Geom Mugeuk entered the Heavenly Demon Hall.
After coming down from Daecheon Mountain, he had come straight to the Heavenly Demon Hall without even unpacking.
Since his regression, this was the longest he had ever been away from the main sect, but Geom Mugeuk had not worried. Because it was no longer the cult of the past. His father, and the Demon Venerables as well, had all changed.
Without that faith, he would never have been able to undertake training with no promised end deep within Daecheon Mountain, cut off from the world.
And indeed, nothing had changed.
The thunderous greetings of the martial artists guarding the main gate of the Divine Cult were the same as ever, and the figures of warriors coming and going through the outer court were no different from usual. The taut vigilance of the inner court remained unchanged.
The doors slowly opened, and Geom Mugeuk stepped inside.
Beyond the red carpet, far ahead, he could see the grand chair.
His father sat upon it, looking the same as always.
Geom Mugeuk used the Divine Eye Art to study his father’s expression closely.
The emotions that appeared on his father’s face were joy and gladness. Was it because he had been away for so long? Or was there some other reason? He was truly happy that his son had returned.
It was an expression he would never be able to see up close, so Geom Mugeuk stood there for a moment and savored it.
“Father!”
After calling loudly to his father from the entrance, Geom Mugeuk walked along the Path of Blood.
That distinctive scent of the Heavenly Demon Hall, the soft feel of the carpet beneath his feet, the statues of evil spirits positioned here and there—he had missed them all.
‘I’ve returned!’
As Geom Mugeuk walked the Path of Blood, he felt an incomparably comfortable sense of relief. It was the feeling of coming home after a long journey.
No, it felt like returning home in glory. Since this was his first time entering the Heavenly Demon Hall after attaining Great Completion in the Nine Hwa Demonic Art, this moment was exceptionally precious.
He went beneath the grand chair and stood below his father. Instead of greeting him, Geom Mugeuk expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you, Father!”
For always guarding that seat in the same unchanging manner.
At his father’s gaze, which seemed to ask why he was thanking him, Geom Mugeuk smiled and said,
“For not invading the Murim Alliance while I was gone.”
A sneer formed on his father’s lips.
Only after seeing that smile did Geom Mugeuk offer a proper greeting.
“I have safely descended the mountain, Father.”
Because the time he had spent alone and silent in the mountains had been far too long, Geom Mugeuk could not help but joke.
“Isn’t the cult running too well even without me? When I came in, everyone had this expression: Ah, that’s right. Our Young Cult Leader was away, wasn’t he?”
Geom Ujin, who had been quietly looking down at his son, rose from his seat.
He slowly descended the steps and stood before Geom Mugeuk. He recognized his son’s achievement.
“You attained Great Completion.”
“Ah! As expected, Father can tell at a glance. I was trying to conceal my aura as much as possible and surprise you.”
Unexpectedly, Geom Ujin shook his head.
“I did not say it because I saw through it.”
“You didn’t know?”
An astonishing statement flowed from Geom Ujin’s mouth.
“Who could see through the Nine Hwa Demonic Art after it has reached Great Completion?”
“!”
Geom Mugeuk asked in surprise,
“Did you not attain Twelfth-Star Great Completion, Father?”
“Even so, it is still the same Great Completion, is it not?”
From those words, he understood. That was how special the Great Completion of the Nine Hwa Demonic Art was. The moment one attained Great Completion, one entered an entirely different realm.
Only now did it truly feel real. That he had genuinely attained Great Completion in the Nine Hwa Demonic Art.
“Then how did you know?”
After a brief pause, Geom Ujin answered.
“Because you would not have come down before attaining Great Completion.”
Geom Mugeuk silently gazed at his father.
There was an indescribable joy that came when someone recognized one’s true worth.
Just like now.
“I nearly never came down at all. I almost ended up doing my older brother a favor.”
Yes, his father had seen him accurately. If he had not attained Great Completion, he had intended not to come down.
“What took me seven years, you accomplished in a little over one.”
Seven years was the time it had taken Geom Ujin to go from the ninth stage to Great Completion. Even though his son was outstanding, he had thought it would take five years. This time too, his son had surpassed his expectations.
“Among all past cult leaders, you have accomplished the feat of attaining Great Completion in the Nine Hwa Demonic Art the fastest.”
And he had done it not even as cult leader, but while still in the position of Young Cult Leader.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk thought to himself,
‘Perhaps it may have taken the longest among all past cult leaders.’
Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly and said,
“It is thanks to you, Father.”
“Thanks to me?”
When his father looked at him with a gaze asking why, Geom Mugeuk set down the leather pack he had been carrying.
“No matter how much I think about it, I believe this played a great role in my attaining Great Completion.”
Geom Mugeuk set down the go board wrapped in tiger hide that he had fixed atop the leather pack. From the pack, he also took out the bowls containing the go stones.
“It is a go board I made to give to you, Father. The stones are here as well.”
When Geom Ujin extended his hand, the heavy go board whooshed up into the air.
