Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 84

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 84
“Divine possession is the easiest technique. You simply surrender your body to the deity. Simultaneously, it is the most difficult. Success depends entirely on whether the deity grants permission or not. In reality, shamans rarely succeed at divine possession.”
‘Then this is just the easiest technique for me.’
Baek Tam-sol continued her explanation calmly.
“Furthermore, divine possession is the most powerful technique among a shaman’s arts. Since the deity borrows a human body to exert their true divine power, it is inevitably more potent than what a human could accomplish directly.”
“…But summoning a deity into a human body is incredibly dangerous, isn’t it?”
“Correct. When the deity merely possesses without directly controlling the human body—a state called ‘spiritual contact’—it is relatively manageable. But in a state of complete possession, ‘divine possession,’ the shaman may be unable to withstand the deity and perish.”
Baek Tam-sol exhaled softly before continuing.
“Therefore, shamans generally prefer only spiritual contact rather than divine possession, but deities do not welcome such limitations.”
Of course not. If a deity descended into a mortal body despite their busy schedule, they would want to move directly and finish the task quickly, not remain frustratingly possessed while merely offering guidance.
“Now I shall explain the specific method of divine possession. First….”
I learned all the theory of divine possession in that lesson.
‘Divine possession.’
I was already possessing Se-ru-hwa’s body. What would happen if I proceeded with Princess Cheonmyeong’s divine possession in this state? I was already in a state equivalent to possession—would anything change?
‘I had planned to learn more and observe the actual divine possession Baek Tam-sol promised to demonstrate before attempting it….’
Geuseon-dae’s words about twilight echoed in my mind. The Right Prime Minister’s twin children, who were dragged along while trying to restrain me. Anxiety crept in. If those children were injured because of me….
‘There’s no time. I must try anything now.’
I quickly knelt in place. Eyes closed, palms pressed together. Following what I learned in Baek Tam-sol’s shamanic lessons, I imagined channeling my earnest desire toward the deity through my fingertips. In my mind, I envisioned prayer rising like smoke from my joined hands, reaching toward the heavens. Toward myself above those skies, toward the princess of both the Heavenly Realm and the Underworld, toward the great deity.
‘Princess Cheonmyeong, Sang Ra-hee-yo.’
Shamans were said to continue dancing until the deity’s response returned. A dance offered to the deity, a dance to accept the deity into one’s body. I did not wait for a response. I could not wait. Because I am Princess Cheonmyeong myself. My body in the heavens lacks consciousness and cannot provide a response.
‘Instead of waiting for a response, what I must do is.’
I regulated my breathing as taught in Ki Ho-cheol’s breath cultivation training. With slightly sharpened spiritual sensitivity…I search for what I desired. That which appeared effortlessly, as natural as breathing, when wielding divine power. That which I had unconsciously suppressed through a promise with my parents to maintain my body’s stability, now hidden from view.
Exhaling a shallow, prolonged breath, I slowly opened my eyes. A faintly shimmering thread appeared at the tips of my joined hands.
My lifeline. Not the thread connecting to Se-ru-hwa’s body. The thread linking Sang Ra-hee-yo’s body and soul. The thread connecting my body in the Heavenly Realm with my spirit in the Mortal Realm.
When I became a wandering spirit fallen into the River of Three Paths, it was strikingly vivid. Now, neither a wandering spirit nor wielding divine power, it appeared faint.
‘Still, being able to see it with spiritual sensitivity alone is something.’
Though the passage between the Eight Pillar Order’s bells would not open in this shadow, the lifeline remains unbroken. A lifeline is the connection between soul and body. As long as life persists, it remains the most resilient and powerful thread in existence.
‘Mine is a bit patched up, though.’
I gently grasped the lifeline stretching palely far above with both joined hands. Holding the thread connected to the deity, I commanded again.
‘Descend, Princess Cheonmyeong.’
This is not truly a prayer. It is my spirit commanding my body, my divine power, the deity named ‘Princess Cheonmyeong,’ to descend.
‘Give me my divine power!’
As I willed it strongly, the lifeline trembled immediately.
‘It comes!’
Divine power cascaded down the thread like a waterfall. Uncontrollable, familiar, and immense divine power.
‘So this is what happens when I perform divine possession in this state.’
Divine possession felt little different from me simply drawing upon my own divine power normally. Uncontrollable force flowed in like a torrent. What I could accomplish with it was…opening the sealed Heavenly Eyes or triggering divine punishment, or recklessly scattering it in all directions to cause explosions. In other words, there was no change from my original level of wielding my divine power.
‘Since divine possession means the deity directly uses divine power, I expected this outcome. It would be strange if I suddenly wielded it well when I couldn’t properly use it in the first place.’
Slightly disappointed but having anticipated this to some degree, I remained unflustered. Rather than accepting the cascading divine power, I redirected it. My divine power naturally flowed back to my body in the Heavenly Realm. Circulation occurred between body and spirit. Using the lifeline as a vessel, divine power flowed like blood between me and my body in the sky.
‘It’s almost identical to the state right after I possessed Se-ru-hwa’s body.’
Heavenly punishment fell automatically, and I could wield the Heavenly Eye freely—the early stage of possession before the burden stabilized. If I used divine power in this state, all the strain would flow to my body in the Heavenly Realm. That’s why, with Mother and Father’s help, I blocked this flow and decided not to use divine power. But now that I’ve descended into possession again, it’s flowing once more.
