Truly, they were arrogant words.
Who could possibly stand before such masters and tell them to come all at once?
And yet, not a single person present dared to laugh openly.
For their opponent was the current Demon Cult Master.
The demonic energy shimmering around his body was something they had never seen before.
A powerful demonic energy that seemed capable of incinerating anything it touched.
Of course, this did not mean the gathered masters were afraid.
The group assembled here was far too formidable for that.
There were twelve of them in all.
Gyo Cheon burst into laughter.
It was not the grating laugh of an old man, but a loud and powerful laugh filled with inner energy.
He laughed intentionally, seeking to break Geom Woojin's momentum.
“Do you know who these people are, to be spouting such arrogance?”
Geom Woojin answered calmly.
He still showed respect to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
He believed that only the Blood Heaven Blade Demon himself could retract that respect.
“Are they not the people you gathered?”
The wrinkles around Gyo Cheon's eyes twitched.
To his ears, those words sounded like, ‘Even so, are they not just people you managed to gather?’
“Yes, you have been arrogant since you were young.”
Listening to their conversation, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon surveyed the faces of those who had appeared.
First, there were those whose identities could be discerned by their appearance alone.
A man standing behind the Mad Heavenslayer, who had appeared when the wall first collapsed.
His face was entirely red.
Not just red, but as if it had been smeared with blood.
Among masters skilled enough to be here, there was only one person with such a red face.
The Red-Faced Young Master.
He was a figure known for the mad tale that his face turned red from being splattered with the blood of his enemies, an old fiend over seventy, making the title 'Young Master' seem out of place.
Another figure stood a short distance away.
He could be identified by the sword at his waist.
A ghastly image was painted in dazzling colors on its sheath and hilt.
The Ghost Sword Master.
He was a killing demon, known for the saying that when the Ghost Sword wailed, its opponent was sure to die.
Both of these men possessed skills no less than the Black Emperor or the Spirit Fox Demon Enchantress, who had appeared earlier.
No matter that his Master had used his former status as a Demon Sovereign and prepared for many long years, gathering all of them as subordinates could not have been easy.
They were not the sort to willingly serve under another.
‘What did you promise them?’
Whatever it was, it must have been the reason these masters could be gathered in one place.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon then looked at Geom Woojin.
He could feel no fear from the Cult Master.
He was enjoying this moment.
His eyes, as he gazed at them, were filled with a heat he had not normally seen.
This was the Cult Master on the battlefield.
He likely did not destroy that wall simply to show off his strength.
There was no bluff in the Cult Master's fights, no, in his life.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon could guess the Cult Master’s intentions.
Facing them one by one would be easier, but the fight would become a battle of attrition.
It meant that he would have to expend inner energy for each opponent he faced.
Instead, by fighting them all at once, he could kill two at a time.
Of course, it would be that much more dangerous.
Geom Woojin slowly drew the Heavenly Demon Sword.
The draw was neither fast nor slow.
As he extended the Heavenly Demon Sword, a line of sharp energy flowed along the blade, gleaming at its tip.
Then, the Heavenly Demon Sword began to wail.
Gooooooh.
It was a resonance that seemed to come from the depths of a bottomless pit in hell.
Hearing the wail of the Heavenly Demon Sword for the first time in a long while, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s heart pounded.
He wanted to fight alongside the Cult Master.
Just as the Fist Demon and the Cult Master had in their youth, he too wanted to fight with the Cult Master.
But this fight was the Cult Master's fight.
It was not his place to interfere.
Gooooooh.
As the Heavenly Demon Sword wailed, the Mad Heavenslayer shot up from his seat.
Having lived his entire life being called a mad butcher, he was a man who feared nothing.
Even when he heard the Demon Cult Master tell them to come all at once, he had remained seated defiantly.
But the cry of the Heavenly Demon Sword stirred an emotion he had never felt before.
Fear.
He was surprised and flustered by this unfamiliar emotion.
He looked down at his own hand.
It was trembling.
‘My hand trembles just because a sword wails?’
The fear he felt now was not of the mind or heart.
He had lived his entire life with the mindset, ‘Life ends in death anyway, what is there to fear?’
This trembling was not of the heart, but a fear his body was feeling.
Never mind the designated order, he wanted to rush forward.
There were two ways to eliminate fear: flee to get away from it, or eliminate the source of the fear.
He had always lived a life of the latter.
But his body would not move.
“Damn it!”
The Mad Heavenslayer spat out a low curse, clenching his fists so tight they felt like they would burst.
