After that day, if anything, he grew distant from the Cult Leader.
He had thought that, having gone through such a thing together, they would see each other more often and grow closer. But reality was not so.
That was probably the reason.
Whenever they saw each other’s faces, they were reminded of that day. Perhaps both he and Geom Ujin had unconsciously wanted to avoid it.
Practical reasons were added to that.
Afterward, Geom Ujin became busy. He formally became the successor of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and as he devoted himself to learning the Guhwa Demonic Art, it became difficult to even see his face.
Were they really going to drift apart like this?
One day, when that thought crossed his mind, Geom Ujin came to see the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
The moment he saw him, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon could feel it. That he had felt the same way. That he had wanted to see him too. Back then, emotions had still shown on Geom Ujin’s face.
But the form in which they treated each other had changed. Geom Ujin had become the Young Cult Leader, and he had risen to the seat of Demon Venerable.
“Have you been well, Young Cult Leader?”
“Thanks to your concern, Demon Venerable, I have been well.”
They were no longer in a relationship where they could call each other elder brother and younger brother. That incident had become a turning point in their relationship.
Geom Ujin held out the box he had brought.
“What is this, Young Cult Leader?”
“It is a gift for you, Demon Venerable.”
When he opened the box, what lay inside was a single pill with a bluish sheen. Astonishingly, it was the Heaven-Beyond Divine Pill.
“This is my gift to you, Demon Venerable.”
Because he had become a Demon Venerable at a young age, a miraculous medicine like the Heaven-Beyond Divine Pill was something he absolutely needed.
“I am all right. Please take it yourself, Young Cult Leader.”
At that moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon saw it. Geom Ujin’s eyes as he looked at him. It might have been his imagination, but at that moment Geom Ujin’s eyes seemed to be saying this.
Brother, take it.
As elder brother and younger brother. He remembered that gaze as probably being the last of its kind.
And in the end, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon did not take the Heaven-Beyond Divine Pill. If he simply swallowed it, it felt as though what had happened between him and Geom Ujin that day would become over, just like that.
It was a day he had wanted so desperately to forget, and yet perhaps, to him, it had also been a day he never wanted to forget. The day he helped the Second Young Master and made him Young Cult Leader.
And so he kept the Heaven-Beyond Divine Pill all that time, until he eventually gave it to Geom Mugeuk. As though by fate, it went to Geom Mugeuk.
Later, when Geom Ujin roamed the Central Plains with the Fist Demon and fought across it, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had wished that he, too, could be with them.
He was human as well; how could he not have felt that way?
But he did not express that feeling to Geom Ujin.
Even so, his fondness for the Cult Leader never changed.
And now, at this very moment.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon regretted it. This regret was one he had come to feel and understand as he built a deep relationship with Geom Mugeuk.
He should have talked with Geom Ujin.
Just as Geom Mugeuk came to him and spoke about everything from trivial matters to all manner of things, he too should have told Geom Ujin everything.
They should have deliberately spoken of that day, again and again. Instead of burying such a deep wound in their hearts, at the very least, the two of them should have talked.
If Geom Ujin had not thought of it, then he, as the older brother, should have guided him that way.
Had he done so, his relationship with Geom Ujin would have been different. Had he done so, the wound in their hearts would have grown lighter as well.
Now, back in reality, the two of them—Geom Ujin and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon—stared at each other.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon thought that he must tell Geom Ujin about the regret that had just come to mind. Because he had no intention of ever creating another regret born of words left unsaid.
“Are you all right?”
“I apologize, Cult Leader. I acted on my own without informing you in advance.”
“It was not an official situation, was it? I, too, was merely passing by.”
That, too, was true. He had been returning to the main headquarters when he turned his carriage around.
“I did not know Master was alive.”
“We did not see his corpse that day.”
Gyo Cheon had fallen beneath the ten-thousand-zhang cliff with his chest pierced through. Later, they had tried to find the body, but the corpse had been swept away by the current, and they could not locate it. Since his wound had been so fatal, they had thought he was dead, yet here he was, alive.
Watching the two of them converse, Gyo Cheon’s mood soured once more.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon had his back turned completely to him as he looked at Geom Ujin and spoke. It made him feel ignored.
His mood had been foul ever since he met his disciple, and to the very end, the man was scraping at his insides. The fellow had always been like that, but the one who angered him even more was Geom Ujin.
