Chapter 839 : You’ve Never Once Become the Wind, Have You
Chapter 839: You’ve Never Once Become the Wind, Have You?
Geom Mugeuk and the four masters entered the village.
“Do you think there’s a way to break it here?”
At the Martial Emperor Divine Sword’s question, Geom Mugeuk answered,
“It’s a place that Alliance Leader Joo told me about. He must have given me another gift.”
Perhaps feeling burdened by that, Joo Ga-shin spoke in a calm tone.
“Don’t trust my words too much. I merely told you such a place exists.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled as he replied,
“You should say that to the person beside me, not me. Even if we don’t find it, I won’t resent you.”
Joo Ga-shin glanced at Hyeok Do-cheon standing beside him.
“If a man runs his mouth, he should take responsibility.”
Joo Ga-shin silently turned his head back.
They looked around the village. The Martial Emperor Divine Sword let out a sigh as he gazed at the corpses scattered everywhere.
“They really killed a lot.”
The entire village had been wiped out. Even children and women. It was a truly horrific sight.
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword had only come here once or twice before and rarely visited afterward. It was a scene he did not want to see.
“I’ve never really thought deeply about this place until now. I just assumed that since it’s the heart of the Heavenly Killing Star, there would naturally be places littered with corpses. I also hated the smell of rotting bodies.”
But Geom Mugeuk predicted that this was the place where the Heavenly Killing Star committed its first murder.
“You figured it out the moment you arrived.”
“I could be wrong. It’s just a guess.”
That wasn’t all Geom Mugeuk noticed. When they arrived at a house on the edge of the village—
“I think this is the house we’re looking for.”
Because he spoke as if he already knew, the Martial Emperor Divine Sword and the four masters felt puzzled. To them, it looked like an ordinary house, no different from the others.
“Why do you think so?”
At the question, Geom Mugeuk looked around the yard and said,
“Look over there.”
He pointed to a magpie’s nest under the eaves.
“And over there as well.”
There were jars neatly arranged in the yard—something not seen in other houses. Farming tools were lined up against the wall. Flowers bloomed in a corner of the yard.
“If this village was created by his memory, this place has far more detailed elements than the others.”
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword understood what he meant.
“A house he remembers more vividly.”
“He probably came here often.”
Though the Martial Emperor Divine Sword thought he had been observant, he hadn’t noticed such differences.
Even Joo Ga-shin, who had frequently visited this place, failed to perceive it. Once again, they were impressed by Geom Mugeuk’s keen eye.
Geom Mugeuk crossed the yard and entered the house.
And just as he had said, this was indeed the house they were searching for.
When the door opened, an utterly unexpected scene unfolded.
Hwa Moogi was waiting inside.
“We’ve spent quite some time together, haven’t we? Truly, you’re such disloyal people.”
Since he had heard everything they said, his appearance wasn’t surprising at all.
“If, after all that time together, the other side made such a choice, shouldn’t you reflect on yourself rather than mock others?”
From Geom Mugeuk’s attitude, Hwa Moogi understood.
“You knew I’d be waiting.”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“You must have instinctively known this was your last chance to talk with me.”
“Last? You won’t escape, and we’ll be together forever.”
“If I end up trapped inside you……”
Geom Mugeuk spoke as if making a declaration.
“I won’t say a single word to you until the day you die.”
“!”
Hwa Moogi stared at him in confusion.
This talkative man wouldn’t say a single word until death?
Did he find it unbelievable? No. Hwa Moogi could instinctively feel it. This Young Cult Leader truly would not speak even once.
“The reason I won’t speak isn’t because you trapped me here. If a martial artist fails to break a sorcery and gets trapped, he should accept the result.”
“Then why refuse to speak?”
“Because if I end up living trapped inside you, it would mean you killed my father.”
Geom Mugeuk understood his father perfectly.
“If I can’t get out, my father will kill you. He’s not the kind of man to say, ‘At least you’re alive inside the Heavenly Killing Star.’ Didn’t he already say he’d kill you in two hours?”
Hwa Moogi listened silently.
“And if we end up talking together forever, it means you killed my father and everyone else. That’s why I won’t speak. You’re the enemy who killed my father and the people I cherish.”
Hwa Moogi raised a hand and lightly moved it.
