Geom Ujin sensed it instinctively.
Whatever dwelled within Hwa Mugi’s body would affect the outcome of today’s battle.
There was a reason he was trying to assess his opponent as calmly as possible.
Could that Heavenly Slaughter Star have come without knowing that he had achieved Great Completion of the Nine Flames Demonic Art? No, that couldn’t be. He had come knowing even that writing had been left on the second floor of the Pungryu Tavern.
And yet, for his opponent to be so relaxed meant he had prepared for it in some way.
‘What have you prepared against the Nine Flames Demonic Art?’
Before the fight began in earnest, he had to find the answer to that question.
Suddenly, Hwa Mugi laughed like a madman. When he abruptly stopped laughing, he had returned to normal.
“Friends? At your age, what are you doing babbling about friendship?”
Jin Paecheon stared at Hwa Mugi in disbelief. Until just a moment ago, it had truly sounded like advice a senior of the orthodox faction was giving him.
He had felt the desperate sincerity of someone who had been destroyed after associating with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Sado Alliance, telling him not to suffer the same fate.
But the Hwa Mugi before his eyes now felt completely different from before.
“Alliance Leader Jin, you’re lonely right now.”
Hwa Mugi calmly dug into Jin Paecheon.
“When you look down from a high mountain, beasts and people alike are all jostling together as they live. They all live on your mountain, but what about you yourself? There’s no one up there, is there? You’ve lived your whole life blazing brightly beneath the sun, so there isn’t even a single cloud to exchange a word with, is there?”
Hwa Mugi knew Jin Paecheon’s past life well.
“But no matter how lonely you are, should you really take a dark cloud laden with thunder as your friend? The downpour pouring from that cloud will sweep away everything living on your mountain.”
Despite his young age, he spoke like an old soul. To the point that one might think he really had rejuvenated after reversing his age.
In any case, since Hwa Mugi spoke so well, the things he had said earlier truly seemed like an act meant to mock Jin Paecheon.
That he was lonely.
Ordinarily, those words would have lodged deep in Jin Paecheon’s heart. After all, his relationship with Geom Ujin was one that never should have been formed in the first place.
Jin Paecheon looked at Geom Ujin. Geom Ujin was watching Hwa Mugi with calm eyes.
Seeing his face, Jin Paecheon suddenly recalled the sound transmission he had received a short while ago.
—Let us be friends just for today.
Those words became a shield for him. Hwa Mugi’s words, at least for today, could not pierce him.
He had come for his grandson’s sake, but yes, what of it if he became friends with the Demonic Cult Leader for a day?
“It seems one has to be at least this insane to become the Heavenly Slaughter Star.”
The one who stepped forward was the Pungcheon Cult Leader. He provoked Hwa Mugi in Jin Paecheon’s stead.
“What about you? Do you have any friends?”
For a moment, Hwa Mugi said nothing.
“Right, I figured you didn’t. You don’t have a single friend, so who are you to say anything to anyone? Me? I have one.”
Hwa Mugi’s target shifted from Jin Paecheon to the Pungcheon Cult Leader.
“I hear you even threw away your position as cult leader to make that one friend?”
“You must not have heard properly. I threw away not only my position as cult leader, but also my sacred relic and my pride.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader added cheerfully.
“In exchange, I’m living a far more interesting life. If I had stayed beyond the frontier, I wouldn’t have gotten to see this amusing spectacle.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader was not frightened at all. Usually, he was in charge of spouting nonsense, but once an enemy appeared, he stepped to the very front.
Hwa Mugi brought up what the Pungcheon Cult Leader had said earlier.
“Did you say that if the Young Cult Leader loses his father, he’ll turn that wound into armor and become an even better cult leader?”
It was what the Pungcheon Cult Leader had said to Geom Ujin earlier.
Hwa Mugi walked over and flung open the tavern window. Far in the distance, smoke from the demonic flames rising from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s main headquarters could be seen.
“I’ll kill all of you here, and then I’ll kill every last one of those bastards over there too. Those who have learned martial arts, those who haven’t—every single one, without exception. I won’t leave so much as a dog alive.”
