Silence settled over the place where all manner of words had been exchanged.
As the auras of Demon Flame Lord and the White-Bone Soul Demon changed, the very air around them changed as well. A congealed pressure containing a hundred years, a hundred and fifty years of time began to dominate the hall.
Now that they were revealing their true auras before a real fight, they were no longer the old specters who had been swayed by Geom Mugeuk’s words.
So Jeongrak, pressed against the wall behind Geom Mugeuk, felt fear toward them for the first time.
‘Even if they’re poisoned with the deadliest venom, they won’t simply die.’
He felt as though he were facing monsters who would go mad from the poison, turn everything around them into a sea of blood, and only then breathe their last. Yes, it was because they were such people that the organization had recruited them.
This time, So Jeongrak’s gaze turned to Geom Mugeuk’s back.
‘Can you really defeat them?’
Because he was pressed against the rear wall, he could not see Geom Mugeuk’s expression. Feeling fear, as he did, would have been the natural response, and yet the sight of Geom Mugeuk’s back, the Black Demon Sword hanging loosely at his side, still seemed utterly at ease.
The first to speak was Demon Flame Lord.
“Young Cult Leader. I know what you’re relying on.”
Blood-red killing intent shimmered from his body. The inner power spreading out from his dantian heated his entire body like lava.
“The Nine Flames Demonic Art. A truly terrifying martial art.”
He did not look down on the Nine Flames Demonic Art in the slightest.
“You know that I inherited that Nine Flames Demonic Art, don’t you?”
Of course the old demons knew. But they also held this belief.
“No matter how formidable the Nine Flames Demonic Art may be, with the accomplishments of a mere man in his twenties, you can never defeat us.”
Geom Mugeuk could tell.
That was precisely why they believed they could kill him.
Where did that certainty come from? Yes, from this, perhaps?
The power of time.
The greatest power they possessed.
Demon Flame Lord was a hundred years old, and the White-Bone Soul Demon had reached the age of a hundred and fifty.
It was only natural that someone in his twenties would look easy to them. To them, their twenties must have been a past so distant they could hardly even remember it.
Time was their greatest strength, and at the same time, their greatest weakness.
“When the two of you were young, I’m sure you went around killing aged masters just fine. Then again, you must have forgotten it all.”
At that, the White-Bone Soul Demon’s eyes turned pitch-black, and something began to flow out from his body.
“Do not worry. I have not forgotten how to kill people.”
Tssssss.
What flowed out was a black mist.
Like a swarm of snakes rushing in, the black mist began to surge toward the place where Geom Mugeuk stood.
It was the Death-Spirit Black Mist, one of his signature martial arts from the Soul-Returning Ghost Spirit Art.
Once exposed to the Death-Spirit Black Mist, one’s blood and qi would be blocked, and the mind would grow hazy. Even a person whose full power was ten would be reduced to five within that black mist.
It was a demonic art that would exert its greatest power in this underground secret chamber, where all four sides were tightly sealed.
Demon Flame Lord was certain of victory.
“I understand your arrogance, but to act so leisurely before us?”
On the other hand, the White-Bone Soul Demon was executing his martial art cautiously. Still lingering in his heart was the look in Geom Mugeuk’s eyes as he had stared at him indifferently. Like a brand that would never disappear until Geom Mugeuk became a corpse.
Tssssssss!
One might have wondered how a human could possibly avoid a mist surging toward him.
But in the next instant, the eyes of Demon Flame Lord and the White-Bone Soul Demon sharpened intensely.
The black mist could not pass over to where Geom Mugeuk stood.
Something like a transparent wall was blocking the space between them and Geom Mugeuk.
The mist wandered for a long while before Geom Mugeuk, then slowly rose upward. The mist that rose in that way tried to cross over along the ceiling, but that place, too, was blocked.
Tsssssssst.
Like a snake thrashing after its head had been cut off, the black mist writhed, but it could not find a way to pass over to Geom Mugeuk’s side.
Shwaaaaaak!
Demon Flame Lord, who had been watching, launched a palm strike.
Boom!
The black mist scattered from the force, then gathered again.
But even with his palm strike, the wall blocking that place did not vanish.
