

No, he’s wise enough to understand the mindset of a reborn, allowing him to speak like that?

Either way, he seemed to be someone who wouldn’t ruin things out of greed for immediate gain. If he’s not petty, then while he might not be a companion, collaboration could be on the table.

‘Right, since we both know we’re bad guys, being honest like that might actually be better…’

After considering all this, I finally said,

“Alright then, let’s hear how to fully resurrect Zhuge Sa.”

“Hehe. It’s not a difficult topic. First, we need to understand the state Zhuge Sa is in.”

Buzz!

Simon Magus raised one palm towards the sky, and a large round magic circle appeared, slightly bigger than his palm. The purple six-pointed star magic circle floated above it in a size easily visible.

“Do you see this?”

“What’s that magic circle for?”

“After I acquired Zhuge Sa’s soul through the Soul Exchange Technique, I analyzed what kind of curse he was under. And I found out that this is a special curse that only befalls those who have fully recognized [Outer Gods], and that there are a total of six types of this curse.”

“…!”

“One curse per Outer God. So it’s a curse stemming from six Outer Gods. The fact that Zhuge Sa hasn’t been obliterated indicates he possessed remarkable demonic talent. Each corner of this magic circle illustrates the manifestation of that curse.”

I was taken aback and exclaimed,

“What the hell! Just recognizing it puts a curse on you… Is that what those Outer Gods are, so petty?”

“Recognition is directly linked to the Law of Cause and Effect. The Outer Gods don’t want to take losses from it due to recognition, so they naturally have higher-level beings curse those who recognize them.”

“…”

I think I can grasp things somewhat.

As the Outer God [Brain] said, while Outer Gods have stepped out of the board of Cause and Effect, they haven’t transcended it.

Thus, when lower dimensions begin to recognize their existence, a chain of Cause and Effect is formed, which they would find annoying. They generally prefer to idly observe the situation from outside the board.

“The good news is that since this curse was imposed automatically and isn’t a direct curse, there’s a chance to break it.”

“Is that so… But why six curses?”

“It seems you witnessed almost all Outer Gods during your 30th life. Six among them is actually quite few, isn’t it?”

“…”

Umm… I have no words now…

Just thinking about the number of Outer Gods that showed up when the Evil God destroyed the world…

As I clicked my tongue, Simon Magus leaned the magic circle closer to me and said,

“There are two methods for breaking curses. One is to directly approach each Outer God and ask them to lift the curse, and the other is a method that only you can perform.”

“…You knew the first one wouldn’t work, didn’t you?”

“You catch on quickly.”

“What’s the method only I can use?”

Simon Magus chuckled and said,

“Before I reveal it, I want to confirm something. Whether you accept me as a reborn companion or not, promise to cooperate in this life, and I’ll share that method.”

“You’re thorough.”

“What can I say?”

“Got it. At least let’s cooperate in this life. Now tell me that method.”

At this point, I figured a cooperative relationship might be possible, even if I couldn’t fully trust him. I reluctantly agreed to Simon Magus’s proposal, which prompted him to respond.

“You’ll need to harness the power of the World Tree.”

“…! What does that mean?”

“The Sacred Altar Tree, the World Tree located in the eastern peninsula. You already know that no [Old Ruler]’s curse can touch that Sacred Altar Tree. That’s because the tree, as a World Tree, possesses the inherent property to nullify all divine powers.”

Simon Magus continued.

“You too share this property as a World Tree. If you can develop your traits to convey that nullification of divine power to others, you can lift the curses on Zhuge Sa.”

“…Hmm!”

I could understand what Simon Magus was saying.

Nullification of divine power!

If I leverage the World Tree’s unique trait, I could nullify the results of the [curse] that stemmed from that divine power. Thinking about how my fist had broken through the barrier created by Fuxi was pretty convincing.

Feeling motivated, I shouted,

“Alright! Then let’s shatter that magic circle with my power right now!”

“Uh, wait….”

Thunder God Fist!

BAM!

BAAAAM!

I threw my fist at the magic circle to break it, but instead of shattering it, poor Simon Magus caught a punch to the face and went flying.

Cough! Cough!

Simon Magus was spitting blood. I felt a bit awkward witnessing that.

“Uh… Are you okay?”

Sitting on the floor, Simon, after spewing blood, shot me a glare.

“Cough… Damn… Just let me finish talking…!”

“…”

“Cough! Cough.”

He was indeed seriously hurt, coughing up blood for a long while before finally calming down. Then, he spoke, trembling his fingertips.

“The power of the World Tree… Scary… Even blessed by the Outer Gods, it can’t completely block it…”

“What’s going on? Didn’t my fist have the ability to nullify divine power?”

“It does… But this is a curse of recognition. It’s merely an indirect effect, so even using direct divine power nullification won’t break the curse. Most importantly, as long as the soul of Zhuge Sa has ‘recognized’ the Outer Gods, breaking the curse once will just lead to it being imposed again.”

