“How did you come to know that man?”
When Geom Mugeuk asked about the Heavenly Killing Star, the Dark Palace Lord’s gaze darkened.
It was a look that seemed to have much to say, yet he said nothing.
Geom Mugeuk provoked him.
“You must be angry. It was the life you dreamed of your whole life, and now the Heavenly Killing Star has taken it.”
The Dark Palace Lord did not fall for Geom Mugeuk’s provocation. Instead, he answered calmly.
“Aren’t you the one who should be angry? If you became the Demon Cult Leader, the murim might have become yours.”
As they conversed, Geom Mugeuk did not neglect a single word the Dark Palace Lord spoke. When it came to Hwa Mugi, knowing even one more thing mattered.
“You truly believe in the Heavenly Killing Star. Just how strong is he, for you to believe in him this much?”
Geom Mugeuk knew that strength better than anyone, but he asked as if he did not.
The Dark Palace Lord’s gaze turned to Gaye, who stood behind Geom Mugeuk.
“If you’re curious, why not ask that Divine Maiden who came here fawning in every way just to save her own life?”
Though the words mocked and belittled her, Gaye did not grow angry. Somehow, she seemed calm. That change grated on the Dark Palace Lord’s nerves.
Geom Mugeuk took her side.
“If you used someone and threw her away, you shouldn’t treat her like a traitor. You should at least look a little sorry. Why is it so hard for all of you to say you’re sorry?”
Gaye recalled what Geom Mugeuk had said before.
When they first met, he had said the same thing to her. That he had thought she would at least be able to say a word of apology to the Cheonhwa Pavilion Lord. That the Dark Palace Lord had raised her into someone who did not know remorse.
Seeing the Dark Palace Lord’s attitude now, she thought those words had been right. She had been raised that way, and she had become that kind of person.
Suddenly, the words Geom Mugeuk had spoken came back to her.
—Only when you go out to sea will you be able to see the true sky. You don’t know whether lightning will strike or a typhoon will descend, but go out first. Even if you die, die on that sea.
Her gaze turned toward the Dark Palace Lord.
“I am on no one’s side. I stand here as the Palace Lord of the Divine Maiden Palace.”
“Does the conviction of the Divine Maiden Palace Lord change so easily?”
The Dark Palace Lord was angry with her. He believed she had betrayed him.
“You’re right. I’m not someone with the right to do this. Ever since I became the Divine Maiden Palace Lord at a young age, I’ve lived helping you. It would be absurd for me to speak of Heaven’s Will now.”
She looked into the Dark Palace Lord’s eyes and added,
“My conviction may have changed easily, but this feeling I have now is sincere.”
She focused on her own heart. Now, she no longer resented the Dark Palace Lord. Her boat had left the pier and gone out to sea.
“Whether I die by your hand today, by the Young Cult Leader’s hand, or later by that man’s hand, I do not regret the decision I made today. Please give up now and tell the Young Cult Leader. Tell him how that man must be killed.”
She calmly conveyed her final sincerity.
“This is my last Heaven’s Will.”
But her Heaven’s Will did not reach him at all.
Shwaaaak.
Booom.
The palm force that flew toward her was blocked by Geom Mugeuk, who remained standing and simply extended his hand to the side. It was not an attack meant to kill her. It was a light strike launched with the knowledge that Geom Mugeuk would block it.
“This is my answer.”
The Dark Palace Lord wanted to appear magnificent. Like the ultimate leader at the very end. Stern, splendid, and mysterious. Perhaps he could have shown such a bearing before the Demon Venerables.
But before these two people, Geom Mugeuk and the Divine Maiden Palace Lord, it was impossible. They were the sort who stirred his most primal emotions simply by being seen.
“You should not have betrayed me. Not when you think of all I have done for you!”
The one who received that resentment was Geom Mugeuk.
“Do not be deceived.”
Geom Mugeuk said to Gaye.
“Whether I had taken you in, or my blunt father had taken you in, or the Blood Heaven Blade Demon of the past had taken you in, all of us would have done more for you than that man ever did. Do not be fooled by that selfish display of credit. Instead, demand an answer. Ask him why he makes such a show of having given you a dragon’s head when all he gave you was a rat’s tail.”
The Dark Palace Lord truly wanted to roar. You damned Young Cult Leader brat! He wanted to unleash a killing move at once.
But he endured it. No matter how much Geom Mugeuk enraged him, there was something he absolutely had to do.
Geom Mugeuk, on the other hand, continued to provoke the Dark Palace Lord.
“You are someone who thinks only of yourself to an appalling degree. If those wrinkles on your face were spread open, the spaces between them would surely be filled with selfishness.”
“Is there anyone who isn’t like that? Are you different? You claim to act for the people? The Demon Hero? Don’t make me laugh. That is nothing more than amusement you indulge in for your own satisfaction.”
Geom Mugeuk readily nodded.
“You’re right. I admit it. It is my amusement. But I live hoping that my amusement can become amusement for others as well. What about you? What is the result of your amusement, wanting to become the leader behind the shadows? Was killing everyone around you your amusement?”
