“Shut your mouth!”
Gyo Cheon’s shout rang out thunderously.
Fwoooooosh.
The hem of the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s robe snapped violently. It was a voice unlike any he had heard until now. His master’s bellow, laden with internal energy, crashed over him like a sudden gale.
Had he not drawn up his own inner power to resist it, he would have been blown backward and slammed down in an unsightly heap.
From that single shout, he could tell just how deep and weighty an internal force was hidden within his master’s aged body.
A fierce wind passed through.
One might have expected him to be cowed by that powerful internal energy, but instead, this time it was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon who roared.
“You shut your mouth, Master!”
Because he had treated his master with utmost courtesy until now, Gyo Cheon’s eyes went wide.
Now it was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon whose voice shook the entire hall.
“Why is your revenge so pathetic? Wiping out people who have nothing to do with this, trying to stir up a war through schemes and discord. Using poison. After all these long years, is this all your revenge amounts to?”
Crack.
The other armrest of the chair shattered. When he had broken the first one, it had crumbled like sand, but this time fragments rained down in a cascade. He was so furious that he had not even realized he had broken it.
Yet the Blood Heaven Saber Demon continued to raise his voice.
“You should have returned in glory. If you weren’t ready, you should never have come back!”
After shouting himself hoarse, he added one final sentence, his voice low and sorrowful.
“……Only then would I have gladly died for you.”
The gazes of the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and Gyo Cheon tangled in midair.
Was it because of the grief and sadness contained in the eyes looking at him?
Gyo Cheon had believed even his disciple’s apology to be false, an act, but in this moment, that thought did not occur to him.
‘He came to find me prepared to die?’
But that thought, drawn out by sincerity, could not pass through the tightly sealed wall within him. After staring at his disciple for a moment, Gyo Cheon spoke to the two old men.
“Kill him. Kill him miserably and wretchedly!”
A smile of relief instead formed at the corner of the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s mouth.
Yes. No matter what words passed between them, the ending of this meeting between master and disciple had been decided from the start.
The only difference was who would die.
If anything, he was grateful his master had come out like this. Now he could fight without lingering attachment.
“I shall obey your command, Master.”
The one who answered loudly was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. It was a kind of jest and mockery, as though he had received the order to kill.
By contrast, the two old men showed no change in expression. His master must have raised them this way. Without any emotion, solely for this moment.
And those two could not be the only subordinates his master had. No one could know what might come out today from the pouch of resentment his master had carried for decades.
Wooooong!
The Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber, infused with inner power, let out one great cry. It was not a cry of fear. It was the trusting cry of a beloved weapon that had felt its master’s resolve.
‘Yes, I’m counting on you! Myeolcheon.’
The old man in the red long robe approached from the right, and the old man in the blue long robe from the left.
All three had reached great mastery in the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style.
At this level, the outcome would instead be decided in an instant. Moreover, they all knew one another’s martial arts far too well.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon imagined how his master must have trained them.
He would have trained them harshly. For this very moment. To kill him wretchedly not with some other martial art, but with the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style.
I will take back the martial art I passed down to you with that very same martial art—surely that was what he had intended.
‘In that case?’
The first to move was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
The instant he kicked off the ground, he was already before the red-robed old man, swinging his saber.
Swaaaaaak!
The Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber flew in at a speed unbelievable for its size.
His opponent did not evade either, but swung his own great saber to block.
Just before saber met saber, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon twisted his blade. The saber’s angle shifted, sending up sparks as it slid along his opponent’s blade.
Whoooooom!
The Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber, having calculated even his opponent’s response, grazed the old man’s face.
The old man was inwardly greatly startled.
It was an unexpected variation. And because he had never imagined his opponent would use a variation aiming for his life on the very first move, his face had nearly been taken off.
It was a surprise move by the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, making use of the fact that masters of saber arts usually spent their first exchange testing one another with a clash of strength.
And with that momentum, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon did not let up and continued to press him.
He was not so weak that nearly being caught on the first move would throw his hands and feet into confusion, but the old man had clearly lost the initiative.
Thud! Thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s attacks grew faster and fiercer. The ringing collisions of saber against saber deepened with each exchange.
The old man in the blue long robe could not step in to help.
Should it be compared to a carriage that had already set off?
They had already begun a fight that could not be entered. The two were pressed close together in a fierce struggle, and if he released the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style, even the red-robed old man would be swept up in the saber aura.
Nor could he simply leap in and fight alongside him. Their offense and defense were too intense, and this was not a fight of swords but of great saber against great saber. There was no gap for another great saber to enter.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was fighting with fundamentals.