“What the hell! So it’s not nullifying divine power after all!”

Simon Magus looked utterly dumbfounded, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and then he snapped, throwing a fit.

“Cough… Are you really the being that reached the Sephiroth’s higher tier? If it were a curse imposed directly by the Outer Gods, breaking it would be feasible, but due to how it automatically activates and is an indirect curse, it can’t be done! How do you intend to erase the echo that resounds through the mountains? If divine power nullification could solve everything, the Outer Gods wouldn’t have exterminated the World Trees long ago!”

“…”

“Don’t you get it? Cough… Ugh… How could you have met Sophia without understanding such basic knowledge of sorcery? She’s a legendary being comparable to the Tetragrammaton!”

His voice was seething with disbelief.

I felt a pang of guilt towards Simon Magus and scratched my head as I said,

“Uh… Sorry for hitting you. Anyway, if direct nullification isn’t an option, then what should I do?”

“You need to grow into the World Tree itself.”

“Grow as the World Tree?”

Simon Magus nodded and replied.

“You’re currently a member of the World Tree race, but you’re merely a sapling sprouting. Compared to the Sacred Altar Tree in the East, you’re no different from a newborn. Once you achieve growth as a species, you’ll be able to manifest the influence of the World Tree in the world, making it possible to heal Zhuge Sa by using your Law of Cause and Effect.”

“Hmm!”

To grow as a World Tree?

That was certainly an unheard piece of advice!

Curious, I asked Simon Magus,

“How do I grow as a World Tree?”

“I don’t know!”

“…”

With jealousy and envy, Simon Magus looked at me.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen a human become a World Tree. No existence within the Three Thousand Worlds would have imagined this was possible. Not even the World Trees themselves, it’s very rare for a god to discover a World Tree, and yet a human has obtained one…”

“Then how do you know that by growing as a World Tree I can heal Zhuge Sa? According to your words, this is unprecedented, so you shouldn’t know.”

“I may not know how a human can become a World Tree, but I know the abilities a World Tree possesses. There are historical records of grown World Trees actively healing the curses of Outer Gods by their own will.”

“Hmm…!”

“So, you now have the task of figuring out how to grow as a World Tree. Do you now understand?”

“I get that, but what’s the way to do it? Do you have any clues?”

“I might have one.”

Simon Magus replied and suddenly cast a spell.

Buzz!

A dimension door appeared, and Simon Magus quickly stepped through it, saying,

“Follow me.”

As I stepped into the dimension door after him, I soon found myself in a strange place, not the Jangryeong Valley of Zhuge Sa.

‘No, it’s not a strange place. I know this area.’

After surveying the strange area for a moment, I said,

“This is the ruins of Juuban.”

In the Qingzhang Plateau of Tubo, located halfway up a mountain, lies the shrine of Juuban! I had a rough idea about this pristine shrine from the soul of Karla Lama, summoned through the Heavenly Secret Technique.

I had previously come to this Juuban ruin, following Zhuge Sa’s soul’s guidance, where I first encountered Simon Magus. I had visited here several times while reincarnating, so I was quite familiar with this ruin.

Upon arriving at the Juuban ruins, Simon Magus plopped down on the grand throne and asked,

“How much do you know about Juuban?”

I responded to his question.

“The first deity and creator who gave birth to Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, the divine beings of the Baehwa Sect.”

“You’ve memorized it just like the book. Heh…”

“What’s it to you? I just didn’t need to know much more about Juuban.”

“Not needing to know more?”

“Yeah. I know it’s a deity, but Juuban has never appeared before me, not a single time. He hasn’t played an important role.”

I replied curtly, and Simon Magus laughed warmly.

“You really know nothing, do you? If you had known about Juuban, you wouldn’t be saying that.”

“What? What do you know about Juuban?”

“Hehe.”

Simon Magus chuckled and said,

“You’ll want to know this.”

Boom!

The moment Simon Magus waved his hand in the air, a gigantic circular disk appeared before me, engraved with incomprehensible foreign symbols. I was startled and taken aback.

“This is the Outer God Diagram!”

It was indeed!

When I was training in the Training World with Lee Gang-ryong, I had stumbled upon the mysterious alien ruins of Juuban! Thanks to Lee Gang-ryong’s knowledge of demonic arts, I remembered that the Outer God Diagram symbolizes the Outer Gods.

“This was definitely attached to the wall of the secret passage inside that place…”

“I temporarily detached this disk and placed it inside. To prevent intruders from casually taking it.”

“Hmmm…”

It seems Simon Magus was aware of the Outer God Diagram after all.

“Anyway, why the Outer God Diagram? What’s that got to do with Juuban?”

“…”

Simon Magus’s next words left me astounded.

“The being who created this Outer God Diagram is none other than our Baehwa Sect’s true deity, Juuban.”