Geom Mugeuk saw a new side of the Pungcheon Cult Leader today. No, he had seen his world. The world within his Illusion Arts.
Inside the Space-Time Transference Illusion Technique last time, the Pungcheon Cult Leader had said:
“If you stay here long enough, there are times you get confused whether this is the real world or that is the real world. I suppose it is because of the greed to want to remain in the space I created?”
Only now could he understand the true meaning contained in those words.
It was not merely the desire to stay longer that he felt while lying on a sandy beach. Having become such a powerful existence in this world, how could he want to go out into the outside world?
“Cult Leader.”
“What is it?”
“Even if I have done things wrong, please forgive me.”
“Then there would be far too many things to forgive. Why? Are you afraid? Afraid of being sucked into a place like that and disappearing?”
“I do not even wish to imagine it.”
“I am the one who does not wish to imagine it. When I think of you tearing through that and emerging.”
“You overestimate me! Please, just curse me out as usual instead.”
Geom Mugeuk and the Pungcheon Cult Leader conversed while looking at Hwanyeo and Gwisuk standing before them. Even while exchanging banter, they did not let their guard down for a single moment.
Geom Mugeuk sent sincere respect and admiration as a martial artist.
“You are magnificent, Cult Leader.”
Being acknowledged by someone is always a joyful thing, but he was even happier because that someone was Geom Mugeuk.
“Thank you.”
Geom Mugeuk and the Pungcheon Cult Leader exchanged glances. The two of them, with enemies before them, felt a deeper resonance than usual.
Meanwhile, Hwanyeo and Gwisuk had not given up on fighting even in the face of the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s overwhelming Illusion Arts. They still had moves left to play.
“This time, it is my turn.”
As Geom Mugeuk stepped forward, this time Hwanyeo stepped up.
If Gwisuk was an expert of the Ghost Arts who commanded the dead, then Hwanyeo was an expert of the Soul Subjugation Technique.
“Young Cult Leader, I had intended to avoid touching you if possible.”
Because their goal had been to quietly plant their people in the Demonic Cult. But if they had known things would turn out like this, they would have rather targeted Geom Mugeuk.
“Touching a Demon Venerable is the same as touching me.”
The moment Geom Mugeuk answered coldly, dark red light poured forth from Hwanyeo’s torn eyes.
Sssshhhhaaaaa.
The light flew into Geom Mugeuk’s eyes in an instant.
The next moment, both of their movements stopped. As if time had frozen, the two stood in place with their eyes wide open.
Since carelessly interfering while the Soul Subjugation Technique was being unfolded could endanger both of them, both the Pungcheon Cult Leader and Gwisuk could only watch silently.
“If it were you, wouldn’t you have known that she would use the Soul Subjugation Technique on the Young Cult Leader?”
“I did.”
“Why did you not stop it? Are you not worried that the Young Cult Leader has fallen victim to the Soul Subjugation Technique?”
At Gwisuk’s words, the Pungcheon Cult Leader answered leisurely.
“Not just me, but even if the eight Demon Venerables of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were here, they would all say the same thing.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader looked quietly at Geom Mugeuk and added.
“You do not know because you have not experienced it.”
* * *
The Soul Subjugation Technique Hwanyeo chose was not an aggressive one that would make him kill himself or make him kill the Pungcheon Cult Leader. She had instinctively sensed it—that such methods would not work.
So the Soul Subjugation Technique she chose was this very one.
Heart Demon Soul Subjugation Technique (心魔制魂術).
It was a Soul Subjugation Technique that peered into the opponent’s heart.
It was a secret art that uncovered the opponent’s weakness through the heart demon within their heart. At times, it was an ultimate secret art capable of delving into the subconscious that even the victim of the Soul Subjugation Technique did not know.
Because it was a lost Illusion Art of the Blood Cult that only she could perform in this martial world, if she died, this Illusion Art would also be lost forever.
Hwi-i-i-ing.
Hwanyeo was now standing in a snowfield swept by a blizzard.
‘This is his heart.’
In that empty place, there were only footprints left by Geom Mugeuk.
She slowly followed the footprints.
When the Heart Demon Soul Subjugation Technique was cast, the scene shown by the opponent differed for each person. Some showed the slice of life they were most proud of, while others showed secrets they had kept for a lifetime out of shame. Some showed the moment they regretted most, and others showed what was most precious in their life.
None of it mattered. She would turn the opponent’s joy, pain, and secrets into heart demons and shake them.
She would amplify the fear of suddenly losing that joy until it drove them mad. She would amplify that pain until they took their own life. She would make them unable to sleep from the terror that their secret would be revealed.
This was precisely the Heart Demon Soul Subjugation Technique.
The Heart Demon Soul Subjugation Technique could not be used often. Because each time, it consumed one’s innate true qi enormously. Peering into another person’s heart was truly a dangerous and difficult thing.
Hwanyeo was curious what she would find at the end of these footprints. Also, what kind of form Geom Mugeuk would take. What was his secret?
