The Sword King was moved.
It was a completely unexpected feeling. Geom Ujin had blown away the wall for his sake.
To think he had noticed, while watching a battle that had passed in the blink of an eye, that he was worrying about the second-floor wall. It made him realize anew just how remarkable Geom Ujin was.
Of course, he had not removed the wall solely for him. It meant that from now on, they should fight without concern for anything.
The Sword King cupped his fist respectfully and paid his respects to Geom Ujin.
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Geom Ujin nodded as if it were nothing.
Hwa Mugi silently stared at the gaping hole in the second-floor wall.
His face was smiling, but it was a little different from his earlier smile.
The reason he had fought using only basic martial arts, without properly employing the Muhwang Divine Sword or the Cheonui Palace Lord’s signature martial art, had been to make use of that wall.
Because he had come knowing this place held meaning for them.
‘And yet he blows it away himself? As expected, he’s no easy opponent.’
In the meantime, Jin Paecheon staunched the bleeding from his injured shoulder and arm.
He had truly been cut in an instant.
He had keenly experienced the saying that life and death were decided in a single moment.
After checking his wounds, Jin Paecheon walked over to where Geom Ujin and Baek Jagang stood.
“I caused you needless worry.”
Jin Paecheon did not stubbornly insist on fighting further.
It was always harder to know when to retreat than when to advance, but Jin Paecheon knew. Now was the time to step back.
Geom Ujin was glad that he was safe.
“That was splendid martial arts.”
This battle had been fought only with sword against sword, with fundamentals alone.
Yet it had been fiercer and more remarkable than a battle in which countless sword qi and sword auras ran wild.
Baek Jagang spoke his mind more honestly.
“To be frank, I was worried.”
If Jin Paecheon had heard those words in the past, he would certainly have thought he was being looked down on.
But now, they did not sound unpleasant.
“Thank you.”
Jin Paecheon accepted them as they were. If someone had worried for him, he ought to thank them.
Hwa Mugi did not simply watch Jin Paecheon withdraw.
“You mean to end it like this?”
Since the Gentleman Sword was still in Jin Paecheon’s hand, he provoked him again.
“No matter what, a Murim Alliance Leader who only barely survives with another’s help? Aren’t you ashamed?”
Jin Paecheon calmly accepted the ridicule and returned the Gentleman Sword to its sheath.
“You’re right. I am deeply ashamed.”
He admitted it honestly, but there was no blow to his heart. Rather, he felt relieved. He had done all he could.
If he survived and, several days later, looked back on today, he would surely feel regret.
I should have used that technique then. I should have responded like this at that moment. And would that be all? When the Heavenly Killing Star said that, I should have answered this way. All manner of thoughts would keep him from sleep.
But for now, he had no lingering regret.
He might have been able to fight better than this, but even so, he did not think he could have fought well enough to kill Hwa Mugi.
This was his best. Since he had fought with everything he had, there was nothing to regret.
At that moment, the Pungcheon Cult Leader, who had been listening, cut in.
“What is there to be ashamed of? Shame is something that side should feel.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader spoke on Jin Paecheon’s behalf.
“Alliance Leader Jin is a gentlemanly, dignified man, so he’s letting it pass like this. But the martial arts of several people, and even the internal energy of several people—if you’re using all of that, you should be the one ashamed. If you use only one person’s martial arts, and only as much internal energy as one person, then I’ll acknowledge you.”
Hwa Mugi looked at the Pungcheon Cult Leader and smiled. It contained murderous intent that said, I will make sure to kill you, of all people, but the Pungcheon Cult Leader paid it no mind at all.
“You should consider yourself lucky the Young Cult Leader isn’t here. If he were, a coward like you would already have collapsed from pent-up rage.”
Everyone listening agreed with the part about pent-up rage.
Then one person stepped forward.
“Please give me the opportunity this time.”
It was the Sword King. Since the Cult Leader had lifted his restriction, he wanted to fight to his heart’s content.
