Chapter 821: My Problem Is Always Because of the Young Cult Leader
The Sword King was moved.
It was a completely unexpected kind of emotion. The fact that Geom Woojin had blown away the wall had been for his sake.
To notice, in the midst of that split-second exchange, that he had been concerned about the wall of this floor—once again, he felt just how remarkable Geom Woojin was.
Of course, destroying the wall hadn’t been solely for him. It meant that from now on, they should all fight without worrying about anything.
The Sword King cupped his fists respectfully and showed courtesy to Geom Woojin.
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Geom Woojin nodded as if it were nothing.
Hwa Moogi silently stared at the now completely opened wall of the floor.
His face was smiling, but it was slightly different from before.
The reason he had been fighting using only basic martial arts, without properly employing the Martial Emperor Divine Sword or the unique martial arts of the Heavenly Will Palace Master, had been to make use of that wall.
He had come here knowing this place held meaning for them.
‘And yet he just blew it away himself? As expected, he’s no easy opponent.’
Meanwhile, Jin Paecheon had stopped the bleeding from his injured shoulder and arm.
It had been cut in an instant.
He had keenly experienced the saying that life and death were separated by a single moment.
After checking his wounds, Jin Paecheon walked toward Geom Woojin and Baek Jagang.
“I caused unnecessary worry.”
Jin Paecheon did not stubbornly insist on continuing the fight.
It was said that knowing when to retreat was harder than knowing when to advance—and Jin Paecheon knew. Now was the time to step back.
Geom Woojin was glad that he was safe.
“That was splendid martial arts.”
This fight had been purely sword against sword, fundamentals alone.
Yet it had been fiercer and more remarkable than any battle filled with countless sword energies and sword forces.
Baek Jagang spoke more honestly.
“To be frank, I was worried.”
If he had heard those words in the past, he would have thought he was being looked down on.
But now, they did not sound unpleasant.
“Thank you.”
Jin Paecheon accepted it as it was. If someone worried about you, you should thank them.
Hwa Moogi did not simply let Jin Paecheon withdraw.
“You’re ending it like this?”
Since the Gentleman’s Sword was still in Jin Paecheon’s hand, he provoked him again.
“No matter what, to be the Martial Alliance Leader who barely survives by relying on others’ help… aren’t you ashamed?”
Jin Paecheon calmly accepted the mockery and sheathed the Gentleman’s Sword.
“That’s right, I am deeply ashamed.”
Though he admitted it honestly, there was no mental blow. Rather, he felt relieved. He had done everything he could.
If he survived and, days later, looked back on today, he would surely feel regret.
He would think—*I should have used that move then, I should have responded like this.* And not just that—*When the Heavenly Killing Star said that, I should have answered like this.* Countless thoughts would keep him from sleeping.
But right now, he had no regrets.
Perhaps he could have fought better. But he didn’t think he could have fought well enough to kill Hwa Moogi.
This had been his best. And since he had fought with everything, there was nothing to regret.
At that moment, the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult, who had been listening, stepped in.
“What’s there to be ashamed of? The one who should feel shame is over there.”
The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader spoke in place of Jin Paecheon.
“Leader Jin is a gentleman, so he lets it pass like this. You’re using multiple people’s martial arts and even multiple people’s internal energy. You’re the one who should be ashamed. Try using only one person’s martial arts and only that person’s internal energy—then I’ll acknowledge you.”
Hwa Moogi smiled as he looked at him. The killing intent within that smile clearly said he would definitely kill him, yet the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader did not care in the slightest.
“You should be grateful the Young Cult Leader isn’t here. If he were, a coward like you would have already collapsed from sheer rage.”
Everyone listening agreed with the idea of collapsing from rage.
At that moment, one person stepped forward.
“Please grant me this chance.”
It was the Sword King. Since the Cult Leader had lifted his restriction, he wanted to fight freely.
Geom Woojin looked at him for a moment, then nodded in permission. There was a certain trust that the man named Ak Gunhak inspired—a vague belief that if he stepped forward like this, he must have his own reasoning.
Indeed, the Sword King had not stepped forward out of competitiveness. He did not overestimate his own strength. Knowing he could not face Hwa Moogi alone, he asked someone for help.
“Would you watch my back just once more?”
That person was the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader. He was asking again of the man who had stepped forward earlier to save him.
“You also use formless force, and my martial arts contain formless energy as well. We should complement each other well.”
The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, too, had confirmed through Jin Paecheon’s fight that killing Hwa Moogi alone would by no means be easy.