It was a curse directed at both himself and Geom Woojin.
The sword of the Ghost Sword Master, who stood behind him, wailed with a ghostly sound.
Hiiiiiiiii.
In that moment, the Ghost Sword Master felt it.
The wail was different from usual.
‘The Ghost Sword is afraid!’
It was the first time the Ghost Sword, which had terrified opponents its entire life, had felt fear.
‘At the cry of that sword.’
The Ghost Sword Master began to inject his inner energy, trying to soothe the Ghost Sword.
But there was also one who reacted in the complete opposite way to those two.
Slowly, a man walked out.
He was a man who had never been intimidated by anyone in his life.
He was the type who could not stand anyone giving him orders.
“If you tell me to come out, I’ll come out.”
He was a large man, built like a Demon Army soldier, and his muscular, shirtless torso looked like that of a Vajra Warrior.
The Lustful Vajra.
He was a figure known to possess a body that could not be cut by even Sword Qi or Sword Force.
He was a master of monstrous strength, said to shatter boulders and break treasured swords with his bare hands.
He had smashed the heads of countless martial artists with his bare fists.
The reason his infamy was so great was that he did it all simply for fun.
But the culmination of his evil deeds was the tattoo on his body.
Small tattoos were etched into his large frame.
Upon closer inspection, they were images of women.
Pictures depicting the features of women.
He tattooed the images of the women he raped and killed.
When he raped another woman, he would show her the tattoos, saying this woman was like this, and that woman was like that.
He was that kind of madman.
So it was no wonder he would say such things without hesitation.
“It would have been quite charming if you were a female Cult Master.”
Just then, another person moved from behind.
“Damn these ill-mannered Demon Sect bastards!”
It was an old man whose presence, felt just from his voice, was anything but ordinary.
“Even your father wouldn’t dare be so disrespectful to me, the Starfire Lord. Who do you think you are, telling me to come out or not?”
He too was a master from a previous generation, infamous in the martial world.
His martial arts were profound, but he was just as cunning and shrewd.
Even now, as he shouted, he was half-hidden behind the Lustful Vajra, cleverly concealing his body.
If Geom Woojin were to launch a surprise attack, he would hide behind the Lustful Vajra.
As long as the Lustful Vajra served as his shield, he would not die.
As the two stepped forward, the others also began to move slowly, lining up beside them.
Their momentum grew as they stepped out, but Gyo Cheon stopped them.
“Wait! Move according to the plan.”
At those words, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked his Master.
“Have you decided on an order for them to fight?”
If Geom Woojin were to launch a surprise attack, he would hide behind the Lustful Vajra.
As long as the Lustful Vajra served as his shield, he would not die.
As the two stepped forward, the others also began to move slowly, lining up beside them.
Their momentum grew as they stepped out, but Gyo Cheon stopped them.
“Wait! Move according to the plan.”
At those words, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked his Master.
“Have you decided on an order for them to fight?”
Gyo Cheon did not answer.
The one who did answer was the Lustful Vajra.
“Everyone tried to avoid going first or last. Fighting you when you’re fresh makes it hard to kill you, and going last means they won’t get the glory of killing the Demon Cult Master.”
In other words, they expected that while many of them would die, someone here would eventually kill the Demon Cult Master.
‘You’re still human, how can you withstand this much inner energy? You’ll run out eventually.’
This was their plan for dealing with Geom Woojin.
“So, Demon Cult Master, stop your arrogance and quietly await your turn to die. I would prefer it if you died by my hand, but I was unlucky enough to draw the number eight. Think you can last until my turn?”
At the Lustful Vajra’s shout, Geom Woojin spoke to him.
“No, you are number two.”
Number two? Not even number one, but number two?
The Lustful Vajra could not understand.
If he was angry at the provocation, shouldn’t he have said number one?
It was at that very moment!
Suddenly, the surroundings grew dark.
The world turned dark, as if someone had blown out a lantern flame.
Even with the eyesight of masters like them, they could not see what was in front of them.
Gyo Cheon quickly took out a Night Light Pearl and shouted.
“Prepare for a surprise attack!”
Something astonishing happened.
The moment the light of the Night Light Pearl brightly illuminated the surroundings, the darkness began to swallow the light again.
‘The Night Light Pearl doesn’t work?’
A darkness that no other light could penetrate, a darkness they were experiencing for the first time.
The next moment, the surroundings brightened as if nothing had happened.
It was so instantaneous that they thought they might have imagined it.
Gyo Cheon looked around, but no one was injured or had fallen.
