“I refuse.”
Geugak Soma flatly declined.
“You dare defy the words of your martial uncle?”
The fact that he could say something so shameless after having tried to release the villains of the Valley of Villains to kill Geugak Soma told me exactly what kind of man he was.
“What is this paltry mask, anyway!”
Yang Cheogi took off his mask. A wrinkled old man appeared, and he was truly an ugly wretch. His face was far too much of a contrast to Geugak Soma’s handsome face that I had seen before my regression.
“Take it off at once!”
“I refuse.”
“Yes, you always looked down on me.”
It seemed Geugak Soma’s relationship with his master had not been bad. The reason someone with his personality was obeying his martial uncle’s words so meekly was likely because the man was his master’s senior martial brother.
“The moment your master died, you lost the right to wear that mask.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were of the White Mask Sect only while your master defended you. You are no longer of the White Mask Sect. I will expel you.”
The sect where Geugak Soma had learned martial arts was the White Mask Sect, a sect of the Evil Path. After that, Geugak Soma threw himself into the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and became a Demon Venerable. Becoming a Demon Venerable had been his master’s dream. Geugak Soma had fulfilled in his master’s stead the dream his master had failed to achieve. I had heard all of this when I interacted with Geugak Soma before my regression.
“You cannot cast me out as you please, Martial Uncle.”
“Shut your mouth!”
Killing intent erupted from Yang Cheogi’s body. It was not the sort of killing intent released to frighten an opponent, but one filled with the genuine resolve to kill.
“Well, you killed even the Sword Emperor, so I suppose there is no reason for you to fear this martial uncle. When I first heard the news that you had killed the Sword Emperor, I could not believe it. Or I thought perhaps something had been wrong with the Sword Emperor. But seeing you walk out in such fine shape, I suppose there was nothing wrong with him after all.”
Even so, he showed no fear whatsoever. He clearly had something he believed in.
“If you are his martial uncle, why are you trying to kill Lord Soma?”
At my question, Geugak Soma answered calmly.
“Martial Uncle’s dream was to become the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path. He resents me, believing he failed to achieve that dream because of me.”
“Of course it was because of you! My lifelong wish collapsed because of you. A Demon Venerable and the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path cannot coexist from the same sect!”
He blamed Geugak Soma for his failure to become the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path. It had happened quite some time ago, but it seemed he had continued nurturing that resentment all this time.
“When my master was alive, you could not even move a finger, and now that he has passed, you act like this.”
“Shut up! I only endured it because you were trapped in the Demonic Cult under a restriction. It has nothing to do with my junior brother!”
Yang Cheogi had been a loser his entire life. In his youth, he too had thrown himself into the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to become a Demon Venerable, but he failed to adapt and was driven out as good as expelled. He wanted to become the master of the White Mask Sect, but that position was inherited by Geugak Soma’s master. Finally, even his wish to become the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path went unfulfilled. His life had been one of dreaming only dreams far beyond his own ability.
“How pathetic.”
At my words, Geugak Soma and Yang Cheogi looked at me.
“Blaming others, using others to kill someone for you. Truly pathetic. How is it Lord Soma’s fault that you became unhappy? It is your own fault for ruining your life by doing nothing but blaming others.”
Cold killing intent poured out of Yang Cheogi, but I said everything I wanted to say.
“Do you really think you failed to become the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path because a Demon Venerable emerged from the same sect? I think that is an excuse. If you had shown the qualities and ability befitting that position, you surely would have become the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path. Is that not merely an excuse you fabricated and attached to yourself?”
Yang Cheogi could not refute me.
“With such a petty heart, even if you had become the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path, the alliance would have fallen into chaos because of you. In the end, you would have been assassinated by someone within the alliance. Instead of resenting Lord Soma, you should be grateful to him. Repeat after me. Thank you for saving my life. Soma, thank you!”
Yang Cheogi’s gaze sank coldly. From his eyes, I could feel his determination to kill me without fail. It seemed something I had said had struck a nerve.
Staring straight into those eyes that were struggling to hide his shame, I said,
“The reason you are trying to kill Lord Soma—it is not only because of that, is it?”
At my words, Yang Cheogi flinched. Geugak Soma, who was standing beside me, asked,
“What do you mean?”
“A petty great man like that always puts his own interests first. He would not risk his life for revenge. Who did you join hands with? What were you promised in return? Did they say they would grant even your final dream?”
Yang Cheogi could not deny my words.