In the end, the Death-Spirit Black Mist returned to the White-Bone Soul Demon and was withdrawn into his body.
Demon Flame Lord carefully stepped forward.
He slowly approached and walked up to the point where the Death-Spirit Black Mist had failed to advance. Sure enough, there was a transparent wall there.
“The Nine Flames Demonic Art?”
“That is correct.”
The third technique of the Nine Flames Demonic Art, the Great Demon Wall.
That transparent wall was the Great Demon Wall.
It was astonishing that he had deployed the Great Demon Wall without his opponents noticing, but what was even more astonishing was that this Great Demon Wall was filling the entire front without the slightest gap.
Unless one had reached the ninth level, one could never unfold it with such precision.
Geom Mugeuk asked Demon Flame Lord, who stood beyond the Great Demon Wall.
“Have you ever seen the Nine Flames Demonic Art even once?”
“No.”
“I thought as much.”
Demon Flame Lord said coldly.
“How arrogant.”
“It’s faith. It is the martial art that has allowed our cult to endure until now while commanding rough people like you seniors.”
Even as he looked at the Great Demon Wall before his eyes, Demon Flame Lord’s momentum did not diminish at all. He raised his hand.
“Someday, I wanted to burn the Nine Flames Demonic Art away with this hand.”
Wooooong.
Demon Flame Lord’s hand burned red.
He brought that blazing hand to the Great Demon Wall.
Chiiiiik.
It was right in front of Geom Mugeuk’s face. He was showing his intent to burn through this wall and melt even your face.
Looking at that crimson palm beyond the Great Demon Wall, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Judging by your palm lines, Senior, your lifeline is very long. It seems you will live to a hundred.”
Demon Flame Lord snorted and drew up even more internal energy. His hand turned even redder.
Chiiiiik.
Smoke rose along with the searing heat.
How much time had passed?
Demon Flame Lord flinched and pulled his hand away from the Great Demon Wall.
He looked down at his own hand. His palm was torn open, and blood was flowing down.
The wall made of astral energy had not been pierced; instead, it had wounded his own palm.
At the sight of blood, excitement flashed in Demon Flame Lord’s eyes.
He immediately thrust out both palms. If he could not melt it, he would smash it apart.
Boom! Boooom!
A powerful impact was transmitted, but the Great Demon Wall did not budge. His blood smeared the transparent Great Demon Wall.
But he did not stop attacking.
Kwaaang! Kwaang!
His twin palms continued to strike the space in front of Geom Mugeuk’s face. They were attacks imbued with the will to kill him at all costs.
From the outside, it looked as though he had become excited and was attacking wildly, but he had a plan.
To endure such powerful impacts and maintain the Great Demon Wall, an enormous amount of internal energy would be required.
‘You dare challenge me in a battle of internal energy?’
Demon Flame Lord drew up still more inner power and struck the Great Demon Wall.
‘This is youthful hot blood and arrogance.’
It might look impressive in this moment, but if he consumed his internal energy like this, he would not last long before all of it was exhausted. Moreover, the wall was blocking the entire front, was it not? It was no small size.
“I shall watch in your father’s stead as the martial world is dyed in blood!”
Demon Flame Lord provoked Geom Mugeuk. His intent was to prick his pride and make him continue the contest of internal energy to the end.
When Geom Mugeuk made a show of yawning beyond the wall, Demon Flame Lord inwardly cried out in delight.
‘You’ve taken the bait!’
A faint smile also formed at the lips of the White-Bone Soul Demon, who was watching.
He believed that Geom Mugeuk’s attempt to block the attacks with the Great Demon Wall had clearly been the wrong choice. He should have chosen a chaotic melee from the very beginning. In the midst of that, an opportunity might have appeared.
‘It seems I won’t need to step in.’
Kwaang! Boom! Boom!
Clutching the leather pouch of medicinal herbs to his chest, So Jeongrak cheered Demon Flame Lord on.
‘Break it! Please, smash it to pieces!’
Boom! Kwaaang!
Now, the only sound in that place was the sound of twin palms striking the Great Demon Wall.
‘He’s still holding out?’
As time passed, Demon Flame Lord’s heart filled with disbelief and astonishment. Beyond the wall, Geom Mugeuk looked far too calm.
