“Behind them was Cheonae Geosa, Hwa Yulcheong.”
At Sima Myeong’s words, Geom Mugeuk recalled the man he had forgotten.
The Murim Alliance Leader’s closest friend, Cheonae Geosa.
In his life before the regression, the man had never appeared on the front stage. Even in the era when the Twelve Branch Kings ruled the murim, he had never shown himself to the outside world.
After the Alliance Leader’s death, Geom Mugeuk had never heard news of Cheonae Geosa.
No rumors that he had stepped forward to avenge the Alliance Leader, no rumors that someone had seen him somewhere. Thinking about it now, the man had vanished from the murim.
Before the regression, in Geom Mugeuk’s life, the Murim Alliance Leader’s intimate friend had held no significance at all.
He had forgotten even the man’s very existence, and yet today he had heard that name.
And the special meaning that single-character flag held only for Geom Mugeuk was this.
‘Come to think of it, this man was a Hwa as well.’
Looking at the flag together with him, Sima Myeong said worriedly,
“There are more than a few orthodox masters who follow Cheonae Geosa. If he truly is the one behind this matter, this fight will not be easy.”
The worst-case scenario was this:
If they killed him without being able to reveal to the world that he was a villain.
Then the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would have murdered the Murim Alliance Leader’s closest friend and a venerable old master respected by the orthodox faction.
If that happened, the orthodox martial artists would rise like wildfire, and only after countless people had burned to death would the flames be extinguished.
Naturally, as the Chief Strategist, Sima Myeong knew this Cheonae Geosa well.
“He is a man who formed a friendship with the Alliance Leader from their youth. I find it hard to believe that such a person was recruited by those bastards.”
Sima Myeong also kept in mind the possibility that this information might be wrong. That was how unbelievable it was.
Geom Mugeuk, on the other hand, was suspecting the man who had suddenly intruded into his life.
“Perhaps he wasn’t recruited.”
Sima Myeong understood what Geom Mugeuk meant. It meant he might not have been recruited, but could be the mastermind of the conspiracy.
“Are you saying he approached him intentionally from the very beginning?”
He could not help being shocked. Those words meant this conspiracy had been planned for decades.
“We’ve already confirmed that the bastards behind the scenes we’ve faced so far prepared for a very long time, haven’t we? Perhaps the starting point of that preparation was the seat beside the Alliance Leader.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Sima Myeong’s expression turned grave. If that was truly the case? This fight was not merely going to be difficult.
‘Of all times, this had to happen when the Cult Leader is absent!’
For a moment, the two of them silently watched the busy operations command room.
At last, Sima Myeong broke the silence first.
“Do you wish to go to Wuhan?”
Geom Mugeuk had never thought the day would come when he would say such words, but.
“Yes. I want to go to my brother.”
He wanted to rush there at once.
“Will you send me?”
Though he knew well how Geom Mugeuk felt, Sima Myeong firmly refused.
“No. Instead, I will send more Demon Venerables.”
Because the situation was dangerous, Sima Myeong was all the more unable to send Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk understood him.
But separate from that understanding, there was also a signal of fate that had been given to him.
Because this news had arrived on the very day the Guhwa Demonic Art reached the ninth stage.
“There is a reason I must go.”
“What reason?”
“I believe that with just the Poison King and Demon Buddha there, they can protect my brother.”
“Then why do you say you must go?”
Just as the reason he could not be sent was clear, the reason he had to go was also clear.
“If Cheonae Geosa is behind this, he will surely try to move the Murim Alliance Leader. If the Alliance Leader moves, the Murim Alliance moves, and then the entire orthodox murim will move.”
It might be too great a leap, but.
“I even think they may have dragged us in with that in mind.”
After all, they had used a master craftsman from the Murim Alliance’s Iron Workshop to make the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s Golden Dragon hidden weapons.
“They will likely make matters complicated.”
How could Sima Myeong not know? That the person who could respond most flexibly in a situation like this was Geom Mugeuk. Moreover, the Young Cult Leader had a deep friendship with Murim Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon.
Even so, Sima Myeong could not make a decision easily.
His gaze turned to the two flags on the strategic terrain map.
Orthodox (正) and Hwa (華).
Around them were placed the flags of a dozen or so orthodox masters.
For now, there were only a dozen or so, but the moment the Murim Alliance Leader raised his banner, dozens, hundreds of flags throughout the Central Plains would gather to defend the orthodox murim.
He already wanted to summon back the Great Young Master who had gone out, and now he was supposed to send out Geom Mugeuk as well?
Just as the two of them stood firm, neither yielding his will, a new message sent from Wuhan arrived.
“It is a message from the Great Young Master.”
The letter was delivered to Sima Myeong. After checking its contents, Sima Myeong said to Geom Mugeuk with a startled expression,
“The Great Young Master has requested support from Demon Buddha.”
