Saying to stop with the musty old grumbling and let someone else come out meant: shut up and get lost already.
In a situation where he should have been greatly enraged, the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword had fallen into other thoughts.
The words that had flown in and lodged themselves in him earlier filled his heart.
—If you did it for the martial world, then prove it.
Had he truly brought in the Demonic Cult for the sake of the martial world?
It was a question he had asked himself for a long time, and after prolonged anguish, he had decided that he had.
But the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword knew. If it had truly been so, he would never have agonized over it for so long in the first place.
Bringing in the Demonic Cult had been a choice made entirely for himself.
He had wanted to end that war himself. If he were defeated without even ending the war that had taken so many lives? History would record it like this:
With the death of the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword, the war ended in defeat, leaving countless sacrifices in its wake.
He had not wanted the reputation he had built up over his entire life to end that way.
Death did not frighten him, but defeat did.
No matter what it took, he had wanted to win the war, to stand personally before the orthodox martial artists and say this: that he was sorry he had not ended the war sooner, but in the end, they had won.
Geom Ujin pressed him once more.
“Can you prove to Alliance Leader Jin that it truly was a choice made for the martial world?”
The Martial Sovereign Divine Sword gave no answer.
It was then that Jin Paecheon stepped forward.
“You need not prove it.”
Not only the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword, but everyone’s gaze turned to Jin Paecheon.
Jin Paecheon first looked at Geom Ujin. With his eyes, he conveyed, I am sorry, but please leave this matter to me. Then he spoke again to the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword.
“I know that you made efforts in your own way, Alliance Leader. I believe in you.”
For an instant, the eyes of the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword, borrowing Hwa Mugi’s body, trembled.
If the other man had said he could not trust him, he would have justified himself somehow.
But because he said he believed him, his heart instead grew heavier. He had nothing to say. At the very least, the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword was not a villain who exploited another’s feelings.
How could Jin Paecheon not know?
The reason the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword could not answer with confidence. The feelings he could not speak aloud.
That was why he said he believed him. If the man had truly been evil, he would not have shown such a reaction. He would have shamelessly insisted that it truly had been a choice for the martial world. He would have loudly declared that he would prove it somehow.
People each had their own lives and their own reasons. Some would understand them, and others would criticize them.
Even if others drove him into a corner, Jin Paecheon alone did not wish to do so. He did not want to see the person he had once respected collapse before everyone’s eyes.
“And I will protect the martial world of this era.”
This was Jin Paecheon’s sincerity.
“Even knowing that you are within that body, I will point my sword at the Heavenly Slaughter Star. I will swing my sword to kill him. For that, I apologize in advance.”
As a junior alliance leader, and as a descendant of the orthodox faction, Jin Paecheon observed every courtesy he could.
Watching him, Geom Ujin could tell.
More than his own pressure had done, Jin Paecheon’s courtesy, that uprightness, was provoking him even more deeply.
Whether intentional or not, Jin Paecheon was carrying out Geom Ujin’s intention in the finest possible way. He was shaking the soul of the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword without mercy.
In the end, the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword returned to Hwa Mugi without saying a single word.
Hwa Mugi perched on the table and put on a deliberately sour expression.
“You acted like a meek scholar, but you turned out to be spicy ginger.”
“What does that mean?”
“You shook the old man’s heart properly.”
Hwa Mugi picked up the wine bottle on the table and drank from it.
“With a heart that weak, how can you be an alliance leader? If you’re going to be an alliance leader, you ought to be this vicious and cruel.”
Hwa Mugi criticized Jin Paecheon. He seemed intent on shaking Jin Paecheon just as Jin Paecheon had shaken the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword.
Jin Paecheon did not fall for the provocation and spoke calmly.
“I sincerely believe in the Alliance Leader.”
At that, Hwa Mugi looked not at Jin Paecheon but at Geom Ujin and asked,
“The Martial Alliance Leader of this era is this naive, and you still haven’t managed to smash the orthodox faction?”
It was a remark mocking both Geom Ujin and Jin Paecheon.
Of course, Geom Ujin was not shaken in the slightest. Rather, from Hwa Mugi’s reaction, he learned one thing.
‘The Heavenly Slaughter Star cares about the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword.’
And what did that mean?
‘The Heavenly Slaughter Star and the souls are connected.’
It meant those souls influenced the Heavenly Slaughter Star in some way. His choice to shake those souls had been correct.
Drinking wine, Hwa Mugi said to everyone,
“I can’t understand orthodox faction people. Why do you stake your lives on such useless things? Trust? What does it matter if you trust someone or not? You people live too conscious of others.”
Jin Paecheon asked Hwa Mugi,
“Then what is it that you believe in?”
“There is only one thing I believe: that what happens today is nothing but inevitability.”
“Do you consider yourself an inevitable existence?”
Hwa Mugi’s eyes gleamed with arrogance.
“That is for you people to consider. If today’s deaths were mere coincidence, wouldn’t that be far too tragic for you?”
Then someone spoke, cutting him off flatly.