What Geom Ujin examined closely were the lines drawn across the board. Lines drawn without even a hair’s breadth of error.
“Did you draw them in one stroke?”
“Yes.”
Geom Ujin nodded with a satisfied expression. As if, just by looking at the drawn lines, he could tell from what realm and with what state of mind they had been made.
This time, the go bowls opened on their own, and the stones inside all rose into the air at once.
Clatter-rattle.
Every go stone moved separately. Geom Ujin was displaying the divine might of moving each of them through void manipulation.
“Ah, this gift is ruined. Father, you don’t even need a go board!”
He meant that his father could simply use the air itself as a go board through void manipulation.
As if to say that was not so, Geom Ujin said,
“Go is about the feel of it in the hand.”
Then he examined the go stones floating in the air. They were all the same size and thickness. They looked as though one could believe they had truly been made by a master artisan of go stones.
“Did you make them yourself?”
“I carved every single one with the Black Demon Sword. From now on, please call me the filial son of Daecheon Mountain who carves go stones!”
One corner of Geom Ujin’s lips rose, but the finished product was indeed worthy of pride.
“You made them well.”
They were go stones into which so much care had gone that even if one deliberately wanted to find a flaw, it would be difficult.
Clatter-rattle.
The go stones floating in the air all entered the bowls.
“But why do you say it is thanks to me?”
“Coincidentally, I attained Great Completion in the Nine Hwa Demonic Art on the day I completed the final go stone. I think the practice of finely controlling sword qi and astral qi must have helped. I had never trained in such a way before.”
Geom Ujin silently nodded.
Geom Mugeuk stared intently at his father and said,
“If you had not told me to play a game of go with you when I came down, I would never have made the go board and stones. Then perhaps I would still be training on Daecheon Mountain. Did you perhaps break that torreya tree knowing this would happen?”
“How is that thanks to me? It is thanks to your decision and effort to carve the go stones.”
From his father’s expression and words, he could not tell whether that was truly the case or not.
“Since you have attained Great Completion in the Nine Hwa Demonic Art, there is one thing you must uphold.”
With such great power came immense responsibility. Added to that were the pride of his father and all the Heavenly Demons of the past.
“From now on, you must not lose to anyone.”
Geom Mugeuk promised his father.
“I will never lose.”
Geom Ujin turned around.
The go board with the bowls placed upon it floated through the air, following his father.
“Come with me.”
Geom Mugeuk walked after his father.
Naturally, he thought they were going to his quarters to play go. But his father brought him to the training ground reserved exclusively for the cult leader.
Geom Ujin set the go board down in the middle of the training ground.
“We are playing here?”
When Geom Ujin nodded, Geom Mugeuk looked around. Looking at the various weapons in the training ground, Geom Mugeuk said,
“You mean to crush my spirit with the atmosphere, don’t you? I am no longer that easily handled son of the past. Now I am a son who has a strategist skilled at go.”
Of course, that was not why his father had brought him here. He surely had something in mind.
The two sat facing each other across the go board.
Holding black, Geom Mugeuk placed the first stone.
Tak.
A clear sound spread out. The feeling of placing the go stone was good, and the sound was truly pleasant as well.
“You are right. Go is about the feel in the hand!”
Next, his father made a move.
Tak.
A pure, clean resonance rang out. The moment he heard that pleasing sound, he felt as though all the hardship he had endured while carving the stones had been rewarded.
With crisp sounds, move after move was exchanged. Since it had been so long since he had played go with his father, he felt very good, but today Geom Mugeuk’s mind was elsewhere.
Around the time the opening formation ended, Geom Mugeuk casually asked,
“There is something I wish to ask you about the Heavenly Demon Soul.”
Geom Ujin looked down at the go board and nodded.
“Have you ever conversed with the Heavenly Demon Soul?”
Geom Ujin shook his head. Well, even if it were possible, given his father’s personality, he was not someone who would converse with the Heavenly Demon Soul.
This time, Geom Ujin abruptly asked,
“Do you wish to chatter even with the Heavenly Demon Soul?”
Geom Mugeuk smiled and admitted it.
“Are you not curious? It is something created from within my heart, so what might it be thinking?”
For a moment, Geom Ujin’s hand, which had been about to place a stone, stopped in midair.
“You are curious about that?”
“Are you not, Father?”
“Not at all.”
Several more moves passed.
As he set down a go stone, Geom Ujin told him one fact.
“It remains in the records that there was once a Heavenly Demon who conversed with the Heavenly Demon Soul. It was a very long time ago.”
As expected! The Heavenly Demon Soul was definitely a being with its own will.
When joy flickered across his son’s face, Geom Ujin warned him.
“The Heavenly Demon Soul is a dangerous existence. If it were to run wild, it could not be stopped. Do you still wish to chatter with it?”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk answered.
“Yes. If it is such an existence, then I should become even closer to it.”
Geom Ujin silently nodded.