Since he did not yet know that the Poison King and Demon Buddha were already in Wuhan, he had requested Demon Buddha’s help from headquarters.
“You know my brother’s personality, don’t you?”
A man who would break before he bent had asked for help, like bamboo swaying in the wind.
If it had been his brother in the past, he would rather have died than hoped for someone’s help.
But now his brother had changed. He had become someone who could govern his emotions for the sake of the greater cause. They said he had called Jin Hagun first; perhaps that, too, had come from this same frame of mind.
“Given my brother’s personality, the fact that he requested support means he is certain Cheonae Geosa is behind this. It also means the pressure he feels on site is that great.”
After pondering deeply, Sima Myeong finally made his decision.
“Very well. Go. However, there is a condition.”
“What is it?”
“Take two more Demon Venerables with you.”
It was a proposal imbued with Sima Myeong’s determination that, even if tensions with the orthodox faction rose to the extreme, he would absolutely not allow Geom Mugeuk to die.
“My brother and I, and four Demon Venerables besides. We could wage a Great Demon-Orthodox War.”
Sima Myeong took Geom Mugeuk’s joke seriously.
“Even if war breaks out, the Acting Cult Leader must return safely.”
A war could be dealt with, but Geom Mugeuk’s death could not.
However, Geom Mugeuk declined Sima Myeong’s proposal.
“I will go alone.”
“Acting Cult Leader!”
“The people already there are enough to provoke the Murim Alliance. If more Demon Venerables go on top of that, problems will arise that we need not have faced.”
Sima Myeong acknowledged that he had no choice but to trust Geom Mugeuk. As he said, the more Demon Venerables he sent, the greater the danger that would arise. This was something only Geom Mugeuk could resolve.
“Then please be sure to remember this.”
Sima Myeong walked toward the strategic terrain map.
“Acting Cult Leader, you are not going there to fight them. In my judgment, we must not allow this fight to become a contest of strength.”
Sima Myeong picked up Cheonae Geosa’s flag from among the two placed side by side and moved it outside the Murim Alliance.
“This is what you are going for.”
It meant he was to make the Murim Alliance Leader learn the truth.
“And it must be the Murim Alliance that eliminates them.”
He was saying the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult must not stand at the center of the fight.
“You must persuade the Murim Alliance Leader and the Great Young Master to make it so. This fight is the Murim Alliance’s fight, not ours. All the more so because the Alliance Leader and Hwa Yulcheong are old confidants.”
Geom Mugeuk could understand what Sima Myeong was worried about. He feared that if matters went wrong, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult might be misunderstood as having killed the Murim Alliance Leader’s friend.
After all, long friendship sometimes blinds our eyes and makes us turn away from painful truths.
“Acting Cult Leader, though you will be there, at the same time you will be in our cult’s Heavenly Demon Library.”
It was Sima Myeong’s request that he remain that secretive and safe, then return.
After listening to everything, Geom Mugeuk answered politely.
“I will move according to the Chief Strategist’s plan.”
One might have expected his expression to relax a little, but Sima Myeong remained even more on edge.
“I will deploy the demon army as far forward as possible and notify the Demon Venerables in advance not to leave the cult. If you need help, send word immediately.”
Geom Mugeuk obediently nodded, but he thought there would be no such thing.
If a situation came in which he had to request help even after he had gone, then by that time, war would already have broken out.
“I will be back.”
“Please return safely.”
Even at the moment of departure, Geom Mugeuk did not forget to make one joke.
“I’m absolutely not leaving because there’s too much work as Acting Cult Leader!”
Once Geom Mugeuk left, Sima Myeong immediately spoke to the staff officer beside him.
“From this moment on, raise the Tongcheon Pavilion’s emergency level to the highest grade!”
* * *
When Han Wolgaek, who had been unable to sleep for the past two days because of the itching, woke up in the medical clinic, it was already past noon.
He had suffered so much that only now did he realize this place was a physician’s treatment room.
He had truly itched enough to die, but when he opened his eyes, it did not itch at all. The hives that had broken out all over his body had vanished as if they had been a lie.
‘What on earth was that?’
Then suddenly, the old fortune-teller’s words came to mind.
—You came to drive out devils, only to be possessed by one.
Crazy old bastard. He had simply eaten something bad and fallen ill.
He felt sorry toward the person who had called him to Wuhan. He had already broken his promise twice. He was not normally such an unreliable person.
But he could not say he had failed to go because of an upset stomach, and even less could he say it was because of itching.
‘I have no choice but to repay it by annihilating those Demonic Cult bastards.’
That was the only way to make up for this.
Han Wolgaek rose from his seat and opened the door to go outside.
Someone was standing in front of the door.
“Gah!”
After confirming who it was, Han Wolgaek was startled and stepped back.
Who would dare make him retreat like that?
Han Wolgaek stared at the other person with eyes full of fear.
He had no choice.
