Everyone who had been in the cabins came up onto the ship’s deck.
The dark smoke that had surrounded the ship, and the barrier that had lain over the lake around it, had all vanished.
The long night had passed, and dawn was breaking.
Geom Mugeuk looked at the boats in the distance ferrying the gamblers away. Countless small skiffs were carrying the gamblers of the Fortune Ship toward land.
Martial artists of the Ghost Shadow Unit were aboard the boats, and Geom Mugeuk waved toward the one Ian was riding.
“Ian!”
When Geom Mugeuk waved, Ian cried out in joy as well.
“Young Cult Leader!”
Seeing that Geom Mugeuk was safe, she jumped up and down in delight despite her subordinates watching. Her Young Cult Leader mattered more than dignity.
From the boats in every direction, cheers of joy and victory erupted all at once. Not only Geom Mugeuk, but all the Demon Venerables who had entered the ship had appeared on deck.
On the skiff were the four squad leaders of the Ghost Shadow Unit: Cheongmyeon, Chairan, Seojin, and Jihan. They, too, looked at Geom Mugeuk and the Demon Venerables with joy.
Cheongmyeon’s gaze, which had been fixed on Geom Mugeuk, shifted to the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
The words the Extreme Evil Young Demon had spoken to him came back to him.
—If you wish to come back, you may.
Whether he returned or not, simply hearing those words had made this expulsion from the cult deeply meaningful for Cheongmyeon.
I am glad you are safe.
Though they would not be able to see him from so far away, Cheongmyeon bowed politely to the two of them.
Chairan understood. The fact that they had emerged safely from this final battle meant—
‘The Dark Palace Lord is dead.’
It was the moment when the darkness that had followed her vanished forever.
‘You really did it.’
Had she not chosen Geom Mugeuk, her name would have been added to the list of victims as well.
Seojin and Jihan cheered, delighted that the Ghost Shadow Unit’s first mission had ended safely.
“That was a round I was winning! Because of you people!”
Jihan struck the back of the red-eyed gambler’s head.
“You lived because of us!”
He had survived for now, but if he could not escape gambling, he would ultimately meet ruin.
Yang Dong, the owner of the Fortune Ship who was aboard another skiff, was inwardly astonished.
When he learned that a terrifying conspiracy had unfolded on his own ship, he had truly thought he would die. Yet, astonishingly, the demonic practitioners had spared them.
“I will be sure to tell the Sado Alliance that you saved us.”
Ian, who was on the same boat, nodded.
Well, even if he did not say anything, there was someone who would boast until the young lord of the Sado Alliance’s ears ached, so everyone would find out anyway.
Ian’s gaze turned toward Geom Mugeuk in the distance. Even standing among many people, Geom Mugeuk shone.
Geom Mugeuk’s shout came from far away.
“You all worked hard!”
The cheers of the Ghost Shadow Unit martial artists grew even louder. From farther away, the thunderous cheers of the demon troops waiting there could also be heard.
After raising his subordinates’ morale in that way, Geom Mugeuk bid farewell to the Demon Venerables.
“I will return to the main cult first.”
The Demon Venerables nodded. Since no one could match Geom Mugeuk’s lightness skill, he would arrive earliest if he ran alone.
“We will follow as quickly as we can.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon, the Ilhwa Sword Venerable, and the Extreme Evil Young Demon decided to follow after Geom Mugeuk with qinggong.
Because of their injuries, the Demon Buddha, the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable, and the Drunken Demon had to return by carriage. They would go as quickly as possible, but it could not compare to the speed of lightness skill.
Gaye sat on the deck, staring blankly at the lake. The Dark Palace Lord’s death did not sadden her, nor did it give her satisfaction.
Her heart was indescribably complicated. What would become of her now?
‘Is the Young Cult Leader going to leave just like that?’
Before he left, she had to ask and confirm.
“Are you sparing me?”
“I have already spared you.”
