The closer he came, the greater his presence grew.
It was as if his very existence was pushing the space aside as he walked.
Jin Paecheon, the Murim Alliance Leader who had been seated across from Geom Ujin, rose from his seat.
This was not a presence one could face while sitting at ease, and in any case, the host who would receive him here today was Geom Ujin. He and Baek Jagang had only come to assist Geom Ujin.
Jin Paecheon stood a short distance away from the table.
Srrk.
A kitchen knife emerged and lifted the bead curtain hanging over the kitchen. Behind it stood Baek Jagang, who spoke as if regretful.
“I simmered it so well, too.”
His tone was relaxed, but his eyes gleamed more sharply than ever. He put out the fire he had been tending, set down the kitchen knife, and walked out of the kitchen.
The Sword King slowly moved to stand by the rear wall. It was not far from the corner seat where the Poison King sat.
He did not know how the Poison King would fight, but he thought that when the enemy came charging in, someone would have to hold him back for the Poison King’s poison arts to shine.
Had he noticed that intention?
The Poison King glanced sidelong at the Sword King, then turned his gaze back toward the entrance.
In the meantime, carrying a tension that felt as though it might burst at any moment, the opponent arrived before the Pungryu Tavern.
A man entered the tavern.
He had long, flowing jet-black hair and a tall, well-proportioned frame. At a glance, his body seemed perfect for mastering martial arts. His gaze was intense, and a red aura lingered in his pupils.
It was neither killing intent nor a projected bearing. It was not an aura a person deliberately revealed, but an innate energy.
Everyone understood. That energy was the aura of the Heavenly Slaughter Star. It was the first time any of them had seen it in person.
He wore a single sword at his waist, and its sheath was black.
And what was most striking of all was that he was younger than they had imagined.
The moment the man entered the tavern, that overwhelming presence vanished. Since it meant he could reveal and conceal his presence at will, they found themselves unable to relax.
Without hesitation, the man strode over to the table where Geom Ujin sat and, without a trace of fear, took the seat Jin Paecheon had occupied.
To sit beside an enemy while that enemy was standing was an act of madness. Especially when the men standing there were the Murim Alliance Leader and the Fist Demon.
If not for the presence he had shown earlier, one might have thought some drunken passerby had wandered in by mistake.
The man picked up the teacup that had been poured for Jin Paecheon and drank it down.
Then, setting the cup down, he said politely,
“Not bad.”
It was unclear whether he meant the taste of the tea, or the people waiting for him here.
The man’s gaze turned to Geom Ujin.
“You are the current Demon Cult Leader.”
His voice was as composed as his eyes. He did not deliberately add weight to it, nor did he display a rough, savage momentum. Nor did he act light on purpose.
An opponent whose weight was difficult to measure. That was the man’s first impression.
Geom Ujin nodded and answered.
“So you are the Heavenly Slaughter Star.”
At that, the man smiled gently. His words flowed naturally, as if he had been conversing with them here all along.
“Is it not absurd? That a person is born bearing a destiny? No matter how kindly I try to live by my own will, in the end I am fated to cause a blood calamity. Cult Leader, do you also believe destiny cannot be defied?”
Geom Ujin said in a low voice,
“Why ask that? You proved it by coming here.”
Their gazes locked in midair.
“If you do not wish to be called the Heavenly Slaughter Star, state your name.”
“You are worthy of hearing my name.”
The Fist Demon, standing beside Geom Ujin, was ready to throw a punch at any moment. To him, that calmness was both the utmost danger and arrogance.
“Hwa Mugi.”
The man was Hwa Mugi. The very man who, in Geom Mugeuk’s life before regression, had killed the Cult Leaders and Alliance Leaders who had been here, now appeared at the Pungryu Tavern.
Hwa Mugi extended the empty teacup to the side, then opened the hand holding it.
Crash.
The teacup fell to the floor and shattered.
“Yes. Just as this cup fell and broke, I could not defy destiny.”
At that, Geom Ujin slowly drank his tea.
Then he dropped the empty cup to the floor in the exact same way as Hwa Mugi.
But this time, it did not break.
Just before the cup struck the floor, it rose through the air by the art of seizing objects through empty space and settled back into its original place.
“Destiny can be defied.”
Looking at Hwa Mugi, Geom Ujin added,
“There was a time when I, too, liked the sound of things shattering.”
Hwa Mugi’s expression brightened.
“I was right to come to you first. I feel better now.”
But the faint red light gleaming in his pupils grew even deeper.
