“You may think it’s a superstition.”
When the wine first went bad, Geom Mugeuk had teased him, asking what kind of Demon Sovereign believed in superstitions.
The Drunken Demon’s gaze deepened as he looked down at the spoiled wine.
“To me, it is no superstition.”
Then, Geom Mugeuk’s voice came from behind.
“If it isn’t for you, brother…”
The Drunken Demon turned, and Geom Mugeuk finished his sentence.
“Then it isn’t for me either.”
Geom Mugeuk walked over to stand beside the Drunken Demon and looked down at the spoiled wine.
“It seems it’s still not enough.”
The Drunken Demon looked at Geom Mugeuk, his expression asking what he meant.
“It seems we must become stronger, and things must work out even better.”
Just as our fate has changed, theirs must have changed as well.
Yes, we shouldn’t just assume that because we’ve grown stronger, our enemies have grown weaker.
Taking a different path than before could lead to unbelievable results.
We cannot let our guard down until the very end.
“This spoiled wine is telling us to live more diligently.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the Drunken Demon shook his head.
“How can you possibly live more diligently than you do now?”
“You must not know me well, brother. I slack off a lot. I went hunting with Father and you, and I had a drink earlier, didn't I?”
“The drink you had with me was the first in a hundred years. And it was the first time the three of us ever went hunting. You talk a big game, but you’ve never once properly had fun.”
As if to say that seeing someone often doesn’t mean you know them well, the Drunken Demon knew Geom Mugeuk better than anyone.
“You should have seen the wild drinking parties with my friends, brother.”
“A gathering of successors, I’m sure it was quite the wild affair.”
“We even danced. What are you talking about?”
After opening the main door and windows wide to air the place out, Geom Mugeuk picked up a wooden bucket from the corner and began to clean up the spoiled wine.
“Just leave it. I’ll clean it up later.”
“And worry yourself sick while cleaning it alone.”
The two men cleaned up the wine together and washed the cups until they were spotless.
Saying they might as well clean everything while they were at it, Geom Mugeuk rolled up his sleeves, and in the end, the two of them cleaned the entire brewery.
“You won’t be brewing for a while, right?”
He naturally thought that would be the case.
“I will be brewing.”
And the reason was Geom Mugeuk himself.
“You said you’d believe in this superstition, didn’t you? Then I have to keep brewing. To see if it spoils even more terribly, or less so. The wine is constantly giving us a signal.”
Geom Mugeuk could feel it.
The Drunken Demon’s heart, telling him to use that signal to fight more carefully.
His brother’s heart, willing to share the knowledge despite his own anxiety and distress.
“Brother, the next time I return from outside the sect, I’m coming straight to you first. Elder! I apologize in advance!”
“Come at the end. If you’re busy, you don’t have to come. I’m fine.”
The Drunken Demon walked out of the building first.
Following him out, Geom Mugeuk said.
“Now that you have a woman to protect, you seem to be maturing, brother.”
“As if.”
The Drunken Demon took a long drink from the Blood Tears at his waist before walking into the thick, mist-like intoxication.
“Where in the world is there a mature drunkard?”
*
After parting with the Drunken Demon, the place Geom Mugeuk sought was his father’s residence.
In front of the residence, Hwi dropped his stealth and revealed himself.
“Young Cult Master, you’ve arrived.”
As always, Hwi greeted Geom Mugeuk with an unchanging demeanor.
“Have you been well, Uncle?”
“Yes, I have been well.”
Hwi’s gaze toward Geom Mugeuk was gentle.
It was the only time Hwi, who normally never showed his emotions, would soften.
“The Cult Master has not yet retired for the night. Please wait a moment.”
Hwi disappeared and then reappeared.
“He says you may enter.”
Geom Mugeuk opened the door and stepped inside.
It was his father’s bedchamber, a place he had been to before.
“You’re still awake. Ah!”
Geom Mugeuk, who was about to bow, stared at his father with a surprised look.
His father was wearing flower-patterned pajamas, the very same ones he had bought as a gift in Wuhan.
Geom Mugeuk beamed with joy.
“They suit you perfectly! My gift is much more practical and better than my brother’s, isn’t it? Where did you shove that scroll? You’ve already thrown it away, right? I’ll keep it a secret from him.”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze, which had been scanning the room, stopped on a spot where he and his brother were.
A scroll was hanging on the wall.
What moved Geom Mugeuk was not simply that it was hanging on the wall.
It was because of its location.
The scroll was hung in the position most visible when his father lay in bed.
An image of his father lying in bed, gazing at his sons before sleep, came to mind.
Geom Mugeuk stared at the scroll in silence for a moment.