A faint killing intent spread from his body. His killing intent was unlike anything they had experienced until now. Unfamiliar, yet intense. Within that killing intent, they could feel a promise. I will keep this, without fail.
Hwa Mugi looked this way and grinned.
“If the entire cult disappears, he won’t be able to become a good cult leader, will he?”
It was an arrogant declaration that he would slaughter the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult all by himself.
Before the regression, he had killed only everyone in the Heavenly Demon Hall’s household, but now he intended to kill the entire Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Because of Geom Mugeuk’s regression, Hwa Mugi’s fate had also changed.
On the other hand, even at the words that he would massacre the main headquarters, Geom Ujin showed no reaction. He merely watched Hwa Mugi’s every movement in silence.
Beside him, the Fist Demon sensed that Geom Ujin was different from usual.
What he saw in Geom Ujin now was not soundless rage. He had even set rage aside.
‘Cult Leader, what are you looking at right now?’
Hwa Mugi’s arrogance did not stop with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
His gaze turned toward Jin Paecheon.
“Next, I’ll go to the Martial Alliance and kill every last orthodox bastard there.”
The faintly flowing killing intent finally turned toward Baek Jagang.
“You people will be last.”
It was the moment the most arrogant threat in the entire history of the murim was uttered: that he would annihilate the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions alike.
Hwa Mugi turned to the Pungcheon Cult Leader and said,
“Pungcheon Cult Leader, because you ran your mouth carelessly, even those people’s subordinates will all die.”
He shifted the responsibility for their deaths onto the Pungcheon Cult Leader.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader wanted, in his heart, to run his mouth even more carelessly, but since the lives at stake were those of the Martial Alliance and Sado Alliance martial artists, he could not bring himself to say anything.
Truly, Hwa Mugi was an impossible man to grasp. He would smile brightly and seem utterly at ease, then sincerely threaten to massacre countless lives.
Then someone spoke from behind.
“He came here to kill everyone from the start, so don’t pay attention to what that bastard says.”
If the Pungcheon Cult Leader had stepped forward for Jin Paecheon, the one who stepped forward for him was Baek Jagang.
“The Martial Alliance Leader over there says he came because of a friend. Sado Alliance Leader, why did you come?”
At Hwa Mugi’s question, Baek Jagang answered leisurely.
“I came to see what the Heavenly Slaughter Star looks like.”
“And now that you’ve seen me?”
“You’re younger than I expected. More talkative than you look, too. Ah, perhaps you’re actually old. Seeing how much you talk.”
“Isn’t this an enjoyable occasion you’ll never experience again in your lifetime?”
Those words sounded as though he was saying he would toy with them to his heart’s content before killing them.
Just as he had done to Jin Paecheon, Hwa Mugi provoked Baek Jagang as well.
“What would the unorthodox martial artists think, seeing you caught between the orthodox faction and the Demonic Cult, watching one side and then the other?”
Baek Jagang’s reaction was different from Jin Paecheon’s.
“What would they think? ‘Ah, he’s reading the room well to survive! You’re doing great!’ That’s what they’d say. I only pick bastards like that.”
Baek Jagang was someone who, by nature, felt no inferiority complex whatsoever over words like these. That was why Bi Sain liked this side of him.
Baek Jagang did not wish for the sun, nor did he want to become darkness.
He planted his feet on the earth and lived like the wind.
That was the Sado that Baek Jagang dreamed of.
“Don’t expect anything so grand just because someone is a cult leader or an alliance leader. Just as you, the Heavenly Slaughter Star, are not grand at all.”
Geom Ujin and Jin Paecheon saw a new side of Baek Jagang. Since he had never said such things before, this was the first time they learned that Baek Jagang had this side to him.
Jin Paecheon in particular reflected on himself upon seeing that side of Baek Jagang. He could not speak quite like that, but he realized that, though they were both alliance leaders, he himself had lived too rigidly bound by forms.
Could he say such a thing as the Martial Alliance Leader? If he said such a thing, how would others see him? Could these words perhaps disgrace the honor of the orthodox murim? He realized he had bound himself with far too many restrictions.