“You were the one who killed them all.”
“It was to save everyone else.”
Their taut gazes tangled in the air.
“Where is the Heavenly Killing Star now?”
He would answer other things, but when it came to the Heavenly Killing Star, he gave no answer at all.
Gaye’s voice came from behind.
“The Heavenly Killing Star awakened on his own, and he undid the seal of the Seventy-Two Star Soul-Sealing Formation on his own.”
She believed it had something to do with Geom Mugeuk.
“I believe he awakened because of you, Young Cult Leader.”
Geom Mugeuk could not deny it. Because of his regression, the timing of that man’s appearance had changed.
“Has he already broken the seal and come out?”
Gaye nodded.
“I believe so.”
Geom Mugeuk asked the Dark Palace Lord,
“Where is he now?”
“Where do you think he went?”
There was only one place Geom Mugeuk could think of.
“Did he go to the main cult?”
The Dark Palace Lord spoke coldly, his expression saying, This is my revenge.
“Just as you killed everyone around me, everyone around you will die. This is my final amusement.”
Though those words were truly terrifying, Geom Mugeuk did not panic or waver.
“You are not surprised.”
“I am the sort who worries about all kinds of things.”
Geom Mugeuk spoke his honest thoughts.
“I’m just going to think of it this way. If Father can’t resolve it, then I can’t resolve it either.”
It was faith in his father. And within that faith was this: before his regression, his father had mastered the Guhwa Demonic Art to the tenth star, but now he had mastered it to the twelfth.
And above all, his father’s life had changed as well.
But Gaye feared the Heavenly Killing Star even more than his father.
“He is stronger than imagination can encompass. If the Six Paths Origin Qi cannot control him…”
Geom Mugeuk understood the words she had left unsaid: even the Demon Cult Leader could not defeat him.
Now he knew. He knew why Hwa Mugi had gone into seclusion in his life before regression.
It had not been seclusion.
After killing the Murim Alliance Leader, the Evil Dao Alliance Leader, and his father, the Dark Palace Lord must have controlled Hwa Mugi with the power of the Six Paths Origin Qi. Perhaps he had sealed him again, or perhaps even killed him.
“How do you use that Six Paths Origin Qi?”
As if he had been waiting for that question, the Dark Palace Lord answered.
“I will tell you that.”
“There is no way you would tell me properly.”
“In any case, we do not know the method. Only this can teach you.”
Srrrk.
The wall behind the Dark Palace Lord opened. When Geom Mugeuk saw what lay in the space beyond, he was shocked.
Astonishingly, it was a large Secret Coffer. For this final battle, the Dark Palace Lord had brought out the Secret Coffer.
“You know what this is, don’t you?”
At the Dark Palace Lord’s question, Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“I know it as your sacred object, handed down from long ago.”
The war three hundred years ago had begun from this Secret Coffer as well. When the Secret Coffer produced the small Secret Coffer, the Palace Lord of Heaven’s Will at the time had believed Heaven had bestowed its will upon him.
“To combine the Six Paths Origin Qi within your body into one, you must borrow the power of this Secret Coffer.”
Geom Mugeuk could tell that the Dark Palace Lord did not know he had already learned the formula through the Secret Coffer and combined the powers of the Six Paths Origin Qi into one.
In this place filled with the power of the Greed Great Annihilation Art, and after he had even succeeded in some unknown grand rite, the reason he had not immediately tried to kill him was this.
‘He still hasn’t given up! He means to steal the power of the Six Paths Origin Qi through this Secret Coffer.’
Yes, it was precisely because he possessed such tenacity that he had managed to come this far.
When the Secret Coffer met Geom Mugeuk, who had gathered all six powers, if something happened—
He intended to seize that moment and steal the power.
Geom Mugeuk thought the grand rite related to the characters carved all over his face might be connected to that.
Sorry, but you’re too late. Even if I approach the Secret Coffer, nothing will happen.
“May I go closer and look?”
The Dark Palace Lord stepped aside.
Geom Mugeuk took a few steps, then stopped.
“Why are you showing it to me so readily? Did you perhaps set up some trick?”
“You are the one who said you wanted to look at it up close. If you don’t want to, then step back.”
“I can’t do that, if only because I’m curious.”
Geom Mugeuk began walking again and approached the Secret Coffer. When they had parted for the last time, he had hoped there would be a fateful day when they met again. And now they had met like this.
‘Secret Coffer, good to see you!’
Seeing the Secret Coffer he thought he would never see again truly made him glad. Since the small Secret Coffer had vanished when he absorbed the final power, this was now the only Secret Coffer left.
Geom Mugeuk touched the Secret Coffer with his hand.
‘I never thought I’d see you again like this.’
At that very moment.
Srrrk.
As if sinking into a swamp, Geom Mugeuk’s body was drawn into the Secret Coffer. There had been no warning, no sign beforehand.
“Huh?”
Because he had experienced being sucked in once before, Geom Mugeuk knew what phenomenon this was.
‘Not now!’
