It was Geom Ujin’s Great Annihilation Form.
His father’s evil spirits finished dividing in an instant.
The moment Geom Mugeuk saw them, he knew.
‘It’s changed.’
Once before, his father had shown him the Great Annihilation Form. That day, his father’s Great Annihilation Form had clashed with his own.
Forty-four against four.
That day, his own evil spirits had been annihilated by his father’s. He had raised even his protective astral qi and resisted to the very end.
His evil spirits were far stronger now than they had been then, but the same was true of his father. His father’s evil spirits were larger than before, and looked far more powerful. Just from the demonic qi they emitted, he could tell they had grown stronger.
‘Father’s Nine Flames Demonic Art has surpassed the tenth-star great completion and is heading toward a new realm!’
Geom Mugeuk said to his own evil spirits.
‘You’ll have to eat more and grow bigger.’
If that was how it was, then what pressure must Honma and the remaining masters have felt?
Wooooooo.
With a low resonance, the demonic qi exuded by the evil spirits lined up before them sent chills crawling over their entire bodies.
Honma sensed that they could never block the martial art unfolding before them.
“It’s the Nine Flames Demonic Art! Toward the Young Cult Leader!”
Honma desperately threw himself forward. The four remaining masters moved with him.
They could not escape by breaking through the walls or ceiling.
When the Great Annihilation Form was unleashed, the powerful demonic qi emitted by the manifested evil spirits took control of the space. As if trapped behind invisible walls, they could not leave the domain where the evil spirits stood in formation.
Since Honma and the four masters had changed position, Geom Mugeuk expected his father to stop the Great Annihilation Form and unleash it again in another direction.
Then something utterly unexpected happened.
Sssssss.
The evil spirits standing in formation changed direction. At the sight, Geom Mugeuk was startled. The Great Annihilation Form he used only divided and then immediately pressed forward.
But in his father’s Great Annihilation Form, the evil spirits changed direction.
Geom Mugeuk realized that the reason his father had not simply swept them away before they dodged was to show him this sight.
If it had already changed this much, he truly could not imagine what the Nine Flames Demonic Art would look like if it reached the twelfth-star great completion.
Of course, even at this moment, an enormous amount of internal energy must have been consumed.
Staring at the swords of the evil spirits thrust toward him, Honma felt his whole body freeze. His gaze turned toward Gyo Cheon in the distance.
—Are you just going to watch like this? Use what you prepared.
Even after the sound transmission reached him, Gyo Cheon only watched the situation without answering.
From his reaction, Honma understood. From the very beginning, Gyo Cheon had intended to use them all as expendable pieces. After making the Cult Leader consume as much internal energy as possible, he had planned to finish things himself.
Gyo Cheon had come to find him when he had retired and was living alone. He had thought the man dead, and the first words Gyo Cheon said upon seeing him were these.
—Let us take this murim together.
When he heard those words, he should have rejected him outright, asking what kind of madness that was. He should have said that, out of consideration for their old friendship, he would not report him to the cult, so he should leave at once.
—Why are we not allowed to dream such dreams? Why do such grand dreams belong only to them?
Those words had made his heart stir. He had thought this: if he made good use of this man’s desire for revenge, perhaps he could spend the final years of his life splendidly.
A life lived only once, in any case.
A life already lived long enough, in any case.
He had been unable to resist that powerful temptation. At the time of his retirement, he had been living a life far too idle and tedious.
Desire, at an age when it should have flowed away like water, burned his body like fire.
And now, as Honma looked at the evil spirits lined up before him, he awakened from the dream.
‘I thought I was using him, but in the end, I was the one being used.’
For Gyo Cheon, revenge had been everything. Even if it meant sacrificing everyone, his goal must have been to make the Cult Leader expend his internal energy and then step forward at the end to take his revenge.
Surely, after preparing this much, he would not end with mere revenge? After gathering these people with such difficulty?
Yet it seemed that was exactly what he had done. He had merely been an incarnation of revenge who had scraped together the desires of old men.
Only now, at this moment, did Honma realize it.
Now, the only thing he could believe in was one thing.
“Cult Leader, please set aside your anger. You do not intend to unleash the Nine Flames Demonic Art with your son here, do you?”
Geom Ujin stared at Honma with an unreadable expression.
Then Geom Mugeuk spoke from behind him.
“That means you don’t know how heartless my father can be.”
Ignoring Geom Mugeuk’s words, Honma said to everyone,
“As long as the Young Cult Leader is here, he absolutely won’t be able to release it.”
Half of the four masters guarded their rear, preparing for Geom Mugeuk and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon to attack them.