Come to think of it, in his youth, he had truly been a free man.
At some point, he had stopped living as Jin Paecheon and had lived only as the Martial Alliance Leader.
In the vast leader’s hall of the Martial Alliance, he had never felt the emotions he had felt so many times over the past few days in this narrow tavern. He thought it was truly a good thing he had come.
Hwa Mugi, meanwhile, seemed pleased by Baek Jagang’s answer and smiled broadly in delight.
“The unorthodox faction I saw was gloomy and impossible to read. But you’re refreshingly straightforward!”
“You’re different from the Heavenly Slaughter Star I imagined, too.”
“What was the Heavenly Slaughter Star you imagined like?”
Curiosity flickered across Hwa Mugi’s face.
“Just because someone was born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star, they wouldn’t rampage about blindly declaring they’d kill everyone. The Heavenly Slaughter Star is one who cannot adapt to the world, who is pushed away from relationships with people, and who, with no other choice, brings about a bloodbath in the world. But you don’t seem to have any wounds at all. You’re just a murder maniac who has never once tried to live properly.”
Baek Jagang’s provocation was sharp. Even so, Hwa Mugi was even more delighted.
“Oh, you’re even clever! I like you.”
Hwa Mugi quietly stared at Baek Jagang, then abruptly said,
“Shall I spare you today?”
It was said with certainty, as though it was only natural that everyone else would die.
Baek Jagang nodded.
“Words like that are welcome any time.”
Then Hwa Mugi strode toward Baek Jagang.
A taut tension formed between the two of them in an instant, and Baek Jagang’s eyes narrowed even further.
Passing the distance at which either could kill the other by reaching out a hand, Hwa Mugi went so far as to stand right beside Baek Jagang.
As if they had become friends, he looked at Jin Paecheon together with him.
“What do you think of that Martial Alliance Leader? That hypocritical justice of his, wanting to become friends with the Demonic Cult Leader while claiming he’ll uphold the justice of the murim.”
Baek Jagang’s gaze turned toward Jin Paecheon. Jin Paecheon said nothing and merely listened silently to their conversation.
Unexpected words flowed from Baek Jagang’s mouth.
“He might be able to be the Demonic Cult Leader, but I don’t think he could be the Martial Alliance Leader.”
It was the first time Baek Jagang revealed his thoughts to Jin Paecheon.
“You can’t do evil deeds, you have to help even people you’ve never seen before, and even while knowing you’ll die, you have to sacrifice yourself for chivalry and goodwill. Isn’t it a path you can barely walk even if you act hypocritically? For me, even if I acted hypocritically a hundred times, a thousand times, it’s a path I couldn’t take.”
Baek Jagang slowly looked at Hwa Mugi standing beside him and asked,
“Honestly, you couldn’t take that path either, could you?”
Hwa Mugi’s bright smile changed into a strange one.
“How disappointing. I thought we saw eye to eye.”
Their gazes tangled in midair. Tension flowed. The two were so close that it seemed something might happen at any moment.
“Didn’t you say earlier? That the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions you know aren’t like this.”
Hwa Mugi, while reading the words on the wall on the second floor, had clearly said that.
“As you can see, this side is an exceptional case. Go pretend to be close over there.”
Naturally, no kind words came from Hwa Mugi’s mouth.
“Is that exceptional case the situation of being swept along in the young cult leader’s chaos?”
Baek Jagang struck straight into his heart.
“You’re afraid of the Young Cult Leader.”
In that instant, Hwa Mugi’s expression hardened.
“Isn’t your plan to kill that cult leader over there and wound the Young Cult Leader because you fear him?”
Baek Jagang asked, looking into his eyes. Baek Jagang’s eyes were small, but deep and dark as an abyss.
“Why do you fear the Young Cult Leader?”
It was at that very moment.
Swaaaaaaaaaaah.
A crimson aura burst fiercely from Hwa Mugi’s eyes.
It was tremendous killing intent. They had never felt killing intent this powerful before. His killing intent had surpassed the limits of what a human being could produce. It was such terrifying killing intent that any ordinary master would lose his life from it alone.
The protective qi of everyone there activated all at once.