She walked following the footprints in the snow. How long had she walked? No matter how far she went, Geom Mugeuk’s figure did not appear.
This was the first time this had happened. Usually, something would appear after a short while.
Hwanyeo quickened her steps. The blizzard blew fiercer, making it difficult to walk.
No matter how far she walked, only the footprints continued in the snowfield. Geom Mugeuk’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
Was something wrong? No.
Standing alone in that empty place, she understood.
That this was Geom Mugeuk’s life.
That it was a lonely life of walking endlessly through the blizzard.
The emotions he had experienced were conveyed in the wind that brought the blizzard. That hardship, wretchedness, and solitude. All of it was contained in these silent footprints.
‘Just what kind of life have you lived?’
Unable to consume any more innate true qi, she ceased the Heart Demon Soul Subjugation Technique.
* * *
Hwanyeo and Geom Mugeuk regained consciousness at the same time.
She stared at Geom Mugeuk with a dazed expression for a moment.
“What are you? You are the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, aren’t you? You are young and inexperienced. But what was that?”
Both the Pungcheon Cult Leader and Gwisuk were curious about what she had seen.
“You are in a position that all the demonic people of the world envy... why are you so lonely?”
Geom Mugeuk gave no answer.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader looked at Geom Mugeuk. The heart that Hwanyeo had peered into must have been unbearably lonely. And this was the Young Cult Leader who was always busy teasing him and exchanging banter.
While everyone else was silent, only Hwanyeo spoke.
“I know you made all the Demon Venerables your people, but why on earth are you alone?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader, who had been listening, opened his mouth.
“It seems you have a black hole in your heart as well.”
It was precisely that hole the Pungcheon Cult Leader had spoken of before. That thing which inevitably formed in the hearts of those who had mastered Illusion Arts.
“Why would I not have one?”
“Your hole must be different from ours. It must be the kind of hole you want to enter holding a torch at least once.”
“You will be disappointed.”
“I’m going in to tease you, so it’s fine.”
After giving the Pungcheon Cult Leader a faint smile, Geom Mugeuk looked at Hwanyeo.
“When you were looking at me, I saw you too. That black hole in your heart—I saw it too.”
In that moment, Hwanyeo flinched in surprise. What did he mean? As she wondered, words she had never expected flowed out.
“I saw your younger sibling.”
Hwanyeo froze instantly. A being Geom Mugeuk could absolutely not know had been mentioned. So surprised, Hwanyeo looked at Gwisuk. She wondered if Gwisuk had told him. But that could not be.
‘Did he really see my heart? How?’
In truth, Geom Mugeuk had not seen her heart. He spoke as if he had seen it because he knew about her sibling. Since her sibling had been mentioned, he might now be able to obtain some clues.
“Your sibling looked exactly like you.”
Strength drained completely from her body.
‘He really saw it.’
She had never dreamed that someone would peer into her heart. And that person was Geom Mugeuk, not even the Pungcheon Cult Leader? Was the Nine Transformations Demonic Art truly such a great martial art?
“You hate your younger sibling, don’t you?”
Hwanyeo’s pupils trembled.
In her previous life before regression, Hwanyeo had done many things for the Illusion King. But the one who seized that glory was the Illusion King. Because the fact that she had a twin older sister was revealed much later.
She had not devoted herself sincerely to her younger sibling. She knew that due to unavoidable circumstances, she had become the darkness while the Illusion King became the light.
Even from her reaction now, he could clearly feel that love-hate.
“Young Cult Leader, I am bound to hate her even more because of you.”
Because this matter had become a mess. Even if she survived this place by luck, as punishment for ruining the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult affair, the important tasks would go to her younger sibling.
At that moment, Gwisuk sent a telepathic message to her.
‘Leave this place first.’
‘I cannot face them alone.’
Gwisuk judged that her presence made no difference. He had to save at least her.
‘Once you get out, ask your younger sibling for help first.’
The moment Hwanyeo tried to answer, her figure vanished in an instant.
It was not that Hwanyeo left voluntarily, but that Gwisuk had forcibly ejected her from this place.
Even though she had disappeared, Geom Mugeuk and the Pungcheon Cult Leader showed no agitation.
“Do you know the method to break this place?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s calm question, the Pungcheon Cult Leader answered.
“What grand method to break it would there be? When the guests die and the owner dies, the inn closes its doors.”
Gwisuk’s expression completely stiffened. The Pungcheon Cult Leader knew exactly how to break it. If the occupants and himself died, this place would disappear.
It was a crushing defeat he was experiencing for the first time in his life. Rather, his heart was at ease. Because if his opponent was the Pungcheon Cult Leader, his death would not be in vain.
“But I will not go alone.”
Gwisuk’s demeanor changed. Killing intent and malice surged, and his appearance transformed as well. His eyes and ears were torn long, just as Hwanyeo’s had been. Blue ghost fire began blazing around his body.
Geom Mugeuk was certain that, when considering Ghost Arts alone, it would not be easy to find an expert as powerful as Gwisuk.
Geom Mugeuk took a step back.
