Eunae watched with trepidation as Heian prepared a small magical circle on one of the few surfaces in Misun’s lab not dominated by the enormous prototype mana-amplifier.

“Heian, sweetheart, are you sure this is safe?”

“Uh huh! Even if Auntie Misun hadn’t made the ring safe to use, the broken soul inside is too weak to do anything to you or me—or even Misun.”

Misun crossed her arms under her chest and huffed irritably.

“Please stop calling me that. There is a reason the soul-seed, as you call it, generally requires either a specially-prepared vessel or a developing soul to implant itself. I only prepared the interface as a precaution, as I was worried that intentionally exposing my mind to it might empower it somehow.”

Eui frowned at the formation Heian was drawing.

“Isn’t that exactly what she’s trying to do now?”

“Maybe, but she should be fine. I’ve never been particularly good with sacred arts or domain theory, but Heian is acting within her domain, and she’s much stronger than I am. The risks, if any, are miniscule.”

“You’re not the slightest bit ashamed to admit that someone who’s only been a xiantian cultivator for a few weeks is already stronger than you are?”

Misun rolled her eyes.

“I have nothing to be ashamed of. Heian is a great spirit, reborn from the fragment of a being that is likely almost as old as the world itself. The same class of being as our spirit ancestors. It would be far stranger to place a half-baked cultivator like myself in the same category.”

Yue looked askance at her.

“Half-baked? Before Yoshika came along you were one of the youngest people to reach xiantian in history. I thought you’d be more proud of that.”

She scoffed.

“I have my pride, but I’m not blinded by it. I knew my path was a dead end long before you and sister-dearest here went and proved it. Talent can only take you so far when you’ve been inadvertently handicapping yourself the entire time.”

“Fair enough.”

“I do not measure my worth in power or influence, Yan Yue, but in knowledge. Often, that means acknowledging when I have been outclassed, or admitting that I am wrong. As much as it pains me to do so, I’d rather discard faulty assumptions than soldier on in worthless ignorance.”

Eunae pursed her lips, giving her sister a sidelong glance.

“You say that, but I know exactly how stubborn you can be sometimes.”

“An unfortunate family trait. I changed my mind about you, didn’t I?”

“Do you mean me as Eunae, or me as Yoshika?”

Misun leaned back in her chair and sighed, looking away.

“Both, unfortunately. You have a distressing habit of making me challenge my own views.”

Heian finished her work and dusted herself off.

“Okay! I’m ready when you are.”

Eunae sighed and nodded at her.

“Alright, let’s do this. Just be careful, okay?”

“Got it!”

Heian stood in the center of her circle and put on the ring. It vanished from Yoshika’s senses as soon as she did—Misun did good work with her wards of secrecy. The cat spirit closed her eyes in concentration, her power flowing through the formation and then out into the room around them.

A vaguely humanoid shape clad in black flames began to take shape in front of her, before slowly resolving into a shadowy image of Do Hye. The image blinked, then looked around with a curious expression.

“Well well! This is rather unexpected. To what do I owe the honor of this dubious resurrection?”

Everyone but Heian stared at the shadow in stunned silence. He scratched his bald head and frowned.

“Why so surprised? Miss Heian said that she’d enable you to speak with me, did she not?”

Eui glanced at Heian, who still had her eyes closed in concentration, then back to Do Hye.

“I was expecting something less direct. Are you...alive?”

“Not in any meaningful sense of the word, no. Perhaps ‘resurrection’ was a poor choice of word. I’m something like a reflection—a simulated image of the man you knew as Do Hye.”

It reminded her uncomfortably of the ‘administrator’ that had overseen Chou’s realm before Yoshika had taken it for herself. He too had insisted that he was only a simulation of the original Bloody Sovereign.

“How is that any different from being alive?”

Do Hye’s shadow shrugged.

“Normally that might be quite a challenging question, but in this case it’s simple. Miss Heian is using a combination of her own unique powers, Princess Seong’s artifact, and my soul remnant to extrapolate my behavior.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Misun pursed her lips.

“So we’re really just talking to Heian?”

“In essence, yes. She’s attempting a faithful recreation, but strictly speaking there’s nothing preventing her from simply puppeteering me to say whatever she likes.”

Yue chuckled.

“Just as well that we trust her, then—not that I can say the same of you.”

“Hah! You needn’t worry about that, Miss Yan—and congratulations on your ascension, by the way—I’m quite incapable of lying or deception in any form. As my entire existence is currently filtered through Miss Heian, I cannot hide my intentions from her.”

Eunae sighed. It was almost hard to imagine a conversation with Do Hye that didn’t involve some form of deception or manipulation, but she trusted Heian.

“Then let’s not waste any more time. Do Hye, I assume you recognize the formation Misun has drawn here?”

“Of course! I designed it.”

“Why? What is its purpose and how is it supposed to work?”

Do Hye scratched his head and grimaced.

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

Eui blinked.

