Jin Haryeong couldn't come to her senses.
Such speed in lightness skill was unlike anything she had experienced since birth. The surroundings flashed by so quickly that she couldn't make out any of the scenery.
She couldn't open her eyes properly, and it was difficult just to breathe.
'Just how is he running without crashing into anything?'
It was astonishing and wondrous. At the same time, she felt a strange joy.
'This person was such an expert?'
If this was the level of martial arts capable of displaying such lightness skill, then it was a realm beyond imagination.
'He's no ordinary servant.'
She didn't know if this was something to be so happy about, but she was glad. It felt as though an uncrossable line drawn between him and her had disappeared.
When Geom Mugeuk, who had been running at a maddening speed, came to a brief stop,
"……Let me down for a moment."
Jin Haryeong got down from his back, staggered, and collapsed onto the ground. Only after taking several deep breaths did her mind finally settle.
"What the hell, you? Did you learn to walk using lightness skill?"
Geom Mugeuk was smiling as he looked somewhere. Her gaze naturally turned in that direction. In that moment, Jin Haryeong was startled.
She had thought he stopped to let her rest, but that wasn't it.
Far in the distance, she could see someone's back as they ran. To her astonishment, it was her grandfather, who had been running ahead.
'He caught up to Grandfather!'
She realized the reason he had stopped briefly was because he didn't want to overtake Grandfather.
'Faster than Grandfather?'
She was so surprised she nearly screamed. She had believed her grandfather was the strongest expert under heaven. There were those who said the Cheonma was stronger, but she believed Grandfather could defeat even the Cheonma.
Yet this man had caught up to Grandfather. Grandfather had run while carrying the one who ambushed her under his arm, while this man had run carrying her on his back. To catch up to Grandfather even under similar conditions?
She truly regretted having to ask such a clichéd question at a time like this, but nothing else came to mind.
"What is your true identity?"
Then Geom Mugeuk answered.
"Geomyeon. A person who disappears like smoke when the work is done."
"Fine, if you're going to disappear like smoke, at least tell me the truth before you go. Who are you, really? Since you've revealed your skills like this, weren't you planning to reveal your identity too?"
Geom Mugeuk finally revealed his aura. It was a presence of an entirely different dimension from anything he had shown until now. In that moment, a certain mental image rose in her mind.
It was a vast, clear sky. The endlessly unfolding heavens were so wide and blue.
Lost in that beauty, she reached out her hand.
Plop!
She soon realized it was the sky reflected in water.
She dipped her hand into the water, and her body slowly sank.
She had thought it was shallow, but it was deep. Looking down, she couldn't see the bottom. What lay in those depths? The moment she felt fear, the mental image vanished from her mind, and she returned to reality.
Then, a single utterance reached her ears.
"Geom Mugeuk. The second son of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's leader."
Jin Haryeong blanked out for a moment.
'What? Heavenly Demon Divine Cult? Leader? Son?'
At first, she thought she had misheard something. But which part could she have misheard? The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult? The leader? The son?
"I misheard. Which sect did you say?"
"The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
"I misheard again. Where?"
"The place you people call the Demonic Cult. The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
Like someone waking from a dream, Jin Haryeong's eyes grew wider and wider. Just when one might wonder if this girl's eyes had always been so large, she drew her sword and stepped back.
Her sword pointed at Geom Mugeuk. Beyond the sharp blade, she spoke.
"I can accept any other joke, but you can't joke about the Demonic Cult!"
He could see how the main cult was viewed by the younger generation of the Murim Alliance. To them, the Demonic Cult was a rooted fear planted since childhood, a gathering of evil, and the very reason they trained in martial arts.
So when he said he was the son of the Cheonma, how great must her shock have been?
Her aimed sword trembled. Never in her life had she been so surprised and afraid. In contrast, Geom Mugeuk standing before her blade was utterly calm. He possessed an aura as clear and quiet as that sky, yet as deep as that sea.
Then a sudden doubt arose.
"Does Grandfather know your identity?"
"He knows."
She couldn't understand. If this man was the second son of the Demonic Cult, there was no way Grandfather would leave the two of them alone.
"At the very least, he believes I am not someone who would harm you. So put that sword down now."
She slowly sheathed her sword. She had been too surprised earlier, but knowing that Grandfather was aware calmed her down.
Geom Mugeuk explained the situation to her.
"A mysterious power called the Cheonmyeong Society has appeared in the Murim world. While chasing them, I uncovered signs that they were trying to recruit you at this Little Dragon Tournament. Afterward, I revealed my identity to the Alliance Lord, and we are currently pursuing the mastermind together. If it weren't for his granddaughter's matter, the Alliance Lord probably wouldn't have moved personally. And certainly not with the second son of the Demonic Cult."
