“You might consider it superstition, though.”
When the brew had first spoiled, Geom Mugeuk had teased the anxious Chwima, asking what kind of demon lord would believe in superstition.
Chwima’s gaze deepened as he looked down at the spoiled brew.
“To me, it is not superstition.”
Then came Geom Mugeuk’s voice from behind.
“If it is not superstition to Hyung-nim…….”
When Chwima turned around, Geom Mugeuk finished the thought.
“It is not superstition to me either.”
Geom Mugeuk walked up beside Chwima and looked down at the spoiled brew.
“It seems we are still lacking.”
Chwima stared back at him with an expression asking what he meant.
“It seems we need to grow stronger, and matters need to proceed more smoothly.”
Just as our fates have changed, so too must theirs.
That was right. He could not simply assume that because they had grown stronger, their opponents had grown weaker. Since they were walking a different path from before, it could lead to nonsensical results. He must not let his guard down until the very end.
“This spoiled brew is telling us to live more diligently.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Chwima shook his head.
“How could you possibly live more diligently than you do now?”
“Hyung-nim, you don’t seem to know, but I slack off quite a lot. I went hunting with Father and you, and we drank earlier too, didn’t we?”
“The drink we had earlier was the first in a hundred years. And the three of us going hunting was the first time in our lives. You’re all talk. You’ve never actually played properly even once.”
As if to say seeing someone often did not mean knowing them well, Chwima understood Geom Mugeuk better than anyone.
“It’s because you haven’t seen the wild drinking gatherings with my friends.”
“A gathering of successors—hardly what I’d call wild.”
“We even danced. Why are you like this?”
Geom Mugeuk opened the main gate and windows wide to ventilate the room, then brought a wooden bucket from the corner and began cleaning up the spoiled brew.
“Just leave it. I’ll clean it up later.”
“So you can do all the worrying while cleaning it up alone?”
The two cleaned up the spoiled brew together and washed the cups clean as well. Since they were cleaning anyway, Geom Mugeuk rolled up his sleeves to clear everything, and eventually the two of them thoroughly cleaned the inside of the brewery.
“You’re not going to brew for a while, right?”
He thought the answer would obviously be yes.
“I am going to brew.”
And the reason was Geom Mugeuk himself.
“You said you’d believe this superstition, didn’t you? Then you have to keep brewing. Whether it spoils worse or less. The brew keeps sending us signals.”
Geom Mugeuk could feel it. Chwima’s heart, telling him to be more careful in battle based on those signals. His older brother’s heart—anxious and frustrated, yet still wanting to let him know.
“When I return after leaving the sect next time, I’ll definitely come to you first. Elders! I apologize in advance!”
“Come last. If you’re busy, you don’t have to come. I’ll be fine.”
Chwima went outside first. As Geom Mugeuk followed after him, he said.
“Now that you have a woman to protect, it seems Hyung-nim is maturing too.”
“As if.”
Chwima took a long drink from the blood gourd at his waist and walked into the thick, fog-like demonic energy.
“Where in the world is there a mature drunkard?”
* * *
After parting with Chwima, Geom Mugeuk went to his father’s residence.
In front of the residence, Hwi revealed himself by dispelling his stealth.
“Young Lord, have you arrived?”
Hwi greeted Geom Mugeuk with his usual unchanging demeanor.
“Have you been well, Uncle?”
“Yes, I have been well.”
Hwi’s gaze toward Geom Mugeuk was gentle. It was the only moment when Hwi, who normally never revealed his emotions, became soft.
“The Lord is not yet asleep. Please wait a moment.”
Hwi disappeared and then reappeared.
“He says you may enter.”
Geom Mugeuk opened the door and went inside. It was his father’s bedchamber, which he had entered before.
“You are not asleep yet. Ah!”
Geom Mugeuk, who had been about to greet him, looked at his father in surprise.
His father was wearing floral pajamas—exactly the ones Geom Mugeuk had bought as a gift in Muhan. Geom Mugeuk smiled broadly, delighted.
“It really suits you! My gift is much more practical and better than Hyung-nim’s, right? Where did you stash that scroll painting? You already threw it away, didn’t you? I’ll keep it a secret from Hyung-nim.”
Where Geom Mugeuk’s gaze stopped while looking around the room, there they were—his brother and himself.
A scroll painting hanging on the wall.
Geom Mugeuk was moved not simply because it had been hung on the wall. It was because of where it was hung.