His opponent must have polished only the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style for all those long years. Naturally, he would have expected the Blood Heaven Saber Demon to face them with that same style.
Compared to the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style, a battle of fundamentals should clearly be disadvantageous.
And yet the one leading the fight was indeed the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
His improvement was not due solely to training. There was one thing even more important.
His life had changed.
Only when one’s life changed did one’s martial arts change as well. That great principle of martial learning was being applied.
Gyo Cheon’s eyes darkened as he watched their battle.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was fighting better than he had expected.
The instant he realized that his disciple was stronger than he himself had been in his days as a Demon Venerable, jealousy and rage surged up within him.
At that moment, the words the Blood Heaven Saber Demon had said came back to him.
—Master, your head must be filled with fog.
Was that why only instincts like these came bursting out? Hatred, jealousy, rage.
But he could not wisely unravel the thought that had suddenly surfaced. He could not cross, by himself, the enormous wall he had built over all those years. If he had been able to, he would never have heard such words in the first place.
In the end, that jealousy led to another accusation.
‘Cunning bastard!’
Many of the words the Blood Heaven Saber Demon had spoken earlier had lodged in his chest.
Among them, the one that remained as the deepest sediment was that Geom Ujin was not cunning, but that Geom Ujin had seen through his master’s own cunning. That was why.
‘You cunning bastard! When you’re the more cunning one!’
In his heart, he hurled the word cunning again and again. To him, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s wise fight became cunning.
The red-robed old man, who had been pushed back by the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, soared upward and unleashed the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style. It was the Annihilating Saber Strike, the fastest technique to execute among the forms.
But that moment was the very moment the Blood Heaven Saber Demon had been waiting for.
That instant of vulnerability when a grand technique was unleashed, that brief moment when inner power was forcefully circulated.
Swaaaaaang!
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s great saber rushed in like a bolt of lightning, as though it had been waiting, and just as it was about to cleave the red-robed old man in two—
Shaaaaaang!
Saber aura flew in with a distinctive sound of wind. He could tell from the sound alone. It was dangerous.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon twisted his body and raised the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber upright, blocking the incoming attack.
Kwaaaaang!
As the saber aura struck, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was pushed sliding backward together with the great saber he had raised like a shield.
It was tremendous power. If his inner power had been lacking even slightly, the attack would have broken his wrist.
The one who had saved the red-robed old man by sending out a palm strike was Gyo Cheon.
“Are you really going to do this?”
At the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s words, Gyo Cheon smiled pleasantly.
“You stop your cunning tricks first!”
At last, he had returned the word cunning to his disciple.
Their conversation could not continue.
Because the red-robed old man, having found room to breathe thanks to Gyo Cheon’s intervention, immediately unleashed the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style.
Swaaaaaaak!
Originally, he should have reorganized their formation and launched a combined attack, but his pride had been wounded by the fact that Gyo Cheon’s help had saved his life.
Saber-shaped aura surged toward the Blood Heaven Saber Demon in a storm.
It was an attack that could not be avoided. If it could be easily dodged, this martial art would not have been named the fourth form of the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style, Annihilating Saber Blood Wind.
The way to counter Annihilating Saber Blood Wind was with Annihilating Saber Blood Wind.
Saber qi extended from the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber, whirling as it flew out. Within both Annihilating Saber Blood Winds, small saber-shaped strands of aura were spinning inside the vortex.
The two blood winds collided.
With an earsplitting explosion, the saber auras canceled one another out—and at that moment.
Puuuk.
At the sound of flesh being torn, silence fell.
The red-robed old man looked down at his chest in disbelief. A strand of aura had flown through like a bird escaping a net and, as if in a lie, pierced him through.
Clearly, the same martial art had collided with similar power, but one thing had been different.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s Annihilating Saber Blood Wind contained a greater number of blades. As his martial realm had recently risen, his understanding of the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style had grown even deeper.
“……That number can increase?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon answered him.
“How could this senior brother’s be the same as my junior brothers’?”
The red-robed old man asked with fading eyes.
“Then why did you not use it from the start?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon slowly turned his head and looked at his master.
“I was saving it for Master.”
Gyo Cheon’s cheek trembled again. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon realized that it was not only his martial arts that had grown. He had also learned much from Geom Mugeuk about how to deal with his master. He was using on his master exactly what had once been used on him by Geom Mugeuk.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon now charged toward the old man in the blue long robe.
This time too, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon did not use the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style.
Seeing that, Gyo Cheon grew even more enraged.
