Chapter 753: You Shall Not Enter
Patriarch of the Baekchong Family, Danso Jin.
It was finally the moment when his true identity was revealed. Truly, he was someone of an unimaginable status.
A family that managed the graves of all former Alliance Leaders of the Unorthodox Alliance?
Even Geom Mugeuk had never known of such a thing. This was something that could only be confirmed by asking Alliance Leader Baek Jagang directly.
But judging from Danso Jin’s expression now, the words of the Sound King seemed to be true.
Danso Jin, who had always been sly and skillful at acting among people, did not deny it at all.
The Sound King looked at Danso Jin and spoke. His manner remained courteous.
“At last, we meet. I can feel a spirit and will of steel from your energy.”
Now that Danso Jin no longer tried to hide his identity, his energy had already changed. It wasn’t a conspicuous aura born of great martial power. Rather, the spirit shining in his eyes revealed his upright character.
Geom Mugeuk asked the Sound King,
“Why were you looking for that man?”
The Sound King answered without hiding anything.
“Of course, to enter that tomb.”
“What’s in there?”
“It is the tomb of the former Alliance Leaders of the Unorthodox Alliance. Wouldn’t it hold all kinds of divine weapons and martial manuals?”
Staring quietly at the Sound King, Geom Mugeuk smiled and said,
“For one who loves music, such greed seems strangely out of place.”
The Sound King’s expression subtly changed. It resembled the one he had worn earlier when he was wrongly accused of poisoning the skeleton.
I am not that kind of man!
He was not someone who could completely conceal his emotions.
Yes, you people wouldn’t cause such a commotion for something like that. Divine weapons or martial manuals — those still existed in the world. That tomb must contain something that did not exist anywhere else.
At that very moment, a phrase flashed through Geom Mugeuk’s mind.
—If the Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance does not die, the martial world will be destroyed.
Then what if the Alliance Leader dies?
The Baekchong Family would enshrine him in their tomb, and no matter how secretly they moved, they would not escape the watchful eyes of those who had set their minds to it.
If even that Sword King were to follow in secret, the tomb’s location would inevitably be exposed.
‘So that’s why they tried to kill the Alliance Leader!’
He realized that the attempt to assassinate the Alliance Leader during The Greatest Beauty Under the Heavens Selection Tournament had ultimately been for the purpose of entering that tomb.
And at the end of all those thoughts, one natural conclusion came to him.
‘The last orb is hidden there!’
They had once tried to steal the energy within his body. Now, with that final orb, they intended to target his energy once more.
And from this fact, one thing became certain—
that this energy could not be taken by ordinary means. It could only be absorbed when another energy was present.
Then this was their final chance!
Because they valued that energy so greatly, what Geom Mugeuk had to do was naturally decided.
Since they would surely try to obtain that energy, he had to claim the energy of the last orb first.
Geom Mugeuk slowly walked up to Danso Jin and stood in front of him.
“If your identity’s been exposed, you should’ve quickly come hide behind me. Why make me come to you instead?”
From behind came Danso Jin’s reply.
“I believed you would protect me even from afar.”
“Look at those three up ahead. Which of them looks so easy that I could protect you from a distance? They don’t even react when I’m standing right in front of you like this, blocking their way. That’s confidence — confidence that you can kill no matter what happens. Especially that man over there, the one barefoot with a sword at his side. See him? That dull-looking one — I’ve fought him before. He’s no easy opponent.”
The Sword King still stood there silently, expressionless.
Let’s see how long you can stay like that, Brother Ak.
Geom Mugeuk believed in the Sword King. Trusting someone completely always meant accepting the risk of betrayal.
But if it was the Sword King, he was willing to bear that risk. It didn’t matter whether the shoes on his belt were the gift Geom Mugeuk had once given him or not. Even if that old iron sword had turned into a splendid treasured blade, it was fine.
‘Brother Ak, I trust you.’
The Sword King only met Geom Mugeuk’s gaze in silence.
Watching this, the Blade King sent a voice transmission to the Sound King.
—You must not trust Ak Gunhak.
It felt distasteful, like sowing discord, but it was something that had to be said.
—I know.
—Then that’s enough.
The Blade King had requested the Dark Palace Master to entrust this matter to him instead.
He said that the Sword King could not be trusted since he had returned without killing the Young Cult Leader, and that the Sound King didn’t have the temperament to lead this operation.