Thud.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon planted the Heaven-Destroying Greatsaber in front of Geom Mugeuk.
“It won’t block this either, but it should help a little.”
Geom Mugeuk said to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon,
“As expected, Elder, you know my father far too well.”
It meant he believed Geom Ujin would unleash it even with his son there.
At the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s reaction, Honma grew even more desperate.
“Cult Leader, withdraw the Nine Flames Demonic Art. If we attack together at once, the Young Cult Leader will not survive. Think of your son!”
But his opponent was not someone threats would work on.
The moment the corners of Geom Ujin’s lips lifted slightly, the Great Annihilation Form was unleashed.
Kwakakakakakakakakak!
The evil spirits surged forward all at once.
Honma and the remaining masters raised their protective astral qi and released their aura.
Swaaaek! Swaek! Swaaaeeek!
Puh-uhk! Kwaang! Kwang! Kwang!
The torrents of aura collided with the evil spirits. Their attacks held enough power to turn boulders into powder.
But the evil spirits only staggered once and, without being annihilated, pushed straight in.
“No!”
An evil spirit struck Honma with overwhelming force. He could never block this powerful mass of aura created by the Nine Flames Demonic Art.
Puhpuhpuhpuk!
Honma’s bones and flesh shattered and scattered in every direction.
The other four masters met the same result, with only slight differences in timing.
They swung their swords, but the blades broke. They endured with protective astral qi, but were torn to shreds. They tried to flee, but were dragged in by the demonic qi and smashed to pieces.
Kwakakakakakakakaka!
Having swept them all away, the evil spirits surged toward Geom Mugeuk and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon behind them.
Geom Mugeuk stood still and watched the evil spirits of the Great Annihilation Form rushing toward him.
The terrifying evil spirits were crashing in like a tidal wave. The demonic qi they emitted was so intense that even he, who cultivated demonic arts, found it hard to breathe.
‘So this is what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the Great Annihilation Form.’
Kwaaaaaaaa!
The surging evil spirits broke through the entire wall behind where the two of them had been standing.
One evil spirit came to a stop.
An evil spirit had stopped before Geom Mugeuk and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
It was larger than even the Heaven-Destroying Greatsaber planted before them. His father had stopped only the evil spirit in the place where his son and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon stood.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked at the evil spirit and respectfully cupped his fist, paying his respects to the Nine Flames Demonic Art.
Geom Mugeuk silently stared at the evil spirit before him.
The evil spirit stared straight ahead with eyes both terrifying and cold. It looked vivid, as if it had just emerged from hell.
Originally, he had intended to raise the Great Demon Wall. But at the final moment, he changed his mind. Surely his father would not kill his own son? He trusted his father.
Sssss.
The evil spirit that had stood so proudly slowly disappeared. Just before it vanished, he had the illusion that it lowered its eyes and gave him a sidelong glance.
Only after the evil spirit disappeared did the scene before his eyes fully reveal itself.
In the silence left behind by death, blood that had not yet cooled was flowing.
The twelve masters who had been here had all been killed by Geom Ujin. Now it was impossible to tell how many there had originally been.
The only one left was Gyo Cheon.
“Kuhahahahaha!”
Gyo Cheon laughed. His reflection in the pool of blood looked like a madman. He looked like someone who had given up everything, and also like someone who had known it would turn out this way.
Geom Ujin’s gaze turned toward Gyo Cheon. Geom Mugeuk and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon behind him also looked at him.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon shouted at Gyo Cheon,
“Did you truly not know it would end like this?”
Gyo Cheon abruptly stopped laughing and looked at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon with sunken eyes. His gaze seemed to hold something he wanted to say, but he said nothing.
Then Geom Ujin turned to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and said,
“Leave it to me to the end.”
Geom Mugeuk understood. It was not merely because of what Gyo Cheon had prepared as his final move, or how dangerous it was, but because his father did not want the Blood Heaven Blade Demon to suffer the fate of having to kill his master again.
Even though he did not show it outwardly, Geom Mugeuk could feel that his father cared for the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
Geom Ujin slowly walked toward Gyo Cheon, his sword hanging low.
Even at the very end, he thought of the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. He intended to kill Gyo Cheon in a way that would leave his corpse intact.
“Do you have no words to leave your disciple?”
Gyo Cheon glanced at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and snorted.
Then, with a meaningful gaze, he asked in return,
“And you? Do you have no words to leave your son?”
The moment he finished speaking.
Puk!
Gyo Cheon’s form turned to smoke and disappeared.
At the same time, everything around them began to vanish.
The walls, the tables, the chairs, and the corpses on the floor.
Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!