Before entering the room where the Dark Palace Lord had been, Geom Mugeuk had given her a chance to leave.
“Without the Six Paths Primordial Qi, you cannot control him.”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“I know.”
“Are you not worried? The Six Paths Primordial Qi is with you, Young Cult Leader.”
“Of course I’m worried. Worried enough to go mad.”
A look of puzzlement passed over Gaye’s face.
“And yet you have the leisure to have this conversation with me?”
An unexpected answer flowed from Geom Mugeuk’s mouth.
“Because matters concerning you are just as important.”
“!”
Gaye had this thought. Yes, because he is this kind of person, he has formed such deep bonds with the Demon Venerables.
She felt she now understood why the Dark Palace Lord had been unable to defeat this Young Cult Leader. To defeat someone like this… yes, he had become far too hardened, like a fossil.
“Even so, there is one thing I believe in. In the process of obtaining the Six Paths Primordial Qi, not only I, but my father and the Demon Venerables all became stronger. And everyone changed greatly. I believe in the power of that change as much as I believe in the power of the Six Paths Primordial Qi.”
Gaye felt as though it was fate that she would say these words.
“From now on, memorize the formula I recite. I don’t know exactly how this formula works, either. It is a formula that has been handed down since long ago in connection with the Six Paths Primordial Qi.”
Perhaps what the Dark Palace Lord had feared most was that she would pass this formula on to Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk memorized the formula Gaye recited with perfect accuracy. The formula was not very long, but he knew instinctively. This was the very formula essential to controlling Hwa Mugi.
“Thank you truly.”
The Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress, who had been watching from the side, spoke to her.
“Heaven has not abandoned you.”
A startling statement flowed from the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress’s mouth.
“This form of yours was the prophecy I saw.”
“!”
“I saw you passing the formula on to the Young Cult Leader.”
She, who had once seen the prophecy of the Extreme Evil Young Demon stabbing Geom Mugeuk in the heart, had this time seen this scene as a prophecy.
Gaye stared at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress with wide, astonished eyes.
“So that is why you spared me.”
The Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress shook her head. It was true that she had told the Demon Venerables to spare her. It was also true that this was why she had survived.
“I do not think I spared you. I think you were destined to live.”
Feeling an indescribable surge in her chest, Gaye gazed at the sun rising in the distance.
Perhaps heaven had given her one final chance. To see whether she would pass the formula on to Geom Mugeuk.
Her shadow appeared in the sunlight.
Suddenly, she recalled what Geom Mugeuk had said to the Dark Palace Lord. When one turns one’s back to the light, only then can one see exactly what one’s darkness is.
This time, Gaye’s gaze turned toward the sky.
For the first time in a very long while, she looked up at the heavens. She had only resented heaven; it had been truly long since she had looked up at it like this.
As she watched the light pushing back the darkness, this feeling rose naturally within her.
‘For the rest of my life, I will live helping people with a heart of atonement.’
Through the conversation between the two women, Geom Mugeuk understood. The Six Paths Primordial Qi was important enough for a prophecy like this to descend. It was time to return.
Geom Mugeuk bade farewell to everyone.
“I will go to the main cult first. I’ll see you later.”
Leaping lightly into the air, Geom Mugeuk became a speck in an instant and disappeared.
“He’s become even faster.”
At the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s admiration, everyone shook their heads with astonished expressions. It was truly a lightness skill so incredible that even a Demon Venerable’s jaw would drop.
With pure internal energy infused with the mysterious power of the Six Paths Primordial Qi, and with his body transformed as well, Geom Mugeuk’s Swift Step cut through the air at extreme speed.
‘Father, I am coming!’
* * *
The day after Murim Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon came to Pungryu Tavern, after finishing breakfast, Jin Paecheon suddenly asked,
“But who does the dishes?”
He had not thought of it yesterday because there had been no time, but now he suddenly became curious.
There was no one here besides themselves, so one of them had to do the dishes.
