Lying to oneself.

"Well...I will admit. Your origin is surprisingly sad for a tool such as yourself," Zhen Liu commented as he rewatched the history of the smithing hammer unfold . "Although...why does something about this story feel off..."

When Zhen Liu connected himself to the [Hammer of the Damned], he didn't know what to expect exactly.

Was he going to have whatever rudimentary intelligence exist within the hammer, challenge him to a battle between souls?

Was he going to have to navigate some sort of strange maze in order to fully capture the hammer?

Was he about to find out that curses are what happens when a kaijin's spirit gets infused into a weapon or any item at all?

For all he knew, it could've been anyone of these.

It turned out to be none of these...sort of.