“What do you mean you don’t know?!”

“As Princess Seong Misun explained, I’m not a complete image of Do Hye’s mind or soul. I have enough of each to rebuild the essential parts of who I am, but much is lost when I reincarnate in this way. I often have to relearn the bulk of my knowledge in each new life, sometimes aided by caches I keep hidden away.”

“So we need to find one of those caches for you?”

Do Hye shook his head solemnly.

“I’m afraid that would be of no use. I designed this formation during my imprisonment, and I had no opportunity to sequester any details beyond that which I elected to keep within my fragment. Besides, Seong Misun has already quite thoroughly looted my most accessible caches.”

Eunae gave her sister a dirty look.

“When were you planning on telling us about that?”

“The moment it mattered—which it doesn’t. The information he hid away is mostly the same notes I’ve already been sharing with you and Magus Hyeong.”

Do Hye chortled happily.

“Oho! Good to hear that Dae is still doing well for himself. Now, before you write me off as useless, I am able to make a few inferences that might help you decipher this formation of mine.”

Eunae returned her attention to the shadow.

“Do tell.”

“I believe that this started out as a simple pastime while I was bored in prison—what better to do while alone with my thoughts than attempt to solve an impossible conundrum? However, I must have stumbled on some practical use and attempted to preserve it within the remnants of my soul as an emergency measure.”

“Dae and Misun have both suggested that it might be some sort of petty revenge or practical joke.”

He laughed and shook his head.

“As hilarious as that would be, no. Preserving such knowledge directly is not something I would do lightly. This soul-seed already strains to keep enough of me intact to enable my resurrection as it is, and I jeopardized that by clinging so fiercely to this formation. No—it must be important.”

“But you still don’t know what it does.”

“I can make educated guesses! My son has already made good progress on that, according to Miss Heian’s recollection, and I think I can build upon his theory.”

Eui furrowed her brow, casting a concerned glance at Heian.

“You have access to Heian’s memories?”

Do Hye chuckled and shook his head.

“I must remind you that there’s no real ‘me’ to speak of. Just as everything I say to you is filtered through Miss Heian’s interpretation, the opposite is also true. In any case, your theory that the formation is meant to tap into the Sovereign’s Tear has merit, I think, but it is Princess Seong Misun’s discovery that most intrigues me.”

Misun raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Which one?”

“The vast ocean of mana pooling at the fringes of our world. The Tear is a limitless source of essence, but I never lived to see it myself. I couldn’t even begin to theorize on how to most effectively tap into it. However, the pooling essence at the edge of the world is something I predicted.”

“Your predictions were off by orders of magnitude, though. It’s already far larger than you anticipated.”

Do Hye nodded.

“Indeed! Which, if I am correct, is quite fortuitous. As my son realized, even if completed this formation requires an environment with effectively infinite mana density to function. I doubt even the Sovereign’s Tear can accomplish that all at once—but given enough time to accumulate? Perhaps, say, over ten thousand years?”

Eunae’s eyes widened.

“You wanted to cast a spell that used all of that energy?”

“Maybe! Unfortunately, I can’t be certain of my own motivations. I can tell you, however, that there’s only one task which could possibly demand such power.”

“Destroying the divine seal.”

He nodded solemnly.

“Just so. I can only speculate about what sort of method I had in mind. Perhaps I never even got that far. However, it’s clear that I thought this formation was the key. Important enough to risk my entire existence upon it.”

“I don’t suppose you can help us complete it?”

“Hmm...perhaps. It would be difficult in my current state, but if you could contrive to resurrect me in full, then I’d be happy to collaborate with Dae and the princess. Miss Heian compels me to add that my desire to live again is an ulterior motive, though I would argue that it’s rather obviously a primary motive, considering it’s my entire purpose.”

Eui rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Of course it is. That’s not our decision to make, though. And whatever else happens, we’re not letting you take over some innocent child’s soul like a parasite.”

He shrugged helplessly.

“I suppose I can’t blame you for that. Though as Empress of nearly half of the entire civilized world, I have to wonder who apart from you would qualify to make such a decision.”

“The people you’ve hurt, of course. The ones whose lives were ruined by your callous disregard for individual lives in your dogged pursuit of the so-called ‘greater good.’”

“That hardly seems like a fair jury.”

Eui snorted.

“Then I guess you’d better have a damn good argument.”

Do Hye frowned.

“I don’t have any arguments at all. I’m not alive, and I have no will of my own until you see fit to grant me one.”

“You’re just going to have to depend on your legacy then, and all the goodwill you’ve cultivated in the people whose lives you’ve touched.”

He scratched the back of his head, staring down at his feet and furrowing his brows.

“Hmm. Well, damn.”

“Indeed. I think we’re done for now. Maybe we’ll speak again later if we need your insight on something.”

Do Hye sighed.

“Very well. Good luck, Empress. You’re going to have your work cut out for you soon, I suspect.”