Geom Ujin gazed at him for a moment, then nodded in permission. There was a trust that the man named Ak Gunhak inspired. If he stepped forward like this, he must have his own thoughts—an inexplicable faith of that sort.
Indeed, the Sword King had not stepped forward out of a mere competitive spirit. He did not overestimate his own abilities. Knowing he could not face Hwa Mugi alone, he asked one person for help.
“Would you watch my back one more time?”
That person was none other than the Pungcheon Cult Leader. He was asking again of the man who had stepped forward earlier to save him.
“You use Formless Aura as well, and my martial arts also contain formless qi, so we should suit each other well.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader, too, had confirmed through Jin Paecheon’s battle that killing Hwa Mugi alone would by no means be easy.
Earlier, Geom Ujin had made his intention clear. In this fight, they were not to think of honor or face. Only victory mattered.
“That side has several souls, and I am only one man, but I should at least help.”
Taking another jab at Hwa Mugi, the Pungcheon Cult Leader stepped forward to assist.
Geom Ujin gave the Sword King one piece of advice.
“Do not forget your promise.”
The promise to stay by Geom Mugeuk’s side and help him from now on. In other words, he was telling him not to die, no matter what.
“Yes, I will not forget.”
The reason the Sword King stepped forward was partly because of his personal desire to fight him, but there was a more important reason: to reduce his internal energy as much as possible.
He intended to make him expend as much internal energy as he possibly could. Only then would the person who faced him at the end have a chance of victory.
The Sword King sent a voice transmission to the Pungcheon Cult Leader.
—It would be best if we could kill him, but if that proves impossible, I think we must at least exhaust as much of his internal energy as we can.
—I think that is a wise choice.
Then Jin Paecheon, who had been watching, spoke to the Sword King.
“Be careful.”
The Sword King looked at Jin Paecheon and bowed his head slightly in thanks.
Watching Jin Paecheon pay special attention to the Sword King, Baek Jagang thought to himself.
‘Even if you give him the Gentleman Sword at your waist, he is already someone who has left.’
Regardless of the fact that Geom Ujin had spoken as though he had already taken hold of him.
Judging from his desire to protect the second-floor wall earlier, he was completely Geom Mugeuk’s man.
Well, perhaps that was exactly what made one want him even more.
With his horse-tail hair swaying, the Sword King walked forward, and the Pungcheon Cult Leader stood one step behind him.
Of course, just because the two fought together did not mean they would become twice as strong. If they had not trained in coordinated attack techniques together, they might instead get in each other’s way.
They had to fight by responding well and instinctively in each moment.
Hwa Mugi said haughtily, his arms folded.
“Who decided that? Do you think I’ll fight just because you say you will?”
Boom!
Hwa Mugi swung his sword and blocked the Formless Aura that had flown silently toward him.
Boom! Kwang! Kwang!
Hwa Mugi blocked the Formless Auras that came flying in succession while standing in place. He blocked those powerful attacks without taking even a single step back.
The one who had sent the Formless Auras at him one after another was the Sword King.
“Even now, do you not feel like fighting?”
It was impossible to tell from his expression whether he had been angered or not. But his murderous intent had clearly grown stronger.
“Every last one of you is unpleasant.”
Among those unpleasant people, the Pungcheon Cult Leader was someone who would resent being called second to anyone. This time, too, he could not hold back.
“If everyone around you is like that, could the problem perhaps be with you?”
Hwa Mugi smiled and nodded.
“From now on, it will be a problem for all of us.”
The moment his words ended.
Swaaaaaak.
Hwa Mugi charged not toward the Sword King, but toward the Pungcheon Cult Leader. Perhaps that mouth irritated him more than the aura that had flown at him.
The black sword cut through the air with speed truly like light.
Paaang!
Human-shaped figures appeared in an instant, blocking the space between the two men.
Shadow-Illusion Human Wall.
It was the moment the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s signature martial art, the Heavenly Outer Blood Demon Art, was unleashed.
Peng! Peong! Peong! Peng!