Earlier, Geom Woojin had made his stance clear—do not think about honor or pride in this fight. Only victory mattered.
“The one over there has many souls, while I am just one person—but I should still help.”
With another jab at Hwa Moogi, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader stepped forward to assist.
Geom Woojin gave the Sword King one piece of advice.
“Do not forget your promise.”
The promise to stand by Geom Mugeuk and help him—in other words, no matter what, do not die.
“Yes, I will not forget.”
The reason the Sword King stepped forward was partly his personal desire to fight him, but more importantly, to reduce his internal energy as much as possible.
He intended to exhaust as much of Hwa Moogi’s internal energy as he could. Only then would the one who faced him at the end have a chance of victory.
The Sword King sent a voice transmission to the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader.
—It would be best if we could kill him, but if that proves difficult, we should at least exhaust his internal energy as much as possible.
—A wise choice.
At that moment, Jin Paecheon, who had been watching, spoke to the Sword King.
“Be careful.”
The Sword King slightly bowed his head toward him in gratitude.
Watching Jin Paecheon take special care of the Sword King, Baek Jagang thought inwardly:
‘Even if you give him the Gentleman’s Sword at his waist, he is already someone who has left.’
Regardless of Geom Woojin speaking as if he had already secured him.
From how he had tried to protect the wall earlier, he was completely a man of Geom Mugeuk now.
Though, perhaps, that was precisely why one would desire him even more.
With his horsehair tassel swaying, the Sword King stepped forward, and the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader stood one step behind him.
Of course, fighting together did not make them twice as strong. Without having trained combined techniques, they could even hinder each other. They had to adapt instinctively in the moment.
Hwa Moogi crossed his arms and spoke arrogantly.
“Who gave you permission? Just because you want to fight, do you think I’ll oblige?”
Boom!
Hwa Moogi swung his sword and blocked the silent, incoming formless force aimed at him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He blocked all the consecutive attacks without taking a single step back.
The one who had fired those attacks in succession was the Sword King.
“Does this still not make you want to fight?”
Whether he was angered or not couldn’t be told from his expression. But his killing intent had clearly grown stronger.
“Not a single one of you is to my liking.”
Among those he disliked, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader was easily among the worst. And once again, he couldn’t hold back.
“If everyone around you is like that, have you considered that maybe the problem lies with you?”
Hwa Moogi smiled and nodded.
“From now on, it will be all of our problem.”
The moment he finished speaking—
Swoosh!
Hwa Moogi rushed not toward the Sword King, but toward the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader. The mouth that had been talking seemed more irritating than the incoming force.
A black sword that cut through the air at the speed of light.
Bang!
Human-shaped puppets appeared instantly, blocking the space between the two.
Shadow Illusion Human Wall.
It was the moment the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s unique martial art, the Outer Heavenly Blood Demon Art, manifested.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hwa Moogi cut through the puppet-like obstacles and pushed forward. Though they shouldn’t have been destroyed so easily, before his black sword, they burst apart like smoke.
Behind those puppets, the Sword King was already standing.
“I’m first!”
The Sword King intended to take the lead. Not because he thought himself stronger, but because of compatibility.
The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, who fought barehanded, would have difficulty against Hwa Moogi’s sword—it was too fast and too powerful.
Thus, he stepped forward first.
Now that the building being destroyed no longer mattered, the Sword King immediately unleashed his unique martial art.
Formless Divine Sword, First Form—Formless Return to Void.
Whiiiiiiing!
As he thrust his sword, a whirlwind engulfed Hwa Moogi’s body.
Crackcrackcrackcrack!
A massive vortex twisted his body. Normally, flesh and bone would have been torn apart—but Hwa Moogi’s body did not twist. His protective energy turned the storm into nothing more than a spring breeze.
Swoosh!
Bang!
At that moment, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s palm strike struck his body.
Yet Hwa Moogi endured both attacks as if to show it off. At that moment, he truly looked like a monster.
Shhk.
Then, in an instant, he broke free of the vortex.
“Watch out!”
By the time the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader shouted, Hwa Moogi had already rushed in front of the Sword King, thrusting his black sword.
Radiant Martial Sun Sword Art, Third Form—Extreme Yang Shattering the Heavens.
The energy that tore through space was no ordinary force.
Whoooosh!
A blazing energy that seemed capable of melting everything exploded toward the Sword King.
It was an attack that could never be blocked head-on.
Formless Divine Sword, Third Form—Formless Defiance of Heaven.
