Chapter 727: Your Master and Friend
The sight of darkness opening its eyes was as if a new world had begun.
Those two eyes looked down at Geom Mugeuk. The pupils were as deep and dark as the abyss, and they resembled Geom Mugeuk’s own energy.
Geom Mugeuk had seen these eyes before. In dreams, in illusions, when they appeared before him many times, the only thing he had seen clearly were these very eyes. Yes, it was these eyes.
The moment he realized what kind of existence was before him, Geom Mugeuk’s whole body trembled from his toes to the top of his head.
‘It’s the Heavenly Demon Spirit!’
It was the very first time his Heavenly Demon Spirit had descended into this world. And it had done so to save his life.
The Heavenly Demon Spirit slowly rose to its feet. The eyes that had come so close to him drew away.
Boom!
A huge boulder that had been on the Heavenly Demon Spirit’s back crashed down below.
Geom Mugeuk understood. In that decisive moment of crisis, the Heavenly Demon Spirit had descended and blocked the falling rock with its body.
‘The Heavenly Demon Spirit saved me.’
What was even more astonishing was this:
‘It descended even though I did not summon it!’
In the moment the boulder fell toward him, Geom Mugeuk had thought of those who would mourn his death.
Was it because it had read that heart and saved its master? Or was it to save itself from the fate of vanishing before it could even be born into the world?
The Heavenly Demon Spirit revealed its grand form under the moonlight.
It exuded an overwhelming presence.
The absolute being that ruled over all demons and evil spirits of the world.
The pinnacle of the Nine Calamities Demon Art, the extreme of all demonic arts.
Under the moonlight, the face of the Heavenly Demon Spirit looked truly terrifying. If this was its appearance just as it had revealed itself to the world—what would happen if it grew and gained martial skills?
‘We will need to remake the Cult’s statue, Father.’
Near the Heavenly Demon Pavilion stood a great demonic statue modeled after the Heavenly Demon Spirit. But seeing the real thing, it was incomparably more terrifying. Especially those eyes, whose cold, oppressive gaze could never be expressed through stone.
Yet perhaps because it was his own Heavenly Demon Spirit, Geom Mugeuk thought its fearsome face was handsome.
It looked frightening, yet handsome at the same time. And most of all, gazing into those proud eyes, he could sense it was not merely a mindless killing weapon that obeyed orders.
It was far more magnificent than the countless times he had imagined it.
‘You! I like you!’
What should he say as his first words?
But then, the Heavenly Demon Spirit’s gaze seemed to turn toward Geom Mugeuk, and soon it began to fade silently.
‘No!’
Because Geom Mugeuk’s inner energy had been completely depleted, the manifestation could not remain long and returned.
His father had said that to summon the Heavenly Demon Spirit, only will was required, not inner energy. But to let the Heavenly Demon Spirit exist in the world and wield martial power, inner energy was necessary.
The regret lasted only a moment before Geom Mugeuk’s face filled with ecstasy.
“...At last, I have achieved Ten Star Greatness.”
The revolving lantern of one’s life did not only appear at the moment of death. Countless events he had experienced until now flashed through his mind.
His life’s purpose had been to stop Hwa Moogi and save everyone. At that moment, he had achieved the most crucial thing to fulfill that purpose.
Geom Mugeuk laughed loudly. He laughed like a madman, and his laughter echoed throughout the mountains.
He was truly happy. Though he had attained many accomplishments in martial arts, had he ever felt joy like this?
No secret martial manual in the world, no matter how rare, no precious elixir could bring him greater happiness than this.
He truly felt like dancing. No, why shouldn’t he? He could just dance the way he once danced with Bih Sa-in. He would dance alone under the moonlight.
Just as Geom Mugeuk, who had been leaning against the cliff, tried to rise—
“Ugh!”
He frowned and sank back down. His condition was far from normal. When the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique had been broken, he had been flung against the cliff, and the impact left his entire body aching as if it had been beaten. It was because he had struck it with his bare body without inner energy.
When he saw the Heavenly Demon Spirit moments ago, he had felt no pain. But as the tension eased, the pain surged in.
Geom Mugeuk examined his body. Fortunately, they were only severe bruises; no bones were broken, and he suffered no internal injuries.
Even as pain twisted his face, he grinned like a madman. Pain didn’t matter. What did it matter if he hurt? He had achieved the Completion of the Nine Calamities Demon Art, the dream he had longed for.
Now he understood why, during the last training, the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique had been broken.
When the Nine Calamities Demon Art reached Completion, the Heavenly Demon World Annihilation had torn apart the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique. It meant that with the completed Heavenly Demon World Annihilation, he could shatter that technique.