“Then we’ll all die.”
Black smoke rose from his fingertips, forming a massive eye shape in the air. Through it, the outside scene appeared.
Ahead, his father stood with the Fist Demon King. His father’s expression was as calm as ever.
But now Geom Mugeuk knew. Beneath that stoic face lay immense worry.
‘I’m sorry for making you worry, Father.’
Geom Mugeuk shouted loudly,
“Father, please save your son!”
Of course, his voice didn’t reach outside.
Yet at that moment, Geom Woojin glanced this way.
It might have been coincidence, but it felt as though he had truly heard his son’s voice.
After briefly looking at Hwa Moogi, Geom Woojin turned his head back toward the Fist Demon King.
When Hwa Moogi turned his head, he saw himself lying a short distance from his father.
Sitting beside his body was the Sword King.
Then the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult approached.
“Don’t worry. You know it too, don’t you? Even if you throw the Young Cult Leader into hell, he’ll burst the King of Hell’s guts and come back out.”
“I’m not worried.”
“You’re not?”
“I was just watching because he looks so peaceful while sleeping. He sleeps like a baby.”
“Is it because the Young Cult Leader isn’t talking that it feels peaceful?”
At the joke, the Sword King smiled.
In truth, the one most worried was the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult. He approached and peered into Hwa Moogi’s eye. His face appeared large.
“Young Cult Leader, can you hear me? Hey. Stop startling old people like this—it’s bad for the heart. Stop scaring the people inside there too. Stop scaring us as well. Hurry and come out. You said you’d go on a trip with Gowol!”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze deepened as he looked at him.
“Yes, I’ll be out soon.”
Jin Paecheon and Baek Jagang were nowhere to be seen, perhaps in another direction.
“Show me the Alliance Leaders too!”
But at Hwa Moogi’s gesture, the floating eye vanished.
“As you can see, I’m suppressed. So how exactly am I supposed to kill your father? I don’t even have a shred of internal energy, and my pressure points are sealed.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk said something unexpected.
“That’s exactly the situation you wanted, isn’t it?”
Hwa Moogi flinched.
“You have more than enough internal energy, don’t you?”
Geom Mugeuk understood why he had used this method even at the cost of exhausting all his energy.
“I heard that if I’m trapped here for two hours, I can never escape. And that my internal energy, innate qi, and even my martial arts will be absorbed by you, right?”
The Cult Leader of the Heavenly Wind Cult likely knew this much. But did he know this as well?
Geom Mugeuk turned to the Heavenly Will Palace Master.
“What happens to the sealed demonic blood at that point?”
As someone who knew the Dark Heaven Soul-Binding Art better than anyone, the Heavenly Will Palace Master answered,
“The moment all your internal energy and innate qi become the Heavenly Killing Star’s, all your meridians will open, rendering the suppression of the demonic blood useless.”
Geom Mugeuk looked back at Hwa Moogi.
“You’re planning to use that energy to launch a surprise Heavenly Demon World Annihilation, aren’t you?”
Indeed, that was the move Hwa Moogi had been aiming for.
Even provoking the Demonic Cult Leader to take a hit had been part of that hidden plan—to make the opponent lower their guard as much as possible.
If it succeeded, he could kill everyone in an instant. Especially since his opponent believed his energy was suppressed.
Hwa Moogi had prepared a perfect move.
“How did you know?”
“I’m inside your mind right now.”
Even at the joke, Hwa Moogi didn’t laugh. He was simply astonished.
“Young Cult Leader, I truly acknowledge you.”
He spoke sincerely.
At that moment, Hyeok Do-cheon abruptly said,
“You’re so caught up in praise that you’ve forgotten what you’re supposed to do.”
This wasn’t the time to leisurely converse with the Heavenly Killing Star.
The others watching were anxious. The Martial Emperor Divine Sword had been scanning the room all along.
‘If the method to break this is in this room, we must find it quickly.’
Time kept passing, yet Geom Mugeuk remained at ease, only talking.
“This man is deliberately stalling.”
At Joo Ga-shin’s remark, Geom Mugeuk replied,
“It’s the opposite. I’m the one holding him here. Because I want to hear his story.”
Then he asked a question that proved it.
“Who did you kill in this house?”