Just then, the Starfire Lord tilted his head and said.
“I heard something.”
The Starfire Lord looked around.
When it had grown dark, he had clearly heard it.
The sound of ice cracking had echoed in his ears.
‘What was that sound?’
Then, the Starfire Lord flinched in surprise.
‘Why are they looking at me like that?’
Everyone was staring at him.
Their gazes were fixed on his body.
The Starfire Lord slowly looked down at his own body.
A look of confusion crossed his eyes.
His body was misaligned.
A single line running from his right shoulder to his left waist.
His misaligned upper body began to slide down along that line.
‘Huh? Wha-what?’
Sliiiide.
‘I’ve been cut?’
It didn’t hurt, and he hadn’t felt a sword slash him.
And more importantly, he had been standing behind the Lustful Vajra.
He looked at Geom Woojin.
‘How on earth?’
The speed of his fall seemed to quicken, and soon his vision lowered.
The fleeting darkness now brought him eternal darkness.
The blood that gushed from his body soaked the ground all around.
The Lustful Vajra was just as shocked.
‘I was standing in front.’
Could it be that this one move of the Demon Cult Master could attack past an obstacle?
But unfortunately for him, this move was not such a move.
Ziiip.
A red diagonal line began to be drawn from his shoulder to his side.
His eyes widened.
‘No way!’
Sliiiide.
His body also began to misalign, and soon it started to slide down.
Both had been cut, but his sturdier body reacted more slowly.
A body that was impervious to Sword Qi and Sword Force.
And the line on him was not just one.
Zip, ziiip, ziiiiip.
On his arm, his waist, his shoulder.
Red lines began to appear all over his body like a spiderweb.
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
With a single scream, he spewed blood and collapsed.
At that sight, not only Gyo Cheon but the other masters also wore expressions of disbelief.
It wasn’t a frantic battle.
It had simply grown dark and then light again.
Just then, a strange light flickered in the eyes of those staring at the corpses.
Everyone's eyes began to widen.
The reason for their shock was not that he had killed a man whose body was impervious to Sword Qi and Sword Force.
It was not because he had known the Starfire Lord behind him would die first and had called him number two.
Everyone's gaze fell to the floor.
On his fragmented body, the images of the women remained intact.
The Demon Cult Master had not just sliced him up randomly.
He had dismembered his body into pieces while leaving the tattoos of the women untouched.
The faces of the women all remained intact.
Floating in the pool of blood, they looked as if they were finally at peace, their grudges avenged.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon could tell.
This was the Cult Master's way of mourning them.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Geom Woojin.
In that brief moment, in that darkness, without any sound reaching the others.
He had killed the man without damaging the images of the women.
Fourth Form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art—Dark Sun Slash.
This was the Dark Sun Slash of Geom Woojin, who had reached Great Mastery.
The person who broke the heavy silence was Gyo Cheon.
“Did you not anticipate that he would be strong? Every time he uses the Nine Calamities Demon Art, he consumes a tremendous amount of inner energy. So do not be afraid!”
It was at that moment.
Someone’s voice was heard.
“You should be afraid.”
At the same time, the person who stepped down from behind was none other than Geom Mugeuk.
When Geom Mugeuk returned to the safehouse with Seo Daeryong, his father had left a message for him to come here.
Geom Mugeuk had run like the wind using Swift Step and had been silently hiding, watching his father’s fight.
After politely greeting his father and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, Geom Mugeuk looked at the enemies and spoke.
“Why did Father destroy the wall? Simply to avoid a battle of attrition? If that's what you thought, you've gravely underestimated him.”
At that, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon flinched.
Geom Mugeuk did not miss that expression.
“So that is what you thought, Elder.”
The flustered Blood Heaven Blade Demon wore a troubled expression.
“Our upright Elder, who can’t even lie and say no!”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked dumbfounded.
‘You brat, are you joking even in a situation like this?’
Soon, a faint smile appeared on the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s face.
Yes, it was just like Geom Mugeuk to joke in a situation like this.
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze returned to the enemies.
He knew his father’s intentions exactly.
“Father intended to make calculations. To analyze you all and allocate his inner energy. How to kill this one, how to kill that one. He has already mapped out today’s entire battle.”
With a face devoid of playfulness, Geom Mugeuk spoke to his father.
“I will not miss a single one of your movements, Father, not even a single breath.”
He knew that, at least for him, watching his father fight was a greater opportunity than any other in the martial world.
“So please, show me more. I wish to see more of your fight, Father.”