When Yeon Baegin entered his office, his heart sank.
In the brief time he had been away, someone had entered his office. This silent intruder stood by the window as if he owned the place, looking outside, his broad back blocking the entire office window.
Just from his back, Yeon Baegin knew who it was.
It was Ian’s father, the man who had hounded him about where his daughter had gone.
The fact that he had come in like this despite Yeon Baegin’s subordinate standing guard perfectly fine in front of the door showed just how formidable his skill was. He had not come in through the window, either. A body that large could never have fit through it.
Even when Yeon Baegin had seen him earlier, he had thought the man was no ordinary person, but seeing the huge fists clasped behind his back somehow made it feel hard to breathe.
Even so, Yeon Baegin drew up his internal energy and spoke coldly.
“Who are you?”
As always, a fight was about momentum. If you were pushed back at the start, you would be pushed back until the end.
But he regretted it at once.
The moment the Fist Demon turned and looked at him, every fine hair on his body stood on end. Though the man had not released any particular killing intent, his presence was not something Yeon Baegin could face with courage or resolve. He even looked more terrifying than he had that day.
“I have come to ask a favor of you.”
The Fist Demon was courteous. That made him all the more frightening.
“What favor?”
“Send all the students out at once.”
Yeon Baegin flinched in surprise.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Yellow Dragon Martial Hall is closed for the day.”
Yellow Dragon Martial Hall was far too large a martial hall to ignore the students and fight. If a battle broke out, countless students would surely be caught up in it and die.
Yeon Baegin could tell by instinct. Something terrible was going to happen at Yellow Dragon Martial Hall today.
“What on earth are you planning?”
The Fist Demon looked at him with cold eyes and asked in return.
“And what about you?”
Yeon Baegin was frightened by the Fist Demon’s gaze alone, but he did not retreat meekly. If his own skill was lacking, there was still the man underground.
“Just who are you?”
“Did I not say I am Ian’s father?”
“Reveal your true identity.”
A mere student’s parent would never do something like this.
“I asked who you are!”
The Fist Demon chose the quickest method. He revealed his demonic energy. Even when there had been no particular presence from him, Yeon Baegin had been so frightened that every hair on his body had stood on end; now that the man revealed his demonic energy, Yeon Baegin’s legs began to tremble.
“I have come from the Divine Cult.”
“!”
The moment he heard the words Divine Cult, Yeon Baegin felt his insides churn and dizziness wash over him.
His ironclad belief that, Whoever you are, he will take care of you, changed in that instant into the doubt, Can he truly take care of this? To the martial world, the Demonic Cult was that kind of existence.
He had been at ease because this matter was taking place deep underground, and no one could possibly know. So why, at this final moment, was the Demonic Cult getting involved?
‘It was them!’
The students who had left the underground! They must have spread word to the Demonic Cult. That was how he misunderstood it.
In any case, he had to get through this moment.
“Why is the Divine Cult threatening us?”
“I believe you know that better than I do.”
He had been about to feign ignorance, saying he did not know what the man meant. But when his eyes met the Fist Demon’s, he did not dare. The Fist Demon revealing his demonic energy now felt a hundred times more frightening than on the first day, when he had pressed him about where his daughter was.
As if he would exchange no more words, the Fist Demon turned back toward the window.
“Hurry and close the martial hall. Soon, a new gate will open.”
Yeon Baegin could tell that the gate meant the gates of hell.
* * *
All the masters and instructors of Yellow Dragon Martial Hall came out and began sending the students home.
“Everyone, go back for today.”
The students were all startled. Never once had they been sent away like this.
“Has something happened?”
“That is none of your concern. Leave the martial hall immediately!”
Even the masters could not tell them, though they wanted to. They themselves did not know the reason.
Thus, hundreds of students began leaving the martial hall. Even those who ate and slept inside the hall were sent out, and the cooks and menials were sent away as well.
As if poisonous smoke had truly spread through the martial hall, Yellow Dragon Martial Hall was completely emptied in an instant.
At the end, the masters and instructors stood before the building and reported to Yeon Baegin, who was looking out over the main training ground.
“As you ordered, we have sent everyone out.”
They thought they would now be able to hear the reason.
“You men leave as well.”
“Yes?”
All of them were shocked. They had never imagined he would send even them away. They had thought he would say a powerful enemy was coming, and that they should fight alongside him.
If not that, then what did he intend to do alone?
“What is happening?”
“I will tell you later.”
After sending even the masters and instructors away, Yeon Baegin returned to his office.