The problem was the people left behind. The Divine Maiden Palace Lord was one thing, but the three Demon Venerables and the Cheonhwa Pavilion Lord were still on the ship. They would certainly be coming here in search of him.
But more than half his body had already entered the Secret Coffer.
He could not escape by his own strength, and even if he could, this was a situation in which he must not leave.
In an instant, Geom Mugeuk vanished completely into the Secret Coffer.
When Geom Mugeuk disappeared, the Dark Palace Lord rushed to the Secret Coffer. When Geom Mugeuk had approached it, he had secretly hoped. Hoped he would gain his final chance.
But something utterly unexpected had occurred. He had never dreamed the Secret Coffer would absorb Geom Mugeuk.
The Dark Palace Lord carefully placed his hand on the part that had absorbed Geom Mugeuk.
He was cautious in case he too might be absorbed, but the wall of the Secret Coffer, which had swallowed a person like a swamp, was a hard, cold lump of metal.
He tried to inject qi and examine the inside, but he could not sense any energy within.
Placing his hand on the Secret Coffer, the Dark Palace Lord pleaded desperately.
“Noble sacred object of this palace, grant me the power the Young Cult Leader obtained!”
But the Secret Coffer did not budge.
“That power belongs to this palace, and it belongs to me. Grant me power!”
He cried out earnestly, but the Secret Coffer showed no response.
“If you abandon me like this, I will smash the Secret Coffer to pieces with the Young Cult Leader still inside.”
It was not a mere threat. If he did that, then for now, he would have won the battle against the Young Cult Leader. It was not the best situation, but it meant he had avoided the worst.
“Bestow Heaven’s Will upon me!”
As if he would smash the Secret Coffer apart, the Dark Palace Lord raised his hand high. Tremendous dark energy surged into his hand.
“Stop!”
The one who shouted to dissuade him was Gaye.
“The Secret Coffer is the absolute sacred object of Heaven’s Will Palace. You must not break it like that!”
With his hand still raised, the Dark Palace Lord asked Gaye,
“Are you worried about the Secret Coffer? Or are you worried about the Young Cult Leader?”
Then unexpected words flowed from Gaye’s mouth.
“I am worried about you.”
“!”
The Dark Palace Lord felt that she was speaking sincerely. He had watched her for a long time, so he could tell whether she was telling the truth or lying.
“I am worried about you right now.”
“Why are you worried about me?”
“Because I am the Divine Maiden Palace Lord, and you are the Dark Palace Lord.”
She was struggling to fulfill her final role as the Divine Maiden Palace Lord.
“It is unfortunate, but Heaven’s Will is not with you. It is with the Young Cult Leader.”
Looking at the Dark Palace Lord, who twitched with rage, she finished what she had been saying.
“Please, do not defy the will of Heaven.”
Gaye knew those words would only provoke and anger him further, but she believed conveying them was her final calling.
I should have said this long ago. I am sorry I say it only now.
“A Divine Maiden who cannot even receive prophecies dares.”
Originally, those words would have inflicted the deepest wound on her.
Yet at that moment, Gaye felt that they no longer wounded her.
The moment he saw her peaceful face, rage surged up within the Dark Palace Lord.
It was an expression he had not seen even once over all the years that had passed. Thinking that Geom Mugeuk, whom she had met only recently, had created that serenity in her, a murderous intent beyond rage welled up in him.
The Dark Palace Lord said coldly to her,
“From the very beginning, I never believed in anything like Heaven’s Will.”
Shwaaaak.
The palm force launched by the Dark Palace Lord flew toward her.
Gaye closed her eyes.
In her heart, she was standing on the deck, looking at the sky. A massive storm was bearing down on her boat, but she looked up at the sky until the very end.
‘I am sorry I could not properly uphold your will.’
Bang.
Her body flew backward.
She naturally thought she would have died in a single strike. Yet she realized she had not died.
When she opened her eyes, someone behind her was supporting her body. She had not been struck by the palm force and flung back. Someone’s palm force had shattered the Dark Palace Lord’s, and she had been pushed back and sent flying by the aftermath of that collision.
Gaye turned in surprise and saw the Drunken Demon standing behind her. Beside him appeared the Demon Buddha, the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable, and the Cheonhwa Pavilion Lord. They had arrived just in time.
The boat had not capsized in the storm. She stood on the deck and looked up at the sky.
‘Is there still something I must do?’
Gaye looked at the Drunken Demon.
She found it strange that he had saved her. The Young Cult Leader had said he would spare her, but to the Demon Venerables, she was nothing but an enemy. Was it because of the Cheonhwa Pavilion Lord?
“Why did you save me?”
Reeking of alcohol, the Drunken Demon answered,
“If you go around with a drunkard, you become a drunkard. If you go around with someone who resents the world, you become someone who resents the world. If you go around with someone who loves books, you become someone who loves books. And if you go around with someone like our Young Cult Leader, then for starters, when you see someone in danger, you save them first.”
With drunken eyes, the Drunken Demon looked around the scene and asked,
“Where is our Young Cult Leader?”