Yeon Baek-in was silently looking down at Giseok’s corpse.
When he first received the report that Giseok had died, Yeon Baek-in did not believe it. So the first thing he did was burst out shouting, asking what nonsense that was.
Even though he knew a subordinate would never dare spout nonsense in front of him, he simply did not want to believe it.
On top of that, they said Giseok had been walking along the road when he suddenly slumped down and died. He possessed skill that could not even be compared to ordinary instructors, so it was truly an absurd death.
The physician who had examined Giseok’s corpse entered the place where he was. He was the most skilled physician in this region.
“How did he die?”
Skipping even the greetings, he asked for the cause of death first. The physician answered cautiously.
“When I examined his insides, his five viscera and six bowels had been completely destroyed.”
Yeon Baek-in thought, Of course.
“Was it poison?”
“No. It was caused by a powerful impact from outside.”
Yeon Baek-in’s gaze turned toward Giseok’s corpse. There was no trace of impact anywhere on his body. Not even the faintest bruise.
“It seems a powerful internal striking technique was used to shock only the inside, but this is the first time I have seen no external traces to this extent.”
Moreover, according to the witnesses, no one had directly struck him.
Then that meant someone had thrown a punch from a distance and done this? It was a truly unbelievable realm.
When Yeon Baek-in thought about who the culprit might be, two people came to mind.
The first person who came to mind was the husband from that couple who had come to his office. Perhaps because Giseok had not died from being stabbed by a weapon but from an external blow, that man’s enormous fist came to mind. He had been that memorable an opponent.
‘But he has no reason to kill Giseok, does he?’
The next person who came to mind was that man underground.
‘Could this possibly be his doing?’
Had he released the officials because he had anticipated something like this? Was he trying to use this matter as an excuse to discard him? Or was he truly angry because Yeon Baek-in had tried to kill the people he had released?
Whatever the motive, the only person nearby capable of killing Giseok with such astonishing skill was him. Even if he had not killed him personally, he was also the most likely person capable of sending an expert who could.
‘Even so, how dare he kill one of my own limbs like this!’
This death felt like a warning aimed at him. You are next.
After fear came a surge of anger.
‘This is my martial hall. My land, my people.’
Leaving that place, Yeon Baek-in headed straight for the sparring platform.
He had to find out for certain whether it truly was his doing. If it was, then even if he had to kneel and beg forgiveness, he had to appease his anger. After all, he had already killed his younger brother on his way here.
When he arrived at the sparring platform, someone there blocked him from going down underground.
It was the man who specialized in mechanisms, one of the Sword King’s aides.
“You cannot go down.”
“Move aside. I must meet him.”
He intended to go down even if he had to use force. At that moment, the mechanism expert looked to the side. Yeon Baek-in naturally followed his gaze and turned his head that way.
Far off in the spectator seats, a man was sitting there. Had he been there from the beginning? No matter how urgent his mind had been, how had he failed to notice a person there?
The man sat in a chair with both arms resting over his knees, his head lowered. Was he wearing something on his hands? Only those things, reflecting white in the sunlight, caught his eye.
“Please turn back.”
Just as he was about to turn back to the mechanism expert and say he could not do that—
At an inexplicable sensation, Yeon Baek-in turned his head again.
Before he knew it, the man who had been sitting far away was standing right beside him. He had not sensed him coming here at all. It felt as though the man had moved through space—or rather, as though he had been standing here from the very beginning.
When one saw a person, one naturally looked at their face first, but with this man, Yeon Baek-in’s gaze went to his body first.
Long arms and long legs. He truly had an exceptionally well-formed body. And Yeon Baek-in had never seen anyone with muscles like his. If there was such a phrase as not having a single unnecessary muscle on one’s body, then he thought this man ought to be the owner of that expression.
The man’s fists were tightly wrapped in bandages, and it was impossible to tell whether he was injured or whether he was protecting his hands.
Only after looking over his body did Yeon Baek-in finally look at his face. In truth, he should have looked at his face first. If he had, he would not have been leisurely scanning this man’s body in front of him.
The moment he saw the man’s two eyes, which seemed hollow, Yeon Baek-in felt his entire body freeze. It was not because the other man was releasing any aura.
His eyes showed no emotion, yet they were the eyes of a man who had killed truly many people. Behind this man, Yeon Baek-in saw a hell where people screamed within a pit of fire.
And when he came to his senses, Yeon Baek-in was hurrying back the way he had come. He must have been so frightened after meeting those eyes that his memory had briefly cut out. He could not remember how he had turned around.
When he had put some distance between them and looked back again, the man was nowhere to be seen.
* * *
Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King walked together down the dark passage.
What kind of trial would be waiting this time? If it was stronger than the previous one, passing through it would not be easy.