‘So then, what if I tried using Shaman techniques here?’
With my heightened spiritual sensitivity, I felt the lifeline within me—the lifeline of Se-ru-hwa that connected this body to my soul. It lay dormant inside my body, with no reason to extend outward.
‘I need to pull it out.’
Shamans unconsciously draw out their own lifelines and connect them to gods or spirits. That is possession itself.
When I applied the knowledge of the Underworld and Heavenly Realm to what I’d learned from human Shamans, ‘Shamanism’ seemed to be a technique for manipulating one’s own lifeline. For ordinary people, it was something they’d never touch until death—only when unconscious or when the lifeline emerged outside the body would one draw it out voluntarily.
‘Humans don’t seem to understand the principle while handling it, but ultimately, Shamans move their lifeines indirectly through means like dancing or rituals.’
A Shaman’s constitution? A vessel to hold a god? That simply meant a body whose lifeline easily slipped out—a human who lost consciousness easily, whose soul didn’t cling well to the body, who fainted readily.
‘Because the original soul naturally separates from the body, other gods or spirits can inhabit it. The lifeline dangles loosely, and if nothing fills and anchors it, the person suffers from spiritual illness.’
An existence that could be emptied and thus become a vessel for something else—that was a human Shaman. From this perspective, it made perfect sense that Se-ru-hwa possessed exceptional Shaman qualities. After all, Se-ru-hwa was essentially an empty vessel, her original soul long gone. So while ordinary Shamans needed to half-lose consciousness through dancing or rituals to achieve ’emptying the vessel,’ I could do it with a clear mind, by my own will.
…I could do it, right?
Honestly, this was all just a hypothesis I’d formed while learning Shamanism. This was my first practical attempt.
‘Never mind. Let me try. First, I’ll pull out the lifeline.’
I had no time to hesitate in fear, not knowing what Geuseon-dae was doing to the children.
‘…I’ve crossed the Underworld countless times, I’m a great god over 210 years old, and I’m the only daughter of the Jade Emperor and the Yama King, Princess Cheonmyeong.’
So pulling out a lifeline was nothing to fear. Not scary at all. It wouldn’t hurt at all.
I pressed my lips together and moved my hand.
* * *
“Eat, you need to eat… If you succeed, you’ll grow stronger. You’ll grow stronger.”
A bizarre, muttering voice and dragging footsteps drew closer. A monster was approaching.
Cheon Gyeol-u held his breath completely still.
‘What in the world is happening?’
When he regained consciousness, the boy found himself trapped in an extremely narrow, dark space. He only realized it was a steel chest plastered with talismans after he’d broken free.
Cheon Gyeol-u glanced at the fragments of the chest he’d severed.
‘A chest made of metal. With so many talismans applied, it was definitely a tool created to confine something dangerous.’
And he’d destroyed it without even knowing what it was.
He felt anew just how powerful a weapon Darkness could be, depending on how it was used.
“The Dark Spirit Sword Your Highness created is a crystallization of mighty and pure energy.”
“You know of the sword aura that a warrior of the highest level wraps around their blade, yes? When that aura is refined to be sharper and more pure, then fixed in place, it is called sword force.”
“Your Highness’s Dark Spirit Sword transcends mere sword aura and rivals sword force itself. For one merely twelve years old to wield a weapon of such power—that is truly providence and miracle.”
Ki Ho-cheol’s lavish praise echoed in his memory.
Yet the Crown Prince did not grow complacent.
Even wielding this blade, he had never successfully landed a proper attack against Ki Ho-cheol in their sparring.
“Your Highness is still weak. You lack experience and technique. Therefore, you must never let your guard down.”
“No matter how strong a weapon you hold, if it cannot reach your enemy, it is useless.”
‘I must not act rashly without properly understanding the situation.’
The fact that they’d confined him in such a steel chest meant the enemy also knew he possessed extraordinary power.
‘First, I identify the enemy.’
Cheon Gyeol-u gripped the Dark Spirit Sword tighter and pressed himself closer against the beam. The place where he’d broken free from the chest was a small chamber. Outside the window, bizarre shadows filled the space, and the door was locked shut.
Just as he was about to break through the door and escape, the boy’s abnormally keen ears caught the sound of the monster. The Crown Prince immediately leaped to the beam, pulled darkness around himself to cover his entire body, and waited quietly for the monster to approach.
‘…Will the Lady be safe?’
The thought that consumed me while waiting made my heart clench painfully. I needed to find her quickly. The worry that such a small, delicate girl might be suffering unimaginable horrors in this grotesque, nightmarish place threatened to drive me mad.
‘…The greater the urgency, the calmer I must remain.’
Cheon Gyeol-u clenched his teeth and gripped the Dark Spirit Sword tightly.
The dragging footsteps drew impossibly close. The creature reached the locked door and grasped the handle, muttering to itself.
“Dusk-being, dusk-being… if I consume a dusk-being, it will strengthen my shadow. It will help. The dusk-being I saw before was too large and terrifying, so I fled, but the human child dusk-being was small and not frightening. Not frightening. I can eat it….”
The Crown Prince held his breath, eyes widening.
‘It knows what a dusk-being is?’
He did not know what that creature was, yet it knew his true identity. A chill ran down Cheon Gyeol-u’s spine.
With a metallic click, the lock disengaged and the door swung open.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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