“It is coincidence.”
The one who spoke was Baek Jagang.
“Whether we live today is coincidence, and whether we die is coincidence.”
He did not regard life and death as inevitabilities. He thought people died if they were unlucky.
“Countless people were born, and by chance you became the Heavenly Slaughter Star. We, too, became alliance leaders because many coincidences overlapped. So don’t dress yourself up as something grand.”
At that moment, Hwa Mugi’s gaze changed. It was an energy he had not revealed even once until now—evil qi.
“You knew I was here, didn’t you?”
He was Ju Gasin, the Evil Dao Alliance Leader from three hundred years ago. Hyeok Docheon had come out because Geom Ujin had provoked him, and the Martial Sovereign Divine Sword had come out because Jin Paecheon had courteously invited him.
But Ju Gasin came out on his own.
“If the Demonic Cult Leader was there, and the Martial Alliance Leader was there, then you would have been there too.”
Baek Jagang had expected the Evil Dao Alliance Leader from three hundred years ago to be inside Hwa Mugi’s body.
“Then why did you not seek me out?”
“I did not wish to see you.”
“Why?”
“We are opponents who will kill each other anyway, so what is the point of seeing you? It would only feel unpleasant.”
Ju Gasin did not get angry. Rather, he looked at Baek Jagang with an expression of interest.
“What is the current Evil Dao Alliance like?”
“It’s running well enough.”
Ju Gasin’s gaze turned toward Geom Ujin and Jin Paecheon.
“The orthodox faction regarded us as opportunists who could join hands with the Demonic Cult at any time, and the Demonic Cult always ignored and despised us.”
Ju Gasin’s gaze returned to Baek Jagang.
“Between the orthodox faction and the Demonic Cult, the ones always drenched in blood were us.”
Ju Gasin had dreamed of unifying the martial world.
He had regarded the war between the Cheonui Palace and the Martial Alliance as an opportunity bestowed upon him by the heavens.
But when he was sucked into the secret coffer, his dream was thwarted. Afterward, he had forgotten that dream for a long time, but upon seeing Baek Jagang, he felt it revive.
“It is not something to blame others for, is it? We acted that way.”
This attitude of Baek Jagang’s instead caught Ju Gasin’s interest. And so he was curious. What thoughts did this Evil Dao Alliance Leader, whom he had met three hundred years later, truly possess?
“What is your evil dao?”
At Ju Gasin’s question, Baek Jagang answered as if it were nothing.
“Evil dao? I have nothing that grand. If you come under me, I’ll make sure you eat well and live well. That is all.”
Ju Gasin stared quietly at Baek Jagang, then sent him a sound transmission.
—You should live.
A sound transmission he had truly never expected flew into him.
—And fulfill the dream of conquering the martial world that I could not complete.
It was not a sound transmission meant to hide the conversation from Hwa Mugi or the other souls. It was to keep Geom Ujin, Jin Paecheon, and the others here from hearing it.
—I will make sure that you alone survive today’s fight.
Baek Jagang sent him a sound transmission.
—How?
—By persuading the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Hearing that, Baek Jagang could tell. These souls and that Heavenly Slaughter Star were able to converse.
—Even if I survive here, how am I supposed to conquer the martial world?
Everyone realized that Baek Jagang had begun conversing with Hwa Mugi through sound transmission, but they waited for their conversation to end.
—If the Demonic Cult Leader and the Martial Alliance Leader die here today, and afterward the main altar of the Demonic Cult and even the Martial Alliance are annihilated, you take that power vacuum for yourself.
Now that all of the Twelve Zodiac Kings were dead, someone would have to effectively rule the martial world.
—And that Heavenly Slaughter Star?
After a brief pause, Ju Gasin said,
—You will have to serve him. You will stand in a position beneath one man and above ten thousand.
Faced with an important decision, Baek Jagang continued questioning him.
—Has the Heavenly Slaughter Star learned all your martial arts?
—He has.
—And he has all your inner power as well?
—Not only our inner power, but even our innate qi. He took it all. He is an existence formed from all of us combined.
—Is that possible?
Since three hundred years ago, they had been planted into this body and that body, all manner of bodies. But no matter how innately gifted the vessel’s body and mental strength were, they could not withstand their souls and power. Most went mad before even a few years had passed.
But Hwa Mugi, who had been born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star, was different. He accepted their inner power and souls, and even absorbed all of their martial arts.
However, because no attempt to secure his loyalty had worked, the Dark Palace Lord had eventually gone so far as to seal him.
—What is his weakness?
—Why do you ask that?
—Later, he might try to kill even me, might he not?
—If you do not betray him, that will not happen.
—Does he have a weakness?
The answer “no” did not come immediately. Baek Jagang instinctively realized it. That Heavenly Slaughter Star definitely had some sort of weakness.
—If you tell me his weakness, I will accept your proposal.
Seeing him try to discover the weakness by any means, Ju Gasin realized Baek Jagang’s true thoughts.
—You have no intention of following my words.