No matter how he looked at it, there was no one who seemed suited to washing dishes.
The Poison King did it? Judging by appearances alone, of course it looked like he should be the one washing dishes.
Or the Fist Demon? Could he even wash bowls with those huge hands? No, he would break them all.
At that moment, the Sword King spoke to Jin Paecheon.
“As the youngest, I am in charge of washing the dishes.”
“You are the youngest?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Jin Paecheon once again thought that the Poison King truly did look young for his age.
“Today, I will help you.”
Everyone stared at Jin Paecheon in surprise. The Murim Alliance Leader was going to wash dishes?
At their astonished gazes, Jin Paecheon looked around and said,
“It is the way of things that the eldest and the youngest should not be troubled.”
Whatever he was thinking, Jin Paecheon helped the Sword King carry the dishes they had eaten from and went out to the rear building behind the tavern.
Baek Jagang saw through Jin Paecheon’s thoughts.
“Honestly, such greed for people. He is coveting Martial Artist Ak.”
He meant that Jin Paecheon was acting that way to curry favor with Ak Gunhak.
He himself wanted to take Ak Gunhak to the Sado Alliance. How reassuring would it be to have such an absolute master at one’s side?
Cult Leader Pungcheon looked toward the rear building visible through the open door and said,
“Even if the Young Cult Leader gives up the Gentleman Sword, do you think he would give up that man? Not a chance.”
“If Alliance Leader Jin puts in the effort, you never know.”
At Baek Jagang’s words, Cult Leader Pungcheon nodded.
“True. That man does seem to have a disposition closer to the orthodox sects.”
At that moment, Heavenly Demon Geom Ujin spoke firmly.
“That will not happen.”
He had already made an agreement with Ak Gunhak to protect Geom Mugeuk.
Thinking that the Demonic Cult Leader had already made his move, Baek Jagang shook his head.
“The truly greedy one was right here.”
Their gazes turned again to Jin Paecheon, who was squatting beside the Sword King and washing dishes. In all likelihood, it was the first time in his life he had ever washed dishes.
“Even if you wash every dish in the world, it will be for nothing, Alliance Leader Jin.”
At Baek Jagang’s quiet words, Cult Leader Pungcheon laughed and said,
“Still, it is a sight that will never be seen again in the history of the martial world, so let us watch carefully.”
* * *
Several days had passed since Jin Paecheon joined them at Pungryu Tavern.
In that time, the Heavenly Slaughter Star still had not come.
When Jin Paecheon first came here, he had never imagined he would spend days like this in the same space with these people.
After becoming the Murim Alliance Leader, had he ever lived with anyone in such cramped quarters?
And the people in question were the Demonic Cult Leader and the Sado Alliance Leader?
What in the world could be more uncomfortable than that?
He could fight alongside them!
But eating together, washing together, sleeping in the same space—he had thought that would be a hundred times harder and more uncomfortable.
Unexpectedly, it was all right.
It truly was not bad. He had thought he would never adapt to it, but it was manageable.
A person one met briefly and a person one saw while living together for several days were certainly different.
To him, Geom Ujin had felt endlessly cold and arrogant.
“Sleep here. This spot has less of a draft.”
Geom Ujin gave up his own place. This man had such a side to him?
“It is all right.”
“Use this spot.”
How could a draft be a problem for someone of Jin Paecheon’s martial realm? Even so, it was Geom Ujin’s consideration for Jin Paecheon, the eldest among them.
“Thank you.”
And Geom Ujin spoke better than he had expected. He had thought the man was entirely taciturn, but he conversed quite well not only with him, but also with the Sado Alliance Leader, the two Demon Venerables, and the Sword King.
When he thought about why he had held the preconception that Geom Ujin was a man of few words, it was because Geom Ujin never said anything useless. Even when he spoke, he said only exactly what was necessary, so he had seemed like a man without words.
Next was Baek Jagang. This man was serious about cooking.
“Is there any food you like?”