Hyeok Do-cheon couldn’t hold back and shouted,
“Is this the time to ask such nonsense?”
The earlier conversation had been understandable—it was to grasp the opponent’s plan.
But asking who he killed? What did that matter now?
From Hwa Moogi’s perspective, it was a welcome question.
“I don’t know who lived here. I killed everyone in the village.”
But Geom Mugeuk said something unexpected.
“No. You killed only one person. Just the one who lived in this house.”
Hwa Moogi’s eyes sharpened.
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword asked in surprise,
“You’re saying he didn’t massacre the entire village?”
“Yes. He likely killed only one person here.”
“Why do you think so?”
“If he were cruel enough to slaughter an entire village, would he have kept this place in his heart all this time?”
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword nodded.
“Then what about the corpses we saw?”
“They’re illusions created by guilt. He had to think of himself not as someone who killed one person, but as a killing star who slaughters all—to endure it.”
Hwa Moogi did not refute him and simply stared.
“That first murder—when you came to your senses, it had already happened, hadn’t it?”
As Hwa Moogi’s face twitched, Geom Mugeuk said something astonishing.
“Tell me about that day.”
“!”
Hyeok Do-cheon reacted first.
“At a time like this, you want to hear that?”
He grabbed Geom Mugeuk by the collar.
“Stop talking nonsense and find the solution! Use that clever head of yours, not that mouth!”
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword didn’t stop him. He couldn’t understand Geom Mugeuk either.
Had he given up?
Even so, Geom Mugeuk didn’t back down.
“I want to hear your story.”
Hyeok Do-cheon eventually let go and shoved him back.
“Looks like we’ll never escape this place.”
Even then, Hwa Moogi found it strange.
From the moment they met, Geom Mugeuk had wanted to talk.
“Why do you want to hear me so badly?”
Geom Mugeuk answered honestly.
“Heavenly Killing Star—you’re a powerful light that could shake the world, yet you’ve never once shone by your own will. You’ve only spun like a pinwheel, never once becoming the wind.”
“!”
After committing a murder that would leave an unhealable scar—
“After that, you were dragged away by the Dark Palace Master and had these people’s souls implanted into your body. Learning martial arts, being sealed—it was never your will. When you came here after breaking the seal, was that your will? Probably not. The Dark Palace Master must have told you to eliminate the Demonic Cult first and unify the martial world.”
Geom Mugeuk turned back.
“Meanwhile, everyone here had their own will. For the peace of the martial world, for unification, for Heavenly Will, for the unorthodox path. Each acted on their own will to create today’s outcome. But you?”
He looked at Hwa Moogi again.
“I don’t want your will to amount to nothing more than ‘I’ll kill you.’”
For all those years, neither the Dark Palace Master nor the four masters here had truly listened to him.
“I’ll listen.”
Because of you, I came this far. Because of you, I became happy.
So release that deep resentment you’ve never been able to tell anyone.
Hwa Moogi stared at him silently for a long time. Then—
“…You crazy bastard, what do you take me for!”
He began spewing curses.
He cursed endlessly.
Geom Mugeuk simply listened.
After pouring out every insult he knew—
“Let’s see if you can still say that when all your people die.”
Hwa Moogi vanished in an instant.
Until the very end, Geom Mugeuk watched him.
Then he turned around.
“Well, at least he got to vent a little.”
The four men looked at him with different expressions.
Hyeok Do-cheon still seemed to be cursing him silently, the Martial Emperor Divine Sword smiled as if resigned, Joo Ga-shin remained expressionless, and the Heavenly Will Palace Master smirked.
“So your grand Heavenly Will was a conversation with the enemy.”
Though it was mockery, Geom Mugeuk nodded seriously.
“Perhaps it was.”
Hyeok Do-cheon shook his head.
“Then you should’ve found the solution through that conversation! It’s already over. You wasted all the time spouting nonsense.”
It wasn’t about time.
From the start, Geom Mugeuk had no intention of finding a solution.
Joo Ga-shin spoke,
“You judged from the beginning that there was no solution to find.”
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword, sensing something beyond his understanding, said,
“I hope this choice was worthwhile for you.”
As everyone gave up, Geom Mugeuk released his internal energy and created a barrier so their voices wouldn’t leak outside.
Then he revealed something astonishing.
“I’ve already found the metho—”