“Yes, I thought you would say that.”
Geom Mugeuk gazed at his father and asked,
“Would you like to see my Heavenly Demon Soul once?”
He had thought perhaps that was why his father had brought him to this training ground.
“It likely will not descend before me.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at his father in surprise.
“May I check?”
Geom Ujin nodded.
Geom Mugeuk called forth the Heavenly Demon Soul. Astonishingly, just as his father had said, the Heavenly Demon Soul did not descend.
“How did you know?”
“It simply felt that way.”
Geom Ujin’s gaze deepened as he spoke of the Heavenly Demon Soul.
“The Heavenly Demon Soul is an existence that refuses to lose to anyone.”
“Ah! Then you mean it does not appear because it cannot defeat you, Father.”
As if to say that was not it, Geom Ujin shook his head.
“The Heavenly Demon Soul does not fear humans.”
“Then it must fear your Heavenly Demon Soul, Father.”
He had naturally assumed that would be the case.
“That remains unknown.”
If it had been any other Heavenly Demon Soul, he would surely have said that was the reason. But this was the son he had watched until now, the son who had attained Great Completion in this brief time.
“Because it is your Heavenly Demon Soul.”
Meaning, he could not easily determine the reason.
After saying that, Geom Ujin placed a decisive move.
Tak.
“I won.”
“Ah! When did my large group get captured?”
“It was not captured by me, but by your Heavenly Demon Soul.”
Understanding that this meant he had not devoted all his attention to the game but had instead focused on the Heavenly Demon Soul, Geom Mugeuk said,
“I apologize.”
His father answered with an expression that said it was fine.
“It is all right. I was the same.”
The reason Geom Ujin had brought him to the training ground that only he could enter was not to play go, nor to see Geom Mugeuk’s Heavenly Demon Soul.
It was precisely for this reason.
“From now on, I will transmit the seventh form of the Nine Hwa Demonic Art.”
“!”
The Seventh Form of the Nine Hwa Demonic Art: Demon Soul Genesis.
From the seventh form to the ninth were martial arts used by the Heavenly Demon Soul. Only after mastering all three techniques could one be said to have perfectly learned the Nine Hwa Demonic Art.
“Can I learn the seventh form even though the Heavenly Demon Soul has not manifested?”
“You are the one who learns the seventh form.”
Geom Ujin told him a new fact regarding the martial arts of the Heavenly Demon Soul.
“The Heavenly Demon Soul is connected to you. The power of the martial arts it displays is determined by how well you understand the formula.”
“So the stronger I become, the stronger the Heavenly Demon Soul becomes as well.”
Geom Ujin nodded.
“Now, listen carefully to what I say from this point on.”
Geom Ujin began transmitting the formula to him.
“When the demon soul descends and devours chaos, a new world shall arrive. The beginning of true qi starts at the Shimen acupoint. The true qi that turns through the great meridian and emerges must be swift as lightning…”
Geom Mugeuk first memorized the formula his father recited, repeating it again and again. Of all the martial arts formulas he had learned until now, it was the most difficult.
Geom Mugeuk could understand the reason. The martial system used by the Heavenly Demon Soul differed greatly from that used by humans, making the formula far more difficult to comprehend.
Whenever there was a part he did not understand, he asked his father then and there.
His father explained it to him sincerely. In truth, even at this moment, Geom Mugeuk was gaining a fortuitous encounter.
Originally, the formula would have been transmitted by his father when he was at Tenth-Star Great Completion, but now his father, who had attained Twelfth-Star Great Completion, was teaching him.
Since the level of enlightenment differed, the teaching was also different. Some parts were so advanced that they were instead difficult to accept, but who was the one learning?
If Geom Mugeuk did not understand even a little, he immediately asked his father. He spoke what he thought, his father interpreted it again, and Geom Mugeuk asked yet another question from there.
Though his father had taught him several times before, the higher the martial learning of the two became, the more indescribably precious the realizations they gained were becoming.
It is said that a good disciple makes a good teacher, and ultimately, today’s lesson became the highest-level teaching in history regarding the transmission of the final three forms.
Thus, after several hours, the transmission of the seventh form came to an end.
Geom Mugeuk, who had closed his eyes and organized the technique, slowly opened them.
“Did you understand?”
“Yes, I think I have understood it to some extent.”
Together with his words of thanks, Geom Mugeuk bowed to his father. It was truly such a great teaching that it deserved a deep bow.
“The Heavenly Demon Soul will be pleased.”
Geom Mugeuk was curious. What difference would there be in the Heavenly Demon Soul before and after learning the seventh form? How would the Heavenly Demon Soul react to his learning of the seventh form? Would it be grateful? Or would it remain as brusque as ever?
“When you have fully mastered the seventh form, I will transmit the eighth to you.”
Geom Ujin, who had begun walking out of the training ground first, stopped for a moment. And then he said the words he had not said earlier.
“Congratulations on attaining Great Completion.”
It was his father’s congratulation, given without forgetting.