Chapter 762: Because It Was the First Time a Martial Artist Had Greeted Him
Geom Mugeuk was staring sharply into the distance.
After gazing for a long while, he rubbed his eyes.
“Ow, my eyes hurt.”
He had used the New Eye Technique to peer straight through the cliff across from him.
He was checking to see if there might be a hole or some sort of mechanism within the cliff, but no matter how much he looked, there was nothing unusual there.
Geom Mugeuk started walking again.
“Youngest, where on earth are you?”
The first place Geom Mugeuk inspected was the pond on the peak opposite the one where the Sword Tomb had been located. Since the pair of ponds resembled two eyes, they were considered the symbol of Heavenly Eye Mountain.
If the fake Sword Tomb had been on this side, then perhaps the real tomb’s entrance was hidden beneath the pond on the opposite peak?
Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Even after scouring the bottom of the pond, he failed to discover any passageway.
After that, he began to search each nearby peak one by one.
It was not an easy task.
Would anyone have put up a signboard saying “The Tomb of the Former Unorthodox Alliance Leader”? It was surely made to be passed by unnoticed, even if one stood right in front of it.
Could he truly find such a secret, hidden tomb within this vast Heavenly Eye Mountain?
Still, it wasn’t something he could rush. He couldn’t just dart around with light footwork—he needed to sense the changes in his body or the vibrations from the Secret Box.
And that was the problem. If the final orb was hidden deep inside the tomb, would his body’s energy or the Secret Box even respond to it?
So far, the box had only reacted when it was near an orb.
The only bit of hope was that this orb was the final one—it might carry a different energy.
Geom Mugeuk climbed the mountain, sharpening his senses to the utmost.
As he walked, he emitted energy. Like a spiderweb, his qi spread out in all directions, scanning his surroundings. He could even feel the faint rustling of insects beneath decayed leaves, but there was no other distinctive energy.
Well, that was to be expected. It would be stranger if he found it easily.
After walking for quite some time, he heard the sound of running water. Geom Mugeuk descended into a valley and washed his face.
His reflection in the stream—
Over that youthful face overlapped the weary one he had worn before his regression.
Compared to those hardships, this was nothing.
“All right, time to go find you, Youngest!”
But even after combing through the place until late, he could not find the entrance to the tomb.
For someone unaccustomed to searching, it would have been nerve-racking—wondering if they had missed something, if they would waste time elsewhere because of that oversight.
Still, he had to move on without regret.
Geom Mugeuk knew from experience that once you overlooked something, no matter how many times you returned, it never appeared easily to the eye.
So he told himself not to look back and that he had to move on to the next. Only by pushing like that could he search without getting tired.
He had said to himself, "Don't worry. I am better at finding things than at killing people."
* * *
That night, Geom Mugeuk camped alone.
Until now, most of his camps had been with other people.
But that day, it was a camp just for himself. He lit a campfire and made a spot only for himself. He sat on soft leather, roasted meat alone, and drank.
Crackle, crackle.
Watching the flames while drinking was not unpleasant. No, it was enjoyable. He had always been someone who liked being alone.
The lonely times that had been hard in his life before the regression, he now thought back on and realized it had not been loneliness that had been hard.
‘What if he could not obtain the materials for the Great Regression Technique? What if his life ended having only gone after those materials?’
It was that kind of anxiety that had made things difficult.
But he had overcome it in the end. He had endured and come this far.
So he deserved to hear these words. Especially at the end of this journey, in which he had taken down all the Twelve Zodiac Kings at once.
"Well done, Mugeuk."
Geom Mugeuk praised himself.
After the regression, he had praised others until his mouth went dry, but he had forgotten to praise himself.
He could not remember when he had last openly praised himself like this. Had he ever?
"Mugeuk, you were really doing well."
Only the stars filling the sky gave a sparkling applause to that precious praise.
* * *
One-Slash Sword Supreme stood alone and looked up at the night sky.
"Can’t sleep?"
When she turned, Blood Heaven Blade Demon was walking toward her.
After parting from Geom Mugeuk and coming down the mountain, they stayed at an inn in the village. She was standing at a spot a little way from the inn at the village entrance, coming out to walk for a moment.
"No, I can’t seem to fall asleep for some reason."
It was not just cause her bed had changed.
"I kept seeing the Young Cult Leader fighting."
Blood Heaven Blade Demon wore an expression that said he understood her. He had felt the same. Probably the Young Cult Leader would continue to provoke and trouble them for a while in this way.
"What about you, Orabeoni?" she asked.
"What about me?"
He thought she was asking about the Young Cult Leader's martial arts, but her question had been about something else.
"This expedition. I don't think I have ever had as much fun in my life as I did on this journey."
