Chwima turned Gaye around.
The reason he had sent out a palm strike to save her had not been for her sake.
It was because of the Lord of Cheonhwaru.
Earlier, in the fight with Heukno, the Lord of Cheonhwaru had tried to spare her. Chwima believed there must surely be a reason worth sparing her for.
And the fact that the Dark Palace Lord was trying to kill her meant that the relationship between the two of them had completely fallen apart. For now, he thought they should keep her alive and make use of her.
To the Demon Venerables, Gaye was the Dark Palace Lord’s hands and feet—nothing more, nothing less.
“Where is the Young Cult Leader?”
His words were polite, but Chwima’s gaze was intense.
Meanwhile, Demon Buddha and the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable were staring at the Dark Palace Lord. Even though they had appeared, he was looking at them with arrogant eyes.
Gaye answered obediently. He was the person who had saved her life, and this was a matter related to the Young Cult Leader. The boat she had boarded had not sunk in the typhoon and was still floating on the sea.
“The Young Cult Leader was sucked into that secret coffer.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the secret coffer.
Geom Mugeuk had been sucked into that iron box? It was incomprehensible.
“That secret coffer is the sacred object of the Heavenly Will Palace. The moment the Young Cult Leader touched it, he was absorbed inside.”
The Demon Venerables did not believe her, but the Lord of Cheonhwaru did.
“I don’t think the Divine Maiden Palace Lord is lying.”
At the Lord of Cheonhwaru’s trust, Demon Buddha asked Gaye again.
“Then did that man use an illusion art to drag him inside?”
“No.”
“No? What on earth do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said. That secret coffer absorbed the Young Cult Leader.”
Demon Buddha sensed that her words were not lies, but to confirm once more, he looked at the Lord of Cheonhwaru.
At his gaze, asking whether this truly seemed to be the truth, the Lord of Cheonhwaru silently nodded.
Watching this, Chwima laughed loudly.
“At any rate, he’s first-rate at startling people. Now he’s gone and gotten himself sucked into a place like that.”
Though he was speaking nonsense, Chwima’s gaze as he looked at the secret coffer was serious. In other words, it meant they could not know whether the Young Cult Leader was alive or dead.
“I don’t know who’s sitting inside there, but they’re going to regret calling him in for nothing.”
As he said that, Chwima exchanged glances with the two Demon Venerables. In a situation where the Young Cult Leader’s life or death was unclear, they had to kill this Dark Palace Lord themselves.
On top of that, they might have to fight while protecting not only the Lord of Cheonhwaru, but that secret coffer as well.
Considering the enemies they had encountered on the way here, dealing with this Dark Palace Lord would absolutely not be easy.
Indeed, even facing three Demon Venerables, the Dark Palace Lord was not intimidated in the slightest. He acted as if he were confident he could kill them all.
The aura of darkness flowing from his body began to seize the space.
It was clearly a darkness with a will of its own. The darkness flowed along the floor and walls, swallowing the light in that space little by little.
The Dark Palace Lord opened his mouth for the first time.
“Even if he comes out of there safely, the Young Cult Leader will see it. The deaths of everyone he likes.”
It was a declaration that he would kill everyone here.
Chwima was not the sort to let such words pass.
“If you’re going to kill everyone he likes…… you’ll have to kill a truly great many people. Our Young Cult Leader likes people so much that there are people he likes everywhere.”
The Dark Palace Lord looked at Chwima and spoke coldly.
“I’ll kill you first.”
At the Dark Palace Lord’s words, Chwima waved his hands.
“Not me! The Young Cult Leader likes everyone except me. He always comes to find me last.”
Demon Buddha also joined in Chwima’s stubborn sulking.
“That may not be much different for me.”
“Ah, that’s true. Our Demon Buddha only liked the Eldest Young Master. How is it that, even when we gather, it’s all cold rice like us?”
Chwima looked at the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable.
“The Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable is in trouble. Since you’re the youngest Demon Venerable, our Young Cult Leader cherishes you tremendously.”