The walls of this passage, too, were covered in all sorts of letters, patterns, and drawings that could not be understood.
“That pattern is here as well.”
The pattern they had seen earlier was drawn in several places again. Was it a pattern representing the clan of those who had designed this trial? Or did it have some other meaning?
“You know what this pattern is, don’t you?”
“Why do you think I know?”
“It’s just a feeling. You don’t seem like someone who would do something he didn’t understand well.”
“I appreciate you thinking highly of me, but I’m not that remarkable a person.”
“And you’re even modest.”
“I said I’m not!”
Their conversation flowed naturally, but both of them were sharply observing their surroundings as they advanced carefully.
And this time as well, when they reached about the middle of the passage, the trial began.
Sssssss.
The formation activated, and their surroundings changed.
A desolate wasteland revealed itself. The scorching heat rising from the ground shimmered at the distant horizon, and the wind carried dust up into the sky.
“I like this formation!”
The reason Geom Mugeuk was pleased was because the Sword King was beside him.
“It seems to be a trial we have to break through by joining forces. I like that it’s not lonely. Look over there.”
Where Geom Mugeuk pointed, a signpost stood.
—You cannot leave unless you kill them all.
“Since it’s even warning us in advance, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of blood.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the Sword King nodded.
Far away, enemies were rushing toward them, kicking up clouds of dust. Their footsteps shook the ground, and shouts rang out from every direction.
“I understand why the elixir room was placed before this.”
The number charging at them was tremendous. They were swarming in like a horde of ants.
“You seem pleased right now.”
“Seeing this many enemies after so long makes me a little excited.”
Of course, he was not excited out of fear. It was the joy of being able to display his skill to his heart’s content. They were not real people but enemies created by the formation, so he could cut them down without hesitation.
“Seeing you excited at the thought of bloodshed, you finally seem like the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”
“It was hard keeping it hidden.”
Geom Mugeuk drew his sword.
“I’ll take this side. Ah, do you know what’s good about fighting together? It means I can fight with my back to a wall.”
It meant he trusted the person behind him that much.
“What will you do if that wall collapses toward you?”
“It will be as soft as a cotton blanket.”
The moment he finished speaking, a streak of sword qi flew from the Black Demon Sword.
Shiiiiiiik.
Those running at the front threw themselves aside to avoid the sword qi. But those behind them could not avoid it in time and were swept away.
Geom Mugeuk had gauged their level of martial arts by observing how they dodged the sword qi.
With this single move, Geom Mugeuk was certain.
“They’re the first stage. Conserve your internal energy as you deal with them.”
He was certain that no matter how many there were, they were not the end.
Geom Mugeuk charged toward them. The Black Demon Sword cut them down. Wherever he passed, enemies stabbed through the heart fell one after another.
Conserving internal energy did not mean it was wise to never use sword qi at all. That would consume just as much stamina.
Swaaaaaak!
They could not avoid the sword qi fired at close range. Dozens of them were swept up in the sword qi and killed all at once.
But they kept pouring in endlessly over the fallen corpses. Just looking at them was enough to be overwhelming.
In the middle of the fight, Geom Mugeuk looked toward the Sword King.
The instant the Sword King’s sword flashed, over a dozen enemies fell at once. Even though he was not emitting visible sword qi, the necks of enemies at distances his sword could not reach were severed.
‘Formless Sword Qi!’
Geom Mugeuk recognized the Sword King’s divine prowess at once. Before his regression, what had raised the name of the Sword King, who became the greatest under heaven, was precisely that Formless Sword Qi.
Because the sword qi could not be seen, avoiding it was several times more difficult than avoiding ordinary sword qi.
Was it confidence? In this battle that Geom Mugeuk could witness, the Sword King was showing him the use of Formless Sword Qi without trying to hide it.
No matter how many enemies came swarming in, on this side there was Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King, who could even use Formless Sword Qi.
In an instant, all those many enemies had fallen.
Sssssss.
All the piled-up corpses disappeared.
Without giving them even a moment to rest, enemies far away were once again raising dust as they charged toward them. They were running faster than the first group.
“This is my first time seeing Formless Sword Qi.”
“Do you think you can dodge it?”
“I think I’ll need to come up with more strategies.”
“What kind of strategies?”
“The kind that will make you hesitate at the final moment, Instructor.”
At that, the Sword King gave an inscrutable smile.
“If so, then you’re falling for my strategy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll act as if I’m going to hesitate, then cut you down without hesitating.”
“And you’re telling me that?”
“To confuse you.”
His fight with this man would happen after they entered the final room.
He had clearly brought Geom Mugeuk because he needed him. He had not brought him merely to pass through these trials. There was definitely another reason.