The scroll was hung in the position most visible when his father lay on the bed. He could picture his father lying there, looking at his sons before falling asleep.
Geom Mugeuk silently gazed at the scroll for a moment. Seeing it hung in his father’s room like this, it looked new to him.
“Hyung-nim would really love to see this.”
“Muyang already saw it.”
“What? When?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at his father in surprise.
“It was Muyang who hung it there.”
Had his brother come first? Or had his father called him? Either way, it showed how much both of them had changed.
“Father, next time let’s have one painted with the three of us. Shall I send the Demon Army to Muhan right now to capture an artist?”
In the past, refusal would have come first. But the refusal did not come.
“What brings you at this late hour?”
“Well, for most people it is still early evening.”
As his father’s eyes narrowed, Geom Mugeuk quickly spoke.
“I have a request.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve come to learn Guhwamagong.”
Despite the sudden request, his father was not very surprised.
“Did you know I would come?”
His father nodded.
“Did you not notice that my closed-door training this time was effective? I knew you would come at least once.”
“Of course I had to come. If I do not learn now, when would I?”
And he had a specific goal in his martial training.
So far, he had mastered up to the fifth form of Guhwamagong.
“I think it is time to learn the sixth form.”
The seventh, eighth, and ninth forms were martial arts performed by the Heavenly Demon Spirit, so practically speaking, the final form of Guhwamagong was the sixth form.
The sixth form: Heavenly Demon World Destruction.
The Heavenly Demon annihilates the world.
The final move, known to be the most powerful in Guhwamagong.
But the final sixth form was extremely difficult to execute, and since it was a move that poured out almost all internal energy at once, a slight mistake could result in severe internal injuries.
“I am ready, Father.”
Geom Ujin, who had been quietly gazing at his son, rose from his seat.
“Follow me.”
Geom Ujin went outside wearing only his pajamas and carrying just the Heavenly Demon Sword.
Geom Mugeuk followed after him.
He felt a certain freedom in his father’s appearance, clad in pajamas with only a single sword dangling at his side.
It was the first time he had felt that emotion from his father.
The place they arrived at was a training ground deep within the inner courtyard.
It was different from the training ground where Geom Mugeuk had gone to meet his father before.
This place was surrounded by iron walls on all sides.
Geom Mugeuk knocked on the wall.
“These walls are incredibly thick?”
“There are ten more such walls erected behind. At intervals of ten paces.”
“Is this a place where they lock up criminals to prevent escape?”
Then one wall caught Geom Mugeuk’s eye.
A wall large enough for an adult to hide behind was erected further back.
It was no ordinary iron wall.
“Could it be… Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron?”
Surprisingly, his father nodded.
“Why is such precious Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron here?”
Moreover, it was incredibly thick.
“What exactly is this place used for?”
His father did not answer, as if implying he would find out later.
“Now, try executing the sixth form.”
He already knew the mantra, so he could attempt it.
He had never executed it before, nor had he ever seen his father execute it.
Just as Geom Mugeuk was about to perform the sixth form, his father went behind the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron wall.
“What are you doing?”
“How could I let you commit the unfilial act of injuring your father?”
The moment he heard those words, he understood.
That the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron wall in front was erected to block the power of Heavenly Demon World Destruction.
It meant Heavenly Demon World Destruction was powerful enough that it could even injure his father.
Then what about this room made of iron walls and the walls behind it? They were to verify the power of Heavenly Demon World Destruction, and also to prevent that power from escaping outside. Just how powerful was it?
“Originally, to unleash the sixth form, one must properly train the form for months, or at the very least ten days even at the fastest.”
“Then why are you already going behind the wall?”
Then an unexpected answer came.
“Because it is you.”
It meant he might be able to unleash it in a single attempt. It also meant his father valued his son’s talent that highly.
“How long did it take you, Father?”
“Ten days.”
“Then I can do it in a day. Because it is you who is teaching me.”
A scoff formed at his father’s lips.
“Well then, let me begin.”
Geom Mugeuk took a deep breath and then moved his true energy according to the mantra to execute the sixth form.
But the move was not unleashed.
“Your true energy is moving too slowly.”
His father came out from behind the wall and explained the mantra in detail. It was an explanation of a realm beyond the Ten Stars.
“Try again.”
This time too, his father went behind the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.
One would think his father would have no need for such a wall. Yet his father was not ashamed at all to hide behind it.