Though he was telling her to die first, a faint smile formed at the corners of the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable’s mouth.
Their composure did not excite the Dark Palace Lord at all.
“Good. Then I’ll rephrase that. Not the people he likes, but the death of everyone the Young Cult Leader knows.”
As soon as those words ended, the surrounding space was instantly submerged in darkness.
To be precise, it was not darkness, but night.
Twinkle.
Far away, a single star brightened, giving off light.
Starting with that, stars began to shine in every direction. Like the countless stars of the night sky, stars began to fill the space around them as well. There were large stars, and there were small stars. Far in the distance, the Milky Way flowed.
The sight was truly enchanting and mysterious. They really were floating in a night sky full of stars.
It was the moment the Dark Palace Lord’s unique martial art, the Dark Heaven Star Soul Art, was unleashed.
The Dark Palace Lord stood before them, yet it created the illusion that he was very close, and, in another sense, that he was truly far away.
The three Demon Venerables instinctively sensed that this demonic art was anything but ordinary.
Looking around at the surrounding stars, Chwima said,
“I’ve drunk liquor in all sorts of places. On rooftops, in snowy mountains, floating on water, on the road. But there’s just one place I haven’t drunk—in the sky.”
Chwima looked at the stars floating around them and was moved.
“My lifelong dream was to drink liquor in the sky, and you’re making it come true!”
It was at that very moment.
Among the countless stars floating in every direction, one fell toward Chwima.
Shiiiiiiiiii.
The star flew like a comet. When it had been far away, it had been as small as a dot, but when it flew in front of Chwima, it was the size of an adult’s head.
Chwima drew up his internal energy and thrust out a palm force toward the incoming light.
Kwaaaang!
From far away it had been a star, but up close, it was a powerful dark qi force.
From the impact, Chwima was pushed several steps back. Only a single star had flown at him, yet the qi force, infused with the power of the Greedy Heart Demon-Extinguishing Art, was incomparably powerful.
The stars filling the darkness felt utterly threatening, so Demon Buddha and the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable also drew up their internal energy and prepared to fight in earnest.
Chwima finished the liquor he had saved to give Geom Mugeuk and said as if wronged,
“If I go around saying I got hit by a star, they’ll say I’m drunkenly talking nonsense, won’t they? Ah! Is this, too, the fate of a drunkard?”
Chwima was not overwhelmed in momentum at all.
And when it came to momentum on a battlefield, the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable was no ordinary figure either.
She opened her mouth for the first time.
“You said that when the Young Cult Leader comes out, you’ll make him see everyone he knows dead?”
From her two eyes flowed a dizzying killing intent that made the world spin.
“Aren’t you included among those people he knows?”
* * *
When Geom Mugeuk came to his senses, he was standing in an unfamiliar place.
As he looked around, Geom Mugeuk flinched in surprise.
‘This place?’
In an empty space, a large secret coffer had been placed. Since he had come here before, Geom Mugeuk knew where this was.
This was the mountainside of Baegyang Peak, where the duel between the Heavenly Will Palace Lord and the Martial Emperor Divine Sword had taken place three hundred years ago.
The very place where the large secret coffer had been hidden within the Dark Palace’s maze formation!
Geom Mugeuk’s heart pounded.
‘I’ve returned to three hundred years ago again.’
The secret coffer had brought him back to that time and place once more.
Geom Mugeuk first examined the condition of his body.
As when he had been brought here before, all he had was a faint amount of internal energy. Just enough internal energy to use the Space-Time Transposition Art, as he had then.
Geom Mugeuk approached the secret coffer placed in the center of that place.
“Why did you bring me back again?”
Of course, the secret coffer gave no response.
To what point in time had it brought him? Was it after the fight between the Martial Emperor Divine Sword and the Heavenly Will Palace Lord had ended? In any case, the result of that fight had already been decided.
Just as he was about to go outside and assess the situation, he heard signs of someone entering the place.
Geom Mugeuk activated the Space-Time Transposition Art and hid himself.
Someone was hurriedly entering the place while carrying a person on his back.