Even Geom Mugeuk and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. All of them scattered into smoke. As though everything until now had been an illusion.
Geom Ujin said quietly,
“Illusion arts!”
When everything vanished, they were deep in the mountains. Now that he looked, this place was? This was Daecheon Mountain, where the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was located.
Geom Ujin understood. It was the place where he had gone hunting that day.
Not only his surroundings had changed; he himself had changed as well. The sword at his waist was not the Heavenly Demon Sword. He drew it and reflected his face on the blade, and saw himself in his youth. The version of himself before he had learned the Nine Flames Demonic Art.
It was at that very moment.
“Ujin.”
Startled, Geom Ujin turned around, and saw his elder brother from his youth standing some distance away.
Geom Ujin’s gaze trembled as he looked at him. His brother truly stood there in the form he had worn that day. Back then, he had hated him so much. Yet even as the years passed, his brother had never vanished from his life. Rather, the traces of his brother had only grown deeper.
His brother spoke the exact words he had said to him that day.
“You knew it would come to this anyway, didn’t you?”
A cold killing intent flowed from his brother. That day, even though he had known in advance, he had still been enraged when he saw his brother actually trying to kill him. But today, his feelings upon seeing his brother were different.
“At the time, I thought so.”
And for the first time, Geom Ujin let out a sigh. Like the self of that era, who had shown his emotions openly, Geom Ujin revealed his regret.
“There must have been another way, Brother.”
It would not have been an easy path, but there surely must have been a way. His son had shown him as much by personally accomplishing that difficult feat.
“There is no other path. Neither you nor I would ever have yielded.”
Even so, they should have searched for a way. His younger self back then had not been able to find it. What about now? Now that he had watched everything his son had accomplished?
It was then that someone appeared behind him.
“Second Young Master, I regret that things have come to this.”
It was Gyo Cheon, holding a greatsaber. Not the collapsed, aged form of the present, but the Blade Demon of those days, when he had burned with ambition.
However, as if this was not a perfect recreation of that day, Gyo Cheon spoke with a meaningful look.
“That day, I failed to kill you because of my disciple’s betrayal. But today will be different.”
Killing intent swirled in Gyo Cheon’s eyes. That day, too, he had tried to kill him like this.
Because both he and Geom Ujin remembered that day, this illusion art must have been able to manifest it so vividly.
Then a voice came from behind him.
“Today certainly is different.”
Another person appeared there.
“Because instead of your disciple, your son has come.”
Astonishingly, the one who appeared was none other than Geom Mugeuk.
“Perhaps because of the Nine Flames Demonic Art, I entered this illusion as well.”
The father of his youth and the son stood facing each other.
The two looked at one another with heated gazes.
“To see you in your youth, Father, truly moves me.”
Geom Ujin’s eyes, as he looked silently at his son, were deeper than anything.
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward Geom Ujin’s brother.
“So that is what my uncle looked like.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at him, respectfully cupped his fist, and greeted him.
“This is the first time I am greeting you. I am Mugeuk.”
He glared at Geom Mugeuk with a displeased expression. His reaction was vivid, as if he were a real person. Geom Mugeuk asked his father,
“What kind of illusion art have we fallen into?”
Geom Ujin knew exactly what kind of illusion art he had fallen into.
“It is an illusion art called the Phantom Heart Demon Art. It is a martial art that uses the person who occupies the largest and deepest place in the target’s heart to kill the one caught in it.”
In other words, it could be the person one hated the most, or the person one liked and loved the most.
“The person who occupied the largest place in your heart was your brother, Father.”
Most illusion arts belonged to the unorthodox factions, but this Phantom Heart Demon Art was a martial art passed down through the orthodox factions. Since all demonic arts were rendered powerless before the supreme demonic art, the Nine Flames Demonic Art, Gyo Cheon had used an orthodox martial art instead. He must have trained his entire life to finish his revenge with the Phantom Heart Demon Art.
“But he failed to account for the variable that is me.”
Geom Mugeuk drew his sword and walked to Geom Ujin’s side.
“Father, I know you may regret it, but let us forget the past now.”
Geom Ujin nodded and walked forward.
Step, step.
He moved toward his brother. Within the illusion, only the sound of his footsteps could be heard.
His brother also drew his sword, just as he had that day, and walked forward.
Beside him, Gyo Cheon walked forward as well.
The moment Geom Ujin faced both of them at once, something unimaginable happened.
Geom Ujin thrust his sword with speed like light.
Shiiiiik.
Puuuk!
The one whose chest was pierced through, who coughed up a surge of blood, was Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Ujin had turned around with lightning speed and stabbed his son behind him.
“……Father?”