“For a young brat, your tongue is quite sharp. The Demonic Cult has a bright future ahead of it!”
His shame turned into anger and turned toward Geugak Soma.
“They say you went to the Demonic Cult and became Geugak Soma. Let us see just how extremely evil you truly are.”
When Yang Cheogi snapped his fingers as a signal, the people who had been hiding began to reveal themselves one by one. Numbering in the dozens, they were all wearing masks, and all of them were disciples of the White Mask Sect.
“Now then, go ahead and kill all your fellow disciples of the sect.”
I was startled. I had not imagined that he would act like this.
Rather than having brought them here to kill us, he had brought them here to torment Geugak Soma. Since they were wearing masks, I could not tell their ages, but judging by their bearing, there were many young experts among them.
What choice would Geugak Soma make?
If they charged at us to kill us, I too would have no choice but to act. They were a sect of the Evil Path, but they were Geugak Soma’s own sect. Could I kill them freely? And how would Geugak Soma respond?
I glared at Yang Cheogi. The absolute evil I spoke of meant precisely people like him. Not someone forced into an unavoidable choice, but someone with the malicious intent to deliberately break another person’s heart, someone who used the disciples of his sect as sacrifices without the slightest pang of conscience. You will surely die by my hand.
Just then, Geugak Soma spoke in a ringing voice.
“My senior martial brothers, junior martial brothers, senior martial sisters, junior martial sisters, and martial nephews of the sect, listen. Though I left the main sect and entrusted myself to the Divine Cult, I am the chief disciple of the late former sect master. In life, the sect master did not expel me, so as a legitimate disciple of the White Mask Sect, I command you. All of you, withdraw!”
The disciples of the White Mask Sect looked at one another and exchanged glances.
Yang Cheogi shouted,
“What are you doing? Kill them at once!”
Geugak Soma shouted even louder.
“Yang Cheogi, the great criminal who moved the disciples of his sect as he pleased for his own personal desire, will die here today. So withdraw!”
“I said kill them!”
At that moment, someone released a finger wind.
Piiing.
Geugak Soma twisted his body and avoided the finger wind. It had not been fired to kill him, but as a warning.
“Senior Brother!”
Geugak Soma recognized at a glance that the man who had fired the finger wind was his senior martial brother.
“Did you recognize me?”
“How could I not?”
In the gazes that met in midair were memories and longing from their childhood.
“Senior Brother, take the disciples and return now.”
“I cannot defy Martial Uncle’s command.”
“Martial Uncle has already abandoned the sect. Can you not see that he joined hands with the Valley of Villains and is trying to use you and the disciples like shield bearers?”
Because they had heard everything I had said earlier to Yang Cheogi, they knew what kind of situation this was.
“There are only two outcomes to this fight. Either you die fighting me, or you kill us and have the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult destroy the sect. Is that what you want, Senior Brother? To drive everyone to their deaths?”
Yang Cheogi shouted for them to hurry up and kill us, but Geugak Soma and the man called his senior martial brother only stared at one another in silence.
“That old man who is trying to ruin the main sect by using his seniority as a weapon will die by my hand. So do not worry and go back. Do you not know what kind of person I am?”
“I do. Junior Brother was a man who always kept his word once he gave it.”
“Let us meet again next time, Senior Brother.”
Geugak Soma’s senior martial brother shouted to the disciples.
“We return!”
The disciples of the White Mask Sect leapt away, following him.
I was truly impressed by Geugak Soma’s calm response. It was the moment I saw a new side of him.
—To finish this without a single sacrifice. Since meeting you, Lord Soma, that was your most impressive moment.
—You think it was impressive that Geugak Soma did not see blood? That feels rather strange.
Perhaps he too was changing after meeting me.
“Those useless fools!”
As Yang Cheogi exploded in anger, Geugak Soma said as if mocking him,
“It seems I am more fortunate in senior martial brothers than our master was.”
“Shut up!”
At Yang Cheogi’s irritated reaction, I added a word of my own.
“They left because they hate you. They probably came here only because they were forced to obey your command. How much must they have hated you to listen to Lord Soma, who left the sect long ago? How could they not know that you were trying to drag the disciples to their deaths merely because you are an elder of the sect? You had best simply die here today.”
Yang Cheogi gave a sneer.
“I knew you killed the Sword Emperor. Did you think I would face you alone? I have kept you waiting long enough. Eccentric Demon, please come out now.”
Then a person appeared from inside the building across the road. He was an old man who had not aged gracefully. Malice filled the gaps between his wrinkled folds, and his eyes were full of nothing but killing intent.