“Please endure just a little longer!”
It was Baek Yanggi, the Guardian Palace Lord of the Heavenly Will Palace. The person he was carrying on his back was Wi Mucheon, the Heavenly Will Palace Lord. The duel at Baegyang Peak had already ended.
The Guardian Palace Lord carefully seated Wi Mucheon against the secret coffer.
“Are you all right?”
Wi Mucheon’s face was pale. As if feeling extreme cold, his entire body was trembling violently.
“Please remove the protective armor first.”
The Guardian Palace Lord took off Wi Mucheon’s outer robe. Beneath it, he was wearing the Ice Dragon Divine Armor.
The last time he had come here, Geom Mugeuk had seen it. The Dark Palace Lord had given the Ice Dragon Divine Armor and the Heavenly Yin Pill, which he had received from a masked man of the Demonic Cult, to the Heavenly Will Palace Lord as a gift.
It had been given because the Martial Emperor Divine Sword possessed martial arts of extreme yang.
But judging from Wi Mucheon’s current state, he had suffered an attack of extreme yin. The Heavenly Yin Pill and the Ice Dragon Divine Armor had instead worsened his injury even further.
“The Dark Palace Lord betrayed us!”
The Guardian Palace Lord regretted that he had failed to realize it in time.
On the day Wi Mucheon had received those gifts, he had been there too.
He had suspected something was strange, but because Wi Mucheon trusted the Dark Palace Lord, he had not been able to insist until the end. At the time, the Heavenly Will Palace Lord had accepted this fight as his destiny.
When the Guardian Palace Lord removed the Ice Dragon Divine Armor from his body, something rolled out from his breast.
What rolled across the floor was a small secret coffer.
Even with his severe injuries, Wi Mucheon reached out with difficulty, trying to take it.
“Give me that.”
“We must treat your wounds first.”
“Give it to me.”
The Guardian Palace Lord picked up the secret coffer that had fallen to the floor and gave it to Wi Mucheon.
Wi Mucheon gripped the secret coffer with both hands.
“……If it was going to be like this, why did you come into the world? If you were never going to grant me strength in the end, why?”
Woooong.
The secret coffer rang.
Wi Mucheon’s gaze grew intense.
“After calling me like this…… Kueeek.”
Wi Mucheon poured out blood.
“Palace Lord!”
Watching this, Geom Mugeuk could sense it. The secret coffer had reacted to him.
After seating him upright, the Guardian Palace Lord poured internal energy into his back.
Wooooong.
Though he carefully injected his internal energy, Wi Mucheon received a great shock.
Wi Mucheon vomited blood again. His current physical state was, quite literally, on the verge of collapse.
“I will try again.”
Wi Mucheon refused his treatment and turned to sit facing him.
“……The Divine Maiden was right. The Will of Heaven was not with me.”
The Guardian Palace Lord bowed his head. He knew that Wi Mucheon’s condition was already irreversible.
“Everything is my responsibility.”
He should have stopped him. From the beginning, he should have stopped him from starting the war. That had been the true duty of the Guardian Palace Lord.
If the Dark Palace Lord harbored other intentions, discovering that, too, had been his duty.
“Palace Lord Baek, listen carefully to what I say from now on.”
“Yes, Palace Lord.”
Wi Mucheon stared at the Guardian Palace Lord, who was filled with loyalty, then held out the bloodstained secret coffer in his hand.
“Take this secret coffer and escape this place.”
When the Guardian Palace Lord was about to say something, Wi Mucheon raised his hand and stopped him.
“Three hundred years from now, you must fulfill the Will of Heaven.”
The Guardian Palace Lord did not accept the secret coffer.
“I cannot do that. I am the Guardian Palace Lord. Protecting you, Palace Lord, is the calling and mission heaven bestowed upon me.”
Wi Mucheon shook his head.
“It is my final request.”
At that earnest gaze, the Guardian Palace Lord’s face trembled.
The Guardian Palace Lord knelt and respectfully accepted the secret coffer.
It was the moment he received the sacred object of the Heavenly Will Palace.