Normally, the breaking of the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique would have been a bad outcome, but this was something to celebrate. It meant that the Nine Calamities Demon Art was truly extraordinary.
“I did it!”
His shout echoed across the mountains.
Geom Mugeuk leaned against the cliff for a while, gazing up at the night sky. How could such a great feat have been possible by his effort alone?
“Thank you.”
Offering his gratitude to the heavens, Geom Mugeuk began restoring his inner energy.
He closed his eyes and circulated his qi. Once through the Small Heavenly Cycle, twice, thrice.
When his dantian brimmed with inner energy again, he was able to control the pain in his body little by little as well.
After restoring his inner energy, Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward the cave. A large boulder was blocking its entrance. Pain didn’t matter, and dancing wouldn’t embarrass him. But there was one thing—one thing that absolutely must not have happened.
‘Please, not the Go board!’
If the inside of the cave had collapsed, the board and stones would not have survived. Ah, he didn’t even want to imagine it.
Geom Mugeuk went to the cave entrance and pushed aside the boulder blocking the way. The massive rock rolled away as lightly as a ball.
Fortunately, the cave had not collapsed.
He hurried inside. The Go board and stones had been covered with tiger hide, so they bore no scratches from the scattered debris.
At last, Geom Mugeuk let out a sigh of relief.
He stroked the Go board with his hand. Its value lay not only in being a gift for his father.
He could feel it. The process of crafting this board and stones had surely helped him reach the Completion.
If that was so, then the person he truly owed gratitude to was his father. Without him, Geom Mugeuk would never have thought to make the board in the first place.
‘Surely you didn’t suggest playing Go because you foresaw this outcome, Father?’
It was an utterly absurd suspicion, but because it was his father, he couldn’t help but think it.
In any case, he wanted to pack and descend the mountain at once, but there was still something to be done in the morning.
Geom Mugeuk spent his last night on the Daecheon Mountains in the cave.
His mood was so good that he couldn’t fall asleep.
He feared that if he closed his eyes and awoke, everything would turn out to have been only a dream.
---
The next morning, Geom Mugeuk stepped outside the cave.
Thankfully, it had not been a dream. The fallen rocks and boulders still filled the area before the cave.
Geom Mugeuk stretched with a light heart.
He felt clearly that his martial realm had advanced another step. Whether he performed the Soaring Sword Art or the Thunderous Asura Fist, he would be able to execute them better than before.
Never before had he so unmistakably felt that he had grown stronger.
He washed himself clean beneath the waterfall, then changed into the fresh martial robe he had stored deep in his pack. He had brought it specifically to wear once he achieved Ten Stars. He placed the Go stone container in the pack, wrapped the board in tiger hide, and secured it tightly on top.
After finishing his preparations to descend, Geom Mugeuk drew his sword.
The First Form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art: Human Annihilation Form.
Around a man-sized boulder at the center, four demonic ghosts appeared from the east, west, south, and north.
When Geom Mugeuk had achieved the Completion in the Nine Calamities Demon Art, what he had wanted to see most was the Heavenly Demon Spirit. But next to that, these were what he had wanted to see—the Four Demonic Ghosts. How much had they changed?
The swords of the Four Demonic Ghosts flashed!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Their attacks were far faster and stronger than before.
The difference between when the art was complete and when it had reached Completion was absolute. It was not comparable to the difference between the eighth and the ninth stage. If one were to be caught in their midst and, no one could endure being torned apart by their blades.
But it wasn’t only their power that had changed.
After shattering the boulder, the Four Demonic Ghosts turned their eyes on him. Their appearances had also changed. As though to say, “This is our true form,” they revealed their faces.
They looked more frightening, yet more handsome. Smarter, and even more mysterious. Unique patterns had appeared on their faces and bodies.
He remembered having once seen his father’s demonic ghosts. Their appearance and aura had been different from his own. It seemed clear to him now that the forms and energies of these demons were connected to the one who wielded the art.
“Good to see you, East Ghost, West Ghost, South Ghost, North Ghost.”
Geom Mugeuk called their names. Of course, even having achieved Completion, the demons did not reply.
But he felt it—their gaze upon him was different than before. There was an unmistakable emotion in their eyes.
The Four Demonic Ghosts only looked at him with deepened stares, but Geom Mugeuk interpreted them however he pleased.
―Was our naming truly the best you could do?
―It couldn’t be helped. Father was the one who gave them to me.
Of course, they could never ask such a thing; the question and answer were creations of Geom Mugeuk’s own heart.
