The Immortal Divine Armor had upheld its name until now by never being cut.
But could he guarantee it would not be cut by the Sado Alliance Leader’s sword?
For a moment, the Fighting King forced himself to erase the doubt that had risen in his heart.
“Would immortal be called immortal for nothing?”
At that, Baek Jagang asked in return.
“Do you believe there is such a thing as immortality in this world? There is only the human heart that wishes to be immortal.”
Love, dreams, hope.
Baek Jagang never believed in such things. He was a thoroughgoing realist.
“If you are so coldly rational, then why do you believe in the Young Cult Leader?”
Baek Jagang knew. The Fighting King was trying, by any means possible, to plant suspicion in his heart and shake him. In a fight between himself and the Fighting King, not even a speck of his concentration could be allowed to waver.
“I do not believe in the Young Cult Leader. The one who believes in the Young Cult Leader is my disciple.”
“Your disciple is being deceived by the Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader.”
The Fighting King’s gaze turned toward Geom Mugeuk. Like the others, he appeared in black and white, but only his two eyes were tinged red. A black-and-white body and red eyes; because of that, Geom Mugeuk looked like a demon.
“Look at that young cult leader’s eyes. Do you see the ambition and desire dwelling in them?”
Had it been anything else, he would have ignored it, but because Geom Mugeuk had been mentioned, Baek Jagang answered the Fighting King’s question.
“It seems your eyes see a blazing heat. In my eyes, I feel only the chill of a frozen snowfield.”
The Fighting King was seeing heat, and the Sado Alliance Leader was seeing cold.
Geom Mugeuk joked with them.
“You have both seen well. My left eye is hot, and my right eye is cold.”
As he said that, he looked at Bi Sain standing beside him and smiled. Such composure amid this urgency was possible only because he had absolute faith in the Sado Alliance Leader.
To be honest, Bi Sain could not feel heat or cold from Geom Mugeuk. What he felt was only that mischievous look in his eyes, as if wondering what nonsense he should spout next.
But when he looked at those mischief-filled eyes, he could read one emotion.
Geom Mugeuk asked Bi Sain.
“Surely you see something in my eyes too?”
Bi Sain nodded and answered honestly. It was something he could not have conveyed if not for a chance like this.
“You look lonely.”
At first, he had not felt it, but now he did. That Geom Mugeuk was a lonely person. Perhaps it was because he, too, knew well what loneliness was.
“As expected, a friend sees best. How lonely must I be for the Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader to come to the Sado Alliance’s Young Alliance Leader and ask to be friends?”
“I hope your loneliness does not lead to a strange ending.”
“Our ending is to laugh and fool around together until we die of old age.”
The Fighting King cut into their conversation and spoke coldly.
“Whether it is hot or cold, in my eyes I see greed. Can you be certain your greed is smaller than mine?”
“At the very least, it is not greed that seeks to steal what belongs to others, as yours does. Let us just say I have a personal errand.”
But I will not allow that errand to swallow up my life. The reason I live both hotly and coldly is not solely to kill Hwa Mugi.
It is for my life.
It is because I want to live together with the people I like.
When this fight is over, I will cleanly forget the Fighting King and go back to meet my people. I will not fret, worrying and agonizing over what will come next or who will appear.
Even after I kill Hwa Mugi someday, I will continue living as the Young Cult Leader, and I will ascend to the seat of the Heavenly Demon. I do not know what else will happen in that process, or what kind of life will await me after I become the Heavenly Demon.
Only one thing is certain. A life spent pouring everything into one villain was enough once, before my regression.
While eating with the Demon Venerable, I will say I am stepping out for a moment, then go kill Hwa Mugi and return. While hunting with Father, I will briefly go kill him instead of a tiger.
If they ask where I have been, I will smile and answer that I just took care of a small matter.
May that become my life in this lifetime. I will strive to the point of death to make such a life.
