A savage aura erupted from So Baekta’s body.
The words that their cult would not permit his war did not anger him so much. He had expected them.
But being told to go wash his face filled him with an indescribable sense of humiliation. It had struck directly at his pride.
‘Are you really that strong?’
Ghostly wails rang out in every direction as he pressed down on Geom Mugeuk with sinister ghost qi.
It was a demonic art that had yet to reach full mastery, but it was the Angcheon Great Demonic Qi.
The Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art activated, shielding Geom Mugeuk’s body. When Geom Mugeuk stood there with a calm expression, So Baekta drew up even more internal energy.
‘Are you truly that strong?’
He truly was strong. Far from being suppressed by the ghost qi, he began striding toward So Baekta instead.
“What exactly do you have that makes you cause such a commotion? This isn’t some back-alley thug snatching a courtesan house. What do you possess that makes you speak of unifying the lands beyond the border and dream of unifying the murim?”
Geom Mugeuk came right up before So Baekta.
“I doubt that this distracting pattern on your face is going to lead a war to victory.”
The very moment a certain resolve flashed through So Baekta’s eyes, another of his cards was turned over.
A vivid crimson energy flowed from his two eyes and began to merge with the ghost qi from before.
In that instant, Geom Mugeuk understood.
‘That energy is not the Angcheon Great Demonic Qi!’
The next moment, the crimson energy engulfed Geom Mugeuk, and his surroundings changed.
The place where Geom Mugeuk stood was no longer the Cult Leader’s Hall.
All around him, the walls and floor writhed as if alive. This place, which felt as though he were inside the entrails of some beast, was somewhere he had been before.
Yes, the space created by Hwanyeo, the woman of the flower garden!
But it felt different from the space Hwanyeo had made. The color was different, and so was the form. He could sense both the aura of Cult Leader Pungcheon’s Angcheon Great Demonic Qi and the aura he had once felt from Hwanyeo.
‘The two martial arts have been combined!’
The combined energy was even more powerful. Of course, the one who had allowed the two martial arts to be combined was most likely the Phantom King.
The reason So Baekta had seemed to change was not because he had fallen victim to soul-bewitching arts. It was because the merging of two powerful martial arts had affected his character. On top of that, the Phantom King’s persuasion and brainwashing must have been added.
The Phantom King had provided his own martial art and made him stronger?
Absolutely not. If it produced such an effect, he would have stolen So Baekta’s martial art and absorbed it himself.
‘The end of this combined martial art is death.’
Geom Mugeuk was certain. The kind of man the Phantom King was had already been shown in the life before his regression. He was a man who lived solely for himself.
At the front of this space stood the Ten-Thousand-Li Battle Wall, from which a human face would protrude.
From the opposite side, someone’s face suddenly pushed out.
“Young Cult Leader, you asked me to show you, did you not?”
The face protruding from behind the thin membrane was So Baekta’s. His voice echoed eerily.
“I may not be able to kill you, since you have cultivated the Guhwa Demonic Art. But I can imprison you here forever.”
This was where his confidence in unifying the murim had come from. From this powerful martial art that made him believe he could even imprison the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
Naturally, Geom Mugeuk could also guess his final card. If the Phantom King had passed on his martial art, then So Baekta would also believe that he would help him. And if the Phantom King himself aided this combined martial art?
Only now could Geom Mugeuk understand his excitement and confidence.
“What martial art is this?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, So Baekta answered with confidence.
“The Angcheon Blood Command Art!”
It radiated an energy powerful enough for him to be so confident. But this was no different from taking Rampage, the unstable internal energy amplifier the Evil Alliance had sold before.
“Do you not know that if you become stronger in this way, you must inevitably pay a price?”
So Baekta laughed. In the expression revealed on the undulating membrane, there was not the slightest trace of unease.
“Shouldn’t you be the ones paying the price? You, who have grown complacent by trusting only in the Guhwa Demonic Art! Well? Have you seen enough of my ability now?”
Geom Mugeuk gave no answer. As he sank into thought, So Baekta asked him,
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
How can I get you to tell me about the Phantom King?
“I was wondering how I might get out of here.”
When Geom Mugeuk drew the Black Demon Sword, So Baekta sneered.
“The membrane looks thin, so you think it will tear easily?”
So Baekta, shaking the membrane with a leisurely laugh, had no way of knowing.
To Geom Mugeuk’s eyes, which had invoked the Blood-Eye Essence and the Divine Eye Art, a bluish line that could break through the membrane was visible.
Of course, not every method of breaking through could be found so easily. As in his past battle with the Soul-Bewitching Demon Venerable, there were illusions and sorceries whose weaknesses could only be found after crossing dangers where life and death hung in the balance.