The Fist Demon was looking out the window at the sparring grounds. There had been no one there a short while ago, but once the students left, martial artists began gathering there one after another. As if replacing the students, they gathered in that place, and their numbers were not small.
Among them, the Fist Demon’s gaze was directed at a man sitting in the spectator seats.
As the report from Tongcheongak had said, the man had bandages wrapped around both hands. The man was also looking this way, and his presence was far from ordinary.
Moreover, he must have clearly sensed the Fist Demon’s gaze, yet he did not move from his seat.
Then Yeon Baegin’s voice came from behind him.
“I did as you wished.”
The Fist Demon silently tried to leave the office. At that moment, Yeon Baegin mustered his courage and spoke. He had to at least know what the man intended to do.
“Do you truly mean to turn my martial hall into hell?”
“That is why you sent them all out, is it not? The people who should not be in hell.”
After leaving one final remark, the Fist Demon left the room.
“That is why you remained.”
* * *
Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King entered the room.
The moment they stepped inside, they could tell. This was the final room.
No jewel, no miraculous elixir could compare to the mysterious energy emanating from this place.
The first thing that caught their eyes was the pattern on the floor. It was the same as the one that had been on the door earlier: a square and six small circles were drawn on the floor.
Not only the floor but the surrounding walls were covered in various patterns made of squares and circles, their colors black and white, blue and red, and yellow and purple.
Even without that, there was something else that made them certain this place was related to the secret coffer.
The thing placed in the center of the room was, astonishingly, a secret coffer.
Its color and shape were identical. The only difference was that it was a secret coffer made as large as an adult’s height, unlike the one Geom Mugeuk carried around.
The moment he saw the giant secret coffer, the mysterious energy in his body began to react. The energy that had been asleep inside him started to stir and awaken.
Geom Mugeuk looked at the Sword King. The Sword King, too, was staring at the secret coffer with trembling eyes. He was overwhelmed with emotion. At last, he had arrived at the place he had wanted to reach.
“Is that it? The thing you were trying to find?”
Then came an unexpected answer.
“I do not know either.”
It seemed he, too, had come here without knowing what was in this place.
“I was only to bring back what was being kept here.”
At first, Geom Mugeuk thought that someone like the Sword King would never have done this without even knowing what he was looking for. But thinking back on what he had said in the formation, he realized it might be possible.
“If you bring that back, your debt will be repaid.”
The Sword King nodded. Who was the person he owed? Hwa Mugi? Or someone else entirely?
The Sword King walked slowly toward the secret coffer. He looked slightly flustered. He had probably never imagined that what awaited him here would be such a large lump of iron.
The Sword King carefully placed a hand on the secret coffer. But nothing happened. It was merely cold iron.
After examining the front, he moved on to inspect the side. Then he walked around to the back, circled it once, and returned to his original position.
Geom Mugeuk silently watched what he was doing. He had said on the way in that he wanted everything in this place, but the Sword King held priority over what was in this space. Geom Mugeuk acknowledged that.
Srrr.
The Sword King’s body rose into the air. He gently landed atop the secret coffer and examined its upper surface. Then he came back down.
“I see no device that can open it.”
He seemed to have judged that this box was not all there was to it.
“It is fine, so try touching it.”
Only after the Sword King said that did Geom Mugeuk step forward. The reason the Sword King felt favorably toward Geom Mugeuk was not merely because of his eloquence. It was because of this very side of him: he knew how to restrain his greed and wait.
Geom Mugeuk placed his hand on the secret coffer. Then the energy inside his body reacted.
‘This secret coffer is not merely imitating the outward appearance.’
The Sword King asked from behind him.
“Could it be ten-thousand-year cold iron?”
It was a question of whether he himself had failed to recognize it properly. But how could the Sword King be mistaken?
“No. It is made of ordinary iron.”
A faint look of dismay crossed the Sword King’s face.
Even if it had been made of ten-thousand-year cold iron, it did not seem like the box itself was the goal. Ten-thousand-year cold iron could not change the fate of the martial world.
Of course, one could think that selling such a large piece of ten-thousand-year cold iron might change the fate of the martial world, but if it had merely been about money, he would not have been sent underground.
“There must be a way to open this.”
At the Sword King’s words, Geom Mugeuk nodded in agreement.
“I think the same. There must be some secret. Let us solve it slowly together.”
The Sword King nodded. Somehow, he felt that if it were Geom Mugeuk, he would be able to unravel any secret, no matter how difficult. Indeed, he was already thinking of things the Sword King had not.
“First, let us flip it over and look at the underside.”
The Sword King flinched in surprise. He had not thought of that.
