* * *
Wijihoyeon did not know where to go since that day she left.
She wandered around, hoping to find that place and path she saw in her dream. No, it wasn’t correct to even call it a place or a path in the first place.
Regardless, she had an impression that whatever she had glimpsed in that dream was something that would give her a clue as to where to go.
She could intuitively feel it as well.
Although it was only intuitive, she felt that if she was able to become independent once more and separate from Lee Sungmin, she would be able to find that place.
And… it had actually happened as she thought.
She had never been to the place she had seen back then. Nevertheless, Wijihoyeon actually was able to find out where she needed to go and the direction of the location she was looking for.
‘It’s the first time I’ve come this deep.’
Mount Hugal was a certain mountain peak among the mountain range in the South that she was currently climbing.
This mountain was certainly matching the very description of the place in her dream.
It took her a while, but once she had spent enough time away from Lee Sungmin, she felt a vague connection within her body start to get stronger. It was as if it was subdued subconsciously whenever she was with Lee Sungmin.
Through this vague connection within her body, she followed her heart and intuitive feelings and found herself here, on Mount Hugal.
The journey to the Southern region of Eria was distant from the Forest of Fairies, and oddly enough, Wijihoyeon did not experience any kind of threats on the way here for once. It was rare for her, when she was traveling, to not experience any danger like this time.
Mount Hugal was full of a foggy mist, just like what she had imagined, no sign of human life could be perceived with only the presence of countless monsters.
The Mountain Range around Mount Hugal was a nest of the savage monsters that could slaughter countless villages of humans on their own.
The City of Endless Night, which was not far from her location, had monsters that were completely different and lived in their own versions of societies that were much more organized that the ones that could be found here.
The ones residing in this forest were brutes that listened more to their instincts rather than reason.
Even so, these monsters were no match for the current Wijihoyeon.
Although humans had repeatedly tried raids to eradicate the monsters on these mountains, they resulted in repeated failures, so they backed off and marked it as a territory that could not be salvaged.
The monsters on the mountain thought Wijihoyeon was like the rest of the foolish humans and attacked her. They realized too late though, that no matter how many of them went to attack her, it only resulted in their immediate deaths.
‘What is in here?’
Wijihoyeon could not know yet. There was still a bit more distance to traverse until she reached her destination.
She didn’t know just yet, but within Mount Hugal, was the Maryeong Pavilion.
It was the place where Yana, the Nine-Tailed Fox, had accumulated her powers as the Gumiho despite being so young.
Unaware of the fact, Wijihoyeon continued to climb the mountain in pursuit of her vague emotional connection she felt towards her dream.
Instinctively, she knew that her location was drawing near.
However, before she completely arrived at Maryeong Pavilion, she was forced to stop her steps.
She stared through the thick area of fog in front of her. Through the foggy area, there was someone sitting on a huge rock.
It was thick and difficult to make out the figure through the fog, but Wijihoyeon could clearly see someone.
“It’s too rough of a mountain for a woman to climb alone, don’t you think?”
There was a rustling sound of someone untying some luggage.
Musin grinned as he spoke, taking out some large rice balls and some boiled eggs to eat.
“Isn’t it quite a good meal?”Musin continued to chuckle and make small talk to her.
“That’s a lot of food.”
Wijihoyeon replied while glaring at Musin. Musin simply gave her a silly smile. He mumbled as he bit into one of the large, white rice balls he had brought with him.
“This old man made it by himself. It may not suit your tastes, but one of this old man’s hobbies is cooking. It’s better to eat things you’ve made by yourself so that you can ensure its taste and quality, don’t you think?”
After saying that, Musin continued to eat and eventually ate up all of his rice balls that he had brought with him.
“You’ll definitely regret it if you don’t eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Hm… okay then. Well, it’s a shame you can’t see the view. I love the scenery here.”
Musin started to bring out a bottle of alcohol and drank right in front of her, as if he were on a picnic. Wijihoyeon did not know just how powerful the man in front of her was, nor his identity, but he was still sitting on a rock in front of her, as if he had nothing to be concerned about… From his relaxed mannerisms and behaviors, as well as his unfathomable depth in terms of the level of martial arts, Wijihoyeon determined that the man in front of her must be someone similar to Sima Ryunju or possibly in the realm of a Martial God.
Regardless, Wijihoyeon was not shaken up by this man’s presence. She asked him in a blunt attitude,
“Are you here to kill me?”
“Of course not.”
“Then to capture me?”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I’m not sure, but you must be some sort of a Martial God or a master that has reached a similar level to the man Sima Ryunju. Though, as I said earlier, I can’t be sure.”
“Ha ha!”