There was something else that had changed after reaching Completion.
He could now sustain the Four Demonic Ghosts of the Human Annihilation Form.
But the inner energy required to maintain them grew twofold, threefold, fourfold, with time. The cost became unbearable.
From this, he could guess that the longer the Heavenly Demon Spirit remained manifested, the more enormous the drain on his inner energy would be. Naturally, that terrifying being could not remain in the world for long.
Regretfully, Geom Mugeuk bid farewell to the Four Demonic Ghosts.
“Until next time.”
The Four Demonic Ghosts vanished, and this time he unleashed the Great Annihilation Form.
Ssssss...
A ghost with a terrifying face appeared.
As he had seen before, it looked far more dreadful than in the past, and the demonic aura it emitted was immensely stronger.
Where once they had divided into twenty-six, now the number of ghosts split into forty-four.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
As the Great Annihilation Form was unleashed, they swept away everything before them, advancing forward.
The open ground, once a mess of fallen rocks and debris, was now cleared. The Great Annihilation Form had swept through, leaving nothing behind. Naturally, its power was stronger, and he could control them with far greater precision.
The place became a clean, open space once again, just as it had been when Geom Mugeuk had first settled there.
After tidying the area, he shouldered his pack and walked the path he had strolled along every day.
Since coming up to the Daecheon Mountains, two seasons had passed and he was entering the third. During that time, not a single day had gone by without him taking a walk after finishing his training.
He thought that these walks had surely helped him achieve Completion in the Nine Calamities Demon Art, just as much as the grueling daily training and the process of making the Go stones. After all, good thoughts always came while moving.
And there was one more thing.
During his walks, Geom Mugeuk had tried to loosen the tightly wound knots of his life. For a man who had always lived by saving every single moment, he had deliberately sought leisure during these strolls.
In truth, that had been harder for him. Bloody effort was possible through willpower, but to embrace leisure in life required wisdom.
After finishing his final walk, Geom Mugeuk climbed to the peak of the Daecheon Mountains.
The wind blew and sent his robe fluttering.
In the distance, the roar of a tiger reached his ears. He wondered if it might be the same tiger they had spared when he had come here with his father and elder brother.
Geom Mugeuk savored to the fullest the mystical energy of the Daecheon Mountains. His father’s words had been right—this place had indeed helped him achieve Ten Star Greatness.
For a while he stood there, taking in the view from the peak, then turned around.
And once more, he summoned the Heavenly Demon Spirit.
Yesterday, he had met it battered and without inner energy, so now he intended to greet it properly.
He worried that, having only just reached Ten Stars, he might not be able to summon it again. Yesterday, it had descended of its own will in a life-or-death moment.
But it was only needless anxiety. With a sudden rush of sound, the Heavenly Demon Spirit was already standing before him.
Its presence felt different beneath the bright sunlight than it had under the moonlight.
For such a pure being of darkness to exist in the bright world seemed wondrous.
Whoosh.
Geom Mugeuk’s figure rose into the air until he was before the Heavenly Demon Spirit’s face.
He met its gaze head-on. Because he had created it, he could look so closely, though the demonic aura and light from its eyes were so fierce that no other master could have dared meet them.
Geom Mugeuk introduced himself to the Heavenly Demon Spirit.
“I am Geom Mugeuk, Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”
The Heavenly Demon Spirit showed no reaction.
“I am your master, and your friend.”
At times it looked as if it possessed thought, and at times as if it were nothing more than a being that obeyed commands without any will.
But Geom Mugeuk believed. The Heavenly Demon Spirit was without a doubt an existence with reason.
When it had appeared in dreams or illusions, and again yesterday when it had saved him, there had surely been emotion within its gaze.
“Thank you for saving me yesterday.”
Perhaps the reason it still revealed no emotion was because it had not yet accepted him as its true master. From now on, he would have to show this Heavenly Demon Spirit what kind of man he was.
Geom Mugeuk wanted to become its true master and share a bond of emotion with it. He wanted to converse with the Heavenly Demon Spirit.
He even wanted to lie side by side with it on the beach within the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique and speak with it. Of course, that would require a larger island and chair enormous and sturdy enough to hold it.
Geom Mugeuk turned away without looking at the Heavenly Demon Spirit any longer.
Together, they gazed down from the peak at the world below the Daecheon Mountains.
He stood silently like that until all his inner energy was exhausted.
Just before the Heavenly Demon Spirit faded away, Geom Mugeuk spoke to it one last time.
From his life before the regression, and in his life after it—
“I have wanted to see you for a very long time.”