Baek Jagang’s small eyes disappeared into a smile.
—Begging for my life and going under that Heavenly Slaughter Star? That would hurt my pride even more than watching my step while wedged between the Demonic Cult and the orthodox faction.
After a brief pause, Baek Jagang asked,
—If it were you three hundred years ago, would you have accepted?
—I would have accepted. And then I would have aimed for another opportunity.
It meant he would have become the second-in-command and sought a chance to kill Hwa Mugi.
—Is there anything more important than life?
—That is why I am refusing.
The reason Baek Jagang refused was something completely unexpected.
—I think this side is going to win.
—!
Silence flowed between the two men.
—You are a man I do not like, but at least if you survive today, the Evil Dao Alliance will not fall easily.
At the favorable assessment, Baek Jagang offered a favorable remark in return.
—You are a waste as well. If you had been born in the right era, I think you might have fulfilled your dream.
Hwa Mugi laughed. At first glance, it seemed as though Ju Gasin had changed back into Hwa Mugi and Hwa Mugi was laughing, but that final laugh was Ju Gasin’s.
As if he knew the entire contents of the sound transmission, Hwa Mugi stared at Baek Jagang and said,
“Though you say you watch the Demonic Cult’s and orthodox faction’s moods, the one with the greatest ambition is you.”
Geom Ujin and Jin Paecheon looked at Baek Jagang.
But Baek Jagang did not make any effort to explain Ju Gasin’s proposal. Nor did he worry that Geom Ujin or Jin Paecheon might misunderstand.
Rather, from that very attitude, Geom Ujin felt trust. No matter what Hwa Mugi said, he looked as though he had not the slightest thing to be ashamed of.
Instead, Baek Jagang informed everyone of what absolutely had to be known.
“He says the souls can converse with one another. That man has learned all the martial arts of theirs that we saw, and he also possesses their inner power and innate qi. So we should think of him as an opponent formed from all of them combined.”
It was something they had only vaguely guessed at, and this was the moment when the most important information for this fight was revealed.
“He was struggling to let you live, yet you are desperately trying to die first.”
Hwa Mugi was smiling, but his eyes were filled with intense killing intent.
Of course, Baek Jagang was not afraid in the slightest. Rather, he sowed discord in return.
“Evil faction bastards are good at stabbing people in the back by nature. So be careful of the man inside you. You never know when he’ll strike your soul from behind.”
As a cold, heavy atmosphere flowed, Geom Ujin stepped forward.
“Now that it seems we have seen everyone there is to see, shall we see your skill?”
With Ju Gasin as the last, they had seen all four people dwelling in Hwa Mugi’s body.
He did not know how these meetings would affect the fight against Hwa Mugi, but Geom Ujin believed this choice had been right.
Hwa Mugi drew his black sword and rested it on his shoulder as he answered,
“Now then, who will come first?”
Geom Ujin did not follow Hwa Mugi’s intentions.
“We will fight however is convenient for us. We may fight one-on-one and then launch a wheel battle, or all of us may attack together. Each person will fight the battle he wants.”
Those words were not meant for Hwa Mugi. He had said them to everyone here. Once the fight began, he was telling them to fight without setting restrictions. To throw away face and honor alike.
Focus only on winning!
Not only the two alliance leaders, but the Fist Demon, the Poison King, the Pungcheon Cult Leader, and the Sword King all realized what Geom Ujin intended by those words.
“Even without me, this martial world will soon fall into the hands of the Demonic Cult.”
It was praise for Geom Ujin’s excellent judgment, but Hwa Mugi’s words contained powerful discord.
But the attempt did not work. It was already something Jin Paecheon and Baek Jagang worried about, and they had agreed to treat today’s fight separately.
Today was a fight for a son, a grandson, and a disciple.
The first person to step forward was Jin Paecheon.
“Give me the chance to strike first.”
Knowing that the one who had taken the most difficult step was Jin Paecheon, Geom Ujin willingly granted his request.
“Do so.”
“Thank you.”
Jin Paecheon stepped forward. Saying they should go outside to fight had little meaning. The issue was whether this entire Maga Village would remain at all.
The aura of Jin Paecheon as he stood before Hwa Mugi changed.
A clear spirit, like white jade, wrapped around his body, and his eyes shone coldly.
Jin Paecheon slowly drew the Gentleman Sword. With a perfect draw, the Gentleman Sword awakened.
Could the sound of a sword being drawn be this clear and beautiful?
The moment the Gentleman Sword fully emerged from its sheath, a cold radiance split the air. Invisible waves of force stretched out in every direction.
Zing.
The Gentleman Sword began to hum softly.
The greatest sword of all ages was humming in the hand of the orthodox faction’s greatest master.
Its dignified momentum seemed to say this:
There are two worlds.
The world before the Gentleman Sword is drawn, and the world after the Gentleman Sword has been drawn.
Jin Paecheon conveyed his heart to the Gentleman Sword.
‘Though you are held in my hand, this battle is for your master.’
So let us do well, Gentleman Sword.