Hanging here in his father’s room, it looked new again.
“My brother would be so happy if he saw this.”
“Muyang has already seen it.”
“What? When?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at his father with a surprised face.
“Muyang was the one who hung it there.”
Did his brother visit first? Or did his father summon him? Either way, it was an event that showed how much the two of them had changed.
“Father, next time, let’s have a portrait of the three of us painted. Should I send the Demon Army to Wuhan right now and bring the painter here?”
In the past, he would have started by saying no.
But the word “no” did not come.
“What brings you here at this late hour?”
“Well, for most people, it’s still early evening.”
As his father’s eyes narrowed, Geom Mugeuk quickly said.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“I have come to learn the Nine Calamities Demon Art.”
Despite the sudden request, his father was not particularly surprised.
“Did you know I would come?”
His father nodded.
“Did you not notice that my recent seclusion training was effective? I knew you would come at least once.”
“Of course I would. If I don’t learn now, when will I?”
And he had a specific goal for his martial arts training.
So far, he had mastered up to the Fifth Form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art.
“I believe it is time for me to learn the Sixth Form.”
The Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Forms were techniques performed by the Heavenly Demon Soul, so in practice, the final form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art was the Sixth Form.
The Sixth Form, Heavenly Demon World Annihilation.
The Heavenly Demon annihilates the world.
The final technique, known as the most powerful in the Nine Calamities Demon Art.
However, the final Sixth Form was extremely difficult to execute, and since it was a form that poured out almost all of one’s inner energy at once, a slight misstep could result in severe internal injuries.
“I am ready, Father.”
Geom Woojin, who had been silently gazing at his son, rose from his seat.
“Follow me.”
Still in his pajamas, Geom Woojin grabbed only the Heavenly Demon Sword and went outside.
Geom Mugeuk walked behind him.
He felt a certain sense of freedom from his father’s appearance, dressed in pajamas with just a sword in hand.
It was a feeling he had never experienced from his father before.
The two arrived at a training ground located deep within the inner courtyard.
It was a different place from the training ground where Geom Mugeuk had met his father before.
This place was enclosed by iron walls on all four sides.
Geom Mugeuk tapped on a wall.
“This wall is incredibly thick.”
“There are ten more such walls built behind it. At ten-pace intervals.”
“Is this a place for locking up criminals so they can’t escape?”
Then, one wall caught Geom Mugeuk’s eye.
A wall large enough for a grown man to hide behind was erected at the back.
“Now, perform the Sixth Form.”
He already knew the formula, so he could at least try.
He had never performed it before, nor had he seen his father perform it.
As Geom Mugeuk prepared to execute the Sixth Form, his father moved behind the ten-thousand-year cold iron wall.
“What are you doing?”
“I cannot allow you to commit the unfilial act of harming your father, can I?”
The moment he heard those words, he knew.
This wall of ten-thousand-year cold iron in front of him had been erected to withstand the power of the Heavenly Demon World Annihilation.
It meant that the Heavenly Demon World Annihilation was powerful enough to potentially injure his father.
Then what about this room of iron walls and the walls behind it? They were meant to confirm the power of the Heavenly Demon World Annihilation and prevent that power from escaping outside.
Just how strong was it?
“Normally, to execute the Sixth Form, one must train in earnest for several months, or at least ten days, to be able to perform it.”
“Then why are you already going behind the wall?”
An unexpected answer followed.
“Because it’s you.”
It meant he might be able to unleash it on his first try.
It also meant he held his son’s talent in high regard.
“How long did it take you, Father?”
“Ten days.”
“Then it should only take me a day. Since you are the one teaching me, Father.”
That familiar sneer formed on his father’s lips.
“Alright then, I shall begin.”
Geom Mugeuk took a deep breath and moved his energy according to the formula to execute the Sixth Form.
But the form did not manifest.
“Your movement of energy is slow.”
His father, emerging from behind the wall, explained the formula in detail.
It was an explanation from a different level of mastery than when he was at the Tenth Star.
“Do it again.”
This time too, his father went behind the ten-thousand-year cold iron.
He thought his father might have said something like, ‘I don’t need a wall like this.’
But his father was not at all ashamed of hiding his body behind the wall.
Geom Mugeuk could understand why.
Because it was the Nine Calamities Demon Art.
Because it was his father’s own martial art.
He wouldn’t have done this for any other martial art.
It failed to manifest this time as well.
But he felt that the movement of his energy was different from before.
“Something feels different.”
How could it be the same, with who was teaching and who was learning? It changed with every lesson.
“This time, my inner energy was imbued in the sword! Even if just a little.”
He performed and failed, then performed again, and failed again.