Even if he could leave with this, would he be able to inherit the Will of Heaven? And would that choice truly be right?
“Palace Lord Baek! There is no time.”
Since he could no longer refuse, the Guardian Palace Lord was just about to nod when a thunderous sound came from outside.
Bang!
It was the sound of the maze formation installed outside being destroyed. There was only one reason the Dark Palace’s formation could be destroyed so easily. Someone had told the enemies the method to break it.
Soon after, three people entered the place.
The person standing in the center was the Martial Emperor Divine Sword.
The two people who entered with him possessed presences no less formidable than the Martial Emperor Divine Sword. Though they entered side by side, they kept a certain distance from each other, as if wary of one another.
The Guardian Palace Lord stood in front of Wi Mucheon, blocking the way.
‘This is the Dark Palace Lord’s doing.’
That traitor had told them how to break the maze formation, allowing them to walk all the way in here. The Guardian Palace Lord wanted to kill the Dark Palace Lord even more than he wanted to kill them.
Wi Mucheon spoke from behind him.
“……Move aside.”
The Guardian Palace Lord slowly stepped aside.
The first place Wi Mucheon’s gaze turned was toward the Martial Emperor Divine Sword.
“……How could you do this?”
The attack of extreme yin he had suffered had not come from the Martial Emperor Divine Sword. It had come from one of the two people who entered with him.
The duel at Baegyang Peak had been a meticulously prepared trap.
As if he had no intention of making excuses, the Martial Emperor Divine Sword said nothing, his face sunken.
Wi Mucheon’s gaze turned toward the man to the Martial Emperor Divine Sword’s left.
Wearing a robe as deep as blood, he radiated a presence more intense than anyone else in this place. The mere sight of him made it hard to breathe. His identity was none other than—
“……Demonic Cult Leader, to think you would interfere in this fight!”
Amazingly, one of the two was Hyeok Docheon, the cult leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult three hundred years ago.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult of three hundred years ago was different from the present. It was the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult that was, quite literally, terror itself.
The one who led that Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was this very Hyeok Docheon. He was more cruel and ruthless than any cult leader of the previous generations. Thus, the martial artists of the world did not dare speak his name aloud and trembled in fear.
Geom Mugeuk was shocked as he looked at the Heavenly Demon of three hundred years ago. He had known the Demonic Cult was involved, but he had never dreamed he would see him here.
‘That man is the Heavenly Demon of this era.’
His impression was intense. Though no wind blew, his hair rose in all directions as if it were whipping about, and from his two eyes flowed an intense demonic energy that seemed to contain hell itself.
This time, Wi Mucheon’s gaze turned toward the man on the opposite side.
He had neatly arranged pure white hair, and eyes in which loneliness and superiority could be felt at the same time. His presence was no ordinary thing either.
“……And as if that weren’t enough, you even dragged in the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path.”
Amazingly, he was none other than the Alliance Leader of the Evil Path.
Geom Mugeuk was as shocked by his identity as he had been when he saw the Demonic Cult Leader. No, he was even more shocked. Because he was someone Geom Mugeuk himself had met before.
The Alliance Leader of the Evil Path, Ju Gashin.
He was the owner of the coffin from which Geom Mugeuk had obtained the final bead, Jajeong, in the underground tomb—the man he had met as a white skeleton now stood before his eyes.
Geom Mugeuk had read Ju Gashin’s deeds on the pillar in that underground tomb.
—Together with the Martial Emperor Divine Sword, he destroyed the Heavenly Will Palace.
The Alliance Leader of the Evil Path, Ju Gashin, had truly killed the Heavenly Will Palace Lord together with the Martial Emperor Divine Sword. The Demonic Cult Leader had not been mentioned in that record, yet the three of them were together.
Within the Space-Time Transposition Art, Geom Mugeuk watched the three leaders of demonic, orthodox, and evil with a deep gaze.
Just as the three leaders would gather in one place three hundred years later, three hundred years ago, the three had gathered like this.
‘So all of you were gathered on this day.’