“Fortunately, it seems it is the Cult Leader’s turn to fight.”
“Is it not your turn?”
“Did I not just face the Soul Subjugation Technique?”
“You simply got hit one-sidedly. That is not fighting.”
“There was a tremendous fight inside my heart.”
The conversation did not continue.
Gwisuk charged at the two. As he unleashed a palm strike, Gwisuk’s palm was also burning with ghost fire.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader did not dodge and met the palm strike head-on.
Kwaang!
As their palm forces clashed, both slid backward with a thunderous roar.
Gwisuk was pushed back much farther. The Pungcheon Cult Leader blew at the ghost fire clinging to his hand. The blazing ghost fire was extinguished.
The moment he saw that, Gwisuk despaired. The fact that the never-extinguishing ghost fire had been extinguished meant he could never defeat the Pungcheon Cult Leader through ordinary combat. An obvious gap in strength that could not be overcome no matter how he struggled.
‘In the end, that is the only option.’
The ghost fire rising from Gwisuk’s body blazed even more wildly. It looked as though it would burn him up at any moment.
Blood droplets began spurting from his skin. Hundreds, thousands of blood droplets spurted out and began filling the surroundings. They were no ordinary blood droplets. They were blood droplets imbued with vengeful ghost energy, containing the final essence of Gwisuk, an Illusion Arts expert. It was also a technique of mutual destruction where he poured out all his innate true qi to die together with his enemies.
“I will definitely pierce one person’s Body-Protecting Gang Qi. Cult Leader, choose. Will you stand before the Young Cult Leader, or behind him?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader did not hesitate.
He tried to stand proudly before Geom Mugeuk.
“Because this is my world.”
However, Geom Mugeuk was not one to place the Pungcheon Cult Leader before him either.
He was already unleashing his final move.
“I am sorry, but it is my turn.”
Nine Transformations Demonic Art, Second Form: Great Annihilation.
The evil ghost that appeared before him split into four.
Kwang!
With an eardrum-shattering explosion, the blood droplets were launched. There was no space to evade the thousands of blood droplets bursting in all directions.
At the same time, the four evil ghosts swept everything away and surged forward.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
The blood droplets flew toward the evil ghosts.
Pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak!
He had been confident they could pierce even protective astral qi, but the droplets of blood could not pierce the evil spirits. The four evil spirits became shields guarding Geom Mugeuk and the Pungcheon Cult Leader, and charged toward Gwisuk.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!
The room was stained entirely with blood, but the path swept by the Great Annihilation Form remained clean.
In the place the evil spirits had swept through, only bloody water that had once been Gwisuk flowed.
Watching that sight, the Pungcheon Cult Leader returned the words Geom Mugeuk had said to him earlier.
“If I’ve done anything wrong, do go easy on me.”
* * *
Hwanyeo was staggering through the space she had created.
It was the very place where she had suffered that nightmare before. Perhaps this moment felt even more like a nightmare.
When she reached out, a bell descended from the ceiling, which writhed as if alive.
Ding, ding, ding!
She rang the bell urgently.
It was a signal telling the other side, where her younger sibling was, to receive the contact. Just as a sound would ring from the wind chime in the flower garden when the other party contacted her, a signal should be going to the other side as well.
After ringing the bell, she went to the wall and waited.
‘Hurry! Quickly!’
Just as she was waiting for the person in charge of communications to arrive.
She sensed a presence behind her and spun around.
She was startled out of her wits.
Geom Mugeuk and the Pungcheon Cult Leader were standing before her.
The fact that her space had been breached no longer even surprised her.
She could tell. Even Gwisuk had already been defeated.
When he had forcibly sent her out, she had expected him to use a method of mutual destruction. Yet even after he had used it, the two of them were standing here perfectly fine.
Then the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s gaze turned toward the wall behind her. His expression grew cold.
“Is that the Ten-Thousand-Li Transmission Wall? To make that, thousands of lives must have been sacrificed, no?”
Truly, when it came to illusions, there was nothing the Pungcheon Cult Leader did not know.
“If you come closer, I’ll kill myself!”
She knew they could not kill her because of the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable.
At that moment, the Pungcheon Cult Leader said coldly,
“Die.”
“!”
“A disciple can simply be found anew.”
When he came out like that, even suicide was no longer easy.
As if he already knew perfectly well how to use it, the Pungcheon Cult Leader strode forward and began thrusting his head into the Ten-Thousand-Li Transmission Wall.
After looking inside for a moment, the Pungcheon Cult Leader pulled his head back out.
Then, in an instant, he rushed at Hwanyeo, suppressed her inner force, and seized her by the throat.
“Do you want to die!”
It was the first time Geom Mugeuk had seen him so enraged.
He looked as though he might snap Hwanyeo’s neck and kill her at any moment.
Calmly, Geom Mugeuk took hold of his arm and asked in a low voice,
“What is it, Cult Leader?”
“Do you know where that side is?”
From the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s mouth came a place Geom Mugeuk had never expected.
“It’s the Pungcheon Cult.”