The fact that the person Hwan-yeo had been communicating with was in Pungcheon Church meant only one thing.
The Hwan King was in Pungcheon Church.
The enraged Pungcheon Church Leader shouted at Hwan-yeo.
“Tell me what you’re plotting, or I’ll snap your neck.”
But threats had no effect on Hwan-yeo. Though her inner power had been suppressed, she showed no fear whatsoever. She glared at the Pungcheon Church Leader with a look that said, Kill me if you dare.
Crack.
The Pungcheon Church Leader’s grip tightened around her neck. She had not only laid hands on his disciple but had also plotted against Pungcheon Church itself. It would not have been strange for him to break her neck on the spot.
“Church Leader, you mustn’t do this, if only for the sake of Pungcheon Church and the Seophon Demon Venerable.”
At my urging, the Pungcheon Church Leader let out a long breath and slowly removed his hand from her neck.
I quickly sealed Hwan-yeo’s speech acupoint, preventing her from biting her tongue and taking her own life.
“It seems she contacted them through that wall, so someone will likely appear soon.”
If word got out that Hwan-yeo had been captured by us, they would take countermeasures. We had to delay the news of her capture for as long as possible.
“Can you control her with the Seophon Soul Technique?”
The Pungcheon Church Leader shook his head.
“A master of illusion arts at this level cannot be controlled with the Seophon Soul Technique.”
Then we had no choice.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
If they looked this way and found no one, they would wait for another message. They might assume that something urgent had come up for Hwan-yeo. We could worry about the matter after leaving.
The moment the Pungcheon Church Leader swept his hand through the air—
The three of us, the Pungcheon Church Leader, Hwan-yeo, and I, were standing in the middle of the flower garden.
Hwan-yeo’s already rigid expression grew even more deeply furrowed. Seeing us enter and leave the space she had created so easily must have filled her with rage and self-loathing.
Jangho was waiting outside the flower garden with the Demon Army.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded in response to his question.
Jangho looked relieved to see that we had returned safely. Hwan-yeo and I had disappeared without warning, followed shortly afterward by the Pungcheon Church Leader, so he must have been deeply worried.
The Pungcheon Church Leader asked me,
“What do you intend to do?”
“We have to go to Pungcheon Church and smash everything to pieces. Let’s go. I’ll help!”
As though he had been waiting to hear those words, the Pungcheon Church Leader spun around, his sleeves fluttering.
He strode out through the door, then stopped and returned to the flower garden.
“What should we do first?”
He knew that we could not rush there immediately. He had merely been showing how impatient he was.
“First, we need to remove the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique cast on the Seophon Demon Venerable. We also need to meet Military Advisor Go and devise a plan for returning to Pungcheon Church—whether we infiltrate or return openly.”
As we had already experienced, these were enemies we had to approach with caution.
“As you saw, they are no ordinary opponents. This woman alone spent years posing as the owner of a flower garden and hiding there in order to cast the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique on the Seophon Demon Venerable. The enemy of the Martial Alliance had infiltrated it for ten years. Pungcheon Church is probably the same. If we act rashly, they’ll vanish beneath the surface and become a source of trouble for years to come.”
The Pungcheon Church Leader nodded. He was an old ginger who was no less shrewd than anyone else, so how could he not understand what I was saying?
“The matter concerning Pungcheon Church is my matter as well.”
At my words, the Pungcheon Church Leader calmed his excitement.
“Let’s take care of what needs to be done first.”
I felt that my relationship with the Pungcheon Church Leader had grown closer through this battle. I was beginning to see things I had never seen before and feel emotions I had never felt before.
I released Hwan-yeo’s sealed speech acupoint.
I precisely pressed the acupoints along her jaw so that she could not bite her tongue. She could speak, but she could not muster enough strength to bite down.
“Do you want to save your younger sister?”
A mocking smile appeared at the corners of Hwan-yeo’s lips.
