As soon as Geom Mugeuk released the First Immortal’s mute point, money seemed to appear out of thin air.
“I forgot. I have some money I set aside in the Continental Treasury.”
“How much?”
“About four hundred thousand nyang.”
“You’ve saved up quite a bit, haven’t you?”
The First Immortal also revealed the code for the Continental Treasury.
Go Wol made sure to write that down as well.
First, there was the eight hundred thousand nyang from the Debt of the Immortals, and now the four hundred thousand nyang the First Immortal had saved separately.
That was already one million two hundred thousand nyang.
At that, the Second Immortal blinked his eyes with a furious expression.
It was the Second Immortal’s turn again.
“You gave us a mere fifty thousand nyang all this time, and you took four hundred thousand for yourself?”
Far from looking apologetic, the First Immortal seemed to want to argue, but he couldn’t say a word with his mute point sealed.
“The First Immortal has more assets. I know he bought gold and hid it away.”
The First Immortal couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
It seemed he had intended to feign ignorance about the gold until the very end.
As the Second Immortal scored points with his gold, the First Immortal blinked his eyes irritably.
A war of blinking began between the two.
It was the First Immortal’s turn again.
“I was going to tell you about the gold too. Give me the merit for it!”
“I can’t do that. If it feels unfair, don't forget and keep track of things properly. The Second Immortal might try to take credit for your assets again.”
The First Immortal completely gave up on his assets.
He figured that as long as he survived, he could always make more money.
“I have some land that I bought.”
“How much?”
“Quite a bit.”
In truth, the interrogation had started to gain information rather than assets, but the two men had misread the situation.
From Geom Mugeuk’s perspective, it was a welcome development.
Meanwhile, the more of the First Immortal’s assets that were revealed, the greater the Second Immortal’s sense of betrayal grew.
“Brothers? You son of a bitch! You were hoarding it all for yourself.”
He thought it was one thing to take a share for oneself, but he was furious that it had been done without a word.
The First Immortal retorted on his next turn.
“Don’t you know that you earned even that fifty thousand nyang thanks to me? If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead in some gambling den with a knife in your back by now. Hmph, spit!”
Their relationship had been bound by loyalty, but once it crumbled, it happened in an instant.
And so, the two of them revealed all the assets of the deceased Third and Fourth Immortals as well.
Their only thought was to somehow impress Geom Mugeuk and survive.
The Second Immortal also harbored a burning desire for revenge, vowing to kill the First Immortal.
When there were no more assets to be revealed, Geom Mugeuk pressed the vital points of both men.
The two men, who had been cursing each other whenever their turn came, fell asleep.
Geom Mugeuk spoke to Go Wol.
“Tomorrow morning, take these two and go around the treasuries to recover all the assets.”
“Yes, I understand.”
He intended to let them live until then, just in case the First Immortal had given him the wrong treasury code.
Geom Mugeuk made a request to the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
“Please help Grand Strategist Go tomorrow.”
“I will.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader nodded obediently.
“I thought you would scold me for this. Squeezing money out of villains like them.”
“Do you have any idea how hard Go Wol and I work with that squeezed money?”
“I apologize.”
“I didn’t say it to boast. I meant that the money from those villains is being put to good use.”
It seemed that with the funds from the Debt of the Immortals, the task of organizing the information network could finally be completed.
“I’ve heard from Go Wol what kind of men they are. Why are you letting them sleep? Hang them upside down!”
“Understood. When they wake up, I’ll start by pulling out their fingernails.”
Of course, it was a joke.
For any evil, death was the end.
That was Geom Mugeuk’s firm rule.
Not for their sake, but for his own.
After finishing his conversation with the Wind Heaven Sect Leader, Geom Mugeuk approached the Fist Demon.
He was looking up at the moon, seemingly unconcerned with what was happening.
Geom Mugeuk stood beside him and looked up at the moon as well.
“Do you know what I realized on this journey? I’ve lived a life too buried in martial arts. I’ve spent my whole life training, my whole life fighting.”
Geom Mugeuk had once said something similar to Lee Ahn.
Don’t live a life of only training.
The Fist Demon was now feeling that same regret.
“I just realized it. This is the first time I’ve looked up at the moon for this long. Does that make any sense? To think I’ve lived my whole life without ever looking at the moon, not even for a moment.”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze followed his to the moon.
“From now on, you should try to enjoy life a little.”
“I intend to.”
If he could keep that promise, if the Fist Demon could take a step back from his martial arts… perhaps then he could truly shatter the cliff before him.
Because martial arts can only change when one's life changes.
*
The next day, Go Wol, along with the Wind Heaven Sect Leader, took the First and Second Immortals and made the rounds of the treasuries.
The code they had been given was correct.