Hwa Mugi cut down the doll-shaped obstacles blocking his path and pressed forward. Though they were not originally things that should be sliced apart and vanish so easily, before Hwa Mugi’s black sword they disappeared with loud bursts, like smoke.
Behind those figures, the Sword King was already standing.
“Me first!”
The Sword King tried to take the lead in the battle. It was not because he thought himself stronger than the Pungcheon Cult Leader.
In terms of martial compatibility, it was not easy for the Pungcheon Cult Leader to face him.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader fought barehanded, while Hwa Mugi’s sword was far too fast and powerful. Since he would dig in and thrust his sword in an instant, facing him barehanded was truly difficult. It was hard enough even to block an ordinary opponent.
That was why he stepped forward first.
Thinking that it no longer mattered if the entire building was destroyed, the Sword King immediately displayed his signature martial art.
Formless Divine Sword, First Sword: Formless Return to Void.
Whiiiiiiing!
As the Sword King thrust out his sword, a whirlwind swept over Hwa Mugi’s body.
Papapapapapak!
A tremendous whirlwind of aura twisted Hwa Mugi’s body. Ordinarily, his bones and flesh should have been torn apart and vanished into the vortex.
But Hwa Mugi’s body did not twist. His protective aura turned that whirlwind into a spring breeze.
Swaaaaaak!
Peong!
In that state, the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s palm technique struck his body.
But Hwa Mugi endured the two men’s attacks as if to show them. In that moment, Hwa Mugi truly seemed like a monster.
Swish.
Then Hwa Mugi broke out of the whirlwind in an instant.
“Careful!”
By the time the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s shout burst out, Hwa Mugi was already charging in front of the Sword King and thrusting out his black sword.
Radiant Boundless Sword Art, Third Form: Extreme Yang Splitting Heaven.
The aura Hwa Mugi sent flying as it split space was no ordinary aura.
Fwoooooosh!
A tremendous flame aura, as if it would melt everything away, erupted toward the Sword King.
It was an attack that could never be blocked normally.
Formless Divine Sword, Third Form: Formless Reversal of Heaven.
A pitch-black space formed before the Sword King.
Whoosh.
It instantly swallowed the incoming flames.
Fwoooooosh!
Then the space burst open and spat the flames it had absorbed back at Hwa Mugi.
Fwooooooooosh!
Hwa Mugi took the scorching heat head-on, but—
Chwaaaaaak!
He split the blazing flames he had created to either side and pressed forward.
With terrifying momentum, Hwa Mugi thrust out his sword.
Kaaang!
Though the Sword King raised his internal energy to the limit to block it, a shock surged through him as if his wrist would be severed. Even though he had braced himself for it, he could not grow accustomed to the impact.
And attacks like that poured down like rain.
Kaang! Kaang! Kang!
As the two exchanged sword blows too quickly for the eye to follow, the Pungcheon Cult Leader could not intervene in the fight. In the blink of an eye, the two changed positions several times.
The Sword King did the very best he could.
But with each and every clash, he felt it.
He could not win.
Hwa Mugi was fast and strong, and there was not the slightest opening in his techniques.
It felt as if he were fighting while facing an enormous wall.
And what made this battle at the extreme limit even harder was the innate murderous intent Hwa Mugi exuded. That murderous intent, which had now far surpassed the limits of humanity, affected even the movement of his true qi.
In the end, the Sword King could not withstand Hwa Mugi’s fierce attacks.
Boom!
Unable to endure the attack, the Sword King was sent flying and slammed into the rear wall. He sprang up from the floor and spewed a mouthful of blood. After blocking those powerful attacks in succession, he had finally suffered internal injuries.
Was it because his murderous intent had grown stronger? Hwa Mugi was stronger than when he had faced Jin Paecheon earlier. He was becoming stronger and stronger.
Swaaaaaak.
As if to finish off the Sword King, Hwa Mugi charged straight ahead.
But a step ahead of him, the Pungcheon Cult Leader blocked his path.
Shashashashashashashashak!
Blue lines flew at Hwa Mugi from every direction. It was the Blue-Line Blood Net of the Heavenly Outer Blood Demon Art, which could cut a person’s body apart with even the slightest graze.