“I know you have no intention of saving either me or my sister. So don’t waste your time. Just kill me.”
“If you somehow manage to stay alive, your backer might save you.”
Was she afraid of the person behind her? Or had her pride been wounded?
Hwan-yeo denied it.
“I planned everything alone. I take orders from no one.”
“If you have no backer, then what you’re doing makes no sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“You inherited the Blood Cult’s illusion arts, yet you went out of your way to get the Seophon Demon Venerable under your control? You even spent years pretending to be the owner of a flower garden for that purpose? Why? Did you want to become a Demon Venerable? Even if you did, you couldn’t become one that way. Or was it for money? Were you after my father? Why? If I assume you planned all of this alone, I simply can’t understand it.”
Hwan-yeo listened to me in silence.
“But if I assume that someone ordered you two to do it, everything becomes clear. They used you, masters of illusion arts, to bring even the Seophon Demon Venerable under their control. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Who else but you could have targeted the Seophon Demon Venerable? And they used your younger sister, who is also a master of illusion arts, to infiltrate Pungcheon Church. It all makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?”
She was unable to refute a single word.
The Pungcheon Church Leader, who had been listening, slipped into the conversation.
“When you act like this, you really are smarter than Goweol.”
“I know what I know because Military Advisor Go knows it too.”
“No, no. There’s something different about you.”
Then Hwan-yeo abruptly said,
“You’re a monster.”
She had looked into my heart before my regression. Perhaps those emotions from that time were still hidden somewhere inside me. Yes. Back then, I had been a monster.
“How can people capture monsters like you? A monster has to be caught by another monster.”
Would she cooperate in capturing the Hwan King? No. No matter how much she envied her sister or competed with her, she could not hate her enough to want her dead. If she had, she would not have lived the life she did before my regression. The two of them would have fought until one of them died.
Even if Hwan-yeo would not help us, I had to find some clue that might be of use. After all, dealing with the Hwan King would certainly be more difficult than dealing with Hwan-yeo.
That was when something caught my eye. Several newly arrived flowerpots had been left in a corner, not yet put away.
I immediately called for Jangho.
“There is someone you must capture.”
* * *
After returning to the church, the Pungcheon Church Leader went to see Goweol first.
When he learned that something had gone wrong in Pungcheon Church, Goweol was the person he had wanted to see most.
Even though the dependable Geom Mugeuk had been beside him, Goweol had come to mind first.
Yes, perhaps it was because he wanted to hear these words.
“They don’t know what Pungcheon Church means to you, Church Leader. Make sure they learn properly this time.”
And then came a moving addition.
“It is a precious place to me as well. Church Leader, don’t forgive them.”
The Pungcheon Church Leader was moved despite himself. He was grateful and sorry that Goweol called the place that would remind him of his shackles precious.
As he sank into thought with mixed feelings, Goweol poured cold water over his boiling emotions.
“Church Leader. Follow me and take deep breaths. Breathe.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Just follow me.”
Goweol took exaggeratedly deep breaths, loud enough to be heard, and the Pungcheon Church Leader followed reluctantly.
“Do you think I’m a child? Why do I have to calm myself with deep breaths?”
“You are a child, aren’t you? When it comes to Pungcheon Church, your eyes turn upside down. You act like a child.”
“I do not.”
“All children say they don’t. They do it anyway, which is why they’re children.”
The Pungcheon Church Leader repeatedly took deep breaths along with Goweol. It was not the breathing that calmed him, but Goweol’s consideration in going this far for him.
“I’d be afraid someone might see us.”
“They’ll probably think you’re practicing some peerless martial art from beyond the borders.”
“Do you know how brilliantly I performed? You should have seen me!”
“I know even without seeing it. I know how well you must have done, Church Leader.”
“You didn’t even see it.”
“In a world where everyone else may fail to recognize you, I do. I know how magnificent you must have looked inside that illusion. So leave this matter to the Deputy Church Leader and support him from the side.”