As much as he was curious about what lay in the room the Sword King was trying to reach, Geom Mugeuk was curious about that reason.
‘So make sure you survive and enter that room with me.’
Meanwhile, the second group of enemies came surging in, hundreds of blades flashing. Their numbers had decreased compared to before, but their momentum was even sharper.
The two of them calmly dealt with them. Geom Mugeuk did not use the Nine Flames Demonic Art, and the Sword King, too, only used Formless Sword Qi and did not use his unique martial arts.
If they had been ordinary experts, this would have been a situation difficult to endure.
The numbers pouring in were great, and their skill was by no means trivial. And the greatest problem was that they knew no fear.
Moreover, even if they dealt with them well, internal energy was still a problem. Most experts would have run dry of internal energy before finishing off this second attack.
But Geom Mugeuk was overflowing with internal energy. Astonishingly, the fighting up to now had barely left any sign that he had used internal energy at all.
The Sword King, too, was full of vigor. The levels of the first and second groups of enemies were clearly different, but the second group also fell just like the first.
Before the martial arts of Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King, that difference in ability held no meaning at all. Judged coldly by relative standards, the first enemies had been weaklings, and the second were weaklings as well.
The two of them once again finished them all off.
This time as well, all the piled-up corpses disappeared.
Enemies were coming in yet again. This time, they advanced more slowly than before. As though they were saying they would come slowly and kill them.
“This seems to be the last one.”
No matter that it was a formation, there were definite limits. Just the attacks so far must have required an enormous amount of money, internal energy, and mental effort to create this formation.
“You sound disappointed that it’s the last.”
“To be honest, I am. Fighting together with you is so much fun, Instructor. I’d like it if ten more stages came out from now on.”
“You just want to steal a look at my martial arts.”
“All that happens is my intentions keep getting exposed, and I keep learning how sharp your eye is, Instructor.”
The Sword King silently stared at Geom Mugeuk, then brought up the situation outside.
“Aren’t you worried about the outside? The shield is here, but the people you have to protect are out there, aren’t they?”
“Should I be worried?”
After a brief pause, the Sword King spoke. A trace of hesitation showed in him, as though he were debating whether to say it or not.
“Someone else should have arrived by now.”
Geom Mugeuk could tell. By someone else, he meant another of the Twelve Zodiac Kings.
“They may come down here, or they may try to hold your people back.”
It meant he himself did not know how they would move. From this, one thing became clear: the Twelve Zodiac Kings were moving toward a single goal, but they also acted quite independently. He had known before that they sometimes disagreed among themselves, but today it became even clearer.
“You say they might take your people, so why are you smiling?”
“Because I’m happy. You’re telling me because you’re worried about me right now, aren’t you?”
With an expression that asked whether this was really the time to be so relaxed, the Sword King brought up Ian.
“Did you not say she was someone like your heart?”
Meaning she might be in danger. This time, Geom Mugeuk answered honestly.
“It’s all right. Other shields have arrived.”
The Sword King asked in surprise.
“The Demon Supremes are here?”
“I called them on the very day I first met you, Master.”
He had called them because he knew the man would later become the First King among the Twelve Zodiac Kings, but to the Sword King now, it must have sounded as though he had called them because he held him in such high regard.
In the meantime, the third group of enemies launched their attack. These enemies emitted sword qi. They were more skilled than the ones before.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!
Dozens of strands of sword qi flew in from all directions, tearing through the air. The powerful killing intent carried in their sword qi chilled the surrounding air.
Through the sword qi embroidered like a spiderweb, Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King traversed the air. No matter how densely they wove their net of sword qi, they could not catch the two of them.
Amid the sword qi they had created, sword qi that seemed to declare, This is what true sword qi is, flew out.
Each time their swords flashed, the net of sword qi was torn apart. The great net became smaller, and smaller still.
The last enemy to unleash sword qi was pierced at the same time by two swords, one from the front and one from the back. Geom Mugeuk had thrust his sword in from the front, and the Sword King from behind.
The blades that had pierced through the body were aimed at each other.
Sssssss.
Along with the fallen corpses, the final enemy impaled on their swords also disappeared.
And so the two men were left with their swords pointed at each other. After silently looking at one another, Geom Mugeuk smiled first and withdrew his sword.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“As have you.”
As if the formation truly ended there, no more enemies surged in.
“We probably set the record for breaking this formation the fastest since it was created.”
But though all the corpses had vanished, the wasteland around the two of them remained exactly as it was. The formation had not been broken.
Geom Mugeuk looked around. He checked to see if there was perhaps an enemy they had not killed.
But the corpses had already all disappeared, and there was no one anywhere around that vast wasteland. No new enemy appeared either.
The only thing left there was the sign they had seen at the beginning.
—You cannot leave unless you kill them all.