At the name Eccentric Demon, I was startled.
He was a demonic practitioner who had learned demonic arts, but did not belong to our cult.
He was famous for having used demonic arts to commit massacres wherever he went, until in the end, our cult and the Murim Alliance cooperated to form an execution squad to kill him. After that, he had vanished, and today he had revealed himself.
I asked Yang Cheogi,
“Just who have you joined hands with? Who did you join hands with for even the Eccentric Demon to come crawling out?”
But before I could hear an answer, the Eccentric Demon stepped forward with a cold gaze.
“Crawling out? You little bastard has quite a foul way of speaking. Is that how your father taught you?”
He mentioned my parents in this situation? And my father, no less?
“It is because old men act so shamelessly like this that the old masters of murim have fewer and fewer places to stand. You came out to kill us, yet you expect courtesy too? Very well, from now on, I will give you all the courtesy in the world. It is an honor to meet you, Senior. Please, for the sake of our bond as fellow demonic practitioners, spare this insignificant junior! Now then, will you spare me?”
The Eccentric Demon could not answer, and the corner of one eye twitched.
“So please stop spouting nonsense about courtesy. Where did you suddenly crawl out from to start this bullshit?”
I deliberately provoked him strongly. They had come here to kill us anyway. In that case, the more I provoked him, the more advantageous it would be in the fight. The more it was a fight between experts, the more one lost if emotions interfered. The reason he had mentioned my father to make me flare up was probably along the same lines.
Yang Cheogi said to the Eccentric Demon,
“Break every bone in his body. Let us see if he can still act that arrogant then.”
“Annoying. Watch carefully in advance. In a little while, he will disappear without even leaving a shape behind.”
No matter how terrible their characters were, in terms of martial arts, both of them were close to the Sword Emperor Baek Manggi. If the two of us faced one person together, it might be one thing, but facing two of them was no easy matter.
It was right then.
Clank, clank.
The sound of chains came from somewhere.
When I turned, a man with a sturdy build appeared, a blood-red chain wrapped around his wrist and hanging down as he dragged it along the ground.
“Iron Chain Master!”
He was a villain called Iron Chain Master, a man who had once plunged murim into terror. Who knew how many experts had lost their lives with their bodies bursting apart under that red chain of his? His aura was also no less than that of the Eccentric Demon who had appeared earlier.
At his appearance, my heart sank. Facing the two before him would not have been easy to begin with. But now even Iron Chain Master had appeared, placing us in an absolutely disadvantageous situation.
I said to Geugak Soma with a sigh,
“This is all my fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“Elder Blood Heaven Saber Demon said it. That I would stir up storms and wake up all sorts of hidden masters. I really did not think I would end up meeting the Eccentric Demon and Iron Chain Master here.”
“This time, I think it was I, not the Second Young Master, who woke them.”
“Then please take the stronger one, Lord Soma.”
Seeing that I did not forget to joke even in this situation, the two eyes behind the mask smiled. It was the worst possible situation, but perhaps because I was with Geugak Soma, my heart felt strangely reassured.
“Ah, before that, I must ask this first.”
I looked at Yang Cheogi and said,
“Which side will you join to attack us together?”
Of course, I had thrown out the question with the intention of stopping him from joining in.
Yang Cheogi smiled leisurely.
“You do not have to prod my pride like that. I will not step forward. Now, we should look well at our Second Young Master’s face and body. Soon, he will become a bloody pulp and disappear.”
Since the Eccentric Demon intended to face me, Geugak Soma’s opponent naturally became Iron Chain Master.
I thought it had worked out well. Both the Eccentric Demon and Iron Chain Master were formidable foes, but I expected the Eccentric Demon to be slightly stronger.
I looked at Geugak Soma.
I did not ask if he was confident. That would have been an insult to Geugak Soma. Until the very end, I displayed my composure.
“Let us make a bet on who kills first.”
At my words, the Eccentric Demon laughed. Iron Chain Master laughed, and Yang Cheogi laughed as well.
“I do not know why those things are laughing when even Lord Soma is staying still.”
Only then did Geugak Soma laugh too, and lastly, I laughed as well.
When I drew my sword and let it hang, Geugak Soma lightly flicked the blade of the Black Demon Sword with his finger.
Tiiing!
Listening to the clear metallic sound that carried Geugak Soma’s wish for us to fight well, I walked forward toward the most difficult battle I had faced since my regression.