Geom Mugeuk could understand the reason.
Because it was Guhwamagong. Because it was his father’s martial art.
Had it been any other martial art, he would not have done so.
This time too, it was not unleashed. But he felt the flow of his true energy was different from before.
“It feels different somehow.”
How could teaching and learning ever be the same? Each time there was instruction, it changed.
“This time, internal energy gathered in the sword! Just a sliver, but it did.”
Unleashing and failing, unleashing again and failing.
Geom Mugeuk asked, and his father explained.
Several hours passed like that.
The night deepened and time headed toward dawn, but his father did not stop teaching. As always, when teaching martial arts, his father was a completely different person.
And finally!
The moment to see the fruit of his efforts came.
An enormous force seemed to swarm into Geom Mugeuk’s Black Demon Sword.
Hwaaaaaaaang!
Light burst forth from the Black Demon Sword pointed forward.
Flash!
The world turned white. It was as if the sun was exploding before his eyes. There was a massive explosion, but no sound could be heard.
The iron walls disappeared. They simply vanished as if melting. The wall standing behind them disappeared, and again, far beyond that, the next wall disappeared as well. Everything around was vanishing.
When the light faded, nothing remained in the surroundings.
Everything visible had been erased.
This was no longer a room made of iron walls.
Sunlight shone through the vanished ceiling, and the blue sky was visible.
Only one thing remained there—the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron wall standing in front.
“Father!”
As Geom Mugeuk shouted in surprise, his father walked out from behind the wall.
“Haa.”
Geom Mugeuk let out a sigh of relief.
He understood why the move was called Heavenly Demon World Destruction. It was a martial art that annihilated everything.
‘This is an insane martial art.’
Geom Mugeuk asked his father in a trembling voice.
“Did I succeed?”
Geom Ujin nodded. As if he had expected his son to unleash it in a single day, his father was not surprised.
Geom Mugeuk jumped for joy. Finally, he could execute all the forms of Guhwamagong up to the final move.
“I did it!”
Then he slumped down on the spot. All the internal energy in his dantian had vanished. It was a move that could only be executed by expending all one’s internal energy.
Geom Ujin looked around. He should evaluate the power by counting how many iron walls remained, but nothing remained.
Power beyond measurement.
It was because Geom Mugeuk’s vast and pure internal energy was so tremendous.
Even the wall made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron had been deeply gouged.
Geom Ujin looked at his son with surprised and admiring eyes, then spoke calmly.
“When you unleash the sixth form, anyone passing beyond the wall will die, and people in buildings far away will die too. Every living creature in sight will die. Those lying face down will die, and those flying away will all die. Do you understand what I am saying?”
Geom Ujin warned him of the consequences of using this martial art carelessly.
He said it because he now knew his son well. Because he knew his son would be scarred for a long time if an innocent victim were to die.
Geom Mugeuk made a request to his father.
“I want to see Father’s Heavenly Demon World Destruction.”
The Heavenly Demon World Destruction that had achieved Twelve Stars Great Perfection.
He could have told him to achieve Ten Stars Great Perfection first before asking.
For some reason, Geom Ujin immediately drew the Heavenly Demon Sword.
“Wait! I need to go behind the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron wall too! Father, your son will die!”
But light was already bursting forth from the Heavenly Demon Sword.
Flash!
At the moment he thought he was dead, Geom Mugeuk saw.
That the light, which seemed like it would extend throughout the entire world, was shining only around his father.
‘Father is controlling the powerful energy of Heavenly Demon World Destruction!’
The light that should have flown in all directions gradually gathered into one place, forming the shape of a sword.
The moment the snow-white light sword was completed!
Shaaaaaaang!
With a refreshing wind sound he had never heard before, the light sword flew toward the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.
The place his father aimed at was the corner.
Puaaaaaaang!
The light sword pierced straight through the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. That thick Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron was pierced like tofu.
“Ah!”
An exclamation burst from Geom Mugeuk’s mouth.
He had never seen such thick Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron pierced through in a single move.
Geom Ujin asked calmly.
“Did you see?”
His father could probably execute a Heavenly Demon World Destruction that annihilated everything, just as he had done.
And he had achieved Twelve Stars Great Perfection, succeeding in gathering that power into one.
Father controlled destruction. In Father’s destruction, there was order.
“Yes, I saw clearly.”
His father had casually planted a new milestone for his son once again.
And then he walked out with a large yawn.
“I am going to bed.”