A faint smile graced Geom Woojin's lips.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s words, that not a single person should die for the Young Cult Master, were also his own will.
The Fist Demon was truly glad to see the Cult Master smile like that so often these days.
It was a smile he had seen frequently in their youth, but at some point, he had stopped seeing it.
The Fist Demon knew.
He knew the Cult Master had grown very weary while leading the sect.
A man who once roamed the Central Plains had become confined to the Grand Advisor's seat; how suffocating must it have been? His sense of responsibility was so strong that he couldn't just cast aside his position and rise.
Perhaps the Cult Master had been feeling depressed all along.
The strained relationship with the Demon Sovereigns for a time was likely because of that.
The one who broke through it all was the Young Cult Master.
And it wasn't just the Cult Master.
He had pulled all the Demon Sovereigns out from their own darkness.
Just as he had pulled him out of the great pit of wanting to destroy a cliff.
“Shouldn’t we all survive and boast a little to the Young Cult Master?”
Everyone agreed with the Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s words.
Yes, in this fight, no one must die.
That would be a true victory for Geom Mugeuk.
They had received so much from that young man; now it was time to give back.
The Sword King asked the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
“Didn’t you say you’ve suffered a lot because of the Young Cult Master?”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader had complained to him several times here at the tavern.
He had even said it loudly on purpose for Geom Woojin to hear.
“That’s right.”
“Then why are you acting this way?”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader revealed his honest feelings.
“Because I’ve received more.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s gaze turned to the Sword King.
Was it because of the bond they had formed over the few days here, after he had promised to name the tavern?
“And even if it weren’t for the Young Cult Master, I couldn’t bear to lose you to a man like that, could I?”
“You were almost in danger, Cult Master.”
A moment ago, when Hwa Mugi had approached him, the Wind Heaven Sect Leader had felt death.
Had he ever felt death so vividly?
“There are five of us. Even if it wasn't you, someone would have saved me.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader was finally making a joke, but the Sword King took it seriously.
“That’s why you might not have been saved. Because there were five of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because everyone thought someone else would save you.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader feigned a startled expression.
“You mean I was really about to die? No way! I still have a mountain of things I want to do!”
The Sword King’s gaze turned back to Hwa Mugi.
“If we can’t kill that man, you won’t be able to do a single thing, let alone a mountain’s worth.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader could tell.
Even with his internal injuries, the Sword King wanted to keep fighting.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
As he fought Hwa Mugi, the Sword King had felt it.
This was an opponent he could not defeat.
But he had no intention of backing down.
As long as his inner energy remained, he had to make that Heaven Killing Star exhaust even a little more of his inner energy before passing the fight to the next person.
The inner energy Hwa Mugi had left would become attacks aimed at those who remained.
He had to take at least one more blow for them.
And there was something even more important than making him expend his inner energy.
It was the fact that those who had not yet fought were watching this battle.
To let them learn even a little more about Hwa Mugi, that was what was important.
“Are you all right, Cult Master?”
“I am a man born and raised in the harsh desert winds. A fight like this is like a fight in a greenhouse.”
He brought up the greenhouse to say this.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader looked at Hwa Mugi, who still had only his head poking out of the darkness, and said.
“Is it warm in the greenhouse?”
Jiiiiik.
Hwa Mugi tore away the darkness below his face with his hands and stepped out.
“Even if your martial arts are insignificant.”
His killing intent had grown even more intense.
As he faced the seven masters, his primal killing intent was also reaching its peak.
“You’re not a coward like some.”
The Sword King retorted to the taunt aimed at Jin Pae-cheon.
“He is being cautious and wise.”
Forcing a fight with an injured body and losing the Gentleman’s Sword would be the worst possible outcome.
“Before we fight, I have something to ask the people inside your body.”
It was something the Sword King, unlike the Wind Heaven Sect Leader, seemed unlikely to say, so Hwa Mugi nodded with an expression that said, ‘do as you please’.
“But who is in charge? I wish to ask the leader.”
Hwa Mugi instantly grasped the Sword King’s intention.