The Pungcheon Church Leader suddenly shouted,
“It’s my matter.”
“That’s why I’m saying this. You won’t be able to look at it objectively. You already see the world however it suits you.”
“Then come with me and help me. If I act foolishly, nag me from the side. I have to go greet the fiends carved into the Thunder Demon Bell.”
Goweol shook his head.
“If the enemies use illusion arts and soul-seizing techniques, then people capable of opposing them should go. I’ll only get in the way. Give my regards to the fiends in the Thunder Demon Bell.”
“I refuse! One madman who talks to a bell is enough!”
Goweol gazed out the window into the distance, toward his homeland, and said,
“You’re getting excited again. Breathe!”
* * *
At the same time that the Pungcheon Church Leader was meeting Goweol, I was meeting with the Seophon Demon Venerable.
I told her that I had been afflicted by the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique when I killed Sawujong.
“I didn’t know about it at the time either. I learned of it while pursuing the person behind it.”
I chose my words carefully so as not to offend her. No matter how young she was, Cheongseon held the status of a Demon Venerable.
I was especially careful not to wound her pride. The fact that the Seophon Demon Venerable had fallen victim to a soul-seizing technique could be a severe blow to her.
“It wouldn’t have worked with any other martial art, but since it was the Blood Cult’s demonic art, there was nothing you could have done.”
Fortunately, she accepted it sensibly.
“Can you break the soul-seizing technique cast on me?”
“Fortunately, the Pungcheon Church Leader said he can remove the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique.”
The Seophon Demon Venerable was relieved and delighted.
“Where is my master now?”
“He is waiting for you. Let’s go together.”
I took her to the Pungcheon Church Leader, who was waiting in another room.
Inside were the Pungcheon Church Leader, Goweol, and Hwan-yeo, who had been put to sleep after her blood-sealing and sleep acupoints were subdued.
The Seophon Demon Venerable performed a deep bow to express her gratitude.
“I will never forget this kindness, Master.”
I gave substance to her vague feelings of gratitude.
“Do you know what the Church Leader said when he first learned of this?”
I imitated the Pungcheon Church Leader.
“She dared lay hands on my disciple? Take me to that wench.”
The Seophon Demon Venerable gazed at the Pungcheon Church Leader with a deeply moved expression. The Pungcheon Church Leader’s shoulders rose toward the heavens once more.
“It was nothing.”
His eyes told me, More. Keep going!
“Was that all? A master of ghost arts said this: ‘Even if the grandfather of the Pungcheon Church Leader came, he couldn’t open that door.’ And then, at that very moment, the Church Leader opened the door and walked in. Ah! You should have seen the hellscape spread out behind the Church Leader.”
The Pungcheon Church Leader waved his hands and said,
“I said it was nothing.”
Though he waved his hands as if telling me to stop, his fingertips told me, Just a little more!
“When the Church Leader snaps his fingers, the world changes! This time, I saw that world in all its glory.”
The Seophon Demon Venerable looked at him with sincere reverence. I was telling it half in jest, but to the Seophon Demon Venerable, it must have been the future she dreamed of.
“Master, one day, I will unfold my own world as well.”
She still had a long way to go. She was prickly and selfish at times. But none of us knew what she would be like ten years from now. All we could do was hope that she would grow into someone as magnificent as the other Demon Venerables.
“At the very least, I believe that no one in the martial world is luckier in their master than you. Take good care of that fortune.”
At my sincere advice, the Seophon Demon Venerable lowered her head in gratitude. Beyond her, the Pungcheon Church Leader wore a satisfied expression. Beyond him, Goweol was smiling again.
“Now then, let’s perform the ritual right away.”
Since no preparations were needed besides the people involved, we decided to conduct the ritual here.
The Pungcheon Church Leader woke Hwan-yeo. When she saw that the Seophon Demon Venerable had arrived, she seemed to sense her own fate.