They recovered not only the money but also the gold that had been entrusted, and they liquidated and collected the other assets.
The First Immortal had amassed this great fortune in just a few years.
It also meant that there were that many more victims.
The First and Second Immortals tried everything to get on Go Wol’s good side, but Go Wol did not entertain a single word.
In fact, it was the Wind Heaven Sect Leader who spoke to them.
Of course, he only chose to say unpleasant things, like how they would go to the most painful of hells, or that he had placed a bet on which of them would survive, so they pretended not to hear him.
Once most of the assets were dealt with, Geom Mugeuk had the two men sit before him again.
“Now, it’s time to talk about the Financier, isn’t it?”
The First Immortal believed his life hinged on this answer.
‘I can’t tell him everything! But I also can’t show any sign of hiding anything!’
That was the key.
The problem was, he knew very little about the Financier.
‘How can I package this to survive?’
The First Immortal glanced at the Second Immortal beside him.
At least that fool knew nothing about this, so he thought he had to score points here for sure.
‘I can survive.
I offered far more assets, and if I provide information about the Financier, I will live!’
The First Immortal took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“I’ve only seen the Financier once.”
“When?”
“It was when I first joined hands with him.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“I don’t. There was a curtain between him and me, so I couldn’t see his face. But I was certain of one thing. Judging by his voice, he was a man of considerable age.”
“I suppose I’ll have to start searching for men of considerable age. I wonder how many there are in the world?”
Flustered by Geom Mugeuk’s mockery, the First Immortal quickly added.
“The men the Fist Demon killed yesterday were the Eight Ghost Swordsmen. The Eight Ghost Swordsmen wouldn’t move for money alone, so the Financier isn’t just a rich man. He must be the master of a large sect or someone with great power.”
Just then, the Second Immortal blinked his eyes.
The First Immortal quickly said.
“There’s no need to release his mute point. That fool knows nothing about the Financier.”
“He says so, but what should I do? Do you have better information?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the Second Immortal blinked his eyes even more rapidly.
Geom Mugeuk sealed the First Immortal’s mute point and released the Second Immortal’s.
And then, words beyond expectation flowed from the Second Immortal’s mouth.
“I’ve spoken with him directly. Without a curtain between us.”
At that, the First Immortal, his mute point sealed, blinked his eyes and groaned, trying to speak.
It was a fierce signal that what was being said was all lies.
“Tell me in detail.”
“It was on the very day the First Immortal met him. I was waiting in the coachman’s seat of a carriage parked in the manor’s courtyard for the First Immortal to come out. A short while later, the Financier came out first. But as he boarded the carriage, I saw him give a slight bow to the coachman. It was clearly a gesture of respect.”
The First Immortal was struggling and groaning so much that his mute point was also released.
“He’s lying! Why would the Financier bow to a coachman?”
“It’s the truth. I saw it with my own eyes.”
With both of them able to speak at the same time, it became noisy.
“He’s making it up. If something like that had happened, he would have told me then. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“What would I have said? That you were foolishly tricked by a subordinate? That the real Financier seemed to be the coachman? What do you think you would have done? You would have told me to stop talking nonsense and beaten me up. Am I wrong?”
The First Immortal couldn’t argue.
That was exactly what would have happened.
“You bastard! What kind of trick are you pulling? You want to live that badly?”
“Trick? Where did that come from? It’s a word created from your own filthy mind, isn’t it?”
I gestured for the First Immortal to be quiet, then said to the Second Immortal.
“Continue.”
“I even spoke with that coachman while I was waiting. He was an ordinary man. A round, kind-looking face, and oh! He had a tattoo on his chest. I happened to see it when he bent over.”
“What kind of tattoo?”
“It was a golden pig tattoo. It was so strange to see a pig tattooed on a person's body that I still remember it vividly!”
Sensing he was giving away important information, the First Immortal interjected.
“This man is a habitual liar. Don’t believe him. He’s doing all sorts of crazy things to survive…”
Thwack!
The First Immortal, who was in front of the Second Immortal, vanished.
His face shattered by my strike, he flew into the distance and tumbled to the ground, a corpse.
The startled Second Immortal stared at me.
His shock soon turned to joy.
“I survived!”
He was overjoyed, as if he could fly.
“It seems that man was the worse of the two. It's only right that you die second.”
For a moment, the Second Immortal flinched.
The meaning of dying second… surely it meant later, when he was old and gray, that kind of later? But it wasn’t.
The look in Geom Mugeuk’s eyes as he gazed at him was ice-cold.
“Please spare me!”
“From the beginning, the four of you committed acts for which you could not be spared. Be content with a simple end.”
“Keep your promise! You son of a bitch! Who the hell are you? Who are you to…”
Thwack!