“You verminous unorthodox mongrel!”
Hwa Mugi, who had always laughed things off whenever he was angered, transformed terrifyingly.
“Lower your eyes before I rip those tiny eyeballs out!”
This time, a rough and violent side completely different from what he had shown before burst forth.
Hwa Mugi poured out abuse.
“An unorthodox bastard who should be selling liquor in some back alley dares run his mouth in front of me? You things don’t even have the guts to become true evil. You’re more pathetic than those orthodox scraps!”
His momentum was such that he seemed ready to draw his sword and fight Baek Jagang at any moment.
The sense of crisis between the two was pulled taut as if it would snap at any second, but it did not break.
Once again, everyone thought Hwa Mugi was mocking Baek Jagang. After all, he had shown so many sides of himself like a lunatic.
But one person was the exception.
Geom Ujin had been watching only Hwa Mugi’s pupils the entire time.
In that fleeting instant, this time demonic qi brushed past. It was such a momentary reaction that anyone but him would have found it hard to notice. It was like sensing, for the briefest instant, that a soul had changed.
‘So there’s a demonic practitioner inside that body too!’
Geom Ujin could tell that Hwa Mugi’s body did not contain only the orthodox master he had seen earlier. And judging from what Hwa Mugi had said before—that the unorthodox faction member he had seen had not been like that—
‘All the souls of the demonic, orthodox, and unorthodox factions are inside that man’s body.’
It was truly unbelievable, but thinking it over again, he felt that because Hwa Mugi was such a Heavenly Slaughter Star, he might have been capable of attempting something so reckless.
‘Are there truly only three souls?’
It was the first time even Geom Ujin had encountered a case where multiple souls dwelled in a single person’s body.
If so, there was one thing he now had to confirm.
Geom Ujin sent a sound transmission to the Fist Demon.
—Land a blow on him.
The Fist Demon had truly been waiting for that order alone.
Whoooong!
The Fist Demon’s fist surged toward Hwa Mugi, flying straight at his face.
Hwa Mugi, who had been looking at Baek Jagang, turned his body slightly and extended a hand behind him, blocking the Fist Demon’s punch. The fist struck his palm.
Paaaaang!
In the aftermath of the collision, a tremendous wave of force spread in every direction. The chopstick holders and empty cups set on the other tables were all sent flying, rolling across the floor.
Hwa Mugi did not budge a single step from where he stood. The Fist Demon had not thrown the punch with all his might, but even so, it was not a fist that could be blocked so easily.
“The Demon Sovereign dares throw a fist at me?”
Just as Hwa Mugi turned around with a terrifying gaze—
Whoaaang!
Without hesitation, the Fist Demon’s second punch flew in first and struck Hwa Mugi squarely in the face.
Puuuuck!
Judging by his ability from before, he clearly could have avoided it. Yet Hwa Mugi had deliberately taken the blow.
His head had snapped back so violently it seemed as though it might have been torn off, but then it rose forward again.
Despite that powerful impact, not even a small scratch appeared on his face. It was an astonishing protective qi aura.
“That hurt less than the rumors claimed.”
At Hwa Mugi’s provocation, the Fist Demon’s fearsome face hardened coldly.
But the Fist Demon quietly stepped back. The Cult Leader’s order had been to land a blow on him, not to fight him to the death.
Geom Ujin was watching Hwa Mugi, who had already returned to his original state.
There were two things Geom Ujin had learned.
They might pop out abruptly, but they could not act entirely according to their own will. If that had not been the case, that demonic practitioner earlier would surely have gone berserk.
Geom Ujin recalled what the demonic practitioner had said.
—The Demon Sovereign dares throw a fist at me?
Dares? A demonic practitioner who could use the word “dares” toward the Demon Sovereign?
‘There’s a Heavenly Demon of a past generation inside him!’
Whether it was the previous generation, the one before that, or someone from long ago, he could not know, but there was no doubt that a Demonic Cult Leader was inside him.
If that was the case, then the answer to the question he had first asked had now emerged.
What had you prepared to counter the Guhwa Demonic Art?
‘This man uses the Guhwa Demonic Art as well!’