She immediately understood the situation.
"The Alliance Lord wanted to keep my identity hidden until the end. But I told him not to."
"Why?"
"Because that would be disrespecting you. I believe knowing my identity won't change a thing. Whether I'm a servant or the second son of the Cheonma. Nothing will change."
"How could nothing change? Aside from both being men, those two are as different as heaven and earth!"
"Is that so?"
Geom Mugeuk laughed, and Jin Haryeong made an incredulous expression before eventually laughing along.
The line of status as a servant had disappeared, and a new line as successor to the Demonic Cult had appeared. The former was a line that could be forcibly crossed, but the latter was so high and perilous that mishandling it could spark a war between the orthodox and demonic.
"If you're upset, let it out."
"I can't let it out. How could I, after you shocked me like this? I'll never let it out for as long as I live."
But contrary to her words, she wasn't actually in such a bad mood. Rather, she felt a strange excitement at the fact that her counterpart was the second son of the Demonic Cult.
"Then what did you mean earlier at the teahouse when you told me to become the Alliance Lord?"
"Exactly what I said. Become stronger, accumulate more experience, and become the Alliance Lord. I thought you could do it well."
"So the Murim Alliance Lord's friend is the Heavenly Demon?"
"I wish that were the case, but my side is too treacherous. I don't know if I'll survive to see you again."
For some reason, it didn't sound like a joke, so Jin Haryeong wished he would survive. With that feeling in her heart, she extended her hand.
"Now that I know your real identity. Let's shake hands formally."
Geom Mugeuk took her hand.
Jin Haryeong gripped his hand tightly, then perhaps feeling awkward, shook it playfully.
"To think the day would come when I'd shake hands with the second son of the Demonic Cult."
"Same here. Now, let's go. We need to hurry too."
Geom Mugeuk turned his back, signaling for her to get on.
She got on again. The feeling was completely different from the first time.
"I'll have to brag to people later. I'll tell them all about how I rode on the Heavenly Demon's back when I was young!"
* * *
Cheolgon was locked in a secret room.
Since the Alliance Lord had personally subdued him, no one else could unlock his acupoints even if they tried.
Sitting alone in the room, he struggled to grasp the situation.
It hadn't happened by chance. The Alliance Lord wouldn't have appeared there by coincidence.
Nor had he been guarding his granddaughter. If that were the case, the Heavenly Dragon Guard would have handled it.
In other words, it meant he had known about this ambush. And the only one who could have known about it was Josin.
Then a person entered.
"You?"
Cheolgon was startled when he recognized who it was. The one who entered was Geom Mugeuk. He could tell just by the gaze. This was not the cowardly servant whose arm he had tried to cut off.
"Ah!"
Cheolgon sighed. He assumed Geom Mugeuk was a subordinate of the Alliance Lord. The Alliance Lord had moved personally to uproot the Cheonmyeong Society? Then this incomprehensible situation all fell into place.
Geom Mugeuk sat down facing him.
"I know you are affiliated with the Cheonmyeong Society."
Cheolgon said nothing.
"Tell me who the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society is, and I'll spare your life."
Still, Cheolgon said nothing. Geom Mugeuk sensed the Cheonmyeong Society in the way he sat in silence with faint murderous intent. They were exactly that kind of organization—silent with insidious killing intent.
"Yes, even if you wanted to talk, you probably don't know who the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society is."
Cheolgon's value had already ended with showing Josin that he had been captured by the Alliance Lord anyway.
Then Cheolgon opened his mouth for the first time.
"Release my suppressed acupoints and let's fight like men."
Cheolgon's eyes flickered with killing intent.
Swish! Thud!
Geom Mugeuk's sword, drawn in an instant, pierced his heart. Even if he had released the man's acupoints to fight, it would have been settled in a single second regardless, but Geom Mugeuk didn't even give him that chance.
Because Jin Pacheon, the Murim Alliance Lord, was waiting outside.
As he opened the door and stepped out, Geom Mugeuk spoke.
"You must not give these people any opportunity."
Jin Pacheon gazed at Geom Mugeuk in silence. He had no interest whatsoever in Cheolgon's death. What was shaking Jin Pacheon's heart now was this young successor of the Demonic Cult, unstoppable in his momentum.
"Now, arrest Josin."
"He may have gone into hiding out of fear."
Then Geom Mugeuk spoke with a smile.
"He will come to me of his own accord."