The Second Immortal flew to where the First Immortal lay and died.
Geom Mugeuk showed no hesitation in eliminating them.
He didn't hope for their redemption, nor did he grant them the grand meaning of dying at the hands of the Demon Sect's Second Young Master by revealing his identity.
When he turned back, the Fist Demon was walking toward him.
“Weren’t you planning to dig up the masterminds?”
“I was.”
“But is it alright to kill them all?”
“I’ve found out who is behind this.”
A round build, a golden pig tattoo on his chest.
It was someone I knew well before my regression.
Sometimes a coachman, sometimes a construction worker, sometimes a tavern waiter.
He enjoyed concealing his identity.
And at the same time, he was an extremely greedy person.
“To kill him, I need my father’s permission.”
The Fist Demon was startled by Geom Mugeuk’s words.
“Who in the world is he?”
A single name flowed from Geom Mugeuk’s lips.
“It’s Ji Saeng.”
The Fist Demon immediately thought of one person.
“Don’t tell me? The Golden Pig of the Unorthodox Alliance?”
“Yes. That’s him.”
“He’s behind this incident?”
The Fist Demon’s expression hardened.
It wasn’t because the opponent was Ji Saeng.
It wasn’t because the opponent was part of the Unorthodox Alliance.
It was because Ji Saeng was the loyal servant of one man.
He was the most favored person of the Unorthodox Alliance Leader and the head of the Unorthodox Alliance's most elite unit, the Extreme Blade Corps, who only took orders from the Alliance Leader.
The second-in-command of the Unorthodox Alliance, Yelü Han.
Ji Saeng was one of the four most cherished followers of Yelü Han.
Those subordinates had pledged their loyalty and each had a tattoo on their chest.
Ji Saeng had a golden pig tattooed, vowing to earn an endless supply of money for his entire life.
“That money ultimately went to Yelü Han.”
Geom Mugeuk felt as though fate had led him here.
It wasn’t just because of this incident.
Yelü Han.
He was the enemy of one person.
Someone with a deep connection to Geom Mugeuk—the Demon Doctor.
The person the Demon Doctor had asked him to kill one day, when he performed the Divine Eye Technique, was Yelü Han.
Although he hadn't mentioned the name directly yet, Geom Mugeuk already knew.
Yelü Han had massacred the Demon Doctor’s family before his very eyes.
From that day on, the Demon Doctor lived for the sole purpose of killing Yelü Han.
When he heard the Demon Doctor's request, he had resolved to act when his skills were sufficient.
He felt that the time had now come.
The Fist Demon noticed that I was not going to give up.
“You can’t touch Yelü Han!”
“Why not?”
“If you touch him carelessly, a war could break out.”
“A war won’t break out. There will be a commotion and chaos, though.”
“You’re serious.”
In the past, the Demon Doctor had asked his father to kill him, but his father had refused.
Yelü Han, who had the absolute trust of the Unorthodox Alliance Leader, was a figure who meant more than just a villain of the Unorthodox Faction.
“I considered the mastermind of this incident to be the most vicious. Hiding in the shadows, using underlings like the First Immortal to suck the lifeblood of young people until they died. In a few days, it will probably be reported to Ji Saeng that all the Immortals are dead. Then Ji Saeng will create other Immortals and repeat the same act. Even if Ji Saeng dies, another Ji Saeng will take his place.”
These were exactly the kind of people.
The absolute evil that Geom Mugeuk envisioned.
An evil that the Righteous Path couldn’t touch, and that ordinary people couldn’t even get close to.
His father had once asked him.
What do you think the Demonic Path is? At that time, he had answered.
-I believe it is the Main Sect's unique conviction to strike down absolute evil.
To capture the great evil that even the Righteous Path could not handle, that was the Demonic Path he envisioned.
Those evils should tremble at the very name of the Demon Sect.
That was the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect he wanted to create.
“An ordinary person would have no choice but to back down. They would have to endure it. But we’re not ordinary people, are we? We don’t have to endure it, do we? The reason I trained and worked so hard to death was so I wouldn't have to endure it in times like these. Why should we endure it? They are the ones who should have to endure. They should be told to stop tormenting people and cut out their damned nonsense.”
The Fist Demon silently gazed at Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk silently looked back at him.
Given his personality, the Fist Demon was the person most likely to be swayed by this argument, and yet, given his relationship with the Cult Master, he was also the most likely to resist.
Finally, breaking the long silence, the Fist Demon announced the end of their journey.
“Let’s return to the Sect. This slacker’s journey ends here.”
The journey that had started so suddenly came to an abrupt end.
But it was too soon to be disappointed.
As the Fist Demon turned his broad back, he added something unexpected.
“To get the Cult Master's permission, all the Demon Sovereigns will likely have to get involved.”