However, the Dark Palace Master had appointed the Sound King as the one in charge. Surely there must have been a reason he did not know, but the Dark Palace Master did not explain. He merely told him to trust the Sound King.
‘I hope the Palace Master’s judgment was right.’
Geom Mugeuk suddenly turned to Danso Jin and asked bluntly,
“By the way, are you on my side?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, do I have any reason to help you?”
Danso Jin barely hid his exasperation.
—You say that after taking my antidote?
—Ah, right. There was that.
—I placed the fate of my entire family in your hands.
—We’ve barely met. Isn’t that too heavy a burden for a first encounter?
—That… I admit.
Danso Jin clearly had a look that said he had much to say to Geom Mugeuk, but now was not the time for such conversation. What remained was how Geom Mugeuk would respond to this sudden trust placed upon him.
Geom Mugeuk continued the conversation from before the voice transmission.
“Why so quiet? If I help you, what will you do for me?”
“Is there something you want?”
“Just grant me one request.”
Danso Jin’s eyes flashed sharply. He already anticipated what Geom Mugeuk would ask. There was only one thing the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult could possibly ask of him.
‘Young Cult Leader, even you cannot enter that place.’
Therefore, he made sure to attach a condition.
“If it’s a request I can grant, then I’ll grant it.”
Geom Mugeuk, being a clever man himself, could have argued the terms, yet for some reason, he readily agreed.
“Fine, you’ve given your word.”
Turning back to the Sound King, Geom Mugeuk asked,
“Then why did you bring me into this?”
Of course, he already knew it was because they wanted to absorb the energy within his body. He only asked to test the Sound King’s answer.
But the Sound King gave an unexpected reply.
“I wanted you to persuade that man into revealing the location of the tomb.”
Geom Mugeuk realized it then—astonishingly, those words were sincere. They wanted to use him to learn the location of the tomb, and then enter it together to steal his energy there.
“Couldn’t you just take him away and torture him, or use Soul Reaping Art?”
There was a reason they couldn’t.
“It won’t work on him.”
The white eyes that had been fixed on Geom Mugeuk now turned toward Danso Jin.
“The bloodline of the Baekchong Family is immune to torture and the Soul Reaping Art. If they are subjected to that art or experience pain beyond what they can endure, the restriction embedded within them activates, cutting off their bloodline and killing them instantly.”
That was how they had guarded their secrets so perfectly throughout generations.
Only now did Geom Mugeuk fully understand why both sides were trying to use him.
They were opponents not easily escaped from, nor easily uncovered.
At least one thing was certain—
Entering the tomb through Danso Jin would be far harder than facing the enemies before him. Judging from that unwavering gaze of his, he would never allow outsiders into the tomb.
“And you want me to persuade him?”
The Sound King nodded.
“Young Cult Leader, if it’s you, I believe you’ll find a way. That’s why I summoned you.”
“You overestimate me.”
“From what you’ve shown so far, I believe you can do it. Look outside, at the puppets. Think of who you’ve faced.”
Geom Mugeuk laughed, genuinely amused.
“How did you know I was weak to praise?”
“Let us split the treasures in the tomb fifty-fifty.”
“You even know I am weak to greed! You truly investigated thoroughly.”
The expression of Danso Jin, who stood behind them, stiffened of its own accord. He had gambled on trusting Geom Mugeuk, but what if he had judged wrongly? What if the Young Cult Leader really did join hands with them? Someone more terrifying than those people was Geom Mugeuk.
At that moment Geom Mugeuk abruptly asked about an unexpected person.
“By the way, why did you leave that Unorthodox Alliance warrior alive?”
When the Sound King could not answer, Geom Mugeuk asked the Iron-Masked Man.
“You left him, so you must know the reason, yes?”
But the Iron-Masked Man also gave no answer.
Geom Mugeuk pierced through that unanswerable, impure intent.
“Is it perhaps because you need someone who can testify that the one who carried out this matter was the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
He asked as if joking, but a silence that struck the heart of the matter flowed. From that instant reaction alone, Geom Mugeuk could tell his suspicion was true. If it were not so, there would be no reason to spare that man.
“After obtaining what you want, you’d kill us all and use an advanced soul technique on that warrior to make him report that the one who ransacked the tomb was the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult? Surely the one who plays those beautiful melodies would not prepare such a despicable trick?”
At the mention of music again, the Sound King’s expression hardened. The other clearly knew exactly what words would upset him most.
“What happens if I refuse your proposal?”
Thus the answer to Geom Mugeuk’s question could not be pleasant.