Musin put down the bottle and laughed loudly at Wijihoyeon’s answer.
“Have you ever met Sima Ryunju or know how powerful he really is?”
“I have.”
“Did you learn anything else from him?”
“He said he was weaker than you.”
Musin laughed out loud at Wijihoyeon’s answer. Calling Sima Ryunju by his name like a close friend, Musin laughed for a long time and shook his head as Wijihoyeon finally knew the identity of the man in front of her.
“This old man feels the same. It’s been over a hundred years, and I still can’t tell who’s stronger between the two of us.”
“Do you think he’s arrogant?”
“No, he deserves to act like that. This is a wide world. A world where humans are summoned continuously from different dimensions with various knowledge in their respective fields. To be able to become one of the strongest martial artists in this world… is quite the feat.
“Are you stronger than him or not?”
“Since I’ve been training in closed-door training for the past 100 years, I couldn’t honestly tell you. I don’t even know about my current level right now. If I wanted to know, I would need to fight someone.”
Musin leapt down from the rock, saying so.
“But one thing is clear to me, Minor Heavenly Demon. And that is the fact that this old man is definitely stronger than you.”
“I know that much.”
“But why didn’t you run away?”
“You said you wouldn’t kill me.”
“I could change my mind, you know.”
“I don’t think you will.”
Wijihoyeon replied with an indifferent and unreadable facial expression. The answer left Musin speechless. After a momentary silence, Musin burst into laughter and nodded his head.
“Yes, you are correct. Then why don’t you tell me this: Why are you climbing this mountain?”
“That doesn’t matter. How did you know I was here?”
Wijihoyeon had moved towards the mountain in the utmost stealth she could pull off. She did not need any unnecessary eyes wandering in her direction or bothering her right now.
The several organizations in the world of Eria were searching for her whereabouts, and she had proceeded in her travels with utmost secrecy.
Yet Musin was just sitting her casually on a rock in the middle of a foggy mountain as if he knew she would be there.
“Beyond the Heavens has the means to see and hear things besides the information that is publicly circulated throughout the world. We don’t have access to everything, but we do know a lot in comparison to most.
Although he meant the Divine Maiden as the one who was able to access this information, there was no way that Wijihoyeon would understand what he was talking about if he did.
“I have to go up there.”Wijihoyeon spoke as she pointed to the foggy terrain further up ahead.
“I don’t mean to stop you. In fact, I don’t need to even though I could.”
“You must be the strongest warrior within Beyond the Heavens, yet for some reason it still sounds as if you’re following someone’s orders.”
“It is true that I am the strongest warrior within our organization, but my actions are not wholly decided by myself.”
Wijihoyeon continued to walk while listening to him. She stepped up towards Musin’s area near the rock, and simply passed him, paying him no mind at all.
Musin smiled as he watched this and strolled right behind Wijihoyeon. Wijihoyeon continued to speak, without sparing Musin a glance as she continued to trek up the mountain.
“I’m curious about something. Will you happen to give me an answer if I ask?”
“If I can answer it, then sure.”
“Why do you want me in your organization, Beyond the Heavens?”
“Well, you’re quite strong. Isn’t it only natural to want strong people beside you?”
Musin replied and continued to speak,
“Do you know the goal of Beyond the Heavens? I’m sure you know from the Ghost Spear, as he might have told you.”
“Yes, he told me that you want to eradicate everything that is not a human in this world, and stand over everything that is left and rule over it.”
“What do you think about that then?”Musin asked her while chuckling.
“I think it’s nothing but a cover-up.”
“You are correct.”
Musin nodded his head and continued to talk once more,
“Even if it’s just a cover-up for our true goal, simple and obvious goals like that make my heart race with excitement. Desire for fame and power is something any human would want, and to achieve that with your own power is quite rewarding.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“It’s not just a simple joke.”
Wijihoyeon paused as she felt irritation bubble up inside of her, but suppressed her motions forcefully.“…. You don’t plan on being honest with me, do you?”
At the words, Musin only smiled, but did not give her a verbal answer. Instead, he posed Wijihoyeon another question.
“Do you want to join us then?”
“Not at all.”
She didn’t even find the offer remotely attractive to her.
“Is it because of the Ghost Spear, your friend?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because our group is hostile with him, and he is your friend. But do you know that if you join our group, we will not pursue him or cause trouble with him any further?”
“You don’t have to do that. And if I do join you, he surely won’t like it at all.”
“It is true that you have a strong belief in your friend, the Ghost Spear…… The reason why he has survived so long is only because Beyond the Heavens did not sincerely try to kill him in earnest. Do you understand what I mean by that?”
“Maybe. But if you try to kill him now, all I can say is that you really should try your best, unlike before.”