“I eat anything well enough.”
“Even so, is there not something you particularly enjoy? I will learn it from Cult Leader Geom and make it for you.”
When he first heard those words, Jin Paecheon wondered if perhaps the man intended to poison the food at a decisive moment. Truly, if the Poison King had not been here, he would have continued eating with that suspicion in mind. To think he had to worry not about the Poison King’s poison, but the Sado Alliance Leader’s!
But after watching him for several days, he saw that Baek Jagang enjoyed cooking.
“Is cooking enjoyable?”
Today as well, Baek Jagang was hard at work making something in the kitchen. He was making a soup dish he had learned from Geom Ujin.
“There is joy in doing something I have never done in my life. Alliance Leader, you should learn once as well.”
“I have no talent for cooking. I would rather wash dishes.”
At that, Cult Leader Pungcheon, who was sitting at the counter, said,
“We might as well all open an inn together.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon began imagining a fictitious inn.
“Cult Leader Geom and Alliance Leader Baek will take charge of the kitchen. Martial Artist Ak and the Poison King over there will be the waiters. The Fist Demon will handle drunken customers who make a scene, and Alliance Leader Jin will do the dishes.”
When he left himself out, Jin Paecheon asked,
“Then what do you intend to do, Cult Leader?”
The man who had assigned the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader and the leader of the Evil Alliance to cooking, and the Murim Alliance Leader to washing dishes, replied shamelessly,
“Why, I should naturally sit at the counter. Judging by my bearing, don’t I look like the owner?”
Everyone listening smiled.
In this dangerous meeting, where war could have broken out several times over, no one could deny that a pleasant atmosphere was being maintained thanks to Cult Leader Pungcheon.
Of course, the two alliance leaders also kept well within the line. They did not bring up needlessly serious topics, and spoke instead of light and enjoyable things as much as possible.
For as long as they were here, everyone set down for a moment the heavy burden of bearing the weight of the world.
It was probably because of what Geom Ujin had said.
—Let us end this fight with our generation.
This fight was not a fight for their own honor, nor was it a fight for the peace of murim.
This fight was for their children.
That cause was stronger than any other, and so, at least here in this place, they considered themselves on the same side. They believed it so.
Cult Leader Pungcheon went one step further.
“Let’s leave murim to the clever young successors, and let us all live mingling like friends. How much longer can we live, anyway? Let’s stop glaring at one another and live.”
Jin Paecheon looked at Geom Ujin and Baek Jagang. In truth, if he were told to get along with Cult Leader Pungcheon like a friend, he could picture it somehow. The man was so cheerful and so good at lifting the mood.
But to mingle like friends with those two? Was that truly possible?
Then again, considering that he was even imagining something he would never have thought of in the past, their relationship had indeed come a very long way.
The Fist Demon brought tea to the table where Geom Ujin and Jin Paecheon sat facing each other.
Baek Jagang poked his head out from the kitchen and said,
“Have a cup of tea while you wait. The meal will be ready soon! Look forward to today’s cooking!”
The Fist Demon set teacups down before the two of them.
Geom Ujin’s hand, reaching for his cup, stopped in midair.
Ripples spread across the surface of the tea.
They were very faint ripples.
The next moment.
A larger ripple appeared.
A third, a fourth—the ripples gradually grew.
Geom Ujin knew what those ripples, like heartbeats, were.
Someone was walking toward this place. With each step, the ripples were forming.
They were not ripples born from heavy, thudding steps.
The person was walking without a sound, yet their very presence was creating them.
Jin Paecheon, seated before him, and the Fist Demon, who had brought the tea, were both looking down at those ripples with sunken gazes.
Had they ever, in their lives, felt such an overwhelming presence?
The Sword King, who had been wiping a table nearby, set down his rag, and the sound of the chopping board from the kitchen ceased.
The Poison King, drawn out of his own world, had eyes deeper and colder than ever before.
Without concealing their presence,
someone was walking toward this place.