The people here could never know Geom Mugeuk’s heart. That heart was conveyed only as a feeling of heat, cold, and loneliness.
“What will you do if that personal errand is what bewitches your disciple?”
Until the very end, the Fighting King tried to provoke Baek Jagang.
The very moment Baek Jagang glanced at Bi Sain—
Swaaaaak!
A palm force flew in a surprise attack from the Fighting King’s hand.
But Baek Jagang twisted his body and avoided the incoming strike. Though the palm force brushed past right in front of his face, Baek Jagang did not even blink.
Baek Jagang spoke in a calm tone.
“The only thing certain in this place may be the greed you hide beneath that armor.”
Baek Jagang aimed his sword, sword aura flowing along its blade, at the Fighting King.
“There is no need to show me. I will personally tear that treasured armor apart and see what is inside.”
The moment his words ended, blue sword aura scattered through the air and flew toward the Fighting King.
Red aura gathered on both fists of the Fighting King as he struck back. Tremendous aura was released from his fists as well.
With a thunderous boom as aura collided with aura, two different colors mixed together. The red and blue aura that embroidered the air and spread magnificently felt like art created at the tip of a painter’s brush.
Pwaaaaang!
Blue clusters of light split apart from the first collision and stretched out in dozens of strands. They were not being destroyed and scattered. They all changed direction at once and flew toward the Fighting King.
Because it was an attack he had not expected, the Fighting King had no time to evade. He raised his protective aura to the utmost.
‘With the Immortal, I can withstand it!’
The aura that had separated into dozens of strands and flown forward merged into one before the Fighting King, creating a new shape. What the blue aura formed was a wolf.
In that instant, Geom Mugeuk understood. That wolf form was identical to the wolf in the Sado Alliance Leader’s hall. The lonely wolf that protected the Sado, the Blue Wolf.
Tyrant King Quakes the Heavens Sword Art, Fourth Form: Blue Wolf Form.
With an ear-rending wolf howl, the enormous wolf swallowed the Fighting King whole.
At the very moment the aura struck the Fighting King, the Sado Alliance martial artists all cried out in admiration. At the Blue Wolf’s howl and the force that spread around them, their entire bodies trembled. Every hair on their bodies stood on end, and they felt the urge to shout. It was the first time they had seen the Alliance Leader’s powerful fighting spirit in real combat.
Peopeopeopeopeok!
The sound of something bursting came from the Fighting King.
Soon after, beyond the settling cloud of dust, the Fighting King’s figure came into view.
The Fighting King had crossed both hands in front of him to block the aura, and blood was flowing from his mouth.
Dudududuk.
The Immortal Divine Armor had been cut, and blood was flowing down the Fighting King’s body. It was a single move from Baek Jagang that had pierced through both the Immortal Divine Armor and the Fighting King’s protective aura.
The Fighting King looked down at the severed Immortal Divine Armor with startled eyes. The words the Sado Alliance Leader had spoken rang in his ears.
—Do you believe there is such a thing as immortality in this world?
If the Immortal Divine Armor was in this state, then the Twin Souls that protected his wrists and shins had been torn to shreds altogether.
Of course, it was only because he had even those that the Fighting King was able to remain standing.
The Fighting King clenched his teeth.
He had thought he was behind by about one move, but that was not it. It was clearly two moves, and considering the hidden moves still unrevealed, he might be behind by three or even four.
‘He is stronger than I thought.’
Geom Mugeuk was thinking the same thing.
It was also the reason the Sado Alliance Leader dreamed of unifying the martial world.
His father, the Sado Alliance Leader, and Jin Paecheon, said to be the most domineering among all past Martial Alliance Leaders.
By coincidence, the overlords had all gathered in one era. He even thought that perhaps the birth of Hwa Mugi was an inevitability drawn forth by these three people.
Baek Jagang looked at the blood flowing behind the Immortal Divine Armor and spoke quietly.
“Your greed is shedding tears.”