But at the very least, the method to cut through the membrane of the Ten-Thousand-Li Battle Wall was clearly visible to Geom Mugeuk’s eyes.
Swish!
The Black Demon Sword lightly sliced through the air.
Riiiiip.
The membrane tore as if cloth were being ripped. Because of that, So Baekta, who had thrust his face into the membrane, suddenly had his head plunged inside.
His eyes flew wide in shock. Geom Mugeuk had even cut the membrane without leaving so much as a scratch on his face.
“How?”
Geom Mugeuk thrust his hand in, seized So Baekta by the collar on the other side of the wall, and pulled him inside.
So Baekta was dragged into that place.
Looking down at him as he lay sprawled on the floor, Geom Mugeuk said coldly,
“You said I would never get out of here? Are you confident you can spend the rest of your life with me?”
So Baekta reflexively dispelled the space. The space vanished, and it seemed as though they were returning to the Cult Leader’s Hall.
Ssssst.
They returned to the space they had originally been in.
“!”
So Baekta was startled.
He had recited the formula to erase the space, and he had clearly returned to the Cult Leader’s Hall. And yet he had been pulled back into that space again, as if dragged there.
He recited the formula once more. But the walls and floor merely heaved and surged; the space he had created did not disappear.
‘Something has gone wrong!’
Inwardly, he panicked. Ever since he had learned how to create this space, he had never once failed to leave it.
His gaze turned toward the torn wall.
‘Is it because of that?’
Looking around, he saw that it was similar to the space he had made, but different. The color was different, and so was the feeling.
‘Because that was torn, something changed!’
An inexplicable ominousness made So Baekta’s heart sink.
“Calm yourself and try again.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, he tried again, but still the space did not disappear.
So Baekta ran to the Ten-Thousand-Li Battle Wall and tried to leave again through the place Geom Mugeuk had torn. But behind the torn membrane, a new membrane had formed.
He poured true qi into it and tried to rip it apart, but it only stretched. It was completely useless.
So Baekta turned to Geom Mugeuk and shouted,
“You tear that wall again.”
Geom Mugeuk drew his sword and struck down at the membrane. But the membrane did not tear. Whether he stabbed or slashed it, the membrane only stretched and undulated.
“How did you tear it before?”
“I don’t know either. Seeing your face mocking me made me angry, so I tore it. Does a face have to be thrust in from that side for it to tear?”
Geom Mugeuk asked in return, but So Baekta gave no answer. He did not know either.
“We’ll be able to get out somehow. Surely we won’t be trapped here?”
Unlike Geom Mugeuk, who was somewhat at ease, So Baekta’s fear was growing larger and larger.
That carefree man did not know how terrifying this place was. If they could not erase the space, they would starve to death here.
“Is your internal energy being consumed?”
So Baekta checked his own internal energy, then shook his head.
Geom Mugeuk sank down against the wall and said,
“That is fortunate, at least. Otherwise, your innate true qi would be exhausted and you would die. Rest, then try again.”
Geom Mugeuk was right. This was not a problem that could be solved by getting agitated.
So Baekta calmly examined the wall. The movements of the wall, writhing like entrails, were subsiding, and its color was slowly darkening. The wall was dying.
“You combined another demonic art with a formidable one like the Angcheon Great Demonic Qi. Did you think there would be no side effects?”
That was right. So Baekta had believed there would be no side effects. There had been none until now.
So Baekta sat down and began circulating his qi and regulating his breath. He intended to calm his mind, replenish his internal energy, and try again with a fresh state of mind.
When he completed one circuit of qi and opened his eyes, Geom Mugeuk was examining the wall.
So Baekta calmly recited the formula to erase the space again. But it was still a failure.
It was then.
Drip, drip, drip.
Blood began to flow down from the walls on all sides.
As if announcing that death was near, the blood running down the walls did not stop.
Startled, So Baekta looked around and fell into despair.
“There’s nowhere for the blood to drain.”
Blood began to pool on the floor. At this rate, the blood would rise, and they would eventually drown in it.
He was going to drown in blood inside an illusion he had created? And together with the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, no less?
So Baekta was so dumbfounded and appalled that he stood blankly for a moment.
Then, all at once, fierce hostility surged up inside him. So Baekta drew up his internal force. Crimson energy began to gather in both his hands.
“This is all because of you!”
So Baekta stretched out his hands to release astral qi toward Geom Mugeuk, but Geom Mugeuk was a step faster. Rushing in with the Dark Shadow Step, he struck.
Thud!