Had he not just said so a moment ago? That he had not shown the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style because he had intended to use it on him? And yet even now he was not using it.
‘Are you determined to kill me with your own hands?’
It was ultimately because of this rage that he intervened in their fight, and this was also what the Blood Heaven Saber Demon had hoped for.
Whenever the blue-robed old man was in danger, Gyo Cheon sent finger winds to help him.
It should not have been easy to aid someone in a fight where two men were tangled together, yet Gyo Cheon’s attacks were sharp and precise.
Piit! Pit!
The finger winds his master sent grazed his arms and legs, while before him, a master who had reached great mastery in the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Style was trying to kill him.
Normally, he would have grown excited and tried to kill his opponent as quickly as possible, but the Blood Heaven Saber Demon did not. He even managed his internal energy as he fought.
A handful of internal energy was worth trading for a drop of blood. He intended to survive until the very end and fight his master.
At last, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s calculated and thorough battle came to an end.
Puuuk!
The Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber pierced the heart of the blue-robed old man.
The old man’s resentful gaze was not directed at the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, but at Gyo Cheon.
Gyo Cheon’s aid in this fight had instead harmed him. If he was going to help, he should have stepped forward and helped properly. But that had not been the case.
Rather, he had disturbed his focus, and in the end, the old man had been unable to fully display his skill. Help tainted by emotion had not helped him at all.
Gyo Cheon looked at the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, whose entire body was soaked in blood. There was no word of mourning for the dead disciples, nor any regret for their deaths.
“Not bad.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon wiped the blood from his face and said,
“Among the titles of the Demon Venerables, why do you think I’m the only one with blood in mine?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s eyes shone fiercely.
Meeting those eyes, Gyo Cheon spoke coldly.
“No one will come to help you. Because of your arrogance, you will die here alone.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon smiled forlornly, as if accepting it all, and asked in return,
“We are Demon Venerables. Whose help would we seek?”
Those words became thorns again and pierced Gyo Cheon’s heart. If his disciple was a Demon Venerable, then he too had once been one.
Demon Venerables were beings who lived by pride. In battle, they yielded to no one, sought help from no one, and stood tall alone. That was what it meant to be a Demon Venerable.
“I know you prepared much more. Now then, who is next?”
At the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s imposing figure, Gyo Cheon shouted in rage. He had thought of him as a brat of a disciple, yet now every word he spoke stabbed into his chest.
“You wretch, to the very end!”
Unable to endure it, Gyo Cheon unleashed his palm force.
Saaaaaaaang!
A terrifying palm force flew in. Since he could not evade it, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon used the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber as a shield, hiding his body behind it as he poured his inner power into it to the limit.
Kwaaaaang!
The impact made the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber shake violently. His wrist had nearly broken, and he had almost suffered internal injuries.
Saaaaaaaang!
Boom!
A second palm force flew in succession, followed by a third.
Bang! Kwaang!
The Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber shook as though it would break at any moment. Under the force of the incoming impacts, the blade gradually tilted.
His master’s voice came from beyond the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber.
“I’ll break that arrogant saber of yours!”
Swooooooooosh!
The sound was different from before. A palm force laden with tremendous internal energy was flying in.
‘The saber might break.’
But that was something that could not be allowed. The Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber was his symbol.
Instead of raising his protective qi barrier to the limit, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon poured his inner power into the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber to the utmost. Even if he suffered internal injuries, he intended to protect the saber.
Kwaaaaaang!
A tremendous explosion burst forth.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was still standing in that spot. He had not suffered internal injuries, nor had he been flung backward.
And the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber stood tall, unbroken.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon saw it.
A hand that had emerged from behind him, its palm pressed against the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber.
Startled, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon turned around.
The moment he confirmed who stood behind him, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon called out to him with a face full of emotion.
“Cult Leader!”
Geom Ujin was standing behind him.
Perhaps he had hoped the Cult Leader would come. Perhaps, deep down, he had believed he would.
But just as much as he had wished for it, there had also been a part of him that wished he would not come.
Because on the day he had killed his master, the Cult Leader had killed his elder brother. They had all desperately hoped it would not come to that, but it had.
He could only guess what wounds the Cult Leader carried with him. Since that day, he had never once asked about it. Neither of them had asked the other.
He had wanted to keep the Cult Leader from recalling that past again, and so he had resolved to handle this matter alone. Yet now, the Cult Leader had come.
And today, the look in the Cult Leader’s eyes resembled those young eyes that had looked at him on that day long ago.
“We were together that day, so we should be together today as well.”