“Trying to cause internal division with such words? A clever attempt, but it’s useless. These people were never one to begin with.”
Hwa Mugi’s gaze turned to where Geom Woojin, Jin Pae-cheon, and Baek Ja-gang were standing.
“Just as those men can never become one, no matter how friendly they pretend to be.”
Geom Woojin and the two Alliance Leaders said nothing.
It wasn’t an incorrect statement.
Once this fight was over, they were fated to list each other’s names as their most powerful enemies.
The Sword King stated as if making a declaration.
“It will be different this time because of the Young Cult Master.”
Hwa Mugi wore a surprised expression.
First the Wind Heaven Sect Leader, and now the Sword King.
“You all really like the Young Cult Master. I wonder what kind of man he is.”
“Then why didn’t you go to the Young Cult Master?”
At that question, Hwa Mugi’s expression flinched before he gave a cold smile.
“I left the Young Cult Master to the Darkness Palace Master.”
“And not because you were afraid of him?”
At the Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s words, Hwa Mugi scoffed.
“I am not afraid even with all of you gathered here, so why would I be afraid of the Young Cult Master?”
The moment he heard that, a shiver ran down Baek Ja-gang’s spine.
Which part was the lie? That he wasn’t afraid of them all gathered together? Or that he wasn’t afraid of the Young Cult Master?
From the composure he had shown so far, Baek Ja-gang could tell.
‘The Heaven Killing Star is afraid of the Young Cult Master.’
Baek Ja-gang had speculated earlier in his telepathic conversation with Ju Gasin that Hwa Mugi might have a weakness.
This was the moment he realized that weakness was Geom Mugeuk.
Baek Ja-gang thought of Geom Mugeuk.
To make even this Heaven Killing Star feel fear.
Perhaps Geom Mugeuk was truly a destiny sent from the heavens.
Hwa Mugi surged toward the Sword King.
“I will kill you all, and then I will kill the Young Cult Master!”
The two men’s swords clashed in mid-air once more.
Just a few clashes of their swords made the Sword King’s insides churn.
Even after exchanging quite a few blows, he couldn’t adapt to the speed and power.
And on top of that, an even more powerful killing intent.
But the Sword King’s will was no less than his killing intent.
‘Even if it’s just one move, I will do my best to wear you down.’
Of course, the Wind Heaven Sect Leader did not just watch their fight.
Outer Heaven Blood Demon Art, Mad Sand Blood Wind.
Swaaaaaaaa!
A wind raged around Hwa Mugi.
A technique unleashed in this situation, could it be just wind?
It was a wind of death that tore through protective energy.
But Hwa Mugi was not fazed in the slightest.
Despite the fierce wind, he didn’t even blink and focused on his fight with the Sword King.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader was not surprised.
This was the man who had withstood the Annihilation Vortex with the Thousand‑Catties Drop, and who, when trapped, had torn his way out in the blink of an eye.
Still, thanks to the Mad Sand Blood Wind, the Sword King got a chance to properly unleash his signature martial arts.
Though he was overwhelmingly outmatched in inner energy, he began a fight that would consume a great deal of it.
Second Form of the Formless Divine Sword, Formless Slash.
The moment the White Flower Sword wavered in the air.
A single streak of Sword Qi, fast as lightning, struck down at Hwa Mugi’s body.
Hwa Mugi dodged the unavoidable attack.
This time, he used the footwork of Ju Gasin, the Unorthodox Alliance Leader from three hundred years ago.
World-Illuminating Heavenly King Steps.
He dodged a light-speed attack with light-speed footwork.
It was a marvelous footwork that showed he had only been taking hits to show off his skills.
The Sword King’s attacks continued.
Fourth Form of the Formless Divine Sword, Formless Wind and Rain.
Formless Sword Qi rained down from all directions like a storm.
“Excellent!”
Hwa Mugi, with an excited face, swung his sword in all directions.
He showed that he could block even a storm.
Kwangkwangkwangkwangkwang!
The impact shook the walls, and broken fragments and dust rained down from the ceiling.
Hudeudeudeuk.