Dozens of blue lines sliced through the air.
Papapapapak.
Hwa Mugi broke through those lines with his body. The Blue-Line Blood Net was stopped by his protective aura and could not pierce his body.
Swaaaaaak!
Hwa Mugi continued to press forward.
Drop.
At that very moment, a tiny dot fell into the air, then suddenly swelled large.
Whirrrrrrrr!
A black hole pulled Hwa Mugi toward it.
But Hwa Mugi did not get sucked in, enduring it by using the Thousand-Catty Drop.
He was withstanding the Death-Extinction Vortex of the Heavenly Outer Blood Demon Art unleashed by the Pungcheon Cult Leader with pure strength.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader was truly astonished. One could fall into the Death-Extinction Vortex and then break free of it. But he had never imagined someone would endure it with strength.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader drew his inner energy up to its utmost limit and even unleashed a palm force.
Swaaaek! Thud!
But even under that impact, Hwa Mugi was not sucked in; instead, he walked forward.
Thump! Thoom!
As if to show that no matter what they tried, they could not stop him, he approached one step at a time, like a nightmare on a summer night.
Whirrrrrr.
Behind him, the Annihilation Vortex pulled at him even more fiercely, but he continued walking forward.
Hwa Mugi came right up to where the Pungcheon Cult Leader stood. Perhaps, because the Pungcheon Cult Leader had been the one spouting those hateful words all along, he was approaching in this manner all the more. Go on, run your mouth again!
Even when he had come close enough that a thrust of the sword would pierce his heart, the Pungcheon Cult Leader did not dodge.
The very moment Hwa Mugi thrust out the black sword.
Shiiiiiik.
Before the black sword, the White Flower Sword sliced through the air. The Sword King, despite his internal injuries, had pulled himself together in a dramatic instant.
Clang!
The moment Hwa Mugi split his inner energy to block the Sword King’s blade—
Whiririririk.
Hwa Mugi was sucked into the black hole created by the Annihilation Vortex.
Pop.
As though it had sent him off to another world, the black hole vanished in an instant.
But the Pungcheon Cult Leader could not feel relieved. Judging by Hwa Mugi’s skill, which he had faced firsthand—
“That won’t hold him for long either.”
No sooner had those words ended than—
Puuuk.
The black sword tore through the air and burst out.
Riiiiip.
Through the long-ripped space, Hwa Mugi poked his head out.
“I’m not fond of dark places.”
With his body immersed in a space that annihilated absolutely everything, Hwa Mugi was smiling.
As he looked upon that astonishing divine might, which went beyond the grotesque, the Sword King asked the Pungcheon Cult Leader,
“Why did you go this far to protect me?”
Just moments ago, the Pungcheon Cult Leader had risked his life to save him. Had he been even a little late, the man would have been stabbed by Hwa Mugi’s sword.
As if curious about the reason as well, Hwa Mugi listened with only his head sticking out of the darkness.
There are five other people here, so surely someone would save you.
The Sword King had naturally expected that kind of joke.
But the Pungcheon Cult Leader gave a reason no one had imagined.
“My problems always come back to the Young Cult Leader.”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the Pungcheon Cult Leader.
“If you die, then even if we win this fight, it will be a defeat for the Young Cult Leader.”
“!”
“A defeat he will grieve for a very long time. Perhaps for the rest of his life.”
The Sword King had not known that the Pungcheon Cult Leader was thinking such thoughts.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader’s gaze turned toward Geom Ujin. He thought Geom Ujin would understand his heart better than anyone.
Because he, more than anyone, would know with what feelings his son had entrusted this fight to them.
Because what he felt now was the same as what Geom Ujin had felt when he blew away the wall of the second floor. The same as his wish to save them all, so they could leave words upon a new wall.
“I want to give the Young Cult Leader a proper victory.”
A nightmare-like being was sticking his head out toward them, but the Pungcheon Cult Leader was not afraid in the least.
“So not one of us can die.”