“You will all be killed. Today the Eight Demon Supremes will become the Six Demon Supremes.”
At this blatant threat the two Demon Supremes reacted differently. Blood Heaven Blade Demon glared at the Sound King with icy coldness, while One-Slash Sword Supreme instead gave a faint smile. Of course the meaning contained in those reactions was the same.
“That will not do. Only the people whom my father liked most are gathered here. If everyone dies at the same time, father will be too sad.”
The Sound King had misunderstood Geom Mugeuk’s words.
“Mere mention of the Heavenly Demon will not change the result.”
It seemed he took it as if Geom Mugeuk intended to resolve the situation by invoking the Heavenly Demon’s might.
“Even if the Heavenly Demon were here, the result would not change.”
With that wildly arrogant confidence, Blood Heaven Blade Demon and One-Slash Sword Supreme looked at each other. There was no need for them to be angry at that remark. It was precisely the thing that would anger Geom Mugeuk most.
Geom Mugeuk was not excited at all.
“You must have investigated me when you took this task. So I thought you would know me better than I know myself.”
Geom Mugeuk slowly walked forward and stood before the Unorthodox Alliance warrior.
“What’s your name?”
“Just call me Pung.”
“Did you come under the direct command of the Alliance Leader?”
Pung hesitated slightly before replying.
“If it was direct orders, then you must already know my relationship with the Alliance Leader. You probably also have some idea of my connection with Young Leader Bi. So I suppose it’s fine to answer this much.”
“I left the alliance under orders to investigate the Treasure Map incident.”
“From this moment on, Warrior Pung is definitely on my side.”
When Pung looked at him in surprise, Geom Mugeuk smiled faintly.
“If you were to die here, I’d have no face to show the Alliance Leader or Young Leader Bi, wouldn’t I? For now, you’re on my side.”
Geom Mugeuk turned back to the Sound King.
“This is the kind of person I am. Even someone I met for the first time today—if he dies here, that won’t do.”
He then walked again, this time toward Ji Han.
“This man was once an enemy on this journey, and then became my subordinate. I still don’t know much about him. I just liked the feeling he gave me, so I made him my man.”
A smile formed at the corner of Ji Han’s lips. “Because I liked the feeling” sounded far better than “because of his skill” or “because of his martial strength.”
Watching Ji Han quietly, Geom Mugeuk declared firmly,
“This man will not die either.”
Next, Geom Mugeuk stood before Tae Soo.
“This one was the thief who had the Treasure Map. He’s a man blessed with a good father. I doubt he expected things to turn out this way—he must be quite shaken right now.”
Tae Soo’s eyes trembled as he looked at Geom Mugeuk. Now that he knew Geom Mugeuk’s true identity, he didn’t even dare to joke.
“We haven’t formed any real connection yet, but I’ll make sure he lives too. He managed to steal my heart, after all.”
Tae Soo was deeply moved. To the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, something as insignificant as that could have been ignored entirely, yet he had turned it into something meaningful.
Blood Heaven Blade Demon and One-Slash Sword Supreme, watching silently, understood. Geom Mugeuk had become strong because he was that kind of man. He had survived battles while carrying hostages one after another—and through those battles, he had grown even stronger.
The Sound King, however, simply couldn’t understand Geom Mugeuk.
“Why are you so intent on keeping everyone alive?”
Even though he asked politely, his tone clearly carried the unspoken words:
Even these worthless people?
“There are qualities that not even the most beautiful melody can conceal.”
At the mention of music again, the Sound King finally burst out shouting,
“Silence!”
Geom Mugeuk roared back at once.
“You shut up first!”
Everyone’s gaze focused on Geom Mugeuk.
“How dare you spout nonsense about killing my father in front of me? How dare you threaten to kill my Demon Supremes?”
Even without revealing his full energy, Geom Mugeuk’s force was overwhelming.
“Yes, you truly are one who cannot see ahead. For you to say such words before me means you are blind to everything in your path.”
His cold gaze slowly swept over the Sound King, Blade King, the Dark Blood Four Blades, and the Iron-Masked Man.
“None of you are entering that tomb. You’ll all die here instead.”
Geom Mugeuk spread his wings. At that signal, Blood Heaven Blade Demon and One-Slash Sword Supreme simultaneously drew the Heaven-Extinguishing Saber and the One-Slash Sword.
Geom Mugeuk’s eyes finally settled on the Sword King.
“Brother Ak, stay out of this.”