The moment the falling debris obscured their vision was the moment the Sword King had been waiting for.
To unleash this very form.
Swiiiiiik!
A sharp sound of wind sliced across the room!
Hwa Mugi was holding his sword straight out in front of him.
Jiiiiik.
A horizontal line began to form on the wall behind Hwa Mugi.
The line was being drawn at the exact height of Hwa Mugi’s neck.
The line, drawn from the end of the wall, continued toward where Hwa Mugi stood.
If it continued, it meant Hwa Mugi’s neck had been severed.
The drawn line stopped right next to Hwa Mugi’s neck.
Now, a red line should have appeared on his neck.
Jiiiiiiiiik.
The line started to be drawn again from the other side of Hwa Mugi’s neck.
Seventh Form of the Formless Divine Sword, Formless One Life.
The very form that had beheaded the Sound King.
Hwa Mugi had blocked that decisive strike.
“That was a bit surprising.”
Hwa Mugi smiled.
The Hwa Mugi standing before him was an immortal and undying monster.
Hwa Mugi rushed toward the Sword King again.
Kaang! Kang! Kaaang!
As if determined to kill him this time, Hwa Mugi pressed the Sword King even more fiercely.
The Sword King had a premonition.
He wouldn’t be able to last even fifty more moves.
In a fight where a dozen moves passed in an instant, fifty moves was just a moment away.
Just then, the Sword King saw the Wind Heaven Sect Leader from behind Hwa Mugi, pulling something invisible from his body.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s peerless hidden weapon.
‘Formless Spear!’
It was the Formless Spear, into which the Wind Heaven Sect Leader had infused all the inner energy he had saved.
For a fleeting moment, the eyes of the Wind Heaven Sect Leader and the Sword King met.
—If I can just hit him, I am confident I can pierce the Heaven Killing Star’s body.
It was at that moment.
Ting!
The Sword King’s White Flower Sword could no longer withstand the attacks and flew from his grasp.
The next moment, the Sword King’s hands grabbed Hwa Mugi’s wrists.
In that instant, Hwa Mugi knew.
The Sword King had intentionally let go of his sword.
Swiiiiiik.
At the same time, he felt a powerful energy from behind.
The Sword King mustered all his inner energy to hold him in place.
In that moment, Hwa Mugi read in the Sword King’s eyes a will that had accepted death.
‘It’s all right to pierce me as well!’
Swaaaaaaek!
The next moment, this time it was the Sword King who saw it.
Hwa Mugi’s grinning face.
Hwiiik.
In an instant, their positions were swapped.
He had gathered all his inner energy to block him, but he couldn't withstand Hwa Mugi’s power.
As Hwa Mugi spun the Sword King around, the incoming Formless Spear flew toward the Sword King’s back.
Swaaaaek.
Then Hwa Mugi saw it again.
The Sword King was not flustered, and his eyes were calm.
‘Could it be?’
The Sword King did not raise his protective energy.
The Sword King had anticipated that their positions would be swapped like this, no matter how hard he held on.
If so? From the beginning, his intention was to let the Formless Spear pierce his own body and use its momentum to pierce Hwa Mugi as well.
The Sword King did not let go of Hwa Mugi’s hands until the very end.
A body that should have died by Geom Mugeuk’s hand, surviving like this, must have been left by the heavens for this very moment.
But the Formless Spear stopped right in front of the Sword King’s back.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader had not thrown the Formless Spear but had charged forward with it himself.
Throwing it would have been the fastest and most effective way, but the Wind Heaven Sect Leader had worried about their positions being swapped.
He did not know that the Sword King had intended to sacrifice himself.
Seuseuseuk.
The Formless Spear in the Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s hand vanished.
If the opponent were any other master, he would have tried to kill him with this spear.
But against Hwa Mugi, this spear would only be a hindrance in the fight.
Because this was an opponent even the Spear King could not defeat.
Pow!
Hwa Mugi’s palm strike sent the Sword King and the Wind Heaven Sect Leader tumbling back together.
“Right! If you can’t do it, I’ll pierce you both together!”