Because the man standing before him was someone who had died long ago.
“……You are?”
Han Wolgaek’s voice trembled.
The man merely looked at him with indifferent eyes.
“What bastard is playing tricks on me!”
Han Wolgaek roared and thrust out a palm strike.
Shwaaaaaak.
Kwaaaang!
The wall of the corridor behind was smashed apart, but the other party remained standing in front of him.
Han Wolgaek saw it. His palm force had passed right through him. He was an illusion.
‘A ghost?’
And in broad daylight? It was hard to believe, but it was true. And that was not all.
Ssssst.
Behind the man, another person appeared, this time a woman.
Han Wolgaek knew that woman as well. She was the wife of the man who had appeared before him. The woman’s gaze toward Han Wolgaek was full of resentment.
Han Wolgaek sighed and recalled the past.
After his family had been killed by demonic practitioners, he had wandered the jianghu like a madman, killing demonic practitioners.
At the time, the one called the Lustful Ghost, who had been committing evil deeds, was also a demonic practitioner. After months of pursuit, Han Wolgaek found him.
That day, too, the bastard was in the middle of violating a woman.
He thought he could easily kill a mere lecherous fiend, but the bastard was stronger than expected.
After a life-and-death struggle, at the very moment he finally killed him!
Someone rushed into the room from behind.
Han Wolgaek instinctively swung his sword and cut down the one charging at him from behind.
A line of blood was drawn across the man’s neck, and he collapsed, spraying blood.
The man was the woman’s husband.
Cutting someone down without confirming who they were—thinking about it now, it was an absurd mistake. But back then, that was how he had been.
Even as he exchanged dozens of moves in that cramped room, he had fought while devoting all his attention to making sure the woman did not die. He had that much skill, and yet why? Just why had he done it? Even now, he did not know.
The man’s face, and the sight of the woman screaming as she saw him, remained unforgettable even decades later.
At that moment, Han Wolgaek’s stomach churned and dizziness struck him.
Then, on the neck of the man standing before the door, a line of blood appeared, and blood flowed down.
Han Wolgaek frantically unleashed palm techniques.
Shwaak! Shwaaaaaak!
Bang! Kwaang!
The palm forces he released in succession brought the walls on all sides crashing down.
The fortune-teller’s words seemed to resound in his heart.
—Leave Wuhan at once before you suffer a greater calamity.
The walls on all sides shattered.
The ceiling as it collapsed also turned to powder and flew away.
The figures of the ghosts were hidden by the dust. When the dust settled again, Han Wolgaek stood alone in the middle of the ruined room.
Instead of ghosts, another sight appeared before his eyes.
The people working at the clinic were staring at him with startled faces. Among them was a young physician sitting on his backside beside a collapsed wall.
At that sight, Han Wolgaek’s heart sank. Because he had just poured out his palm force like a fit, he had almost killed him.
Why had he done that back then? When even now, he was still making such mistakes?
“Haa.”
After letting out a deep sigh, Han Wolgaek took out all the banknotes he had in his breast pocket and placed them on the floor.
“I am sorry for destroying your house.”
Then he staggered out of the clinic.
He left Wuhan on that road without looking back.
Far away, atop a giant tree, two people were watching him. They were the Poison King and Demon Buddha.
“What on earth did you do?”
“That man was poisoned with a toxin made from a mushroom called the Heart-Phantom Spirit Mushroom.”
“What kind of hallucination did he see?”
“I don’t know. What one sees differs from person to person.”
What Han Wolgaek had seen were not ghosts, but the guilt he had buried deep in his heart for his entire life.
Demon Buddha looked at the Poison King with newfound eyes. He himself had struggled in battle to send the Blue Mountain Sword back, but the Poison King had sent this man back without even fighting.
The only thing that could send Han Wolgaek back like this was the Poison King’s poison. Ah, there was one more. The Young Cult Leader’s mouth.
“Would you like to experience it once? To see what sort of hallucination appears?”
When the Poison King asked seriously, Demon Buddha shook his head.
“I decline. What could there be inside me that is so pleasant?”
At that moment, Sangseon flew over to the giant tree where they stood and landed.
“They say the Great Young Master contacted headquarters.”
It was surprising news to Demon Buddha more than anyone else.
“The Great Young Master requested help from Demon Buddha.”
The moment he heard those words, Demon Buddha was astonished. It was truly something he had never expected.
Demon Buddha’s normally calm eyes trembled.
The Great Young Master had chosen him. Among all those people, he had asked him for help.
One might say it was only natural, since he had once been the Demon Venerable closest to him, but when he thought of the disappointment he would have felt if he had chosen someone else, this joy was beyond words. Moreover, was he not already here in Wuhan for his sake?
Demon Buddha struggled to hold back the urge to rush to him at once, but he could not stop the faint radiance he had been suppressing from flowing out.
“Tell him I am coming.”