Geom Mugeuk would ask, and his father would explain.
Several hours passed like that.
The night deepened and the hour grew toward dawn, but his father did not stop his teachings.
As he felt every time, his father became a completely different person when teaching martial arts.
And finally!
The moment to reap the rewards of his efforts arrived.
An immense amount of inner energy seemed to gather in Geom Mugeuk’s Black Demon Sword.
Fwoooosh!
A light burst forth from the Black Demon Sword pointed forward.
Flash!
The world turned white.
It was as if the sun had exploded right before his eyes.
There was a massive explosion, but no sound could be heard.
The iron wall vanished.
It just melted away.
The wall standing behind it disappeared, and then the wall far behind that one also vanished.
Everything in all directions was disappearing.
When the light faded, nothing was left in the vicinity.
Everything visible had vanished.
This was no longer a room made of iron walls.
Sunlight streamed down from the vanished ceiling, and the blue sky was visible.
Only one thing remained there, the wall of ten-thousand-year cold iron erected in front.
“Father!”
Geom Mugeuk shouted in surprise, and his father walked out from behind the wall.
“Hah.”
Geom Mugeuk let out a sigh of relief.
He now understood why the form was named Heavenly Demon World Annihilation.
It was a martial art that annihilated everything.
‘This is a crazy martial art.’
Geom Mugeuk asked his father in a trembling voice.
“Was it a success?”
Geom Woojin nodded.
As if he had expected him to perform it in a single day, his father was not surprised.
Geom Mugeuk jumped up and down with joy.
He was finally able to use all the forms of the Nine Calamities Demon Art, down to the very last one.
“I did it!”
Then he plopped down on the spot.
All the inner energy in his energy core was gone.
It was a single technique that could only be executed by using up all of one’s inner energy.
Geom Woojin looked around.
He was supposed to evaluate its power by how many iron walls were left, but nothing remained.
Its power was unmeasurable.
It was because Geom Mugeuk’s immense and pure inner energy was so tremendous.
Even the wall made of ten-thousand-year cold iron was deeply gouged.
Geom Woojin looked at his son with eyes full of surprise and admiration, then said calmly.
“When you performed the Sixth Form, if someone had been passing by beyond the fence, they would have died, and someone in that distant building would have died too. Every living creature in sight dies. Those who are prone die, and those who fly away to escape all die. Do you understand what I mean?”
Geom Woojin warned him of the consequences of using this technique carelessly.
It was something he said because he now knew his son well.
He knew that if any innocent victims were created, it would become a lasting scar on his son’s heart.
Geom Mugeuk made a request to his father.
“I want to see your Heavenly Demon World Annihilation, Father.”
The Heavenly Demon World Annihilation of a Twelve-Star Great Mastery.
One might have expected him to say, ‘Ask me after you’ve achieved Ten-Star Great Mastery.’
But for some reason, Geom Woojin drew the Heavenly Demon Sword.
“Wait! I need to get behind the ten-thousand-year cold iron wall too! Father, your son is going to die!”
But light was already pouring out of the Heavenly Demon Sword.
Flash!
Just as he thought he was dead, Geom Mugeuk saw it.
The light, which seemed ready to spread across the entire world, was shining only around his father.
‘Father is controlling the force of the Heavenly Demon World Annihilation!’
The light that should have scattered in all directions gradually gathered into one spot, forming the shape of a sword.
The moment the pure white sword of light was complete!
Shaaaaaaah!
With a sound of cool wind he had never heard before, the sword of light flew toward the ten-thousand-year cold iron.
His father had aimed for a corner.
Pooooooof!
The sword of light passed straight through the ten-thousand-year cold iron.
The thick block of cold iron was pierced as if it were tofu.
“Ah!”
A gasp of admiration escaped Geom Mugeuk’s lips.
It was the first time he had seen such a thick piece of ten-thousand-year cold iron pierced in a single blow.
Geom Woojin asked calmly.
“Did you see?”
His father could probably perform the Heavenly Demon World Annihilation that annihilated everything, just as he had.
And upon achieving Twelve-Star Great Mastery, he must have succeeded in gathering that power into one.
His father controlled the annihilation.
There was order in his father’s annihilation.
“Yes, I saw it clearly.”
His father had once again nonchalantly set a new milestone for his son.
Then, with a great yawn, he walked out of that place.
“I’m going to sleep.”
That was no ordinary iron wall.
“Don’t tell me it’s ten-thousand-year cold iron.”
To his surprise, his father nodded.
“Why is such precious ten-thousand-year cold iron here?”
Moreover, it was incredibly thick.
“What on earth is this room for?”
His father didn’t tell him, as if he would find out later.