* * *
Just as Geom Mugeuk had predicted.
As Geom Mugeuk was about to enter an inn, Josin approached wearing a low-pulled bamboo hat and grabbed his arm, dragging him into an alley.
"What is going on?"
"That is what I should ask. That man tried to cut my arm off. What on earth is going on?"
"I was supposed to appear before he cut your arm off. But before that, the Alliance Lord appeared. Why did the Alliance Lord show up?"
"How would I know that?"
"You don't know?"
"Of course. How would a mere servant like me know what the Murim Alliance Lord is doing? Didn't the young master Josin leak secrets while handling matters?"
It was a hard argument to refute. Yes, exactly. It was strange to ask a servant about the Alliance Lord.
"So? What happened?"
"The man who tried to kill me was captured by the Alliance Lord, and I returned with the young lady Jin."
Josin, who had been silently staring at Geom Mugeuk, spoke coldly.
"You bastard, this is all because of you!"
Swish!
He stabbed at Geom Mugeuk's neck with the dagger he had planned to give Jin Haryeong as a gift.
But his wrist was already caught by Geom Mugeuk.
"That's right, it's because of me."
Tap, tap!
In an instant, Geom Mugeuk suppressed his two critical acupoints.
Josin's eyes grew so wide from shock that they couldn't get any bigger.
Soon after, Josin was dragged into the secret room where Cheolgon had died earlier. The corpse had been removed, but the smell of blood he had shed still lingered in the room.
Josin sat there with a fearful face.
He was confused. The fact that the servant was a stronger expert than himself was shocking. He was bewildered by what kind of situation this even was.
Then the door opened, and Geom Mugeuk entered.
Josin asked with a frightened face.
"Who are you?"
"It's not important who I am. What does it matter if I'm the servant you tried to cripple because of your petty pride, or the Cheonmyeong Society you secretly joined? What's important is the situation you are in right now."
Josin intuited it. That this man was at least not someone from the Cheonmyeong Society.
'He's on the Alliance Lord's side!'
Josin judged it to be so.
"The one who ambushed Jin Haryeong has confessed everything."
At those words, Josin's heart sank. That Cheolgon, who had been so full of terrifying killing intent, had confessed so easily? And not even a few hours since being captured?
"What exactly did he confess?"
"That you ordered him to kidnap Jin Haryeong."
Josin shouted in anger.
"This was your plan!"
"When did I?"
"What?"
Josin's face contorted.
"You know that attempting to harm the Alliance Lord or his family is treated as the gravest of crimes? If the crime is uncovered, it's execution without question."
At the word execution, Josin was consumed by terror. He could tell that the man before him had trapped him.
"What do you want from me?"
Geom Mugeuk, who had been watching him, rose from his seat.
"You look tired. Get some sleep."
Flick.
A gust of wind suppressed his sleep acupoint.
Josin collapsed and fell asleep just like that.
Outside the secret room, Jin Pacheon was waiting, having listened to the conversation inside.
"What's the next plan?"
"We must bait his father, Jo Ibaek. Please meet with him and tell him that Josin was recruited by an organization called the Cheonmyeong Society and was arrested on charges of attempting to kill the young lady Jin under their orders."
Geom Mugeuk was truly unstoppable.
"Then Jo Ibaek will make some kind of move. We will learn whether he is the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society, or merely someone recruited by the leader. If he was recruited by the Cheonmyeong Society and didn't know his son was also recruited, he may feel betrayed and hand the leader over to you. Of course, you would need to grant him some breathing room."
"What if he is the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society?"
"Then I believe he would abandon even his own child."
Hearing Geom Mugeuk's words, the Murim Alliance Lord thought once again.
'If this man becomes the Cheonma, the orthodox Murim will be in for a hard time.'
To possess such drive and insight at this age meant he would be absolutely uncontrollable when older. At least in this moment, Geom Mugeuk felt like a more troublesome adversary than the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society.
Whether he knew that inner thought or not, Geom Mugeuk expressed concern for the Murim Alliance Lord.
"I have a request to make in advance."
"What is it?"
"If we uncover the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society, please leave the finishing blow to me. Not because it's my successor test, but judging by his meticulousness so far, if we keep him alive, he'll scheme even from prison. He will definitely become a lingering problem later."
Handled fairly and openly, or by the book, the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society and his men might have to be imprisoned in the dungeon. This was advice not to let that happen.
As this was not something the Murim Alliance Lord could easily answer in his position, Jin Pacheon said nothing.
With a gaze saying he understood everything, Geom Mugeuk added in a low voice.
"I will sweep them all away and disappear quietly."