If he saw him, should he not greet him first? More than cursing at him, seeing them talk among themselves like that made him feel even more disregarded.
In the end, unable to hold back again, he shouted.
“Geom Ujin!”
His voice rang out thunderously.
Only then did Geom Ujin’s gaze turn toward Gyo Cheon.
The moment their eyes met, Gyo Cheon was swept up in an even greater surge of emotion than when he had seen the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
In the end, the reason he had died was because of that Cult Leader.
Because he had chosen the First Young Master instead of him.
But soon, his rage turned to delight.
“We finally meet!”
He had been waiting only for this day. Now that he actually saw him like this, Gyo Cheon’s heart pounded, and he was exhilarated. He laughed by himself, making strange sounds.
He looked exactly like a madman, but Geom Ujin merely wore an indifferent expression and showed no reaction at all.
Seeing that response, Gyo Cheon laughed even louder.
A thought suddenly occurred to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
‘Because we never properly mourned that day, the three people who could not escape that day have met again.’
Yes, that was right. Both he and the Cult Leader, and even his master, laughing like that madman over there. None of them had properly mourned. Neither the death of the First Young Master, nor the fate of them all, who had collided like that.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon said to his master,
“The Cult Leader has arrived, so please come down now.”
It meant, Do not dare look down on him.
Naturally, the corners of Gyo Cheon’s eyes twitched. He could not say, Is the Cult Leader above your master? After all, he had proudly declared that he had disowned him.
Then Geom Ujin said,
“It is fine.”
It was not because he was going to kill him anyway. Geom Ujin had another reason for saying it was fine.
“This journey is one of coming down from the Taishi Chair. There is no need to be attached to seats.”
In the past, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon would have wondered what on earth that meant, but now he understood at once. Geom Mugeuk must have said that to the Cult Leader. It truly sounded like something Geom Mugeuk would say.
Looking at Gyo Cheon once more, Geom Ujin said,
“So this is what it feels like to look up.”
At Geom Ujin’s words, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon laughed. He had thought he would never hear such a joke from the Cult Leader in his life.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked Gyo Cheon,
“Were you not trying to draw even the Cult Leader into your plan? Well then, please show us what you have prepared.”
Gyo Cheon sneered mockingly.
“Just a moment ago, you were hiding behind that paltry blade like a coward, unable to even show your head, and now you are so bold.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon accepted the provocation with a smile.
“Because the one person Demon Venerables can rely on has arrived.”
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Geom Ujin’s mouth as well.
With the appearance of the Cult Leader, the atmosphere had eased, but inwardly, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon did not let down his guard. His master certainly had a hidden move.
But he did not send a sound transmission warning the Cult Leader to be careful.
The Cult Leader was not a perfect person, so he could make mistakes and faulty judgments. That was why there was a Chief Strategist, and why the Demon Venerables assisted him.
But there were exceptional moments when the Cult Leader became perfect. At such times, he had no need to listen to anyone’s words. Because the Cult Leader knew best.
That was precisely the moment when lives were taken and lives were lost.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon believed that, in the midst of a battlefield, the Cult Leader became perfect.
And the place where they stood now was a battlefield.
Gyo Cheon could not discern Geom Ujin’s skill. Normally, he should have felt an overwhelming presence, as he had from the previous Cult Leader. Yet Geom Ujin’s aura was difficult to read. That meant only one thing.
‘He is stronger than I expected.’
He had conducted extensive investigations on the Demonic Cult Leader and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. In particular, he had spent much time and money trying to find out the level of their martial arts.
But seeing them in person, they exceeded his investigation. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon was stronger than he had thought, and so was Geom Ujin.
‘Why have they all grown so strong?’
He knew that the Young Cult Leader had brought a new wind into the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, but he could not have imagined that it had made them stronger.
At last, Geom Ujin spoke his first words to Gyo Cheon.
“Will you step forward yourself?”
He did not ask how he had been. He did not exchange any other words.
Gyo Cheon’s expression hardened at once. His first words to him were merely asking whether he would fight himself?
“You look down on me.”
Gyo Cheon showed his displeasure, but Geom Ujin said nothing more.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon could understand the Cult Leader’s heart.
In the past, Gyo Cheon had helped the First Young Master and tried to kill Geom Ujin. And now he had brought about a massacre, dragging the reputation of their cult into the dirt.