“I don’t think it’s too late to kill him though. You don’t think this old man can kill a little boy like him?”
“Why don’t you just do that then? Why don’t you go capture him, bring him in front of me, and threaten to kill him if I don’t join your group? Then, you might actually have a chance of convincing me.”
“There’s no need to use that kind of method anymore. If I did feel like using that method, why would I not simply capture you first and drag you with me by force?”
“… You see, that’s also what I find strange about you.”
Wijihoyeon smirked as she spoke to Musin, pointing out a flaw in his logic.
“Looking at what you’ve been saying, you don’t really need my power or martial arts, you just need my ‘existence’ it appears.”
“… You’re half-right and half-wrong. Your strength will certainly be of help to Beyond the Heavens. From my perspective…… Your power is already on par with Kang Seok, Wolhu, and Jehu. That alone is a seriously impressive feat. Only a few years ago, you, the Minor Heavenly Demon, were barely on par with the weakest of the six divinities, Qian Zun, and were rendered immobile for over a year.”
“Then, there must be something you need outside of my power.”
At the question, Musin merely smiled and remained silent.
In the meantime, the two arrived in front of Maryeong Pavilion.
The Pavilion happened to be a large and quiet pond.
Wijihoyeon glanced at the pond. The place in her dreams was only foggy, she had never seen a pond in it clearly.
However, she was convinced that this was the place she had to be.
Musin glanced around. This was a strange and mysterious place. Maryeong Pavilion was the only place in the world where people could get in touch with ‘her’, and it was not an easy place to enter just because they wanted to.
In fact, Musin had wandered around the mountain several times in the past to enter the Maryeong Pavilion.
‘The Divine Spirit allowed itself to inject some of its power into the Minor Heavenly Demon. It wasn’t able to in the past, but it has been able to recently. It must be that fate is starting to move again.’
Until only a few months ago, Musin and the Divine Maiden had noticed that fate had been completely stopped.
The Divine Spirit did not give the Maiden or Musin any words or readings during that time.
It was the time right after Lee Sungmin had traveled to the dungeon where he had died in his previous life. Of course, Musin and the Divine Maiden did not know that.
Musin slowly prepared himself for the being that was surely about to emerge. He didn’t come here only for Wijihoyeon. His other business here was to establish a connection to the pond, so he could freely traverse here when he needed to in the future.
The surface of the pond started to ripple. A dark and eerie colored light started to emerge from the bottom of the pond and started to take shape in the sky above them. Slowly, the dark colored light took the shape of a dark humanoid figure.
A red eye floated in the air around the humanoid figure and gazed down at both Wijihoyeon and Musin. It was disgusting and grotesque to have only one eye, but Wijihoyeon and Musin were not overwhelmed.
[Hey.]
The space trembled and the voice rang out in the surroundings.
[You were born with the talent envied by millions, but with the fate to fail as the Heavenly Demon who died miserably. Yet now, you have the chance to take that power of yours by the reigns and reign freely.]
The voice of the figure was not heard by Musin.
Only Wijihoyeon was the one able to hear the voice of the monster in front of them. She felt that what she had just heard, was similar to something she had heard in the past.
In the dungeon where she had the doppelganger with the version of herself and the Dragon cape. That doppelganger had told her something similar.
The doppelganger told her that she was a supreme talent in the world whose fate had been horribly twisted.
[The light of the blessed is shining on you, and you must be the first to be defeated in the cosmic fate. From the moment you realized that, you should have come here sooner. But it doesn’t matter since you came here in the end. You have become the greatest variable and singularity of fate in the world.]
“… What am I?”
[It’s too early for you to realize it. Now that fate has begun to flow, things will start moving into place.]
“My spirit.”
Musin, who had not been hearing the conversation between Wijihoyeon and Maryeong, the Devil, stepped forward. Musin had already prepared himself for this encounter beforehand. A great power started to emanate around Musin as the center. In line with being called a Martial God of sorts, he was exuding a presence that no human could possibly dream of matching.
“I want to ask you something.”
[… Human.]
The eyes of the Devil finally drifted towards Musin.
[You couldn’t come here through normal means it seems.]
“I know, I’ve been here a few times, but I’ve never been to this spot except for today.”
[I know, I allowed you here because you came with her. And it was a slight courtesy to the existence of your so-called God, who reached the end of human life.]
Musin’s eyebrows wiggled at the words of the demon.
“You mean I wasn’t good enough to meet you before?”
[You didn’t deserve my time. If you hadn’t come with this child, you wouldn’t have been able to reach this place for the rest of your life.]
“……please answer the question.”
[Try to ask me then.]
“Is the ending of this world set in stone?”
asked Musin.