So Baekta, hit in the chest, was sent flying into the wall before collapsing to the floor.
Geom Mugeuk grabbed him as he lay submerged in blood, hauled him up, and sealed his internal energy. Before he knew it, the blood had risen to their knees.
“Why is it because of me? It’s because of you, swaggering about wanting to unite the lands beyond the border when you can’t even erase something you made yourself.”
Geom Mugeuk mercilessly struck the back of So Baekta’s head.
“That was for your master! Your master said this after returning from meeting you. ‘Good grief, I should have smacked that madman in the back of the head.’”
So Baekta clenched his teeth. He was enraged to the tips of his hair, but now was not the time to fight Geom Mugeuk. The blood was rising quickly.
So Baekta felt fear as he watched the blood climb. It was the first time he had ever felt the terror of death.
In the midst of that, Geom Mugeuk provoked him.
“If your master handed over the position of cult leader to you, you should have thought about protecting it. You couldn’t even hold on to the blessing you were given, and yet you thought you’d do what?”
“Blessing? What blessing?”
Being told he had been blessed was like touching his reverse scale.
“I was always going to inherit the position of cult leader!”
“Isn’t it good that you inherited it earlier?”
“Good? I wasn’t ready to become cult leader back then. It was a position I should have inherited after training further and reaching full mastery of the Angcheon Great Demonic Qi. But my master threw the position of cult leader at me and left.”
The things he had buried deep in his heart came bursting out.
“He said that many people followed him, so I need not worry? Don’t make me laugh! Those people followed Master, not me. Why did he not know that? Why didn’t he know that what they said in front of him and what they said in front of me were different?”
The blood had already risen to their stomachs.
“Do you know what I was like after Master left? Every day was like sitting on a bed of thorns. Was someone aiming for my position? Were they looking down on me in their hearts? I couldn’t even sleep properly for fear of assassination. And then what? Everyone else can say that, but you, of all people, should not? You don’t even know how I lived.”
Geom Mugeuk understood. The flashes of childish recklessness he had sensed in him had begun with resentment toward his master.
He should have placed “thanks to” where he had put “because of,” endured, and overcome it. Unfortunately, he had failed to do so.
“He was the only one who understood me.”
The Phantom King must have wormed his way into the gaps left by his resentment, anger, and fear.
So Baekta wanted to say this: that the man was a hundred times better than his damn master.
“He said he was the last descendant of the Blood Cult.”
That was not wrong. After the Phantom King and Hwanyeo, no more martial arts of the Blood Cult appeared.
“He said he had intended to live quietly, but when he saw me abandoned by my master and ascending to the position of cult leader, his heart changed.”
At a person’s weakest moment, the Phantom King must have pretended to become their greatest source of strength. By teaching him the demonic arts of the Blood Cult, he would have melted his heart.
So Baekta looked at his own face reflected in the blood that had now risen to his chest. Then, suddenly using the blood as a mirror, he dipped his fingers into it and began to draw the final pattern on his face.
Of the three patterns, it was Punghwa, the one drawn on the face of the dead. Of course, it did not draw well with blood.
“I wanted to go to the battlefield wearing the Cheonhwa he drew for me.”
The moment Geom Mugeuk heard those words, he understood.
“Don’t tell me that man was the painter in the Cult Leader’s Hall?”
Perhaps thinking this was the end, So Baekta nodded.
“He was the one who taught me how to draw the patterns on my face.”
At last, the moment had come when the Phantom King’s hiding place was revealed.
“He was the one who told me how I should live, and how extraordinary a person I was.”
The blood had now risen to just beneath their chins.
‘Am I going to die now?’
Suddenly, So Baekta’s eyes met Geom Mugeuk’s. In Geom Mugeuk’s clear, deep gaze, there was an unknowable elation.
“What are you so happy about that you’re smiling? What’s so impressive that you’re acting superior to the very end?”
“If it were my usual self, I would indeed have acted superior quite a lot, but today I held back.”
What followed was even more incomprehensible.
“Your attempts to erase the space did not fail. I was the one who succeeded.”
“What?”
“Now that I think about it, in this place, I suppose I would be your junior disciple.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“He taught it only to me, so there is no way you would know.”
The blood had risen to their faces, and they had to stand on tiptoe to converse.
“There is a motion your master always makes whenever he unfolds and folds this place.”
Geom Mugeuk thrust his hand up out of the blood.
Instinctively, So Baekta felt that something had gone wrong. But that thought lasted only a moment, for the blood rose above both their faces.
At that very moment, as they sank into the blood, Geom Mugeuk snapped the fingers of the hand he had held outside.