Hwa Mugi met the eyes of each person there in turn.
His gaze met Jin Paecheon’s, then turned to Baek Jagang.
From the look in his eyes as he regarded them, they could tell. Hwa Mugi knew that Jin Paecheon was the Murim Alliance Leader, and that Baek Jagang was the leader of the Unorthodox Alliance.
Even so, he was not shaken in the slightest.
His gaze then met the eyes of the remaining people as well.
The Cult Leader Pungcheon and the Fist Demon, the Sword King and the Poison King.
Even if he did not know exactly who they were, he should have been able to estimate their strength. Yet Hwa Mugi’s expression did not change in the least.
That was why even these words sounded like false modesty.
“You overestimated me far too much.”
“It was not I who overestimated you.”
The person who came from Geom Ujin’s mouth was none other than Geom Mugeuk.
“My son overestimated you.”
From the very beginning, even the reason he had raised the Demon Flower was because of Geom Mugeuk. Bringing along the various Demon Supremes, leaving behind the Fist Demon and the Poison King—everything.
It was because he had believed all of it to be Geom Mugeuk’s arrangement. And his son’s prediction had been correct. Someone who could remain at ease even in this situation had truly come.
‘Son, was this the existence you feared?’
He was indeed an opponent worthy of fear. The incomprehensible potential he could sense from the other man was something he had never seen in his life. He could not predict at all what might spring out from within him.
For now, the mere fact that he remained calm in this situation proved that the opponent was truly extraordinary.
“In truth, the person I most wanted to meet was your son.”
“Then why did you seek me out?”
Unexpected words flowed from Hwa Mugi’s mouth.
“To wound your son.”
Hwa Mugi looked straight into Geom Ujin’s eyes and added,
“By killing you.”
Silence fell over the hall. It was the moment Hwa Mugi made his reason for coming unmistakably clear.
He had come to kill Geom Ujin. In Geom Mugeuk’s life before regression, he had first gone to the Murim Alliance, then to the Unorthodox Alliance, and finally to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Now, in reverse, he had come to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult first.
The Fist Demon silently clenched his fist. He would kill the Cult Leader to wound Geom Mugeuk?
At that moment, Cult Leader Pungcheon said to Geom Ujin,
“What a relief.”
The one who melted this suffocating atmosphere was, as expected, Cult Leader Pungcheon.
“Wouldn’t it be unpleasant if his reason for trying to kill you were something like the destiny of the heavens and so on?”
Geom Ujin responded to his words.
“Are you saying it is fine for my son to be wounded, then?”
“The Young Cult Leader is someone who turns wounds into armor, so it will be fine. He will become an even better Cult Leader.”
Hwa Mugi, listening to their conversation, burst into a broad smile. He truly smiled often.
Hwa Mugi looked around and changed the subject.
“I heard a three-party meeting was held here?”
Hwa Mugi sprang up from his seat and walked toward the second floor of the tavern. Ordinarily, this was a place filled with opponents among whom a single misstep, a single wrong breath, could cost him his life. The instant someone attacked, hell would unfold here.
Yet he moved naturally. His movements were neither grand nor extraordinary. He was so full of openings that it was actually difficult to find an opening to attack.
On his way to the second floor, his eyes met those of the Poison King and the Sword King by the rear wall.
Hwa Mugi passed them, then stopped before the stairs to the second floor and looked back at the Sword King.
“A horsetail hairstyle and bare feet. It’s you, isn’t it? The traitor.”
The Sword King showed no reaction and remained standing as he was.
“You’re brave.”
He meant that the Sword King was waiting for him like this despite having betrayed them.
The Sword King opened his mouth for the first time. Though he had once been part of that place, he was seeing the person before him for the first time.
“I have never seen anyone as brave as you.”
Hwa Mugi smiled brightly and said to the Sword King,
“I still won’t go easy on you.”
Hwa Mugi went up to the second floor. He looked at the words written on the wall.
“They really are here.”
It seemed he had come knowing that the writings were there. With his hands clasped behind his back, Hwa Mugi read them. After slowly reading every last one, he looked down from the second-floor railing and said,
“You people are different from the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions I know. They truly did nothing but fight, endlessly and disgustingly.”
A similar question arose in everyone’s mind. He was young, so what orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions was he talking about?
Could he perhaps be an old master who had returned to youth?
It was entirely possible. For now, they observed Hwa Mugi cautiously. At the moment, they allowed him to lead the situation. What they needed now was information about their opponent.