‘How can this be?’
At that moment, the White-Bone Soul Demon’s voice came from behind him.
“Come back now.”
Boom! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Only after several more irritable attacks did Demon Flame Lord stop.
Demon Flame Lord’s hands, which had been burning red, returned to their original color.
Geom Mugeuk was looking at him with indifferent eyes. If he had mocked him or looked down on him, it would have felt better than this.
But those indifferent eyes made him feel one thing.
He had been pounding on the wall the entire time.
In this moment, Demon Flame Lord felt a true wall.
The White-Bone Soul Demon said in a low voice,
“The Young Cult Leader is stronger than we anticipated.”
He immediately unleashed the strongest move he possessed.
Krrrk. Krrk.
Following the mist that flowed across the floor, the ground trembled, and something began to rise from it.
Astonishingly, they were white bones. They were not mere bones. They were the essence of the Soul-Returning Ghost Spirit Art, the Death-Spirit Return, with black energy flowing from both eyes.
It was an illusion, but the skeletons truly existed before their eyes.
The demonic energy emanating from the skeletons lined up before him was so dreadful that even Demon Flame Lord, who stood beside him, took another step back.
Even summoning a single one was enough to slaughter most experts, yet now he had summoned every one he could call forth.
“They are White-Bone Ghosts. Impervious to blades and swords, and if you inhale so much as a handful of the demonic energy they exhale, the blood vessels throughout your body will twist.”
What was even more terrifying was that even if these things were somehow smashed apart, their bones would rejoin and they would revive. Unless the White-Bone Soul Demon died or his internal energy was exhausted, this hell would not end.
The White-Bone Soul Demon had truly unleashed his most powerful means at once.
But Geom Mugeuk was not frightened at all. Instead, he said to them calmly,
“I understand you. Blaming only the Forbidden Demon Order without thinking of the sins you committed yourselves—I understand that. That’s the kind of people you are.”
So Jeongrak, who was watching from behind, inwardly cheered.
‘You’re dead now!’
He thought that Geom Mugeuk, having judged himself at a disadvantage, had begun wagging his tongue again to survive.
But it would not work now. Those terrifying White-Bone Ghosts were not things that could be killed with one’s tongue.
Geom Mugeuk continued speaking.
“If only you can break the restrictions, you don’t care if a Great Demon-Orthodox War breaks out—I understand that too. That’s the kind of people you are. You might get angry and try to kill me. I understand the desire to defeat the Nine Flames Demonic Art as well. Seniors, I understand everything.”
After speaking as though he understood everything, as though he were the most broad-minded person in the world, Geom Mugeuk’s aura began to change.
“So please understand me for doing this.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Great Demon Wall that had stood before him vanished.
At the same time, something else appeared there.
Ssssssssssst!
The things lined up in a row before Geom Mugeuk.
Larger and more terrifying than before, they were none other than the evil spirits of the Nine Flames Demonic Art.
From wall to wall, evil spirits filled the space without the slightest gap.
The second technique of the Nine Flames Demonic Art, the Great Annihilation Form, had been unleashed.
Everyone there was shocked by the sight of the evil spirits. This was not the Nine Flames Demonic Art they had imagined. They had not known such terrifying evil spirits would manifest.
So Jeongrak, who was watching from behind, also widened his eyes. At first, it had suddenly grown dark, and a massive wall had appeared.
But it was not a wall. One of the things lined up there slowly turned to look back at him.
The moment he saw that evil spirit, So Jeongrak’s entire body froze. It was truly the most terrifying face he had ever seen in his life.
It was incomparably more terrifying than the skeletons that had risen earlier. Those frightening White-Bone Ghosts looked shabby by comparison.
Geom Mugeuk’s stern voice rang thunderously through the place.
“Demon Flame Lord and White-Bone Soul Demon. Not only did you violate the Forbidden Demon Order, the solemn rule of this cult, but you also plotted a Great Demon-Orthodox War. For those crimes, I hereby execute you on the spot.”
The moment the sentence of death was passed down!
The evil spirits showed no mercy.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwa.
The evil spirits that filled the underground secret chamber swept everything away as they advanced.
The White-Bone Ghosts blocking their path thrust out their swords.