The Pungcheon Church Leader seated the two women side by side.
An unusual, unidentified pattern had been carved into Hwan-yeo’s back. This was the Exorcising Spirit Seal the Pungcheon Church Leader had spoken of.
He said that if it were extracted, the Red Soul sleeping inside the Seophon Demon Venerable’s body would be released.
He had called it a difficult and dangerous ritual, but I was not worried. The ritual would be performed by the Pungcheon Church Leader, not anyone else.
He would handle it properly. Yes, he would handle it properly.
Trust was not born from words but from actions. Today, he had clearly shown what kind of person he was.
Before the ritual began, Hwan-yeo said,
“I would like to speak with the Deputy Church Leader for a moment.”
The Wind Heaven Cult Leader looked at me and asked what I intended to do.
I nodded, and everyone else withdrew, leaving the two of us alone.
“I didn’t know this morning. I never thought the end would come so suddenly.”
“That’s how life is when you carry a sword.”
“I have a favor to ask.”
She made an unexpected request.
“If you see my younger brother, tell him this. Tell him I didn’t betray him.”
By the time I delivered those words, he would probably be fated to die as well. I didn’t know whether this request would have any meaning.
“Do you believe I’ll keep my promise?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw into your heart. Anyone who has walked such a desperate path would keep their promises.”
“Weren’t you the one who called me a monster?”
“That was because you were my enemy. I’m going to die because of you—can’t I say at least that much?”
“You’re not dying because of me. You’re dying because you implanted the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique into the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable. You’re dying because you built a wall that could only be made by sacrificing thousands of people. You know why you’re dying.”
Hwan-yeo stared at me with a complicated expression. I could feel both the rage that made her want to kill me and the desperation that made her want to beg me to spare her. But having looked into my heart, she would know. Nothing would move me.
Her final regret was this:
“…I should have lived my own life.”
She must have meant a life of her own, entangled neither with her younger brother nor with the power behind the scenes.
She said nothing more and closed her eyes.
* * *
When I came outside after seeing the Grand Ritual begin, Jang Ho was waiting for me.
The man standing beside him, subdued by Ma-hyeol, was none other than Hwan-yeo’s subordinate.
A Demon Lord was still a Demon Lord. With nothing more than the information that he supplied flowers and flowerpots to the garden, Jang Ho had tracked him down and captured him in less than an hour.
“Take him away and interrogate him thoroughly. Make him confess everything he knows.”
“Yes, sir.”
In the current situation, we needed to find even the smallest clue that might prove useful.
“And since an important Grand Ritual is taking place inside, have the Demon Lords stand guard.”
The massive figures surrounded my residence, where the Grand Ritual was underway. They formed the most dependable wall in the world.
For a while, I walked alongside Jang Ho, following the wall of Demon Lords. As the Young Cult Master, merely walking beside him would bolster Jang Ho’s prestige as their commander.
Clap! Clap!
Whenever we passed, the Demon Lords stationed there saluted with crisp precision.
After walking a little farther, I stopped and looked up at the sky.
When you’re busy fighting, you forget that you should look up at the sky. Even I forget, despite telling myself again and again that I should look up.
“The woman we captured earlier regretted her life. She said she should have lived her own life. What about you?”
When asked whether he was living the life he wanted, Jang Ho answered confidently.
“With the Young Cult Master I serve at my side, and my subordinates whom I lead behind me, this is precisely the life I wished for.”
I looked at Jang Ho. He stood beside me looking more dependable than anyone else.
“Commander Jang.”
“Yes, Young Cult Master.”
“A great enemy is coming.”
No other words were necessary. He did not ask what kind of enemy it was. He merely nodded once in silence at my words. He would prepare in his own way.
Jang Ho looked back at the Demon Lords standing behind us and added gruffly,
“No matter how great they are, could they really be as great as us?”