Blood Heaven Blade Demon had nodded. He had felt the same. How could he not have enjoyed a journey with Geom Mugeuk and One-Slash Sword Supreme?
"Mugeuk took such great care of us, that was why."
This time One-Slash Sword Supreme nodded in agreement.
"The Young Cult Leader really likes Orabeoni'"
"Me? No way."
He said that, but how could Blood Heaven Blade Demon not know what was in Geom Mugeuk’s heart? How could he not know that every word Geom Mugeuk spoke in front of One-Slash Sword Supreme was meant to lift her spirits? How could he not know, watching him pile up those youth-restoring elixirs before her eyes?
Yes, to be able to understand such feelings was perhaps a gift that only a journey like this—one they had shared together—could give.
"You’ve changed a lot too, Orabeoni. Before, you would never have asked that man to come along with you."
When he had asked the Sword King to go to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult with them, she had been quietly surprised. Blood Heaven Blade Demon was not someone who would normally do that. She had assumed, naturally, that he had done it for the Young Cult Leader’s sake.
"It wasn’t because of the Young Cult Leader. It was because of you."
"Because of me?"
Blood Heaven Blade Demon said something even he had not expected.
"I thought you might want to fight one more time."
One-Slash Sword Supreme looked at him with a faint, unreadable smile.
"It was the first time I’d ever felt that way. Three sword users gathered together, and I was the weakest?"
She could accept that the Young Cult Leader was stronger. He had learned the Nine Calamities Demon Art, and Geom Mugeuk was a man more extraordinary than anyone.
But the Sword King was different. They had met as enemies—and both wielded the sword.
Yet she could not defeat him. The result had looked even on the surface, but she knew. He had yielded a move to her.
"May I make a confession?"
Her words made Blood Heaven Blade Demon flinch. She was not one to say things like that.
"There was a time when I hated the sword."
Perhaps the greatest gain Blood Heaven Blade Demon had made on this journey was his relationship with her, because she was finally revealing her true feelings. Though they had been closer before, it had not been to this extent.
"Ha! The Sword Supreme hating the sword?"
At his half-joking scolding, One-Slash Sword Supreme drew her sword with a faint smile.
"No matter how much I trained, there was no progress in my swordsmanship. It felt as though something was stuck tight, completely blocked. Just thinking about it made me suffocate."
Blood Heaven Blade Demon knew. From her youth, she had possessed fierce ambition and an unyielding desire to grow stronger.
"Back then, I often felt irritated, and I didn’t want to see people. I didn’t show it outwardly, but inside I was in complete chaos."
She looked at her reflection on the blade. The image of her face from those days overlapped in her mind—when her makeup had grown heavier and heavier.
"Then the Young Cult Leader pierced through that blockage in an instant, raising the ceiling of my martial arts. And when that ceiling rose, all my problems vanished. That was when I realized… all my troubles had been because of my swordsmanship."
Blood Heaven Blade Demon regretted that he had not been able to help her back then.
Looking back now, talking comfortably with her like this and sharing what was in his heart had not been such a difficult thing.
He could have just gone to her first, apologized, and accepted her feelings.
Why had that been so hard back then? Thinking about it now, it had really been nothing at all.
"But during this journey, the Young Cult Leader completely shattered that ceiling I once raised. So I don’t need to fight that man again."
She looked up at the night sky.
"Now, above my head, there’s only the sky."
Blood Heaven Blade Demon could understand what she meant. It was a declaration that she would take her sword to its utmost limit.
"Is that a blessing? Or a curse?"
He had spoken out of concern for her, yet perhaps it really was a blessing.
One-Slash Sword Supreme smiled and said,
"The Young Cult Leader shattered our ceilings, but in exchange, he breathed youth into us again, didn’t he? Let’s start over."
Blood Heaven Blade Demon knew that what she meant by starting over was about martial arts. But at least in that moment, he couldn’t help but wish that her words had carried another meaning.
Yet he did not show those feelings. Even though her ceiling had been broken through, she still kept an invisible wall between them. She was someone who stepped back the moment he stepped closer.
"Don’t lose to that sword brat!"
And so the two Demon Supremes talked on, not realizing how deep the night had grown.
* * *
The next day, Geom Mugeuk continued wandering through the mountains.
He emitted energy from his body like spider threads, seeking any trace of a different aura, and whenever he had a clear view, he would use the New Eye Technique to scan the opposite cliffs.
It was an arduous and exhausting task, but Geom Mugeuk silently persisted in searching for the entrance.
"How is it? Do you like it there? The scenery must be nice, right?"
Across the valley, on a sunlit hill halfway up the opposite mountain, lay the grave of One-Slash Sword Supreme’s uncle.
