Since ancient times, guardianship has been about preventing, repelling, and driving away wickedness.
If that’s the case, what kind of power can a tree for guardianship possess?
“This is a cursed tree, a tree that grows by devouring evil spirits. Its roots appear to stretch into the ground upside down, while its branches seem to take root in the sky. It flips the above and below, grows while harboring a curse, and stretches its roots.”
Jinseong placed his hands on the tree and started chanting an invocation.
Suddenly, the tree began to emit a chilling cold, as if it had just been pulled from an ice chamber.
Particularly from the crack where the doll had been pulled out, a dreadfully terrifying chill oozed forth that could freeze a person solid.
It felt as if a monster from a frozen realm were exhaling its breath.
“Dew tainted with blood rolls off the leaves, moistening the ground, transforming into nutrients flowing through the branches that reach underground to return to its homeland. The abundant blood flows through the body like veins, emitting a foul stench, while the breeze that flows between the cracks becomes a wail, scattering and shattering repeatedly, reliving a meaningless torment. Fruits will blossom from the roots, possessing holes through which the five senses will awaken, and the whispers of the strange fruits will reach the ears of all beasts.”
The tree began to writhe.
It was as if it were not a tree but some living creature disguised as one, wriggling and twisting its body in revolting fashion, its branches moving like tentacles, presenting an utterly grotesque appearance. The roots slithered like snakes, burrowing into the ground, snacking on the nutrients hidden in the soil, and gradually extending their reach.
Long.
Very long.
It stretched out like a snake drawing itself to its limits, elongating its thin form, only to thicken once again.
Then, that thickened form would again thin out to its limits, stretching longer, repeating the cycle of thickening and thinning.
It might have appeared more like an insect than a snake, perhaps closer to a primitive organism than any known lifeform.
Thus, the roots extended along the wall, encircling the mansion.
The roots spread quickly, soon wrapping around the wall.
Once they had nowhere else to go, they changed direction, slithering inward and expanding their area of influence.
The tree made several concentric circles around the garden before finally stopping its growth, gathering its roots, and instead began to send surplus nutrients upward.
Writhe.
What the tree was doing with the nutrients was mere mimicry.
To conceal its grotesque writhing form, it wrapped its body in a hard exterior and dyed itself in colors resembling an ordinary tree. In between, it let forth eyeball-like protrusions, disguising them as typical tree knots, while making thorns capable of puncturing and killing a person cluster around to impersonate woody stems.
The twigs that had wriggled like tentacles now sprouted lush, unexpectedly vibrant green leaves, while between them, it bloomed scentless flowers. It also created vines resembling parasitic plants, which, while appearing to be mere parasites, were actually part of the tree itself and the weapons it would use to attack.
“A splendid demon tree has been created.”
What Jinseong had made was a guardian tree.
He had endowed the tree with roles and powers to protect the household.
However, to effectively protect, it must possess at least a minimal ability to distinguish between allies and enemies.
To differentiate between allies and foes, it naturally requires a semblance of ego.
But, the ways for a tree to attain such an ego weren’t many.
It could gain spirituality over the eons, or, like Mukuri Kokuri no Inugami, it could become a body of worship, or perhaps undergo a miraculous transformation into a Youkai or a Yokai, or volition might rest within it, uniting it with a spirit.
Jinseong chose the last of these paths.
Combining a ghost with the tree to create a demon tree.
But, if he merely created a demon tree, it was inevitable that the evil spirit residing within would wreak havoc.
Thus, Jinseong ground the malevolent spirit into powder and fed it to the tree.
This was to ensure that the evil spirit couldn’t take control, completely shattering its psyche, leaving only the nourishment absorbed so that the tree could be wielded according to Jinseong’s intentions.
And this magic of Jinseong succeeded magnificently.
The tree before him bore the properties of a demon tree, yet lacked malignance, becoming a being that faithfully performed the role of a guardian tree, protecting the members of the mansion as per Jinseong’s commands.
Of course, although it harbored no malevolence, the brutality inherent within the demon tree would remain, meaning that ‘enemies’ with evil intent entering the mansion would be in for a bad time.
‘With the malevolent energy from the spirits, it can make people feel cold, and if that energy strengthens, it could lure someone to freeze to death even in the brisk autumn.’
Moreover, it could manipulate its vines to strangle someone’s neck and reach out with thorns to pierce a heart. Furthermore, using the energy, it could dull the movements of foes, occasionally instilling a chilling feeling to distract them entirely from the battle.
And most importantly, this demon tree could consume spirits.
Having been made from the ground-up remains of multiple evil spirits, it would inherently carry powerful spiritual capabilities and could easily swallow weaker spirits, turning them into its energy. Plus, as Jinseong had chanted, it might even dangle the heads of spirits like fruits to unleash its powers….
Ordinary evil spirits and malevolent ghosts would likely not even dare to approach the mansion.
No matter how much they had lost their sanity, they wouldn’t want to thrust themselves into the jaws of a monster.
‘Well, I gave a gift, so it’s time for me to start preparing to leave.’
*
After creating the guardian tree, Jinseong quickly moved into action.
He began preparing to leave the mansion.
However, the members of the household didn’t feel much sense of incongruity regarding Jinseong’s sudden departure.
“Huh? My brother is moving out? Really? But he hardly stays around in the mansion anyway, right?”
Whether Jinseong was inside the mansion or out of it, he was just as elusive.
During mealtimes, he would naturally refrain from joining, he wasn’t one to roam the mansion or go out much, and even the servants were often barred from entering his room. Moreover, when he did return home, aside from those rare encounters, he would often be holed up in his room or return unnoticed.
To the people of the mansion, Park Jinseong had become somewhat akin to Schrödinger’s cat.
Before being observed, he could either be inside the mansion or not.
If they happened to catch even a glimpse of him, they might think, ‘Ah, could something good happen today?’ — it was that rare a sight.
Of course, it hadn’t been this severe in the past.
The expression ‘rarely seen’ to describe him had only come about after he had returned from his regression.
As he wandered around meticulously regaining his previous skills and creating divine objects, he often ventured out, sometimes traveling to distant lands like Russia and Japan, for stretches of days or even months, causing such rumors to start circulating.
For this reason, his preparation for moving didn’t seem to make much impact on those remaining in the mansion.
They had long grown accustomed to his absence.
And, another reason they regarded Jinseong’s move so lightly was that they believed it wouldn’t sever their connection.
As Lee Yang-hoon had said, he considered Jinseong his family, and so Jinseong was practically a part of them. They thought of Jinseong moving out as merely allowing an aged family member to gain independence, rather than pushing him out.
Moreover, family bonds don’t sever just because someone leaves home.
Although they didn’t share blood, he was already family; no matter how far apart, they could visit each other warmly.
Plus, the building Lee Yang-hoon had given to Jinseong was located conveniently for Iarin and Iserin to visit whenever they wanted. It was situated near the route to their school.
Iarin and Iserin were worried that once Jinseong moved out, they might grow apart. To quickly alleviate their concern, Lee Yang-hoon gifted him a building in a location that allowed them easy access.
So, whenever they felt like it, Iserin and Iarin could come visit Jinseong, perhaps even more frequently than when he was in the mansion.
Of course, how far into the building they could go would rely on Jinseong’s desires, but.