At the force extending from those small eyes, which seemed to ask whether it was regret or fear, the Fighting King clenched his fists.
Baek Jagang began to press the Fighting King.
As auras collided, explosions rang out one after another.
With his protective armor damaged, even greater shocks were inflicted on the Fighting King.
But the Fighting King did not retreat.
Red energy flowed from both his eyes as he drew his internal energy to the extreme.
The Fighting King charged in and threw his fists.
Papapapapapapapapak!
Linked Wind-Cloud Fist, Third Form: Lightning Wild Dance.
Dozens of fists, swift as light, embroidered the air.
Baek Jagang was avoiding them all. They were so fast that those watching could not tell which fist he avoided or how.
Only Geom Mugeuk saw the two men’s movements clearly.
“Ah!”
Admiration came out on its own. The Fighting King’s move was truly incredible. If he had not been an enemy, it was a move worthy of praise.
And toward the Sado Alliance Leader, who evaded all of those strikes deserving praise, he felt awe.
The Fighting King’s attack did not end there. A linked technique connected to Lightning Wild Dance was unleashed.
Linked Wind-Cloud Fist, Fourth Form: Red Chain Binding Edict.
The final fist of Lightning Wild Dance spread wide. From the Fighting King’s palm, red aura in the shape of an iron chain was released.
Chararararak!
The chain wound around Baek Jagang in an instant.
‘It’s done!’
No matter how formidable the Sado Alliance Leader was, if he was caught in Red Chain Binding Edict, he would be unable to move until the Fighting King’s next move landed.
Linked Wind-Cloud Fist, Fifth Form: Wind-Cloud Genesis!
Shiiiiik.
The Fighting King’s blow, imbued with the will to kill, flew toward Baek Jagang’s face. If Wind-Cloud Genesis struck the face, where protective aura was relatively weak—
‘It’s over.’
At that moment, the Fighting King saw it. There was no sword in Baek Jagang’s hand as he was bound by the chains.
“!”
The next instant—
Puuk!
Baek Jagang’s sword, which had plunged down silently from the air, pierced and lodged itself into his shoulder from above.
Tyrant King Quakes the Heavens, Sixth Form: Formless Shadow Form, had been unleashed.
The sword pierced through the Fighting King’s bone and flesh.
“Uaaaagh!”
As the Fighting King’s true qi was severed—
Papapapapang!
With a series of thunderous booms, the Red Chain Binding Edict that had been tightening around Baek Jagang shattered to pieces and vanished.
Pwaaaak!
The sword embedded in his shoulder pulled itself free and flew into Baek Jagang’s hand.
Blood spurted from the Fighting King’s shoulder.
The Fighting King hurriedly pressed his acupoints to stop the bleeding, but the wound was deep. He had not been able to face him even with an uninjured body, and now he was in a state where he could no longer endure.
What the Fighting King chose was flight.
He began to flee desperately. Despite his grievous wound, he ran at a terrifying speed.
Baek Jagang followed after him even faster.
Peoeok!
Baek Jagang hurled the Fighting King, who had been fleeing desperately, to the ground.
Kwaang!
Though he rolled across the ground from the great impact, the Fighting King sprang back up and began to run again. Those watching also moved after the two of them. In an instant, they had traveled several dozen jang.
Bi Sain sealed Hyeok Sagun’s paralysis acupoints, roughly tucked him under his side, and moved with them.
His master was fleeing, and he himself was being dragged along miserably.
But hope had still not disappeared from his eyes, which should have been filled with resentment.
Once more, the aura Baek Jagang launched struck the Fighting King in the back.
Peok!
The Fighting King collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Giving up on running any farther, the Fighting King sat there, panting.
“I promised not to let even a single hair be harmed. This fight ends here.”
At that desperate moment, as Baek Jagang prepared the final blow—
The Fighting King instead smiled.
“Then… you have lost.”