Kwa-deuk! Kwa-deudeuk! Kwa-deudeudeudeuk!
The White-Bone Ghosts, which could withstand not only sword qi but even sword aura, shattered into pieces and scattered in every direction.
Before they could even join back together, the evil spirits were already rushing toward the White-Bone Soul Demon.
The White-Bone Soul Demon raised his protective astral energy to its limit.
‘I’ll withstand it!’
But when he saw the terrifying evil spirits surging toward him, his body froze. He was an old wolf trembling before the roar of a tiger.
Papapapapak!
The instant his protective qi barrier shattered, the impact surged through his entire body. In that final moment, he recalled the scene he had seen within the Dark Mind’s Eye.
The sight of himself looking up at Geom Mugeuk from inside a pit. As expected, what he had seen then had not been Geom Mugeuk, but his own fate.
Puh-puh-puh-puk!
His body broke apart and scattered in pieces. The white-bone ghosts that had been trying to rise again collapsed as they were, turning to smoke and vanishing.
Mayeomgun, too, was putting forth everything he had.
The Flame Palm into which he had poured all his internal energy contained a heat as scorching as lava.
Kwaaaaaang!
The very instant the charging evil spirit collided with his twin palms!
The blazing palm seal, which until now had pierced through and burned away the bodies of every opponent, could not burrow into the evil spirit’s body. As if heated iron had been plunged into cold water, his body cooled in an instant.
The last moment he recalled was a time long ago, when he had heard someone say that no demonic art could ever defeat the Nine Flames Demonic Art.
In the hot blood of youth, he had inwardly denied it then.
What is so special about the Nine Flames Demonic Art? One day, I’ll tear it apart with these hands!
Puh-puh-puh-puk!
Mayeomgun’s entire body shattered and burst apart.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Only after the evil spirits had pushed all the way to the end of the secret chamber did they disappear.
When the dust settled, nothing remained there. Not a corpse, not even a single poisonous herb root.
Only the blood pooled thickly across the floor testified to the fact that Baekgol Honma and Mayeomgun had once been there.
In that empty space, only Geom Mugeuk stood with his back turned.
‘It’s grown even stronger!’
The Nine Flames Demonic Art had become incomparably stronger than when it was at the eighth stage. As the ninth-stage Nine Flames Demonic Art was unleashed in actual combat, Geom Mugeuk was swept by an intense desire to bring it to full mastery.
Watching his back, So Jeongrak’s legs gave out, and he sank to the floor.
Thud.
He had truly never imagined that Mayeomgun and Baekgol Honma would be swept away in a single move, vanishing without a trace.
‘They were no match for even one strike?’
His body trembled violently.
‘…So this is the martial art of the Heavenly Demon!’
Only now did he understand why, when Geom Mugeuk had first entered, he had measured the width of this space with his steps. He had been measuring how many of those evil spirits he would need to summon.
‘He had already made up his mind to kill them like this from that moment!’
Geom Mugeuk walked back and sat down beside the terrified So Jeongrak.
So Jeongrak looked at Geom Mugeuk with trembling eyes. Even after smashing the two old demons to pieces, his gaze had not wavered in the slightest. Those cold, merciless eyes felt terribly unfamiliar.
He could not tell whether this man was truly the same Young Cult Leader who had been so talkative earlier. It felt as though he were dreaming.
Now, So Jeongrak’s final hope was this.
That Geom Mugeuk was not immune to all poisons, but had simply taken an antidote the Poison King had given him in advance. That, by sheer luck, it had worked several times in a row.
So Jeongrak tried to administer a deadly poison one last time. This was the only method left. Please, let the Poison King not have anticipated even this!
At that very moment, Geom Mugeuk pulled out a poisonous herb that was sticking out of the leather pouch So Jeongrak held and began chewing it as if he were eating bellflower root.
So Jeongrak abandoned the thought of poisoning him and squeezed his eyes shut.
Because the poisonous herb Geom Mugeuk was now eating so deliciously was the Heavenly Yin Ten-Thousand Poisons Herb, said to kill instantly with just a touch of the tongue.
He wished all of this were a dream, but Geom Mugeuk’s vivid voice reached his ears.
“So Jeongrak, let’s have a little talk.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 649