A pitch-black space appeared before the Sword King.
Whoosh.
It swallowed the incoming flames—
Whoooosh!
Then erupted, spewing the absorbed fire back toward Hwa Moogi.
Fwoooosh!
Hwa Moogi received the scorching heat—
Slash!
—and split the flames apart, advancing forward.
With terrifying momentum, he thrust his sword.
Clang!
Even though the Sword King raised his internal energy to its limit to block, a shock like his wrist being torn apart surged through him. He had prepared for it, yet could not adapt.
And such attacks poured down like rain.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The two exchanged blows at a speed invisible to the eye, forcing the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader to stay out of it. In the blink of an eye, their positions changed several times.
The Sword King did everything he could.
But with each clash, one thought grew stronger—
He could not win.
Fast, powerful, and flawless. It felt like fighting against an immense wall.
And what made this extreme battle even more difficult was the innate killing intent emanating from Hwa Moogi. It had long surpassed human limits, affecting even the flow of true energy.
In the end, the Sword King could not withstand Hwa Moogi’s relentless assault.
Boom!
He was blown back into the wall behind him. As he sprang up, he coughed up blood. Blocking such powerful attacks consecutively had finally inflicted internal injuries.
Was it because his killing intent had grown stronger? Hwa Moogi was even stronger than when he fought Jin Paecheon. He was steadily growing more powerful.
Swoosh!
Hwa Moogi rushed in to finish him.
But just before that, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader stepped in front of him.
Shashashashashashashashak!
Blue lines flew in from all directions—just grazing them would sever a human body. It was the Blue Line Blood Net of the Outer Heavenly Blood Demon Art.
Dozens of blue strands sliced through the air.
Papapapak.
Hwa Moogi broke through them with his body. The net could not pierce his protective energy.
Swoosh!
He pushed forward regardless.
Drip.
At that moment, a small dot fell in the air—then suddenly expanded.
Whirrrrrr!
A black hole began pulling Hwa Moogi in.
Yet he did not get sucked in. Using Thousand-Pound Descent, he resisted it with sheer force—enduring the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader’s Death Vortex entirely through strength alone.
The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader was truly shocked. One could escape after being caught—but to endure it purely with strength?
He pushed his internal energy to the limit and unleashed palm force as well.
Swoosh! Bang!
Yet even then, Hwa Moogi did not get pulled in. Instead, he walked forward.
Thud! Thud!
As if proving that no method could stop him, he advanced step by step like a nightmare of a summer night.
Even as the vortex behind him pulled harder, he continued forward.
He approached until he stood right before the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader—perhaps because he had been the one speaking irritably all along.
Go on, say something again.
Even at a distance where a thrust would pierce his heart, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader did not dodge.
At the moment Hwa Moogi thrust his black sword—
Swiish!
Before it could strike, the White Flower Sword cut through the air.
Clang!
The Sword King, despite his injuries, had barely recovered and intervened.
The instant Hwa Moogi diverted his energy to block—
Whirr!
He was sucked into the black hole.
Pop.
As if sent to another world, the hole vanished instantly.
But the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader did not relax.
“With his level, that won’t hold him long.”
No sooner had he finished speaking—
Rip!
The black sword tore through space and emerged.
Riiiiip.
Through the torn space, Hwa Moogi’s head appeared.
“I don’t like dark places.”
He was smiling while immersed in a space that erased everything.
Watching that eerie, overwhelming presence, the Sword King asked:
“Why did you go so far to protect me?”
Earlier, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader had risked his life to save him. If he had been even a moment slower, he would have been pierced by that sword.
Curious, even Hwa Moogi listened, his head still protruding from the darkness.
One might have expected a joke—*There are five others, someone would have saved you.*
But the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader gave an unexpected answer.
“My problem has always been because of the Young Cult Leader.”
All eyes turned toward him.
“If you die, even if we win this battle, it will be a defeat for the Young Cult Leader.”
“!”
“It will be a defeat he grieves for a very long time… perhaps his entire life.”
The Sword King had not expected such thoughts from him.
The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader turned his gaze toward Geom Woojin. He believed that Geom Woojin would understand his heart best—because he knew better than anyone what kind of feelings his son had entrusted this battle with.
His feelings now were the same as Geom Woojin’s when he had blown away the wall—to save everyone, so they could leave new words upon a new wall.
“I want to give the Young Cult Leader a proper victory.”
Even as that nightmare-like being extended his head toward them, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader showed no fear.
“So none of us can die.”