It was clearly a good idea, but the Sword King hesitated for a moment. He was worried that something might go wrong if they flipped it over, and Geom Mugeuk immediately saw through that feeling.
“If something goes wrong just because it was turned upside down, could anything truly remarkable come out of it?”
At those words, the Sword King laughed. He was right. Had he been alone, he would have agonized over it for several double-hours, yet this man so readily reached an answer.
Of course, Geom Mugeuk was treating that huge secret coffer the same way he treated the one in his robes. Had he only turned it upside down? Even drawing a smiling face on it had not mattered.
“Very well, let us flip it over.”
The two of them turned the secret coffer over. There was no passage beneath it as they might have hoped, and the bottom surface was the same as the other sides.
“I only made you waste your effort for nothing.”
“No. It was a good thought.”
From the very beginning, Geom Mugeuk’s way of thinking differed from his own.
Geom Mugeuk walked toward one wall. A small display cabinet stood there, with books placed inside. There were not many, only about ten volumes.
“Something important might be hidden in a place like this as a feint within a feint.”
The Sword King came over and examined them with him. Even apart from that, he thought there might be a way to open that lump of iron, but everything placed there was a secret martial arts manual.
“There are manuals here that the hall master would like.”
Seeing that there were secret martial arts manuals, Geom Mugeuk realized that the promise made to Yeon Baegin had not been entirely empty. Of course, that did not mean they were sincerely looking out for him.
“I will give you half of the manuals here.”
It meant he would give Yeon Baegin some of what was left over.
And Geom Mugeuk sensed one more important thing. The words I will give you half of the manuals implied that nothing else could be given.
For the moment, Geom Mugeuk took what was offered.
“I do not need half. I will just take one.”
Geom Mugeuk took one manual from among them. It was a demonic art called the Heavenly Dipper Body, which protected the body with astral energy.
“This is a demonic art known to have been lost long ago, but here it was.”
The Heavenly Dipper Body was a body-protection demonic art that raised astral energy to protect the body. What made this martial art excellent was that it could be used in conjunction with other body-protection arts.
That meant it could be used at the same time as the Heavenly Demon Body-Protection Art or the Vajra Asura of the Thunderbolt Asura Fist.
Of course, normally, focusing one’s internal energy on the strongest body-protection art would be the right choice. But Geom Mugeuk possessed such vast internal energy that he could allocate extreme amounts of it among multiple body-protection arts. For that reason, the Heavenly Dipper Body could be called a martial art that might grant him yet another life.
“Just how much stronger do you intend to become?”
“I really must have anxiety about death. When I see martial arts like this, I cannot help myself.”
After putting away the manual, he carefully examined the patterns on the walls. The Sword King also examined the opposite wall.
They were not inside a formation, so if worst came to worst, he intended to bring food and endure here while studying the place.
How long had they examined it like that?
Geom Mugeuk turned around with his eyes squeezed shut.
“Ah! I stared so hard my eyes are about to fall out. I am taking a break. A break.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the Sword King replied bluntly without turning around.
“Even if we find it, I cannot give you this one thing.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you working so hard?”
“First, we find it. Then I persuade you, Instructor.”
The Sword King wanted to know where this greed came from.
“Why are you suddenly being greedy?”
“It is not sudden. I have always been a greedy person. If I had no greed, I would not have come all the way down into this underground place.”
Geom Mugeuk sat down, leaning against the secret coffer.
This time, Geom Mugeuk asked the Sword King, who was examining the patterns on the wall.
“You said there was something here that could change the fate of the martial world.”
Geom Mugeuk added calmly and asked,
“Then why did you bring me down here?”
The Sword King gave no answer. He merely looked at the wall with deepened eyes.
“Huh? Huhh?”
Thinking he was about to play some prank again, the Sword King did not turn around.
“Instructor!”
Only at that urgent cry did the Sword King turn toward Geom Mugeuk.
In that instant, the Sword King’s eyes flew wide open.
Geom Mugeuk was being sucked into the secret coffer. He had already been almost completely drawn in.
‘Secret coffer, your father is eating us.’
Perhaps because it was nothing else but being absorbed by the secret coffer, even in this urgent moment, Geom Mugeuk felt no fear at all. No, instead, he felt comfortable. That was why he did not forcibly resist the power pulling him in.
Swoooosh.
The Sword King shot forward and tried to grab Geom Mugeuk. But by the time he arrived, Geom Mugeuk had already completely disappeared into the secret coffer.
The Sword King struck the spot where Geom Mugeuk had been sucked in. But as if it had never absorbed a person, the wall was nothing but hard, cold iron.