Hwa Mugi thrust his Black Demon Sword.
Swiiiiiik.
The Sword King did not dodge.
If he did, the Wind Heaven Sect Leader behind him would be stabbed.
But he had just dropped his sword while grabbing Hwa Mugi’s arm.
All he had was his body.
This time, the Sword King raised his protective energy to its absolute limit.
He hoped that even if he was pierced, the Wind Heaven Sect Leader would not be stabbed as well.
Swiiik!
Puuuk!
The Black Demon Sword pierced through the protective energy and lodged itself in the Sword King’s chest.
Just as Hwa Mugi pushed the sword forward to run him through completely.
Tak.
The Black Demon Sword stopped in mid-air.
Someone had grabbed his sword with their bare hands.
“You dare grab my sword with your hands?”
It was the Fist Demon, who had charged in at some point.
The hand that gripped the Black Demon Sword was not bare.
The Fist Demon was wearing the Fighting God gauntlet that Geom Mugeuk had given him as a gift.
Hwoooong!
Peeeeok!
The Fist Demon’s other fist smashed right into Hwa Mugi’s face.
Ururung-kwangkwang!
At the same time, a tremendous clap of thunder echoed.
The Black Demon Sword was pulled from the Sword King’s chest as Hwa Mugi was sent flying backward.
In that time, the Fist Demon quickly pressed the pressure points on the Sword King’s chest to stop the bleeding.
Fortunately, the sword had missed his heart, and because it was stopped before it could pierce through completely, he had avoided a fatal wound.
“You should have dodged!”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader yelled at the Sword King, who had foolishly blocked with his body instead of dodging to protect him.
“You should have thrown the Formless Spear.”
In the end, the two had saved each other.
“Thank you for saving me.”
The Fist Demon gave a curt nod to the Sword King’s thanks, his face stoic.
Hwa Mugi was covering his ears instead of his bruised face.
The thunderous sound that had erupted when the Fist Demon’s fist struck his face had nearly burst his eardrums.
His rage flew toward the Fist Demon.
“An empty cart makes a lot of noise.”
But on this side, there was the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
“Why do you think that cart is empty? It’s empty because it needs to carry your corpse.”
Hwa Mugi’s killing intent grew even more intense, but the Wind Heaven Sect Leader had already taken the injured Sword King and returned to where Geom Woojin and the two Alliance Leaders were.
Geom Woojin did not ask the Sword King if he was all right.
He knew these words would be more welcome.
“You fought well.”
The Sword King bowed his head as if ashamed.
He wished he could have fought better, but this was the best he could do.
“And don’t you ever do that again.”
Geom Woojin knew that he had tried to sacrifice himself.
The Sword King bowed his head.
He was being admonished for trying to die when he had promised to protect the Young Cult Master.
Yes, if someone understood, that was enough.
‘I will use the life I have left for the Young Cult Master.’
At that moment, one person walked toward where the Fist Demon stood.
It was Baek Ja-gang.
Just because Hwa Mugi had allowed a single blow did not mean the Fist Demon could face him alone.
He judged that now was the time for him to step up.
Baek Ja-gang stood shoulder to shoulder with the Fist Demon.
In his entire life, Baek Ja-gang had never imagined a day would come when he would fight on the same side as this man.
As two new figures appeared, Hwa Mugi spoke in a loud, declamatory voice.
“The Cult Master and Alliance Leaders gather to perform a rotating assault! Who, then, is the villain, and who is the hero?”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader broke the opponent's momentum by readily admitting to his words.
“Honestly, from the looks of it, you two are indeed the villains.”
Baek Ja-gang looked at the Fist Demon and shared his thoughts on the fight so far.
“Everyone was too gentlemanly.”
Jin Pae-cheon was one thing, but even the Sword King and the Wind Heaven Sect Leader were, by his standards, the same.
But with the Fist Demon?
“Since he wants to be the hero.”
Evil energy began to flow from Baek Ja-gang’s body.
It was an incomparably wicked and cold energy, unlike anything seen before.
“Let’s become proper villains for him.”