Just then, as the Fighting King wore a meaningful smile—
About a hundred enemies appeared from all directions. This was the reason he had fled all the way here. For the final move he had hidden in this place.
The person standing at the front was Sahon, the Fighting King’s trusted hand and foot.
Those who appeared with him were not adults, but children.
There were children not yet ten years old, and children of thirteen or fourteen. Some looked to be about seventeen or eighteen at most.
Geom Mugeuk understood.
They were the very children who had been abducted earlier.
There was no intelligence in the children’s eyes. They had been brainwashed by some special method.
Strange bags hung from the children’s chests.
They leaped into the air in all directions at the same time. At the same time, the bags hanging from the children’s chests burst, and white powder flew everywhere.
Peoeok! Peoeok! Peok! Peok!
The amount of powder that burst from a single bag was not ordinary. But over a hundred bags had burst at once, so the surroundings were instantly covered in powder.
“It is Yellow Springs.”
Yellow Springs was a poison for mass slaughter, the most strictly forbidden poison in the murim. The bag that emitted this poison had been created by the late Poison Overlord.
The Fighting King had made the children wear them. It was a plan devised to lay all the blame on the Demonic Cult’s Poison King.
When he first revealed himself, he had used the children to prevent them from wiping him out in a single strike. The Fighting King was the sort of man who, if it meant winning, would use not only children, but even infants.
The warriors of the Sado Alliance all took out poison-warding beads and bit down on them at once.
“Poison-warding beads won’t stop it.”
Earlier, Geom Mugeuk had raised a whirlwind and burned away the Poison Overlord’s poison, but now it was beyond anyone’s control. Too vast an amount had spread in every direction in an instant, so even Geom Mugeuk could do nothing about this dreadful poison.
Bisa-in threw himself forward to protect the Alliance Leader first.
“Please, hurry and avoid it.”
But the Sado Alliance Leader had already been exposed to the poison.
“It will be said that the Demonic Cult’s Poison King killed you!”
There were only three people here who had taken the antidote in advance: the Fighting King, Hyeok Sagun, and Sahon. Hyeok Sagun was someone the Fighting King absolutely needed in order to become the leader of the Sado Alliance.
The Fighting King smiled in satisfaction. Somehow, he would be able to endure by fleeing from the poisoned Sado Alliance Leader’s attacks. Time was on his side, after all.
It was enough as long as he won, even like this. To seize victory by any means necessary—this was the moment he grasped the greatest victory of his life.
At that very moment, the smile vanished from the Fighting King’s lips.
In his eyes, he saw Sahon looking around with a flustered expression. The Fighting King looked around as well.
Nothing happened.
The children were still standing as they were, and the Sado Alliance warriors exposed to the poison had not collapsed. They should all have been dead by now.
Belatedly, the Thirteen Wolves of Sado and the warriors of the Extreme Blade Corps subdued the blood points of the dazed children first.
The Fighting King had never once truly shown his emotions, but this time was different. He was shocked and flustered.
‘Why?’
Why was no one collapsing?
Baek Jagang and all the other Sado Alliance warriors present were just as astonished. They all knew just how vicious a poison Yellow Springs was. Geom Mugeuk, too, had no idea what was going on.
‘No way?’
As Geom Mugeuk looked around, his gaze turned toward the air. Once his eyes fixed there, everyone else’s gaze naturally followed his.
A person stood on the branch of a giant tree, arms crossed, looking down at them. He was a young, handsome boy. At his waist hung twelve pouches, each marked with one of the animals of the twelve zodiac branches.
“Poison King!”
At Geom Mugeuk’s startled cry, a faint smile formed at the man’s lips.
It truly was the Poison King. The claim that the Demon Physician and the Poison King were coming had been a lie, yet somehow, the real Poison King had appeared here.
As the wind blew and made the hems of his clothes flutter, the Poison King began to descend slowly through the air, as though a heavenly deity were alighting upon the world.