The Cult Leader must have been greatly angered. The reason he did not kill him immediately, given his personality, was probably because of him. Because Gyo Cheon had been his master. He was allowing him to resolve the bitterness that still remained.
“You were arrogant in your youth, and you remain arrogant even now.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon understood yet again that his master’s memories had been distorted.
Because the gaze with which the Cult Leader had looked at him in his youth and the gaze he had now were far too different. Time had devoured his master.
“Fine. I will do as you wish.”
Gyo Cheon clapped his hands.
Then the door opened, and an old man entered. He was clearly advanced in years, but his body was sturdy, and his back was straight. A well-formed, muscular physique. If one covered his face and looked only at his body, it would not have been strange to think he was in his twenties or thirties.
Hei Di (黑帝).
It could not be helped that neither Geom Ujin nor the Blood Heaven Blade Demon recognized him.
He was not even a master of the previous generation. He was a master of the generation before that among the Unorthodox Faction, a figure infamous throughout the murim for his cruel nature and outstanding martial arts. In his prime, his martial arts were so excellent that he had been called the greatest master of the Unorthodox Faction.
He committed countless massacres and was named a public enemy of the murim, but in the end, no one managed to kill him.
Since he was well over a hundred years old, everyone naturally thought he had died, but today he had appeared like this.
From the door through which he had emerged, another person walked out.
It was a young woman with heavy makeup. Her red lips were so alluring they seemed capable of tempting anyone.
Qilian Yaoxie (祁連妖邪).
Unlike her youthful appearance, she, too, was a master from the same era as Hei Di, two generations back.
If one were to describe her in a single phrase:
The queen of demonesses.
For well over a hundred years, she had sucked away the internal energy of countless men, and by now she had gone beyond being a demoness and reached the point where she could be called a monster.
What set her apart from other demonesses was the purpose of the vital essence and internal energy she took. She absorbed internal energy not merely to maintain her youth, but to grow stronger, and the result was that she now stood shoulder to shoulder with Hei Di.
Her martial prowess was so formidable that even Hei Di could not carelessly call her a demoness.
Gyo Cheon said proudly,
“They are seniors even to me.”
Though the two old masters had come out knowing their opponent was the Demonic Cult Leader, they showed no fear at all. Of course, that did not mean they were careless. With deep and cautious gazes, they stared at Geom Ujin.
Because they surely knew well the weight that the name Heavenly Demon carried in the murim.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked at Geom Ujin. Geom Ujin, with an expressionless face, seemed to be observing the two, and from his expression, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
‘He will probably tell them both to come at him.’
Given the Cult Leader’s personality, he surely would.
But although the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s guess was close to the answer, he did not get it exactly right.
Geom Ujin raised his hand toward one side.
For a moment, it seemed as though no palm force went out.
Then, suddenly, a sound they had never heard before came from the wall.
Fwoooong!
Immediately afterward, the wall where the door through which the two had appeared stood crumbled entirely into powder and collapsed as a whole.
It did not break apart and send fragments flying. Astonishingly, the wall simply turned to powder where it stood and fell.
A cloud of dust rose, revealing the space behind the wall.
There were people waiting there. As though waiting for their own turns, they were seated in different places. The sight was truly bizarre, yet strangely fresh.
Terrifying gleams of light shone from within the dust. From their gazes alone, one could tell. The aura emanating from them was no less than that of Hei Di and Qilian Yaoxie, who had come out before them.
One could tell just by looking at the first to reveal himself.
Kuang Qiansha (狂千殺).
A mad master said to have killed a thousand experts, a god of slaughter, the crazed butcher of the previous generation—Kuang Qiansha.
Kuang Qiansha looked this way and revealed a cold killing intent.
And it was not only him. The gleams of light shining from behind Kuang Qiansha belonged to people who were in no way inferior to this madman. Their number reached over ten. Some faces were familiar, and some were not.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon could tell. They were the very fruits his master had gathered over the past several decades, driven solely by his desire for revenge.
The pressure they exuded filled the hall. Masters of the previous generation, and the generation before that.
Gyo Cheon was staring at Geom Ujin with an expression that seemed to ask what kind of insane stunt this was. Even with just the two who had already come out, it would not have been enough to beg one of them to go back in.
Geom Ujin had called all of them onto the battlefield. He must certainly have read the auras behind the door. The reason he had collapsed the wall was clear.
Demonic energy rose from Geom Ujin’s body and began to flicker around him like flames.
“You lot too. Come all at once.”