“When I leave, I should leave a line of writing here as well.”
One of the people downstairs could no longer bear to watch his leisure.
“Say what you want to leave behind in advance. I will leave it for you.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon had provoked him.
At that, Hwa Mugi leaned against the second-floor railing and asked Cult Leader Pungcheon,
“Who are you?”
It did not seem that he was deliberately trying to provoke him; he truly appeared not to know.
If so, then astonishingly, he must have come here without knowing exactly who was present. He had simply strapped on a single sword and charged alone into the main altar of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“I am not an important person, so pay me no mind. Remember me as the one who will leave behind your last words.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon’s pride had been needlessly wounded, but fortunately, Hwa Mugi recognized him belatedly.
“Ah, you are Cult Leader Pungcheon.”
Hwa Mugi recognized Cult Leader Pungcheon.
“I heard you were at the Divine Cult as well.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon’s gaze turned colder than ever. This was not the gentle demeanor he had shown until now.
“Yet they still sent you, so it seems they must have hoped you would die here.”
Instead of taking the bait, Hwa Mugi readily acknowledged it.
“That’s right. He did hope I would die. Together with all of you.”
Hwa Mugi had seen through the mind of the Dark Palace Lord.
“Do you know why I did not kill him even though I knew that? He knelt and begged me to spare him. He said he would offer me the Young Cult Leader’s head.”
They could tell he was not lying. The opponent before them was someone to whom the Dark Palace Lord, the mastermind behind this matter, had knelt and begged. The true leader was this man.
Upon realizing that clearly, Geom Ujin smiled.
‘Well done, son.’
It was praise for his son’s choice in leaving the true leader to him.
Cult Leader Pungcheon said with certainty,
“Even if you did not kill him, the Young Cult Leader will have cut off his head.”
“You people truly believe in the Young Cult Leader.”
He looked back at the second-floor wall again.
“Then again, this is not something just anyone can accomplish.”
Looking at the wall, Hwa Mugi said,
“Let us say your child is extraordinary. Even so, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult interacting with the orthodox faction? Is that not somewhat shameful?”
He asked without turning around, but everyone knew whom the question was for.
“Not at all.”
At Geom Ujin’s firm answer, Jin Paecheon was inwardly surprised.
‘The Cult Leader answered sincerely.’
He was not a man who lied. He would rather say nothing.
Then Hwa Mugi changed the target of his question.
“I suppose I should ask our Murim Alliance Leader this.”
Hwa Mugi looked back at Jin Paecheon and asked,
“Why are you here?”
Since he had not expected to be asked so suddenly why he was here, Jin Paecheon was inwardly flustered.
If he had instead been asked whether he was ashamed, he would have answered that he was not.
But explaining the reason he had come here would be a long story.
“Is it all right for the Murim Alliance Leader to associate with the Demon Cult Leader like this?”
“I am not here as the Murim Alliance Leader.”
“Then as what are you here?”
After a brief pause, Jin Paecheon answered calmly.
“I am here as that man’s friend.”
Even as he said it, Jin Paecheon wondered if this was right. A friend? Their relationship was still far too distant for the word friend, and even if they grew closer, they were people who could not become friends.
Yet when that bastard Hwa Mugi pressed him, the word friend slipped out before he knew it.
At that moment, Geom Ujin’s voice transmission came to him.
‘Let us be friends just for today.’
At the voice transmission that understood his heart all too well, Jin Paecheon looked at Geom Ujin and nodded.
It was just then. Suddenly, Hwa Mugi shouted.
“What nonsense is this? Alliance Leader Jin! You must not be here! You must never associate with that wicked Demon Cult and that cunning Unorthodox Alliance!”
Not only Jin Paecheon, but everyone watching was startled. Hwa Mugi spoke with a feeling completely different from what he had shown until now.
“If you associate with them, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Leave this place at once, even now.”
He seemed to be speaking out of genuine concern.
When Hwa Mugi suddenly acted like a different person, everyone there stared at him in bewilderment.
“I said leave at once! Hurry!”
In that moment, he looked like a man who had lost his mind.
Everyone thought Hwa Mugi was mocking the Murim Alliance Leader through an act.
But only Geom Ujin saw it. For the briefest instant, the red aura flowing in his eyes had vanished, and in its place, the bearing of the orthodox faction had flickered past.
‘That was definitely the aura of the orthodox faction.’
In other words, he was not acting. After a long wait, Geom Ujin had learned an important truth.
‘Something is inside that man’s body.’