Lay spent a few minutes trying to get his turbulent emotion under control. As his breath kept getting rougher and rougher, he punched the ground and directed probably the most vicious glare he could ever muster to Tree of Life. He stood up. His hands were surrounded by black fog which concentrated so much that it looked almost like gloves. 

"You couldn't keep your promise," he reached out his hands towards the tree but met with resistance. As he kept pushing hands,  sparks flew around urgently. Lay ignored the pain that almost seemed like melting his hands. His eyes turned red. The gentle-looking man from before was nowhere to be found. Instead, the demon from hell was trying to destroy the mother of all living things, the Tree of Life. But despite how hard he was trying to hurt it, he couldn't even touch it.

"Don't. As the guardian, you are unable to hurt it." A transparent hand appeared from the air and covered his hand. 

Feeling the hand's powerless attempt to get his hand away from the barrier, the tears finally escaped from Lay's eyes. 

"This rotten stick gave Joonmyeon no choice back then! This cursed stick manipulated me to become its guardian named prisoner! It promised me to keep my family safe. But... you saw what happened to Taotao, too. Don't stop me!" The black fog started to cover his forearm now.

A sorrowful sigh sounded in the air. A phantom hand brushed Lay's cheek. "Don't hurt yourself like this. You would have to sacrifice yourself to destroy the Tree of Life. And with the guardian status, you can't cause that much harm to it. Don't you think you should try to figure out what would go wrong in the future instead?"

Lay gritted his teeth. The veins on his neck and temple were bulging because of the strain he was putting on. 

"Come on. Please?" The hand gently patted him on the shoulder. 

Finally, his hand fell to his sides. They were still shaking because of the punishment. As the guardian, he couldn't even think about harming the Tree of Life. 

A gentle breeze blew from the tree and healed his badly mutilated hands as if offering apology but Lay scoffed and turned away. "Don't think you'll get forgiveness if you up to me like this." 

He took a deep breath and exhaustedly waved the transparent hand away, "I'm going to see Joonmyeon."

9 hours ago. 

Anir was having a time of her life. Who could have imagined she'd one day be sacrificed for religious purposes?

"'Someday, I'll write about this event in my biography,' she declared. As she got her hair and outfit done, she proudly thought, 'My offsprings would hear about this and pass on as a legend. They will someday say that their ancestor once engaged to the powerful deity.'" 

The village aunty who was in charge to get her prepared for the sacrificial ceremony sighed for the nth time after witnessing Anir narrating her own life for the last 2 hours. At least, she was glad that their new sacrifice was very enthusiastic about her engagement to the esteemed Mountain Deity. 

"Oh, right. What happened to the young man named Chenle?" Anir asked as though she fully satisfied her desire for narration.

The aunty's lips twitched at the mention of the Village Head's only son. "He's currently resting. The poor boy had been kidnapped as a child and caught some mental problems. Don't mind his nonsense," she said.

Even though Anir observed her shifty eyes, she didn't say anything. 

"Aww~ Look at you! You must be the most beautiful young miss in our village! Only the most beautiful, courageous, and just girl can be a match with our esteemed Deity. You fulfilled every qualification. May God bless your kind heart!" the aunty showered her with praises without holding back. 

After Anir was left alone in the room, she realized she had nothing to do until the ceremony. She had at least 6 hours to waste.

She sat by the window and started munching on the village offerings. Even though there was no popular fast-food restaurants or any junk foods, their local specialty food and delicacies were oddly delicious. 

Although the window of her room was barred with a thick iron fence, the beautiful carvings of flowers and butterflies made it difficult to call it for imprisoning. If she didn't know better, she would have thought it was their unique exterior design.

Anir started to fiddle with her ring. If you look at it closely, it was the same ring she was wearing during the Summer Ball. Soon 

"Hi, Boss~ It's been a while. How are you?" the cheerful voice came from her ear piercing. 

She smiled. "Hey, Heejun. I'm fine. Just looking for someone. How is the 'family business'?"

The 'family business'. It was the assassination guild that she inherited two years ago according to her father's will. To have Underwo