"You know, that’s quite a good burial site too. A proper auspicious site must have a mountain behind it and flowing water before it…"
Among the books he had once read at Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s home, there had been one about geomancy. He recalled a passage from that book just then.
Something struck him, and Geom Mugeuk’s eyes widened.
"Ah, that’s it!"
He immediately soared up into the air.
"…The left and right mountain ridges should appear to embrace the auspicious ground, with wind concealed and water winding. The earth must be solid and dry, tinged with red or golden hues."
It was what he had read about an auspicious site.
"I need to find the auspicious ground!"
No matter how secretive it was, it was still the burial site of all the former leaders of the Unorthodox Alliance. When they had first chosen the place, they surely had followed geomantic principles.
It was obvious—yet he had not thought of it until he saw the grave of One-Slash Sword Supreme’s uncle.
Geom Mugeuk flew between the many peaks of Heavenly Eye Mountain, searching for the most auspicious site he could find.
And soon, he found it.
“This is it!”
It was Immortal Peak. That place was located at what could only be called the most auspicious spot in all of Heavenly Eye Mountain.
Geom Mugeuk immediately descended beneath Immortal Peak. Whether there was truly a tomb here, he could not know—but it was wise to begin his search at the most likely place.
He began climbing carefully, observing the surroundings with greater attention.
As he ascended, he encountered an old man coming down the path. The man carried a bag of herbs—an herb gatherer.
“Good day.”
Geom Mugeuk bowed lightly in greeting as he passed.
The old man asked him, “Might you be a martial artist?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m surprised. It’s the first time a martial artist has greeted me first.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled and cupped his fist respectfully.
“Then I’ll apologize on behalf of all the rude martial artists who came before me.”
The old man waved his hands in embarrassment at the unexpected response.
“There’s no need for that. Your words alone are already humbling and appreciated.”
Having exchanged greetings, the two paused their steps for a moment.
“The scenery here is truly beautiful.”
To the side stretched a gently sloping field. The view was wide open on all sides, and the tall grass that reached a grown man’s waist swayed softly in the wind.
“This place is called the Wind Garden, because it’s where one can play with the wind.”
“Play with the wind?”
Just then, a breeze swept through, carrying a long blade of grass with it. It fluttered along the wind’s flow—here and there, up and down—and strangely, the wind seemed to blow from every direction.
“Isn’t it fascinating?”
Had he not greeted the old man, Geom Mugeuk would never have known the name of this place, nor its meaning.
“Then, take care on your way.”
The old man continued down the mountain after bidding him farewell. Geom Mugeuk watched his retreating back, then turned his gaze toward the Wind Garden.
The same blades of grass as before still danced there like children at play.
Just as he was about to resume climbing the mountain, Geom Mugeuk suddenly remembered what Danso Jin had once said to him.
—Meeting you, Young Cult Leader, I’ve come to think you’re like the wind. I hope you continue to live freely, carried by it, just as you are now.
‘Could it be…?’
Had Danso Jin perhaps left him a clue?
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned again to the wind-blown field. The sloped meadow—surely, there could not be a tomb entrance in a place like that.
Had he not met the old man, he would have passed by without a second thought. It was far too open and exposed to conceal anything secret.
But perhaps because of Danso Jin’s final words, something about the place pulled at his heart.
Watching the blades of grass drift on the wind, Geom Mugeuk walked toward them, parting the waist-high grass as he stepped in.
And as Danso Jin had told him, he completely surrendered his body to the wind.
Whoooosh—
When the wind blew from behind, he walked forward. When it shifted and came from the left, he moved to the right. His body and his steps felt lighter than ever.
And when the wind stopped, Geom Mugeuk stopped as well.
To entrust oneself to the wind—it sounded simple, but it was anything but easy. He had to feel the wind perfectly to move precisely. He had to stop exactly when the wind ceased and instantly react when it came again from another direction.
Geom Mugeuk moved exactly in the direction the wind carried him.
In that moment, Geom Mugeuk became one with the wind. It was as if he were dancing with it.
He continued to move. Though part of him thought, ‘This was madness,’ he kept entrusting his body to the wind.
How long had he followed the wind like that?
When he finally stopped, following the final current of air—
Ssshhk—
With a brief sound of wind, Geom Mugeuk’s figure vanished. To anyone watching, it might have seemed as though he had simply collapsed into the grass.
But Geom Mugeuk was no longer there.
He did not realize it himself, but from above, the place where he had moved back and forth showed a pattern made by the flattened grass.
It formed a star with five points—
The symbol of the Five-Point Wind Star Formation.
Whoooosh—
A gust of wind blew once more, and in an instant, the grass that had been pressed flat rose back to its original state, as if nothing had happened.
With the mystery erased, only the blades of grass from before fluttered gently in the wind.